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 9-9-08Merced Sun-StarWildlife refuges could see growth...MICHAEL DOYLE, Sun-Star Washington Bureauhttp://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/443713.htmlWASHINGTON -- Valley residents will now shape the future of federal wildlife refuges that protect some of California's largest remaining freshwater wetlands...Starting this month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will initiate planning for three prominent wetlands areas in Merced County. The planning will cover the Merced and San Luis national wildlife refuges and the Grasslands Wildlife Management Area, which together currently span some 129,000 acres."They're very important," Sacramento-based Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Scott Flaherty said of the refuge plans Monday. "They're a manager's roadmap."The refuges could potentially grow, as a result. Visitors might find new features. Valley farmers, whose used irrigation water has flowed into the refuges with sometimes catastrophic consequences, could face new choices. The refuges near Los Banos and Gustine are part of the Pacific Flyway, a home-away-from-home for up to one million migrating waterfowl each winter. They are also replete with vernal pools, which fill with winter rainwater and welcome endangered tiger salamanders and other species.A 1997 law requires that a Comprehensive Conservation Plan be developed for every national wildlife refuge. They are akin to management plans required for national parks, like the periodically litigated Yosemite National Park general management plan.The Fish and Wildlife Service has identified 2011 as a target date for completing the Merced County refuge plans, but that can easily slip. In Washington state, for instance, officials began the comprehensive planning for the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge in 1997. In 2005, the plan was finished..."They do take a while, because they are comprehensive," Flaherty said, adding that the amount of time often "really comes down to the amount of public use" of the refuge.The conservation plans are supposed to cover the next 15 years. The work will start with three sessions to be held in Los Banos and Merced later this month, the times and dates for which have not yet been made public. The plans are not a guarantee of future funding, staffing or land purchases. The 10,262-acre Merced National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1951 and the 26,878-acre San Luis National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1967. The Grasslands area was established in 1979. It currently spans 90,000 acres for which property owners have provided conservation easements, but it has an authorized boundary of 230,000 acres. Flights resume at Merced airport with underwhelming numbersCity officials happy to have commercial planes serving county, unfazed by slow start...SCOTT JASONhttp://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/story/443707.htmlA Beechcraft 1900 lifted off Merced's Municipal Airport runway Monday morning, ending the city's three-month stint without commercial passenger service.It wasn't the most glorious start. The first plane that departed was empty. The first flight into Merced had two of the 19 seats filled. The afternoon arrival, an hour overdue, had one passenger.But what's most important to the city isn't the number of passengers at this point. It's that commercial planes are coming and going twice a day, and ready to connect travelers to larger flights across the country...As promised, Great Lakes Airlines began daily flights from Merced to Ontario in San Bernardino County, the latest in a string of airlines that have served the city.Local leaders consider regular commercial passenger service as a key factor in Merced's economic development because it provides a way for residents to quickly move around the country, either for recreation or work."Airports are known to be an economic boon," Elliott said. "It gives legitimacy as being known as a growing area."...Though the airline was off to a slow start, Elliott said there's plenty of potential in Merced.About a quarter of UC Merced's students are from the greater Los Angeles area, so Great Lakes could offer them a quick way to get home during winter and summer breaks...Letter: Where's the water?...ROCHELLE KOCH, Wintonhttp://www.mercedsunstar.com/180/story/443720.htmlEditor: Complete shock, bewilderment and incomprehension were my feelings when I heard that our county leaders approved the Villages of Laguna San Luis Development.What are they thinking? We need a new town of 45,000 more people as badly as we need another year of drought. Water has got to come from somewhere, and we in agriculture know just who will suffer from its loss; the Merced County farmer...Fresno BeeWal-Mart approvals scrappedClovis will have to revise parts of plan, redo hearings...Marc Benjaminhttp://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/852723.htmlThe city of Clovis will have to revise only two key parts of a contested environmental report on the Wal-Mart Supercenter shopping complex. But it will have to scrap its previous approvals of the project and redo its public hearings, a judge has ruled. Fresno County Superior Court Judge Wayne Ellison said the city's environmental report must be decertified and the council must set aside its approval of a site plan for the 491,000-square-foot shopping center at the northeast corner of Herndon and Clovis avenues. The city received the order last week.Clovis City Attorney David Wolfe said the City Council will revise the document and hold new hearings -- all of which could take a year before the council is ready to reconsider the project. Wolfe said Ellison wanted the city to re-examine how the project would affect water supplies and urban decay issues. He said state law allows the city to revise just the chapters where the judge found flaws. "It's my opinion it would not require a whole new environmental [document]," Wolfe said. But opponents say the city must do more than a couple of revisions -- it must redo its entire environmental report. "Once the judge decertified the report, it's like those hearings never occurred," said Stockton lawyer Steve Herum, who represents the Association for Sensible and Informed Planning, which sued the city. "Once you set it aside, you are starting from ground zero."In 2004, Ellison ordered the city to prepare an environmental report after opponents challenged the project in court. The Clovis City Council certified that environmental report last October, and opponents quickly challenged it in court again. After a court hearing in May, when Herum argued eight different issues in front of Ellison, the city was told it failed to meet state environmental guidelines on water impacts and urban decay because it did not examine issues beyond the Clovis city limits. The judge ruled the city complied with state guidelines on six other issues.In his order, Ellison said the city needs to revise the environmental report to "adequately analyze the project." He said the report will need to be out for public review and discussed in public hearings in front of the city's Planning Commission and City Council.Sacramento BeeArea residents look for ways to save water...Ed Fletcherhttp://www.sacbee.com/101/v-print/story/1220807.htmlWith early signs pointing to a drier-than- average winter, residents across the Valley may be forced next summer to alter their water-wasting ways through mandatory restrictions.But Elk Grove resident April Vail isn't worried. She's way ahead of her neighbors.Her family uses half the water – about 258 gallons a day – that average metered customers do. The average is 550 to 600 gallons, according to the Sacramento County Water Agency.Her secret? Five years ago, she replaced grass with native plants. "We just went for it. We took out the entire lawn," Vail said.Water conservation has been mostly voluntary in the region, although Folsom adopted mandatory restrictions last month for its 19,500 customers.Water officials are hoping for a good water year this winter just to stay even."We need to have a really good rainy year. (But) even if we have a good rainy year, the reservoirs are so low it could take a couple of rainy years to