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16 CapitalPress.com October 28, 2016 Subscribe to our weekly California email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters California Sites proposal gains momentum as it prepares to seek bond funds By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press MAXWELL, Calif. — Backers of the proposed Sites Reservoir west of here be- lieve they have plenty of mo- mentum going into next year’s application period for Proposi- tion 1 water bond funds. The number of agencies signed on to participate in the project has grown from 14 to 34, including from the San Francisco Bay area and San Joaquin Valley, said Jim Wat- son, general manager of the Sites Authority. The Legislature also recent- ly passed Assembly Bill 2553, a bipartisan measure that will give flexibility in construc- tion methods to help speed the project. “With what we’ve put to- gether now, we are on track to making the Sites Reservoir a re- ality,” said Assemblyman James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, who authored the bill. The $3.6 billion Sites Res- ervoir project is one of several around the state that have been identified for potential funding under Proposition 1, the $7.5 billion water bond approved by voters in 2014. The bond sets aside $2.7 billion for large stor- Tim Hearden/Capital Press Assemblyman James Gallagher, left, and Colusa County Supervisor Kim Vann discuss the Sites Res- ervoir proposal during an Oct. 21 presentation in Maxwell, Calif. The Sites project will apply next year for Proposition 1 water bond funds. age projects. The California Water Com- mission is set to take applica- tions from projects in the first half of 2017, determine the eli- gibility of projects late next year and determine funding in the spring of 2018, according to the agency’s website. Language in the initiative had called for the commission to hand out money as early as this December. But an initial time- line set out by the commission called for projects to be funded as late as 2019, Watson said. “In May, we supported the commission’s decision to ac- celerate the schedule, and they pulled a year off the schedule,” he said. “We believe it’s critical that these projects move for- ward.” Another project expected to seek funding is the $2.5 billion Temperance Flat Reservoir near Fresno, for which the newly formed San Joaquin Valley Wa- ter Infrastructure Authority has begun planning its application. The bond tasks the water commission with funding the public-benefit portion of storage projects, which could include flood protection, ecosystem restoration, recreation or water quality benefits. Local agencies that would benefit from addi- tional water would need to part- ly fund projects. Both the Sites and Temper- ance Flat projects would be aid- ed by the passage of AB 2553, which will allow several steps in construction, such as design- ing and building, to happen concurrently. The bill passed 78-2 in the Assembly and 36-1 in the Sen- ate and was signed by Gov. Jer- ry Brown. “We don’t agree on every- thing,” said state Sen. Jim Niel- sen, R-Gerber, referring to the governor. “We’re fighting over the tunnels. But we agree on this.” Brown also proposes build- ing twin water tunnels to trans- port water south from the Sac- ramento River. Planning for Sites has had a significant head start over oth- er projects. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the state De- partment of Water Resources and other agencies have been studying the workability of the planned 1.8 million acre-foot reservoir since before the CAL- FED Bay-Delta Program’s re- cord of decision in 2000 listed Sites as a potential project. A joint powers authority was formed in 2009 and has been gathering commitments from those that would bene- fit from the additional water supply. The Sites Authority re- cently opened a new office in Maxwell and launched a new information website. The moves follow a DWR report last year that Sites could provide as much as 900,000 acre-feet of additional water storage during drought years. An acre-foot is enough water to serve a household for a year. Rancher Mary Wells, whose 500-acre property is in the center of the proposed reservoir in western Colusa and Glenn counties, supports the project because she under- stands the need for additional water storage, she said. She also farms rice and almonds near Maxwell and could ben- efit from the project. “This project is different because it will have a whole different impact on the locals,” Wells said, noting that plans call for Sites to be built by lo- cal companies. She credits the authority for dealing directly with affected landowners. Wells touts what propo- nents see as the project’s en- vironmental benefits, as up to half of its stored water will be dedicated to increasing Sacra- mento River flows to improve water quality in the Sacramen- to-San Joaquin River Delta at certain times of the year. “The world has changed,” she said. “California has changed. As much as farming, we deal with the environment.” Walnut harvest resumes after rain drenches N. California By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press 44-4/#4N LOS MOLINOS, Calif. — Growers who rushed to harvest as many walnuts as they could before the mid-October rains drenched Northern California are now slowly returning to work. Farms got an early start on harvesting an anticipated 670,000-ton walnut crop by using ethephon to hasten hull split, which produces lighter kernels, said Rick Buchner, a University of California Coop- erative Extension farm advisor in Red Bluff. Buchner said he hadn’t yet heard of any damage from the storms, which dumped nearly an inch of rain on the area Oct. 14-17. Some growers were waiting a day or two to let their orchard floors dry before re- suming harvest, he said. “It was just a matter of being under the right cloud,” he said, noting that some orchards got wetter than others. “The part that’s unknown is the quality — how much they can actually take from the or- chard and put in the bank,” Buchner said of the harvest. “Anything that’s light and doesn’t have a hull in it will be separated out.” Bruce Lindauer, owner of Lindauer Farm Management near Los Molinos, said the quality of his walnuts has been good. He said he’s heard of some growers kicking out 10 percent of their crop because of sunburn damage. “I’m not kicking out that much,” he said. “My yield is actually up. I’m just doing Howards now, but my Hartleys were up at least 15 percent.” Growers were accelerating their harvests to get the lighter kernels that walnuts natural- ly have just before hull split. Lighter kernels earn a higher premium, which is important as the average price per pound to the grower has dropped from about $2.05 in 2013 to about 85 cents. Buchner and other advisers have been offering growers tips on producing higher-quality kernels, such as not watering too much or too little, prevent- ing defoliation by guarding against leaf-feeding insects and managing sunburn with kaolin particle films. Sunburn was a problem for some growers this summer, as temperatures that soared to near 110 degrees in the Central Val- ley for several days in late July affected numerous crops. The harvest’s first work stoppage came on Oct. 2, when the first storm of the new water year spritzed Red Bluff with one-third of an inch of rain.
