Focus on Arts and Ecology

by Rachel Zwillinger, Water Policy Advisor, April - June 2021 Newsletter 

California is in the midst of a serious drought and the lack of water is impacting communities, farms and wildlife throughout the state. Unfortunately, poor planning by state and federal water management agencies has exacerbated the impacts on wildlife. Defenders of Wildlife is particularly concerned about endangered winter-run Chinook salmon, which spawn in the Sacramento River below Shasta Dam. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has released so much water for industrial agriculture that the reservoir is going to run out of cold water later this summer. The hot water that will be released instead is expected to kill more than 70% of winter-run eggs, pushing winter-run Chinook salmon closer to extinction. State water managers have also unnecessarily waived water quality protections for the San Francisco Bay-Delta, which will harm endangered Delta smelt and longfin smelt, and will subject Delta communities to unsafe waterways choked with harmful algal blooms. Defenders has been fighting these actions and is also working to modernize water management in California so that it better aligns with our new climate reality.

It’s not only fish that are feeling the heat. Limited water availability will reduce the amount of wetland habitat in California’s Central Valley, placing Pacific Flyway birds that migrate through the Valley at risk this winter. There may be insufficient food for the birds, and fewer wetlands could result in overcrowding and outbreaks of avian disease, as we’ve seen in recent dry years. Among other actions, Defenders is advocating for increased state funding to make water available for Central Valley wildlife refuges and other wetland habitats this year. Check out our new California Wetlands Story Map, and our California Wetlands Webinar recording, below, to learn more about the importance of wetlands and what Defenders is doing to protect them.

(Sources: Defenders of Wildlife)