Save your runoff -- create a rain garden

A rain garden uses rainwater before it goes to waste down the storm drain.

When you plant a rain garden, the harvest isn't so obvious. But it's everywhere. By creating berms and swales in your yard, you can imitate how nature itself captures rain. Instead of letting rainwater run off to the street, rain gardens encourage it to soak into the ground under your regular garden, building a reserve to help trees and bushes thrive. (Sacramento Bee - 02/01/2010)

Red Bluff urges fish hotel

Projects to improve areas along the river were presented Thursday during the second in a series of workshops about the loss of Lake Red Bluff.

The Red Bluff City Manager presented a project for River Park and the area around Red Bank Creek that would require removing the sand bar in front of River Park and dredging a channel to create a shallow spot for migrating fish to rest as they travel upstream something of a fish hotel. (Contra Costa Times - 11/21/2009)

Fate of water bond in hands of voters

Improvements in water delivery are needed in California's Central Valley. Voters have say in 2010.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Monday endorsed the $11 billion water bond included as part of the five-bill package approved by state legislators last week. The bill, if passed by voters one year from now, will fund major dam and canal projects to help the state combat serious drought conditions that have plagued the region since 2005. (San Francisco Examiner - 11/10/2009)

Legal action could stall Natomas levee repairs

Crews remove trees from an area that will expand the levee as part of the Natomas Levee improvement project.

Levee repairs in Sacramento's Natomas Basin face new legal and financial threats that could delay construction of the massive project. The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency is just weeks from awarding a $90 million construction contract for a key phase of the project. But that work depends on state matching funds, which have been bottled up by the state budget crisis. (Sacramento Bee - 03/09/2009)

Boaters, beware: Hunt is on for mussel invaders

Authorities are on the lookout for quagga and zebra mussels, invasive species known to hitchhike from one body of water to another by attaching themselves to boat trailers, hulls, engines and steering components. (Sacramento Bee - 07/03/2008)

Mining companies agree to pay $3 million for Lava Cap Mine cleanup

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California approved a $3 million settlement today between the U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, and settling defendants Newmont Capital Limited and Newmont Mining Corporation of Canada Limited to resolve liability at the Lava Cap Mine Superfund Site in Nevada County, Calif. (YubaNet.com - 02/25/2009)

Yolo Bypass sees flood of wildlife activity

There's a whole unique food web that happens out in the floodplain.

The Yolo Bypass is a migratory interchange for man and beast. That's especially so in a flood. "There's a whole unique food web that happens out in the floodplain," said Ted Sommer, a fisheries biologist and program manager at the Calif. Dept. of Water Resources. The flood triggered a bloom of tiny plants, called phytoplankton, which are food for tiny aquatic animals called zooplankton. These, in turn, create a rich buffet for fish. (Sacramento Bee - 02/04/2010)

Yolo Bypass sees flood of wildlife activity

There's a whole unique food web that happens out in the floodplain.

The Yolo Bypass is a migratory interchange for man and beast. That's especially so in a flood. "There's a whole unique food web that happens out in the floodplain," said Ted Sommer, a fisheries biologist and program manager at the Calif. Dept. of Water Resources. The flood triggered a bloom of tiny plants, called phytoplankton, which are food for tiny aquatic animals called zooplankton. These, in turn, create a rich buffet for fish. (Sacramento Bee - 02/04/2010)