Agriculture Daily News 12/17

The Senate approved a $286 billion farm bill Friday that remains a work in progress and now must reconcile its bill with one the House passed in July. One senator described the passed bill as a victory for the agriculture status quo. The bill includes between $2.2 billion and $2.5 billion for fruits and vegetables,  four or five times the amount provided in 2002. Sacramento Bee 12/16/07

 

Pushing harder to prevent deadly wildfires from sweeping through the East Bay hills, operators of regional parks are preparing to expand and revamp plans to reduce fire-prone vegetation such as eucalyptus and Monterey pine trees. The still-developing plan for 11 parks in the hills on the border of Contra Costa and Alameda counties will focus heavily on converting dense forests of non-native trees such as eucalyptus to native oak and making bay trees and bunch grasses less prone to fuel fires. CC Times 12/17/07

 

The number of dedicated burn units, medical units where severe burns are treated,  in the United States has dropped from 132 in 2004 to 127 in 2007, and the number of beds has fallen from 1,897 to 1,820 during that time period. But a burn unit in San Francisco, the Bothin Center, is bucking that trend with a planned expansion from 10 to 14 beds, with a doubling of the outpatient section. CC Times 12/17/07

 

Backers of a bond that would build new dams and possibly a peripheral canal around the Delta have submitted four versions of their proposals to the attorney general, the first step to circulating it in preparation for a November ballot fight. Bankrolled by the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Farm Bureau Federation, Western Growers and the Building Industry Association, the proposals are all taken from ideas contained within legislation pushed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto. Record Net 12/15/07

 

Two reservoirs that supply drinking water to parts of eastern and central Los Angeles have been shut down and will be drained because a rare sunlight-fueled chemical reaction tainted them with high levels of a chemical that can lead to cancer, utility officials said Friday. CC Times 12/17/07

 

A measure set to restore the San Joaquin River below Friant Dam has a $500 million federal price tag. Lawmakers must offset, through either increased revenue or decreased spending, about half of this under budget rules written by House Democrats. They remain stymied, though, on precisely how to account for the ambitious river fix. Sacramento Bee 12/16/07

 

Sacramento River water will be diverted to the city of Folsom under a deal approved Friday by shareholders in the Natomas Central Mutual Water Company. The agreement calls for the city of Folsom to pay roughly $4,000 an acre-foot for the water, with costs to be reimbursed by landowners seeking to develop the property. Measure W, passed by Folsom citizens in 2004, requires the city to find a new water source for development south of Highway 50. Sacramento Bee 12/15/07

 

This month marks the beginning of a yearlong celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the establishment of Muir Woods as a national monument. U.S. Rep. William Kent, the heir to a Chicago meat-packing fortune, had purchased what was then the last stand of old-growth redwoods in the Bay Area. He donated it to the federal government just as a local water company was preparing to condemn it and build a dam. SF Chronicle 12/17/07

 

The Araujo Dam Fish Passage and Water Quality Improvement Project will retire the dam in Shasta because it was impeding fish passage and impairing water quality. Phase 2 of the project, which will consist of installing seven miles of piping for earthen irrigation ditches, is out for bid right now and should be completed by the April 2008 irrigation season.  Phase 1 of the project was just completed with the removal of the cement structure, installation of a pumping station, building of a new boulder weir and insertion of a fish screen. Siskiyou Daily News 12/14/07

 

Cattle rustling, or the theft of livestock, is on the rise. From May to November, 807 head of cattle and calves were reported missing or stolen in California, according to the state. That compares with 602 for the same period last year. Over the past 10 years, more than 16,000 head of cattle and calves valued at more than $9 million have been reported missing and stolen from California farms and ranches, according to the livestock bureau. SF Chronicle 12/16/07

 

After weeks of roller-coaster negotiations, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez have come to an agreement on a landmark overhaul of health care in California, sources close to each of them said Friday. The state Assembly is expected to consider the bill next week, but it is not clear when - or even if - the state Senate will do the same as pressure mounts to sideline the sweeping health care measure in the face of the state's mounting fiscal problems. SF Chronicle 12/15/07