March 2025
Egg prices hit record highs. Are you ready to try a vegan egg?
(Grist) Frida Garza, March 31
Wholesale egg prices are trending downward as of March, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, so this momentum could be short-lived. But it may only be a matter of time before the next price hike happens. “Because the virus is so ubiquitous in so many different environments … it’s hard to imagine the virus ever completely going away at this point,” said Maurice Pitesky, an associate professor in cooperative extension at University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/egg-prices-vegan-plant-based-alternatives-just-egg
LA Fire Victims Are Betting on a Radical Idea to Help Them Rebuild
(Bloomberg) Laura Bliss, March 31
…The freakish wind conditions that made the January fires so catastrophic present a crucial caveat. Hurricane-strength winds flung embers far from the fire front, igniting homes in the area—many as old as or older than Ain’s designs—that then became fuel for the next structure to burn. This shows that closely packed homes built with flammable materials can easily become a fire hazard. “They have to be built to very stringent fire-resistant building codes, if we’re going to space them relatively close together, because we already know that this home-to-home dynamic is a real problem in these high-wind situations,” says Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist for the University of California’s Cooperative Extension program who studies the geography of fire risk.
One way to address the risk of too much space, Moritz says, could be for structures to share walls, thereby eliminating whole sides of exposure. After the major urban fires of the 19th century, building codes were made to require any walls shared between commercial buildings and high-rises to withstand fire up to a certain number of hours. That progress could offer useful lessons as far as building more-hardened compact housing. “One could, with the right materials and methods, come up with ways of making a really fire-resistant set of homes,” Moritz says. He adds that Ain’s designs, if brought up to code, could serve as a starting point for communities trying to rebuild more safely.
Understanding the Avian Flu Part 1: Virology With Dr. Maurice Pitesky
The Ringer The Dave Chang Show, March 31
Dave and Chris talk fearmongering amongst the Eggpocalypse. They bring on animal epidemiologist and expert Dr. Maurice Pitesky to find out more about the avian flu, how it might spread to humans, and its worst-case scenarios. They close with an egg-themed MOIF that gets a little spicy.
Mutations, Misinformation and the Mother of All Pandemics
(Truthdig) Michael Balter, March 31
… “This is the biggest animal pandemic in human history,” says Maurice Pitesky, an expert in poultry health and food safety epidemiology at the University of California at Davis. If it fails to turn into a human pandemic, “it will be in spite of us, not because of us.”
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/mutations-misinformation-and-the-mother-of-all-pandemics
Could egg supply and demand be helping avian flu spread?
(Sentient) Seth Millstein, Broadcast version by Alex Gonzalez for Arizona News Connection, March 31
"This is historic. We never had anything this big, geographically or species-wise," Maurice Pitesky, an associate professor and expert in poultry disease modeling at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, tells Sentient. "This is way beyond [farmers'] skill set."
It may be time for L.A. to ditch the palm tree
(LA Times) Dino Grandoni, March 30
… “They were promoting this to snowbound Easterners as, ‘Hey, look at this great climate,’” said Donald Hodel, a palm expert and retired horticulturalist with the University of California. “This is the place you want to be.”
…Palms get a bum rap, added Hodel, the palm expert. Their fruit and fiber provide food and nesting material for birds and other wildlife. As long as dead leaves are removed, he added, they don’t pose a particular fire risk.
“There’s no other plant material that can capture that so sought-after tropical motif as palms do. And that’s why they’re always going to be planted in Southern California.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2025/03/30/la-fires-california-palm-trees
Fact check: RFK Jr.’s faulty advice on bird flu
(NBC10 Philadelphia) Kate Yandell, March 28
… “If someone is going to say well, we should let the virus just go unchecked and follow RFK Jr.’s suggestion, we’re going to exacerbate the problem,” Dr. Maurice Pitesky, an associate professor at University of California, Davis, Veterinary Medicine Cooperative Extension, told us. “There’s no scenario where that is a good idea.”
…The most likely outcome of stopping culling, Pitesky said, would be more bird deaths as the virus spread unchecked, ultimately reducing the country’s food security.
“The quicker you depopulate, the quicker you can prevent disease transmission from that facility to other facilities or to wild birds that are in that area that are then going to transmit the disease to other facilities,” Pitesky said.
Stopping culling could increase the risk of bird flu changing in dangerous ways. “The more opportunities the virus has to replicate, the more opportunities it has to mutate and reassort with all kinds of different strains,” Pitesky said.
… “I do think we do need to think outside the box, but that is not a viable outside-the-box scenario,” Pitesky said, referring to Kennedy’s proposal for finding resistant chickens.
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/national-international/fact-check-rfk-jr-s-faulty-advice-on-bird-flu/4146583/
Scientists sound alarm after observing troubling shift in animal behavior in urban areas: 'It's never been like this'
(The Cooldown) Alyssa Ochs, March 28
"I've heard a lot from people on the ground that it's never been like this," said the study's co-author, Niamh Quinn. "Seeing a coyote in an urban environment was very rare 15 to 20 years ago, whereas seeing one now is very common."
https://www.thecooldown.com/outdoors/urban-coyote-behavior-research-societal-factors/
Burned Homes Can Be Rebuilt More Resilient to Wildfires, but Many Homeowners Can’t Afford the Price
(Inside Climate News) Diana Kruzman, March 27
…Planning for wildfire resilience should take place on the community as well as the individual level, said Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. That requires thinking about how to lay out homes to make them more defensible in the path of an approaching wildfire, such as by adding buffer zones between heavily vegetated wildlands and housing developments, and building a road network that’s more conducive to evacuation.
These are difficult interventions, though, in places that have already been developed; neighborhoods like Pacific Palisades are unlikely to redo their entire road layout in the rush to rebuild. Adding to the problem is a lack of codes or standards for where to place a home on a parcel based on the topography and surrounding vegetation, Moritz said.
“How would you lay homes out in a neighborhood? Where would you build in the first place?” Moritz asked. “Those design standards don’t exist at those scales. And we need those. So when people build from scratch or when they rebuild, they have some guidance that is meaningful and will make for a safer outcome.”
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27032025/wildfire-resistant-home-construction-expensive
Farmers encouraged to use targeted grazing as tool
(AgAlert) John Watson, March 26
By increasing the use of targeted grazing, California ranchers and farmers can play crucial roles in building statewide resilience against future wildfires.
That was a key takeaway from the Rustici Rangeland Science Symposium at the University of California, Davis, in February.
Because targeted grazing can effectively reduce fuel loads and manage invasive weeds, it can be a key strategy for reducing wildfire risk on forests and rangelands, said UC Cooperative Extension livestock and natural resources adviser Dan Macon.
Weather out West
(Weather Geeks) March 26
Winds are howling outside Los Angeles, California on a dry January day. The hillsides north and east of the city erupt in flames. A wall of fire begins to consume neighborhoods faster than firefighters can keep up. As wind-driven embers continue to fly down hill - a thousand miles away, Daniel Swain’s phone begins to light up. Journalists, companies, officials - all want answers to California’s extreme weather and the impact of climate change. On this week’s episode of Weather Geeks we learn how one high schooler, with a blog, ignited his career to become one of the leading communicators on climate change and the Weather out West.
https://linktr.ee/WeatherGeeks
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6loMnPbApkIUcxzBLojkbB
Middle Creek open again, but threat of bird flu still present across Lancaster County
(Lancaster PA Online) Rachel McDevitt, March 24
Maurice Pitesky, a professor at University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine who specializes in poultry health and food safety epidemiology, said the virus is in so many animals now that the idea that it will just go away is not reality.
Avian flu cases may wind down through the spring, because migratory birds that carry the virus will be wrapping up their seasonal journeys. But, Pitesky said, cases will likely spike when birds migrate again in the fall.
