Four years before the era of reclamation districts began, the city of Sacramento saw the Great Flood of 1862.
This month, for the first time since the launch of California Local, we expanded our digital footprint into new territory, moving west of Sacramento into Yolo County. From the new Yolo County overview page you can find links to information about Yolo’s traffic and weather, its county and city governments, and its community groups. We also list some of the county’s biggest special districts—government entities like the Knights Landing Community Services District and the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District, which exist to provide specific functions to residents.
When researching Yolo County, we became interested in reclamation districts, which are the oldest type of special district in California. These districts, created to “reclaim” wetlands and turn the acreage into arable—and monetizable—land, are a fixture in the Delta and the Central Valley. Reclamation districts made possible California’s second Gold Rush, enriching immigrants who got here early enough to benefit from this land grab. (To see the breadth of land managed by these districts, check out this detailed map.)
Draining the Swamps
In his most recent series, California Local’s Jonathan Vankin digs into the history and machinations of reclamation districts and the changes they’ve wrought to the natural environment. As he notes, it took about 70 years, but reclamation transformed the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta into one of California’s most fertile agricultural regions, with 1,100 miles of levees creating islands of farmland amid the tidal marshes.
But is there a downside to decimating one of nature’s most biological productive ecosystems? In short, naturally.
Raging Waters
We’ve got four months still to go on the 2023 calendar, but already it’s been a wild ride. The year began with storms propulsed by atmospheric rivers that ultimately took back some of the land that humans tried to reclaim—specifically along the Pajaro River, on the border of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, and across agricultural land that’s now covered with a resurgent Tulare Lake in Kings County. And this month came Hilary, an almost unprecedented tropical storm that blew further north due to warming ocean temperatures. Vankin takes a look at whether the levee systems will hold as large-scale rainstorms get more frequent.
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• Yolo County Confirms First Death Due to West Nile Virus in 2023
The first West Nile virus death of 2023 in Yolo County was announced Aug. 23 by the Yolo County Health and Human Services Agency's public health branch. This marks the first reported death in Yolo County since 2018.
(08/24/2023) → Read the full KCRA NBC 3 report
• Sacramento Mayor Announces New Response to Homelessness
The Sacramento Fire Department will lead the city’s new inter-agency emergency response to homelessness, Mayor Darrell Steinberg announced in his second of three State of the City addresses.
(08/24/2023) → Read the full The Sacramento Bee report
• Memo to Elk Grove City Council: No More Nicknames
After years of using nicknames for staff members during public meetings, the Elk Grove City Council finally got the message. A staff member was finally formally addressed in a meeting on Aug. 23.
(08/24/2023) → Read the full ElkGroveNews.Net report
• Galt High School District Hears Options for Bonds
The Board of Trustees of Galt Joint Union High School District heard a presentation about the possibility of issuing bonds to raise funds for future projects. In one example, an expert estimated that the district could raise about $40 million over five years.
(08/23/2023) → Read the full The Galt Herald report
• Are School Board Culture Wars Coming to Sacramento?
Many of the state’s most outspoken supporters of the parents’ rights movement are newly elected school board members in the Sacramento region. They are confident that their cause—fed by the conviction that schools have become centers of leftist indoctrination—will only gain strength.
(08/23/2023) → Read the full The Sacramento Bee report
• City’s Stages Hit Hard By Dwindling Audiences
Sacramento Theatre Company, which officially opened in 1945 and has provided continuous productions over the years, could see its stage go dark in the near future.
(08/22/2023) → The Sacramento Observer
• Average Rents for Sacramento Region Decline, Report Finds
A slowdown in the Sacramento region rental apartment market in the 12-month period ending June 30 has led to the first average rent decline in 13 years, a new report shows. The report said average rent fell 2% in the four-county area of Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado and Placer counties.
(08/22/2023) → Read the full The Sacramento Bee report
Four years before the era of reclamation districts began, the city of Sacramento saw the Great Flood of 1862.
