This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Law enforcement raided the illegal cannabis operation in Shasta-Trinity National Forest months before, but rotting potatoes still sat on the growers’ makeshift kitchen worktop, waiting to be cooked. Ecologist Greta Wengert stared down the pockmarked hillside at a pile of pesticide sprayers left behind, long after […]
Rachel Becker/CalMatters
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California Salmon Fishing Banned for Second Year in Row
In a devastating blow to California’s fishing industry, federal fishery managers unanimously voted to cancel all commercial and recreational salmon fishing off the coast of California for the second year in a row. The April 10 decision is designed to protect California’s dwindling salmon populations after drought and water diversions left river flows too warm […]
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The Klamath River Salmon Die-off Was Tragic. Was it Predictable?
A recent large die-off of young salmon released into the Klamath River shocked and dismayed state biologists, reinforcing that human efforts to restore nature and undo damage can be unpredictable and difficult to control. The tiny Chinook salmon turned up dead downriver just two days after they were released from the California Department of Fish […]
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Humboldt Cannabis Grower to Pay $750,000 for Violating State Water, Wildlife Regulations
A Humboldt County cannabis grower has agreed to pay $750,000, remove unpermitted ponds and restore streams and wetlands after state officials accused him of violating regulations protecting water supplies, wildlife and waterways. Of the total, $500,000 is a record penalty for a water rights violation in California. State officials say the violations by Joshua Sweet […]
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Saving Salmon: Newsom Unveils Blueprint for Ending Decades-long Decline
With salmon populations throughout California declining for decades and facing the threat of extinction, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday unveiled a state strategy aimed at protecting and restoring the iconic species “amidst hotter and drier weather exacerbated by climate change.” The blueprint calls for tearing down dams and improving passages for migrating salmon, restoring flows […]
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California Water Agency Under Investigation for Discriminating Against Tribes, People of Color
The Biden administration’s environmental justice office is investigating whether California’s water agency has discriminated against Native Americans and other people of color by failing to protect the water quality of San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s investigation was triggered by a complaint filed by tribes and environmental justice […]
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Don’t Call it ‘Toilet to Tap’ — California Plans to Turn Sewage into Drinking Water
Californians could drink highly purified sewage water that is piped directly into drinking water supplies for the first time under proposed rules unveiled by state water officials. The drought-prone state has turned to recycled water for more than 60 years to bolster its scarce supplies, but the current regulations require it to first make a […]
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California Ranchers Intentionally Violated an Emergency Water Order. Now Lawmakers Want to Triple the Fines
When ranchers violated an emergency order to stop pumping water from the drought-plagued Shasta River last year, state officials fined them $4,000, or roughly $50 each. Now California legislators are weighing a bill that would triple fines for such infractions — and could allow the penalty to climb higher than a million dollars. Authored by […]
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Ranchers Who Tapped Shasta River Face $4,000 Proposed Fine for Violating State Drought Order
California’s water officials plan to impose a $4,000 fine on Siskiyou County ranchers for violating orders to cut back their water use during a weeklong standoff last summer. State officials and the ranchers agree: A $4,000 fine isn’t much of a deterrent to prevent illegal water diversions during California’s droughts. The proposed fine would amount […]
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Four in a Row: California Drought Likely to Continue
As California’s 2022 water year ends this week, the parched state is bracing for another dry year — its fourth in a row. So far, in California’s recorded history, six previous droughts have lasted four or more years, two of them in the past 35 years. Despite some rain in September, weather watchers expect a […]
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Help Paying Water Bills May Be Coming for Low-Income Californians
María Dolores Díaz sighs when she opens her water bill every month because she knows what she’ll see: another bill that she’ll struggle to pay. Diaz looks at the envelope and doesn’t want to open it because she wonders: How much, this time? “Ya nomás miro la carta y ‘aí ya no lo quiero abrir!’ […]
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Ranchers, Tribes, State Officials Clash Over Shasta River Water
The land that Jim Scala and his family have been ranching for three generations is parched and brown as far as he can see. The pond where his cattle used to drink is now a puddle, ringed with cracked mud. In other years, water pumped from the Shasta River would have periodically flooded this land, […]