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Lawsuits over California water rights are a fight a century in making
Posted by LA Times: Bettina Boxall on June 30th, 2015
LA Times: The lawsuits hit the courts within days of the state mailing notices to some Central Valley irrigation districts: They were to stop diverting from rivers and streams because there wasn't enough water to go around.
Unsurprising as the move may be in this fourth year of drought, to the districts, the notices amounted to an assault on water rights they have held for more than a century.
"This is an attempted water grab," said Steve Knell, general manager of the Oakdale Irrigation District, one...
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In Virtual Mega-Drought, California Avoids Defeat
Posted by LA Times: Bettina Boxall on October 6th, 2014
LA Times: A few years ago a group of researchers used computer modeling to put California through a nightmare scenario: Seven decades of unrelenting mega-drought similar to those that dried out the state in past millennia.
"The results were surprising," said Jay Lund, one of the academics who conducted the study.
The California economy would not collapse. The state would not shrivel into a giant, abandoned dust bowl. Agriculture would shrink but by no means disappear.
Traumatic changes would occur...
California Approves Big Fines for Wasting Water During Drought
Posted by LA Times: Bettina Boxall on July 16th, 2014
LA Times: Cities throughout California will have to impose mandatory restrictions on outdoor watering under an emergency state rule approved Tuesday.
Saying that it was time to increase conservation in the midst of one of the worst droughts in decades, the State Water Resources Control Board adopted drought regulations that give local agencies the authority to fine those who waste water up to $500 a day.
Many Southern California cities, including Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Long Beach, already have...
California Water Board Proposes Outdoor Watering Restrictions
Posted by LA Times: Bettina Boxall on July 10th, 2014
LA Times: Urban water agencies across California would have to impose mandatory restrictions on outdoor watering under a proposed state rule.
Though a number of cities, including Los Angeles, already have such regulations in place, most don`t. So the State Water Resources Control Board is giving them a push.
"Many urban Californians don`t realize how bad a drought the state is in," said board chair Felicia Marcus. "It is a mistake to think that they are not at risk."
Op-Ed
Extensive salvage logging proposed for Rim fire area
Posted by LA Times: Bettina Boxall on January 4th, 2014
LA Times: The U.S. Forest Service is proposing an extensive salvage operation to log dead trees on about 46 square miles of timberland charred in last year's massive Rim fire in the Sierra Nevada.
The project would be one of the largest federal salvage efforts in California in years. If approved, it could yield more lumber than the combined annual output of all the national forests in the state.
But it is already triggering a fight by some environmentalists who argue that the post-fire logging would...
Scientists call more controlled burns in West’s forests
Posted by LA Times: Bettina Boxall on October 3rd, 2013
LA Times: Some of the West's leading fire scientists are calling for the increased use of managed burns to reduce fuel levels in the region's forests, warning that climate change is leaving them more vulnerable to large, high-severity wildfires.
In a paper published Friday in the journal Science, seven fire and forest ecologists say the rate of fuel reduction and restoration treatments is far below what is needed to help sustain forest landscapes in an era of rising temperatures and increased drought. ...
Rim fire’s effects likely to last for decades to come
Posted by LA Times: Bettina Boxall on September 23rd, 2013
LA Times: Tourists stopped at the Rim of the World overlook on California 120 earlier this month to take photos of the panoramic view — just as they always have.
But they stared in silence at the ashen hues of a landscape swept by the largest wildfire to burn in the Sierra Nevada in more than a century of recordkeeping. Steep canyon walls and mountain slopes that had been robed in chaparral and oak were now draped in black, spreading to the horizon in a funereal scene.
To the north, miles and miles of...
Climate change may be speeding coast redwood, giant sequoia growth
Posted by LA Times: Bettina Boxall on August 14th, 2013
LA Times: Finally, some good news about the effects of climate change. It may have triggered a growth spurt in two of California's iconic tree species: coast redwoods and giant sequoias.
Since the 1970s, some coast redwoods have grown at the fastest rate ever, according to scientists who studied corings from trees more than 1,000 years old.
"That's a wonderful, happy surprise for us," said Emily Burns, science director at the Save the Redwoods League, which is collaborating on a long-term study with...
Airborne laboratory used to measure California’s snowpack
Posted by LA Times: Bettina Boxall on May 2nd, 2013
LA Times: Teams will fan out across the Sierra Nevada on Thursday to perform their final snow survey of the season, a closely watched rite of spring that helps determine how much water will flow to farms and cities in coming months.
But 18,000 feet above the Sierra slopes, an airborne experiment is underway that could revolutionize that ritual.
Starting in early April, researchers have made weekly flights over the upper Tuolumne River basin, taking sophisticated instrument readings of the snow depth...
The consensus seems to be: Let somebody else fix the delta
Posted by LA Times: Bettina Boxall on April 30th, 2013
LA Times: Confidential surveys of water officials, water users and others involved with the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta offer some telling insight on why the delta is stuck in a perpetual quagmire.
When it comes to fixing the hub of California's water system, most parties would prefer it if someone else made the sacrifices.
The surveys, conducted last year by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California and discussed in a new institute report, found that there was general agreement with scientists...