September Newsletter

September 2022

Newsom Signs Bill to Provide $40 Million in Additional Funding for Farmland Repurposing Program

As California suffers through a third year of severe drought, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation that dedicates $40 million to the Department of Conservation’s Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program. The department approved the first round of grants for the program in May to five agricultural counties after receiving applications for two times the funding available.
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Latest highlights

EDF Welcomes Michael Myatt to Help Lead Water Work in California

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) welcomed Michael Myatt this month as a Senior Director, Climate Resilient Water Systems, to help lead its California water work. Myatt brings extensive expertise in sustainable groundwater management, water data transparency and integration, healthy rivers and business outreach to the position.
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OpenET makes a splash at World Water Week in Stockholm

A session titled “OpenET: Open-source satellite data to advance collaboration and climate resilience” attracted a standing-room-only crowd and generated engaging conversation at the World Water Week conference in Stockholm. The Aug. 29 session, organized by OpenET, featured a demo of the Data Explorer and a panel with two farmers, a forest manager, a water manager and a hydrology professor from Brazil. One attendee commented that in her 10 years of attending the conference, the OpenET session was the first one she had ever attended that included actual farmers talking about their water challenges.
WATCH THE SESSION

From our blog

New report analyzes voluntary agreements as tool for managing Oregon’s groundwater

In southeastern Oregon’s Harney Basin, you’ll find nationally significant wetlands, scenic farms and ranches, a strong sense of community, and one of the most severe groundwater overdraft issues in the state. As the situation becomes dire, EDF and Culp & Kelly, LLC have released a new Voluntary Agreements Analysis report to advance the community’s understanding of one potential approach for locally driven water management.
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In the news

Climate Change Is Ravaging the Colorado River. There’s a Model to Avert the Worst.

Success in the Yakima River Basin in Washington holds lessons for the seven states at war over water in the American West.

It’s the thirstiest crop in the US south-west. Will the drought put alfalfa farmers out of business?

On an early August morning in California’s Imperial Valley, tractors rumble across verdant fields of alfalfa, mowing down the tall grass and leaving it to dry in shaggy heaps under the hot sun.

Upcoming events

Arizona Sustainability Summit
October 11, 2022
Panelist, The supply & demand for water in Arizona: What does it mean for 2035?
Kevin Moran, Senior Director, Water Policy and State Affairs, EDF
REGISTER HERE

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