The Sierra Nevada Alliance Weekly

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Weekly
Articles

July 3rd, 2014

Sierra Happenings

Events and Activities | Job Announcements | Resources

Events and Activities

Keep Tahoe Red, White & Blue Beach Cleanups
Saturday July 5th, Beach Cleanups are hosted at multiple locations throughout Tahoe. Tahoe's beaches are an amazing treasure, but they often suffer from overuse, especially during the summer. That's why one of the League's strongest volunteer programs is conducting beach cleanups throughout the summer and fall. We often partner with other nonprofit groups, agencies, or corporations. For more information please contact Keep Tahoe Blue.

DamNation Film & Discussion
Sunday July 20, 7pm (doors open at 6:30pm) at the Nevada Theatre, 401 Broad St. Nevada City. DamNation’s majestic cinematography and unexpected discoveries move through rivers and landscapes altered by dams, but also through a metamorphosis in values, from conquest of the natural world to knowing ourselves as part of nature. For more information or to purchase tickets, please click here.

Job Announcements

The Division of Resources Management is Hiring a Water Conservation Specialist, GS-1101-12 position in Sacramento
Description: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience in developing or evaluating water conservation, natural resources, or related plans or strategies; devising solutions for water conservation, water resources, natural resources or related issues with conflicting demands for resources; developing innovative approaches and methods to resolve water resource or natural resource issues during shortages or emergencies; formulating plans to improve the efficiency of use and management of water resources, natural resources or related; serve as a project manager working with municipalities to implement water resources, natural resources or related plans or strategies. These examples are not all inclusive. Foir more information on the position and the application process, please click here.

Local Government Commission in partnership with the State of California for a Unique Position
Description: LGC has launched CivicSpark - a governor's initiative of AmeriCorps - designed to provide capacity-building support to local governments through research, planning and project implementation activities. In support of CivicSpark, LGC is now recruiting 8 Encore Fellow positions - one of which will be placed in our region. Each Encore Fellow will act as a regional project manager, supervising small teams of Americorps members who will be executing the projects. The fellowships are for one year (half-time), starting in August 2014, and pay a stipend of $25,000. To apply for a fellowship please click, here.

Resources

“Living in the Rain Shadow.” New documentary on Eastern Sierra water issues a must see! The Inyo-Mono Integrated Regional Water Management Program (IRWMP) is a part of a statewide effort that is geared towards finding and implementing solutions for regional water management issues. The Inyo – Mono IRWMP formally began in 2008 and since its inception has raised more than $2.5 million to assist with essential water management projects and research for Inyo, Mono, and Kern Counties. To view the documentary and get more information pleace click here.

Water Energy Grant Program Department of Water Resources is making nearly $20 million available for projects that conserve both water and energy. For more information pleace click here.

Highlights

Keynote Speaker Announced for Sierra Nevada Alliance 21st Annual Conference

When: Saturday, Sunday, Monday September 6th - 8th, 2014
Where: North Lake Tahoe Event Center, Kings Beach, CA

Tim Palmer, author, conservationist, and landscape photographer.

Tim Palmer is the award-winning author of 22 books on rivers, conservation, and the environment. He is also an accomplished photographer with one of the most complete collection of photos of rivers in the United States.

For over 30 years, Tim's writing and photography work have braided together his love of rivers and nature with his drive for creative expression and his deep commitment to conservation.

After receiving a bachelor of science degree in landscape architecture from The Pennsylvania State University, Tim worked for eight years as a land-use planner on land use and environmental topics from 1971-1980. He started to write full-time in 1980.

A primary focus of Tim's work is public speaking. He has been featured at hundreds of national, statewide, and provincial conferences, conservation gatherings, and at colleges and universities nationwide.

Join the Sierra Nevada Alliance at the 21st Annual Conference designed for activists and folks passionate about spending time in and protecting the Sierra. Mark your calendars and make your reservations - the Conference will be full of inspiring speakers, great workshops, fun field trips and terrific networking.

To find out more information about the 21st Annual Sierra Nevada Alliance Conference or to make reservations please click here. Feel free to e-mail us with workshop suggestions, guest-speakers and other ideas you think we should consider.

Our Board and Conference Committee work hard to make our annual conference The “best” conference of the Sierra and we appreciate your support and attendance.

