[Magdalen] California drought

[Jay Weigel]

Sounds like your version of kudzu. Everybody's got one.

On Sun, Nov 16, 2014 at 5:27 PM, Lynn Ronkainen <ichthys89 at comcast.net>
wrote:

> I just looked up Arundo... we have that here in TX as well, but I've not
> hear it touted as a nuisance weed... however along the Mexican border, a
> cedar species: Salt Cedar  http://www.terrain.org/
> articles/27/lamberton.htm was introduced 200 years ago and it has spread
> throughout the river valley and is sucking the Rio Grande completely dry in
> places.. and is generally a nuisance plant in the  whole SW USA and in
> Mexico.
>
> Lynn
>
>
>
> website: www.ichthysdesigns.com
>
> When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not
> a single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me."
> attributed to Erma Bombeck
>
> Thomas Merton writes, “People may spend their whole lives climbing the
> ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is
> leaning against the wrong wall.”
>
> "What you seek is seeking you." - Rumi
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "M J [Mike] Logsdon" <mjl at ix.netcom.com>
> Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2014 3:53 PM
> To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
> Subject: Re: [Magdalen] California drought
>
>  Almonds?  Forgive the insensitivity, but... please.  Almonds?  CA's
>> Central Valley is hurting, and understandably so.  But the US can live
>> without almonds.  How many could live without the Salinas Valley?  The
>> Salad Bowl of CA, and much of the world.  Lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower,
>> artichokes, berries uncountable.  (And yes, a lot of wine grapes, believe
>> it or not. Travel between Paso Robles and Salinas and count the grape
>> orchards, if you can.)
>>
>> What's missed in the news of the CA drought is the areas, like this one,
>> where it's not just a matter of no rain, but other disastrous factors as
>> well.  In the Salinas Valley, we've been forced to worry about flooding, of
>> all things.  And why?  Mainly because of vegetative overgrowth in the
>> Salinas River, particularly that bastardy plant called Arrundo (a monstrous
>> reed).  Introduced in CA decades ago for bank stabilization.  I guess no
>> one thought they'd grow like demons.  Estimates vary, but one Arrundo plant
>> can suck up from 25,000 to 50,000+ acre-feet of water per year.  (For those
>> unfamiliar with the term, an acre-foot is the amount of water that covers
>> an acre of land up to one foot in depth.)  For comparison, the City of
>> Salinas (near 200,000 pop) uses, annually, 24,000 acre-feet.  Absolutely
>> amazing.  Luckily, in the face of Perpetual Opposition from environmental
>> groups and agencies (whom I respect, so please don't get me wrong), Gov
>> Jerry recently decreed two of the worst stretches of the Salinas River
>> clearable of vegetation.  That, combined with the mere piffle of rain we're
>> getting so far, will help.
>>
>> Help with what?  The flooding I mentioned.  It of course is a good thing
>> if that bastardy Arrundo isn't sucking up so many tens of hundreds of
>> thousands of acre-feet of water, but the other element is free passage of
>> water in an otherwise highly alluvial, highly sedimentary river that needs
>> to move water in flooding conditions FAST, and EFFICIENTLY.  Means a lot of
>> sediment being dumped in the dearly precious Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary
>> (which I saw first-hand from above in a Chinook in 1995), but in a world of
>> lesser of evils, it's about what nature originally intended (the free flow
>> of water to the ocean) or flooding damages totalling in the millions... in
>> the Salinas Valley.  Back to the original point.
>>
>> I know all about this because of where I work.  I don't work with it
>> directly, but in such an attritionally small Agency, it's hard not to
>> know.  (Monthly All-hands Meetings help too.)
>>
>> Off my MCWRA (Monterey County Water Resources Agency) Orange Crate, for
>> the time being.
>> _________________________________________
>> "O perplexed discomposition, O riddling
>> distemper, O miserable condition of man!"
>> - The Rev Mr John Donne
>> (in a not-so-chipper moment)
>>
>>
>> _________________________________________
>> "O perplexed discomposition, O riddling
>> distemper, O miserable condition of man!"
>> - The Rev Mr John Donne
>> (in a not-so-chipper moment)
>>
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