Mendocino County Today: Thursday, Apr 2, 2015

• Fan Advisory
• State Water Measures
• Sheriff Wages
• City Council Agenda
• Reject the Distillery
• Catch of the Day
• Blood of Eden
• KZYX Elections
• Fair Testing
• Civilized Rehabilitation
• Bolton Op-ed
• Extinction Progress
• Buland
• Young Authors

FROST FAN ADVISORY, AGAIN

Frost (fan) advisory remains in effect from 3 — 8 am Thursday. Low temperatures, mid 30s. Locations include Gasquet, Orleans, Garberville and Anderson Valley. (National Weather Service)

GOVERNOR BROWN DIRECTS FIRST EVER STATEWIDE MANDATORY WATER REDUCTIONS

4-1-2015, SACRAMENTO — Following the lowest snowpack ever recorded and with no end to the drought in sight, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced actions that will save water, increase enforcement to prevent wasteful water use, streamline the state's drought response and invest in new technologies that will make California more drought resilient.

"Today we are standing on dry grass where there should be five feet of snow. This historic drought demands unprecedented action," said Governor Brown. "Therefore, I'm issuing an executive order mandating substantial water reductions across our state. As Californians, we must pull together and save water in every way possible."

High resolution photos of previous snow surveys are available here.

For more than two years, the state's experts have been managing water resources to ensure that the state survives this drought and is better prepared for the next one. Last year, the Governor proclaimed a drought state of emergency. The state has taken steps to make sure that water is available for human health and safety, growing food, fighting fires and protecting fish and wildlife. Millions have been spent helping thousands of California families most impacted by the drought pay their bills, put food on their tables and have water to drink.

The following is a summary of the executive order issued by the Governor today.

Save Water

For the first time in state history, the Governor has directed the State Water Resources Control Board to implement mandatory water reductions in cities and towns across California to reduce water usage by 25 percent. This savings amounts to approximately 1.5 million acre-feet of water over the next nine months, or nearly as much as is currently in Lake Oroville.

To save more water now, the order will also:

Replace 50 million square feet of lawns throughout the state with drought tolerant landscaping in partnership with local governments;

Direct the creation of a temporary, statewide consumer rebate program to replace old appliances with more water and energy efficient models;

Require campuses, golf courses, cemeteries and other large landscapes to make significant cuts in water use; and

Prohibit new homes and developments from irrigating with potable water unless water-efficient drip irrigation systems are used, and ban watering of ornamental grass on public street medians.

Increase Enforcement

The Governor's order calls on local water agencies to adjust their rate structures to implement conservation pricing, recognized as an effective way to realize water reductions and discourage water waste.

Agricultural water users — which have borne much of the brunt of the drought to date, with hundreds of thousands of fallowed acres, significantly reduced water allocations and thousands of farmworkers laid off — will be required to report more water use information to state regulators, increasing the state's ability to enforce against illegal diversions and waste and unreasonable use of water under today's order. Additionally, the Governor's action strengthens standards for Agricultural Water Management Plans submitted by large agriculture water districts and requires small agriculture water districts to develop similar plans. These plans will help ensure that agricultural communities are prepared in case the drought extends into 2016.

Additional actions required by the order include:

Taking action against water agencies in depleted groundwater basins that have not shared data on their groundwater supplies with the state;

Updating standards for toilets and faucets and outdoor landscaping in residential communities and taking action against communities that ignore these standards; and

Making permanent monthly reporting of water usage, conservation and enforcement actions by local water suppliers.

Streamline Government Response

The order:

Prioritizes state review and decision-making of water infrastructure projects and requires state agencies to report to the Governor's Office on any application pending for more than 90 days.

Streamlines permitting and review of emergency drought salinity barriers — necessary to keep freshwater supplies in upstream reservoirs for human use and habitat protection for endangered and threatened species;

Simplifies the review and approval process for voluntary water transfers and emergency drinking water projects; and

Directs state departments to provide temporary relocation assistance to families who need to move from homes where domestic wells have run dry to housing with running water.

Invest in New Technologies

The order helps make California more drought resilient by:

Incentivizing promising new technology that will make California more water efficient through a new program administered by the California Energy Commission.

The full text of the executive order can be found here.

For more than two years, California has been dealing with the effects of drought. To learn about all the actions the state has taken to manage our water system and cope with the impacts of the drought, visit Drought.CA.Gov.

