From YubaNet...
Report: Spending Bills Contain Historic Number of Attacks on Wildlife, Endangered Species
01/16/2024Led 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.
From Sacramento Bee...
Newsom Pitches Spending $22M to Fight Fruit Flies
01/10/2024California 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.
From YubaNet...
New Year Brings Protections for Deep-Sea Corals and Ocean Fishing Opportunities
01/08/2024New 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.
From Monterey Herald...
Homeowners Who Sued to Build a Seawall Could Reshape California’s Coast
01/07/2024Raging 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.
From San Joaquin Valley Sun...
San Diego Zoo Displays World’s Rarest Insect
12/27/2023Visitors 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.
From The Mercury News...
Collisions With Buildings Are Killing Millions of Birds Nationwide
12/26/2023A 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.
From The New Yorker...
A Deeper Look at ‘No Kill’ Animal Control in Los Angeles
12/25/2023Novelist 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.
From YubaNet...
California Awards $116.8 Million to Conserve Agricultural Lands
12/19/2023The 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.
From CalMatters...
California Takes Big Step Toward New Source of Drinking Water—Sewage
12/19/2023Suppliers 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.
From YubaNet...
New Report Explores Offshore Wind Transmission Scenarios
12/18/2023A 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.
From The New York Times...
Who Gets the Water in California? Whoever Gets There First.
12/14/2023Water 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.
From YubaNet...
CDFW Releases Beavers Into the Wild for First Time in Nearly 75 Years
12/13/2023The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has conducted the first beaver conservation release in nearly 75 years, working with the Maidu Summit Consortium to release a family of seven beavers into Plumas County.
From Capital & Main...
Kern County Looks to Make Renewable Energy with Carbon Dioxide
12/12/2023Officials in Kern County are proposing to build a carbon management facility that would be twice the size of Manhattan. By doing this, they would leverage federal tax credits to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
From SFGate...
Yosemite Trying New Strategies to Reduce Food Packaging Waste
12/11/2023An estimated 100,000 pizza boxes have been removed from Yosemite’s waste stream. This is because the famed park now serves pizza on trays and puts to-go portions in compostable bags, part of a move to reduce food-related waste.
From YubaNet...
Research Explores Capacity of Biochar to Combat Climate Change, Improve Forest Soils
12/08/2023A Cal Poly Humboldt professor is partnering with USDA researchers to study biochar, which results from heating dry plant-based materials at high temperatures without oxygen. The CO2 in the charcoal then stays in the soil for hundreds of years, rather than in the atmosphere.
From Los Angeles Times...
High-Speed Rail Project Connecting SoCal to Las Vegas Wins Grant
12/05/2023Private company Brightline secured a $3 billion grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation toward a 218-mile high-speed rail line from Rancho Cucamonga to Las Vegas. The line would allow people to make the trip to Sin City in a little over two hours.
From KQED...
Oakland Might Have to Pay Developers Millions Over Coal Terminal
12/04/2023An Alameda County judge ruled on Nov. 22 that the city of Oakland thwarted a proposed coal export terminal. The judge will rule if the developer who sued is entitled to $159 million in damages or moving forward with the project.
From SFGate...
Imperial County Might Have Enough Lithium for 375 Million Batteries
12/04/2023A new study by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has found that approximately 3,400 kilotons of lithium are located below Imperial County in Southern California. This could produce more than $7 billion in lithium carbonate annually, helping power significant numbers of electric vehicles.
From YubaNet...
Science Points to ‘Climate Collapse’ as UN Chief Calls for Action
11/30/2023The world is heating up at an unprecedented pace, new climate data shows, and leaders gathered for the COP28 conference in Dubai must get us out of “deep trouble,” UN chief António Guterres said.
From YubaNet...
11/29/20232023 has broken climate records, accompanied by extreme weather which has left a trail of devastation, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
From YubaNet...
DOE Analysis Confirms Salton Sea Is a Rich Domestic Lithium Resource
11/28/2023An analysis by the U.S. Department of Energy found that with expected technology advances, the Salton Sea region’s total lithium resources could produce more than 3,400 kilotons of lithium, enough to support over 375 million batteries for electric vehicles—more than the total number currently on U.S. roads.
From Sacramento Bee...
White House Allocates Millions for Burps from California Cows
11/24/2023Livestock are responsible for half of all methane emissions in California. The White House is giving $21.4 million to California Dairies and $22.8 million to Dairy Farmers of America to help change this.
From YubaNet...
Drink Tahoe Tap Map Shows Where to Fill Up
11/21/2023In preparation for the single-use plastic bottle ban South Lake Tahoe will implement in 2024, Take Care Tahoe has released a new Drink Tahoe Tap Map that lists locations where people can freely fill up reusable water bottles.
From Inside Climate News...
Senators Urge IRS to Withhold Fed Funds from California Bioenergy Firm
11/20/2023Fulcrum Bioenergy, a California-based firm that seeks to turn plastics into jet fuel, has defaulted on $289 million in bond funding and put a major project on hold. This comes as several U.S. Senators wrote to the IRS urging that similar companies not receive federal tax credits.
From YubaNet...
Natural Resources Agency Launches Plan to Increase Outdoor Access in California
11/15/2023State and local leaders gathered in Los Angeles to celebrate a new plan that will increase access to the outdoors for all Californians, regardless of who they are or where they live.
From YubaNet...
Groups Urge Court to Strike Down Decision Greenlighting Ocean Fish Farming
11/13/2023Center for Food Safety has filed arguments seeking to revoke the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ approval of nationwide permit 56, which authorizes industrial finfish aquaculture structures in ocean waters around the country. CFS represents a coalition of conservation, tribal, and fishing organizations.
From Sacramento Bee...
Tree Climbers Are Helping Replant California’s Forests
11/09/2023More than 1.5 million acres of forest have been burned or scarred in California. Climbers go high in trees to grab pine cones that could help in reforestation.
From Los Angeles Times...
California’s Drought Is Over—at Least for Now
11/07/2023Intense rains have California out of a drought less than a year after most of the state faced water shortages. A climatologist is urging wise water usage ahead of California’s next drought.
From YubaNet...
NOAA: New Funding to Help Bring California Salmon Back from the Brink
11/06/2023The Office of Habitat Conservation’s Restoration Center has awarded $27.8 million to bring Central California Coast coho salmon back to California rivers, funding projects by Trout Unlimited, the San Mateo and Gold Ridge Resource Conservation Districts, and the Nature Conservancy.
From YubaNet...
America’s Low-Carbon Transition Could Improve Employment Opportunities for All
11/03/2023The USA is likely to see consistent job growth from the transition to net zero, but the gains will be unevenly distributed, shows a new analysis conducted by Imperial College London researchers and published in Nature Climate Change.
From New York Times...
UCLA Scientist: California’s Redwoods Might Not Last Another Century
10/31/2023A UCLA climate scientist says California’s redwoods might not last in their current groves for another 100 years. An effort is afoot to plant redwoods elsewhere in more potentially hospitable climates, such as the Pacific Northwest.
From LAist...
A Big Year of Snow in California Was Horrific for Endangered Sheep
10/31/2023Researchers tell LAist that half of California’s population of Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep, which are endangered, died last winter due to record weather. Causes of death include avalanches, starvation and getting eaten by mountain lions after moving to lower elevations for food.