By: Scott Greacen April 18, 2014 New Rules for Drying Times? Serial Variance Requests Reveal Vulnerability of Eel River Fisheries to Demands from Russian River Irrigators The Eel River’s surviving salmonids—chinook, coho, and steelhead—are struggling to come back from near-extinction. Good returns from 2010 to 13, particularly for chinook, felt like recovery might be getting … Read more
…with logging activity on the decline across much of the region and a thriving black market for pot — plus state-sanctioned recreational marijuana sales in Washington and Colorado — the spread of cannabis cultivation is now seen by many environmentalists and government scientists as the greatest threat to forests and streams damaged by decades of … Read more
Situated on the coastline of the notorious marijuana-farming Humboldt County, Greacen’s organization has witnessed firsthand some of the highs and lows for this new industry as it’s blossomed from a small handful of ex-hippies and cartel affiliates to a full-blown source of regional livelihood. “We see that there are big groups waiting in the wings, … Read more
In drought-hit California, marijuana growers are feeling the heat, accused of using too much water for their thirsty plants and of polluting streams and rivers with their pesticides and fertilizers. … Nevedal and other pot backers said the ultimate solution was for Congress to fully legalize the drug, which she said would eliminate the need … Read more
It’s amazingly easy to steal water from a California stream. Even in this epic drought, the state has no way of monitoring exactly who is tapping into its freshwater supplies and how much they take. And those who do get caught taking water they have no right to often are allowed to keep taking it … Read more
Irrigation districts provide water that’s key to agricultural prosperity in the Northern San Joaquin Valley, but some of those districts also have been cashing in on the region’s water resources. … Concerns about falling groundwater levels persuaded Stanislaus County supervisors to outlaw groundwater mining last fall, but their ordinance exempted irrigation districts from the ban. … Read more
The two dams on the Elwha River in Washington state have been nearly completely removed – the Lower Elwha Dam was removed in 2012, and the remaining 25 feet or so of the Glines Canyon Dam is expected to be gone in September 2014. Incredible changes have taken place in this landscape since the … Read more
On March 13, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) announced expedited approval for the installation of storage tanks by landowners who currently divert water from coastal rivers in CDFW regions 1 & 3. Humboldt County and most of the Eel River watershed are … Read more
Sustaining our ecosystem is like paddling a canoe, Strange, a former river guide, pointed out. “You have to know what happened upstream and where the rapids are, and you have to paddle together, stay balanced, and respect the river.” “Nothing is more scary and sensitive to landowners than questions about their water use,” said Stolzman. … Read more
This kind of science represents the future: large-scale, wired programs that integrate fertile teams of naturalists, geoscientists and programmers. Science and engineering students could set their sights on cookie-cutter technology careers or take on the greatest challenge of our time: learning how the Earth works and changing our ways of life to work with it. … Read more