Friday February 13, 2026
Maven’s Notebook —
Negotiations over how to manage the Delta’s water and fish species hit a boiling point in late January, when hundreds of members of the public, environmental groups, and Tribes pleaded for days on end with California water officials. They demanded that the State Water Resources Control Board go against the wishes of powerful farming districts and mandate that more water flows through the ailing estuary, lest its once prolific chinook salmon, sturgeon, and smelt cross thresholds of extinction.
“The soul of California is in your hands,” said East Bay resident Norma Wallace.
“We need salmon to survive,” one member of the Klamath River’s Yurok Tribe, with two children at her side, told the board.