Santa Cruz County Environment Articles

The Fourth of July has long been a time of celebration in Santa Cruz County, a height-of-summer fete that draws hordes of people to local beaches to indulge in picnics, swim in the ocean and soak up the sun.

The May 11 first-ever Pitch In All Santa Cruz Cleanup Event had a significant community impact, with more than 30 organizations and 431 individuals holding cleanups from Davenport to the Pajaro Valley, including the cities of Scotts Valley, Capitola, Santa …

Hundreds of dead and dying pelicans have washed up on beaches in recent weeks all up and down the California Coast. The staff at the Santa Cruz Native Animal Rescue center have been swamped with underfed and hypothermic animals. In …

Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History presents ‘Cotoni-Coast Dairies: Monumental Steps,’ celebrating a unique piece of land and the folks who protected it.

Several community leaders and community members gathered at MacQuiddy Elementary School Tuesday evening to call on Driscoll’s, Reiter and other companies to stop using toxic pesticides around schools.

As funds for climate change programs are cut, Democrats and environmentalists are pushing for a bond measure on the ballot to restore some funding.

The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County helps mountain lions, badgers and other critters who risk death on highways that bisect their habitats.

On the asphalt levee of the San Lorenzo River, a half mile from where the river mouth spills into the ocean, a huddle of mustard yellow shirts awaits instructions.

The Northern Lights appeared in Northern and Central California Saturday night.

A local group is calling on the nation’s largest berry grower to cease the use of pesticides on farm fields located near schools.

Anthony Saua, director of Organic Rising, talks about the rise of organic agriculture and its importance to health, the environment and slowing global warming,

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.

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.

A conversation with Dr. Stu Weiss about the Máyyan 'Ooyákma-Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve, and why it is one of the Bay Area’s premier wildflower hot-spots.

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.

A fishing ban is set to be considered in two areas off the Santa Cruz County coast, including Pleasure Point. (Kara Meyberg Guzman — Santa Cruz Local file, flight courtesy of LightHawk)
SANTA CRUZ >> As kelp forests in some …

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.