Even as a boy, I knew there was something unusual, even other-worldly, about living in the Imperial Valley.
We seemed so isolated, more connected to Mexico than California. In fact the valley’s largest city was Mexicali, just across the border, and we’d often walk across for cheap restaurant food. It was an hours-long, 100-mile automobile drive through treeless, boulder-strewn mountains to San Diego, the nearest California city of any size.
The Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors approved their annual funding contribution to the Colorado River Board at their July 7 meeting.
The board met in their regular session to approve a $661,250 contribution to the Colorado River Board of California’s 2020-2021 budget to help achieve the mission to protect the Colorado River.
South San Joaquin Valley farmers have a reason to celebrate this week: Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives appropriated $200 million to fix the Friant-Kern Canal.
The bill also includes funding to repair the Delta-Mendota Canal and for two Northern California reservoirs.
In the ongoing struggle over management of water supplies in the Sacramento-San Joaquin river system, farmers who rely on deliveries from the federal Central Valley Project have earned an initial victory from a federal judge, pending further legal action later this year.
As a fifth-generation rancher in Colorado, Paul Bruchez knows the value of water. Not only does he raise cattle irrigated by the Colorado River and its nearby tributaries, Bruchez runs a fly-fishing business on those same streams.
As California’s agricultural industry faces an estimated $6-8 billion loss this year due to the pandemic, farmers and ranchers say they’re working hard to keep the food supply steady and safe.
The House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis recently released its Climate Crisis Action Plan as a comprehensive framework to address environmental issues moving forward. The plan, ‘Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America,’ outlines ambitious policies to combine economic growth with the development and implementation of environmental solutions.
The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting urban and rural communities across California. Congress is exploring economic recovery legislation that includes investments in workforce development and infrastructure. And in Sacramento, there have been discussions about focusing future climate and natural resource bonds on economic recovery.
As federal and state decision-makers evaluate the options, they should consider putting Californians to work on improving the health of the state’s headwater forests. This approach would alleviate economic hardships while reducing wildfire risk and generating a suite of other benefits for forest-based communities and the state.
Yorkshire Water has joined more than 40 farmers in East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire to take part in a landmark project which could help return atmospheric CO2 to pre-industrial levels, reduce flooding and improve soil health.
The pandemic’s direct negative economic impact on California ag is predicted to be between $5.9 and $8.6 billion in 2020. The estimated year-to-date losses are more than $2 billion.
