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>>22346932, >>22346860, >>22346881 Newscum water plans to combat climate change

California Water 101

The Sacramento River is the largest river in California.

California has been called the most hydrologically altered landmass on the planet, and it is true. Today the state bears little resemblance to its former self. Where deserts and grasslands once prevailed, now reservoirs store water to move it to the arid land. Swampy marshes have given way to landfill for urban development. Wetlands have been converted to farmland. California’s water resources now support 35 million people and irrigate more than 5.68 million acres of farmland.

As a result of the development of the state’s natural resources, especially water, California has emerged as a leading agricultural producer, a major manufacturing center, the most populated state in the country and the eighth largest economy in the world.

However, this intensive development has not been without its consequences. Fish populations have been depleted. Wetlands have been drained. Dams and levees have altered natural water flow patterns. Invasive plants and species are changing ecosystems and altering native habitat. Species of many native plants and wildlife have declined or become extinct, and water quality has been impaired by agriculture, ranching, mining and urban sources.

Much of California has a “Mediterranean” climate, characterized by warm, dry summers and mild winters. Most of the precipitation falls in the winter as rain and snow. Although the climate is variable, the state receives about 200 million acre-feet of precipitation per year on average. An acre-foot of water equals about 326,000 gallons, or enough water to cover an acre of land (the size of a football field) 1 foot deep. One acre-foot is enough water to meet the annual indoor and outdoor needs of two households.

About 60 percent of all precipitation evaporates or is transpired by trees and vegetation. What’s left is roughly 75 million acre-feet per average year that flows into waterways and groundwater aquifers and ultimately becomes available to use in homes, as irrigation for farmland, by industry and in the environment.

There’s a catch. While parts of Northern California receive 100 inches or more of precipitation per year, the state’s southern, drier areas receive less precipitation – and just a few inches of rain annually in the desert regions. That means 75 percent of California’s available water is in the northern third of the state (north of Sacramento), while 80 percent of the urban and agricultural water demands are in the southern two-thirds of the state.

Despite the geographic and hydrologic challenges, California has more irrigated acreage than any other state, thanks to massive water projects that include dams, reservoirs, aqueducts and canals to deliver water to users, especially in the central and southern portions of the state. Water also is moved east to west such as through San Francisco’s Hetch Hetchy system.

Water Projects and the California Economy

California’s Water Supply

New Groundwater Rules

California’s Vast Infrastructure – The State Water Project and Central Valley Project

Where does your water come from?

The Importance of Agriculture

The Water and Energy Connection

The Delta: The Hub and Critical Link of California’s Water System

A Question of Balance and Sustainability

>>22347407

>California Water 101

California has state, federal and local water delivery projects to keep the water flowing to cities, farms and industry.

Water fuels the economy of California, and managing it properly is of paramount importance.

The resource also has been a source of decades-long political wars.Besides satisfying the needs of a growing population, demands for more water also come from the agricultural industry, businesses, manufacturers and developers. These needs must be balanced against demands for protecting water quality and for protecting fisheries, wildlife and recreational interests.

The fundamental controversy is one of distribution, as conflicts between these competing interests continue to be exacerbated by continued population growth and periods of drought.

Everything depends on the development and management of water: Capturing it behind dams, storing it in reservoirs, and rerouting it in canals stretching hundreds of miles across the state. California has 1,400 dams, two of the largest water storage and transport systems in the world – the Central Valley Project (CVP) and State Water Project (SWP) – and some of the largest reservoirs in the country.

Wild & Scenic river map

Click here to see an interactive map of the state Wild & Scenic rivers in California

Yet, leaving water in rivers and streams is important for the health of the environment, wildlife, and fish. Some water is officially dedicated to the environment, such as Bay-Delta outflows. Other waterways are protected under the state and/or federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Acts, putting further water development off-limits. Overall, how much water is left in streams and rivers for the environment depends on a lot on yearly precipitation. Drought years, such as 2014, left many streams depleted and cities and farmers facing water supply cutbacks and, in some places, water rationing.

About 62 percent of California’s water goes to agriculture, 16 percent to urban use and 22 percent is dedicated to instream flows and to maintain drinking water quality, according to the California Water Blog and former University of California, Davis professor Jeff Mount, based on net water use, which accounts for water that is lost to evapotranspiration or salt sinks and not returned to rivers or groundwater.

