“The Senate’s proposed drought package will help ensure safe and affordable drinking water for all Californians who are most at risk during drought and makes significant investments in proven water supply solutions, like improving water use efficiency and water recycling. This package steers California in the right direction as we face dry conditions this year and prepare for more frequent and severe droughts as a result of climate change.” Tracy Quinn
, Director of California Urban Water Policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council
“We applaud Senate President Pro Tem Atkins for bringing a comprehensive drought package to the Legislature that recognizes the critical needs people and nature are confronting in California right now,” said Jay Ziegler, Policy Director for The Nature Conservancy. “The budget plan will help ensure that safe, affordable drinking water is available to all Californians, while also providing immediate investments in science to measure droug
Irvine Ranch Conservancyâs Dedication to Wildfire Prevention
Photograph courtesy of Irvine Ranch Conservancy
The first Saturday in May is Wildfire Community Preparedness Day, a national campaign to reduce the frequency and severity of wildfires. Orange Countyâs two major fires last year burned a third of the land that the Irvine Ranch Conservancy manages, including Limestone Canyon and two restoration projects the conservancy had worked on for more than a decade. âWildfire is the single greatest threat to the long-term health of these plants,â says Michael OâConnell, the conservancyâs president and CEO. âThese lands are adapted to burning once every 70 to 100 years. Theyâre currently burning every seven to 10 years.â The organization has a dedicated Fire Watch program, which monitors areas prone to wildfires during Santa Ana winds, Red Flag Warning days, and other days with potential fire danger such as the 4th of July.
Learn to Mountain Bike with Irvine Ranch Conservancyâs New Skills Course
Photograph courtesy of Irvine Ranch Conservancy
Hosted by Irvine Ranch Conservancy volunteers, the Mountain Bike Clinic offers an opportunity for enthusiasts to learn and develop basic skills in a controlled, artificial environment. Experts will guide you through proper form and technique as you complete exercises over modular structures such as dirt ramps, rock step-ups, A-frames, and caterpillarsâwhich model different types of terrain you might encounter on a trail.
On top of teaching the basic aspects of mountain biking, the class also goes over proper safety and preparedness.
Irvine Ranch Conservancy (IRC) hosted its first public activity on the newly constructed Mountain Bike Skills Course at the City of Irvine’s Portola Staging Area on Sunday, April 25. The new Mountain Bike Skills Course has been in development for the past year with work executed by Irvine Ranch Conservancy’s Infrastructure & Planning Crew.
“We were thrilled to have people come out and experience the new bike skills course at the Portola Staging Area,” said Dave Raetz, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer at Irvine Ranch Conservancy. “Many activities on the Irvine Ranch Natural Landmarks were postponed this past year in accordance with state and local guidelines and we can’t wait to start welcoming people back to Orange County’s native wildlands in the coming months.”
Santa Fe, New Mexico, once was sustained by the waters of the Santa Fe River, which begins in the high country of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, flows through the city and then onward to the Rio Grande.
But when Western cities grow, they look everywhere for more water, with little regard for the rivers they drain. As the city’s population grew, Santa Fe turned to its groundwater. Later, New Mexico reached across the desert to take water from the Colorado River and deliver it to Santa Fe, Albuquerque and other beneficiaries on the Rio Grande.
And yet the Santa Fe River downstream was not reduced to a dry and dusty arroyo. In fact, the riverbed is relatively verdant, supporting cottonwoods, willows and sustaining some irrigation in communities downstream. That moisture helps make Santa Fe a beautiful place in the desert.