California - Day 12 - Bakersfield, to Visalia

Visalia/Sequoia National Park KOA, Visalia

Saturday, 12 March 2022

today's route

I drove through a lot of farming country today, and passed a lot of signs with a clear message about CA's water use policies.  A sample:

   "Dam Water Grows Food"

   "Newsom Don't Waste Our Dam Water"

   "Make California Great Again"

   "Newsom Stop Dumping Our Dam Water In The Ocean"

   "Stop Dumping 78% of Our Water In The Ocean"

Of course I looked this up and think I understand.  First, here's an impassioned article that puts forth the farmers' point of view.   https://www.capoliticalreview.com/newsom-demands-you-cut-water-usage-he-allows-millions-of-gallons-of-water-to-flow-to-ocean  And for a more in-depth and unbiased view I found this from the Washington Post.   https://www.washingtonpost.com/california-drought-vanishing-farms  

The Post describes the severe drought I've been finding throughout the western US regarding its impact on the lives in this area.  And those impacts are serious.  Because of less winter snow, there's less water available for the entire state, not just the farmers.  For the 2nd year in a row farmers have to rely on a rapidly shrinking supply of groundwater from their wells (they're drawing water faster than the aquifers can replenish themselves).  And this is especially a problem in CA where most agriculture is dependent on irrigation (I saw the same in AZ and NM).  

To complicate the situation, not only does southern CA with its vast multitudes of people need drinking water, but also federal and state laws mandate providing adequate habitat for local salmon stocks that are becoming endangered.  That habitat means water in streams and rivers where the salmon spawn.  

If my summary is correct, that means local farmers are blaming the governor for trying to preserve salmon habitat which he is required by law to do.  And that's the "dumping water in the ocean" those signs are talking about.

I can afford to be less worried than some about this situation because I've never grown attached to either pistachios or almonds - or even artichokes or CA citrus (though I am a serious fan of CA's mandarin oranges).  And I've been thinking, throughout the time I passed millions of acres of farmed and irrigated land in desert regions like Arizona and New Mexico and southern California, that it's foolish to put a priority on propping up someone relying on a revolt against Mother Nature for their income.  

What's more, I didn't see any signs talking about how climate change has been a major contributing factor to the farmers' dilemma.  And though I don't agree with these farmers' choices, I do think they should be spending their considerable efforts on lobbying for efforts to reverse climate change instead of the short-term blame of the governor.  

Anyway, this is a real issue in this part of the state.

Bakersfield, pop. 403,455, somehow didn't merit a highway sign, but it is looking forward to the Mac & Cheese Fest that's happening here on April 16th.  

I passed the local high school where I saw a sign saying it was Home of the Drillers.  This is clearly oil and farm country.

I accidentally noticed online that a local park, Beale Park, is home to a population of wild Rose-ringed Parakeets, so I headed there to see if I could find them.  I found a really good article about why they're here, including a super photo of a male.   https://www.kvpr.org/thousands-of-feral-lime-green-parakeets-call-bakersfield-home  

It's a nice park and the dogs and I walked around for a while.  I was lucky enough to see one of the parakeets but it was from a distance so I didn't get a good look.  Mostly what I saw was a green bird with a long tail that was the right size, but that description doesn't fit many birds in the Bakersfield area, which is why I knew it was one of the flock.  Still, it's because I wanted to see them that I got to see more of the town than Google had in mind.  Seemed like a nice town.

Back on the road I passed more orchards and vineyards, many dozens of bee boxes.  Also a huge cattle feedlot next to a vineyard, which seemed like an odd juxtaposition.

I passed quite a few recently planted orchards (see discussion of water shortage above).  And I saw a range of towns from the small (Tipton, pop. 1,383) to the large (Delano, pop. 51,963).  Actually, Visalia is the largest of today's tour, coming in at 141,384 residents.