Exchange Contractors rally at emergency meeting in Los Banos [Merced Sun-Star]
Exchange
contractor officials are rallying residents to protest against potential
reduction or outright cessation of water deliveries to thousands of land owners
on the West Side….Potentially, officials said, the state water board could
cause the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project agricultural
surface water deliveries to cease until 2015….Officials at the meeting also
touched on how the decision may impact many across the state and, more
important, the local economy….Exchange contractors have put together a
long-term plan they are prepared to submit to the state water board no later
than March 21. They are asking the community to help by joining them at the
rally in Firebaugh and by writing letters to state and federal elected
officials to help protect the water rights.
For Imperial Valley
farmers, abundant water amid drought [Los Angeles Times]
…While
other areas — including the farm belt of the Central Valley — face immediate
supply cutbacks, the Imperial Valley continues to have all the water it can
use….The valley's share is ensured by agreements among the seven states that
depend on the river, starting with the 1922 Colorado River Compact. In water
law, one rule is supreme: "First in time, first in right."…The
drought is largely a rumor here, but one with ominous overtones: that outside
forces with political clout might try to force the valley to sell some of its
water, as was done a decade ago, or even try to take a portion. "We
recognize we live in an area that is blessed to have strong, senior rights on
the Colorado River," said Linsey Dale, executive director of the county
Farm Bureau. "We are aware that other areas are desperate for the water we
have."
West’s drought and
growth intensify conflict over water rights [New York Times]
Across
the parched American West, the long drought has set off a series of fierce
legal and political battles over who controls an increasingly dear treasure —
water….Residents of the arid West have always scrapped over water. But years of
persistent drought are now intensifying those struggles, and the explosive
growth — and thirst — of Western cities and suburbs is raising their stakes to
an entirely new level….California, in the midst of a major drought, so far has
witnessed but a few local skirmishes. In January, environmentalists and sport fishermen
sued to halt the drilling of hundreds of new groundwater wells sought by
Central Valley farmers, saying more pumping would lower stream levels. That may
not last long, said Stuart Somach, a Sacramento water-rights lawyer….“We’re
very close to the time that people are going to start staking out rights. We’re
right at the cusp,” Mr. Somach said.
Continuing to pump,
San Joaquin Valley irrigation districts selling surplus [Modesto Bee]
Irrigation
districts provide water that’s key to agricultural prosperity in the Northern
San Joaquin Valley, but some of those districts also have been cashing in on
the region’s water resources. They’ve sold nearly $140 million worth of water
to out-of-district agencies during the past decade. At the same time, they’ve
pumped nearly 1.5 million acre-feet of groundwater – that’s 487 billion gallons
– from the region’s aquifers. Concerns about falling groundwater levels
persuaded Stanislaus County supervisors to outlaw groundwater mining last fall,
but their ordinance exempted irrigation districts from the ban….Irrigation
district leaders who have sold to outsiders insist they’ve done nothing wrong.
They say they’ve always pumped groundwater, even when they weren’t selling
water to others. Some water experts and community leaders, however, question
the wisdom of pumping from this region’s declining aquifers before irrigating
with water available from reservoirs and other sources of surface water.
Columnist: Feds' silence on Rim fire fuels mistrust in Tuolumne
[Modesto Bee]
…This
week, I drove with Shaun Crook to see the devastation at Meyers Ranch and the
forest. The Crook family and other cattle ranchers hold grazing permits in the
Rim fire area….The difference between the privately owned lands and government
lands is obvious as well. Sierra Pacific Industries, which owns about 17,000
acres in the area, kept the undergrowth to a minimum because it enabled its
trees to grow faster. Crews are well into salvaging its burned timber and
replanting its lands. Government-owned land, meanwhile, was dense with thinner
trees and lots of undergrowth that helped fuel the blaze and will fuel more
debate about the way the forests are managed. Some believe they never should be
logged or managed in any way but should be left to nature. Others, Crook among
them, believe the timber and cattle interests are the truer stewards of the
land and take better care of it because they have a vested interest in doing
so. They also believe the better managed lands burned primarily because of the
fuel that amassed in the lesser-managed and adjacent areas of the forest.
Commentary: OR-7’s return
and expanding Oregon wolf population are wake-up calls for California
[Sacramento Bee]
…The
repeated return of the wolf who spent 15 months in California before wandering
back into Oregon late last year – and who has now made California part of his
range for each of the past four years – poses a serious challenge for officials
spinning the state narrative on wolves. With healthy wolf populations
continuing to expand in neighboring Oregon in recent months, the reality on the
ground confirms what scientists have long been telling us – wolves will return
to California. The question now is whether the California Fish & Game
commissioners who have the final word on state wolf protections will follow the
science or the politics when they make their ruling this spring.
Ag
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