El Dorado County Sustainability Digest

The U.S. government has approved a proposed multibillion-dollar transmission line that would send wind-generated electricity from rural New Mexico to big cities in the West.

California legislative committees in the Assembly and Senate blocked two big climate bills. One would have made the state’s greenhouse gas emission reduction targets more ambitious. Another would have allowed people to sue oil companies over health problems if they meet certain criteria.

El Dorado County supervisors added their support to Assembly Bill 704, which assists those who lost their homes in a disaster—like the Caldor and Mosquito fires—by eliminating the state’s requirement that their new homes include a solar power system.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe's plan to redevelop an aging office building into a new environment and education center, as well as the organization's headquarters, is building momentum.

In an effort to help restore the Eldorado National Forest in the Grizzly Flat area, South Lake Tahoe-based Sugar Pine Foundation will lead a tree replanting effort on May 20 at ground zero of the Caldor Fire scar.

The South Tahoe Public Utility District is developing a strategic plan for recycled water to analyze options and establish a roadmap for the future. The district will host a public meeting from 6-8 p.m. May 23.

Area jurisdictions move forward with biomass facilities to put to better use excess green waste. In exchange, we get heat and electricity.

Fort Bragg is embarking on an innovative pilot project to desalt ocean water for the Mendocino Coast community using carbon-free wave action to power an energy-intensive process that in other cases generates climate changing greenhouse gases.

And neither was 1952. The top honor should really go to 1983, which clinched first at 231% of normal, an analysis by the Bay Area News Group found.

The mantra “Keep Tahoe Blue” has become synonymous with the region. But far fewer people know the history of the movement it represents. Here’s a glimpse of the story behind the sticker.

The South Lake Tahoe Planning Commission passed a resolution recommending that the City Council establish procedures and expedite permitting for electric vehicle charging systems.

One of the options would override California’s water rights and split the cuts evenly between California, Nevada and Arizona—which would be a big blow to Imperial Valley farmers.

According to a new study, ponderosa pine forests in the Sierra Nevada that were wiped out by western pine beetles won’t recover to pre-drought densities. But there’s less risk of another huge die-off this century because the bark beetles will have fewer host trees.

The Department of Water Resources conducted the fourth snow survey of the season at Phillips Station near Echo Summit, ecording 126.5 inches of snow depth.

The California Tahoe Conservancy Board approved a $250,000 grant to Tahoe Resource Conservation District for aquatic invasive plant surveillance and rapid response.

Many people are looking at the snow and water levels and asking that question. The answer depends on where you are in the West and how you define “drought.” A researcher at the Desert Research Institute’s Western Regional Climate Center explains.

The nonprofit environmental group released the results of two projects: one that uses a beach-cleaning robot to remove trash hidden in the sand, and another designed to measure the 2021 Caldor Fire’s impacts on the Tahoe ecosystem.

Wildlife Ecology Institute was awarded $236,000 to assist in the recovery of the endangered canine in concert with state and federal agencies and Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks .

A $4.4 billion project on the Sacramento River to add dams and store more water that will be sent south, the Sites Reservoir is still years away from completion. The final environmental report is expected this year.

A new Stanford-led study shows that about a fifth of all Sierra Nevada conifer forests are a “mismatch” for their regions’ warming weather. These “zombie forests” are likely to be replaced other tree species after one of California’s increasingly frequent catastrophic wildfires.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe is building a new environment and education center designed around opportunities for the public to learn.

The South Lake Tahoe City Council unanimously resolved to hire a CivicSpark Fellow, prepare the greenhouse gas inventory, and support a lease agreement with Tesla for vehicle charging stations.

EV Range and Liberty, a subsidiary of Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp., announced a three-way collaboration that brought four high-powered electric vehicle fast chargers to the Tahoe ski resort.

A report from the U.S. Forest Service reveals about 36.3 million trees across 2.6 million acres of federal, state and private land died in California in 2022. Tree mortality was found on 91,000 acres in the Eldorado National Forest.

Tahoe Tessie isn’t real but climate change is. That’s the tagline for “Find Tahoe Tessie,” an augmented reality game app developed by UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center.

El Dorado County solar companies are preparing for harder times because of changes made to solar energy rules that will go into effect April 15.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Nevada Department of Wildlife are supporting BearWise, a program that helps people live more responsibly with bears.

Forty deep-water and “hotspot” trash clean-ups are planned in Lake Tahoe and will be expanded to other lakes and reservoirs in the High Sierra.

California has given the federal government its own counterproposal for apportioning reductions of Colorado River water, saying a plan offered by six other states would disproportionately burden farms and cities in Southern California.

The Department of Water Resources conducted the first manual snow survey of the season at Phillips Station Jan. 3, recording 55.5 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 17.5 inches, which is 177% of average for the location.

In efforts to kickstart mindful artificial light usage in California, dark sky advocates reintroduced legislation that would dim the artificial light glowing from state buildings.

The Sugar Pine Foundation is a small South Lake Tahoe-based nonprofit that has been dedicated to saving the sugar pines of the region by planting thousands of seedlings.