Fly Fishing Exhibition
Turtle Bay, Redding, CA
Jan. 28 - Apr. 15, 2012
Turtle Bay Museum and The Fly Shop have prepared the exhibition with the help of the Shasta Trinity Fly Fishers. The exhibition will run from January 28 to April 15, 2012. It will feature fly fishing and tying equipment as far back as the 1800’s. There will be early models of float tubes, fly rods, fly reels, fly lines, waders and tying vises, along with plenty of pictures in addition to the latest equipment available. Some of the items will be coming from the Federation of Fly Fishers national museum in Livingston, Montana.
The Turtle Bay Exploration Park includes the Turtle Bay Museum, McConnell Arboretum & Botanical Gardens Nursery, Paul Bunyan’s Forest Camp, Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay, and the Monolith. Turtle Bay Museum is the heart of the Turtle Bay experience. It contains permanent, interactive exhibits and two large special exhibition galleries. The experiences include underwater fish viewing, walking through historic re-creations, experimenting with scientific equipment and viewing art. For more details and pictures go to www.turtlebay.org.
STFF Fly Tying Expo: Part of Turtle Bay Science Weekend, “Flies, Fishes and Fishing”
The Shasta Trinity Fly Fishers in conjunction with The Fly Shop, NCCFFF and Redding’s Turtle Bay Museum will have a fly tying expo in Redding, California, on February 18 and 19, 2012. Tyers from northern California and Oregon will be featured.
There will be morning (10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.) and afternoon (1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.) demonstration fly tying sessions on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday, February 18, at 1:00 p.m. Mike Mercer will be doing a program entitled “Real Bugs and Imitation Flies”. Also there will be hands-on activities including fly tying and a casting area.
The fly tying expo will be in the middle of the three-month-long Turtle Bay Museum fly fishing exhibition, “Fly Fishing, The Art of Deception”. In addition, every Saturday and Sunday from January 28 to April 15, tyers from STFF will be doing fly tying demonstrations from noon to 3 p.m.
Deconstructing the Drought
Who were the winners and losers in California's recent three-year drought? Impacts of the California Drought from 2007-2009, a new report from the Pacific Institute, provides some counterintuitive
answers.
"The data show actual impacts that were significantly different from expectations," says Pacific Institute's Peter Gleick, who co-authored the report. "The total value of California's agricultural
products actually broke records in all three years of the drought. Overall, California farmers proved themselves to be flexible and resilient."
Despite complaints that the agricultural sector was water-starved during the drought, California's farmers and ranchers adapted by increasing groundwater use, arranging for temporary water transfers,
fallowing, and changing cropping patterns and types. The sector grossed $38.4 billion in 2008, an all-time high, and $34.8 billion in 2009, the third highest year on record. Trends toward reductions
in farmed acreage slowed during the drought years, and yields remained high.
Based on census and employment data, the Pacific Institute report found no disproportionate loss in agricultural jobs in areas where water supplies were restricted. Actual job losses in the three-year
period were worse in sales and construction. Agriculture-related jobs in the Central Valley rose by 2% from 2003 to 2009; construction jobs fell by 44%. "These data show that unemployment in the San Joaquin
Valley is a long-term problem, not simply the result of the recent drought," says lead author Juliet Christian-Smith. "Hunger, homelessness, and other signs of poverty are real and happening, and they
are happening in wet years and dry ones."
The environment took a major hit. Even if other factors may have been implicated, the report makes the case that the 2008 and 2009 salmon fishery closures, which cost 1,800 jobs and $118.4 million
in income, were drought-related. Decreased river flows led to the highest Bay-Delta salinity records since 1992. The San Joaquin Valley's average groundwater depletion rate doubled between 2006 and 2010.
Groundwater pumping by the Westlands Water District alone increased nineteen-fold from 2006 to 2009.
"A key conclusion," says Gleick, "is that we need to put in place strategies capable of addressing the risks of inevitable longer and more severe water shortfalls."
Contact: jchristiansmith@pacinst.org
Written by: Joe Eton
Reprinted by permission of the ESTUARY NEWS, published by the San Francisco Estuary Partnership
Public Scoping Report Available For Proposed Long-Term Water Transfers
The Bureau of Reclamation and the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority (SLDMWA) has made available a Public Scoping Report for proposed Long-Term Water Transfers (LTWT). This report provides information on LTWT and public comments during January and February 2011.
Reclamation, the lead federal agency under the National Environmental Policy Act and the SLDMWA, the lead state agency under the California Environmental Quality Act, will be preparing an Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report for LTWT later this year on the effects of proposed water transfers from willing sellers in northern California to buyers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and in the San Francisco Bay Area. Updates will be announced through press releases and the website as additional information becomes available.
The Public Scoping Report is available online at Reclamation's LTWT website: http://www.usbr.gov/mp/cvp/ltw. For additional information, or to request a copy of the report, please contact Mr. Brad Hubbard, Reclamation, by email bhubbard@usbr.gov or 916-978-5204 (TTY 916-978-5608); or Ms. Frances Mizuno, San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, at frances.mizuno@sldmwa.org or 209-832-6200.
