Santa Cruz County Local News: Environment

The Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History has some tips on what to see in the blossoming new season, from wildflowers to migrating shorebirds to humpback whales.

Felicia Van Stolk of the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History explains how a California native-plant garden benefits wildlife in the neighborhood and beyond.

The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County acquired 14 acres of core habitat critical to the recovery of the Santa Cruz long-toed salamander.

Beavers create unburned islands where plants and animals can shelter from megafires, research has confirmed. A movement is afoot to reintroduce the rodents to the state's waterways.

As kelp forests in some parts of the state transform into barren seafloor, California Department of Fish and Wildlife leaders are set to consider a petition that aims to protect kelp with new no-fishing zones that include Pleasure Point and offshore of Natural Bridges State Beach.

With the donation of a conservation easement from private landowners to Sempervirens Fund, California’s first land trust, 120 acres in the Upper Zayante watershed will be protected in perpetuity.

UCSC professor Karen Holl has spent years monitoring ecosystems around the world, and she dug into that well of knowledge during a presentation titled, “Can We Save the World by Planting Trees?” in the Felton Branch Library’s community room.