9 minute read
The Berenstain Bears and the Double Dare
California, as everyone knows, receives virtually all of its precipitation during a few fall and winter months. In 2019 some early rain and snow storms promised a bountiful water year. This year Mother Nature kept that promise in Southern California, where precipitation is running at or above the normal, but Northern California — far more important from a water supply standpoint — has been a di erent story.
The north has seen almost no precipitation since Christmas, the all-important Sierra snowpack is less than half its average depth and the region’s balmy, springlike weather shows no signs of ending.
A stubborn high-pressure area o the coast has been blocking Arctic Ocean storms from dipping into California, leaving water managers hoping for a “March miracle” like the one that rescued the state from an even worse winter dry spell in 1991.
Whatever happens this year, the abrupt end to what appeared initially to be a wet season is another reminder that California can never take its water supply for granted, especially given the forecasts of what climate change might wrought.
The o cial expectation is that while overall precipitation may remain roughly the same, we would see less in the form of snow and more as rain. Were it to occur, mountain snowpacks, which are natural reservoirs that release their water slowly, would diminish, requiring more manmade storage to capture winter rains.
A newly released “Water Resilience Portfolio,” drafted by a coalition of state agencies in response to an executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom last year, warns, “California confronts more extreme droughts and fl oods, rising temperatures, depleted groundwater basins, aging infrastructure and other challenges magnifi ed by climate change.”
It calls for a “a broad, diversifi ed approach” that includes not only more storage, but diversifying supply sources, improving natural systems where possible and building infrastructure to more easily move water from where it is to where it’s needed. The report embraces two big projects — the proposed Sites reservoir on the west side of the Sacramento Valley and a long-envisioned, ultracontroversial tunnel to carry Sacramento River water beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Sites, in Colusa and Glenn counties, has been on the drawing boards for decades. It wouldn’t dam any major streams, but rather store diversions from the Sacramento River during high fl ows, up to 1.2 million acre-feet, for release when needed to meet downstream demands, particularly during dry periods. It’s somewhat similar to the state/federal San Juan Reservoir on the Pacheco Pass west of Merced.
The single tunnel beneath the Delta is Newsom’s smaller, renamed version of the twin tunnels that California Matters Climate change and the state’s water supply DAN WALTERS
■ See WALTERS, page A5
Letters to the Editor
It’s free? EDITOR: M y business partner had only one response to all that “free” stu – “Don’t eat that, LeRoy!” Do you (the people) really believe in the Tooth Fairy? I sneaked a peek and you know what? My parents put that quarter under my pillow. Yes, that’s the truth.
Who’s going to pay for all that “free” stu promised by Warren, Biden and Bernie, oh my? You are.
There ain’t no free lunch. Wake up.
DOUG ROSCOE Shingle Springs
Sprucing up our town EDITOR: T o the Placerville City Council:
Winter appears to be waning and spring is nigh. Time for ya’ll to look around and see what’s missing or needing some attention, if you will. Wasn’t that many moons ago that we all swelled up with pride as a fl eet of surveyors, workers, scrapers, backhoes, concrete trucks and paving machines converged on downtown Placerville and created a magnifi cent new Main Street roadway. We are grateful for and more than pleased with the new crosswalks, planters, curbs, light poles and all the other what-not necessary to put more pizzazz in our unique little town.
Then you got to the ugly duckling Broadway and stopped. How come? Surely it wasn’t unreasonable to keep going for another couple miles once you had all the road construction people and machines in place. For a long while we have watched with fi ngers crossed as lines were spray painted across Broadway in their traditional Day-Glocolors. Could this be the sign that grinders and hot tar trucks were close behind? Alas, all that ever came of it was nothing more than a new trench or two and more potholes.
Broadway from Mosquito Road to Texerna Court is a mess. Severely worn and cracking asphalt, potholes and sunken pavement patches abound. Vehicles actually rock and sway even when traveling just 5 mph at the necessarily slow and short distance eastbound between Wiltse and Schnell School roads. Elsewhere it’s pick-and-choose from left to right to select the best portion of the roadway to drive on.
