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Posts published by “Alastair Bland”

Lake Almanor & The Thermal Curtain

As summer heats up, the water temperatures in the lower reaches of the North Fork of the Feather River may rise above 70 degrees Fahrenheit — uncomfortably and even dangerously warm for the native rainbow…

A Halibut Free-For-All

With the collapse of the West Coast’s salmon fishery, thousands of anglers have turned their attentions toward other more readily available species of fish, like rockfish, striped bass and lingcod. California halibut, though, may feel…

Gray Whales Under Fire

Each March, gray whales by the thousands flood into the large lagoons of Baja California’s Pacific coast to give birth. Not this year.

Salmon Feeding In San Pablo Bay

Each week during the spring along the shores of San Pablo Bay, tanker trucks hired by the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) deliver thousands of Chinook salmon smolts, born in hatcheries upstream, to strategic…

Liquor Tax Hits Barrel-Aged Beers

When Bison Brewing Company’s bourbon barrel-aged brown ale goes to tap late this spring, the brewery’s owner, Dan Del Grande, may be required by a new law to pay a hefty liquor tax to state…

Striped Bass Attack

Striped bass came under direct attack in early March when a Bakersfield Republican introduced legislation that would eliminate all striped bass regula­tions, protection and habitat improvement with the goal of knocking the nonnative species into…

Undercover Agents

A current controversial federal law allows product manufacturers to withhold the identity of untested chemicals from the public if the manufacturer has rea­son to believe that such public knowledge could harm business — and even…

As in Mendo — Family Courts: A System in Decay

When an Alabama family court judge issued an order in March 2008 that Amanda Hodge’s two adopted children remain in her full custody out of concern for their safety, the family court of Monterey County,…

Of Bicycles and Oil Wars

Behold the hills of Marin. The stately redwoods grow tall and prosper, and they provide shelter for myriad birds and shade for the ferns on the forest floor. A squirrel runs outward on a branch…

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