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Even when snowbound and inaccessible to vehicles, the rustic Tioga Pass Resort on the crest of the Sierra Nevada range offered homemade pie, a wood-burning stove and plump sofas to relax on after a day of backcountry skiing. But the winter of 2017 was more than the log cabin lodge, just two miles east of Yosemite National Park, could bear. Trails, roads and campgrounds throughout the Sierra high country were hit hard by snow and runoff from one of the largest snowpacks in recorded history, leaving public agencies scrambling and summer visitors feeling lost.

In June, two federal agencies gave their blessings to the controversial project to build two water conveyance tunnels under California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Environmental groups promptly sounded the alarm that the state’s so-named WaterFix project would not, as its backers claim, solve the matrix of problems plaguing the Delta and the people and creatures relying on it. The existing pumps that export Delta water have drastically upset the balance of the estuary’s ecosystem, causing fish declines and the intrusion of saltwater from San Francisco Bay.

A project that might make much of the Sacramento River vanish into three giant holes in the ground will not jeopardize the waterway’s ailing salmon and smelt populations, according to new analyses from the federal government. The Delta tunnels, which would be 35 miles long, cost at least $15 billion to build and be capable of sending much of the state’s biggest river to farmers and urban users, received a stubby thumbs-up from the Trump administration on June 26.

The California Department of Water Resources is stressing that water conservation is still important through a new exhibit at the state fair. “Water Conservation: Rain or Shine” features step-by-step instructions on how to remove a home lawn and replace it with low-water using landscape. Lawn watering can account for 50 percent or more of home water usage, according to a DWR press release. DWR Spokeswoman Niki Woodard said the exhibit aims to highlight how residents can put in beautiful landscapes that also save water.