California senator seeks expansion of land, water protection [Associated Press]
California Sen. Alex Padilla on Monday proposed a vast expansion of government protection for public lands and rivers that he said would fight climate change and safeguard natural treasures for generations to come. His proposal would combine three bills already passed in the House and looks to take advantage of the Democratic tilt in Washington that is more welcoming to environmental protection, compared to the Republican Trump administration. Overall, it would expand protections for over 1 million acres of California public lands.
California’s forest climate program could actually be increasing CO2 [ProPublica]
… The boundaries between forest types are nebulous, and the actual amount of carbon on any given acre depends on local climate conditions, conservation efforts, logging history and more. California’s top climate regulator, the Air Resources Board, glossed over much of this complexity in implementing the state’s program. … That decision has generated tens of millions of carbon credits with dubious climate value, according to a new analysis by CarbonPlan, a San Francisco nonprofit that analyzes the scientific integrity of carbon removal efforts. … The Air Resources Board defended the program and disputed the central thesis of the study.
Editorial: California’s extreme fire danger has never been greater. Why are Californians ignoring it? [San Francisco Chronicle]
A recent spate of spring blazes announced an alarmingly early start to California’s wildfire season, which is fast occupying too much of the year to fit any conventional understanding of the word “season.” With historically low moisture measurements suggesting vegetation is particularly primed to burn, too many Californians are about to find themselves in wildfires’ way. … The development patterns that have put more and more people up against fire-prone forest and chaparral can’t be easily undone. But we can and should stop adding housing, and fuel, to the fires.
Reducing booms from Napa County vineyard propane cannons remains work in progress [Napa Valley Register]
Some residents still say that propane cannons in vineyards make too much noise, but there are fewer complaints being lodged with Napa County since the county passed standards in 2019. The “booms” from the cannons in some south Napa County vineyards during the growing season are supposed to keep birds from feasting on valuable wine grapes. They also bother some residents. … Those 2020 complaints included some about cannons being fired at night, Cleveland said. Her office worked with the grower responsible for the nighttime blasts and found the blasts were inadvertent, with the cause being faulty remote wiring.
Truck drivers needed in Central Valley with busy season nearing [KFSN TV, Fresno]
… The pandemic led to a reduction in new truck drivers. … The pandemic also created a need for more shipping with so many people ordering online. But here in the Valley, fruits and vegetables represent a huge part of the cargo which will soon need to be shipped. “The main part of the harvest season, we’re just 4-6 weeks away from it really hitting heavy,” says Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen. “It definitely becomes a concern to us when you start talking about the ability for us to get the products to where they need to go.”
https://abc30.com/fresno-truck-driver-drivers-central-california-shortage/10575094/
Opinion: To support people and fish, California must maximize every drop of water, invest in water infrastructure [CalMatters]
… Given Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call for California to “move past the old water binaries,” it’s disappointing that the Sierra Club is creating division through misstatements and misleading the public. Westlands Water District has a long history of supporting local communities and investing in habitat restoration and conservation – strategies necessary to support the long-term health and sustainability of our environment and the fish and wildlife that depend on it.
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