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<h1><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Bollibokka and Yolo and <o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<h1>Yolo officials fear big water districts will buy up revenue-rich ag lands
to aid smelt<o:p></o:p></h1>
<h1><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-weight:normal'>By Hudson Sangree</span><span
style='font-size:11.0pt'> <br>
<a href="mailto:hsangree@sacbee.com">hsangree@sacbee.com</a> <o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal>Published: Thursday, Sep. 17, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 3B <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><b>Over the years, <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Yolo+County/"><span
style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Yolo County</span></a>
residents have taken pride in their restored wetlands.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>The <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Yolo+Bypass+Wildlife+Area/"><span
style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Yolo Bypass Wildlife
Area,</span></a> for example, lines Interstate 80 between Davis and West
Sacramento, its reed beds filled with migrating waterfowl.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>Now, however, Yolo officials see the restoration of other wetlands as a
potential threat – and are taking steps to prevent it. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>They're worried that powerful <a
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/water+districts/"><span style='font-size:11.5pt;
font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>water districts</span></a> from <a
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Southern+California/"><span style='font-size:
11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Southern California,</span></a> which
draw water from the <a
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Sacramento-San+Joaquin+Delta/"><span
style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Sacramento-San Joaquin
Delta,</span></a> will buy up tracts of Yolo open land and flood them to create
habitat for the endangered <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Delta/"><span
style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Delta</span></a> smelt.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Yolo+County/"><span style='font-size:
11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Yolo County</span></a> leaders fear the
efforts could take farmland out of production and eliminate <a
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/tax+dollars/"><span style='font-size:11.5pt;
font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>tax dollars,</span></a> while the county is
desperate for revenue.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>This week, <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Yolo+County/"><span
style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Yolo County</span></a>
supervisors held a workshop on a proposed ordinance that would give them
authority over the conversion of farmland to wetlands.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>"We have to have some protection," Supervisor <a
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Jim+Provenza/"><span style='font-size:11.5pt;
font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Jim Provenza</span></a> of Davis said at the
meeting.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>Anxiety in Yolo has increased as <a
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/water+districts/"><span style='font-size:11.5pt;
font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>water districts</span></a> eye the rural county
as a prime spot for habitat restoration. The <a
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/water+districts/"><span style='font-size:11.5pt;
font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>water districts</span></a> are under pressure
from the state and federal governments to provide aquatic habitat for the smelt
or risk losing their <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/water+supplies/"><span
style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>water supplies.</span></a><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>"<a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Yolo+County/"><span
style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Yolo County's</span></a>
going to be fertile ground for these projects," Supervisor <a
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Mike+McGowan/"><span style='font-size:11.5pt;
font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Mike McGowan</span></a> said.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>"We're ground zero. We're the bull's-eye."<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>The <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/water+districts/"><span
style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>water districts</span></a>
care only about keeping "the plumbing moving down south," he said.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>The county was caught off guard in December 2007 when the <a
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Westlands+Water+District/"><span
style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Westlands Water District</span></a>
– which irrigates more than 600,000 acres of farmland in the <a
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/San+Joaquin+Valley/"><span style='font-size:
11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>San Joaquin Valley</span></a> –
purchased a 3,400-acre ranch in the Yolo Bypass.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>The bypass is a low-lying area used for <a
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/flood+protection/"><span style='font-size:11.5pt;
font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>flood protection,</span></a> farming and
habitat. Its southern portion is deemed prime for smelt because its elevation
allows natural tides to sweep up the <a
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Sacramento+River/"><span style='font-size:11.5pt;
font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Sacramento River</span></a> and inundate the
land.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>The smelt, tiny fish key to the <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Delta/"><span
style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Delta's</span></a> food
chain and ecosystem, are thought to be nearing extinction. They thrive in tidal
wetlands.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>Westlands spokeswoman <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Sarah+Woolf/"><span
style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Sarah Woolf</span></a>
said the water district has no plans to purchase any more land in Yolo.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>"We don't have any intention to purchase additional acreage of any
kind," she said.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>"We want to see if this project works – to improve the health
of the <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Delta/"><span style='font-size:11.5pt;
font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Delta</span></a> and the species."<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>She said she wasn't familiar with the proposed ordinance but didn't think
it was necessary.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>"It's unfortunate, because I think everyone is trying to find a way
to save the health of the <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Delta/"><span
style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Delta,</span></a>"
she said.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>Yolo leaders are also worried that the <a
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Metropolitan+Water+District/"><span
style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Metropolitan Water
District,</span></a> which supplies water to 18 million people in <a
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Los+Angeles/"><span style='font-size:11.5pt;
font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Los Angeles</span></a> and <a
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/San+Diego/"><span style='font-size:11.5pt;
font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>San Diego,</span></a> would try to buy up swaths
of land.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>District spokesman <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Bob+Muir/"><span
style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Bob Muir</span></a> said
he hadn't heard about the proposed Yolo ordinance but believed a collaborative
approach is needed.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>That was also the message of those who spoke against the ordinance at
Tuesday's workshop, including representatives of Ducks Unlimited and the <a
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/California+Waterfowl+Association/"><span
style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>California Waterfowl
Association.</span></a><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b><a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Robin+Kulakow/"><span style='font-size:
11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Robin Kulakow</span></a> is executive
director of the <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Yolo+Basin+Foundation/"><span
style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Yolo Basin Foundation,</span></a>
a group that provides educational programs in the <a
href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Yolo+Bypass+Wildlife+Area/"><span
style='font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"'>Yolo Bypass Wildlife
Area.</span></a><o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>The area was established through public-private cooperation, she said.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>She told the supervisors that the ordinance would be "a step
backward" and encouraged them to work with various groups to come up with
solutions.<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p><b>"Now is not the time to make conservation efforts more
complicated," she said. <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker, JcT</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends
of Trinity River</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>PO Box 2327</span></i><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Mill Valley, CA
94942-2327</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 383 4810
land</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>415 519 4810
cell</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bwl3@comcast.net"><span style='color:blue'>bwl3@comcast.net</span></a></span></i></b><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="mailto:bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org"><span style='color:blue'>bleydecker@stanfordalumni.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>(secondary)</span></i><b><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'><a
href="http://fotr.org/"><span style='color:blue'>http://www.fotr.org</span></a>
</span></i></b><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
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