1-30-09

 
1-30-09
Badlands Journal
Panel will debate controversial water issues Feb. 4 at Fresno State...Badlands Journal editorial board
http://www.badlandsjournal.com/2009-01-30/007069
(January 14, 2009) – A public debate on water policy in California and the Central Valley will be moderated by U.S District Judge Oliver Wanger at 7 p.m. Feb. 4, at California State University, Fresno. Agricultural and environmental advocates will face off on the issues.
The debate, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Satellite Student Union (2485 E. San Ramon Ave. at Maple Avenue, south of Barstow Avenue). It is sponsored by Fresno State’s Political Science Student Association and the Political Science Department.
As the presiding judge for the Eastern District of California, Wanger has ruled over most of the major water cases recently in the Valley, including the controversy over preserving Delta smelt in the Sacramento Delta. Wanger will provide brief opening remarks, said Dr. Thomas Holyoke, a political science professor who is coordinating the event.
Holyoke said the debate will focus on Valley East Side, West Side and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta issues.
“The single most important public policy problem confronting California’s Central Valley today is the availability of water,” Holyoke said.  “The declining snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, the falling groundwater table and decisions to restore smelt in the Delta will most likely mean considerably less water in the future for Valley agriculture.” 
He said the issue also is forcing state and local policymakers to develop a broad new policy to strike a balance between supporting the agriculture economy and ensuring the quality of water and the environment that depends on it. 
The forum will also provide an opportunity for the public to express its concerns, Holyoke said.
Valley agricultural community participants are:
--Thomas Birmingham, general manager and general counsel of the Westlands Water District, 
--Kole Upton, former chairman of Friant Water Users Authority, and 
--Jim Beck, general manager of Kern County Water Agency. 
Representing environmental concerns are:
--Lloyd Carter, board member of the California Water Impact Network and Revive the San Joaquin and president of California Save Our Streams Council;
--Michael Jackson, board member of California Water Impact Network and counsel to California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and Regional Council of Rural Counties; and
--Bill Jennings, chairman of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance.
Free parking will be available in Lot P at Barstow and Maple and in Lot J off Woodrow Avenue.
For more information, contact Holyoke at 559.278.7580 or by e-mail at tholyoke@csufresno.edu.
DEBATE ISSUES
Valley East Side -- Who is likely to win and lose in Congressional efforts to restore the San Joaquin River? The return of salmon, groundwater recharge, potential loss of water for agricultural irrigation, new recreational opportunities, new freshwater for the Delta, groundwater banks, county of origin and watershed of origin statutes, irrigation districts selling water to Valley cities, and the possibility of a new dam at Temperance Flat.
Valley West Side -- Potential damage to agriculture, loss of jobs, dwindling water supplies, Westlands Water District's claim to San Joaquin River water through a county of origin statute, drainage and selenium problems, and a proposed settlement through federal legislation.
Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta -- Collapse of the smelt population, fragile levees, Northern California users’ concerns, potential impact on Native American tribes and re-emergence of the peripheral canal proposal to route water form the Delta to the Valley and Southern California.
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(University Communications news intern Amanda Fine contributed this copy.)
Merced Sun-Star
Merced County has named a new chief spokeswoman, government liaison and lobbyist...Corinne Reilly 
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/664759.html
Katie Albertson, 29, has worked for the county since 2006 as its deputy spokeswoman.
The county announced her promotion this week to the relatively new position, formally called the governmental affairs director.
Since the county created the job in 2006, some have questioned its necessity, though Albertson and other county officials have called it vital to the county's success.
Albertson succeeds Mark Hendrickson, who was promoted late last year to oversee the redevelopment of the former Castle Air Force Base.
As the county's governmental affairs director, Albertson is charged with helping the county win state and federal funding and with advancing the county's legislative goals both in Sacramento and Washington.
She's also supposed to serve as a liaison between Merced County and other local governments, and she is responsible for the county's public relations. That includes handling requests for interviews and information from the media.
As policy, no county employees besides elected officials are allowed to provide information to reporters without Albertson's OK, including department heads.
Merced County created the governmental affairs position, which comes with a salary range of $96,000 to $117,000, in Oct. 2006, when Hendrickson was hired.
Kristy Waskiewicz, who heads the union that represents most county employees, said the job shouldn't have been established. She said filling it amid dozens of layoffs in other county departments doesn't make sense.
"It's an unnecessary position that never should have been brought in," Waskiewicz said. "The main purpose of the position is to prevent public officials from making public statements. That's inappropriate."
Albertson said she thinks the position is more vital now than it's ever been: "The county is facing more challenges than ever in making sure we get the state and federal money we need to serve our residents," she said. "Advocating for our needs on those levels is very important."
Several Central Valley counties have positions similar to Merced's governmental affairs director.
The county hasn't decided whether it will fill the deputy spokesperson position that Albertson vacated, officials said.
Before Merced County, Albertson worked in investor relations for a Colorado-based coal company.
Before that she worked nearly four years for the Republican National Committee in a variety of positions, lastly as a manager in the committee counsel's office. She also worked on Republican campaigns.
Sara Sandrik, a television news reporter who covers Merced County for Fresno's ABC station, described Albertson as responsive and easy to work with.
"(She) has always been helpful and reliable when it comes to keeping us informed about news at the county level," Sandrik said.
Albertson grew up near Atlanta, Ga. She moved to California from Colorado Springs, Colo., in 2006. She holds a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Georgia.
She lives in Merced with her husband, Trevor Albertson.  
Our View: Don't use crisis to gut smog rules
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/181/v-print/story/664753.html
If California Republicans hope to shed their reputation as the Scorched Earth Party, they won't do it by gutting environmental rules as a condition for a state budget deal.
With California just days away from running out of money, Republicans are quietly insisting that Democrats and the governor weaken state rules to allow greater diesel pollution from construction equipment, more use of pesticides by farmers and more greenhouse gas emissions from development projects.
Many of these changes are being sought by construction contractors, farm businesses and developers who have contributed big bucks to the Republican Party and GOP lawmakers in recent years.
Apparently, these industries are willing to let the state descend into insolvency, unable to sell bonds for highway and flood control projects, unless they can get regulatory relief they couldn't get through a normal public process.
Consider just one of the rollbacks the GOP seeks -- a delay in state rules requiring construction companies to reduce diesel pollution from bulldozers and other equipment.
The California Air Resources Board enacted these regulations in 2007 after dozens of public hearings.
Because of the rules, many construction companies have already invested in cleaner construction equipment, which could go a long way toward protecting public health.
Now, at the 11th hour, Republicans want to use a closed-door process to gain regulatory relief for construction companies that, instead of investing in cleaner equipment, have put their money into a lobbying campaign.
If they are successful, they'll undermine California's efforts to meet clean air standards while putting proactive construction firms at a competitive disadvantage.
It's shameful that businesses that have so much to gain from state construction bonds would be using their leverage with Republicans in this way.
At a time when Californians need them to step up for the state's interests, they are again fouling the air for a handful of special interests.
Modesto Bee
California drought worries intensify...John Holland. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://www.modbee.com/local/v-print/story/582306.html
The state's top water official warned Thursday that the drought, now in its third year, could become the most severe on record in California.
The warning came on the heels of a report that the snowpack in the central Sierra Nevada, which supplies most of the Modesto area's water, is at 63 percent of average.
"We may be at the start of the worst California drought in modern history," department director Lester Snow said. "It's imperative for Californians to conserve water immediately at home and in their businesses."
City residents and farmers in most of the Northern San Joaquin Valley have not faced major cutbacks from water providers.
Still, officials are watching the conditions closely. Walt Ward, assistant general manager for water operations at the Modesto Irrigation District, said last week's storms merely took the edge off the problem.
"It certainly was welcome and took us in the right direction but probably not for too long," he said.
As of Thursday, the MID's downtown rain gauge stood at 4.75 inches for the season, up from 3.02 inches before the storms but still well short of the 6.6 inches received by now in an average season. The rain season is from July 1 to June 30, but most rain tends to fall from December to March.
The National Weather Service forecasts continued dry days at least until Thursday, when a storm could move in.
The state's last major drought ran from 1987 to 1992, punctuated by a frightening stretch of rainless weather through most of the winter of 1991. The drought of 1976-77 was shorter, but the decline in precipitation was greater.
The situation this year is becoming critical in some parts of the valley, mainly the south and west. There, growers face not just drought, but water cutbacks to protect fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
"The consequences are expected to be pretty horrible in terms of farmers' revenue, but what's really disconcerting are the possible job losses," said Wendy Martin, who leads the drought division at the state water department. "Those communities that can least weather an economic downturn are going to be some of the places that are hit the hardest."
Lack of rain, fewer jobs
Richard Howitt, a professor of agriculture economics at the University of California at Davis, estimates that reduced water supplies could mean the loss of 60,000 farm-related jobs and $1.6 billion in wages in the valley this year.
It's not so dire for the MID, the Turlock Irrigation District and other water suppliers that do not draw from the delta. They have long-standing rights to nearby rivers, as well as reservoir storage that, while not ideal, could still be enough to see them through this year without major agricultural, commercial or residential cutbacks.
The districts will set their agriculture water allotments in late March. They could include a cap on total use by a grower, as the TID did last year, or reductions in the amount of water available at the lowest rate.
The recent storms were not large, but they moistened the valley soil and make it unnecessary for growers to do an early irrigation, said Jeff Shields, general manager of the South San Joaquin Irrigation District, based in Manteca.
That watering would have been done with wells because the canals have been emptied for winter maintenance.
"(The rain) was really valuable in terms of the needs here on the valley floor because it did give our trees an immediate shot of water," said Shields, whose agency shares Stanislaus River reservoirs with the Oakdale Irrigation District.
Two factors add to the concern about this year's runoff, said Wes Monier, strategic issues and planning manager for TID. One is that some of the storms came early, so some of the water has evaporated. The other is that the two years of drought have reduced the seepage of groundwater into Sierra streams near their sources.
Water managers hope February and March are not a repeat of March and April 2008, when almost no rain fell. That happened after wet months in January and February.
"At this point, it's anyone's guess," Monier said.
Statewide rents going up, but they're flat in Stanislaus County...J.N. Sbranti
http://www.modbee.com/local/v-print/story/582304.html
Apartment rents remained flat in 2008 throughout Stanislaus County, but vacancy rates increased as low-priced rental homes lured away tenants.
The average Stanislaus apartment rented for $819 per month during October, November and December. That was $1 more than the year before, according to statistics gathered by the research firm Realfacts.
Vacancy rates climbed to nearly 7 percent. In 2000, before the region's home building boom began, less than 2 percent of apartments were empty.
Stanislaus -- and particularly Modesto -- has fallen far behind the California average for apartment rents. During the past four years, for instance, rents statewide have risen 20 percent to $1,435 per month, but they've increased just 6.7 percent in Modesto to $815.
Merced rental rates are even further behind and remain among the lowest in California. They now average $735 per month, only 6.1 percent more than four years ago.
Rental home rents also have become a bargain throughout in the region.
