At least they have a common enemy.
Exactly. At this point, I think ag is waiting to see whether or not California lists the coho salmon. The preliminary biological opinion by Bureau of Reclamation is heavy to command and control (ie flow gauges) of the water. The State Department of Water Resources has bought into this, and the California Department of Fish and Game is eager to set "minumum flow standards". Absent is any real discussion of the effects that increased upland vegetation densities have had on stream flows. Pilot projects developed by the watershed council to study increased water yields after treating the vegetation are not being funded because the agencies don't want to cut any trees. They also do not want to dredge out accumulated debris from the river channels in order to create summer cold water refugia (aka deep swimming holes in the river)
To me, these are things that will work, but are not being implimented due to the 'let nature take it's course' bias that infects the morons running the agencies. If Norton can get some pilot projects like these going ON THE GROUND, then we will see positive change.