BirdLife Magazine reports
From saving a monumental old tree to collecting over 20,000 acorns, determined young botanists from Montenegro have high ambitions when it comes to a highly threatened oak subspecies
Read article at How Balkan botanists saved a threatened oak and are planting thousands more | BirdLife
Posted in Birds | Tags: Balkan Botanists, Rare Oak
NPR reports on the impact of fire and climate change on California’s redwood forests
California’s iconic old-growth redwoods are incredibly resilient and built to survive fires. But even they may find it harder to rebound amid the mounting impacts of climate change.
Read or listen to the report at California’s Ancient Redwoods Face New Challenge From Wildfires And Warming Climate : NPR
Posted in Environment, Park | Tags: Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Climate change, Redwoods, Wildfires
There will be yet another, and final, Mono County Board of Supervisors special meeting on the Tioga Inn project; it is scheduled for Tuesday, December 15 at 12:30pm.
Here’s where the issue stands: Two months ago, the Board certified the project FSEIR despite extensive concerns from the local community, Mono Lake supporters, and the objection of the Kutzadika’a Tribe. But the Board delayed the final project approval vote and requested that efforts be made to resolve two issues: (1) concerns raised by the Kutzadika’a Tribe, including mitigations to remedy impacts to cultural heritage resources; and (2) solutions to the significant public safety problem posed by the project’s failure to develop a safe route to Lee Vining for pedestrians. Our blog post has more detail.
Meetings to resolve the Tribe’s concerns, as directed by the Board, have not yet occurred. And there is no public information about project changes to solve the safety issue. Yet the Board appears to be moving toward a final decision on the project on Tuesday.
At this upcoming video conference meeting the most important thing the public can do is ask the Board to:
1. Follow through and honor their commitment to the Tribe by deferring the hearing until the Tribe can meet with the developer to explore ways to resolve their concerns.
2. Ensure that the project has a mandated plan to create a safe pedestrian and bicycle route between the project site and Lee Vining.
3. Require the project be safer in the event of extreme, wind-driven wildfires by requiring an emergency fire route to Highway 395 and addressing the concerns of the Lee Vining Volunteer Fire Department.
The Board of Supervisors meeting is at 12:30pm on Tuesday, December 15 via Zoom videoconference. Participants will be allowed to comment during the public comment portion of the agenda item.
If you cannot make the meeting, we suggest submitting comments by noon on Monday, December 14, for greatest impact, but they will be accepted until 12:30pm on December 15. Written comments should be emailed to the County.
Thank you,
Geoff McQuilkin
Executive
Posted in Environment | Tags: Mono Lake Area
Posted in Park | Tags: Job Opening, Lassen Park
The New York Times reports
Honeybees and their problems get the most attention, but scientists are using tactics learned from bird conservation to protect American bees.
“While regional studies have tracked the decline of native bees,” said S. Hollis Woodard, an entomologist at the University of California, Riverside, “there hasn’t been a coordinated nationwide effort to monitor these pollinators.”
Dr. Woodard and colleagues explained this problem in a paper published this month in the journal Biological Conservation, and proposed a new approach to monitoring native bees. But she and scientists at institutions across the United States are going beyond doing studies about the problem. They have also started an effort to collect better data on native bee populations, as well as efforts to conserve them, as part of the U.S. National Native Bee Monitoring Research Coordination Network. The project, supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will train members of the public to look for and track wild bees.
Read more at How You Can Help Count and Conserve Native Bees – The New York Times
Posted in Animals, Environment | Tags: Native Bee Conservation
One of the trees showing interesting fall color and fruits in Berkeley is the Sweetgum/Liquidambar tree.
Posted in Fall Foliage, Photos (Sandy's) | Tags: Autumn Leaves, Fall Color, Liquidambar, Sweetgum
Kron4 reports
Lake Tahoe is closing to visitors Thursday night under the regional stay-at-home order announced Wednesday.
According to the California COVID-19 website, the new restrictions will take effect at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday. The order will remain in place for at least three weeks.
The order only applies to the California side of Lake Tahoe, while the Nevada side can remain open.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Lake Tahoe Shut Down
The New York Times reports
Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services is the first state attorney general to create an environmental justice bureau.
Read more at Xavier Becerra Brings Environmental Justice to Forefront – The New York Times
Posted in Environment, Uncategorized | Tags: Xavier Becerra
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Mono County
The Washington Post reports
The world’s highest peak just became a tiny bit higher. Nepal and China, the two countries that share a border on Mount Everest, announced a new official measurement of the mountain’s height on Tuesday: 8,848.86 meters, or 29,031.69 feet.
That’s about three feet higher than the most commonly used measure of Everest’s height dating back to a survey conducted by India in the early 1950s.
Read more at Mount Everest gets new official height in measurement by Nepal and China – The Washington Post
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Mt. Everest
Although there is still fall color on the street trees in town, I often find myself drawn to the colorful leaves on the ground.
Posted in Fall Foliage, Photos (Sandy's) | Tags: Autumn Leaves, Fall Color
Center for Biological Diversity News Release
WASHINGTON— The Center for Biological Diversity released transition recommendations today detailing key actions the incoming Biden administration can take to address the extinction crisis and climate change without waiting on a divided Congress.
The report starts by recommending that President Biden rescind every single Trump executive order and other unilateral policy enacted by Trump’s political appointees. Then, it says, the administration should enact ambitious new regulations that go further than any presidents have to date, including when Biden was vice president.