>>22347417

>The resource also has been a source of decades-long political wars.

California’s Water Supply

The SWP's South Bay Aqueduct conveys water 40+ miles from the Delta to near San Jose.

California depends on two sources for its water: surface water and groundwater.The water that runs into rivers, lakes and reservoirs is called “surface water.” Groundwater is found beneath the earth’s surface in the pores and spaces between rocks and soil. These are called aquifers.

Most of California’s precipitation falls as snow in the northern part of the state during the winter. The snow acts as a natural reservoir, storing water until the spring runoff. After initial evaporation, percolation into the ground and transpiration, the water flows into streams and rivers and makes its way toward the ocean or into salt sinks.

The water collected in the state’s reservoirs is called the “developed supply,”and it is this amount that is available to deliver for urban and agricultural uses, to keep in reservoirs, put into groundwater storage or to dedicate to the environment. There is great competition for the limited amount of developed water supply, and human consumptive uses are the top priority for developed water supply in California under existing law.

Central Valley map

Click here to see an interactive map of the hydrology of the Central Valley

California has 10 major drainage basins, also known as the state’s hydrologic regions. From north to south the basins are: North Coast, Sacramento River, North Lahontan, San Francisco Bay, San Joaquin River, Central Coast, Tulare Lake, South Lahontan, South Coast and Colorado River.

Amazingly, with the hundreds of rivers and streams plus more than 1,500 lakes and reservoirs in California, the state’s groundwater storage capacity is more than 10 times that of all its surface waterways.

Water pumped from wells in a typical year quenches 40 percent of California’s freshwater needs, according to the State Water Plan update, published by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) every four years. That number increases to 60 percent or more in dry years. In any year, groundwater use varies by region; some areas of California are much more dependent on groundwater than others.

Many rural areas depend entirely on groundwater, as do larger cities, such as Bakersfield and Fresno. Along the Central Coast, 90 percent of all drinking water is from groundwater. However, other cities, such as San Francisco and San Diego, have very little groundwater resources. In all, 85 percent of Californians depend on groundwater for at least part of their drinking water, according to the California State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board).

California uses more groundwater than any other state. And when reservoirs run low, farmers and cities pump even more water from underground. While there are programs throughout the state to recharge groundwater basins, in many parts of the state, no efforts are made to put water back into the ground. Overall, California pumps out up to 2 million more acre-feet a year than is recharged, according to state estimates.

Surface water and groundwater are connected in a system of watersheds and groundwater basins. The State Water Plan notes surface water and groundwater are a single resource, “In California, winter precipitation and spring snowmelt are captured in surface water reservoirs to provide both flood protection and water supply to the state. Reservoir storage also factors into drought assessment. The state’s largest surface ‘reservoir’ is the Sierra Nevada snowpack, about 15 million acre-feet on average,” the State Water Plan states.

>>22347438

New Groundwater Rules

Groundwater map

Click here to see an interactive map of groundwater basins and sub-basins

California’s groundwater has gone unregulated at the state level for decades. In fact the state was one of the last to enact any laws pertaining to how this resource can be pumped and used. However, a new era of groundwater management began Sept. 17, 2014 after Gov. Jerry Brown’s signing of historic legislation, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which empowers local officials to halt the trend of critically overdraft basins.

The law, which went into effect in 2015, sets a timeline to identify responsible local agencies – which will work as a team – the means to reverse overdrafted conditions in certain areas and to ensure the 127 “high and medium priority” groundwater basins or sub-basins not in overdraft reach sustainability by 2040.

Whether SGMA will realize its full transformative potential remains to be seen.

Read more about groundwater in Aquapedia, the Foundation’s online water encyclopedia.

California’s Vast Infrastructure – The State Water Project and Central Valley Project

The California Aqueduct is 400 miles long. It starts in the Delta and conveys water to Southern California.

California’s major urban centers, Southern California and the Bay Area, lack sufficient groundwater and other local resources to support their large populations so water must be imported from other portions of the state. The San Francisco Bay Area imports more than 65 percent of its water through the Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct, the East Bay’s Mokelumne Aqueduct. The region also obtains water from the SWP and the federal CVP.

Contra Costa County obtains its supplies directly from the Delta. In addition to Hetch Hetchy, the SWP’s South Bay Aqueduct supplies water to Alameda and Santa Clara counties. Groundwater is another major source of supply for the Santa Clara area, which also receives water from both projects.