Every Californian should take steps to conserve water. Find out how at SaveOurWater.com.

(Governor’s Office Press Release)

DSA NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE

Good Morning Everyone,

Recently, I have learned of the Mendocino County negotiating team's unfortunate presentation to the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association’s (DSA) negotiating team. It is my understanding that the County's negotiating team was unable to provide any details of increased compensation to DSA. I have met with the Board of Supervisors on several occasions and have encouraged them to offer a package to DSA which returns the 10% (over a period of time) of your salary which was taken from you several years ago. I have urged the BOS to negotiate fairly but apparently my words were unheeded.

As you may be aware, we have recently had two deputies tender their resignations. While I reluctantly accepted these resignations, I fully support the reasons that these employees are leaving. As I stated above, it is unfortunate that the majority of our Board of Supervisors does not appear to understand that they have the ability to work with the DSA and allow your compensation to be fair and equal with your peers who work for other agencies. Many of you put your life on the line for the safety and security of the citizens of this county, and as such, you should be fairly compensated. Many of our employees work inside of our correctional facility and the burden of AB 109 inmates is increasing. I thank you for doing your jobs in such a professional manner.

During this critical time, I ask you to please understand that you are not alone in your frustration. I join you in your frustration and pledge to do whatever I can to work with the Board of Supervisors so that their priority of Public Safety is clear for all to see.

I realize that The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office has many members of SEIU, and as such, are entitled to the return of their 10% also. I fully support the return of the 10% taken from SEIU, however, the Deputy Sheriff's Association had the 10% reduction as of July 14, 2010 and SEIU had the reduction as of 2/5/2012. This difference between these two contractual agreements is approximately 20 months.

As of Pay Period 10 (April 26, 2015), I am ordering all Resident Deputies to report to their main office for their duty assignment. All calls for service will be handled through the three main offices (Ukiah, Willits and Fort Bragg). While this staffing change will affect the response times to outlying areas, it will improve the officer safety which is paramount to all.

Members of this office shall not publicly disparage any member of the Board of Supervisors. We are a professional organization which is better than that. We shall continue to work and strive to protect the citizens and visitors of Mendocino County and never forget why we started in this career.

I join you in hoping that the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors changes course soon and respects and rewards the daily sacrifices which you are making.

Sincerely,

Tom Allman, Mendocino County Sheriff-Coroner

Below is [the first item in] a list of upcoming City Council agenda items. Items will be placed on a future agenda when ready for Council action. Tentative dates are noted, where available.

Consideration of Forgivable Loan Agreement with Mendocino Coast Hospitality Center, Inc., for up to $1,162,791 to Acquire and Rehabilitate the Old Coast Hotel located at 101 North Franklin Street, Using Funds from CDBG Grant #14-CDBG-9881. Funding for the facility purchase will total $900,000, and remaining funds of up to $262,791 will be allocated for purchase and escrow fees and for rehabilitation plans, construction management, and construction. This will be the final action required of City Council for release of the CDBG funding for this activity — PENDING

REJECT THE DISTILLERY

To the Editor:

To the Mendocino Planning Department:

An alcoholic beverages distillery and tasting room at the rural subdivision of Cherry Creek Ranches, near Longvale, is bad planning — the wrong use for a rangeland-zoned area.

As a property owner at Cherry Creek since 1999, I strongly oppose the April 9 recommendation by Mendocino County Planning Department’s Fred Tarr to issue a so-called minor-use permit “with conditions” to Jeffrey Bord, who plans to open J David Spirits Distillery at 900 Cherry Creek Road at Cherry Creek Ranches.

Last week, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors shamefully followed the Planning Department’s recommendation and approved an asphalt plant on Outlet Creek, along our subdivision’s southeast border. Please, don’t insult and degrade our community again by approving a commercial distillery and tourist attraction here.

What concerns me most about this ill-conceived scheme is the vehicular traffic the distillery will generate, including large trucks, tourist tasting groups and up to 20 employees driving on a dangerous, curvy section of Cherry Creek Road.

Far from creating “no impact or less than significant impact” on Transportation/Traffic, as Tarr’s report states, the plan will have, in the opinion of many residents, a significant impact on traffic. Let me explain why.

The lower section of Cherry Creek Road, where the distillery would be located, has more blind, wooded turns than any other section of road in our subdivision. Yet all property owners here (except those on Helms Road) must use this section of the road to enter and exit the subdivision.

I have been driven off that lower section of Cherry Creek Road once already, when someone coming up the hill too quickly approached on a blind turn as I was going down. I only escaped disaster because a tree on the hillside stopped my truck from sliding all the way down the ravine. This has happened to other residents as well. And many of us remember last summer when a large tractor-trailer truck delivering huge pieces of equipment to the distillery, failed to make a turn and slid off the road, blocking Cherry Creek Road to traffic for much of the day. Had there been a fire here or a medical emergency, community members would have had to exit Cherry Creek on a narrow, rutted logging road that is often impassable and only accessible, when open, to four-wheel drive vehicles.

The proposed building site is indeed isolated from most homes and parcels at Cherry Creek, but the road is used by all of us. A commercial operation with regular visitor vans or buses, supply trucks and up to 10 employees is a threat to our safety and the community’s peace and quiet.

Most of us moved to Cherry Creek Ranches because we assumed a rangeland-zoned area would be protected from commercial development and attending traffic and noise.

I invite concerned citizens who care about appropriate land use and planning to voice their opinions at the Planning Department’s April 9 hearing on the proposal, at 10 a.m., Conference Room B, 501 Low Gap Road.

Jane Futcher, Ukiah

CATCH OF THE DAY, April 1, 2015

DAVID AVALOS, Willits. Court order violation.

DAVID COPE, Fort Bragg. Possession of controlled substance & paraphernalia, probation revocation.

ROCHELLE DANTONI, Yuma, Arizona/Comptche. Pot cultivation, possession for sale.

RYAN FOWLER, Ukiah. Domestic assault.

ERIC GONZALEZ, Ukiah. Drunk in public, metal knuckles, possession of controlled substance, failure to pay, probation revocation.

LISA JUDD, Ukiah. Domestic assault.

LUIS MARTINEZ-VARGAS, Ukiah. Drunk in public, probation revocation.

JAMES MILES, Ukiah. Under influence of controlled substance.

SEAN OCONNER, Comptche. Pot cultivation, possession for sale, failure to appear, probation revocation.

PEDRO REYNAGA, Calpella. Drunk in public.

MARIO SANCHEZ, Fort Bragg. Criminal threats of great bodily harm or death.

JOHN SISK, Covelo. Child neglect, probation revocation.

DORIS SOUTHERS, Fort Bragg. Probation revocation.

RICHARD VANWORMER, Fort Bragg. Domestic battery.

ANTHONY WITT, Philo. Pot cultivation, possession for sale, honey oil extraction, possession of meth, possession of controlled substance.

BLOOD OF EDEN

I caught sight of my reflection

I caught it in the window

I saw the darkness in my heart

I saw the signs of my undoing

They had been there from the start

 

And the darkness still has work to do

The knotted chord's untying

They're heated and they're holy

Oh they're sitting there on high

So secure with everything they're buying

 

In the blood of Eden

Lie the woman and the man

With the man in the woman

And the woman in the man

In the blood of Eden

Lie the woman and the man

We wanted the union

Oh the union of the woman

The woman and the man

 

My grip is surely slipping

I think I've lost my hold

Yes, I think I've lost my hold

I cannot get insurance anymore

They don't take credit, only gold

 

Is that a dagger or a crucifix I see

You hold so tightly in your hand

And all the while the distance grows between you and me

I do not understand

 

At my request, you take me in

In that tenderness, I am floating away

No certainty, nothing to rely on

Holding still for a moment

What a moment this is

Oh for a moment of forgetting

A moment of bliss

 

I can hear the distant thunder

Of a million unheard souls

Of a million unheard souls

Watch each one reach for creature comfort

For the filling of their holes

 

In the blood of Eden

Lie the woman and the man

I feel the man in the woman

And the woman in the man

 

In the blood of Eden

We've done everything we can

In the blood of Eden

Saw the end as we began

With the man in the woman

And the woman in the man

It was all for the union

Oh the union of the woman

The woman and the man

— Peter Gabriel

KZYX ELECTS

MCPB Board Election Results

A Reader Comments: Benj at KZYX. Well, nothing changing there for sure. Looks like a sweep for the status quo.