get us caught up," said Gail Tauchus, the county water agency's water conservation coordinator.A third dry year would force much more extensive restrictions, said Sue Sims, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Water Resources...Water: Get over the dams, toward efficiency...Editorialhttp://www.sacbee.com/110/v-print/story/1220325.htmlAs California politicians continue to argue over developing comprehensive solutions to the state's water problems, eyes are inevitably turning to the agricultural sector, which uses 80 percent of the water consumed by Californians.Agriculture is important to our economy, culture and environment, but it is subject to mounting pressure from uncontrolled urbanization, global market pressures and threats to the reliability and availability of fresh water. A new Pacific Institute report demonstrates that we can support a more sustainable and profitable agricultural sector while substantially decreasing agricultural water withdrawals. Not only can we do more with less; we must do more with less.Every water-scarce region runs into the same challenge. As the demand for water outstrips local supplies, we first seek to tap ever-more-distant resources through the construction of massive dams and vast aqueduct systems. California went through this phase in the 20th century, building the Central Valley Project, the State Water Project, the Colorado River Aqueduct, the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the Hetch Hetchy and Mokelumne systems, and countless other components of our modern water supply.But it is a myth that just a few more dams or bigger groundwater pumps will, once and for all, solve our water problems. With the economic, ecological and political realities of taking even more water from overtaxed rivers and aquifers becoming more apparent, harder decisions have to be made. The good news is that there are smart things that can be done.Currently, our farmers face two very different futures. One leads to growing disruptions in the agricultural sector, uncertainty about the reliability of food production and the weakening of a vital component of our traditional economy. The other leads to a carefully planned and efficient agricultural sector, long-term protections for land and water resources, and the production of more high-value crops grown with efficient irrigation systems that are managed to respond to varying weather and crop conditions.We can choose to make California agriculture more water-efficient and productive, thereby ensuring that farming remains a central element of our culture and economy. The key is to improve water-use efficiency and provide for greater reliability so that farmers can apply sufficient water when and where it is needed. We can protect high-quality agricultural land from urban encroachment through careful planning, and we can grow more food with less water.The Pacific Institute's new study evaluates four scenarios that improve agricultural water-use efficiency. Each is a straightforward extension of trends and efforts already under way by innovative growers around the state, and each shows the potential to increase production with less water... But farmers need help to accelerate these changes. Initial costs are often high for changing irrigation systems. Our complex system of water rights is inconsistently applied and rarely enforced, and it does not provide incentives for farmers to reduce wasteful uses. Perverse subsidies often lead to overapplication of water rather than more careful use.For the agricultural sector to make necessary adaptations and investments, the state needs to implement policies and offer incentives that support water conservation and efficiency improvements.How can we start along this path? We can offer tax exemptions and rebates to farmers who upgrade to more efficient irrigation systems. The State Water Board can enforce California's water-rights laws more rationally. Water districts and individual growers can more accurately measure exactly how much water is being used to do what. And new water-rate structures can be developed to encourage efficient water use.We are at a crossroads. If farming is going to thrive in the coming decades, we must begin planning now for a smooth transition to efficient, modern agriculture that uses less water to grow more food and produces more income for farmers than today. It is time for California to implement economic and environmental policies that support agricultural water conservation and efficiency, both for the good of the environment and for the health and sustainability of our farmers. Let's figure out how to do more with less.Stockton RecordS.J. County funds for highways need action by Congress...Staff and wire reportshttp://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080909/A_NEWS/809090311/-1/A_NEWSSTOCKTON - If Congress does not approve a plan to recharge a depleted highway trust fund, a number of transportation projects inside San Joaquin County could be delayed, local transportation officials said.Last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said the fund would run dry by the end of September, and she urged federal lawmakers to pass legislation that would transfer $8 billion into the highway fund.Gas tax revenues that replenish the trust fund have been reduced as gas prices have pushed drivers to travel fewer miles and buy less gasoline.Construction delays make projects more expensive, and that could happen in San Joaquin County, said Andrew Chesley, executive director of the San Joaquin Council of Governments, the regional transportation agency.Projects include putting the finishing touches on the project that widened Highway 99 between the Crosstown Freeway and Hammer Lane and a plan to improve access to the Port of Stockton.There is also a plan to build a San Joaquin Regional Transit District transfer station in north Stockton.Just how the financial situation of the trust fund will affect local projects depends on a lot of factors, Chesley said. "If Congress can move on the $8 billion, the delay is less likely."The bill has passed the House of Representatives, but it has not yet been approved by the Senate...Judge says city can settle...The Recordhttp://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080909/A_NEWS/809090318/-1/A_NEWSSTOCKTON - A judge ruled Monday against the Building Industry Association of the Delta's attempt to block the Stockton City Council from settling Stockton's dispute with Attorney General Jerry Brown and environmentalists over the city's General Plan.The council is scheduled today to consider the settlement, which would require the city to reduce the impact of development on the environment.The BIA claimed in a court filing Friday that it ought to have been involved in negotiating the deal, which was recommended to the council by senior city officials after months of negotiations with Brown and the Sierra Club. The club sued Stockton after the council in December adopted its General Plan, a growth-planning document that calls for the city's population to about double by 2035. The club said the plan blessed sprawl, a claim the city denied.Brown threatened soon after the club filed suit to join it in court. Meanwhile, the BIA intervened in the case, claiming it had a special interest in its outcome.The city claimed the BIA had no right to be involved in the negotiation between the city, the Sierra Club and Brown.San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Lesley Holland ruled against the club's attempt to block the settlement after meeting with the two sides in chambers Monday, both sides said.It remained unclear how the council would vote on the proposed agreement. The council first considered the deal two weeks ago, deferring it for additional review.Meeting to honor Delta advocates...The Recordhttp://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080909/A_NEWS/80908011/-1/A_NEWSSTOCKTON - Stockton-based Restore the Delta will meet Sunday to hand out its first Delta Advocate awards.Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez; state Sen. Michael Machado, D-Linden; Stockton environmentalist Bill Jennings; and south Delta farmer Alex Hildebrand will be honored.The group will meet at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the Alder Market and Bistro, 151 W. Alder St. in Stockton. Lunch will be served. Tickets cost $50.Restore the Delta is a nonprofit advocacy group that opposes a peripheral canal and aims to "ensure the restoration and future sustainability of the California Delta."To reserve a spot, call Barbara Barrigan-Parilla at (209) 479-2053 or e-mail barbara@restorethedelta.org.Farmers should save water...Alex Breitler's bloghttp://blogs.recordnet.com/sr-abreitlerI'm a little behind on today's report by the Pacific Institute arguing that up to 3.4 million acre-feet of water could be saved each year if farmers were a little more flexible.The institute suggests, among other strategies, that farmers choose crops that are less water-demanding. This along with improvements in technology and efficiency could save more than half of the water that is exported from the Delta each year.Put another way, as AP reported this morning, the 3.4 million acre-feet is enough water to fill Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park 10 times over.Reaction has been trickling in throughout the day.From the Association of California Water Agencies: "The Delta's downward spiral will not be solved by mandating farmers to produce certain crops instead of others. Crop decisions are based on real-world market demands, not academic studies... Replacing reliance on market forces to make these decisions... is simply a bad idea."From the California Farm Bureau Federation: "Californians want more locally grown food and our state has unique combinations of soil, climate and expertise that allow us to produce large amounts of top-quality food... By itself, improved efficiency juts won't do enough to meet the water needs of California's growing population."And my favorite, from the California Farm Water Coalition: "Telling a farmer to grow one crop instead of another to save water is the same as telling a restaurant to become a shoe store for the same reason. It just doesn't make sense."This won't be the last you hear about farm water efficiency. Many Delta advocates say some ag lands should be fallowed entirely to reduce dependence on the estuary.San Francisco ChronicleDems' offshore drilling plan comes with catch...Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureauhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/09/MN1E12QE1Q.DTLWashington - -- Just three years ago Richard Pombo, the cowboy boot-wearing Tracy Republican lawmaker, faced an outcry from Democrats for pushing a bill to lift the 27-year-old ban on drilling off the East and West coasts and let states choose whether to allow oil rigs off their shores.In a sign of how much the energy debate has shifted in an era of nearly $4-a-gallon gasoline, virtually the same proposal that Pombo floated will be introduced on the House floor this month - by Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.But Republicans aren't exactly cheering the new Pelosi proposal. She plans to tie new offshore drilling to measures that are loathed by the GOP - such as revoking billions of dollars in tax breaks for oil companies and forcing utilities to get more of their energy from wind and solar.As Congress returns this week for a three-week legislative sprint, the two parties will face off in a chess match over energy with high stakes for both the November elections and the nation's energy future. For weeks, Republicans have dominated the debate by demanding more domestic drilling. Polls show that strong majorities of Americans support the idea. It was a leading refrain at last week's Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn., where delegates chanted, "Drill, baby, drill."Beyond drillingBut Democrats believe the GOP may have overplayed its hand by focusing on drilling when polls also show Americans want the country to quickly develop new cleaner, renewable energy sources...Senate amendmentsThe Senate will vote on an amendment being crafted by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., that would revoke tax breaks for oil companies, open areas off the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the East and West coasts to drilling, renew expiring wind and solar tax credits and new energy-efficient building codes.Reid said he also would allow a vote on an energy plan proposed by the "Gang of Ten," a group of five Democrats and five Republicans, that would allow drilling off the coast of four states - Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia - while also revoking tax breaks for oil companies and offering new incentives for wind and solar, biofuels, coal-to-liquid fuels and nuclear energy.Most Capitol Hill insiders believe there's little chance any of the measures will become law...Decision timeBoth parties are already game-planning for another scenario: On Sept. 30, the congressional moratorium on offshore drilling and a similar ban on oil shale development are set to expire. President Bush already has lifted the presidential moratorium on offshore drilling.Congress also must move a temporary spending bill by Sept. 30 to keep the government funded and prevent a government shutdown. Democrats are expected to include a renewal of the two moratoriums as part of the spending bill, arguing that the only way they will let the bans lapse is as part of a broader energy bill that moves the country toward renewable sources.But Republicans say they may call the Democrats' bluff and risk a government shutdown, and then lay the blame at Pelosi's doorstep.It would be a huge gamble. The last time Republicans took the risk of forcing a temporary government shutdown - during a 1995 budget showdown with President Bill Clinton - they faced a major public backlash and ended up losing seats in the 2006 House elections. Pension spiking will cost Californians...Gary M. Galles, economics professor at Pepperdine Universityhttp://www.sfgate.com/columns/openforum/Pension spiking (e.g., retroactive increases in pension benefits or pre-retirement promotions that qualify workers for bigger pension benefits), has been a major trend in California since our dot-com boom. It has saddled state and local governments with serious fiscal problems ever since (e.g., Orange County has a $2.7 billion pension deficit, and a 2005 review of California's biggest government agencies found pension, health care and workers' comp commitments more than $100 billion under-funded), even leading to bankruptcy by the city of Vallejo. In June, it was reported that San Pablo proposed reducing police officers' retirement age from 55 to 50, with members supposedly to contribute 3.3 percent of their payroll to partly cover the costs. But four days after the pension deal, San Pablo's new police contract included an additional 3.3 percent raise to offset the payroll deduction, making the pension spike free to employees. This is just one illustration of combining government union power with politicians' short-term bias, due to re-election campaigns that come before all the effects of their policies become apparent.The logic for such a back-loaded compensation approach is obvious, despite its harm to citizens. Public employee groups are well-informed about their compensation packages, and do not hesitate to use their political clout to expand them. In contrast, citizens who know their votes won't alter election outcomes pay little attention. But mushrooming budgets, which become scandals, can get their interest. The political solution has been to reward the influential generously, but dodge public scrutiny by deferring the big bills until retirement. When those obligations come due, politicians will have moved on or be able to hide behind the fait accompli with "there's nothing we can do now."That the pension obligation boom is a bonanza to public workers rather than a sensible policy is also revealed by the less-than-credible arguments offered in its defense, once spiking is uncovered.The first line of defense is that public employees are underpaid compared to private-sector counterparts, so retirement benefits must be sweetened to compensate. ...but those days are past for most government workers, many of whose salaries now exceed those in the private sector.The second rationale is that increased health care and pension commitments, despite costing millions, are essentially "free." All it takes is assuming an