"The economy is driving the rental prices down," said Kris Marin, who manages about 250 rental properties in the Northern San Joaquin Valley for Tri-Tal Realty. "There are a lot of vacancies. It's hard to find good, qualified tenants if the rent is too high."
So to get homes occupied, Marin said, monthly rents have fallen about $100 for three-bedroom homes and about $200 for four-bedroom homes.
"Paying $1,100 to $1,200 per month for a three bedroom is what's attractive to people now. Anything priced over $1,300 is harder to rent," Marin said. "So it's better to drop your rent by $100 now than to have the house sit vacant for another month."
Joe Randy agreed it's taking longer to find qualified tenants. He manages about 80 of his own commercial and residential properties through his company, Pacific West Real Estate.
"Many people looking for a rental home are coming out of foreclosures, so their credit isn't the best," Randy said.
Some people, however, see home foreclosures as an investment opportunity.
Al Nazmi said his family members have purchased more than 20 foreclosed houses during the past 18 months. He said many of the former owners who lost those homes now are renting them back from his family's company, RVH Property Management.
People who defaulted on their mortgages can afford to rent, so they generated "extra demand" for rental housing, Nazmi said. He said foreclosed homes also created great opportunities for investors.
"Most Modesto investors have run out of cash to buy homes the last three months," said Nazmi, noting how few people attend the daily foreclosure auctions on the county courthouse steps.
But out-of-town investors are filling the void: "I have friends in neighboring states who are buying homes in Modesto now."
All those investors are turning former owner-occupied houses into rentals. Those homes now compete with apartment complexes for tenants.
That's bad news for apartment owners.
"In essence, while income from rental property remained flat (nationwide) in 2008, inflation drove costs up by 3.85 percent," according Realfacts' analysis of the apartment market.
Realfacts said that might explain why only one-third as many apartment complexes sold nationwide in 2008 compared with any of the previous three years.
"The choice to invest in income property for the last several decades has been based on the assumption that rents would continue to grow," Realfacts noted. "In 2009, investors are likely to evaluate rental properties based on current income alone."
If investors evaluate rental homes the same way, they may find good deals in Stanislaus.
"Opportunity is knocking," Randy assured. Because purchase prices and mortgage rates are so low, he said, "investors can get positive cash flow from rentals."
There's a lot of competition for tenants, however, so some rental home owners are offering enticing deals.
Liberty Property Management, the region's largest rental home management company, currently lists more than 100 available homes in Stanislaus, priced from about $800 to $1,800 a month.
To attract renters, Liberty advertises discounts for some homes like "$300 off" the first month's rent or "first month's rent free with lease."
Many apartment complexes, meanwhile, offer "half-off the first month's rent" or "$499-moves-you-in" deals.
And once tenants get in -- whether it's an apartment or a home -- most don't have to worry about rent increases.
"You don't want to scare them away by raising the rent," explained Marin. She said landlords sometimes even will lower rents to keep good tenants.
Fresno Bee
Snowpack at two-thirds of normal; third drought year is possible...Mark Grossi
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/v-print/story/1164321.html
Storms last week did little to encourage water officials or improve the Sierra Nevada snowpack, which is less than two-thirds of its usual size.
Even with eight weeks remaining in the wet season, state officials on Thursday warned residents of a possible third consecutive drought year.
“We may be at the start of the worst California drought in modern history,” said Lester Snow, director of the state Department of Water Resources.
In the Southern Sierra, from Yosemite National Park to Kern County, the snowpack is slightly healthier than the rest of the mountain range — 68% of average.
Surveys this week in the Kings River watershed indicate the snowpack just east of Fresno is close to 80% of average, but officials did not sound hopeful.
“It would take much-above-average storm activity for the remainder of the season to have a chance at having normal Kings River runoff,” said watermaster Steve Haugen of the Kings River Water Association.
The next chance for snow in the Southern Sierra is Wednesday night, according to the National Weather Service in Hanford.
Reservoirs throughout the state are quite low, state officials said, meaning there is little reserve for cities, farm irrigation and wildlife refuges.
Shasta Reservoir, holding federal water for millions of farmland acres in the San Joaquin Valley, has less than half its usual amount of water for this time of year. Officials for Westlands Water District fear no federal water will be delivered to farmers in its district this year.
The State Water Project — which delivers most of its water to Southern California and Kern County — estimates only 15% of summertime deliveries would be available.
Last year at this time, the snowpack was 111% of average, but the state later had its driest spring on record. The state suffered a second drought year.
Climatologists suspect a Pacific Ocean cooling trend, called La Niña, contributed to the dry spring last year. Similar conditions are developing in the Pacific.
Valley GOP leaders target pesticide rules...E.J. Schultz, Bee Capitol Bureau
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/v-print/story/1163853.html
SACRAMENTO - Bugs have invaded state budget talks as debate heats up about clean-air rules farmers must follow when spraying for pests.
Environmentalists say GOP leaders Mike Villines of Clovis and Dave Cogdill of Modesto are seeking to weaken regulations that are critical to cleaning the polluted air in their Valley districts.
The demands are part of a long-running push by Republicans to get concessions on a host of environmental regulations in return for supporting a state budget deal that could include tax or fee hikes.
Cogdill said environmentalists are trying to "stop all business and industry." The GOP pesticide proposal would simply put into law a recent court decision, he said, "so we don't have to keep fighting the battle over and over again."
The minority GOP enjoys rare leverage at budget time. State spending plans require a two-thirds majority vote, meaning a handful of Republicans must sign on.
Clean-air activists say the pesticide regulations should not be part of budget talks, which are taking place behind closed doors with no public involvement.
"What [Villines and Cogdill] have put on the chopping block will have serious health implications for residents of the San Joaquin Valley," said Sarah Sharpe, environmental health director for Fresno Metro Ministry, a faith-based group that advocates for clean air. "There's no place for these conversations in the budget."
Lawmakers and Gov. Schwarzenegger are struggling to close a $42 billion budget shortfall through June 2010.
The pesticide rule in question concerns smog-making gases, called volatile organic compounds or VOCs, emitted by pesticides. Pesticides contribute to about 6% of the smog problem in the Valley, the most recent state figures show.
The Valley's bad air has created numerous public health problems, including high asthma rates.
In 2006, a federal judge ruled that the state Department of Pesticide Regulation ignored clean air laws for pesticides. The judge ordered regulations that would cut pesticide emissions in the Valley by 20% from 1991 levels.
But in August, the department won an appeal to overturn the ruling. Officials are now finalizing new regulations that call for a smaller decrease - a 12% cut from 1990 levels.
Republicans are seeking to put that figure in statute, according to language of a proposal circulating in the Capitol. And the proposal would loosen rules in Ventura County to allow for more emissions than what the pesticide department is calling for.
The proposal appears aimed at undermining efforts by environmental groups to re-establish the stricter limits - either through regulations or in court.
"We're going to do everything in our power to stop [the Department of Pesticide Regulation's] misguided regulations and Republicans' attempt to further steal public health protections from rural residents," said Brent Newell, legal director for the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment.
The rules target "fumigants," pesticides that are injected into the soil to kill pests and disease. The department says the looser limit will still "meet our obligation to reduce pesticide emissions, but do so in a way that avoids placing an unreasonable or disproportionate burden on fumigant pesticide users," according to regulatory documents.
Farmers fear the stricter limit could force some growers to stop using pesticides in years when the region approaches the emissions limit. As a result, "we are not going to be able to farm the same amount of acres. We are not going to be able to produce the same amount of food," said Barry Bedwell, president of the Fresno-based Grape and Tree Fruit League.
The department's proposal would set allowable emissions at 18.1 tons per day, 2.1 tons less stringent than what environmentalists want. In recent years, pesticide VOC emissions have ranged from 17.3 tons per day to 21.4 tons, according to the pesticide department.
Estimated annual average emissions from all sources was 380 tons per day in 2006, according to the state Air Resources Board.
BARBARA BOXER: Partnering with farmers for cleaner air...Barbara Boxer
http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/wo/v-print/story/1164515.html
It is not news that the San Joaquin Valley has issues with air quality. The American Lung Association's State of the Air Report, released last year, gave most counties in the region failing grades for air quality.
News out of Washington last week, however, may help Valley residents breathe a little easier.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released $37.5 million in funds to help improve air quality in agricultural areas like the Valley. The bulk of these funds -- nearly $11 million -- will be directed to help California farmers reduce the smog, soot and other farm-related air pollutants that threaten public health and reduce crop productivity.
Farm-related air pollution comes from equipment like trucks, tractors, and irrigation pumps. Burning farm waste contributes to poor air quality, as do methane and ammonia from livestock and dairy cattle.
California farmers have already made significant strides in reducing farm-related air pollution, but more can be done.
Equipment pollution can be reduced by replacing old engines with newer ones with emission controls, or by retrofitting them with control devices.
Shifting from burning to chipping or moving agricultural waste to biomass energy plants can reduce farming's contribution to poor air quality.
Changing housing methods for animals, managing feeding regimens and food storage and using advanced technologies like methane digestion to dispose of animal waste can help cut pollution from dairies, hog farms and poultry ranches.
The know-how for reducing air pollution is there. But the bottom line is that changing technologies can be expensive.
Unfortunately, funding for conservation programs has not kept up with the need.
To stay competitive, especially in a global agricultural market, farmers need assistance making the changes that will bring cleaner air, and they should be able to look to the federal government as an active partner.
That's why I worked with Rep. Dennis Cardoza of Merced to create a new matching grant program in last year's Farm Bill designed for air quality mitigation in agricultural communities with poor air quality. The nearly $37.5 million released by USDA earlier this month represents the first tranche of funding from this new program.
Since 1998, the USDA's National Resource Conservation Service has spent approximately $5 million per year in California, specifically on air quality mitigation efforts.
The results have spoken for themselves, producing measurable and permanent pollution reductions in a region that has some of the worst air quality in the nation and leading to a reduction of more than 13,000 tons of air pollution.
That funding, however, has been provided on an ad hoc basis, without any framework, without any assurance that it will continue or any guarantee that it will be targeted at the areas with the worst air quality if it does. The Boxer-Cardoza program ensures that there is a dedicated funding source committed to improving air quality in the areas that need it most.
Now, with the release of the USDA's first round in air quality matching grants, there is $11 million for California farmers to partner with USDA to begin replacing old engines, reducing dust and smoke and cutting pollution from livestock and poultry and make the air in their communities cleaner.
Farmers and ranchers across California want to do their part in cleaning the air. Now the federal government will be a stronger partner.
And that means we can all breathe a little easier.
Freddie Mac to rent foreclosed properties...ALAN ZIBEL, AP Real Estate Writer
http://www.fresnobee.com/559/v-print/story/1165661.html
WASHINGTON Mortgage finance company Freddie Mac said it will allow some borrowers to rent out their homes after losing them to foreclosure.
The goal of the new policy, announced Friday, is to prevent properties from becoming vacant so they won't fall into disrepair.
Freddie Mac also said it will allow renters to remain in their homes even if their landlord enters foreclosure. The McLean, Va.-based company currently has about 8,500 properties in the foreclosure process, but many of those are vacant.
"Keeping foreclosed properties occupied and in better repair will support local property values and promote a faster recovery in the housing market," said Freddie Mac Chief Executive David Moffett.
Fannie Mae, which announced similar plans earlier this month, said it has stopped about 20,000 foreclosure sales and halted 6,300 evictions of owners or renters this winter.
Under Freddie Mac's new policy, tenants and former property owners need to demonstrate that they have enough income to pay the rental bill. Freddie Mac also said it would consider reinstating a mortgage for those borrowers who can qualify for a modified loan.
