Pulling out trees, trucking water for cows: California farmers take drastic measures in drought [San Francisco Chronicle]
… California’s agriculture sector is likely to experience the biggest impact of the record-breaking drought. … The drought’s hit to California farms is uneven, depending on the source in the state’s complex and overtapped water distribution system. … Many farmers’ fallback in dry years is to buy water from farmers with a surplus or to pump groundwater. But there hasn’t been extra water to buy, and groundwater is especially limited in the San Joaquin Valley because of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, a state policy established during the last drought that limits how much water farmers can pump from the aquifer.
State orders halt to hundreds of Russian River diversions in Sonoma, Mendocino counties as drought imperils supplies [Santa Rosa Press Democrat]
State regulators have begun notifying more than 900 water rights holders in Sonoma and Mendocino counties that they must stop drawing from the upper Russian River, where drought-shriveled flows are unable to sustain those diversions for irrigation and household use, according to the state. … The water board has so far sent notices to 930 water right holders in the two counties informing them supplies are insufficient to fulfill their claims and still ensure local communities have enough drinking water for this year and next. The move affects grape growers and farmers, as well as other rural landowners, residents and small water suppliers that run from Ukiah through Hopland and Cloverdale.
Shasta River dangerously low on water: conservation group [Jefferson Public Radio]
… Friends of the Shasta River, a grassroots group of citizens in the Shasta River Basin, is worried that diversions for agriculture could cause the river to go dry this summer. The Shasta provides critical rearing habitat for Chinook salmon in the Klamath River system, as well as habitat for steelhead and threatened coho salmon. Now, the group is calling on government water managers to set a minimum water level needed for fish to survive.
Opinion: San Joaquin Valley needs to stop waiting to be rescued from droughts [Fresno Bee]
… The eight counties of the San Joaquin Valley must take their water future into their own hands and approach water resource management as a region, despite the differences represented amongst the counties. While climate, crops, farming practices and water conditions vary significantly from the north to the south ends of the Valley, we all share agriculture as a driving force for our economies. Competent and sustainable water management is crucial to sustain that economic base.
https://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article251977313.html
Biden nominee for public lands boss faces GOP opposition [Associated Press]
President Joe Biden’s nominee to oversee vast expanses of U.S. public lands was criticized Tuesday by Republicans over her past involvement in partisan politics as a longtime Democratic aide and environmentalist, underscoring the importance lawmakers assign to a relatively small agency with broad influence over energy development and agriculture in western states. Senate confirmation of Tracy Stone-Manning to direct the U.S. Bureau of Land Management would mark a stark change from the government’s catering to oil and gas interests under former President Donald Trump.
California worker board to again reconsider mask standards [Associated Press]
California’s workplace regulators are set to again reconsider controversial masking rules designed to protect employees against the coronavirus. A “special meeting” of the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board was hastily scheduled for Wednesday after State Health Officer Dr. Tomás Aragón sent a letter to the panel reiterating that the state plans to do away with virtually all masking and social distancing requirements for vaccinated people starting Tuesday.
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