Meeting for

Tuesday, July 10, 2012  

6:30PM

Decision Life Church

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

Program:  Firearm safety and “Fast and Furious” by Ed Pecis.

Public Welcome. Contact Louise at 842-5443

Water bond election politics: the good, the bad, and the ugly
Blog
By Joel Fox
From Fox & Hounds Daily – Friday, July 6, 2012

The major reason the legislature pulled the $11-billion water bond off the ballot yesterday was bad but the result was good. The bond was pulled largely for political reasons.

ACWA comments on vote to move water bond to 2014

Statement
By Tim Quinn
From Aquafornia – Friday, July 6, 2012
In 2009, ACWA was part of a broad coalition that broke decades of gridlock and charted a course to address our state’s water challenges through a comprehensive package of legislation. That package included policy bills and a bond measure to provide a public cost share for actions that benefit the entire state.

Harman responds to water bond delay effort

Statement
By Sen. Harman
From Harman – Thursday, July 5, 2012
I believe California’s water infrastructure is severely inadequate to meet the needs of tomorrow and must be upgraded. Though I am disappointed that the bond measure will be delayed once more, it is the fiscally responsible thing to do.

California lawmakers delay $11 billion water-bond measure

Story
From Businessweek – Thursday, July 5, 2012
California lawmakers passed a bill removing an $11 billion water-bond proposition from the November ballot on concern that too many high-cost measures might jeopardize Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed tax increase.

Delta

Can salmon survive California’s ‘Peripheral Canal’?

Blog
By Alastair Bland
From Bohemian – Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Chinook salmon are abundant this year in one of the best seasons in local fishing memory, with sport and commercial fishermen reeling in easy boatloads of the most prized food and game fish on the Pacific Coast.

Coalition response…Those who oppose the Peripheral Canal fail to include all of the facts in their arguments because the facts do not support their position. Claims that a canal would “remove so much water” are just that—claims. Operational limits of a proposed canal have yet to be finalized yet draft elements of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) already include limits on exports when natural river flows are lower.

There are a myriad of factors impacting salmon (and other fish) populations including water quality, invasive species, predatory fish, and ocean conditions. A recent report by the National Research Council stated that improving ecological conditions in the Delta will fail if they don’t target multiple stressors, contrary to the constant drum beat calling for a reduced water supply for farms, homes and businesses.

The Sacramento River fall Chinook escapement, ocean harvest and river harvest index clearly shows population (and harvest) peaks in 1988, 1995, and 2002 with corresponding dips in the intervening years.  It is normal to expect a rise in salmon numbers now and in the next few years and that’s exactly what we’re seeing.

Blaming the pumps or deliveries of water that flow through the Delta as the primary cause of reduced salmon populations is simply an exercise in hiding the facts.

http://pioneer.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODE/HeraldandNews/

By LEE JUILLERAT

Herald and News

July 6, 2012

Lee Juillerat   Views Everywhere – Mount Shasta looms in the background as birders check out the sights at the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge.

LOWER KLAMATH REFUGE — White-faced ibis buzzed overhead. Black-crowned night herons stalked in tall bushes. Hundreds of Franklin gulls grouped together in shallow marshes. A lone bald eagle soared, seemingly oblivious to all the activity, including the racket of sounds from croaking bullfrogs and birds like marsh wrens.

“This is what we can do when we have water,” Ron Cole, the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuges Complex manager, said of the abundant bird life at the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge.

Providing water for Basin refuges has been a challenge during sparse water years. But several marshes in Lower Klamath have benefited from water deliveries provided through the Bureau of Reclamation in March and April.

Because Upper Klamath Lake was full and flows down the Klamath River were high enough, about 90,000 acre feet of water was diverted to the refuge.

The 53,000-acre Lower Klamath refuge includes about 30,000 acres of wetlands. In recent years, as water supplies have become increasingly limited, refuge biologist Dave Mauser said refuge managers have become more proficient in moving water back and forth between refuge units.

“Marshes are the most productive in the first two or three years they’re flooded,” Mauser said of planned efforts to flood areas that in some years are farmed or left dry.

Mauser and Cole drove 10 birdwatchers, mostly members of the Klamath Basin Audubon Society, around Lower Klamath Tuesday to enjoy the teeming populations of birds, which included eared grebes, white pelicans, great egrets, Forster’s and Caspian terns, California gulls, avocets, tri-colored blackbirds, killdeer, northern harriers, cinnamon teal, yellow-headed blackbirds, willets, coots and a variety of ducks — pintails, mallards, gadwalls, shovelers.

“This is awesome,” said Charlotte Ann Kisling, a Butte Valley-area birder who was especially impressed by the abundant Franklin gulls, a bird she said are seldom seen in the Klamath Basin. As a flight approached and cruised overhead, Kisling yelped, “Now they’re coming down and saying hi.”

Cole said the Lower Klamath is unique among the complex’s six refuges because of its mix of rich soils and habitat.

“The other refuges don’t have the ability to manage all these diverse habitats,” he said. “That’s what makes the refuge so productive, our ability to manage water, when we have it.”

It’s uncertain how long the water will last. Mauser said a foot of water is lost through evaporation in an average July. Most of the marshes are only about 1 1/2 feet deep or shallower. It’s also uncertain whether Lower Klamath and other refuges will receive excess water from Reclamation or water-stressed farmers this fall.

“Our next big challenge is going to be the fall. We expect lots of migrating waterfowl and we hope we have the habitat for them,” Cole said. “We’re part of the Basin and we’re not doing well, no one’s doing well.”

For now, Cole, Mauser and birders are celebrating water-filled marshes and the resulting diverse bird populations.

“Water is tough for everybody in the Basin” Cole said. “I’m glad we’ve got some, and I want folks to be able to see what we can do with the water when we do have it.”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

This information and much more that you need to know about the ESA,
the Klamath River Basin, and private property rights can be found at The
Klamath Bucket Brigade’s web site – http://klamathbucketbrigade.org/index.html –
please visit today.

PNP comment: Fun video spoof from Kansas young farmers. — Editor Liz Bowen

“Sexy” is probably not the first adjective one thinks of when considering the profession of farming. (Okay, so it’s probably not the second or third, either.) However, an agricultural student has managed to change all that with a homemade video that’s quickly become a viral sensation.

Greg Peterson, a 21-year-old senior at Kansas State University, was goofing around with friends one day when he got the idea to make a parody of electropop duo LMFAO’s hit tune “Sexy And I Know It.” Using his family’s farm as a backdrop and his younger brothers as backups, Peterson changed the song to “I’m Farming And I Grow It”–an educational primer to all the city slickers out there on what the agriculture business is about.

It’s hard not to giggle watching the Peterson brothers gamely leap across hay bales, feed a herd of hungry cattle, and pose on their tractor. And then there’s the clever lyric changeups: “I got passion in my pants” becomes “I got passion for my plants,” “I work out” turns into “I work outside,” and “Girl look at that body” morphs into “Gotta feed everybody.”

Watch it:

http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/our-country/kansas-farm-family-creates-funny-educational-parody-lmfao-203056252.html

Originally published February 17, 2012 at 9:49 PM

 Page modified February 18, 2012 at 9:33 AM