When torrential rains came to California's Central Valley last New Year's Day, farmers and ranchers in the agriculturally productive region were not protected by the system of dikes that had guarded residents from the ravages of floods for decades. Some of the funds originally earmarked for levee repair were diverted by these agencies to the restoration of habitat of endangered species such as the beaver and the fairy shrimp. Regulators went so far as to spend money planting trees on top of levees that were badly in need of structural maintenance. Outrage over the widespread devastation and loss of life in the valley brought on by delays in repairing the levees and carrying out long-overdue dredging of river bottoms has crossed party lines. Levees should not be habitat.
Levees are there to stop water.
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