Pitesky said farmers and government agencies need to think about biosecurity beyond the fence line of a farm.
“Everything’s connected,” he said.
California has new fire prevention goals. Expect to see more rules and goats
(NBC Los Angeles) Helen Jeong, March 24
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources will develop a strategic action plan to include a scope and schedule for mapping priority areas where grazing can protect communities, critical infrastructure, and ecosystems, the state said.
Watch: Raccoons perform acrobatic high wire act on Los Angeles power lines
(Yahoo, via Fox Weather) Angeli Gabriel, March 24
Three raccoons were recently caught stealthily creeping along power lines over a Los Angeles neighborhood, looking more like Hollywood-flick spies than nighttime food bandits.
A video shot late on March 12 shows silhouettes of the acrobatic animals moving from one electric pole to another – and doing so in style....
...Raccoons are nocturnal animals that adapt well in city environments, according to the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. Being active at night allows the animals to exist in urban settings without being noticed for a while.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/watch-raccoons-perform-acrobatic-high-200029117.html?guccounter=1
San Luis Obispo Co. Cattlemen’s Association event focuses on bird flu, wildfire risk and more
(KSBY) Eduardo Huijon Jr., March 21
Royce Larsen covers Rangelands in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Monterey counties through the University of California Cooperative Extension and says this meeting allowed him to listen to the problems other cattlemen are facing.
“Well, I hope to gain, as I like to hear what's going on from the Cattlemen's point of view and some of their issues, what they're faced with that helps me develop a plan to either get workshops and or research projects,” Larsen said.
Foods You Should Never Eat as Leftovers
(aol.com, via Cheapism) Jennifer Magid, March 20
Eating old mushrooms doesn't sound particularly appetizing, but it can also lead to food poisoning. Improperly storing mushrooms can promote the growth of bacteria like botulism, according to the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. The safest way to store mushrooms is in a paper bag in the refrigerator, but never keep them longer than five days.
https://www.aol.com/finance/foods-never-eat-leftovers-143000513.html
Sonoma County's small farmers grapple with unstable future
(Northern California Public Media) Noah Abrams, March 19
...Finding affordable, good-quality farmland is one of the major challenges for Sonoma County's small farmers.
This challenge has become so precarious that the Sonoma County Ag and Open Space District launched a study looking into the issue.
Along with the University of California Cooperative Extension, they found affordable farmland and housing are two of the main challenges for the Sonoma County's farmers.
Pros and Cons of Gene Editing: Insights from Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam
(Oklahoma Farm Report) Ron Hays, March 18
Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam is a Cooperative Extension Specialist in the Department of Animal Science at the University of California, Davis, and runs the Animal Genomics and Biotechnology Laboratory. She recently spoke about gene editing at K-State’s Cattlemen’s Day. Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays is featuring comments from her conversation with K-State’s radio network after her presentation. Yesterday, she explained what gene editing is and some opportunities it presents for the beef industry.
Almond Day Updates Growers on New Pest, Disease in California
(Pacific Nut Producer) Mike Hsu, March 17
Winegrape Grower Costs and Market Issues Addressed at Global and Local Levels at Clarksburg Grape Day
(Wine Business) Ted Rieger, March 17
Global and local wine market issues and policies were discussed by California experts to provide winegrape growers with information to make better strategic decisions in tough economic times at the recent Clarksburg Grape Day presented by the Clarksburg Winegrape Growers Association.
Economist and Professor Daniel Sumner with the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics observed that recent years have been tough for the wine industry worldwide. Reasons for this are partly global and partly local. “The interaction of global and local are important here in California,” Sumner said. He discussed potential impacts of current international trade policies related to U.S. tariffs and retaliation from other countries on wine and on farm inputs and production costs.
https://www.winebusiness.com/news/article/299495
North Bay Science Discovery Day a Big Success?
(Sebastopol Times) Dale Dougherty, March 15
The North Bay Science Discovery Day is organized by a dedicated volunteer committee of science enthusiasts, in partnership with the University of California Cooperative Extension 4-H Youth Development Program and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. The event celebrated its 13th anniversary on March 8, 2025. The event started in 2011 by UC San Francisco and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging with a National Science Foundation Grant. When this grant expired, the organizing volunteers expanded the donor base to become entirely self-supporting.
https://www.sebastopoltimes.com/p/north-bay-science-discovery-day-a
Yana Valachovic is trying to soften the blow
(Politico) Camille Von Kaenel, March 14
FIGHTING FIRE WITH LANDSCAPING: Yana Valachovic is at the forefront of trying to get Californians to adapt to fire.
Valachovic, a University of California fire researcher and adviser to two fire-prone Northern California counties, turns into a detective when she visits the aftermath of a wildfire-turned-urban-conflagration, looking for clues on how the fire spread and the ripple effects of small actions people took to protect their property, from new vents to paved entryways.
She’s now pushing for tighter landscaping rules within the first five feet of a home as part of a working group at the state Board of Forestry, which is picking the previously paused rules back up after a directive from Gov. Gavin Newsom last month.
How to Protect Pets and Backyard Chickens from Bird Flu
(Scientific American) Jude Coleman, March 14
Like commercially farmed poultry, backyard chickens are also vulnerable to bird flu. Several factors contribute to the risk level, says Maurice Pitesky, an epidemiologist and veterinarian at the University of California, Davis. Ducks and other waterfowl are a major reservoir for the bird flu virus, making backyard chicken flocks located near ponds or wetlands more susceptible, particularly if the chickens are free-range. In general, allowing poultry to roam outside will increase the risk because that creates a higher chance of exposure to wild birds. “Anytime you have potential for spatial overlap between waterfowl ... and domestic species, you have a risk,” Pitesky says. “We do have situations where backyard chickens die.”
… Chickens infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza will often stop laying eggs and will typically quickly die. Ideally, if a bird dies, it should be tested by a state veterinary lab, Pitesky says. If the lab confirms the chicken died of bird flu, the rest of the flock will need to be culled.
…And getting a flu shot will help reduce the chance of seasonal influenzas mingling with H5N1 if you are exposed to bird flu. That can potentially result in the viruses mixing genetic material and creating new human-adapted strains. “To me, this is the worst animal disease outbreak we've ever had,” Pitesky says. “And we don't know how to control it at this point.”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-protect-pets-and-backyard-chickens-from-bird-flu/
Can fire-gutted suburbs rebuild safer? Here's what the experts say
(Los Angeles Times) David Wharton and Lorena Iñiguez Elebee, March 12
“If we don’t do something different,” UC Santa Barbara adjunct professor and wildfire specialist Max Moritz says, “we’re going to re-create what just happened.”
… Through a planning tool known as “transfer of development rights,” homeowners in high-risk areas could work with city officials to exchange for property in safer neighborhoods. Some might gladly leave, but others might resist surrendering prime real estate with a view. Moritz concedes, “There are a lot of people who will find that objectionable.”
…“Homes may still have to be greater than some minimum distance apart,” Moritz says. “It could be 10 feet or 15 feet. No one knows.”
Gene Editing Could Speed Up Cattle Breeding, Scientist Tells Kansas Producers
(KCLY) March 11
A University of California-Davis animal geneticist recently told Kansas cattle producers that a gene-editing technique commonly used in plants is also a safe and effective way to improve cattle genetics more quickly.
Speaking at Kansas State University’s 112th annual Cattlemen’s Day on March 7, Alison Van Eenennaam explained that genetic modification often carries misconceptions. However, her research team is refining a method that allows scientists to precisely edit cattle DNA to enhance desirable traits.
Traditional cattle breeding selects animals with favorable traits, but this process can take over a decade. Gene editing speeds up the process by directly modifying genes, either removing those linked to undesirable traits or introducing beneficial ones. For example, this method can help create naturally hornless cattle or improve disease resistance.
