Rainfall in California was far above average in November. Then came December, one of the state’s driest months on record.

Since 1977, DWR’s water education program has helped California’s teachers educate their students about one of our most essential resources – water. In 2017, we reached an estimated 1,000 teachers and 150,000 students by providing classroom materials and professional development for teachers.

DWR's 2017 salmon spawning restoration project in the Feather River led to a successful fall run, with several hundred Chinook salmon spawning in the restored habitat.

DWR staff travel to Humboldt County to interview and film Blue Lake Rancheria for climate change video.

As we begin water year 2018, our reservoirs are in good shape. After a drought-busting water year, most of California’s major reservoirs are storing more than their historical averages for this time of year, and slightly more than 50 percent of their total capacity.

Predicting the arrival and intensity of atmospheric rivers would greatly benefit water managers, reservoir operators, and flood prevention agencies in their work to sustainably manage water supply and protect people and property from flood damage. The trouble is, weather forecasting beyond a week becomes unreliable.

On November 1, we met our objective to repair and reconstruct the main Lake Oroville spillway to handle flows of up to 100,000 cubic feet per second.

In honor of Flood Preparedness Week, we held a press conference on October 23, 2017 to raise awareness about flood preparedness.

The Feather River Fish Hatchery, constructed by DWR and operated by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, celebrates its 50th anniversary this October. Each year, roughly 9,000 to 18,000 salmon and 2,000 steelhead are spawned and raised at the hatchery.

DWR received the Outstanding Environmental Project Award for its more than 2,000 acres of carbon sequestration, land subsidence reversal, and wetlands creation, enhancement, and restoration on Twitchell and Sherman Islands.