January 29, 2016
CapitalPress.com
9
California
Subscribe to our weekly California email
newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters
Water board raises water reporting requirements
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
SACRAMENTO — Cit-
ing an emergency because of
the drought, the state’s water
board has ramped up reporting
requirements for California’s
roughly 12,000 landowners and
users who have rights to divert
water from nearby streams.
The regulations require an-
nual reporting of water diver-
sions rather than reporting once
every three years, as previous
law required of senior right
holders. Those who divert more
than 10 acre-feet of water per
year must also measure their
diversions.
The new rules adopted by
the State Water Resources Con-
trol Board cover all surface
water diversions, including
those under pre-1914 and ripar-
ian water rights. State officials
say the aim of the new rules is
to provide more accurate and
timely information on water
use in California.
“Knowing when, where
and how much water is being
used is essential to managing
the system fairly for all,” board
chairwoman Felicia Mar-
cus said in prepared remarks.
“We’ve historically not had
a complete picture, and these
past two years have made it
even more essential to take this
common-sense move.”
The regulations provide for
phasing in requirements for in-
stalling measurement devices
and a tiered approach to accu-
racy and recording frequency
standards, all based on the size
of the diversion, a board news
release explained.
For instance, large divert-
ers with a claimed right to take
1,000 acre-feet of water or
more per year must have a mea-
suring device in place by Jan. 1,
2017, while those with rights
for 100 acre-feet or more have
until July 1, 2017, to install the
devices. Those with rights to
divert 10 acre-feet must comply
by Jan. 1, 2018.
The California Cattlemen’s
Association had sought relief
for some ranchers in remote
areas and requested that wa-
termaster reports be deemed
to fulfill the monitoring and re-
porting requirements.
However, the board decid-
ed that landowners served by a
watermaster must nonetheless
meet reporting and measuring
requirements individually.
The board did away with
an exemption for landowners
who deemed previous measur-
ing requirements “not locally
cost-effective” — which about
70 percent of diverters claimed,
according to state officials.
Failure to comply with the new
regulations could bring fines of
up to $500 per day, according to
the board.
The emergency regula-
tions — which take effect im-
mediately — were required
by Senate Bill 88, which was
passed as trailer language in
the 2015-16 state budget. The
bill, authored by the Senate
Committee on Budget and Fis-
cal Review, passed in June on
mostly party-line votes — 52-
28 in the Assembly and 24-14
in the Senate.
The rules were adopted
Jan. 19 after minor revisions
were made following a Dec. 17
workshop with affected parties,
including representatives from
Researchers test nonlethal tools to protect livestock from predators
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
HOPLAND, Calif. — Re-
searchers are testing nonlethal
ways to ward off the coyotes,
mountain lions, bears and oth-
er wildlife that prey on new-
born lambs during the winter.
The University of Califor-
nia’s Hopland Research and
Extension Center maintains a
flock of about 500 sheep for
shearing workshops and re-
search projects, and winter is
lambing season. In some years,
the center has lost as many as
15 percent of its lambs to pred-
ators.
The center is now enduring
its first winter under a new pol-
icy of minimizing the killing
of coyotes and other wildlife,
opting instead to use such tools
as guard dogs, fencing, pasture
rotation and motion-sensor
lights to deter carnivores.
The practices seemed to
work last spring and summer,
as the center saw decreases
in both the number of sheep
killed by predators and the
Courtesy of UC Regents
A sheep lounges in the grass at the University of California’s
Hopland Research and Extension Center in Hopland, Calif. The
center is testing nonlethal ways to prevent predators from attacking
lambs.
number of coyotes taken, di-
rector Kimberly Rodrigues
said. But this winter is the big
test, she said.
“It’s a really important
time for the university to do
this kind of research and to
say what’s economically rea-
sonable and feasible,” said Ro-
drigues, a forest resources and
land-use expert who took over
at the center two years ago.
“First and foremost, I have to
make sure the team here has a
viable flock of sheep.”
The center — a one-time
sheep ranch that the UC pur-
chased in the early 1950s —
will serve as a laboratory in the
next few years for UC-Berke-
ley wildlife ecology professor
Justin Brashares and others to
study how the wildlife popula-
tion interacts with livestock.
The researchers will use
GPS collars on prey and pred-
ator species to gather detailed
information, and the center will
also test the fencing that sheep
producers have installed to
protect their flocks, Rodrigues
explained.