The swine industry has already used gene editing to help pigs resist a costly disease. While research continues in various livestock, regulatory approval and consumer perception remain challenges before these advancements can reach the market.
Genetic Modification, Engineering and Editing…Hopefully Increasing Milk Consumption
Agriculture Today Podcast, Derek Nester, March 11, 2025
00:01:05 – Gene Editing in Agriculture, Part 1: Starting today’s show is Alison Van Eenennaam, a U.C. Davis professor of cooperative extension who was a speaker at K-State Cattlemen’s Day. Alison talks about genetic modification, genetic engineering and gene editing and what has been done so far in the industry and where we could be going.
00:12:05 – Gene Editing in Agriculture, Part 2: Alison continues the show with her conversation about genetic modification, genetic engineering and gene editing in her second segment.
Trump’s Plan to Lower Egg Prices, Explained
(Fulcrum) Seth Millstein, March 11
“This is beyond any farmer’s ability, or any state’s ability, to address,” Maurice Pitesky, associate professor and expert in poultry disease modeling at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, tells Sentient. “We need every tool that we can use.”
Pitesky is a big advocate of what he calls “outward facing biosecurity” — that is, protecting against avian flu by monitoring and modifying the ecosystems that surround poultry farms, as opposed to only focusing on the farm itself. The reasoning is that avian flu is transmitted to poultry from wild birds, so it’s more effective to tackle the problem at the source.
In theory, Wildlife Biosecurity Assessments are a version of this. But in practice, they fall short of what Pitesky is suggesting, because they aren’t dynamic.
In order for outward facing security to work, Pitesky says, the surrounding ecosystems need to be monitored, and potentially modified, on an ongoing basis, not just once. That’s because environments change over time, and so do the threats that they pose as potential transmitters of bird flu.
But Wildlife Biosecurity Assessments don’t do this. They’re just a one-time analysis, and as such, they don’t and can’t account for the ways in which environmental risks change over time.
“The thing that we all have to realize is that the farm doesn’t change location, but the habitat around the farm changes,” Pitesky says. “What they’re doing is not bad, per se, but they’re just doing a spot check.”
https://thefulcrum.us/governance-legislation/egg-prices-trump-agenda
L.A. fires put new drinking-water safety measures to the test
(LA Times) Noah Haggerty, Ian James, March 8
“We are in a sort of brave new world as we shift into this reality of increasingly more urban wildfires,” said Edith de Guzman, who researches water equity and climate adaptation policy at UCLA. “We have impacts that we’re not really even sure how to measure or monitor.”
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-03-08/l-a-fires-test-new-drinking-water-safety-measures
Bird Flu Spreads To SoCal Dairy Farms: What To Know
(Patch) Kat Schuster, March 7
For infected laying hens, avian influenza in poultry is controlled through the rapid euthanasia of any flock that tests positive or is presumed positive, according to Richard Blatchford, associate specialist of Cooperative Extension at the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
…Blatchford, an expert on the welfare of small-to-large-scale poultry production, echoed that sentiment.
"Every time it infects an organism, it mutates," he said. "And so the worry is generally that the more it infects mammalian species, the more likely it is to become a virus that is much more like the flu viruses that we already contract and can spread from person to person."
https://patch.com/california/banning-beaumont/bird-flu-found-4-socal-dairy-farms-what-know
Hundreds rally in S.F. in support of science as Trump threatens jobs, funding
(SF Chronicle) Jack Lee, Roland Li, March 7, 2025
“What we’ve seen so far are cuts on the order of 10% to NOAA and the weather service,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, during a briefing Friday. “There are highly credible rumors that the plan is for a further 30% to 50% cut.”
Such cuts would be “essentially a decapitation strike against the weather service,” Swain said. He emphasized the importance of the agency’s life-saving severe weather alerts, such as red flag warnings, adding that there isn’t incentive for private companies to take over the service.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/trump-protest-funding-20204585.php
California farmers backed Trump. Now, his tariffs could hurt them
(LA Times) Jessica Garrison and Rachel Uranga, March 5
…Daniel Sumner, a distinguished professor of agricultural economics at UC Davis, said farmers could take multiple hits. They could face higher costs for things such as fertilizer and fence posts, some of which come from Canada, and also from retaliatory tariffs on their exports. Canada, he noted, buys 41% of bottled wine exported from California.
On the other hand, he said, some producers may see profits rise. Beef producers that compete with Canadian cattle ranchers, for example, could see an increase in profit. But consumers, he said, probably will see higher prices at the grocery store for many products.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-03-05/california-farmers-worry-about-impact-of-tariffs
New Avian Flu Plan Hatched by USDA, but Experts Are Wary
(Sentient Media) Dawn Attride, March 4
… “That’s a pretty crude way of assessing risk,” Maurice Pitesky, an associate professor and expert in poultry disease modeling at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, tells Sentient. Plopping 10 kilometer circles everywhere there’s an outbreak does little to account for bird movements in the region.
What works better, according to Pitesky: accurately tracking bird movement and holistically assessing different factors — such as wind or temperature — that might drive birds into this radius. Pitesky has developed a technology that can track where waterfowl are relative to commercial poultry, which, he says, is highly scalable to help identify farms historically under the highest burden. For now, however, it doesn’t appear the USDA is incorporating this into their smart perimeter work, he says.
Even as, broadly speaking, strengthening biosecurity is key to combat spread, it alone might not be the saving grace everyone hopes. “I think there is a lot of wishful thinking that this is going to be a game changer and that the farmers won’t have to euthanize nonsick birds … that could be a bad thing [because] if you are not aggressive with depopulating, you have the potential to create reservoirs of virus that can potentially cause further spread,” Pitesky tells Sentient.
https://sentientmedia.org/avian-flu-plan-hatched-usda
Bird Flu Outbreak Resulted in Even More Dead Poultry than Usual
(WWBI) John Szink, March 4
Maurice Pitesky is a researcher at the U-C Davis School of Veterinary Medicine who says it’s time to refocus on response efforts.
Since late 2021, farmers have killed entire flocks to stop the spread of bird flu, yet the virus continues to spread.
In the U-S, nearly 163 million birds have been affected by the virus since 2022, with 148 million culled to prevent outbreaks
https://www.wwbl.com/2025/03/04/bird-flu-outbreak-resulted-in-even-more-dead-poultry-than-usual
February 2025
What climate change means for bird flu — and the soaring price of eggs
(Grist) Frida Garza & Zoya Teirstein, Feb. 24
…In fact, egg-laying hen populations in the U.S. are likely the lowest they’ve been in the last decade, said Maurice Pitesky, an associate professor at the University of California, Davis, who has studied how avian influenza has spread from wild to domestic bird populations.
This — along with seasonal factors like the rise in demand for eggs over the holidays — has caused wholesale and retail prices of eggs to spike. “I think there’s a very strong relationship between egg prices and highly pathogenic avian influenza,” said Pitesky, using another name for H5 strains of the disease.
https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/egg-prices-expensive-bird-flu-avian-climate-change
With avian flu flying around, is it safe to enjoy eggs?
(East Bay Times) Jia H. Jung, Feb. 23
…Maurice Ernest Pitesky, associate professor at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and an expert in disease modeling for avian flu, explains why it’s unlikely that you’ll get a bad egg. This interview has been lightly edited for grammar and clarity.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2025/02/23/with-avian-flu-flying-around-is-it-safe-to-enjoy-eggs
California egg prices at record high as bird flu decimates farms. Relief months away
(Fresno Bee) Robert Rodriguez, Feb. 20
…Maurice Pitesky, a faculty member at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine-Cooperative Extension, said the call for vaccines is growing louder as the poultry body count rises. “If used effectively, a vaccination could reduce the potential economic impact of the disease,” Pitesky said. “But it has to be flexible and robust to deal with what strains are floating around out there.”
