NewsEnvironment
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Santa Cruz Continues to Push Water Conservation
Environment Aug 26, 2009, by StaffWith predictions of a wet El Niño winter in the air, Santa Cruz residents are hopeful that the state’s three-year drought may finally be coming to an end.
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Lockheed’s Legacy Worries Santa Cruz Winemakers
Environment Aug 26, 2009, by Stett Holbrook 1 Comments
For Santa Cruz Mountain winegrowers, the Lockheed fire that burned 7,800 acres of wild lands above Bonny Doon recently came at exactly the wrong time. Of course there’s never a good time for a wildfire, but the grapes in local vineyards are starting to ripen, a developmental stage called veraison, and they’re particularly vulnerable to “smoke taint.”
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Rare Plants Expected to Thrive After Fire
Environment Aug 20, 2009, by Staff
The California Native Plant Society lists two species of manzanita plants as endangered, but that may soon change, thanks to the Lockheed Fire. The rare “Chalks” and ohloneana manzanitas, whose range is limited to the hills above Davenport, need a fire to pass over them before their seeds can begin to sprout, but the last major fire in the area took place in 1948. Now biologists are expecting dormant seed banks to flourish over the next few weeks.
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Coho, Steelhead Stocks Survive Fire
Environment Aug 17, 2009, by StaffWhen wildfires strike, people tend to think about the mammals and birds that are threatened.
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Disabled, Elderly Support Arana Gulch Master Plan
Environment Aug 12, 2009, by StaffRepresentatives of the elderly and disabled communities threw their support behind the Arana Gulch Master Plan, which will allow them access to the 68-acre park.
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Santa Cruz Beaches Closed after Shark Attacks Porpoise
Environment Aug 12, 2009, by StaffSeacliff and New Brighton state beaches were closed yesterday after beachgoers reported seeing a shark eating a porpoise off of Seacliff Beach
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‘Roadless Rule’ Revived
Environment Aug 06, 2009, by Traci Hukill
Ding dong! The witch is dead! Environmentalists are whistling a happy tune after yesterday’s federal appeals court decision to reinstate Clinton-era protections of 58 million acres of national wilderness that were repealed during the Bush administration.
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Solar Energy Program Hits a Snag
Environment Aug 06, 2009, by StaffThough Cash for Clunkers may be zooming along, local initiatives to promote green energy alternatives are hitting a standstill because of cost.
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Great Pacific Garbage Patch Target of Researchers
Environment Aug 04, 2009, by Staff 21 CommentsScientists are setting sail for garbage island.
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Santa Cruz Abuzz with Bees
Environment Aug 03, 2009, by Staff
Researchers have identified as many as 80 native species of bees in Santa Cruz as part of a University of California study of the state’s bee population. There are approximately 4,000 native bee species in the United States, with 1,600—well over a third—in California alone. The study investigated bee species prevalent in seven urban areas statewide, with the focus in Santa Cruz on the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum and the Soquel garden of Kimberly Carter Gamble.
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