Wildlife – Enviro Updates

SuzanneApril 18, 2025April 20, 2025Agriculture/Food System, Water, WildlifeCoyote Dam, endangered species, Lake Mendocino, Potter Valley diversion, salmonids, sediment, water supply

New momentum in decades-long quest to upgrade Lake Mendocino’s Coyote Valley Dam

Austin Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

With $500,000 secured by Rep. Huffman, officials have launched a study that could result in raising the level of the 67-year-old earthen dam impounding Lake Mendocino.

Striding along the southern edge of Lake Mendocino last week, Rep. Jared Huffman spotted a bald eagle soaring 150 feet above, a fish in its talons.

An avid angler himself, Huffman then pointed to a nearby stand of partly submerged trees — prime bass habitat, he noted.

If he had a rod, said Huffman, the ranking member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, “I would be casting right into that.”

But the congressman, along with a group of local officials, tribal leaders, and members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, had work to do.

The group had gathered last Friday to sign an agreement geared to deliver significant future upgrades to the 67-year-old Coyote Valley Dam, which impounds Lake Mendocino, a reservoir providing flood control for nearby Ukiah, and other communities.

SuzanneApril 16, 2025April 20, 2025Sonoma Coast, Water, Wildlifedams, fisheries, habitat restoration, salmon season, water flows

CalTrout remains committed to salmon recovery efforts as commercial salmon fishing season is shut down again

CALTROUT

On April 15, 2025, officials announced a third consecutive closure of California’s commercial salmon fishery as Chinook salmon populations continue to struggle across the state. Limited windows for recreational fishing will be allowed on specific dates to ensure minimal impact on the salmon population. This season’s decision by the Pacific Fishery Management Council marks the most consecutive closures the state has ever seen, exemplifying how dire the crisis for California’s native salmon has become.

While this decision will help keep populations afloat, the closure has significant economic repercussions, affecting the commercial fishing industry, recreational charter operators, and communities reliant on salmon-related industries from Monterey to the Oregon border. Additionally, salmon hold cultural importance for Native American Tribes in California. Low salmon numbers directly impact many Californians’ way of life.

“A third year of closure is brutal for towns along the North and Central coasts that rely on anglers to fill hotels and restaurants during the season,” said Charlie Schneider, California Trout Lost Coast Project Manager. “While a short recreational season will keep hope alive for some anglers, it won’t do much to support the communities and economies that rely on these fish. We aren’t going to stop working for those folks.”

California’s salmon crisis is a result of long-term habitat degradation, water mismanagement, and compounding impacts from climate change. The staggering loss of these fish is part of a larger biodiversity crisis. CalTrout and UC Davis’ SOS II: State of the Salmonids report found that 45% of California’s native salmon, trout, and steelhead are at risk of going extinct in the next 50 years if current trends continue.

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.

SuzanneApril 7, 2025April 14, 2025Water, Wildlifeendangered species, groundwater, salmon, salmon habitat, water supply, well ordinance

Op-Ed: Still time to settle county well ordinance dispute

Don McEnhill & Sean Bothwell, PRESS DEMOCRAT

It’s time to urge the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to act with responsibility and foresight by resolving the ongoing dispute over the county’s well permitting ordinance. The stakes couldn’t be higher for the future of our environment, economy and way of life.

The people of Sonoma County rely on our elected officials to create policy that is not only transparent and fact-based but also ensures the long-term health of our precious resources, including our salmon populations.

Our organizations, Russian Riverkeeper and California Coastkeeper Alliance, are in court challenging an amended well ordinance passed in 2023. We’re suing because we believe the ordinance violates the Public Trust Doctrine and the California Environmental Quality Act.

The Sonoma County Superior Court agreed and ruled that the county must revise the ordinance to reflect the facts on the ground. Instead of taking the time to protect our resources and comply with state law, the county has decided to continue to waste taxpayer money fighting a legal battle. It’s time for the county to come to the table and work toward a solution that genuinely benefits everyone.

SuzanneApril 6, 2025Sonoma Coast, WildlifeCDFW, crab season, Dungeness crab, humpback whale, whale entanglement

Sonoma County crabbers face new limits as state restricts season for 7th year — but can keep working

Alana Minkler, PRESS DEMOCRAT

For the seventh year in a row, California officials are limiting commercial Dungeness crab fishing along the coast — including off Sonoma County — to protect humpback whales from becoming entangled in fishing gear.

Charlton H. Bonham, director of the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, announced the new restrictions Thursday after aerial footage showed whales returning early to coastal feeding grounds.

All commercial crab fishing zones south of San Mateo County must now close for the season. Fishing Zone 3 — which stretches from the Mendocino County line to Pigeon Point and includes Bodega Bay and the San Francisco Bay — will remain open for now, but under tighter rules: crabbers must reduce their gear by half and avoid setting traps deeper than 30 fathoms, or about 180 feet.

The state has repeatedly delayed or shortened crab seasons since 2019 to protect migrating whales from becoming ensnared in vertical fishing lines.

SuzanneApril 1, 2025April 4, 2025Water, Wildlifeendangered species, groundwater, salmon, stream dewatering, streams, well ordinance

Sonoma County Board of Supervisors moves to appeal ruling that county’s well ordinance violated environmental law

Emma Murphy, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors will appeal a superior court judge’s ruling that the county violated state environmental law when revising a controversial ordinance governing wells and groundwater use.

The board’s decision is the latest evolution of the county’s yearslong legal battle with environmental advocates, which has thrown the county’s ability to issue groundwater well permits into limbo.

The county is currently issuing permits for nonemergency wells under a temporary court order pausing a separate court-ordered moratorium on well permitting.

The window for issuing permits will remain in place until the court decides whether to allow the county to continue permitting during the appeals process.

Last fall, Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Bradford DeMeo ordered the county to halt nonemergency well permitting until it can complete an environmental review of the ordinance in alignment with state law. The order was in addition to his determination that the county did not properly follow the state’s environmental review process.

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.

Environmental Center of Sonoma County

Category: Wildlife