Monthly Archives: July 2009

$40M for south-Valley drought relief

By Alex Breitler | Published: July 30, 2009 | Comments closed
This stimulus award was just announced by the Bureau of Reclamation: FRESNO, CA – The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Mike Connor announced today that $40 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) has been released for drought-relief projects in California. The commissioner is on a tour of California’s [...]
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If you ever wondered where Stockton got its water…

By Alex Breitler | Published: July 30, 2009 | Comments closed
… this is it. Well, part of it. I had time last weekend for a quick scramble from Lake Alpine to the north fork of the Stanislaus River, which by late July ain’t much. I’ve not been to the north fork at this particular spot any other year, so I can’t make any comparisons. But it’s amazing [...]
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Monte Wolfe’s cabin

By Alex Breitler | Published: July 28, 2009 | Comments closed
After Sunday’s two-hour talk by historian Don DeYoung, I am bound and determined to find Monte Wolfe’s cabin, which still stands, seven decades after his disappearance, in the rugged Mokelumne River canyon. The cabin is no longer noted on topo maps. Thanks to the Sierra Club’s Dale Stocking for passing along these marked maps from a 2006 expedition: [...]
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Tracking the Wolfe

By Alex Breitler | Published: July 24, 2009 | Comments closed
I’ll be up in the Mokelumne high country on Sunday for a talk by Stockton native Don DeYoung, who promises to reveal some hitherto unknown mysteries about the legendary backwoodsman Monte Wolfe, as reported by my colleague Dana Nichols this week. Watch for the story in Monday’s paper. Wolfe’s story is almost compelling enough — almost — [...]
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SJ farmer in L.A. Times

By Alex Breitler | Published: July 23, 2009 | Comments closed
Here’s a climate change story featuring Chris Locke, who farms walnuts on the Mokelumne River near Lockeford, which his great-great grandfather founded 160 years ago. We’ve written about Locke, too. In 2007 he received an award from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation for Earth-friendly practices, such as planting bushes and shrubs to attract beneficial insects, and building [...]
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I now pronounce you river and stream

By Alex Breitler | Published: July 21, 2009 | Comments closed
  That’s me, in the middle, marrying my good friends Tyler Letellier and Jennifer Orsi at Scribner Bend Winery near Freeport on Saturday. I was nervous. When Tyler called me a few months ago, I figured he might ask me to be a groomsman or something. Then he asked me to officiate, through a “deputy for the day” [...]
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Angry Teddy bears

By Alex Breitler | Published: July 21, 2009 | Comments closed
I spotted this note buried in an agenda packet for today’s North San Joaquin Water Conservation District meeting. Most likely, the author is still bitter over the district’s relatively new groundwater pumping fee. Ironically, one of the biggest beefs opponents had was that they felt they were not properly notified of the proposed fee via mail. Now [...]
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On floods and FEMA

By Alex Breitler | Published: July 17, 2009 | Comments closed
There’s a new video airing on Channel 97 to educate the public about the new FEMA maps, which will become final in October. It’s very detailed and worth a watch. Thanks to Bill Maxwell for pointing this out. Also, dozens of neighbors showed up as the Central Valley Flood Protection Board toured a levee on Bear Creek west [...]
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The Delta on SportsCenter?

By Alex Breitler | Published: July 16, 2009 | Comments closed
Well, not really, but an espn.com columnist covered the anti-peripheral canal rally outside the state Capitol last week. Here’s his take.
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The gloves are off

By Alex Breitler | Published: July 15, 2009 | Comments closed
So proclaims this new anti-peripheral canal Web site produced by Delta fisherman Robert Johnson, who has taken a prominent role of late in representing Delta advocates.
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