I’m yet another displaced Midwesterner lured West by notions of open space, unspoiled wildness, and boundless potential. All of my romantic notions were confirmed in my first job “out West” as a park ranger at Dinosaur National Monument. I had many incredible experiences as a park ranger – which I highly recommend to anyone – but one of the most educational was the chance to participate in recovering peregrine falcons. Peregrines are amazing creatures that dive for prey at speeds up to 200 miles/hour, making it the fastest animal on the planet. But peregrines were nearly wiped out by DDT poisoning in the middle of the last century, which weakened their egg shells so much that they would break during incubation, preventing the birds from reproducing. The rangers at Dinosaur helped sustain the struggling peregrine population by rappelling down to the falcons’ eyrie after the adults laid their eggs, removing the fragile eggs to a hatchery, and returning the teenage birds to the eyrie after they hatched for lessons in how to fly and survive from their parents. After being pushed to the brink of extinction, peregrines are now off the threatened species list, thanks to the concerted efforts of many people over many years.
In 2004, I was fortunate enough to join the dedicated staff of NRDC’s Water Program and to continue working to protect the special places and attributes that define the West. Dragging century-old western water policy into the 21st Century is a daunting challenge, but so was recovering from the celebration of DDT that caused Paul Muller to receive the Nobel Prize for its discovery in 1948. I can’t wait to show my children a San Joaquin River that runs red with salmon, a California where every backyard has a rain barrel and every bathroom has an ultra-low flow toilet, a Bay-Delta teeming with native fish and wildlife, and a Central Valley that rewards farmers for pursuing drought-tolerant farming practices and installing efficient irrigation technology.
Posted May 7, 2012 by Kate Poole in Living Sustainably, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
It seems only yesterday that Westlands Water District briefly stormed away from the Bay Delta Conservation Plan table when they were told that the days of diverting more water than the Bay-Delta estuary could support were over. Westlands announced in...continued→
Posted March 22, 2012 by Kate Poole in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Barbara Kingsolver makes me want to go to Mexico City. In a recent novel, she describes the floating gardens of Mexico City known as Xochimilco as: “…a mad maze of colors and cool water. Squash and cornfields, floral explosions, with...continued→
Posted March 2, 2012 by Kate Poole in Living Sustainably, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Today, the Ninth Circuit ruled, once again, that Westlands Water District and other junior Central Valley Project (CVP) water users in the San Joaquin Valley are only entitled to “surplus” water from California’s Bay-Delta, and are not entitled to flows...continued→
Posted January 24, 2012 by Kate Poole in U.S. Law and Policy
I recently came across this checklist for global warming deniers on Michael Campana’s post: Deny global warming. After global warming is determined to be real, deny that it's human caused. After it is determined to be human caused, deny that...continued→
Posted January 13, 2012 by Kate Poole in Reviving the World's Oceans, U.S. Law and Policy
Nothing creates trouble like basing major government initiatives on false information. Yesterday, the White House announced what it characterized as an “ambitious plan of government consolidation” to transfer the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), currently housed in the Department...continued→
Posted December 8, 2011 by Kate Poole in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, U.S. Law and Policy
Certain misguided members of Congress continued their baseless assault on America's bedrock environmental laws this week. Representative Doc Hastings, Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, held the first of several promised hearings taking aim at the Endangered Species Act. But not all...continued→
Posted October 31, 2011 by Kate Poole in Living Sustainably, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, U.S. Law and Policy
It’s shaping up to be a happy Halloween for California’s fishermen, boaters, birdwatchers, and drinkers of water – in other words, all of us who rely on a healthy Delta ecosystem. First, the Supreme Court today denied the Pacific Legal...continued→
Posted September 20, 2011 by Kate Poole in Living Sustainably, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
On Tuesday, Judge Wanger issued what is likely his final ruling in the struggle to protect California’s mighty streams and rivers from the destructive impacts of excessive water diversions. His 279-page decision is not a surprise in light of the...continued→
Posted May 29, 2011 by Kate Poole in Living Sustainably
Last week, Congressman Nunes introduced an eye-poppingly radical bill, H.R. 1837, which would: Eliminate a century-old requirement that the federal government follow state water law whenever possible; Overturn Endangered Species Act protections for the Bay-Delta and its imperiled fisheries; Abolish...continued→
Posted April 11, 2011 by Kate Poole in Living Sustainably, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
I recently stayed up far too late watching the Real Housewives of some city or another. It was like watching a slow-motion train wreck. While there were many opportunities to avert disaster, the players seemed to choose the wrong path...continued→
Posted March 3, 2011 by Kate Poole in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, U.S. Law and Policy
On March 1st, a group of Congressmen from the Central Valley of California wrote a letter to Interior Secretary Salazar complaining about the administration of the largest single block of contract water in the federal Central Valley Project – the...continued→
Posted December 14, 2010 by Kate Poole in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, U.S. Law and Policy
Today, Judge Wanger issued his long-awaited ruling on the legality of the Fish & Wildlife Service’s protections for threatened and endangered fish in the Delta. These protections, described in a 2008 biological opinion, were issued in response to the ecological...continued→
Posted December 1, 2010 by Kate Poole in Living Sustainably, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
We all love a good show, and the foot-stomping theatrics of Westlands and their close allies the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority have captured much of the attention of Bay-Delta watchers over the last week. But a more interesting...continued→
Posted November 23, 2010 by Kate Poole in Living Sustainably, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Predictability, stability, and the confidence that a large chunk of our water supplies (and the heart of California’s aquatic ecosystem) are more than one earthquake away from total collapse – that is what the Bay Delta Conservation Plan is likely...continued→
Posted November 18, 2010 by Kate Poole in Living Sustainably, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
A remarkable bit of honesty was committed earlier this week by representatives of the Westlands Water District. The Chief Deputy General Manager of Westlands, Jason Peltier, testified before an Assembly Committee that Westlands’ vision for salvaging the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan...continued→
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