Huffman, Larsen Seek Explanation for Trump Administration’s Unscheduled Water Releases from Major California Dams
Press release from US Rep. Jared Huffman:
[Saturday,] U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) sent a letter to Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum demanding an explanation for the Trump administration’s abrupt, unscheduled water releases from Terminus Dam and Schafer Dam in California’s Central Valley by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“According to multiple news reports, these releases deviated from established flood safety protocols and were carried out with minimal notice—leaving state and local government officials and local water managers “caught off-guard” as flows rapidly escalated from nominal levels to channel capacity within hours. This sudden, uncoordinated move raises serious concerns for downstream agricultural operations and communities since local authorities had little time to adjust or plan accordingly,” the Ranking Members wrote.
The lawmakers requested answers regarding:
- Why the administration deviated from flood safety operating rules;
- If and how there was any coordination with local authorities;
- How the release will impact water usage; and
- Intentions surrounding any future water releases.
The members also noted their concerns that these releases did not meet their stated intent of providing Los Angeles with additional water and could reduce the availability of critical municipal and agricultural water supplies later in the year—further exacerbating the fire, safety, and economic risks facing this drought prone region for years.
A full copy of the letter can be found here.
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
“Let’s pull this level and see what happens.” It’s all fun and games until innocent people get hurt…
Yep! It’s gonna be a wild ride for the next four years – the only thing predictable will be the unpredictability – with very little thought or concern for the consequences.
”Act in haste, repent at leisure” – except there’s no repentance from the Trump wrecking crew.
Another sore loser.
Not at all – I’m sitting back eating popcorn and watching the show – what’s amazing is the number of sore winners – but no one ever said the Trump true-believers were the brightest bulbs – remember how Trump was gonna lower grocery prices?
You know that Trump’s been in office for less than two weeks, right?
“On my first day”
Trump
And look at all the havoc he’s created already. He won’t make it full term.
Yeah, uh huh, we realize that! Doh! About 1 1/2 % of the electorate has triggered this nightmare. Nice job for only two weeks taking down America. The Jan. 6 coup attempt failed so now the entire country goes down. You must have Trump Oblivious Syndrome (TOS), no matter how evil he is, you just can’t see it.
Your point being . . . .?
u mad?
If we gave Lost Croat Outburst a cape, they’d be super mad, lol.
Well, they have to be a constant source of auto congratulations. If they stop, critical thinking may take over. Though, that muscle’s probably pretty atrophied at this point.
Huh, I pull my “level” all the time and it never hurt anyone. Wasn’t that long age I pulled my level out of the truck and ran a level circuit to establish a benchmark nearer the project. I did my level best to insure a tight closure.
Remember when Bush Jr. had his EPA people drain our northern rivers, wiping out the salmon population for decades? Brilliant!
Well, releasing juvenile salmon right before a release only to get killed fairly recently doesn’t help either.
He’s making good on promises to his glad handing lobbyists downstream. How is this a mystery?
Musk & minions seizing the treasury sure keeping me awake at night…
Those of you getting a check from the g’ment should be concerned as hell
Guessing it’s MOST of you
Since the majority of California voters do not respect Trump he might well be happy to see our whole state burn down. Lowering water reservoir levels in advance of major fire season might help make that risk come true. Much of federal policy now seems based on vengeance. How can there not be checks and balances, local consultation considered and respected before moving so much precious water??
“Much of federal policy now seems based on vengeance.”
Name those policies, or are you just seeming them into existence?
Firing inspector generals. Firing prosecutors. Investigating FBI agents.
Not surprised you have no idea what’s going on, based on your track record, but you could at least try to pay attention.
There is a difference between “paying attention” and “seeing what you want.”
You are clearly doing the latter.
Democrats = Supporting policies that are bad for Americans because they are told to. Tell me again how great our policies are when they have driven our entire industrial workforce overseas where labor law and environmental regulations are non-existent.
Oh, right, “out of sight, out of mind” is the Democrat rally cry. Just ask anyone living in poverty in a Democrat run major city full of crime.
Well said.
Project Harder, Branden.
The highest crime rates are red states. Once again, read something. Anything.
Could you be any more vague? You might want to research actual crime statistics. Something. Anything. You need to look closer as I can assure you the rates in Chicago are very different than Salt Lake City.
99% of government employees need to get fired and go find real jobs so what’s your point?
So…you want to destroy the economy?
no,the opposite of that. the economy is based on goods and services, which people working in government don’t provide.
Hammering our biggest trading partners with 25% tarrifs that will harm our economy and damage our image worldwide, deporting the ag workers who harvest and cultivate our food, the list grows daily.
Damage our image?
Not likely to get worse than the last 4 years of the potted plant in charge.
“Across the 34 nations polled, a median of 43% have confidence in Biden to do the right thing regarding world affairs, while just 28% have confidence in Trump.” https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2024/06/11/globally-biden-receives-higher-ratings-than-trump/
To be fair, Trump is more popular in Turkey, Tunisia, and Hungary.