The policy of the Weekly is to include articles that appear in local or major media outlets relevant to Sierra conservation. We also include news releases, event notices, funding opportunities and job announcements sent to us from our Member Groups and friends. If you as a reader disagree with the content of a submission we encourage you to submit a letter to the editor of the issuing publication to reach the broader audience who read the article. You are welcome to forward your letter to the editor to the Alliance for inclusion in our new "Letters to the Weekly" section. We also invite Letters to the Weekly to be directly submitted on any article with which you're concerned.

Newsletter contents prepared by Amanda Baronas.
If you have articles, events or announcements that you would like included in this newsletter or if you have feedback, please email Amanda@sierranevadaalliance.org.

Recent News

Climate Change

America’s National Parks and Historic Sites Feel the Heat From Climate Change
Business Week, Brad Wieners, 7/3/2014

On Wednesday the National Park Service released a report by two of its scientists confirming that 289 of America’s parks and historic sites are experiencing climate change. That is, many are getting and staying hotter for longer, enduring more severe spikes in temperature, seeing Biblical deluges, or losing beach to erosion and rising tides. No great surprise, really. The report is not alarmist but matter-of-fact: If future generations are to spend the Fourth of July visiting Jamestown, Va., say, or Harpers Ferry, W.Va., or floating on Lake Mead on the Nevada-Arizona border, steps will need to be taken—and soon—to better protect them.

Our Voice: Climate Change is Real
The Desert Sun Editorial Board, 6/21/2014

Increasing temperatures are having a slow but dramatic affect on plants, animals and people in the Coachella Valley and surrounding areas. As part of a three-part series on climate change, a Desert Sun analysis of more than 30 weather stations throughout the Southwest found that average monthly temperatures were 1.7 degrees hotter in the past 20 years than the average in the decades before 1960. Nighttime lows rose an average 3 degrees. Palm Springs is 3.4 degrees hotter and nighttime lows are 6 degrees warmer.

Forestry

BLM Extends Nomination Deadline for Northern Calif. Advisory Council
BLM News Release, 05/27/14

The U. S. Bureau of Land Management has extended the nomination deadline for membership on the Northern California Advisory Council, a citizen group that advises the agency on management of public lands. There are 15 vacancies for terms of one, two and three years.

Feds Shell Out Money to Counties With National Lands
The Californian, Raju Chebium, 6/18/2014

California counties with vast tracts of federal land will receive a total of $45.3 million from Uncle Sam this year. The state’s share is the biggest in the U.S. under the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program, or PILT, according to the Interior Department. The popular program is scheduled to expire when the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

Recreation

Beyond Limits: Nevada's Natural Beauty Open to All
Reno-Gazette Journal, Benjamin Spillman, 6/18/2014

It's probably easier to list places in Nevada Dennis Boulton and Deborah Wall haven't been than to identify spots they've visited. Wall is a guidebook author and Boulton, a former Reno resident and retired geologist, has logged countless miles around the state in his own right. But when it comes to travel the memories that stand out for each of them involve sharing great finds with other people.

Water

California Toughens Enforcement of Water Violations
The Sacramento Bee, Matt Weiser, 7/2/2014

California’s water cops on Wednesday approved emergency drought regulations aimed at forcing water users to act swiftly when told to stop diverting water from streams.

Water-Saving Techniques Should be Taught to Farmers, Study Urges
Merced-Sun Star, J.N. Sbranti, 6/10/2014

Farmers need to be more water efficient, and government funds should be used to help train them how, according to a new study. If California approves a water bond, the study’s authors want part of it to pay for “farmer outreach, education and assistance programs for on-farm water-use best management practices.”

Wildlife

USDA, BLM Accelerating Sage Grouse Protection in California, Nevada to Head Off Listing
StarTribune, Associated Press , 6/20/2014

The Obama administration is launching an effort to accelerate protection of sage grouse along the California-Nevada line with $31 million in spending through 2024 to help ranchers and others improve habitat in what one top official says may be the best, last chance to keep the bistate population off the list of threatened species. "This is the last train out of the station," Jason Weller, chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, told The Associated Press. While the multiagency effort targets grouse habitat in California and Nevada, officials said they hope it will spread in years to come to the overall habitat of the greater sage grouse across 11 western states.

Disasters Push Wildlife Near Yosemite into Groveland
SFGate.com, Tom Stienstra, 6/15/2014

A small town in the Sierra foothills near Yosemite National Park has turned into something that resembles "Wild Kingdom." Wildlife is finding its way into town in the search for food and water across range stricken by fire and drought.