Wildlife Center, Capturing Rainwater, Almond Farms, Wild Burros

Episode Segments

• Baby Elephant Seals Rescued and Released
• Capturing Rainwater One Rain Barrel at a Time
• The Nutty Truth About Almonds
• DonkeyLand: Protecting and Rescuing Wild Burros

ReporterCaraSanta Maria goes inside the California Wildlife Center, a fascinating rescue facility where bobcats, hawks, deer, hummingbirds and even an albino raven are nursed back to health. The ailing elephant seal pups are the Center's first marine mammal patients. After months of care and feeding, the pups are released back into the ocean. How were they rehabilitated? How will they take to their new home? What are their chances for survival?

The best kind of water is free, yet Southern California allows millions gallons of rain water to flow down storm drains and into the ocean while spending millions to import expensive water. Reporter Val Zavalavisits one Altadena resident who uses rain barrels and other techniques to capture 90 percent of all the rain that falls on her property. Zavala also visits TreePeople's Andy Lipkis, who points to a residential street in Sun Valley that is a model for rain capture and smart water management. But does enough rain fall to make a difference? It is this enough to affect Southern California's water needs?

Reporter Jennifer Sabih delves into tough questions surrounding California's almond industry. Almonds are among state's most thirsty - but lucrative -- crops. It takes more than a gallon of water to produce just one nut. Almond farmers say the demand for their crop and their contribution to our economy is formidable. However, conservationists say residential water users are being forced to conserve while almond farmers continue to grow a water-intensive product. This episode features one of California's most successful almond farmers, and also talks with the Water Impact Network to ask who should have access to scarce water in drought-stricken California?

Grazing on the open land of Moreno Valley are hundreds of wild donkeys. No one knows exactly how they got there, but they do know that several have been killed by passing cars. Reporter Derrick Shore visits a rescue group called DonkeyLand, whose job is made harder when humans befriend the wild donkeys.