CalMatters: The sequence of events so far underscores the simple fact that predicting California’s weather, despite enormous advances in technology, is still educated guesswork.

The life cycle of a salmon, so the story goes, is a heroic journey. The fish emerge from fertilized eggs in a river bed, swim to the ocean where they spend most of their lives and return to give birth in the exact place where they were born.

CalMatters: The cuts unveiled in the first draft of his new budget triggered criticism from environmental groups.

Sramek, 36, is founder and CEO of California Forever, which seeks to build a large new community in Solano County. While cities or large unincorporated communities have been built from scratch before in California and elsewhere, what makes this potential metropolis unusual — and has stirred public controversy — are the people behind it and its backstory.

The Auburn Dam could well be the most talked about water storage and flood control facility in the country that simply doesn’t exist — no matter how much it’s been argued about, advocated for and against, legislatively proposed and architecturally rendered.

As California grew into a vast agricultural region during the early 20th century, native grasslands, forests and riparian habitats were gradually replaced by farmlands and orchards. Though green things thrive on farms as a matter of business, there’s very little biodiversity on a traditional farm — and not much room for pollen specialists.