Meeting for Tuesday, July 3, 2012

6:30 PM

Decision Life Church

Corner of Main and Oberlin..1301 South Main St. Yreka

Program:  “Can You Handle the Truth?”  Evidence presented by Sheriff Arpaio’s Cold Case Posse…come see the video.

Public Welcome.  Contact Louise at 842-5443 for more information.

By Saul Hubbard

The Register-Guard, Oregon

Published: Monday, Jul 2, 2012 09:22PM

State foresters have frozen 10 recent and upcoming timber sales on close to 800 acres of state land, as they prepare for a legal battle with conservation groups over the threatened marbled murrelet.

That battle will center on whether or not the state’s increased logging goals in the coastal Elliott, Tillamook and Clatsop state forests illegally harm, under the the federal Endangered Species Act, the natural habitat of the murrelet — a rare seabird that lays its eggs on the large and mossy branches of primarily old-growth trees.

State officials say they already have a “vigorous” forest management plan to protect the murrelet, which includes frequent surveying of the birds’ whereabouts, buffer zones of protected forest land — ranging from 20 to several hundred acres — where murrelet activity is detected, and a ramped-down logging schedule in nesting months between April and September.

But some enviromentalists disagree. Three conservation groups — including Eugene-based Cascadia Wildlands — filed a lawsuit against Gov. John Kitzhaber and Oregon forestry agencies in late May.

The looming lawsuit led to the unprecedented suspension of 10 timber sales, which will allow state foresters who normally administer timber sales to help prepare a legal defense, said Kevin Weeks, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Forestry.

Read it:

http://www.registerguard.com/web/updates/28330229-55/state-murrelet-sales-timber-groups.html.csp

WATER SUPPLY

El Nino developing in Central Pacific

Story
From Western Farm Press – Monday, July 2, 2012
Agricultural meteorologist Joel Widenor, vice president and director of agriculture services for Commodity Weather Group, said there is increasing evidence of a developing El Nino in the Central Pacific, which will mean warmer than normal temperatures, an increased likelihood of storms, and drier or wetter regional weather conditions for much of the nation.

Modesto Irrigation District sale could face legal snarls

Story
From Modesto Bee – Saturday, June 30, 2012

Today, had everything gone well for San Francisco, was to be the first time it could deliver water purchased from the Modesto Irrigation District. Things have not gone well. Protests by city officials, Modesto-area farmers and domestic users prompted the MID to postpone a board vote on the first sale contract three times, making the July 1 start impossible. 

Rainy season ends with below normal precipitation

Story

From SD Union-Tribune – Saturday, June 30, 2012

The 2011-12 rainy season — which ran from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012 — has come to an end with less than impressive numbers, according to figures compiled by the National Weather Service.

Weather or not: Rainfall season ends on a dry note

Story

From Modesto Bee – Friday, June 29, 2012

A string of two straight extremely wet rainfall seasons came to an end this year thanks to a two-month dry spell from Thanksgiving to mid-January.

Central Valley flood protection plan approved

Story
From Sacramento Bee – Friday, June 29, 2012
A new flood protection plan approved Friday for California’s Central Valley takes a firm stand against rules by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that could require all trees and shrubs to be stripped from levees in the region.

Calif. approves flood plan for Central Valley

Story
From Fresno Bee – Friday, June 29, 2012
From Modesto Bee – Friday, June 29, 2012
From Redding Record Searchlight – Friday, June 29, 2012
From Stockton Record – Friday, June 29, 2012
California water officials have approved a flood plan for the Central Valley that recommends major investments in the state’s aging system of levees.

RIVERS

San Joaquin River restoration will cost $900m

Story
From Fresno Bee – Saturday, June 30, 2012

On the flat west-Valley prairie, the San Joaquin River looks like any other irrigation ditch amid tomato, garlic and onion fields — except that this ditch has a $900 million future.

How is San Joaquin River restoration being funded?
Letter
From Modesto Bee – Saturday, June 30, 2012
Salvatore Salerno (“Support San Joaquin River restoration,” June 24, Opinions) mischaracterizes the water supply impact to Friant contractors in dry years, especially when they give up 15 to 20 percent of their water as part of the restoration program. Where’s the reliability in that?

San Joaquin River plan a good compromise

Letter

From Modesto Bee – Saturday, June 30, 2012

The plan to restore the San Joaquin River is a compromise allowing lots of water to agriculture and a little to wildlife. Before restoration, the situation was totally unbalanced with the river being completely dry almost all the time, effectively destroying it. That’s wrong.

