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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jed Mandel, president of the manufacturing association, said in a statement that the agreement is evidence of the group’s “commitment to reducing emissions and to a zero-emissions commercial vehicle future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He touted it as an example of industry and California’s air regulators working together, although truck makers had previously fought these clean truck rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mandel’s manufacturers association and several truck companies, including Volvo, Daimler Truck, Volkswagen and PACCAR, had opposed clean truck rules on the federal and state level while they were publicly promoting zero-emissions fleets, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/12/08/1141303693/truck-makers-lobby-to-weaken-u-s-climate-policies-report-finds\">KQED’s Laura Klivans reported\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sasan Sadaat, a senior researcher and policy analyst with the environmental law organization Earth Justice, said the manufacturing association has for years actively fought against clean trucks in California and across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At every turn, whether it’s the Advanced Clean Truck rule, the Advanced Clean Fleets rule, the Heavy Duty NOx rule, challenging California’s authority to pass its own regulations, countering the stringency of EPA’s regulations, they’ve been the greatest barrier to more ambitious rules in slashing air pollution from trucks.” he said. “That’s their record.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of the new agreement, California will adopt some of the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s less-strict rules on nitrogen oxide emissions and provide several years of lead time before passing new regulations.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Through this agreement, we have aligned on a single nationwide nitrogen oxide emissions standard, secured needed lead time and stability for manufacturers, and agreed on regulatory changes that will ensure continued availability of commercial vehicles,” Mandel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The American Trucking Associations has said that California’s regulations are too costly and will be burdensome for businesses to adopt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The industry group did not appear to approve of the agreement and issued a statement Thursday that said that while it has long advocated for harmonious regulations between California and the federal government, “the trucking industry shouldn’t be strong armed by the government into an agreement with such terms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our association represents motor carrier members — the paying customers who will inherit the costs of this agreement — and we will not roll over nor relinquish our right to litigate with any party when our interests are threatened,” the statement said. “It is clear that America has lost its way when the government bullies the private sector to succumb to unachievable timelines, targets and technologies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pact will have national implications, as other states typically follow California’s rules. Several other states adopted some of California’s earlier truck rules, representing more than one-fifth of the U.S. truck market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal government sets emissions standards by law, but the EPA has allowed California to pass tighter rules on cars and trucks that the federal government eventually adopts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The series of 31 atmospheric rivers that drenched California this past winter has wildfire officials and scientists breathing sighs of relief — for the most part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a coalition of state and federal fire directors, which puts out regular \u003ca href=\"https://gacc.nifc.gov/oncc/predictive/outlooks/Outlook_NOps.pdf\">predictions about wildfire season in Northern California (PDF)\u003c/a>, the potential for significant fires this year is normal to below normal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That Northern California Geographic Area Coordination Center’s prediction comes from a compilation of factors, chief among them weather (past, present and future) and fuel moisture (how much water trees and plants are holding onto). Given the wet, cool winter and spring months, this year’s fire season is off to a slow start. The ground is still wet and grasses, shrubs and trees are holding onto that moisture, making them less likely to burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the same thing as when you try to start a campfire: You don’t use wet wood. It’s very hard to get wet wood to ignite,” said Craig Clements, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sjsu.edu/wildfire/team/faculty.php\">director\u003c/a> of the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center at San José State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"California Statewide Rainfall/Acres Burned (2000-2022) \" aria-label=\"Scatter Plot\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-61l7B\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/61l7B/4/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>But what about all that extra vegetation?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Maybe you’ve heard that all that rain means more vegetation, and that more vegetation means more fuel for wildfires. That’s true — but only in certain ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, you might’ve noticed grasses are extra tall this year due to all the rain. Grassland ecosystems are certainly more dense this year and once those grasses cure, they’ll be primed for burning. Thus, if conditions are ripe for fires in August, September and October, grassy environments could be at increased risk. That risk could spill over into next year, too, depending on the weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This year is going to be more a function of the soil moisture content being so high,” said Clements. In other words, because grasses, shrubs and trees are holding onto their moisture longer than usual, the window for them to cure — and for severe wildfire risk — is narrower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plus, Clements added, grass fires are among the least concerning to firefighters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re dangerous, they spread rapidly, but aircraft suppression works really well on grass fires,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire ramped up its flight suppression last year, which the agency said helped prevent wildfires from blazing out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>So where will fires be worst this year?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In short: likely in the coastal grasslands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we do get significant heat waves or wind events in August, September and October, there could be a high level of fire activity in [the grasslands],” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said in a recent live YouTube \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E45I9YeO0ek\">video\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the Bay Area is considered coastal grassland and, depending on the late summer weather — particularly heat waves followed by gusty, dry offshore winds — the region could see increased fire activity later this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other hand, forest and mountain ecosystems like the Sierra Nevada are still blanketed in snow, which could mean they’ll be spared this fire season. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/03/30/california-snowpack-record-sierra/\">record-breaking snowpack in the mountains is lingering into the summer months\u003c/a>, thereby decreasing fire danger. Even when it all melts later this summer, the fuel moisture will likely stay high enough to ward off any severe burning.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How will this summer’s weather factor in?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Of course all of these predictions are contingent upon the weather, which in California is notoriously fickle. June has already been cooler and wetter than usual, and with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982822/6-common-misconceptions-about-el-nino-and-its-impact-on-california-weather\">El\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982822/6-common-misconceptions-about-el-nino-and-its-impact-on-california-weather\">Niño\u003c/a> conditions here, that trend is likely to continue later on this year. That narrows the window for high fire danger conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that window will still exist. Although fuel moisture is higher than normal right now, the tall grasses and shrubs will cure at some point this summer, likely in August, and will be ready to burn. August, September and October are notoriously hot, dry and windy across California, and even the dozens of atmospheric rivers from the previous winter won’t be enough to quell the fire season entirely. That’s thanks in part to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re getting more fire weather days and worse high fire risk days because of climate change,” said Clements. “It’s day-to-day weather that really drives fire behavior on the ground.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One heatwave can drastically change the fire danger outlook. “It can happen just in a matter of days,” said Clements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too soon to know how those late summer months will play out weather-wise, but one thing is for sure: There will be fires in California this year. Because fire is a natural part of the state’s landscape, and many ecosystems are adapted to it and even need it to survive and thrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The series of 31 atmospheric rivers that drenched California this past winter has wildfire officials and scientists breathing sighs of relief — for the most part.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a coalition of state and federal fire directors, which puts out regular \u003ca href=\"https://gacc.nifc.gov/oncc/predictive/outlooks/Outlook_NOps.pdf\">predictions about wildfire season in Northern California (PDF)\u003c/a>, the potential for significant fires this year is normal to below normal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That Northern California Geographic Area Coordination Center’s prediction comes from a compilation of factors, chief among them weather (past, present and future) and fuel moisture (how much water trees and plants are holding onto). Given the wet, cool winter and spring months, this year’s fire season is off to a slow start. The ground is still wet and grasses, shrubs and trees are holding onto that moisture, making them less likely to burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the same thing as when you try to start a campfire: You don’t use wet wood. It’s very hard to get wet wood to ignite,” said Craig Clements, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sjsu.edu/wildfire/team/faculty.php\">director\u003c/a> of the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center at San José State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"California Statewide Rainfall/Acres Burned (2000-2022) \" aria-label=\"Scatter Plot\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-61l7B\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/61l7B/4/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>But what about all that extra vegetation?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Maybe you’ve heard that all that rain means more vegetation, and that more vegetation means more fuel for wildfires. That’s true — but only in certain ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, you might’ve noticed grasses are extra tall this year due to all the rain. Grassland ecosystems are certainly more dense this year and once those grasses cure, they’ll be primed for burning. Thus, if conditions are ripe for fires in August, September and October, grassy environments could be at increased risk. That risk could spill over into next year, too, depending on the weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This year is going to be more a function of the soil moisture content being so high,” said Clements. In other words, because grasses, shrubs and trees are holding onto their moisture longer than usual, the window for them to cure — and for severe wildfire risk — is narrower.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plus, Clements added, grass fires are among the least concerning to firefighters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re dangerous, they spread rapidly, but aircraft suppression works really well on grass fires,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire ramped up its flight suppression last year, which the agency said helped prevent wildfires from blazing out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>So where will fires be worst this year?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In short: likely in the coastal grasslands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we do get significant heat waves or wind events in August, September and October, there could be a high level of fire activity in [the grasslands],” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said in a recent live YouTube \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E45I9YeO0ek\">video\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the Bay Area is considered coastal grassland and, depending on the late summer weather — particularly heat waves followed by gusty, dry offshore winds — the region could see increased fire activity later this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other hand, forest and mountain ecosystems like the Sierra Nevada are still blanketed in snow, which could mean they’ll be spared this fire season. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/03/30/california-snowpack-record-sierra/\">record-breaking snowpack in the mountains is lingering into the summer months\u003c/a>, thereby decreasing fire danger. Even when it all melts later this summer, the fuel moisture will likely stay high enough to ward off any severe burning.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How will this summer’s weather factor in?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Of course all of these predictions are contingent upon the weather, which in California is notoriously fickle. June has already been cooler and wetter than usual, and with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982822/6-common-misconceptions-about-el-nino-and-its-impact-on-california-weather\">El\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982822/6-common-misconceptions-about-el-nino-and-its-impact-on-california-weather\">Niño\u003c/a> conditions here, that trend is likely to continue later on this year. That narrows the window for high fire danger conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that window will still exist. Although fuel moisture is higher than normal right now, the tall grasses and shrubs will cure at some point this summer, likely in August, and will be ready to burn. August, September and October are notoriously hot, dry and windy across California, and even the dozens of atmospheric rivers from the previous winter won’t be enough to quell the fire season entirely. That’s thanks in part to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re getting more fire weather days and worse high fire risk days because of climate change,” said Clements. “It’s day-to-day weather that really drives fire behavior on the ground.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One heatwave can drastically change the fire danger outlook. “It can happen just in a matter of days,” said Clements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too soon to know how those late summer months will play out weather-wise, but one thing is for sure: There will be fires in California this year. Because fire is a natural part of the state’s landscape, and many ecosystems are adapted to it and even need it to survive and thrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Step right up to see tiny springtails spin through the air with the greatest of ease! In ponds and streams, they skyrocket out of the reach of hungry insects like water striders by slapping a tail-like appendage against the water. And you won’t believe how they stick the landing.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>TRANSCRIPT\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch3>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Now presenting: the springtail!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It jumps … right off the water! \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Explosive! 150 times faster than a blink!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here at the water’s edge, where these springtails live, it’s a tiny circus that never stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sure, they can also walk … and glide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the spring in springtail is for escaping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you’re the size of a poppy seed, lots of things want to eat you. Like this young water strider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nope!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not today, kid!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hey, hold my beer!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To power these lifesaving leaps, a springtail deploys … the furcula! \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It just pushes down this lever and in two milliseconds it’s defying gravity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It vaults up to what would be a sixth floor for you and me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what goes up must come down, and hopefully you land right side up … so you’re ready to dart off again when the water strider catches up. Yeah, water striders jump too. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, how does the springtail stick that landing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It all starts up in the air. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists at Georgia Tech put springtails in a wind tunnel, blowing air up from below. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As they hover, they spin like wild trapeze artists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By curving its body into a U shape, a springtail stops spinning and rights itself midair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And see that little circle on its belly? That’s a teeny tiny drop of water clinging to a tube called the collophore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That droplet makes all the difference. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It lowers the springtail’s center of gravity and stabilizes it. When it lands, the drop glues the springtail in place. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s really helpful during a bumpy landing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It even works on dry land. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without that drop, oh … ooh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But most of the time they fly through the air with the greatest of ease, the daring young springtails on the flying trapeze.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here at the water’s edge, where these springtails live, it’s a tiny circus that never stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sure, they can also walk … and glide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the spring in springtail is for escaping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When you’re the size of a poppy seed, lots of things want to eat you. Like this young water strider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nope!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not today, kid!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hey, hold my beer!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To power these lifesaving leaps, a springtail deploys … the furcula! \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It just pushes down this lever and in two milliseconds it’s defying gravity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It vaults up to what would be a sixth floor for you and me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what goes up must come down, and hopefully you land right side up … so you’re ready to dart off again when the water strider catches up. Yeah, water striders jump too. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, how does the springtail stick that landing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It all starts up in the air. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists at Georgia Tech put springtails in a wind tunnel, blowing air up from below. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As they hover, they spin like wild trapeze artists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By curving its body into a U shape, a springtail stops spinning and rights itself midair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And see that little circle on its belly? That’s a teeny tiny drop of water clinging to a tube called the collophore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That droplet makes all the difference. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It lowers the springtail’s center of gravity and stabilizes it. When it lands, the drop glues the springtail in place. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s really helpful during a bumpy landing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It even works on dry land. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without that drop, oh … ooh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But most of the time they fly through the air with the greatest of ease, the daring young springtails on the flying trapeze.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The smoke from wildfires that bathed the Eastern Seaboard in recent days prompted officials to issue air quality alerts and refocused wide attention on the issue of fire pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also the urgent backdrop to \u003ca href=\"https://www.padilla.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/Letter-to-EPA-re_-PM2.5-Rule-Limiting-Prescribed-Fire-Opportunities1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a letter congressional leaders from California\u003c/a> sent to the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday, pressing regulators to amend their update of the Clean Air Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While specifying their support for cleaner standards, the members of Congress want the implementation of the EPA’s new rule to support, rather than hinder, the use of prescribed burns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of our colleagues from other parts of the country [are] finally getting an appreciation for a very real challenge that we’ve had in California for many years,” said Sen. Alex Padilla in an interview with KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He led the effort to draft the letter and is one of 25 leaders to co-sign, along with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Rep. Katie Porter, Rep. Adam Schiff and Rep. Zoe Lofgren.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They expressed concern that a new rule intended to improve air quality — tightening standards on a class of pollutants that include soot and smoke — could have the opposite intended effect by making it harder to conduct prescribed burns, setting the stage for the types of big fires currently raging out of control in Canada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We ask for your continued focus on developing a solution that both safeguards clean air and prevents the consistent cycle of devastating wildfires that also undermines our efforts to make progress on clean air,” the letter says. It also urges officials to collaborate with air districts, land managers and fire practitioners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem is, if you don’t do these controlled burns, you’re going to have more catastrophic fires that blast way past anyone’s air quality standards. And that has become a chronic problem in Northern California year after year,” said North Bay Congressmember Jared Huffman, who co-signed the letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While controlled burns do produce smoke, it’s more manageable and less toxic than wildfire smoke. And, crucially, prescribed fires help inoculate areas against disastrous fires — the kind that produce debilitating\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>smoke for weeks on end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If regulators are not allowing us to use the most powerful tool we have to prevent those kind of massive air quality violations, then we need to urge them to do better. That’s what this letter is all about,” Huffman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Increasing the pace and scale of prescribed fire is a cornerstone of plans from both the state of California and the U.S. Forest Service for addressing the wildfire crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the EPA’s proposed rule might hinder that approach by requiring air districts to meet newly strengthened standards for smoke and soot. Air districts, in turn, might err on the side of not approving planned burns to safeguard their compliance with air quality standards. (Consequences can be severe for air districts that are out of compliance. The EPA may take over air permitting and impose a ban on new federal highway funds.) \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982166\">The fire science community in California has said this is wrongheaded\u003c/a> and risks ultimately leading to smokier days in this state and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By treating prescribed fire smoke similarly to industrial pollution sources, the draft EPA rule would significantly curb the use of beneficial fire,” wrote Matt Weiner of the nonprofit Megafire Action in an email; Megafire Action gave input on the letter. “This letter shows that the issue has gone from relatively obscure to top of mind, even among those who are fiercely supportive of EPA lowering the PM 2.5 threshold.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PM 2.5 is a class of pollutants defined by their size: 2.5 microns in length or smaller (about 3% of a hair’s width). Their small size allows them to get deep into the lungs and even pass into the bloodstream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA has not said when it will publish their final rule. According to reports, they are in discussions with the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies about this issue.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The smoke from wildfires that bathed the Eastern Seaboard in recent days prompted officials to issue air quality alerts and refocused wide attention on the issue of fire pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also the urgent backdrop to \u003ca href=\"https://www.padilla.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/Letter-to-EPA-re_-PM2.5-Rule-Limiting-Prescribed-Fire-Opportunities1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a letter congressional leaders from California\u003c/a> sent to the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday, pressing regulators to amend their update of the Clean Air Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While specifying their support for cleaner standards, the members of Congress want the implementation of the EPA’s new rule to support, rather than hinder, the use of prescribed burns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of our colleagues from other parts of the country [are] finally getting an appreciation for a very real challenge that we’ve had in California for many years,” said Sen. Alex Padilla in an interview with KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He led the effort to draft the letter and is one of 25 leaders to co-sign, along with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Rep. Katie Porter, Rep. Adam Schiff and Rep. Zoe Lofgren.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They expressed concern that a new rule intended to improve air quality — tightening standards on a class of pollutants that include soot and smoke — could have the opposite intended effect by making it harder to conduct prescribed burns, setting the stage for the types of big fires currently raging out of control in Canada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We ask for your continued focus on developing a solution that both safeguards clean air and prevents the consistent cycle of devastating wildfires that also undermines our efforts to make progress on clean air,” the letter says. It also urges officials to collaborate with air districts, land managers and fire practitioners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem is, if you don’t do these controlled burns, you’re going to have more catastrophic fires that blast way past anyone’s air quality standards. And that has become a chronic problem in Northern California year after year,” said North Bay Congressmember Jared Huffman, who co-signed the letter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While controlled burns do produce smoke, it’s more manageable and less toxic than wildfire smoke. And, crucially, prescribed fires help inoculate areas against disastrous fires — the kind that produce debilitating\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>smoke for weeks on end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If regulators are not allowing us to use the most powerful tool we have to prevent those kind of massive air quality violations, then we need to urge them to do better. That’s what this letter is all about,” Huffman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Increasing the pace and scale of prescribed fire is a cornerstone of plans from both the state of California and the U.S. Forest Service for addressing the wildfire crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the EPA’s proposed rule might hinder that approach by requiring air districts to meet newly strengthened standards for smoke and soot. Air districts, in turn, might err on the side of not approving planned burns to safeguard their compliance with air quality standards. (Consequences can be severe for air districts that are out of compliance. The EPA may take over air permitting and impose a ban on new federal highway funds.) \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982166\">The fire science community in California has said this is wrongheaded\u003c/a> and risks ultimately leading to smokier days in this state and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By treating prescribed fire smoke similarly to industrial pollution sources, the draft EPA rule would significantly curb the use of beneficial fire,” wrote Matt Weiner of the nonprofit Megafire Action in an email; Megafire Action gave input on the letter. “This letter shows that the issue has gone from relatively obscure to top of mind, even among those who are fiercely supportive of EPA lowering the PM 2.5 threshold.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PM 2.5 is a class of pollutants defined by their size: 2.5 microns in length or smaller (about 3% of a hair’s width). Their small size allows them to get deep into the lungs and even pass into the bloodstream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA has not said when it will publish their final rule. According to reports, they are in discussions with the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies about this issue.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "How Sea Level Rise Poses a Looming Threat to San Leandro's Underground Infrastructure",