District 2:

Tony Novelli — 156 (24%)

Benj Thomas — 493 (76%)

District 5:

Dennis O'Brien — 210 (31.4%)

Clay Eubank — 458 (68.6%)

At-Large:

Doug McKenty — 253 (37%)

Ed Keller — 428 (63%)

Thanks for your participation in the election process.

Stuart Campbell, KZYX Election Coordinator

(695 total ballots were cast (33% of membership))

* * *

To the Editor:

Congratulations, Benj Thomas.

I'm sorry Denny O'Brien and Doug McKenty. You ran good, clean campaigns.

I also very sorry sorry for the members of KZYX and the people of Mendocino County. Regardless of the policy differences between you and your opponents, each of you, Denny and Doug, clearly had more experience in public radio than your opponents -- Denny, you as a programmer and former Board member at KMEC, and you, Doug, as a programmer and former Board member at KZYX.

What lessons did we learn in this last election?

We learned that the "home field advantage" of KZYX management and its rubber stamp Board of Directors cannot be overcome by extremely well-qualified candidates such as Denny and Doug. KZYX management and its Board get out the vote. They make public endorsements of candidates, while discouraging others from even running. They control the format of the candidates debate.They formulate the questions. They chose its moderator. KZYX management and its Board also orchestrate "hate letter" campaigns in local newspapers. And they control the KZYX website and Facebook page. In other words, KZYX management and its Board leverage every advantage -- to the extent they are ruthless and self-serving.

What else have we learned?

Let me count eight other lessons learned since Coate was hired.

One. KZYX will remain insular -- a closed clubhouse for Executive Director and General Manager, John Coate, and Program Director, Mary Aigner, and their friends.

Two. KZYX will remain a jobs program for the people who work there, like Coate and Aigner, regardless of their job performance, which, recently, has included lots of dead air, irritating scratchy signals, and fuzz outs. If radio broadcasts can't be heard, what's the point of a radio station?

Three. KZYX will remain autocratic. During the summer of 2013, Coate gave himself a 10 per cent raise at precisely the same time Mendocino County workers were either losing their jobs to attrition or being forced to take a 10 per cent pay cut. So much for worker solidarity! John Coate's raise was shameful.

Four. KZYX will remain in Philo, population, 349, where nobody lives except Aigner, and where the broadcast signal must travel long distances, up and down over long distances -- over mountain ranges. Instead, KZYX should be located in Ukiah, population, 16,075, and the county seat. By any logic, KZYX should be located in Ukiah.

Five. KZYX will remain private and secret. Salaries will not be disclosed. Monies earmarked for a Ukiah studio will go missing. Good programmers who question Coate and Aigner will be purged. Also, and very importantly, the station's 2,100 members will not be allowed to organize or communicate with one another.

Six. KZYX will allow all programming decisions to be made solely by Aigner. The Community Advisory Board and the Program Advisory Committee will remain weak and ineffective. The public be damned.

Seven. KZYX will continue to fail with aging, Korean War-era broadcast equipment. This equipment is held together by bailing wire and masking tape. Technology, like archiving shows, podcasts, Voice over Internet (VoIP), will remain a distant dream. Investments will not be made in equipment nor technology, even as staff give themselves raises.

Eight. KZYX will also continue not to post all job openings, especially the part-time news positions, in defiance of the spirit of affirmative action and equal opportunity laws. And on the subject of news, KZYX will probably never have a full-time news department again. The listeners get only ten minutes of local news. We should be getting an hour.

And so my friends, what hope do we have for change?

Our only hope?

Starve the beast!

Yes, I say, starve the beast. Members and underwriters should continue to boycott KZYX.

The writing is already on the wall. KZYX is financially failing. Membership has already fallen from 2,300 members to 2,100 members, and the 2015 Winter Pledge Drive missed its goal by a third.

KZYX has started to financially fail ever since Coate and Aigner have purged anyone at the station with an opinion or a question, and ever since Coate and Aigner have hand picked their Board of Directors -- thus now exerting also tyrannical control over the station.

Underwriting revenues have also fallen off.

Need to hear more?

The FCC has yet to renew one of the station's licenses, even as Coate and Aigner spend big bucks in legal fees defending their poor management practices.

And the Corporation for Public Broadcasting continues to slash its federal bailouts of KZYX. This year, KZYX is getting $33,000. Last year, the station got $80,000. That's $54,000 less in bailout money for a poorly managed station.

Bottom line: Starve the beast! Coate and Aigner don't deserve your support.