… “What we have seen for almost the last three years is that avian influenza keeps coming back,” said Dan Sumner, director of the University of California Giannini Foundation for Agricultural Economics. “And what we have done is control it with depopulation, and that has worked in the past. But this time, that isn’t happening.” Sumner suspects that this latest round of bird flu could be enough to knock some smaller poultry farmers out of business. “Some hen houses in California,” he said, “are not reopening.”
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article300355089.html
Amid spread of avian flu and rising egg prices, some turning to backyard chickens
(KCRA) Peyton Headlee, Feb. 20
…Maurice Pitesky, an associate professor at the U.C. Davis School of Veterinary Medicine has been studying the avian flu for years. He said with prices reaching almost a dollar an egg, investing in a backyard flock might actually save money in the long run.
“Historically, when people ask that question like, 'well, if I raised my own chickens, can I save money?' So, you know, the back of the envelope calculations historically have said no, but times are changing,” Pitesky said. “As we approach eggs that are literally a dollar an egg, that math has probably at some level reversed.”
With supply and demand at its current rate, he said he doesn’t expect egg prices to decrease over the next few months.
“As we get closer to Easter, the demand is going to increase. We know that just from historical data, but the supply is decreased so that that's going to further kind of exacerbate, I think, some of the price stresses that that people are noticing at the store,” Pitesky said.
https://www.kcra.com/article/california-bird-flu-egg-prices-backyard-chickens/63848029
California egg prices at record high as bird flu decimates farms. Relief months away
(Fresno Bee) Robert Rodriguez, Feb. 20
…Maurice Pitesky, a faculty member at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine-Cooperative Extension, said the call for vaccines is growing louder as the poultry body count rises. “If used effectively, a vaccination could reduce the potential economic impact of the disease,” Pitesky said. “But it has to be flexible and robust to deal with what strains are floating around out there.”
… “What we have seen for almost the last three years is that avian influenza keeps coming back,” said Dan Sumner, director of the University of California Giannini Foundation for Agricultural Economics. “And what we have done is control it with depopulation, and that has worked in the past. But this time, that isn’t happening.” Sumner suspects that this latest round of bird flu could be enough to knock some smaller poultry farmers out of business. “Some hen houses in California,” he said, “are not reopening.”
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article300355089.html
How We Rebuild: What Comes After the LA Fires
(KQED) Erin Baldasseri, Laura Klivans, Adhiti Bandlamudi, Ezra David Romero, Danielle Venton and Rachael Myrow, Feb. 19
…Hydro-Climate Whiplash
Extreme floods, extreme heat, extreme fires: This is what residents can expect for California’s future. Ezra David Romero, climate reporter at KQED, spoke with Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources and UCLA, who dug into this weather phenomenon. He, along with a team of other researchers, published a new report that gave it a name: hydro-climate whiplash.
https://www.kqed.org/news/12027578/how-we-rebuild-what-comes-after-the-la-fires
Op-ed: Egg Prices Are Soaring. Are Backyard Chickens the Answer?
(Civil Eats) Jason Mark, Feb. 18
… Every year, tens of millions of migratory birds travel from the northern latitudes southward, and they inevitably cross paths with domesticated flocks. During a recent briefing for reporters, Maurice Pitesky, a cooperative extension agent at the University of California, Davis used California as an example.
“During the winter . . . we go from 600,000 resident waterfowl to over 8 million waterfowl. You will see ducks and geese. And we’ve decided to have our poultry and dairy operations overlap with where the wildfowl over-winter. They spatially overlap, and that is where infection can take place.”
https://civileats.com/2025/02/18/op-ed-egg-prices-are-soaring-bring-out-the-backyard-hens
Skelton: California farmers bought Trump’s election pitch. Now they may pay the price
(LA Times) George Skelton, Feb. 18
…As for a potentially aggressive trade war spurred by Trump targeting China, Mexico and Canada, “tariffs are a bad deal. And for California agriculture, they’re really bad news,” says Daniel Sumner, a UC Davis professor of agriculture economics.
For example, he says, “the U.S. buys lots of fruits and vegetables from Mexico. We’d lose out and pay more.” Mexico would probably retaliate by placing a tariff on California’s dried milk products, Sumner adds. “Mexico is our biggest buyer of milk.” There’d be less profit for California dairies.
Mechanizing Your Vineyard from the Start with Dr. Matthew Fidelibus & Alan Thibault
(Vineyard Underground) Fritz Westover, Feb. 18
Mechanizing a vineyard can lead to significant efficiency gains and cost savings, but it’s important to start planning for mechanization early in the vineyard design process. Many new growers overlook this step, which can impact their adaptability for mechanization in the future.
In this episode, we have a conversation with Dr. Matthew Fidelibus from UC Davis and Alan Thibault from Ashton Creek Vineyard and Vigneron Toy Store on the best mechanization practices from the start.
https://www.vineyardundergroundpodcast.com/vu065
San Francisco's rat population is growing fast
(SF Gate) Timothy Karoff, Feb. 14
…Dr. Niamh Quinn, who works as a human-wildlife interaction advisor with the University of California Cooperative Extension, told SFGATE she read the study when it was first published two weeks ago and found the results “very interesting.”
“I keep telling everybody — and I think you’re the sixth or seventh reporter I've talked to about this now — we live in an infinity of rats,” Quinn said. “There are rats absolutely everywhere.”
People commonly associate rats with filth. But, as Quinn pointed out, sanitation isn’t the only contributing factor to rat populations.
“A lot of people say that sanitation is key to making sure that we reduce the number of rats,” Quinn said. “However, rats are ridiculously resourceful. And, at least from our data, it shows that they are eating everything.” That includes dog food, oranges from backyards, snails and even landscaping plants like succulents and cacti.
https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/san-francisco-rat-population-growing-20166171.php
Migrants are on the front lines of the bird flu crisis but deportation fears are causing chaos
(Salon) Carlyn Zwarenstein, Feb. 9
…At a briefing for reporters, Dr. Maurice Pitesky of the University of California, Davis, pointed out that undocumented workers are also unlikely to receive regular influenza vaccines, increasing their likelihood of harboring co-infections of human influenza and H5N1 or other types of highly pathogenic avian influenza. This is exactly the sort of scenario that makes viral evolution more likely, hastening the day when H5N1 achieves the very few mutations required for it to transmit easily from human-to-human. Jimenez says Alianza Agrícola has organized health clinics for farmworkers, most recently last month, where they can get their blood pressure checked and receive COVID and flu vaccines. Without this form of organizing and workers’ courage to be open about it, education on the value of vaccines and access to them would both be unlikely to occur at their employers’ behest.
We Mustn’t Rest – The Top Five Viruses of 2025
(Siliconeer) Janam Gupta, Feb. 7
… Also known as bird flu and transmitted through the H5N1 virus, is experiencing a concerning rise across six continents, as reported by Dr. Maurice Pitesky. This highly contagious virus has been found in both wild and domesticated birds and animals, and unfortunately, it has also made its way into humans.
Pitesky highlighted that avian flu is endemic in North America and has significantly expanded over the past three years, affecting various species, geographical regions, the economy, and food security. He emphasized the need for improved surveillance systems, particularly for workers at high risk, such as dairy and poultry workers, who may be hesitant to report their illnesses due to concerns about potential repercussions.
Furthermore, Pitesky underscored the potential for human-to-human transmission of the virus if it continues to evolve and mutate, given the inadequate surveillance measures in place.
https://siliconeer.com/current/we-mustnt-rest-the-top-five-viruses-of-2025
Bird Flu Toll Continues to Rise in Chicago. Are Massive Die-Offs the New Normal?
