Gray wolf gains endangered species protections in California [Los Angeles Times]
California
has largely escaped two decades of controversy surrounding the resurgence of
wolves in the West, but the state stepped firmly into the fray Wednesday as
wildlife officials voted to extend endangered species protections to gray
wolves….In a 3-1 vote, the California Fish and Game Commission declined to
follow the recommendation of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, which
argued that a pending wolf management plan would protect the animals while
allowing flexibility for ranchers and others who say the predators will attack
livestock and decimate elk herds. The vote disappointed many in the state's
agriculture industry. "I was hopeful that the commission would place a lot
of value in that recommendation," said Noelle Cremers of the California
Farm Bureau Federation, which opposed the wolf's listing as endangered….Kirk
Wilbur of the California Cattlemen's Assn. called the listing decision a blow
to the wolf management plan but stopped short of saying his group would pull
out of the process….The decision is believed to be the first time California
has afforded endangered species protections to an animal not extant in the
state.
Drought
sends California cattle packing - to Texas [Reuters]
…No more. In the midst
of the worst California drought in decades, the grass is stunted and some
creeks are dry. Ranchers in the Golden State are loading tens of thousands of
heifers and steers onto trucks and hauling them eastward to Nevada, Texas,
Nebraska and beyond….The exact headcount for livestock on this cattle drive is
not known. But a Reuters review of state agriculture department records filed
when livestock cross state borders indicates that up to 100,000 California
cattle have left the state in the past four months alone. California has
shipped out cattle before, but the current migration is far bigger and includes
more of the state's breeding stock, which give birth to new calves and keep
operations running year after year, said Jack Cowley, a rancher and past
president of the California Beef Cattle Improvement Association. That could be
doing outsized damage to the nation's 18th-largest cattle herd, since
California ranchers will have difficulty rebuilding once the drought breaks,
said cattle ranchers and area livestock auctioneers.
California’s
sustainable-agriculture advocates battle for bucks during budget debate
[Sacramento News & Review]
If
Sacramento is truly the nation’s farm-to-fork capital, then the state Capitol
has an opportunity this week to prove so by putting millions of budget dollars
where its mouth is. Here’s what’s at stake: California’s cap-and-trade carbon
tax is expected to generate a cool $850 million next fiscal year. This money
needs to be spent on projects that reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Gov. Jerry
Brown’s budget proposes that $25 million of this nut go toward agriculture.
That’s not a ton of funding, but it is direly needed, and would be spent on
fertilizer management, methane mitigation at dairy farms, biofuels, farmland
preservation, plus other sustainability programs that combat climate change.
The catch is that some Democrats in the Senate and Assembly have the governor’s
ag money in their crosshairs. They want to use the millions for their own pet
projects: urban infill, mass transit, etc. To that end, both houses of the
Legislature have proposed their own budget plans.
Here’s
a look at 3 plans to stop rape in the fields [Center for Investigative
Reporting]
Even
in the California Central Valley’s deepest summer heat, female farmworkers
harvesting tomatoes cover their faces with bandannas and don long-sleeved
sweatshirts with the hoods cinched tight. It’s a work uniform that protects
against the sun. But it’s also a way, the workers say, to ward off uninvited
flirting, unwanted touching – or worse – from supervisors. Now, the women might
be getting more official help. Since the Rape in the Fields investigation
revealed the persistent problem of sexual abuse of farmworkers last summer,
legislators, community organizations, academic institutions and growers have
jump-started new projects to tackle sexual harassment and abuse in the
agricultural industry.
Tree-killing
bug invades Southern California, with no answer in sight [Los Angeles Times]
Akif
Eskalen steps through the dense, damp leaves in a wooded neighborhood,
scrutinizing the branches around him. He's looking for evidence of an attack:
tiny wounds piercing the bark and sap dried around them like
bloodstains….There, in his hand, is a glossy beetle no larger than a sesame
seed: the polyphagous shot hole borer. Though small and sluggish, its appetites
are wide and its spread is relentless. It attacks forest trees, city trees and
key agricultural trees. It has defied all conventional and chemical weapons. No
one seems to have a way to stop it….Eskalen, a plant pathologist at UC
Riverside, wants to contain this invasive bug before it spreads throughout
Southern California….These beetles have a strange M.O. They don't eat wood,
like termites; instead, they drill circular tunnels toward the heart of the
tree. They carry fungal spores in their mouths and sow them like seeds as they
go. Then they harvest the fungus to feed their larvae. It's a deadly
partnership: The beetles attack, but the fungus also helps to kill, colonizing
the wood tissue and spreading through the plant.
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