If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you will have seen us talk about the failed promise of water to the 19 Central Valley refuges identified in the Central Valley Project Improvement Act. Put simply, in 1992, Congress recognized that the conversion of the Central Valley into the agricultural engine that it is had implications for wildlife habitat that needed to be addressed. So it passed the Central Valley Project Improvement Act that year which, among other things, required that 19 state and federal wildlife refuges get the minimum amount of water to support birds and other wildlife.

Since 1992, however, we have failed to keep that promise year after year. The graph above tells the story. Not only is that water taken for other priorities, but in many cases, the infrastructure doesn't exist to transport the water where we need it. Proposition 1 on the Nov. 4 ballot will provide funding not only for water, but also fund the creation of some infrastructure to get water where the birds need it. Vote for the birds this Election Day.

photo at top is of the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge by USFWS