Trees are essential to lowering temperatures and cooling ‘heat islands'

Water restrictions prompted by drought are driving Californians to prioritize how they will use their limited water. Because landscape irrigation is a major water use for many households, residents are looking outdoors to conserve water.

When choosing which landscape plants to save, "trees come first," said Janet Hartin, UC Cooperative Extension area environmental horticulture advisor for San Bernardino, Los Angeles, and Riverside counties. "Healthy communities need trees. Fortunately, new California water...

Ten years ago, Rob Schuh was on the verge of retiring. As a lifelong farmer, he had become disillusioned by how his work had become a series of numbers – adding and subtracting pounds of fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticide every year. Then he discovered the concept of regenerative farming, alongside his son-in-law Andrew Carroll. Regenerative farming gave Schuh a newfound appreciation for agriculture and the land.

The more he learned, the more regenerative farming made sense when combined with his decades of experience treating his 210 acres of almond orchards in Chowchilla, California as a living, complex ecosystem. Schuh began to develop a more holistic approach for his orchard that led him to implement...

It's intuitive that wildfires can affect ecosystems, harm wildlife, and contaminate streams and rivers. But wildfires can also have complex, severe, and direct effects on our water supply and infrastructure—effects that have only become clear in recent years. Scientists and policymakers must integrate insights and experience from many disciplines and sectors to understand and address the consequences.

In September, 23 scholars and practitioners with a diversity of water and fire expertise came together to answer a critical question: How can California proactively protect its water supply from fires? Their findings, combined with the insights of the author team, form the basis of a new 

When liquid manure sits in storage lagoons on dairies or other livestock operations for too long, methane can form and contribute to climate change. To address concerns about methane emissions, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) developed the Alternative Manure Management Program (AMMP), which supports farmers in reducing their methane emissions with both financial and technical assistance.

The objective of CDFA's AMMP is to encourage dairy and livestock producers to adopt climate smart practices to reduce methane emissions in animal agriculture systems. The program incentivizes the development of manure...