REAL ESTATE
TRACY 170 AC BCID good well, perfect for orchard development $5,950,000. STOCKTON 267 AC. City general plan for industrial development near BNSF intermodal train yard $53,510,000. TRACY 20 AC with a large modern agri- cultural processing facility, one of a kind REDUCED $2,500,000. TRACY 46.78 AC. Excellent farm land in City of Tracy sphere of influence $2,805,000 PEND- ING. TRACY 93.36 ac in "Banana Belt", BCID water, ideal for orchard develop- ment, 3,000 sq ft home with shop $4,100,000 SOLD. TRACY 38.66 AC. Good location near town, excellent wa- ter rights, updated home $1,314,500 PENDING. TRACY 312 AC. Good soils, excellent water rights, $4,800,000. Gary Reeve, Broker, #00875626 Reeve-As- sociates garyreeve@sbcglobal.net
MODOC COUNTY, CA RANCH, hay & cattle, Cedarville, 296+/- acres flood irrigated meadows, 1st water right, com- fortable vintage home, barns, corrals, $1,420,000; 176+/- ACRES fenced spring grazing ground north of Davis Creek, CA with ponds & well $175,000; HOME & SHOP, next to main ranch for inlaws/ranch manager $200,000. All for $1,695,000 530-250-7122 200 ACRES NEAR Black Butte Lake, custom home with 20 acres of wine grapes. Winery, fishing, hunting. Turn- key opportunity. $4,200,000. Price re- duced $300K. 530-200-3572
The upper Russian River, left, is a source of water for Mendocino and Sonoma counties. Post-1914 water right holders expect to receive notices of water unavailabil- ity this week.
MISCELLANEOUS
Shortage Continued from Page 1
MISCELLANEOUS
FARMERS GET THE MOST, money for your Walnut Burls. Call Brush Hard- woods. 209-847-7345
buthasdiversifiedhiswaterportfolioandwillusere- cycledwater fromthe city to irrigate pears inUkiah. “We’re in a better position than a lot of growers, especiallyat ourUkiahranch,wherewehaveaccess torecycledwater. It’sgoing tobea lifesaver this year,” Johnsonsaid, adding that hebuilt on-site reservoirs to storewater andhas access to some groundwater. SonomaCountyFarmBureauExecutiveDirector Tawny Tesconi said about 15,000 acres of wine- grapes innorthernSonomaCounty rely onRussian River water, andmany farmers say they plan to fal- low or dry-farmcrops. Livestock and dairy farmers in the south part of the county are experiencing the biggest challenges, she said. “Many of our farmers are almost out of water already, and we have guys that have been hauling (domestic) water from the city of Petaluma since October andNovember,”Tesconi said. “Some fami- liesarespending10hoursadayandgettingup inthe middle of the night to haul water tomeet the needs of their cows.” In western Sonoma County, beef and sheep rancher JoePozzi saidwater levels inhis springsand reservoirs have been dropping fast. “When thosedryup, it just createsall kindsof oth- er consequences that youhave todealwith,”hesaid, “whether it’s haulingwater, moving cattle or the ex- tratimeandmoney thatgoes intonothavingenough feed for the animals, or water, which is so critical.” Pozzi said he’s “really concerned” about remote springs on specific ranches. “If they dry up, what arewe going to do?” he said. Added costs due to the drought are challenging, Pozzi said, and will “make people reflect on how many cows they keep. Less cows means less water, but then less income.” “There’s a lot of questions that need to be an- swered inthenextmonth for a lot of cattleandsheep producers, as to howmuch they are going to invest in for next year,” he said. Mendocino County farmer Johnson said it is im- portant that statepolicymakers invest inwater infra- structure, such as storage. “If people really want to have local food produc- tion in the future, theymust invest inawater supply that’s sustainable,” he said. “To get that, we need government and regulatory support and long-term thinking by public policymakers. “But as soonas these farms goout of business be- cause they don’t have a water supply, they’re not going to come back,” Johnson said. (Christine Souza is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. Shemay be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)
to anywater right, even pre-1914water rights.” The board stated last week that notices of wa- ter unavailability are set to be mailed this week to 930 holders of post-1914 water rights in the upper Russian River watershed. The mailing of notices typically happens just before water curtailments are announced. Further emergency rulemaking for the Russian River is planned for the board’s June 15meeting. Pauli said thewater situation inthe region“isdefi- nitely looking bleak,” adding that the Potter Valley IrrigationDistrict has a strict allotment of water. “We’re going to have tomanage the water really carefully, to try to irrigateat peak times tomaximize thatwater anduse it as efficientlyaspossible, so that we can make it through another year,” said Pauli, who chairs the Mendocino County Farm Bureau water committee. “Growers are making tough de- cisions as far as which fields to irrigate and which fields to plant.” The Potter Valley Irrigation District receives a portion of its supply from the Potter Valley Project, a hydroelectric facility owned by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. that generates a small amount of elec- tricity and diverts water from the Eel River into the RussianRiver basin. A lack of interest by PG&E to relicense the proj- ect, plus calls by environmental groups to remove the Scott Damand Lake Pillsbury to return natural flows for fish, set inmotionaneffort by local entities to attain control of the important water source by federally relicensing theproject. Thecurrent license expires in 2022. Thepast twoyearsofdrought, Pauli said, highlight how fragile the local water system is, adding that removing the dams would “devastate” communi- ties. The goal, he said, is tomanage the resource for multiple uses. “That’s why it’s really frustrating when we’re up against folkswhowant toremoveLakePillsburyand water that’sdiverted fromtheEel River. The cascad- ing effect that that would have on the communities inMendocino, Sonoma andMarin counties would be catastrophic,” Pauli said. The current drought, he said, “is an example of how conditions would be every year, without that lake andwithout that project.” Many area farmers, Pauli included, dryland farm winegrapes, using little or no water, but doing this means less production and less income. Pauli said he and other farmers with land near Ukiah hope to receive recycled or reclaimed water fromthe city of Ukiah, a project in its second year to supplywater to farms, parks and other uses. Pear and winegrape farmer Peter Johnson, who farms in Ukiah and Redwood Valley, said he is cut off fromdistrict water in Redwood Valley this year,
www.norcalpump.com TEST HOLES &WELL DRILLING Agricultural • Municipal • Domestic
Serving California for 30+ Years Contractors Lic. #908591
530-674-5861 Sacramento Valley
661-725-0250 Southern Valley
Even our pets are advertising in Ag Alert Classifieds! How about you??? Advertise now!!
Carrots for sale: Please buy my carrots from Ag Alert Classifieds! 916-561-5570 If you are a new advertiser or haven’t placed an ad in 2 yrs, run 4 times & get the 5th one free!
For a video, see the online version of this story at www.agalert.com
agalert@cfbf.com
May 26, 2021 Ag Alert 23
Powered by FlippingBook