Appliance Repair in San Joaquin, CA

On May 20, 2022, veterinary staff at California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) were notified that an endangered riparian brush rabbit found deceased on the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge, tested positive for rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2), a highly transmissible and frequently fatal disease of rabbits. The disease has spread rapidly across the western United States.

“This is a discovery we hoped would never occur, but it’s one we’ve planned for by implementing a proactive vaccination effort,” said CDFW Senior Wildlife Veterinarian, Dr. Deana Clifford. “We are in the very early stages of understanding the impacts to the species now that RHDV2 has arrived at the refuge.”

Since August 2020, a multi-partner team has been vaccinating wild riparian brush rabbits to protect a portion of the population at the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge and adjacent habitat. The team — U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), CDFW, the Oakland Zoo, River Partners, California State University, Stanislaus, California Department of Food and Agriculture, and the UC Davis California Animal Health and Food Safety Lab — has undertaken an ambitious program that has safely administered the Filavac RHDV2 vaccine to 638 individual rabbits.

“This will be the true test of the effectiveness of our vaccination efforts, which are part of a larger conservation effort to restore habitat and recover the population of riparian brush rabbits,” said Kim Forrest, USFWS San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex Manager.

Riparian brush rabbits are found in small patches of remaining riparian forest and shrub habitat in the northern portion of the San Joaquin Valley and in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Because vaccinations require trapping and administering injections to each individual rabbit, it is not feasible to deploy vaccinations for wild rabbit populations except in cases where populations are small and endangered. CDFW has received reports that live rabbits are still observed in other areas of the state where the virus has been present since 2020, giving biologists hope that some rabbits are surviving infection.

While the impact of RHDV2 on the endangered riparian brush rabbit is not yet known, biologists are closely monitoring rabbits using camera surveys, continuing to administer vaccinations, and testing to determine if additional cases occur at the refuge or adjacent habitat.

“The vaccine has been shown to be highly effective against the virus in domestic rabbits, and our hope is that over time some of the riparian brush rabbits will have immunity and survive,” said Clifford.

RHDV2 was first observed in wild rabbits in the southwestern United States in March 2020, and since then has rapidly spread to many states. In California, cases of the virus in wild rabbits have been detected in Alameda, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Benito and San Diego counties. Cases in domestic rabbits have also been confirmed in Fresno, Sonoma, Ventura and San Louis Obispo counties. RHDV2 is not related to the novel coronavirus and does not affect humans or domestic animals other than rabbits.

The public can assist by reporting any sick or dead wild rabbits to CDFW, as wildlife veterinarians continue to monitor the situation. Anyone who lives, works or recreates in wild rabbit habitat can report sightings of sick or dead rabbits to CDFW’s Wildlife Health Laboratory at (916) 358-2790, or file an online mortality report through CDFW’s website.

CDFW’s RHDV2 web page includes fact sheets and information about the virus, how to report sightings of dead rabbits, strategies for preventing human-caused spread of the disease, a link to CDFA resources for domestic rabbit owners, and a U.S. Department of Agriculture interactive map showing counties where the disease has been confirmed in domestic, feral and/or wild rabbits.

Media Contact: Ken Paglia, CDFW Communications, (916) 825-7120 Jackie D’Almeida, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, (916) 207-8385

Photo: courtesy USFWS

Over-pumping of San Joaquin Valley's groundwater basins has caused the region's surface to slowly collapse.

By Alastair Bland, Bay City News Foundation

STANFORD, CA — The San Joaquin Valley is the perfect place for farming — almost. While the region has plenty of sun and fertile soil, it lacks a key requisite for sustainable agriculture: abundant water.

Parts of the valley are nearly as dry as a desert, and for many farmers there is only one reliable way to irrigate their land: pump water from the ground. This strategy has helped turn arid scrubland into lush plantations of fruit trees and row crops.

But it has come with a great cost. Over-pumping of San Joaquin Valley's groundwater basins has caused the region's surface to slowly collapse. According to scientists with NASA, who have used satellite radar data to analyze the problem, the ground has dropped nearly 30 feet in large areas of the valley since the 1920s as the substrate below, sucked dry of water, contracted like a dry sponge.

This decline of the Earth's surface — called subsidence by geologists — has damaged bridges and disrupted the flow of canals, reducing their capacity to transfer water. In 2014, California lawmakers passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, a package of legislation that aims to resolve the state's groundwater overdraft — and related problems, including subsidence — by imposing regional regulations on pumping and, hopefully, stabilizing declining water tables.

