California
Forest Service orders Arrowhead bottled water company to shut down California pipeline
In a decision that could end a years-long battle over commercial extraction of water from public lands, the U.S. Forest Service has ordered the company that sells Arrowhead bottled water to shut down its pipeline that collects water from springs in the San Bernardino Mountains.
The Forest Service notified BlueTriton Brands in a letter last month, saying its application for a new permit has been denied.
District Ranger Michael Nobles wrote in the July 26 letter that the company “must cease operations” in the San Bernardino National Forest and submit a plan for removing all its pipes and equipment from federal land.
The company has challenged the denial in court.
Environmental activists praised the decision.
“It’s a huge victory after 10 years,” said Amanda Frye, an activist who has campaigned against the taking of water from the forest. “I’m hoping that we can restore Strawberry Creek, have its springs flowing again, and get the habitat back.”
Read more: A bitter feud centers on source of Arrowhead bottled water
She and other opponents say BlueTriton’s operation has dramatically reduced creek flow and is causing significant environmental harm.
The Forest Service announced the decision one month after a local environmental group, Save Our Forest Assn., filed a lawsuit arguing the agency was illegally allowing the company to continue operating under a permit that was past its expiration date.
The company has denied that its use of water is harming the environment and has argued it should be allowed to continue piping water from the national forest.
BlueTriton Brands and its predecessors “have continuously operated under a series of special use permits for nearly a century,” the company said in an email.
“This denial has no legal merit, is unsupported by the facts, and negatively impacts the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians,” the company said, adding that the tribe uses a portion of the water that passes through the pipeline and relies on that water for firefighting needs.
Representatives of the tribe did not respond to a request for comment.
If the Forest Service decision stands, it would prevent the company from using the namesake source of its brand, Arrowhead 100% Mountain Spring Water.
The springs in the mountains north of San Bernardino, which have been a source for bottled water for generations, are named after an arrowhead-shaped natural rock formation on the mountainside.
State officials have said that the first facilities to divert water in the Strawberry Creek watershed were built in 1929, and the system expanded over the years as additional boreholes were drilled into the mountainside.
Read more: Arrowhead bottled water company sues to continue piping from California forest
At the base of the mountain and near the company’s water pipeline stands the long-closed Arrowhead Springs hotel property, which the San Manuel tribe bought in 2016. The company has said that under a decades-old agreement, a portion of the water that flows through the 4.5-mile pipeline goes to the Arrowhead Springs property, and a portion of the water is delivered to a roadside tank and hauled on trucks to a bottling plant.
The Forest Service has been charging a permit fee of $2,500 per year. There has been no charge for the water.
Controversy over the issue erupted when the Desert Sun reported in 2015 that the Forest Service was allowing Nestlé to siphon water using a permit that listed 1988 as the expiration date.
The Forest Service then began a review of the permit, and in 2018 granted a new permit for up to five years. The revelations about Nestlé piping water from the forest sparked an outpouring of opposition and prompted several complaints to California regulators questioning the company’s water rights claims, which led to a lengthy investigation by state water regulators.
BlueTriton Brands took over the bottled water business in 2021 when Nestlé’s North American bottled water division was purchased by private-equity firm One Rock Capital Partners and investment firm Metropoulos & Co. (Last month, BlueTriton and Primo Water Corp. announced plans to merge and form a new company.)
State officials determined last year that the company has been unlawfully diverting much of the water without valid water rights — agreeing with Frye and others, who had questioned the company’s claims and presented historical documents. The State Water Resources Control Board voted to order the company to halt its “unauthorized diversions” of water. But BlueTriton Brands sued to challenge that decision, arguing the process was rife with problems.
Read more: California environmental group sues U.S. Forest Service over Arrowhead bottled water operation
In the July Forest Service letter, Nobles said the company was repeatedly asked to provide “additional information necessary to assure compliance with BlueTriton’s existing permit” but that the requests were “consistently left unanswered.”
Nobles said that under the regulations, he may consider whether the water used exceeds the “needs of forest resources.”
He also said that while the company had said in its application that the water would go for bottled water, its reports showed that 94% to 98% of the amount of water diverted monthly was delivered to the old hotel property for “undisclosed purposes,” and that “for months BlueTriton has indicated it has bottled none of the water taken,” while also significantly increasing the volumes extracted.
“This increase represents significantly more water than has ever been delivered previously,” Nobles wrote. “The hotel and conference facility on the property is not operating, and there is no explanation of where the millions of gallons of water per month are going.”
He said the decision is final and cannot be appealed.
Nobles ordered the company to “stop use of the BlueTriton pipeline” within seven days “by severing or blocking the pipe at each tunnel or borehole” at a dozen sites; to remove the locks on its equipment; and to submit a plan within three months for removing all of its infrastructure.
Forest Service officials did not respond to an email requesting comments about the decision.
BlueTriton’s spokesperson said the Forest Service has agreed to a “temporary 30-day stay for the sole purpose of supplying the needs of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, including for fire prevention.”
“We will continue to operate in compliance with all state and federal laws while we explore legal and regulatory options,” the spokesperson said.
The company argues in the lawsuit that the Forest Service has violated federal law with a decision that is “arbitrary and capricious.”
BlueTriton said studies by its scientific consultants have found that the taking of water “has not negatively affected the Strawberry Canyon environment.”
Records show about 319 acre-feet, or 104 million gallons, flowed through the company’s pipes in 2023.
In the rugged canyon downhill from the springs, Strawberry Creek has continued flowing in recent years. But when Frye has hiked along the creek, she has found that its western fork, located downhill from the boreholes, is just a trickle, forming a series of puddles among the bushes and trees.