Posted in Environment | Tags: Climate change, Environmental Reforms, Extinction Crisis
Posted in Park | Tags: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
Posted in Park | Tags: Anza Borrego State Park
The New York Times reports
Health experts say the E.P.A. decision defies scientific research showing that particulate pollution contributes to tens of thousands of premature deaths annually.
Read more at Trump Administration Declines to Tighten Soot Rules, Despite Link to Covid Deaths – The New York Times
Posted in Environment | Tags: Covid Deaths, Particulate Pollution, Soot Rules
The New York Times reports on Australia Gearing Up for the Great Koala Count, Using Drones, Droppings and Dogs
The iconic marsupials are not easy to find, or count accurately, so officials will deploy a host of methods.
One would think that koalas are easy to find and count. They’re large. They’re fluffy. They’re mostly immobile since they tend to sleep for about 20 hours a day.
Not so.
“It’s the fact that they don’t move much that makes them hard to spot,” said Desley Whisson, a wildlife ecologist at Deakin University in Victoria.
Read more at Australia Gears Up for the Great Koala Count, Using Drones, Droppings and Dogs
Posted in Animals | Tags: Great Koala Count, Koalas
Posted in Park | Tags: Yosemite National Park
Posted in Park | Tags: Death Valley National Park
Posted in Park | Tags: Channel Island National Park
Posted in Park | Tags: East Bay Regional Park District Closures
a special event with artist, author, and educator John Muir Laws. John will take you on a virtual walk in the woods to explore with the eyes of a naturalist, discovering and celebrating the signs of the Bay Area season in a nature journal.Wednesday, December 9th at 4:00 pm
This event will start with the basics—people of all ages and experience levels are welcome! You’ll learn the fundamentals of nature journaling through sketching and documenting mushrooms, seasonal birds, raindrops, and a misty winter landscape.
| Register Today! |
This event is open to all with a suggested, but not required, donation of $20. After registering, you will receive an Eventbrite confirmation email with instructions on how to join the webinar (you’ll need to log in to your Eventbrite account for access).
Please be sure to bring:
Are you all caught up on your Bay Nature Talks? You can view recordings of past talks and keep up-to-date on what’s next at baynature.org/bay-nature-talks.
| Watch Past Talks! |
Posted in Talks | Tags: Bay Nature Talks, John Muir Laws
Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology has an article on bird potters
Birds’ nests have inspired great curiosity and fascination for their skilled construction, delicate beauty, and functionality, and many birds exhibit artisan-like craft skills in their nest-building. The bowerbirds are tasteful decorators, weaver birds are skillful architects and weavers, the horneros are excellent engineers, and don’t forget the oropendolas with their impressive pendulum nests!
In addition to those other great nest builders, there are potters in the bird world. The White-winged Chough (Corcorax melanorhamphos) builds a large bowl-shaped mud nest that looks like it has come right off of a potter’s wheel.
Read full article and see photos at The White-winged Chough
Posted in Birds | Tags: The White-winged Chough
The UN reports
Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversityPlants nurture a whole world of creatures in the soil, that in return feed and protect the plants. This diverse community of living organisms keeps the soil healthy and fertile. This vast world constitutes soil biodiversity and determines the main biogeochemical processes that make life possible on Earth.
This year, by addressing the increasing challenges of soil management, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) campaign “Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity”
Read more World Soil Day | United Nations
Posted in Environment | Tags: World Soil Day
Times of India reports
India is the only country among G20 nations which is on track to meet what it had promised in 2015 under the Paris Agreement on climate change unlike the top three emitters — China, the US and the EU.
Read more at Paris Climate Agreement: India only G20 nation on track to meet Paris pact’s 2°C goal | – Times of India
Posted in Environment | Tags: India, Paris Agreement
from the Alt National Park Service
This rollback is a gift to dirty industries that put their pocketbooks ahead of the public. The rollback is based on a legal opinion written by Daniel Jorjani, a former advisor to Charles Koch, who now works as the principal deputy solicitor for the Department of the Interior. A U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) press release on the reinterpretation included 28 favorable statements supporting the rollback, including praise from the American Energy Alliance, National Mining Association, National Association of Home Builders, National Ocean Industries Association, and other anti-environmentalist groups. No statements from the numerous organizations opposing the rollback were included.
Read more Trump’s Rollback of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act | AltNPS
Posted in Birds | Tags: Migratory Bird Treaty Act
East Bay Regional Park District decides that the Garden will be closed to the public starting on Monday morning, December 7, 2020 through January 4, 2021. All reservations after Monday are cancelled.
Posted in Garden | Tags: Regional Parks Botanic Garden Closed
NPR reports
In a last-minute push, the Trump administration announced Thursday that it will auction off drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in just over a month, setting up a final showdown with opponents before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
Read more Trump Sets Up Sale Of Oil Drilling Rights In Arctic Wildlife Refuge : NPR
from Sierra Club
Time is running out to defend the Arctic Refuge — Interior could hold a lease sale as soon as January. Now is our chance — will you send them a letter they can’t ignore?
Posted in Environment, Park | Tags: Arctic Wildlife Refuge
from Redwood State and National Parks
This Saturday is an official “Hike and Bike Day” on the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway. This event is held on the first Saturday of each winter month. Bring your skates, strollers, bikes, leashed pets and family to enjoy ten miles of paved road underneath towering redwoods – no motorized vehicles will be on the parkway. #RecreateResponsibly #findyourpark
Posted in Park | Tags: "Hike and Bike Day", Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Antelope Valley, Job Opportunity
Natural History Wanderings 