Washington-based Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the government in September after mounting mortgage losses put them in distress that was a prelude to the broader financial crisis that hit Wall Street last year.
Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also said Friday they would extend a previously announced suspension of evictions through the end of February. Fannie and Freddie combined own or guarantee about half of the $10.6 trillion in outstanding U.S. home loan debt.
Sacramento Bee
Sierra snowpack findings signal a third year of drought...Matt Weiser
http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/v-print/story/1585160.html
State water officials reported Thursday that the statewide snowpack stands at only 61 percent of average for the winter so far; this likely ensures California will see its third straight drought year.
The Department of Water Resources conducted manual snow surveys at several locations in the Sierra Nevada, where the snowpack serves as the state's water bank. Along Highway 50 near Echo Summit, surveyors found 34.6 inches of snow, or 68 percent of average. Conditions are worse in the Northern Sierra, which stands at 49 percent of average.
"We may be at the start of the worst California drought in modern history," DWR Director Lester Snow said in a statement. "It's imperative for Californians to conserve water immediately at home and in their businesses."
Officials have previously said that, because most of the state's reservoirs are so depleted, a wetter-than-average winter is required to recover from the past two drought years.
With each passing day, that becomes less likely. The month of January, often the wettest of the year, was unusually dry, and no more precipitation is expected in what remains of the month.
'Threatened' status urged for longfin smelt...Matt Weiser
http://www.sacbee.com/378/v-print/story/1585126.html
Wildlife officials have recommended adding the longfin smelt to the state's list of endangered species.
In a report filed Tuesday, the Department of Fish and Game proposes "threatened" status for the 5-inch fish under the state Endangered Species Act, citing threats from water diversions, pollution and predation by foreign fish species. The longfin is one of nine fish species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that have declined sharply in recent years. A fall survey concluded in December found one of the smallest populations of longfin in 42 years of monitoring. Its cousin, the Delta smelt, set a new low.
"This is acknowledging that yet another species in the Delta is at risk of extinction, and it's going to help drive improvements in the way we're managing the ecosystem," said Tina Swanson, executive director of The Bay Institute. The state Fish and Game Commission must vote to list the longfin, probably at its March meeting. It imposed new Delta pumping limits to protect the fish during the review, which may now become permanent.
A federal listing proposal is under review.
Calif. panel rejects new offshore oil drilling...Associated Press Writer
http://www.sacbee.com/308/v-print/story/1584556.html
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- The State Lands Commission on Thursday rejected a proposal that could have led to the first new oil drilling project off the California coast in 40 years.
The panel voted 2-1 against Plains Exploration & Production Co.'s request for approval of its bid to expand drilling off Platform Irene in the Santa Barbara Channel. Commission Executive Officer Paul Thayer said the project is effectively dead unless the oil company takes it to court or reapplies to the commission with a new proposal.
The proposal, which would have been worth billions of dollars, was announced last year with a landmark alliance between longtime anti-oil environmentalists and the oil company. The environmental groups signed a confidential agreement to lobby for the deal in exchange for a raft of promises from the Houston-based company, including billions in revenue for the state, thousands of acres of land and a commitment to end its local drilling by 2022.
"It's done. It's over," said Linda Krop, who negotiated the deal on behalf of the Environmental Defense Center, Get Oil Out! and the Citizens Planning Association of Santa Barbara County. "I'm going to be standing on our coast in nine years looking at these platforms and they're still going to be operating."
The commission's chairman, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, voted against the proposal as did state Controller John Chiang, while Tom Sheehy, who represented state finance director Michael Genest, voted to approve the lease.
Garamendi said he determined the application was not in the best interests of the state.
"I'm not convinced the main benefit of this bargain is achievable and enforceable," he said.
The packed meeting was sharply divided, with supporters largely from Santa Barbara County arguing in favor of approving a project they said would end drilling in their area, benefit the region and help the cash-strapped state. Opponents who had come from elsewhere in the state, however, argued the plan was shortsighted.
"Our coast frankly is in your hands," said Sara Wan, who is on the Coastal Commission but said she was only speaking as a resident. "Please do not allow it to be destroyed."
While the proposal has enjoyed unprecedented support from about 25 environmental organizations statewide, lawmakers from California to Washington, D.C., recently challenged the plan. Many worried the proposal could invite more offshore drilling along the California coast and undermine efforts to reinstate a federal drilling moratorium that was lifted by the Bush administration.
Garamendi has said he has spoken with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other members of the California congressional delegation who also expressed concern that approving a drilling proposal could undercut their efforts to reintroduce the federal moratorium.
Others such as Chiang raised concerns that the agreement between the environmentalists and oil company is confidential and the public had not been able to scrutinize the documents. PXP representatives relented at the meeting, saying they would be open to releasing the documents.
Supporters, including Rep. Lois Capps, a Democrat who represents Santa Barbara, have argued that the unique proposal would end drilling in Santa Barbara County and would not lead to more drilling statewide. Others such as Krop warned that if the project was not approved, the state would lose the many benefits the groups negotiated.
The commission's staff recommended rejection, saying there was no guarantee that the company, known as PXP, would shut down operations. The staff's finding prompted two major environmental backers of the plan - the Sierra Club and the Planning and Conservation League - to send a letter to the commission this week saying their support was contingent on the terms being fully enforced.
The vote came the day after the 40th anniversary of a massive oil spill off Santa Barbara that coated miles of beaches with oil and killed dolphins, seals and thousands of birds. The spill helped lead to the Clean Water Act and a moratorium on offshore drilling, galvanizing the modern environmental movement.
Plains Exploration has operations in California, Texas, Louisiana and Gulf of Mexico.
Los Alamos says lost equipment no security breach...Associated Press Writer
http://www.sacbee.com/827/v-print/story/1586336.html
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Three Los Alamos National Laboratory computers were taken from a scientist's home and a Blackberry belonging to another employee was lost overseas, but lab officials say no sensitive information would have been lost.
A watchdog group called the Project on Government Oversight said Thursday it was disturbed by the losses this month because of past security lapses at the nuclear weapons lab.
The group released an internal lab e-mail that said the developments were "garnering a great deal of attention with senior management as well as NNSA (National Nuclear Security Administration) representatives."
A lab spokesman, Kevin Roark, said it was "absolutely false" to imply that either event constituted a security breach.
The three computers were taken from the home of a scientist in Santa Fe, while the Blackberry was lost in an unidentified "sensitive foreign country," the memo said. Both involved people with the lab unit that works on nonproliferation, national security and other issues.
But Roark said the scientist had gotten permission to use the computers at home, and computers allowed off lab property do not contain sensitive information.
As for the Blackberry, he said, it was "a souped up cell phone" with no sensitive material. The employee reported the loss at once, he said, and there has been no attempt to connect the Blackberry since then.
A spokesman for the NNSA in Washington, Darwin Morgan, said the agency is looking into the incidents to determine if there are procedures that need to be changed.
How a college should look...Mark T. Harris, Sacramento...Letters to the editor
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/story/1584804.html
Re "Central Valley campus courts freshmen rejected by more popular UC schools amid enrollment cuts" (Page A1, Jan. 25): The headline points out the frustration shared by the academic community of administrators, faculty and students at UC Merced. Our campus shares an identity crisis with the likes of Oakland and Long Beach in that there appears to be "no there … there."
I am a visiting professor at UC Merced who commutes to the campus from my home in Sacramento. I came to teach on the Central Valley campus after spending 10 years on the faculty at the University of Southern California both in Los Angeles and Sacramento, and a short time as a professor at Mills College in Oakland.
I find the students at UC Merced to be highly intelligent, highly motivated to succeed and possessing the intangible qualities associated with being well-rounded young adults. An additional pleasure comes from being associated with a campus that more accurately reflects California's ethnic and cultural diversity than most others. No, UC Merced is not the "island of misfit toys" from the cartoon "Frosty the Snowman" but instead is a testament to what a college should look like and be comprised of when one considers the talent and intelligence of its student body and commitment of its faculty.
Stockton Record
Gloomy snow survey...Alex Breitler's Blog
http://blogs.recordnet.com/sr-abreitler
No one could have expected good news out of the latest round of snow surveys today, so with that in mind, here is the hammer:
The state Department of Water Resources estimated the snow-water content across the Sierra at 61 percent of normal for the date.
Broken down by region, the numbers are 49 percent in the northern Sierra, 63 percent in the central Sierra and 68 percent in the southern Sierra.
Most troubling is the state's reminder in a press release that last year at this time the snowpack was a robust 111 percent of normal. The driest spring on record erased that quick start and served as the launching pad for the current drought.
Maybe the reverse will come true this year; maybe February, March and April will blow us away.
Or maybe not.
Either way, as Natural Resources Defense Council attorney Doug Obegi blogged this week, "hoping for rain isn't a strategy for meeting our water needs today, let alone in the future when climate change makes our existing water supply system ever more tenuous."
Department of Water Resources
DWR Announces Snow Survey Results...Department of Water Resources...Press Release
http://www.water.ca.gov/news/newsreleases/2009/
012909secondsnowsurveyresults.doc
SACRAMENTO – The Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) second snow survey of the winter season indicates snow water content is 61 percent of normal for the date, statewide.
 “The low precipitation in January and snowpack results from today’s survey indicate California is heading for a third dry year,” said DWR Director Lester Snow. “We may be at the start of the worst California drought in modern history. It’s imperative for Californians to conserve water immediately at home and in their businesses.”
Manual survey results were taken at four locations near Lake Tahoe, and combined with electronic readings, indicate a statewide snowpack water content of 61 percent (49 percent in the Northern Sierra, 63 percent in the Central Sierra, and 68 percent in the Southern Sierra.) Last year at this time, snowpack was 111 percent of normal, but the driest spring on record followed resulting in a second consecutive dry water year. Daily electronic readings may be accessed at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snowsurvey_sno/DLYSWEQ
Local water agencies are updating Urban Water Management Plans, and DWR is facilitating what water transfers may be available through its Drought Water Bank program. Many providers have already enacted mandatory or voluntary water rationing and it is likely more agencies will require some form of rationing if dry conditions persist. 
Storage in California’s major reservoirs is low. Lake Oroville, the principal storage reservoir for the State Water Project (SWP), is at 28 percent of capacity, and 43 percent of average storage for this time of year. With only two months left in what is normally the wettest part of the season, it is growing increasingly unlikely that enough precipitation will fall to end the drought.
Continuing dry conditions and regulatory agency restrictions on Delta water exports are limiting water deliveries to farms and urban areas. A Biological Opinion from the National Marine Fisheries Service to protect salmon and steelhead is expected in March and is the latest action that may further reduce pumping capability. DWR’s early estimate is that it will
only be able to deliver 15 percent of requested State Water Project water this year to the Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley, Central Coast and Southern California. 
Gov. Schwarzenegger has outlined steps to safeguard the state’s water supply through a comprehensive plan that includes water conservation,more surface and groundwater storage, new investments in the state’s aging water infrastructure, and improved water conveyance to protect the environment andprovide a reliable water supply. Today’s drought and regulatory restrictions underscore the need to take action to safeguard tomorrow’s water supply. 
Here are results from today’s manual survey at Phillips Station and other sites near Lake Tahoe:

Location

Elevation

Snow Depth

Water Content

% of Long Term Average

Alpha

7,600 feet

40 inches

13 inches

62

Phillips Station

6,800 feet

34.6 inches

13.1 inches

68

Lyons Creek

6,700 feet

45.4 inches

15.5 inches

79

Tamarack Flat

6,500 feet

37.4 inches

13.2 inches

69

Importance of Snow Surveying
Snow water content is important in determining the coming year's water supply. The measurements help hydrologists prepare water supply forecasts as well as provide others, such as hydroelectric power companies and the recreation industry, with needed data.
Monitoring is coordinated by the Department of Water Resources as part of the multi-agency California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program. Surveyors from more than 50 agencies and utilities visit hundreds of snow measurement courses in California’s mountains to gauge the amount of water in the snowpack. The following websites offer an overview of important snow survey information.
Snowpack Site
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snowsurvey_sno/DLYSWEQ
Reservoir Storage Site
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/reservoirs/RES 
Snow Survey Illustrated
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/snow/hwy50/
San Francisco Chronicle
Worst drought ever expected after mild January...Kelly Zito
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/30/MNC615JNHB.DTL&type=printable
California teeters on the edge of the worst drought in the state's history, officials said Thursday after reporting that the Sierra Nevada snowpack - the backbone of the state's water supply - is only 61 percent of normal.
January usually douses California with about 20 percent of the state's annual precipitation, but instead it delivered a string of dry, sunny days this year, almost certainly pushing the state into a third year of drought.
The arid weather is occurring as the state's water system is under pressure from a growing population, an aging infrastructure and court-ordered reductions in water pumped through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta - problems that didn't exist or were less severe during similar dry spells in the late 1970s and late 1980s.
"We're definitely in really bad shape," said Elissa Lynn, chief meteorologist with the state Department of Water Resources. "People can expect to pay higher prices for produce ... and more agencies may be rationing ... some raising fees. We just don't have enough water."
In Sonoma County, water managers are expected to take a bold step Monday - telling residents to prepare for severe rationing within weeks.
"We have entered uncharted territory," said Pam Jeane, deputy chief engineer of operations at the Sonoma County Water Agency. "A 30 percent mandatory rationing order is just the beginning. Further decline in reservoir levels could necessitate 50 percent cutbacks."
After two consecutive dry years and with a third on the way, Lake Mendocino, one of two main reservoirs that supply 750,000 residents in Marin and Sonoma counties, contains only 32,000 acre-feet of water - about one-third of its capacity of 90,000 acre-feet. (One acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover one acre at a depth of one foot, enough to meet the needs of one to two families each year).
The picture is similar around the state. Lake Shasta, the largest reservoir in California, is at 31 percent of its capacity, down from 74 percent in 2007.
By now, water planners had hoped a series of strong storms would fill up reservoirs and make further rationing unnecessary. But a high-pressure system parked over Northern California has kept skies clear and warm through most of the winter.
Thursday's snow survey by the Department of Water Resources found that the snow's water content - the snowpack - across the Sierra Nevada was 61 percent of normal for this time of year. Last year at this time, the snowpack was 111 percent of normal, but the driest spring on record led to a drought.
The saturation level of snow, or the snow's water content, is the most important factor affecting the crucial spring runoff levels, which help water planners determine water supplies for their districts each season.
If Sonoma County institutes 50 percent rationing, it would be the Bay Area's most drastic measure so far to address the drought. Last spring, the East Bay Municipal Utility District announced 15 percent rationing and added extra drought fees.
Many other districts are relying on voluntary cutbacks. San Francisco has asked users to trim water use by 10 percent. But the city and others could move to rationing this spring, potentially barring customers from filling pools, washing cars or watering lawns.
No customers would suffer more than agricultural districts in Central Valley, where farmers expect they will receive no water from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for their alfalfa, corn, pears and almonds. Critics charge farmers with wasting water by flooding fields and growing low-value crops. But growers insist they are increasing efficiency at the same time they supply the nation with critical food supplies.
Wine is not a critical food supply, but the economies of Napa and Sonoma counties stand to lose tens of millions of dollars if the drought squeezes this year's grape harvest. Already, there are signs that vines are sprouting early - exposing grapes to frost for a longer period of time.
Like commercial farmers in the Central Valley, grape growers might be forced to water some plots and not others.
"If you have limited water, and you don't have the irrigation to keep it going ... it's not going to be a bumper crop," said Nick Frey, president of the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used Thursday's snow survey to pitch his answer to California's water crisis - a $9 billion-plus water bond that would funnel money toward new dams, reservoirs, water recycling programs and conservation efforts. The governor also supports building a giant pipeline, called a peripheral canal, around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to reduce pressure on the ailing water system.
In 2007, a federal judge said operators of the giant export pumps near Tracy must curtail pumping in order to save the endangered delta smelt, a tiny fish.
Tips for saving water
With the state heading for drought, here's what you can do:
Indoors
Toilets: Replace older toilets with high-efficiency ones.
Showers: Install shower heads that use no more than 2.5 gallons of water per minute.
Washing: When showering, wet body, turn off water, apply soap, and turn on water to rinse.
Food: Wash fruits and vegetables in a bowl of water.
Leaks: Fix leaky faucets and toilets that run.
Outdoors
Watering: Do it less often and more deeply.
Irrigation: Use drip irrigation.
Plant choice: Select plants adapted to Mediterranean climates.
Mulch: Apply mulch to gardens to maintain moisture in soil.
Worst drought ever expected after mild January
Falling reservoir levels...John Blanchard, The Chronicle...Multimedia (image)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2009/01/30/MNC615JNHB.DTL&o=4

