GRAND COULEE DAM, Washington, June 2 (Associated Press) — The giant concrete dams of the Pacific Northwest are overflowing with water. Wyoming has deployed National Guard troops to pile up sandbags. A federal official compares the impending situation to a bucking bull ready to storm out of his chute. States across the West are bracing […]
By Tom Knudson, tknudson@sacbee.com17 April 2011 Outside Palm Desert, a young bobcat dies mysteriously at a nature preserve. South of Nevada City, a farmer finds an owl dead near his decoy shed. In San Rafael, a red-shouldered hawk bleeds heavily from its mouth and nose before succumbing at an animal care center. Each of those […]
Contact: Taylor Chapple, Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology 8 March 2011 In the first census of its kind, research led by UC Davis and Stanford University found that there are far fewer white sharks off central California than biologists had thought. The study, published today in the journal Biology Letters, is the first rigorous scientific […]
BASEL, Switzerland, March 9, 2011 (ENS) – Protests over timber corruption that has made a billionaire of the chief minister of the Malaysian state of Sarawak and enriched his family at the expense of the state’s indigenous and other citizens have spilled over to the streets of San Francisco, Seattle, Ottawa and London. A Swiss […]
By Andrew BlanksteinMarch 8, 2011 Authorities in Redondo Beach are investigating what killed millions of fish over the last day at King Harbor Marina. Fish, including anchovies, sardines and mackerel were floating lifeless in Basins 1 and 2 of the north side of King Harbor Marina. “There’s basically fish everywhere you go in the harbor,” […]
Newport Beach and other communities on California’s coast are planning to build up wetlands, construct levees and seawalls or move structures inland as climate change raises sea levels. By Tony Barboza, Los Angeles TimesMarch 6, 2011 Cities along California’s coastline that for years have dismissed reports of climate change or lagged in preparing for rising […]
Scatterplot of the greater Central Valley, California calibration data showing the relationship between air quality score and the proportion of nitrophytic lichen abundance at each plot. Abstract: Lichens are highly valued ecological indicators known for their sensitivity to a wide variety of environmental stressors like air quality and climate change. This report summarizes baseline results […]
Wet Desert Expeditions7 February 2011 Every year around this time I start to hear comments along the lines of “I heard the lake is supposed to go up 20 feet this winter” or “I was at the lake this weekend and it was up 10 feet!” I call this period the Winter Bump, where for […]
By Staff WritersFeb 24, 2011 Sacramento (UPI) – Scientists say the water situation in California is “bleak” and the state needs to act to bolster its entire aquatic ecosystem. “Our assessment of the current water situation [in California] is bleak,” says Ellen Hanak, a Public Policy Institute of California economist. “California has essentially run out […]
By Peter GleickJanuary 27, 2011 Peak water is coming. In some places, peak water is here. We’re never going to run out of water — water is a renewable natural resource (mostly). But increasingly, around the world, in the U.S., and locally, we are running up against peak water limits. The concept is so important […]
