Alastair Bland

The Colorado River’s water transformed the Imperial Valley desert into one of California’s most productive farm regions. But now growers will have to sacrifice 10% of their supply because of shortages in the river's supply.

A dozen days of wet and wild weather haven’t ended the drought, and won't cure the driest period in the West in the past 1,200 years.

As a "bomb cyclone" descends on Northern California tonight, storms have already tested a region highly vulnerable to flooding. One report says the Central Valley needs $30 billion in improvements over 30 years.

Urgently trying to help an endangered species devastated by drought, biologists hauled 40,000 eggs to the McCloud River this year, then brought the young fish back again to migrate. So far, it's gone well.

EN RESUMEN A pesar de las tormentas de diciembre, el suministro de agua sigue siendo bajo en muchas áreas. Algunos gerentes esperan imponer severas restricciones a sus clientes. Read this article in English. Diciembre ha dado una buena cantidad de tormentas a California. Pero el clima húmedo viene con una dosis seca de realidad: los […]

Despite December storms, water supplies remain low in many areas. Some managers expect to impose severe restrictions on their customers.

The Trump administration this week declared that pumping more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to supply farms will not jeopardize the endangered salmon and smelt that live in the estuary. This clears the way for the federal government to deliver more water, possibly as soon as next year.   The decision is a big and […]

Inside the Capitol’s corridors and pro-development quarters around the state, the California Environmental Quality Act is increasingly disparaged as a villain in the state’s housing crisis. But the act’s environmentalist defenders are pushing back, saying many projects slip too easily through—leading to overdrawn groundwater tables and disappearing forests. And whatever the urgency to build more housing, environmentalists say there’s nothing to preempt a rigorous review of commercial proposals—even ones as visually appealing as vineyards in the Napa Valley.

A growing emphasis on reconnecting California floodplains to rivers so they can absorb floodwaters is a U-turn from past reliance on levees to protect cities and towns.

Eighty California farmers are engaged in a state-funded effort to boost carbon concentrations in the soil—a promising way to combat climate change.