Sacramento County Local News: Environment


All Local Environment News articles contributed by our local media allies and other local newsrooms.

Image caption: Kerry Wood, CEO of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, says the organization researches areas of need to help donors direct their contributions.
What Is a Community Foundation?

By channeling funds to a number of nonprofits working on various issues in a given region, community foundations help solve big problems throughout California.

Image caption: Does California’s signature environmental law protect the state’s scenic beauty, or cause more problems than it solves?
CEQA: The Surprising Story of CA’s Key Environmental Law

The California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA, is the state’s signature environmental legislation, and is also often named as the villain in the state’s housing shortage. But the story may not be that simple.

Image caption: California’s farm workers help feed the whole country.
How California Feeds the Country

California stands as America’s agricultural powerhouse, growing half of its fruits and vegetables. Here’s how California farming has shaped the state, from the early missions to today’s “factories in the field.”

Image caption: A Pyrocumulus cloud generated by the Dixie Fire in July, 2021.
What is Fire 'Containment?' That and Other Terms, Explained

What does it mean when firefighters call a fire "contained?" Here's a brief guide to commonly used fire prevention terminology.

Image caption: A smoky blanket of particulate matter hovers over San Francisco’s skyline.
Getting Acquainted With AQI

Learn what's getting into Californians’ lungs and why it matters.

Image caption: California has a goal of 6 million heat pumps cooling and heating buildings by 2030.
6 Million New Heat Pumps: Essential to California's Climate Future

Heat pumps, an energy-efficient way to both heat and cool homes, are a necessary element of California's climate goal of net zero carbon emissions. Here's what they are, how they work, and how to get one.

Image caption: The Baldwin Hills area in South Los Angeles is one region where a state conservancy would keep open land accessible to the public.
California’s 10 State Conservancies: How They Protect Parks and Open Land

How California’s 10 state conservancies buy up open land and shield it from developers to preserve the natural environment for public use.

Image caption: Long-duration energy storage, such as this thermal energy storage facility, allows renewable energy sources to operate at full capacity without overloading the power grid.
How California Leads the Race For Long Duration Energy Storage

Long-duration energy storage is essential if renewables are to become the basis for a future, carbon-neutral power grid. Here's how California is leading the race to store energy from solar, wind, and other clean sources for use whenever it's needed.

Image caption: Since 1972, the California Coastal Commission has ruled over the state’s shoreline.
California Coastal Commission: Where It Comes From, What It Does

What is the California Coastal Commission? How one of the state’s most powerful agency protects public access to the state’s scenic coast from Mexico to Oregon.

Image caption: The Pajaro River levee broke during the 2023 atmospheric river storms, flooding the town of Pajaro.
Is California Ready for More Extreme Weather Driven by Climate Change?

This year, a series of extreme events in California and around the country have wreaked havoc, driven by climate change. How prepared are we for things to get worse?

Image caption: Since the Gold Rush era, land reclamation has cost California 90 percent of its wetlands.
How Land Reclamation Hurts California’s Environment

Since the Gold Rush era, land reclamation projects have helped to build California, but they are also damaging the state’s environment for people, plants and animals by eliminating essential wetlands.

Image caption: How California reclamation districts turned millions of acres of wetlands into fertile agricultural land, starting in the earliest days of the Gold Rush.
Reclamation Districts: Turning ‘Swamps’ Into Farmland

California has used reclamation districts to turn millions of acres of unusable swamps into fertile agricultural land, starting in the earliest days of the Gold Rush. Here’s how it happened.

Image caption: From nitrates to arsenic to “forever chemicals,” California’s water supply faces a serious pollution threat.
Dirty Water: California Faces a Water Contamination Crisis

Almost one million California residents are forced to drink from contaminated water supplies, or pay for bottled water. Economic inequality makes the crisis worse. What is the state doing to fix it?

Image caption: Just because record rains have been falling, the state’s water crisis remains.
What Is Drought? Probably Not What You Think

2023’s torrential rainstorms have eased California's drought conditions. But there’s a lot more to drought than the amount of rain, and this drought isn't over yet.

Image caption: Moss Landing in Monterey Bay is the world’s largest battery storage facility for solar and other renewable energy.
Solar Power and California’s Clean Energy Goals

Solar power, and a network of giant battery storage facilities, are playing an essential role in moving California toward its goal of exclusive reliance on renewable energy sources.

Image caption: Over two weekends last October, residents of Santa Cruz and Watsonville  participated in demonstration rides aboard an electric streetcar on rails.
The ‘Rail Trail’ Movement, Explained

Thousands of miles of railroad track, including some in Santa Cruz County, now sit idle. The fate of those largely abandoned tracks has become a burning controversy.

Image caption: Supercell storms are just one of many weather phenomena in the era of climate change.
The New Vocabulary of the Climate Change Era

The climate change era has created a whole new set of terms for a wide variety of storms and other weather phenomena. Here are some of the most important.

Image caption: Mosquitos kill about 725,000 people every year, worldwide.
Taking a Bite Out of the Mosquito Population

The pesky mosquito can be deadly as well as annoying. Here’s how local governments in California have been waging war on mosquitoes for more than a century.

Image caption: RCDs look after the land, whether it’s used for grazing, growing, or getting out into nature.
California Dirt

What do resource conservation districts protect? Pretty much everything that’s worth saving.

