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Nutria Pose New Threat To Wildlife, Water In Central California

Creative Commons user Pmk58
Nutria have recently been discovered in the Merced County area

California has a new water problem, but it's not drought, and it's not endangered fish. Instead it's a roughly 20-pound creature that's described as an "invasive swamp rodent" called the nutria. It's already causing problems in Merced County wetlands and state officials worry the pesky and prolific rodent could further destroy already fragile ecosystems in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta and threaten the state's network of canals and levees. Journalist Ryan Sabalow of the Sacramento Bee joined this on Valley Edition to talk about what's being done to address the threat posed by this invasive species in Merced County.

Joe Moore is the President and General Manager of KVPR / Valley Public Radio. He has led the station through major programming changes, the launch of KVPR Classical and the COVID-19 pandemic. Under his leadership the station was named California Non-Profit of the Year by Senator Melissa Hurtado (2019), and won a National Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting (2022).