It’s rumored that work will soon begin along upper Broadway to install sidewalks. If that is so, perhaps it would be a good time to kill two birds with one stone and repair and repave Broadway too. Doing that would go a long way toward reducing tire and front end alignment damage to our vehicles and would make driving on Broadway a pleasant and smooth experience again. Thank you very much in advance.
HAL PETRIE Placerville
California Legislature changes needed EDITOR: H aving a super-majority in the California Legislature, Democrats in recent years have passed about 1,000 new laws annually that impact us all. Having an opposition party of nearly even strength would create discussion to soften some of these harsh laws.
I’m especially displeased with AB5, which prevents Californians from working as independent contractors in such occupations as writing, acting, driving trucks and many others.
I don’t understand why Democrats have prevented so many artists, writers, actors and musicians from working in California. Perhaps residents who have been denied the right to work on their own terms will vote in future elections for candidates who favor individual liberty more than governmental control.
One other aspect of California politics not often mentioned is the idea of representation that improves local control. One rumor I heard is that large organizations such as the teachers’ union exert enormous infl uence in the Legislature. Because state Assembly members represent 500,000 Californians each there is no time to consult with individuals. Assembly members mainly speak with lobbyists and representatives of large businesses.
If you wish to fi nd a way to make your voice heard go to ARR4all.org. There you will fi nd a plan to improve your representation.
CECIL RINGGENBERG Placerville
The Rural Life Do you want to communitcate better? First, connect
It would be overstating the case to say everything I’ve learned about communicating with my husband I learned from a horse trainer.
It wouldn’t be entirely wrong, either. Anyone in a relationship knows communication is allimportant. My husband and I thought it crucial enough to write it into our wedding vows, some 47 years ago. What I’ve learned from trainer Warwick Schiller is that not all communication is equal and the very best kind is possible only after establishing a certain kind of connection .
I know it sounds abstract in a touchy-feely way. I hope to lay it out for you plainly in a manner that hits home … the way this trainer did for me … and does for his horses.
Warwick is a California-based clinician who has both traditional horse-training cred (he represented his home country of Australia at the 2010 and 2018 World Equestrian Games) and a growing fan base among those interested in a kinder, more horse-centric method of training.
His methodology is constantly evolving because he’s continually seeking more e ective, more humane methods. He has what my husband calls a growth mindset, as opposed to a fi xed mindset.
He builds that relationship by connecting to the animal. For example, when he’s working a horse from the ground on a long line, instead of watching what the horse’s body is doing, he looks for signs that tell him where the horse’s mind is.
“I pay attention to the small things — the ears, the eyes. I’m timing my releases (which reward the horse) to when the horse’s attention goes from o me to on me, no matter what his body is doing.” A small fl ick of the horse’s ear can tell him this, if he’s JENNIFER FORSBERG MEYER
aware of that and watching for it. Isn’t mindful awareness what we humans crave as well? When you’re having a conversation, what thrills you is when the person you’re speaking to really gets what you’re saying and understands the emotional content of the message.
It’s more than simply being a “good listener”— as in paying attention and not interrupting. It’s perceiving at a deeper level that truly connects you to the other person.
In Warwick’s horsemanship clinics many participants are women.
“I ask them, Have you ever gotten a haircut and come home and you’re talking to your husband and waiting for him to notice? Then you ask him to do something — maybe take out the garbage — and he does it cheerfully, but you’re left feeling defl ated?
Warwick said people in this situation are disheartened because their partners aren’t “right there” with them, connected in that deep way that would’ve given them the clues needed to be able to notice the hair — and a whole lot more.
And if you’re not connected in this way?
“It makes a huge di erence. The horses won’t give you their whole selves; they sort of hold stu in reserve. It’s hard to explain, but they don’t feel totally trusting, so they don’t completely open up to you.
This was a lightbulb moment I could relate to. To be truly connected you must do more than just being there, listening. You must actively try to gauge how your partner is feeling in the moment, then making him or her aware that you know how they feel by how you respond.
That’s when connection clicks in. Warwick’s evolution in thinking