DELTA

Trying to piece together the peripheral canal puzzle

Viewpoint
By Robert Pyke
From Contra Costa Times – Saturday, June 30, 2012
Opponents of the peripheral canal, or its current incarnation, frequently contend that there is “not enough water to go around,” but it is my contention that there would be enough water to go around if we had the plumbing system in place to manage it more intelligently.

AB 1422 amended to move water bond to 2014

Story
From ACWA – Thursday, June 28, 2012
An Assembly bill has been amended to move the $11.14 billion water bond from the November ballot to the November 2014 ballot.

Ag Professional

Carey Gillam, Reuters  |   July 2, 2012

Texas cattle rancher Gary Price knows what it is like to worry about water.

With 2,500 acres of rough range land situated about an hour south of Dallas, Price relies on rain-fed soils to provide the hearty grass forage he needs to fatten his cattle. When the animals are sold at grocery meat counters, every pound of flesh spells potential profit for Price’s family.

“Ranching is really mostly about water and grass. So you’ve got to look at ways to control water,” Price said in an interview at his 77 Ranch, where temperatures over 100 degrees drive his cattle into the shade every day and have spurred swarms of hungry grasshoppers.

A recent stretch of devastating drought in Texas and fears of ongoing water scarcity across many parts of the United States are pushing Price and others in ranching and farming into new frontiers of water conservation.

In Price’s case, that means teaming up with a corporate partner, water-thirsty MillerCoors Brewing Co. The second-largest U.S. brewer has been helping him build fences for new grazing rotations and plant native prairie grasses that grow thick, retain rainwater and limit runoff.

Corporate America’s concerns about water availability are not new, but of late they are growing. More than 40 international corporate leaders met in June in Rio De Janeiro to reaffirm the need for concerted action to address a growing water crisis.

Across the globe, water consumption has tripled in the last 50 years, and at least 36 U.S. states are anticipating some areas of water shortages by 2013, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Farming alone consumes 70 percent of all fresh water used around the world.

With that in mind, public and private interests working on water conservation have started pushing partnerships with farmers and ranchers to protect water quantity and quality. The work is starting in Texas but is intended to spread nationwide.

INVEST IN FARMING PRACTICES

In May, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would fund $2.8 million for improved land and water management practices like those on Price’s land, providing incentives to farmers in an area of Texas that targets 152,309 acres.

“It is not going to be one organization or one company or one government that is going to solve this problem. It is going to take all of us collectively,” said Kim Marotta, MillerCoors director of sustainability.

Read more:

http://www.agprofessional.com/news/Ranchers-farmers-seeking-solutions-to-US-water-worries-161007845.html?ref=845

Land Rights Network

American Land Rights Association

PO Box 400 – Battle Ground, WA 98604

Phone: 360-687-3087 – Fax: 360-687-2973

E-mail: alra@pacifier.com

Web Address: http://www.landrights.org

Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE – Washington, DC 20003

Congratulations, You Won on LWCF, Thank Conferees By E-mail

You won. Those of you who made your calls, sent your e-mails and faxes, you are responsible for one of the biggest Congressional wins in private property rights history.

Tens of thousands of landowners will get to keep their homes, and property. The Park Service, Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and BLM will have far less money to buy out homes, property, and destroy rural communities.

Your allies in the House stayed the course. Mostly Republicans. They stuck up for you. Now you need to let them know how much you appreciate their effort.

Below are the Conferees, their faxes and e-mails. The Senate fought hard to load up the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) with an extra $700 million this year and next as a trust fund to take private land, homes and communities and convert them all into government ownership.

Congress will still give the LWCF some money as they usually do each year. You need to thank all the Conferees from the House and remind them to hand tough in the future to hold down funding for the LWCF.

Your actions in the past few weeks kept the Greens from setting a precedent of approximately one billion dollars a year for LWCF.

But the Greens won’t stop.

Shortly the battle in the House and Senate will be over an Omnibus Federal Lands Bill where the Senate will try to pass every land grab bill they did not get so far this year and more.

You stopped the Harry Reid Omnibus Federal Lands bill in 2010 with over 200 bills in it. You will have to do it again.

Don’t be surprised if they try to add the LWCF to the Omnibus Federal Lands Bill.

Your Senators are the most likely to cave in on an Omnibus Federal Land Bill. And you are in grave danger.

—–Lame duck session of Congress expected.

After the election there will most likely be a lame duck Congress.

That is were all the Members of Congress in the House and Senate who have been defeated or retired still get to vote on your future.

They are no longer responsible to you.

You must get a promise now from your Congressman and both Senators that they will oppose any Omnibus Federal Lands Bill. Harry Reid should not be able to package up an Omnibus Federal lands bill loaded with many bills that did not pass and were not looked at carefully.

Many did not even have hearings.

Each bill should be considered and voted on individually.