‘Please stay away’: Major forest near Tahoe closes because of Caldor Fire [San Francisco Chronicle]
The entire swath of Eldorado National Forest, southwest of Lake Tahoe, is now closed to the public because of the extreme behavior of the Caldor Fire. Late Tuesday evening, Eldorado Forest Supervisor Jeff Marsolais issued an emergency forestwide closure that prohibits members of the public from “going into or being upon National Forest System lands.” The closure shuts down access to nearly 800,000 acres of public land. All forest service roads and trails in the Eldorado National Forest, including the Rubicon Trail and more than 50 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail that traverse the forest, are closed. In the past 24 hours, the Caldor Fire grew from 6,500 acres to 53,000 acres, prompting mass evacuations in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. California Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency for El Dorado County. The fire destroyed much of Grizzly Flats, population 1,200.
Fires harming California’s efforts to curb climate change [The Associated Press]
Record-setting blazes raging across Northern California are wiping out forests central to plans to reduce carbon emissions and testing projects designed to protect communities, the state’s top fire official said Wednesday, hours before a fast-moving new blaze erupted. Fires that are “exceedingly resistant to control” in drought-sapped vegetation are on pace to exceed the amount of land burned last year — the most in modern history — and having broader effects, said Thom Porter, chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The largest current fire in the West, known as the Dixie Fire, is the first to have burned from east to west across the spine of California, where the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountains meet, the state’s fire chief said. It was also one of several massive fires that have destroyed areas of the timber belt that serve as a centerpiece of the state’s climate reduction plan because trees can store carbon dioxide. “We are seeing generational destruction of forests because of what these fires are doing,” Porter said. “This is going to take a long time to come back from.”
What data shows about Dixie Fire’s rapid growth and how it’s different [San Francisco Chronicle]
An analysis of Dixe’s growth path shows that Dixie’s biggest growth spurts happened during days with high temperatures, low humidity, and strong winds. The National Weather Service calls days with these conditions “red flag warning” days because of the increased fire danger in these conditions. The Dixie Fire started as a single blaze from a fallen tree near the Cresta Dam in Plumas County, but a perfect storm of bad conditions — extreme dry conditions, high winds, warm temperature and inaccessible terrain — fueled its growth into a massive fire sprawling across four counties.
California farmworkers face risks from heat, smoke. Regulations offer little protection [Fresno Bee]
Another surge of hot weather is hitting Fresno and the surrounding area this week, as smoke from nearby wildfires continues to engulf the region. These extreme conditions are leaving hundreds of thousands of farmworkers at especially high risk for heat-related illness and death, according to a recent study from UC Davis. The danger heat illness poses to farmworkers has been a major concern for decades, but increasingly higher temperatures, a deepening drought and a longer fire season due to climate change have worsened outdoor working conditions in recent years. “Agricultural workers are the most vulnerable to heat stress,” Schenker said. “Over the past two decades, the rate of occupational heat stress fatalities has increased coincident with the rising ambient temperature. And if you’re doing heavy work, you’re increasing your risk of heat stress substantially.” Just last month, Fresno hit an all-time high during a record-shattering heatwave, becoming the hottest midsummer month in history. Twenty seven of July’s 31 days saw triple-digit highs, with the highest temperature in Fresno reaching 114 degrees on July 11, breaking the previous record of 110 degrees set in 1961.
https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article253582334.html
California drought dims one family’s Eden: ‘Without water, you’re nothing’ [Los Angeles Times]
Fourteen years ago, Heriberto Sevilla came across a ranch on the outskirts of Madera set among fields of stalk grass and bright wildflowers and natural lakes created by heavy rains. So the 51-year-old native of Chilapa, Mexico, bought it and made sure the property included a functioning well. Amid two years of relentless drought, the well’s output slowly tapered off. The family was forced to buy gallons of precious water from the grocery store to take showers, clean dishes and cook. They borrowed water from their neighbor to irrigate their almond and peach trees and feed their goats, sheep, chickens and horses. “Without water, you’re nothing,” Heriberto said. The Sevillas are just one of thousands households across the San Joaquin Valley whose wells have gone dry amid increasingly hot temperatures and drought. Every year, a new town in this verdant agricultural region seems to be pushed over the brink by water scarcity.
Tractors Finally Get the Tesla Treatment [Bloomberg]
Wente Vineyards typically picks its grapes in the late summer and fall, but it harvests its complaints months earlier. If Wente crews dust the plants after 6 a.m. on a weekday, they run afoul of laws regulating air quality around schools and daycares. Dust before 6 a.m. and the phone starts ringing with calls from people who prefer a traditional alarm clock to the rumble of a diesel tractor. Next season, however, Wente hopes to be more simpatico with its neighbors thanks to two new electric machines from Monarch Tractor. The 12-foot long vehicles would start crawling the property at four a.m., with their battery-driven motors making about as much noise as a toaster. What’s more, the rigs would drive themselves, so Wente’s field hands can chaperone far from the cloud of fungicide, which tends to irritate skin and eyes. “It’s really fitting the bill on a number of fronts in terms of making everybody’s lives better,” Wente says.
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2021-monarch-electric-tractors-self-driving/
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