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"content": "\u003cp>Much of the West Coast’s ocean bounty comes courtesy of the California Current, an up-welling of cold, nutrient-rich water in the late winter and early spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That stimulates the development of a rich food web that is sort of like a Serengeti of the ocean,” said Jarrod Santora, a research ecologist at UCSC and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humpback whales travel all the way from Hawaii to feast in the cold waters off the coast. But between the years 2014 and 2016, a severe marine heat wave, nicknamed “the blob,” coincided with an unprecedented number of humpback fatalities stemming from entanglements with fishing gear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a new paper \u003ca href=\"https://news.ucsc.edu/2020/01/whale-entanglements.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">published \u003c/a>Monday\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>Santora and colleagues say they know why: Warm water pushed the cold water into a long narrow band along the coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since cool water is where the whales forage for food, finding it only along the coast was like discovering all the restaurants in town are closed, except along one narrow strip. Unfortunately, the compression of feeding grounds coincided with crabbing season, so that the new dining hotspots were also littered with ropes connected to crab pots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rebecca Lewison, a \u003ca href=\"http://www.conservationecologylab.com/rebecca-lewison.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">biology professor\u003c/a> at San Diego State University, who was not involved in the research, said in an email the paper is “an exciting example of the type of data integration and analyses that are needed to manage ocean resources sustainably given current and projected changes in the ocean.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NOAA tracks the number of whales entangled each year, and prior to 2014, Pacific Coast whale entanglements numbered about 10 per year on average. But they jumped to 30 in 2014 and skyrocketed to 53 in 2015, then 56 in 2016. The numbers dropped the next two years but were still high historically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spate of deaths prompted the Center for Biological Diversity to file a lawsuit against the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for insufficient regulation of commercial crabbing fleets. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11735659/california-dungeness-crab-fishery-to-close-three-months-early-to-protect-whales\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">settlement\u003c/a> reached in March 2019 allows for more regulations and a potential end to the entire season if endangered whales become entangled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The crisis also prompted the formation of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.opc.ca.gov/whale-entanglement-working-group/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group\u003c/a>, comprised of scientists, fishermen and managers who can share information to reduce entanglements. This year, after aerial surveys revealed large numbers of whales in crabbing waters, the industry pushed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1951057/crab-for-thanksgiving-dont-count-on-it-commercial-season-delayed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">delay the start\u003c/a> of commercial season to protect them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santora, a science adviser for the group, believes the working group can be a model for other geographical areas, and that improved ocean monitoring and swift communication between stakeholders will be key to keeping entanglement numbers low in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re seeing the same problems on the East Coast for \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/group/right-whales/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">right whales\u003c/a>,” Santora said, “with changes in ocean conditions, changes in the whale’s prey, resulting in a redistribution of the whales so that they are becoming more entangled with lobster gear. It’s happening globally. We need to have new tools to deal with this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lewison agrees: “This work demonstrates clearly why we need flexible and adaptable management approaches.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dynamic ocean management strategies, she explains, help fisheries managers, industry and the conservation community to “think retrospectively, to evaluate what went right or wrong from a management perspective, and also think proactively, to forecast what situations are likely to occur in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jon Brooks contributed to this post.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Much of the West Coast’s ocean bounty comes courtesy of the California Current, an up-welling of cold, nutrient-rich water in the late winter and early spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That stimulates the development of a rich food web that is sort of like a Serengeti of the ocean,” said Jarrod Santora, a research ecologist at UCSC and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humpback whales travel all the way from Hawaii to feast in the cold waters off the coast. But between the years 2014 and 2016, a severe marine heat wave, nicknamed “the blob,” coincided with an unprecedented number of humpback fatalities stemming from entanglements with fishing gear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a new paper \u003ca href=\"https://news.ucsc.edu/2020/01/whale-entanglements.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">published \u003c/a>Monday\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>Santora and colleagues say they know why: Warm water pushed the cold water into a long narrow band along the coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since cool water is where the whales forage for food, finding it only along the coast was like discovering all the restaurants in town are closed, except along one narrow strip. Unfortunately, the compression of feeding grounds coincided with crabbing season, so that the new dining hotspots were also littered with ropes connected to crab pots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rebecca Lewison, a \u003ca href=\"http://www.conservationecologylab.com/rebecca-lewison.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">biology professor\u003c/a> at San Diego State University, who was not involved in the research, said in an email the paper is “an exciting example of the type of data integration and analyses that are needed to manage ocean resources sustainably given current and projected changes in the ocean.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NOAA tracks the number of whales entangled each year, and prior to 2014, Pacific Coast whale entanglements numbered about 10 per year on average. But they jumped to 30 in 2014 and skyrocketed to 53 in 2015, then 56 in 2016. The numbers dropped the next two years but were still high historically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spate of deaths prompted the Center for Biological Diversity to file a lawsuit against the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for insufficient regulation of commercial crabbing fleets. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11735659/california-dungeness-crab-fishery-to-close-three-months-early-to-protect-whales\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">settlement\u003c/a> reached in March 2019 allows for more regulations and a potential end to the entire season if endangered whales become entangled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The crisis also prompted the formation of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.opc.ca.gov/whale-entanglement-working-group/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group\u003c/a>, comprised of scientists, fishermen and managers who can share information to reduce entanglements. This year, after aerial surveys revealed large numbers of whales in crabbing waters, the industry pushed to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1951057/crab-for-thanksgiving-dont-count-on-it-commercial-season-delayed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">delay the start\u003c/a> of commercial season to protect them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santora, a science adviser for the group, believes the working group can be a model for other geographical areas, and that improved ocean monitoring and swift communication between stakeholders will be key to keeping entanglement numbers low in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re seeing the same problems on the East Coast for \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/group/right-whales/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">right whales\u003c/a>,” Santora said, “with changes in ocean conditions, changes in the whale’s prey, resulting in a redistribution of the whales so that they are becoming more entangled with lobster gear. It’s happening globally. We need to have new tools to deal with this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lewison agrees: “This work demonstrates clearly why we need flexible and adaptable management approaches.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dynamic ocean management strategies, she explains, help fisheries managers, industry and the conservation community to “think retrospectively, to evaluate what went right or wrong from a management perspective, and also think proactively, to forecast what situations are likely to occur in the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jon Brooks contributed to this post.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Each fall, monarch butterflies from across the western United States flutter their way to the California coast to hole up for the winter. Mild temperatures, abundant nectar and protection offered by coastal forests have historically made California an ideal place for monarchs to survive into spring, and the majority of the population west of the Rocky Mountains make the annual trip to the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote]The conservation society that conducts the annual monarch butterfly count recommends Californians plant native milkweed in inland breeding areas, as well as nectar-producing flowers for monarchs to feed on.[/pullquote]As recently as the 1980s, these iconic orange and black butterflies numbered in the millions. This season’s count, however, was much in line with the monarch’s decades-long \u003ca href=\"https://www.westernmonarchcount.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">severe decline\u003c/a>. This year’s estimate, released last week, stands at about 29,000 monarchs, just above last year’s all-time low.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This population has declined by over 99 percent,” said Emma Pelton, a conservation biologist with the \u003ca href=\"https://xerces.org/western-monarch-call-to-action\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation\u003c/a>, which conducts the survey each year around Thanksgiving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pelton says the numbers indicate the historic western monarch migratory population is in danger of going extinct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the spring, monarchs fly inland to lay their eggs on milkweed plants. The caterpillars that hatch feed on the leaves. Milkweed is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/habitat/index.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">only thing monarch caterpillars eat\u003c/a> and essential to their survival. The new generation will help populate areas from California to the Rockies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That first generation that’s born in the new year in California is really the generation that’s going to continue the migration.” Pelton said. “They’re going to populate the western United States.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eastern monarchs make a similar migration to Mexico for the winter months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California’s the only place in the U.S. where monarchs spend the winter in large numbers and that is worth protecting,” Pelton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reasons for the Decline\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Samantha Marcum, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says habitat loss, the use of pesticides, disease and the changing climate have all likely contributed to the decline of western monarchs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1956198\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1956198\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Monarch-2-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Monarch-2-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Monarch-2-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Monarch-2-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Monarch-2-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Monarch-2-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monarch butterflies from the across the Western U.S. spend the winter in California. Pictured above, monarchs in Pacific Grove on the Central Coast. \u003ccite>(Carly Voight/Xerces Society)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There’s no singular reason for the extreme drop in numbers over the last two to three decades.” Marcum said. “There’s several factors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One major reason for the drastically reduced numbers, she says, is the loss of coastal forest groves, where monarchs can safely roost in the winter months, and their shrinking springtime breeding habitat, due to land development, forest management practices and wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Drought, increased storm frequency and intensity, and temperature extremes” have also likely made California a less hospitable place for monarchs, said Marcum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal officials are considering listing monarch butterflies for protection under the Endangered Species Act. A decision is expected in December.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marcum says protecting and restoring the forest groves where monarchs spend their winter on the California coast will be key to their recovery. The Xerces Society \u003ca href=\"https://xerces.org/western-monarch-call-to-action\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recommends\u003c/a> Californians plant native milkweed in inland breeding areas, as well as nectar-producing flowers for monarchs to feed on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pelton says citizen science efforts like monarch counts help researchers monitor butterfly populations and target conservation efforts. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.monarchmilkweedmapper.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.inaturalist.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">iNaturalist App\u003c/a> are two ways people can record their own monarch sightings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even if you’re not someone that necessarily thinks of yourself as someone who likes bugs, you probably know what a monarch looks like,” Pelton said. “The fact that they move and travel all over the United States and Canada and Mexico is just a really incredible story of a single species connecting us across the country.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "The conservation society that conducts the annual monarch butterfly count recommends Californians plant native milkweed in inland breeding areas, as well as nectar-producing flowers for monarchs to feed on.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As recently as the 1980s, these iconic orange and black butterflies numbered in the millions. This season’s count, however, was much in line with the monarch’s decades-long \u003ca href=\"https://www.westernmonarchcount.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">severe decline\u003c/a>. This year’s estimate, released last week, stands at about 29,000 monarchs, just above last year’s all-time low.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This population has declined by over 99 percent,” said Emma Pelton, a conservation biologist with the \u003ca href=\"https://xerces.org/western-monarch-call-to-action\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation\u003c/a>, which conducts the survey each year around Thanksgiving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pelton says the numbers indicate the historic western monarch migratory population is in danger of going extinct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the spring, monarchs fly inland to lay their eggs on milkweed plants. The caterpillars that hatch feed on the leaves. Milkweed is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/habitat/index.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">only thing monarch caterpillars eat\u003c/a> and essential to their survival. The new generation will help populate areas from California to the Rockies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That first generation that’s born in the new year in California is really the generation that’s going to continue the migration.” Pelton said. “They’re going to populate the western United States.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eastern monarchs make a similar migration to Mexico for the winter months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California’s the only place in the U.S. where monarchs spend the winter in large numbers and that is worth protecting,” Pelton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Reasons for the Decline\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Samantha Marcum, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, says habitat loss, the use of pesticides, disease and the changing climate have all likely contributed to the decline of western monarchs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1956198\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1956198\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Monarch-2-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Monarch-2-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Monarch-2-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Monarch-2-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Monarch-2-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Monarch-2-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Monarch butterflies from the across the Western U.S. spend the winter in California. Pictured above, monarchs in Pacific Grove on the Central Coast. \u003ccite>(Carly Voight/Xerces Society)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There’s no singular reason for the extreme drop in numbers over the last two to three decades.” Marcum said. “There’s several factors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One major reason for the drastically reduced numbers, she says, is the loss of coastal forest groves, where monarchs can safely roost in the winter months, and their shrinking springtime breeding habitat, due to land development, forest management practices and wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Drought, increased storm frequency and intensity, and temperature extremes” have also likely made California a less hospitable place for monarchs, said Marcum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal officials are considering listing monarch butterflies for protection under the Endangered Species Act. A decision is expected in December.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Marcum says protecting and restoring the forest groves where monarchs spend their winter on the California coast will be key to their recovery. The Xerces Society \u003ca href=\"https://xerces.org/western-monarch-call-to-action\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recommends\u003c/a> Californians plant native milkweed in inland breeding areas, as well as nectar-producing flowers for monarchs to feed on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pelton says citizen science efforts like monarch counts help researchers monitor butterfly populations and target conservation efforts. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.monarchmilkweedmapper.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.inaturalist.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">iNaturalist App\u003c/a> are two ways people can record their own monarch sightings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even if you’re not someone that necessarily thinks of yourself as someone who likes bugs, you probably know what a monarch looks like,” Pelton said. “The fact that they move and travel all over the United States and Canada and Mexico is just a really incredible story of a single species connecting us across the country.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Thousands of Dead Birds, Washed Up on Pacific Coast, Linked to Ocean Heat Wave",
"headTitle": "Thousands of Dead Birds, Washed Up on Pacific Coast, Linked to Ocean Heat Wave | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>David Irons was driving past a beach in Whittier, Alaska, on New Year’s Day four years ago when something caught his eye. It was an endless line of white lumps near the water’s edge—piles of something that shouldn’t be there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They were dead sea birds, and the bodies were everywhere. “I just couldn’t believe it,” said Irons, a recently retired biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We started counting them, and we just counted a section and we got to 1,500.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In all, he and his wife, son and a friend found 8,000 dead birds on a beach about a mile long. A dead zone of common murres—a species known for its resilience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For almost a year, people had been reporting finding dead common murres up and down the Pacific coastline, from California to Alaska. From the summer of 2015 through the spring of 2016, about 62,000 washed ashore, part of a mass species die-off that scientists are attributing to an extreme marine heat wave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1955900\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 648px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1955900\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/common-murre-die-off-700_david-irons-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"648\" height=\"864\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/common-murre-die-off-700_david-irons-1.jpg 648w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/common-murre-die-off-700_david-irons-1-160x213.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 648px) 100vw, 648px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Irons found about 8,000 common murres dead on a beach in Whittier, Alaska, in 2016. The ordinarily highly adaptive and resilient birds had starved to death. \u003ccite>(David Irons)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0226087\">study\u003c/a> published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE, a group of scientists from various state and federal agencies, universities and bird rescue organizations documented the die-off and concluded from the data that it was caused by a record-breaking ocean heat wave in 2014 through 2016 that triggered systemic changes throughout the ocean ecosystem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors estimate that 1 million common murres died during the period, an event they called “unprecedented and astounding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The common murres weren’t the only species to experience mass die-offs during this time—\u003cu>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29052019/puffin-deaths-arctic-climate-change-alaska-wildlife-biodiversity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tufted puffins\u003c/a>\u003c/u>, Cassin’s auklets, sea lions and baleen whales died, too. But what the scientists document is by far the largest die-off, one they say was caused by disturbances rippling across the food web, a result in part of ocean warming from \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oceans are warming at a rapidly increasing pace, \u003cu>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/14012020/ocean-heat-2019-warmest-year-argo-hurricanes-corals-marine-animals-heatwaves\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a study\u003c/a>\u003c/u> published earlier this week showed, and last year registered the hottest ocean temperatures on record. As that heat builds up, it’s having devastating consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I heard the numbers of birds being killed in California and Oregon and Washington and many areas of Alaska, as that unfolded, it was biblical to me,” said John Piatt, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who was the lead author of the new paper on the bird deaths and has been studying common murres for 40 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This bird doesn’t fail unless there aren’t enough high density patches of food to serve their high demand needs. And that’s rare,” Piatt said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Death Toll Grows\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what happened?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As reports came in from up and down the Pacific coast, Piatt was perplexed. Common murres are known for their ability to adapt. “Murres are the ultimate predator—they’re extremely well adapted, they can dive to 200 meters, and they live on the Continental Shelf,” he said. “Anywhere along there is their domain. And they’re the fastest flying sea bird.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet murres were washing in with the tides—sometimes 10 birds at a time, sometimes 100.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Irons’ discovery on New Year’s Day, everything changed, said Julia Parrish, a biologist at the University of Washington who leads the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team and was a co-author of the study. Federal agencies started to get involved and were able to fly along the coastline and send more people to conduct surveys.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1955899 alignleft\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Common-Murre-Populations.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"529\" height=\"770\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Common-Murre-Populations.png 529w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Common-Murre-Populations-160x233.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 529px) 100vw, 529px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Surveys in the Gulf of Alaska conducted by the Interior Department turned up more than 20,000 dead murres, and the public reported 21,435 more to the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists reached out to bird and rehabilitation centers from southern California to Alaska and found that, out of 66 that responded, 37 reported receiving injured or dead murres—a total of 3,365 birds. The body count ticked higher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Investigation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first thing the scientists needed to know was whether these deaths indicated a danger for human health. Were the birds carrying a disease? A toxin?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carcasses were shipped to the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin. “They did all sorts of analyses for viral and bacterial diseases, toxins in the tissues,” Parrish said. “We’re trying to eliminate smoking guns. But all of those things—not found. No parasites, nothing we can hang our hat on. But there was lots of emaciation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many of his peers, Piatt was aware that these deaths were happening at the same time that the ocean was experiencing a record high heat wave, exacerbated by a ridge of high pressure on the West Coast that scientists were calling “the Blob.” But still, he wondered, “What could account for a decline in the food supply from California to the Bering Sea all at the same time?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To get the answer, the scientists started ruling things out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first question: Could the fish that the murres eat have moved elsewhere in response to the warmer water? It’s well understood that fish respond in specific ways when the ocean temperature changes, sometimes moving north, south or deeper down. “But the thing is, murres can go anywhere in a matter of hours,” Piatt said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers also looked into whether overfishing could be the answer, but that didn’t hold water, either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next, they investigated whether the fish were surviving from egg to larvae. Some juvenile stock were failing, sure, but not enough to explain the large number of starving birds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Piatt kept looking into it, he said he got pushback from some in the field who wanted to know how, in the absence of a clear explanation, he could still believe it was a single event that caused the birds to starve to death. But Piatt said, “There has never been such a thing. You really think that it’s a coincidence that they’re dying down there and dying up here? It’s connected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"media media-element-container media-image_centered_medium\">\u003cstrong>\u003cstrong>Finally, Some Answers\u003c/strong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"media media-element-container media-image_centered_medium\">Piatt began researching how water temperature can change the food supply. He started looking from the bottom up: What were the food sources that the fish were eating? He found that as the water had warmed, phytoplankton and zooplankton, the smallest ocean organisms that provide the base of the food web, had changed.\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"media media-element-container media-image_centered_medium\">\n\u003cp>“The older, fatter, nutritionally richer zooplankton were replaced by southerly or offshore species that weren’t as big and nutritionally rich,” Piatt said. “This was observed in the Gulf of Alaska and off California and in various studies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, Piatt dove into studies that found that when water gets hotter, fish like cod, flounder, pollock and hake respond by increasing their metabolism. “If you turn up the temperature by a couple degrees, they have to double their food intake,” Piatt said. “It’s a huge deal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It turns out that those fish feed on the same prey as the murres.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the murres have an Achilles heel: They have to eat more than half their body mass every day. Based on their normal diet in Alaska, that’s typically 60-120 fatty forage fish every day—double that, if only leaner prey is available. By comparison, cod of similar size to a murre would only need to eat about 0.4-1.5 percent of their body mass per day—just 1 to 3 fatty fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The double-whammy caused by warming waters—less nutritionally rich food sources and more competition for the food available—is what Piatt and his co-authors hypothesize led to the common murres deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If murres can’t fully meet their food demand every day, their body condition begins to decline quickly. “If they can’t find \u003cem>any\u003c/em> food for 3-5 days, they will die of starvation,” the authors write in the new study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What Caused the Marine Heat Wave\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The extreme heat in the ocean from 2014-2016 was a result of several factors. Piatt describes it like a step ladder:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>At the base is the ocean getting warmer due to global warming. Global warming contributed about 25 percent of the warming in the heat wave.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Next, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, a recurring pattern of ocean-atmosphere climate variability that leads to periods of warming in the mid-latitude Pacific—that contributed about 35 percent of the heat.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>As part of that, there was a strong El Niño from 2015-2016, which led to warming from California’s coast up to Alaska’s.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>“If you remove all those signals you’ll see about a quarter of the heat is still unaccounted for, said Piatt. “That’s the Blob.” The Blob developed when a ridge of high pressure formed over the land on the northwestern coast of North America and blocked airflow from the Pacific to the interior, trapping heat over the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was the biggest marine heat wave so far on record,” said Thomas Frölicher, a climate scientist at the University of Bern in Switzerland who was not involved in the new study. “Usually, we are used to heat waves over land. They are much smaller in size, and they do not last as long. In the ocean, this heat wave lasted two or three years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past 35 years, marine heat waves have doubled in frequency, Frölicher said. And as global temperatures continue to rise, they will become even more commonplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we follow a high-greenhouse-gas-emissions scenario, these heat waves will become \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0383-9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">50 times more frequent\u003c/a> than preindustrial times” by 2100, Frölicher said. A low-emissions scenario, consistent with the \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/paris-climate-agreement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paris climate agreement\u003c/a>, would still see 20 times more heat waves, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What that means is that in some regions, they will become permanent heat waves,” he said. The mass deaths of common murres suggests what that may look like. “This gives us some insight into the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A new study unravels the mystery of what caused so many of these normally resilient seabirds to starve amid an ocean heat wave fueled in part by global warming.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>David Irons was driving past a beach in Whittier, Alaska, on New Year’s Day four years ago when something caught his eye. It was an endless line of white lumps near the water’s edge—piles of something that shouldn’t be there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They were dead sea birds, and the bodies were everywhere. “I just couldn’t believe it,” said Irons, a recently retired biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We started counting them, and we just counted a section and we got to 1,500.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In all, he and his wife, son and a friend found 8,000 dead birds on a beach about a mile long. A dead zone of common murres—a species known for its resilience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For almost a year, people had been reporting finding dead common murres up and down the Pacific coastline, from California to Alaska. From the summer of 2015 through the spring of 2016, about 62,000 washed ashore, part of a mass species die-off that scientists are attributing to an extreme marine heat wave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1955900\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 648px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1955900\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/common-murre-die-off-700_david-irons-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"648\" height=\"864\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/common-murre-die-off-700_david-irons-1.jpg 648w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/common-murre-die-off-700_david-irons-1-160x213.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 648px) 100vw, 648px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Irons found about 8,000 common murres dead on a beach in Whittier, Alaska, in 2016. The ordinarily highly adaptive and resilient birds had starved to death. \u003ccite>(David Irons)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0226087\">study\u003c/a> published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE, a group of scientists from various state and federal agencies, universities and bird rescue organizations documented the die-off and concluded from the data that it was caused by a record-breaking ocean heat wave in 2014 through 2016 that triggered systemic changes throughout the ocean ecosystem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors estimate that 1 million common murres died during the period, an event they called “unprecedented and astounding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The common murres weren’t the only species to experience mass die-offs during this time—\u003cu>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29052019/puffin-deaths-arctic-climate-change-alaska-wildlife-biodiversity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tufted puffins\u003c/a>\u003c/u>, Cassin’s auklets, sea lions and baleen whales died, too. But what the scientists document is by far the largest die-off, one they say was caused by disturbances rippling across the food web, a result in part of ocean warming from \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate change\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oceans are warming at a rapidly increasing pace, \u003cu>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/14012020/ocean-heat-2019-warmest-year-argo-hurricanes-corals-marine-animals-heatwaves\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a study\u003c/a>\u003c/u> published earlier this week showed, and last year registered the hottest ocean temperatures on record. As that heat builds up, it’s having devastating consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I heard the numbers of birds being killed in California and Oregon and Washington and many areas of Alaska, as that unfolded, it was biblical to me,” said John Piatt, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who was the lead author of the new paper on the bird deaths and has been studying common murres for 40 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This bird doesn’t fail unless there aren’t enough high density patches of food to serve their high demand needs. And that’s rare,” Piatt said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Death Toll Grows\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what happened?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As reports came in from up and down the Pacific coast, Piatt was perplexed. Common murres are known for their ability to adapt. “Murres are the ultimate predator—they’re extremely well adapted, they can dive to 200 meters, and they live on the Continental Shelf,” he said. “Anywhere along there is their domain. And they’re the fastest flying sea bird.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet murres were washing in with the tides—sometimes 10 birds at a time, sometimes 100.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Irons’ discovery on New Year’s Day, everything changed, said Julia Parrish, a biologist at the University of Washington who leads the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team and was a co-author of the study. Federal agencies started to get involved and were able to fly along the coastline and send more people to conduct surveys.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1955899 alignleft\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Common-Murre-Populations.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"529\" height=\"770\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Common-Murre-Populations.png 529w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Common-Murre-Populations-160x233.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 529px) 100vw, 529px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Surveys in the Gulf of Alaska conducted by the Interior Department turned up more than 20,000 dead murres, and the public reported 21,435 more to the department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists reached out to bird and rehabilitation centers from southern California to Alaska and found that, out of 66 that responded, 37 reported receiving injured or dead murres—a total of 3,365 birds. The body count ticked higher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Investigation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first thing the scientists needed to know was whether these deaths indicated a danger for human health. Were the birds carrying a disease? A toxin?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carcasses were shipped to the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin. “They did all sorts of analyses for viral and bacterial diseases, toxins in the tissues,” Parrish said. “We’re trying to eliminate smoking guns. But all of those things—not found. No parasites, nothing we can hang our hat on. But there was lots of emaciation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many of his peers, Piatt was aware that these deaths were happening at the same time that the ocean was experiencing a record high heat wave, exacerbated by a ridge of high pressure on the West Coast that scientists were calling “the Blob.” But still, he wondered, “What could account for a decline in the food supply from California to the Bering Sea all at the same time?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To get the answer, the scientists started ruling things out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first question: Could the fish that the murres eat have moved elsewhere in response to the warmer water? It’s well understood that fish respond in specific ways when the ocean temperature changes, sometimes moving north, south or deeper down. “But the thing is, murres can go anywhere in a matter of hours,” Piatt said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers also looked into whether overfishing could be the answer, but that didn’t hold water, either.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next, they investigated whether the fish were surviving from egg to larvae. Some juvenile stock were failing, sure, but not enough to explain the large number of starving birds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Piatt kept looking into it, he said he got pushback from some in the field who wanted to know how, in the absence of a clear explanation, he could still believe it was a single event that caused the birds to starve to death. But Piatt said, “There has never been such a thing. You really think that it’s a coincidence that they’re dying down there and dying up here? It’s connected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"media media-element-container media-image_centered_medium\">\u003cstrong>\u003cstrong>Finally, Some Answers\u003c/strong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"media media-element-container media-image_centered_medium\">Piatt began researching how water temperature can change the food supply. He started looking from the bottom up: What were the food sources that the fish were eating? He found that as the water had warmed, phytoplankton and zooplankton, the smallest ocean organisms that provide the base of the food web, had changed.\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"media media-element-container media-image_centered_medium\">\n\u003cp>“The older, fatter, nutritionally richer zooplankton were replaced by southerly or offshore species that weren’t as big and nutritionally rich,” Piatt said. “This was observed in the Gulf of Alaska and off California and in various studies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, Piatt dove into studies that found that when water gets hotter, fish like cod, flounder, pollock and hake respond by increasing their metabolism. “If you turn up the temperature by a couple degrees, they have to double their food intake,” Piatt said. “It’s a huge deal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It turns out that those fish feed on the same prey as the murres.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the murres have an Achilles heel: They have to eat more than half their body mass every day. Based on their normal diet in Alaska, that’s typically 60-120 fatty forage fish every day—double that, if only leaner prey is available. By comparison, cod of similar size to a murre would only need to eat about 0.4-1.5 percent of their body mass per day—just 1 to 3 fatty fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The double-whammy caused by warming waters—less nutritionally rich food sources and more competition for the food available—is what Piatt and his co-authors hypothesize led to the common murres deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If murres can’t fully meet their food demand every day, their body condition begins to decline quickly. “If they can’t find \u003cem>any\u003c/em> food for 3-5 days, they will die of starvation,” the authors write in the new study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What Caused the Marine Heat Wave\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The extreme heat in the ocean from 2014-2016 was a result of several factors. Piatt describes it like a step ladder:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>At the base is the ocean getting warmer due to global warming. Global warming contributed about 25 percent of the warming in the heat wave.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Next, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, a recurring pattern of ocean-atmosphere climate variability that leads to periods of warming in the mid-latitude Pacific—that contributed about 35 percent of the heat.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>As part of that, there was a strong El Niño from 2015-2016, which led to warming from California’s coast up to Alaska’s.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>“If you remove all those signals you’ll see about a quarter of the heat is still unaccounted for, said Piatt. “That’s the Blob.” The Blob developed when a ridge of high pressure formed over the land on the northwestern coast of North America and blocked airflow from the Pacific to the interior, trapping heat over the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was the biggest marine heat wave so far on record,” said Thomas Frölicher, a climate scientist at the University of Bern in Switzerland who was not involved in the new study. “Usually, we are used to heat waves over land. They are much smaller in size, and they do not last as long. In the ocean, this heat wave lasted two or three years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past 35 years, marine heat waves have doubled in frequency, Frölicher said. And as global temperatures continue to rise, they will become even more commonplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we follow a high-greenhouse-gas-emissions scenario, these heat waves will become \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0383-9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">50 times more frequent\u003c/a> than preindustrial times” by 2100, Frölicher said. A low-emissions scenario, consistent with the \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/paris-climate-agreement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paris climate agreement\u003c/a>, would still see 20 times more heat waves, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What that means is that in some regions, they will become permanent heat waves,” he said. The mass deaths of common murres suggests what that may look like. “This gives us some insight into the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Some wolf puppies are unexpectedly willing to play fetch, according to scientists who saw young wolves retrieve a ball thrown by a stranger and bring it back at that person’s urging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This behavior wouldn’t be surprising in a dog. But wolves are thought to be less responsive to human cues because they haven’t gone through thousands of years of domestication.\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> [pullquote citation='Christina Hansen Wheat, Stockholm University']‘When I saw the first puppy fetch — I still get goosebumps when I talk about this — it was such a surprise.’[/pullquote]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exactly how dogs emerged from a now-extinct population of ancient wolves is a mystery. Wolves are large, dangerous carnivores, and yet they were the first animals that humans tamed. More than 15,000 years ago, when humans were still hunter-gatherers, this large predator somehow \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2013/11/14/244988049/old-dogs-new-data-canines-may-have-been-domesticated-in-europe\">began\u003c/a> cozying up to people, eventually becoming their “best friend.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To try to get clues about how that happened, scientists such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.su.se/english/profiles/chha9511-1.192949\">Christina Hansen Wheat\u003c/a> of Stockholm University in Sweden have been studying the differences between dogs and modern wolves. As part of her work, she raised litters of wolf puppies, feeding them and acclimating them to her presence but not playing with them or training them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the age of 8 weeks, the wolf pups were put through a series of standard behavior tests that were administered by a person the wolves had never met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This set of tests is normally used by dog breeders, says Hansen Wheat, to assess how their puppies act in social situations. “The fetching test just happened to be part of this test battery. It wasn’t something we were targeting at all,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The person conducting the test threw a tennis ball and urged the wolf puppy to bring it back. Two litters of puppies utterly failed to do this, surprising the scientists not at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s some hypotheses out there that the ability to understand human social cues is a unique dog trait, a trait that arose after domestication had been initiated,” Hansen Wheat explains, so fetching on command is not a behavior expected in wolves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But then a third litter went through the tests. And as she watched through a window, one of the wolf puppies went for the ball and returned it to the tester, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(19)30557-7\">report\u003c/a> in the journal \u003cem>iScience\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I saw the first puppy fetch — I still get goosebumps when I talk about this — it was such a surprise,” Hansen Wheat says. “It wasn’t just one puppy, it was actually three of them. That was very exciting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHUY7e52YGU\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because three of the 13 tested wolf puppies spontaneously did this, a willingness to fetch might not be a dog trait, she says. Instead, it might be a wolf trait that existed in the ancestral wolf populations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It might have been something that we have tried to select upon during early domestication,” Hansen Wheat says. “Wolf puppies doing this during early stages of domestication might have had a selective advantage, if they managed to establish a connection to our forefathers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She notes that researchers who work with wolves typically have few animals to test. That means scientists simply might not have enough wolves to detect rare traits, making it hard to see variations as they attempt to compare wolves with dogs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it will surprise dog owners as much as it surprised me that wolves actually can fetch a ball, or retrieve a ball for a person,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://anthropology.arizona.edu/user/evan-maclean\">Evan MacLean\u003c/a>, who studies dog cognition at the University of Arizona, says this is an interesting observation that no one has made before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To my knowledge, this is actually the first test ever to look at whether wolves do something like this,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watching the video, MacLean sees two discrete behaviors: first, chasing the ball and biting it, and then later coming back to the person while carrying the ball. To him, it doesn’t appear to be exactly the same kind of goal-oriented game of “fetch” that a dog would play with its owner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But I think it’s an intriguing observation,” he says. “I think it opens up a series of interesting questions and other studies you could do to try to look at this in a more controlled and systematic way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Would the wolves behave this way if there were distractions in the room, for example, or if the ball were thrown by a machine instead of a person?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s no agreement on how dog domestication happened — whether some brave wolves started hanging around human camps to get scraps or whether humans actively kidnapped wolf puppies to raise them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent times, MacLean notes, wolves have been extensively hunted by humans, so today’s wolves might be more skittish around people than past wolf populations were. “It’s possible that the modern populations are quite different than the population that actually gave rise to dogs,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dogs do seem to be sensitive to human gestures, such as pointing, in ways that other species are not, including our closest relatives, chimpanzees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dogs have become special in that regard,” MacLean says, “and some people, myself included, have made claims that maybe this is something really unusual about dogs, and something that changed during dog domestication.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Fetching+With+Wolves%3A+What+It+Means+That+A+Wolf+Puppy+Will+Retrieve+A+Ball&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exactly how dogs emerged from a now-extinct population of ancient wolves is a mystery. Wolves are large, dangerous carnivores, and yet they were the first animals that humans tamed. More than 15,000 years ago, when humans were still hunter-gatherers, this large predator somehow \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2013/11/14/244988049/old-dogs-new-data-canines-may-have-been-domesticated-in-europe\">began\u003c/a> cozying up to people, eventually becoming their “best friend.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To try to get clues about how that happened, scientists such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.su.se/english/profiles/chha9511-1.192949\">Christina Hansen Wheat\u003c/a> of Stockholm University in Sweden have been studying the differences between dogs and modern wolves. As part of her work, she raised litters of wolf puppies, feeding them and acclimating them to her presence but not playing with them or training them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the age of 8 weeks, the wolf pups were put through a series of standard behavior tests that were administered by a person the wolves had never met.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This set of tests is normally used by dog breeders, says Hansen Wheat, to assess how their puppies act in social situations. “The fetching test just happened to be part of this test battery. It wasn’t something we were targeting at all,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The person conducting the test threw a tennis ball and urged the wolf puppy to bring it back. Two litters of puppies utterly failed to do this, surprising the scientists not at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s some hypotheses out there that the ability to understand human social cues is a unique dog trait, a trait that arose after domestication had been initiated,” Hansen Wheat explains, so fetching on command is not a behavior expected in wolves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But then a third litter went through the tests. And as she watched through a window, one of the wolf puppies went for the ball and returned it to the tester, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(19)30557-7\">report\u003c/a> in the journal \u003cem>iScience\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I saw the first puppy fetch — I still get goosebumps when I talk about this — it was such a surprise,” Hansen Wheat says. “It wasn’t just one puppy, it was actually three of them. That was very exciting.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/wHUY7e52YGU'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/wHUY7e52YGU'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Because three of the 13 tested wolf puppies spontaneously did this, a willingness to fetch might not be a dog trait, she says. Instead, it might be a wolf trait that existed in the ancestral wolf populations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It might have been something that we have tried to select upon during early domestication,” Hansen Wheat says. “Wolf puppies doing this during early stages of domestication might have had a selective advantage, if they managed to establish a connection to our forefathers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She notes that researchers who work with wolves typically have few animals to test. That means scientists simply might not have enough wolves to detect rare traits, making it hard to see variations as they attempt to compare wolves with dogs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it will surprise dog owners as much as it surprised me that wolves actually can fetch a ball, or retrieve a ball for a person,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://anthropology.arizona.edu/user/evan-maclean\">Evan MacLean\u003c/a>, who studies dog cognition at the University of Arizona, says this is an interesting observation that no one has made before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To my knowledge, this is actually the first test ever to look at whether wolves do something like this,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watching the video, MacLean sees two discrete behaviors: first, chasing the ball and biting it, and then later coming back to the person while carrying the ball. To him, it doesn’t appear to be exactly the same kind of goal-oriented game of “fetch” that a dog would play with its owner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But I think it’s an intriguing observation,” he says. “I think it opens up a series of interesting questions and other studies you could do to try to look at this in a more controlled and systematic way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Would the wolves behave this way if there were distractions in the room, for example, or if the ball were thrown by a machine instead of a person?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s no agreement on how dog domestication happened — whether some brave wolves started hanging around human camps to get scraps or whether humans actively kidnapped wolf puppies to raise them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent times, MacLean notes, wolves have been extensively hunted by humans, so today’s wolves might be more skittish around people than past wolf populations were. “It’s possible that the modern populations are quite different than the population that actually gave rise to dogs,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dogs do seem to be sensitive to human gestures, such as pointing, in ways that other species are not, including our closest relatives, chimpanzees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dogs have become special in that regard,” MacLean says, “and some people, myself included, have made claims that maybe this is something really unusual about dogs, and something that changed during dog domestication.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Fetching+With+Wolves%3A+What+It+Means+That+A+Wolf+Puppy+Will+Retrieve+A+Ball&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Parrots can perform impressive feats of intelligence, and a new study suggests that some of these “feathered apes” may also practice acts of kindness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>African grey parrots voluntarily helped a partner get a food reward by giving the other bird a valuable metal token that could be exchanged for a walnut, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(19)31469-1\">newly published report\u003c/a> in the journal \u003cem>Current Biology\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was really surprising that they did this so spontaneously and so readily,” says \u003ca href=\"https://usys.ethz.ch/en/people/profile.MjU4ODg3.TGlzdC82MzcsMzIwMTk3MjIy.html\">Désirée Brucks\u003c/a>, a biologist at ETH Zürich in Switzerland who is interested in the evolution of altruism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Children as young as 1 seem highly\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3088085/\"> motivated\u003c/a> to help others, and scientists used to think this kind of prosocial behavior was uniquely human. More recent research has explored “helping” behavior in other species, everything from \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/01/04/575424040/unlike-humans-bonobos-shun-helpers-and-befriend-the-bullies\">nonhuman primates\u003c/a> to \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2011/12/09/143304206/cagebreak-rats-will-work-to-free-a-trapped-pal\">rats\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/10/31/774358215/for-these-vampires-a-shared-blood-meal-lets-friendship-take-flight\">bats\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To see whether intelligent birds might help out a feathered pal, Brucks and \u003ca href=\"https://www.orn.mpg.de/person/53863/3738843\">Auguste von Bayern\u003c/a> of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany tested African grey parrots. They used parrots that had previously been trained to understand that specific tokens, in the form of small metal rings, could be traded for a food treat through an exchange window.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their experiment, this exchange window was covered up and closed on one bird’s cage, making it impossible for that bird to trade. The bird had a pile of tokens in its cage but no way to use them. Meanwhile, its neighbor in an adjacent cage had an open exchange window — but no tokens for food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After sizing up the situation, the token-rich bird would help out its pal by passing tokens through an opening between the two bird enclosures. And the bird shared even though it didn’t partake in the walnut payoff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The African greys gave the token beak-to-beak with their partner,” Brucks says. “It was not just one token. Many of them transferred all 10 tokens, one after the other, always watching how their partner got the food for it, whereas they themselves did not get anything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, scientists reversed birds’ roles to see if the recipient of this generosity would pay back those favors. And the birds did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the very first trial, they could not have known that the roles would be reversed afterward,” says Brucks, who notes that the parrots seemed to have an intrinsic desire to help out their partner. The eight birds tested all knew each other and lived in the same social group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It seems that the birds weren’t just being playful with the tokens, but really understood when and why the token was needed. That’s because the birds would rarely pass a token over if the neighbor bird’s exchange window was closed up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This study is a starting point to explore what exactly is going on in the birds’ minds, Brucks says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A similar study in \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4484978/\">ravens\u003c/a> did not find this effect. And when Brucks tested blue-headed macaws, they weren’t helpful either. The macaws tried to bring the tokens as close as possible to the experimenter but did not transfer the token to the partner, Brucks says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are really interested in this topic, and it’s an important topic. The problem is it’s very, very hard to design an experiment to truly demonstrate what is truly going on with these animals,” says \u003ca href=\"https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/animals/people/irene-m-pepperberg\">Irene Pepperberg\u003c/a>, a Harvard researcher whose work with a famous African grey parrot named Alex helped reveal the sophisticated cognitive abilities of these birds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pepperberg has also done \u003ca href=\"https://www.academia.edu/25811313/A_study_of_sharing_and_reciprocity_in_grey_parrots_Psittacus_erithacus_\">experiments\u003c/a> to test African greys’ willingness to help, using a different setup, and found that one parrot appeared to have some understanding of sharing — but it didn’t seem like the parrots were spontaneously super-altruistic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, \u003ca href=\"https://news.uchicago.edu/profile/peggy-mason\">Peggy Mason\u003c/a> of the University of Chicago believes that this new study in parrots is striking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When they gave the token, the other bird was getting the food and they were not,” Mason says. “I think they had the sense that this was a useful token, and that this token would turn into food for the other bird. It’s very shocking. It’s surprisingly giving, just because the only thing the bird doing it gets is that warm glow of helping.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Polly+Share+A+Cracker%3F+Parrots+Can+Practice+Acts+Of+Kindness%2C+Study+Finds&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Parrots can perform impressive feats of intelligence, and a new study suggests that some of these “feathered apes” may also practice acts of kindness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>African grey parrots voluntarily helped a partner get a food reward by giving the other bird a valuable metal token that could be exchanged for a walnut, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(19)31469-1\">newly published report\u003c/a> in the journal \u003cem>Current Biology\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was really surprising that they did this so spontaneously and so readily,” says \u003ca href=\"https://usys.ethz.ch/en/people/profile.MjU4ODg3.TGlzdC82MzcsMzIwMTk3MjIy.html\">Désirée Brucks\u003c/a>, a biologist at ETH Zürich in Switzerland who is interested in the evolution of altruism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Children as young as 1 seem highly\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3088085/\"> motivated\u003c/a> to help others, and scientists used to think this kind of prosocial behavior was uniquely human. More recent research has explored “helping” behavior in other species, everything from \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/01/04/575424040/unlike-humans-bonobos-shun-helpers-and-befriend-the-bullies\">nonhuman primates\u003c/a> to \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2011/12/09/143304206/cagebreak-rats-will-work-to-free-a-trapped-pal\">rats\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/10/31/774358215/for-these-vampires-a-shared-blood-meal-lets-friendship-take-flight\">bats\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To see whether intelligent birds might help out a feathered pal, Brucks and \u003ca href=\"https://www.orn.mpg.de/person/53863/3738843\">Auguste von Bayern\u003c/a> of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany tested African grey parrots. They used parrots that had previously been trained to understand that specific tokens, in the form of small metal rings, could be traded for a food treat through an exchange window.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their experiment, this exchange window was covered up and closed on one bird’s cage, making it impossible for that bird to trade. The bird had a pile of tokens in its cage but no way to use them. Meanwhile, its neighbor in an adjacent cage had an open exchange window — but no tokens for food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After sizing up the situation, the token-rich bird would help out its pal by passing tokens through an opening between the two bird enclosures. And the bird shared even though it didn’t partake in the walnut payoff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The African greys gave the token beak-to-beak with their partner,” Brucks says. “It was not just one token. Many of them transferred all 10 tokens, one after the other, always watching how their partner got the food for it, whereas they themselves did not get anything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, scientists reversed birds’ roles to see if the recipient of this generosity would pay back those favors. And the birds did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the very first trial, they could not have known that the roles would be reversed afterward,” says Brucks, who notes that the parrots seemed to have an intrinsic desire to help out their partner. The eight birds tested all knew each other and lived in the same social group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It seems that the birds weren’t just being playful with the tokens, but really understood when and why the token was needed. That’s because the birds would rarely pass a token over if the neighbor bird’s exchange window was closed up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This study is a starting point to explore what exactly is going on in the birds’ minds, Brucks says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A similar study in \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4484978/\">ravens\u003c/a> did not find this effect. And when Brucks tested blue-headed macaws, they weren’t helpful either. The macaws tried to bring the tokens as close as possible to the experimenter but did not transfer the token to the partner, Brucks says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are really interested in this topic, and it’s an important topic. The problem is it’s very, very hard to design an experiment to truly demonstrate what is truly going on with these animals,” says \u003ca href=\"https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/animals/people/irene-m-pepperberg\">Irene Pepperberg\u003c/a>, a Harvard researcher whose work with a famous African grey parrot named Alex helped reveal the sophisticated cognitive abilities of these birds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pepperberg has also done \u003ca href=\"https://www.academia.edu/25811313/A_study_of_sharing_and_reciprocity_in_grey_parrots_Psittacus_erithacus_\">experiments\u003c/a> to test African greys’ willingness to help, using a different setup, and found that one parrot appeared to have some understanding of sharing — but it didn’t seem like the parrots were spontaneously super-altruistic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, \u003ca href=\"https://news.uchicago.edu/profile/peggy-mason\">Peggy Mason\u003c/a> of the University of Chicago believes that this new study in parrots is striking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When they gave the token, the other bird was getting the food and they were not,” Mason says. “I think they had the sense that this was a useful token, and that this token would turn into food for the other bird. It’s very shocking. It’s surprisingly giving, just because the only thing the bird doing it gets is that warm glow of helping.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Polly+Share+A+Cracker%3F+Parrots+Can+Practice+Acts+Of+Kindness%2C+Study+Finds&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "New California Environmental Laws Now in Effect",
"headTitle": "New California Environmental Laws Now in Effect | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It happens every January…\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New year, new laws. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From a ban on smoking at state beaches and parks to a requirement that new homes include solar panels, here is some of the California environmental legislation that took effect Jan. 1, 2020.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Solar Panels Required on New California Homes\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/12/06/674075032/california-gives-final-ok-to-requiring-solar-panels-on-new-houses\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">mandate\u003c/a> approved by the California Building Standards Commission in 2018 now requires that new homes built in the state include solar panels. The new standard applies to single- and multifamily residences up to three stories. The law is aimed at helping the state reach its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1930972/why-100-percent-clean-energy-in-california-is-gonna-be-tricky\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">goal\u003c/a> of 100 percent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/renewable-and-non-renewable-energy-resources-explained\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">renewable energy\u003c/a> by 2045.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Smoking Ban at State Beaches and Parks\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smoking and vaping are \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">no longer permitted\u003c/a> at California state beaches or parks. The fine for breaking the new law runs up to $25. Also prohibited in those areas: disposing of used cigarettes or cigars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>No More Exotic Animals at the Circus\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you go to the circus in 2020, don’t expect to see juggling monkeys, roaring lions or trained elephants. That’s because \u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB313\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a new law\u003c/a> restricts the exhibition or use of animals in circuses to dogs, cats and domesticated horses. Violations can draw fines of up to $25,000 per day. Rodeos are exempt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Animal Testing in Cosmetics\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Makeup and other cosmetics that were tested on animals can \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1249\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">no longer\u003c/a> be sold or manufactured in California. A federal judge has temporarily issued a restraining order blocking enforcement of a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1260\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">separate law\u003c/a> that prohibits the sale of products made from alligator or crocodile skin, pending an April hearing on the state of Louisiana’s request for a preliminary injunction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Wildfire Warning Center\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A new law \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB209\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">establishes\u003c/a> a wildfire warning center to better predict weather conditions and share information around the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Power Shutoffs \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Investor-owned utilities are required to\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB167\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> draft plans\u003c/a> to lessen the negative effects of pre-emptive power outages aimed at preventing electric equipment from sparking fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Emergency Plans\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Counties \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB160\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">must now include\u003c/a> “cultural competence” into emergency plans. The law is partially a response to elderly and non-English-speaking residents who missed emergency alerts during the state’s recent wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Associated Press contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "From a ban on smoking at state beaches and parks to a requirement that new homes include solar panels to the prohibition of lions, elephants and other animals in circuses, these laws took effect as of Jan. 1.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It happens every January…\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New year, new laws. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From a ban on smoking at state beaches and parks to a requirement that new homes include solar panels, here is some of the California environmental legislation that took effect Jan. 1, 2020.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Solar Panels Required on New California Homes\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2018/12/06/674075032/california-gives-final-ok-to-requiring-solar-panels-on-new-houses\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">mandate\u003c/a> approved by the California Building Standards Commission in 2018 now requires that new homes built in the state include solar panels. The new standard applies to single- and multifamily residences up to three stories. The law is aimed at helping the state reach its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1930972/why-100-percent-clean-energy-in-california-is-gonna-be-tricky\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">goal\u003c/a> of 100 percent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/renewable-and-non-renewable-energy-resources-explained\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">renewable energy\u003c/a> by 2045.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Smoking Ban at State Beaches and Parks\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smoking and vaping are \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">no longer permitted\u003c/a> at California state beaches or parks. The fine for breaking the new law runs up to $25. Also prohibited in those areas: disposing of used cigarettes or cigars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>No More Exotic Animals at the Circus\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you go to the circus in 2020, don’t expect to see juggling monkeys, roaring lions or trained elephants. That’s because \u003ca href=\"http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB313\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a new law\u003c/a> restricts the exhibition or use of animals in circuses to dogs, cats and domesticated horses. Violations can draw fines of up to $25,000 per day. Rodeos are exempt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Animal Testing in Cosmetics\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Makeup and other cosmetics that were tested on animals can \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1249\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">no longer\u003c/a> be sold or manufactured in California. A federal judge has temporarily issued a restraining order blocking enforcement of a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB1260\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">separate law\u003c/a> that prohibits the sale of products made from alligator or crocodile skin, pending an April hearing on the state of Louisiana’s request for a preliminary injunction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Wildfire Warning Center\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A new law \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB209\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">establishes\u003c/a> a wildfire warning center to better predict weather conditions and share information around the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Power Shutoffs \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Investor-owned utilities are required to\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB167\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> draft plans\u003c/a> to lessen the negative effects of pre-emptive power outages aimed at preventing electric equipment from sparking fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Emergency Plans\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Counties \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB160\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">must now include\u003c/a> “cultural competence” into emergency plans. The law is partially a response to elderly and non-English-speaking residents who missed emergency alerts during the state’s recent wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Associated Press contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Denise MacDonald held out a tray of spiny purple sea urchins. The roe, served in the shell and the color of egg yolk, contrasted nicely with the urchin’s dark, purple spines. MacDonald, director of global brand marketing at a company called Urchinomics, invited me to have a taste. I scooped up a blueberry-sized amount with a spoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s good: salty, fresh, creamy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tastes like the sea,” I said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But with a buttery aftertaste,” said MacDonald.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Urchinomics and its partner, the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory, are running a trial designed to develop methods for ranching purple sea urchins for profit, while at the same time addressing the consequences of a nasty ecological chain reaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2014-15, sea stars began dying en masse from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1937467/historic-sea-star-die-off-tied-to-global-warming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">mysterious wasting disease\u003c/a>, which scientists believe was exacerbated by a massive blob of warm water that spread throughout the Pacific Ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because starfish prey on sea urchins, the latter population’s exploded when the former’s dwindled. The urchin boom had a profound effect on another ocean-living organism: kelp, a type of seaweed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During that time, the urchin populations … started to eat all of the kelp forests along our coast,” said Laura Rogers-Bennett, an environmental scientist at the Bodega Marine Laboratory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ocean hasn’t been the same since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“More than 90% of the kelp forest has disappeared from San Francisco up into southern Oregon and has been replaced by sea urchin barrens,” Rogers-Bennett said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Normally, a kelp forest provides a wealth of benefits, harboring fish, sequestering carbon, preventing shoreline erosion and producing oxygen. Areas bare of kelp can’t do any of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But while the regrowth of trees takes decades, these kelp forests could bounce back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re very fast-growing,” said Rogers-Bennett. “It would take them only six months to rebound, if we could remove some of this urchin-grazing pressure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s where eating purple sea urchins comes in …\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1952342\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1952342\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40333_IMG_4548-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40333_IMG_4548-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40333_IMG_4548-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40333_IMG_4548-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40333_IMG_4548-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40333_IMG_4548-qut-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40333_IMG_4548-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The contrast between an urchin just brought in from the barrens (left) and an urchin plumped up on kombu seaweed in a lab trial, demonstrates the effectiveness of the urchin ranching operation at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory. \u003ccite>(Ryan Tamborski/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Introducing Your New Favorite Delicacy \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we’re doing here is we’re looking at a financial incentive model that makes these purple urchins of value,” said Karl Menard, aquatic resources manager at the Bodega lab.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea is that divers can collect urchins off the coast by the thousands and relocate them into a sort of urchin ranch. The urchins, having gobbled up an entire seaweed forest into nonexistence, frequently arrive at the lab in a state of starvation. They are raised in plastic crates and fed pellets of dried algae, made from the trimmings of kombu, a type of kelp that is processed in factories for human consumption. That diet can fatten them up in about eight weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1952343\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 540px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1952343\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40335_IMG_4513-sfi.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40335_IMG_4513-sfi.jpg 540w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40335_IMG_4513-sfi-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Karl Menard lifts a tray out of urchins out of the water in the Bodega Marine Lab urchin ranching operations. \u003ccite>(Ryan Tamborski/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The “roe” or uni is already a delicacy in Japan and commonly used in sushi. (Technically speaking, roe is a mass of eggs, but uni are urchin gonads.) A live urchin full of uni can be sold for good money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They would be considered a premium product and could be worth $8 or $10 or more in the market,” said Menard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hope ultimately is to make urchins a common food anywhere they have created a barrens on the Pacific coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MacDonald envisions one day being able to go into seafood restaurants to try urchin from different regions, the way we do now with oysters. “I think that there’s there’s room for that,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This month Urchinomics opened a commercial site in Oita, on the Japanese island of Kyushu. The company is currently negotiating a lease for a property in Bodega Bay, and it’s hoping to be fully operational in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Denise MacDonald held out a tray of spiny purple sea urchins. The roe, served in the shell and the color of egg yolk, contrasted nicely with the urchin’s dark, purple spines. MacDonald, director of global brand marketing at a company called Urchinomics, invited me to have a taste. I scooped up a blueberry-sized amount with a spoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s good: salty, fresh, creamy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tastes like the sea,” I said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But with a buttery aftertaste,” said MacDonald.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Urchinomics and its partner, the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory, are running a trial designed to develop methods for ranching purple sea urchins for profit, while at the same time addressing the consequences of a nasty ecological chain reaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2014-15, sea stars began dying en masse from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1937467/historic-sea-star-die-off-tied-to-global-warming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">mysterious wasting disease\u003c/a>, which scientists believe was exacerbated by a massive blob of warm water that spread throughout the Pacific Ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because starfish prey on sea urchins, the latter population’s exploded when the former’s dwindled. The urchin boom had a profound effect on another ocean-living organism: kelp, a type of seaweed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During that time, the urchin populations … started to eat all of the kelp forests along our coast,” said Laura Rogers-Bennett, an environmental scientist at the Bodega Marine Laboratory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ocean hasn’t been the same since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“More than 90% of the kelp forest has disappeared from San Francisco up into southern Oregon and has been replaced by sea urchin barrens,” Rogers-Bennett said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Normally, a kelp forest provides a wealth of benefits, harboring fish, sequestering carbon, preventing shoreline erosion and producing oxygen. Areas bare of kelp can’t do any of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But while the regrowth of trees takes decades, these kelp forests could bounce back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re very fast-growing,” said Rogers-Bennett. “It would take them only six months to rebound, if we could remove some of this urchin-grazing pressure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And that’s where eating purple sea urchins comes in …\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1952342\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1952342\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40333_IMG_4548-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40333_IMG_4548-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40333_IMG_4548-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40333_IMG_4548-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40333_IMG_4548-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40333_IMG_4548-qut-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40333_IMG_4548-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The contrast between an urchin just brought in from the barrens (left) and an urchin plumped up on kombu seaweed in a lab trial, demonstrates the effectiveness of the urchin ranching operation at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory. \u003ccite>(Ryan Tamborski/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Introducing Your New Favorite Delicacy \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we’re doing here is we’re looking at a financial incentive model that makes these purple urchins of value,” said Karl Menard, aquatic resources manager at the Bodega lab.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The idea is that divers can collect urchins off the coast by the thousands and relocate them into a sort of urchin ranch. The urchins, having gobbled up an entire seaweed forest into nonexistence, frequently arrive at the lab in a state of starvation. They are raised in plastic crates and fed pellets of dried algae, made from the trimmings of kombu, a type of kelp that is processed in factories for human consumption. That diet can fatten them up in about eight weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1952343\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 540px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1952343\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40335_IMG_4513-sfi.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40335_IMG_4513-sfi.jpg 540w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40335_IMG_4513-sfi-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Karl Menard lifts a tray out of urchins out of the water in the Bodega Marine Lab urchin ranching operations. \u003ccite>(Ryan Tamborski/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The “roe” or uni is already a delicacy in Japan and commonly used in sushi. (Technically speaking, roe is a mass of eggs, but uni are urchin gonads.) A live urchin full of uni can be sold for good money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They would be considered a premium product and could be worth $8 or $10 or more in the market,” said Menard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hope ultimately is to make urchins a common food anywhere they have created a barrens on the Pacific coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MacDonald envisions one day being able to go into seafood restaurants to try urchin from different regions, the way we do now with oysters. “I think that there’s there’s room for that,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This month Urchinomics opened a commercial site in Oita, on the Japanese island of Kyushu. The company is currently negotiating a lease for a property in Bodega Bay, and it’s hoping to be fully operational in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]I[/dropcap]magine you’re a fish. A coho salmon, to be specific. Your every instinct is telling you it’s time to migrate upstream from the ocean to spawn in the rivers and streams beyond. But instead of reaching those mountain tributaries and completing your life cycle, you’re blocked at every turn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The gateway to your spawning grounds has closed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s how Kellyx Nelson describes the predicament for coho in Butano Creek, a stream just outside the tiny farming town of Pescadero on the San Mateo County coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951603\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1951603\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Pescadero-Marsh-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Pescadero-Marsh-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Pescadero-Marsh-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Pescadero-Marsh-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Pescadero-Marsh-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Pescadero-Marsh-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Pescadero-Marsh-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pescadero Marsh Natural Preserve, an estuary on the San Mateo County coast. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nelson is executive director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sanmateorcd.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">San Mateo Resource Conservation District\u003c/a>. The agency is working to restore the wetlands of \u003ca href=\"https://www.coastsidestateparks.org/pescadero-marsh-natural-preserve\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pescasdero Marsh Natural Preserve\u003c/a> for endangered coho and other native species on the brink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A year or two ago I walked down the creek with my waders on and all of a sudden you’re walking uphill and you’re on land,” Nelson said. “The creek was gone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lower Butano Creek had been clogged by a mile-and-a-half long plug of sediment where the stream once flowed through the marsh to meet the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over one stretch, a forest had grown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson says the blockage was the result of nearly two centuries of farming, logging and re-engineering the local streams, all of which triggered severe erosion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dirt from upstream bled into the creek and washed down to the area near town, where the stream flattens out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s more than 10 miles of spawning and rearing habitat in that watershed that has been lost,” Nelson said. “We basically caused a dam to be formed so that the fish could almost never get upstream.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, the resource conservation district, in partnership with California State Parks and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, embarked on a $7 million \u003ca href=\"http://www.sanmateorcd.org/project/butano-creek-reconnection-project/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">restoration project\u003c/a> to remove the sediment dam blocking Butano Creek.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hope is the restoration can reconnect coho with their historic spawning range upstream in Butano State Park and ultimately aid in the species’ recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/3sG28/33/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" height=\"569\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Species in Decline\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coho once thrived in California’s coastal rivers and creeks from Santa Cruz County to the Oregon border. Like other salmon, coho are known for what Nelson calls “this extraordinary life story.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They begin life in freshwater streams, where they spend more than a year rearing until they make their way to the ocean. Typically, after a year and a half in salt water, they return to their home creeks and rivers to spawn, then die.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like other salmon species, they’re known for their physical transformation from silver to various shades of crimson when they re-enter to reproduce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951609\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1951609\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Coho-in-California-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coho once thrived in California’s coastal rivers and streams. Pictured above, a 2018 coho migration in Marin County’s Lagunitas Creek, another site of habitat restoration. \u003ccite>(Harry McGrath/Turtle Island Restoration Network)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They’re gorgeous and charismatic and mysterious,” Nelson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Fishes/Coho-Salmon\">California’s coho\u003c/a>, once numbering in the hundreds of thousands, have disappeared from a large part of their range. South of the Golden Gate, the species is virtually extinct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Habitat loss is a major factor driving the decline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Butano Creek restoration aims to solve another problem created by humans re-engineering the local landscape: \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/11/06/pescadero-more-steelhead-deaths-frustrate-residents/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">frequent die-offs\u003c/a> of threatened steelhead, which once thrived in the watershed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These fish — ocean-going rainbow trout — spawn in nearby Pescadero Creek and grow large as they feed in the adjoining marsh. But here they face what amounts to a death trap before they can migrate into the Pacific.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Biologists believe the steelhead suffocate when they encounter stagnant, oxygen-depleted water that has formed in deep pits excavated in the marsh over the years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This anoxic water, which engulfs the fish as it rushes out of the marsh with the first storms of the rainy season, is thought to be responsible for killing thousands of steelhead over the last few decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restoration project is addressing the problem by using the sediment removed from Butano Creek to fill the pits in the marsh. That should reduce or eliminate the volume of anoxic water there and improve conditions for fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major Flooding\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local support for the project was bolstered by another consequence of the dam blocking Butano Creek: flooding on Pescadero Creek Road, the main road in and out of town.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951608\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1951608\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Pescadero-Creek-Road-Flooding-800x597.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"597\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The blockage on Butano Creek contributed to major flooding on Pescadero Creek Road, pictured in 2016, and nearby farmland. \u003ccite>(San Mateo Resource Conservation District)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When it rains, people get anxious,” said Nic Erridge, who chairs the Pescadero Municipal Advisory Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Erridge says any time there’s a big rainstorm, the road and surrounding farmland are inundated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It becomes a wetland,” Erridge said, “Water just flows through, the creek just spreads out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, locals are stranded, sometimes unable to reach homes, jobs and school. Nearby farms, which help drive the town’s economy, are damaged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Solving this flooding issue is huge,” Erridge said. “Hopefully this project is really gonna help us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Resetting the Baseline’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For five months this summer and fall, crews used pontoon excavators, bulldozers, and dredge pumps to dig out the dirt, muck and debris from Butano Creek. Nearly 70,000 cubic yards of sediment were removed, and the stream now flows continuously from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joe Pecharich, a fisheries biologist with the NOAA Restoration Center, says he sees the restoration project as “resetting the baseline” for Butano Creek.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildlife officials estimate the Pescadero-Butano Creek watershed has the \u003ca href=\"https://archive.fisheries.noaa.gov/wcr/protected_species/salmon_steelhead/recovery_planning_and_implementation/north_central_california_coast/central_california_coast_coho_recovery_plan.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">potential\u003c/a> to support 2,300 spawning coho and similar numbers of steelhead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So it really could provide an opportunity to really jump-start some recovery of coho south of the Golden Gate,” Pecharich said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If coho don’t naturally return to the system, he says, fish could be transplanted from other watersheds or breeding programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951604\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1951604\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Pescadero-Marsh-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Pescadero-Marsh-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Pescadero-Marsh-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Pescadero-Marsh-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Pescadero-Marsh-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Pescadero-Marsh-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Pescadero-Marsh-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In October, the San Mateo Resource Conservation District, along with state and federal agencies, completed a five-month restoration of Butano Creek and surrounding Pescadero Marsh. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the San Mateo Resource Conservation District)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What those fish will find is a creek that is still hospitable to their kind. For instance, the stream features the type of gravel female coho need to dig their nests. In these burrows, they can deposit up to 3,000 eggs. The stream and marsh can also provide young salmon the natural protection and food they need to fuel their journey into the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Pecharich, reopening Butano Creek for coho could also benefit the greater coastal ecosystem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When coho and other salmon spawn, their bodies break down, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1915421/theres-something-fishy-about-these-trees-deep-look\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">feeding the surrounding environment\u003c/a>. Birds, foxes and other scavengers feed on the fish carcasses and distribute them on land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pecharich says scientists now understand that salmon streams have contributed to the growth and health of redwood forests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s definitely no coincidence that coho and the range of the species extends to pretty much the range of the redwoods,” Pecharich said. “They’ve actually found marine-derived nutrients within these trees, which is pretty amazing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951600\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1951600\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Butano-Creek-Channel-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Butano-Creek-Channel-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Butano-Creek-Channel-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Butano-Creek-Channel-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Butano-Creek-Channel-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Butano-Creek-Channel-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Butano-Creek-Channel-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Excavation crews removed nearly 70,000 cubic yards of sediment to reopen Butano Creek for endangered coho salmon. The channel now flows from the mountains to the ocean. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In turn, the trees shade and nourish the streams for fish. Pecharich says that type of exchange could happen upstream in Butano Creek, where it ends up in the redwood groves of Butano State Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Signs of Life\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too early to tell if coho will return to Butano Creek in large numbers, or if removing the sediment dam will prevent the road from flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Kellyx Nelson says there are already signs of life returning to the stream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The other day, about a mile and a half from the ocean, we saw a Dungeness crab. Right there in this creek, which had previously been completely disconnected,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means as California’s first big winter rains arrive, signaling the remaining Central Coast coho to begin their spawning migration, they’ll have one more path upstream.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A $7 million project on Butano Creek, just outside the town of Pescadero, aims to reconnect coho salmon with spawning grounds and remove a deadly threat for steelhead. ",
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"title": "Restoration of a San Mateo County Creek Reopens a Gateway for Endangered Salmon | KQED",
"description": "A $7 million project on Butano Creek, just outside the town of Pescadero, aims to reconnect coho salmon with spawning grounds and remove a deadly threat for steelhead. ",
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"headline": "Restoration of a San Mateo County Creek Reopens a Gateway for Endangered Salmon",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">I\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>magine you’re a fish. A coho salmon, to be specific. Your every instinct is telling you it’s time to migrate upstream from the ocean to spawn in the rivers and streams beyond. But instead of reaching those mountain tributaries and completing your life cycle, you’re blocked at every turn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The gateway to your spawning grounds has closed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s how Kellyx Nelson describes the predicament for coho in Butano Creek, a stream just outside the tiny farming town of Pescadero on the San Mateo County coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951603\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1951603\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Pescadero-Marsh-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Pescadero-Marsh-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Pescadero-Marsh-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Pescadero-Marsh-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Pescadero-Marsh-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Pescadero-Marsh-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Pescadero-Marsh-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pescadero Marsh Natural Preserve, an estuary on the San Mateo County coast. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nelson is executive director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.sanmateorcd.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">San Mateo Resource Conservation District\u003c/a>. The agency is working to restore the wetlands of \u003ca href=\"https://www.coastsidestateparks.org/pescadero-marsh-natural-preserve\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pescasdero Marsh Natural Preserve\u003c/a> for endangered coho and other native species on the brink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A year or two ago I walked down the creek with my waders on and all of a sudden you’re walking uphill and you’re on land,” Nelson said. “The creek was gone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lower Butano Creek had been clogged by a mile-and-a-half long plug of sediment where the stream once flowed through the marsh to meet the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over one stretch, a forest had grown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson says the blockage was the result of nearly two centuries of farming, logging and re-engineering the local streams, all of which triggered severe erosion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dirt from upstream bled into the creek and washed down to the area near town, where the stream flattens out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s more than 10 miles of spawning and rearing habitat in that watershed that has been lost,” Nelson said. “We basically caused a dam to be formed so that the fish could almost never get upstream.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In June, the resource conservation district, in partnership with California State Parks and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, embarked on a $7 million \u003ca href=\"http://www.sanmateorcd.org/project/butano-creek-reconnection-project/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">restoration project\u003c/a> to remove the sediment dam blocking Butano Creek.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hope is the restoration can reconnect coho with their historic spawning range upstream in Butano State Park and ultimately aid in the species’ recovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/3sG28/33/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" height=\"569\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Species in Decline\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coho once thrived in California’s coastal rivers and creeks from Santa Cruz County to the Oregon border. Like other salmon, coho are known for what Nelson calls “this extraordinary life story.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They begin life in freshwater streams, where they spend more than a year rearing until they make their way to the ocean. Typically, after a year and a half in salt water, they return to their home creeks and rivers to spawn, then die.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like other salmon species, they’re known for their physical transformation from silver to various shades of crimson when they re-enter to reproduce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951609\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1951609\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Coho-in-California-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coho once thrived in California’s coastal rivers and streams. Pictured above, a 2018 coho migration in Marin County’s Lagunitas Creek, another site of habitat restoration. \u003ccite>(Harry McGrath/Turtle Island Restoration Network)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They’re gorgeous and charismatic and mysterious,” Nelson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Fishes/Coho-Salmon\">California’s coho\u003c/a>, once numbering in the hundreds of thousands, have disappeared from a large part of their range. South of the Golden Gate, the species is virtually extinct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Habitat loss is a major factor driving the decline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Butano Creek restoration aims to solve another problem created by humans re-engineering the local landscape: \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/11/06/pescadero-more-steelhead-deaths-frustrate-residents/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">frequent die-offs\u003c/a> of threatened steelhead, which once thrived in the watershed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These fish — ocean-going rainbow trout — spawn in nearby Pescadero Creek and grow large as they feed in the adjoining marsh. But here they face what amounts to a death trap before they can migrate into the Pacific.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Biologists believe the steelhead suffocate when they encounter stagnant, oxygen-depleted water that has formed in deep pits excavated in the marsh over the years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This anoxic water, which engulfs the fish as it rushes out of the marsh with the first storms of the rainy season, is thought to be responsible for killing thousands of steelhead over the last few decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The restoration project is addressing the problem by using the sediment removed from Butano Creek to fill the pits in the marsh. That should reduce or eliminate the volume of anoxic water there and improve conditions for fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major Flooding\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local support for the project was bolstered by another consequence of the dam blocking Butano Creek: flooding on Pescadero Creek Road, the main road in and out of town.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951608\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1951608\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Pescadero-Creek-Road-Flooding-800x597.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"597\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The blockage on Butano Creek contributed to major flooding on Pescadero Creek Road, pictured in 2016, and nearby farmland. \u003ccite>(San Mateo Resource Conservation District)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When it rains, people get anxious,” said Nic Erridge, who chairs the Pescadero Municipal Advisory Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Erridge says any time there’s a big rainstorm, the road and surrounding farmland are inundated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It becomes a wetland,” Erridge said, “Water just flows through, the creek just spreads out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, locals are stranded, sometimes unable to reach homes, jobs and school. Nearby farms, which help drive the town’s economy, are damaged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Solving this flooding issue is huge,” Erridge said. “Hopefully this project is really gonna help us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Resetting the Baseline’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For five months this summer and fall, crews used pontoon excavators, bulldozers, and dredge pumps to dig out the dirt, muck and debris from Butano Creek. Nearly 70,000 cubic yards of sediment were removed, and the stream now flows continuously from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joe Pecharich, a fisheries biologist with the NOAA Restoration Center, says he sees the restoration project as “resetting the baseline” for Butano Creek.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wildlife officials estimate the Pescadero-Butano Creek watershed has the \u003ca href=\"https://archive.fisheries.noaa.gov/wcr/protected_species/salmon_steelhead/recovery_planning_and_implementation/north_central_california_coast/central_california_coast_coho_recovery_plan.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">potential\u003c/a> to support 2,300 spawning coho and similar numbers of steelhead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So it really could provide an opportunity to really jump-start some recovery of coho south of the Golden Gate,” Pecharich said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If coho don’t naturally return to the system, he says, fish could be transplanted from other watersheds or breeding programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951604\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1951604\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Pescadero-Marsh-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Pescadero-Marsh-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Pescadero-Marsh-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Pescadero-Marsh-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Pescadero-Marsh-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Pescadero-Marsh-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Pescadero-Marsh-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In October, the San Mateo Resource Conservation District, along with state and federal agencies, completed a five-month restoration of Butano Creek and surrounding Pescadero Marsh. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the San Mateo Resource Conservation District)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What those fish will find is a creek that is still hospitable to their kind. For instance, the stream features the type of gravel female coho need to dig their nests. In these burrows, they can deposit up to 3,000 eggs. The stream and marsh can also provide young salmon the natural protection and food they need to fuel their journey into the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Pecharich, reopening Butano Creek for coho could also benefit the greater coastal ecosystem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When coho and other salmon spawn, their bodies break down, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1915421/theres-something-fishy-about-these-trees-deep-look\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">feeding the surrounding environment\u003c/a>. Birds, foxes and other scavengers feed on the fish carcasses and distribute them on land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pecharich says scientists now understand that salmon streams have contributed to the growth and health of redwood forests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s definitely no coincidence that coho and the range of the species extends to pretty much the range of the redwoods,” Pecharich said. “They’ve actually found marine-derived nutrients within these trees, which is pretty amazing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951600\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1951600\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Butano-Creek-Channel-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Butano-Creek-Channel-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Butano-Creek-Channel-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Butano-Creek-Channel-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Butano-Creek-Channel-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Butano-Creek-Channel-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/Restored-Butano-Creek-Channel-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Excavation crews removed nearly 70,000 cubic yards of sediment to reopen Butano Creek for endangered coho salmon. The channel now flows from the mountains to the ocean. \u003ccite>(Peter Arcuni/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In turn, the trees shade and nourish the streams for fish. Pecharich says that type of exchange could happen upstream in Butano Creek, where it ends up in the redwood groves of Butano State Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Signs of Life\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too early to tell if coho will return to Butano Creek in large numbers, or if removing the sediment dam will prevent the road from flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Kellyx Nelson says there are already signs of life returning to the stream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The other day, about a mile and a half from the ocean, we saw a Dungeness crab. Right there in this creek, which had previously been completely disconnected,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means as California’s first big winter rains arrive, signaling the remaining Central Coast coho to begin their spawning migration, they’ll have one more path upstream.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Farmers Flood Fields to Give Beleaguered Salmon a Boost",
"headTitle": "Farmers Flood Fields to Give Beleaguered Salmon a Boost | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story originally appeared in \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/XRVyCNk8PyfNj41KT4udQM?domain=biographic.com\">bioGraphic\u003c/a>, an online magazine about nature and sustainability powered by the California Academy of Sciences.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Snow geese erupt against a blue sky trimmed with fresh, white clouds. The air is so clear you can see for miles, east to the distant peaks of the Sierra Nevada and west to the gentle slopes of the Coast Ranges. But Carson Jeffres and Jacob Katz are less interested in the view above them than the one at their feet. Standing knee-deep in a flooded field at Knaggs Ranch, a rice farm near Sacramento, they peer into a floating cage made of PVC pipe and mesh and prepare to check on its unusual inhabitants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeffres opens the top of the cage and dips in a small net. When he pulls it out, a pair of plump fish, each the size of a pinky finger, wriggle inside. These are young Chinook salmon—a species imperiled in California. He holds up his catch for Katz to admire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two men are fish ecologists—Jeffres at the University of California, Davis, and Katz at the conservation-based non-profit California Trout—and they are testing a wild idea. To help save the Chinook, they are using rice fields as winter nurseries for young salmon migrating from their natal streams to the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last century, water agencies have built levees along most of the state’s rivers to control floods and supply water to communities and farmers alike. But these levees also bar young Chinook from the floodplains that historically provided safe, food-rich places to grow on their journey to the Pacific. Today, more than half a million acres of these former floodplains in California’s immense interior valley are occupied by rice farms. Repurposing them as surrogate floodplains during the months they would otherwise lie fallow could be key to restoring endangered populations of wild-spawning Chinook.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t restore those floodplains,” says Rene Henery, California science director for the conservation non-profit Trout Unlimited, “but we can recover the functionality that the fish evolved with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s Central Valley is a flat expanse, flanked on either side by mountain ranges, that extends 400 miles down the middle of the state. Salmon once flourished in the streams and rivers that course through it. “One or two million came back every year,” says Peter Moyle, a fish ecologist at UC Davis. “They were up to 60 pounds and close to a meter long.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For millennia, adult Chinook in California returned to spawn in the upper reaches of waterways that flow down from mountains surrounding the valley. Then, when the winter rainy season caused their natal streams to swell, the next generation of young fish would all swim downstream toward the sea, taking advantage of the many floodplains along the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The final stretch of their long journey would begin when the fish hit the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, where the water slows, twisting and turning around the Delta’s many islands. Migrating young salmon have to navigate these braided waterways before making their way across the San Francisco Bay and through the Golden Gate Strait, the iconic narrow opening spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge that leads to the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951349\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1951349 size-complete_open_graph\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/20190326_A_0785_full-1200x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jacob Katz examining the siphon after collecting a water sample to measure zooplankton in the floodplain near the Sacramento River. \u003ccite>(Jak Wonderly/bioGraphic)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Habitat Loss\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, few Central Valley salmon spawn in the wild. The region’s waterways have been completely remade into a system that includes 20 major dams and more than 1,600 miles of riverbank levees. While this engineered set-up tames flooding and supplies drinking and irrigation water, these benefits to people come at a cost to salmon. Dams block entry to the mountain streams where the fish once spawned, and levees block access to the valley-floor floodplains where young salmon once found plentiful food and shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across their range, Central Valley Chinook are all classified as a single species, but for management purposes the fish are divided into four runs according to the season when adults return from the Pacific Ocean to spawn. Two of those runs are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, while the other two are considered federal populations of concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Engineered rivers are almost completely to blame. “Just as we’ve lost almost all the floodplain habitat, we’ve also lost pretty much all of the spawning habitat,” says Brian Ellrott, the Central Valley salmon recovery coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which leads the efforts to restore populations of these fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re just straggling along right now,” Jeffres says. “They’re propped up by hatcheries.” State hatcheries release more than 32 million young salmon annually, and these fish dominate all four runs of Central Valley Chinook.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The best way to restore Chinook salmon, fish biologists say, is to give them back some of what they’ve lost. To provide more spawning grounds, NOAA plans to start transporting migrating adults past Central Valley dams―from the downstream side to the upstream reaches―as is done by wildlife agencies in the states of Washington and Oregon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Restoration of degraded spawning grounds below dams will also be critical to their recovery. While most salmon return to their natal waters to spawn, a few stray in search of new homes. This penchant for exploration allows them to revisit waterways where they had previously been extinct for decades. Recent restoration efforts are starting to pay off: After an absence of 70 years, Chinook now return by the hundreds to spawn in Putah Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River. Likewise, for the first time in more than half a century, a couple dozen Chinook have found their way back to historical spawning grounds in the San Joaquin River, which flows from the Sierra Nevada to the Delta.[pullquote align='right' citation='Jacob Katz, fish ecologist']‘Fish abundance equals water security. It doesn’t have to be fish versus farms―it can be fish and farms.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Restoring floodplain nurseries is a harder problem to solve, since this habitat has been more dramatically altered and requires changes on a much larger scale. Repurposing rice fields in the off-season may be a big part of the answer, and NOAA is supportive of the effort. “We’re pushing to make that happen,” Ellrott says. “Salmon are really resilient―I’m optimistic that if we give them the right nudge, we can restore them in the valley.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Restorationists have good reason to think that prime nursery grounds are vital to the long-term survival of the region’s salmon. The most robust population of spring-run Chinook originates in Butte Creek, which runs along a wildlife refuge that contains some of the valley’s few remaining floodplains. The Butte Creek salmon population is wild-spawning and self-sustaining. “It’s the one successful population of spring-run salmon,” Jeffres says. Young salmon here are more likely to make it out to sea, and the adults more likely to return and spawn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A probable reason for Butte Creek’s success is that it gives Chinook a place to grow and thrive. The creek’s young fish are larger than those elsewhere in the valley, and being bigger presumably boosts survival. “It makes the salmon more resilient,” Katz says, just like packing lunch before a long trip.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951231\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 540px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1951231\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40320__20190311_dji_0341_full-sfi.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40320__20190311_dji_0341_full-sfi.jpg 540w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40320__20190311_dji_0341_full-sfi-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Restored wetlands from the air. This area is adjacent to the sample area. \u003ccite>(Jak Wonderly/bioGraphic)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Understanding Floodplain Value\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_section et_pb_section_13 et_pb_section_parallax et_pb_with_background et_section_regular\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_row et_pb_row_14 text_row\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_2 et_pb_column_23 text_column align_text_bottom_of_bg_image et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_text et_pb_text_12 et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_text_inner\">\n\u003cp>Before researchers understood the value of floodplains, they considered them risky for fish. “Wildlife biologists thought floodplains were bad for salmon because they stranded them, and that levees were good for salmon because they kept them in the river,” Moyle says. “It was pretty much unquestioned.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s only in the last two decades that this conventional wisdom has been overturned. The first evidence came from scientists looking at the fate of young salmon in the Yolo Bypass. Built to contain a floodplain of the Sacramento River, the Bypass is an enormous flood control structure—about 40 miles long and two miles wide—that shunts water from the Sacramento River around the City of Sacramento. It’s bounded on either side by colossal, earthen levees that are more than 20 feet high and wide enough to drive on. When the river runs high, it overtops a weir at the north end of the levees. Water spills down inside the bypass, flooding it, then rejoins the river at the south end of the levees.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_section et_pb_section_14 text_section et_section_regular\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_row et_pb_row_15 text_row et_pb_equal_columns\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_2 et_pb_column_25 vertical-align-in-column text_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_text et_pb_text_13 et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_text_inner\">\n\u003cp>The Yolo Bypass only fills during the winter, and, when it does, some of the young salmon migrating downstream come along for the ride. During particularly wet winters, the bypass is so full it looks like an inland sea. “The floodplains are still there,” Katz says. “They’re just used differently, as bypasses.” A 1998 study concluded that salmon swept into the bypass grew faster than those that remained in the river.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeffres got similar results when he looked at fish in the Cosumnes, one of the state’s rare, free-flowing rivers that still has remnants of natural floodplains. In 2004, he found that young salmon in a floodplain grew faster than those in the Cosumnes River itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2009, the California Department of Water Resources decided to give salmon about 20,000 acres of floodplain habitat―one-third of the total acreage―in the Yolo Bypass. Most of the land there is privately owned and farmed for rice during the summer growing season. That decision caught the attention of rice farmer John Brennan, who wanted to keep fields in production in the Yolo Bypass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water is in short supply during the hot, dry Central Valley summers, especially during the state’s periodic severe droughts. Historically, the fight over this constrained resource has pitted growers against environmental laws that require allocating water for endangered fish like Chinook. Rather than playing this zero-sum game, Brennan has been looking for ways to integrate conservation with agriculture. “If you’re in the rice business, you’re in the water business―and if you’re in the water business, you’re in the fish business,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Katz puts it this way: “Fish abundance equals water security. It doesn’t have to be fish versus farms―it can be fish \u003cem>and\u003c/em> farms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_section et_pb_section_18 text_section et_section_regular\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_row et_pb_row_20 text_row et_pb_equal_columns\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_2 et_pb_column_33 vertical-align-in-column text_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_text et_pb_text_15 et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_text_inner\">\n\u003cp>In 2010, Brennan joined forces with two environmentalists to see if rice fields in the bypass could be used as salmon nurseries during the winter, when the fields are dormant and fish are migrating downstream. After scouting the Yolo Bypass for available properties, Brennan and his partners settled on the rice fields of Knaggs Ranch as a chance to put their plan into practice. They bought the ranch and assembled a research team, starting with Jacob Katz since his father is one of Brennan’s partners. Katz invited Jeffres to join him, and the pair has collaborated ever since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the winter of 2012, the researchers flooded a five-acre corner of the ranch and released 10,000 young hatchery salmon in the fallow field. “When we first started, lots of farmers laughed and said it was the stupidest thing they’d ever heard,’” Jeffres says. He and Katz had their doubts, too. “It didn’t look like fish habitat,” Jeffres says, pointing across the ranch to their original test site. Flat brown fields stretch in all directions, and tidy mud berms divide the land into a patchwork of close-packed rice paddies. “We thought it might be the dumbest thing we’d ever done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_section et_pb_section_19 article_text_section et_section_regular\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_row et_pb_row_21 text_row et_pb_equal_columns\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_2 et_pb_column_35 text_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_text et_pb_text_16 et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_text_inner\">\n\u003cp>They worried they’d end up with a field full of dead fish. They weren’t concerned about residual pesticides, which are applied months earlier and break down relatively quickly in the environment, but they fretted about a host of other potential pitfalls. They thought the stagnant, shallow water in the field might get too warm for fish or make them easy prey for hungry birds. And they didn’t know whether the decomposition of rice stubble, which is left on the fields after the fall harvest, would deplete oxygen levels in the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first the researchers couldn’t tell whether anything was happening. “Out in the fields in mid-winter it looks like a mud puddle. We couldn’t see the fish,” Katz says. “Then we ran a net through the water and caught fish with little potbellies. It was amazing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their rice-field test subjects did far more than survive. They thrived, growing five-fold―from 1 gram to more than 5―in just six weeks. “They grew at the highest rates recorded in the Central Valley,” Jeffres says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, the scientists envision that the young salmon, instead of being introduced into rice fields by humans, will leave their natal waters and migrate downstream and into the bypass on their own. To make that journey possible even if the weir hasn’t overflowed, the California Department of Water Resources wants to add gates that can be opened to let salmon swim in and out of the rice fields on their way to the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there are still some barriers left to remove, the possibility of wild-spawning, self-sustaining Chinook runs raised on rice farms is no longer just a pipe dream. In the years since they launched their pilot project, Jeffres and Katz have expanded their effort to encompass 20 acres and 50,000 fish, proving that it can work on a real-world scale. They have also found that, on average, salmon reared in these rice-field nurseries weigh 12 times more than those that grow up in the Sacramento River. The reason for this, Jeffres says, is that there’s so much more for them to eat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951234\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 540px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1951234\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40324__20190419_A_1200_full-2-sfi.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40324__20190419_A_1200_full-2-sfi.jpg 540w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40324__20190419_A_1200_full-2-sfi-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hundreds of chinook salmon fry in a tank at the UC Davis Marine Laboratory. \u003ccite>(Jak Wonderly/bioGraphic)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Back at Knaggs Ranch\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeffres wants to know just how much more food the rice fields contain. He casts a long, white net across the shallow water of a rice field then draws it back carefully, keeping clear of the mud. Katz tips the contents into a plastic bag and lifts it high so they can both see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy moly!” Katz exclaims. “I am totally astonished.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeffres is equally jazzed. “That’s insane!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside the plastic bag, tiny freshwater crustaceans―or “bugs,” as the researchers call them―dart back and forth in constant motion. The water is so thick with them that it looks like a whirling cloud of pink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These small crustaceans are the perfect food for young fish, and this haul is the best Katz and Jeffres have ever seen. Most of the bugs they netted belong to the genus \u003cem>Daphnia\u003c/em>, often dubbed water fleas for the way they swim in short hops. They’re here in such abundance because they thrive in shallow, algae-rich waters, from puddles to flooded fields to floodplains. “It’s magic when water slows down and spreads across a floodplain,” Katz says. “It’s liquid protein.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pickings are far slimmer in rivers. Katz holds up another bag, this one netted about an hour earlier from the Sacramento River. Just a few crustaceans scoot around inside it. “There’s basically nothing here,” he says. “By building levees, we’ve created rivers that are essentially food deserts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Sacramento River has several flood control bypasses, and Katz estimates that, altogether, they contain up to 150,000 acres of rice fields that could be used as bug-rich salmon nurseries. Another 500,000 acres of rice farms lie along the Sacramento River but outside bypasses―and he thinks they may be able to help salmon, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of these is River Garden Farms, which lies a short stretch upriver from Knaggs Ranch and is managed by Roger Cornwell. Like Brennan, Cornwell wondered if his fields could benefit salmon, despite the fact that the land is not in a bypass. “I met Jacob Katz and started talking to him about what we could do,” he says. Katz proposed another wild idea, one that could solve the food-desert problem: bug farming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They wanted to know, Jeffres says, “If we can’t bring the fish to the floodplain, can we bring the floodplain to the fish?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>River Garden Farms is separated from the Sacramento River by a levee, atop which sits the Rough and Ready Pumping Plant, which was installed in 1915 to irrigate fields. The plant houses five glossy, black, massive pumps—each about six feet tall—which fill the pump house with a low roar. This past winter, the team took advantage of the setup and flooded a fallow rice field to raise bugs, then pumped the food-rich water into the Sacramento River to feed young fish as they swam through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To test whether the bugs would reach their intended recipients, the researchers placed cages of young salmon at intervals along a mile or so of the river. The Rough and Ready pumps delivered bugs starting in late February, and Jacob Montgomery and Jennifer Kronk of California Trout took weekly measurements of the caged fish. By late March, when we visit, all the bugs have been pumped off the field. The field crew pulls on their waders and heads out to the river to see if the experiment worked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They start at a site upstream of the pumping plant, where the caged fish didn’t get any field-raised bugs. Montgomery and Kronk wrestle a cage to the river’s muddy bank. Montgomery hefts the cage above the water, revealing young salmon that flash silver as they flip back and forth in distress. The team works fast so as to get the fish back to the river as soon as possible. Montgomery places each fish in a tray with a ruler, splashing it with water to keep it calm and still, and calls out the length for Kronk to record. Then he passes it to her for weighing. When the measuring is done, he estimates that the upstream fish averaged about 55 millimeters long and weighed around 2 grams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moving downstream to the next site, Kronk scoops up a fish collected right by the pump outfall. This site got the most bugs delivered from the rice field―if the experiment works, they’ll see it here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh, he’s fat,” Kronk says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She lays it in the measuring tray. It’s 65 millimeters and 2.5 grams, considerably bigger than the upstream average. The next fish is even fatter, at 66 mm and just over 3 g, and the one after that is fatter still, at 71 mm and 4 g.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Wow, look at these guys. They’re doing great,” Montgomery says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although supplying bugs to fish in a free-flowing river doesn’t guarantee delivery, a system that monitors migrating salmon is already in place―so the researchers will know when to expect the fish and can serve them food from the fields at just the right time. “We can pump bugs into the river when fish are passing by,” Katz says. By spring, the salmon will have completed their journey, and the rice fields will be drained and ready for planting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951235\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 540px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1951235\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40325__20190424_2341_full-sfi.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40325__20190424_2341_full-sfi.jpg 540w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40325__20190424_2341_full-sfi-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rachelle Tallman, UC Davis Graduate student, creating an incision in a salmon fry after inserting a tracking tag. \u003ccite>(Jak Wonderly/bioGraphic)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fish biologists have long assumed that the larger young salmon are when they navigate the Delta, the faster they can swim and the better their chances of survival. “It’s a really dangerous place,” Trout Unlimited’s Rene Henery says. “There are lots of introduced predatory fish.” To date, however, there is no direct evidence that size is important to survival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the fish world, we say bigger fish are more likely to make it to the ocean. But no one has actually looked at survival,” says Rachelle Tallman, a graduate student in fish ecology at UC Davis. Tallman is now heading up a project to do just that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project is part of an effort by the California Rice Commission to incentivize farmers to manage their rice fields in a way that benefits local wildlife. Paul Buttner, who manages environmental affairs for the commission, currently pays farmers to flood their fields for water birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway. He hopes to launch a similar program for salmon that would compensate farmers for creating floodplain nurseries for young, migrating fish. But first he needs solid proof that it works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How many salmon from fields survive and go out the Golden Gate?” Buttner asks. “More than those that grow up in the river?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the Rough and Ready plant was pumping bugs into the Sacramento River, Tallman was setting up a different experiment to assess how size affects a salmon’s success. She reared two sets of young salmon: some in a laboratory tank and others in rice fields in the Yolo Bypass. Now, on a warm April day near the edge of the bypass, she’s pulling fish from the rice fields and equipping them with acoustic tags so she can compare survival rates as they swim out to, and beyond, the Golden Gate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tallman stands at a fish-surgery station sheltered by a white tent. As she slips a young salmon into a bucket of anesthetic, she alerts her team that a surgery is in progress. “Dope!” she calls out. A minute later the fish has stopped wriggling and Tallman springs into action. In rapid succession, she weighs it, measures it, and places it on a foam block. Cool water streams across the fish, which lies motionless apart from flapping gills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Surgical scissors in hand, Tallman cuts a small opening in its belly and pushes a centimeter-long tag inside. She closes the wound with a single stitch and knots both ends. “Fish out of surgery,” she calls. A crew member collects the salmon and puts it in a recovery bucket. The whole operation, including anesthesia, takes just two minutes. Then Tallman picks up another fish and starts the process anew. “Dope!” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back at the lab, another crew tags tank-reared fish. Collectively, the team tags more than 750 salmon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A day after the surgeries, Tallman releases her tagged salmon into the wild, sending some into the Sacramento River and some into the Yolo Bypass, which drains into the Sacramento. About 200 underwater acoustic receivers will track their progress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By early May, the first tagged fish have navigated the perils of the Delta. Now, they must traverse the San Francisco Bay—a huge body of water that covers more than 500 square miles. But this part of their journey is less risky. Once they’ve gotten this far, most young salmon readily find their way across the Bay and swim through its narrow opening beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, out into the Pacific Ocean. It will likely be December before Tallman can crunch all the data and tell Buttner whether—and how much—the rice field nurseries boost survival rates for the salmon. While the final verdict is still out, Buttner says they’re all hoping for a nice Christmas present.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fish in Tallman’s study that do make it to the Pacific and survive in the open ocean will eventually attempt to return as adults to spawn in the Central Valley’s extensive but highly altered river system. It’s a journey the scientists hope will become at least slightly less challenging in the years to come. “We’re not going to get back what we once had,” Jeffres says. “But we can mimic it.” He and Katz envision waterways that are managed for flood control and farming but also for Chinook survival, ones with rice-field nurseries and bug farms to help restore self-sustaining salmon populations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s about welcoming the wild back into human landscapes in a way that makes sense,” Katz says. “We’re reimagining the system to work with nature.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "California’s Chinook salmon have been losing habitat to agriculture for decades. Now, the fish are getting some much-needed help.",
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"description": "California’s Chinook salmon have been losing habitat to agriculture for decades. Now, the fish are getting some much-needed help.",
"title": "Farmers Flood Fields to Give Beleaguered Salmon a Boost | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story originally appeared in \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/XRVyCNk8PyfNj41KT4udQM?domain=biographic.com\">bioGraphic\u003c/a>, an online magazine about nature and sustainability powered by the California Academy of Sciences.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Snow geese erupt against a blue sky trimmed with fresh, white clouds. The air is so clear you can see for miles, east to the distant peaks of the Sierra Nevada and west to the gentle slopes of the Coast Ranges. But Carson Jeffres and Jacob Katz are less interested in the view above them than the one at their feet. Standing knee-deep in a flooded field at Knaggs Ranch, a rice farm near Sacramento, they peer into a floating cage made of PVC pipe and mesh and prepare to check on its unusual inhabitants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeffres opens the top of the cage and dips in a small net. When he pulls it out, a pair of plump fish, each the size of a pinky finger, wriggle inside. These are young Chinook salmon—a species imperiled in California. He holds up his catch for Katz to admire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two men are fish ecologists—Jeffres at the University of California, Davis, and Katz at the conservation-based non-profit California Trout—and they are testing a wild idea. To help save the Chinook, they are using rice fields as winter nurseries for young salmon migrating from their natal streams to the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last century, water agencies have built levees along most of the state’s rivers to control floods and supply water to communities and farmers alike. But these levees also bar young Chinook from the floodplains that historically provided safe, food-rich places to grow on their journey to the Pacific. Today, more than half a million acres of these former floodplains in California’s immense interior valley are occupied by rice farms. Repurposing them as surrogate floodplains during the months they would otherwise lie fallow could be key to restoring endangered populations of wild-spawning Chinook.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t restore those floodplains,” says Rene Henery, California science director for the conservation non-profit Trout Unlimited, “but we can recover the functionality that the fish evolved with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s Central Valley is a flat expanse, flanked on either side by mountain ranges, that extends 400 miles down the middle of the state. Salmon once flourished in the streams and rivers that course through it. “One or two million came back every year,” says Peter Moyle, a fish ecologist at UC Davis. “They were up to 60 pounds and close to a meter long.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For millennia, adult Chinook in California returned to spawn in the upper reaches of waterways that flow down from mountains surrounding the valley. Then, when the winter rainy season caused their natal streams to swell, the next generation of young fish would all swim downstream toward the sea, taking advantage of the many floodplains along the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The final stretch of their long journey would begin when the fish hit the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, where the water slows, twisting and turning around the Delta’s many islands. Migrating young salmon have to navigate these braided waterways before making their way across the San Francisco Bay and through the Golden Gate Strait, the iconic narrow opening spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge that leads to the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951349\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1951349 size-complete_open_graph\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/20190326_A_0785_full-1200x800.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jacob Katz examining the siphon after collecting a water sample to measure zooplankton in the floodplain near the Sacramento River. \u003ccite>(Jak Wonderly/bioGraphic)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Habitat Loss\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, few Central Valley salmon spawn in the wild. The region’s waterways have been completely remade into a system that includes 20 major dams and more than 1,600 miles of riverbank levees. While this engineered set-up tames flooding and supplies drinking and irrigation water, these benefits to people come at a cost to salmon. Dams block entry to the mountain streams where the fish once spawned, and levees block access to the valley-floor floodplains where young salmon once found plentiful food and shelter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across their range, Central Valley Chinook are all classified as a single species, but for management purposes the fish are divided into four runs according to the season when adults return from the Pacific Ocean to spawn. Two of those runs are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, while the other two are considered federal populations of concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Engineered rivers are almost completely to blame. “Just as we’ve lost almost all the floodplain habitat, we’ve also lost pretty much all of the spawning habitat,” says Brian Ellrott, the Central Valley salmon recovery coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which leads the efforts to restore populations of these fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re just straggling along right now,” Jeffres says. “They’re propped up by hatcheries.” State hatcheries release more than 32 million young salmon annually, and these fish dominate all four runs of Central Valley Chinook.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The best way to restore Chinook salmon, fish biologists say, is to give them back some of what they’ve lost. To provide more spawning grounds, NOAA plans to start transporting migrating adults past Central Valley dams―from the downstream side to the upstream reaches―as is done by wildlife agencies in the states of Washington and Oregon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Restoration of degraded spawning grounds below dams will also be critical to their recovery. While most salmon return to their natal waters to spawn, a few stray in search of new homes. This penchant for exploration allows them to revisit waterways where they had previously been extinct for decades. Recent restoration efforts are starting to pay off: After an absence of 70 years, Chinook now return by the hundreds to spawn in Putah Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River. Likewise, for the first time in more than half a century, a couple dozen Chinook have found their way back to historical spawning grounds in the San Joaquin River, which flows from the Sierra Nevada to the Delta.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Fish abundance equals water security. It doesn’t have to be fish versus farms―it can be fish and farms.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Restoring floodplain nurseries is a harder problem to solve, since this habitat has been more dramatically altered and requires changes on a much larger scale. Repurposing rice fields in the off-season may be a big part of the answer, and NOAA is supportive of the effort. “We’re pushing to make that happen,” Ellrott says. “Salmon are really resilient―I’m optimistic that if we give them the right nudge, we can restore them in the valley.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Restorationists have good reason to think that prime nursery grounds are vital to the long-term survival of the region’s salmon. The most robust population of spring-run Chinook originates in Butte Creek, which runs along a wildlife refuge that contains some of the valley’s few remaining floodplains. The Butte Creek salmon population is wild-spawning and self-sustaining. “It’s the one successful population of spring-run salmon,” Jeffres says. Young salmon here are more likely to make it out to sea, and the adults more likely to return and spawn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A probable reason for Butte Creek’s success is that it gives Chinook a place to grow and thrive. The creek’s young fish are larger than those elsewhere in the valley, and being bigger presumably boosts survival. “It makes the salmon more resilient,” Katz says, just like packing lunch before a long trip.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951231\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 540px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1951231\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40320__20190311_dji_0341_full-sfi.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40320__20190311_dji_0341_full-sfi.jpg 540w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40320__20190311_dji_0341_full-sfi-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Restored wetlands from the air. This area is adjacent to the sample area. \u003ccite>(Jak Wonderly/bioGraphic)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Understanding Floodplain Value\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_section et_pb_section_13 et_pb_section_parallax et_pb_with_background et_section_regular\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_row et_pb_row_14 text_row\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_2 et_pb_column_23 text_column align_text_bottom_of_bg_image et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_text et_pb_text_12 et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_text_inner\">\n\u003cp>Before researchers understood the value of floodplains, they considered them risky for fish. “Wildlife biologists thought floodplains were bad for salmon because they stranded them, and that levees were good for salmon because they kept them in the river,” Moyle says. “It was pretty much unquestioned.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s only in the last two decades that this conventional wisdom has been overturned. The first evidence came from scientists looking at the fate of young salmon in the Yolo Bypass. Built to contain a floodplain of the Sacramento River, the Bypass is an enormous flood control structure—about 40 miles long and two miles wide—that shunts water from the Sacramento River around the City of Sacramento. It’s bounded on either side by colossal, earthen levees that are more than 20 feet high and wide enough to drive on. When the river runs high, it overtops a weir at the north end of the levees. Water spills down inside the bypass, flooding it, then rejoins the river at the south end of the levees.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_section et_pb_section_14 text_section et_section_regular\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_row et_pb_row_15 text_row et_pb_equal_columns\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_2 et_pb_column_25 vertical-align-in-column text_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_text et_pb_text_13 et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_text_inner\">\n\u003cp>The Yolo Bypass only fills during the winter, and, when it does, some of the young salmon migrating downstream come along for the ride. During particularly wet winters, the bypass is so full it looks like an inland sea. “The floodplains are still there,” Katz says. “They’re just used differently, as bypasses.” A 1998 study concluded that salmon swept into the bypass grew faster than those that remained in the river.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeffres got similar results when he looked at fish in the Cosumnes, one of the state’s rare, free-flowing rivers that still has remnants of natural floodplains. In 2004, he found that young salmon in a floodplain grew faster than those in the Cosumnes River itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2009, the California Department of Water Resources decided to give salmon about 20,000 acres of floodplain habitat―one-third of the total acreage―in the Yolo Bypass. Most of the land there is privately owned and farmed for rice during the summer growing season. That decision caught the attention of rice farmer John Brennan, who wanted to keep fields in production in the Yolo Bypass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water is in short supply during the hot, dry Central Valley summers, especially during the state’s periodic severe droughts. Historically, the fight over this constrained resource has pitted growers against environmental laws that require allocating water for endangered fish like Chinook. Rather than playing this zero-sum game, Brennan has been looking for ways to integrate conservation with agriculture. “If you’re in the rice business, you’re in the water business―and if you’re in the water business, you’re in the fish business,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Katz puts it this way: “Fish abundance equals water security. It doesn’t have to be fish versus farms―it can be fish \u003cem>and\u003c/em> farms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_section et_pb_section_18 text_section et_section_regular\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_row et_pb_row_20 text_row et_pb_equal_columns\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_2 et_pb_column_33 vertical-align-in-column text_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_text et_pb_text_15 et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_text_inner\">\n\u003cp>In 2010, Brennan joined forces with two environmentalists to see if rice fields in the bypass could be used as salmon nurseries during the winter, when the fields are dormant and fish are migrating downstream. After scouting the Yolo Bypass for available properties, Brennan and his partners settled on the rice fields of Knaggs Ranch as a chance to put their plan into practice. They bought the ranch and assembled a research team, starting with Jacob Katz since his father is one of Brennan’s partners. Katz invited Jeffres to join him, and the pair has collaborated ever since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the winter of 2012, the researchers flooded a five-acre corner of the ranch and released 10,000 young hatchery salmon in the fallow field. “When we first started, lots of farmers laughed and said it was the stupidest thing they’d ever heard,’” Jeffres says. He and Katz had their doubts, too. “It didn’t look like fish habitat,” Jeffres says, pointing across the ranch to their original test site. Flat brown fields stretch in all directions, and tidy mud berms divide the land into a patchwork of close-packed rice paddies. “We thought it might be the dumbest thing we’d ever done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_section et_pb_section_19 article_text_section et_section_regular\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_row et_pb_row_21 text_row et_pb_equal_columns\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_2 et_pb_column_35 text_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_text et_pb_text_16 et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n\u003cdiv class=\"et_pb_text_inner\">\n\u003cp>They worried they’d end up with a field full of dead fish. They weren’t concerned about residual pesticides, which are applied months earlier and break down relatively quickly in the environment, but they fretted about a host of other potential pitfalls. They thought the stagnant, shallow water in the field might get too warm for fish or make them easy prey for hungry birds. And they didn’t know whether the decomposition of rice stubble, which is left on the fields after the fall harvest, would deplete oxygen levels in the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At first the researchers couldn’t tell whether anything was happening. “Out in the fields in mid-winter it looks like a mud puddle. We couldn’t see the fish,” Katz says. “Then we ran a net through the water and caught fish with little potbellies. It was amazing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their rice-field test subjects did far more than survive. They thrived, growing five-fold―from 1 gram to more than 5―in just six weeks. “They grew at the highest rates recorded in the Central Valley,” Jeffres says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, the scientists envision that the young salmon, instead of being introduced into rice fields by humans, will leave their natal waters and migrate downstream and into the bypass on their own. To make that journey possible even if the weir hasn’t overflowed, the California Department of Water Resources wants to add gates that can be opened to let salmon swim in and out of the rice fields on their way to the ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there are still some barriers left to remove, the possibility of wild-spawning, self-sustaining Chinook runs raised on rice farms is no longer just a pipe dream. In the years since they launched their pilot project, Jeffres and Katz have expanded their effort to encompass 20 acres and 50,000 fish, proving that it can work on a real-world scale. They have also found that, on average, salmon reared in these rice-field nurseries weigh 12 times more than those that grow up in the Sacramento River. The reason for this, Jeffres says, is that there’s so much more for them to eat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951234\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 540px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1951234\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40324__20190419_A_1200_full-2-sfi.