"headTitle": "How Sea Level Rise Poses a Looming Threat to San Leandro’s Underground Infrastructure | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>On an unseasonably hot day on the edge of the San Leandro neighborhood of Mulford Gardens, David O’Donnell uses a heavy metal bar to lift a thick steel cover off a utility hole, exposing an echoey chamber running several hundred feet to the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh, we got a crab in there. It crawled all the way through,” said O’Donnell, a maintenance supervisor for the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Below ground, tidal water pushes through the city’s pipes that were built to pump stormwater in the opposite direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re fighting the tide and fighting nature,” O’Donnell said. “It’s a bit of an uphill battle. There’s no pump we can install underground to hold the bay back at high tide.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These pipes — and other below-ground infrastructure — which already periodically flood during high tides could become more routinely inundated as the bay continues to rise because of human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982915\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982915\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65982_010_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A view of a drain with water flowing.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65982_010_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65982_010_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65982_010_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65982_010_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65982_010_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65982_010_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water flows from a drain into the bay at the San Leandro Marina on June 1, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Leandro recently secured a small grant to develop a comprehensive plan to address the potential impact rising sea levels could have on its roughly 10-mile shoreline and intricate network of underground pipes. The city is also partnering with a team of San Diego State University climate scientists to determine how many of its 90,000 residents may be at risk from flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having the plan now will put us in a much better place to plan how we can move forward into [the future],” said Hoi-Fei Mok, San Leandro’s sustainability manager, who uses they/them pronouns.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"science_1981900,science_1982800,science_1981687\"]“It’s not like people don’t care,” said Mok, who grew up in San Leandro, where the vast majority of residents are people of color. “I’m able to tap into what the community is saying and bring that forward to [the San Leandro City Council] and be that extra amplification of community voices.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A former community organizer, Mok says they are dedicated to making sure this community is able to persevere through smoky skies, heat waves, floods and other increasingly frequent climate-induced conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ultimately, it is my community that is being impacted,” they added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Leandro’s shoreline makes up less than 3% of the entirety of the lip of San Francisco Bay, but sea level rise will affect this entire region. Mok’s work is feeding into a regional partnership to ready every inch of the shoreline for the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Bay Area-wide Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan is expected to be completed in mid-2024. The team behind it, led by Dana Brechwald, must get buy-in from more than 40 cities and counties — including San Leandro — to engage environmental-justice communities and develop uniform sea level rise standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to make sure we’re considering impacts on neighbors so that we don’t have this issue of one city behind a tall wall and everybody around it flooding,” said Brechwald.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982918\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982918\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65999_004_KQED_HoiFeiMokSanLeandro_06012023-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"An Asian American person sits and looks away from the camera.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65999_004_KQED_HoiFeiMokSanLeandro_06012023-KQED.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65999_004_KQED_HoiFeiMokSanLeandro_06012023-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65999_004_KQED_HoiFeiMokSanLeandro_06012023-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65999_004_KQED_HoiFeiMokSanLeandro_06012023-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65999_004_KQED_HoiFeiMokSanLeandro_06012023-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65999_004_KQED_HoiFeiMokSanLeandro_06012023-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hoi-Fei Mok, sustainability manager for the city of San Leandro, stands outside San Leandro City Hall on June 1, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s still unclear how San Leandro’s underground infrastructure will be affected as groundwater rises under the city. \u003ca href=\"https://sfei.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/portfolio/index.html?appid=2ab0c998497f4f7398aa54f176a6fb26%20\">Maps\u003c/a> produced by the San Francisco Estuary Institute and Pathways Climate Institute show that even 1 foot of sea level rise will cause groundwater to emerge in San Leandro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s stormwater pipes appear to be in good condition, according to Hassan Davani, associate professor at SDSU and a water resources engineer who is leading the team that’s partnering with San Leandro. Davani’s models don’t show major threats in the near term. Still, he said, his work, sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, does not include many other underground infrastructures like sewers, belowground power lines and drinking water pipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, by looking at United States Geological Survey groundwater data, maps of underground infrastructure in the city and middle-of-the-road climate models, Hassan concluded that — as climate change worsens — the current stormwater system will almost certainly “be disrupted” by the end of the century. This could look like the bay pushing further up the drainage system, preventing stormwater from escaping and in turn flooding inland areas of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982880\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982880\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Two young men stand by the side of a street and gaze at a handheld screen.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hassan Davani (right), a San Diego State University professor and water resources engineer, said that as climate change worsens, San Leandro will become increasingly vulnerable, and its current stormwater system will almost certainly ‘be disrupted’ by the end of the century. Kian Bagheri (left) is a doctoral student in Davani’s lab. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to have flooding further inland, kilometers inland, because the system will be packed with water at the downstream side,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when taking into account more extreme climate models, Davani said, the disruption to the stormwater system could come around mid-century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pauline Russo Cutter, who served as mayor of San Leandro until earlier this year, said the city has also tested its wastewater infrastructure and has yet to find any red flags.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she recognizes “it’s only a matter of time” before emerging groundwater becomes an issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If no one’s thinking about it, then these things kind of appear. That’s what can sink a city,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982881\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982881\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A middle aged white woman with dark brown hair stands beside the shore of San Leandro Bay as she talks toward the camera with sunglasses on.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former San Leandro Mayor Pauline Russo Cutter says ‘it’s only a matter of time’ before emerging groundwater becomes an issue. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In preparing for sea level rise, Mok, the sustainability manager, dreams of a range of solutions — everything from building levees to utilizing marshes to soak up waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think nature-based solutions have a lot of benefits that I think would be great for us,” Mok said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, despite the imminent threat that sea level rise poses — with the bay expected to rise by at least a foot in the next three decades — Mok acknowledges that actively preparing for it now can be a hard sell given more immediate concerns like budget issues, staff shortages and ongoing health emergencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982916\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982916\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65984_011_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A view of a street leading to a marina sign.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65984_011_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65984_011_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65984_011_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65984_011_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65984_011_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65984_011_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign for the San Leandro Marina marks the entrance to the shoreline in the Mulford Gardens neighborhood in San Leandro on June 1, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Sea level rise is tricky for people to wrap their heads around,” said Mok. “I’m hoping this is an opportunity not to get alarmed, but to realize this is something that is coming, not just in San Leandro, but regionally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "San Leandro is fighting an uphill battle as climate change leads to sea level rise. Sustainability manager Hoi-Fei Mok amplifies community voices and dreams of nature-based solutions amid emerging challenges.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On an unseasonably hot day on the edge of the San Leandro neighborhood of Mulford Gardens, David O’Donnell uses a heavy metal bar to lift a thick steel cover off a utility hole, exposing an echoey chamber running several hundred feet to the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh, we got a crab in there. It crawled all the way through,” said O’Donnell, a maintenance supervisor for the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Below ground, tidal water pushes through the city’s pipes that were built to pump stormwater in the opposite direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re fighting the tide and fighting nature,” O’Donnell said. “It’s a bit of an uphill battle. There’s no pump we can install underground to hold the bay back at high tide.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These pipes — and other below-ground infrastructure — which already periodically flood during high tides could become more routinely inundated as the bay continues to rise because of human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982915\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982915\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65982_010_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A view of a drain with water flowing.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65982_010_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65982_010_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65982_010_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65982_010_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65982_010_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65982_010_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water flows from a drain into the bay at the San Leandro Marina on June 1, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Leandro recently secured a small grant to develop a comprehensive plan to address the potential impact rising sea levels could have on its roughly 10-mile shoreline and intricate network of underground pipes. The city is also partnering with a team of San Diego State University climate scientists to determine how many of its 90,000 residents may be at risk from flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having the plan now will put us in a much better place to plan how we can move forward into [the future],” said Hoi-Fei Mok, San Leandro’s sustainability manager, who uses they/them pronouns.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“It’s not like people don’t care,” said Mok, who grew up in San Leandro, where the vast majority of residents are people of color. “I’m able to tap into what the community is saying and bring that forward to [the San Leandro City Council] and be that extra amplification of community voices.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A former community organizer, Mok says they are dedicated to making sure this community is able to persevere through smoky skies, heat waves, floods and other increasingly frequent climate-induced conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ultimately, it is my community that is being impacted,” they added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Leandro’s shoreline makes up less than 3% of the entirety of the lip of San Francisco Bay, but sea level rise will affect this entire region. Mok’s work is feeding into a regional partnership to ready every inch of the shoreline for the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Bay Area-wide Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan is expected to be completed in mid-2024. The team behind it, led by Dana Brechwald, must get buy-in from more than 40 cities and counties — including San Leandro — to engage environmental-justice communities and develop uniform sea level rise standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to make sure we’re considering impacts on neighbors so that we don’t have this issue of one city behind a tall wall and everybody around it flooding,” said Brechwald.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982918\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982918\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65999_004_KQED_HoiFeiMokSanLeandro_06012023-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"An Asian American person sits and looks away from the camera.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65999_004_KQED_HoiFeiMokSanLeandro_06012023-KQED.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65999_004_KQED_HoiFeiMokSanLeandro_06012023-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65999_004_KQED_HoiFeiMokSanLeandro_06012023-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65999_004_KQED_HoiFeiMokSanLeandro_06012023-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65999_004_KQED_HoiFeiMokSanLeandro_06012023-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65999_004_KQED_HoiFeiMokSanLeandro_06012023-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hoi-Fei Mok, sustainability manager for the city of San Leandro, stands outside San Leandro City Hall on June 1, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It’s still unclear how San Leandro’s underground infrastructure will be affected as groundwater rises under the city. \u003ca href=\"https://sfei.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/portfolio/index.html?appid=2ab0c998497f4f7398aa54f176a6fb26%20\">Maps\u003c/a> produced by the San Francisco Estuary Institute and Pathways Climate Institute show that even 1 foot of sea level rise will cause groundwater to emerge in San Leandro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s stormwater pipes appear to be in good condition, according to Hassan Davani, associate professor at SDSU and a water resources engineer who is leading the team that’s partnering with San Leandro. Davani’s models don’t show major threats in the near term. Still, he said, his work, sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, does not include many other underground infrastructures like sewers, belowground power lines and drinking water pipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also, by looking at United States Geological Survey groundwater data, maps of underground infrastructure in the city and middle-of-the-road climate models, Hassan concluded that — as climate change worsens — the current stormwater system will almost certainly “be disrupted” by the end of the century. This could look like the bay pushing further up the drainage system, preventing stormwater from escaping and in turn flooding inland areas of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982880\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982880\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Two young men stand by the side of a street and gaze at a handheld screen.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7810-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hassan Davani (right), a San Diego State University professor and water resources engineer, said that as climate change worsens, San Leandro will become increasingly vulnerable, and its current stormwater system will almost certainly ‘be disrupted’ by the end of the century. Kian Bagheri (left) is a doctoral student in Davani’s lab. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to have flooding further inland, kilometers inland, because the system will be packed with water at the downstream side,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when taking into account more extreme climate models, Davani said, the disruption to the stormwater system could come around mid-century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pauline Russo Cutter, who served as mayor of San Leandro until earlier this year, said the city has also tested its wastewater infrastructure and has yet to find any red flags.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she recognizes “it’s only a matter of time” before emerging groundwater becomes an issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If no one’s thinking about it, then these things kind of appear. That’s what can sink a city,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982881\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982881\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A middle aged white woman with dark brown hair stands beside the shore of San Leandro Bay as she talks toward the camera with sunglasses on.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/IMG_7758-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former San Leandro Mayor Pauline Russo Cutter says ‘it’s only a matter of time’ before emerging groundwater becomes an issue. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In preparing for sea level rise, Mok, the sustainability manager, dreams of a range of solutions — everything from building levees to utilizing marshes to soak up waves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think nature-based solutions have a lot of benefits that I think would be great for us,” Mok said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, despite the imminent threat that sea level rise poses — with the bay expected to rise by at least a foot in the next three decades — Mok acknowledges that actively preparing for it now can be a hard sell given more immediate concerns like budget issues, staff shortages and ongoing health emergencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982916\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982916\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65984_011_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A view of a street leading to a marina sign.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65984_011_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65984_011_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65984_011_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65984_011_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65984_011_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/RS65984_011_KQED_SanLeandroSeaLevelRise_06012023-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign for the San Leandro Marina marks the entrance to the shoreline in the Mulford Gardens neighborhood in San Leandro on June 1, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Sea level rise is tricky for people to wrap their heads around,” said Mok. “I’m hoping this is an opportunity not to get alarmed, but to realize this is something that is coming, not just in San Leandro, but regionally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California Is Still at Risk of Flooding. Maybe Rivers Just Need Some Space",
"headTitle": "California Is Still at Risk of Flooding. Maybe Rivers Just Need Some Space | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>With much of California’s massive snowpack yet to melt, downstream communities remain on high alert for flooding. Hundreds of homes were destroyed or damaged during the record-breaking winter, which tested the state’s aging flood infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Communities are looking for ways to protect themselves from future floods, and some are using a novel solution: just giving rivers some space to flow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building homes on the waterfront comes with a long-term arms race: levees must be built and maintained over time to hold back floodwaters. With climate change \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/02/09/1078261183/an-unexpected-item-is-blocking-cities-climate-change-prep-obsolete-rainfall-reco\">making storms more intense\u003c/a>, many levees will need to be raised or improved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, a growing number of projects are trying to work with nature, instead of trying to contain it. Levees are being removed and moved back, creating natural floodplains that are designed to fill with water when rivers run high. The idea is to take pressure off downstream levees by giving water somewhere to go farther upstream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Floodplain restorations also create much-need wildlife habitat. But buying out and relocating landowners, whether farmers or homeowners, can be challenging. Getting necessary permits can take years, because most flood regulations are written to keep levees in place forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>We have to find ways to do this more efficiently,” says Julie Rentner, president of River Partners, a river restoration non-profit. “It’s not ok for it to take 25 years to undo the paperwork that we put in place a generation ago.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2023/05/26/playground-3_custom-c169e186167c37255a78cd4d3523adb45f720947-s1300-c85.webp\" alt=\"A playground and picnic area is seen partially submerged in flood waters. \" width=\"1300\" height=\"863\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The melt of California’s massive snowpack has led to chronic flooding in the Central Valley this spring, like this riverfront park near the town of Grayson.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Farmworker communities at risk\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When heavy floods hit the farmworker communities of Pajaro and Planada this winter, John Mataka watched it closely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He knew it could easily have been his town, Grayson, California. It’s also a lower-income, farmworker community located next to a river in the Central Valley. After decades of underinvestment in their infrastructure, residents felt vulnerable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not just farmworkers and people that don’t speak English living in these communities,” says Mataka, a Grayson resident. “We’re people. We’re human. We’ve got needs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As California’s snowpack has melted, swelling the San Joaquin River, roads into town have been shut down due to flooding. Mataka’s neighbors watched nervously as the river overtopped its banks, edging closer to houses and staying high for weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even as the water rose, Mataka felt less worried than he had in the past because of a $46 million dollar project completed nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe that it saved our community from some drastic flooding this year,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982897\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1982897\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/mataka-lilia2_custom-d9f7310803148c8d15cd2a3879fa01adf968cb5d-s1100-c50-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"Two people stand in front of a floodplain.\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/mataka-lilia2_custom-d9f7310803148c8d15cd2a3879fa01adf968cb5d-s1100-c50-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/mataka-lilia2_custom-d9f7310803148c8d15cd2a3879fa01adf968cb5d-s1100-c50-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/mataka-lilia2_custom-d9f7310803148c8d15cd2a3879fa01adf968cb5d-s1100-c50-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/mataka-lilia2_custom-d9f7310803148c8d15cd2a3879fa01adf968cb5d-s1100-c50-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/mataka-lilia2_custom-d9f7310803148c8d15cd2a3879fa01adf968cb5d-s1100-c50.jpg 1100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Grayson residents Lilia Lomeli-Gil and John Mataka stand next to a restored floodplain at the edge of town, providing a new open space for the community. \u003ccite>(Lauren Sommer/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Giving the river room\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Just a few miles upstream from Grayson, hundreds of acres of land are covered in water, submerging the trunks of willow and cottonwood trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We love to see the floodwater on our property,” says Jon Carlon, co-founder of River Partners, as he looks across the water from an aluminum boat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This land is designed to flood. About a decade ago, it was mostly fields of tomatoes, melons and wheat. But being at the confluences of two rivers, the property was prone to being damaged when the river ran high. River Partners struck a deal to buy the land, using state and federal grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had a very successful ranching and farming operation here, but there was always that element of risk,” says Bill Lyons, the former landowner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the years, River Partners removed earthen berms that were holding back the river. Around 1,600 acres were restored to wildlife habitat, planted with native California trees and grasses, creating the \u003ca href=\"https://riverpartners.org/project/dos-rios-ranch-preserve/\">Dos Rios Ranch Preserve\u003c/a>. The ground is dry most of the year, but when heavy winters arrive, the river is free to spread across the floodplain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re looking back in time,” Carlon says. “We’re looking at what this river looked like 100 years ago.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982888\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982888 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/carlon1-d4f6a9b84343bece06819d5c293fb83620d4e1d6-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A grizzly middle-aged white man with shaggy white hair and beard, plus a camo hat and sunglasses, sits in the front of a skiff on brown water, wearing a black puffer vest and an orange life vest.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/carlon1-d4f6a9b84343bece06819d5c293fb83620d4e1d6-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/carlon1-d4f6a9b84343bece06819d5c293fb83620d4e1d6-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/carlon1-d4f6a9b84343bece06819d5c293fb83620d4e1d6-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/carlon1-d4f6a9b84343bece06819d5c293fb83620d4e1d6-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/carlon1-d4f6a9b84343bece06819d5c293fb83620d4e1d6-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/carlon1-d4f6a9b84343bece06819d5c293fb83620d4e1d6.jpg 1611w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Carlon of River Partners says restoring floodplains can help take pressure off downstream levees by storing floodwaters, as well as providing much-needed wildlife habitat. \u003ccite>(Lauren Sommer/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This watery habitat is rare in California. Before the era of dam-building, the state’s rivers would seasonally flood every year as the snow melted in the Sierra Nevada, creating a vital refuge for birds and fish. Development has destroyed 95% of the riparian habitat in the Central Valley. The San Joaquin River is so heavily tapped by cities and agriculture that in many years, it runs completely dry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Dos Rios Ranch Preserve is now being proposed \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-05-16/california-to-get-a-new-state-park-in-over-a-decade\">as California’s next state park\u003c/a>. Today, the surrounding area has few parks and recreation areas available for residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having a refuge, an outlet, somewhere where you can go back to basics – that’s what we should strive for,” says Lilia Lomeli-Gil, a Grayson resident. “I think what’s happening here is a major contribution to that balance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1982908 size-medium\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/0river4.gif\" alt=\"A video clip of either drone footage or video taken from the front of a boat, going over flooded land.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Floodplains as flood protection\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As the river spreads out and slows down in the floodplain, water experts say it can help absorb a major pulse of floodwater, potentially reducing the risk for communities downstream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All this water flows past populated areas,” Carlon says. “So you’re taking that pressure off those downstream communities by moving the levees back up here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Floodplains can also be more adaptable to climate change, since they can handle varying levels of water. Levees are designed to handle only a certain amount of flow. Carlon says traditional concrete infrastructure is often in conflict with the way rivers naturally behave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rivers move and that’s a really hard concept for us with property rights and roads and infrastructure,” Carlon says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wide floodplains also allow water to seep into the ground, filling up underground aquifers. Many aquifers in the Central Valley are at the lowest levels ever recorded, after being heavily pumped for agriculture for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982899\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1982899\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/sjr-1_custom-51d3c8554bf1628ec09281330f4644736b1058d1-s1100-c50-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"A floodplain is seen with mountains in the background, clouds and blue skies. \" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/sjr-1_custom-51d3c8554bf1628ec09281330f4644736b1058d1-s1100-c50-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/sjr-1_custom-51d3c8554bf1628ec09281330f4644736b1058d1-s1100-c50-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/sjr-1_custom-51d3c8554bf1628ec09281330f4644736b1058d1-s1100-c50-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/sjr-1_custom-51d3c8554bf1628ec09281330f4644736b1058d1-s1100-c50-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/sjr-1_custom-51d3c8554bf1628ec09281330f4644736b1058d1-s1100-c50.jpg 1100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moving levees and creating floodplains can more than a decade, since securing the land and permitting can be challenging. \u003ccite>(Lauren Sommer/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Regulations are for levees to stay put, not move\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Projects to move levees back – “levee setbacks,” as they’re known – are being done around the country, including on the Missouri River and elsewhere in California. But they can often take more than a decade, given the complexities of buying land and securing the permits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In urban areas, residents often don’t want to be displaced or bought out. Rural areas often have larger parcels where it’s easier to piece together the necessary land. But taking agricultural fields out of production also can face pushback.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have low-hanging fruit where we haven’t yet urbanized the floodplain,” says Rentner of River Partners. “Those are the spots we really need to prioritize moving on right away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Historically, it’s been hard for levee setback projects to get federal support from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency responsible for levees and flood protection. The agency evaluates projects using a cost-benefit analysis – so if the rural land being protected isn’t worth as much, it doesn’t justify the cost of constructing the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Biden Administration has been \u003ca href=\"https://ewn.erdc.dren.mil/\">pushing agencies to consider “engineering with nature\u003c/a>.” The Army Corps and others are now looking at how to include social and environmental benefits in their analysis, in addition to simply the cost of moving levees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’ve been hard to justify from an economic standpoint in the past,” says Beth Salyers, deputy district engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District. “I think we are seeing some positive changes when it comes to our ability from the federal level and the national level to do these types of projects where we have setback levees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, sorting out federal, state and local permits can take years, since most regulations were written to ensure the levees were preserved for the long-term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we engineered these levees back in the 1950s and 60s, nobody was thinking about how you undo the levee,” Rentner says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the damage from the winter storms, California is facing a new urgency to invest in its flood infrastructure. In the Central Valley alone, a \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Flood-Management/Flood-Planning-and-Studies/Central-Valley-Flood-Protection-Plan\">new state flood protection plan\u003c/a> puts the cost between $25 and $30 billion dollars over the next 30 years. California officials say floodplain restoration should be a piece of the puzzle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We should think bigger, because it’s working,” Rentner says. “Maybe it’s not so ambitious to imagine that we could scale this tremendously, to the point that it actually makes a really big difference in the way California manages its water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=California+is+still+at+risk+of+flooding.+Maybe+rivers+just+need+some+space&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "To prevent flooding, communities often raise levees next to rivers higher and higher. Now, a new approach is about backing off, and moving levees away from rivers to create floodplains.",
