Drought ravages California’s reservoirs ahead of a hot summer [Associated Press]
… While droughts are common in California, this year’s is much hotter and drier than others, evaporating water more quickly from the reservoirs and the sparse Sierra Nevada snowpack that feeds them. … The impacts of dwindling reservoirs go beyond luxury yachts and weekend anglers. Salmon need cold water from the bottom of the reservoirs to spawn. The San Francisco Bay needs fresh water from the reservoirs to keep out the salt water that harms freshwater fish. Farmers need the water to irrigate their crops. Businesses need reservoirs full so people will come play in them and spend money.
Drought losses mounting in Sonoma County agricultural sector [Santa Rosa Press Democrat]
… This is a time for difficult choices for many in Sonoma County’s nearly $1 billion agricultural industry — where people devoted to making things grow instead find they’re having to let some things go this year. … “People are making really hard decisions,” said Tawny Tesconi, executive director of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau. “Deciding whether to let that block of grapes go or whether to sell 50 cows — it’s tough. There’s a lot of tough decisions being made right now.” … Producers are unified in the scramble to adapt, by turning to different water sources or curtailing their operations to make do with what they have, often at significant loss.
Farmers in the Klamath Basin threaten another water ‘standoff’: What to know [Redding Record Searchlight]
Farmers in the Klamath Basin of Southern Oregon and Northern California say the water shortage and lack of water available to farmers has reached a “crisis” point and they are threatening to take matters into their own hands to ensure they get the water they say is due to them. … A meeting planned for Thursday includes the mayor and police chief from Malin, Oregon, and the mayor from Merrill, Oregon. Knoll said he and others have exhausted legal remedies, which include asking the federal and state government to compensate farmers in the area for the water that they say belongs to them.
Even vaccinated California workers may have to keep masks on [Associated Press]
… The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board meets Thursday and will consider new workplace rules that would only allow workers to go maskless if everyone in a room is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. … Business groups are upset the staff didn’t ease its masking recommendation during a two-week delay since the board postponed its consideration while its staff reviewed the CDC guidelines. “I’m a little mystified why they didn’t do more,” said California Farm Bureau director of employment policy Bryan Little, whose organization joined more than three-dozen agribusiness opponents of the proposed rules. “I think that’s an unreasonable expectation on their part.”
Federal housing officials order Santa Maria to repeal H-2A ordinance or face potential $400K fine [Santa Maria Times]
Federal housing officials have ordered the Santa Maria City Council to repeal an H-2A housing ordinance that may be considered discriminatory or face a potential $400,000 fine, a city spokesman confirmed Wednesday. … The 2019 ordinance requires agricultural employers to obtain discretionary permits to house H-2A workers, or temporary guest workers, in single-family areas of the city. … U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development notified city officials on May 20 that the ordinance was found to specifically regulate H-2A employers, which in turn singles out people from a foreign country who are a federally protected class, according to city spokesman Mark van de Kamp.
Sierra logging projects won’t be halted while lawsuit is decided about endangered animal [Fresno Bee]
A request to temporarily halt many logging projects in Sierra, Sequoia and Stanislaus national forests while a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is being decided was denied by a federal judge in Fresno. In addition to rejecting that motion for a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Court Judge Dale Drozd on Friday also denied a request from the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service to strike allegations against them. The complaint, filed March 26 by conservation groups Unite the Parks, Sequoia Forestkeeper and Earth Island, alleges those federal agencies failed to adequately study and protect the federally-endangered Southern Sierra Nevada distinct population of Pacific fisher, a tree-dwelling mammal in the weasel family.
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article251852258.html
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