Friant WD Gets 62% Water Allocation
FRESNO, Calif. – Due to better than expected hydrologic conditions through the latter part of June and first 12 days of July, the Bureau of Reclamation has determined that it will further increase the Central Valley Project’s Friant Division water supply allocation.
In consultation with Friant Division contractors, the Friant Division Class 1 water supply allocation is being increased from 55 percent to 62 percent. On June 13, Reclamation announced an increase from 50 percent to 55 percent. Class 2 water remains at 0 percent. (The first 800,000 acre-feet of water supply is considered Class 1 and the next 1.4 million acre-feet is considered Class 2). The latest information on upstream operations, canal demand schedules, and the San Joaquin River Restoration Program flow release schedule have also been incorporated into this allocation update.
Currently, precipitation in the Upper San Joaquin River watershed at Huntington Lake is about 20.5 inches, which is about 49 percent of average for this time of year. Additionally, accumulated natural river flow to date for Water Year 2013 for the Upper San Joaquin Basin is about 822,000 acre-feet, which is about 50 percent of the historical average for this date, and about 46 percent of the total Water Year average of 1.8 million acre-feet.
Heat Shrivels Grapes
Tulare County ag commissioner Marilyn Kinoshita and others say more than week of record heat has helped shrivel some of the Valley’s grape crop.”It doesn’t make a big difference grapes headed for juice but for the fresh market workers are going to have cut those out.”
One Fresno grower David Sarabian told newscasters he figures he lost 10% of hsicrop.
Chinese Buying US Corn Crop
On July 12, the U.S.D.A. reported a historically large sale of 960,000 tons of corn to China for 2013-14 delivery. Futures prices this week are around $5 a bushel for December delivery falling from around $5.70 in mid June. A record US corn crop with good soil moisture should provide some relief to the US livestock industry along with the Chinese.
The USDA July World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates says China will import 7 million tons of corn in 2013-14, more than double the 3 million tons estimated for 2012-13 and up 34% from 5.23 million tons in 2011-12.
Rate of Shattered Baseball Bats 50 Percent Less, Thanks to Major League Baseball and the U.S. Forest Service
WASHINGTON July 12, 2013 – As the 2013 Major League Baseball (MLB) season slides into the All-Star break, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the results of innovative research by the U.S. Forest Service, and funded by MLB, that will result in significantly fewer shattered baseball bats.
“This innovative research by the U.S. Forest Service will make baseball games safer for players and fans across the nation,” said Secretary Vilsack. “The U.S. Forest Products Laboratory has once again demonstrated that we can improve uses for wood products across our nation in practical ways – making advancements that can improve quality of life and grow our economy.”
Testing and analyzing thousands of shattered Major League bats, U.S. Forest Service researchers at the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) developed changes in manufacturing that decreased the rate of shattered maple bats by more than 50 percent since 2008. While the popularity of maple bats is greater today than ever before, the number of shattered bats continues to decline.
“Since 2008, the U.S. Forest Service has worked with Major League Baseball to help make America’s pastime safer,” said U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell. “I’m proud that our collective ‘wood grain trust’ has made recommendations resulting in a significant drop in shattered bats, making the game safer for players as well as for fans.”
“These results would not have been possible without the outstanding work of the Forest Products Laboratory and the tireless efforts of its project coordinator, David Kretschmann,” says Daniel Halem, MLB’s Senior Vice President of Labor Relations. “Major League Baseball greatly appreciates the invaluable contributions of the Forest Products Laboratory and Mr. Kretschmann on this important issue.”