California scouts logged in sensitive areas...Seth Rosenfeld
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/30/MNMT15ES92.DTL&type=printable
Executives of the Boy Scouts of America in California have repeatedly conducted commercial logging on scout lands in environmentally sensitive areas, sometimes drawing sharp criticism from regulators and environmentalists.
That finding is part of a Hearst Newspapers investigation of the Boy Scouts management of wildlands around the country.
In California, the scouts have almost always followed forestry rules in harvesting timber on more than 6,200 acres of land they own, according to public records. They have done no clear-cutting and mainly conduct relatively small "selection" harvests, in which loggers pick each tree to be cut.
Scout leaders say these harvests promote forest health and wildlife habitat, reduce fire hazards and generate income for scout programs. As required by the state's Forest Practice Rules, the nation's most comprehensive logging regulations, the scouts retained licensed foresters to prepare their logging plans and employed professional lumberjacks.
But state officials have found that some scout logging proposals contained incomplete and inaccurate information about potential risks to threatened species like the coho salmon, steelhead trout and the Sonoma tree vole.
Bad roads
And in some instances, councils failed to maintain dirt roads to protect streams from erosion, neglected to mark environmentally important trees to ensure they were not cut and put in unauthorized trails.
Three different state agencies said poorly maintained dirt roads threatened wildlife habitat at Camp Lindblad in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The Boy Scouts' Mount Diablo Silverado Council, which owns the camp, had a history of failing to maintain roads there, causing erosion that harms streams and fish.
In 2006, the council and a neighbor proposed using camp roads to log in the area. But the state Regional Water Quality Control Board said the roads were "in unacceptably poor condition," citing "plugged culverts, sloughing banks, and diverted waterways."
State Fish and Game inspectors were concerned about erosion from deteriorating roads. Sediment deposits 18 inches thick lined Kings Creek and buried some parts of the streambed, said their June 28, 2006 report.
Addressing concerns
Snag trees - which have damaged branches and cavities important for wildlife habitat - had not been marked to ensure they would not be cut, it said.
The professional forester retained by the scouts addressed the state's concerns, and only then was the logging plan approved.
In July 2007, the council proposed logging 150 acres at the camp. The water quality board said long-term road maintenance was "still a problem," and the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency cited evidence that the scouts were allowing vehicles on the dirt roads during wet weather, which causes erosion.
Kevin Collins, of the Lompico Watershed Conservancy environmental group, wrote to the board, "Camp Lindblad's demonstrated lack of ongoing road maintenance in the past is an indicator for the future."
At the board's request, the scouts agreed to a 15-year maintenance program.
Jason Lewis, the camp's program director, denied the scouts had driven on the roads in wet weather. He blamed the bad roads on the severe El Niño rains and mudslides of the 1990s.
"We have worked continuously to try to do repairs," he said. The scouts had other troubles with their proposal to log on 73 acres at the Boulder Creek Scout Reservation, not far from Camp Lindblad.
In a March 16, 2007 report, State Fish and Game inspectors said the scouts' Pacific Skyline Council logging proposal was "incomplete and incorrect." The plan asserted that no sensitive species would be disturbed. But inspectors said that downstream from the logging site, Bear Creek was home to coho salmon.
Rejected plans
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials listed 32 concerns with the logging proposal and declined to process it. In June 2007, Cal Fire approved a corrected version.
"We addressed all the issues," said Kent Downing, the council's executive.
The scouts had other problems at Camp Royaneh, atop a ridge near Sonoma County's Russian River.
The slopes drain into a tributary of Austin Creek, which flows into the Russian River. Both streams are home to imperiled coho salmon.
In October 1999, the scouts' San Francisco Bay Area Council proposed logging on 78 acres. But Cal Fire officials returned the plan to the scouts' forester twice, saying the plan failed to fully describe potential impact on "sensitive species."
Environmentalists say that such flawed logging proposals waste public funds by requiring extra review.
"It is inexcusable to expend the taxpayer's money to do that (extra review) for you when you are making money from these projects," said the Sierra Club's Jodi Frediani, who monitors timber plans.
Cal Fire approved a corrected plan in October 2000. But a month later, the forester violated state rules when he failed to remove markers, leading to construction of an unauthorized logging trail. Damage appeared minimal, a Cal Fire inspector wrote.
Ryan DiBernardo, the council's assistant director of field services, said he was unaware of the trail problems. "Everything we are doing is ... in compliance," he said.
Threatened vole
The scouts' Redwood Empire Council said its plan to log 73 acres of Camp Masonite-Navarro in Mendocino County posed no environmental problems.
In a Sept. 26, 2005, letter, however, Cal Fire officials said the scouts' forester had failed to detect the presence of the Sonoma tree vole.
A small rodent that lives high in tree canopies, the vole is listed by state and federal agencies as a species of special concern. It's especially vulnerable during logging.
Inspectors directed the scouts to adopt more measures to protect wildlife. A revised logging plan was approved in April 2006.
"We did our darnedest to comply with all the government agencies," said Lee McCann, chairman of the camp's properties committee.
About the series
This series investigates the land-use and conservation practices of the Boy Scouts of America, the nation's largest youth organization and among the largest nonprofit landowners in the United States. The staffs of five Hearst Newspapers - The Chronicle, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the San Antonio Express-News, the Albany Times-Union and the Houston Chronicle - contributed to this report.
Saturday: Development - In recent decades, camps and other rural properties owned by the Boy Scouts have been sold to real estate developers. At times, the Scouts have spurned bids from environmental groups hoping to preserve the lands.
Sunday: Damming the Little Sur - When operators of a Scout camp allegedly dewatered a pristine California river, the Scouts faced sanctions for despoiling a protected fishery. Then the Scouts turned to friendly politicians.
Scout councils defend logging of their lands...Lewis Kamb, Hearst Newspapers. Lewis Kamb is a reporter at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Chronicle staff writer Seth Rosenfeld, San Antonio Express-News reporter Todd Bensman, Albany Times-Union reporter Nadja Drost, Houston Chronicle reporter Lise Olsen, Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Daniel Lathrop and Post-Intelligencer news researcher Marsha Milroy contributed to this report.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/30/MNAK15FFTA.DTL&type=printable
For nearly a century, the Boy Scouts of America have proudly described themselves as campside conservationists, good stewards of the land.
"The Boy Scouts were green before it was cool to be green," said national spokesman Deron Smith.
But in recent decades, local Boy Scout councils around the nation have ordered clear-cutting or other high-impact logging on tens of thousands of acres of forestland they own, often in a quest for a different kind of green: cash.
A Hearst Newspapers investigation has found dozens of cases in which the scouts ordered the logging of prime woodlands or sold them to big timber interests and developers, turning quick money instead of seeking ways to save the trees.
"In public, they say they want to teach kids about saving the environment," said Jane Childers, a longtime scouting volunteer in Washington state who has fought against scouts' logging. "But in reality, it's all about the money."
Scout councils nationwide have hired loggers to carry out clear-cutting and salvage harvests in ecosystems that provided habitat for a host of protected species, including salmon, timber wolves, bald eagles and spotted owls, records show.
At times, the scout councils have logged or sold wild properties that had been bequeathed specifically for use as scout camps.
In some cases, councils have sought revenues from logging or land sales to make up for funding lost because of the organization's controversial bans on gays and atheists.
"The Boy Scouts had to suffer the consequences for sticking by their moral values," said Eugene Grant, president of the Portland, Ore., Cascade Pacific Council's board of directors. "There's no question" that the Scouts' anti-gay, anti-atheist stance has cost the organization money, he said. As a result, he said, "every council has looked at ways to generate funds ... and logging is one of them."
The scouts insist they manage the wild lands they own with sensitivity and care.
But the investigation - a nationwide review by five newspapers of more than 400 timber harvests, court papers, property records, tax filings and other documents since 1990 - also found that:
-- Scout councils have ordered the logging of more than 34,000 acres of forests - perhaps far more, as forestry records nationwide are incomplete.
-- More than 100 scout groups - one-third of all Boy Scouts councils nationwide - have conducted timber harvests.
-- Councils logged in or near protected wildlife habitat at least 53 times.
-- Councils have authorized at least 60 clear-cutting operations and 35 salvage harvests, logging practices that some experts say harm the environment but maximize profits.
A renewable resource
Scout officials generally defended logging as sound land stewardship. Trees are a renewable resource, said some, and the income from logging is put back into scouting, providing needed funds to underwrite programs and maintain scout camps and other properties.
Forestry records confirm that many councils practice only sustainable forestry. They selectively log to remove hazard trees, reduce fire risks and improve habitat, records show. With the help of professional foresters, dozens of councils have implemented long-range management plans to better manage woodlands, records also show. But the investigation also revealed that some stewardship plans were ignored. Most scout timber harvests were relatively small - 50 to 100 acres - and occurred mainly in the Western timber states. But scout councils across the country have authorized logging, Hearst Newspapers found.
"Every time (a council) gets a new scout director, they call a state forester to come out and see if there is any good timber to harvest," said Paul Tauke, Iowa state forester. "There's always pressure to make money."
Some scout councils say they have reluctantly resorted to logging simply to shore up sagging operating budgets.
