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ByJessicaCalefati BayAreaNewsGroup SACRAMENTO As Califor- nia inches closer to imple- menting its first mandatory statewide limits on water use, Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday said he won't re- lax the new rules following complaints from some cit- ies that they're too tough. The State Water Re- sources Control Board has received letters from more than 200 water agencies on Brown's mandate to cut urban use statewide by 25 percent, with some cities pleading for leniency and calling the cuts unfair. "From everything I can hear, (the targets are) at- tainable," Brown said at a Sacramento news confer- ence he held after meeting with landscaping, cemetery and golf executives to dis- cuss the drought. "We need to do more. We have to do (things) dif- ferently." Most of the objections detailed came from South- ern California water agen- cies serving places such as Palm Springs, Beverly Hills and Coachella Valley, while many Northern Califor- nia agencies that wrote to the board did so to express their approval of the pro- posed rules. Cities such as Santa Cruz and San Francisco, whose residents on average use the least amount of water and have already been con- serving water, received 10 percent conservation tar- gets. Those with high per capita use, such as Hills- borough, Beverly Hills and Palm Springs, are facing 35 percent cuts. Failure to meet targets could result in fines of as much as $10,000 a day from the state board. On Friday, the water board is expected to release a detailed report explaining how the new rules will work and how quickly cities and water districts will be fined for violating them. Developing conserva- tion measures to help Bev- erly Hills reduce its wa- ter use by a third will take time, interim city manager Mahdi Aluzri wrote in a let- ter to the water board. Hit- ting that target right away will be next to impossible, he wrote. "The city recognizes that further conservation mea- sures will be required to achieve the Governor's con- servation mandate," Aluzri wrote. "However, the city is concerned that achieving a 35 percent conservation standard in such a short time may ultimately be in- feasible." Many large Bay Area wa- ter agencies were given 20 percent targets. The Santa Clara Valley Water District "strongly supports" Brown's efforts to reduce water usage in re- sponse to the ongoing, ex- treme drought, CEO Beau Goldie wrote in an April 13 letter to the water board. "As the groundwater management agency and water wholesaler for Santa Clara County," Goldie wrote, "we are commit- ted to reducing water de- mands and protecting lo- cal resources during this extreme drought." While the water board is carefully reviewing the letters it received and taking all water agencies' concerns seriously, it be- lieves the goals are attain- able, said Thomas How- ard, the board's executive director. "Quite honestly," How- ard said, "the communi- ties that are going to get hit with a 35 percent re- duction, which is the maximum that the water board is proposing at this point, these are communi- ties that are presently us- ing (the most)." DROUGHT Brown won't relax water rules despite cities' complaints GREGORYBULL—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE A house is reflected in a puddle of water from an irrigated front yard in San Diego. The Associated Press SANDIEGO Two members of the National Guard in San Diego County were arrested Wednesday and charged with illegally selling guns, ammuni- tion and body armor to an undercover federal agent posing as a mem- ber of a Mexican drug cartel. According to a criminal complaint, Jaime Casillas, 22, and Andrew Reyes, 34, sold 10 guns, including four AK-47 assault rifles, and thousands of rounds of ammunition to the un- dercover agent. The com- plaint says some of the arms were military issue and others were bought in Texas and resold in Cali- fornia. They were sold in seven different meetings with the undercover agent, who made it clear on multiple occasions that he worked for a cartel and the guns were bound for Mexico, the complaint said. The defendants wore their military uniforms to at least one of the ex- changes. Reyes indicated that the body armor and am- munition magazines they sold were from military inventory, the complaint said. The defendants got at least $13,000 from sales to the undercover agent. Both men work in the Army National Guard Armory in La Mesa and were arrested Wednesday — Casillas during a traf- fic stop in El Cajon and Reyes at his home in La Mesa. They were indicted on charges of dealing fire- arms without a license and the unlicensed trans- port of a firearm. Contact information for attorneys or associates of the men was not imme- diately available. The two appeared in court later Thursday. SAN DIEGO National Guardsmen accused of selling guns to agent The Associated Press POINT REYES More than 250 tule elk died inside a fenced area at a Northern California seashore during a two-year period, and a lack ofwateris possibly the cause. The National Park Ser- vice on Thursday confirmed the elk died inside a fenced elk preserve at California's Point Reyes National Sea- shore from 2012 to 2014. The drought is likely causing the death, and the park is considering bring- ing in water for the ani- mals, park wildlife ecolo- gist David Press said. "While we were out on the range conducting our annual census, we observed the ponds had gone dry. We are looking into options for carting water in, mak- ing sure there is water out there," Press said. During the same period, free-roaming Point Reyes elk herds with more ac- cess to water increased by nearly a third, figures from the park service show. The elk are success- ful example of an effort to save one of North Ameri- ca's larger species. Hunting drove the animals, known for the elaborate antlers, almost to extinction in the 19th century. Authorities reintroduced tule elk to the coast decades ago, and they now are a main attrac- tion for more than 2.5 mil- lion tourists who visit the area each year. Marin County dairy farm- ers, however, say the elk are competing with their cattle for forage. They are urging the National Park Service to remove dozens of elk and fence off their habitat. "The reintroduction of elk to the Point Reyes pen- insula is a success story for conservation of native spe- cies, but the elk are in jeop- ardy of eviction to benefit a few lease holders," said Jeff Miller with the Center for Biological Diversity. "The park service already pri- oritizes commercial cattle grazing in Point Reyes. Now these subsidized ranchers want to dictate park pol- icies that could eliminate native elk and harm preda- tors and other wildlife." NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 250 native elk die inside fenced area at seashore The Associated Press GUALALA A family with long timber holdings in Sonoma and Mendocino counties and the Bay Area is set to buy nearly 30,000 acres of mixed redwood and Douglas fir in Northern Cal- ifornia. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports Thursday that the Roger Burch fam- ily is expected to close es- crow on the property at the mouth of the Gualala River in June. Their interests already include the Redwood Em- pire sawmills in Philo and Cloverdale, where logs from the sites have been pro- cessed for 30 years. Some have expressed disappointment that the land will remain in the hands of a commercial timber company rather than conservation inter- ests that made an unsuc- cessful bid for the prop- erty. Others say having a fam- ily-owned company with a local presence is a good given the rise of timber in- vestment funds and the high-yield pressures that could come into play. 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