State of Ore. backs Klamath Tribes water rights [Associated Press]
The
state of Oregon on Thursday backed the Klamath Tribes' claim to have the oldest
water rights in the upper Klamath Basin. The findings filed with the Klamath
County Circuit Court in Klamath Falls gives the tribes a new dominant position
in the longstanding battles over sharing scarce water between fish and farms in
the Upper Klamath Basin. Farmers and ranchers used to drawing irrigation water
from rivers where the tribes now have the oldest claim could be restricted in
drought years. The oldest water rights have the first claim to water, and
Oregon Water Resources found that the tribes' claim on Upper Klamath Lake and
major segments of its tributaries dates to "time immemorial." The
lake is the primary reservoir for a federal irrigation project serving 1,400
farms covering 200,000 acres, and the major habitat for two endangered species
of sucker fish held sacred by the tribes. Tribal claims to portions of the
Klamath River, which flows out of the lake, were denied.…The court still has to
hear counterclaims and issue a final order, a process that could go on for
years. While challenges can still be made, the tribes' senior water right goes
into effect immediately in water disputes, said Jesse Ratcliffe, attorney for
the department.
Forest
Service may let more fires burn [Associated Press]
After
coming in $400 million over budget following last year's busy fire season, the
Forest Service is altering its approach and may let more fires burn instead of
attacking every one. The move, quietly made in a letter late last month by
Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell, brings the agency more in line with the
National Parks Service and back to what it had done until last year. It also
answers critics who said the agency wasted money and endangered firefighters by
battling fires in remote areas that posed little or no danger to property or
critical habitat. Tidwell played down the change, saying it's simply an
"evolution of the science and the expertise" that has led to more
emphasis on pre-fire planning and managed burns, which involve purposely
setting fires to eliminate dead trees and other fuels that could help a
wildfire quickly spread.
Tiny
wasp to be used in fight against citrus-damaging psyllid [Visalia Times-Delta]
Farmers
and fruit packers learned on Thursday that a new weapon will be employed to
fight the spread of an insect that could devastate California’s $1.8 billion
citrus industry. That weapon: Another insect. Specifically, the state and
federal officials are working on programs to breed Tamarixia radiata, a tiny,
parasitic wasp native to Pakistan. The insect, smaller than a gnat, is a natural
enemy of the slightly larger Asian citrus psyllid, said Brian Taylor, field
program director for the Visalia-based Citrus Research Board.…“It literally
eats its way out” of the nymph’s carcass, said Taylor, an entomologist by
trade. The reason why the citrus industry wants to use the little, non-stinging
wasps is because University of California, Riverside, researchers have found
that they only lay their eggs under Asian citrus psyllid nymphs, and no other
psyllids or insect species native to California, Taylor said.
Training
and shop talk at annual Farm Safety Day [Lodi News-Sentinel]
Ever
wonder where farmers and their employees learn to safely use sulfur and other
chemicals in fields and orchards? Employers have to provide a certain number of
hours in annual training, but individually hiring instructors for every type of
chemical is expensive. Instead, the Agribusiness committee of the Lodi Chamber
of Commerce organizes Farm Safety Day each year to fulfill some of those required
hours and keep the community up-to-date on state regulations.…On Thursday, 500
farmworkers showed up at the Lodi Grape Festival Grounds for the 16th annual
event. Groups of 15 were led through eight mini-classes on everything from
leaks and spills to calibrating sprayers and mixing, loading and disposing of
pesticides.…The 100 trainers are supervisors from local farms who volunteered
two days of their time to learn the material, then teach it to the workers.
About 80 percent of attendees speak Spanish, so most of the volunteers spoke
Spanish in each lesson.
Study
finds association between processed meat and disease [Los Angeles Times]
Another
study has found an association between eating meat and premature death, this
time linking the consumption of bacon, sausage and other processed meats with
cardiovascular disease and cancer in a study of nearly a half-million
Europeans. "Overall, we estimate that 3% of premature deaths each year
could be prevented if people ate less than 20 grams processed meat per
day," Sabine Rohrmann of the University of Zurich, who led the study, said
in a statement. (Twenty grams is about 0.7 ounces; a hot dog comes in at
50 to 70 grams or more, depending on the brand, according to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture website.) The research, which followed people in 10
European countries in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and
Nutrition over one to two decades, was published Thursday in Biomed Central's
open-access journal BMC Medicine. Researchers used questionnaires and food
intake diaries for 448,568 men and women who were ages 35 to 69 when the study
began.…But the researchers noted that a small amount of fresh red meat appeared
to be beneficial. That, they said, is probably because meat is an
important source of protein, iron, zinc, B vitamins and other nutrients. The
drawback is cholesterol and saturated fatty acids, as well as the potential for
too much iron.
Editorial: ‘Grown Local'
stickers send clear message to local consumers [Marin Independent Journal]
CONSUMERS
will soon get a clear indication that a product is "Made in Marin."
Locavores won't need to search the fine print on the packaging or hope that
stores point out that a product was made locally. The new label — "Grown
Local Marin County"— not only helps locavores, but promotes Marin's
growing stature as a county that produces fine natural products. "We want
our consumers to know it's from their backyard," said Julie Rossotti, an
Inverness rancher. She and other agricultural producers involved in the new
program are hoping that produce, meats, oysters, milk, cheese, butter, honey,
wine and other products made in "their backyard" will be a factor in
persuading consumers to choose their products. They want shoppers to invest
their purchasing power in the local economy, supporting Marin enterprises and
local jobs.
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.
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