This may not be enough to stop the drop of the Earth's surface, however. In a paper published Thursday in the journal Water Resources Research, Matthew Lees and Rosemary Knight, both of Stanford University, warn that the Earth's surface will continue sinking for decades or even centuries if underground water levels aren't allowed to rebound.

The authors' conclusion contradicts assumptions that merely stopping the decline of water tables is sufficient to halt land subsidence above.

To produce their findings, the scientists developed a modeling program that simulated subsidence near the city of Hanford, in the Kaweah groundwater subbasin, from 1952 to 2017. They also used private well data, acquired from property owners and local agencies, to create a subsurface map of the region's substrate types.

Lees and Knight concluded that previous research had underestimated the timescale over which clay substrate — the type most strongly associated with subsidence — contracts when it is drained dry.

"We suggest that residual compaction of clays is a process that continues for decades-to-centuries, indicating that to significantly reduce subsidence requires some recovery of head, not just a stabilization," the authors wrote in their paper.

In an interview, Knight, a professor of geophysics at Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, said that if groundwater levels were stabilized now in the study area, subsidence would continue at a rate of about 10 centimeters per year for 30 years — another 10 feet of depression.

As for preventing further subsidence, that will be no easy feat in a region of chronic water shortages.

"We would need to raise the water levels 10 meters," Knight said.

The findings call into question how effective the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act will be in reversing the impacts of groundwater overdraft. The law, usually referred to as SGMA, mandates the creation of local groundwater agencies — teams of stakeholders who must draft and implement new regulations on pumping from wells, with the goal of curbing the rates of withdrawals so they at least match recharge rates by 2040.

Land subsidence is one of several undesirable outcomes of groundwater overuse that SGMA aims to mitigate.

But because groundwater managers don't have access — at least not yet — to the highly developed modeling system that Lees and Knight used, their groundwater management plans could fall short of SGMA's objectives, according to the authors.

"They'll wind up with groundwater sustainability plans that underestimate the amount of subsidence that's going to occur," Knight said.

To Peter Gleick, a senior fellow at the Pacific Institute, an Oakland-based think tank that addresses climate change, water supply and growth issues, the new Stanford research underscores the need to aggressively enforce groundwater use regulations that "actually increase recharge of depleted aquifers."

"It's been apparent for some time that the SGMA is insufficient and too slow to come into effect," says Gleick, who was not involved in the research. "This study raises a new challenge: even stopping groundwater overdraft, which won't actually happen for many years, won't be enough to prevent additional land subsidence because of the slower response of soils."

Gleick notes that pilot-scale recharge efforts are being conducted in some groundwater basins.

"But more needs to be done, faster," he says.

As a megadrought parches the West, groundwater use is expected to accelerate as surface supplies decline and become more unreliable. The Water Foundation — an Oakland-based water equity group — has estimated that as many as 12,000 residential wells could go dry in California by 2040 as a result of unsustainable groundwater use.

Knight says the modeling approach she and Lees used in their research, though it was derived from a small region of the San Joaquin Valley, can likely be applied to just about any alluvial aquifer system in the world.

She says she hopes to make the technology publicly accessible via web-based software so that state officials and groundwater agencies — "For everyone," she says — can accurately assess how their plans will affect, and hopefully prevent, future land subsidence.

Copyright © 2022 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY, Calif. —

To celebrate the beginning of Pride Month, the San Joaquin Pride Center hosted a community event Wednesday and raised the LGBTQ+ Progress Pride flag at Stockton City Hall.

Dozens gathered for the early morning celebration, where the rainbow flag is a symbol of pride and hope.

Organizers said flying it high in the city showed that Stockton is an inclusive city, and that people don't have to fear being the targets of violence.

The newly designed Progress Pride flag has a few extra stripes this year to include communities of color and those who are transgender.

"It's important to raise the flag because you never know when you are going to have an individual having a rough day. Seeing that flag lets them know that they are seen, and that they are valued in this community," said Cymone Reyes with the San Joaquin Pride Center.

The Progress Pride flag will stay up at Stockton City Hall grounds until June 7. It's the third year of this event.

Over at San Joaquin Delta College, the campus recognized Pride Month for the first time.

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During the noon ceremony, a Progress Pride flag will be joining the American flag at the campus.

Students and faculty said it's about time because it shows that they matter and that's is okay for them to be themselves.

A few months back, a few professors formed the Delta College Pride Coalition to put together a resolution to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. The goal was to let everyone know the campus in Stockton is a safe space.

"If they don't see that representation on campus, then it can be a place where they are just not sure... they are not comfortable there, so we want to increase that visibility. We want the flag flying to show them you are so welcome here, and we are here, and we see you," said Melissa Neal, Co-President of the Delta College Pride Coalition.

The flag-raising ceremony runs from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at the DeRicco building parking lot.

The Pride flag will stay up for the entire month. Delta College has vowed to raise it every June from now on.

As work continues on the new Amazon fulfillment center coming to Turlock, the online retail giant has pushed back the facility’s opening.

Construction on the new million-square-foot warehouse continues as the e-commerce retailer has moved its planned opening from “mid-2022” to September 2022, according to company spokesperson Natalie Banke. Hiring for the expected 1,000 new jobs expected to staff the facility hasn’t started yet, but should in coming months.

Word about a possible Amazon fulfillment center coming to Turlock first began circulating in April 2021. By August of that year, with construction already underway, the online shopping behemoth finally confirmed the news and pending jobs coming to the Central Valley.

“We’re excited to launch this new facility in Turlock and we know the local community is excited about the opportunities we’ll be bringing to the area. We look forward to sharing details about the great jobs we’re offering as soon as we can,” Banke said.

This will be Amazon’s second fulfillment center in Stanislaus County. It opened its first in Patterson in 2013. The company has warehouses dotting the Northern San Joaquin Valley with other facilities in Tracy and Stockton. Between its existing regional distribution and fulfillment centers, Amazon employs some 21,000 warehouse workers.

The Turlock site will add another 1,000 employees, but Banke said hiring announcements have not started yet for warehouse workers. Once the center is closer to opening, expect the company to hold hiring events.

Currently, the exterior of the new facility has a banner encouraging people to join text alerts for upcoming Amazon jobs in the region. To sign up text “AMAZONJOBS” to “?77088?,” and then you will receive a series of texts asking you to opt-in for jobs in your zip code.

Amazon Careers, the company’s online hiring site, does not have any jobs for the upcoming Turlock site listed yet.

Construction on the massive project continues, with what appears to be most of the exterior work done and focus shifting inside. The warehouse has gone up on roughly 75 acres off Fulkerth Road, just west of Highway 99 in the Turlock Regional Industrial Park. Banke said completing the work has been a “moving target.”

The center’s pending opening comes after months of mystery in early 2021 when the project was still under wraps. City of Turlock officials could not comment because of non-disclosure agreements signed with the company until Amazon made an official announcement almost a year ago.

There are presale tickets that sell for $5, carnival presale wristbands are $30, and you can purchase tickets online or at their box office.

STOCKTON, Calif. — Step right up! The San Joaquin County Fair is back after a two-year hiatus, and there's been a revamp.

This year's theme is "Bloom Where You Are Planted", and from June 3rd to June 5th, the San Joaquin County Fair has planted itself at the fairgrounds and opened its gates for everyone to come and enjoy.

Although the layout's changed this year, there will still be the same, if not more fun when entering the fairgrounds.

There will be new food, new entertainment, and a new KidZone!

Some tasty treats include unicorn shakes, Oreo funnel cakes, gold-plated ice cream, foot-long corndogs, barbequed ribs, and more.

When it comes to entertainment, there will be tons of it for free. There will be performances from a Tom Petty tribute band, a band tributing the Eagles, and on Sunday, they've partnered with VMG Concerts to host Hispanic Heritage Day with performances by Los Parras.

Kids have it made in the shade in their KidZone, featuring a free petting zoo, free bounce houses, face painting, rock climbing walls, and there will also be educational activities.

This year, the fair really focused on variety and strived for it to be something that any age and demographic could come and laugh and have fun at.

"If it's your first time coming, there's a ton of activities to do for everyone," Jennifer Stafford CEO fair manager at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds said. "From the toddlers and the two-year-olds to the teens and adults, there's great food, carnival rides, and great music."

There will also be local car shows and a boutique shopping area for people to come and shop local and handcrafted vendors.

The fair spent weeks reaching out and highlighting these local vendors because they saw a lot of them pick up crafts and go to pop-up events during COVID, so come out and show support.

Also, the fair chose the theme "Bloom Where You Are Planted" considering this is their first year back at the fairgrounds since 2019.

"We wanted a theme that was going to embrace the agricultural roots here in San Joaquin County, but also speak to our community's resiliency and beauty," Stafford said. "Even though it's been a difficult few years, were blooming with excitement, we're making a comeback, and we're excited for the new growth and opportunities to serve our community. We're not going anywhere, in fact, we are blooming where we're planted."

Tickets are available online at www.SanJoaquinFair.com. There are presale tickets that sell for $5, carnival presale wristbands are $30, and you can purchase tickets online or at their box office.