Monterey County agriculture industry has vaccinated 42,000 farmworkers [Monterey Herald]
…“This remarkable level of vaccinations comes after weeks of vaccination clinics held exclusively for farmworkers in all areas of Monterey County, including large clinics,” said Kim Stemler, executive director of the Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association. From the beginning of the pandemic, the agriculture industry was considered essential and most employees in the sector were deemed essential workers. “People can’t eat without growers and the people who pick the crops,” said Stemler. “We’ve been leaders in the state, and dare I say the nation, in setting up health and safety protocols.”
Santa Barbara County water supplies adequate for short term despite drought, officials say [Santa Maria Times]
Having received just 48% of normal rainfall for the water year, which began Sept. 1 and will end Aug. 31, Santa Barbara County may be experiencing a bit of déjà vu, having been placed in the “severe drought” category again by the U.S. Drought Monitor. But despite a winter that brought less than half the normal rainfall, the county’s water supply is generally in good shape, and able to provide enough for drinking, firefighting and irrigation in the short term, city and county officials said. “The last 10 years are actually the driest 10-year period we have records of, except for the wetter years of 2017 and ’19,” said Matt Young, the County Public Works Department’s Water Agency manager. “You might question whether we even came out of the drought.”
The sinking Central Valley town [SJV Water]
In California’s San Joaquin Valley, the farming town of Corcoran has a multimillion-dollar problem. It is almost impossible to see, yet so vast it takes NASA scientists using satellite technology to fully grasp. Corcoran is sinking….The main reason Corcoran has been subsiding is not nature. It’s agriculture. In Corcoran and other parts of the San Joaquin Valley, the land has gradually but steadily dropped primarily because agricultural companies have for decades pumped underground water to irrigate their crops, according to the U.S.G.S. California Water Science Center.
LOIS HENRY: The sinking Central Valley town | Lois Henry | bakersfield.com
Amid historic drought, a new water war in the west [New York Times]
Through the marshlands along the Oregon-California border, the federal government a century ago carved a whole new landscape, draining lakes and channeling rivers to build a farming economy that now supplies alfalfa for dairy cows and potatoes for Frito-Lay chips. The drawdowns needed to cover the croplands and the impacts on local fish nearing extinction have long been a point of conflict at the Klamath Project, but this year’s historic drought has heightened the stakes, with salmon dying en masse and Oregon’s largest lake draining below critical thresholds for managing fish survival. Hoping to limit the carnage, federal officials have shut the gates that feed the project’s sprawling irrigation system, telling farmers the water that has flowed every year since 1907 will not be available. Some farmers, furious about water rights and fearing financial ruin, are already organizing a resistance. “Tell Pharaoh let our water feed the Earth,” said a sign erected near the nearly dry irrigation canal that would usually be flowing with water from Upper Klamath Lake in southern Oregon.
Amid Historic Drought, a New Water War in the West – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
County agricultural conservation program buys time for San Diego’s farmlands [San Diego Union-Tribune]
From the glider on their front porch in Campo, James “Larry” Johnson and his wife Avrilla can look across the cattle ranch their family has run for four generations clear to the hillsides along the Mexican border….The 135-year-old ranch previously produced other livestock including sheep, chickens and turkeys. It still hosts a small vineyard of Scuppernong grapes that the family uses to make wine and jelly, and a garden of asparagus, squash and other vegetables….In 2012, they were among dozens of landowners to join a program aimed at preserving agricultural lands in San Diego. Called the Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, or PACE, it pays farmers and ranchers to place permanent easements on their lands, ensuring it will stay in agricultural use. “I think it just helps preserve agricultural opportunity and longevity,” said Larry Johnson. “If you can make those islands (of farmland) bigger, so much the better, whether you’re raising flowers or grazing cattle. It’s just nice to preserve places that are natural.”
Opinion: To cut wildfire risk, we must invest in the original green technology: resilient forests [Sacramento Bee]
As a 34-year employee of Cal Fire, I am deeply familiar with the consequences of state policy that for too long emphasized putting out all wildfires, rather than emphasizing the natural restorative role fire plays in California’s landscapes. Now that Gov. Gavin Newsom has unveiled his new budget, we have an opportunity to prioritize wildfire resilience rather than just wildfire suppression….For years, elected officials in California have depicted the state as a world leader on environmental protections dedicated to reducing or eliminating greenhouse gas emissions through policies and technology investments. It’s a goal I support, and yet all the progress we have made on that front can be wiped out by the hot and prolonged fire seasons that California is now experiencing. In truth, no technology removes carbon dioxide from our atmosphere as effectively as trees, which capture it in their roots, branches and leaves. Most of California’s tree species have evolved to withstand wildfires, but when they burn under the intense fuel and weather conditions present today they release millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere and reduce an area’s capacity to pull carbon out of the air.
Prioritize wildfire resilience over wildfire suppression | The Sacramento Bee (sacbee.com)
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