"I butchered the property," said Bruce Faller, a district commissioner for a Vermont scout council, describing a 2006 logging operation he ordered for financial reasons. "It was old, big beautiful wood ... I wouldn't have done it if there (were) any other way."
26 logging councils
Others unabashedly identify themselves as logging councils that manage scout camps as for-profit tree farms.
The Cascade Pacific Council in Portland, Ore., and the Andrew Jackson Council in Jackson, Miss., are among 26 councils nationwide that log camps as tree farms under what they view as sustainable management plans.
"This is pine country," said Arnold Landry, the Mississippi council executive. "We cut when it's best for us to cut. We replant and ... make the best use of the property."
Properly managed logging is simply another resource councils can tap, some say, in an era when funding is hard to find.
"People talk about what a bad, evil, horrible thing it is to cut a tree," said Tim McCandless, executive for the Spokane, Wash., Inland Northwest Council. "But our mission is kids, not trees."
In southwest Washington, along a gravel county road, a denuded hillside piled with logging debris at the Pacific Harbor Council's Camp Delezene offers testament to how, even amid today's stagnant timber markets, trees are like gold.
The scout council obtained $140,000 by clear-cutting 12 acres of 80 year-old Douglas fir, said scout volunteer Douglas Dorr. The income allowed the scouts to put a new roof on the old lodge at the camp and make other improvements. The logging was done by the book, he said.
But a conservation biologist hired by Hearst Newspapers to review the project said the scouts' logging broke state rules meant to protect endangered salmon in a nearby stream.
"There are blatant rules violations here," said the consultant, Chris Mendoza. He said the council failed to leave a buffer zone of trees along the bank of the stream and on the slopes of a hillside - measures that would have protected the stream from mudslides and erosion.
"These were some big, valuable trees," Mendoza said. "It looks like they wanted to take as many as possible and broke the rules to do it."
Council officials disagreed, saying the logging followed all regulations and was thoughtfully planned to minimize impact.
The logging at Camp Delezene was one of several cases in which scouts were criticized for allegedly deviating from environmental laws, forestry rules or rules written into logging plans.
"It pays to do that," said Mendoza, who has worked for timber corporations and also serves on a state forest practices committee. "Some landowners are more prone to bending the rules, because if they get away with it, it can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars."
Smith, the Boy Scouts national spokesman, says the scouts are not just out to make a buck at the environment's expense.
The scouts are "good stewards of their resources," he said.
Funding scout programs
Among nonprofit groups, the scouts are perhaps the nation's biggest landowners, some scout officials say. How their land is used is largely left up to administrators and volunteer board members running the 304 local scouting councils. Tapping a council's assets, such as timber, can help ensure that there's money to fund scout programs, scout officials say.
In California, scout councils often cited moneymaking as an important goal of logging projects proposed for scout wildlands. Public records show that the foresters hired by the scouts to log their properties have usually followed California forestry rules. But critics caution that forestry agencies - even in heavily regulated timber states like California - can be lax in enforcement.
Around the country, critics have complained that logging operations on scout lands weren't conducted as promised.
Logging carried out by the Central Minnesota Council at its Parker Scout Reservation north of St. Cloud in 2005-2007 earned the scouts more than $100,000, records show, but it also drew complaints. One neighbor said she thought the project would be low-impact.
"I have watched with horror the devastation being exacted on the camp," neighbor Mary Novakowski wrote to a state forester. "The equipment being used has moved through the forest crushing many small trees that might have had a chance to benefit from the open canopy."
Logging at Virginia's Pipsico Scout Reservation led to a "direct discharge" of sediment into a pond and Chesapeake Bay, degrading waters and harming fish, a consultant's report said.
On a remote hillside in the Siskiyou National Forest in southwest Oregon, the McCaleb Scout Ranch overlooks the pristine Illinois River, an unobstructed stream with wild runs of salmon and steelhead.
Salvage logging
Officially declared a state Scenic Waterway in 1970, the Illinois made the nation's list of Wild and Scenic Rivers in 1984.
Nevertheless, the Crater Lake Council conducted widespread logging at its camp after the huge Biscuit Fire in 2002. More than six years later, a massive mound of logging debris remained piled on a ravine's edge above the protected salmon stream. "They savagely logged it," Roy Keene, a former timber industry forester-turned-activist, said of the scout camp.
Council officials say that after the wildfire, they simply salvaged what revenues they could from the scorched but still valuable timber at the camp. They used the revenue - $67,000 - to rebuild camp buildings lost in the fire. But a growing number of forestry experts say such post-catastrophe logging is ecologically harmful.
The case is among at least 35 salvage harvests conducted by scouting groups nationwide since 1990, Hearst found.
"Salvage logging is almost never a positive for ecological recovery," said Jerry Franklin, professor of ecosystem analysis for the University of Washington's College of Forestry. "It is done to salvage economic values."
Recent scout-pursued salvage harvests have occurred in Georgia, California, New York, Montana and Pennsylvania after hurricanes, tornadoes, ice storms and insect infestations. After fires in 1999 and 2002, the scouts' National Council conducted by far the largest of scout salvage harvests reviewed - in all, nearly 3,400 acres - at the nation's premier scouting camp, the Philmont Scout Reservation in New Mexico.
Some critics say the 2002 salvage at the McCaleb Ranch on Oregon's Illinois River never should have happened anyway.
"The old woman who donated that property to the scouts had entered into an agreement with the state to protect it from logging," said Keene, senior forester for the Institute of Wildlife Protection
"No trees, shrubs, or brush shall be destroyed, cut, or removed from the restricted area without a written permit from (the state)," according to the 1974 easement signed by the donor, the late Betty McCaleb.
Nevertheless, the state gave the scout council permission to cut all "fire-killed trees of merchantable size" from the 106-acre ranch just a couple weeks after the fire burned across it.
Jan Houck, a parks official who approved the plan, said such logging "isn't necessarily prohibited" under the easement, "it just needs our permission first."
Scout council executive Rick Burr, who was hired after the logging, defended the harvest as "a one-time deal."
"The money from the (timber) sale was used to rebuild the structures," he said.
To critics, it was a dispiriting transaction.
"I've got nothing against the Boy Scouts," said Joseph Vaile, an Oregon environmental activist. "But it was really disheartening to see clear-cut logging right next to a Wild and Scenic River."
Contra Costa Times
'Worst drought' looking likely, California official says...Mike Taugher
http://www.contracostatimes.com/environment/ci_11583477?nclick_check=1
Brace yourselves: California appears to be heading into a third dry year - and the first significant drought since the early 1990s.
It could get even worse.
"We may be at the start of the worst California drought in modern history," warned Lester Snow, director of the state Department of Water Resources. "It is imperative for Californians to conserve water immediately at home and in their businesses."
State water managers months ago told their customers — which include a few East Bay and South Bay agencies and Southern California — they would likely get 15 percent of their requests for Delta water. That figure might have to be reduced.
Many local water agencies, including the Contra Costa Water District, are waiting for definitive figures before announcing decisions about water rationing in March or April, but the likelihood of rationing in many parts of the state is high — and growing.
Ironically, the East Bay Municipal Utility District, one of the handful of water districts already rationing water, could lift rationing if precipitation is normal through spring, spokesman Jeff Becerra said.
The second snow survey of the year on Thursday found the Sierra snowpack at 61 percent of normal. That's half as much as last year, and water managers worry that if winter storms end early — as has happened in the past two years — it could severely affect water supplies.
Expect no Delta water at all, farmers in the Westlands Water District have been told.
And with at least a week of bone-dry weather in the forecast, the outlook is bleak.
It would take 30 feet of snow in the Sierra to bring the snowpack up to normal, state meteorologist Elissa Lynn said.
"That's probably not going to happen," Lynn said. "We're in a third dry year."
The state's major reservoirs are about one-third full, or about half of where they normally would be this time of year.
Not everyone is resigned to a drought.
Phil Wente of Wente Vineyards in Livermore and Pleasanton said he was remaining hopeful.
"In my 40 years of being around here I find the rainfall seasons are very random," he said. "We could have the wettest March on record yet — we don't know that yet."
The problem for water managers is not just that the state appears to be in a third consecutive dry winter. It is also that a host of restrictions to protect smelt, salmon and steelhead will make it more difficult to recover from dry conditions even if Mother Nature cooperates.
Big increases in recent years in the amount of water taken from the Delta have contributed to widespread declines in fish populations, and now wildlife protection laws are biting back with tough new regulations on water deliveries.
It appears to be the first serious drought since many of the state's fish species were added to the list of threatened and endangered species.
"If it was just a drought, a big February or March could take this off the hook. But it's not just a drought," said Timothy Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies.
Quinn said it is highly likely that Southern California will have widespread rationing this year — something that has not happened in almost 20 years.
In December, federal regulators issued a permit that forces water operators to protect Delta smelt, a 2- to 3-inch fish that is fairly nondescript but near extinction.
That permit has drawn complaints from water users, but so far this year it has had zero effect on water supplies, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
However, environmental considerations could have a much larger effect soon.
