A wealthy farmer who once gave lavishly to promote Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's political fortunes and spent time with him smoking cigars has become one of his most outspoken critics. Dino Cortopassi has spent at least $100,000 bankrolling an ad blitz targeting one of the governor's main policy initiatives — upgrading the state's water delivery system.
»Labor Day weekend proved to local state park officials that low levels on Lake Oroville are taking a toll on the number of visitors they see. Bob Foster, district superintendent for the California State Parks, said the campgrounds and marinas on Lake Oroville saw at least one-third less visitors than last year.
»Nearly 40 percent of fish species in North American streams, rivers and lakes are now in jeopardy, according to the most detailed evaluation of the conservation status of freshwater fishes in the last 20 years.
»A new multidisciplinary modeling effort concludes that certain tracts of land in California's Sacramento Delta should be abandoned the next time they flood, and that major California water-supply inlets in the area should be rerouted.
»State officials on Thursday fined UC Davis $78,000 for pumping too much pollution into Putah Creek from its campus sewage treatment plant.
»Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a drought emergency this summer, and he is negotiating with Sen. Dianne Feinstein and state lawmakers on a $10 billion bond for water storage and conservation.
»Thirty years ago there were several thousand salmon boats in California. More recently, as the fish became scarce, only a few hundred worked the coast. Then salmon populations crashed, and this year for the first time U.S. officials canceled all ocean salmon fishing off California and most of Oregon, and curtailed it off Washington, a $300 million loss.
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