implausibly large return to pension fund investments, and by the time the rosy scenario proves false, taxpayers are responsible for any shortfalls.The third common claim is that pension boosts are essential for public agencies to attract and retain quality employees. Of course, those agencies have no problem finding workers and few of their employees quit, clearly refuting that claim. The pension spiking also violates the principle of pay for performance. Benefit boosts that apply to existing workers, who are often virtually tenured for life and who have revealed that they aren't going anywhere, making any added motivation minimal. And for older workers, the rich payouts are negotiated when they have only a few more years to work, so they do not even apply to most of their working life. But it builds in large incentives for pension spiking As San Pablo's escapade illustrates, the public needs to understand the deferred compensation disaster they face, and punish those responsible. Dramatically accelerating what taxpayers will be forced to pay in the future with little benefit to the public does not advance our general welfare. The laughably inadequate defenses that have been used to justify such government largesse also make that clear. If Californians don't wake up, politicians will only make it worse, and our ignorance will be anything but bliss. Cal prepares to end tree-sitters' protest...Carolyn Joneshttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/08/BAP712QCQO.DTLThe standoff between UC Berkeley and four tree-sitters outside Memorial Stadium intensified Monday as work crews prepared to remove the protesters from a stripped-down redwood. "The university is preparing for what will we hope be a quick and safe extraction in the coming days," campus spokesman Dan Mogulof said. "We had hoped it wouldn't come to this. It's extremely unfortunate."Mogulof did not say exactly when or how the university would act to remove the tree-sitters...Negotiations aimed at getting the sitters to come down on their own broke down Sunday night, and the university cut off the protesters' food and water supply at 9 a.m. Monday...In their most recent demand, the tree-sitters said they would come down if the university gives $6 million to environmental and Native American groups, creates a public committee on campus land use, and allows protesters to use the stump from the oldest tree in the grove, which protesters called "Grandma," for a Native American drum.The university offered to give protesters the stump and allowed them three two-hour meetings with high-ranking campus officials to discuss mitigating the loss of the oak grove, long-term plans for the southeast corner of campus and other related issues.But UC will not pay $6 million, Mogulof said...In July, the university hired a mediator to help negotiate with the tree-sitters and community over the athletic center. The mediator met with protesters and campus officials over the weekend, but talks ended after an apparent split among the protesters, Mogulof said."It appears the tree-sitters and their supporters could not come to an agreement within themselves," he said.Eisenberg denied the claim."There's no split. Everyone's on board with our proposal," he said. "The university's saying there's a split because they don't want to negotiate with us. They're choosing confrontation over a peaceful resolution."...Contra Costa TimesLawsuits settled, development of Faria Preserve ready to move forward...Sophia Kazmi, Valley Timeshttp://www.contracostatimes.com/environment/ci_10413681?nclick_check=1SAN RAMON — Faria Preserve, a northwest San Ramon development once held up by environmental lawsuits, is ready to move ahead. Now, the city of San Ramon must decide if it wants to take the once controversial project into its borders.The City Council meets this evening and will decide whether to ask permission of the Local Agency Formation Commission to annex the 290 acres into the city.Faria is a 786-unit development that includes affordable housing, senior apartments, parks, open space and community facilities on land behind Deerwood Road. In 2006, the city approved of zoning changes that would have allowed the plans to move forward, but the following year East Bay Regional Parks District and the Sierra Club sued over environmental concerns. Among other issues, the park district was concerned that the city did not address the effects the project would have on environmental and biological resources and on users of Las Trampas Regional Wilderness. The Sierra Club was concerned about the displacement of wildlife, including some threatened species and adverse effects to a nearby creek. In April, the parties reached a settlement that tweaked portions of the development to satisfy the park district and the Sierra Club. The changes include reducing the size of the one of the neighborhoods resulting in a decrease of about five developable acres, expanding the open space area in the northwest corner of the development and permanently protecting that area. The settlement also requires the shifting of a creek area next to the open space, creation of a new park district trail staging area, reduction of some homes from three stories to two, improvements to neighborhood design and an increased amount of landscaping.The changes were not considered substantial, but because of the legal settlement, the city attorney urged the City Council to review them, and modifications were approved in June...End appears near for UC Berkeley tree-sitters...Kristin Bender, Oakland Tribunehttp://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_104190859:55 a.m. The crowd of protesters has grown to over 200 and has grown increasingly noisy in their standoff with a line of UC Berkeley police officers on Piedmont Ave. Meanwhile, there are now four cherry pickers surrounding the surviving tree where the four tree-sitters remain.9:35 a.m.Metal scaffolding is going up rapidly around the tree and as UC crew works, tree-sitter protesters on Piedmont Avenue about 100 feet from the tree are beating drums abd chanting loudly.Crowd of tree-sitter supporters has grown to over 100 and protesters are becoming increasingly noisy. A line of UC police officers down the center of Piedmont has been formed to keep the demonstrators away from the tree-sitters.9:15 a.m.:As media helicopters hovered overhead, work crews with two "cherry picker" vertical platforms moved into the former live oak grove in front of Memorial Stadium at the University of California, Berkeley this morning and appear to be preparing to remove the four tree sitters remaining in the only surviving redwood tree.A crew is also erecting scaffolding around the the tree.UC police have surrounded the area and one of the cherry picker lifts already has a crew aboard. Workers have encased the cherry picker in a metal and plastic covering designed to act as a shield...A crew overnight trimmed additional branches from the lone redwood whre the four men are holding out. They are refusing to come down, despite the fact the more than 40 trees they were trying to save are now gone.About 30 people, protesters, students, onlookers and and a sizable number of reporters and photographers are gathered at the scene, waiting to see what UC Berkeley is going to do next.Tree-sitter supporters early this morning attempted to get food and water to the tree sitters, but were unsuccessful. The university cut off food and water deliveries at 9 a.m. Monday...Mercury NewsUC building massive environmental research lab in hills above Silicon ValleyHIGH-TECH ARRAY TO MONITOR CHANGES, BIG AND SMALL...Lisa M. Kriegerhttp://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_10412669In an oak-studded landscape in Silicon Valley's back yard, University of California researchers are assembling what could become the largest array of high-tech sensors to probe environmental mysteries as grand as climate shift or as subtle as sap flow.A century after John Muir endured the elements to explain nature's grandeur, UC's vast network of sophisticated cameras and instruments, linked wirelessly to the Internet, are under construction at the new Blue Oak Ranch Reserve, east of San Jose's Alum Rock Park. The network will connect the physical world to the virtual world by gathering and transmitting