Agriculture Daily News July 10

Water:

 

*California's water management must adapt to climate change -- Despite the debate on dams, some leaders are already looking to shift the focus from old strategies to new policies that work under our changing climate. This session Assembly Member Krekorian introduced AB 2153 and Assembly Members Laird and Feuer introduced AB 2175. Both measures would significantly increased water efficiency in the state. AB 2175 is now in the Senate, and hopefully will move to the Governor's desk. AB 2153, unfortunately, did not move passed the Assembly this year. Capitol Weekly 7/10/08

 

In San Francisco, Mapping Out a Trail on the Water -- The nation's inventory of recreational water trails is about to expand. In 2005, the California State Legislature sanctioned a plan for San Francisco Bay that was proposed by boating enthusiasts. Last fall, the Bay Conservation and Development Commission handed its vision off to the California Coastal Conservancy for implementation. Cities, counties and agencies ranging from the National Park Service to the East Bay Regional Park Service have plans to participate. NY Times 7/7/08

 

U.S. proposes to put smelt on endangered list -- The delta smelt, a tiny but important fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, could officially become "endangered" under a proposal announced Wednesday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Smelt are an indicator of the delta's health, and nearly 750,000 acres of farmland and 25 million people from the Bay Area to Central and Southern California rely on water from the delta. SF Chronicle 7/10/08

 

Parks and forests:

 

*California fire forces 10,000 to evacuate -- Authorities ordered more than 10,000 residents of Paradise, California, to leave their homes on Wednesday as a stubborn wildfire threatened to jump a river and spread into town where a blaze destroyed 74 homes in June. The so-called Butte Lightning Complex fire near Paradise, 86 miles (138 km) north of Sacramento, is one of more than 300 wildfires burning across California after lightning storms swept across the state last month sparking blazes in wilderness areas thick with bone-dry brush and trees. Reuters 7/10/08

 

Maritime chaparral fuels more than fire in Big Sur -- A majestic landscape and homes aren't the only things on fire in Big Sur: Angry local property owners, who have long chafed at the authority of the California Coastal Commission, contend that state rules protecting maritime chaparral have placed homeowners at risk and exacerbated the fire danger. The familiar chaparral--brushy thickets that thrive along the foggy coast between Santa Barbara and southern Mendocino County--is prime fuel for fires. Capitol Weekly 7/10/08

 

With Pride, Californians Step Up to Fight Fires -- While the few cities in this county have paid firefighters, in the small communities that dot this region, fires are fought mostly by trained volunteers.  To fight the 123 fires that have been burning over 41,000 thickly wooded, mountainous acres, there was only one helicopter, no air tanker with fire retardant and no one tending to 17 of the fires. When the lightning fires struck in June, Mr. Acker said, "The entire governmental system broke down; we had to rely on ourselves and our neighbors." NY Times 7/7/08

 

Agriculture:

 

*Farms May Vanish, but Their Festivals Survive -- From the Garlic Festival this month in Gilroy, Calif., which attracts more than 100,000 people, to the small Pear Fair, also this month, in Courtland, Calif., it is the season of the agricultural fair. The tradition hangs on, even as sprawl swallows up orchards. In Patterson, "the apricot capital of the world," the acreage devoted to apricots is dwindling and farmers blame the influx of dried apricots from Turkey. NY Times 7/9/08

 

Food and nutrition:

 

Students nationwide feel lunchtime pinch -- Around the country, school districts have been raising school lunch prices due to increased food, fuel, labor and other costs. The increases have been noticed in Washington, where a hearing was held Wednesday before the House Education and Labor Committee, chaired by Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez. Inside Bay Area 7/10/08

 

Food banks besieged by hard-hit families -- The Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties has distributed 3.4 million more pounds of food this year than last as demand for help continues to rise. With requests for free food up by as much as 20 percent at some food banks, the California Department of Social Services has committed the remaining $1 million from the 2007 citrus freeze relief fund to help meet the increased need. SJ Mercury 7/10/08

 

Labor and immigration:

 

*S.F. working on protocol for teen illegals -- In the wake of a national firestorm over the city's practices, Juvenile Probation Chief William Siffermann told the little-known commission about how the city is developing a protocol to surrender underage Hondurans caught dealing crack on the streets of San Francisco over to the federal authorities if they are here illegally. SF Chronicle 7/10/08