Habitats – Enviro Updates

SuzanneApril 12, 2025April 14, 2025Habitats, Wildlifecolony collapse disorder, honeybees, native bees, pollinators

Op-Ed: Sonoma County’s bees need a little help

Peter Coyote, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The Sonoma County-based Pollinator Advocacy Alliance is advocating a countywide ordinance to address these impacts and urging Sonoma County residents to support limiting and regulating the number and placement of commercial hives in Sonoma County, protecting native pollinators and supporting sustainable local beekeeping practices.

Residents of Sonoma County may soon receive inquiries from commercial beekeepers seeking to overwinter their hives on private land in return for honey. Here are some facts people should know before accepting the offer.

The majority of these bees come from industrial operations where they’ve been worked hard, exposed to and weakened by pesticides and diseases. According to the American Beekeeping Federation and the American Honey Producers Association, in a letter to the secretary of agriculture, current bee die-offs are “unprecedented.” The Apiary Inspectors of America and Food Business News cite the following data:

U.S. beekeepers lost 55.1% of their colonies during 2023-2024, the highest loss rate since records began in 2010, and 15 points higher than the 13-year average loss rate of 40.3%.

SuzanneApril 12, 2025April 14, 2025Agriculture/Food System, Habitats, Land Use, Wildlifedairies, National Park Service, Point Reyes National Seashore, ranching, tule elk, water pollution

Rep. Jared Huffman says House investigation of Point Reyes ranching deal driven by ‘partisan opportunists’

John Beck, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Jared Huffman weighs in on the House committee investigation launched by Republicans and the clouded future of the settlement to end most seashore ranching.

When Rep. Jared Huffman was named the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Natural Resources in December, he summoned a sports analogy to describe how he might face challenges down the road. “I believe we are better prepared than ever to tackle what lies ahead next Congress,” he said. “This is a team sport, and I am excited and ready to lead this team.”

But this past week, he learned that in committee politics, like in sports, there are trick plays you never see coming. Not long after waking up Thursday morning, Huffman, D-San Rafael, said he was blindsided by the announcement of a sweeping investigation into the controversial deal to end most ranching in Point Reyes.

Launched by committee chairman Bruce Westerman, a Republican former football player from Arkansas, it was a partisan shot fired directly into Huffman’s own backyard. An attempt to wrestle control of the 71,000-acre park that has been the focus of intense debate, it will likely prolong a battle many thought had finally been resolved — love it or hate it — after The Nature Conservancy brokered a deal to pay ranchers on 12 out of 14 Point Reyes farms around $30 million to leave the leased land their families had been farming long before the peninsula became a national park in 1963. The agreement, announced Jan. 8, in the final weeks of the Biden administration, was embraced by all parties involved in several years of closed-door mediation, including the three environmental groups that had sued the park in 2022, alleging environmental violations by the ranches.

SuzanneMarch 14, 2025March 21, 2025Habitats, Water, Wildlifeamphibians, Porter-Cologne, vernal pools, wetlands, wetlands ecosystem

‘Puddles and ditches’: California considers protecting wetlands from Trump order

Alastair Bland, CALMATTERS

Legislators and environmentalists are considering how to safeguard California’s wetlands after the Trump administration announced its plans to rein in — once again — the nation’s 53-year-old law protecting waterways.

At stake are seasonal streams, ponds and pools, which are only inundated part of the time and found throughout the Southwest. In California, an estimated 80% of all linear miles of streams and rivers are ephemeral or intermittent.

The Trump administration’s plan to alter the Clean Water Act’s definition of wetlands to exclude such waterways could render vast areas of California essentially unprotected from developers and growers.

The plan proposed by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin on Wednesday comes as no surprise. Trump ordered the same move during his first stint in the White House. In 2017 Trump called many wetlands “puddles and ditches” and said the rules were “one of the worst examples of federal regulation and it has truly run amok.” The Biden administration in 2022 enacted new rules that reversed his decision.

During Trump’s first term, California officials said they would take action to protect the state’s wetlands from the president’s order. The State Water Resources Control Board in 2019 adopted new rules to strengthen protection of waters and establish a “single accepted definition of wetlands at the state level.”