Image caption: Water is a human right under California law, but it doesn’t always work out that way.
Agriculture and Water Shortages in the State’s Breadbasket, Explained

Residential wells are drying up in the state’s main agricultural region at the same time that agricultural businesses consume almost 90 percent of the water there.

Image caption: Lighthouse Field in Santa Cruz, which might be a huge resort if not for the Coastal Commission.
The Public Shore Protectors

The future of 1,100 miles of spectacular coastline is in the hands of the California Coastal Commission, which is beloved by coastal environmentalists, notorious among those who favor development, and little-known in the inland parts of the state.

Folsom Telegraph logo From Folsom Telegraph...

05/08/2025
Image for display with article titled Golden Mussel Infestation Found on Boat at Beals Point

A golden mussel infestation was discovered on a boat at Beals Point on Tuesday, May 6, according to California State Parks officials; they credit their new vessel inspection program at Folsom Lake for the discovery.

California Local Pin Marker From The Sacramento Bee...

05/04/2025
Groups and individuals are protesting the Army Corps of Engineers flood control plan for the American River which includes the cutting down of over 500 trees.

California Local Pin Marker From Monterey Herald...

04/28/2025
Residents living near farms can now sign up to be alerted when pesticides will be applied by the a new system recently launched by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation.

California Local Pin Marker From Local News Matters...

04/27/2025
A new bill in Congress proposes banning new offshore fossil fuel drilling along the coast from Monterey to Mendocino County, U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, said this week. The Central Coast of California Conservation Act would prohibit new exploration, development or production leases for natural gas or oil along the Central Coast, and a portion of the North Coast.

Folsom Telegraph logo From Folsom Telegraph...

04/24/2025
Image for display with article titled Folsom Works on Master Plan to Ditch Sewer Spills

City officials are hiring a consultant to prepare a $400,000 Folsom wastewater master plan to avoid sewer spills like the one at Folsom Lake last year.

California Local Pin Marker From The Sacramento Bee...

04/24/2025
A huge algae bloom is responsible for the deaths of sea lions, pelicans and whales off the California coast.

California Local Pin Marker From YubaNet...

04/23/2025
A new online urban tree canopy mapping tool for California has been released by CalFire.

Rancho Cordova Grapevine Independent logo From Rancho Cordova Grapevine Independent...

04/22/2025
Image for display with article titled Residents Challenge American River Erosion Control Work

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in cooperation with the Central Valley Flood Protection Board, is proposing to remove more than 600 trees and acres of riparian vegetation along the Wild and Scenic American River.

Carmichael Times logo From Carmichael Times...

04/15/2025
Image for display with article titled Clean Sweep for Neighborhoods

Aided by a $1,300 grant from Sacramento County Water Resources, the Carmichael Creek Neighborhood Association will spring clean public spaces in more than three square miles in Carmichael on Saturday, April 26.

Carmichael Times logo From Carmichael Times...

04/15/2025
Image for display with article titled American River Levee Upgrades to Improve Flood Protection Threaten Heritage Oaks

Sacramento environmental groups are raising concerns about flood management construction on the American River slated to reach the Rio Americano High School area next year.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

04/15/2025
The Senate Judiciary Committee spiked a bill to let wildfire victims sue oil companies over climate change. Labor unions, not Big Oil, led the opposition.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

04/15/2025
While it’s an unprecedented third year in a row for no commercially caught salmon, brief windows will be allowed for sportsfishing in California.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

04/10/2025
The pipeline caused a major oil spill a decade ago, fouling the ocean off Santa Barbara County. The new owners say they don’t need new permits for repairs. The fine is the Coastal Commission’s largest.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

04/09/2025
Trump ordered his attorney general to move against state climate programs that clash with his energy agenda. Legal experts say his claims about the laws being unconstitutional are an overreach.

California Local Pin Marker From The Mercury News...

03/28/2025
The California Air Resources Board is going to spend $100 million to track greenhouse gas emissions with satellites.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

03/26/2025
In the recurring legislative fight between YIMBY legislators and defenders of California’s signature environmental law, one bill could be a final legislative showdown.

Rancho Cordova Grapevine Independent logo From Rancho Cordova Grapevine Independent...

03/25/2025
Image for display with article titled Sacramento State Professor Restores Dormant Campus Herbarium

For nearly two decades, Sacramento State University’s campus herbarium lay dormant, its plant specimens hidden and nearly forgotten inside a shuttered lab in Sequoia Hall.

California Local Pin Marker From CapPublicRadio...

03/25/2025
In this case, the yellow-billed magpie.

Folsom Times logo From Folsom Times...

03/20/2025
Image for display with article titled Volunteers Sought for Folsom’s Earth Day Celebration, Projects

The City of Folsom is calling on residents to roll up their sleeves and take part in the second annual Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 26. The free, family-friendly event brings the community together for a day of volunteer efforts, interactive activities, and educational exhibits focused on environmental awareness and sustainability.

California Local Pin Marker From CalMatters...

03/19/2025
The ports of LA and Long Beach are the biggest sources of air pollution in the LA basin. Air quality officials have drafted new rules to help electrify the ports. But community groups representing 400,000 residents say they don’t go far enough or fast enough to clean up their dirty air.