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"description": "To prevent flooding, communities often raise levees next to rivers higher and higher. Now, a new approach is about backing off, and moving levees away from rivers to create floodplains.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>With much of California’s massive snowpack yet to melt, downstream communities remain on high alert for flooding. Hundreds of homes were destroyed or damaged during the record-breaking winter, which tested the state’s aging flood infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Communities are looking for ways to protect themselves from future floods, and some are using a novel solution: just giving rivers some space to flow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building homes on the waterfront comes with a long-term arms race: levees must be built and maintained over time to hold back floodwaters. With climate change \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2022/02/09/1078261183/an-unexpected-item-is-blocking-cities-climate-change-prep-obsolete-rainfall-reco\">making storms more intense\u003c/a>, many levees will need to be raised or improved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, a growing number of projects are trying to work with nature, instead of trying to contain it. Levees are being removed and moved back, creating natural floodplains that are designed to fill with water when rivers run high. The idea is to take pressure off downstream levees by giving water somewhere to go farther upstream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Floodplain restorations also create much-need wildlife habitat. But buying out and relocating landowners, whether farmers or homeowners, can be challenging. Getting necessary permits can take years, because most flood regulations are written to keep levees in place forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>We have to find ways to do this more efficiently,” says Julie Rentner, president of River Partners, a river restoration non-profit. “It’s not ok for it to take 25 years to undo the paperwork that we put in place a generation ago.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2023/05/26/playground-3_custom-c169e186167c37255a78cd4d3523adb45f720947-s1300-c85.webp\" alt=\"A playground and picnic area is seen partially submerged in flood waters. \" width=\"1300\" height=\"863\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The melt of California’s massive snowpack has led to chronic flooding in the Central Valley this spring, like this riverfront park near the town of Grayson.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Farmworker communities at risk\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When heavy floods hit the farmworker communities of Pajaro and Planada this winter, John Mataka watched it closely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He knew it could easily have been his town, Grayson, California. It’s also a lower-income, farmworker community located next to a river in the Central Valley. After decades of underinvestment in their infrastructure, residents felt vulnerable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not just farmworkers and people that don’t speak English living in these communities,” says Mataka, a Grayson resident. “We’re people. We’re human. We’ve got needs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As California’s snowpack has melted, swelling the San Joaquin River, roads into town have been shut down due to flooding. Mataka’s neighbors watched nervously as the river overtopped its banks, edging closer to houses and staying high for weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even as the water rose, Mataka felt less worried than he had in the past because of a $46 million dollar project completed nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I believe that it saved our community from some drastic flooding this year,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982897\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1982897\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/mataka-lilia2_custom-d9f7310803148c8d15cd2a3879fa01adf968cb5d-s1100-c50-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"Two people stand in front of a floodplain.\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/mataka-lilia2_custom-d9f7310803148c8d15cd2a3879fa01adf968cb5d-s1100-c50-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/mataka-lilia2_custom-d9f7310803148c8d15cd2a3879fa01adf968cb5d-s1100-c50-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/mataka-lilia2_custom-d9f7310803148c8d15cd2a3879fa01adf968cb5d-s1100-c50-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/mataka-lilia2_custom-d9f7310803148c8d15cd2a3879fa01adf968cb5d-s1100-c50-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/mataka-lilia2_custom-d9f7310803148c8d15cd2a3879fa01adf968cb5d-s1100-c50.jpg 1100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Grayson residents Lilia Lomeli-Gil and John Mataka stand next to a restored floodplain at the edge of town, providing a new open space for the community. \u003ccite>(Lauren Sommer/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Giving the river room\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Just a few miles upstream from Grayson, hundreds of acres of land are covered in water, submerging the trunks of willow and cottonwood trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We love to see the floodwater on our property,” says Jon Carlon, co-founder of River Partners, as he looks across the water from an aluminum boat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This land is designed to flood. About a decade ago, it was mostly fields of tomatoes, melons and wheat. But being at the confluences of two rivers, the property was prone to being damaged when the river ran high. River Partners struck a deal to buy the land, using state and federal grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We had a very successful ranching and farming operation here, but there was always that element of risk,” says Bill Lyons, the former landowner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the years, River Partners removed earthen berms that were holding back the river. Around 1,600 acres were restored to wildlife habitat, planted with native California trees and grasses, creating the \u003ca href=\"https://riverpartners.org/project/dos-rios-ranch-preserve/\">Dos Rios Ranch Preserve\u003c/a>. The ground is dry most of the year, but when heavy winters arrive, the river is free to spread across the floodplain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re looking back in time,” Carlon says. “We’re looking at what this river looked like 100 years ago.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982888\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982888 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/carlon1-d4f6a9b84343bece06819d5c293fb83620d4e1d6-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A grizzly middle-aged white man with shaggy white hair and beard, plus a camo hat and sunglasses, sits in the front of a skiff on brown water, wearing a black puffer vest and an orange life vest.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/carlon1-d4f6a9b84343bece06819d5c293fb83620d4e1d6-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/carlon1-d4f6a9b84343bece06819d5c293fb83620d4e1d6-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/carlon1-d4f6a9b84343bece06819d5c293fb83620d4e1d6-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/carlon1-d4f6a9b84343bece06819d5c293fb83620d4e1d6-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/carlon1-d4f6a9b84343bece06819d5c293fb83620d4e1d6-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/carlon1-d4f6a9b84343bece06819d5c293fb83620d4e1d6.jpg 1611w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Carlon of River Partners says restoring floodplains can help take pressure off downstream levees by storing floodwaters, as well as providing much-needed wildlife habitat. \u003ccite>(Lauren Sommer/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This watery habitat is rare in California. Before the era of dam-building, the state’s rivers would seasonally flood every year as the snow melted in the Sierra Nevada, creating a vital refuge for birds and fish. Development has destroyed 95% of the riparian habitat in the Central Valley. The San Joaquin River is so heavily tapped by cities and agriculture that in many years, it runs completely dry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Dos Rios Ranch Preserve is now being proposed \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-05-16/california-to-get-a-new-state-park-in-over-a-decade\">as California’s next state park\u003c/a>. Today, the surrounding area has few parks and recreation areas available for residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having a refuge, an outlet, somewhere where you can go back to basics – that’s what we should strive for,” says Lilia Lomeli-Gil, a Grayson resident. “I think what’s happening here is a major contribution to that balance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1982908 size-medium\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/0river4.gif\" alt=\"A video clip of either drone footage or video taken from the front of a boat, going over flooded land.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Floodplains as flood protection\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As the river spreads out and slows down in the floodplain, water experts say it can help absorb a major pulse of floodwater, potentially reducing the risk for communities downstream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All this water flows past populated areas,” Carlon says. “So you’re taking that pressure off those downstream communities by moving the levees back up here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Floodplains can also be more adaptable to climate change, since they can handle varying levels of water. Levees are designed to handle only a certain amount of flow. Carlon says traditional concrete infrastructure is often in conflict with the way rivers naturally behave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Rivers move and that’s a really hard concept for us with property rights and roads and infrastructure,” Carlon says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wide floodplains also allow water to seep into the ground, filling up underground aquifers. Many aquifers in the Central Valley are at the lowest levels ever recorded, after being heavily pumped for agriculture for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982899\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1982899\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/sjr-1_custom-51d3c8554bf1628ec09281330f4644736b1058d1-s1100-c50-800x532.jpg\" alt=\"A floodplain is seen with mountains in the background, clouds and blue skies. \" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/sjr-1_custom-51d3c8554bf1628ec09281330f4644736b1058d1-s1100-c50-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/sjr-1_custom-51d3c8554bf1628ec09281330f4644736b1058d1-s1100-c50-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/sjr-1_custom-51d3c8554bf1628ec09281330f4644736b1058d1-s1100-c50-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/sjr-1_custom-51d3c8554bf1628ec09281330f4644736b1058d1-s1100-c50-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/06/sjr-1_custom-51d3c8554bf1628ec09281330f4644736b1058d1-s1100-c50.jpg 1100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moving levees and creating floodplains can more than a decade, since securing the land and permitting can be challenging. \u003ccite>(Lauren Sommer/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Regulations are for levees to stay put, not move\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Projects to move levees back – “levee setbacks,” as they’re known – are being done around the country, including on the Missouri River and elsewhere in California. But they can often take more than a decade, given the complexities of buying land and securing the permits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In urban areas, residents often don’t want to be displaced or bought out. Rural areas often have larger parcels where it’s easier to piece together the necessary land. But taking agricultural fields out of production also can face pushback.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have low-hanging fruit where we haven’t yet urbanized the floodplain,” says Rentner of River Partners. “Those are the spots we really need to prioritize moving on right away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Historically, it’s been hard for levee setback projects to get federal support from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency responsible for levees and flood protection. The agency evaluates projects using a cost-benefit analysis – so if the rural land being protected isn’t worth as much, it doesn’t justify the cost of constructing the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Biden Administration has been \u003ca href=\"https://ewn.erdc.dren.mil/\">pushing agencies to consider “engineering with nature\u003c/a>.” The Army Corps and others are now looking at how to include social and environmental benefits in their analysis, in addition to simply the cost of moving levees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’ve been hard to justify from an economic standpoint in the past,” says Beth Salyers, deputy district engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District. “I think we are seeing some positive changes when it comes to our ability from the federal level and the national level to do these types of projects where we have setback levees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, sorting out federal, state and local permits can take years, since most regulations were written to ensure the levees were preserved for the long-term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we engineered these levees back in the 1950s and 60s, nobody was thinking about how you undo the levee,” Rentner says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the damage from the winter storms, California is facing a new urgency to invest in its flood infrastructure. In the Central Valley alone, a \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Flood-Management/Flood-Planning-and-Studies/Central-Valley-Flood-Protection-Plan\">new state flood protection plan\u003c/a> puts the cost between $25 and $30 billion dollars over the next 30 years. California officials say floodplain restoration should be a piece of the puzzle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We should think bigger, because it’s working,” Rentner says. “Maybe it’s not so ambitious to imagine that we could scale this tremendously, to the point that it actually makes a really big difference in the way California manages its water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=California+is+still+at+risk+of+flooding.+Maybe+rivers+just+need+some+space&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>No suction cups, no Velcro, no glue. Geckos navigate nearly any surface with something far cooler: an electron dance at the atomic scale.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>TRANSCRIPT\u003c/h3>\n\u003ch3>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>You know you’ve dreamed of it – scaling walls with your bare hands and feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For most geckos, that dream is reality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Geckos can navigate nearly any surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speeding along to score a meal, flee an enemy, or just take in the scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what’s the trick to its stick?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gecko feet aren’t covered in suction cups or velcro. They don’t squirt glue, or leave any footprints for that matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The gecko’s secret is a herculean amount of grip – at the atomic scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote]\u003cbr>\nADDITIONAL RESOURCES\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.calacademy.org/about-us/major-initiatives/islands-2030\">Learn more about the California Academy of Sciences’ research on geckos, frogs and more as part of their Islands 2030 initiative here\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.calacademy.org/exhibits/steinhart-aquarium\">\u003cbr>\nSee these geckos up close and personal at California Academy of Sciences, and celebrate 100 years of the Steinhart Aquarium and its sticky, slimy, wonderful creatures\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-120213-091839\">Lewis & Clark College Professor Kellar Autumn has been taking a very close look at gecko feet for decades. Learn more about his work in this paper\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Check out its fabulous toes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These ridges – called lamellae – are blanketed in hairs called setae.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the setae branch out further – into millions of spatula-shaped pads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spatulae, if you will.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the stick happens even closer in – check out these spatulae atoms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They don’t have an electric charge, and neither do the atoms of the surfaces the gecko moves on. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the gecko pulls its foot at just the right angle – those spatulae get so close to the surfaces’ atoms that the electrons start to sync up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That shimmy is called Van der Waals force, and it’s what keeps the gecko attached to the surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a gecko used all of its millions of setae at once, that force could hold you up – and a friend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans have been trying to mimic gecko adhesion for years, and they’re finally getting close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists at Stanford University created a sort of gecko-inspired tape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under a microscope, you can see it has tiny wedges, much like the gecko’s spatulae.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you pull the tape parallel to a surface, like an apple, the wedges flatten and connect to a larger area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That close contact creates – you guessed it – Van der Waals force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To release it, simply reverse the pull.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, how does the gecko do it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, it curls up its toes, changing the angle of its spatulae.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which keeps them light on their feet, and ready to set out on more snack-robatic adventures.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cbr>\nADDITIONAL RESOURCES\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://www.calacademy.org/about-us/major-initiatives/islands-2030\">Learn more about the California Academy of Sciences’ research on geckos, frogs and more as part of their Islands 2030 initiative here\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.calacademy.org/exhibits/steinhart-aquarium\">\u003cbr>\nSee these geckos up close and personal at California Academy of Sciences, and celebrate 100 years of the Steinhart Aquarium and its sticky, slimy, wonderful creatures\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-120213-091839\">Lewis & Clark College Professor Kellar Autumn has been taking a very close look at gecko feet for decades. Learn more about his work in this paper\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Check out its fabulous toes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These ridges – called lamellae – are blanketed in hairs called setae.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the setae branch out further – into millions of spatula-shaped pads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spatulae, if you will.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the stick happens even closer in – check out these spatulae atoms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They don’t have an electric charge, and neither do the atoms of the surfaces the gecko moves on. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the gecko pulls its foot at just the right angle – those spatulae get so close to the surfaces’ atoms that the electrons start to sync up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That shimmy is called Van der Waals force, and it’s what keeps the gecko attached to the surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a gecko used all of its millions of setae at once, that force could hold you up – and a friend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans have been trying to mimic gecko adhesion for years, and they’re finally getting close.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists at Stanford University created a sort of gecko-inspired tape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under a microscope, you can see it has tiny wedges, much like the gecko’s spatulae.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you pull the tape parallel to a surface, like an apple, the wedges flatten and connect to a larger area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That close contact creates – you guessed it – Van der Waals force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To release it, simply reverse the pull.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, how does the gecko do it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, it curls up its toes, changing the angle of its spatulae.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which keeps them light on their feet, and ready to set out on more snack-robatic adventures.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California Wants to Store Floodwaters Underground. It's Harder Than It Sounds",
"headTitle": "California Wants to Store Floodwaters Underground. It’s Harder Than It Sounds | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>For much of the last few decades, when the sky didn’t produce enough water for his cows and crops, Dino Giacomazzi — like most farmers in California’s southern Central Valley — pumped it from the earth. Underground aquifers, vast bank accounts of stored water, were drained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, after a historically wet winter, Giacomazzi and the state of California want to put some of that water back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a no-brainer, win-win, multibenefit opportunity,” said Giacomazzi, standing on his Central Valley farm, which depends on groundwater to grow almonds, lettuce and tomatoes for pizza sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More water stored underground means fewer flooded farms, and more water available to farmers like him during the next inevitable drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982778\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982778 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7315_slide-f4ad38703f1ea83d5235b8f204ab33ca99410025-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A white man with dark brown hair and black sunglasses, wearing a black puffer jacket with an orange collared shirt and jeans, stands on a farm with a to-go cup in his hand. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7315_slide-f4ad38703f1ea83d5235b8f204ab33ca99410025-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7315_slide-f4ad38703f1ea83d5235b8f204ab33ca99410025-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7315_slide-f4ad38703f1ea83d5235b8f204ab33ca99410025-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7315_slide-f4ad38703f1ea83d5235b8f204ab33ca99410025-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7315_slide-f4ad38703f1ea83d5235b8f204ab33ca99410025-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7315_slide-f4ad38703f1ea83d5235b8f204ab33ca99410025-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7315_slide-f4ad38703f1ea83d5235b8f204ab33ca99410025-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dino Giacomazzi stands on his Central Valley farm, which depends on groundwater to grow almonds, lettuce and tomatoes for pizza sauce. \u003ccite>(Claire Harbage/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>An area nearly the size of New Orleans is already flooded downstream of Giacomazzi’s farm. State officials have warned more water is coming as warmer temperatures cause a record Sierra Nevada snowpack to melt. This week, however, they said some communities, such as Corcoran, should be safe from rising floodwaters because of levee improvements, favorable weather and efforts to spread the water upstream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But capturing the extra water is an opportunity that Giacomazzi worries is being missed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The condition we find ourselves in right now is that there are billions of gallons of water just flowing right through us, right on by, and heading down and filling the Tulare Lake,” Giacomazzi said, referencing the long-dried lake — once the largest west of the Mississippi River — that has come roaring back to life during this winter’s storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California water officials are scrambling to catch as much of the floodwaters as they can. In January, as a series of atmospheric river storms \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/01/11/1148333208/storms-keep-pummeling-california-causing-widespread-flooding-and-evacuations\">blasted the state\u003c/a> with rain and snow, the state’s Department of Water Resources announced it was \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2023/Jan-23/State-Agencies-Fast-track-Groundwater-Recharge-Pilot-Project\">accelerating permitting\u003c/a> for projects that put water back into the aquifers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Projects that capture available precipitation, stormwater or floodwaters to recharge depleted groundwater basins need to be ready to capture high flows when they are available during each wet season,” said Karla Nemeth, the agency’s director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982779\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982779 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7388_slide-e1a31163a760bed0b4e1633bae0c23bc8a41adf1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A small, gray donkey, as well as a donkey in complete shadow in the foreground, look out at a gravel road through a low wire fence on a sunny day. Farm buildings and green-and-brown lots lay beyond the road.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7388_slide-e1a31163a760bed0b4e1633bae0c23bc8a41adf1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7388_slide-e1a31163a760bed0b4e1633bae0c23bc8a41adf1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7388_slide-e1a31163a760bed0b4e1633bae0c23bc8a41adf1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7388_slide-e1a31163a760bed0b4e1633bae0c23bc8a41adf1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7388_slide-e1a31163a760bed0b4e1633bae0c23bc8a41adf1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7388_slide-e1a31163a760bed0b4e1633bae0c23bc8a41adf1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7388_slide-e1a31163a760bed0b4e1633bae0c23bc8a41adf1-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Giacomazzi’s donkeys look out over some of the farmland. \u003ccite>(Claire Harbage/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Two months later, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/03/10/governor-newsom-issues-executive-order-to-use-floodwater-to-recharge-and-store-groundwater/\">an executive order\u003c/a> making it easier for farmers to divert water onto their lands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in some parts of the Central Valley, like Giacomazzi’s, bureaucracy, water rights and a history of over-pumping are creating roadblocks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The issue with these water systems in California is that every couple of miles in this state, it’s a completely different, independently operated situation,” Giacomazzi said. “There isn’t really a coordinating body that sits over the top if that says, ‘Here’s what we need to do. Let’s do it together.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A test for California’s climate future\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California has always experienced dramatic swings from drought to flood. Those \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Water-Resilience/CA-Water-Supply-Strategy.pdf\">swings are expected to become more severe (PDF)\u003c/a> as temperatures rise due to human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that sense, the situation playing out in California this year could be a window into the state’s climate future, said Daniel Mountjoy, director of resource stewardship for Sustainable Conservation, a California-based nonprofit water group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve worked in water my entire career and one of our sayings is never waste a good crisis,” he said, standing next to a field of purposely flooded grapevines north of Fresno. “This is our chance for everyone to be aware of what’s possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982780\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982780 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1148_slide-fb7786a4ff4d53e45a28bd5a1e545f524af71028-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two men, one white and one Black, both wearing baseball caps and unzipped jackets, talk to each other, one gesturing toward the vineyard they stand in with one arm raised.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1148_slide-fb7786a4ff4d53e45a28bd5a1e545f524af71028-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1148_slide-fb7786a4ff4d53e45a28bd5a1e545f524af71028-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1148_slide-fb7786a4ff4d53e45a28bd5a1e545f524af71028-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1148_slide-fb7786a4ff4d53e45a28bd5a1e545f524af71028-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1148_slide-fb7786a4ff4d53e45a28bd5a1e545f524af71028-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1148_slide-fb7786a4ff4d53e45a28bd5a1e545f524af71028-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1148_slide-fb7786a4ff4d53e45a28bd5a1e545f524af71028-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daniel Mountjoy (left), director of resource stewardship for Sustainable Conservation, a California-based nonprofit water group, talks with a colleague at a vineyard that is sinking water into the ground. \u003ccite>(Claire Harbage/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California water experts like Mountjoy, hydrologists and environmental watchdog groups have long warned that the Central Valley’s use of groundwater was unsustainable. Parts of the southern Central Valley that are now flooded have sunk by as much as 28 feet over the last few decades — deflated like punctured balloons — because so much water has been pumped from the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state aimed to address the problem with legislation in 2014 that requires local water agencies to bring their underground accounts into balance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to have to put in as much as we pump out,” said Eric Holder, an irrigation research assistant with the University of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982781\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1982781\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230411-_dsc9551_slide-f61a1b40b9d27519eefd649a788dcaad9238baa4-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Water is seen flowing out of pipes at a farm. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230411-_dsc9551_slide-f61a1b40b9d27519eefd649a788dcaad9238baa4-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230411-_dsc9551_slide-f61a1b40b9d27519eefd649a788dcaad9238baa4-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230411-_dsc9551_slide-f61a1b40b9d27519eefd649a788dcaad9238baa4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230411-_dsc9551_slide-f61a1b40b9d27519eefd649a788dcaad9238baa4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230411-_dsc9551_slide-f61a1b40b9d27519eefd649a788dcaad9238baa4-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230411-_dsc9551_slide-f61a1b40b9d27519eefd649a788dcaad9238baa4-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230411-_dsc9551_slide-f61a1b40b9d27519eefd649a788dcaad9238baa4-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water floods a field at an irrigation project run by the University of California.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cutting groundwater use could be painful. A study by the Public Policy Institute of California last year found that an\u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/priorities-for-californias-water/\"> estimated 500,000 acres\u003c/a> of farmland would have to go unplanted in the southern Central Valley over the next 20 years to help restore water underground. That’s even with increased capturing of stormwaters in a year like this. The region produces billions of dollars in almonds, pistachios, dairy and other produce every year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve got to find a safe landing pattern,” Mountjoy said. “Come up with a way to reduce the pumping or increase the groundwater supply.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Some farmers are flooding their fields\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With so much of the state awash in water, the focus in California is on increasing groundwater supply — stashing more into the bank account — by flooding farmland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982782\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982782 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1022_slide-a0b041ac2be62456d3bbd1691767f8944145102f-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Most of the frame is taken up by slightly blurry, bright green grape leaves in the foreground. Beyond them, on the ground, two cement cisterns pour water onto the ground, with the dry land to the left looking light brown and dusty, and the wet land to the right looking dark brown and muddy.