data to scientists around the globe — and anyone with a Google Earth connection — from the 3,260-acre former cattle ranch. The minute-by-minute accumulation of information, when analyzed over years and decades, could reveal near-imperceptible natural trends, giving scientists and the public a comprehensive story of man's impact on nature, from tiny West Nile virus to Bay Area smog...Much of nature is a now-you-see-it, now-you-don't affair — a flash of a fish, the pounce of a hawk, the slide of a turtle into swift and deep waters. The reserve's Webcams will capture events that would otherwise have been lost.Yet much else happens on scales far too grand for the puny human eye, such as the slow and subtle shift of seasons. The reserve's sensors will detect those, as well. Blue Oak Ranch Reserve is the latest acquisition in UC's 36-reserve Natural Reserve System, a collection of outdoor classrooms and laboratories of protected California landscapes. The system was created by the Regents in 1965, in response to faculty concerns that the state's surging population made many of California's natural landscapes unusable for undisturbed long-term studyThe largest university-operated system of natural reserves in the world, these sites are open to any qualified researcher. So Blue Oak will welcome not just the UC community, but also scientists at Stanford, Santa Clara, San Jose State, local community colleges — and even select high schools. NASA Ames scientists hope to use the site to study the environmental impact of air quality, said Ames scientist Christopher Potter. Although the reserve will be closed to the public, Hamilton said there will be open houses and volunteer opportunities. The ranch, valued at about $5 million, was donated anonymously to UC in December 2007. The donor also gave a generous start-up grant. An endowment accompanied the land transfer, so it is not vulnerable to UC fiscal cutbacks.Managed by UC-Berkeley, the reserve's golden hills are home to ancient blue oaks, valley oaks and two species of live oak — as well as endangered California tiger salamanders, Foothill Yellow-legged frogs, native trout and river otters. Embedded in the Mount Hamilton Range, the ranch has not been grazed for 15 years. "This is completely raw land that has been essentially undeveloped for its entire history," said Hamilton. Its centerpiece is a solar-sustained field station, converted from an old barn. Future plans call for dormitories, classrooms, labs and offices designed by UC-Berkeley faculty and students to surpass the highest "green'' building standards...To learn more Go to www.blueoakranchreserve.org. Los Angeles TimesJudge doesn't halt ports' clean-truck program...Louis Sahagunhttp://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-trucks9-2008sep09,0,3954338,print.storyA federal court judge in Los Angeles on Monday tentatively denied a trucking association's bid to block a landmark clean-truck program at the nation's busiest port complex.After a 40-minute hearing, U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder said she would probably allow the program to move forward, despite objections from truckers."The balance of hardships and the public interest tip decidedly in favor of denying the injunction," she said in court.Under the program, the adjacent ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach would upgrade their aging fleet of about 16,800 mostly dilapidated rigs that produce much of the diesel pollution in Southern California.The American Trucking Assn., which represents 37,000 trucking companies nationwide, argued that the program would place an unconstitutional and unfair economic burden on port truckers.The program is scheduled to begin Oct. 1 with a ban on pre-1989 trucks. By 2012, only trucks that meet 2007 standards would be allowed to service the ports, which handle 40% of the nation's imported goods.Pending home sales decline more than forecast...Bloomberg Newshttp://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-econ10-2008sep10,0,1123367,print.storyFewer Americans signed contracts to purchase previously owned homes in July as harder-to-get financing kept would-be buyers from taking advantage of lower prices.A separate report showed inventories at U.S. wholesalers piled up twice as fast as forecast in July as their sales slid.The Commerce Department said that wholesale inventories rose 1.4%, led by higher stockpiles of automobiles, machinery and petroleum, after an increase of 0.9% in June. Sales dropped 0.3%, the most since FebruaryThe National Assn. of Realtors said its seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for existing homes fell 3.2% to a reading of 86.5 from an upwardly revised June reading of 89.4. The index was 6.8% below year-ago levels, reflecting declines in every region except the West, which includes California.Today's housing figures help explain why the government took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two days ago. Policy makers are aiming to stem the increase in mortgage rates triggered in part by the turmoil that engulfed the two companies, which make up almost half the $12 trillion U.S. mortgage market. Rates have dropped since Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's intervention."The market is still showing a lot of fragility," said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at Horizon Investments in Charlotte, N.C., who forecast the pending sales gauge would drop 3%. "The credit crunch is causing some of these borrowing costs to remain higher and that's part of the reason people are hesitant to jump in."....As home-loan losses mount, banks are reducing lending. Wachovia Corp. in June stopped offering option adjustable-rate mortgages, which let borrowers skip part of their payment and add the balance to principal. Chief Executive Officer Robert Steel said today the Charlotte, N.C., bank next year will cut $1.5 billion of expenses as it's "tapping the brakes" on risk.Pending resales are considered a leading indicator because they track contract signings. Closings, which typically occur a month or two later, are tallied in a separate report."The housing correction poses the biggest risk to our economy," Paulson reiterated on Sept. 7 when he announced the takeovers of Fannie and Freddie. The Treasury will also start purchasing mortgage-backed securities issued by the two companies to "support the availability of mortgage financing for millions of Americans," he said.Figures on August existing home sales are due from the Realtors group later this month. Purchases in July rose 3.1% to a 5 million annual pace, with at least one-third of the purchases coming from foreclosed properties.At the July sales rate, it would take 11.2 months to sell all the houses on the market, about twice the supply that reflects a balanced market, according to the agents' group.Other measures also show how bank seizures may push down home prices and suppress sales. Foreclosures increased to the fastest pace in almost three decades during the second quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Assn.in Washington said in a report last week.New York TimesFriendly Invaders...Carl Zimmerhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/science/09inva.html?