Snowpack in California’s Sierra Nevada could disappear in just 25 years [San Francisco Chronicle]
As the climate continues to warm, more and more of the snow falling on California’s mountains will be replaced by rain. Already in recent decades, the snow season has shrunk by a month, according to one estimate, while snow levels have moved upward by 1,200 feet, according to another. Scientists and water managers say that at some point California’s snowpack could simply disappear. This would leave the state without the crucial spring and summer melt-off that fills rivers and streams, nourishes plants and animals, and provides a huge chunk of the water supply. This snowless future, according to a new study led by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, could arrive in California’s Sierra Nevada in as soon as 25 years. The study is among many to detail the decline in snow, but it’s unique in synthesizing decades of research to nail down exactly when the snow might be gone. And it offers a timeline that is alarmingly short. The new study, published last month in the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, projects that by the late 2040s, half of the area historically covered by snow in the Sierra will likely have “low or no” snow for five straight years, given current warming trends. By the late 2050s, it could be 10 straight years that the same area sees low or no snow.
Water restrictions coming to Bakersfield to address drought [Bakersfield Californian]
Bakersfield’s two largest water providers will soon implement new restrictions to head off the potentially dire impacts of an extended drought. On Dec. 14, the city of Bakersfield and California Water Service plan to limit the days customers can use water for outdoor landscaping. Other restrictions, like no longer automatically serving drinking water at restaurants, will also go into effect as officials attempt to meet or exceed Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call to reduce water usage by 15 percent. “We’re coming off of a dry water year — a drought year — from last year and we are several months now into our new water year, and it’s in November and we haven’t had a first snowfall,” said Art Chianello, Bakersfield’s water resources manager. The new restrictions are the latest and most extreme in a series of drought-mitigation measures that have been implemented throughout the year. Kern River runoff this year was the second lowest ever recorded, at 15 percent of normal. And Isabella Lake is being kept at notably low levels for this time of year, dipping to roughly 9 percent of its full capacity as of Monday.
Drought has big impacts on California agriculture [Cal Matters]
Dan Walters column: As California experiences a second year of drought, with no end in sight, the effects on California’s largest-in-the-nation agricultural industry are profound and perhaps permanent. State and federal water agencies have cut deliveries to some farmers to zero while others, thanks to water rights dating back more than a century, still have access to water. Farmers are reacting to shortages in three, often intertwined ways — suspending cultivation of some fields or ripping up orchards for lack of water, drilling new wells to tap into diminishing aquifers, and buying water from those who have it. All three have major economic impacts. They are driving some farmers, particularly small family operations, out of business altogether, accelerating the shift to large-scale agribusiness corporations with the financial resources to cope, changing the kinds of crops that can be profitably grown, and supercharging the semi-secretive market for buying and selling water. By happenstance, all of these trends are occurring just as the state begins to implement a 2014 law aimed at limiting the amount of water that farmers can pump from underground aquifers.
https://calmatters.org/commentary/2021/11/groundwater-management-drought-california-agriculture/
Recycled water can boost sustainable agriculture — if we get over the ‘yuck’ factor [Washington Post]
There’s increasing pressure in the United States to build a more climate-resilient food system, in recognition of the threats to the food supply from climate change and environmental degradation. California’s persistent droughts, for instance, give water conservation methods new urgency — as the state’s massive agricultural industry accounts for 80 percent of California’s water usage. Since agriculture accounts for 69 percent of water use globally and 36 percent of overall water use in the United States, policymakers are eager to reduce freshwater demand. Boosting the use of recycled water within the U.S. agricultural sector might seem an obvious solution, but farmers — including greenhouse growers — have been reluctant to use recycled water. Why is that, given the urgent need for water conservation in agricultural production? Between spring 2019 and winter 2020, we surveyed 285 greenhouse growers across the United States to measure their knowledge, perceptions and willingness to use recycled water within greenhouse production. We found that 73 percent of the respondents had not used recycled water. Most growers (83 percent) expressed an initial willingness to use recycled water on nonfood crops such as ornamental plants. However, their willingness dropped to 36 percent if recycled water could come in direct contact with food crops.
UC Davis study shows pesticide can impact generations of bees. Here’s what you can do
A recently released study by researchers at the University of California, Davis revealed that pesticides can have lasting effects on bee health, reducing their reproduction rate. According to the findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, multiple generations of bees may be needed to recover from one pesticide application. The study was conducted by exposing blue orchard bees to imidacloprid, a common insect control chemical, with the label’s recommended amount. The bees were given one application for two years, which is a standard level of exposure. “Repeated exposure across two years had an additive negative effect on individual reproduction, which led to a really dramatic reduction in population growth,” said Clara Stuligross, the study’s lead author. Researchers concluded that bees that came into contact with insecticides as larvae and as adults produced 44% fewer brood. And bees that were exposed to the chemical two years straight had a 72% reduced population growth rate, compared to bees that did not have any level of exposure.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/environment/article256210167.html
Wish Book: Santa Cruz farm provides jobs to the homeless, food for the community [San Jose Mercury News]
Brenda Deckman had lots of jobs in her life. Nurse’s aide. Manager of a Subway sandwich shop. Home health care aide. Laundromat worker. But after a turbulent marriage that ended with her losing custody of her 5-year-old son, she fell into a deep depression, spiraled downward and ended up homeless, living in a tent in the Pogonip Open Space Preserve, a 640-acre wooded park on the northern edge of Santa Cruz. That was nearly four years ago. Deckman’s life turned around, and she found new purpose after several of her friends mentioned that they had been hired at the Homeless Garden Project. Founded in 1990, the nonprofit organization runs a 3.5-acre farm near Highway 1 on Santa Cruz’s western edge not far from Natural Bridges State Park. The project hires 17 homeless people a year. They work 20 hours a week, are paid minimum wage and given a free lunch. Social workers provide counseling and help the “trainees,” as they are called, obtain health care, open bank accounts, enter alcohol and drug counseling and find a place to live. Working the land, they grow more than 80 crops. Along the way, many find new purpose, focus and recovery. The project runs a farm stand and a community-supported agriculture program, where local residents pay between $475 and $700 to buy annual shares in the farm. They receive a weekly box of fresh, organic produce, strawberries, herbs and bouquet of flowers from May through October.
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