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1022_slide-a0b041ac2be62456d3bbd1691767f8944145102f-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1022_slide-a0b041ac2be62456d3bbd1691767f8944145102f-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1022_slide-a0b041ac2be62456d3bbd1691767f8944145102f-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1022_slide-a0b041ac2be62456d3bbd1691767f8944145102f-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1022_slide-a0b041ac2be62456d3bbd1691767f8944145102f-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1022_slide-a0b041ac2be62456d3bbd1691767f8944145102f-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1022_slide-a0b041ac2be62456d3bbd1691767f8944145102f-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water is pumped into a vineyard, flooding the field. In some water districts, like Madera County’s in the heart of the Central Valley, farmers are being incentivized to use their existing infrastructure to flood their fields with free or reduced-cost water. \u003ccite>(Claire Harbage/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In some areas, like Giacomazzi’s, there isn’t enough incentive for farmers to flood their fields, or the infrastructure doesn’t exist to divert water from canals and streams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It takes a lot of money to excavate a basin and build the structures to divert water off the system,” said Mark Larsen, general manager of the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District. “And then you have it sitting [dry] most of the time waiting for a year like this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some water districts, like Madera County’s in the heart of the Central Valley, farmers are being incentivized to use their existing infrastructure to flood their fields with free or reduced-cost water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s our way to motivate people to take that water, spread it and get that water in the ground when it’s available in years like this,” said Thomas Greci, general manager of the Madera Irrigation District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982783\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982783 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1077_slide-e34560e26d1272886404c7d51574dffa21c9998d-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A white man with a beard, wearing a baseball cap, a long-sleeved button-up powder blue shirt, blue jeans, and boots stands in a vineyard with his hands in his pockets, looking off to the side.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1077_slide-e34560e26d1272886404c7d51574dffa21c9998d-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1077_slide-e34560e26d1272886404c7d51574dffa21c9998d-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1077_slide-e34560e26d1272886404c7d51574dffa21c9998d-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1077_slide-e34560e26d1272886404c7d51574dffa21c9998d-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1077_slide-e34560e26d1272886404c7d51574dffa21c9998d-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1077_slide-e34560e26d1272886404c7d51574dffa21c9998d-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1077_slide-e34560e26d1272886404c7d51574dffa21c9998d-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nick Davis stands in the vineyard he owns with his twin brother outside Madera. He’s been dumping water on his grapevines since the heavy rains started this winter, sinking more than four times the amount of water he typically uses on the vines into the ground. \u003ccite>(Claire Harbage/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nick Davis, who owns a vineyard with his twin brother outside Madera, has decided to participate. He’s been dumping water on his grapevines since the heavy rains started this winter, sinking more than four times the amount of water he typically uses on the vines into the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re all skeptical about trying new things,” Davis said. “But we feel it’s important to just do our part and put it back in the ground.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s hopeful the state will give him credit for all the water he’s returning to the aquifer, or pay him for the water he’s deposited. Incentives like that, Davis said, would make other farmers think more seriously about flooding their fields in the current moment and in wet years to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand that we are part of the problem,” Davis said. “But we also want to be part of the solution when it’s possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/\">https://www.npr.org\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=California+wants+to+store+floodwaters+underground.+It%27s+harder+than+it+sounds+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For much of the last few decades, when the sky didn’t produce enough water for his cows and crops, Dino Giacomazzi — like most farmers in California’s southern Central Valley — pumped it from the earth. Underground aquifers, vast bank accounts of stored water, were drained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, after a historically wet winter, Giacomazzi and the state of California want to put some of that water back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a no-brainer, win-win, multibenefit opportunity,” said Giacomazzi, standing on his Central Valley farm, which depends on groundwater to grow almonds, lettuce and tomatoes for pizza sauce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More water stored underground means fewer flooded farms, and more water available to farmers like him during the next inevitable drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982778\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982778 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7315_slide-f4ad38703f1ea83d5235b8f204ab33ca99410025-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A white man with dark brown hair and black sunglasses, wearing a black puffer jacket with an orange collared shirt and jeans, stands on a farm with a to-go cup in his hand. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7315_slide-f4ad38703f1ea83d5235b8f204ab33ca99410025-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7315_slide-f4ad38703f1ea83d5235b8f204ab33ca99410025-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7315_slide-f4ad38703f1ea83d5235b8f204ab33ca99410025-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7315_slide-f4ad38703f1ea83d5235b8f204ab33ca99410025-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7315_slide-f4ad38703f1ea83d5235b8f204ab33ca99410025-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7315_slide-f4ad38703f1ea83d5235b8f204ab33ca99410025-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7315_slide-f4ad38703f1ea83d5235b8f204ab33ca99410025-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dino Giacomazzi stands on his Central Valley farm, which depends on groundwater to grow almonds, lettuce and tomatoes for pizza sauce. \u003ccite>(Claire Harbage/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>An area nearly the size of New Orleans is already flooded downstream of Giacomazzi’s farm. State officials have warned more water is coming as warmer temperatures cause a record Sierra Nevada snowpack to melt. This week, however, they said some communities, such as Corcoran, should be safe from rising floodwaters because of levee improvements, favorable weather and efforts to spread the water upstream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But capturing the extra water is an opportunity that Giacomazzi worries is being missed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The condition we find ourselves in right now is that there are billions of gallons of water just flowing right through us, right on by, and heading down and filling the Tulare Lake,” Giacomazzi said, referencing the long-dried lake — once the largest west of the Mississippi River — that has come roaring back to life during this winter’s storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California water officials are scrambling to catch as much of the floodwaters as they can. In January, as a series of atmospheric river storms \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/01/11/1148333208/storms-keep-pummeling-california-causing-widespread-flooding-and-evacuations\">blasted the state\u003c/a> with rain and snow, the state’s Department of Water Resources announced it was \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2023/Jan-23/State-Agencies-Fast-track-Groundwater-Recharge-Pilot-Project\">accelerating permitting\u003c/a> for projects that put water back into the aquifers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Projects that capture available precipitation, stormwater or floodwaters to recharge depleted groundwater basins need to be ready to capture high flows when they are available during each wet season,” said Karla Nemeth, the agency’s director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982779\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982779 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7388_slide-e1a31163a760bed0b4e1633bae0c23bc8a41adf1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A small, gray donkey, as well as a donkey in complete shadow in the foreground, look out at a gravel road through a low wire fence on a sunny day. Farm buildings and green-and-brown lots lay beyond the road.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7388_slide-e1a31163a760bed0b4e1633bae0c23bc8a41adf1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7388_slide-e1a31163a760bed0b4e1633bae0c23bc8a41adf1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7388_slide-e1a31163a760bed0b4e1633bae0c23bc8a41adf1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7388_slide-e1a31163a760bed0b4e1633bae0c23bc8a41adf1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7388_slide-e1a31163a760bed0b4e1633bae0c23bc8a41adf1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7388_slide-e1a31163a760bed0b4e1633bae0c23bc8a41adf1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230414-_dsc7388_slide-e1a31163a760bed0b4e1633bae0c23bc8a41adf1-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Giacomazzi’s donkeys look out over some of the farmland. \u003ccite>(Claire Harbage/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Two months later, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/03/10/governor-newsom-issues-executive-order-to-use-floodwater-to-recharge-and-store-groundwater/\">an executive order\u003c/a> making it easier for farmers to divert water onto their lands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in some parts of the Central Valley, like Giacomazzi’s, bureaucracy, water rights and a history of over-pumping are creating roadblocks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The issue with these water systems in California is that every couple of miles in this state, it’s a completely different, independently operated situation,” Giacomazzi said. “There isn’t really a coordinating body that sits over the top if that says, ‘Here’s what we need to do. Let’s do it together.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A test for California’s climate future\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California has always experienced dramatic swings from drought to flood. Those \u003ca href=\"https://resources.ca.gov/-/media/CNRA-Website/Files/Initiatives/Water-Resilience/CA-Water-Supply-Strategy.pdf\">swings are expected to become more severe (PDF)\u003c/a> as temperatures rise due to human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that sense, the situation playing out in California this year could be a window into the state’s climate future, said Daniel Mountjoy, director of resource stewardship for Sustainable Conservation, a California-based nonprofit water group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve worked in water my entire career and one of our sayings is never waste a good crisis,” he said, standing next to a field of purposely flooded grapevines north of Fresno. “This is our chance for everyone to be aware of what’s possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982780\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982780 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1148_slide-fb7786a4ff4d53e45a28bd5a1e545f524af71028-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two men, one white and one Black, both wearing baseball caps and unzipped jackets, talk to each other, one gesturing toward the vineyard they stand in with one arm raised.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1148_slide-fb7786a4ff4d53e45a28bd5a1e545f524af71028-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1148_slide-fb7786a4ff4d53e45a28bd5a1e545f524af71028-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1148_slide-fb7786a4ff4d53e45a28bd5a1e545f524af71028-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1148_slide-fb7786a4ff4d53e45a28bd5a1e545f524af71028-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1148_slide-fb7786a4ff4d53e45a28bd5a1e545f524af71028-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1148_slide-fb7786a4ff4d53e45a28bd5a1e545f524af71028-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1148_slide-fb7786a4ff4d53e45a28bd5a1e545f524af71028-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daniel Mountjoy (left), director of resource stewardship for Sustainable Conservation, a California-based nonprofit water group, talks with a colleague at a vineyard that is sinking water into the ground. \u003ccite>(Claire Harbage/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California water experts like Mountjoy, hydrologists and environmental watchdog groups have long warned that the Central Valley’s use of groundwater was unsustainable. Parts of the southern Central Valley that are now flooded have sunk by as much as 28 feet over the last few decades — deflated like punctured balloons — because so much water has been pumped from the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state aimed to address the problem with legislation in 2014 that requires local water agencies to bring their underground accounts into balance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to have to put in as much as we pump out,” said Eric Holder, an irrigation research assistant with the University of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982781\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1982781\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230411-_dsc9551_slide-f61a1b40b9d27519eefd649a788dcaad9238baa4-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Water is seen flowing out of pipes at a farm. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230411-_dsc9551_slide-f61a1b40b9d27519eefd649a788dcaad9238baa4-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230411-_dsc9551_slide-f61a1b40b9d27519eefd649a788dcaad9238baa4-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230411-_dsc9551_slide-f61a1b40b9d27519eefd649a788dcaad9238baa4-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230411-_dsc9551_slide-f61a1b40b9d27519eefd649a788dcaad9238baa4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230411-_dsc9551_slide-f61a1b40b9d27519eefd649a788dcaad9238baa4-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230411-_dsc9551_slide-f61a1b40b9d27519eefd649a788dcaad9238baa4-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230411-_dsc9551_slide-f61a1b40b9d27519eefd649a788dcaad9238baa4-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water floods a field at an irrigation project run by the University of California.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cutting groundwater use could be painful. A study by the Public Policy Institute of California last year found that an\u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/priorities-for-californias-water/\"> estimated 500,000 acres\u003c/a> of farmland would have to go unplanted in the southern Central Valley over the next 20 years to help restore water underground. That’s even with increased capturing of stormwaters in a year like this. The region produces billions of dollars in almonds, pistachios, dairy and other produce every year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve got to find a safe landing pattern,” Mountjoy said. “Come up with a way to reduce the pumping or increase the groundwater supply.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Some farmers are flooding their fields\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With so much of the state awash in water, the focus in California is on increasing groundwater supply — stashing more into the bank account — by flooding farmland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982782\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982782 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1022_slide-a0b041ac2be62456d3bbd1691767f8944145102f-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Most of the frame is taken up by slightly blurry, bright green grape leaves in the foreground. Beyond them, on the ground, two cement cisterns pour water onto the ground, with the dry land to the left looking light brown and dusty, and the wet land to the right looking dark brown and muddy.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1022_slide-a0b041ac2be62456d3bbd1691767f8944145102f-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1022_slide-a0b041ac2be62456d3bbd1691767f8944145102f-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1022_slide-a0b041ac2be62456d3bbd1691767f8944145102f-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1022_slide-a0b041ac2be62456d3bbd1691767f8944145102f-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1022_slide-a0b041ac2be62456d3bbd1691767f8944145102f-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1022_slide-a0b041ac2be62456d3bbd1691767f8944145102f-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1022_slide-a0b041ac2be62456d3bbd1691767f8944145102f-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water is pumped into a vineyard, flooding the field. In some water districts, like Madera County’s in the heart of the Central Valley, farmers are being incentivized to use their existing infrastructure to flood their fields with free or reduced-cost water. \u003ccite>(Claire Harbage/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In some areas, like Giacomazzi’s, there isn’t enough incentive for farmers to flood their fields, or the infrastructure doesn’t exist to divert water from canals and streams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It takes a lot of money to excavate a basin and build the structures to divert water off the system,” said Mark Larsen, general manager of the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District. “And then you have it sitting [dry] most of the time waiting for a year like this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some water districts, like Madera County’s in the heart of the Central Valley, farmers are being incentivized to use their existing infrastructure to flood their fields with free or reduced-cost water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s our way to motivate people to take that water, spread it and get that water in the ground when it’s available in years like this,” said Thomas Greci, general manager of the Madera Irrigation District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982783\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982783 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1077_slide-e34560e26d1272886404c7d51574dffa21c9998d-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A white man with a beard, wearing a baseball cap, a long-sleeved button-up powder blue shirt, blue jeans, and boots stands in a vineyard with his hands in his pockets, looking off to the side.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1077_slide-e34560e26d1272886404c7d51574dffa21c9998d-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1077_slide-e34560e26d1272886404c7d51574dffa21c9998d-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1077_slide-e34560e26d1272886404c7d51574dffa21c9998d-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1077_slide-e34560e26d1272886404c7d51574dffa21c9998d-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1077_slide-e34560e26d1272886404c7d51574dffa21c9998d-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1077_slide-e34560e26d1272886404c7d51574dffa21c9998d-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/20230412-_dsc1077_slide-e34560e26d1272886404c7d51574dffa21c9998d-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nick Davis stands in the vineyard he owns with his twin brother outside Madera. He’s been dumping water on his grapevines since the heavy rains started this winter, sinking more than four times the amount of water he typically uses on the vines into the ground. \u003ccite>(Claire Harbage/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nick Davis, who owns a vineyard with his twin brother outside Madera, has decided to participate. He’s been dumping water on his grapevines since the heavy rains started this winter, sinking more than four times the amount of water he typically uses on the vines into the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re all skeptical about trying new things,” Davis said. “But we feel it’s important to just do our part and put it back in the ground.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s hopeful the state will give him credit for all the water he’s returning to the aquifer, or pay him for the water he’s deposited. Incentives like that, Davis said, would make other farmers think more seriously about flooding their fields in the current moment and in wet years to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand that we are part of the problem,” Davis said. “But we also want to be part of the solution when it’s possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/\">https://www.npr.org\u003c/a>.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=California+wants+to+store+floodwaters+underground.+It%27s+harder+than+it+sounds+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A Seabird Comeback: How Restoration Efforts Can Combat Climate Change",
"headTitle": "A Seabird Comeback: How Restoration Efforts Can Combat Climate Change | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Seabirds evolved about 60 million years ago, as Earth’s continents drifted toward their current positions and modern oceans took shape. They spread across thousands of undisturbed islands in the widening seas. And as flying dinosaurs and giant omnivorous sea reptiles died out, seabirds also started filling an ecological niche as ecosystem engineers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They distribute nutrients, in the form of guano, that’s beneficial to plankton, seagrass and coral reefs, which, in turn, nurtures fish populations that are eaten by seabirds and marine mammals in a cycle that forms a biological carbon pump. The stronger the pump, the more carbon dioxide it pushes into seabed sediment storage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seabird colonies of almost unimaginable size likely persisted through eons of profound climate shifts and the geological upheavals of colliding continents, playing a profound role in the ocean carbon cycle. But even in their most far-flung island realms, they were quickly decimated by humans who colonized and industrialized the planet during the past 200 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By some estimates, the overall global seabird population has dropped by as much as 90% during that time, with \u003ca href=\"https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0129342\">a decline of 70% just since 1950\u003c/a>. Seabirds are \u003ca href=\"https://www.iucn.org/\">the most threatened group of birds and one of the most endangered groups of species\u003c/a>, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Of 346 seabird species, 97 are globally threatened, and another 35 are listed as near-threatened. Almost half of all seabird species are known or suspected to be experiencing population declines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the damage has been from invasive predators — humans themselves, and the rats, cats, dogs and pigs they brought along as they exploited island after island. After millions of years of predator-free evolution, the birds didn’t recognize the new species as threats. They were particularly vulnerable because they don’t breed as prolifically as many terrestrial birds, and spend a long time nurturing their flightless young on land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was also direct human predation on an industrial scale, with the harvest of seabird eggs for food, their guano as fertilizer and the birds themselves to render for oil, along with seals, sea lions and whales, or as the unwanted bycatch of commercial fishing boats. On the Farallon Islands near San Francisco, home to the largest single seabird nesting colony in the United States, the murre population dropped from 400,000 to 60,000 in just a few decades during the gold rush, as \u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-california-went-war-over-eggs-180971960/\">people harvested up to half a million eggs per year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982712\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982712 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/SeabirdRestorationWorld1000px-800x514.png\" alt='An infographic showing three different seabird species, with a background of a map. The text on the infographic says: \"A Seabird Comeback: New research tracked the implementation and success of 851 active seabird restoration projects around the world between 1954 and 2021, finding that a high percentage of them are showing signs of success. In some cases, birds are returning on their own to nesting sites where invasive predators have been eliminated. In other cases, young birds that were relocated from one place to another later returned on their own after spending several years at sea.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/SeabirdRestorationWorld1000px-800x514.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/SeabirdRestorationWorld1000px-160x103.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/SeabirdRestorationWorld1000px-768x494.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/SeabirdRestorationWorld1000px.png 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">New research tracked the implementation and success of 851 active seabird restoration projects around the world between 1954 and 2021, finding that a high percentage of them are showing signs of success. In some cases, birds are returning on their own to nesting sites where invasive predators have been eliminated. In other cases, young birds that were relocated from one place to another later returned on their own after spending several years at sea.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Today the Farallon Islands are protected as part of a marine sanctuary and the nesting seabird colonies are recovering, helping to sustain the surrounding marine ecosystem, including great white sharks, apex predators that sometimes feed on the population of northern fur seals that have returned to the islands since they were protected. Rhinoceros auklets, related to puffins, have also returned and more than \u003ca href=\"https://farallones.org/sanctuary-wildlife/\">20 endangered and threatened species — birds, reptiles, insects, marine mammals and even sea turtles — live on and and around the islands\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The comeback has already started\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>And there are hundreds of other seabird restoration projects around the world showing signs of success, said \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Dena_Spatz\">Dena Spatz\u003c/a>, a scientist with \u003ca href=\"https://pacificrimconservation.org/\">Pacific Rim Conservation\u003c/a>, a nonprofit that focuses on ecosystem repairs. Spatz was lead author of an April 10 \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2214574120\">study\u003c/a> in the Proceedings National Academy of Sciences that \u003ca href=\"http://seabirddatabase.org/\">compiled data from 851 restoration projects in 36 countries targeting 138 species of seabirds over the past 70 years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new study focused on efforts to actively bring back bird populations, including social attraction methods, like using decoys, as well as direct translocation of young birds to new sites free of invasive predators. In more than 75% of the restorations, targeted species visited the sites and started breeding within two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982713\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982713 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/birdcolony_guano2-1536x1062-1-800x553.jpeg\" alt=\"A bird rookery is seen in the ocean.\" width=\"800\" height=\"553\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/birdcolony_guano2-1536x1062-1-800x553.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/birdcolony_guano2-1536x1062-1-1020x705.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/birdcolony_guano2-1536x1062-1-160x111.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/birdcolony_guano2-1536x1062-1-768x531.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/birdcolony_guano2-1536x1062-1.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guano-covered bird rookery in the Pacific Ocean near Mazunte, Oaxaca, Mexico. The guano gets rinsed into the ocean, which nurtures the ocean food web. \u003ccite>(Bob Berwyn/Inside Climate News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s an incredible success story,” she said. “A lot of seabirds come back without any intervention … But that’s not always the case all the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some populations of seabirds are tiny and widely dispersed across distant islands, and a few of them have blinked out, she said. That makes it hard for the bird populations to get back to historic breeding levels without help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s where active restoration, moving things from one place to another, becomes super critical,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Restoring seabirds could bolster ocean ecosystems and their ability to draw down carbon dioxide, said \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/poertner_hans\">Hans-Otto Pörtner\u003c/a>, a climate scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany, who recently co-authored a \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl4881\">research paper in \u003cem>Science\u003c/em>\u003c/a> that spells out the connections between biodiversity, ecosystem protection and climate stabilization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to direct CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels and other industrial processes, the disruption of ecosystems and biodiversity declines have also significantly contributed to rising atmospheric greenhouse concentrations that are heating up the planet, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Biodiversity loss contributes to climate change through loss of wild species and biomass,” the paper concluded. “This reduces carbon stocks and sink capacity in natural and managed ecosystems, increasing emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The resulting warming disturbs ecosystems in a vicious circle that worsens “the unprecedented loss of biodiversity already caused by human-induced habitat degradation, overexploitation of natural resources, and pollution,” he and his co-authors wrote in the \u003cem>Science\u003c/em> paper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding continued biodiversity loss and habitat decline with projections for greenhouse gas emissions, Earth is on a path to heat up to near 3 degrees Celsius by 2100, and that won’t change unless humans proceed on the planet in a way that “allows biodiversity to thrive, and which incorporates a strengthening of the natural pathways of carbon binding and storage,” Pörtner said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Can assisted migration help?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The new seabird restoration study is part of a growing canon that documents thousands of various nature restoration projects on every continent, according to \u003ca href=\"https://restor.eco/?lat=26&lng=14.23&zoom=3\">Restor\u003c/a>, a nonprofit network building a global restoration database.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Restoring seabirds can help turnaround the declines in biodiversity and carbon sequestration, Spatz said, describing some of the translocation research pioneered by scientists in New Zealand that will help similar efforts elsewhere. The idea of moving birds physically from one place to another to restore populations is part of a growing effort of \u003ca href=\"https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=assisted+migration+in+climate+change+research&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart\">assisted migration\u003c/a>, which some scientists think will be critical as climate change impacts intensify. For seabirds, it’s done most with species that have evolved to return to the place they are born, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s this amazing biological response in birds like petrels, shearwaters, albatross and some puffins,” she said. “They’re born on an island, they fledge, they go to sea from anywhere between one and eight years, depending on the species and then go back to the place where they were born.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982714\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982714 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/petrel-800x601.jpeg\" alt=\"A seabird is seen soaring above the ocean. \" width=\"800\" height=\"601\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/petrel-800x601.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/petrel-1020x766.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/petrel-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/petrel-768x577.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/petrel.jpeg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Seabirds include many pelagic species like petrels that spend nearly their entire lives at sea, returning to land only for a few months each year to breed. \u003ccite>(Bob Berwyn/Inside Climate News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Relocation of the chicks is timed so they imprint on their new home in the way they normally would at the site where they hatched, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a huge endeavor to do this stuff. But it works when you do it, right,” she said. “What’s amazing is, once these birds come as fluffy chicks to a restoration site, they’re raised by people, but they don’t imprint on us. That’s just the way seabirds are, so that’s not a worry. Then they get feathers, and they fly on their own out to sea. And when it’s time to breed, they go to the restoration site instead of the place they were born.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Hawai’i, she said, scientists have been relocating albatross and petrel chicks from some of the low-lying Northwest Hawaiian Islands, where there are huge bird colonies, but some nesting grounds are already being swamped by rising seas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not a future threat,” she said. “It’s a current threat. Those chicks probably wouldn’t have survived anyway if we hadn’t taken them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Let ecosystems flourish to benefit the climate\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Scaling up nature restoration and conservation efforts, including with seabirds, is absolutely critical to preventing a worst-case global warming outcome, said \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/BernieTershy\">Bernie Tershy\u003c/a>, an ecology and evolutionary biology researcher at UC Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A key part of that is pulling pollutants out of the atmosphere, right? So if you’re going to do that, one could argue that the best way to do that is to plant a whole bunch of the fastest growing trees over the most area possible,” said Tershy, who was not an author of the new seabird study but has worked on similar research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that would be like putting all your climate eggs in one basket, he said, describing risks, like wildfires and insect infestations that could quickly wipe out such monocultures before they have any climate benefits. A better approach is a diversified investment spread across ecosystems that suck carbon out of the atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s also totally the cheapest way because it’s a passive thing,” he said. “All you have to do is protect these natural areas and manage them well. They’ll soak up a ton of carbon and they’ll do it in a way that is incredibly resilient.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But you can’t just focus on a single species, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You need a bunch of different plant species,” he said. “And you need insect grazers and fertilizer-producing species. You need small mammal seed dispersers and you need the birds that disperse seeds and the fertilizers they produce that nurture the seeds. You need all that biodiversity to maintain resilient ecosystems that pull carbon out of the atmosphere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\">Inside Climate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter/\">Sign up for the ICN newsletter here.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The number of seabirds has declined 70% since the 1950s. New research shows how restoration projects can also bolster ocean ecosystems that sequester carbon.",
