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December 23, 2016 CapitalPress.com 9 California Obama approves $558M EcoFarm Conference to encourage diversity Subscribe to our weekly California email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters drought relief package By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press SACRAMENTO — Presi- dent Barack Obama’s approval of a compromise water re- sources bill that includes $558 million for California drought relief was met with cheers from growers and concerns among environmentalists. Obama said in a signing message that the bill, which also includes $170 million to address lead in the drinking water in Flint, Mich., advances vital projects to “restore wa- tersheds, improve waterways and flood control and improve drinking water infrastructure.” The bill generated contro- versy when Sen. Dianne Fein- stein, D-Calif., agreed with Republicans in the House of Representatives on language easing some restrictions on pumping from the Sacramen- to-San Joaquin River Delta and allowing the capture of more water during storms. Western Growers, a staunch advocate for the bill, asserted that its signing on Dec. 16 will bring aid to the businesses and individuals that have been dev- astated by drought and federal water cutbacks. The legislation “is the prod- uct of bipartisan, bicameral negotiations that provide tem- porary improvements to the operations of the Delta pump- ing plants while maintaining the integrity of the Endangered Species Act,” Tom Nassif, the group’s president and chief ex- ecutive officer, said in a state- ment. “With California’s winter rainy season already upon us, it (is) critical that we not pre- vent the reasonable diversion of all available runoff to stor- age,” he said. Nassif praised “three years of hard work” by Feinstein, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other members of the California delegation. But the environmental group Restore the Delta argued that Feinstein and McCarthy, R-Calif., “hijacked” the water resources bill with a last-min- ute “rider” at the request of San Joaquin Valley agricul- tural interests. The group sid- ed with Sen. Barbara Boxer, who last week called the rider a “devastating maneuver” and a “poison pill” designed to un- dermine the Endangered Spe- cies Act by changing restric- tions on the amount and time that water could be delivered to valley agricultural districts. In a letter urging Obama to veto the bill, Restore the Delta executive director Bar- bara Barrigan-Parilla said the rider “will worsen water qual- ity not only for San Francisco Bay-Delta fisheries, but for the hundreds of thousands of peo- ple who make up the Delta’s environmental justice commu- nities.” Obama said he expects wa- ter regulators to continue to operate within the Endangered Species Act’s constraints. “It is essential that it not be undermined by anyone who seeks to override that balance (between competing water needs) by misstating or incor- rectly reading the provisions” of the bill, the president said in his signing statement. He said he expects agencies to “assure that state water quality stan- dards are met.” The bill included funding authorization for 137 projects identified by Feinstein in a drought bill earlier this year. Included is authorization for the proposed Sites Reservoir, which will seek state Proposi- tion 1 bond funds next year. Among the bill’s short-term provisions is daily monitoring for fish near the pumps to al- low for more pumping when fish aren’t in danger, allowing agencies to capture more wa- ter during storms and requir- ing agencies to explain why pumping is reduced to lower levels than allowed by the bi- ological opinions for salmon and Delta smelt. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Ca- lif., a House Agriculture Com- mittee member, has praised the bill’s “iron-clad protections” for Northern California’s se- nior water rights as well as a provision assuring less senior northern water right holders that they would receive at least half their normal allocations even in droughts. The bill’s approval comes after two previous failed pro- posals, including last year, when months of meetings be- tween Feinstein and House Republicans couldn’t produce a compromise. By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press PACIFIC GROVE, Ca- lif. — Encouraging diversi- ty among growers as well as crops will be a theme of this winter’s 37th annual Eco- Farm Conference Jan. 25-28 at the Asilomar Conference Grounds. The Ecological Farming Association’s annual gather- ing will put a big emphasis on urban farming and en- couraging people from un- derrepresented communities to get involved in agricul- ture, spokeswoman Deborah Yashar said. With the theme “Cultivat- ing Diversity,” the conference will include keynote speakers such as Malik Kenyatta Ya- kini, who leads the Detroit Black Community Food Secu- rity Network, who will speak about “food justice,” organiz- ers said. Crop diversity will also be covered, as keynote speaker Matthew Dillon of Emeryville, Calif.