By MATT WEISER, Sacramento Bee

BROWNSVILLE, Calif. - Little-known Honcut Creek is the one place where imperiled California salmon might be able to make a comeback.

It's also where new logging rules soon will restrict how many trees can be cut on private land along this Feather River tributary, even though there aren't any salmon in its forested reaches.

The stalemate over water reform in California these days swirls around a single word that for decades has ignited conflict among ideological opposites: dams.

Conservatives, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, insist on building new dams, believing that pooling water in a canyon will end California's thirst.

California's celebrated Pacific coast gained 30 new ocean sanctuaries this week.

The new preserves cover 153 square miles of ocean between Half Moon Bay and Mendocino. Starting Jan. 1, fishing will be permanently banned or restricted in the zones.

Thousands of California farms and cities have been warned that their permission to pump water from rivers and creeks could be cut back if the drought worsens.
Such a warning, mailed to about 7,000 water rights holders on Thursday by the state Water Resources Control Board, has not been issued since 1988 amid the state's last prolonged drought.

A drought approaching epic status in California may force the state to choose one imperiled species of fish over another.
This week, state and federal water agencies petitioned regulators to relax standards for flows of fresh water in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, hub for most of California's water supply.

Fishermen are targeting salmon returning to spawn in the American River and other central California streams, despite a virtual ban on all salmon fishing this year.

California forestry officials have rejected an emergency petition to protect coho salmon in coastal streams, even though federal fisheries regulators said it would help the imperiled fish.The petition before the state Board of Forestry comes as California salmon are at historic lows, requiring regulators to suspend all salmon fishing on the coast this year -- a first.

A California law firm known for its conservative advocacy is poised to join the political melee over the fate of the polar bear, vowing to sue the government if it cites global warming as a threat to the species.

BYRON, Calif. -- Inside a makeshift collection of modified shipping containers lined up on a patch of asphalt, a system of gurgling pipes and buckets holds the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta's future. Or, at least, one future.

Wildlife officials have moved for early closure of seven coastal salmon fishing zones in California and Oregon, a sign of dire conditions facing the Central Valley chinook.The action came in a conference between fisheries managers gathered in Sacramento, Calif., for a series of meetings by the Pacific Fisheries Management Council.