- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
U.S. Forest Service regional forester Randy Moore said the agency and its collaborators take the quality of high Sierra water seriously, according to an op-ed article that ran in the Sacramento Bee over the weekend.
The op-ed came after a May 1 Sac Bee editorial encouraging the Forest Service to limit grazing to lower elevations.
Moore wrote that the Forest Service is working with the State Water Resources Control Board to develop a water quality management plan for California national forests. The plan will establish best-management...- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A UC Davis emergency room doctor and the director of the UC Davis Tahoe Research Center have launched a publicity campaign calling for cattle grazing to be suspended in the high Sierra, according to a story in Sunday's Sacramento Bee.
The article, billed as a "Bee exclusive" and written by Tom Knudson, said the doctor, an avid backpacker, took hundreds of water samples from pristine streams and lakes in the Sierras. He found that high-elevation water bodies on land managed by the Forest Service had bacterial contamination high enough to sicken hikers with Giardia, E. coli and other diseases. However, at high elevations in Yosemite and...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The idea was dropped after grower Andy Wilson raised objections to the plan saying the reclaimed water contains trace amounts of boron and sodium, which could accumulate in the soil and eventually kill trees. Instead, the city will sponsor a 10- to 15-year UC Riverside study to learn how boron affects trees and fruit.
According to the article, written by David Danelski, UCR soil...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
"There are no headline-grabbing fights, just thoughtful problem solving between partners," wrote Dan Haifley, the executive director of O'Neill Sea Odyssey, a non-profit organization that provides a free education course to fourth to sixth-grades students.
In his article, Haifley explained that Central Coast farmers and environmentalists formed a partnership in 1999 to improve the...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Economic woes have been widely publicized in recent months, so they've made lots of appearances in this news blog. Today, we interrupt this trend to bring a tidbit of good news. The USDA announced with a press release yesterday it will award a $400,000 grant to UC Riverside for water quality research.
The award is administered through the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service’s National Research Initiative Water and Watershed competitive grants program.
The funds going to UC Riverside will develop cost-efficient treatment strategies that harness natural ways to eliminate bacterial pathogens...