#welcome to california

[beardedmrbean]

Environmental rules designed to protect imperiled fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta have ignited anger among a group of bipartisan lawmakers, who say too much of California's stormwater is being washed out to sea instead of being pumped to reservoirs and aqueducts.

In a series of strongly worded letters, nearly a dozen legislators — many from drought-starved agriculture regions of the Central Valley —have implored state and federal officials to relax environmental pumping restrictions that are limiting the amount of water captured from the delta.

"When Mother Nature blesses us with rain, we need to save the water, instead of dumping it into the ocean," Assemblymember Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield) wrote in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Since the beginning of January, a series of atmospheric rivers has disgorged trillions of gallons of much-needed moisture across drought-stricken California, but only a small fraction of that water has so far made it into storage. In the delta — the heart of the state's vast water system — nearly 95% of incoming water has flowed into the Pacific Ocean, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

The calls by lawmakers have reignited a long-simmering debate over where — and to whom — the state's precious water supplies should go.

"With so much excess water in the system, there is no reason that exports south of the Delta cannot be increased," read another letter that State Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) and Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains (D-Bakersfield) addressed to Newsom.

But experts say it's not that simple.

While the delta provides drinking water for about 27 million Californians and supports the state's massive agricultural industry, it is also a delicate ecosystem that is home to threatened and endangered species — many of which have been suffering amid warming waters, increasing salinity, dangerously low flows and other ecological stressors. The tiny delta smelt are dangerously close to extinction.

State and federal water managers said they have been complying with environmental regulations designed to protect those species, including a so-called "first flush" protocol that mandates two weeks of reduced pumping at the onset of the first big winter storms.

The flush provides the fish with enough time and water to move away from the powerful pumps, which have been known to chew them up.

"There are reasons that there are restrictions on pumping, and each of them is founded in some way, shape or form on trying to conserve habitat for listed species," said Jeffrey Mount, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.

Mount said it would be a mistake to ignore the environmental benefits of the water. The smelt are akin to a "canary in the coal mine" for the entire health of the delta, he said, and the first flush is biologically very important for the dynamics of the estuary.

"If we take actions which are helpful to smelt, we’ll help an array of other native fishes and the native ecosystem," he said.

The first flush protocol stems from biological opinions issued by the Trump administration in 2019 and from incidental take permits issued by the Newsom administration in 2020. Some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, however, are calling for the rules to be revised.

From Jan. 3-16, pumping rates in the delta were reduced to nearly half of their capacity in accordance with the protocol, resulting in a loss of about 84,000 acre-feet of exports from the area, according to estimates from the Public Policy Institute. That's enough water to irrigate 25,000 acres of farmland for a year or supply 150,000 homes.

[random-gallifreyan]

We have someone here who lives in the body of an old Curtiss C-46 cargo plane that’s just been sitting there. Two women bought it and converted it into a house in 1947.

The owners love to tell people about the “Confusi-Lodge”.

I will not dox my neighbour and post pictures of his house because I am not an asshole, but he just put an addition on his already batshit insane house and I am dying to share.

He lives in a 1950 PanAm passenger plane. I have no fucking clue how he got it here, because we're nowhere near a runway and it still has its wings and its landing gear. The living space is a solid 15 feet off the ground and he has one of those old school staircase vans as his front step. I would assume its not terribly different from living in a trailer or other mobile home, but its way better insulated because its a plane.

Anyway, he just finished a glassed in porch that comes out of the pilots side of the cockpit and its so cool. This isn't some gimmicky airbnb, this is his house and the commitment to the bit is legendary.

His greenhouse is a fire engine.

[smol-yet-toll]

Taken Dec 25 2023

[crotchety-old-blogger]

[aldimarribeirosblog]

#photographys#models.

[nuzipilled]

What genre of fiction do the A & B casts of the Murder Drones Human AU do they like the most?

not pictured; doll cant eat without youtube, and lizzy only knows euphoria and the office

[mur-art]

Apologies for my absence… I moved to (Northern) Nevada and been busy. Anyway, this comic is based on some of my observations of drivers around here. People actually seem REALLY good at following the speed limit and are actually pretty polite. My California born-n-raised partner was joking that the only reason why anyone would do that in California was if they had dr ug s in the car and/or were really trying to avoid the cops. Thus, this comic was born.

[starsprii]

Taking a break from my project to draw California. I wanted to put in a little more detail than usual, but I don't know how I feel about this.

I was too tired to draw the dozens of poppies on his right arm, so I just didn't! I headcannon that he got them in small bunches over the years from many different artists every time he passed by a tattoo shop and didn't have anything better to do (which was pretty often). They're all unique to the artists' personal styles. That being said, it's a pain to draw.

The flowers visible in the film rolls are Roses, Orange Blossoms, Hibiscus, and Forget-me-nots. That's the Sierra Nevada mountain range + a hot air balloon and a star for Hollywood. (There are more flowers in the film panels. They just aren't visible).

[stawpny]

somebody draw California and New York to this pls 🙏

this is so them

[goldengay49]

California, 1848, by a river: ooh shiny rocks

California, 2024, in a hippy store: ooh shiny rocks

[theywhoshantbenamed]

I’m back. Baseball has resurrected me

Caliyork but what if they were baseball players on opposing teams? And I’m spreading my pitcher New York propaganda

And this one I drew today cause of game three and also cause I saw a video of a Yankees fan taunting some Dodgers fans X)

As @/crazedstoryteller suggests, at least New York still has his other teams to worry about

[midmaximoo]

little freak

[dhmisfour]

doodles from awhile ago I cleaned up :3c

[doueverwonder]

I stand firm on the idea that most of the 60s & 70s none of the states or Gov actually knew where California was. They're still piecing things together from random comments he makes; they got a timeline built on namedropping now-infamous cults, randomly mentioning hitchhiking to xyz place in xyz year, bringing up marches/protests he was at, and saying things like "the best sleep I've EVER had was the first night back in my own bed after Woodstock '69, that was the fattest nap". They know they could probably ask, but the cork board covered in red string and speculating is more fun.

[lilpuffyart]

Do Rodan and King Ghidorah exist in your Coffee Shop AU?

They do yeah!!

They work on a rival coffee shop that isn't even that close to Mothra's, but since Ghidorah's petty like that, he'll bother them and act like a cartoon villain to bother them lmao

Rodan used to be somewhat close to Mothra and Goji when they were younger, but they dont talk much anymore nowadays

[poisonlipgloss]

Mirror pics ✨🦋