_r=1&sq=endangered%20species&st=cse&oref=slogin&scp=2&pagewanted=printNew Zealand is home to 2,065 native plants found nowhere else on Earth. They range from magnificent towering kauri trees to tiny flowers that form tightly packed mounds called vegetable sheep. When Europeans began arriving in New Zealand, they brought with them alien plants — crops, garden plants and stowaway weeds. Today, 22,000 non-native plants grow in New Zealand. Most of them can survive only with the loving care of gardeners and farmers. But 2,069 have become naturalized: they have spread out across the islands on their own. There are more naturalized invasive plant species in New Zealand than native species.It sounds like the makings of an ecological disaster: an epidemic of invasive species that wipes out the delicate native species in its path. But in a paper published in August in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dov Sax, an ecologist at Brown University, and Steven D. Gaines, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, point out that the invasion has not led to a mass extinction of native plants. The number of documented extinctions of native New Zealand plant species is a grand total of three.Exotic species receive lots of attention and create lots of worry. Some scientists consider biological invasions among the top two or three forces driving species into extinction. But Dr. Sax, Dr. Gaines and several other researchers argue that attitudes about exotic species are too simplistic. While some invasions are indeed devastating, they often do not set off extinctions. They can even spur the evolution of new diversity...Dr. Sax and his colleagues are at odds with many other experts on invasive species. Their critics argue that the speed with which species are being moved around the planet, combined with other kinds of stress on the environment, is having a major impact. There is little doubt that some invasive species have driven native species extinct. But Dr. Sax argues that they are far more likely to be predators than competitors.In their new paper, Dr. Sax and Dr. Gaines analyze all of the documented extinctions of vertebrates that have been linked to invasive species. Four-fifths of those extinctions were because of introduced predators like foxes, cats and rats...But Dr. Sax and Dr. Gaines argue that competition from exotic species shows little sign of causing extinctions. This finding is at odds with traditional concepts of ecology, Dr. Sax said. Ecosystems have often been seen as having a certain number of niches that species can occupy. Once an ecosystem’s niches are full, new species can take them over only if old species become extinct.But as real ecosystems take on exotic species, they do not show any sign of being saturated, Dr. Sax said...These scientists also point out that exotics can actually spur the evolution of new diversity...But critics, including Anthony Ricciardi of McGill University in Montreal, argue that today’s biological invasions are fundamentally different from those of the past. “What’s happening now is a major form of global change,” Dr. Ricciardi said. “Invasions and extinctions have always been around, but under human influence species are being transported faster than ever before and to remote areas they could never reach...It is estimated that humans move 7,000 species a day. In the process, species are being thrown together in combinations that have never been seen before. “We’re seeing the assembly of new food webs,” said Phil Cassey of the University of Birmingham in England. Those new combinations may allow biological invasions to drive species extinct in unexpected ways...Dr. Ricciardi argues that biological invasions are different today for another reason: they are occurring as humans are putting other kinds of stress on ecosystems. “Invasions will interact with climate change and habitat loss,” he said. “. We’re going to see some unanticipated synergies.”Both sides agree, however, that decisions about invasive species should be based on more than just a tally of positive and negative effects on diversity. Invasive weeds can make it harder to raise crops and graze livestock, for example. The Asian long-horned beetle is infesting forests across the United States and is expected to harm millions of acres of hardwood trees. Zebra mussels have clogged water supply systems in the Midwestern United States. Exotic species can also harm humans’ health. “West Nile virus, influenza — these things are invasions,” Dr. Ricciardi said.On the other hand, some invasive species are quite important. In the United States, many crops are pollinated by honeybees originally introduced from Europe... 9-9-08Department of Water ResourcesCalifornia Water NewsA daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment…September 9, 2008 1.  Top Item  Area residents look for ways to save waterSacramento Bee – 9/9/08…By Ed Fletcher With early signs pointing to a drier-than- average winter, residents across the Valley may be forced next summer to alter their water-wasting ways through mandatory restrictions. But Elk Grove resident April Vail isn't worried. She's way ahead of her neighbors.Her family uses half the water – about 258 gallons a day – that average metered customers do. The average is 550 to 600 gallons, according to the Sacramento County Water Agency.  Her secret? Five years ago, she replaced grass with native plants. "We just went for it. We took out the entire lawn," Vail said.Water conservation has been mostly voluntary in the region, although Folsom adopted mandatory restrictions last month for its 19,500 customers.Water officials are hoping for a good water year this winter just to stay even. "We need to have a really good rainy year. (But) even if we have a good rainy year, the reservoirs are so low it could take a couple of rainy years to get us caught up," said Gail Tauchus, the county water agency's water conservation coordinator. A third dry year would force much more extensive restrictions, said Sue Sims, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Water Resources.Sims said early forecasting shows no sign of a winter wet enough to end the drought conditions. Last week, the state announced the creation of a "drought water bank" to facilitate the sale of water from willing sellers in the north to buyers in the south. The water bank will move water from big customers, but officials said conservation is needed from residential customers. "Every drop we conserve now is one less drop we have to find next year," said Sims. Water agencies across the region offer to help customers looking to cut their water usage. As a free first step, water agencies offer "water-wise" inspections, where agency staff or consultants will check for leaky appliances and take the guesswork out of watering the lawn. Most agencies offer rebates to help customers replace older, water-wasting toilets and clothes washers. Jessica Hess, a spokeswoman for Sacramento's Utilities Department, said that in 2007 the department issued over 800 rebates on low-flow toilets.The program paid big dividends for one commercial customer. The metered customer had been billed for 15,000 cubic feet of water a month for several years. After the customer complained about high water bills, an inspection discovered three leaky toilets. Water loss from a leaky toilet can be up to 4,000 gallons a day, said Hess. After replacing the toilets with new ultra low-flow models, the customer's April total: 281 cubic feet, followed by 316 cubic feet in May.The city has five people on staff for inspections. Vail said she'll consider a high-efficiency washer when her family replaces its clothes washer. But big savings have come from replacing the lawn with less thirsty native plants. "It's a lot less work than the lawn would be," Vail said. "We don't have to go out every week and labor in the sun with the lawn mower. We don't even own a lawn mower."With our drought and our water rationing," Vail said. "I'm really glad we did this."#http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1220807.html 2. Supply – Nothing Significant 3. Watersheds – Presidio's creeks will spring back to lifeSan Francisco Chronicle – 9/9/08…By Peter Fimrite, staff writer (09-08) 18:23 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A hummingbird hovered over a rivulet of water burbling out of a hillside in the Presidio then dipped its beak in a quiet little tributary called El Polin Spring, which is unknown to the vast majority of residents in the noisy urban jungle that surrounds it. But it is the focus of one of the most ambitious and innovative ecological restoration projects in San Francisco history. The gurgling spring that attracts hummingbirds and other wildlife is at the heart of the Presidio's 270-acre Tennessee Hollow Watershed, which has three freshwater creeks.  "Right now we are standing next to the headwaters of the central tributary," said Allison Stone, the senior environmental planner for the Presidio Trust, which has a 20-year plan to restore the entire watershed to the way it was before the U.S. Army channeled the creek into pipes and then covered it with dirt and debris. "This spring has the highest abundance and diversity of migratory birds in the area." The spring now disappears under the asphalt El Polin Loop Road, briefly re-emerges in a meadow on the other side and then disappears into an underground pipe. In fact, more than half of the creek system is in underground pipes or lined channels.  