U.S. evicting Point Reyes oyster farmer [San Francisco Chronicle]
U.S.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told a popular oyster farm at Drakes Bay on
Thursday to pack up and leave, effectively ending more than a century of
shellfish harvesting on the picturesque inlet where Europeans first set foot in
California. Salazar's decision ends a long-running dispute between the Drakes
Bay Oyster Co. and the National Park Service over the estuary at Point Reyes
National Seashore where Sir Francis Drake landed more than 400 years ago. The
National Park Service intends to turn the 2,700-acre area into the first federally
designated marine wilderness area on the West Coast, giving the estuary special
protected status as an unaltered ecological region. To do that, Salazar
rejected the oyster company's proposal to extend its 40-year lease to harvest
shellfish on 1,100 acres of the property.
Calif
contractors to get 30 pct of requested water [Associated Press]
California
residents and farmers can expect less than a third of the water they requested
for next year, but state officials hope that amount will increase. The state
Department of Water Resources said Thursday that State Water Project
contractors can expect to get 30 percent of their requested deliveries for
2013. The contractors supply water to more than 25 million residents and nearly
a million acres of farmland.
Disruption
of water delivery could devastate L.A. County economy [Los Angeles Times]
An
earthquake that shuts down water deliveries from Northern California for a year
could devastate the Los Angeles County economy, costing $55 billion and wiping
out a half-million jobs, according to a new study.…The report concludes that
L.A. County could fairly easily weather a six-month stop in deliveries from the
north by ramping up conservation efforts and using reserves stored in Southland
reservoirs. But if the California Aqueduct that carries water south from the
delta is dry for a year or more, the county economy would suffer severely, the
researchers found.…It was released as the state is considering a major redesign
of the way it gets water from the delta, which supplies part of the Bay Area as
well as the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. Under the proposal,
water would be diverted from the Sacramento River into twin water tunnels
running under the delta to pumps that fill southbound aqueducts.
New
report shows staggering influence of wine industry in Napa [Napa Valley
Register]
What
recession? That may be the reaction from some observers of the Napa Valley wine
industry upon reading a new report revealing wine production in Napa County has
an economic impact of more than $13 billion annually. That’s $2 billion more
than a similar study determined in pre-recession 2008. The report, issued
Thursday by the Napa Valley Vintners, states that in a county of 136,000
people, the wine industry generated two-thirds of local total employment, or
46,000 full-time-equivalent jobs. This includes workers either directly or
indirectly tied to Napa Valley grapes — in wineries, vineyards, suppliers,
professional services, or in tourism, which includes restaurants. Looking
farther afield, the report said the county’s wine industry generated 101,000
total full-time-equivalent jobs in California, and 303,000 jobs nationwide.
Half
of charity donations lost to overhead [Associated Press]
…The
study by the state attorney general's office found commercial fundraisers in
California raised more than $338 million last year, but only about half that
amount actually went to the charities. About $173 million, or 51 percent,
collected using commercial fundraisers went to charities such as Amnesty
International, Habitat for Humanity and the Humane Society of the United
States. The rest was retained by the commercial fundraisers as payments for
fees and expenses.…While some groups received 100 percent of donations, the
study found many charities lost much of their money to commercial fundraisers.
For example, donors last year gave $227,304 through four commercial fundraisers
to San Francisco-based Earthjustice, but the nonprofit environmental law firm
netted just $12,530, or 6 percent.
Editorial: Why we should all
care about the Asian citrus pest [Visalia Times-Delta]
A
tiny bug that can kill citrus trees has found its way into Tulare County,
bringing with it the potential to do irreparable harm….Now, it may be up to all
of us, not just the growers, to preserve the crop and with it, one flavorful
part of the California identity and a big piece of our local economy….Experts
tell us that the most common way for the ACP to spread is through private
individuals who bring citrus into this area thinking that what they are doing
is totally harmless. Because growers are already following safe handling
procedures and taking precautions in the packing houses, the more likely
mistakes will occur among ordinary residents….Ordinary residents can be the
industry’s biggest ally, as they have been in the parts of Southern California
where the ACP has been spotted. We should think of it as more than just
protecting our own backyard trees from a dreaded pest; we should think of it as
preserving our economy and a slice of California life.
Ag
Today is distributed to county Farm Bureaus, CFBF directors and CFBF staff, for
information purposes, by the CFBF Communications/News Division, 916-561-5550; news@cfbf.com.
Some story links may require site registration. To be removed
from this mailing list, reply to this message and please provide your
name and e-mail address.
No comments:
Post a Comment