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"description": "The number of seabirds has declined 70% since the 1950s. New research shows how restoration projects can also bolster ocean ecosystems that sequester carbon.",
"title": "A Seabird Comeback: How Restoration Efforts Can Combat Climate Change | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Seabirds evolved about 60 million years ago, as Earth’s continents drifted toward their current positions and modern oceans took shape. They spread across thousands of undisturbed islands in the widening seas. And as flying dinosaurs and giant omnivorous sea reptiles died out, seabirds also started filling an ecological niche as ecosystem engineers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They distribute nutrients, in the form of guano, that’s beneficial to plankton, seagrass and coral reefs, which, in turn, nurtures fish populations that are eaten by seabirds and marine mammals in a cycle that forms a biological carbon pump. The stronger the pump, the more carbon dioxide it pushes into seabed sediment storage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seabird colonies of almost unimaginable size likely persisted through eons of profound climate shifts and the geological upheavals of colliding continents, playing a profound role in the ocean carbon cycle. But even in their most far-flung island realms, they were quickly decimated by humans who colonized and industrialized the planet during the past 200 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By some estimates, the overall global seabird population has dropped by as much as 90% during that time, with \u003ca href=\"https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0129342\">a decline of 70% just since 1950\u003c/a>. Seabirds are \u003ca href=\"https://www.iucn.org/\">the most threatened group of birds and one of the most endangered groups of species\u003c/a>, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Of 346 seabird species, 97 are globally threatened, and another 35 are listed as near-threatened. Almost half of all seabird species are known or suspected to be experiencing population declines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most of the damage has been from invasive predators — humans themselves, and the rats, cats, dogs and pigs they brought along as they exploited island after island. After millions of years of predator-free evolution, the birds didn’t recognize the new species as threats. They were particularly vulnerable because they don’t breed as prolifically as many terrestrial birds, and spend a long time nurturing their flightless young on land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was also direct human predation on an industrial scale, with the harvest of seabird eggs for food, their guano as fertilizer and the birds themselves to render for oil, along with seals, sea lions and whales, or as the unwanted bycatch of commercial fishing boats. On the Farallon Islands near San Francisco, home to the largest single seabird nesting colony in the United States, the murre population dropped from 400,000 to 60,000 in just a few decades during the gold rush, as \u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-california-went-war-over-eggs-180971960/\">people harvested up to half a million eggs per year\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982712\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982712 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/SeabirdRestorationWorld1000px-800x514.png\" alt='An infographic showing three different seabird species, with a background of a map. The text on the infographic says: \"A Seabird Comeback: New research tracked the implementation and success of 851 active seabird restoration projects around the world between 1954 and 2021, finding that a high percentage of them are showing signs of success. In some cases, birds are returning on their own to nesting sites where invasive predators have been eliminated. In other cases, young birds that were relocated from one place to another later returned on their own after spending several years at sea.\"' width=\"800\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/SeabirdRestorationWorld1000px-800x514.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/SeabirdRestorationWorld1000px-160x103.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/SeabirdRestorationWorld1000px-768x494.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/SeabirdRestorationWorld1000px.png 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">New research tracked the implementation and success of 851 active seabird restoration projects around the world between 1954 and 2021, finding that a high percentage of them are showing signs of success. In some cases, birds are returning on their own to nesting sites where invasive predators have been eliminated. In other cases, young birds that were relocated from one place to another later returned on their own after spending several years at sea.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Today the Farallon Islands are protected as part of a marine sanctuary and the nesting seabird colonies are recovering, helping to sustain the surrounding marine ecosystem, including great white sharks, apex predators that sometimes feed on the population of northern fur seals that have returned to the islands since they were protected. Rhinoceros auklets, related to puffins, have also returned and more than \u003ca href=\"https://farallones.org/sanctuary-wildlife/\">20 endangered and threatened species — birds, reptiles, insects, marine mammals and even sea turtles — live on and and around the islands\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The comeback has already started\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>And there are hundreds of other seabird restoration projects around the world showing signs of success, said \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Dena_Spatz\">Dena Spatz\u003c/a>, a scientist with \u003ca href=\"https://pacificrimconservation.org/\">Pacific Rim Conservation\u003c/a>, a nonprofit that focuses on ecosystem repairs. Spatz was lead author of an April 10 \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2214574120\">study\u003c/a> in the Proceedings National Academy of Sciences that \u003ca href=\"http://seabirddatabase.org/\">compiled data from 851 restoration projects in 36 countries targeting 138 species of seabirds over the past 70 years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new study focused on efforts to actively bring back bird populations, including social attraction methods, like using decoys, as well as direct translocation of young birds to new sites free of invasive predators. In more than 75% of the restorations, targeted species visited the sites and started breeding within two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982713\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982713 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/birdcolony_guano2-1536x1062-1-800x553.jpeg\" alt=\"A bird rookery is seen in the ocean.\" width=\"800\" height=\"553\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/birdcolony_guano2-1536x1062-1-800x553.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/birdcolony_guano2-1536x1062-1-1020x705.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/birdcolony_guano2-1536x1062-1-160x111.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/birdcolony_guano2-1536x1062-1-768x531.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/birdcolony_guano2-1536x1062-1.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guano-covered bird rookery in the Pacific Ocean near Mazunte, Oaxaca, Mexico. The guano gets rinsed into the ocean, which nurtures the ocean food web. \u003ccite>(Bob Berwyn/Inside Climate News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s an incredible success story,” she said. “A lot of seabirds come back without any intervention … But that’s not always the case all the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some populations of seabirds are tiny and widely dispersed across distant islands, and a few of them have blinked out, she said. That makes it hard for the bird populations to get back to historic breeding levels without help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s where active restoration, moving things from one place to another, becomes super critical,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Restoring seabirds could bolster ocean ecosystems and their ability to draw down carbon dioxide, said \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/poertner_hans\">Hans-Otto Pörtner\u003c/a>, a climate scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany, who recently co-authored a \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl4881\">research paper in \u003cem>Science\u003c/em>\u003c/a> that spells out the connections between biodiversity, ecosystem protection and climate stabilization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to direct CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels and other industrial processes, the disruption of ecosystems and biodiversity declines have also significantly contributed to rising atmospheric greenhouse concentrations that are heating up the planet, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Biodiversity loss contributes to climate change through loss of wild species and biomass,” the paper concluded. “This reduces carbon stocks and sink capacity in natural and managed ecosystems, increasing emissions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The resulting warming disturbs ecosystems in a vicious circle that worsens “the unprecedented loss of biodiversity already caused by human-induced habitat degradation, overexploitation of natural resources, and pollution,” he and his co-authors wrote in the \u003cem>Science\u003c/em> paper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding continued biodiversity loss and habitat decline with projections for greenhouse gas emissions, Earth is on a path to heat up to near 3 degrees Celsius by 2100, and that won’t change unless humans proceed on the planet in a way that “allows biodiversity to thrive, and which incorporates a strengthening of the natural pathways of carbon binding and storage,” Pörtner said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Can assisted migration help?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The new seabird restoration study is part of a growing canon that documents thousands of various nature restoration projects on every continent, according to \u003ca href=\"https://restor.eco/?lat=26&lng=14.23&zoom=3\">Restor\u003c/a>, a nonprofit network building a global restoration database.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Restoring seabirds can help turnaround the declines in biodiversity and carbon sequestration, Spatz said, describing some of the translocation research pioneered by scientists in New Zealand that will help similar efforts elsewhere. The idea of moving birds physically from one place to another to restore populations is part of a growing effort of \u003ca href=\"https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=assisted+migration+in+climate+change+research&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart\">assisted migration\u003c/a>, which some scientists think will be critical as climate change impacts intensify. For seabirds, it’s done most with species that have evolved to return to the place they are born, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s this amazing biological response in birds like petrels, shearwaters, albatross and some puffins,” she said. “They’re born on an island, they fledge, they go to sea from anywhere between one and eight years, depending on the species and then go back to the place where they were born.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982714\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982714 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/petrel-800x601.jpeg\" alt=\"A seabird is seen soaring above the ocean. \" width=\"800\" height=\"601\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/petrel-800x601.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/petrel-1020x766.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/petrel-160x120.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/petrel-768x577.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/petrel.jpeg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Seabirds include many pelagic species like petrels that spend nearly their entire lives at sea, returning to land only for a few months each year to breed. \u003ccite>(Bob Berwyn/Inside Climate News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Relocation of the chicks is timed so they imprint on their new home in the way they normally would at the site where they hatched, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a huge endeavor to do this stuff. But it works when you do it, right,” she said. “What’s amazing is, once these birds come as fluffy chicks to a restoration site, they’re raised by people, but they don’t imprint on us. That’s just the way seabirds are, so that’s not a worry. Then they get feathers, and they fly on their own out to sea. And when it’s time to breed, they go to the restoration site instead of the place they were born.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Hawai’i, she said, scientists have been relocating albatross and petrel chicks from some of the low-lying Northwest Hawaiian Islands, where there are huge bird colonies, but some nesting grounds are already being swamped by rising seas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not a future threat,” she said. “It’s a current threat. Those chicks probably wouldn’t have survived anyway if we hadn’t taken them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Let ecosystems flourish to benefit the climate\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Scaling up nature restoration and conservation efforts, including with seabirds, is absolutely critical to preventing a worst-case global warming outcome, said \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/BernieTershy\">Bernie Tershy\u003c/a>, an ecology and evolutionary biology researcher at UC Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A key part of that is pulling pollutants out of the atmosphere, right? So if you’re going to do that, one could argue that the best way to do that is to plant a whole bunch of the fastest growing trees over the most area possible,” said Tershy, who was not an author of the new seabird study but has worked on similar research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that would be like putting all your climate eggs in one basket, he said, describing risks, like wildfires and insect infestations that could quickly wipe out such monocultures before they have any climate benefits. A better approach is a diversified investment spread across ecosystems that suck carbon out of the atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s also totally the cheapest way because it’s a passive thing,” he said. “All you have to do is protect these natural areas and manage them well. They’ll soak up a ton of carbon and they’ll do it in a way that is incredibly resilient.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But you can’t just focus on a single species, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You need a bunch of different plant species,” he said. “And you need insect grazers and fertilizer-producing species. You need small mammal seed dispersers and you need the birds that disperse seeds and the fertilizers they produce that nurture the seeds. You need all that biodiversity to maintain resilient ecosystems that pull carbon out of the atmosphere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\">Inside Climate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter/\">Sign up for the ICN newsletter here.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Mangoes and Agave in the Central Valley? California Farmers Try New Crops to Cope With Climate Change",
"headTitle": "Mangoes and Agave in the Central Valley? California Farmers Try New Crops to Cope With Climate Change | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>In a world of worsening heat waves, flooding, drought, glacial melting, megafires and other calamities of a changing climate, Gary Gragg is an optimist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As California warms, Gragg — a nurseryman, micro-scale farmer and tropical fruit enthusiast — looks forward to the day that he can grow and sell mangoes in Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been banking on this since I was 10 years old and first heard about global warming,” said Gragg, 54, who has planted several mango trees, among other subtropical trees, in his orchard about 25 miles west of Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gragg’s little orchard might be the continent’s northernmost grove of mangoes, which normally are grown in places like Florida, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Northern California’s climate, he said, is becoming increasingly suitable for heat-loving, frost-sensitive mango trees, as well as avocados, cherimoyas and tropical palms, a specialty of his plant nursery \u003ca href=\"https://www.goldengatepalms.com/\">Golden Gate Palms\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Climate change isn’t all bad,” Gragg said. “People almost never talk about the positives of global warming, but there will be winners and losers everywhere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mangoes may never become a mainstream crop in the northern half of California, but change is undoubtedly coming. Hustling to adapt, farmers around the state are experimenting with new, more sustainable crops and varieties bred to better tolerate drought, heat, humidity and other elements of the increasingly unruly climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Central Valley, farmers are investing in avocados, which are traditionally planted farther south, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/agave-drought-tolerant-california-crop\">agave\u003c/a>, a drought-resistant succulent grown in Mexico to make tequila.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Santa Cruz, one grower is trying a tropical exotic, lucuma, that is native to South American regions with mild winters. Others are growing tropical dragon fruit from the Central Coast down to San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some Sonoma and Napa Valley wineries have planted new vineyards in cooler coastal hills and valleys to escape the extreme heat of inland areas. And several Bay Area farmers have planted yangmei, a delicacy in China that can resist blights that ravage peaches and other popular California crops during rainy springs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align='left' citation='Gary Gragg, farmer, Sacramento Valley']‘People almost never talk about the positives of global warming, but there will be winners and losers everywhere.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Near the town of Linden, farmer Mike Machado, who served in the state Assembly and Senate from 1994 to 2008, is one of many growers in the arid San Joaquin Valley who have replaced some stone fruit and nut trees with olives, historically a minor California crop mostly produced in Mediterranean nations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re adjusting for survival,” Machado said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change essentially means that Southern California’s conditions are creeping north up the coast and into the valley, while Oregon and Washington are becoming more like Northern California. Precipitation, winds, fog and seasonal and daily temperature patterns — all of which determine which crops can be grown where — have all been altered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With climate change, we’re getting more erratic entries into fall and more erratic entries into spring,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/people/louise-ferguson\">Louise Ferguson\u003c/a>, a UC Davis plant physiologist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers predicted that “\u003ca href=\"https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0006166\">climatic conditions by the middle to end of the 21st century will no longer support some of the main tree crops currently grown in California\u003c/a> … For some crops, production might no longer be possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fruit growers all around the world in the warm regions are worried about” warming trends, particularly in winter, said Eike Luedeling, co-author of the study and professor of horticultural sciences at Germany’s University of Bonn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Davis researchers are at the cutting edge of the push to adapt, working to make California’s lucrative walnut, pistachio and stone fruit orchards more resilient by selectively breeding for heat, disease and drought tolerance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About three-quarters of the nation’s fruits and nuts are grown in California, but fruit and nut trees are among the most vulnerable crops to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luedeling’s research, for example, suggests that high winter temperatures could severely reduce walnut yields about once a decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ucanr.edu/?facultyid=26295\">Katherine Jarvis-Shean\u003c/a>, an orchard adviser with the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources program, said that effect will be magnified farther south: “That’s probably one in five years in the southern San Joaquin Valley,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Searching for genetic resilience\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://apps1.cdfa.ca.gov/FertilizerResearch/docs/Pistachio_Production_CA.pdf\">Pistachios have grown to be one of the state’s mightiest crops (PDF)\u003c/a>, with acreage of mature trees now covering more than 400,000 acres. The 2021 harvest totaled about 577,000 tons and was valued at nearly $3 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now crop scientists are working to save these valuable orchards from the effects of warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warmer winters can cause male varieties to bloom and release pollen too late, after the female flowers have opened. This means less pollination and less fruit, and in 2015 many orchards suffered total crop failure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patrick Brown, a UC Davis nut crop breeder, said farmers have solved this problem, at least for now, by grafting additional male varieties with different blooming schedules into the groves. “It’s a fairly easy hedge against that problem (of warmer winters),” he said. “No matter when the females bloom, there should be some pollen for them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Breeding programs to reduce nuts’ chill requirements are underway, but Brown said these trees have trade-offs: They tend to wake up earlier from winter dormancy, which can put premature foliage at risk of frost damage and expose young leaves to rainfall that causes blight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown is now leading a hunt for genetic resistance to walnut blight in the shady groves of the Wolfskill Experimental Orchards, a repository of nearly 9,000 grapevine and tree fruit varieties from around the world. This genetic bank, owned by UC Davis and jointly run with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, includes walnut trees of several species and hundreds of varieties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown’s experiment involves showering the walnuts with sprinklers in spring and summer and observing which develop the symptoms of blight — oil-black stains on the leaves and fruit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His research is focused on walnut trees grown from \u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-great-georgian-fruit-hunt-68708316/\">seeds collected in the Republic of Georgia\u003c/a>, where humidity creates conditions amenable to the disease. This likely has created localized genetic resistance — what Brown hopes to find.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It gets pretty hot and humid (in Georgia) during the growing season, and if there’s resistance to blight anywhere, that would probably be a good place to look,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align='left' citation='Claire Heinitz, research leader, US Department of Agriculture']‘Drought tolerance is a really tough nut to crack, because it doesn’t just involve roots — it involves every system of the plant.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still other problems are emerging as California’s weather patterns grow more erratic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early fall rains have been a problem for walnuts, spoiling ripening fruits. And heat waves — especially when they follow a rain event — can cause fruit to drop or spoil. Almost 40% of last fall’s walnut crop was lost when Central Valley temperatures approached 115 degrees, according to \u003ca href=\"https://walnuts.org/news/robert-verloop-named-executive-director-and-ceo-for-the-california-walnut-board-and-california-walnut-commission/\">Robert Verloop\u003c/a>, executive director of the California Walnut Board and the California Walnut Commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walnut growers “are worried about heat waves, and they should be,” Jarvis-Shean said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another UC Davis study at the Wolfskill orchards aims to identify genes for heat tolerance in European walnut trees. Claire Heinitz, a U.S. Department of Agriculture research leader, said trees are sampled with an instrument that measures photosynthesis. The idea is to find unique individuals that maintain basic functions under brutal heat conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, she said, the project, led by researchers \u003ca href=\"https://mcelrone.ucdavis.edu/people/andrew-j-mcelrone\">Andrew McElrone\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://mcelrone.ucdavis.edu/people/mina-momayyezi\">Mina Momayyezi\u003c/a>, might be expanded to include grapes, which are highly prone to heat damage, as well as pistachios and almonds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heinitz said much of the research aims to create hardier root systems, which can protect the trees against soil pathogens, salts and other stressors. However, breeding \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/09/california-drought-farmers/\">drought resilience\u003c/a> into California’s major crops may be a more elusive goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Drought tolerance is a really tough nut to crack, because it doesn’t just involve roots — it involves every system of the plant,” Heinitz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982676\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1982676\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-16-CM-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A man uses a sensor on a leaf of an almond tree. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-16-CM-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-16-CM-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-16-CM-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-16-CM-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-16-CM.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Researcher Andrew McElrone uses a porometer on an almond tree leaf at the Wolfskill Experimental Orchards near Winters. \u003ccite>(Rahul Lal/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>California’s subtropical future?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The winter of 2023 was an unusually cold one, but it hardly suggests a trend toward nut-friendly weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said last month that the low temperatures of the past several months were “a fluke” amid a long-term trajectory of increasingly warm winters. In fact, he said, “this may well be the coldest winter that some places will see now for the rest of our lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If true, that could mean smooth sailing for Chiles Wilson Jr. and his family. A fifth-generation Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta farmer, Wilson has planted thousands of avocado trees of a dozen varieties near Walnut Grove and Cortland. Now the fruit, harvested almost year-round, is a key component of the family’s fruit-packing company, \u003ca href=\"https://www.rivermaid.com/\">Rivermaid\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most California avocados are grown between San Diego and Santa Barbara, covering nearly 50,000 acres and producing more than $300 million in direct farm sales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson recalls that when he pitched the avocado idea to his family nearly a decade ago, they discouraged him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They said, ‘Nah, they won’t produce here,’” he said. “And I said, ‘But that one does.’” He pointed to a large, fruit-laden avocado tree within sight of the farm’s main office. They gave it a shot, planting more than 600 avocado trees per acre.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson knows, even in an era of warming, that his avocado orchards are a gamble. “We’re one killer freeze away from being wiped out,” Wilson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, this winter, the temperature dipped below freezing 16 times in the Wilsons’ avocado groves, yet the trees survived and are producing fruit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982677\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1982677\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-13-CM-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Avocados seen hanging from a tree.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-13-CM-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-13-CM-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-13-CM-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-13-CM-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-13-CM.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gragg holds Pinkerton avocados that he grows in the Sacramento Valley. \u003ccite>(Rahul Lal/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still other fruits, barely known to most Americans, could rise to greatness in a warmer California. Charlie Lucero, a home orchardist in Menlo Park, is helping introduce Californians to yangmei. Lychee-like red orbs with pits inside like a cherry and a taste like pomegranate and pine resin, yangmei are typically grown in China.