Responding to the Presidential Memorandum: Putting People Over Fish

On Jan 20, 2025, president Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum titled: Putting People Over Fish: Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Provide Water to Southern California. This Memorandum claims that water remaining in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is wasted as it simply protects Delta Smelt and flows out to the ocean. Seeing as the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is where I have worked and lived for quiet some time and have some knowledge of, I wanted to offer some responses.
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Video edited by Grace Haiman

[@PaulMiller1962]

"There is nothing wasteful about a river, being a river! I personally object to having it called a waste, and having it viewed that way! That's an impoverished, simplistic way at looking at a river!" OMG I love it!! You go, Aaron!! We need to fight these moronic dictates, and protect our amazing delta ecosystem! Thank you for putting this out there!

[@ABirdingNaturalist]

@@PaulMiller1962 Thanks for the feedback! I definitely appreciate it!

[@Hayley-sl9lm]

🤦Having to explain the value of bodies of water existing. We're really doomed 😢. Keep fighting.

[@ABirdingNaturalist]

@Hayley-sl9lm Yeah, it seems so obvious that natural features have inherent value, and are not a waste. I really appreciate the supportive feedback!

[@t-band]

perplexity ai said california has appx 750b gallons flow into the ocean. currently there are water shortage complaints from farmers and urban dwellers. Irrigation is the taking of water from a river and diverting it onto land in a controlled way. Irrigation has been regarded as a useful human intervention, in some cases causing deserts to turn green. What would you say to that?

[@ABirdingNaturalist]

@t-band I'm not completely sure what you mean, but irrigation can certainly be very useful for humans. It is often not so great for the wider ecosystem. In terms of water storage, Trump ordering the release of water from California reservoirs meant we lost about 2.2 billion gallons. That's not going to help the situation.