Now a new bill introduced last month, Senate Bill 601, would build in more protection, amending the state Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act to copy existing federal protections. It would, among other provisions, require new permitting rules for pollutants from business operations or construction.

SuzanneMarch 6, 2025March 10, 2025Habitats, Wildlifebutterflies, climate change impacts, habitat loss, insecticides, pollinators

First national analysis finds America’s butterflies are disappearing at ‘catastrophic’ rate

Seth Borenstein, ASSOCIATED PRESS

America’s butterflies are disappearing because of insecticides, climate change and habitat loss, with the number of the winged beauties down 22% since 2000, a new study finds.

The first countrywide systematic analysis of butterfly abundance found that the number of butterflies in the Lower 48 states has been falling on average 1.3% a year since the turn of the century, with 114 species showing significant declines and only nine increasing, according to a study in Thursday’s journal Science.

“Butterflies have been declining the last 20 years,” said study co-author Nick Haddad, an entomologist at Michigan State University. “And we don’t see any sign that that’s going to end.”

A team of scientists combined 76,957 surveys from 35 monitoring programs and blended them for an apples-to-apples comparison and ended up counting 12.6 million butterflies over the decades. Last month an annual survey that looked just at monarch butterflies, which federal officials plan to put on the threatened species list, counted a nearly all-time low of fewer than 10,000, down from 1.2 million in 1997.

Many of the species in decline fell by 40% or more.

SuzanneFebruary 12, 2025February 17, 2025Habitats, Water, WildlifeEel River, Lake Mendocino, PG&E, Potter Valley diversion, Russian River, salmon, salmon habitat, Scott Dam, water flows, watersheds

Historic pact reached on future Eel River water flows into Russian River

Mary Callahan, PRESS DEMOCRAT

A historic agreement has been reached to manage water flow from the Eel River to the Russian River.
The deal establishes limits on diversions, focusing on fish protection.
Water rights are transferred to the Round Valley Tribes, supporting river restoration efforts.

Officials from three counties and the Round Valley Indian Tribes have reached a historic agreement that paves the way for continued diversions from the Eel River to bolster flows in the Russian River.

The agreement represents a critical development for anyone whose water comes from the Russian River.

The complex accord resulted from years of negotiations to preserve supplemental flows in the Russian River, the water lifeline for residents, ranchers and wildlife in Sonoma and Mendocino counties. The agreement also supports the restoration and fish recovery in the Eel River, which was crucial to securing support from environmental interests, tribes and Humboldt County residents.

It is, at last, the “two-basin solution” envisioned by regional stakeholders in 2019 and even earlier, when Pacific Gas & Electric first raised questions about whether to continue operating the small, aging hydroelectric plant in Potter Valley through which Eel River flows have been redirected.

The utility is now on track to decommission the plant, tear down Scott Dam, which impounds Lake Pillsbury in Lake County, and Cape Horn Dam 12 miles downstream, where Eel River water has long been diverted.

SuzanneJanuary 21, 2025January 22, 2025Habitats, Water, Wildlifechinook, coho, Eel River, endangered species, Potter Valley diversion, Russian River, steelhead

Rep. Jared Huffman secures $15 million for Eel River Dam removal and Russian River diversion plan

UKIAH DAILY JOURNAL

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, recently announced that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has awarded Round Valley Indian Tribes and the Sonoma County Water Agency $15 million toward implementing the Two-Basin Solution for water diversions from the Eel River to the Russian River.

In a press release, Huffman explains that “the funds through the Inflation Reduction Act will fund a major Eel River estuary project supported by the tribes, and put a down payment on construction of a new wintertime diversion to the Russian River following the removal of two salmon-blocking dams on the Eel.”

“This funding shows what can be accomplished thanks to the strong partnerships in the Eel and Russian river basins. We’ve now reached a significant milestone in restoring salmon and other aquatic life in the Eel River while protecting a key water supply for communities in Mendocino, Sonoma, and Marin counties,” Huffman is quoted as saying in the release.

Explaining that “the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. plans to remove Scott and Van Arsdale dams that no longer produce electricity but prevent salmon from reaching 200 miles of spawning habitat, Huffman also notes that “Round Valley Indians Tribes and Sonoma Water worked together on the application and are also working with Mendocino Inland Water and Power Commission on a plan that will benefit both basins.”

