Yolo County Local News: Environment

09/28/2023
A long-awaited, controversial report weighs updates to standards that state officials say have failed to protect fish and wildlife. But environmentalists, Native tribes and others already are furious about how long this has taken—and the state is years away from taking action.

09/20/2023
Outbreaks have wreaked havoc on the state’s river ecosystems for years. But this year was different. Faster, colder river waters led to fewer outbreaks of the harmful algae.

09/17/2023
New employees with the state Division of Mine Reclamation were given a tour by Cache Creek Nature Preserve staff to show the “before” and “after” effects of gravel mining.

09/15/2023
An international team found that the amount of near-surface permafrost could drop by 93% compared to the preindustrial period of 1850 to 1900. Permafrost may exist only in the eastern Siberian uplands, Canadian High Arctic Archipelago and northernmost Greenland—as it did in the mid-Pliocene Warm Period.

09/13/2023
Hydrogen fueling stations will get 15 percent of funds in a state program — even though Californians own only about 12,000 hydrogen cars. The funds come from fees paid by drivers.

09/13/2023
The irrigation bill, which aims to force businesses and institutions to remove their lawns, now goes to the governor.

09/12/2023
About 5,300 companies would file annual emissions reports. The aim is to hold corporations accountable for the role they play in climate change.

09/12/2023
There’s an official state bird, mineral, tree, fish, insect, lichen, fabric, sport, dance, soil and even dinosaur.

09/04/2023
California wildfires every year emit as much carbon as almost 2 million cars, posing a threat to efforts to battle climate change.

08/30/2023
Satellite data from across California’s landscapes reveal an increase in nitrogen dioxide levels in remote forest areas, and wildfire and soil emissions are likely the reasons why, according to a paper from UC Davis published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

08/27/2023
The Biden administration is one step away from designating the first national marine sanctuary nominated by a tribe. Tribal members of the Chumash, who have lobbied for the creation of this Central Coast preserve for more than a decade, would be involved in managing it.

08/18/2023
The California Department of Food and Agriculture released a report on belowground biodiversity that provides targeted recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders to enhance soil health and conserve biodiversity.

08/17/2023
In a new study published Aug. 17 in the journal Science, fossil records at La Brea Tar Pits indicate that the disappearance of California’s sabertooth cats, dire wolves and other large mammals nearly 13,000 years ago was linked to rising temperatures and fire activity spurred by people.

08/17/2023
With only 12,000 hydrogen cars on the road, and just two models for sale, California lawmakers are debating how much state money should support them.

08/15/2023
A group of four underserved Sacramento-area neighborhoods are the focus of a Sacramento State project that is researching the link between poor air quality and health issues.

07/31/2023
Frustration runs deep among medical cannabis patients and advocates who say the commercial market created by Proposition 64 in 2016 isn’t meeting their needs.

07/27/2023
The total number of climate change court cases has more than doubled since 2017 and is growing worldwide. These findings, published by the UN Environment Programme and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, show that climate litigation is becoming an integral part of securing climate action and justice.

07/17/2023
Raising Shasta Dam to increase its capacity would provide 634,000 more acre-feet of water per year, legislators say. But that assumes there will always be enough precipitation, and the move risks flooding sacred Native American lands and harming local habitats.

07/12/2023
The environmental costs of ending water diversions from Mono Lake to Los Angeles would be mixed: It might help a shore bird habitat but would require changes that increase carbon emissions.

07/12/2023
A rodent posing a serious threat to levees and native marshlands has found its way to Sacramento County. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife first sounded the alarm on nutria in 2017, when the large South American rodents were detected in the San Joaquin Valley.