Page 28 - ARUBATODDAY 22AUG,2015

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SCIENCESaturday 22 August 2015

Study sees dying wildlife, bigger fires if drought lasts

ELLEN KNICKMEYER This July 16, 2015 photo shows a dried-out stream at Horseshoe Meadow in the Golden Trout Wilderness of the Sierra Nevada near
Associated Press Lone Pine, Calif.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) —
The carcasses of salmon, Associated Press
trout and more than a
dozen other newly extinct dealing with the current impacts of the drought so water is left for wildlife, and than 100 small public-
native species lie in dry drought, California cities far, the study concluded. preparing “conservation water systems around the
streambeds around Cali- are doing relatively well Lack of water means 18 hatcheries” to safeguard state have been cited as
fornia. thanks to the lessons of past species of native Califor- native fish species that are needing emergency water
Exhausted firefighters in the droughts, researchers said nia fish, including most na- on the verge of extinction supplies.
Sierra Nevada battle some in the analysis by the Public tive salmon and steelhead in the wild, it said. State and federal efforts
of the biggest wildfires Policy Institute of California. trout, face an immediate Hanak also called wildfires to help those communities
they’ve ever seen. And in Meanwhile, farms have threat of going extinct in a tremendous risk as over- have been increasing but
Central Valley farm towns, been able to turn to pump- the wild, the report said. grown forests dry in the remain stop-gap, the study
more and more parents ing well water to make up Greatly reduced water de- drought. Fire and forest concluded. It urges the
hear the squeal of empty for having half as much sur- liveries to bird refuges and agencies already are work- state to do more to track
pipes when they turn on face water for irrigation as rice fields — the flooding ing to reduce the over- areas in need of help and
water taps to cook dinner. normal. of which provides crucial growth that contributes to come up with longer-term
A new report by the Pub- With California wildlife, by habitat — means there making those fires bigger water supplies to replace
lic Policy Institute of Cali- contrast, “we’re really look- is dangerously little room and harder to control, re- wells that have likely gone
fornia nonprofit think-tank ing at widespread crisis” if and food for the 5 mil- searchers said. dry for good.
paints that distressing pic- the drought continues, El- lion migratory birds that fly After the environment, rural The study advises against
ture of California for the len Hanak, director of the through the Central Valley communities have been counting on El Nino, a spo-
next two years if the state’s think-tank’s water policy each year and a high risk hardest-hit by the drought, radic weather pattern that
driest four years on record center, said in an interview of deadly disease for the the study said. As of last can bring strong storms, to
stretches further into the Wednesday. birds, the study said. month, more than 2,000 break the drought. State
future. California’s fresh-water For California’s environ- domestic wells were re- water officials similarly
Written by water and wa- habitats and forests, along ment, officials should be ported to have gone dry, have tried to temper pub-
tershed experts working with their wildlife, have ex- thinking more strategically mostly in the Central Valley lic hopes for a wet El Nino
at the policy center, at perienced the most severe about how best to use what and Sierra Nevada. More year.q
the University of California,
Davis, and elsewhere, the
report urges California to
do more now to deal with
what researchers project
to be the biggest drought
crises of 2016 and 2017 —
crashing wildlife popula-
tions, raging wildfires and
more and more poor rural
communities running out of
water entirely.
A separate study published
Thursday in the journal of
the American Geophysical
Union warns that climate
change is making drought
the new normal in Califor-
nia. By the 2060s, climate
models show California in
a condition of semi-per-
manent drought, broken
only by short, hard rains, re-
searchers said.
Already, higher tempera-
tures from climate change
have made the current
drought at least 15 percent
worse, they said.
So far, of all the sectors