Monday, June 8
7:00PM-8:00PM
ABOVE THE AMERICAN
Find all broadcasts View schedule
Above the American takes you on an aerial tour of one of California’s most picturesque waterways: the American River. The journey begins at the confluence with the Sacramento River and travels up the North, Middle, and South Forks of the American River. Included are incredible scenic views, Old West history, wildlife, Native American artifacts, and a thrilling ride down some of America’s most famous whitewater rapids. Production funding provided by InterWest Insurance Services.
Announcement origanally sent by:Jim RickerPresident, North Fork American River Alliance P.O. Box 536 Alta, CA 95701530-389-8344
Monday, June 8, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Pumping water and cash
Got to read these articles....really?! Great work by this Contra Costa Times writer.
Pumping water and cash from Delta
By Mike Taugher
As the West Coast's largest estuary plunged to the brink of collapse from 2000 to 2007, state water officials pumped unprecedented amounts of water out of the Delta only to effectively buy some of it back at taxpayer expense for a failed environmental protection plan, a MediaNews investigation has found. Read more.
Paper shuffle allows for vast supply of easy money
By Mike Taugher
It must have seemed like easy money.
The state was delivering more water than ever to its customers, and in Kern County some of those customers sold some of it back, through a simple trade, at a higher price. Read more.
Water ownership murky, complicated
By Mike Taugher
Kern County water users who sold millions of dollars worth of water to a program meant to help the environment said the arrangement made sense because the water was rightfully theirs.
Few would dispute that water that was purchased and stored in Kern County could be sold to the environmental water account.
But the sales were made easier by the fact that the state Department of Water Resources was cranking up water deliveries to unprecedented heights at the same time it was buying water back for the environment. Read more.
The Resnicks: farming's power couple
By Mike Taugher
Stewart Resnick is not your typical dirt-under-the-fingernails farmer.
The Beverly Hills billionaire's companies, according to tax records, appear to own more than 115,000 acres in Kern County, about the size of four San Franciscos and more than all of the East Bay Regional Park District's parks combined. Read more.
Pumping water and cash from Delta
By Mike Taugher
As the West Coast's largest estuary plunged to the brink of collapse from 2000 to 2007, state water officials pumped unprecedented amounts of water out of the Delta only to effectively buy some of it back at taxpayer expense for a failed environmental protection plan, a MediaNews investigation has found. Read more.
Paper shuffle allows for vast supply of easy money
By Mike Taugher
It must have seemed like easy money.
The state was delivering more water than ever to its customers, and in Kern County some of those customers sold some of it back, through a simple trade, at a higher price. Read more.
Water ownership murky, complicated
By Mike Taugher
Kern County water users who sold millions of dollars worth of water to a program meant to help the environment said the arrangement made sense because the water was rightfully theirs.
Few would dispute that water that was purchased and stored in Kern County could be sold to the environmental water account.
But the sales were made easier by the fact that the state Department of Water Resources was cranking up water deliveries to unprecedented heights at the same time it was buying water back for the environment. Read more.
The Resnicks: farming's power couple
By Mike Taugher
Stewart Resnick is not your typical dirt-under-the-fingernails farmer.
The Beverly Hills billionaire's companies, according to tax records, appear to own more than 115,000 acres in Kern County, about the size of four San Franciscos and more than all of the East Bay Regional Park District's parks combined. Read more.
Friday, May 8, 2009
"The River Guide" Song
Become a river guide. Become a river advocate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY7n5iKBNsQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY7n5iKBNsQ
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The Moke - a video to check out!
There is a new video out about the Mokelumne... it's an issue that is happening RIGHT NOW!
http://www.vimeo.com/4377762
Check it out. See what a beatiful place it is.
Take action at FOR's page.
Tight Lines,
Bjorn
http://www.vimeo.com/4377762
Check it out. See what a beatiful place it is.
Take action at FOR's page.
Tight Lines,
Bjorn
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The Peripheral Canal... let's be honest
The Peripheral Canal. let's be honest.
We are beginning to hear whispers, rumors and every now and then a confirmed account of support from environmental organizations for the Peripheral Canal. The PC has not been the core focus for Friends of the River, although many, many of the issues we work on mingle with the Delta and we have been party to some of the lawsuits that are helping to shape and frame the Delta debate. We'll also be very active in educating the public about the proposed Water Bonds. So, while the PC is not a central campaign, it is safe to say that those waters are our waters.