For example, it is not clear how water managers are going to meet requirements to maintain cold water in salmon streams through the summer and have enough water in them at the end of the year to ensure cold water in 2010.
In addition, rules to protect salmon, steelhead and sturgeon are due in early March and they are widely expected to be tougher than the existing rules.
Quinn said water agencies estimate that if that permit goes through, it and the smelt requirements would reduce water deliveries by about 2.5 million acre-feet. That's 40 percent less than the record high levels delivered in recent years to water agencies in the Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley, Central Coast and Southern California.
In effect, Delta pumping in average water years would be at levels previously reserved for severe droughts, Quinn said.
There's more.
State biologists are recommending next week that another fish, longfin smelt, go on the threatened and endangered species list. Keeping those fish away from Delta pumps could tighten the spigot another turn.
Still another permit — this one to protect water quality — says that on Saturday more water must flow through the Delta to make it less salty.
That would slow water deliveries from the Delta to a trickle, drain what little is left in the state's reservoirs, or both.
Mercury News
California snowpack lags, drought concerns grow...Paul Rogers
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_11583369?nclick_check=1
State water officials on Thursday announced that California's snowpack is 61 percent of normal for this time of year, prompting widespread concerns that after two previous dry years, the state — and Silicon Valley — could face the first widespread mandatory water rationing since the early 1990s.
"We may be at the start of the worst California drought in modern history,'' said Lester Snow, director of the California Department of Water Resources. "It's imperative for Californians to conserve water immediately at home and in their businesses."
There are roughly eight weeks left in California's traditional winter rainy season. If conditions don't improve, homeowners could see increased water bills, brown lawns, and "water police" issuing fines for irrigating lawns on banned days. Farmers, who use 80 percent of the water that California residents consume, will almost certainly plant fewer acres. And the state's salmon populations, already struggling from dams and poor ocean conditions, could fall further in number.
To escape a serious summer drought, the state will need rain and snow at significant levels in February and March. Yet a weather condition known as La Niña, which cools Pacific Ocean waters and limits California's rainfall, is under way.
Silicon Valley has not experienced mandatory water rationing since 1991.
"If things continue the way they have been going so far, it is likely that we could see a call for mandatory conservation. But at this point, we're not ready to make that decision without all the information in front of us," said Susan Siravo, spokeswoman for the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
The board of the water district, which supplies water to nearly all of Santa Clara County's 1.8 million residents, will consider rainfall totals and limits on water deliveries from San Francisco Bay's delta and other projects outside the county before voting whether to impose restrictions. That vote could come at its meeting March 10 or March 24, Siravo said.
How might rationing work? That will depend on the dozens of retail water agencies around the Bay Area. Homeowners could be required to reduce use from their historic amounts or pay higher bills. Or they could be hit with tiered pricing, as in the electricity crisis eight years ago, where those who use more than the community average pay significantly more.
Mandatory cutbacks, if necessary, by the Santa Clara Valley Water District could range from 10 to 20 percent, Siravo said, which would cost the district $13.5 million to $27 million in lost water sales. Those losses in turn could prompt higher water rates, along with staffing cutbacks and other reductions.
"We have to prepare for the worst-case scenario so we aren't caught off guard," she said. "If we do get heavy rainfall in February and March, that's great, but we are ready just in case we don't."
Last year, the district asked for 10 percent voluntary conservation and the public cut back by 7 percent, she said.
The district sells water to 15 retailers, such as the San Jose Water Co., who then deliver it to homes and businesses. Half of the district's water comes from groundwater wells and the other half from the delta.
Much of California's water supply comes from melting Sierra snow; monthly measurements provide an early forecast of summer water supplies.
Because of extensive underground supplies, Santa Clara County is in better shape than some areas that don't have the same geology, such as the East Bay. But restrictions on pumping from the delta because of endangered fish such as salmon and smelt have made the situation more challenging, Siravo said. And some farmers who depend heavily on the delta for water have already begun fallowing parts of their fields, particularly in the southern San Joaquin Valley.
Wildlife also would suffer in a drought.
"What this means for fish is less water, and specifically less cold water. And that is more important than anything else for salmon and steelhead trout," said Peter Moyle, a fisheries biologist at the University of California-Davis.
Moyle noted that when reservoirs and rivers are low, their water temperature heats up. Typically, salmon thrive in California rivers and streams in temperatures around 60 degrees. When water temperatures exceed 70 degrees, salmon eggs and juvenile fish die, Moyle said.
Part of the trouble is that this January has been among the driest on record. As of Thursday, San Jose had received just 4.06 inches of rain this winter season, 53 percent of normal. The Santa Clara Valley Water District's 10 reservoirs are currently 45 percent full. Meanwhile, many of the largest reservoirs in California are at alarmingly low levels because they were drawn down last year and in 2007 after dry winters.
Some areas, including Long Beach, Folsom and Willits, have imposed mandatory cutbacks already. The East Bay Municipal Utility District imposed 15 percent mandatory rationing last May on its 3.1 million customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
"Water agencies have invested heavily since the last drought in tools and programs to prepare for dry times. But today's situation goes well beyond that preparation," said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies in Sacramento. "Many of our members will have little choice but to impose severe water use restrictions on their customers this year."
Lemoore Advance
Drought puts pressure on ground water: Overdraft a problem..Judy Finney
http://www.thelemooreadvance.com/articles/2009/01/29/news/
doc498242a57bcef629716309.txt
Residents of Kings County walk on water. It's part of an aquifer that provides the vast majority of drinking water to area residents and water to many farms and ranches with irrigation supply. It lies beneath the ground.
Despite the recent rainy weather, a two-year drought has left above-ground storage facilities at some of their lowest levels. Plus, increased population and environmental demands mean groundwater is declining at a great rate in Kings County.
This could cause problems for everyone.
According to Don Mills, general manager of Kings County Water District, the current snow pack is at about 30 percent of what it should be. The Sierra Nevada Mountains provide the water that eventually ends up flowing onto local farms to grow crops and also replenish ground water.
"The local overdraft is sad," Mills said.
Mills said area growers and cities are using ground water at the highest rate in recorded history, and it will probably only get worse because of the lack of precipitation in the mountains. Right now, he estimated, groundwater overdraft north of the Kings River is at about 200,000 acre-feet per year and south of the river as much as 400,000 acre-feet per year.
Mills said this pattern of drought is nothing new to California. He researched records detailing the past 42 years and found only two years that were considered average, with four out of seven being dry, two wet and one average.
Growth in population and environmental restrictions are what makes this pattern so difficult now, according to Mills.
Stratford-area farmer Bill Stone echoed Mills' words.
"Everybody is going to pump all the water they can," Stone, who farms as Stone Land Co., cultivates 10,000 acres of cotton and other field and row crops. "That means more and deeper wells."
Stone estimated crops need about 30 inches of water per year to be successful, which costs about $250 per acre. He said most farmers are working on irrigation efficiency, including the use of drip-irrigation systems.
"Drip-irrigation systems don't add that much more water to the crop," Stone said. "It's just more efficient. We still have to turn on the pumps to get the water into the system."
Stone and Mills are also concerned the state will try and tack on additional fees for the use of surface and ground water, just making it that much more expensive.
Stone relies on Westlands Water District to provide above-ground water through the California Valley Project canals. This year that's probably not going to happen. Sarah Woolf, spokesperson for the huge water district that includes 30,000 Kings County acres to the west, said they expect zero allocation this water season because of the drought and environmental restrictions. The district has already fallowed 200,000 acres to save water.
Woolf said the Los Angeles Metropolitan Water District is already rationing water and things will probably only get worse. She estimated the cost to sink a new well to be $500,000 to go 1,000 feet deep.
Another concern is ground subsidence. As more water is pumped from the underground reserves, the ground will compact and sink. After this has happened, even in a wet season, the ground water may not be replenished because there may not be any room for it. Areas on the west side of the Valley have suffered large amounts of ground subsidence -- or a shifting downward of the ground surface -- in past years, resulting in changes to farming methods, road damage. There is even a fear it could affect the landing strips at Naval Air Station Lemoore.
The city of Lemoore is already preparing for the greater demand on ground water. According to David Wlaschin, director of public works, some wells have been lowered and, as of early January, there was 15-30 feet over the top of the pump bowls. Wells are 700 feet deep, with water standing at 200 feet. Wlaschin said the city will do all it can to encourage water conservation. Residents and businesses use 3 million gallons of water per day in the winter and 11 million gallons per day in the summer. Wlaschin felt the city will be able to handle another long, dry, hot summer.
Dairies have always been reliant upon ground water for their cattle. Local dairyman John Droogh said an average milking cow drinks 30 gallons of clean, fresh water per day, and that must be pumped. He has already drilled a new well because of the dropping water table. Droogh called the current situation of little or no surface water available to irrigate crops and replenish ground water, and the raising costs of getting to that water, "Scary."
Los Angeles Times
Plan for Tejon resort complex in California condor habitat gets high marks from feds
Critics say condors and other endangered species would be at risk.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-greenspace30-2009jan30,0,7893300,print.story
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a long-awaited environmental impact statement last week that gives high marks to the Tejon Ranch Co.'s controversial habitat conservation plan for building a master-planned resort complex in federally designated critical habitat for the endangered California condor.
The federal evaluation of the plan was required because the ranch is seeking a special permit to protect it from legal liability if any member of 26 sensitive species is injured or killed because of the ranch's business activities on the property. Under the plan, however, the ranch would be criminally liable if a condor is killed because of those activities.
The ranch's plan aims to strike a balance between protection of the condor and development of the 26,000-acre Tejon Mountain Village, a proposed complex of luxury homes, hotels and golf courses within 142,000 acres of pristine landscape covered by the plan in the Tehachapi Mountains about 60 miles north of Los Angeles.
Critics say the plan would harm condors by allowing development in their historic foraging grounds and would weaken the concept of federally designated critical habitat for endangered species.
"This plan is a disaster," said Adam Keats, director of the urban wildlands program of the Center for Biological Diversity. "If it gets approved as written, I guarantee a lawsuit."
"Contrary to Tejon's assertions, this is not a conservation plan," he added. "This is a permit to harm, displace, disturb and in some cases kill 27 endangered, threatened or rare species that call Tejon home."
The release of the 106-page environmental impact statement surprised opponents, federal wildlife authorities and ranch officials alike. Keats, for example, said his group had been led to believe that the Obama administration wanted more time to review high-profile Fish and Wildlife Service reports that had been shepherded by Bush officials.
"Something very strange happened today with the release of this document," Keats said. "The signals we were getting from the Obama administration indicated that it had been put on hold. Then, to everyone's surprise, there it was at 4 p.m."
"It's possible," he added, "that the folks at USFWS are so embarrassed by the document, they decided to simply turn it loose without fanfare."
Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Lois Grunwald said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released the statement.
"On Jan. 20, a White House memo was sent to all agencies asking them to hold documents that did not have a court-ordered deadline -- a common procedure in transition administrations," Grunwald said. "So it was not clear why the EPA published this action. It slipped through and we don't know why."
Ranch officials were pleased with the statement.
"We think the Fish and Wildlife Service evaluation of the effectiveness of our habitat plan is accurate," said ranch spokesman Barry Zoeller. "We look forward to additional public comment."
In the statement, federal authorities point out that most of the development "would be completed below ridgelines" frequented by condors, and that condor feeding stations would be established in places isolated from human activity. Overall, the complex, in addition to activities including mining and creation of a new national veterans cemetery, would affect about 8% of the federally designated critical condor habitat in the 142,000-acre area covered by the plan.
As a result, ranch officials said they think the development would not destroy or harm designated condor habitat. Federal wildlife authorities said in the statement that "no nesting, roosting or airspace habitats will be directly affected."
In May, the ranch and a coalition of environmental groups agreed on a landmark strategy to preserve 90% of the entire 270,000-acre privately held spread.
In exchange, environmental groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and Audubon California agreed not to oppose the company's overall plans to build three major developments, including more than 26,000 homes at the western and southwestern edges of the ranch.
"As the condor goes, so goes what makes California special," said Keats, whose group wants to see the Tejon Ranch preserved as a new national or state park. "We sincerely hope that the Fish and Wildlife Service comes to its senses and rejects this permit."
-- Louis Sahagun
Waterfront project
It has been 25 years since Wilmington -- a port community marked by flaming refinery towers, towering cranes and diesel-spewing ships and big rigs -- proposed creation of a green buffer zone that would separate its residents from cargo containers stacked sky high.
On Saturday, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City Councilwoman Janice Hahn and port officials will lead a celebration to break ground on the long-awaited 30-acre waterfront buffer project in the 10-square-mile community about 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.
Theresa Adams-Lopez, a spokeswoman for the Port of Los Angeles, said the project would take about two years to complete and would feature walking trails, fountains, a playground and plazas in a terraced park setting with views of the harbor.
The program, which will include live entertainment and refreshments, is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at Gulf Avenue between C Street and Harry Bridges Boulevard in Wilmington.
-- Louis Sahagun
Ocean dead zones
Unchecked global warming would lead to a rapid expansion of oxygen-starved "dead zones" in the world's oceans by a factor of 10 or more, according to researchers at the University of Copenhagen.
Dead zones are low-oxygen areas in the ocean where sea life, including many fish, crabs and clams, cannot survive. In shallow coastal regions, dead zones can be caused by air pollution and runoff of fertilizers from farming. The expansion of dead zones would lead to the death of more fish and shellfish, said Gary Shaffer of the University of Copenhagen's Niels Bohr Institute, who led a team of researchers at the Danish Center for Earth System Science. The study was published online in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Dead zones in coastal areas can be mitigated by controlling the use of fertilizer, but expanded dead zones caused by global warming will remain for thousands of years and have harmful long-term effects on ocean ecosystems, Shaffer said.
"The future of the ocean as a large food reserve would be more uncertain," Shaffer said.
-- Catherine Ho
Cheatgrass will migrate with climate change...Bettina Boxall, Greenspace
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2009/01/cheatgrass-will.html
Climate change will help some of the West's most troublesome invasive plants conquer new territory, but the pesky invaders will also retreat from some currently infested areas.
A new study published in the journal Global Change Biology predicts that yellow starthistle, an unpalatable rangeland invader established in much of California, will march across even more of the state and Nevada.
Cheatgrass, a highly flammable annual grass from Eurasia that blankets much of the Great Basin, will probably spread north into more of Idaho and parts of Montana and Wyoming but retreat from central and southern Nevada and central Utah.
Princeton University researchers examined 10 climate models and arrived at a "best guess" of how changes in such factors as seasonal and annual precipitation over the next century could affect the distribution of five prominent invasive plants.
Tamarisk, a shrubby tree that grows along streams and sucks up water, will probably be unaffected by climate change. Leafy spurge, abundant in northern states west of the Mississippi, will probably retreat in Colorado and parts of Idaho and Oregon.   
Spotted knapweed, which grows in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and on the Colorado Plateau, is expected to move to higher elevations.
"We're not talking about a wholesale retreat of invasives," said the study's lead author, biogeographer Bethany Bradley.
Instead, it will be more of a rearrangement of the invaders, providing some chances for ecological restoration.
But a changing climate will also affect native plants. Even if invasives die out, the researchers said, native growth that historically occupied an area may not be able to reestablish itself. Instead, other types of native plants suited to the new climate may move in. Or other invaders may take hold. For example, red brome, an exotic found in the Mojave Desert, could take over former cheatgrass lands.
Comments
According to the IPCC, we've been warming at about 0.2 C/decade for the last couple of decades:
'Leemans and Eickhout 2004 found that adaptive capacity decreases rapidly with an increasing rate of climate change. Their study finds that five percent of all ecosystems cannot adapt more quickly than 0.1 C per decade over time. Forests will be among the ecosystems to experience problems first because their ability to migrate to stay within the climate zone they are adapted to is limited. If the rate is 0.3 C per decade, 15 percent of ecosystems will not be able to adapt. If the rate should exceed 0.4 C per decade, all ecosystems will be quickly destroyed, opportunistic species will dominate, and the breakdown of biological material will lead to even greater emissions of CO2. This will in turn increase the rate of warming' --Leemans and Eickhout 2004, 'Another reason for concern: regional and global impacts on ecosystems for different levels of climate change,' Global Environmental Change 14, 219–228
Here is what Climate Code Red says:
--Human emissions have so far produced a global average temperature increase of 0.8 degree C.
--There is another 0.6 degree C. to come due to "thermal inertia", or lags in the system, taking the total long-term global warming induced by human emissions so far to 1.4 degree C.
--If human total emissions continue as they are to 2030 (and don't increase 60% as projected) this would likely add more than 0.4 degrees C. to the system in the next two decades, taking the long-term effect by 2030 to at least 1.7 degrees C. (A 0.3 degree C. increase is predicted for the period 2004-2014 alone by Smith, Cusack et al, 2007).
--Then add the 0.3 degree C. albedo flip effect from the now imminent loss of the Arctic sea ice, and the rise in the system by 2030 is at least 2 degree. C, assuming very optimistically that emissions don't increase at all above their present annual rate! When we consider the potential permafrost releases and the effect of carbon sinks losing capacity, we are on the road to a hellish future, not for what we will do, but WHAT WE HAVE ALREADY DONE.
In other words, it is predictably that in the next couple of decades, due to an increased rate of warming, natural ecosystems will be quickly destroyed, invasive species will dominate, and the resulting feedback loop will further speed the rate of warming.
Posted by Brad Arnold