Gov. Gavin Newsom promised to help a Native tribe restore sacred salmon to their ancestral river. Now, California is ending the funding. The fish made it back to their ancestral waters for the first time in 80 years — so why is the state walking away now?
Rachel Becker / CalMatters
Posted inLatest News
Sparse snowpack in California fuels concern over fast-approaching fire season
With California’s reservoirs brimming — but snowpack abysmal — experts warn of a potentially early fire season.
Posted inLatest News
Record heat, melting snow: What does it mean for California’s reservoirs?
Providing about a third of the state’s water supply, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is a vital source of spring and summer runoff that refills reservoirs when the state needs the water most. But a warm, wet storm followed February’s snow, and now, March temperatures are shattering records — prompting warnings of rapid snowmelt and swift rivers.
Posted inLatest News
A contentious project to raise California’s Shasta Dam just got a funding boost from Trump
The Trump administration Tuesday announced $40 million for “planning and preconstruction activities associated with raising Shasta Dam.” Opponents say the project could swamp sacred sites and harm a protected river.
Posted inLatest News
Facing ‘extinction vortex,’ California grants new protections to some mountain lions
State fish and game officials declared mountain lions on the Central Coast and in Southern California threatened under the state’s endangered species act.
Posted inLatest News
‘Little death bombs’: Illegal cannabis farms poison California’s forests. Who’s cleaning them up?
Even after legalization, illicit cannabis grows continue to pollute California’s public lands. And the contamination, new research shows, lingers.
Posted inRecreation & Sports
A new invader threatens California water supplies. Can the state stop its spread?
Officials are shoring up water systems infiltrated by the golden mussel. Dogs and human inspectors are checking boats at some California lakes, but a patchwork of oversight leaves many lakes unprotected. “There’s just too many boats and too many people out there,” one warden said.
Posted inHousing & Development
In a boon to developers, California budget includes sweeping rollback to CEQA environmental laws
Major changes to the California Environmental Quality Act include an exemption for high-tech industrial plants and other projects. The move, fast-tracked under pressure from Gov. Gavin Newsom, sparked fierce pushback from environmental, community and labor groups.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
These 4 million acres of California forests could lose protection. Here’s what Trump’s ‘roadless rule’ repeal could do
The land at stake ranges from dense, remote coastal forests in the far north, to alpine conifer forests in the Sierra Nevada, to Southern California’s great expanses of brush. Experts dispute whether revoking the two-decade-old rule would help prevent wildfires.
Posted inHealth & Wellness
EPA bans DCPA, dangerous herbicide used on California crops
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday banned a weed killer known as DCPA or Dacthal, a chemical used for decades. It can harm babies’ developing brains, and farmworkers and people living near fields are most at risk.