It’s difficult to believe that it really happened, but during the summer of 2022, the Merced River, the 14th largest river in California, ran completely dry for four months near its confluence point with the San Joaquin River. The river, which serves as essential habitat for listed species including spring-run Chinook salmon and steelhead, originates in Yosemite National Park. It was completely dry and impassable for four miles…
Let’s face it, the federal government’s environmental protection capabilities and responsibilities are being eroded from within, and this Congress may not prove to be our friend. GOP control of even one house of the Congress has clearly demonstrated the Congressional problem…
A little-noticed item appeared in a local newspaper recently. The Placer Sentinal ran a story based on a press release from the Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) announcing the construction of some operable gates on top of what is now just a pour-over spillway at PCWA’s Hell Hole Dam on the Middle Fork of the American River…
I am thrilled to join the hardworking team at Friends of the River as the new Engagement Manager. My passion for rivers and river communities has driven me to this role, and I am excited to contribute to our mission of protecting and restoring California’s rivers. Read on to learn more about me…
When President Trump hit the ground running in late January with a slate of executive orders and other measures, no one was surprised to see federal environmental protections, services, and agencies strongly targeted. But his explicit linkage of federal disaster relief to radical changes in California water policy stood out even in the fire hydrant fountain of proposed actions. And Governor Newsom’s response – or lack of one – has also stood out…
As one might have expected, President Trump and his team were better prepared for their crusade to bend the federal and other governments to his will for his second term at playing President of the United States. That included a blizzard of executive actions in his first week. And yes, California drew some of his wrath….
It had always been a strange sideshow to the 2007-era negotiations surrounding the relicensing of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s (SMUD) Upper American River (hydropower) Project (UARP). El Dorado County, which might have prioritized protecting and developing recreational amenities along the South Fork of the American River, was plainly focused on another prize…
Laura is a passionate outdoorswoman and artist. Her love for the Sierra Nevada Mountains and her home in the foothills is infectious. Her photography captures the essence of the natural world’s beauty, majesty, and changing moods.
Like Jack Nicholson axing his way through the door to announce that he’s home in “The Shining,” the Delta Conveyance Project – aka the Delta Tunnel, nee the Peripheral Canal – has returned to once again threaten the health of California’s rivers and the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary…