El Dorado County Sustainability Digest

Six environmental organizations led 500 South Tahoe High School students through a series of hands-on lessons about hydrological and ecological concepts in an outdoor setting.

The California Air Resources Board has voted to approve an ambitious plan to achieve carbon neutrality in the state by 2045. Its targets for capturing carbon from the atmosphere has left critics concerned that big emitters will have a pathway to keep polluting.

After a unanimous vote by the CPUC, homeowners get smaller payments from utilitiess. But new state incentives will be available.

The California Tahoe Conservancy Board approved actions allowing the Conservancy to continue pursuing acquisition of 31.2 acres of environmentally sensitive land along the Upper Truckee River.

The situation stinks, county leaders say, but the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors approved plans to increase garbage rates and join the SB 1383 mission of diverting organic waste from landfills.

Stanford scientists have genetically re-programmed plants to grow roots that change how they gather nutrients or water.

Spring runs of a large minnow numbering in the millions have nourished Pomo Indians since they first made their home alongside Clear Lake more than 400 generations ago.

This fall almost two months of work went into restoring the degraded Calf Pasture Meadow on the back side of Desolation Wilderness, impacted by decades of cattle grazing, road construction and logging.

The Placerville City Council approved moving forward on a $430,000 sewer main replacement on Hocking Street. The failing lines have been subject to overflows, blockages and other issues.

Drought, human-caused climate change, invasive species and a “legacy” of environmental issues are permanently altering California’s landscape and placing some communities and ecosystems at increasing risk.

American River Conservancy announced the purchase of Lewis Ranch—972 acres protecting 3 miles of creek frontage and oak woodland and forest habitat near the South Fork American River in El Dorado County.

A dozen independent fish scientists are calling for urgent changes to sport fishing rules to save California’s largest freshwater fish after an unprecedented red tide this summer left hundreds of them dead.

For eight straight days this summer, farmers in far Northern California drained almost all of the water out of a river in defiance of the state’s drought regulations. The move infuriated environmentalists and salmon-dependent Native American tribes downstream.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is marking the 50th anniversary of the first designated Wild Trout Waters in the state.

PG& E has formally asked the state to postpone closure of Diablo Canyon until 2030; California’s last nuclear plant provides 9 percent of the state’s electricity.

Wildfires, drought, extreme heat and other effects of climate change are compounding in California, according to a report from state scientists.

The California Tahoe Conservancy has awarded two grants to improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

As drought drives prices higher, families are facing water bills of more than $200 a month. With 1 in 10 households behind on water payments, calls are mounting for the state to step in and help.

The South Tahoe High Climate Crew Club and Key Club posed questions about housing issues and environmental threats to this year’s candidates for South Lake Tahoe City Council.

BEBOT got its first test run on Tahoe’s beaches: it's a solar-powered, tank-treaded cleaning robot that removes trash. One mission by this real-life WALL-E on a pre-cleaned beach unearthed 2,000 pieces of plastic.

A study by researchers at UCLA and the University of Chicago says that California’s wildfires of 2020 destroyed 4.2 million acres of forest—and erased years of progress the state made on battling climate change.

Ex-Marine Bill Camarillo, CEO of Agromin, forecasts the future of greenwaste recycling, essential for reducing landfill and restoring the soil. He notes SB 1383 will disrupt the current market, but that’s good news: “We have to inspire people to do the right thing.”

California will become the first state in the nation to phase out single-use plastic produce bags in supermarkets. The receptacles must be replaced no later than Jan. 1, 2025 with bags made of recycled paper or compostable plastic.

The South Lake Tahoe City Council on Sept. 20 approved the first reading on an ordinance that would ban the sale of single-use plastic water bottles of less than one gallon. The rules would go into effect on April 22, giving businesses time to sell the stock they currently have.

While the drought situation is critical across California and Nevada, it isn’t nearly as perilous in Tahoe/Truckee currently. But the long-range effects for the local land are a different beast with increasing tree die-offs, shrinking snowpack, and ever-graver wildfire threats.

After launching an extensive underwater cleanup in Fallen Leaf Lake, the nonprofit Clean Up the Lake asserts that it has found the Tahoe Basin’s dirtiest mile yet in this small body of water.

The nonprofit group SaveTahoeBeaches.org wants to raise awareness of the growing problem of algae proliferation in Lake Tahoe, which causes foul odors and unkept beaches.

The Joint Interim Committee for Oversight of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and Marlette Lake approved recommendations that would pump millions into projects in the Tahoe Basin. The vote was unanimous among Senate and Assembly members.

The American River Basin will see increasing temperatures and a declining snowpack through the end of the 21st century, according to a study released by the Bureau of Reclamation. Also, variability of fall and winter precipitation will amplify the severity of droughts and flooding.

A Sacramento Area Council of Governments pilot program called Green Means Go identifies areas called “Green Zones” in the six-county Sacramento region and then makes efforts to increase infill housing where services already exist while also improving access to alternative modes of transportation.

Clean Tahoe, Incline Village Waste Not, South Tahoe Refuse and League to Save Lake Tahoe have joined together for Tahoe's Trash Pickup Challenge. For the whole month of September, volunteers can help make Tahoe litter free.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board has recognized seven projects and programs for exceptional environmental design and stewardship of Lake Tahoe.