Southern California imports more than half of its water supply through the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the Colorado River Aqueduct and the SWP.

One of the state’s earliest major water projects, the Los Angeles Aqueduct, supplies water and electricity to 3.8 million residents in the city of Los Angeles.

Serving as a wholesale entity for most of the southern California region, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California imports water from the Colorado River and the SWP and supplies it to member agencies and cities. Many Southern California cities also rely on groundwater, especially those along the coast.

California’s vast agricultural industry also depends on large water projects. The CVP supplies water primarily for irrigation within the Central Valley, and Kern County relies on the SWP for its water. The Imperial Irrigation District manages the system which delivers Colorado River water to the Imperial Valley.

Los Angeles Aqueduct: Owned and operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the Los Angeles Aqueduct supplies a portion of the water needed to supply the residents and businesses in its 465 square mile service area. The Los Angeles Aqueduct system brings water 338 miles from the Mono Basin and 233 miles from the Owens Valley by gravity to Los Angeles.

Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct: The Hetch Hetchy water system delivers about 265,000 acre-feet of pristine Sierra Nevada water per year to 2.4 million people in San Francisco, Santa Clara, Alameda and San Mateo counties. Eighty-five percent of the water comes from Sierra Nevada snowmelt stored in the Hetch Hetchy reservoir situated on the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park. Hetch Hetchy water travels 160 miles via gravity from Yosemite to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Mokelumne Aqueduct: The East Bay Municipal Utility District draws water from the Mokelumne River and transports it 91 miles from the Sierra Nevada through three steel pipeline aqueducts to serve its customers in the East Bay Area. The Mokelumne Aqueduct provides 90 percent of the water served by East Bay Municipal Utilities District.

>>22347486

>New Groundwater Rules

Colorado River: Spanning 1,440 miles from Wyoming to the Gulf of California, the Colorado River is the principal water resource for California and six other states, Indian tribes and parts of Mexico. The Colorado River supplies urban areas through the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the region’s water wholesaler. Farmers in the Imperial, Palo Verde and Coachella valleys also rely on the Colorado River.

Central Valley Project (CVP): As California’s largest water supplier, the CVP delivers on average over 7 million acre-feet of water per year. CVP water is used to irrigate 3 million acres of farmland in the San Joaquin Valley, as well as provide water for urban use in Contra Costa, Santa Clara, and Sacramento counties.

The State Water Project (SWP): The largest state-built water and power project in the United States, the SWP spans 600 miles from Northern California to Southern California, providing drinking water for 23 million people and irrigation water for 750,000 acres of farmland.

https://www.watereducation.org/photo-gallery/california-water-101

Newsom Misled The Public About Wildfire Prevention Efforts Ahead Of Worst Fire Season On Record

Scott Rodd

Wednesday, June 23, 2021 | Sacramento, CA

Rich Pedroncelli / AP Photo

Gov. Gavin Newsom discusses emergency preparedness during a visit to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection CalFire Colfax Station Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019, in Colfax, Calif.

Rich Pedroncelli / AP Photo

On Gavin Newsom’s first full day in office, Jan. 8, 2019, the newly elected governor stood before the cameras, clad in jeans and sneakers and surrounded by emergency responders, and declared war on wildfires.

“Everybody has had enough,” the governor said, announcing he’d signed a sweeping executive order overhauling the state’s approach to wildfire prevention. Climate change was sparking fires more frequent, ferocious, and far-reaching than ever before, Newsom said, and confronting them would have to become a year-round effort.

The state’s response, Newsom added, “fundamentally has to change.”

But two-and-a-half years later, as California approaches what could be the worst wildfire season on record, it does so with little evidence of the year-round attention Newsom promised.

An investigation from CapRadio and NPR’s California Newsroom found the governor has misrepresented his accomplishments and even disinvested in wildfire prevention. The investigation found Newsom overstated, by an astounding 690%, the number of acres treated with fuel breaks and prescribed burns in the very forestry projects he said needed to be prioritized to protect the state’s most vulnerable communities. Newsom has claimed that 35 “priority projects” carried out as a result of his executive order resulted in fire prevention work on 90,000 acres. But the state’s own data show the actual number is 11,399.

