Friends of the River

This Earth Day: Raise your voice, not the dam 🌎 Raising Shasta Dam would flood the protected McCloud River, harm wildlife, and destroy Winnemem Wintu sacred sites. It’s illegal—and moving forward anyway. 👉 Sign: actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop…

A project that takes more water from the Delta inherently cannot protect the Delta. This project wastes $1M taxpayer dollars per day. The Governor needs to move on. gov.ca.gov/2025/10/23/icy…

🚨 Gov. Newsom is trying to ram the $20B+ Delta Tunnel through the back door — bypassing public input & review with a budget trick. Californians have rejected this boondoggle for decades. We want local water solutions, not a costly project for the few. #StopTheTunnel

🐟 San Joaquin River Spring-Run Chinook Salmon Are Back! 🌊 For the 7th year in a row, adult spring-run salmon are returning to the Friant Reach. Thanks to the San Joaquin River Restoration Program, these fish are being re-established after 70 years.  tinyurl.com/mrsbsf4d

April Fools

🚨TRUMP ORDERS SHASTA DAM RAZE -- E.O. No. 0401🚨 tinyurl.com/Shasta-Dam-Raze

From last Friday at the end of my week in Washington DC. Helping our California representatives understand the importance of rivers to all of us.

🌊 Help protect #California #rivers! #Donate an auction item for the 27th Annual California River Awards on April 25th. Your donation helps raise $150K to restore our rivers. Tax-deductible & impactful! Donate now: auctria.events/2025FORCRA #RiverFriends #Auction #Fundraiser

The Kern River is still dry. Bring Back the Kern needs you in Bakersfield at the March for the River this Saturday 3/15. Full distance (9 mi) starts at 8am at Panorama Park. Final stretch (0.75 mi) starts at Calloway Bridge at 12:30. RSVP+more info at: tinyurl.com/KernMarch

🧠🌎Thinking globally and acting locally!🌊🎨 We are proud to share a young artist’s vision for watershed protection, one comic panel at a time! See the full article about Cerys’ work: 🔗 tinyurl.com/Cerys225

California rivers need you. Get trained to be a River Guide Activist by Friends of the River. Get more info and apply at friendsoftheriver.org/upcoming-event…

WE WANT YOU! 🌊 FOR needs volunteer river guides! Join our Guide Activist Training April 11-19 on the South Fork American—learn to raft & protect rivers! 🛶🌿 📍 9 days in Lotus, CA 💰 $750 (meals & camping incl.) 🎓 Scholarships available APPLY: tinyurl.com/2025GAT

WE FOUND A TRUTH. With over 600 large dams and thousands of smaller ones, California doesn’t need any new large facilities like the proposed Sites Reservoir. This statement by President Trump checks out (and gets the FOR stamp of approval).

FACT: Trump’s 1/24/25 Executive Order ordered the Army Corps to release water from two Central Valley dams with little warning, risking floods for downstream communities and depleting water stored for irrigators—WITH NO WAY TO DELIVER WATER TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

Corporate agribusiness would be the beneficiary of "maximized" water delivery.

FACT: President Trump’s 1.24.25 E.O. provided this direction to federal water managers. The reality is that the federally-owned Central Valley Project, the state’s largest water supplier, delivers water to Central Valley irrigators, not Southern California.

(2/2) Opponents of environmental regulation never mention these other species. On average, protections for Delta smelt have annually reduced the amount of runoff that might be otherwise diverted by one percent.

FACT: There are CA and fed protections in place not only for endangered Delta smelt – an important part of the SF Bay-Delta estuary food chain and once one of the region’s most common fish – but for many other species, including Chinook salmon, steelhead, and sturgeon (1/2)

FACT: Local water supply was not the cause of the LA wildfires. According to @mwdh2o, water storage in local reservoirs was at the highest levels in history. Local water infrastructure was not designed to battle such fierce blazes across vast regions.

FACT: No California water comes from the Northwest or Canada, and no infrastructure exists to deliver water from these regions. The only out-of-state water supply comes from the Rocky Mountains via the Colorado River, through a federally managed water project.