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SD County Supervisors OK Sustainability, Native Plant Policies

/in , , /by /KPBS

San Diego County supervisors Wednesday unanimously approved policies focused on environmental sustainability, and offered residents and businesses new tools to expand the natural habitat.

Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer teamed up with board Chairman Nathan Fletcher and Vice Chairwoman Nora Vargas to propose reorganizing county departments around sustainability, including a formal plan, and creating a native plant policy to preserve regional biodiversity.

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Opinion: There is No Drought

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Times by The Times Editorial Board

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought emergency last month in Sonoma and Mendocino counties because of severe drop-offs in the winter rains that once had been counted on to fill reservoirs in the Russian River watershed, north of the San Francisco Bay Area. Like most other California reservoirs, those human-made lakes were built in the 20th century, an unusually wet period when compared with more than a thousand years of climate records reconstructed from studies of ancient tree rings and geological evidence.

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Deepening Drought Holds ‘Ominous’ Signs For Wildfire Threat in the West

/in , , /by /NPRby Eric Westervelt

After one of the most destructive and extreme wildfire seasons in modern history last year, a widening drought across California and much of the West has many residents bracing for the possibility this season could be worse.

Anemic winter rain and snowfall has left reservoirs and river flows down significantly, even as the state experiences its driest water year in more than four decades. Today, wildfire fuels in some parts of California are at or near record levels of dryness.

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Butterfly Releases Return to Water Conservation Garden in May and June

/in , , /by /East County Magazine

Butterfly season is back.  The Water Conservation Garden invites you to release your very own butterfly each Saturday in May and June from 10 a.m. to 12 noon at its Dorcas E. Utter Butterfly Pavilion and Native Habitat Garden.

 

You can expect safe, physical-distancing and “magical butterfly releases to create memories and instill a growing love for these incredible insects and their habitat,” according to a press release from the Garden.

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Smithfield Foods to Reappraise Its Entire U.S. Water Supply Footprint

/in , /by /Water & Wastes Digest

Smithfield Foods, Inc. announced it will conduct a comprehensive watershed and water-use analysis across its vertically integrated operations to increase the company’s water use efficiencies and ensure sustainable sourcing and practices companywide.

As part of the initiative, Smithfield will also adopt internationally recognized water stewardship standards by 2025 to support its long-term water management goals, according to the Smithfield press release.

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Can Hydropower Help Solve the Climate Crisis? This $63-Billion Plan is Banking On It

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth

Conservationists in California and across the West are deeply skeptical of hydropower, and it’s not hard to see why. There’s a long history of government agencies damming spectacular canyons, choking off rivers, obliterating fish populations and cutting off access to Indigenous peoples. It’s a history detailed in books such as “Cadillac Desert,” and experienced by anyone who has spent time fishing, kayaking or swimming in the region’s reshaped waterways, or hiking alongside them.

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Opinion: Drought-Tolerant San Diego Won’t Go Thirsty in the Dry Stretch Ahead

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Michael Smolens Quoted: San Diego County Water Authorty

San Diego takes droughts very seriously. That’s why the region is well-positioned to weather an extended dry spell with enough water.

Local officials don’t shrug at the drought conditions across the state that have triggered emergencies in a couple of northern counties. For one thing, the wildfire threat can be as dangerous here as anywhere.

San Diego may be more drought-tolerant than in the past when it comes to water, but it may never be fire-resistant.

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Positioned for the Future: San Diego County Water Authority General Manager Sandra L. Kerl

/in , , /by /California Water & Power (California Municipal Utilities Association) by Matt Williams Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

There have been many surprises and unanticipated outcomes in the long wake of the pandemic. Like most workplaces, the San Diego County Water Authority had to quickly adapt a year ago, and that process continues to evolve under the leadership of General Manager Sandra L. Kerl. In a conversation with California Water & Power, Kerl discusses how her organization has embraced change and continues to prepare for the future.

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Fish or Farmers? Newsom Drought Declaration Would Trigger New War Over California Water

/in , , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow

When a bipartisan group of state legislators held a press conference last week to demand that Gov. Gavin Newsom declare a statewide drought emergency, they assembled at a withered farm field east of Fresno, complete with piles of dead trees in the background.

The choice was no accident. With California already experiencing drought-like conditions, Central Valley farmers and their elected representatives are the ones putting the most political pressure on Newsom to make it official.

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‘New Normal’ for U.S. Climate is Officially Hotter – and’ New and Experts See Trouble for California Experts California

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kellie Hwang

The official “new normal” for the U.S. climate is warmer than ever before — and the changes are ominous for California, experts say.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday released its new climate averages, based on the 30-year period from 1991 to 2020. The averages, known as “climate normals,” are updated every 10 years, and they show most of the known the country, including California, heating up.

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