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Lucero is serving as a consultant and marketer for several Northern California growers who are preparing to harvest their second crop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lucero said the fruit — a relative of the bayberry — has “zero chill requirement” and is also resistant to fungi and bacteria that can plague stone fruit growers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we get a late rain, it doesn’t hurt us,” Lucero said of his small yangmei collaborative, called \u003ca href=\"http://calmei-yangmei.com/\">Calmei\u003c/a>. “These trees are well-suited for California, where the weather is becoming less predictable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lucero said they’ve been retailing for about $60 a pound. Last year’s crop totaled about 2.5 tons; this year, he expects about twice that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An orchard project near Santa Cruz offers another glimpse into California’s possible future of farming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nate Blackmore of \u003ca href=\"https://www.wildlandsplants.com/\">Wildlands Farm and Nursery\u003c/a> is planting several acres with subtropical fruits, mostly from Central and South America: white sapote, ice cream bean, cherimoya, uvaia, dragon fruit and guabiroba.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The main attraction of his up-and-coming orchard will be \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbi.eu/market-information/honey-sweeteners/lucuma\">lucuma\u003c/a> trees. Native to western South America, lucuma resembles a round avocado with a pointed bottom, with mealy, sweet flesh like a yam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All these species are tolerant of frost — but just barely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so scary having all these subtropical fruit trees, and wondering how many would survive a bad freeze,” Blackmore said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet another tropical crop could gain an advantage from California’s warming climate: coffee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s being grown at orchards in Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Diego counties, and it’s not cheap: One company is selling organic coffee beans for \u003ca href=\"https://frinjcoffee.com/product/good-land-organics-geisha-3/\">$286 per pound\u003c/a>. But the trees are hardly sustainable in those regions, which are reliant on water imported from Northern California and the Colorado River: Watering them takes at least \u003ca href=\"https://www.britannica.com/topic/coffee-production\">several feet of water\u003c/a> per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another tropical fruit more suitable for drought-prone land is the pitaya, or dragon fruit. Grown from tropical cactus plants, it can be farmed in California with as little as 1.5 feet of applied water — a third of what citrus and avocados need, according to Ramiro Lobo, a San Diego County farm adviser with the UC Cooperative Extension program. His program has distributed about 50,000 dragon fruit cactus cuttings to small farmers from San Luis Obispo down to San Diego and at least 1,000 acres are in production.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Dry farming to cope with water scarcity\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Among all the pressures for California farmers, none is so persistent and serious as water supply. The agriculture industry uses about 80% of the water Californians consume. During droughts, farmers — especially those growing some 4 million acres of grapevines and fruit trees — pump water from the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This has caused thousands of drinking water wells to run dry and land to sink \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/02/california-depleted-groundwater-storms/\">as aquifers shrivel\u003c/a>. The state passed a new groundwater law in 2014 that is beginning to take effect, and could force as much as \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/policy-brief-the-future-of-agriculture-in-the-san-joaquin-valley/\">900,000 acres\u003c/a> of irrigated cropland, mostly in the arid San Joaquin Valley, out of production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this is inconsequential to farmers like Tristan Benson. Based in western Sonoma County, he practices dry farming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benson and his partners usually harvest 20 to 30 tons of heirloom wheat and barley from loamy hillsides, selling the grain for use in bread, beer and distilling. To grow these staples, they just need a little rain, forgoing \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/01/colorado-river-water/\">the irrigation that other growers, like those in the Central and Imperial valleys, rely upon\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even through recent droughts, Benson said, he has always pulled in a crop. “The closer to the coast we are, the better we do,” he said. Fields are planted in October or November, and about a week after the first heavy rain, the seeds germinate, and usually the ground stays moist until the summer harvest time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benson’s methods could be a model for sustainability for other California growers, who have “planted millions of acres of trees that always need water, and our reservoirs have at most a three-year supply,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982678\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982678 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-19-CM-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A 40-ish white woman with long, dark brown hair, olive pants, boots, and a mauve long-sleeved top and a purple vest, stands in a grassy, shaded lane between two verdant, leafy rows of trees.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-19-CM-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-19-CM-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-19-CM-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-19-CM-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-19-CM.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Claire Heinitz, a scientist with the US Department of of Agriculture, helps manage the Wolfskill Experimental Orchards, a collection of thousands of crop varieties used for breeding experiments \u003ccite>(Rahul Lal/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Benson thinks a smart farming model is to grow winter crops without irrigation, and when reservoirs are full — as they are now — plant irrigated fields with annual summer fruits and vegetables. Apples, tomatoes, pears, grapes and potatoes can all be dry-farmed in cooler regions; farther inland and to the south, dry farming is more challenging, at least for most crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Geoff Vanden Heuvel, director of regulatory and economic affairs at the Milk Producers Council, said winter farming of grain and feed crops, with just a few inches of irrigation water, could help feed livestock with less groundwater use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than a quarter of the state’s feed crops are grown in areas entirely reliant on groundwater, and this dependency will likely translate into fewer California cows in the future, he said. By the 2040s, when the groundwater law takes full effect, dairy herds are expected to drop by about 10%. “That’s about 130,000 fewer cows,” Vanden Heuvel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ferguson of UC Davis said Central Valley farmers have grown accustomed to harvesting maximum yields because “we had more reliable water. Maybe now, when we don’t have the water or it’s more expensive, they’ll have to settle for a lower yield.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://caes.ucdavis.edu/people/daniel-sumner\">Daniel Sumner\u003c/a>, a UC Davis professor of agricultural and resource economics, said California’s agricultural identity already has changed drastically over time. In its earliest days of statehood, California was a major producer of \u003ca href=\"https://apps1.cdfa.ca.gov/FertilizerResearch/docs/Wheat_Production_CA.pdf\">rain-watered wheat, grown on several million acres (PDF)\u003c/a>. When irrigation became ubiquitous, so did specialty crops that thrive in a hot, dry climate but need water in the summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almonds now cover more than 1.6 million acres of the Central Valley, and pistachios have seen explosive growth, “from almost nothing to a $2 billion crop in a few decades,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that predicting what crops will be trending in California in several decades is impossible, “but it’s hard to picture that we wouldn’t stay a specialty crop producer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Economic turbulence, too\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It’s not just the changing climate that’s guiding the future of one of California’s top industries. In the decades to come, growers will experience economic shifts, competition from imports and rising labor costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The increasing minimum wage, for example, has made even some high-value crops, like table olives, unprofitable to grow in California unless machines prune the trees and pick the fruit. \u003ca href=\"https://ucanr.edu/sites/mecholive/Overview_-_Objectives/\">Hand-based labor can suck up 45% to 60% of gross revenue\u003c/a>, largely because olives must be carefully handled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.atlasbig.com/en-us/countries-olive-production#:~:text=Worldwide%2019%2C464%2C495%20tonnes%20of%20olive%20is%20produced%20per,Morocco%20is%20the%20third%20largest%20producer%20of%20olive.\">Spain, the world’s superproducer of olives\u003c/a>, generates a cheaper product and has forced California growers to adapt, said Dennis Burreson, vice president at the Musco Family Olive Co., based in Tracy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burreson said machine harvesting is now becoming standard for many tree crops, adding, “eventually, I think hand-harvesting of many orchard crops is going to be in the rearview mirror.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the state’s mighty walnut industry has been knocked on its side as oversupply and competition from China have sent prices crashing. In 2013, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Statistics/PDFs/2022_Ag_Stats_Review.pdf\">a ton of walnuts sold off the farm for $3,700 (PDF)\u003c/a>. Now it’s about $700 per ton. On top of that, growers “are still sitting on 130,000 tons of the 2021 crop,” Verloop, of the California Walnut Board and the California Walnut Commission, said, with some of that excess distributed to food banks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So many walnut growers are now reportedly scheduled to have their trees uprooted and chipped that removal services can’t keep up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sumner said the economic upheaval of the walnut industry “doesn’t look like it’s turning around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown suspects that labor costs and land values will be just as strong drivers of agriculture’s evolution as the changing climate. Other regions of the world are producing crops for less, he said, which means California’s specialties will be niche and higher-quality produce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whatever is going to be grown in California in 50 years,” he said, “is what can’t be grown elsewhere or what can be grown better here.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The future of farming in California is changing as the planet warms, altering the rain and heat patterns that guide which crops are grown where. 'We're adjusting for survival,' one grower said.",
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"description": "The future of farming in California is changing as the planet warms, altering the rain and heat patterns that guide which crops are grown where. 'We're adjusting for survival,' one grower said.",
"title": "Mangoes and Agave in the Central Valley? California Farmers Try New Crops to Cope With Climate Change | KQED",
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"headline": "Mangoes and Agave in the Central Valley? California Farmers Try New Crops to Cope With Climate Change",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In a world of worsening heat waves, flooding, drought, glacial melting, megafires and other calamities of a changing climate, Gary Gragg is an optimist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As California warms, Gragg — a nurseryman, micro-scale farmer and tropical fruit enthusiast — looks forward to the day that he can grow and sell mangoes in Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been banking on this since I was 10 years old and first heard about global warming,” said Gragg, 54, who has planted several mango trees, among other subtropical trees, in his orchard about 25 miles west of Sacramento.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gragg’s little orchard might be the continent’s northernmost grove of mangoes, which normally are grown in places like Florida, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Northern California’s climate, he said, is becoming increasingly suitable for heat-loving, frost-sensitive mango trees, as well as avocados, cherimoyas and tropical palms, a specialty of his plant nursery \u003ca href=\"https://www.goldengatepalms.com/\">Golden Gate Palms\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Climate change isn’t all bad,” Gragg said. “People almost never talk about the positives of global warming, but there will be winners and losers everywhere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mangoes may never become a mainstream crop in the northern half of California, but change is undoubtedly coming. Hustling to adapt, farmers around the state are experimenting with new, more sustainable crops and varieties bred to better tolerate drought, heat, humidity and other elements of the increasingly unruly climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Central Valley, farmers are investing in avocados, which are traditionally planted farther south, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucdavis.edu/food/news/agave-drought-tolerant-california-crop\">agave\u003c/a>, a drought-resistant succulent grown in Mexico to make tequila.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Santa Cruz, one grower is trying a tropical exotic, lucuma, that is native to South American regions with mild winters. Others are growing tropical dragon fruit from the Central Coast down to San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some Sonoma and Napa Valley wineries have planted new vineyards in cooler coastal hills and valleys to escape the extreme heat of inland areas. And several Bay Area farmers have planted yangmei, a delicacy in China that can resist blights that ravage peaches and other popular California crops during rainy springs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Near the town of Linden, farmer Mike Machado, who served in the state Assembly and Senate from 1994 to 2008, is one of many growers in the arid San Joaquin Valley who have replaced some stone fruit and nut trees with olives, historically a minor California crop mostly produced in Mediterranean nations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re adjusting for survival,” Machado said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change essentially means that Southern California’s conditions are creeping north up the coast and into the valley, while Oregon and Washington are becoming more like Northern California. Precipitation, winds, fog and seasonal and daily temperature patterns — all of which determine which crops can be grown where — have all been altered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With climate change, we’re getting more erratic entries into fall and more erratic entries into spring,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/people/louise-ferguson\">Louise Ferguson\u003c/a>, a UC Davis plant physiologist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers predicted that “\u003ca href=\"https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0006166\">climatic conditions by the middle to end of the 21st century will no longer support some of the main tree crops currently grown in California\u003c/a> … For some crops, production might no longer be possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Fruit growers all around the world in the warm regions are worried about” warming trends, particularly in winter, said Eike Luedeling, co-author of the study and professor of horticultural sciences at Germany’s University of Bonn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Davis researchers are at the cutting edge of the push to adapt, working to make California’s lucrative walnut, pistachio and stone fruit orchards more resilient by selectively breeding for heat, disease and drought tolerance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About three-quarters of the nation’s fruits and nuts are grown in California, but fruit and nut trees are among the most vulnerable crops to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luedeling’s research, for example, suggests that high winter temperatures could severely reduce walnut yields about once a decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ucanr.edu/?facultyid=26295\">Katherine Jarvis-Shean\u003c/a>, an orchard adviser with the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources program, said that effect will be magnified farther south: “That’s probably one in five years in the southern San Joaquin Valley,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Searching for genetic resilience\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://apps1.cdfa.ca.gov/FertilizerResearch/docs/Pistachio_Production_CA.pdf\">Pistachios have grown to be one of the state’s mightiest crops (PDF)\u003c/a>, with acreage of mature trees now covering more than 400,000 acres. The 2021 harvest totaled about 577,000 tons and was valued at nearly $3 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now crop scientists are working to save these valuable orchards from the effects of warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warmer winters can cause male varieties to bloom and release pollen too late, after the female flowers have opened. This means less pollination and less fruit, and in 2015 many orchards suffered total crop failure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patrick Brown, a UC Davis nut crop breeder, said farmers have solved this problem, at least for now, by grafting additional male varieties with different blooming schedules into the groves. “It’s a fairly easy hedge against that problem (of warmer winters),” he said. “No matter when the females bloom, there should be some pollen for them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Breeding programs to reduce nuts’ chill requirements are underway, but Brown said these trees have trade-offs: They tend to wake up earlier from winter dormancy, which can put premature foliage at risk of frost damage and expose young leaves to rainfall that causes blight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown is now leading a hunt for genetic resistance to walnut blight in the shady groves of the Wolfskill Experimental Orchards, a repository of nearly 9,000 grapevine and tree fruit varieties from around the world. This genetic bank, owned by UC Davis and jointly run with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, includes walnut trees of several species and hundreds of varieties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown’s experiment involves showering the walnuts with sprinklers in spring and summer and observing which develop the symptoms of blight — oil-black stains on the leaves and fruit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His research is focused on walnut trees grown from \u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-great-georgian-fruit-hunt-68708316/\">seeds collected in the Republic of Georgia\u003c/a>, where humidity creates conditions amenable to the disease. This likely has created localized genetic resistance — what Brown hopes to find.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It gets pretty hot and humid (in Georgia) during the growing season, and if there’s resistance to blight anywhere, that would probably be a good place to look,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still other problems are emerging as California’s weather patterns grow more erratic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early fall rains have been a problem for walnuts, spoiling ripening fruits. And heat waves — especially when they follow a rain event — can cause fruit to drop or spoil. Almost 40% of last fall’s walnut crop was lost when Central Valley temperatures approached 115 degrees, according to \u003ca href=\"https://walnuts.org/news/robert-verloop-named-executive-director-and-ceo-for-the-california-walnut-board-and-california-walnut-commission/\">Robert Verloop\u003c/a>, executive director of the California Walnut Board and the California Walnut Commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walnut growers “are worried about heat waves, and they should be,” Jarvis-Shean said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another UC Davis study at the Wolfskill orchards aims to identify genes for heat tolerance in European walnut trees. Claire Heinitz, a U.S. Department of Agriculture research leader, said trees are sampled with an instrument that measures photosynthesis. The idea is to find unique individuals that maintain basic functions under brutal heat conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, she said, the project, led by researchers \u003ca href=\"https://mcelrone.ucdavis.edu/people/andrew-j-mcelrone\">Andrew McElrone\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://mcelrone.ucdavis.edu/people/mina-momayyezi\">Mina Momayyezi\u003c/a>, might be expanded to include grapes, which are highly prone to heat damage, as well as pistachios and almonds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heinitz said much of the research aims to create hardier root systems, which can protect the trees against soil pathogens, salts and other stressors. However, breeding \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/09/california-drought-farmers/\">drought resilience\u003c/a> into California’s major crops may be a more elusive goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Drought tolerance is a really tough nut to crack, because it doesn’t just involve roots — it involves every system of the plant,” Heinitz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982676\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1982676\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-16-CM-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A man uses a sensor on a leaf of an almond tree. \" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-16-CM-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-16-CM-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-16-CM-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-16-CM-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-16-CM.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Researcher Andrew McElrone uses a porometer on an almond tree leaf at the Wolfskill Experimental Orchards near Winters. \u003ccite>(Rahul Lal/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>California’s subtropical future?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The winter of 2023 was an unusually cold one, but it hardly suggests a trend toward nut-friendly weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said last month that the low temperatures of the past several months were “a fluke” amid a long-term trajectory of increasingly warm winters. In fact, he said, “this may well be the coldest winter that some places will see now for the rest of our lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If true, that could mean smooth sailing for Chiles Wilson Jr. and his family. A fifth-generation Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta farmer, Wilson has planted thousands of avocado trees of a dozen varieties near Walnut Grove and Cortland. Now the fruit, harvested almost year-round, is a key component of the family’s fruit-packing company, \u003ca href=\"https://www.rivermaid.com/\">Rivermaid\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most California avocados are grown between San Diego and Santa Barbara, covering nearly 50,000 acres and producing more than $300 million in direct farm sales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson recalls that when he pitched the avocado idea to his family nearly a decade ago, they discouraged him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They said, ‘Nah, they won’t produce here,’” he said. “And I said, ‘But that one does.’” He pointed to a large, fruit-laden avocado tree within sight of the farm’s main office. They gave it a shot, planting more than 600 avocado trees per acre.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson knows, even in an era of warming, that his avocado orchards are a gamble. “We’re one killer freeze away from being wiped out,” Wilson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, this winter, the temperature dipped below freezing 16 times in the Wilsons’ avocado groves, yet the trees survived and are producing fruit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982677\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1982677\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-13-CM-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Avocados seen hanging from a tree.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-13-CM-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-13-CM-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-13-CM-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-13-CM-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-13-CM.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gragg holds Pinkerton avocados that he grows in the Sacramento Valley. \u003ccite>(Rahul Lal/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still other fruits, barely known to most Americans, could rise to greatness in a warmer California. Charlie Lucero, a home orchardist in Menlo Park, is helping introduce Californians to yangmei. Lychee-like red orbs with pits inside like a cherry and a taste like pomegranate and pine resin, yangmei are typically grown in China.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Lucero is serving as a consultant and marketer for several Northern California growers who are preparing to harvest their second crop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lucero said the fruit — a relative of the bayberry — has “zero chill requirement” and is also resistant to fungi and bacteria that can plague stone fruit growers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we get a late rain, it doesn’t hurt us,” Lucero said of his small yangmei collaborative, called \u003ca href=\"http://calmei-yangmei.com/\">Calmei\u003c/a>. “These trees are well-suited for California, where the weather is becoming less predictable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lucero said they’ve been retailing for about $60 a pound. Last year’s crop totaled about 2.5 tons; this year, he expects about twice that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An orchard project near Santa Cruz offers another glimpse into California’s possible future of farming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nate Blackmore of \u003ca href=\"https://www.wildlandsplants.com/\">Wildlands Farm and Nursery\u003c/a> is planting several acres with subtropical fruits, mostly from Central and South America: white sapote, ice cream bean, cherimoya, uvaia, dragon fruit and guabiroba.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The main attraction of his up-and-coming orchard will be \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbi.eu/market-information/honey-sweeteners/lucuma\">lucuma\u003c/a> trees. Native to western South America, lucuma resembles a round avocado with a pointed bottom, with mealy, sweet flesh like a yam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All these species are tolerant of frost — but just barely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so scary having all these subtropical fruit trees, and wondering how many would survive a bad freeze,” Blackmore said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet another tropical crop could gain an advantage from California’s warming climate: coffee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s being grown at orchards in Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Diego counties, and it’s not cheap: One company is selling organic coffee beans for \u003ca href=\"https://frinjcoffee.com/product/good-land-organics-geisha-3/\">$286 per pound\u003c/a>. But the trees are hardly sustainable in those regions, which are reliant on water imported from Northern California and the Colorado River: Watering them takes at least \u003ca href=\"https://www.britannica.com/topic/coffee-production\">several feet of water\u003c/a> per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another tropical fruit more suitable for drought-prone land is the pitaya, or dragon fruit. Grown from tropical cactus plants, it can be farmed in California with as little as 1.5 feet of applied water — a third of what citrus and avocados need, according to Ramiro Lobo, a San Diego County farm adviser with the UC Cooperative Extension program. His program has distributed about 50,000 dragon fruit cactus cuttings to small farmers from San Luis Obispo down to San Diego and at least 1,000 acres are in production.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Dry farming to cope with water scarcity\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Among all the pressures for California farmers, none is so persistent and serious as water supply. The agriculture industry uses about 80% of the water Californians consume. During droughts, farmers — especially those growing some 4 million acres of grapevines and fruit trees — pump water from the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This has caused thousands of drinking water wells to run dry and land to sink \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/02/california-depleted-groundwater-storms/\">as aquifers shrivel\u003c/a>. The state passed a new groundwater law in 2014 that is beginning to take effect, and could force as much as \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/policy-brief-the-future-of-agriculture-in-the-san-joaquin-valley/\">900,000 acres\u003c/a> of irrigated cropland, mostly in the arid San Joaquin Valley, out of production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this is inconsequential to farmers like Tristan Benson. Based in western Sonoma County, he practices dry farming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benson and his partners usually harvest 20 to 30 tons of heirloom wheat and barley from loamy hillsides, selling the grain for use in bread, beer and distilling. To grow these staples, they just need a little rain, forgoing \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/01/colorado-river-water/\">the irrigation that other growers, like those in the Central and Imperial valleys, rely upon\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even through recent droughts, Benson said, he has always pulled in a crop. “The closer to the coast we are, the better we do,” he said. Fields are planted in October or November, and about a week after the first heavy rain, the seeds germinate, and usually the ground stays moist until the summer harvest time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Benson’s methods could be a model for sustainability for other California growers, who have “planted millions of acres of trees that always need water, and our reservoirs have at most a three-year supply,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982678\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1982678 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-19-CM-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A 40-ish white woman with long, dark brown hair, olive pants, boots, and a mauve long-sleeved top and a purple vest, stands in a grassy, shaded lane between two verdant, leafy rows of trees.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-19-CM-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-19-CM-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-19-CM-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-19-CM-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/05042023-Experimental-Farms-RL-19-CM.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Claire Heinitz, a scientist with the US Department of of Agriculture, helps manage the Wolfskill Experimental Orchards, a collection of thousands of crop varieties used for breeding experiments \u003ccite>(Rahul Lal/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Benson thinks a smart farming model is to grow winter crops without irrigation, and when reservoirs are full — as they are now — plant irrigated fields with annual summer fruits and vegetables. Apples, tomatoes, pears, grapes and potatoes can all be dry-farmed in cooler regions; farther inland and to the south, dry farming is more challenging, at least for most crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Geoff Vanden Heuvel, director of regulatory and economic affairs at the Milk Producers Council, said winter farming of grain and feed crops, with just a few inches of irrigation water, could help feed livestock with less groundwater use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than a quarter of the state’s feed crops are grown in areas entirely reliant on groundwater, and this dependency will likely translate into fewer California cows in the future, he said. By the 2040s, when the groundwater law takes full effect, dairy herds are expected to drop by about 10%. “That’s about 130,000 fewer cows,” Vanden Heuvel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ferguson of UC Davis said Central Valley farmers have grown accustomed to harvesting maximum yields because “we had more reliable water. Maybe now, when we don’t have the water or it’s more expensive, they’ll have to settle for a lower yield.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://caes.ucdavis.edu/people/daniel-sumner\">Daniel Sumner\u003c/a>, a UC Davis professor of agricultural and resource economics, said California’s agricultural identity already has changed drastically over time. In its earliest days of statehood, California was a major producer of \u003ca href=\"https://apps1.cdfa.ca.gov/FertilizerResearch/docs/Wheat_Production_CA.pdf\">rain-watered wheat, grown on several million acres (PDF)\u003c/a>. When irrigation became ubiquitous, so did specialty crops that thrive in a hot, dry climate but need water in the summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almonds now cover more than 1.6 million acres of the Central Valley, and pistachios have seen explosive growth, “from almost nothing to a $2 billion crop in a few decades,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that predicting what crops will be trending in California in several decades is impossible, “but it’s hard to picture that we wouldn’t stay a specialty crop producer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Economic turbulence, too\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It’s not just the changing climate that’s guiding the future of one of California’s top industries. In the decades to come, growers will experience economic shifts, competition from imports and rising labor costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The increasing minimum wage, for example, has made even some high-value crops, like table olives, unprofitable to grow in California unless machines prune the trees and pick the fruit. \u003ca href=\"https://ucanr.edu/sites/mecholive/Overview_-_Objectives/\">Hand-based labor can suck up 45% to 60% of gross revenue\u003c/a>, largely because olives must be carefully handled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.atlasbig.com/en-us/countries-olive-production#:~:text=Worldwide%2019%2C464%2C495%20tonnes%20of%20olive%20is%20produced%20per,Morocco%20is%20the%20third%20largest%20producer%20of%20olive.\">Spain, the world’s superproducer of olives\u003c/a>, generates a cheaper product and has forced California growers to adapt, said Dennis Burreson, vice president at the Musco Family Olive Co., based in Tracy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burreson said machine harvesting is now becoming standard for many tree crops, adding, “eventually, I think hand-harvesting of many orchard crops is going to be in the rearview mirror.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the state’s mighty walnut industry has been knocked on its side as oversupply and competition from China have sent prices crashing. In 2013, \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Statistics/PDFs/2022_Ag_Stats_Review.pdf\">a ton of walnuts sold off the farm for $3,700 (PDF)\u003c/a>. Now it’s about $700 per ton. On top of that, growers “are still sitting on 130,000 tons of the 2021 crop,” Verloop, of the California Walnut Board and the California Walnut Commission, said, with some of that excess distributed to food banks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So many walnut growers are now reportedly scheduled to have their trees uprooted and chipped that removal services can’t keep up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sumner said the economic upheaval of the walnut industry “doesn’t look like it’s turning around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brown suspects that labor costs and land values will be just as strong drivers of agriculture’s evolution as the changing climate. Other regions of the world are producing crops for less, he said, which means California’s specialties will be niche and higher-quality produce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whatever is going to be grown in California in 50 years,” he said, “is what can’t be grown elsewhere or what can be grown better here.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Older Adults in Sonoma County to Get Fire-Safety Home Retrofits — for Free",
