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Salton Sea Restoration Gets $80.5 Million In State Budget

/in /by /KPBSby Brooke Ruth

The state budget Gov. Jerry Brown signed this week includes $80.5 million for restoration of the Salton Sea — more than California has ever allocated for the state’s largest and most troubled lake.

“This is a great step in the right direction. I don’t think anyone, including the state, believes that this is enough to solve the problem, but it certainly starts us on the path of management techniques that can solve the problem,” said Bruce Wilcox, assistant secretary for Salton Sea policy at the California Natural Resources Agency.

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A Third Of California’s Deep Groundwater Aquifers Are Being Used For Oil And Gas

/in /by /Climate Progressby Samantha Page

California has a lot more usable groundwater than previously thought — but that water might already be in danger from oil and gas extraction in the state.

A study released this week by Stanford scientists shows that there is nearly three times more groundwater in California’s Central Valley than earlier surveys had indicated. “It’s not often that you find a ‘water windfall,’ but we just did,” study co-author Robert Jackson, the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Provostial Professor at Stanford, said in the study’s release. “There’s far more fresh water and usable water than we expected.”

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Water Markets May Help California Better Manage Its Water

/in /by /Fox & Houndsby Sally Pipes

California’s famous moniker – the Golden State – is becoming all too accurate as the state enters the fifth year of drought and the summer heat begins to dry out its rolling hillsides. A lackluster El Niño failed to deliver a promised deluge of rain and ultimately brought only an average amount of precipitation – far from what was needed to make up for several years of record low rains and snow packs.

California’s natural drought cycles are made worse by ineffective water management policies – policies that drown water managers in top-down, command and control regulations.

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Relief for Fallen Trees on the Way

/in /by /Sierra Star (Oakhurst)by Brian Wilkinson

Relief may be coming soon for many Mountain Area homeowners left with dead trees in their yards after they were cut down by companies contracted with Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

The trees, killed by bark beetle infestations, were cut down for safety reasons and to protect power lines, but disposing of the trees, in some cases a massive and expensive undertaking, was left to homeowners.

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NASA Maps California Drought Effects on Sierra trees

/in /by /Phys.orgby Alan Buis

A new map created with measurements from an airborne instrument developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, reveals the devastating effect of California’s ongoing drought on Sierra Nevada conifer forests.

After several years of extreme drought, the highly stressed conifers (trees that produce cones and are usually green year-round) of the Sierra Nevada are now more susceptible to bark beetles (Dendroctonus spp.). While bark beetles killing trees in the Sierra Nevada is a natural phenomenon, the scale of mortality in the last couple of years is far greater than previously observed.

 

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OPINION: Mixed Messages on the Drought

/in /by /The Union of Grass Valleyby Brian Hamilton

Heading back up the hill from the airport, the large digital billboard on Interstate 80 — usually warning us all to be ready to “chain up” due to unsettled weather — seemed like a mixed message from the state of California Sunday night.

“Severe drought … Limit outdoor watering,” the sign displayed. It seemed liked solid advice, but I couldn’t help but wonder whether Caltrans hadn’t gotten the memo that statewide mandatory water restrictions had been lifted. Considering that news, the drought’s over. Right?

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Record Number of Rattlesnakes Making Their Way Into Yards Due to Drought

/in /by /CBS Los Angeles

Southern California is known for its sun, sand, and of course, it’s snakes. And thanks to our ongoing drought, rattlesnakes are making their way out of the hills and into our yards in record numbers.“They’re out in full force right now,” said Bo Slyapich, who is known as the “rattlesnake wrangler.” He specializes in snake removal, relocation, and prevention. Slyapich has been working with snakes for more than 50 years and says homeowners are giving the rattlers exactly what they are looking for.

 

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San Juan Capistrano Keeps Water Rules in Place, Seeks Relaxation of State Mandate

/in /by /The Orange County Registerby Fred Swegles

A rainy winter in Northern California may have strengthened the state’s water supply, but San Juan Capistrano is keeping conservation tools in place in case Southern California’s drought continues.

The City Council voted 5-0 at its June 21 meeting to keep in place the city’s Stage 2 water alert, which limits lawn watering and irrigation to two days a week, bans all non-essential use of potable water and bans use of automatic sprinklers from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and sets other restrictions.

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Perfect Storm Brewing for California Fire Season

/in /by /UPI (Washington, D.C.)by Tara Lohan

California’s climate has always been hospitable to fire – it comes with the territory. But add five years of drought, a bark beetle blight killing trees by the millions and rising temperatures, and it’s a recipe for disaster.

“We are seeing the compounded effects of climate change that includes five consecutive years of drought and rising mean temperatures across the West – last year was the hottest year on record,” said Janet Upton, deputy director of communications at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “All that is trending to a more flammable California.”

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More Wildfires, Starting Sooner, Burning More Acres

/in /by /Capital Public Radio (Sacramento)by Ed Joyce

A report by the nonpartisan Climate Central says that 11 million people in California are at risk of wildfire and that climate change is lengthening the wildfire season.

Previous reports by researchers have said wildfires in the western U.S. would become more intense, larger, and start earlier than usual as a result of climate change.

 

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