(Chicago News WTTW) Patti Wetli, Feb. 4
In the central valley of California, the waterfowl population will balloon from 600,000 resident birds to more than 8 million, according to Dr. Maurice Piteskyof the University of California-Davis Veterinary School of Medicine.
Because a lot of the wetlands where ducks and geese would hang out have been destroyed, these birds use “sub-optimal” habitat like dairy lagoons, flooded rice fields, just ponding from rain, in many instances near farms, Pitesky said.
Crisp Destinations: 2025’s Top 20 States for Apple Lovers
(LawnLove) Kimberly Magerl, Feb. 3
… Arthur James Downer, Environmental Horticulture/Plant Pathology Advisor Emeritus, University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources
What makes certain regions ideal for growing apples?
Apples require cold to set fruit, so the best growing areas are where there are cold winters.
How does climate change impact apple farming?
As winters warm, pollination will become uneven and the bloom period will spread out. Harvest will be less precise. Ultimately, production will rise in elevation or latitude.
https://lawnlove.com/blog/top-states-for-apple-lovers/#expert=dr-arthur-james-downer
Yearning To Learn More About Exciting, New Almond Varieties
(Growing Produce) Luke Milliron, Feb. 3
New almond varieties are always coming out from public and private breeding programs around the world. It is tempting to plant the latest and greatest. Unfortunately, many growers in my area of Northern California have been burned by new varieties in recent years — ‘Bennett-Hickman’ bud failure issues and partial incompatibility of ‘Independence’ and ‘Shasta’ on the ‘Krymsk 86’ rootstock.
https://www.growingproduce.com/nuts/getting-to-know-more-about-exciting-new-almond-varieties
H5 avian influenza ‘breaks all the rules’
(Lake Okeechobee News) Katrina Elsken, Feb. 3
… Wild waterfowl such as migratory ducks and geese are the primary carriers of this virus, said Dr. Maurice Pitesky, of the University of California, Davis. “Unfortunately, dairy and poultry infrastructure overlaps with areas waterfowl live in the winter,” he continued. Development in former wetland areas has also caused waterfowl to nest closer to farms.
“We’ve lost a lot of our natural wetlands, where ducks and geese spend 14 hours a day,” he said. Pushed out of their natural habitat, the waterfowl now use dairy ponds, flooded rice fields and other areas flooded by rain.
Waterfowl might be nesting at one farm one day and another farm the next day, he said.
“When birds go on their feeding flights, they can spread virus to other areas,” he continued. The bird poop, which could contain the virus, can be spread on the feet of rodents and tracked into barns.
https://www.lakeonews.com/labelle/labelle/stories/h-5-avian-influenza-breaks-all-the-rules,72111
January 2025
A Weather Event With Fire Embedded
(WhoWhatWhy ) Jeff Schechtman, Jan. 31
…In this week’s WhoWhatWhy podcast, Daniel Swain, a leading climate scientist at UCLA and the University of California’s Agricultural and Natural Resources division, frames the January disaster not simply as a fire event, but as “an extreme weather event with fire embedded in it.” This distinction, he explains, is crucial for understanding how climate change is reshaping California’s fire risks.
https://whowhatwhy.org/podcast/a-weather-event-with-fire-embedded
Why climate change may be making your city’s rat problem worse
(Washington Post) Dino Grandoni, July 31
…“We live in an infinite sea of rats,” said Niamh Quinn, a human-wildlife interactions adviser at the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources who was not involved in the study.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/01/31/rats-cities-climate-change
Hotter cities? Here come the rats
(Science News) Bethany Brookshire, July 31
When humans and rats share space, there’s a real risk of disease, says Niamh Quinn, a human-wildlife interactions advisor at the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Irvine who was not affiliated with the study. “At some point there’s going to be — hopefully not, but potentially — the perfect storm, where we have all these people, all these rodents [and] not enough tools in our toolbox to manage them.” Leptospirosis, for example, can be deadly to humans and unvaccinated pets.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rats-climate-change-hotter-cities
Daniel Swain on the disasters still to come
(California Sun) Jeff Schechtman, Jan. 30
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA and the University of California’s Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources reveals why Los Angeles’ recent devastating fires weren’t just another disaster, but a harbinger of California’s volatile future. Swain explains how climate change created the conditions for unprecedented destruction, and how “hydroclimate whiplash” — or dramatic swings between wet and dry periods — is reshaping our understanding of extreme weather events and challenging traditional approaches to disaster response.
https://www.californiasun.co/podcast/daniel-swain-on-the-disasters-still-to-come
How towns can adapt to fire as bigger burns loom
(PNAS) Amy McDermott, Jan. 29
…The review came about, coauthor Max Moritz says, thanks to years of conversations with firefighters and fire professionals. Moritz, who is the statewide wildfire specialist for the University of California Cooperative Extension and is based at the University of California, Santa Barbara, kept hearing anecdotes about ways to make communities safer that had less to do with individual home structural building codes and more to do with the siting and layout of neighborhoods. At a workshop, Moritz presented an overview of different risk reduction measures to urban planners and fire agency professionals from around central coastal California. The group discussed “how feasible and how realistic” each risk reduction measure would be, Moritz says. “It was a first step in the direction of trying to come up with standards that could eventually be codified.”
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2500926122
These Are the Winds That Turn Wildfires Deadly in L.A.
(NY Times) Raymond Zhong and Zach Levitt, Jan. 28
… Development in Santa Ana-prone areas could also be better regulated, said Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. California requires individual buildings in vulnerable places to meet fire-resistance standards. But there are no such standards for how communities should be designed to keep crowded neighborhoods away from flammable brush or how they should be laid out to help residents evacuate safely. “That’s the next frontier,” Dr. Moritz said.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/01/29/climate/santa-ana-winds-fire-risk.html
Harvest Festival brings agriculture to life in Holtville
(Imperial Valley Press) Jessamyn Dodd, Jan. 28
The Harvest Festival, hosted by FARM SMART, an educational outreach program of the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) through the Desert Research and Extension Center, celebrated the region’s agricultural roots. A collaboration between the Imperial County Young Farmers, Imperial County Farm Bureau, and UC ANR, the event offered a variety of activities for families while showcasing the importance of farming in the Imperial Valley.
Trump's promise of mass deportations looms over California's wine industry
(Northern California Public Media) Tina Caputo, Jan 27
“Hired farm workers seem to be more scarce every year,” says Daniel Sumner, a professor of agricultural economics at UC Davis.
“There's relatively little replacement of young people coming into farm work, which used to be refreshed with new immigrants every year or so, and that's been more of a struggle.”
Sumner says that’s because Mexico’s economy has improved in recent years, making it less attractive for workers to cross the border. Meanwhile, Americans just aren’t interested in filling the void.
“Farm work is hard work,” he says. “Some people don't like to be outside to do work in the heat, and we have plenty of heat in California. Farm work, over the years, has had a tough reputation.”
What you want to know about bird flu but are (or should be) too afraid to ask
(Jewish News of N. California) Maya Mirsky, Jan. 27
Maurice Pitesky is a professor at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. He researches highly pathogenic avian influenza and studies how the virus is transmitted from wild birds to domestic poultry. He lives with his family in Davis, where they attend Congregation Bet Haverim. He’s also on the board of the synagogue.
He spoke with J. about how the disease is affecting California and what the real risks are. The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
The good, bad and ugly truths about LA tumbleweeds and their role in fires
(LAist) Fiona Ng, Jan. 26
"Then those tumbleweeds just spread across the western United States and they've found a great home here in California," said Mark Hoddle, an invasive species expert at UC Riverside.
… "When we have a lot of fires, like we've seen in Southern California recently, these invasive weeds, like tumbleweeds, can really amplify fire risk," Hoddle said, because they provide more fuel for fires to burn hotter.