Legend of the spring The legend, dating back to the earliest Spanish settlers, is that drinking El Polin water improves fertility, but Stone advised against drinking it."It is not potable," she said. The immediate plan is to restore about 20 acres, including adjacent hillside areas, trails, picnic and interpretive areas, during the next five to seven years at a cost of about $14 million. The money also will cover the cost of relocating a soccer field. Starting Monday, 58 nonnative eucalyptus, cypress and pine trees will be removed from around the springs. Community volunteers will replant the site with native California buckeye, wax myrtle, toyon, willow and grasses grown in the Presidio Native Plant Nursery starting Nov. 22. Over the next year and a half, an asphalt loop road will be removed and transformed into a pedestrian boardwalk and trail with a picnic area, public restrooms and benches. The historic stone channels, built in the meadow by the Army in the 1930s, will be restored, and interpretative gardens and archaeological displays will be set up. The 66 units of outdated, boxy military housing adjacent to the site eventually will be removed, but Stone said the restoration of an area known as Morton Street Field will be done first.  New channel for creek That project will remove a soccer field and an old earthen dam and build a new, open channel for the creek. The plan, which involves relocating the field and expanding the playing surface at Julius Kahn Playground, at first generated an outcry from those who wanted to preserve playing fields, but it has since been approved by the Presidio Trust. "This is the creek," Stone said, pointing to a storm drain grate behind the field. "You can hear the creek."The trickle of water now heard only in that storm drain once was the lifeblood of the Presidio, quenching the thirsts of Native Americans, early Spanish colonial settlers and the U.S. military, in addition to a wide variety of Presidio wildlife.  Important waters The waters were crucial to the Yelamu tribe of the Ohlone Indians, who once inhabited the Crissy Field area of San Francisco. The 193 residents who founded El Presidio de San Francisco on July 26, 1776, relied on the spring. In 2003, Stanford University archaeologists discovered the foundations of adobe homes dating back to 1810 next to the source of the spring.  They are believed to be the homes once inhabited by the family of Marcos Briones, a colonial soldier and a founder of El Presidio de Monterey. Briones and his children produced dozens of offspring, a fact that could be the source of the El Polin Spring legend. It was said that all maidens who drank from the spring during the full moon were assured of many children and eternal bliss. There used to be a plaque at the site retelling the legend, but it was stolen, Smith said. The Tennessee Hollow Watershed is made up of three tributaries in a bowl-shaped valley. The creeks, one of which is seasonal, come together at a bridge known as Lovers' Lane Bridge, which marks the historic trail that once led from the Presidio to Yerba Buena Cove, the site of the frontier town that eventually became San Francisco.  The watershed was named after a regiment of volunteers from Tennessee that set up camp in the area in 1898. Lovers' Lane was the road soldiers used to visit their sweethearts in San Francisco, Stone said. Flumes once were built along the coast to transport the Presidio water to San Franciscans, but other sources eventually were found.  Flow to Crissy Field Stone said the plan is for the creek eventually to flow freely all the way to the Crissy Field Marsh and for a trail allowing visitors to trace the beginning of the creek and follow it all the way to the marsh and out to the bay. She likened the project to the creation of an outdoor museum. "Here within the park we have an entire watershed system with spring-fed creeks ... and so much history from indigenous tribes to the establishment of the Presidio to the boom of the Gold Rush," Stone said. "We think of the Presidio as the birthplace of San Francisco. To bring some of this history back to life instead of just through books, to elevate the story of this place, is an incredible opportunity.  This will be the biggest change people will see in the Presidio for awhile and to be able to do it so close to the city is unusual." Want to go?  A guided walk starting at El Polin Springs and covering the Tennessee Hollow environmental restoration project will be conducted for the public from 10:30 a.m. to noon Saturday. For directions and to RSVP, call (415) 561-5357 or e-mail jnichols@ presidiotrust.gov.#http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/09/MNTK12OUML.DTL 4. Water Quality – Mystery ailment kills ducks in Rancho CordovaSacramento Bee – 9/8/08…By Bobby Caina Calvan Ducks have been dying – about five or six per day, sometimes more – in the ponds at Hagan Community Park.Prompted by worried parkgoers, the city of Rancho Cordova is plunging into the monthlong mystery."Something's in the water," conjectured Scott Harmon, a frequent parkgoer who helped sound the alarm.  In the past few days, Harmon has been watching the birds die in the park's shallow ponds. On Sunday morning, he spotted a dead mallard floating in one pond, fetching it from the water with a branch. He saw another bird floating – seemingly paralyzed – near the rim of the pond. Ordinarily, ducks fly off when spooked, but this one continued floating motionless, as still as a wooden decoy. On a nearby tuft of tall grass, another duck drooped its neck, its wing feathers matted. Soon it was dead. "They're dying, man, just kickin' it. Poor little guys. It's a horrible way to go," said Harmon, who had scooped out another dead bird from the pond the day before.Slicks of algae cover much of the smaller ponds. At times, a stench drifts from the murky, stagnant water. At dusk, mosquitoes swarm.The water looks nasty, it smells nasty. A larger pond, popular with anglers, doesn't appear to have the same problems. Unlike the shallower ponds, a pump circulates its water. Carolina Dave announced the crisis over the weekend on a post on Craigslist. There were ducks dying all over the little ponds, she reported. "What I saw there was horrifying," she wrote. She tried to help one of the ducks during a family outing to the nearby American River. She wondered if the same dangers to the park's ducks pose a threat to the people and pets that frequent the park – and to the students and teachers at Cordova High School, which adjoins the ponds. "The ponds are right next to the school," Dave said in an interview Sunday. "There aren't any signs posted."School officials weren't available Sunday. The city's animal services office only recently learned about the duck deaths, and has yet to address the problem, said Kerry Simpson, the city's neighborhood services manager, who oversees animal services. Among the initial steps will be performing necropsies on some of the ducks. "It's too early to say what's going on," she said. "We've only just heard about it. We had no idea about the extent of the problem. Obviously, no one had reported it to us." Groundskeepers at the park say they've been collecting a handful of dead ducks over the past month, and most of the ducks have been found on the shallower ponds near the high school parking lot. The park is operated by the Cordova Recreation and Park District, and city officials will be conferring with park officials to determine what to do next."There are so many things in a duck diet, that it could be anything," Simpson said. "My biggest fear is creating a huge panic out there." "We need to talk to the parks administrator," she said. "We'll be moving ahead as fast as possible." Some parkgoers worry that the West Nile virus is killing the ducks – but that's unlikely because the virus isn't known to be deadly to such waterfowl as ducks, according to experts. Concern over West Nile usually centers on such birds as crows, jays and ravens. "At this point, we don't know what's killing them," said Sharon Racine, an animal services officer who discovered a dead duck a week ago. She said she didn't learn about the extent of the problem until recently. She described symptoms to a wildlife specialist – but no experts have yet visited the community park. One theory, Racine said, points to botulism – the result of a naturally occurring toxin that can produce paralysis. "But it's pure speculation," she said.It will take tests to determine the culprit. "The water is pretty dirty, and ducks are bottom feeders," Racine said, explaining that the birds might be ingesting the toxins as they plunge into the muck for food."Maybe it will be a simple fix – flush out the ponds with clean water," she said.