"headTitle": "Older Adults in Sonoma County to Get Fire-Safety Home Retrofits — for Free | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>In August 2020, the Walbridge Fire was spreading dangerously close to Franceen Levy’s home in Monte Rio, a town nestled in a bend of Sonoma County’s Russian River. Just a few miles north, Armstrong Woods was already burning, and across the street, Levy’s neighbor was about to hightail it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Normally, I don’t evacuate,” said Levy, who lives alone at age 76. “I didn’t evacuate during any of the other fires or floods.” She stayed in her house in 1986 and 2019 when the Russian River turned her neighborhood into an island. She stayed in 2017 when the Tubbs Fire ravaged nearby Santa Rosa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for the first time in the 25 years she has lived in her Monte Rio house, Levy grabbed her two cats and drove to a hotel room in Bodega Bay. She sheltered there for two days before returning to her home, which survived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982596\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982596\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"An older white woman with boots, jeans and jacket sits on the front steps leading to the porch of her house as she looks at the camera with a sullen expression.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Franceen Levy sits on the steps outside her home in Monte Rio in Sonoma County, on March 13, 2023. \u003ccite>(Isaac Ceja/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Despite the risk of fire, Levy intends to continue aging in her home, and she is far from the only one. In fire-prone Sonoma County, 20% of residents are over the age of 65, a higher proportion than the state average of 15%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the youngest baby boomers reach retirement age in the next decade, the entire nation will mirror Sonoma County’s population of older adults, most of whom will want to age in their homes. But without home modifications, they will be forced to leave their communities and enter nursing homes and retirement facilities. And in places like Sonoma County, where forests cut through and around many towns, the dangers of wildfire are especially great for older people, who are less mobile and more likely to die in a fire. To mitigate that threat, \u003ca href=\"https://www.firesafesonoma.org/\">Fire Safe Sonoma\u003c/a>, a nonprofit serving Sonoma County, forged a rare partnership with Sonoma County’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.habitat.org/\">Habitat for Humanity\u003c/a> chapter, using a county grant to retrofit the homes of older lower-income Sonoma residents so they could age more safely in place.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"science_1968093,news_11844521,science_1968174\"]On a misty March afternoon, two fire assessors contracted by Fire Safe Sonoma surveyed Levy’s property. In a practiced routine, they circled her home and identified the most pressing fire risks: flammable shrubs and leaf debris; uncovered vents, eaves and gaps that could allow embers into the house; single-pane windows that could explode under extreme heat; and a heavily overgrown canopy of bay and Douglas fir trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Levy still does some maintenance of her property, but the manual work gets harder with age. “I get out there with my weed eater, and me and the battery last about the same amount of time,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire assessors worked radially out from the structure, first recommending home-hardening improvements, or fire-resistant modifications made directly to the house, and then suggesting ways to increase defensible space, the buffer zone between a home and combustible material like shrubs and trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The assessors made a list of more than a dozen safety upgrades, including removing leaf debris from the deck and roof, cutting down several trees to create separation in the canopy, and installing metal mesh over gaps in the house’s structure. But by design, Levy, who is retired, will not have to pay for any of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the destructive Tubbs Fire of 2017, Sonoma County received a $149 million settlement from PG&E, which was found at fault for the damages. Part of that settlement funds Fire Safe Sonoma’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.firesafesonoma.org/wfap-and-habitat-for-humanity/\">Wildland Fire Assessment Program\u003c/a>. But when Fire Safe Sonoma first rolled it out in 2021, it was a “self-defeating program,” said Roberta MacIntyre, Fire Safe Sonoma’s executive director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982606\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982606\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A man with a cap and a fluorescent yellow and black rain jacket points a flashlight during an inspection with trees in the background.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wildfire Services worker Brandon North inspects a unit on Occidental resident Shawn Connally’s property. \u003ccite>(Isaac Ceja/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We were going out to homes where residents are low-income and telling them what they need to do to make their home safer for wildfire when they have no money to do it,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Very, very, very worried’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To be more useful, Fire Safe Sonoma collaborated with the local Sonoma Habitat affiliate to modify the county grant and revamp the program. Instead of providing free home assessments to a large number of homeowners, the revised program allocates the total grant award of $37,100 to 18 homes, with a budget of up to $2,500 per property. This way, Habitat Sonoma can carry out the recommended fire-safety improvements in tandem with aging-in-place modifications, all paid for by the county.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Andrew Scharlach, professor of aging, UC Berkeley\"]‘Rural and semi-rural communities, which are among the oldest in age in the state of California, tend to be some of the most vulnerable.’[/pullquote]A few weeks after the fire assessors’ survey, a team from Habitat will return to Monte Rio and work with Levy to identify needed improvements, such as grab bars, ramps and low-threshold showers, that will allow her to age at home for years to come. As a final step, the Habitat team will schedule a workday to carry out the improvements Levy needs, as well as home hardening — like replacing old windows with tempered glass — and defensible space, such as removing a combustible pile of firewood from her front porch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Megan Hennessy, program manager at Habitat Sonoma, sees firsthand how critical these repairs are for older residents, especially in the wake of three major fires in the last four years in Sonoma County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve noticed that the elderly homeowners are very, very, very worried about what would happen if a fire happens,” Hennessy said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982603\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982603\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A middle aged white woman with shoulder-length blonde hair stands outside a house and looks into the distance with a mug of coffee in her hand.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shawn Connally stands in front of her home in Occidental. \u003ccite>(Isaac Ceja/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.usfa.fema.gov/statistics/deaths-injuries/older-adults.html\">Adults over the age of 65 are more than twice as likely to die in a fire compared to the general population\u003c/a>, according to the U.S. Fire Administration. “Rural and semi-rural communities, which are among the oldest in age in the state of California, tend to be some of the most vulnerable,” said Andrew Scharlach, professor of aging at UC Berkeley. Older rural homeowners, particularly lower-income homeowners, are less able to make firesafe home improvements, move to a lower-risk area before a fire, and evacuate when a fire inevitably starts, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shawn Connally, a 56-year-old resident of Occidental in Sonoma County, often worries about fire. She keeps her car backed in so she’s ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice. She has a go bag in her mudroom, packed with a small keepsake statue from New Zealand, two sets of salt and pepper shakers (selected from the hundreds she inherited from her grandmother), several family rings and her important paper documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982600\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982600\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Two man wearing caps smile with trees in the background.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wildfire Services lead Andrew Carrillo (left) and Brandon North work together to assess a home for fire safety in Monte Rio. \u003ccite>(Isaac Ceja/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Connally lives on a sprawling property shaded by towering trees and perched atop a steep, winding driveway. She used to maintain the overgrown brush on her property herself, but multiple sclerosis has made that impossible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I would try to do that, then it would probably knock me out for a couple of days,” she said. That’s why she is also taking part in the program led by Fire Safe Sonoma and Habitat for Humanity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Connally’s hope is that Fire Safe Sonoma and Habitat can add railings to the steep steps leading up to her house and down to her basement, as well as clear out the combustible vegetation that has accumulated around her property. The winding driveway presents a problem, too, because it would be difficult for a fire engine to navigate the narrow path. Habitat will aim to make her house as resilient as possible, so that even if firefighters can’t reach Connally’s home, it still has a good chance of surviving a fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>No sweat, no cost\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sonoma’s Habitat affiliate has been building and repairing homes for 35 years and has one of the more robust aging-in-place programs in California. Although Habitat affiliates across California facilitate aging-in-place work, the offerings of these programs vary widely, and many affiliates require beneficiaries to provide “sweat equity” in the form of labor or participate in a payback program. Habitat and Fire Safe Sonoma, on the other hand, are able to provide this work at no cost to the homeowner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982619\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1982619\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2050/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment010-scaled-e1683325745447-800x641.jpg\" alt=\"A man rights on a checklist titled Wildland Fire Assessment Program\" width=\"800\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2050/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment010-scaled-e1683325745447-800x641.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2050/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment010-scaled-e1683325745447-1020x818.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2050/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment010-scaled-e1683325745447-160x128.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2050/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment010-scaled-e1683325745447-768x616.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2050/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment010-scaled-e1683325745447-1536x1231.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2050/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment010-scaled-e1683325745447.jpg 1708w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wildfire Services lead Andrew Carrillo fills out a home assessment checklist for the Wildland Fire Assessment Program in Occidental. \u003ccite>(Isaac Ceja/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2020–21, the California Legislature allocated $25 million to home hardening and defensible space, and appropriated an additional $25 million over the next two budget years. The California Office of Emergency Services then selected pilot counties with a high fire risk and other criteria, including proportion of the population over age 65.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the program has been slow to roll out, and homeowners are still waiting to receive grants and support. Until the state’s investment in fire safety materializes, local programs have to fill the gaps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the fire assessors dispatched by Fire Safe Sonoma looped around Levy’s house, she recalled her early years in California. At the age of 19, Levy left her job as a library assistant in her hometown of Philadelphia and came to San Francisco for the “Summer of Love” in 1967.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few years later, she went camping near her current home on the Russian River and fell in love with the open expanse of land and cheap rents. There, she began working as a bookkeeper for a resource and referral agency for child care in Guerneville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Growing up in the city, I always wanted a farm,” Levy said, reminiscing about the chickens she used to keep — until the raccoons gobbled them up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982598\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982598\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A man with a jacket and black cap points at something as an older white woman looks on.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrew Carrillo points at trees he recommends removing to help improve fire safety outside Franceen Levy’s home. \u003ccite>(Isaac Ceja/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Levy’s chickens and cheap rent are in the rearview mirror. Now she has new things to worry about — namely, fire. Levy knows she has to live with that risk because she never wants to leave her bucolic setting. With her new home modifications, she expects to do just that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Reporter Kate Raphael and photographer Isaac Ceja are with the Investigative Reporting Program at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. They covered this story through a grant from The SCAN Foundation. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Nonprofits Fire Safe Sonoma and Habitat for Humanity forged a rare partnership to retrofit the homes of older lower-income Sonoma residents so they could age more safely in place in the county, where 20% of residents are over the age of 65.",
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"title": "Older Adults in Sonoma County to Get Fire-Safety Home Retrofits — for Free | KQED",
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"headline": "Older Adults in Sonoma County to Get Fire-Safety Home Retrofits — for Free",
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"nprByline": "\u003ca href=\"https://journalism.berkeley.edu/person/kate_raphael/\">Kate Raphael\u003c/a>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In August 2020, the Walbridge Fire was spreading dangerously close to Franceen Levy’s home in Monte Rio, a town nestled in a bend of Sonoma County’s Russian River. Just a few miles north, Armstrong Woods was already burning, and across the street, Levy’s neighbor was about to hightail it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Normally, I don’t evacuate,” said Levy, who lives alone at age 76. “I didn’t evacuate during any of the other fires or floods.” She stayed in her house in 1986 and 2019 when the Russian River turned her neighborhood into an island. She stayed in 2017 when the Tubbs Fire ravaged nearby Santa Rosa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for the first time in the 25 years she has lived in her Monte Rio house, Levy grabbed her two cats and drove to a hotel room in Bodega Bay. She sheltered there for two days before returning to her home, which survived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982596\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982596\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"An older white woman with boots, jeans and jacket sits on the front steps leading to the porch of her house as she looks at the camera with a sullen expression.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment001-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Franceen Levy sits on the steps outside her home in Monte Rio in Sonoma County, on March 13, 2023. \u003ccite>(Isaac Ceja/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Despite the risk of fire, Levy intends to continue aging in her home, and she is far from the only one. In fire-prone Sonoma County, 20% of residents are over the age of 65, a higher proportion than the state average of 15%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the youngest baby boomers reach retirement age in the next decade, the entire nation will mirror Sonoma County’s population of older adults, most of whom will want to age in their homes. But without home modifications, they will be forced to leave their communities and enter nursing homes and retirement facilities. And in places like Sonoma County, where forests cut through and around many towns, the dangers of wildfire are especially great for older people, who are less mobile and more likely to die in a fire. To mitigate that threat, \u003ca href=\"https://www.firesafesonoma.org/\">Fire Safe Sonoma\u003c/a>, a nonprofit serving Sonoma County, forged a rare partnership with Sonoma County’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.habitat.org/\">Habitat for Humanity\u003c/a> chapter, using a county grant to retrofit the homes of older lower-income Sonoma residents so they could age more safely in place.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>On a misty March afternoon, two fire assessors contracted by Fire Safe Sonoma surveyed Levy’s property. In a practiced routine, they circled her home and identified the most pressing fire risks: flammable shrubs and leaf debris; uncovered vents, eaves and gaps that could allow embers into the house; single-pane windows that could explode under extreme heat; and a heavily overgrown canopy of bay and Douglas fir trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Levy still does some maintenance of her property, but the manual work gets harder with age. “I get out there with my weed eater, and me and the battery last about the same amount of time,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire assessors worked radially out from the structure, first recommending home-hardening improvements, or fire-resistant modifications made directly to the house, and then suggesting ways to increase defensible space, the buffer zone between a home and combustible material like shrubs and trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The assessors made a list of more than a dozen safety upgrades, including removing leaf debris from the deck and roof, cutting down several trees to create separation in the canopy, and installing metal mesh over gaps in the house’s structure. But by design, Levy, who is retired, will not have to pay for any of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the destructive Tubbs Fire of 2017, Sonoma County received a $149 million settlement from PG&E, which was found at fault for the damages. Part of that settlement funds Fire Safe Sonoma’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.firesafesonoma.org/wfap-and-habitat-for-humanity/\">Wildland Fire Assessment Program\u003c/a>. But when Fire Safe Sonoma first rolled it out in 2021, it was a “self-defeating program,” said Roberta MacIntyre, Fire Safe Sonoma’s executive director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982606\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982606\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A man with a cap and a fluorescent yellow and black rain jacket points a flashlight during an inspection with trees in the background.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment011-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wildfire Services worker Brandon North inspects a unit on Occidental resident Shawn Connally’s property. \u003ccite>(Isaac Ceja/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We were going out to homes where residents are low-income and telling them what they need to do to make their home safer for wildfire when they have no money to do it,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Very, very, very worried’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To be more useful, Fire Safe Sonoma collaborated with the local Sonoma Habitat affiliate to modify the county grant and revamp the program. Instead of providing free home assessments to a large number of homeowners, the revised program allocates the total grant award of $37,100 to 18 homes, with a budget of up to $2,500 per property. This way, Habitat Sonoma can carry out the recommended fire-safety improvements in tandem with aging-in-place modifications, all paid for by the county.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Rural and semi-rural communities, which are among the oldest in age in the state of California, tend to be some of the most vulnerable.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A few weeks after the fire assessors’ survey, a team from Habitat will return to Monte Rio and work with Levy to identify needed improvements, such as grab bars, ramps and low-threshold showers, that will allow her to age at home for years to come. As a final step, the Habitat team will schedule a workday to carry out the improvements Levy needs, as well as home hardening — like replacing old windows with tempered glass — and defensible space, such as removing a combustible pile of firewood from her front porch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Megan Hennessy, program manager at Habitat Sonoma, sees firsthand how critical these repairs are for older residents, especially in the wake of three major fires in the last four years in Sonoma County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve noticed that the elderly homeowners are very, very, very worried about what would happen if a fire happens,” Hennessy said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982603\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982603\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A middle aged white woman with shoulder-length blonde hair stands outside a house and looks into the distance with a mug of coffee in her hand.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment008-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shawn Connally stands in front of her home in Occidental. \u003ccite>(Isaac Ceja/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.usfa.fema.gov/statistics/deaths-injuries/older-adults.html\">Adults over the age of 65 are more than twice as likely to die in a fire compared to the general population\u003c/a>, according to the U.S. Fire Administration. “Rural and semi-rural communities, which are among the oldest in age in the state of California, tend to be some of the most vulnerable,” said Andrew Scharlach, professor of aging at UC Berkeley. Older rural homeowners, particularly lower-income homeowners, are less able to make firesafe home improvements, move to a lower-risk area before a fire, and evacuate when a fire inevitably starts, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shawn Connally, a 56-year-old resident of Occidental in Sonoma County, often worries about fire. She keeps her car backed in so she’s ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice. She has a go bag in her mudroom, packed with a small keepsake statue from New Zealand, two sets of salt and pepper shakers (selected from the hundreds she inherited from her grandmother), several family rings and her important paper documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982600\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982600\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Two man wearing caps smile with trees in the background.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment005-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wildfire Services lead Andrew Carrillo (left) and Brandon North work together to assess a home for fire safety in Monte Rio. \u003ccite>(Isaac Ceja/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Connally lives on a sprawling property shaded by towering trees and perched atop a steep, winding driveway. She used to maintain the overgrown brush on her property herself, but multiple sclerosis has made that impossible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I would try to do that, then it would probably knock me out for a couple of days,” she said. That’s why she is also taking part in the program led by Fire Safe Sonoma and Habitat for Humanity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Connally’s hope is that Fire Safe Sonoma and Habitat can add railings to the steep steps leading up to her house and down to her basement, as well as clear out the combustible vegetation that has accumulated around her property. The winding driveway presents a problem, too, because it would be difficult for a fire engine to navigate the narrow path. Habitat will aim to make her house as resilient as possible, so that even if firefighters can’t reach Connally’s home, it still has a good chance of surviving a fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>No sweat, no cost\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Sonoma’s Habitat affiliate has been building and repairing homes for 35 years and has one of the more robust aging-in-place programs in California. Although Habitat affiliates across California facilitate aging-in-place work, the offerings of these programs vary widely, and many affiliates require beneficiaries to provide “sweat equity” in the form of labor or participate in a payback program. Habitat and Fire Safe Sonoma, on the other hand, are able to provide this work at no cost to the homeowner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982619\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1982619\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2050/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment010-scaled-e1683325745447-800x641.jpg\" alt=\"A man rights on a checklist titled Wildland Fire Assessment Program\" width=\"800\" height=\"641\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2050/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment010-scaled-e1683325745447-800x641.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2050/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment010-scaled-e1683325745447-1020x818.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2050/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment010-scaled-e1683325745447-160x128.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2050/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment010-scaled-e1683325745447-768x616.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2050/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment010-scaled-e1683325745447-1536x1231.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2050/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment010-scaled-e1683325745447.jpg 1708w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wildfire Services lead Andrew Carrillo fills out a home assessment checklist for the Wildland Fire Assessment Program in Occidental. \u003ccite>(Isaac Ceja/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2020–21, the California Legislature allocated $25 million to home hardening and defensible space, and appropriated an additional $25 million over the next two budget years. The California Office of Emergency Services then selected pilot counties with a high fire risk and other criteria, including proportion of the population over age 65.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the program has been slow to roll out, and homeowners are still waiting to receive grants and support. Until the state’s investment in fire safety materializes, local programs have to fill the gaps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the fire assessors dispatched by Fire Safe Sonoma looped around Levy’s house, she recalled her early years in California. At the age of 19, Levy left her job as a library assistant in her hometown of Philadelphia and came to San Francisco for the “Summer of Love” in 1967.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few years later, she went camping near her current home on the Russian River and fell in love with the open expanse of land and cheap rents. There, she began working as a bookkeeper for a resource and referral agency for child care in Guerneville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Growing up in the city, I always wanted a farm,” Levy said, reminiscing about the chickens she used to keep — until the raccoons gobbled them up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982598\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982598\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A man with a jacket and black cap points at something as an older white woman looks on.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/Sonoma_Fire_Assessment003-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrew Carrillo points at trees he recommends removing to help improve fire safety outside Franceen Levy’s home. \u003ccite>(Isaac Ceja/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Levy’s chickens and cheap rent are in the rearview mirror. Now she has new things to worry about — namely, fire. Levy knows she has to live with that risk because she never wants to leave her bucolic setting. With her new home modifications, she expects to do just that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Reporter Kate Raphael and photographer Isaac Ceja are with the Investigative Reporting Program at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. They covered this story through a grant from The SCAN Foundation. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Celebration and Concern: Hetch Hetchy Reservoir Turns 100, But Climate Change Complicates its Future",
