Gia Moreno of Hood spoke passionately about her commitment to stop the proposed Delta Tunnel at a public meeting hosted by the Delta Counties Coalition and Delta Legislative Caucus at the Willow Ballroom last week. By Dan Bacher “I am a mother, an artist, an educator, and I’m tired. I’m tired of coming to these […]
For the sixth November in a row, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has caught zero Delta smelt during its Fall Midwater Trawl Survey of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The Delta smelt, an indicator species for the broader ecological health of the estuary, is found only in the Delta. The smelt typically reach a […]
feast that symbolized an abiding pact between European colonists and Indigenous people to share the abundance of the land. But the reality of both historical and ongoing colonization, says Nephi Craig, White Mountain Apache, is that if you “want to attack a people and wipe them out—attack their food.” By Valerie Schloredt YES! magazine Consider […]
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today approved the staff recommendation to surrender the license for the four lower PacifiCorp dams on the Klamath River in California and Oregon and begin the dam removal process. By Dan Bacher The vote follows the August 27th release of the FERC staff’s final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) recommending the removal […]
On November 17 at 7 am PST, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will vote on the staff recommendation to surrender the license for the four lower PacifiCorp dams on the Klamath River and begin the dam removal process. In an action celebrated by Klamath Basin Tribes, conservationists and fishing groups, the Federal Energy Regulatory […]
Here is the transcription of my 3 minute comment on the Delta Tunnel Draft Environmental Impact Statement that I made in the virtual hearing held by the California Department of Water Resources. By Dan Bacher I’m an independent journalist that’s covered the fish, environmental justice and water issues for 40 years. Different versions of this […]
Earlier this week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded its comment period on the Proposed Determination (PD) outlining potential protections for Bristol Bay. More than half a million people – including a record 30,000 Alaskans and 2,500 Bristol Bay residents – spoke out to once again resoundingly reject Pebble Mine. Over the last decade, and […]
An unprecedented, massive harmful algal bloom (HAB) stretching throughout San Francisco Bay appears to be in decline, but the State Water Resources Control Board, San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board and California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) are warning that depleted oxygen levels could lead to “large-scale aquatic deaths” in the days ahead. By Dan […]
A faster shift to electric vehicles (EVs) in the US would avoid around 10% of the global cropland expansion expected over the next 30 years, according to a new study. Instead of growing maize (corn) to make biofuel for US cars, modelling in the Ecological Economics paper suggests large swathes of land could be left to absorb carbon […]
On Aug. 24, 2022, the State Water Resources Control Board issued the following statement regarding an enforcement action regarding illegal diversions by the Shasta Water Users Association. By Dan Bacher As California heads into a fourth year of drought, the State Water Resources Control Board has continued to protect water supplies and the environment by […]
Days after a fire induced mudslide killed all fish in a 60-mile reach of the Klamath River, ranchers defied state law by diverting flows from the Shasta River, one of the most important Klamath tributaries for imperiled salmon, according to a joint press release from the Karuk and Yurok Tribes. By Dan Bacher “The Shasta […]
As Klamath River communities continue to recover from a massive fish kill caused by a mud slide spurred by heavy rains and the McKinney Fire in northern California, UC Davis on August 11 issued a statement that they were “devastated to report” that a catastrophic failure has resulted in the loss of about 21,000 fish at the UC […]
Debris flow stemming from the McKinney Fire, then heavy rains, are causing a fish kill on the Klamath River in Northern California. “Very large numbers of dead fish, of all species, are being observed in the vicinity of Happy Camp, CA along the mainstem Klamath River,” according to a press advisory released an hour ago from the Karuk […]
Drought Action Moves Endangered Salmon Back Into Their Historical Habitat For First Time Since Construction Of Shasta Dam The Winnemem Wintu Tribe, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on Monday celebrated the return of endangered winter-run Chinook […]
Microplastics — tiny pieces of plastic less than five millimetres in size — have been found in marine and freshwater animals ranging from tiny zooplankton to large whales. However, researchers are still struggling to understand the impact that microplastics are having on aquatic species. By Garth A Covernton, University of Toronto; Hailey Davies, University of […]