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40324__20190419_A_1200_full-2-sfi.jpg 540w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40324__20190419_A_1200_full-2-sfi-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hundreds of chinook salmon fry in a tank at the UC Davis Marine Laboratory. \u003ccite>(Jak Wonderly/bioGraphic)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Back at Knaggs Ranch\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeffres wants to know just how much more food the rice fields contain. He casts a long, white net across the shallow water of a rice field then draws it back carefully, keeping clear of the mud. Katz tips the contents into a plastic bag and lifts it high so they can both see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy moly!” Katz exclaims. “I am totally astonished.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeffres is equally jazzed. “That’s insane!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside the plastic bag, tiny freshwater crustaceans―or “bugs,” as the researchers call them―dart back and forth in constant motion. The water is so thick with them that it looks like a whirling cloud of pink.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These small crustaceans are the perfect food for young fish, and this haul is the best Katz and Jeffres have ever seen. Most of the bugs they netted belong to the genus \u003cem>Daphnia\u003c/em>, often dubbed water fleas for the way they swim in short hops. They’re here in such abundance because they thrive in shallow, algae-rich waters, from puddles to flooded fields to floodplains. “It’s magic when water slows down and spreads across a floodplain,” Katz says. “It’s liquid protein.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pickings are far slimmer in rivers. Katz holds up another bag, this one netted about an hour earlier from the Sacramento River. Just a few crustaceans scoot around inside it. “There’s basically nothing here,” he says. “By building levees, we’ve created rivers that are essentially food deserts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Sacramento River has several flood control bypasses, and Katz estimates that, altogether, they contain up to 150,000 acres of rice fields that could be used as bug-rich salmon nurseries. Another 500,000 acres of rice farms lie along the Sacramento River but outside bypasses―and he thinks they may be able to help salmon, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of these is River Garden Farms, which lies a short stretch upriver from Knaggs Ranch and is managed by Roger Cornwell. Like Brennan, Cornwell wondered if his fields could benefit salmon, despite the fact that the land is not in a bypass. “I met Jacob Katz and started talking to him about what we could do,” he says. Katz proposed another wild idea, one that could solve the food-desert problem: bug farming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They wanted to know, Jeffres says, “If we can’t bring the fish to the floodplain, can we bring the floodplain to the fish?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>River Garden Farms is separated from the Sacramento River by a levee, atop which sits the Rough and Ready Pumping Plant, which was installed in 1915 to irrigate fields. The plant houses five glossy, black, massive pumps—each about six feet tall—which fill the pump house with a low roar. This past winter, the team took advantage of the setup and flooded a fallow rice field to raise bugs, then pumped the food-rich water into the Sacramento River to feed young fish as they swam through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To test whether the bugs would reach their intended recipients, the researchers placed cages of young salmon at intervals along a mile or so of the river. The Rough and Ready pumps delivered bugs starting in late February, and Jacob Montgomery and Jennifer Kronk of California Trout took weekly measurements of the caged fish. By late March, when we visit, all the bugs have been pumped off the field. The field crew pulls on their waders and heads out to the river to see if the experiment worked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They start at a site upstream of the pumping plant, where the caged fish didn’t get any field-raised bugs. Montgomery and Kronk wrestle a cage to the river’s muddy bank. Montgomery hefts the cage above the water, revealing young salmon that flash silver as they flip back and forth in distress. The team works fast so as to get the fish back to the river as soon as possible. Montgomery places each fish in a tray with a ruler, splashing it with water to keep it calm and still, and calls out the length for Kronk to record. Then he passes it to her for weighing. When the measuring is done, he estimates that the upstream fish averaged about 55 millimeters long and weighed around 2 grams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moving downstream to the next site, Kronk scoops up a fish collected right by the pump outfall. This site got the most bugs delivered from the rice field―if the experiment works, they’ll see it here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh, he’s fat,” Kronk says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She lays it in the measuring tray. It’s 65 millimeters and 2.5 grams, considerably bigger than the upstream average. The next fish is even fatter, at 66 mm and just over 3 g, and the one after that is fatter still, at 71 mm and 4 g.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Wow, look at these guys. They’re doing great,” Montgomery says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although supplying bugs to fish in a free-flowing river doesn’t guarantee delivery, a system that monitors migrating salmon is already in place―so the researchers will know when to expect the fish and can serve them food from the fields at just the right time. “We can pump bugs into the river when fish are passing by,” Katz says. By spring, the salmon will have completed their journey, and the rice fields will be drained and ready for planting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1951235\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 540px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1951235\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40325__20190424_2341_full-sfi.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40325__20190424_2341_full-sfi.jpg 540w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/RS40325__20190424_2341_full-sfi-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rachelle Tallman, UC Davis Graduate student, creating an incision in a salmon fry after inserting a tracking tag. \u003ccite>(Jak Wonderly/bioGraphic)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Fish biologists have long assumed that the larger young salmon are when they navigate the Delta, the faster they can swim and the better their chances of survival. “It’s a really dangerous place,” Trout Unlimited’s Rene Henery says. “There are lots of introduced predatory fish.” To date, however, there is no direct evidence that size is important to survival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the fish world, we say bigger fish are more likely to make it to the ocean. But no one has actually looked at survival,” says Rachelle Tallman, a graduate student in fish ecology at UC Davis. Tallman is now heading up a project to do just that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project is part of an effort by the California Rice Commission to incentivize farmers to manage their rice fields in a way that benefits local wildlife. Paul Buttner, who manages environmental affairs for the commission, currently pays farmers to flood their fields for water birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway. He hopes to launch a similar program for salmon that would compensate farmers for creating floodplain nurseries for young, migrating fish. But first he needs solid proof that it works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How many salmon from fields survive and go out the Golden Gate?” Buttner asks. “More than those that grow up in the river?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the Rough and Ready plant was pumping bugs into the Sacramento River, Tallman was setting up a different experiment to assess how size affects a salmon’s success. She reared two sets of young salmon: some in a laboratory tank and others in rice fields in the Yolo Bypass. Now, on a warm April day near the edge of the bypass, she’s pulling fish from the rice fields and equipping them with acoustic tags so she can compare survival rates as they swim out to, and beyond, the Golden Gate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tallman stands at a fish-surgery station sheltered by a white tent. As she slips a young salmon into a bucket of anesthetic, she alerts her team that a surgery is in progress. “Dope!” she calls out. A minute later the fish has stopped wriggling and Tallman springs into action. In rapid succession, she weighs it, measures it, and places it on a foam block. Cool water streams across the fish, which lies motionless apart from flapping gills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Surgical scissors in hand, Tallman cuts a small opening in its belly and pushes a centimeter-long tag inside. She closes the wound with a single stitch and knots both ends. “Fish out of surgery,” she calls. A crew member collects the salmon and puts it in a recovery bucket. The whole operation, including anesthesia, takes just two minutes. Then Tallman picks up another fish and starts the process anew. “Dope!” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back at the lab, another crew tags tank-reared fish. Collectively, the team tags more than 750 salmon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A day after the surgeries, Tallman releases her tagged salmon into the wild, sending some into the Sacramento River and some into the Yolo Bypass, which drains into the Sacramento. About 200 underwater acoustic receivers will track their progress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By early May, the first tagged fish have navigated the perils of the Delta. Now, they must traverse the San Francisco Bay—a huge body of water that covers more than 500 square miles. But this part of their journey is less risky. Once they’ve gotten this far, most young salmon readily find their way across the Bay and swim through its narrow opening beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, out into the Pacific Ocean. It will likely be December before Tallman can crunch all the data and tell Buttner whether—and how much—the rice field nurseries boost survival rates for the salmon. While the final verdict is still out, Buttner says they’re all hoping for a nice Christmas present.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fish in Tallman’s study that do make it to the Pacific and survive in the open ocean will eventually attempt to return as adults to spawn in the Central Valley’s extensive but highly altered river system. It’s a journey the scientists hope will become at least slightly less challenging in the years to come. “We’re not going to get back what we once had,” Jeffres says. “But we can mimic it.” He and Katz envision waterways that are managed for flood control and farming but also for Chinook survival, ones with rice-field nurseries and bug farms to help restore self-sustaining salmon populations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s about welcoming the wild back into human landscapes in a way that makes sense,” Katz says. “We’re reimagining the system to work with nature.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "The Curious Webspinner Insect Knits a Cozy Home",
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"headTitle": "The Curious Webspinner Insect Knits a Cozy Home | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949387\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 590px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1949387 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/2019-10-15-14_19_54.gif\" alt=\"Webspinner silk underneath a log at Guadalupe Oak Grove Park in San Jose, California.\" width=\"590\" height=\"331\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Webspinner silk underneath a log at Guadalupe Oak Grove Park in San Jose, California. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With the holidays just around the corner, it’s that time of year when you’re ready to burn off Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas cookie calories by heading outdoors for a hike. Maybe you’ve noticed what looks like spider webs woven between weeds along the trail, or poking out from under rocks or draped across logs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But take a closer look – those webs might actually not be spider webs. A lot of them are silken habitats, known as galleries, created by insects called webspinners. While they’re usually underground or sequestered in burrows in fall and winter – you’re more likely to see the insects in early spring or summer – their silk is visible year-round in many parks and open spaces. They’re typically in areas that aren’t too wet or shady, nibbling on lichen, dead leaves and moss underneath their silken canopies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949394\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1949394 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Josh_Films_Silk_on_Log_With_Janice_Edgerly_Rooks-2.jpg\" alt=\"Santa Clara University professor of biology Janice Edgerly-Rooks and Deep Look producer Jenny Oh watch director of photography Josh Cassidy film webspinner silk at Guadalupe Oak Grove Park, San Jose, CA.\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Josh_Films_Silk_on_Log_With_Janice_Edgerly_Rooks-2.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Josh_Films_Silk_on_Log_With_Janice_Edgerly_Rooks-2-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Santa Clara University professor of biology Janice Edgerly-Rooks and Deep Look producer Jenny Oh watch KQED director of photography Josh Cassidy film webspinner silk at Guadalupe Oak Grove Park in San Jose, California. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Edward Rooks)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There are places where I go hiking where I just know their habitat looks perfect. If I turn over a rock, bam! The silk is there,” said Janice Edgerly-Rooks, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.scu.edu/cas/biology/faculty/edgerly-rooks/\">professor of biology at Santa Clara University\u003c/a> who has been studying webspinners for more than 30 years. “People don’t realize what it is. It’s these beautiful little bluish-tinted tubes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Webspinners, related to walking sticks and praying mantises, produce the finest silk in the animal kingdom. But unlike spiders, which produce silk from spinnerets on the tip of their abdomens, or caterpillars that produce it with salivary glands, webspinners have special silk ejectors on their front feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their feet are clothed with silk ejectors, so they look like the Lord of the Rings’ hobbits,” said Edgerly-Rooks. “When they step, hundreds of fibers come out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949388\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1949388\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/DL620_webspinner_foot-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"A female webspinner spins silk.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/DL620_webspinner_foot-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/DL620_webspinner_foot-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/DL620_webspinner_foot-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/DL620_webspinner_foot-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/DL620_webspinner_foot-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/DL620_webspinner_foot-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A female webspinner spins silk. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The extremely narrow silk threads are essential to the webspinners’ survival. The silk serves as the webspinners’ home, umbrella and invisibility cloak, all in one. Webspinners are susceptible to drowning in heavy rains, so the silk shields the insects from water with its amazing waterproof qualities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They can’t handle water. They’re just complete wimps when it comes to getting wet. But the water just slips off. It’s the most incredible thing,” Edgerly-Rooks said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When water hits the silk, drops sit on top, like on the paint of a just-waxed car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949392\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1949392\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-15-at-2.21.25-PM-1020x570.png\" alt=\"A webspinner retreats under a gallery of silk to avoid water. \" width=\"640\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-15-at-2.21.25-PM-1020x570.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-15-at-2.21.25-PM-160x89.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-15-at-2.21.25-PM-800x447.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-15-at-2.21.25-PM-768x429.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-15-at-2.21.25-PM-1200x670.png 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-15-at-2.21.25-PM-1920x1073.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A webspinner retreats under a gallery of silk to avoid water. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The silk grabs the water,” she said. “It actually pins it onto the surface. We’ve been watching it with this incredible microscope we have at the lab. We watch the water droplets dry, and it took more than twice as long for a tiny, tiny drop of water to disappear completely. Twice as long as if you put the tiny drop just on the counter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while we typically think of silk as a beautiful, luxurious fabric, for the webspinners, it’s their homemade armor that protects them from predators. Since they’re soft-bodied with no other means of defense, they disappear into their habitat while ants and other predators just walk on top, unaware of their prey safely hidden below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949391\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 590px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949391\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/rose.gif\" alt=\"Water drops on a silk compared to on a rose petal.\" width=\"590\" height=\"331\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water drops on silk compared to on a rose petal. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Janice Edgerly-Rooks / Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They can also run away, but they have to run backward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so funny to watch them walk. They’re totally compromised by having silk come out of their front feet,” said Edgerly-Rooks. “So when they walk forward, they walk on tiptoes just to make sure they don’t engage their silk ejectors. And they do not run forwards.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to her teaching duties, Edgerly-Rooks continues to study and raise webspinners she has collected around the world. She’s even \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/veehbMKjMgw\">composed music\u003c/a> inspired by these creatures’ movements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And she advises that if you see them in the wild, be careful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are very fragile insects, so it’s not wise to try to pick them up,” she said. “You can maybe gather some of the silk tubes carefully with them inside the silk. If you put them in a small container, you can get them to run around for you, although some also play dead and are really good at ‘disappearing’ even when we know they are right in front of us.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "To protect herself and her eggs, a female webspinner shoots super-fine silk from her front feet. She weaves the strands to build a shelter that serves as a tent, umbrella and invisibility cloak. But shooting silk from her feet requires her to moonwalk to get around. ",
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"title": "The Curious Webspinner Insect Knits a Cozy Home | KQED",
"description": "To protect herself and her eggs, a female webspinner shoots super-fine silk from her front feet. She weaves the strands to build a shelter that serves as a tent, umbrella and invisibility cloak. But shooting silk from her feet requires her to moonwalk to get around. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949387\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 590px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1949387 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/2019-10-15-14_19_54.gif\" alt=\"Webspinner silk underneath a log at Guadalupe Oak Grove Park in San Jose, California.\" width=\"590\" height=\"331\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Webspinner silk underneath a log at Guadalupe Oak Grove Park in San Jose, California. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With the holidays just around the corner, it’s that time of year when you’re ready to burn off Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas cookie calories by heading outdoors for a hike. Maybe you’ve noticed what looks like spider webs woven between weeds along the trail, or poking out from under rocks or draped across logs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But take a closer look – those webs might actually not be spider webs. A lot of them are silken habitats, known as galleries, created by insects called webspinners. While they’re usually underground or sequestered in burrows in fall and winter – you’re more likely to see the insects in early spring or summer – their silk is visible year-round in many parks and open spaces. They’re typically in areas that aren’t too wet or shady, nibbling on lichen, dead leaves and moss underneath their silken canopies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949394\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1949394 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Josh_Films_Silk_on_Log_With_Janice_Edgerly_Rooks-2.jpg\" alt=\"Santa Clara University professor of biology Janice Edgerly-Rooks and Deep Look producer Jenny Oh watch director of photography Josh Cassidy film webspinner silk at Guadalupe Oak Grove Park, San Jose, CA.\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Josh_Films_Silk_on_Log_With_Janice_Edgerly_Rooks-2.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Josh_Films_Silk_on_Log_With_Janice_Edgerly_Rooks-2-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Santa Clara University professor of biology Janice Edgerly-Rooks and Deep Look producer Jenny Oh watch KQED director of photography Josh Cassidy film webspinner silk at Guadalupe Oak Grove Park in San Jose, California. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Edward Rooks)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There are places where I go hiking where I just know their habitat looks perfect. If I turn over a rock, bam! The silk is there,” said Janice Edgerly-Rooks, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.scu.edu/cas/biology/faculty/edgerly-rooks/\">professor of biology at Santa Clara University\u003c/a> who has been studying webspinners for more than 30 years. “People don’t realize what it is. It’s these beautiful little bluish-tinted tubes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Webspinners, related to walking sticks and praying mantises, produce the finest silk in the animal kingdom. But unlike spiders, which produce silk from spinnerets on the tip of their abdomens, or caterpillars that produce it with salivary glands, webspinners have special silk ejectors on their front feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their feet are clothed with silk ejectors, so they look like the Lord of the Rings’ hobbits,” said Edgerly-Rooks. “When they step, hundreds of fibers come out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949388\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1949388\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/DL620_webspinner_foot-1020x574.jpg\" alt=\"A female webspinner spins silk.\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/DL620_webspinner_foot-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/DL620_webspinner_foot-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/DL620_webspinner_foot-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/DL620_webspinner_foot-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/DL620_webspinner_foot-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/DL620_webspinner_foot-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A female webspinner spins silk. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The extremely narrow silk threads are essential to the webspinners’ survival. The silk serves as the webspinners’ home, umbrella and invisibility cloak, all in one. Webspinners are susceptible to drowning in heavy rains, so the silk shields the insects from water with its amazing waterproof qualities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They can’t handle water. They’re just complete wimps when it comes to getting wet. But the water just slips off. It’s the most incredible thing,” Edgerly-Rooks said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When water hits the silk, drops sit on top, like on the paint of a just-waxed car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949392\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1949392\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-15-at-2.21.25-PM-1020x570.png\" alt=\"A webspinner retreats under a gallery of silk to avoid water. \" width=\"640\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-15-at-2.21.25-PM-1020x570.