Let's be honest here. A PC only makes sense if there is more surface storage. "Surface storage" is the ambiguous way of saying "dam." That means, at the very least, an enlarged Shasta Dam that would eat up a protected section of the McCloud River in addition to parts of the Upper Sacramento River, Pit River and Squaw Creek (the rivers and creeks that flow into the existing Shasta Reservoir).
If you sign onto the PC, you are endorsing river destruction.
I, for one, am tired of the false choices being put forward. The Farms/Fish and Fish/People debates are contrived and deceptive.
The Delta exports don't provide the drinking water for 26M Californians, as is continuously repeated (even duping the good folks at my local public radio station). Sure, they provide some water, but not all of it and there are other options to provide drinking water. The PC is about one thing. it is about agricultural water use. I'm tired of hearing the only way to water our fields is to take the water from the Delta or build the PC. America, literally, was built by inventive people, entrepreneurs, people constantly looking for a better mouse trap. It's time we employ that same spirit of problem solving to our water future instead of looking back to 20th Century solutions. We know the true costs of dam construction now in the precipitous decline of our salmon fisheries. We don't have any excuses. Shouldn't we pursue every other avenue before we head down the path towards more river destruction and more dead salmon?
Let's also be honest about the PC's potential. It COULD be run well and it could reduce the negative impacts of Delta pumping. The problem is that with water in California the potential for good is often overwhelmed by the political necessities of harmful decisions. If the PC is built, water WILL be shipped south at times that more fresh water is needed in the Delta. It will happen and if you think otherwise, well, I have a great investment opportunity for you with Madoff Investments.
The overwhelming, crushing weight of history says that the PC will further harm California's rivers and our fish.
It is time for more honesty in our Delta discussions. Those coming out in favor of the PC need to follow that idea all the way upstream where it leads to the wet, hard concrete of new dams and new legacies of river destruction.
We are beginning to hear whispers, rumors and every now and then a confirmed account of support from environmental organizations for the Peripheral Canal. The PC has not been the core focus for Friends of the River, although many, many of the issues we work on mingle with the Delta and we have been party to some of the lawsuits that are helping to shape and frame the Delta debate. We'll also be very active in educating the public about the proposed Water Bonds. So, while the PC is not a central campaign, it is safe to say that those waters are our waters.
Let's be honest here. A PC only makes sense if there is more surface storage. "Surface storage" is the ambiguous way of saying "dam." That means, at the very least, an enlarged Shasta Dam that would eat up a protected section of the McCloud River in addition to parts of the Upper Sacramento River, Pit River and Squaw Creek (the rivers and creeks that flow into the existing Shasta Reservoir).
If you sign onto the PC, you are endorsing river destruction.
I, for one, am tired of the false choices being put forward. The Farms/Fish and Fish/People debates are contrived and deceptive.
The Delta exports don't provide the drinking water for 26M Californians, as is continuously repeated (even duping the good folks at my local public radio station). Sure, they provide some water, but not all of it and there are other options to provide drinking water. The PC is about one thing. it is about agricultural water use. I'm tired of hearing the only way to water our fields is to take the water from the Delta or build the PC. America, literally, was built by inventive people, entrepreneurs, people constantly looking for a better mouse trap. It's time we employ that same spirit of problem solving to our water future instead of looking back to 20th Century solutions. We know the true costs of dam construction now in the precipitous decline of our salmon fisheries. We don't have any excuses. Shouldn't we pursue every other avenue before we head down the path towards more river destruction and more dead salmon?
Let's also be honest about the PC's potential. It COULD be run well and it could reduce the negative impacts of Delta pumping. The problem is that with water in California the potential for good is often overwhelmed by the political necessities of harmful decisions. If the PC is built, water WILL be shipped south at times that more fresh water is needed in the Delta. It will happen and if you think otherwise, well, I have a great investment opportunity for you with Madoff Investments.
The overwhelming, crushing weight of history says that the PC will further harm California's rivers and our fish.
It is time for more honesty in our Delta discussions. Those coming out in favor of the PC need to follow that idea all the way upstream where it leads to the wet, hard concrete of new dams and new legacies of river destruction.
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