<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1522" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<H2><A
href="http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/13775351p-14617314c.html">http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/13775351p-14617314c.html</A></H2>
<DIV>
<DIV class=storyText id=storyBody
style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: verdana,geneva,arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
<H2>State urging court to reconsider decision in delta case</H2>
<H3></H3>
<SCRIPT type=text/javascript>
var ppt=new Date();
var ppp=new Date('Thu Oct 27 17:20:12 PDT 2005');
var ppe=new Date(ppp.getTime()+1*(86400000));
var ppv=0;
if (ppt < ppe) {
ppv=1;
}
</SCRIPT>
<H4>The Associated Press<BR><I>Last Updated 6:45 am PDT Friday, October 28,
2005</I></H4>SACRAMENTO (AP) - The Schwarzenegger administration is asking a
state appeals court to reconsider a decision that found deficiencies in the
environmental document guiding management of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
<P>"Our petition for rehearing points out the legal and factual mistakes made by
the court, and we hope (the justices) will take a second look at these issues,"
state Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman said.
<P>
<SCRIPT type=text/javascript>OAS_AD('Button20');</SCRIPT>
<IFRAME id=richAd align=right marginWidth=0 marginHeight=0
src="http://www.sacbee.com/static/live/ads/cabackyard/cabackyard_300x250_products_00.html?PAGE=www.sacbee.com/state_wire&RAND=1026555597&POS=Button20&CAMP=Sacbee/cabackyard_300_nw_oct_5&USER=34303339366235623431666462616630"
frameBorder=0 width=300 scrolling=no height=250></IFRAME><IMG class=OAS_adspace
height=0
src="http://ads.sacbee.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_lx.ads/www.sacbee.com/state_wire/1026555597/Button20/Sacbee/cabackyard_300_nw_oct_5/iframe_cabackyard_300x250_products.html/34303339366235623431666462616630?_RM_EMPTY_"
width=0> The 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled Oct. 7 that environmental
documents prepared by the California Bay-Delta Authority should have considered
reducing water exports from the delta to Central and Southern California. The
court ordered the authority, commonly known as CalFed, to rewrite the report.
<P>"If there is not water to support the (population) growth, will it occur as
projected?" the justices asked. "As the state reaches the limit of available
water and must seek other sources such as desalination, water will become more
expensive to obtain and California's appeal will lessen."
<P>State officials said the state's Environmental Quality Act did not require
CalFed to consider export reductions because they would not meet one of the
objectives of the project - to ensure the reliability of increased water
supplies.
<P>The state also said the court erred when it said the documents did not
adequately identify the sources of water that would be used by the CalFed
program or the impact of using water from those sources.
<P></P></DIV><BR clear=all></DIV>
<H2>
<TABLE width="100%" align=center border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD class=articleDate><SPAN class=articleDate>Article Launched: 10/27/2005
10:23:30 PM</SPAN> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><A
href="http://www.chicoer.com/local_news/ci_3158671">http://www.chicoer.com/local_news/ci_3158671</A><BR><!-- overline--><!--title--><SPAN
class=articleTitle>Involved water agencies still believe in CalFed</SPAN><BR><!--subtitle--><!--top author info--><SPAN
class=articleByline><BR></SPAN>
<TABLE class=articleBody width="100%" align=center border=0>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD align=middle colSpan=3></TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD class=articleBody align=left colSpan=3>RED BLUFF - As the CalFed
Bay-Delta program undergoes scrutiny and possible cutbacks or changes,
leaders in other agencies that work with CalFed on water issues continue
to work towards CalFed's vision: to work toward meeting the state's water
supply needs, while balancing urban, agricultural and environmental
demands.
<P>Cal-Fed is a federal/state program set up to push long-term solutions
to the Bay-Delta estuary, but it also reaches into water issues throughout
the state, including extensive involvement along the Sacramento River.
<P>Without the Sacramento River, which delivers the state's snowpack from
north the south, California would never have grown the way it has, said
one of dozens of speakers at a day-long Sacramento River Watershed
Conference in Red Bluff Thursday.
<P>The event was organized by the Sacramento River Watershed Program,
Sacramento River Preservation Trust and the Sacramento River Conservation
Area Forum.
<P>Diana Jacobs, of the California Department of Fish and Game, told a
group of about 200 that decisions on the future of CalFed are currently
being decided and hopefully a more clear picture will be revealed by the
end of this year.
<P>"CalFed started to stop the lawsuits," Jacobs said. Some in the water
world called conditions before CalFed "a smeltdown," based on lawsuits
including legal wrangling over the Delta smelt, a small fish that has had
dramatic decline in the Delta in recent years.
<P>Currently CalFed is under intense scrutiny, including hearings from the
Little Hoover Foundation.
<P>As the Red Bluff conference took place, the Little Hoover Foundation
was also meeting to review the $3 billion that it has spent on CalFed
since its creation, and whether the money merits the benefits that have
occurred.
<P>Jacobs said key issues include whether agencies should be reworked, how
to finance continued efforts and how to solve problems with fish
populations in the Delta.
<P><STRONG><U>Even with the weighty discussions, Jacobs said "everyone
loves the idea of CalFed."</U></STRONG>
<P>The idea of working together with diverse interests is still a goal
championed by agencies, she said.
<P>Local watershed programs being developed show a "new experiment with
participatory democracy," said Bay Delta Authority watershed program
consultant Dennis Bowker.
<P>Before CalFed, there were decades of a "command and control" stance
with state and federal regulations, Bowker said.
<P>Numerous special commissions on water topics are held each month, with
participation by agencies involved
<DIV class=embeddedAd><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>with flood control,
water quality, the environment, agriculture, etc. This includes state,
federal and local.
<P>While state and federal rules still apply, Bowker said the focus has
shifted to how local agencies can find ways to fit within overseeing
rules, but do it in a way that fits with that particular local area.
<P>The old way caused problems, Bowker said, because management was
disconnected from local agencies or simply ignored them.
<P>"We have all sorts of programs but it takes the local community to
integrate them," he said.
<P>When asked how things would change if CalFed is dramatically scaled
back, Bowker said he didn't think the current philosophy of agencies
working together to solve problems would change.
<P>Other speakers during the conference highlighted the work that has been
completed.
<P>Rebecca Fris, of the Bay Delta Authority, talked about installation of
fish screens along the Sacramento River, removing five dams along Battle
Creek and the protection of 10,000 acres of riparian habitat, among other
achievements.
<P>Water leaders have also amassed more information about water quality,
explained Kathy Russick, of the Sacramento River Watershed Program.
<P>She said the use of diazinon, which harms fish, has dropped
dramatically, and regulators are trying to educate certain segments of the
public about danger of eating too much fish that contains mercury.
<P>But there is still a lot of work to be done.
<P>Tom Griggs, of River Partners, which installs and manages wildlife
habitat restoration, explained its somewhat of an ongoing battle. The
Sacramento River is not a natural system, due to levees and dams.
<P>Fighting non-native invasive weeds continues and there is not enough
funding to catch introduction of each and every new weed that pops up,
Griggs said.
<P>
<P>Staff writer Heather Hacking can be reached at 896-7758 or
hhacking@chicoer.com.
