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Sacramento’s salmon run in full swing, but drought still a worry
Posted by Sacramento Bee: Matt Weiser on November 17th, 2014
Sacramento Bee: A miraculous thing happens each fall in the Sacramento Valley, and it’s not the end of 100-degree weather: Salmon return to the area’s rivers and creeks.
One hundred miles from the Pacific Ocean, the valley hosts one of the largest annual salmon spawning runs in America. More than 300,000 fall-run Chinook (or king) salmon are expected to return from the ocean to area creeks and rivers, mostly in October and November, to spawn in hatcheries or on their own in river gravels.
The big fish – many...
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California drought brings water rationing orders
Posted by Sacramento Bee: Matt Weiser on December 29th, 2013
Sacramento Bee: December is usually not the time of year to discuss water rationing. But this holiday month has been so dry that mandatory water conservation orders are beginning to sweep across the Sacramento region.
The city of Folsom led the pack on Monday, imposing a mandatory 20 percent water conservation order. On Thursday, Sacramento County asked customers in unincorporated areas to voluntarily reduce water consumption by 20 percent. The cities of Sacramento and Roseville are likely to consider their own...
Climate change prompts new concerns about Delta tunnels, Sacramento water supply
Posted by Sacramento Bee: Matt Weiser on September 14th, 2013
Sacramento Bee: The Sacramento City Council this week stepped up its critique of a plan to build two giant water diversion tunnels in the Delta, warning that it may harm the city's ability to access drinking water in the decades ahead.
The Bay Delta Conservation Plan, as the tunnel project is formally known, is being pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown and a contingent of major water suppliers, mostly in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley. The goal is to improve water delivery to farms and cities south of...
State water tunnel plans call for rerouting of 3 Delta highways for years
Posted by Sacramento Bee: Matt Weiser on April 7th, 2013
Sacramento Bee: The state of California's proposal to build two massive water diversion tunnels beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is a major undertaking by itself. But the current plans also call for rerouting and reconfiguring three state highways to handle a decade of heavy construction traffic.
Conceptual engineering documents obtained by The Bee illustrate detours on Highway 160 in Sacramento County around each of three huge water intakes proposed for the project, called the Bay Delta Conservation...
Coalition declares Sierra, Delta habitats threatened by climate change
Posted by Sacramento Bee: Matt Weiser on January 6th, 2011
Sacramento Bee: Both the Sierra Nevada and the San Francisco Bay-Delta have been named by environmental groups to a new list of 10 American habitats threatened by climate change.
The list was released Wednesday by the Endangered Species Coalition, a network of hundreds of conservation groups in the United States.
The 10 threatened habitats – deemed most important for endangered species in a warming world – were selected by a panel of 10 scientists from across the country representing academia and...
Tahoe snowfall going on downhill run, study says
Posted by Sacramento Bee: Matt Weiser on November 17th, 2010
Sacramento Bee: Children learning to ski at Lake Tahoe this winter will find less opportunity to enjoy the sport at middle age. In their 40s, they may also see a lake that has switched from crystal blue to murky green.
These are among the findings of the most comprehensive study to date of climate change at Lake Tahoe. It was released Monday by researchers from the University of California, Davis, and the U.S. Geological Survey.
Prior studies have suggested that climate change would cause these effects at...