-based Clif Bar and Co. will discuss a company initia- tive called “Seed Matters.” “Diversity means lots of things,” Yashar said. “We’re making a point to encompass diversity in agriculture in not just plants and bugs but peo- ple, too. ... We’ll be talking about farmworkers and bring- ing them in to speak.” Among the dozens of work- shops offered will be ones with the titles “Growing the Next Generation of Farmers of Col- or” “Fair Food: Exploring the Courtesy of Trav Williams/Broken Banjo Photography Bus tour participants examine the soil and irrigation system at a strawberry farm on the Central Cali- fornia coast as part of last year’s EcoFarm Conference in Pacific Grove, Calif. Registration is open for the 2017 conference, which is Jan. 25-28. Online EcoFarm Conference: https:// eco-farm.org/conference Inequities and Racial Issues Inherent in the Farming Move- ment,” and “Out Here: Queer Farmers in the U.S.” One of the main points will be encouraging young people in urban settings to consider farming, Yashar said. “They are some of the farmers of tomorrow — our youth and people in urban areas who don’t necessarily have access to the expensive land in California,” she said. “That’s one of the things that makes EcoFarm unique. It’s not just one sector.” Farmers, marketers, ac- tivists, educators and others attend the yearly conference, one of the West’s largest for organic and environmentally conscious producers. While the first gathering drew only about 50 people, about 2,000 now attend the conference and it has grown every year, organizers say. Preceding the conference’s main schedule will be the an- nual bus tour of organic agri- culture in the Salinas Valley, a two-day course on “Sus- tainable Business Skills for Sustainable Agriculture” and a symposium on creating new vegetable varieties to fill sea- sonal gaps. The Ecological Farming Association, or EcoFarm, is a nonprofit educational or- ganization founded in 1981. The group gets funding through various activities and projects, donations, grants, memberships and business sponsorships, according to its website. At the heart of the group’s calendar is the conference, which also features tastings of local wine and beer, live en- tertainment and an exhibitor marketplace. Delta fixes a key requirement for Proposition 1 reservoir funds By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press SACRAMENTO — Final ground rules for applying for Proposition 1 wa- ter bond funds for large storage proj- ects place a big emphasis on how much they’ll help the beleaguered Sacramen- to-San Joaquin River Delta. The California Water Commission on Dec. 14 adopted regulations for handing out the $2.7 billion for reservoirs and oth- er storage projects set aside in the $7.5 billion ballot measure approved by voters in 2014. The commission made few chang- es from a final draft sent out for public comment in late November, assuring that projects will be graded largely on their role in improving flows and water quality in the Delta. At least half of the bond funds given to a project would need to go toward eco- system improvements directly related to the Delta, commission spokesman Chris Orrock says. “We’re excited that we got these reg- ulations adopted when we did,” Orrock said after the commission’s 8-0 vote, not- ing the panel faced a statutory deadline of Dec. 15. The guidelines have been sent to the state Office of Administrative Law, which has 30 days to approve them and make them official. The next step for the water commis- sion will be to start accepting applications for funding, which it will do in the first half of 2017. The panel will determine the eligibility of projects and prioritize them late next year and likely determine funding sometime in 2018, Orrock said. The commission’s emphasis on help- ing the Delta comes as the 1,150-square- mile labyrinth of islands and shallow waterways faces a slew of environmental problems, including pollution, silting, invasive plant species and saltwater in- trusion. Projects can benefit the Delta by pro- viding more cold water that would aid the salmon run while flushing out pollutants and intruding saltwater, Orrock has said. Among anticipated suitors are backers of the proposed $3.6 billion Sites Reser- voir near Maxwell, who have lined up 34 agency participants, and supporters of the proposed $2.5 billion Temperance Flat Reservoir near Fresno. 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