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As Floods Endanger the San Joaquin Valley, Newsom Cuts Funding for Floodplains

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Alastair Bland

Last fall, when the state Legislature authorized $40 million for floodplain restoration, Julie Rentner knew just what she would do with it. Her group, River Partners, would spend more than a quarter of the funds buying a 500-acre dairy farm abutting the San Joaquin River in Stanislaus County.

Then millions more would be spent on removing debris, sheds, manure heaps and levees. They would plant native vegetation, and eventually restore the parcel to its natural state as a woodland and floodplain.

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California Spent Decades Trying to Keep Central Valley Floods at Bay. Now It Looks to Welcome Them Back

/in , , /by /Water Education Foundation / Western Water by Alastair Bland

Land and waterway managers labored hard over the course of a century to control California’s unruly rivers by building dams and levees to slow and contain their water. Now, farmers, environmentalists and agencies are undoing some of that work as part of an accelerating campaign to restore the state’s major floodplains.

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