<P>
<P>On the Internet:
<P>Little Hoover Commission: lhc.ca.gov
<P>calwater.ca.gov
<P>sacramentoriver.org
<P>cdfa.ca.gov/weedhome </P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></H2>
<H2> </H2>
<H2><A
href="http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=7486">http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=7486</A></H2>
<H2>Salinity Threatens Sustainability of Irrigated Agriculture in California's
Heartland, Study Finds</H2>
<P class=msmallcopy><B>October 27, 2005</B></P><!-- [If: (Field: 'editors_notes') != ''] --><!-- <p class="msmallcopy"><b>Editor's note</b>: [Field: 'editors_notes', -EncodeNone]</p> --><!-- [/If] -->
<DIV class=mediumcopy><!-- [$sqlQuery] --><!-- End [If: Found_Count != 0] -->
<P class=msmallcopy>
<P>The long-term viability of irrigated agriculture in California's highly
productive San Joaquin Valley is threatened by the accumulation of salt in soils
and groundwater, reports a team of researchers at the University of California,
Davis.</P>
<P>The researchers found that irrigated agriculture on the west side of the San
Joaquin Valley is at risk due to the lack of fresh water, inadequate natural
drainage and high water tables. The study focused on 1,400 square kilometers
(about 540 square miles) in western Fresno County on the west side of the San
Joaquin Valley. The findings are published online in the Journal of the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.</P>
<P>"Few studies have been able to model the complex, three-dimensional hydrology
and salt chemistry of an irrigated region as we did in this study," said Jan
Hopmans, a UC Davis soil hydrologist and co-investigator on the study. "Our
analysis shows the impacts of droughts and changes in water management on water
levels and salinity, and provides insight into the long-term behavior of this
irrigated agricultural system and its sustainability."</P>
<P>Salt build-up in soils and groundwater is a global problem that affects 20 to
30 percent of the world's 260 million hectares (about 642 million acres) of
irrigated land, thus limiting world global food production. Salt is problematic
for crop production because it upsets a plant's ability to take in water by its
roots. If salt concentration in the soil is very high, the flow of water into
the plant is actually reversed and the plant dehydrates and eventually dies.</P>
<P>In order to fully evaluate the effects of salinization in the San Joaquin
Valley, the researchers developed a computer model that takes into consideration
the hydrology and the salt chemistry of both the soils and the groundwater
system. The model enabled them to reconstruct historical changes in soil and
groundwater salinization in general, and specifically for the western San
Joaquin Valley, starting in 1940.</P>
<P>The model indicated that soil salinity in the area was high in 1940, but
decreased until 1975 because low-salinity snowmelt water was brought in by state
and federal water projects, flushing salts out of the surface soils and down
into deeper water sources or aquifers. This pattern was reversed during the
1970s as increased irrigation in the valley raised the water table, drawing up
some of those salts that previously had been leached downward. As the
groundwater levels rose toward the surface, farmers applied less irrigation
water to prevent water logging -- and consequently increased the soil salinity.
This problem was compounded by the use of more saline surface water for
irrigation during occasional droughts.</P>
<P>The model also revealed that the dissolved mineral content of the soil and
the type of water source -- whether groundwater or snowmelt -- are, in the long
term, critically important in the salinization process.</P>
<P>The researchers forecast that, although it may take decades, salt
accumulation will continue in this region, decreasing the quality of deeper
groundwater sources and jeopardizing water used both for irrigation and
drinking.</P>
<P>This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation, the UC Salinity Drainage Program and the Netherlands
Organization for Scientific Research.</P>
<P></P></DIV><!-- Display More Info links, if any -->
<P class=msmallcopy><B>Media contact(s):</B><BR>• Jan Hopmans, Dept. of Land Air
and Water Resources, (530) 752-3060, <A
href="mailto:jwhopmans@ucdavis.edu">jwhopmans@ucdavis.edu</A><BR>• Pat Bailey,
UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-9843, <A
href="mailto:pjbailey@ucdavis.edu">pjbailey@ucdavis.edu</A></P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>PLEASE NOTE NEW ADDRESS, PHONE AND FAX</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Tom Stokely<BR>Principal Planner<BR>Trinity Co.
Planning/Natural Resources<BR>PO Box 2819<BR>190 Glen Rd.<BR>Weaverville, CA
96093-2819<BR>530-623-1351, ext. 3407<BR>FAX 623-1353<BR><A
href="mailto:tstokely@trinityalps.net">tstokely@trinityalps.net</A> or <A
href="mailto:tstokely@trinitycounty.org">tstokely@trinitycounty.org</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>