But that was before Biden left the race because even his own party finally faced up to his dementia. Not a good reflection on the nature of their “condifence.” Of course other countries trusted Biden more than Trump. Biden played their game and Trump was a PITA. Trump’s first presidency lead to call for European countries to pony up more for their own defense and stop letting the US carry them. Or at least, if the US was paying so much in aid across the world, demanding allies not constantly publicly deny involvement and go their own way for their own advantage to make the US a scapegoat. A bee in Trump’s bonnet for sure. But one i share. Allies who take money are good only as long as they keep avoiding their share of the bill.
There is no traded deficit with Canada. [edit]
Well Cat, you’d be one of those sheep then. US/CA trade deficit was $60 BILLION last year. Here’s some handy data for you:
https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c1220.html
The Trump 1.0 version trade deficit also existed, albeit less than half of that during Biden’s, but yes there is a deficit. Baaaaaa!
Those 23% are the people who, when they read in class cause the other 77% to want to jam pencils in their ears due to lack of familiarization with the subject matter; words and meaning.
How much coffee is imported? Start hording now.
Don’t forget chocolate.
And tea! Oh my giddy aunt, I need to load up on tea ASAP!
Moldy coffee, they can keep it!
Our image worldwide??? You mean like the left’s “what would Europeans think” constant prattle. Guess what, I don’t care what Europeans think. To date we’ve left a quarter of a million dead Americans on their soil whilst bailing them out of their fiascos. Remind me, how many of them have died on ours? What they think—pftttt.
Everyone who watches the news and has connected brain cells knows exactly what those policies are.
Anyone WATCHING the news instantly has a problem. You’re not watching the news, you’re watching someone parrot what they believe is the news. No longer is televised news about current events, it’s opinion.
Yeah. There are no facts. I’ve witnessed the phenomena. The answer to every question is either anti-fact or whataboutism. I’m glad the kids who always got mad and stormed off with their toys are in charge. Everyone should get a turn.
Read something. Anything.
Whether you like him or not, he is the president. He is the president who went to Southern California and asked the actual victims of the fires what they needed. (1) They wanted to clear their property so they could start rebuilding ASAP. (They have not been premitted to go on their property since the fires have been contained). (2) They wanted water to be returned to them so they could have assurance that the next fire could be controlled by the fire dept. (3) they wanted to be able to re-build immediately. They were told, because of the onerous regulations here in CA. it would take 18 months. Trump promised them he would do everything in his power to help them. Well whaddya know, water is being diverted there. The hasmat folks are clearing the toxic stuff in warp speed and the people will be allowed in to finish clearing next week. Trump was promised, by the mayor of LA that the regulations would be lifted so they could start rebuilding ASAP. Now, lets hope Newsom allows the water to go to reservoirs not the ocean and allows the regulations to be lifted. This president and first lady actually visited and spent hours talking to the victims and then had a meeting with everyone including local politicians to explain what he heard and what he expected. He has kept his end of the bargain. The question is will our government here in CA. keep the promises they made?
“Now, lets hope Newsom allows the water to go to reservoirs not the ocean and allows the regulations to be lifted. This president and first lady actually visited and spent hours talking to the victims and then had a meeting with everyone including local politicians to explain what he heard and what he expected. He has kept his end of the bargain. The question is will our government here in CA. keep the promises they made?”
Has he?
Huffman is asking for an explanation. Does that sound like a well coordinated plan?
The Delta Conveyance Project is still in the works. That seems to play right into water releases the other crowd wants, if for different reasons or by methods.
You should learn more about how California’s water systems work, and how fires behave, and are fought. You might be chagrined to find out Trump knows about as much about California water as you’d expect for a soft handed East Coast trust fund TV celebrity. On the campaign, before the fires, he claimed our water comes from Canada. Because what? It’s “uphill” on a map?
80% of water diverted to Socal goes to Agriculture. Only 20% is used for all those people’s lawns and toilets. Water is over allocated already, that’s why NorCal water is used to replace the dried up San Joaquin. That’s why land has subsided 40ft in some places from over pumping ground water. So they can live in, and irrigate a desert. Irrigation in the boron rich Western Kern wastelands causes all kinds of other drainage problems so that rich Democrats, the Resnicks, can get rich selling pistachios and Pomwonderful.
The issues in the latest of many future fires in SoCal is the dense development in an area that always burns. Look at the fire history in Malibu. There’s a development that has literally burned each decade of its existence. The rest of Malibu has burned 8-9 times in the last century.
It sounds like Trump’s BS tweet is what caught people off guard. He claimed he sent in the military to CA to “turn on the water” when in fact at best it was maybe Army Corp of Engineers staff restarting pumps after three days of routine maintenance.
The water “wasting to the sea” is all water flowing out through the Golden Gate. If that water wasn’t there to push the sea water out, we’d be pumping salt water to the San Joaquin Valley, killing all the agriculture down there. The water works in the Delta are complicated. It’s not about the Delta Smelt. It’s not as easy as just “turn the water on”.