" They've changed the fire ecology of the state enormously. And that's just one weed. We've got heaps of these weeds," he added.
https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/la-tumbleweeds-and-their-role-in-fires
Trump says California’s mismanagement of forests and water is to blame for wildfires. Here’s the reality.
(CNN) Ella Nilsen, Jan. 24
…California wildfire expert Lenya Quinn-Davidson and other experts said California has made “major strides” on policies allowing more prescribed fires in the past several years.
Even so, “what we’re getting done in reality is a drop in the bucket with what the problem is,” said Quinn-Davidson a fire advisor and the Director of University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network.
Officials were warned of failing water system before Palisades fire. Fixes never happened
(LA Times) Connor Sheets, Jan. 24
…Another UCLA professor and water expert, Edith de Guzman, agreed with that assessment: “Some homes could have been saved. It is absolutely possible that it would have been able to help a little bit.”
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-24/malibu-water-capacity-upgrades-palisades-fire
Is the ash and residue from the recent fires a danger to the fruits and vegetables in your garden?
(KCRW Good Food) Evan Kleiman, Jan. 24
… Here at GoodFood, we've received countless questions about backyard gardens and schoolyard plots. Like you, we're curious and concerned. Are herbs and vegetables okay to eat? How should we clean them? Is the soil safe?
Sadly, this isn’t the first time Californians have grappled with these questions. Julia Van Soelen Kim is the North Bay Food Systems Advisor for the UC Cooperative Extension North Bay, which includes Marin, Mendocino, Napa, and Sonoma. She led the studies assessing backyard gardens after the Sonoma Complex Fires in 2017.
The ‘Dark Prophet’ of L.A. Wasn’t Dark Enough
(The Atlantic) Carolina A. Miranda, Jan. 22
…Although Davis did, over the course of his career, write about climate change—and he added a postscript on the topic when “The Case for Letting Malibu Burn” was excerpted online by Longreads in 2018—his original essay does not contend with how the climate would set the stage for ever bigger blazes, fires with different causes, effects, and solutions than the cyclical events of the past. “This is a story about drought and lack of precipitation this winter,” Lenya Quinn-Davidson, the director of a statewide fire program for UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, told me. “The extreme dryness combined with an exceptional wind event—to have those things concurrent is a recipe for disaster. Even if you had fuel breaks around those communities, even if you had prescribed burns”—a solution that Davis highlighted—”it might not have had any effect.”
What makes a neighborhood resilient to fires?
(Vox) Umair Irfan, Jan. 22
… “There’s a lot that we can do as residents and homeowners to really change that trajectory and make small, often inexpensive actions that can make a big difference in changing the outcome when our buildings are exposed to the pathways of wildfire,” said Yana Valachovic, a fire scientist at the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network studying resilience in the built environment.
https://www.vox.com/climate/396196/la-fires-los-angeles-palisades-eaton-materials
Examining the potential of AI to drive nutritional innovation and increase productivity
(Nutrition Insight) Jolanda van Hal, Jan. 21
“We were given US$20 million to leverage AI to improve the food system. This collaboration is between UC Berkeley, UC Davis, the University of Illinois, Cornell University, UC ANR (UC Agriculture and Natural Resources) and the USDA. And, of course, we have dozens of partners, such as other universities, land grant institutions and other centers worldwide.”
A wave of cat deaths from bird flu prompts new rules on pet food production
(LA Times) Susanne Rust, Jan. 18
…Maurice Pitesky, an associate professor who researches poultry health and food safety epidemiology at UC Davis, agreed. “Not sure but maybe the birds got infected right before slaughter?,” he said in an email, adding that “he was not aware that there are companies that sell raw poultry with the intent of consumption by pets.”
https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2025-01-18/cat-deaths-bird-flu-prompts-pet-food-new-rules
California is years behind in implementing a law to make homes more fire resistant
(AP) Tran Nguyen, Jan. 17
… Homes have a much better chance of surviving a wildfire when homeowners follow defensible space requirements and various home-hardening recommendations like using vent covers to keep out flying embers, said Yana Valachovic, a fire scientist with the University of California's Cooperative Extension in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. She is helping CalFire survey the LA fires' destruction this week.
"I'm hesitant to put a number factor on exactly how much greater survival rate we'll get," she said. "But, you know, we have to do everything to push the equation."
Lessons from the burn zone: Why some homes survived the L.A. wildfires
(LA Times) Alex Wigglesworth and Joseph Serna, Jan. 17
… Yana Valachovic, a fire scientist at the University of California, said some of the spared houses were tucked away from prevailing wind currents so that embers didn’t hit them. Some of those still-standing properties even have cardboard boxes left over from the holidays awaiting recycling collection, untouched, said Valachovic, who is in the field studying why some homes withstood the Palisades and Eaton fires.
In other situations where combustibles were close to homes, embers likely ignited those materials and created spot fires, or entered open windows or vents, she said.
What Valachovic has seen so far is consistent with other wildfires that have reached built-out areas: the Lahaina fire on Maui, the Marshall fire near Boulder, Colo., the Camp fire in Paradise and the Tubbs fire in Santa Rosa, she said. “We don’t fight earthquakes, but we mitigate them — we strap water heaters to walls, harden structures. Wildfires aren’t that different, really.”
Why Are the LA Wildfires So Extreme?
(StarTalk) Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jan. 17
How did the Los Angeles fires start? Neil deGrasse Tyson sits down with climate scientist Daniel Swain to learn about the destructive fires in The Palisades and Eaton, the climate science at play, and how we can build back for a more fire-resistant future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDZ2fR8QdTg
Bird Flu has Spread to Humans. How Worried Should We Be?
(KPFA Terra Verde) Maureen Nandini Mitra, Jan. 17
…Yesterday, the CDC confirmed that a San Francisco child was the second child in the Bay Area, and the country, to contract the virus.
So how serious is the situation? How worried should we be? What should we be doing to safeguard ourselves and animals? To answer these questions, Earth Island Journal editor-in-chief and Terra Verde cohost Maureen Nandini Mitra talks with the two experts, Dr. Maurice Pitesky from the University of California, Davis’ School for Veterinary Medicine, and Dr. William Schaffner of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
Is it safe to eat my backyard fruit in LA?
(LA Public Press) Andrea Gutierrez, Jan. 17
“People had the exact same question in the North Bay in 2017,” said Julia Van Soelen Kim, food systems advisor for the UC Cooperative Extension in Marin County. That year’s Tubbs Fire became California’s most destructive at the time. “It was the first really big urban fire with thousands of structures that were destroyed, so that, in its very nature, is different from a typical wildland forest fire,” she said.
… “Minimizing exposure to ash is the number one consideration,” Van Soelen Kim said.
The Santa Anas are carrying ashes (and burnt book pages) to many doorsteps across LA, and those ashes contain toxins like asbestos and lead. The county public health department has warned about the dangers of inhaling the ash.
But Van Soelen Kim said the mere presence of wildfire ash in your garden and on your produce does not necessarily mean it’s inedible. A 2019 study she conducted with colleagues in Northern California found that produce may be safe to consume after careful decontamination.
https://lapublicpress.org/2025/01/backyard-fruit-fire-eaton-palisade-ash
Debunking L.A. Wildfire Myths with Climate Scientist Dr. Daniel Swain
(Factually) Adam Conover, Jan. 17
Southern California has been utterly decimated by wildfires, with the neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades and Altadena being virtually leveled to the ground. In this special episode, released outside of our usual schedule, Adam sits down with UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain to unpack what really happened—both in terms of the environmental factors and the disaster response, and to dispel the misinformation swirling around these devastating fires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P2O1F_6ikY
Where are the eggs? How shortages reflect a contagion
(Bay City News) Ruth Dusseault, Jan. 15
…Maurice Pitesky with the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine said this outbreak of bird flu is unprecedented.