Overall, California’s response has faltered under Newsom. After an initial jump during his first year in office, data obtained by CapRadio and NPR’s California Newsroom show Cal Fire’s fuel reduction output dropped by half in 2020, to levels below Gov. Jerry Brown’s final year in office. At the same time, Newsom slashed roughly $150 million from Cal Fire’s wildfire prevention budget.

Newsom has claimed that 35 "priority projects" carried out as a result of his executive order resulted in fire prevention work on 90,000 acres. But the state’s own data show the actual number is 11,399.

In 2020, 4.3 million acres burned, the most in California’s recorded history. That was more than double the previous record, set in 2018, when the Camp Fire destroyed the town of Paradise, killing 85 people.

This year, data obtained by CapRadio and NPR’s California Newsroom show that through Memorial Day, the annual number of acres worked remained low, despite a fire season that threatens to be even more dangerous than last year. Most of the state is in “extreme drought” or “exceptional drought,” which means there is an abundance of dry vegetation ready to catch fire. A record heatwave has swept the state already this year.

The data show Cal Fire treated 64,000 acres in 2019, but only 32,000 acres in 2020 and 24,000 acres through Memorial Day this year. The federal government and private landowners also chip in, but the totals remain far below what experts say is required to effectively adapt to the dangers of climate change.

“We need to be doing a million acres a year, for a long time,” said Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment. “That's the scale where you start to achieve … strategic goals, like fewer structures lost.”

Now, Newsom is trying to play catch-up. With the state enjoying an unexpected surplus, Newsom proposed $1.2 billion in “wildfire resiliency” funding in the upcoming budget. Experts say the increase in prevention spending could help the state get closer to a less-dangerous wildfire season over time. But they also expressed concern over whether the state will sustain that commitment for years to come. “We are in a deep hole,” Wara said, “and it is going to take us many years of sustained effort to get out.”

In interviews, fire survivors said they felt betrayed by government officials, who seem more concerned with making a splash than saving homes and businesses from incineration.

>>22347625

>Newsom Misled The Public About Wildfire Prevention Efforts Ahead Of Worst Fire Season On Record

“It’s a deception,” said Mitch Mackenzie, co-owner of Carol Shelton Wines in Santa Rosa, who lost his home in the 2017 Tubbs Fire. Last year’s wine country fires ruined one-third of the winery’s grape harvest, and the flames nearly overran his new home in Sonoma County. He says Newsom’s embellishments are a frustrating — but typical — example of how California politicians handle wildfires.

Mitch Mackenzie, and wife Carol, co-owners of Carol Shelton Wines in Santa Rosa, lost their home in the 2017 Tubbs Fire. Last year’s fires ruined one-third of the winery’s grape harvest, and the flames nearly overran his new home in Sonoma County.Courtesy Photo

Mitch Mackenzie’s home in Santa Rosa, pictured after it was destroyed in the 2017 Tubbs Fire. Last year’s wine country fires ruined one-third of the winery’s grape harvest, and the flames nearly overran his new home in Sonoma County.Courtesy photo

“With all the fire danger that we have experienced year, after year, after year … you would think it would be a higher priority to make sure that all of this area is treated as much as possible,” Mackenzie said. Politicians, he added, “always want to look good about fixing the problem, but then they never really do it.”

In Newsom’s case, the data shows he’s done just 13% of the job he’s touted on his highest priority projects.

The governor’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment over the course of two weeks, including a 500 word email that laid out the investigation’s findings.

The head of Cal Fire, Chief Thom Porter, did grant an interview. He acknowledged the figures cited by Newsom were incorrect and took responsibility for the governor’s misstatements. Porter, who stood behind Newsom at a series of press conferences where the governor boasted of his accomplishments, said Cal Fire had neither “done our job in educating the public, nor the governor’s office” about how to talk about its wildfire prevention efforts.

Porter also confirmed the agency had fallen short of its fuel reduction goals in 2020. “It’s not something that I’m comfortable with,” he said. “It is something that I’m working to reconcile and to correct for the future.”

The 90,000 Acres That Weren’t

Many of Newsom’s misrepresentations revolve around 35 “priority projects,” which Cal Fire launched in February 2019 as a result of Newsom’s executive order.