California needs to secede NOW.
We are the 5th largest economy in the world.
72 billion dollars in taxes to the feds last year, we got barely half back and will get even less under this administration.
Theyre not playing by the rules so why should we?
We dont need them.Secede secede secede or at least stop giving them our money.
Check out Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach.
So much for states rights, eh ?!?!
Do we need to go occupy these sites of water release so the army core cant mess with our water???
More for the safety of those downstream, humans and critters, now&later in actual fire season. What an idiotic move to not inform anyone.
Why are they wanting to stop food production in our state?
No water and no workers, WTH?
Say bye to the last of our fisheries and salmon.
Im so f**kin tired of watching our rivers die.
i guess they want our state to burn to the ground so they can build resorts for the elite.
Really hope our vfds are talking about what to do with no federal fire fighting money this year.
We need to each prepare to defend our properties, there will be no fire insurance.
The states sucky FAIR program has federal monies attached, thats why you cant have ANY cannabis plants, even medical, at your property or you get dropped&they keep your money, just fyi.
Rant over
✌ out and act up!
California will need to fork over $6-10 trillion to buyout federal lands or it would only be a scattering of private properties with impassible roadways through federal lands. Secession talk comes from habitually smoking extreme doses of THC, brain gets mushy
No more wild than the crap you spew. However with the 5th largest economy in the world, sounds like a buyout could be possible, and not far fetched.
5th largest economy?
Not after the tariffs slapped on it by the US.
Play stupid games…
Ohhhh!
Learn a new idiom?
And just where do think California gets the resources, and the energy required to make the stuff that drives our economy? California imports 30% of its electricity from other states. You do realize that an information economy requires massive amount of energy? How do think hard products are transported throughout the country and the world? California could go it on its own, after we build dams, power resources, and increase mining to compensate for that 30%. Wouldn’t that go over big with our greenies in waiting.
We do have a couple of large wind turbine projects in the works, and I like to think that rooftop solar could help.
You do realize that a misinformation economy requires massive amount of energy?”
California, which is very energy dependent and would go dark when cut off from the grid it uses to import power from other states. California does not have enough generation resources to sustain itself independently, as evident by annual brown outs. When was the last meaningful sized power plant built? Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant recently received a 5 year extension that carries the plant beyond their NRC expiration date, due to lack of current generation resources.
California would also lose its mutual aid disaster assistance and have to fend for itself during wildfires, mudslides and earthquakes.
California is not going anywhere….
California imports about 30% of its electricity from other states each year. This makes California the largest net electricity importer in the United States.
We’ve got plenty of solar and wind to easily turn ourselves into a net exporter.
Solar and wind are not sustainable. Next…….
Are we going to run out?
This should definitely be the lead story.
…but Northern California WATER! the gift that keeps on giving, huh?
Have you made any new crude oil? Seems to me the sun, with all it’s power has been around far longer than even the oldest fossil fuels. And it’s free.
Bwaaaahh! That’s a powerful argument you made there. You should run for prez.
CAISO daily numbers, or…info right from the horse’s mouth if you will.
We are running well into the black. Daily.
Today’s outlook (with any relevant info anybody wants to get, free to download) Note: capacity, which is far above average daily use does NOT include solar and wind. We don’t have to import anything, really. In fact we’ve been selling capacity. But, as long as companies like PG&E remain investor-owned we will be paying through the nose anyway to the AAA or what Project Censored calls the Academy of Accidental Arsonists. But that’s another story.
Better do some math my friend. In the last 5 years we’ve increased our renewable energy production 2.7% for a total of 37% of California usage. At that rate we’d reach an exportable surplus by the 2133 or in another metric 108 years from now.
Yep.
We need to step it up.
The first offshore wind turbines should already be up and running.
We should also have crews putting solar on every rooftop.
Instead, Newsom and the PUC have worked to stop that from happening.
I agree 100% with your second paragraph. I love solar, I have solar, but as you stated “on every rooftop”, and that’s where my panels live, and not scattered over our beautiful countryside.
Please enjoy having the products of rapacious mineral extraction and chinese slave labor on your rooftop.
I believe that’s capacity, not production. Would you happen to have numbers for production from renewables last year (or any year)? Because sometimes the wind don’t blow, and the sun don’t shine.
And as an “independent nation”, those import costs would increase and passed to the California consumer. Think how bad rate are now. They would be worse. State interconnections import/export are controlled by FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission). So that 30% you claim would cost more. No way California can become energy independent without the major construction of new power plants. For that amount of energy California would need to go nuke. As is, California has admitted its energy short falls by requesting the extention of the Diablo Canyon operating license, until that capacity is replaced. California regulatory hurdles will undoubtedly also hinder and delay the process of projects of that magnitude. Think how splendidly the construction of the light rail project has progressed and the cost overruns incurred as an example of California’s bureaucracy….
Exactly.
You mean to say CA is creating new problems while failing to address existing problems?
THANK GOD we have so much DEI and other feel good policy. That will really be nice to have when we have no power for our electric cars, no food, no water, and no jobs.
None of you even know what DEI really is, or even had a care in the world bout it. Y’all just repeat the regurgitation you’ve been fed.
Deport Every Illegal!
Recycling regurgitated crap is easier than digesting your own, for some.
OOO Canada, our home and native land, True patriot love thou dost in us command, we see thee rising fair, dear land. The true north, strong and free, and stand on guard, o Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
Except the Montreal Canadians hockey team, they should be traded to Alabama
If those lands are in California, then they belong to California.
We wouldn’t owe them one red cent.
If California were allowed/able to succeed how long would it be before the new nation of Commifornia was hit with a 100% tariff?
Instantly.
Two can play that game.
The rest of the country would get scurvy.
Besides, you don’t want 90%of your Chinese Walmart junk coming thru Long Beach and Oakland?
If California (and hopefully Oregon and Washington with us) succeeds, other regions of the US will likely follow suit.
We could then work together to form a trade bloc similar to what was done in the EU- but hopefully with a few more protections.
Well other parts of the Country are “succeeding” so I’m not sure they gonna join the 2nd Civil War. As far as Ca, Or, Wa nation… what will be the name? What’s the money gonna be called? To what will army march and sing? “Dixie” already used and is a different part of the Country.
Oh man. Those are the important questions.
What is more realistic would be dividing up California into about 6 different states.
Also one half of Oregon is soon to be split off to join Idaho.
You realize that would be a tax on americans, not californians, right? California produces most of the produce in the US and literally all of some things like almonds that you can only grow in specific climates. Also, for almonds specifically, the us basically destroyed the only other almond producer to prop up california’s almond trade, so you actually are giving up almonds and certain other types of produce completely. You’re describing policy that would only hurt you guys?
Interesting that the blame for fires is on California when sooo much of the mis managed forest is federal.
Yeah. Independence is a pipe dream.
Here is an idea, gift totally all of California back to the indigenous people and California can pay rent.
Cry harder LOL
If the California government cared about salmon and people, they would have structured our water resource system to reflect that.
There have been projects that would have allowed areas that steal Eel River water to be self sufficient, that were killed. They’re called reservoirs.
Why bother doing your job, when it’s convenient to steal without consequence.
Um….how you going to pay that 25% tariff on Chinese imports? Or what we pay for raw material exports? That #5 ranking will slowly become 6th…10th….25th….
China tariffed Trump and are extremely friendly and open business partners, it’s more like how are you going to cope with a foreign California that’s in bed with China?
By having all Californians pay 25% tarrifs on Chinese goods? How’s that help?
how much central valley rice have you eaten ? paid to not harvest, high cut for birds, not burn stubble for epa credit, and ag was supposed to build water ‘catchment’ reservoirs back in the 60’s, didn’t happen. they are mostly water brokers, not farmers.
Where will California get its water, much comes from the Colorado River. Also who will protect California from other countries like Mexico, China, or Russia? Nothing more than a fantasy, never gonna happen.
Protect us from Mexico, China, or Russia?
You’re joking, right? (It’s hard to tell with some people.)
Colorado River water is only crucial to a relatively small part of California. If we lost all access to CO river water we would lose a fair bit of Mediterranean tree fruit/nut production and the LA basin would need to get serious about forced native/adapted landscaping. But otherwise we would be fine.
We are not dependent on CO river water for our food production
*Emerald Triage Breakaway Civilization
Huffman and Larsen, need to work with Trump. Yes this is messed up but by working with the Trump administration a safe and productive solution may be the outcome. Stop with the Trump proofing attitude.
Huffman needs to have answers to his questions and proceed from there.
Well he does ask the right questions for “his” answers.
Better than knee jerk reactions I am reading on this conversation board.
You’re fucking wrong about absolutely everything.
How so?
Use your grown up words.
Not sure if ABA is capable of that, lol.
Actually I’m rarely wrong. I’m well read and have a very clear understanding of what’s going on in Washington DC and what has been going on there and in Sacramento. So please tell me, what am I wrong about?
Remember hen you said there was no evidence showing humans are responsible for climate change?
You can’t say that phrase, it has been banned at the POTUS level.
California officials were more than likely caught off guard because they were more concerned with other affairs. Like what is between people’s legs, what color people’s skin is and how they can waste more taxpayers money.
I mean, California officials are ALWAYS caught off guard when a catastrophe happens. Karen Bass was in Africa when the Santa Ana Winds (which just so happen to blow almost EVERY year) were forecast, as an example.
Fires burn in California EVERY year and have for millennia. Maybe a little raking wouldn’t hurt, as President Donald J Trump suggested after the Camp Fire. Only raking I’ve seen done after a major fire is around South Lake Tahoe following the Caldor Fire. Guess where California officials and their elitist donors have vacation homes and you’ll figure out why the area around South Lake Tahoe is now vigorously raked each year!