#http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1217662.html 5. Agencies, Programs, People –Opinion:Water: Get over the dams, toward efficiency - Sacramento BeeClosure of Freeport Bridge starts today - Sacramento Bee Opinion:Water: Get over the dams, toward efficiencySacramento Bee – 9/9/08 As California politicians continue to argue over developing comprehensive solutions to the state's water problems, eyes are inevitably turning to the agricultural sector, which uses 80 percent of the water consumed by Californians. Agriculture is important to our economy, culture and environment, but it is subject to mounting pressure from uncontrolled urbanization, global market pressures and threats to the reliability and availability of fresh water. A new Pacific Institute report demonstrates that we can support a more sustainable and profitable agricultural sector while substantially decreasing agricultural water withdrawals. Not only can we do more with less; we must do more with less. Every water-scarce region runs into the same challenge. As the demand for water outstrips local supplies, we first seek to tap ever-more-distant resources through the construction of massive dams and vast aqueduct systems. California went through this phase in the 20th century, building the Central Valley Project, the State Water Project, the Colorado River Aqueduct, the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the Hetch Hetchy and Mokelumne systems, and countless other components of our modern water supply.  But it is a myth that just a few more dams or bigger groundwater pumps will, once and for all, solve our water problems. With the economic, ecological and political realities of taking even more water from overtaxed rivers and aquifers becoming more apparent, harder decisions have to be made. The good news is that there are smart things that can be done. Currently, our farmers face two very different futures. One leads to growing disruptions in the agricultural sector, uncertainty about the reliability of food production and the weakening of a vital component of our traditional economy. The other leads to a carefully planned and efficient agricultural sector, long-term protections for land and water resources, and the production of more high-value crops grown with efficient irrigation systems that are managed to respond to varying weather and crop conditions. We can choose to make California agriculture more water-efficient and productive, thereby ensuring that farming remains a central element of our culture and economy. The key is to improve water-use efficiency and provide for greater reliability so that farmers can apply sufficient water when and where it is needed. We can protect high-quality agricultural land from urban encroachment through careful planning, and we can grow more food with less water. The Pacific Institute's new study evaluates four scenarios that improve agricultural water-use efficiency. Each is a straightforward extension of trends and efforts already under way by innovative growers around the state, and each shows the potential to increase production with less water. Over the past two decades, farmers have slowly shifted toward sprinkler and drip irrigation systems, which can boost production without increasing water use. They have reduced the acreage devoted to field crops, such as cotton, alfalfa and irrigated pasture, while growing more fruits, nuts and vegetables. They are also improving management practices. For example, automated weather stations throughout the state provide information to help farmers more accurately judge the right timing for irrigation, and smart monitors can help farmers distribute water on fields more precisely. But farmers need help to accelerate these changes. Initial costs are often high for changing irrigation systems. Our complex system of water rights is inconsistently applied and rarely enforced, and it does not provide incentives for farmers to reduce wasteful uses. Perverse subsidies often lead to overapplication of water rather than more careful use. For the agricultural sector to make necessary adaptations and investments, the state needs to implement policies and offer incentives that support water conservation and efficiency improvements. How can we start along this path? We can offer tax exemptions and rebates to farmers who upgrade to more efficient irrigation systems. The State Water Board can enforce California's water-rights laws more rationally. Water districts and individual growers can more accurately measure exactly how much water is being used to do what. And new water-rate structures can be developed to encourage efficient water use. We are at a crossroads. If farming is going to thrive in the coming decades, we must begin planning now for a smooth transition to efficient, modern agriculture that uses less water to grow more food and produces more income for farmers than today. It is time for California to implement economic and environmental policies that support agricultural water conservation and efficiency, both for the good of the environment and for the health and sustainability of our farmers. Let's figure out how to do more with less. About the writer:Peter H. Gleick directs the Pacific Institute in Oakland and has been researching and writing on water problems for 25 years. The institute's new water report, "More With Less," is available at www.pacinst.org .#http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/1220325.html Closure of Freeport Bridge starts todaySacramento Bee – 9/9/08…By M.J. Enkoji The Freeport Bridge, a vital link for agriculture in the Sacramento Delta is closed this week for repairs. The nearest detour to cross the river is a few miles south at the Paintersville Bridge. Crews are repairing the bridge's lock mechanisms, according to Dan Regan, a Sacramento County Department of Transportation spokesman. Regan said the major traffic on the bridge appears to be agriculture with few other types of commuters. The bridge, spanning the Sacramento River between Highway 160 and River Road, is about a half-mile south of the town of Freeport.The bridge is expected to open Friday afternoon.http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1221894.html  ------------------------------------------------------------- DWR's California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff, for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader's services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost2.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news. DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of California. -------------------------------------------------------------CENTRAL VALLEY SAFE ENVIRONMENT NETWORKMISSION STATEMENTCentral Valley Safe Environment Network is a coalition of organizations and individuals throughout the San Joaquin Valley that is committed to the concept of "Eco-Justice" -- the ecological defense of the natural resources and the people. To that end it is committed to the stewardship, and protection of the resources of the greater San Joaquin Valley, including air and water quality, the preservation of agricultural land, and the protection of wildlife and its habitat. In serving as a community resource and being action-oriented, CVSEN desires to continue to assure there will be a safe food chain, efficient use of natural resources and a healthy environment. CVSEN is also committed to public education regarding these various issues and it is committed to ensuring governmental compliance with federal and state law. CVSEN is composed of farmers, ranchers, city dwellers, environmentalists, ethnic, political,and religious groups, and other stakeholders.