Much needed change will never come to KZYX until its members and underwriters force force change. And change will only start when Coate and Aigner are shown the door.

KZYX is a public radio station, not a private clubhouse.

John Sakowicz, KZYX Board of Directors (2013-2016), Board Treasurer (2014)

PS, Questions for Tom Drake

Dear friends,

Tomorrow, I interview Tom Drake from the KMEC Radio studio at 5 a.m., Pacific Time. We'll conduct the interview by phone.

You can listen to the live webstream at www.kmecradio.org

Once we edit the show, we'll it to Youtube, the Public Radio Exchange, Radio4all.net, and other sites. The show will also be available as a podcast.

It was nice for KMEC to get Tom Drake. He was hard to schedule, and we appreciate his flexibility.

Tom Drake continues our series on much needed reforms in national security and intelligence, with guests Bill Binney, Kirk Wiebe, Coleen Rowley, Russ Tice, Elizabeth Murray, Ray McGovern, Mel Goodman, Matt Hoh, Peter Van Buren, Katrina Vanden Heuvel, Francis Boyle, and others -- in other words, all of you to whom I'm writing now!

Do you have any questions for Tom Drake? I'm asking because I deeply respect each of you.

Thanks,

John at KMEC Radio

PPS. HR 1466

There is a growing bipartisan support in the U.S. House of Representatives to revive a bill to completely repeal the Patriot Act and to dismantle the NSA Surveillance State. A pair of congressmen in the House of Representatives, Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan and Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, announced in a press release their intention to reintroduce the Surveillance State Repeal Act — a bill first introduced following the Snowden leaks in 2013 that would completely repeal the Patriot Act and the 2008 FISA Amendments Act, as well as introduce reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

The bill would legally dismantle the National Security Agency’s most aggressive surveillance programs, including the bulk collection and retention of virtually all Americans’ landline phone records justified under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. The repeal of the 2008 FISA Amendments Act would also prevent the agency from tapping the physical infrastructure of the Internet, such as undersea fiber cables, to intercept ‘upstream’ data in bulk, which critics including the ACLU claim the NSA uses to collect data on Americans.

Please write to our Congressional delegation of U.S. Senators Feinstein and Boxer, and U.S. Representative Jared Huffman, and ask them to support HR 1466.

See:https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1466

Thank you.

John Sakowicz, Ukiah

THE RADICAL HUMANENESS of Norway’s Halden Prison

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/magazine/the-radical-humaneness-of-norways-halden-prison.html?nlid=56455206&tntemail0=y&_r=0&referrer=

SHEESH!

Dear New York Times,

As a longtime online subscriber to your op-ed columns, I was astounded to see the byline of one John Bolton the other day on the editorial pages of your esteemed publication.

How can this be? I wondered; could the New York Times editorial board really be completely unaware that John Bolton is less a human being and more a a sick joke about the US's out of control militarist madness? I mean, look at the guy; with that preposterous mustache and his perpetual calls for more bombing of more places more of the time, he's like Mr. Magoo meets Dr. Strangelove. Why on earth would a publication as influential as the New York Times ever permit him to propound his warmongering diatribes on its pages? Sheesh!

Sincerely,

John Arteaga, Ukiah

FEDS FUND CAPTIVE BREEDING PROGRAM FOR DELTA SMELT

by Dan Bacher

Delta smelt, once the most abundant fish in the Bay Delta Estuary, are now on the precipice of extinction in the wild. Sadly, there’s only one place where the fish can be found by the thousands — the Fish Conservation and Culture Laboratory (FCCL) of the University of California, Davis.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation recently awarded the UC Davis lab’s captive breeding program, located in Byron near Discovery Bay, a total of $10 million over a four-year period to continue and improve its work preserving the imperiled species.

This is a critical time for the survival of the smelt. The latest trawl survey by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) found just six smelt. That survey follows the fall midwater trawl survey, when biologists recorded the lowest number of smelt ever documented, 8, at a total of 100 sites sampled from September through December.

The 2.0 to 2.8 inch long fish is an indicator species that demonstrates the health of the Bay Delta Estuary. The species, found only in the estuary, was federally listed as “threatened” in 1993 and as “endangered” under the California Endangered Species Act in 2009.

For the past seven years, the laboratory, in collaboration with the UC Davis Genomic Variation Lab, has been raising a refuge population of Delta smelt, “preserving their genetic diversity and providing a supply of the fish for scientific research,” according to a UC Davis news release.