I’m not saying you are full of shit,
but I am asking you where you came up with that.
When our forest service use to log our national forest here in humboldt and trinity county they would always rake the forest floor and we never had any large fires. Now they no longer log or rake and we have massive fires every year
There is still plenty of logging in National Forests.
You don’t have to make things up.
So, if there is plenty of logging in the National Forests, where did the over 28 saw mills that were operational in 1993 go to? Why are they no longer functional? I believe there are only about 2 barely operational sawmills left in Humboldt.
Corporate consolidation played a big part.
That, and they logged themselves out of business.
The peckerpoles that clutter our forests today, although needing to be thinned, do not provide a lot of valuable lumber.
Wait…what….?
But you just stated there is still “plenty of logging in National Forests”. Which is it? The only company that survived longer than others was SPI, because they owned their timber lands, and were not as reliant on BLM parcels for their logs.
Then let me rephrase: they do lots of logging in National Forests.
Is that better?
There is plenty of logging still happening, just not here. You’re running out of trees that will be replaced in your lifetime. But logging is still occurring so both things can be true. They are not mutually exclusive. Here’s what the forests look like near Roseburg, OR in 2021 on Google Earth. Every one of those little squares is a clear cut. Every one of the large brown areas is a burn scar. You are running out of harvestable trees. As it is what I see come down the highway from Oregon is pecker poles to what used to arrive at the mills.
To me, a proper forest management program doesn’t make the entire landmass look like a giant quilt, where it’s strictly tied to grids on a map. Nature isn’t delineated like that; into neat little squares. It doesn’t take into consideration anything other than lines on a map.
Those ‘mile squares’ are the remnants of the lands deeded over to the Railroads during the last decades of the 1800’s. Was a massive infusion of government capital to create and maintain the railroad lines.
Sierra Pacific (in California) bought a massive amount of land from the (now defunct) railroads in the 1980’s.
These properties should actually have gone back to Federal or State ownership. But money talks.
Define “plenty”
Some napkin math here:
If a forest has 1 million acres, and logs even 1000 acres annually (it is FAR less than that), it takes 1000 years to treat the entire forest.
The typical fire regime in this area includes a 3-35 year average fire return interval.
Due to NEPA law and policy it is virtually impossible to “log out way out of this problem”.
“Raking the forest” sounds dumb, but is clearly a Manhattan developers vernacular for hazardous fuels reduction treatments.
Pictures of them raking?
Truth is the more we logged, the more land went into pecker poles, and the bigger the fires got. The Forest Service doesn’t do much in the way of follow up after sales, except for letting fires burn out a big box. Which you pretty much have to do anyway. Historically (pre logging) Klamath fires burned about 250 acres apiece, but every 11-12 years.
Most of the actual timber in the Park Fire this summer was SPI property. Land managed for normal maximum ideal timber production may not be very fire resilient throughout its growth cycle.
That’s cute. In all that “raking” you scraped the earth bare (not exclusively Trinity or Humboldt) of every twig, rock and plant which directly fed into the rivers, silted them up and killed off the fish and a while industry with it. You couldn’t be bothered with things like thinning or selective harvest, replantation and run off mitigation so new trees could be sewn, making for future sustainable harvests. then what was left was sold off to developers and what used to be prime forests are now subdivisions and planned mini-cities, which don’t produce anything of value, natural resource wise.
And you never had large fires? Oh lordy. Since 1994 Trinity has seen the largest ever. So much good all that raking did. Then again, you can’t burn what doesn’t exist.
Trinity county fire history.
Neat-o GIS animation over the last century
Have you not noticed the 50 foot brush clearance off the side of highways nowadays, up and down all of CA?
Last time I drove hwy 101 from SoHum to Eureka (2 weeks ago), no such 50 ft area existed. Did someone take care of it within the last 2 weeks?
I doubt it. I travelled that a couple weeks ago too. Only clearing I saw was typical tree and brush removal and a few spots of slash and logs from fires being set aside but no widespread easements cleared, except save for road widening projects like down north of Willits I saw the other day heading south. PGE and contractors did clear a lot of timber encroaching existing lines and roads but that’s been 3-4 years now, with even more crap left alongside the roads and on private property, if anything.
That’s funny, I sure have noticed it…
From right when you leave Garberville, to about Sylvandale, the brush and trees have been cleared way back here and there…
Of course, that is is not going to to happen in the state parks…
299 corridor got bushwhacked and cleared of trees to a great degree, also, after the nightmare that happened a few years back there, when some rogue weather knocked down so many trees into the roadway that 299 had to shut down for days, and a dedicated tow truck driver was killed on the job from a falling tree…
It looked like a hurricane/tornedo went through there before it was cleared…
Trees were down in the roadway like as many scattered pick up sticks…
That’s a GODDAMNED lie…
Hmmm… gee whiz. Have you driven 299 or 36 lately ?
