This month’s Federal Watch tracks shifting tides in Congress, endangered species protections, and federal agency staffing—revealing how decisions in D.C. ripple across California’s rivers. From fish protections on the chopping block, to subsidies for deadbeat dams, dive into the latest threats and under-the-radar developments.

Harming endangered species is about to become federal policy. President Trump has long singled out endangered species protections for the Delta smelt – which he has called “an essentially worthless fish” – as the reason for water shortages on California[A1] , ignoring the facts of how little water is actually allocated for environmental purposes and how many different river and estuary species (including salmon, steelhead, and sturgeon) are also protected by environmental water requirements…