Valley Headlines

Valley Rep finds help for salmon

Merced Focus. Feds award $93 million to key SJ River restoration project near Dos Palos. 
Synopsis: The Bureau of Reclamation will spend $93 million to help build a fish-screen bypass project on Arroyo Canal at Sack Dam as part of the San Joaquin River restoration settlement. Rep. Adam Gray called it “another huge win for the Valley. Our community knows that we don’t need to compromise reliable water access for wildlife protection and vice versa. State and federal partnerships like this are critical to continued economic growth and well-being for Valley families.” By capturing and removing salmon, water deliveries to the largest federal and state wetlands remaining in the Valley can proceed. It will also make delivery of water to 47,000 acres of farmland more reliable.

CA’s six-point salmon strategy

Maven’s Notebook. CA Salmon Strategy: Progress, partnerships and the path forward.
Synopsis: The annual update on the CA Salmon Strategy was released at the CA Water Commission’s June meeting. The 6 key priorities are: Restoring and expanding habitat, protecting flows and water quality, modernizing hatcheries, improving management systems for climate adaptability and strengthening partnerships. The commission identified 71 specific actions to implement the priorities. It also pointed to some positives which are already taking place, such as floodplain restoration in several areas on the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers and removal of the Klamath dams. Fall Creek hatchery produced 244,000 chinook salmon and 36,000 coho this year. That said, the report found there is much more to be done in “cutting green tape” so that projects such as setback levees and floodplain restoration can be completed. Finally, the Bureau of Reclamation is developing new models to enhance release of cold water from Shasta and New Melones during crucial migration windows.

Sites could break ground in ’26

Redding Record-Searchlight. Sites Reservoir could break ground in 2026.
Synopsis: Fritz Durst, who chairs the Sites Project Authority, says work could begin by next year with most of the infrastructure completed within 6 years. When complete, the off-stream Sites Reservoir will inundate 14,000 acres near the town of Maxwell and hold 1.6-million acre feet. The project will require roughly at least a dozen saddle dams to complete. Water in the reservoir will be piped in from the Sacramento River.

Protecting tomatoes from wilt

Western Farm Press. Fusarium wilt attacks farm’s organic processing tomatoes.
Synopsis: Growers are racing the clock to harvest tomatoes before fusarium wilt damages their crop. Don Cameron, head of the CA Board of Food & Ag, grows tomatoes near Helm, and figures with the cooler summer he might just have a chance. The best way to get rid of wilt is to pull infected plants, plant other crops for three or more years then plant wilt-resistant tomato varieties. Several such varieties have been developed by Cornell plant breeder Martha Mutschler-Chu.

Seeking help for Diablo Grande

CBS13. Residents in Stanislaus County’s Diablo Grande shoulder massive debt in water crisis. 
Synopsis: Residents met with members of Rep. Adam Gray’s staff Friday to discuss the municipal water crisis for 600 homes in the failed resort community of Diablo Grande west of Patterson. The resort’s developer contracted with Kern County Water Agency to provide enough water for 5,000 homes and four golf courses. While nowhere near that amount of water was delivered – and the homes and courses were never built – the successor agency to the developer accrued about $13 million in debt for the water. This year, KCWA threatened to quit supplying water from the nearby California Aqueduct, leaving the homes uninhabitable. So far, residents have agreed to pay Kern County $600 to $700 a month to keep water flowing. Alternatives, such as constructing a pipeline to Patterson Irrigation District, are being discussed. None are cheap and all require years. Residents remain angry, feeling they have been abandoned by officials at all levels.
MAD Take: TV stations have provided some superficial coverage of the “crisis” aspects of this story. But only reporter Lois Henry, publisher of San Joaquin Valley Water, has gotten anywhere close to the bottom of this issue. What she has found are troubling questions. Foremost, what happened to all the water – thousands of acre feet each year – that Diablo Grande was being billed for but never received?

CA the worst for dog attacks

Merced Sun Star. CA leads the US for dog attacks on postal workers.
Synopsis: Last year, there were 701 postal workers attacked by dogs in California – the eighth year in our state has topped the list. Texas was a distant second at 438. Nationwide, there were 6,000 attacks. When a dog bites a carrier, that address is listed as “unsafe for delivery,” requiring the owner to pick up mail at the post office. Nationwide, Los Angeles is the worst city for dog attacks with 77. Others: San Diego No. 9, Sacramento No. 23, San Francisco No. 25, Stockton No. 29 and Oakland No. 30.

Too afraid to see a doctor

Fresno Bee. Fresno area medical clinics see ‘significant’ drop in appointments due to ICE raids.
Synopsis: United Health Centers of the SJ Valley reports that 10% of appointment last month were missed and there has been a similar drop in new appointments since folks became worried over the presence of ICE. “We’re definitely feeling the effects of what’s happening with immigration,” said CEO Justin Preas. The non-profit serves Fresno, Kern, Kings and Tulare counties at 19 centers. Other organizations confirm what United Health is seeing.

Bee: ‘Trump is flat-out wrong’

Fresno Bee. President Trump is flat-out wrong about CA’s high-speed rail project.
Synopsis: Ed Board members Tad Weber and Juan Esparza Loera insist that Donald Trump must “rethink his decision to divorce his administration from CA’s high-speed rail project.” They applaud Gov. Newsom for challenging the move in court. Newsom called the withdrawal of $3 billion in funding “petty, political retribution” that amounts to a “heartless attack on the Central Valley” and “put real jobs and livelihoods” in jeopardy. The Bee says 15,560 jobs and 936 small businesses have benefited in the Valley.
MAD Take: Tad and John convinced me, but I’m not sure Sean or Donald John are listening.

Water fun turns deadly

Merced Sun Star. Merced kayaker ID’d after drowning in Courtright Reservoir in Fresno County.
Synopsis: Matthias Aguilar drowned Friday near Marmot Rock Campground when he lost balance while fishing from a kayak and fell into the water. He was wearing heavy boots and jeans but no lifejacket. He attempted to swim to shore but didn’t make it.

Fresno Bee. Man drowns in SJ River, near Hwy 99 in Fresno.
Synopsis: A man went into a 6-foot-deep pool near Herndon Avenue and didn’t resurface. A helicopter crew found his body 30 minutes later. Friends said he didn’t know how to swim. The Sheriff’s Office offers lots of advice, but No. 1 on the list: “Stay out of the water if you don’t know how to swim.”

Advocate feeling raw over milk

Fresno Bee. RFK Jr.’s support for raw milk falls short, says Fresno County dairy farmer.
Synopsis: Raw Farm’s Mark McAfee, who declared back in January that he would be advising Robert Kennedy Jr. on how to make raw milk more popular, is disappointed that his phone isn’t ringing. He feels a victim of “bait and switch,” saying it makes him “really quite sad” that RFK hasn’t called. There have been moments, though, as when Kennedy celebrated the release of his Make America Healthy Again report with raw-milk shooters at the White House.
MAD Take: Some 55 different Raw Farms products were recalled last year. Bird flu was found in its products, cows and employees. Salmonella, too. Milk from Raw Farms was blamed for killing 5 house cats.