No, it’s actually true…
The 50 foot buffer is a driver safety feature as seen in any state with highways near vegetation. It is actually amazing CA is so far behind. The AlCan is cleared 100+ feet through the entire northern Rockies.
50 feet buys responders safe access, but has very little function in a large fast moving wildfire that throws spot fires a mile ahead.
I wouldn’t say CA is THAT far behind, but it can do better. But AlCan ROW is cleared because it was built that way in the beginning; as a WWII military road to connect to Alaska (AL-CAN). It was never going to be lined with pretty trees and forest fire safety wasn’t a consideration. Getting a road built to handle trucks and heavy equipment (watch the episodes!)in extreme environments and permafrost was. That wide clearing is just a leftover from war being much of it was fill dirt used to make the road elevated above the permafrost and peat bogs. Just a cursory look on various aerial imagery shows many areas have long since gone back to nature. Clearing trees 100 feet from every road here will just increase erosion, silt run off in the rivers and more and more rock and mudslides every time it rains, and now you have more unnecessary issues to contend with.
I would clear the underbrush (by hand or machine, leave out all the toxic crap) and harden existing overhead wires against failure, or reroute them entirely where possible. Leave the trees as much as useful to stabilize the ground. But brush like pampas grass, scotchbroom, various weeds, berry and other things need to go. They will light up a forest forest fire quicker than anything when you get some knucklehead that doesn’t realize he’s been dragging trailer chains for miles, starting a hundred fires.
That was supposed to keep your Tesla from burning up. ? however when Musk gave the Nazi salute, the money went to the “Train to Nowhere”!
Wow, do you have video of this “vigorous raking” that prevents forest fires? Sounds like an exciting technique.
The scariest thing about trump is how cult like his followers are. It’s OK to acknowledge that the wealthy real estate heir from NYC doesn’t know anything about forestry. You don’t have to adopt his ignorant terminology. He’s not going to notice you
Actually, he knows way more than you ever will. And yes, shaded fuel breaks are happening all along 101 in southern Humboldt. You need to get out of Arcata more. It’s called raking(masticating-manual lopping) the forest. They are equivalent. So who knows nothing about forestry, you or Trump? I think you know the answer, non RPF. Go take the test and get back to us in 25 years cuz you will never pass it. I guarantee it.
“Masticating-manual lopping” is the equivalent of raking?
What the fuck are you talking about?
I’ve done dozens of hours of fuels reduction on private land. I’ve never used a rake. I’ve used loppers, pole saws, and chainsaws to accomplish what I assume is meant by “manual lopping”. And I’ve used chippers to accomplish masticating.
Zero raking involved.
Chippers don’t accomplish masticating. Masticators do. Tracked chippers can be used to mulch manually cut brush and trees. But that isn’t mastication. Dozens of hours doing fuels reduction is what every landowner does when cleaning up their forested yard. Sorry to break it to you, that doesn’t equate to making an expert. It equates to common sense so your house doesn’t burn down. My dogs understand that. As I stated, for a city person, Trump is right and the Democrats are pissed. I suggest assembling your friends in the Arcata community to make them aware that managing a forest is good for everybody. Ever heard of a brush rake. It’s an attachment put on a Cat to rake cut fuels on the forest floor. It’s often used for fuel reduction work in conjunction with manual lopping and mastication. Trump is right again. Go take the RPF test and get back to us when you pass it fuels expert.
I know you don’t get out much since you’re some guy in Arcata (probably mooching off the taxpayers, too) but I’ve driven 50 several times since the Caldor fire.
here’s a link, describing fire mitigation done after that fire.
https://www.tahoedailytribune.com/news/what-happens-after-a-wildfire-is-put-out-a-caldor-fire-example/
Did you read the article you posted? There was exactly zero instances of the word “rake” or “raking”.
I suppose it’s possible that rakes were involved in the mulch spreading that was mentioned?
Again, you can support president trump with out mindlessly defending his every act of silliness.
We should surely continue to expand our fuel reduction efforts. It’s quite promising that CalFire has accepted the value of preventative burning. We should push ahead with that program. Additionally, we could really expand the physical fuels removal (hopefully supplying those tasked with it with more than just a rake!) as both an ecological strategy and a jobs program.
Something else I’d love to see would be the development of traditional California food products that could create incentives for private forest ownership to maintain fire resilient forests without depending on government grants.
“Raking” is a misnomer, partly because O. Julius doesn’t quite understand what a forest is or should be, being an NYC urbanite and all. But refers to the slash piles that were created after logging where pretty much nothing living was left. You know why there wasn’t any fires? Because there was nothing to burn. It was all put into a bunch of burn piles around bare ground.
It’s a myth that there was a time in the last century and a half of American conquest when there weren’t any fires.
But yeah, the period when we were actively removing the forest at a frenzied pace certainly didn’t leave much to burn.
After 4-5 years if you cannot understand that “raking the forest” is referring to fuels reduction treatments, then you are being intentionally ignorant.