The projects selected, Cal Fire said, would protect 200 communities that were especially vulnerable to wildfire. The projects ran the length of the state — from a fuel break in the shrublands around the community of Crest, east of El Cajon in San Diego County, to cutting back foliage along major routes in and out of the town of Lake Shastina, in Siskiyou County, near the Oregon border.

As required by Newsom’s executive order, the agency said it paid particular attention to equity — focusing on areas with high “poverty levels, residents with disabilities, language barriers, residents over 65 or under five years of age, and households without a car.”

Officially, the projects totaled about 90,000 acres. That’s well short of the amount of forestland experts say needs treatment in California, but it would have substantially increased Cal Fire’s prevention output compared to past years.

In early 2020, Newsom declared mission accomplished.

“The projects collectively have treated 90,000 acres,” states a January 2020 press release from the governor’s office. “Work included removal of hazardous dead trees, vegetation clearing, creation of fuel breaks and community defensible spaces, and creation of ingress and egress corridors.”

But the data analyzed by CapRadio and NPR’s California Newsroom show that Cal Fire treated a small fraction of that amount, 11,399 acres, or about 13% of the amount cited by Newsom.

In Mendocino County, for example, CalFire’s public reports said its Ukiah Fuels Reduction project, which included fuel breaks and forest thinning in the hills west of Highway 101, covered a sprawling 26,541 acres. But the agency’s data obtained by CapRadio and NPR’s California Newsroom showed the agency did work on just 734 of them.

>>22347636

Responding to our inquiries, the agency provided a map. It included a large area shaded in green, covering much of the area west of Highway 101 and described as the “original project area proposed,” and a much smaller area in red, where the work was actually done.

The “original project area” of CalFire’s Ukiah Fuels Reduction project in Mendocino County covers a sprawling 26,541 acres (in green). But the agency’s data shows the agency did work on just 734 of them (in red).Source: Cal Fire

Officially, the Willits Fuel Reduction project covers 11,965 acres. The data obtained by CapRadio and NPR’s California Newsroom, on the other hand, showed just 262 acres of fuel breaks and no prescribed burns.Source: Cal Fire

“The 90k acre figure was the overall project area, but not necessarily the area treated,” Cal Fire public information officer Daniel Berlant wrote when pressed, acknowledging the priority projects did not produce mitigation work across 90,000 acres.

But that doesn’t square with Newsom’s portrayal to the public, nor does it match how Cal Fire described the projects. A fact sheet from 2019 claimed “the priority fuel reduction projects would treat approximately 90,000 acres.”

Forestry experts said the discrepancies in vegetation management data undermines the state’s ability to measure progress toward its ambitious fuel reduction targets.

“We have to be truthful,” said Scott Stephens, a professor of fire science at UC Berkeley. When treatment numbers are garbled or exaggerated, he added, “Then you wonder about public confidence [and if] funding is being used efficiently.”

The state and federal government recently set an annual goal of treating 500,000 acres each by 2025, with Cal Fire developing a list of 500 projects to continuously work on and update to reach that end.

“We need to be really clear on what we're reporting,” said John Battles, a professor of forest ecology at UC Berkeley. “Especially if there's a million acre goal, with half coming from the state.”

The Cal Fire fact sheet from 2019 claimed Newsom’s priority projects would knock out “about 20% of the [500,000 acre] goal.”

In reality, the actual acres treated represented less than 3%.

Despite Newsom’s public pronouncements, Porter, the chief of Cal Fire, said the state was never going to be able to tackle all 90,000 acres in 2019.

“We didn't have all of the environmental clearance that we were going to need to do all of that work,” Porter said. “Nor did we have all of the agreements with landowners completely in place.”

Total Acres Treated Plummets

An inmate fire crew manages a backburn outside Calistoga, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020.Andrew Nixon / CapRadio

Newsom regularly points to the 35 priority projects as a badge of success. In a press release last month, he claimed the “emergency fuel reduction projects … played a critical role in containing wildfires last year.”

Over 4 million acres burned across the state in 2020 — the most since California began keeping track. Cal Fire did not provide an estimate for how much more land would have burned without the completion of the priority projects, and a review of fire data by the San Francisco Chronicle found the fire breaks were often too small to be effective. “When they did intercept a fire, the flames often pushed right through,” the paper reported.

Still, the department says the fuel breaks and thinning did save some communities from fires.