SuzanneJanuary 8, 2025January 15, 2025Agriculture/Food System, Habitats, Land Use, Wildlifedairy ranches, Point Reyes National Seashore, tule elk

Deal announced to end most ranching in Point Reyes National Seashore

John Beck, NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Nearly three years after environmental groups sued the National Park Service, most of the ranches in Point Reyes National Seashore have agreed to shut down and stop farming as part of a landmark settlement, the park announced late Wednesday.

The park will phase out farming at 12 out of 14 ranches operating within the seashore over a period of 15 months, said park spokesperson Melanie Gunn. Two other ranches are seeking to continue under new long-term lease extensions, she said.

The deal was brokered by The Nature Conservancy in closed-door talks involving the ranches, the environmental groups and the park service.

SuzanneDecember 20, 2024December 27, 2024Habitats, Water, WildlifeChinook salmon, fish hatchery, salmon habitat, San Pablo Bay, Sonoma Creek, Sugarloaf Ridge State Park

Spawning Chinook salmon return to Sonoma Creek in wake of recent storms

Martin Espinoza, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Copious early rainfall and efforts aimed at restoring local salmon and steelhead trout habitat have made such scenes possible, local ecologists say.

A female Chinook salmon swam steadily against the current in a shallow section of Sonoma Creek as several male fish splashed about behind her, jockeying for position, waiting for her to lay her eggs.

Just a few yards downstream on Wednesday, near the bank of the creek, another female rolled onto her side and smacked the gravel and rocks with her tail, doing her part to dig a “redd” or nest as the current flushed away silt and sediment that can be harmful to egg development.

This spawning scene for Chinook, or king salmon, in the headwaters of Sonoma Creek within Sugarloaf Ridge State Park is an uncommon sight for most local residents.

But since late November, hundreds of Chinook have traveled up the watershed from San Pablo Bay and been spotted in numerous tributaries that drain Sonoma Valley and its surrounding elevations.

Heavy rains in November and December have created ideal stream flows that have allowed spawning salmon to make their way into the region’s headwaters, said Steven Lee, research program manager of the Sonoma Ecology Center, which monitors the health of the Sonoma Creek watershed.

SuzanneDecember 18, 2024December 27, 2024Habitats, Water, Wildlifeaquatic life, groundwater, salmon, stream dewatering, well ordinance

Sonoma County must suspend non-emergency well drilling under court order

Emma Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

It is the latest development in a lengthy legal fight between the county and environmental groups who contend heavy groundwater pumping is doing harm to streams and aquatic wildlife. The county, those groups say, must conduct deeper study of those impacts and craft stronger regulations to safeguard natural resources that belong to the public.

Sonoma County has once again suspended permitting for non-emergency well drilling, this time under the order of a Sonoma County judge.

The order follows an August ruling in which Superior Court Judge Bradford DeMeo determined the county violated state environmental law in its attempt to draft a controversial ordinance governing wells and groundwater use.

In light of that finding, the county must halt non-emergency well-permitting until it can complete an environmental review of the ordinance in alignment with state law, the court ordered.

SuzanneDecember 6, 2024December 10, 2024Habitats, Land Use, Wildlifedairy ranches, National Park Service, Point Reyes National Seashore, tule elk

National Park Service agrees to halt removal of disputed Point Reyes seashore fence, but Tomales Point elk are already roaming freely

John Beck, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The National Park Service agreed in court Friday to stop taking down the fence in Point Reyes National Seashore that separates several hundred tule elk from adjacent dairy farms and ranches, bowing for now to a last-minute legal challenge from ranchers.

It’s the latest twist in the ongoing saga of an 8-foot-high fence that environmentalists are calling the “ungulate Berlin Wall” and ranchers see as the next step in an ongoing push to oust them from the park.

“It’s a win for what it’s worth,” seashore rancher Kevin Lunny said of Friday’s court proceeding.

In the hearing in U.S. District Court Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley’s San Francisco courtroom, attorneys for the federal government agreed to halt fence removal that started Tuesday morning, a day after park officials issued a decision to remove the nearly 50-year-old fence, culminating several years of public comment and environmental assessment.

Environmental Center of Sonoma County

Category: Habitats