2015 Summer Update The’ o) From Executive Director Mike Sweeney Copiature Protecting notre. Preserving if Nature's in trouble and so are we. Drought is increasing stress on our natural systems and proving it’s well past time we examine our own water use. We're al starting to see that when the wildlife that depend on freshwater are struggling, we are too. If rivers don’t meet the sea, our water supply is in trouble. While California is ‘managing crisis after crisis, we are working to make sure nature gets its share, because the nature we depend on depends on us. Healthy Forests Mean More Water, Fewer Megafires California's forests have been in trouble for a long time. Hundreds of years ago, there was a mix of big trees and small, areas of thick growth and areas with sparse trees. Fire was a regular part of keeping the forests healthy. And those healthy forests and meadows are the best way to store water in the form of snowpack and release snowmelt into our rivers and streams. But things changed about 70 years ago. In an ironic twist, forest management policies and the memorable Smokey the Bear campaign—which were intended to reduce wildfires—actually made it more likely to have the megafires that we have today. By creating fear of al forest fire, we have choked our forests with too much fuel. Theyare no longer aseffective at managing water or easing drought. Even worse, today’s forest conditions allow ‘small fires to quickly become megafires that devastate huge swaths of our state, hurting nature and people. This year started as the worst fire season on record, and with continued drought and climate change the conditions are only going to get worse. Our science shows that if we remove small trees to thin national forests in the Northern Sierra Nevada, we could reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and increase the amount of water that gets to our streams. Research by our team shows that we could get about 5 percent more water if we thin roughly 80 percent of the watershed. And we'd go a long way toward making fire safer for people and nature. Marijuana's Mess Hijacks Streams and Pollutes Water Supply ‘Marijuana. Pot. Weed. Cannabis. We have a lot of names for it, but where does it come from? California grows 60 to 70 percent ofall the pot in the US, and the $16 billion harvest often comes from illegal grow farms in northern California, where forests are cleared, rivers are sucked dry or tainted with chemicals and) animals are poisoned. Meanwhile, there is not enough funding for restoration| regulation or enforcement of environmental laws, and growe often try to protect their crops with military-grade weapon, and booby traps, It's become risky for people to enjoy nature ts trying to better understand what needs to be done to fix the environmental damage dangerous for scient and lethal for many plants and animals, We recently released a study in the journal BioScience that addresses the environmental harms. Take the Pacific fisher, a member of the weasel family that looks like a bear cub, which dies when rodenticide liquefies its insides. Pot growers use pounds of this stuff and other poisons, which have killed animals as big as a black bear. Many| creatures, including the endangered spotted owl, are dyingas the rodenticide works ts way through the food chain,We need to be as demanding about marijuana as we are about other crops and land use. For example, in the Anderson Valley another top crop is wine grapes. But wine-grape growers are not only responsible for making sure their crop doesn't hurt the environment, they are working with us to find new ways of keeping water in streams during the dry summer months when salmon need it most, Marijuana uses twiee as much water as wine srapes—an estimated six gallons per plant, per day—most of which is illegally diverted from streams during the worst drought in recorded history. Legalization for recreational use in California ison the horizon, opening up a window of opportunity to educate people about the environmental damage done by unregulated pot farms. California grows the majority of the nation’s pot, and we can demand it be grown in sustainable ways. To.read the BioScience report and learn more, visit conserveea.org/marijuana, Landmark Reform Is the First Step to Groundwater Sustainability Last summer, Gov. Brown signed historic legislation on groundwater reform, a major step in putting California on a path to addressing our water needs now and in the future. The Nature Conservancy played a vital role, working to ensure the legislation protects water for streams and wetlands. This reform was a major winfortheenvironment.Butitssuccesshingesonimplementation, andas we work toward true sustainablegroundwater management, we're encountering an alarming lack of data. How much groundwater do we have? How many wells are sucking water from the ground? How much groundwater is being used and by whom? ‘You can’t manage what you can't measure, We're looking at new tools to do that. For example, we're working. on getting public disclosure of well logs so everyone can understand where our water is going. Our science team is exploring how satellite images could show, in a consistent and inexpensive way, water changes and environmental impacts over time, We want to make such data meaningful at the local level, where decisions will >be made. By building models that include ecosystems, we will illustrate how to go beyond today’s emergency conditions and show what real sustainable water management looks like in the long term. twill take decades to implement this legislation, but we are taking action now to fil this data deficit and meet the needs of our farms, cities and wildlife, California is an amazing place. It’s a center of agriculture, a growing population and a booming economy. All of, these things stress our water supply, which wasn't developed with dry timesin mind. This water system that’snever worked for nature is no longer working for people either. It's time to build a better water future for California, starting with nature and people together. ‘ fs «membership or woul ike o madi your mailing preferences. pase aloo ‘wenspecourpacyand eens Iouhevegeson show our member o wad wo mo your aig co Hee ee aoe) ead tcocwrkerousat 24s Pata Dr Ste 100. Acingion, VA23z0% ort uso the web at help nature org