As drought slams California and Oregon, Klamath farmers grow fish to quell a water war [Los Angeles Times]
…But water spews from the hot springs on Ron Barnes’ land near the California-Oregon border, pure and perfect for rearing c’waam and koptu, two kinds of endangered suckerfish sacred to Native American tribes….“We’re doing our damnedest to keep cooler heads here, to let cooler heads prevail,” said Scott Seus, a family farmer who relies on water from the lake. “There’s a sense of desperation right now, and not many people who want to listen.” Federal scientists and wildlife officials have asserted that maintaining a healthy lake is critical for preventing extinction of the suckerfish, as the U.S. Endangered Species Act requires them to do. But families who have homesteaded here for generations say their problems stem not from the degraded lake or climate change — which many of them dismiss — but government ineptitude. They say federal regulators keep doing the same things year after year, benefiting neither fish nor farmers. “I just wish we could look at it and say, ‘We’ve been doing this and we’re not getting any success, can we try it a little different?’” said Paul Crawford, a local grower. After farmers were told this year that they wouldn’t receive any water from the lake, a small contingent of land owners formed an alliance with People’s Rights, a group backed by militant anti-government activist Ammon Bundy.
Klamath farmers bank on fish in California drought conflict – Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)
Western wildfires are hitting lumber prices [Wall Street Journal]
Lumber prices finally cooled off. Now come the fires. Forest fires raging in the West are threatening an important swath of the U.S.’s wood supply, pinching output that has been under pressure since the Covid-19 pandemic touched off homebuying and remodeling booms and sent lumber prices soaring. Canfor Corp. CFPZF -0.70% , one of North America’s largest lumber producers, said that starting Monday it would cut back output at its mills in British Columbia because of hundreds of blazes that have broken out in the Canadian province and challenged its ability to shuttle wood to and from its facilities. The company expects to reduce output at its 10 operating mills there by a total of about 115 million board feet during the quarter. That is only a sliver of North America’s overall supply. Yet analysts said they expected further curtailments because of fires that are scorching logging forests on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border. In addition, lumber prices have fallen below the cost of sawing boards in the continent’s most expensive place to process timber.
Western Wildfires Are Hitting Lumber Prices – WSJ
Vilsack defends farmworker changes against immigration attacks [Modesto Bee]
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack batted back attacks from Republicans on the Biden administration’s border policies while discussing migrant farmworker programs at a Wednesday hearing, where Sen. Ted Cruz called Vilsack’s view on immigration “fertilizer.”…Vilsack defended the immigration portions of the proposed legislation, known as the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, pushing back against claims that a process allowing farmworkers to apply for U.S. citizenship after paying a $1,000 penalty fee is “amnesty.” He also challenged Republicans’ position that a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants cannot come without heightened border security measures. After Cruz described the border last year under former President Donald Trump as “the most secure it’d been in 45 years,” Vilsack hit back: “If that’s the case, then why didn’t you all pass the Modernization Act last year after it passed the House?”
Vilsack defends farmworker changes against immigration attacks | Modesto Bee (modbee.com)
Opinion: California should invest in water recycling plants to fight drought [CalMatters]
Climate change is forcing our state to reimagine our water supply future. How do we do that? Easy — we reuse water. Just like recycling a plastic bottle, we can safely use recycled water for drinking, irrigating parks, support environmental uses, grow crops, produce energy, and much more….Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature are considering a drought funding package this summer that will use some of the budget surpluses to mitigate drought effects and prepare our state for our new water-scarce future. The governor and the Legislature need to continue their commitment to recycled water by making a significant investment of at least $500 million in the package….More than 16 billion gallons per year of recycled water for agricultural irrigation, recharging groundwater aquifers, and environmental preservation in the Sacramento region; 5 million gallons per day to replenish groundwater basins for agricultural and drinking water in Monterey.
Meat and tractors: Biden administration pushes farm-friendly regulations [Salinas Californian]
California growers and ranchers counted two big wins this summer that came in the form of an executive order signed by President Joe Biden. In June, Biden signed an executive order calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to consider issuing new rules defining when meat can use “Product of USA” labels. It also encourages the Federal Trade Commission to limit farm equipment manufacturers’ ability to restrict the use of independent repair shops or do-it-yourself repairs — such as when tractor companies block farmers from repairing their own tractors….Kester is a past president of the California Cattlemen’s Association and of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. The U.S. Department of Agriculture change is something that the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has been pushing for since at least 2019, he said. “If it has U.S. fat, you can call it a product of USA,” Kester said. “Part of it is (U.S.-made) but part of it isn’t, and we think that label should mean something. “If it’s something the U.S. consumer wants, a lot of times they’ll pay a little bit more for it to get what they want. That means a little more money for the whole chain, all the way back to the ranch,” he said.
Plummeting reservoir levels could soon force Oroville hydropower offline [Los Angeles Times]
A major California hydroelectric power plant could soon stop generating power amid worsening drought conditions. According to state water officials, the Edward Hyatt Powerplant at Lake Oroville could go offline as soon as August or September — a time frame that would coincide with a feared power crunch this summer. The plant, which opened in the late 1960s, has never been forced offline by low lake levels before. “I think it’s a bit shocking,” said Jordan Kern, a professor at the department of forestry and environmental resources at North Carolina State University. “The fact that it’s projected to go offline just speaks to how severe the drought is,” said Kern, who studies how power grids are impacted by extreme weather….For decades, outflows from Lake Oroville — California’s second-largest reservoir — have generated electricity that feeds into the statewide grid. Located in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada, the Oroville Dam complex includes the eponymous dam and three power plants that work together to pump and store water and generate hydroelectric power. The facilities also serve flood management, water quality improvement and fish and wildlife needs. The complex is a key component of the State Water Project, a 700-mile system of aqueducts, reservoirs and pumping plants that stores and distributes water to urban and agricultural users in Northern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.
Low water levels could force Oroville hydropower offline – Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)
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