A fuel break near Shaver Lake in Fresno County, for example, is credited with helping save about 70 homes in a nearby subdivision. And a fuel break in Butte County called Forbestown Ridge helped slow the advance of the North Complex Fire, allowing firefighters to develop a suppression plan and create contingency lines.

But as Newsom boasted about the 35 projects, fire prevention funding and productivity dwindled.

Newsom did not identify a new set of priority projects to tackle after declaring victory on the initial 35 in January 2020, even though Cal Fire’s recommendations underscored the urgent need to make this an ongoing effort.

>>22347644

“California faces a massive backlog of forest management work,” the department states in a 2019 report. “Millions of acres are in need of treatment, and this work — once completed — must be repeated over the years.”

A decade ago, Cal Fire was treating a paltry 17,000 acres annually. That number has steadily climbed. Though Newsom misrepresented the number of acres treated in his “priority projects,” the overall amount of wildfire mitigation work carried out by Cal Fire spiked in his first year in office, to 64,000 acres. But in 2020, fuel reduction totals plummeted to less than 32,000 acres — a roughly 50% drop.

Porter acknowledges the decline, but claims there’s not much Cal Fire could do. Though Newsom claimed in July 2020 that California was “up to the task” of preventing wildfires and stopping the coronavirus at the same time, Porter said the reality of the pandemic presented barriers Cal Fire could not overcome.

The record fire season also made prevention work more difficult. Fires broke out earlier than usual, leaving less time for prescribed burns and thinning. Crews responsible for fire prevention work are also tasked with fire suppression. After a spate of dry lightning that set multiple conflagration fires at once, crews shifted to an all-hands-on-deck suppression effort. Our “initial analysis is that what kept us from getting the work done was completely out of our control,” Porter said

But the significant drop in acres treated also shows the fragility of California’s existing wildfire prevention infrastructure — and the need to considerably strengthen it.

“We've got to get more strategic,” said Stephens. “We're going to have to get much more nimble.”

Through late May of 2021, Cal Fire treated over 23,000 acres, putting it on track to exceed last year’s total, but fall short of the work done in 2019.

Big Spending Push, After Disinvestment

The drop in wildfire prevention work occurred at a time when the state put fewer dollars toward fire prevention.

The 2019 budget allocated $355 million for wildfire prevention and resource management. The following year, after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Newsom slashed that to $203 million — a decrease of more than 40%.

Within months of enacting the budget last year, fire had consumed California. Over 4 million acres burned largely due to the long-term impacts of climate change and fuel buildup, combined with extraordinary weather events. But the cataclysmic fire season underscored the crucial need for increased and sustained spending on prevention — not disinvestment.

“Spending on prevention is the only way that this gets better, but we have to do it for a super long time,” said Wara of Stanford University’s Woods Institute. “We can't fire-fight our way out of this problem.”

The significance of this problem for California justifies spending a lot more than we're spending right now.

– Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment

By late 2020, it became clear the pandemic would not have a disastrous impact on state revenues. On the contrary, Newsom said the state had a nearly $76 billion surplus.

Now, Newsom is proposing $2 billion in spending on wildfires and emergency preparedness, with $1.2 billion going toward ‘wildfire resiliency.’ The state Legislature’s version of the budget allocates over $1.5 billion for a “wildfire prevention and forest resilience package.”

Experts anticipate there will be significantly more money for mitigation compared to past budgets — but it’ll still fall short.

“I see [it] as a very positive trend,” said Wara. “I still think that we are not spending enough. The significance of this problem for California justifies spending a lot more than we're spending right now.”

Newsom’s $2 billion proposal included an early budget allocation for $536 million, signed in April, with the majority going toward forest health and fuel reduction programs.

Berlant, the Cal Fire spokesman, says he believes the funding will help the department reach its treatment goals years ahead of schedule. But he acknowledges the agency can only keep that up with sustained funding — otherwise, fuel reduction could drop again.

“How we work to make that ongoing will be a continued discussion with the Legislature,” he said.

Stephens of UC Berkeley says retreating on wildfire prevention spending could undo progress made toward the state’s ambitious goals.

“If you're not going to maintain the funding for [treatment] work, why even do it in the first place?” he said. “If you don't continue this forever, you're basically never going to get out of this hole.”

