![The community yurt in Martis camp The community yurt in Martis camp](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/salm_martis-camp_tent.jpg?1577874531)
Harmony in Paradox
One luxury development withstood the test of environmental backlash
Five years ago, Truckee’s Martis Camp fell out of the hands of land planners and golf-course designers and into the hands of lawyers.
![The San Joaquin River at the Mossdale County Park near Manteca. The San Joaquin River at the Mossdale County Park near Manteca.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/27cm0713-2.jpg?1577874530)
What’s to Fallow
After Years of drought, the legislature's historic water deal is just the beginning
This is the final story in a four-part series on water. This month, we’ll wrap up by examining upcoming issues in 2010. Past installments of this series have explored water issues ranging from storage, conservation and desalination, to impacts of a peripheral canal on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
![This year, farmer Bill Koster fallowed 80 percent of his land, relying on wells to keep only his almond and walnut trees alive. This year, farmer Bill Koster fallowed 80 percent of his land, relying on wells to keep only his almond and walnut trees alive.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/_b412877.jpg?1577874530)
Farmer in the Well
A few years of drought could end more than a century of crops for one Central Valley family
In 2008, Bill Koster had his best year in three and a half decades of farming. Commodity prices hit record highs, his expenses were low and water allocation was enough to yield a decent crop, even though it was less than half his contracted amount.
Tule Story
Researchers examine tule reeds and rice fields in the Delta
On Twitchell Island, near the Delta town of Isleton, tules covering 15 acres grow twice as tall as the average man. A gravel road separates the wetlands from a cornfield, sunken 25 feet at its lowest point. Every year, the wetlands’ soil rises a few inches, while the cornfield sinks. The discovery that tules increase land elevation in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is fueling a joint experiment conducted by the state Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Geological Survey, along with UC Davis researchers, other universities and private consultants.
![Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, says that desalination should be part of the state's water solution, however, "You don't solve the problem by shifting it from one ecosystem to another."
(Photo: Jill Wagner)
Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, says that desalination should be part of the state's water solution, however, "You don't solve the problem by shifting it from one ecosystem to another."
(Photo: Jill Wagner)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/_5341.jpg?1577874530)
Salt of the Dearth
The role of desalination in California's water crisis
If Sir Isaac Newton were around today to assess California’s interest in seawater desalination, he would likely reference his own third law of motion, which in simple terms states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In short, as our water supply dwindles, the desire to glean freshwater from salty oceans and brackish groundwater is growing.
![Ed Manning, lobbyist and environmental lawyer, KP Public Affairs
(Photo: Mike Graffigna) Ed Manning, lobbyist and environmental lawyer, KP Public Affairs
(Photo: Mike Graffigna)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/vx2c5449.jpg?1577874531)
Clean and Sobering
Mandates for cleaner air are coming down the pipeline- but at what cost?
California’s cities and counties are facing the formidable challenge of determining how they’ll tackle regulations outlined in the state’s greenhouse gas legislation.
![Elk Slough, near the Delta town of Clarksburg Elk Slough, near the Delta town of Clarksburg](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/27cm0981-2.jpg?1577874530)
Peripheral Vision
Can state and federal officials agree on comprehensive reform before it's too late?
For centuries, the biggest environmental concern for most California water users was how to squeeze every last drop from nature. While a wet year might shift concerns to flood control, grab-as-grab-can gusto came back almost as soon as the waters receded. But that was then. Today, environmental concerns are center stage in the state’s ongoing effort to reform its water system.
![Work continues on the four-phase, $400 million project that will fix 29 miles, or 90 percent, of Yuba County's levees.
Work continues on the four-phase, $400 million project that will fix 29 miles, or 90 percent, of Yuba County's levees.](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/steph-likes-this-one.jpg?1577874531)
Ring of Mire
Yuba doesn't wait for the feds to tackle flood protection
Yuba County officials knew they couldn’t rely on federal money to improve their levees. Historically, the federal government has provided the bulk of money for flood protection, but it can take 10 to 20 years to receive it. So Yuba County, a mostly agricultural county of nearly 73,000 people 30 miles north of Sacramento, developed a plan to fund levee improvements itself.
![](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/img_4444.jpg?1577874531)
Delta Vision
Phil Isenberg on the state's water policy
Phil Isenberg, a longtime environmental advocate and former Sacramento mayor and state assemblyman, will lead the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force. We sat down with him recently to talk about the state’s efforts to bring its water system into the 21st century.
![The proposed site for the Auburn dam in December 2003, prior to the riverbed restoration that returned the river to its original course.
(Photo courtesy of the Department of Water Resources) The proposed site for the Auburn dam in December 2003, prior to the riverbed restoration that returned the river to its original course.
(Photo courtesy of the Department of Water Resources)](https://www.comstocksmag.com/sites/main/files/imagecache/tile/main-images/auburn_sidebar.jpg?1577874530)
Wall of Worry
The (almost) rise and fall of the Auburn dam
More than four decades after it was proposed, the Auburn dam still draws conflicting opinions about why it was doomed.