The week that was, 6/14-20/2009
- “Paper water is an illusion. It is a term used in the water industry that represents an entitlement, existing only on paper, which agencies can expect to receive from state and federal water projects based on projections and expectations.” Orange County grand jury.
- “The past century is no longer a reasonable guide to the future for water management.” Multi-agency and White House Global Climate Change Report.
- The Clean Water Restoration Act, “would allow for government regulation of virtually all interstate and intrastate waters and their tributaries, including rivers, intermittent streams, mudflats, sandflats, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, natural ponds and others,” US Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID)
- Udall’s colleagues should see The Clean Water Restoration Act as the housekeeping measure that it is and give it quick passage, Santa Fe New Mexican
- Fresno farmers to Schwarzenegger, “Turn on the pumps.”
- Schwarzenegger to farmers, “We will get a water deal
Please explain this Washington water lobbyist
A SMART bit of reporting by Joe Schoenmann in the June 20 edition of the Las Vegas Sun follows up Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak asking questions about payments to consultants, lobbyists and public relations experts. First in line in the Sun story is Marcus G. Faust, an oddly Sidney Greenstreet-like figure among Washington lobbyists, whose influence is pervasive in Western water.
From the story:
- [Sisolak’s] questions were simple: Who’s getting the contracts and what are they doing for the money? … Washington, D.C., lobbyist Marcus Faust, for example, has had a Southern Nevada Water Authority contract for 17 years. The authority pays $150,000 a year to Faust, who also has contracts with the Water Reclamation District, Department of Aviation, Las Vegas Valley Water District and Regional Transportation Commission. Sisolak said the interests of some of Faust’s other clients — Coyote Springs Investment, a massive development north of Las Vegas,
The Dry Garden: Rethinking the parkway
THERE may be a drought and tough watering restrictions, but there has never been a better time to tackle the knottiest problem in Los Angeles landscaping: How to plant parkways? For the full column, go to the LA Times…
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden gone to the dogs?
MISSION STATEMENT: “The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is an educational and scientific institution fostering stewardship of the natural world through inspired learning, rigorous scholarship, and premier displays. With an emphasis on plants native to California, the Garden advances the knowledge and understanding of plant life and provides a rewarding experience for visitors.”
And so, last April, the Garden Board of Trustees sacked its *Director of Nursery Operations and Horticultural Outreach but kept on a highly paid publicist. The upshot? Doggie Bagel Brunches.
*CORRECTION: An earlier take of this posting reported that the trustees sacked the Director of Horticulture. This is incorrect. The person sacked was formerly the Director of Horticulture but at the time of dismissal was Director of Nursery Operations and Horticultural Outreach. The text was amended accordingly.…
Santa Barbara on fire – against board of trustees of botanic garden
- The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden was developed to showcase native plants and the natural beauty of California. Source: SBBG
THE MAY fire that damaged an estimated two thirds of the 65-acre Santa Barbara Botanic Garden masks deeper damage being done by the garden’s Board of Trustrees, claimed an article in Saturday’s Santa Barbara Independent and responded to today by the garden’s Chairman of the Board, former Arizona Governor Fife Symington.
Every public garden has its politics, but the castigation came from one of the best known names in California horticulture, Owen Dell, Santa Barbara landscape architect* and author of Sustainable Landscaping for Dummies.
In the article, Dell claimed that the current board of trustees has squandered resources on costly land acquisition, constructed a controversial folly that divided the community, operated with a board missing seven of the legally required 15 trustees and concentrated spending on high salaries for …
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