"It's the worst one in California, in the country, in the world and in history," he said. "You look at the last 7,000 or 10,000 years of human history, since the beginning of the agricultural revolution, I can't think of any way you can measure it where this would not be number one. Geographically, it's hit six or seven continents."
The virus has been seen in both wild and domestic birds, as well as domestic mammals, he said. It is an RNA virus, which he says can transform.
"It's segmented. It's got this amazing capacity to mutate and shift and reabsorb."
"We're finding it in the environment, in human wastewater, dairy lagoons, etc.," he continued. "It's in dairy, it's in poultry. It's shown the ability to infect pigs. The significance of that from a food security perspective -- three of the main animal proteins that humans consume on the planet -- is pretty significant. There have been some people that have been sickened that we can't find a connection to poultry or dairy, so that's concerning."
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/egg-shortages/3761568/
Experts say one practice could have slowed down devastating LA fires
(SF Chronicle) Kurtis Alexander, Jan. 15
… “A good portion of fire damage is preventable,” said Yana Valachovic, a fire scientist who works to promote community resiliency for the University of California’s Cooperative Extension program. “I can’t tell you that you’ll reduce your risk by a certain percentage, but you’ll reduce your loss. I can tell you that.”
https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/la-fires-prevention-20034713.php
More Americans Than Ever Are Living in Wildfire Areas. L.A. Is No Exception.
(NY Times) Mira Rojanasakul and Brad Plumer, Jan. 15
… “We need to start looking at these wildfires as inevitable and learn to coexist with them,” said Max Moritz, a wildfire expert at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Since 2008, California has adopted some of the strictest rules in the country for new homes in high-risk fire areas, requiring developers to use fire-resistant materials and to provide access to water for firefighters. Another rule, adopted in 2023 but not yet in force, would require homeowners in fire-prone areas to remove anything flammable — such as bushes or wood fences — from within five feet of their home. Some communities use orchards, farmland or other buffers against encroaching wildfires, said Dr. Moritz.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/01/15/climate/los-angeles-housing-fire-risk.html
Los Angeles Needs to Fireproof Communities, Not Just Houses
(Wired) Matt Reynolds, Jan. 15
There are all kinds of buffer zones, says Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist at UC Santa Barbara. Vineyards, golf courses, baseball fields, and public parks can all be used to provide an open, less flammable space between homes and more flammable vegetation, to attempt to stop and slow fires before they enter neighborhoods. Once fires spread into denser urban areas they become urban conflagrations with whole blocks in danger of going up in flames, as has been the case in northern and eastern Los Angeles.
https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-build-a-fire-resistant-neighborhood/
An even bigger threat is looming behind California’s fires
(Vox) Umair Irfan, Jan. 15
…Thomas Harter, a professor at UC Davis studying water infrastructure, said that the state has shifted between wet years and dry years in equal measure through much of its history.
…The result is that California can’t simply dam its way out of water scarcity and will have to make some difficult decisions about who gets to use water. “There is no two ways around the fact that we have to dial back the amount of water we are using,” Harter said.
https://www.vox.com/climate/394817/california-fires-water-crisis-groundwater-climate-change
How to Protect Your Home From Wildfires
(New York Times) Josh Ocampo, Jan. 12
“Why the embers are so problematic is that they can travel long distance,” said Yana S. Valachovic, a fire scientist at the University of California. “They can travel up to a mile or more.”
In the event of wildfires near you — and assuming you’re not in an urgent situation that requires immediate evacuation — be sure to close all windows and skylights. “You want to shut your structure down so that it’s not going to create more openings for embers to come in,” Ms. Valachovic said. “That also means actually closing the cat and dog door if you have those, because wind can push those doors open.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/12/realestate/how-to-protect-homes-wildfires.html
The Airborne Flames
(New York Times) Raymond Zhong, Jan. 14
At their peak, the winds have forced firefighters to focus on something else: evacuating residents. “You’re just trying to keep people alive,” Lenya Quinn-Davidson, a fire expert in Northern California, said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/14/briefing/la-wildfires-firefighting.html
The L.A. fires skipped over this historic avenue. Neighbors credit ‘trees of God’
(SF Chronicle) Julie Johnson, Jan. 14
…Bill Stewart, retired director of Berkeley Forests, part of University of California Cooperative Extension, said all plants burn, but cedar trees are generally less flammable than other types of vegetation such as pine needles, which have especially incendiary resin in their needles. And he said mature, well-maintained trees are far more resistant to fire than younger ones.
“They are lucky they planted those trees and not others,” Stewart said.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/eaton-fire-altadena-20033721.php
LA wildfire rages as drought and Santa Ana winds intensify conditions
(Chosen Biz) Hong A-reum, Jan. 14
Daniel Swain, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), noted, "It’s like the atmosphere is acting like a hair dryer," adding that these strong winds have made the Southern California region more dangerous.
Experts have emphasized that this wildfire is not merely a natural disaster but a calamity resulting from climate change. Max Moritz, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, warned NBC, "Climate change is making rainfall patterns irregular and extreme," adding that "the extreme alternation between wet and dry periods increases the risk of these large wildfires."
* This article has been translated from Korean using the OpenAI translation tool.
https://biz.chosun.com/en/en-science/2025/01/14/L3FJIAURPBBGFJDAZ22QPKAYDU
Could better brush clearance have helped slow the spread of the Palisades fire?
(LA Times) Alex Wigglesworth, Jan. 13
…Large-scale attempts to preemptively thin or burn these coastal areas could therefore actually make the landscape more flammable in the long run, said Max Moritz, a cooperative extension wildfire specialist at UC Santa Barbara.
“Those are trade-offs that, as a society, you have to think about if they’re worthwhile,” Moritz said.
Given the weather conditions, Moritz is skeptical that more landscape-level brush clearance would have done much to slow the fire’s initial spread. He also noted that landscape-level brush management is distinct from brush clearance around individual homes, which is typically the responsibility of the property owner and can help give firefighters opportunities to protect structures.
What Impact Are the LA Wildfires Having on You?
(KQED Forum) Mina Kim, Jan. 13
Guests:
Saul Gonzalez, co-host, The California Report, KQED
Daniel Swain, climate scientist, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR); UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (UCLA IoES)
Chris Harvey, Public Information Officer with CalFire INT-4
https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101908479/what-impact-are-the-la-wildfires-having-on-you
Why Los Angeles, America's most fire-ready city, became overwhelmed by flames
(NPR All Things Considered) Kirk Siegler, Jan. 12
…But this past week has tested the best, says UCLA researcher Edith de Guzman.
"You have embers flying miles apart, fire ignition is extremely difficult to predict or control and it's happening simultaneously in so many places," she says.
Climate change and wooden home making the situation worse
De Guzman says climate change is accelerating the extremes. The past two years have been extraordinarily wet here, building up vegetation — but this year? No rainy season at all so far.
‘Half the Country’s Thinking Magically’: California Fire Victims Grapple with the Political Paralysis Over Climate Change
(Politico) David Siders, Jan. 11
There’s an idea I’ve heard from many Democrats, especially in California, that more experience with natural disasters might spur more urgency around climate change. And in fact, polling suggests people affected by extreme weather do draw a link. California’s former governor, Jerry Brown, told me when we met last month in Sacramento that Trump might represent something of an opening for Democrats on the issue: “If the assault on the environment is as extreme as expected, then I believe the fervor for protecting the environment will increase far beyond what it is today.” Attitudes about climate might shift, he said, when “we get a big set of fires or floods, which we’re going to get.”
He was right, it turned out, about the set of fires. And the climate science was right there with it. The same day I visited Altadena, a group of researchers released a study describing how climate change had accelerated “hydroclimate whiplash” between wet and dry conditions, increasing the risk of fire. Its lead author, Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California’s agriculture and natural resources division and UCLA, told me that one of the challenges when it comes to public opinion about climate change is that while people “correctly understand that climate change exists,” many “don’t feel it is viscerally or tangibly affecting them.”