"headTitle": "Celebration and Concern: Hetch Hetchy Reservoir Turns 100, But Climate Change Complicates its Future | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]S[/dropcap]an Francisco Mayor London Breed and a gaggle of water officials gathered in the northwest corner of Yosemite National Park on Tuesday to celebrate the centennial of the creation of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and the O’Shaughnessy Dam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hetch Hetchy is one of the reasons why San Francisco is such a resilient city,” said Mayor London Breed with a sweeping view of mountains soaring above the water behind her, their reflections mirrored on the reservoir’s surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This [dam] was created and is a testament to the creativity, and the innovation of San Franciscans,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water system, San Francisco’s main water source, provided a stable supply of pristine Sierra Nevada snowmelt for city residents through most of the 20th century. But as human-caused climate change worsens, some water experts say the stability of San Francisco’s mountain tap is losing its surety for the 21st century and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I no longer think it will be a reliable water system,” said Samuel Sandoval Solis, an expert in water management at UC Davis. He said the ping-pong of drought and deluge are challenging the current system and will require alterations to the water system in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a privilege that San Franciscans have this high-quality water,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hetch Hetchy was a glacier-carved valley located 15 miles north of Yosemite Valley until the dam project was completed in 1923. Now it’s a massive reservoir that holds 117 billion gallons of water. A true triumph of engineering, the system relies on a 167-mile pipeline and gravity to push water down the height of Sierra Nevada, through the Central Valley, over the golden hills and into the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do shoot it with ultraviolet light to kill the bugs,” said Christopher Graham, Hetch Hetchy water operations and maintenance manager with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. “We don’t have to filter out the dirt from the water because it’s so clean.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982574\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64952_042_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A white man in a bright yellow jacket descends concrete stairs, surrounded by metal pipes, with more concrete and a few trees visible in the far distance across the unseen water surface\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982574\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64952_042_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64952_042_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64952_042_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64952_042_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64952_042_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64952_042_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Manager Christopher Graham descends into the O’Shaughnessy Dam at the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park on May 2, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This year he said 1.4 million acre-feet of water is likely to melt into into the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, but only a fraction of that will remain at the end of the dry season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water passes over three faultlines and is used for about 85% of the water needs for 2.7 million people in San Francisco and parts of Santa Clara, San Mateo and Alameda counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Christopher Graham, Hetch Hetchy water operations and maintenance manager, SFPUC\"]‘All I’m trying to do is maximize what we got and the storage capacity we have. Climate change is going to make managing this water supply much more difficult.’[/pullquote]But water experts believe the next 100 years of supplying a finite resource to millions of people will be much more complicated than storing water in a mountain bathtub and piping it to the bay. Water officials will need to conserve more and might need to make engineering upgrades so that the system can store more water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Hetch Hetchy system has been able to handle recent severe droughts and this winter’s powerful storms, but Newsha Ajami, the president of the SFPUC, said “part of that has been driven by luck.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have some of the lowest water use in the state,” she said. “San Franciscans use about 40 gallons per person daily, which is very low.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFPUC operates the reservoir and expects the Hetch Hetchy system will be tested by even more extreme drought and deluge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This year was one of the wettest years we’ve ever seen. Right before we had the driest three-year sequence we had ever seen,” said Graham. “We are seeing what the climate change models are forecasting, wetter wet periods and drier dry periods, which makes managing all this quite a bit more difficult.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water supply may seem stable in a wet year, Graham said, but managing the runoff from a massive Sierra snowpack takes constant attention, especially with no guarantee future years will also be wet. Come August, he said, the reservoir will remain glassy and brimming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For now, all I’m trying to do is maximize what we got and the storage capacity we have,” he said. “Climate change is going to make managing this water supply much more difficult.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982577\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64922_014_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling Black woman speaks while gesturing with one hand, wearing a fingerless glove and gray jacket, as the curving concrete arc of a massive dam spreads out at eye level behind her\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982577\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64922_014_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64922_014_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64922_014_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64922_014_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64922_014_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64922_014_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Mayor London Breed looks out from the O’Shaughnessy Dam at the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir during Tuesday’s centennial celebration. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While San Franciscans don’t use much water, other parts of the Bay Area overuse the resource. Laura Feinstein with the non-profit public policy group SPUR analyzed water use within the system and found that communities like Hillsborough in San Mateo County that receive water from the Hetch Hetchy system use 190 gallons of water per person per day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They use water generously even in the winter when it rains,” she said of residents who continue to water large yards and landscapes regardless of season. “Those types of inefficiencies put a lot of pressure on the system. Making communities like that more water-efficient would mean a lot of savings and make the whole system more climate resilient.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hetch Hetchy’s success will depend on rethinking its use\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Susan Leal wants to ensure that Hetch Hetchy exists as a thriving water resource in the face of human-caused climate change. She is a former general manager of the SFPUC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She sees three possibilities for the future of water originating from Hetch Hetchy: it will become more expensive over time, officials begin to recycle it on a large scale or they raise the reservoir level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regarding recycling water, Leal said there is “no alternative,” and city officials must give serious thought this year to creating more recycled water plants. Recycled water, she said, costs more but could relieve pressure on the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To get people off bottled water, we kept telling them how good their Hetch Hetchy water is,” she said. “We have to let people understand that recycled water is like distilled water. It’s very pure water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982582\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64915_004_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"the concrete top of a dam stretches away at odd angles into the distance on a cloudy day as dark water can be seen far below, with mountains in the background\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982582\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64915_004_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64915_004_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64915_004_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64915_004_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64915_004_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64915_004_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The O’Shaughnessy Dam holds back the Tuolumne River, forming Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Another option for increasing the water supply is to raise the dam to hold more water. In 1938, officials raised it from 227 feet to 312 feet. Leal said O’Shaughnessy Dam, which holds back the Tuolumne River, could be built 55 feet taller than its height today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We may need to build the dam higher to impound more water,” she said. “We have to consider this because we never planned for the extreme storms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raising the dam and increasing the holding capacity of the reservoir would likely come with substantial pushback from environmentalists and would likely be tied up with lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know if it’s being considered, but whether it’s recycling or impounding more water at Hetch Hetchy or other dams, all these things you have to start thinking about yesterday,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>100 years marks the ‘sacrifice of the environment’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The story of Hetch Hetchy isn’t all about free flowing, pure drinking water, and its construction kicked off one of the first major U.S. fights over land use and conservation. When officials constructed Hetch Hetchy, the reservoir cut off waterways to the fish, flora and other fauna that relied on flowing water that is now largely stored behind a cement wall deep in the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Davis’ Sandoval Solis said the building of the reservoir, while good for many people in the Bay Area, has devastated riparian freshwater ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The environment has been compromised already for 100 years,” said Sandoval Solis. “The centennial also marks the centennial of the compromise of the environment or the sacrifice of the environment, and some of the native communities displaced for the sake of the well-being of people living in San Francisco.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hetch Hetchy is the ancient homeland of as many as a dozen Indigenous peoples; across Yosemite many were forcibly removed or killed in the mid-1800s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982585\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64931_019_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A sweeping panorama photograph shows a massive lake reflecting the shapes of steep rounded granite peaks rising above it, with alpine forest also visible\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982585\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64931_019_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64931_019_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64931_019_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64931_019_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64931_019_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64931_019_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Hetch Hetchy Valley has been inundated with water since the construction of the O’Shaughnessy Dam 100 years ago. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Damming rivers across the Sierra Nevada, like the Tuolumne River at Hetch Hetchy, have ramifications on the river systems that unite in the San Joaquin River, flow into the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta and push into the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The large amounts of freshwater that once flowed helped mix natural algae into the salty water. Still, lesser flows into the bay mean the algae sits on top of the water, creating the perfect habitat for toxic algae blooms. Olivia Yip, an associate professor at San Jose State University who studied algae blooms, said the last outbreak that killed thousands of fish was partly due to decreased freshwater flows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Imagine a little algae floating around in the bay,” said Yip. “If there’s more mixing, then it’s less likely that it can just sit there on the top and grow like crazy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The future of the system must include equitable use of water, say advocates\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Hetch Hetchy pipeline runs through communities that need clean drinking water themselves in the Central Valley and the Bay Area. UC Davis’ Sandoval Solis said access to clean drinking water should “not be a luxury because it is a human right.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The pipes are passing through the middle of their communities, but they cannot use it,” he said. “I don’t think there should be a problem with providing clean water to disadvantaged communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around two-thirds of the pure Hetch Hetchy water in the Bay Area is used outside San Francisco’s bounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='Related Coverage' tag='climate-change']The pipeline travels across the Dumbarton Bridge and emerges right next to the community of East Palo Alto, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.ci.east-palo-alto.ca.us/publicworks/page/utilities\">gets around 80% of its water from the source\u003c/a>. The other 20% comes from local sources, and residents question its purity, said Miriam Yupanqui, executive director of the local advocacy group Nuestra Casa de East Palo Alto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yupanqui dreams of the day when 100% of the water for this town of more than 90% people of color is pure piped in mountain fresh. She said many of the more than 15,000 residents her agency represents want all of the city’s water sourced from Hetch Hetchy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our community members want quality water,” she said. “They want to feel comfortable drinking the water. Many of our community members feel that our neighbors in Palo Alto and Menlo Park are not receiving second-rate water. So why should they?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Palo Alto and Menlo Park receive all of their water from the SFPUC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, groups like Climate Resilient Communities in East Palo Alto are working to provide hyper-local water sources, like cisterns connected to gutters to catch rainwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s a practice that should be used here with the uncertainties of rainfall patterns and extreme events,” said Violet Wulf-Saena, founder and executive director of the nonprofit. “Every home should have a water tank to capture and hold the water that will reduce not only the flooding but also help conserve and use it when there are droughts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But to have any real impact on water conservation, reducing flooding risk and increasing water supply, Wulf-Saena said they “need thousands of rain gardens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "San Francisco's main water source may not be as reliable a tap of Sierra Nevada snowmelt in the coming century.",
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"description": "San Francisco's main water source may not be as reliable a tap of Sierra Nevada snowmelt in the coming century.",
"title": "Celebration and Concern: Hetch Hetchy Reservoir Turns 100, But Climate Change Complicates its Future | KQED",
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"headline": "Celebration and Concern: Hetch Hetchy Reservoir Turns 100, But Climate Change Complicates its Future",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">S\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>an Francisco Mayor London Breed and a gaggle of water officials gathered in the northwest corner of Yosemite National Park on Tuesday to celebrate the centennial of the creation of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and the O’Shaughnessy Dam.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hetch Hetchy is one of the reasons why San Francisco is such a resilient city,” said Mayor London Breed with a sweeping view of mountains soaring above the water behind her, their reflections mirrored on the reservoir’s surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This [dam] was created and is a testament to the creativity, and the innovation of San Franciscans,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water system, San Francisco’s main water source, provided a stable supply of pristine Sierra Nevada snowmelt for city residents through most of the 20th century. But as human-caused climate change worsens, some water experts say the stability of San Francisco’s mountain tap is losing its surety for the 21st century and beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I no longer think it will be a reliable water system,” said Samuel Sandoval Solis, an expert in water management at UC Davis. He said the ping-pong of drought and deluge are challenging the current system and will require alterations to the water system in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is a privilege that San Franciscans have this high-quality water,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hetch Hetchy was a glacier-carved valley located 15 miles north of Yosemite Valley until the dam project was completed in 1923. Now it’s a massive reservoir that holds 117 billion gallons of water. A true triumph of engineering, the system relies on a 167-mile pipeline and gravity to push water down the height of Sierra Nevada, through the Central Valley, over the golden hills and into the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do shoot it with ultraviolet light to kill the bugs,” said Christopher Graham, Hetch Hetchy water operations and maintenance manager with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. “We don’t have to filter out the dirt from the water because it’s so clean.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982574\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64952_042_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A white man in a bright yellow jacket descends concrete stairs, surrounded by metal pipes, with more concrete and a few trees visible in the far distance across the unseen water surface\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982574\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64952_042_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64952_042_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64952_042_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64952_042_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64952_042_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64952_042_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Manager Christopher Graham descends into the O’Shaughnessy Dam at the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park on May 2, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This year he said 1.4 million acre-feet of water is likely to melt into into the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, but only a fraction of that will remain at the end of the dry season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water passes over three faultlines and is used for about 85% of the water needs for 2.7 million people in San Francisco and parts of Santa Clara, San Mateo and Alameda counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘All I’m trying to do is maximize what we got and the storage capacity we have. Climate change is going to make managing this water supply much more difficult.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But water experts believe the next 100 years of supplying a finite resource to millions of people will be much more complicated than storing water in a mountain bathtub and piping it to the bay. Water officials will need to conserve more and might need to make engineering upgrades so that the system can store more water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Hetch Hetchy system has been able to handle recent severe droughts and this winter’s powerful storms, but Newsha Ajami, the president of the SFPUC, said “part of that has been driven by luck.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have some of the lowest water use in the state,” she said. “San Franciscans use about 40 gallons per person daily, which is very low.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFPUC operates the reservoir and expects the Hetch Hetchy system will be tested by even more extreme drought and deluge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This year was one of the wettest years we’ve ever seen. Right before we had the driest three-year sequence we had ever seen,” said Graham. “We are seeing what the climate change models are forecasting, wetter wet periods and drier dry periods, which makes managing all this quite a bit more difficult.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The water supply may seem stable in a wet year, Graham said, but managing the runoff from a massive Sierra snowpack takes constant attention, especially with no guarantee future years will also be wet. Come August, he said, the reservoir will remain glassy and brimming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For now, all I’m trying to do is maximize what we got and the storage capacity we have,” he said. “Climate change is going to make managing this water supply much more difficult.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982577\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64922_014_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling Black woman speaks while gesturing with one hand, wearing a fingerless glove and gray jacket, as the curving concrete arc of a massive dam spreads out at eye level behind her\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982577\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64922_014_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64922_014_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64922_014_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64922_014_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64922_014_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64922_014_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Mayor London Breed looks out from the O’Shaughnessy Dam at the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir during Tuesday’s centennial celebration. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While San Franciscans don’t use much water, other parts of the Bay Area overuse the resource. Laura Feinstein with the non-profit public policy group SPUR analyzed water use within the system and found that communities like Hillsborough in San Mateo County that receive water from the Hetch Hetchy system use 190 gallons of water per person per day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They use water generously even in the winter when it rains,” she said of residents who continue to water large yards and landscapes regardless of season. “Those types of inefficiencies put a lot of pressure on the system. Making communities like that more water-efficient would mean a lot of savings and make the whole system more climate resilient.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hetch Hetchy’s success will depend on rethinking its use\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Susan Leal wants to ensure that Hetch Hetchy exists as a thriving water resource in the face of human-caused climate change. She is a former general manager of the SFPUC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She sees three possibilities for the future of water originating from Hetch Hetchy: it will become more expensive over time, officials begin to recycle it on a large scale or they raise the reservoir level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regarding recycling water, Leal said there is “no alternative,” and city officials must give serious thought this year to creating more recycled water plants. Recycled water, she said, costs more but could relieve pressure on the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To get people off bottled water, we kept telling them how good their Hetch Hetchy water is,” she said. “We have to let people understand that recycled water is like distilled water. It’s very pure water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982582\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64915_004_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"the concrete top of a dam stretches away at odd angles into the distance on a cloudy day as dark water can be seen far below, with mountains in the background\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982582\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64915_004_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64915_004_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64915_004_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64915_004_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64915_004_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64915_004_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The O’Shaughnessy Dam holds back the Tuolumne River, forming Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Another option for increasing the water supply is to raise the dam to hold more water. In 1938, officials raised it from 227 feet to 312 feet. Leal said O’Shaughnessy Dam, which holds back the Tuolumne River, could be built 55 feet taller than its height today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We may need to build the dam higher to impound more water,” she said. “We have to consider this because we never planned for the extreme storms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raising the dam and increasing the holding capacity of the reservoir would likely come with substantial pushback from environmentalists and would likely be tied up with lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know if it’s being considered, but whether it’s recycling or impounding more water at Hetch Hetchy or other dams, all these things you have to start thinking about yesterday,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>100 years marks the ‘sacrifice of the environment’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The story of Hetch Hetchy isn’t all about free flowing, pure drinking water, and its construction kicked off one of the first major U.S. fights over land use and conservation. When officials constructed Hetch Hetchy, the reservoir cut off waterways to the fish, flora and other fauna that relied on flowing water that is now largely stored behind a cement wall deep in the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Davis’ Sandoval Solis said the building of the reservoir, while good for many people in the Bay Area, has devastated riparian freshwater ecosystems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The environment has been compromised already for 100 years,” said Sandoval Solis. “The centennial also marks the centennial of the compromise of the environment or the sacrifice of the environment, and some of the native communities displaced for the sake of the well-being of people living in San Francisco.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hetch Hetchy is the ancient homeland of as many as a dozen Indigenous peoples; across Yosemite many were forcibly removed or killed in the mid-1800s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982585\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64931_019_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A sweeping panorama photograph shows a massive lake reflecting the shapes of steep rounded granite peaks rising above it, with alpine forest also visible\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982585\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64931_019_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64931_019_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64931_019_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64931_019_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64931_019_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/05/RS64931_019_KQED_HetchHetchyCentennial_05022023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Hetch Hetchy Valley has been inundated with water since the construction of the O’Shaughnessy Dam 100 years ago. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Damming rivers across the Sierra Nevada, like the Tuolumne River at Hetch Hetchy, have ramifications on the river systems that unite in the San Joaquin River, flow into the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta and push into the bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The large amounts of freshwater that once flowed helped mix natural algae into the salty water. Still, lesser flows into the bay mean the algae sits on top of the water, creating the perfect habitat for toxic algae blooms. Olivia Yip, an associate professor at San Jose State University who studied algae blooms, said the last outbreak that killed thousands of fish was partly due to decreased freshwater flows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Imagine a little algae floating around in the bay,” said Yip. “If there’s more mixing, then it’s less likely that it can just sit there on the top and grow like crazy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The future of the system must include equitable use of water, say advocates\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Hetch Hetchy pipeline runs through communities that need clean drinking water themselves in the Central Valley and the Bay Area. UC Davis’ Sandoval Solis said access to clean drinking water should “not be a luxury because it is a human right.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The pipes are passing through the middle of their communities, but they cannot use it,” he said. “I don’t think there should be a problem with providing clean water to disadvantaged communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Around two-thirds of the pure Hetch Hetchy water in the Bay Area is used outside San Francisco’s bounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The pipeline travels across the Dumbarton Bridge and emerges right next to the community of East Palo Alto, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.ci.east-palo-alto.ca.us/publicworks/page/utilities\">gets around 80% of its water from the source\u003c/a>. The other 20% comes from local sources, and residents question its purity, said Miriam Yupanqui, executive director of the local advocacy group Nuestra Casa de East Palo Alto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yupanqui dreams of the day when 100% of the water for this town of more than 90% people of color is pure piped in mountain fresh. She said many of the more than 15,000 residents her agency represents want all of the city’s water sourced from Hetch Hetchy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our community members want quality water,” she said. “They want to feel comfortable drinking the water. Many of our community members feel that our neighbors in Palo Alto and Menlo Park are not receiving second-rate water. So why should they?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Palo Alto and Menlo Park receive all of their water from the SFPUC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, groups like Climate Resilient Communities in East Palo Alto are working to provide hyper-local water sources, like cisterns connected to gutters to catch rainwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s a practice that should be used here with the uncertainties of rainfall patterns and extreme events,” said Violet Wulf-Saena, founder and executive director of the nonprofit. “Every home should have a water tank to capture and hold the water that will reduce not only the flooding but also help conserve and use it when there are droughts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But to have any real impact on water conservation, reducing flooding risk and increasing water supply, Wulf-Saena said they “need thousands of rain gardens.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"radiolab": {
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"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"soldout": {
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"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
"info": "Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
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"info": "",
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"tech-nation": {
"id": "tech-nation",
"title": "Tech Nation Radio Podcast",
"info": "Tech Nation is a weekly public radio program, hosted by Dr. Moira Gunn. Founded in 1993, it has grown from a simple interview show to a multi-faceted production, featuring conversations with noted technology and science leaders, and a weekly science and technology-related commentary.",
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"ted-radio-hour": {
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"title": "TED Radio Hour",
"info": "The TED Radio Hour is a journey through fascinating ideas, astonishing inventions, fresh approaches to old problems, and new ways to think and create.",
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