“The refuge population provides a level of protection against species extinction,” said Tien-Chieh Hung, director of the FCCL at UC Davis. “Our laboratory is, so far, the only place in the country that regularly reproduces and raises the Delta smelt throughout their whole life cycle, creating a supply for further studies.”

In announcing the funding, the Bureau said there “an urgent need for a genetically managed refugial population of Delta smelt to serve as a critical safeguard against species extinction in the event that the natural population continues its decline.”

The Bureau said maintaining a genetically diverse population of Delta smelt in captivity would provide a seed population for future rehabilitation — should the smelt’s habitat ever recover from decades of Delta export pumping, water diversions, pollution and other factors.

Aa safeguard against extinction, the lab starts its spawning season by producing about 200,000 Delta smelt eggs and cultures approximately 20,000 fish each year.

The goals of the project are to:

• Continue to develop the Delta smelt refuge population as a safeguard against species extinction;
• Create a genetically sound population of captive fish for research purposes; and
• Conduct experiments on smelt physiology, health, condition and behavior.

Delta smelt habitat is currently under assault after decades of the state and federal governments exporting water south from the Delta to corporate agribusiness interests, Southern California water agencies and oil companies conducting fracking and steam injection operations.

The situation of the smelt is so critical that Peter Moyle, a professor and fish biologist with the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences, this March told the Delta Stewardship Council to “prepare for the extinction of the Delta smelt in the wild."

Moyle said the latest state trawl survey found only six smelt — two males and four females — where there normally would have been several hundred. He also said there is no reliable estimate of the past and present numbers of Delta smelt.

“When it comes to past and present numbers of smelt, we don't have real estimates, only the indices,” said Moyle. “Folks have tried but the efforts stretch credulity. In a sense exact numbers don't matter.”

Moyle emphasized, “The real question is have densities gotten so low, the population is below a threshold of maintaining itself? Can males and females even find one another?"

Moyle said the reasons behind the collapse of the Delta smelt are complex, starting with the change in the estuary caused by the removal of freshwater.

“I wish there was a single smoking gun for the crash of delta smelt but there are many, starting with the change to the estuarine hydrodynamics created by removal of freshwater by upstream diverters, in-delta diverters, and the pumps in the south delta," he said.

“Some others (not an exclusive list) include predation on larvae by silversides, reduction in food supply by clams and ammonium discharges, increases in water clarity and diverse micro-contaminants. I think drought has exacerbated the effects of all these conditions,” said Moyle.

“In the short run, there is not much we can do. The long run is more complicated,” said Moyle.

Bill Jennings, Executive Director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, responded to the announcement of the federal funding for the project by stating, “It’s laudable – but if we can’t establish the natural conditions that will support the fish in the estuary, it does little good to have a few fish in a tank in the UC Davis program.”

“If Delta smelt go extinct in the wild, the same thing will happen again if UC Davis fish are dumped into the estuary. You have to change the hydrology of the estuary,” said Jennings.

As for the causes of the Delta smelt’s decline, Jennings said all of the factors are either caused or exacerbated by the lack of freshwater flows.

“The fact that our regulatory agencies are unable to protect the public trust resources to slow the increase in pollutant discharges into the estuary is an indictment of regulators that have been captured by special political interests,” said Jennings. “If Delta smelt, once the most numerous species, and winter Chinook and other species lingering on the brink of extinction go extinct, the state water board and the state and federal fishery agencies will be the responsible policies."

The collapse of Delta smelt occurs as part of a larger ecosystem decline since the State Water Project started pumping massive quantities of water south of the Delta in 1967. The fall midwater trawl surveys conducted annually by the California Department of Wildlife show that population indices of Delta smelt, striped bass, longfin smelt, threadfin shad, American shad and Sacramento splittail have declined 97.80%, 99.70%, 99.98%, 97.80%, 91.90%, and 98.50%, respectively, between 1967 and 2014, according to Jennings.

BOOK LAUNCH EVENT

Friday, April 10th

1:30 PM to 3 PM

Fort Bragg Branch Library Community Room

499 Laurel St., Fort Bragg, CA

707-964-2020

Join us in celebrating forty-six young authors from the Three Rivers Charter School who completed novels as part of National Novel Writing Month with readings, a chance to meet some of the authors and cake.