Major catastrophes are relatively rare, and when they do happen, not everyone draws a connection to climate. He called it an “information crisis.”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/01/11/altadena-california-fires-climate-change-00197658
Can Rain Put Out A Wildfire?
(Times Now) Aradhana Brahma, Jan. 11
Max Moritz, a wildfire expert at University of California noted that destructive wildfires like those in the Los Angeles area will continue to endanger people's lives and livelihoods because climate change is affecting rainfall patterns and increasing the likelihood and severity of droughts.
In conversation with NBC News, Moritz said, "We haven’t had any substantial rain for hundreds of days."
https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/can-rain-put-out-a-wildfire-article-117131576
Why Misinformation About the L.A. Fires Keeps Spreading
(Heatmap) Jeva Lange, Jan. 10
…I’ve also seen the fires blamed on “forest management,” although the landscape around L.A. isn’t trees; it’s shrubland. “This kind of environment isn’t typically exposed to low intensity, deep, frequent fires creeping through the understory, like many dry forests of the Sierra Nevadas or even Eastern Oregon and Washington,” where the U.S. Forest Service’s history of fire has created the conditions for the high-intensity megafires of today, Max Moritz, a cooperative extension wildfire specialist at U.C. Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, told me earlier this week. The shrublands around L.A., rather, “naturally have long-interval, high-intensity, stand-replacing fires” — that is, fires that level almost all vegetation in an area before new growth begins.
https://heatmap.news/climate/los-angeles-fires-misinformation
Avian flu outbreaks cause shortages, drive up prices of eggs for consumers
(KRBC) Noah Abrams, Jan. 10
…To blame for climbing prices and falling egg supplies? The wave of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza sweeping the US and commercial chicken facilities, said Maurice Pitesky, a poultry expert at the University of California, Davis.
"When you look at the big picture in California, we have lost over 70% of our laying hens in the last several months," Pitesky said. "That has contributed to our shortage of eggs."
Pitesky said even when egg production is at full capacity, California is a net-importer of eggs.
"Hydroclimate whiplash" is wreaking havoc across the U.S.
(Earth.com) Andrei Ionescu, Jan. 10
…“This whiplash sequence in California has increased fire risk twofold,” explained lead author Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources.
“First, by greatly increasing the growth of flammable grass and brush in the months leading up to fire season, and then by drying it out to exceptionally high levels with the extreme dryness and warmth that followed.”
https://www.earth.com/news/climate-whiplash-from-floods-to-droughts-and-wildfires
Climate Scientists Warn of Growing Whiplash Effect on Weather Patterns
(KQED) Ezra David Romero, Jan. 9
…New research cements the idea that California’s weather whiplash is increasing as the atmosphere warms due to human-caused climate change.
“I see the last decade as a preview of what we should expect to see more of,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources and UCLA. Except that “the wettest wets and the driest dries we’ve seen recently are not the wettest wets and the driest dries we will see in the coming decades.”
The Tide Could Finally Be Turning Against the LA Fires
(Wired) Alec Luhn, Jan. 9
…Los Angeles will face the prospect of rebuilding destroyed communities. That’s an opportunity to make them less vulnerable to the next fire, says Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist with the University of California Cooperative Extension.
Although houses are in many cases required to be built with fire-resistant materials, California law doesn’t say anything about how they should be laid out. Techniques like clustering homes rather than spreading them out among the trees can make them easier to defend from fire, and easier to evacuate, he says.
“That is part of the hope here, that we can do some of this better, smarter, and safer,” Moritz says.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-tide-could-finally-be-turning-against-the-la-fires
‘Entirely foreseeable’: The L.A. fires are the worst-case scenario experts feared
(NBC) Evan Bush, Lewis Kamb and Adiel Kaplan, Jan. 9
…Research does not suggest that Santa Ana wind events are becoming likelier because of climate change. But rising temperatures and longer droughts mean a higher likelihood of conditions ripe for fire when the winds strike, according to Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA.
“Climate change is increasing the overlap between extremely dry vegetation conditions later in the season and the occurrence of these wind events,” he said in a recent YouTube address.
Climatologist Daniel Swain Warned SoCal of “Extreme Fire Danger” Before the Catastrophic Blaze
(Outside) Frederick Dreier, Jan. 9
This past Saturday, January 4, Daniel Swain, a climate scientist for the University of California Los Angeles, published a lengthy post on his blog, WeatherWest.com. In the post, Swain warned of an “extreme offshore wind and fire-weather event” in Southern California in the coming days.
https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/environment/daniel-swain-los-angeles-fires
The dangerous combination fueling the L.A. fires: Exceptional dryness and strong winds
(NBC News) Denise Chow, Jan. 8
…“We haven’t had any substantial rain for hundreds of days,” said Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
With climate change altering rainfall patterns and making droughts both more likely and more intense, destructive wildfires like the ones in the Los Angeles area will continue to threaten people's lives and livelihoods, Moritz said.
…Parts of San Diego County are experiencing their driest start to the winter season in more than 150 years, according to the Weather West blog by Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA.
The addition of the winds was like an “atmospheric blowdryer,” Swain wrote.
…“Normally everything would be wet by now, which means there would be much less of a chance of an ignition leading to a big fire that gets out of control like what we’re seeing now,” Moritz said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/wildfires/what-fueled-la-fires-dry-conditions-wind-rcna186801
No ‘water system in the world’ could have handled the LA fires. How the region could have minimized the damage
(CNN) Majlie de Puy Kamp, Curt Devine, Casey Tolan, Blake Ellis, Melanie Hicken, Rob Kuznia, Scott Glover, Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Audrey Ash and Nelli Black, Jan. 10
…Water lines could also be upgraded to handle increased demand in the event of a drastic fire and better guarantee pressure to fire hydrants. “There are absolutely actions we can take,” said Erik Porse, director of the California Institute for Water Resources at the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. “We can make investments in larger distribution lines to maintain pressure or help to refill those [storage] tanks faster.”
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/10/us/california-la-fires-emergency-prep-invs/index.html
Anger after fire evacuation alert sent in error to millions in LA
(BBC) Christal Hayes & Max Matza, Jan. 10
"The problem is that the scope of the disaster is so vast that there are thousands of firefighters and hundred of fire engines drawing upon water," Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the California Institute for Water Resources, told the BBC.
"Ultimately only so much water can flow through pipes at a time."
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17egd54e1no
Trump makes misguided accusations about California water management amid wildfires
(NBC News) Aria Bendix, Jan. 10
“At any given year, there’s a fairly rigorous process to allocate water based on availability, looking at what’s in storage and being able to evaluate how much water can be used this year versus what we need to save in case we have a drought next year,” said Erik Porse, director of the California Institute for Water Resources.
Water tanks went dry in Pacific Palisades, hampering efforts to fight fire
(NBC News) Aria Bendix, Jan.8
… Erik Porse, director of the California Institute for Water Resources, said that it might have helped had there been more water tanks in the Palisades area — but that ultimately, urban water systems like the ones there are designed for putting out house fires, not widespread blazes.
“We’re looking at a large burned area that’s not just the buildings, but it’s also the entire surrounding landscape. There’s just not enough water that you could store up in tanks to be able to deal with that,” he said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/wildfires/california-fire-water-tanks-went-dry-palisades-rcna186860
Climate 'whiplash' linked to raging LA fires
(BBC) Matt McGrath, Jan 9
"This whiplash sequence in California has increased fire risk twofold," said lead author Daniel Swain from UCLA.
"First, by greatly increasing the growth of flammable grass and brush in the months leading up to fire season, and then by drying it out to exceptionally high levels with the extreme dryness and warmth that followed."
The researchers say that with ever