The city of Chico winds around one of the largest municipal parks in the country — Bidwell Park. Step off the sidewalk and enter the park, and the city seems to disappear. You’re under a tree canopy, on a street or trail lined with oaks, ferns and sycamores.read more
Ballot-counting in the election on the Tuscan Water District (TWD) was cancelled Sept. 27 because of defects in the noticing process, the Butte County Clerk-Recorder’s office has said.
In a press release Sept. 28 -– the day the ballots were to be counted -– the clerk-recorder released a statement saying that concerns had been “raised regarding whether adequate notice” to voters had been provided. Today Clerk-Recorder Candace Grubbs said the election “wasn’t noticed properly and will be redone.”read more
Ballots on whether to form the Tuscan Water District (TWD) in northwestern Butte County have been mailed to landowners — without any argument opposing a formation. The proposed district was the subject of debate for hours at public meetings earlier this year.
Only an argument in favor of formation of TWD -– which will have a landowner-based voting structure that will give the largest enterprises thousands of votes -– appears on the ballot that must be postmarked by Sept. 20. The ballot asks, with a single question, whether TWD should be approved with an annual parcel assessment of up to $10 per acre. Landowning voters can also choose nine people for the board of directors from a list of 11 candidates, most of whom are known already as TWD proponents.read more
by Todd Bishop, Sacramento Valley Mirror posted Sept. 11
Lawsuits challenging the validity of Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) in Glenn, Colusa, and Butte counties will be allowed to proceed after three judges separately overruled efforts by local groundwater authorities to dismiss the cases based on legal technicalities.read more
Butte County faces a worsening drought and a dim outlook for water supplies amid another year of extreme heat and little rain, as pressure on local water management to conserve grows.
The Butte County Water Commission met Sept. 7 to discuss current groundwater supply and drought levels, led by Vice Chair Matt Tennis filling in for the chair. County officials reported a dire situation that has been worsened due to low precipitation and snowpack and reduced reservoir conditions, which combined with higher temperatures puts more pressure on groundwater demand. As a result, over the last 20 years, data shows the majority of all local basins are in an ongoing decline, according to Kelly Peterson, county water resources scientist.read more
by Todd Bishop Sacramento Valley Mirror posted April 20, 2022
Glenn County — State and local officials have been quietly looking into the emergence of numerous sinkholes starting last summer and fall on agricultural land east of Orland, in the area of Stony Creek, according to newly released public records.read more