As fire season takes hold, California is managing fuels and fire on federal lands. Can the Golden State keep it up?
Rachel Becker / CalMatters
Forest fires follow roads. The Trump administration wants to build more
The Trump administration announced Tuesday it is rolling back a rule prohibiting logging and road construction in undeveloped parts of national forests, including more than 4 million acres of federally managed forest lands in California.
California can’t replant its forests fast enough to keep up with wildfires
California’s wildfires are destroying forests faster than the state can replant them, and federal cuts are making the gap worse.
California scales back golden mussel safeguards at vital reservoir, alarming experts
California ends boat inspections meant to keep destructive golden mussels out of Lake Oroville, balancing a new risk analysis with the ongoing costs.
Data centers are guzzling California’s water. We have no idea how much
Data centers are expanding into water-stressed California communities, but lax disclosure rules keep the public in the dark about actual usage.
Will California ever build the Delta tunnel? Major battles ahead as Newsom era nears end
California’s Delta tunnel largely cleared a key hurdle last month — but far bigger obstacles still stand in the way.
Endangered salmon returned to California’s far north — then the money dried up
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?
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.
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.
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.

