Santa Cruz County Local News: Environment

04/26/2023
Campaign for Organic & Regenerative Agriculture pushed for an end to pesticides and a move toward organic farming during the Watsonville City Council meeting.

04/25/2023
Local conservation group Habitat And Watershed Caretakers filed another lawsuit against the University of California last week over the housing project, which was approved for the third time in about four years by the regents despite a separate pending lawsuit.

04/24/2023
The $2.2 million in funding comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law with funding leveraged by the Inflation Reduction Act. It aims to bring back species across an entire coastal landscape—from coastal grasslands to tidal salt marsh, eelgrass beds to native oysters.

04/23/2023
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.

04/21/2023
The Biden administration has identified more than 175,000 square miles of old growth and mature forests on U.S. government land and plans to craft a new rule to better protect the nation’s woodlands from fires, insects and other side effects of climate change.

04/20/2023
The Branciforte Branch library, located on Gault Street, was closed for renovations in May of 2021. Exactly two years later, the Santa Cruz Public Libraries welcomes the community back to this neighborhood branch.

04/19/2023
The Eel River is now one of the 10 most endangered rivers in the United States, according to an annual report released by America's Most Endangered Rivers. The 50-year-old conservation group each year spotlights American waterways that are suffering but where key impending decisions could improve their fate.

04/17/2023
From brainy write-ups to passionate pleas for reform, here are selected excerpts from CalMatters' Earth Day op-ed contest.

04/10/2023
Native plant species can adapt to natural challenges, biologists say, but non-native plants and trees, including some invasive species, may not fare as well.

04/07/2023
A federal regulatory group voted to officially close king salmon fishing season along much of the West Coast after near-record low numbers of the fish returned to California rivers in 2022. The approved closure of the 2023 season is for all commercial and most recreational fishing.

04/06/2023
As epic Sierra Nevada snowpack threatens to overwhelm this phantom lake bed with spring runoff, some fear the Tulare Lake Compost facility could be transformed into an environmental disaster.

03/30/2023
Local transportation leaders mingled among columns of decorative kelp and tanks of seawater this week as they immersed themselves in the oceanic environment a new Santa Cruz METRO program seeks to protect.

03/30/2023
“I am very grateful and honored to serve in this capacity and hope to bring my years of experience working in the environmental sciences,” remarked Cummings.

03/26/2023
Nearly five times as much was spent on levee maintenance and flood management on the Pajaro River's northern bank in Santa Cruz County than on its southern bank in Monterey County where the levee failed and flooded the town.

03/25/2023
Who pays for storm damage from fallen trees? As Northern California dries out, a new set of questions are facing residents.

03/23/2023
Pajaro residents voiced their discontent with the few resources available to help them return home on Friday when the evacuation order is lifted.

03/22/2023
With wind gusts up to 80 mph in Santa Cruz County Tuesday, numerous fallen trees led to outages and closed roads around the region.

03/14/2023
California was once home to the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River, but Tulare Lake disappeared as water was diverted to irrigate crops. This year, however, the lake will once again re-emerge.