northern california

Good owls and bad owls

May 29, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

In the forests of the Pacific Northwest, spotted owls have been the subject of environmental concern for more than 30 years. Over the past 20 years, northern spotted owl populations have declined by up to 80% as the birds have faced marginalized territories and increasing numbers of wildfires. Only about 3,000 of them remain on federal lands. Spotted owls are picky eaters and are not very adaptable.

The barred owl, a larger and more ornery species, has been moving in on spotted owl turf for 50 years, competing for food and space, and out-reproducing them and chasing them out of their nesting spots.

A last-ditch effort to rescue the northern spotted owl from possible extinction has been proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The plan would be to eradicate up to half a million barred owls over the next 30 years in Washington, Oregon, and Northern California. The owls would be dispatched using cheap and efficient methods, such as shotguns.

The concept of killing off vast numbers of barred owls is awful, and nobody likes the idea. However, other strategies have failed, and time is running out. The only way to preserve the northern spotted owl is to protect and increase its habitat and have fewer barred owls.

To say that the proposed plan is controversial is a massive understatement. A coalition of 75 wildlife and animal welfare organizations described it as a “colossally reckless action.”

A central issue in the debate is whether humans are responsible for this situation and should try to rectify it or, despite our desire to protect the spotted owl, we should just let nature take its course.

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They Shoot Owls in California, Don’t They?

Photo, posted April 4, 2022, courtesy of Kyle Sullivan / BLM via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

California Offshore Wind Auction | Earth Wise

January 10, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

In December, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held the first auction for offshore wind energy leases on the West Coast. The BOEM lease sale offered five lease areas covering 373,268 acres off the central and northern California coast. The leased areas have the potential to produce over 4.6 gigawatts of wind energy, which is enough to power 1.5 million homes.

The auction drew competitive bids from five companies totaling over $750 million. The winning bidders were RWE Offshore Wind Holdings, California North Floating, Equinor Wind, Central California Offshore Wind, and Invenergy California Offshore.

RWE is a German company with subsidiaries across the globe. California North Floating is an affiliate of the Danish developer Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. Equinor Wind is a Norwegian company already heavily involved in offshore wind projects on the East Coast. Central California Offshore Wind is managed by a joint venture between Spanish and French energy companies. Invenergy is a privately held global developer and operator of renewable energy headquartered in Chicago.

The bidders will receive credits for participating in programs that support work force training programs for the floating offshore wind industry and/or the development of a US domestic supply chain for that industry.

Offshore wind off the Pacific coast has enormous potential for enhancing the country’s energy future but represents a significant challenge because the deep ocean floors necessitate the use of floating wind technology as opposed to turbines that are affixed to the sea floor.

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Biden-Harris Administration Announces Winners of California Offshore Wind Energy Auction

Photo, posted December 30, 2013, courtesy of Derek Finch via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

California Trees Are Dying | Earth Wise

August 19, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

California relies on extensive forests to help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere. But extensive drought and increasingly frequent wildfires have been reducing the state’s tree population for the past three decades.

A comprehensive study by a team of scientists from the University of California Irvine used satellite data to study vegetation changes between 1985 and 2021. Across the entire state, tree cover area has declined 6.7% over that time period. The results varied from region to region across the state.

Southern California exhibited the sharpest decline, where 14% of the tree population in local mountain ranges vanished, potentially permanently. In the Sierra Nevada mountains, tree populations were relatively stable until about 2010. After that, a severe drought followed by historically large wildfires resulted in a 8.8% die-off of trees. The northern parts of the state, with higher rainfall and cooler temperatures, fared better, being able to more easily recover from wildfires.

The study goes beyond measuring the tree population of the state and its effects on carbon storage. The data is also important for understanding how changes in forest cover affects water resources and fire behavior in the state.

The decline of trees in California is affecting the carbon storage abilities of the state. The satellite survey showed that as the tree populations have dropped, the state’s coverage of shrubs and grasses has risen, possibly indicating that permanent ecosystem shifts are occurring. The forces contributing to the decline of trees in California are not going away any time soon. As a result, the threat to California’s ability to mitigate the effects of climate change continues to grow.

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UCI study: California’s trees are dying, and might not be coming back

Photo, posted March 24, 2016, courtesy of David Fulmer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

California Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

June 28, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Offshore wind has been pretty much a non-starter in the U.S. until recently. Now there is considerable activity in the Northeast Atlantic with major projects getting started off the coasts of Massachusetts, New York, and other eastern states. The prospects for wind farms in the Pacific, on the other hand, have been pretty dismal. There are significant logistical problems posed by a deep ocean floor and also opposition from the Navy that does not want obstacles for its ships.

A combination of progress in floating wind turbine technology and the arrival of an administration highly supportive of renewable energy technology has changed the situation. In late May, the Navy abandoned its opposition to Pacific offshore wind and joined the Interior Department in giving support to allowing two areas off the California coast to be developed for wind turbines.

The plan allows commercial offshore wind farms in a 400-square-mile area in Morro Bay in central California, and in another area off the Humboldt Coast in Northern California.

The two California sites could support enough wind turbines to generate electricity to power 1.6 million homes. That would make the California coast one of the largest generators of wind power in the world. The forthcoming Vineyard Wind farm in Massachusetts is expected to have 84 giant turbines. The two California sites could hold more than 300 turbines.

The offshore wind industry is booming around the world, especially near the coasts of Norway and the UK, where the water is shallow, and turbines can be anchored to the ocean floor. By contrast, the Pacific Ocean floor drops steeply from the coastline, making it too deep to anchor wind towers. The newly emerging technology of floating turbines is the key to establishing offshore wind in the Pacific.

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Biden Opens California’s Coast to Wind Farms

Photo, posted August 7, 2013, courtesy of Ray Bouknight via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Collapse of Northern California Kelp Forests | Earth Wise

March 30, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

For thousands of years, thick canopies of kelp formed an underwater forest spanning the coast of Northern California. Kelp is the cornerstone of a rich subtidal community, providing food and habitat for all sorts of marine creatures. But in recent years, a shocking transformation has occurred. Satellite imagery reveals that the area covered by kelp forests off the coast of Northern California has declined by more than 95%. Only a few small, isolated patches remain.

In a new study, researchers at the University of California Santa Cruz found that the kelp forest decline was an abrupt collapse as opposed to a gradual decline.

According to the study, which was recently published in the journal Communications Biology, kelp forests north of San Francisco were resilient to warming events in the past, like El Niños and marine heatwaves. But the decline of a key sea urchin predator – the sunflower sea star – from sea star wasting disease caused the kelp forests’ resiliency to plummet. Sea urchins are voracious consumers of kelp.

But it was a series of events – not just the sea urchins – that combined to decimate the Northern California kelp forest. A marine heatwave that became known as “the blob” developed in 2014 and moved down the West Coast in 2015. Around the same time, a strong El Niño event developed and brought warmer water up the coast from the south. The warming ocean waters combined with the ravenous sea urchin population resulted in the dramatic decline of kelp.

According to researchers, the prospects for a Northern California kelp forest recovery remain poor unless sea urchin predators return to the ecosystem.

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The collapse of Northern California kelp forests will be hard to reverse

Photo, posted August 13, 2019, courtesy of Sara Hamilton of OSU College of Science via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.