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<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><font size=4 color=black
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:black;
font-weight:bold'>Feds May Let Salty Farmland Go Fallow<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><font size=4 color=black
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:black;
font-weight:bold'>San Francisco Chronicle – 7/12/06<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><b><font size=4 color=black
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:black;
font-weight:bold'>By Olivia Munoz, Associated Press</span></font></b><font
size=4 color=black><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>Dry, brittle
grass is all that pokes through earth that once grew tons of tomatoes, garlic
and lettuce.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>Poor drainage
has left land on the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San Joaquin</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>'s west side salty
and worthless, a nightmare for farmers and the federal government, which
provides irrigation <strong><b><font face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-weight:normal'>water</span></font></b></strong> here.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>Over the
years, numerous efforts to drain the poisoned land and salvage it for
agriculture have failed. Now, the government is considering spending hundreds
of millions of dollars to pay off farmers and get out of its obligation to
irrigate the land — effectively letting the 300,000-acre swath go fallow.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>That's the
preferred alternative among the latest set of proposals from the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation. Another calls for pumping the <strong><b><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-weight:normal'>water</span></font></b></strong>
out to sea, an idea opposed by officials in coastal cities.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>"It's a
very complex issue. We've been trying to figure this out for a long time,"
said Jerry Robbins, a project manager with the reclamation bureau.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>Drainage
problems on the land stretching along a 90-mile stretch from Los Banos to <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Kettleman</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">City</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> are caused by a natural layer of
clay beneath the surface that keeps <strong><b><font face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-weight:normal'>water</span></font></b></strong> from draining
through. The small amounts of salt in the <strong><b><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-weight:normal'>water</span></font></b></strong>
builds up over time, leaving the fields unsuitable for crops.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>When the
government agreed to irrigate the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">San
Joaquin</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
in 1960, both growers and federal <strong><b><font face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-weight:normal'>water</span></font></b></strong> officials knew
drainage would be an issue. The government agreed to build a drainage system
from the beginning.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>But a
partially completed drainage system that funneled the salty <strong><b><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-weight:normal'>water</span></font></b></strong>
into 1,200 acres of ponds at Kesterson Reservoir became an environmental
disaster in the early 1980s, due to high levels of the mineral selenium, which
is toxic in large quantities.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>Residue from
the evaporating <strong><b><font face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-weight:
normal'>water</span></font></b></strong> caused deaths and birth defects in
millions of waterfowl, including missing eyes and partially developed limbs.
The Kesterson drain was shut down in 1985 and the ponds were filled in with
dirt.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>Many fear a
similar tragedy if farmers take the buyout and the <strong><b><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-weight:normal'>water</span></font></b></strong>
is left to gather in "evaporation ponds."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>According to
Robbins, it would cost the taxpayer-funded reclamation bureau at least $750
million to buy out the <strong><b><font face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-weight:normal'>water</span></font></b></strong> rights. The farmers
would still own it and could theoretically grow on it, but with rain <strong><b><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-weight:normal'>water</span></font></b></strong>
only, and that's scarce for most of the year.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>A few
farmers, like <st1:PersonName w:st="on">John</st1:PersonName> Diener, have
found ways to squeeze a livelihood from the land.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>At his Red
Rock Ranch in Five Points, the <strong><b><font face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-weight:normal'>water</span></font></b></strong> is naturally
filtered when it gently trickles down his sloping fields of alfalfa and
grasses. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>From high to
low, each crop is more salt-tolerant than the last, and a little salt is
removed from the <strong><b><font face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-weight:normal'>water</span></font></b></strong> at each stage.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>He has other
ways to convert the otherwise poison <strong><b><font face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-weight:normal'>water</span></font></b></strong> into a more
valuable product. He pumps it through a sprinkler, which sprays the <strong><b><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-weight:normal'>water</span></font></b></strong>
on a bed of slate chunks. They help separate the salt crystals from the <strong><b><font
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-weight:normal'>water</span></font></b></strong>.
Those salt particles are used to make dry laundry detergent.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>"I opted
to find a way to keep farming," Diener said. "I thought we could find
a way to do what Americans do best and that's be innovative."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>The Bureau of
Reclamation has given the public until July 31 to comment on its proposals.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>Gabriel
Gonzalez, city manager of nearby Mendota, said the retirement of all that land
would devastate his residents. Mendota, which has about 8,700 people, has a
steady unemployment rate of about 25 percent, even during peak harvesting
season, Gonzalez said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p style='margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><font size=4 color=black
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt;color:black'>"We are
already a community that almost totally relies on agriculture for jobs and a
tax base," he said. "There have already been thousands of acres
retired and we've seen the impact."</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName w:st="on"><em><i><font size=3 color=gray
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker</span></font></i></em></st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends of <st1:place w:st="on">Trinity
River</st1:place></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Advisor, California Trout, Inc</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:address w:st="on"><st1:Street w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>PO Box</span></font></i></em></st1:Street><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'> 2327</span></font></i></em></st1:address><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><em><i><font
size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
color:gray'>Mill Valley</span></font></i></em></st1:City><em><i><font
color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span style='color:gray'>, <st1:State w:st="on">CA</st1:State>
<st1:PostalCode w:st="on">94942-2327</st1:PostalCode></span></font></i></em></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810 ph</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 color=gray face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 9562 fx</span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net">bwl3@comcast.net</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org">bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="http://www.fotr.org">http://www.fotr.org</a></span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><em><i><u><font size=3 color=blue face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:blue'>http:www.caltrout.org</span></font></u><font
color=lime><span style='color:lime'> </span></font></i></em><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> </span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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