Salmon are a sign of hope in a long-dry stretch of the San Joaquin

Los Angeles TimesMarch 29, 2013About 10 miles downstream from Friant Dam, two men gently guided their drift boat toward a spot where the riverbed gravel looked as if it had been swept clean.There, in about a foot of water, they spied something that had vanished from the San Joaquin River more than 60 years ago: a spawning chinook salmon.Read Read More…

Garamendi proposes rival Delta water plan

CVBTMarch 28, 2013Saying it’s time for Californians to think in a comprehensive way about water, Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, is proposing a plan to do just that.It comes out just as members of Congress and others are decrying a plan backed by Gov. Jerry Brown that would siphon off much of the water from the Sacramento River before it could enter the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta and Read More…

California snowpack 50% of normal, water officials despair

KPIX NewsMarch 28, 2013There’s more bad news for California water users: the snow pack is just half the amount of normal and has already begun to melt.After a wet fall, the state recorded the driest January and February on record, and March didn’t fare much better.Read Read More…

Interior rejects bias claim on Klamath dams

Statesman JournalMarch 28, 2013The U.S. Department of Interior has rejected a whistleblower complaint that a department press release on scientific reports reviewing the proposed removal of four dams from the Klamath River was biased.The Redding Record-Searchlight reports (http://bit.ly/ZCEeBL ) Thursday that the decision to reject the complaint followed the recommendation of a panel of Read More…

Tribes work to maximize Columbia River Basin steelhead

OPB NewsMarch 28, 2013Steelhead in the Columbia River Basin are threatened. Current populations have dwindled to a fraction of the historic numbers a century ago. That has led two Northwest Indian Tribes to try something new to help this struggling fish survive.Nez Perce tribal fishery employees say they have the best job in the world. But it’s definitely not for everyone. Winter steelhead Read More…

More details of Bay Delta Conservation Plan released

Capital Public RadioMarch 28, 2013The new chapters of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan look at the effects of the project on endangered species like Delta Smelt and Chinook salmon.Fish and wildlife scientists expect conditions to improve for Delta Smelt in wet years, but remain about the same in dry years. Mark Cowin is with the Department of Water Resources.Read Read More…

World’s first sockeye raised in land-based fish farm

Metro NewsMarch 28, 2013With three giant, aluminum pools brimming with thousands of sockeye salmon, a Surrey, B.C., company has become the first in the world to successfully raise the quintessential west coast species in a land-based fish farm — a methodology heralded as one solution to a host of problems associated with the salmon farming industry.Willowfield Enterprises spent the past 15 Read More…

California officials: Delta plan to help fish survival

Record SearchlightMarch 27, 2013California water officials said Wednesday that a $14 billion twin-tunnel plan for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta would restore the ecosystem and reduce deaths of threatened fish, although during dry years the delta smelt would be killed at the same rate as today.During water-scarce years, the existing pumps in the south portion of the delta would continue to Read More…

River-flow plan threatens farms

Sierra Sun TimesMarch 28, 2013Farmers, political leaders, small business owners and irrigation district officials packed a Sacramento hearing last week to comment on a proposal before the State Water Resources Control Board that they said threatens severe economic and environmental consequences in parts of the northern San Joaquin Valley. The plan would limit diversions from the Stanislaus, Read More…

Snow survey finds dismal water prospects

Merced Sun-StarMarch 27, 2013Snow-surveying crews across the Sierra are seeing bad news up close this week. California has about half a snowpack. Skiing, snowshoeing or riding helicopters, the crews are making their way to high-elevation meadows for the most important snow measurement of the year. April 1 is the unofficial end of the snowfall season -- this year, following a miserably dry Read More…