AKA a democrat.
I would love to see you conduct meaningful fuels reduction with a rake. That would be a hoot.
I bet we could get a good reality show out of supplying belligerent trump devotees with rakes and having them compete to conduct the most successful fuels reduction. We could use the revenue to raised to fund actual fire prevention (you know, the stuff done with saws, drip torches, and saplings).
You should go out in the woods… (well, maybe someday).
Rump didn’t know the proper terms for ‘masticator’ or ‘forestry mulcher’… or the newer conversion of clearing pecker poles and converting them to pellets.
He just used ‘raking’.
—
Go figure.
Ooooh I see, he just calls a forest mulcher a rake. Sure. It’s not that he’s fucking clueless, it’s that he’s aggressively insisting that California doesn’t use a technology that is used widely in California by referring to it by a totally incorrect and erroneous term.
Calling that a rake is like calling a lawn mower a grass rake.
Yep. Willfully ignoring mechanical fuel reduction efforts and projects done on scale must be difficult for Liberals used to seeing cotton, fruit and vegetables being harvested by individuals of color, methinks.
Are you talking about the programs that have increased over the last 2 decades under both major parties leadership in Washington? Pushed forward by democratic state leadership and inspired, as well as pushed forward legally by, local native communities?
Is that the move you’re trying to credit to the current wealthy NYC media personality in the white house?
Then why didn’t 47 say “fuels reduction”?
Because in forestry, the term “rake the forest” typically refers to the act of manually clearing forest floors as part of forest maintenance and care. “Raking the forest” improves the forest’s health by reducing the risk of wildfires, aiding in the regeneration of plants, and maintaining the overall ecosystem by removing excess materials that could become a fire hazard or obstruct new growth.
Cite the forestry book that uses the term “Rake the Forest”.
What, you mean supreme commander trump has no idea what he’s talking about?!
I’ve *seen* the result of ‘raking the forest’..
It looks like a clear-cut with trees…no duff AT ALL
doesn’t look natural or healthy in any way – more like an additional fire hazard
Too many syllables.
There is film of Fire Marshall Gavin rigorously raking after the SoCal fires.
It looked like a dance to me! He was raking his ass with his hands in the back pockets of his blue jeans.
That would be an entertaining film for sure. I’d genuinely love to see a film of ol greasy gav doing a whole round of yard work on one of his homes.
” Raking”is a process that is usually mechanical. It includes shearing brush and using machinery to collect detritus, rip old stumps and roots.
By doing this it is possible to manipulate the forest floor in different ways to mitigate the effects and spread of fire, and enhance ease of suppression, among other benefits.
To make light of the subject only reveals ignorance. Forestry is not a political science.
Like I said previously: ” One name change Ca. got right was when we changed the name of the California Division Of Forestry to Cal Fire”. They certainly are proficient at causing them.
Hug a Forester. You can tell a real one, he’s the one thats crying.
Can you link me any source that refers to raking?
I’ve done fuels reduction on private property, guided by calfire advice. No one ever used the term raking.
Is it a term that the forestry community has adopted in the last 5 or 6 years?
California Board of Forestry: “the brush rake has a scoop and forks that can be used to clear brush and form piles. It can also clear the ground to bare mineral soil……”. So if google is your friend, there are no less than 50 references to raking the forest floor to reduce fuel density. Sources range from Calfire, BOF, the Nature Conservancy, UCANR, USFS, ESA Journal, and on and on and on. Ever heard of the Black Forest in Germany. The people actually use hand rakes there. Trump won again. Oh darn……
“More concerned with other affairs”
Yes, like protecting the ability to chemically castrate children.
California makes all its money agriculturally mining the central valley and sending the products all over the nation and world via global capitalism.
that’s one reason why Caly has such a large economy, by killing Ernest Callenbach’s ecotopia by means of the lefts heart warming immigrant labor to blow produce and fruit all over the globe.
maybe don’t toot that horn like it’s something your proud of ok?
To GS’s quip, it is amusing to to note that all private land reverts back to county ownership if taxes aren’t paid, so in a way, up the chain it goes, and states revert to federal. And further all of national forest and tribal lands are federally claimed
Actually the prophets that are generated from intensive and destructive agricultural practices in the Central valley are not widely distributed. A tremendous amount of the ag products that are produced are exported overseas and the wealth that is generated lines the pockets of a surprisingly small number of landowners.
If this practice were ended in California focused on growing food first for the people of California and secondly for export only domestically, our need for agricultural labor would be greatly reduced.
Both of those earthen dams are in Southern California.
Fed by spring snow melt-off from the Southern Sierra Mountains.
(That hasn’t happened yet.. this year).
Rump should have announced it was to ‘enable Salmon runs and RESILIENCE’.
Used a Dem word, get 10 Newsom points !
—
Another example of Reps (Bloods) vs Dems (Crips).
—
Meanwhile Huffman continues with stealing Eel river water.
—
Go figure.
