Recently I had the chance to visit West Side REC, sort of in the middle of nowhere. It was fantastic – a beautiful drive over that morning from Selma, CA with fabulous views on mountains to both the east and the west. I'm not sure what ranges they are, but at some point I will look at a map and figure it out. What a great group at the REC. It was quite an education for me to learn so much from Bob Hutmacher and Merf Solorio. Bob described the area to me as “where all the issues of the west come together”. While I had previously heard about Delta smelt, the Delta aqueduct, dependency on snow pack, and challenges with salinity build up, being at West Side and seeing the water allocation graphs over the past 40 years really put the cumulative challenge in perspective for me. I better understand why growers are putting in higher value crops despite their sensitivity to salinity levels that are almost inevitable given the circumstances. It was equally interesting to learn that the area water district represented the largest pressurized water district in the U.S. I do still have some side reading to do to better understand terms like asbestos veins and marine soils; terminology that is not used often in the Midwest or eastern part of the U.S. In particular, I need to figure out just how close to marine environments Five Point, CA is in present day. But a little homework never hurt. Somehow this all must tie into how West Side has such heavy soil compared to an hour east. I suspect this might have been covered in my agronomy class many years ago but if it was it clearly wasn't my highest priority at the time.
Later in the morning I had the chance to meet the entire crew at West Side; it was really nice of everyone to stop in and say ‘hi' despite having many other things to get done that day. Clearly this is a loyal bunch after hearing the number of years each has been with the REC, not to mention the distance some travel to get there and home each day – I won't complain about my commute, that's for certain.
Thanks for a great visit everyone! I hope to return soon.