By ZEKE BARLOW, Scripps Howard News Service

Restoring endangered steelhead trout to the Southern California rivers and streams where they once swam in abundance will cost as much as $2.1 billion over the next 100 years, according to a new federal report.

VENTURA, Calif. - At first glance, the board that Steve Walden was punching through the thigh-high waves looked like just another surfboard.

Then you notice that as he's moving out through breaking surf, he's not paddling. There is a low-grade hum coming from the board like a submerged blender. And he's moving twice as fast as anyone around him.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Much like the moon shot 50 years ago, the government is turning to the heavens to inspire a generation of scientists and innovators to help America reach its next big challenge.

Only this time, it's the sun, not the moon, that is the object of desire. And instead of space travel, the focus is finding better ways to power the Earth through energy from the sun.

Gov. Jerry Brown this week declared an end to the state's three-year drought after snow pack measurements in the Sierra Nevada showed it at 165 percent of normal for this time of year.

The announcement ends drought-related states of emergency declared in 2008 and 2009.

To avert the many looming crises facing California's fragile water supply, a new book makes the case for a drastic change in the way the state views and allocates water.

VENTURA, Calif. - A plane search for California teen sailor Abby Sunderland will begin Friday morning in the Indian Ocean, after two of her emergency beacons went off about 6 a.m. Thursday.

She is currently halfway between Africa and Australia, and the plane won't be able to search for the Thousand Oaks girl until daybreak on Friday.

Everyone knows there are plastic bags, plastic foam cups and aluminum cans bobbing in the ocean, but what lies on the floor 1,200 feet beneath the surface of California seas?

Turns out there is junk down there, too, including fishing lines, nets, teapots, old artillery shells and, yes, even a kitchen sink.

VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. - Eight years after about $1 million was spent on a Santa Paula Creek fish ladder for steelhead trout, the federal government is looking to spend $7.5 million in stimulus money to build a new one because the old was deemed useless when the fish most need it.

While many will cast their eyes to the skies to hope for rain this winter, a team of researchers will be watching California hillsides to see what destruction that precipitation might bring.

VENTURA, Calif. - Squids may be small in size, but in California they mean big money.

Fishermen from all over the West Coast have come to the Santa Barbara Channel to lasso the invertebrates with nets, suck them out of the sea and turn them into cash.