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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 18, 2000
People, agriculture, ecology compete for limited resources
Striking the right balance between agricultural, environmental and urban uses of limited resources, particularly land and water, will be the central challenge for Californians in the 21st century, UC scientists report in the March-April issue of California Agriculture.
"Unlike the preceding two centuries, California will not rely on the extraction of resources for economic well-being to any significant extent," Associate Vice President Henry J. Vaux, Jr. predicts. Rather, population growth, new technology and the global economy will shape resource-management decisions in the Golden State.
During 2000, California Agriculture’s series, "Future in Focus: 2000–2025," explores where California is today and where we are headed over the next 25 years, with emphasis on population, resources, agriculture and food security. The March–April issue, "Fight or flight: Hard choices for natural resources," focuses on how various impacts on resources will shape California’s agriculture, environment and growth, and the difficult decisions ahead for citizens and policy-makers.
By 2025, California’s population is expected to burgeon from 35 million to 50 million people, putting significant additional pressure on farmland and native habitats. Meanwhile, agriculture uses 75% to 80% of the state’s developed water supplies, but an environmentally conscious citizenry is demanding that more water be allocated to restore rivers, lakes and streams.
UC experts explore a wide range of resource issues:
 Global warming and California: In a Q&A news article, Nobel Laureate F. Sherwood Rowland of UC Irvine predicts that the Earth’s surface temperature will increase as much as 6¯F by the end of the 21st century. In California, less snow and more rain will fall during the winter, increasing runoff and leaving less snowpack in the Sierra Nevada to melt for use during the dry summer months.
Reforming our hydraulic society: Richard E. Howitt, UC Davis professor of agriculture and resource economics, proposes a water-distribution model for California agriculture that relies less on 20th-century water conveyances — such as dams and canals — and more on flexible, sustainable methods such as old-fashioned price incentives and 21st-century information technology.
Water trading vs. storage: Water markets, conservation and groundwater banking ("conjunctive use") can create significant new supplies of water, argues David Sunding, director of the Center for Sustainable Resource Development at UC Berkeley, reducing the need for expensive new water-storage facilities such as reservoirs.
Morals and environmental decision-making: UC Davis professor Peter B. Moyle, a member of the CALFED Interim Science Board, explores the role of ethics and values in decision-making about aquatic ecosystems. Moyle preducts that due to the CALFED process, by 2025 major sections of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers will be returned to flood plain, and Sacramento spittail and spring- and winter-run chinook salmon will be proposed for removal from the endangered species list.
Biodiversity at risk: There is an urgent need for scientists to translate information about the rapid loss of biodiversity — and resulting impacts on ecosystems — to the general public and policy-makers, UC Berkeley associate professor Barbara Allen-Diaz writes, "in ways that will prompt actions to conserve what remains."
Forest policy in transition: Pluralism, global trade and a growing environmental consciousness are resulting in the democratization of forest management in California, reports Jeff Romm, chair of Resource Institutions, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley.
Salinization and agriculture: In the western San Joaquin Valley and Imperial Valley, agricultural productivity is threatened by soil salinization, according to John Letey, director of the UC Salinity and Drainage Management Program. Highly productive "conservation habitat," which attracts wildlife away from toxic evaporation ponds, is the type of creative solution that will be needed to deal effectively with salinization.
Trace elements in soils: Trace elements from a variety of natural and manmade sources are slowly accumulating and depleting in California soils, Andrew Chang and Al Page of UC Riverside have found. Long-term impacts include human-health concerns, water-quality degradation and damage to wildlife.
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