With habitat for California waterbirds drying up, conservation groups and rice farmers are collaborating to flood fields and enhance waterbird habitat on roughly 550,000 acres of California’s rice fields. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is contributing $7 million, matched by partner agencies, for helping share farmers’ costs of implementing new practices […]
In a failed effort to protect endangered fish, the federal government decided without proper study to default to restricting the giant pumps at the bottom of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. So argues a lawsuit filed Friday at the U.S. District Court in Sacramento by a powerful consortium of water agencies. They’re hoping for a larger […]
Grass species of crops adopt an “austerity” strategy and limits the development of its root system during times of drought, a study has revealed. The results offer an insight into the little understood biology of roots and could help breeding effort to improve drought tolerance, say scientists. Many of the world’s key food and energy crops […]
/in California and the U.S./by Mike Lee /Associated Press (As Published by East Bay Times - Walnut Creek)by Ellen Knickmeyer and Juliet Williams
California Gov. Jerry Brown has launched a campaign to extend some of the most ambitious climate-change programs in the country and ensure his environmental legacy when he leaves office in two years. The centerpiece of the push is a cap-and-trade program that aims to reduce the use of fossil fuels by forcing manufacturers and other […]
With Delta smelt numbers at all-time lows, state officials on Tuesday released a list of more than a dozen projects they’re hoping to undertake in the next few years in a last-ditch effort to stave off the fish’s extinction. One of those plans is sure to be contentious. The “Delta Smelt Resiliency Strategy” released Tuesday […]
The San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority and Westlands Water District filed a lawsuit in federal court Friday to compel the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to examine the effectiveness of the existing measures intended to protect endangered species, the environmental impacts of those measures, and whether there are alternatives to those measures that would better […]
Rice Farms Receive Federal Help to Provide Waterbird Habitat
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento BeeWith habitat for California waterbirds drying up, conservation groups and rice farmers are collaborating to flood fields and enhance waterbird habitat on roughly 550,000 acres of California’s rice fields. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is contributing $7 million, matched by partner agencies, for helping share farmers’ costs of implementing new practices […]
BLOG: Suit Challenges Delta Pumping Restrictions
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Water Deeply (New York)by Ryan SabalowIn a failed effort to protect endangered fish, the federal government decided without proper study to default to restricting the giant pumps at the bottom of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. So argues a lawsuit filed Friday at the U.S. District Court in Sacramento by a powerful consortium of water agencies. They’re hoping for a larger […]
Drought Triggers ‘Austerity’ Root System in Grass Crops
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /BBC Newsby Mark KinverGrass species of crops adopt an “austerity” strategy and limits the development of its root system during times of drought, a study has revealed. The results offer an insight into the little understood biology of roots and could help breeding effort to improve drought tolerance, say scientists. Many of the world’s key food and energy crops […]
California’s Climate Change Program: Jerry Brown Pushes Extension of Cap-and-Trade
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Associated Press (As Published by East Bay Times - Walnut Creek)by Ellen Knickmeyer and Juliet WilliamsCalifornia Gov. Jerry Brown has launched a campaign to extend some of the most ambitious climate-change programs in the country and ensure his environmental legacy when he leaves office in two years. The centerpiece of the push is a cap-and-trade program that aims to reduce the use of fossil fuels by forcing manufacturers and other […]
State’s Delta Smelt Plan Calls for More Water Flowing to Sea
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Beeby Ryan SabalowWith Delta smelt numbers at all-time lows, state officials on Tuesday released a list of more than a dozen projects they’re hoping to undertake in the next few years in a last-ditch effort to stave off the fish’s extinction. One of those plans is sure to be contentious. The “Delta Smelt Resiliency Strategy” released Tuesday […]
Water districts sue Bureau
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Porterville RecorderThe San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority and Westlands Water District filed a lawsuit in federal court Friday to compel the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to examine the effectiveness of the existing measures intended to protect endangered species, the environmental impacts of those measures, and whether there are alternatives to those measures that would better […]