Nevada County Sustainability Digest

Three additional dates in May have been announced for free residential green waste disposal at the McCourtney Road Transfer Station in Grass Valley.

The City of Grass Valley and City of Nevada City have engaged with Pioneer Community Energy to power municipal operations with 100% renewable energy.

The 3rd annual Nevada City Earth Fest Street Fair will is taking place downtown on Sunday, April 21 from 11AM - 5PM.

A 20% water use reduction by Nevada Irrigation District customers is requested as a result of PG&E repairs which have cut off the water supply at the headwaters.

Nevada County staff have prepared a $56M+ Capital Improvement Plan to be presented to the Board of Supervisors with a focus on maintenance of local bridges and roads.

A new recycling center has opened at 12640 Loma Rica Avenue in Grass Valley, and is open Monday - Friday: 9 AM - 3 PM.

The consumer price index shows services are mostly responsible for persistent inflation, but prices for food and other goods in California remain high.

Sierra Business Council, in partnership with Sierra Commons, is launching a free, in-person education program to encourage creation of new forest-based jobs and wood products businesses this April.

Part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the projects include California’s Lava Cap Mine in Nevada City, Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine in Clearlake Oaks, and Southern Avenue Industrial Area in South Gate.

Ecologists estimate that up to 14,000 sequoias have been killed in recent wildfires. The National Park Service for the first time has begun replanting some severely burned areas.

New research warns of a possible collapse in Atlantic Ocean currents due to climate change. That could fundamentally alter global weather patterns.

There was a time not so long ago when trained observers were overwhelmed by the number of whales migrating through Monterey Bay.

The Wildlife Conservation Board voted to award $10.3 million to the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County to preserve the 27,000-acre Camatta Ranch in Santa Margarita.

California electric vehicle sales dropped significantly in the last half of 2023, raising questions about the state’s ability to phase out gas-powered cars.

Researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno have completed a study examining how river ecosystems recover following floods, using data from oxygen sensors to estimate growth in aquatic plants and algae.

When wildfire smoke and extreme heat combine, they create “a synergistic effect” or an “additional burden” on people’s health, researchers say.

As Californians increasingly feel the health effects of climate change, state leaders are adopting sweeping policies they hope will fend off the worst impacts.

Chinook and other salmon runs are collapsing. Conservation groups call it too little, too late. Plan includes dam removals and restoring river flows.

As an underground fire burns deep within Chiquita Canyon Landfill, air regulators are raising alarms over the possible spread of toxic vapors.

Take a period of limited rainfall. Add heat. And you have what scientists call a “hot drought”—dry conditions made more intense by the evaporative power of hotter temperatures.

Experts worry that the steep decline could stall the state’s battle against climate change. Solar power is critical to meeting California’s ambitious requirement to switch to carbon-free electricity.

Led almost entirely by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, the fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills contain the largest number of anti-wildlife riders in the 50-year history of the Endangered Species Act, according to a report by the Center for Biological Diversity.

California farmers face challenges posed by multiple types of fruit flies. Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed spending just over $22 million to combat the spread of these flies.

New rules took effect Jan. 1 permanently protecting the most fragile deep sea corals off Southern California. Simultaneously, more than 4,500 square miles of ocean waters are now reopened to fishing after more than 20 years of closures.

Raging storms brought major damage to California’s coastline last winter. But in Half Moon Bay, a different kind of coastal upheaval is gaining momentum—one that could decide the fate of billions of dollars of property and affect hundreds of public beaches.

Visitors can see the critically endangered Lord How Island stick insect, on display for the first time in North America, in a special habitat at the zoo’s Wildlife Explorers Basecamp.

A dark-sky movement to save birds from window strikes is sweeping the San Francisco Bay Area. Several cities have passed or are drafting laws restricting light pollution while making windows easier for birds to see.

Novelist Jonathan Franzen looks at how trap-neuter-release policies in feral cat colonies have troubling consequences for city residents, local wildlife and even the felines themselves.

The California Strategic Growth Council approved over $116 million in Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program grants to permanently protect 50,500 acres of croplands and rangelands, as well as lands utilized by Indigenous tribes for the cultivation of traditional resources.

Suppliers now have detailed steps to create a new source of drinking water. But it’s not really “toilet-to-tap.” Due to the cost, it’ll likely be only large suppliers.

A new report from the Schatz Energy Research Center at Cal Poly Humboldt evaluates potential scenarios for electric grid transmission development to support floating offshore wind along the northern coast of California and the southern coast of Oregon.

Water fights have shaped California since its infancy as a state, when its abundance seemed limitless. Now, Californians are being forced to confront limitations, and the state that prides itself on creating the future is now reckoning with its past.