Another example of Reps (Pepsi) vs Dems (Coke).
Well that’s an easy one, Coke is so much better than Pepsi.
I’ve actually done the Pepsi challenge using glass bottled Pepsi and Coke in paper bags so that people couldn’t see which it was which.
Most people chose Pepsi. Even those who stated they preferred Coke. Some of them were able to tell which was which. I’ve done this with quite a few people and only one of them stuck with Coke.
The flavor package of Coke is more simplistic, being dominated by vanilla. Pepsi has a more sophisticated array of flavors.
Hunter B strongly agrees with you.
Ha! Well played, Stars.
Except Pepsi is blue and Coke is red
Huffbagger doesn’t care about water unless it is going to his Democrat vineyard and winery owners. Huffbagger is so stupid, he doesn’t understand the concept of dry farming, which grapes are highly adapted to. Huffbagger needs the winery owners to be gluttons and produce quantity over quality, hence stealing River water to ensure he keeps getting huge vineyard owner donations. This, while ensuring that those irrigated grapes will never survive without being irrigated forever because their root systems are shallow.Its all so simple, dry farming a mediterranean plant adapted to drought if you don’t keep irrigating them. Duh.Huffbagger is an idiot.
I’ve got snowmelt in our seasonal creek here in Scott Valley. *right now*..and there’s no guarantee there will be more rain.
Are you not from here? Any Californian would know this!
Succeed you say? Yeah, because California is the 5th largest economy in the world, right? Well first let’s consider how much of Cal. is owned by Cal. That number would be 54.6% of the state. That’s right the rest of the country owns 45.4% of the “golden state”. The residents of Texas are part owners of almost half of Poppy Land. Oh yeah, but we outproduce everybody else. Kind of, but keep in mind transporting it to market is another major dynamic in the economic equation. Now were dealing with international borders, and boy does the game change. And of course, since the rest of the country owns nearly half of the state, you’ll have to give up half your profit, it’s only fair and we know how the liberals embrace fairness and feeeeeeings. Then this:
“This sudden, uncoordinated move raises serious concerns for downstream agricultural operations and communities since local authorities had little time to adjust or plan accordingly,”
Really, and just how would those “concerns” manifest in real time? Did it cause flooding, because that’s the only “concern” I can see from increased flow. Oh, there was no flooding you say–well, well. Jared Huffman is full of it up to his eyeballs.
No flooding cuz weird Grandpa didn’t do anything. He just made up some unconstitutional fantasy nonsense about a military incursion against a State.
One concern in the letter was for this summer, when the rains stop. If there isn’t enough to refill the reservoirs, it could cause problems later.
Or 2-3 summers when the cycle swings the other way and we get only 1/2 the rain and a mediocre snowpack, if any.
This is a powerful message to California from the Boss: you better kiss my hand.
A powerfully weird message!
He claimed he sent the military into a US State to turn a magic valve, when actually normal staff completed routine maintenance, and we have a winter storm.
LOL its called solving the problem.
Difficult for a communist/democrat to understand I’m sure.
gotta love that the huff gets his info from ‘multiple news reports’. have to be 100% accurate and factual.
Go back to sleep Jarred. President Trump gave several press releases on the subject.
Trump ordered releases of water in Tulare County dams to help the wildfires in LA yet the river from the dams release doesn’t flow to LA. A release of this volume should have been coordinated with locals so farmers could make sure livestock is moved to higher ground and people are not caught on the river. Hopefully the reservoirs will fill back up with water for the farmers to use this summer. The water will probably be wasted this time of year.
::headdesk::
Another quote from Huffman;
Under Donald Trump, this has ceased to be a co-equal branch of government — it’s simply an arm of his administration. … Congress is supposed to be a check and balance in our system of government to prevent presidents from turning into kings, right? That was the whole idea, and right now we have a Congress where the majority seems perfectly fine with President Trump.
Well jarEd, the Democrats have been in control of California for 25 years. look at this disaster they’ve created and you know you’re part of that mess and now you’re in DC saying you represent us but really you just representing a bunch of big agriculture and wine Growers.
Plenty of water in lake Tahoe.
Well, they need a big pipeline out of there. Same thing with Clear Lake.
Pretty sure that Newsom had his eyes on Ruth Lake. If I remember the water agency had outlined a 6′ pipe headed over to the Central Valley.
Not a lot of water in Ruth Lake though.
All previous comments deleted. Ask the pilots program why!!! Test beta. “Whatever” rhine hold son. You all know!! Who ya or who raw!
but hey protect the chuckwalla instead of humans!
Okay, they sent a letter. Now what?
Absolutely nothing. They pretend they are doing something. Empty words from empty heads. If they care for California’s, then why did 6 million move away taking 600,000 jobs with them? Why did this state produce more homeless then any other state? Because their protecting wildlife? Seems like alot of money keeps disappearing in California! What happened to the 24.7 million in the homeless fund? They are lazy slobs that are to lazy to work a real job.