Gaining knowledge of how
to ward off predators could be
crucial as ranchers in Califor-
nia worry about the arrival of
gray wolves, which have state
and federal endangered-species
protections and cannot legally
be killed. The state is taking
comments on a wolf manage-
ment plan that includes a pro-
tocol for livestock producers
that recommends many of the
same measures that Hopland is
taking against other predators.
Rodrigues will lead an all-
day workshop for ranchers Feb.
3 in McArthur, Calif., to discuss
nonlethal tools for dealing with
wolves and other large preda-
tors. The 8:15 a.m. workshop
will be at the Inter-Mountain
Fair and Event Center, 44218
A St.
Rodrigues cautions that
wolves “are a whole other an-
imal” than other predators and
“strategies are going to have to
be a lot more aggressive.”
the CCA.
The rules come as state wa-
ter officials have said stop-di-
version orders for water right
holders could be more targeted
to specific watersheds this year
because regulators have learned
so much about water needs in
the past two years.
The board has yet to send
out letters warning right holders
of potential shutoffs — a move
that had been done by this point
last year — because recent
storms have raised hopes that
large-scale curtailment orders
won’t be necessary.
In other water-related devel-
opments:
• The state Department of
Water Resources has identified
21 groundwater basins and
sub-basins that are in “signif-
icant overdraft” because of
pumping, meaning they’ll have
to meet the earliest deadline —
Jan. 31, 2020 — for having sus-
tainability plans in place under
a package of groundwater bills
passed in 2014.
Overdraft impacts can in-
clude saltwater intrusion and
land subsidence in addition to
chronically lowered groundwa-
ter levels, the agency explained
in a news release.
• Recent storms have been
a boon to Lake Oroville, the
State Water Project’s main res-
ervoir. As of Jan. 21, the lake
was more than 47 feet higher
than its low point of elevation
— 649.5 feet above sea level
on Dec. 9, according to the
DWR.
The rapidly rising water
will enable officials to open
concrete boat ramps they ex-
tended to maintain access to the
lake during the drought.
California wildfires cause
$1 billion in insured losses
By JANIE HAR
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO —
Damage from two destructive
Northern California wildfires
that killed six and sent thou-
sands fleeing their homes
topped $1 billion in insured
losses, according to a prelim-
inary estimate by the state’s
insurance department.
The two fires started days
apart in September, burning
more than 200 square miles of
remote, mountainous territo-
ry north and northeast of San
Francisco.
The preliminary figure an-
nounced Monday includes $700
million from a fire centered
largely in Lake County that
killed four and destroyed nearly
2,000 structures, including some
1,300 homes. The so-called
Valley Fire is the third most de-
structive wildfire in state history,
based on the number of struc-
tures lost, and the fifth-costliest
based on insured losses.
Another fire in Amador and
Calaveras counties caused an
estimated $300 million in in-
sured losses. That fire killed two
people and destroyed more than
800 buildings, making it the sev-
enth-most destructive wildfire to
hit the state.
“A year-round fire season is
California’s new reality,” said
Insurance Commissioner Dave
Jones in a statement. “Residents
and communities, especially
those in high-risk fire areas,
must take precautions now be-
fore the next devastating wild-
fire strikes.”
This is the first damage es-
timate from the California De-
partment of Insurance for the
fires, compiled from insurance
claims filed through December.
A final figure is months away.
Insurers report they have
received 5,600 claims for com-
mercial and residential proper-
ties, vehicles and other items.
Lake County residents have
filed the bulk of claims.
GOT SQUIRRELS?
WE CAN HELP!
3 years’ experience controlling Belding ground squirrels
commercially using zinc phosphide and cabbage in
alfalfa and alfalfa / grass mixed fields.
Proven results.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Over 10,000 acres treated in the past 2 years.
Consistent 90% + kill/control rate.
Documented significant increase in yields.
Less worn parts on equipment and operators due to
less mounds.
Less dirt in bales due to less mounds.
Better quality tests on hay due to less dirt in bales.
Fast and effective applications.
We can treat up to 320 acres per day.
Fully self-contained.
We are currently looking for new clients
in the following areas:
Oregon – Harney Co. Klamath Co. Lake Co.
and Malheur Co.
California – Modoc Co. and Siskiyou Co.
dba
Acme Pest Control LLC
Contact:
Mark Owens
541.589.2379 acmepestllc@gmail.com
We have a short window of opportunity to effectively
control squirrels in the early spring before growth reaches
four inches. Don’t delay, call and make an appointment now!
Working under FIFRA sec. 24( c ) Special local needs label.
Licensed in Oregon and California.
5-7/#6
5-7/#14