ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Concerns of early spring flooding in Missouri eased Wednesday as the Mississippi River crested north of St. Louis and the Missouri River began to fall, but forecasters said the risk of flooding remains high.
Above-normal temperatures have been quickly melting snow in the ...
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 4:09 PM
FARGO, N.D. (AP) -- Schoolchildren, parents and hundreds of residents have spent days packing and stacking sandbags to protect their cities against the rising Red River. The National Guard is in place, keeping watch over the water. Dike builders are finishing last-minute work.
Now comes t ...
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 3:59 PM
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- A series of drenching storms have replenished many of California's reservoirs, freeing up more water for parched farms and cities throughout the state, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Tuesday.
Just in time for planting season, growers in the dry ...
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 3:46 PM
DAVIS, S.D. (AP) -- Turner County farmer Dave Smit says flooding in the Vermillion River basin near Davis is the worst in memory.
Snowmelt and heavy rain have driven the James, Vermillion and Big Sioux rivers up to and out of their banks in some places. Ice jams near bridges have made the si ...
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 8:09 AM
ure built on Congress and the Legislature, and in 2006 a compromise was reached: The state and federal government would conserve water, but also get more out of the system, some for farms and some for fish, even if it meant building a new dam.
"The major players stopped fighting over whet ...
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 7:48 AM
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday kept alive claims by Klamath Basin farmers that the federal government should pay them for shutting off water to crops in 2001 to help protected fish survive a drought.
A federal appeals court had asked the state Supreme Co ...
Saturday, March 13, 2010 2:28 PM
SEATTLE (AP) -- A late winter storm is bringing snow to the mountains in Washington and rain to much of the rest of the state.
The Transportation Department is requiring chains Thursday morning on Snoqualmie Pass. Traction tires area advised on Stevens Pass.
A National Weather S ...
Saturday, March 13, 2010 9:29 AM
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- California salmon fishermen may not get much, if any, time on the ocean this year, while their counterparts in Washington and Oregon would fare better because salmon are more abundant there, under recommendations expected Thursday.
The Pacific Fishery Management ...
Saturday, March 13, 2010 9:29 AM
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Federal prosecutors filed charges Wednesday against a sushi chef and a Santa Monica restaurant on allegations that they served illegal and endangered whale meat.
Typhoon Restaurant Inc., which owns The Hump restaurant, and sushi chef Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, 45, were charge ...
Saturday, March 13, 2010 9:10 AM
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) -- Gov. Ted Kulongoski says he expects to sign a drought declaration for the Klamath Basin next week, but it will not be enough to keep farmers from hard times.
Kulongoski traveled to Klamath Falls to hear from federal biologists still working on how m ...
Thursday, March 11, 2010 7:59 AM
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- About 1,300 farmers in a Klamath Basin irrigation project are waiting to hear whether drought conditions will leave enough water to plant crops this year without help from a landmark agreement designed to share scarce water between fish and farms.
Gov. Ted Kul ...
Saturday, March 06, 2010 4:09 PM
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Oregon environmental authorities have taken their first look at the cost of restoring streamside vegetation in the Willamette Valley that has been harmed by farming, forestry and urban development.
The picture is not good. A report issued Thursday by the Oregon ...
Saturday, March 06, 2010 1:09 PM
.
...
Saturday, March 06, 2010 9:08 AM
Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., says he is helping to pave the way for a suspension of federal species protections on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in hopes that Republicans will gain control of Congress this year.
A bill being introduced by Nunes, titled the California Water Reliability A ...
Saturday, March 06, 2010 9:08 AM
El Niño's been paying California plenty of attention of late, and that affection shows no signs of waning anytime soon.
The tropical weather pattern has planted many a wet kiss on the Central Valley as persistent showers have helped the drought-ridden state keep up with normal precipitati ...
Saturday, March 06, 2010 9:08 AM
Getting enough water to thirsty crops this summer could be a challenge for some Western farmers based on the latest snowpack readings.
Snowpack, or the snow-water equivalent as its also known, is barely half the long-term average in some basins, according to data gathered March 1 by elect ...
Saturday, March 06, 2010 9:08 AM
BEIJING (AP) -- Workers have begun tapping into underground water reserves to aid the nearly 6 million people who have been affected by the worst drought to hit China's southern province of Yunnan in 60 years, a local official said on Wednesday.
Severe water shortages for crops and livestock ...
Friday, March 05, 2010 7:39 AM
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- The first year under a landmark agreement to share water between fish and farms in the Klamath Basin is shaping up as a tough one.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski called together the heads of state agencies in Salem Tuesday to see what they could offer farmers if federal irr ...
Thursday, March 04, 2010 4:28 PM
seeking comment from Alan Hudson of Hudson Farms was not immediately returned.
Copyright 2010 The AP.
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Thursday, March 04, 2010 1:09 PM
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- Gov. Chris Gregoire said Monday she has asked the Legislature to set aside $4.1 million for drought-relief projects that may be needed to counter below-average mountain snowpack this winter.
Much of Washington relies on mountain snowpack to feed rivers a ...
Wednesday, March 03, 2010 1:09 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- More water will be allocated to California's drought-stricken farms and cities this year, thanks to improved rain and snow levels, federal and state regulators said Friday.
Water officials said they were hopeful about the situation but cautioned that California was not ...
Sunday, February 28, 2010 12:29 PM
ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) -- Anti-whaling activists on Friday cut short what they called their "most successful" Antarctic campaign against Japanese whalers, citing an engine problem on one of their ships.
There are two weeks left in the three-month whaling season, during which J ...
Sunday, February 28, 2010 8:49 AM
Washington state produces 20 million pounds of farmed salmon every year. Idaho is the No. 1 producer of trout in the U.S. The California aquaculture industry racks up an annual farm gate value of $80 million to $100 million.
But in Oregon, aquaculture is represented by a handful of small ...
Saturday, February 27, 2010 12:09 PM
SALEM -- High-level state and federal officials joined tribal, agricultural, fisheries and environmental leaders in Oregon's Capitol last week in a show of support for two Klamath Basin agreements five years in the making.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski ...
Saturday, February 27, 2010 12:09 AM
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Despite a historic collapse in the number of salmon returning to the Central Valley last year, federal fisheries regulators are predicting a better 2010.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council forecasts that 245,000 chinook, or king, salmon will return to the Sacramento ...
Friday, February 26, 2010 4:09 PM
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Communities along rivers in the Midwest are bracing for would could be a whopper of a spring flood season, with the National Weather Service warning of a "high probability" of significant flooding along parts of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributar ...
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 11:29 AM