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-15-at-2.21.25-PM-160x89.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-15-at-2.21.25-PM-800x447.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-15-at-2.21.25-PM-768x429.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-15-at-2.21.25-PM-1200x670.png 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/Screen-Shot-2019-10-15-at-2.21.25-PM-1920x1073.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A webspinner retreats under a gallery of silk to avoid water. \u003ccite>(Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The silk grabs the water,” she said. “It actually pins it onto the surface. We’ve been watching it with this incredible microscope we have at the lab. We watch the water droplets dry, and it took more than twice as long for a tiny, tiny drop of water to disappear completely. Twice as long as if you put the tiny drop just on the counter.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while we typically think of silk as a beautiful, luxurious fabric, for the webspinners, it’s their homemade armor that protects them from predators. Since they’re soft-bodied with no other means of defense, they disappear into their habitat while ants and other predators just walk on top, unaware of their prey safely hidden below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1949391\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 590px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1949391\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/rose.gif\" alt=\"Water drops on a silk compared to on a rose petal.\" width=\"590\" height=\"331\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Water drops on silk compared to on a rose petal. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Janice Edgerly-Rooks / Josh Cassidy/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They can also run away, but they have to run backward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s so funny to watch them walk. They’re totally compromised by having silk come out of their front feet,” said Edgerly-Rooks. “So when they walk forward, they walk on tiptoes just to make sure they don’t engage their silk ejectors. And they do not run forwards.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to her teaching duties, Edgerly-Rooks continues to study and raise webspinners she has collected around the world. She’s even \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/veehbMKjMgw\">composed music\u003c/a> inspired by these creatures’ movements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And she advises that if you see them in the wild, be careful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are very fragile insects, so it’s not wise to try to pick them up,” she said. “You can maybe gather some of the silk tubes carefully with them inside the silk. If you put them in a small container, you can get them to run around for you, although some also play dead and are really good at ‘disappearing’ even when we know they are right in front of us.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]Why did the tarantula cross the road? It may sound like the setup of a joke, but it’s a very real question to anyone hoping to catch a glimpse of the annual tarantula migration in southeastern Colorado. Every September, a generation of newly mature male tarantulas leave their underground homes to wander the landscape south of La Junta to look for mates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The local roads, some paved and some dirt, traverse a wide expanse of undeveloped prairie, the ideal place for an unobstructed view of tarantulas on the march. Town residents have even coined the term “tarantula tourism” to describe the annual swarm – of visitors. This year, they came from as far away as Texas and Michigan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tarantulas, which usually fit in the palm of your hand, are not aggressive, and rarely bite unless provoked. The bite itself is no more painful than a papercut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A decade ago, I started making a dedicated trip,” said Whitney Cranshaw, an entomology professor at Colorado State in Fort Collins. Cranshaw collects a few of the spiders every year to\u003cbr>\nuse in his freshman classes. “It’s always a hit,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lucky males will find females, who remain near their dens the whole lives, and possibly mate, fulfilling the evolutionary goal of passing on their genes. But this so‐called “migration” is\u003cbr>\na one‐way trip.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1950589\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1950589\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Newly-mature Texas brown tarantulas (Aphonopelma hentzi) cross a rural road in southeastern Colorado, in search of potential mates.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Newly-mature Texas brown tarantulas (Aphonopelma hentzi) cross a rural road in southeastern Colorado, in search of potential mates. \u003ccite>(Kevin Collins)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The lifespan of a male, once they reach adulthood, is pretty short,” said Brent Hendrixson, an arachnologist from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, who researches the spiders.\u003cbr>\nAlmost all will be dead by the end of November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They only have a few months left until it starts getting cold down there. Winter temperatures, exposure, or predators eventually wear them out,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the many risks for these itinerant tarantulas, besides running out of time and becoming roadkill, are the local tarantula hawks. The two‐inch long, blue‐and‐gold wasps pounce on the unsuspecting arachnid travelers, hit them with a paralyzing sting, then drag them off to their lairs. Once there, the female wasp lays an egg on the spider that eventually hatches into a larva.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1950591\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1950591\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tarantula_hawk-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"This tarantula has been stung and paralyzed by one of its natural predators - the Tarantula hawk wasp (Pepsis sp.).\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tarantula_hawk-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tarantula_hawk-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tarantula_hawk-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tarantula_hawk-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tarantula_hawk-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tarantula_hawk-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This tarantula has been stung and paralyzed by one of its natural predators – the Tarantula hawk wasp (Pepsis sp.). \u003ccite>(Kevin Collins)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The larva burrows inside him to feast and grow before emerging from his body, Alien‐like, as an adult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though the tarantulas seem to be going in a straight line, their actual path is not so linear. “There’s no rhyme or reason to the direction,” said Hendrixson, “They’re moving around randomly in their environment and coming across some sort of cue – probably silk – on the ground.” Though the final trigger is not entirely understood, males tend to court once they\u003cbr>\ncome within a few feet of a female’s den.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a male does survive long enough to find a den, he courts the female singing‐telegram style, first “knocking” at the entrance by tapping the ground with his front mouth parts, called pedipalps. He must rely on vibration to communicate his intentions, since tarantulas are mostly blind. If the larger and more dangerous female comes out to investigate, they face off at the\u003cbr>\nden entrance. She may reply with drumming of her own to indicate that she’s receptive ‐‐ or she might try to eat him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he’s come prepared. When male tarantulas reach maturity, right before they set out on their quest, they develop a special set of clasps on their front legs called “tibial hooks.” Tibial hooks serve a single purpose: to fasten underneath the female’s fangs during courtship, allowing him to keep danger at arm’s length, so to speak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1950594\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1950594\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook_XCU-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Mature male tarantulas develop a special set of clasps on their front legs called “tibial hooks.” Tibial hooks serve a single purpose: to fasten underneath the female’s fangs during courtship.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook_XCU-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook_XCU-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook_XCU-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook_XCU-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook_XCU-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook_XCU-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mature male tarantulas develop a special set of clasps on their front legs called “tibial hooks.” Tibial hooks serve a single purpose: to fasten underneath the female’s fangs during courtship. \u003ccite>(Kevin Collins)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With the clasps locked in, he tips her body upright to expose her underbelly before he passes her his sperm. “It’s literally hooking up,” Hendrixson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when the deed is done, she may still think he’s prey, so he breaks the hook‐to‐fang contact and runs for his life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tarantula migration isn’t limited to this one area of Colorado. The species inhabits a swath of western territory that stretches all the way to Louisiana. In fact, the species is known colloquially as the “Texas brown tarantula,” though its common name varies from place to\u003cbr>\nplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most males never even find a female den in the short time they have, according to Hendrixson. As the season draws to a close, the tarantulas run out of gas. “By early November, they’re pretty ratty looking,” said Hendrixson, who’s observed dozens of migrations in his career. “They literally wear themselves to pieces by the end of the breeding season.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spiders Cranshaw collects fare slightly better. “The mature males I collect typically die by December, which is longer than they survive outdoors,” he said. He gives them to students to care for as pets. “It helps generate healthy discussions about spiders.”\u003cbr>\n.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Why did the tarantula cross the road? It may sound like the setup of a joke, but it’s a very real question to anyone hoping to catch a glimpse of the annual tarantula migration in southeastern Colorado. Every September, a generation of newly mature male tarantulas leave their underground homes to wander the landscape south of La Junta to look for mates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The local roads, some paved and some dirt, traverse a wide expanse of undeveloped prairie, the ideal place for an unobstructed view of tarantulas on the march. Town residents have even coined the term “tarantula tourism” to describe the annual swarm – of visitors. This year, they came from as far away as Texas and Michigan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tarantulas, which usually fit in the palm of your hand, are not aggressive, and rarely bite unless provoked. The bite itself is no more painful than a papercut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A decade ago, I started making a dedicated trip,” said Whitney Cranshaw, an entomology professor at Colorado State in Fort Collins. Cranshaw collects a few of the spiders every year to\u003cbr>\nuse in his freshman classes. “It’s always a hit,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lucky males will find females, who remain near their dens the whole lives, and possibly mate, fulfilling the evolutionary goal of passing on their genes. But this so‐called “migration” is\u003cbr>\na one‐way trip.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1950589\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1950589\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Newly-mature Texas brown tarantulas (Aphonopelma hentzi) cross a rural road in southeastern Colorado, in search of potential mates.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Newly-mature Texas brown tarantulas (Aphonopelma hentzi) cross a rural road in southeastern Colorado, in search of potential mates. \u003ccite>(Kevin Collins)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The lifespan of a male, once they reach adulthood, is pretty short,” said Brent Hendrixson, an arachnologist from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, who researches the spiders.\u003cbr>\nAlmost all will be dead by the end of November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They only have a few months left until it starts getting cold down there. Winter temperatures, exposure, or predators eventually wear them out,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the many risks for these itinerant tarantulas, besides running out of time and becoming roadkill, are the local tarantula hawks. The two‐inch long, blue‐and‐gold wasps pounce on the unsuspecting arachnid travelers, hit them with a paralyzing sting, then drag them off to their lairs. Once there, the female wasp lays an egg on the spider that eventually hatches into a larva.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1950591\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1950591\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tarantula_hawk-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"This tarantula has been stung and paralyzed by one of its natural predators - the Tarantula hawk wasp (Pepsis sp.).\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tarantula_hawk-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tarantula_hawk-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tarantula_hawk-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tarantula_hawk-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tarantula_hawk-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tarantula_hawk-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This tarantula has been stung and paralyzed by one of its natural predators – the Tarantula hawk wasp (Pepsis sp.). \u003ccite>(Kevin Collins)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The larva burrows inside him to feast and grow before emerging from his body, Alien‐like, as an adult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though the tarantulas seem to be going in a straight line, their actual path is not so linear. “There’s no rhyme or reason to the direction,” said Hendrixson, “They’re moving around randomly in their environment and coming across some sort of cue – probably silk – on the ground.” Though the final trigger is not entirely understood, males tend to court once they\u003cbr>\ncome within a few feet of a female’s den.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If a male does survive long enough to find a den, he courts the female singing‐telegram style, first “knocking” at the entrance by tapping the ground with his front mouth parts, called pedipalps. He must rely on vibration to communicate his intentions, since tarantulas are mostly blind. If the larger and more dangerous female comes out to investigate, they face off at the\u003cbr>\nden entrance. She may reply with drumming of her own to indicate that she’s receptive ‐‐ or she might try to eat him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he’s come prepared. When male tarantulas reach maturity, right before they set out on their quest, they develop a special set of clasps on their front legs called “tibial hooks.” Tibial hooks serve a single purpose: to fasten underneath the female’s fangs during courtship, allowing him to keep danger at arm’s length, so to speak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1950594\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1950594\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook_XCU-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Mature male tarantulas develop a special set of clasps on their front legs called “tibial hooks.” Tibial hooks serve a single purpose: to fasten underneath the female’s fangs during courtship.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook_XCU-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook_XCU-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook_XCU-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook_XCU-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook_XCU-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/11/DL619_tibial_hook_XCU-1920x1080.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mature male tarantulas develop a special set of clasps on their front legs called “tibial hooks.” Tibial hooks serve a single purpose: to fasten underneath the female’s fangs during courtship. \u003ccite>(Kevin Collins)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With the clasps locked in, he tips her body upright to expose her underbelly before he passes her his sperm. “It’s literally hooking up,” Hendrixson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when the deed is done, she may still think he’s prey, so he breaks the hook‐to‐fang contact and runs for his life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tarantula migration isn’t limited to this one area of Colorado. The species inhabits a swath of western territory that stretches all the way to Louisiana. In fact, the species is known colloquially as the “Texas brown tarantula,” though its common name varies from place to\u003cbr>\nplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most males never even find a female den in the short time they have, according to Hendrixson. As the season draws to a close, the tarantulas run out of gas. “By early November, they’re pretty ratty looking,” said Hendrixson, who’s observed dozens of migrations in his career. “They literally wear themselves to pieces by the end of the breeding season.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The spiders Cranshaw collects fare slightly better. “The mature males I collect typically die by December, which is longer than they survive outdoors,” he said. He gives them to students to care for as pets. “It helps generate healthy discussions about spiders.”\u003cbr>\n.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>One of the longest-running jokes in \u003cem>The Good Place \u003c/em>is about almond milk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the big twist in the show’s first season, moral philosopher Chidi Anagonye agonized about being condemned to The Bad Place, and decided early on what had tipped the scales: “I used almond milk in my coffee, even though I knew about the negative environmental impact.” For ages, it’s a running joke that such a particular infraction could be the thing that condemned him. But eventually, they get a look at the judgment system and realize he was right all along: Every decision has consequences, and nothing is decided in a vacuum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s impossible not to think of Chidi and his many philosophical thought-exercises-slash-inescapable-moral-quagmires while reading \u003cem>On the Backs of Tortoises.\u003c/em> Nominally an environmental and social history of the Galápagos Islands, Prof. Elizabeth Hennessy lays bare the many intertwined issues that confront us as we attempt conservation efforts in complex situations, while faced with a sweeping ecological crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tortoises of the Galápagos are “keystone species and ecosystem engineers,” and since sailors first began using the islands in 1535, they have been the most obvious barometer of the effect of people on an ecosystem. (Hennessy notes grimly that “three of the fifteen species” that originally populated the islands “exist only as historical records.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using tortoises as a marker, Hennessy traces the various ways the islands — and nature itself — has been framed, both by opportunists and by conservationists. By turns, tortoises are food or natural treasure; they must be carefully sheltered or made celebrities for their own good. The islands spend time as a prison colony, promised frontier for settlers, American military base, and national park with a controversial tourist industry. The thread of natural conservation runs throughout, but even there, the meaning has changed. For Walter Rothschild a century ago, it was collection of specimens. Now, it is attempts to breed tortoises for release into a wilderness that’s being shaped by the introduction of foreign animals and plants. (In 1957, fishers left three goats on Pinta island for food. Their eradication has become a cottage industry, with thousands of kills a month that are left to rot; nothing is easily parsed.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And much like poor Chidi getting frequent moral paralysis in the face of complexities or a looming crisis, moments in \u003cem>On the Backs of Tortoises\u003c/em> can be tough reading, with very few answers for some very pressing questions about culture, politics, and blackberries (an invasive species whose presence on the island is a growing problem).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hennessy is clear about the futility in dreaming of a pristine pre-1535 Galápagos, unpopulated and untouched — “There is no return to Eden,” she says — but the current problems can feel extremely immediate, and the current solutions not particularly hopeful. The tortoises that do hatch at the tourist-friendly breeding center are springing from a very small pool, and are released into islands full of rats that prey on them, goats that eat their food, and people whose needs will only grow. Where do you begin?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this book isn’t meant to offer easy answers. Early on, we read the old story about “turtles all the way down” — the concept that the world is balanced on the back of an ever-expanding stack of helpful \u003cem>Testudinidae\u003c/em>. But as Hennessy points out, such an idea doesn’t actually indicate that there’s a single answer to a difficult question; rather, that stack of tortoises suggests that, if we’re looking for balance, there’s always something more to learn beneath the things we think we know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This book works the same way, beginning with a gripping history and then delving deeper — the world of the Galapagos becomes more complicated as we go, until we understand the underpinnings of any decision (almond milk or otherwise). It’s a book about the ways we need to understand how deeply everything is entangled, and just how far down it goes. The result is a well-researched and thought-provoking read — whether you’re well-versed in the intricacies of conservation or have only just begun to long for a look at the tortoises yourself. \u003cem>On the Backs of Tortoises\u003c/em> is a natural history that asks important questions, and challenges us to think about how best to answer them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Genevieve Valentine’s latest novel is \u003c/em>Icon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27On+The+Backs+Of+Tortoises%27+Challenges+Us+To+Consider+How+Much+Of+Life+Is+Intertwined&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And much like poor Chidi getting frequent moral paralysis in the face of complexities or a looming crisis, moments in \u003cem>On the Backs of Tortoises\u003c/em> can be tough reading, with very few answers for some very pressing questions about culture, politics, and blackberries (an invasive species whose presence on the island is a growing problem).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hennessy is clear about the futility in dreaming of a pristine pre-1535 Galápagos, unpopulated and untouched — “There is no return to Eden,” she says — but the current problems can feel extremely immediate, and the current solutions not particularly hopeful. The tortoises that do hatch at the tourist-friendly breeding center are springing from a very small pool, and are released into islands full of rats that prey on them, goats that eat their food, and people whose needs will only grow. Where do you begin?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this book isn’t meant to offer easy answers. Early on, we read the old story about “turtles all the way down” — the concept that the world is balanced on the back of an ever-expanding stack of helpful \u003cem>Testudinidae\u003c/em>. But as Hennessy points out, such an idea doesn’t actually indicate that there’s a single answer to a difficult question; rather, that stack of tortoises suggests that, if we’re looking for balance, there’s always something more to learn beneath the things we think we know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This book works the same way, beginning with a gripping history and then delving deeper — the world of the Galapagos becomes more complicated as we go, until we understand the underpinnings of any decision (almond milk or otherwise). It’s a book about the ways we need to understand how deeply everything is entangled, and just how far down it goes. The result is a well-researched and thought-provoking read — whether you’re well-versed in the intricacies of conservation or have only just begun to long for a look at the tortoises yourself. \u003cem>On the Backs of Tortoises\u003c/em> is a natural history that asks important questions, and challenges us to think about how best to answer them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Genevieve Valentine’s latest novel is \u003c/em>Icon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=%27On+The+Backs+Of+Tortoises%27+Challenges+Us+To+Consider+How+Much+Of+Life+Is+Intertwined&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Bay-Curious-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/news/series/baycurious",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 3
},
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}
},
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"id": "bbc-world-service",
"title": "BBC World Service",
"info": "The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9pm-10pm, TUE-FRI 1am-2am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_world_service",
"meta": {
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"source": "BBC World Service"
},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
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"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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}
},
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"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 1
},
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/code-switch-life-kit",
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},
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/commonwealth-club-of-california-podcast/id976334034?mt=2",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
"link": "/forum",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0MxSpNYZKNprFLCl7eEtyx"
}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
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