Water in California has always presented unique challenges. Along with these challenges come opportunities for those with enough leadership, vision, courage and determination to conquer them. Our forefathers recognized this reality and helped create a fertile paradise, the world’s bread basket, when they rose to the challenge of harnessing and managing water in a way that protected the environment and developed irrigated agriculture in California’s Great Valley. Today, our water leaders have […]
Environment
Lawsuit Forces Reckoning on Groundwater Authorities
In a suit listing dozens of defendants, including Groundwater Sustainability Agencies for the Oakdale Irrigation District, Stanislaus County, and the cities of Stockton, Lodi, and Manteca, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) has alleged that in adopting their Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP), the various agencies and authorities involved failed to follow procedures required by California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) which was signed into law September 16, 2014. More critically, […]
Coronavirus? Just Chase it Around Town
Imagine some of the most vulnerable residents in your town being chased from place to place during a pandemic. Imagine that their only access to hygiene is public restrooms, back alleys, and the great outdoors. Fanciful as it may sound, that’s exactly the case with members of Modesto’s homeless population who didn’t make it into the county’s new 182 bed shelter on 9th and D Streets in Modesto. When the […]
Another OID Water Scheme Revealed
At least three of Oakdale Irrigation District’s (OID) directors seemed reluctant to pursue local water sales during their March 3 meeting. Though they had committed to develop a plan for delivering water to local buyers outside the district the last July, directors Herman Doornenbal, Brad DeBoer, and Tom Orvis seemed to be having second thoughts about following through on the program. When audience members reminded the board some had spent […]
OID: Still Gambling with Its Water Rights
Last July, the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) Board of Directors agreed to develop a five year plan to deliver water to farmers outside district boundaries but within its sphere of influence. Based on the board’s decision, several farmers who had petitioned for water began making good on their promises to provide infrastructure necessary for the deliveries. In some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent. Then, just last Tuesday, […]
Homeless: Time to Focus on Accountability
The sign on J Street reads, “Cruising Prohibited.” Below that, “Loitering Prohibited, 6pm to 6am.” Another warns, “This area is under video surveillance.” It’s very doubtful Alan Davis, the amputee across the street, ever reads the signs, even though he’d haunted downtown Modesto for months before being taken by volunteers to the Modesto Outdoor Emergency Shelter (MOES) last fall, where he had a tent, a bed, and routine checkups of […]
Del Puerto Canyon: The Birds, the Flowers, the Dam
Modesto’s Jim Gain, in addition to being among the Valley’s most accomplished naturalists, is also one of our finest wildlife and nature photographers. A member of the Stanislaus Audubon Society’s Board of Directors, Gain has been documenting bird life in the Valley for over thirty years. Over the decades, he’s been especially drawn to Del Puerto Canyon, in part because its diverse habitats almost always offer wonder, and frequently produce […]
Del Puerto Canyon: Then and Now, a Controversy
Nestled among the rolling hills of Northern California’s Diablo Range, along the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley, lies the narrow entrance to a unique canyon long known for its geological, biological, archaeological and paleontological significance. Of late, however, Del Puerto Canyon is becoming better known for some very fast- tracked and heretofore little-known plans to build a 260 foot high dam and reservoir in an area with unstable […]
Will Mistletoe Destroy Modesto’s Urban Forest?
Mayor Ted Brandvold wants more money to hire police officers and most agree our police force is understaffed. Nonetheless, many concerned citizens fear Brandvold will divert funds and continue to neglect Modesto’s urban forest, once a symbol of pride that has now become a financial liability. With her typical keen insight and concern for the city, Babette Wagner wonders whether the spread of destructive mistletoe will add even more costs […]
Draining the Last Great Aquifer: a Group Project
Environmentalists who had high hopes Gavin Newsom would lead the way to sustainable water use in the San Joaquin Valley are waking up to the knowledge that the new governor isn’t going to be any more effective than the old governor. Sustainability is just too big a lift. Even before Newsom took office, the terms of the water debate were morphing from “sustainability” to “voluntary agreements.” Not long after, sustainability […]