- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
After another record year for California wildfire, concern is now turning to the soil impacted by firestorms, reported Sarah Klearman in the Napa Valley Register.
High-temperature flames can incinerate vegetation and destroy plant root systems, said Toby O'Geen, UC Cooperative Extension soil specialist at UC Davis. The loss of vegetation destabilizes the landscape, making it vulnerable to serious erosion or flooding.
"The most important way to battle erosion is to have surface cover - living...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
In California, most ghost towns were created when a local industry collapsed. Now, climate change is more often to blame when booming communities whither and die, reported Daniel Cusick in E&E News.
In an eerie horror story released just before Halloween, Cusick wrote about five towns around the nation that have died or are dying from climate-related disasters. Historic Shasta and Helena, Calif., are featured in one of the vignettes.
"Those are two towns that are getting more ghostly," said Yana Valochovich, UC Cooperative Extension forestry advisor in Humboldt and Del Norte counties.
A...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Five of California's six largest fires have occurred in 2020, reported Julie Cart in CalMatters.
“There is a collective sensation that we are reaching a tipping point,” said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, a fire specialist with the University of California Cooperative Extension. “This year was not just the fluke burning horrifically. This is 3.2 million acres of fire that burned in a month.”
Quinn-Davidson is based in Humboldt County, with typically rainy, foggy redwood forests. However, she said, the forests don't resemble their former...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Many climate change projections point to impacts that will be felt 50 or 100 years from now. But there are indications the earth is already experiencing rising sea levels, intensifying storms, increasing wildfires and droughts, and warmer oceans and atmosphere, reported Mary Caperton Morton in Science News.
For information about wildfire in California, Morton spoke to Max Moritz, UC Cooperative Extension wildfire specialist in the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UC Santa Barbara.
“Warming temperatures are melting snow sooner and...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Coyote sightings are on the rise in San Francisco, even taking naps in patches of green spaces in the city, reported Uma Chrobak in Popular Science. However, it is unlikely they indicate a change in wildlife behavior, said UC Cooperative Extension human-wildlife interactions advisor Niamh Quinn.
Officials believe the increased sightings may have more to do with a change in human behavior. Many people are at home and bored, so they may staring out the window and going on more walks in their neighborhoods.