Since October 2011, nearly all of California is “missing” at least a year’s worth of rainfall. Parts of the southern Sierra Nevada and Los Angeles basin are missing over two year’s worth.

The Bring Back the Natives/More Fish program invests in conservation activities that restore, protect, and enhance native populations of sensitive or listed fish species across the United States, especially in areas on or adjacent to federal agency lands. The program emphasizes coordination between private landowners and federal agencies, tribes, corporations, and states to improve the ecosystem functions and health of watersheds. The end result is conservation of aquatic ecosystems, increase of in-stream flows, and partnerships that benefit native fish species throughout the U.S. This funding opportunity also provides grants to implement the goals of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan (www.fishhabitat.org).

Priority Landscapes and Species include: Western native trout and char, including California Golden trout, Eagle Lake Rainbow trout, Lahontan, Rio Grande, Yellowstone, Colorado and Westslope Cutthroat trout, Bull trout, Apache trout and Gila trout.

Since 1991, over 400 projects have been supported through Bring Back the Natives/More Fish. A total of $20 million in NFWF funds has leveraged an additional $51 million in matching contributions for this program.

Click here for more information.

This report details the status and trends within 28 separate species and subspecies of trout and char that are native to the U.S. Trout naturally occur in 38 of the 50 United States. Of 28 native trout species and subspecies, three are extinct and six are listed as Threatened or Endangered. Excluding the extinct trout, 52 percent (13 of 25) occupy less than 25 percent of their historical habitat and are at high risk from at least one major threat. All native trout face some level of risk. Click here for the full study.

This week’s Water Plan eNews includes:

• Turf and toilet replacement rebates are available to California homeowners
• Symposium offers the latest research for dealing with climate change in California
• Series of water audit workshops begins this month in Thousand Oaks
• Asking what might happen if California’s drought continues for another year
• Direct potable reuse seminar on tap next month in Berkeley
• Applications being accepted for $31 million in restoration project funding
• California Water Commission heading to Los Angeles for next week’s meeting

Proposition 1 includes $372,500,000 to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to fund multi-benefit ecosystem and watershed protection and restoration projects. CDFW will distribute these funds on a competitive basis through two grant programs, collectively referred to as the Proposition 1 Restoration Grant Programs. The Watershed Restoration Grant Program ($285,000,000) will focus on watershed restoration and protection projects of statewide importance outside of the Delta. The Delta Water Quality and Ecosystem Restoration Grant Program ($87,500,000) will focus on water quality, ecosystem restoration and fish protection facilities that benefit the Delta. Click here for Solicitation Notice.

A new NASA study has concluded California accumulated a debt of about 20 inches of precipitation between 2012 and 2015 – the average amount expected to fall in the state in a single year. The deficit was driven primarily by a lack of air currents moving inland from the Pacific Ocean that are rich in water vapor.

Click here for full article.

This week’s Water Plan eNews includes:

• Efficient landscape ordinance to be discussed during webinar next week
• Questions about draft UWMP guidebook will be answered at public meeting
• Two workshops scheduled to answer agricultural water management plan questions
• Contamination of California’s groundwater detailed in USGS report
• DWR mapping tool open for public comment through August 28
• One Water Leadership Summit to be held this month in San Francisco
• Coastal commission posts final draft of sea level policy document

Here is an essay written by the late Farrell Cunningham in 2005, originally published in ‘News From Native California‘, in 2005.

Below is an obituary written for Farrell by Jane Braxton Little, of Greenville.

When the Mountain Maidu formed the Maidu Summit Consortium in 2002, Farrell Cunningham was an obvious choice for chairman. He had focused his adult life on learning his native culture, especially the relationships among plants and animals and the sacred connections throughout the natural world. At 26, he was the tribe’s most fluent speaker of Mountain Maidu. Cunningham threw himself into writing a land management plan to present to the Stewardship Council as part of the consortium’s application for title to Humbug Valley. The document follows the Maidu people from the time of Worldmaker’s creations through the first “white people” in Humbug Valley to an overview of Maidu traditional ecology. It includes plans for a Maidu culture interpretive center. To bolster the Maidu case, Cunningham met with Stewardship Council and agency officials—in Sacramento or Oakland when he had to, but as often as possible on the ground in Humbug Valley. His commitment to the effort to return Humbug Valley to Maidu people was absolute, said Ric Notini, the Stewardship Council’s director of land conservation. Cunningham died of natural causes in August at his home in Susanville. He was 37. His responsibility as Maidu Summit chairman included a series of deliberate steps that placed other people, both within and outside the organization, to carry out his vision, said Ken Holbrook, the consortium’s executive director: “Farrell did everything he could to put us in a position to succeed. We know that nothing the Maidu Summit Consortium is today could have been without him. What we are doing is a result of his lifelong passion and pursuit of authentic ideas.”

 

Download the essay here:

For thousands of years American Indians lived in equilibrium on traditional lands, adapting to seasons and landscapes. This issue of Water Resources IMPACT highlights the benefits and importance of incorporating the knowledge and concerns of First Peoples into water resources planning. The feature articles range from a discussion of the traditional knowledge First Peoples can offer water managers today, to the fact that many tribes still have not had their water rights completely quantified, leaving them without a legally secure source of water. All of the authors affirm that authentically engaging and collaborating with native peoples is good for the tribes and good for water managers. Click here for Water Resources IMPACT Issue.

This symposium will discuss strategies to secure and enhance carbon storage on natural and working lands, including farms, rangelands, forests and wetlands throughout California. Topics include protecting and managing land to minimize greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestration rates and opportunities to develop synergies that promote resource stewardship and contribute to greenhouse gas emission reductions in other sectors. Click here for meeting notice and details.