Our Work

In the mid to late 1980s, the Great Lakes region began addressing the spread of zebra and quagga mussels. These two species are not native to the U.S. They have done an enormous amount of ecological damage in the Great Lakes and their tributaries. The federal government and States in the Great Lakes region have…

One of the hats I wear at CSPA involves using the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) relicensing of hydroelectric projects to improve conditions for some of California’s most cherished rivers and streams. I recently took on the North Fork Stanislaus Hydroelectric Project, FERC Project no. 2409. Last week, I decided to head back into the…

A funny thing happened on the way to the Capitol. On July 1, 2026, the author pulled Assembly Bill 2215, against which I was about to testify in a state Senate committee. If enacted, AB 2215 would have given the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) a special deal. It would have given DWR’s State…

This summer, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Trump Administration’s attempt to subordinate the needs of keystone species to private water contracts. The Court issued a summary judgment on June 17, 2026. Its opinion, authored by Justice Ronald M. Gould, stated that the Klamath Project operator, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), must enforce the…

https://mavensnotebook.com/2026/06/23/press-release-political-pressure-on-sites-reservoir-doesnt-change-the-facts From the San Francisco Baykeeper and the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance: In an overt act of political meddling, Governor Newsom and his deputies are pressuring a judge to retract her evidence-based findings on the Sites Reservoir Project The evidence shows the multi-billion-dollar Sites Reservoir project cannot operate as proposed without unreasonable harm to rivers, fish, and ecosystems.…

You may have seen golden mussels mentioned on your local news or on the website of a state agency. Wherever you heard of them first, you are now aware that California is at the beginning of a long fight. The objective is to protect waterways and water infrastructure from a takeover by golden mussels.  The…

The Marin Municipal Water District (Marin Water) is a public utility that provides water to 190,000 residents in central and south Marin County. Marin Water is proposing what it terms an “Atmospheric River Capture (ARC) Project” to divert rainwater from atmospheric river events (rainstorms) during the North Bay’s rainy season. The publicity for the Project…

Co-written with Amber Jamieson, Water Advocacy Director of the Environmental Protection Information Center Siskiyou County has rescinded approvals for two proposed irrigation wells in the Shasta Valley. It has also withdrawn the associated Public Trust findings, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemption, and determinations of no significant impact. The County made these decisions after a coalition…

As the irrigation season proceeds, eyes are on the Klamath Basin. Removal of four dams recently opened over 400 miles of habitat for salmon and steelhead. Annual snowpack was so dismal that it has already disappeared from the upper basin. State agencies are currently advancing long-term policies to limit river dewatering in key Klamath tributaries.…

On May 18, 2026, San Joaquin County issued a draft environmental impact report (DEIR) to support water right application 29835. The application seeks to divert up to 158,000 acre-feet of water per year from the Mokelumne River. The stated purpose of the project is conjunctive use. Conjunctive use refers to coordinated management of surface water…

The Water Renaissance Plan (the Plan), published May 2026, is a new 27-page proposal for a sustainable water future for California. It was developed by a coalition of entities that include California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Defenders of Wildlife, Friends of the River, Golden State Salmon Association, LA Waterkeeper, Resource Renewal Institute, Restore the Delta, San…

On May 4, 2026, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance joined with the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association, and North Coast Rivers Alliance to file an amicus brief in an appeal of the Kern River case Bring Back the Kern v. City of Bakersfield, 2025. Attorney Stephan Volker filed the amicus brief in…

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (CDFW’s) Heritage and Wild Trout Program (the Program) manages designated waters for wild trout species. The term “wild trout” means a fish born and reared in a specific location without human intervention. The term “heritage trout” refers to trout that have lived in a specific location since prehistoric…

In the context of fisheries management, a Remote Site Incubator (RSI) is a device that incubates salmonid eggs in a streamside setting before releasing the incubated fry into nearby habitat. The Russian River Coho Salmon Captive Broodstock Program in California is one program that uses RSIs. This program involves spawning adult broodstock at Warm Springs…

If you live, work, or engage in recreation in Richmond, you’ve probably gotten close to the West Contra Costa Sanitary Landfill in north Richmond. The Parr Boulevard-based garbage dump opened in 1953. The dump is now closed, but it remains a problem. For close to two decades, the facility owned by a subsidiary of Phoenix-based…