“Our goal was to get that water back in the creek and protect the forest,” Frye said. “The proof will be when the pipes and all that infrastructure is taken out and it’s restored. But I think we’re nearing the end.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
California
California Islamic calligraphy artist preserves ancient tradition during Arab American Heritage Month
As Arab American Heritage Month is celebrated, one Northern California artist is keeping the centuries-old tradition of Islamic calligraphy alive, one carefully measured stroke at a time.
Sehar Shahzad is a student calligrapher. Before starting any project, Shahzad said “one of the first things that calligraphers learn is how to cut their pens.”
Her tools must be in pristine condition.
“Your instruments are just as important as anything else in this art,” she said.
Shahzad said that as a young girl growing up in Toronto, she took up Islamic calligraphy while reflecting on her religion.
“It’s not like I’d never seen it before, but it was my first time kind of trying it,” she said. “And there’s no other way to say it except that I just fell in love with it.”
Now married with three children, Islamic calligraphy is very much part of her life.
“I remember thinking that this isn’t something that I just want to learn for fun,” she said. “I really want to be able to master it.”
Shahzad said that every angle and curve follows strict geometric rules and is measured with dots.
“For example, this letter here was just a little bit too long, so we use these nuqtas to help us guide and understand how long that letter should be,” she said.
Like the Arabic language, Islamic calligraphy is read from right to left. Its bold simplicity requires precision and a deep understanding of proportion.
“When you’re creating a composition, it’s not only about the letter itself,” Shahzad said. “It’s about composition as a whole and making sure that everything balances together.”
Even though she’s still mastering her form, Shahzad’s work is featured in the prayer room of a Muslim cemetery in Napa and in the domes of mosques in San Jose, Hayward, and San Francisco.
Still, she considers her work on paper the most special.
“A form of meditation, a form of worship, requires focus, requires discipline, really brings me to a different space,” Shahzad said. “And I think that’s what I love most.”
Proving that in this fast-paced world, this millennia-long tradition is far from disappearing.
Shahzad’s work will be featured at the upcoming Light Upon Light art exhibit at the Tarbiya Institute in Roseville from April 24-26.
LOS ANGELES (KABC) — California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Tuesday highlighted what he called historic progress in the state’s fight against gun violence.
“California has achieved something historic with the lowest rates of firearm deaths, suicides and homicides on record,” he said during a press conference.
According to Bonta, in 2024, California saw the lowest numbers of firearm-related deaths since 1968. That also drove the state’s overall homicide rate to its lowest level on record in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, Bonta’s office said.
However, Bonta warned lawmakers that those gains could be at risk without continued investment.
“This progress is fragile,” he said. “It was driven in part by significant investments that are now declining or disappearing, and without continued and increased investment, we risk losing it.”
Bonta urged policymakers to continue advancing gun violence prevention efforts and education initiatives.
To learn more, click here.
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California
California lawmaker introduces bill to protect wildlife from euthanasia, create coexistence program
A Southern California state senator has proposed a new law that would prevent euthanasia in the state’s wildlife just a month after a mother bear was put down for swiping at a woman in Monrovia, feet away from where her two cubs were located.
The legislation, SB 1135, which was introduced by Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas), calls for the establishment of a state program that promotes the coexistence with wildlife and codifies a wolf-livestock coexistence and compensation program. The move comes two years after funding for a similar wildlife coexistence program expired.
“We can and must responsibly support people and wild animals to exist in a California where we are all under growing pressures and cumulative threats like extreme heat, frequent drought and intense wildfires that animals respond to by moving in search of resources to survive,” Sen. Blakespear said in a statement. “That means investing in science-based, situation-specific, proactive strategies to minimize negative interactions and prevent escalation to conflicts that pose risks for people and animals. SB 1135 proposes a program to better protect people, wildlife and communities.”
The proposed coexistence program, which would be allocated nearly $50 million through the state’s 2026-27 budget, would build on the previous version, which deployed trained regional human-wildlife conflict staff around the state. The absence was noted by CDFW leaders during a state Assembly meeting in January, according to Blakespear.
“Over the last five years, wildlife incident reports logged by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) increased by 31 percent and calls, emails and field contacts rose by 58 percent,” Blakespear’s proposal says.
She noted the recent headline across the state, including “Blondie,” the Monrovia mother bear who was captured and put down by wildlife officials in March after it swiped at a woman near the home it was living under with its two cubs.
The home in question belongs to Richard Franco. He, along with many other Monrovia residents, has documented his encounters with bears over the years, even setting up a system of trail cameras to track the bears’ movements.
“Getting to know her, you could see what a devoted mother she was,” Franco said. “She was always building a nest.”
Read more: Orphaned bear cubs taken to San Diego for care after mom is euthanized for attacking people
Franco and many of his neighbors were angered upon learning that CDFW officials had euthanized Blondie after her capture, which they credited to the fact that she had swiped at the woman days earlier and another person in 2025.
“Forcing them out, and then euthanizing the mom was just traumatic for us,” said one Monrovia couple. “It was just tragic, and there was no need for it; it was completely unnecessary.”
Situations like this are what caught Blakespear’s attention, leading to her proposal last week.
“It is really my desire to make sure that wild places stay wild, and not be having to resort to lethal measures like killing bears or killing wolves,” Blakespear said, while speaking with CBS LA. “We need to have a program that is up and going so we can be educating people.”
The program calls for focus on public education, maintaining a statewide incident reporting system and deploying devices like barriers, noise and light machines and other technology that would deter predators from places where they shouldn’t be.
SB 1135 passed on a 5-1 vote and will now be considered by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
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