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>>22347644

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https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/06/23/newsom-misled-the-public-about-wildfire-prevention-efforts-ahead-of-worst-fire-season-on-record/

>>22347625

>Newsom Misled The Public About Wildfire Prevention Efforts Ahead Of Worst Fire Season On Record

>>22347655

Memorandum on Developing and Delivering More Water Supplies in California

Land & Agriculture

Issued on: February 19, 2020

★★★

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MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR

THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE

THE CHAIR OF THE COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

SUBJECT: Developing and Delivering More Water Supplies in

California

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby direct the following:

Section 1. Policy. For decades, many of our Federal western water infrastructure investments have been undermined by fragmented and outdated regulatory actions. In a memorandum dated October 19, 2018 (Promoting the Reliable Supply and Delivery of Water in the West), I directed the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce to work together, to the extent practicable and consistent with applicable law, to complete the review of the long-term coordinated operations of the Central Valley Project (CVP) and the California State Water Project (SWP), and subsequently to issue an updated Plan of Operations (Plan) and Record of Decision (ROD). It is the policy of the United States to modernize our Federal western water infrastructure to deliver water and power in an efficient, cost-effective way.

Sec. 2. Enhancing Water Supplies While Appropriately Protecting Species and Habitats. In response to my memorandum, a Plan and ROD were issued today. The new framework set forth in these documents is expected to deliver more water to communities while using science and investments appropriately to protect affected species and their habitats. This is a good first step, but I believe more can be done. Therefore, I direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce to build upon the success of the Plan and ROD by supplementing the resulting operations, consistent with applicable law, to make deliveries of water more reliable and bountiful. To help develop and deliver water supplies in the Central Valley of California, I direct those Secretaries to coordinate efforts to:

(a) implement the relevant authorities of subtitle J of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (Public Law 114-322), which include provisions focused on (1) developing water storage, (2) capturing more water during storm events, and (3) giving agricultural and municipal water users more regulatory certainty;

(b) fully implement, with respect to future agency actions, recent Administration improvements to management of programs established pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Public Law 93-205); and

(c) provide quarterly updates to the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality and, at the request of other components of the Executive Office of the President, to each such component, regarding progress in carrying out sections 2(a) and (b) of this memorandum.

Sec. 3. General Provisions (a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

(d) The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

DONALD J. TRUMPMemorandum on Developing and Delivering More Water Supplies in California

Land & Agriculture

Issued on: February 19, 2020

★★★

Share:

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MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR

THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE

THE CHAIR OF THE COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

SUBJECT: Developing and Delivering More Water Supplies in

California

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby direct the following:

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>Memorandum on Developing and Delivering More Water Supplies in California

Section 1. Policy. For decades, many of our Federal western water infrastructure investments have been undermined by fragmented and outdated regulatory actions. In a memorandum dated October 19, 2018 (Promoting the Reliable Supply and Delivery of Water in the West), I directed the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce to work together, to the extent practicable and consistent with applicable law, to complete the review of the long-term coordinated operations of the Central Valley Project (CVP) and the California State Water Project (SWP), and subsequently to issue an updated Plan of Operations (Plan) and Record of Decision (ROD). It is the policy of the United States to modernize our Federal western water infrastructure to deliver water and power in an efficient, cost-effective way.

Sec. 2. Enhancing Water Supplies While Appropriately Protecting Species and Habitats. In response to my memorandum, a Plan and ROD were issued today. The new framework set forth in these documents is expected to deliver more water to communities while using science and investments appropriately to protect affected species and their habitats. This is a good first step, but I believe more can be done. Therefore, I direct the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce to build upon the success of the Plan and ROD by supplementing the resulting operations, consistent with applicable law, to make deliveries of water more reliable and bountiful. To help develop and deliver water supplies in the Central Valley of California, I direct those Secretaries to coordinate efforts to:

(a) implement the relevant authorities of subtitle J of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (Public Law 114-322), which include provisions focused on (1) developing water storage, (2) capturing more water during storm events, and (3) giving agricultural and municipal water users more regulatory certainty;

(b) fully implement, with respect to future agency actions, recent Administration improvements to management of programs established pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Public Law 93-205); and

(c) provide quarterly updates to the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality and, at the request of other components of the Executive Office of the President, to each such component, regarding progress in carrying out sections 2(a) and (b) of this memorandum.

Sec. 3. General Provisions (a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

(d) The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

DONALD J. TRUMP

https://archive.ph/cZra3