No politician spent $2 M studying this issue, then decided that it was easier and cheaper to kill the breadbasket agriculture . That would be political suicide ! However it was enveronmentalists that filed a lawsuit with a environmental activst judge that decided to divert irrigation waters to a dry for 70+ years riverbed so that the Salmon could be restored. Result... farmers can no longer produce crops,( row crops,alfalfa, fruit/ nuts / grapes, livestock) many farms reverting to dry desert, weed and pest species thriving, nearby farmers forced to use ever more herbicides and pesticides, those that are still farming forced to pump well water from ever deeper wells. Many unemployed farm workers ( many small towns have 20-40+ % unemloyed) = economic desaster, State paying unemployment, welfare and WIC checks. Ever smaller crops = smaller export = less tax income to State = State on verge of bankruptcy.marshallsmyth said:BobM, we actually have a point of agreement!
About the ways of dealing with the Salmon being done wrong. Simply changing diversions and levels at existing dams, or even removing dams, (yes, that has been done before!), just to bring Salmon back is not the answer.
I do advocate the use of Salmon runs instead. For those who may not know, a Salmon run is a usually man made channel that goes around a dam. They are usually made to go up gentle slopes for 1 to 3 miles, and often are made with a series of water locks with small sets of rapids mimicking natural rapids for the mature spawning Salmon to swim up, and the baby fish fry to navigate down.
I did only use this example however as an example of political considerations for local areas. I guess in the instance of the San Joaquin, politicians probably spent 2 million dollars studying the issue...pffft...and then decided with their final drafts that it'd be easier and cheaper to kill the agriculture. By the way, (California has more cattle than Montana too). So now a few fishing boats have Salmon at the cost of a good portion of California's agricultural industry.
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LadyHawke1, those Italian Tree Tomatoes really do produce, nice big Brandywine type Tomatoes! I grew some back in 1967 and 1968. Those plants grew up the fence and over into our neighbor's yard who weas always so nice saying, "hay kid, I got 5 more Tomatoes over here. Whadaya want me to do with them?" I always said they could have them. They sprawled all over the place, went way down the neighbor's fence past my garden.
Computers and the internet have a strange thing about them. Folks who don't know each other communicate just like we all live on the same block, even though some are on the other side of the world, almost to the antipode opposite, (thanks to Digit for that word!). And to add to this new and strange communication, most folks remain anonymous, and use pseudonyms. (I don't do that). Some may even know or have met others personally, and not even know it, or, may have been on other forums or groups, using other pseudonyms, and may actually know others more than they even know.
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We can all start anew here. Not everyone is going to agree with everyone else.
Glenda the good witch knew a lot, yet she witheld her power to let the wicked witch sisters have their realms. Glenda knew it would all turn out good in the end. She let others learn for themselves. L. Frank Baum really was a great writer! He made a world, he filled that world with all sorts of things, tangible and not. He even made a connection of that world of Oz with the world of Kansas.
Nobody is a witch here in this world. Nobody gets to be either. On the other hand, there's no reason to try to know everything about the news unless one is going to do something about it. Can I do anything about what's going on in Syria? To the folks over there though, the news and information is vital to life. I sure wish I could convince Japan to just give up those islands, make some deal or something. My voice is not even a whisper 10,000 miles away. But a highway expansion through a pristine redwood forest 100 miles north of here, I may say something about that, and it may actually be heard.
My point is, some folks consider macro things, others are more interested in micro things. Macro or micro as far as news or any consideration goes. How close does something have to be to have a direct impact?
Pick and choose no need to make this stuff up ... pick and choose ... propaganda of one's choosing !Ladyhawke1 said:
