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"content": "\u003cp>At least $60 million in federal funding for climate projects across the Bay Area is at risk, stalling efforts on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029182/federal-policy-turmoil-threatens-californias-wildfire-prevention-efforts\">wildfire prevention\u003c/a> and other critical projects across the region amid the uncertainty, according to a new survey by Together Bay Area, which represents dozens of nonprofits, tribes and public agencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the 28 respondents, which include water agencies, nonprofits, environmental consulting firms and public agencies, said the federal government froze their grants; many have no idea of their funding status because agency staffers aren’t communicating with them, and others are blindly billing for their projects with no assurance they will be reimbursed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The funding limbo comes as the Trump administration has taken \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12031373/a-radically-reshaped-epa-takes-its-toll-on-bay-area-environmental-justice-efforts\">drastic steps to reshape the Environmental Protection Agency\u003c/a>, cut or freeze hundreds of grants and deemphasize programs that promote climate awareness. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the cuts will eliminate “forced discrimination programs” and “serve every American with equal dignity and respect.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We found out that nature-based solutions to the climate crisis are slowing down and stopping because of the federal administration’s orders,” said Annie Burke, the executive director of Together Bay Area. “That’s not a good thing. Climate change doesn’t care about what’s happening in Washington, D.C.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The surveyed groups are spread across the nine Bay Area counties and Santa Cruz County; the climate projects in jeopardy include efforts to protect endangered fish species, adapt to wildfire risk and shield communities from the dangers of flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1927406\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1927406\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/07/IMG_0118-e1742855390118.jpg\" alt=\"A CalFire wildland crewmember uses a drip torch to light land on fire for a prescribed burn.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California fire officials say planning more burns safely could reduce catastrophic risks posed by wildfire. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Cal Fire)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I think this is just the beginning; every day, I’m getting emails from members saying there’s another million-dollar project that just got paused,” Burke said. “Overall, there’s a lot of uncertainty, and it’s making people stressed and uncertain about the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the surveyed leaders expressed hope that the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12012256/californias-10-billion-climate-bond-ahead-with-a-strong-lead\">$10 billion climate bond\u003c/a> passed by California voters in November could help fill in the potential funding gaps, but state officials aren’t sure all projects will exactly align with the bond’s goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Julie Alvis, deputy assistant secretary for administration at the California Natural Resources Agency, said around $2.7 billion will likely be available from the climate bond this year, but that won’t be certain until the state budget is finalized in July. Key areas for grants include safe drinking water, water infrastructure, wildfire prevention, clean energy and climate resilience, Alvis said.[aside postID=news_12027540 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/BayFarmShoreline_001_qed-1020x680.jpg']“We could see more applications coming in with more demand than resources available, which makes it difficult for organizations to compete given that there might be more projects in the mix to evaluate,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California State Coastal Conservancy is already accepting grant applications for wetland restoration projects, coastal flood risk management, public access and coastal resource protection. The agency will begin deciding on grants this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know that we’re going to use the climate bond to just backfill any lost federal funds,” said Amy Hutzel, executive officer at the Coastal Conservancy. “To the extent that projects align with the state’s objectives, they could be competitive for climate bond funding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With so much uncertainty over projects that had been planned for years, Burke said this is a moment for California and private funders to help organizations meet their missions, which play into the state’s climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s going to save us is us working locally, regionally, to advocate for funding in Sacramento,” she said. “If we don’t think differently and organize differently, it’s going to set us back years, if not decades, in the work to adapt to and mitigate the climate crisis\u003cem>.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We’re in triage’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At least $6 million for restoring native habitat for endangered salmon, mitigating flooding issues and reducing wildfire risk is in question, said Kellyx Nelson, executive director of the San Mateo Resource Conservation District, which uses nature-based solutions for climate resilience and natural disaster mitigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can’t tell you exactly what the risk is because some of the greatest impact to us right now is uncertainty,” Nelson said. “Information is changing hour by hour, almost minute by minute. Some of it comes down to interpretation because it’s not even clear what’s happening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_647328\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-647328\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1335\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2-400x267.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2-1440x961.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2-1920x1282.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2-1180x788.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2-960x641.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kellyx Nelson, executive director of San Mateo County Resource Conservation District, stands next to a retention pond on land managed by flower grower Dave Repetto in San Mateo County, California. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Tara Lohan)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Funding for local grants comes from various sources, including the Biden-era infrastructure act and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But federal agencies are either not communicating with her staff, were fired or don’t know the status of their grants, Nelson said, adding that there’s also confusion from unresolved lawsuits and federal firings or court decisions that “aren’t being recognized by the administration.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For grants that Nelson knows aren’t frozen, her staff is billing for the projects, but she is hesitant to keep moving forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re in triage,” she said. “We aren’t moving forward with something where a grant manager has said to us, ‘Don’t work on this.’ If we don’t hear from anybody, we’re moving forward. Then it’s scary because we’re moving forward and hoping that isn’t a concern.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996464\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996464\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/CVAL-Rainbow-N.Perry-2024-04-2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1286\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/CVAL-Rainbow-N.Perry-2024-04-2.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/CVAL-Rainbow-N.Perry-2024-04-2-800x514.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/CVAL-Rainbow-N.Perry-2024-04-2-1020x656.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/CVAL-Rainbow-N.Perry-2024-04-2-160x103.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/CVAL-Rainbow-N.Perry-2024-04-2-768x494.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/CVAL-Rainbow-N.Perry-2024-04-2-1536x988.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/CVAL-Rainbow-N.Perry-2024-04-2-1920x1235.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve, south of San José, could lose $800,000 in funding for accessible trails designed for people with disabilities. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Open Space Authority Santa Clara Valley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In Santa Clara County, south of San José, $800,000 in funds are at risk that would create trails for people with disabilities within the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1996323/where-to-see-wildflowers-near-you-in-the-bay-area\">Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andrea Mackenzie, general manager of the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, said the team has already hired consultants, is designing the project and hopes to break ground in 2026. Though Congress had already approved the funds, she said she had not been able to get answers about the grant status from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, which did not reply to KQED for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Coyote Valley is one of the last undeveloped valley floors in the San Francisco Bay Area in one of the most diverse and fastest growing communities in the Bay Area,” she said. “It would be made accessible to people with disabilities in wheelchairs, with walkers, crutches and people who just can’t handle slopes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“We could see more applications coming in with more demand than resources available, which makes it difficult for organizations to compete given that there might be more projects in the mix to evaluate,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California State Coastal Conservancy is already accepting grant applications for wetland restoration projects, coastal flood risk management, public access and coastal resource protection. The agency will begin deciding on grants this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know that we’re going to use the climate bond to just backfill any lost federal funds,” said Amy Hutzel, executive officer at the Coastal Conservancy. “To the extent that projects align with the state’s objectives, they could be competitive for climate bond funding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With so much uncertainty over projects that had been planned for years, Burke said this is a moment for California and private funders to help organizations meet their missions, which play into the state’s climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s going to save us is us working locally, regionally, to advocate for funding in Sacramento,” she said. “If we don’t think differently and organize differently, it’s going to set us back years, if not decades, in the work to adapt to and mitigate the climate crisis\u003cem>.”\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We’re in triage’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At least $6 million for restoring native habitat for endangered salmon, mitigating flooding issues and reducing wildfire risk is in question, said Kellyx Nelson, executive director of the San Mateo Resource Conservation District, which uses nature-based solutions for climate resilience and natural disaster mitigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can’t tell you exactly what the risk is because some of the greatest impact to us right now is uncertainty,” Nelson said. “Information is changing hour by hour, almost minute by minute. Some of it comes down to interpretation because it’s not even clear what’s happening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_647328\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-647328\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1335\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2-400x267.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2-1440x961.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2-1920x1282.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2-1180x788.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/04/Tara-Lohan_2-960x641.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kellyx Nelson, executive director of San Mateo County Resource Conservation District, stands next to a retention pond on land managed by flower grower Dave Repetto in San Mateo County, California. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Tara Lohan)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Funding for local grants comes from various sources, including the Biden-era infrastructure act and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But federal agencies are either not communicating with her staff, were fired or don’t know the status of their grants, Nelson said, adding that there’s also confusion from unresolved lawsuits and federal firings or court decisions that “aren’t being recognized by the administration.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For grants that Nelson knows aren’t frozen, her staff is billing for the projects, but she is hesitant to keep moving forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re in triage,” she said. “We aren’t moving forward with something where a grant manager has said to us, ‘Don’t work on this.’ If we don’t hear from anybody, we’re moving forward. Then it’s scary because we’re moving forward and hoping that isn’t a concern.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996464\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996464\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/CVAL-Rainbow-N.Perry-2024-04-2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1286\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/CVAL-Rainbow-N.Perry-2024-04-2.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/CVAL-Rainbow-N.Perry-2024-04-2-800x514.jpeg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/CVAL-Rainbow-N.Perry-2024-04-2-1020x656.jpeg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/CVAL-Rainbow-N.Perry-2024-04-2-160x103.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/CVAL-Rainbow-N.Perry-2024-04-2-768x494.jpeg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/CVAL-Rainbow-N.Perry-2024-04-2-1536x988.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/CVAL-Rainbow-N.Perry-2024-04-2-1920x1235.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve, south of San José, could lose $800,000 in funding for accessible trails designed for people with disabilities. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Open Space Authority Santa Clara Valley)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In Santa Clara County, south of San José, $800,000 in funds are at risk that would create trails for people with disabilities within the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1996323/where-to-see-wildflowers-near-you-in-the-bay-area\">Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Andrea Mackenzie, general manager of the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, said the team has already hired consultants, is designing the project and hopes to break ground in 2026. Though Congress had already approved the funds, she said she had not been able to get answers about the grant status from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, which did not reply to KQED for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Coyote Valley is one of the last undeveloped valley floors in the San Francisco Bay Area in one of the most diverse and fastest growing communities in the Bay Area,” she said. “It would be made accessible to people with disabilities in wheelchairs, with walkers, crutches and people who just can’t handle slopes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Daffodils Signal Resilience in Santa Cruz Mountains, Almost 5 Years After CZU Fires",
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"content": "\u003cp>Today, Michael Geluardi still chokes up a little bit when he talks about why sunshine-yellow daffodils bloom in his garden in Bonny Doon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the CZU Lightning Complex fires \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11835949/most-beautiful-place-on-earth-the-citizen-firefighters-who-stayed-behind-to-save-their-santa-cruz-mountain-paradise\">devastated this\u003c/a> Santa Cruz Mountain community in 2020, residents planted thousands of the cheerful flowers to express their resilience and hope for recovery. Now, every March, the daffodils emerge sprinkled across gardens and framed in driveways amid the rural area’s towering redwoods, still charred black in spots, and vacant lots. The \u003ca href=\"http://www.bdcsf.org/\">Bonny Doon Community School Foundation\u003c/a> spearheaded this project after the fires, selling the bulbs to benefit the local school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ravages of the fire and of COVID were all around us, and I had this idea that there could be daffodils,” Geluardi said, who organized the effort during his time as both a school and foundation board member. “The vision was that we would plant them in the winter, after the fires, and they would come up in the spring as a symbol of renewal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996298\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996298\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-9-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-9-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-9-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-9-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-9-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-9-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-9-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-9-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daffodils bloom at the entrance of Bonny Doon Elementary School in Santa Cruz on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1974648/last-years-santa-cruz-lightning-fires-still-causing-trouble\">CZU fires ignited in August of 2020 and burned\u003c/a> for more than 40 days, scorching north of 85,000 acres across San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, killing one person and destroying about \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2020/8/16/czu-lightning-complex-including-warnella-fire\">1,500 structures\u003c/a>. In Bonny Doon, many homes survived, but \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13885467/after-wildfire-a-family-of-artists-faces-the-cultural-losses-of-climate-change\">some people\u003c/a> had to embark on the painful, costly process of rebuilding or they \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11873396/i-cant-abandon-this-community-months-after-czu-fires-survivors-struggle-to-rebuild\">relocated permanently\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Geluardi, who has lived in Bonny Doon for 15 years, organized a shipment of discounted flowers from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.terraceiafarms.com/product/00/2DFB51/Daffodil-Yellow-Trumpet-Mix-Bulk-Landscaping\">generous distributor\u003c/a> on the East Coast. In the winter between 2020 and 2021, residents bought more than 60,000 yellow trumpet daffodil bulbs, showing their support for the Bonny Doon Union Elementary School District students trying to learn amid the pandemic. The program continued the following year, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996297\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-3-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-3-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-3-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-3-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-3-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-3-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-3-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural, featuring daffodils and the school’s mascot, a raccoon, made by the graduating class of 2021, at Bonny Doon Elementary School in Santa Cruz on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Today, daffodils surround the entry sign at the local school. Students also splashed a painted daffodil mural across one of the school buildings in commemoration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bonny Doon endeavor echoes a much larger, ongoing effort from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ny4p.org/the-daffodil-project#5856\">New Yorkers for Parks’ Daffodil Project,\u003c/a> which began distributing free daffodils in 2002 as a living memorial after 9/11. It now also honors those who died from COVID-19.[aside postID=news_11835949 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2020/08/IMG_20200826_115025707-1020x765.jpg']Shannon Robbins, a landscape designer who has lived in Bonny Doon for two decades, said her house was the only one in her immediate, ridge-top neighborhood still standing after the fires. She planted daffodils in her garden and helped her neighbors do the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think because the fire knocked us down at our knees, most people just needed something for hope,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although there was widespread support for the uplifting project, some members of the community would have preferred a native California species over the non-native daffodils.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Karen Holl, an ecologist from nearby University of California Santa Cruz, weighed in that a species like California poppies would have been her first choice, though daffodils are not listed on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cal-ipc.org/\">California Invasive Plant Council\u003c/a>’s problem invasives list. “Daffodils should be confined to gardens,” Holl said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996299\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996299\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-13-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-13-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-13-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-13-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daffodils bloom at the entrance of Bonny Doon Elementary School on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Robbins understood the ecological concern, but she said she had not seen the daffodils spreading. She actually planned to remind her neighbors to give them some fertilizer so they don’t disappear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now, when you drive by, you see these little, tiny random clusters of daffodils, and it’s like, ‘Oh yeah,’” Robbins said. “It’s cheery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Today, Michael Geluardi still chokes up a little bit when he talks about why sunshine-yellow daffodils bloom in his garden in Bonny Doon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the CZU Lightning Complex fires \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11835949/most-beautiful-place-on-earth-the-citizen-firefighters-who-stayed-behind-to-save-their-santa-cruz-mountain-paradise\">devastated this\u003c/a> Santa Cruz Mountain community in 2020, residents planted thousands of the cheerful flowers to express their resilience and hope for recovery. Now, every March, the daffodils emerge sprinkled across gardens and framed in driveways amid the rural area’s towering redwoods, still charred black in spots, and vacant lots. The \u003ca href=\"http://www.bdcsf.org/\">Bonny Doon Community School Foundation\u003c/a> spearheaded this project after the fires, selling the bulbs to benefit the local school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ravages of the fire and of COVID were all around us, and I had this idea that there could be daffodils,” Geluardi said, who organized the effort during his time as both a school and foundation board member. “The vision was that we would plant them in the winter, after the fires, and they would come up in the spring as a symbol of renewal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996298\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996298\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-9-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-9-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-9-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-9-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-9-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-9-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-9-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-9-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daffodils bloom at the entrance of Bonny Doon Elementary School in Santa Cruz on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1974648/last-years-santa-cruz-lightning-fires-still-causing-trouble\">CZU fires ignited in August of 2020 and burned\u003c/a> for more than 40 days, scorching north of 85,000 acres across San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, killing one person and destroying about \u003ca href=\"https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2020/8/16/czu-lightning-complex-including-warnella-fire\">1,500 structures\u003c/a>. In Bonny Doon, many homes survived, but \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13885467/after-wildfire-a-family-of-artists-faces-the-cultural-losses-of-climate-change\">some people\u003c/a> had to embark on the painful, costly process of rebuilding or they \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11873396/i-cant-abandon-this-community-months-after-czu-fires-survivors-struggle-to-rebuild\">relocated permanently\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Geluardi, who has lived in Bonny Doon for 15 years, organized a shipment of discounted flowers from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.terraceiafarms.com/product/00/2DFB51/Daffodil-Yellow-Trumpet-Mix-Bulk-Landscaping\">generous distributor\u003c/a> on the East Coast. In the winter between 2020 and 2021, residents bought more than 60,000 yellow trumpet daffodil bulbs, showing their support for the Bonny Doon Union Elementary School District students trying to learn amid the pandemic. The program continued the following year, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996297\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-3-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-3-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-3-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-3-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-3-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-3-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-3-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural, featuring daffodils and the school’s mascot, a raccoon, made by the graduating class of 2021, at Bonny Doon Elementary School in Santa Cruz on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Today, daffodils surround the entry sign at the local school. Students also splashed a painted daffodil mural across one of the school buildings in commemoration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Bonny Doon endeavor echoes a much larger, ongoing effort from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ny4p.org/the-daffodil-project#5856\">New Yorkers for Parks’ Daffodil Project,\u003c/a> which began distributing free daffodils in 2002 as a living memorial after 9/11. It now also honors those who died from COVID-19.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Shannon Robbins, a landscape designer who has lived in Bonny Doon for two decades, said her house was the only one in her immediate, ridge-top neighborhood still standing after the fires. She planted daffodils in her garden and helped her neighbors do the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think because the fire knocked us down at our knees, most people just needed something for hope,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although there was widespread support for the uplifting project, some members of the community would have preferred a native California species over the non-native daffodils.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Karen Holl, an ecologist from nearby University of California Santa Cruz, weighed in that a species like California poppies would have been her first choice, though daffodils are not listed on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cal-ipc.org/\">California Invasive Plant Council\u003c/a>’s problem invasives list. “Daffodils should be confined to gardens,” Holl said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996299\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996299\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-13-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-13-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-13-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250312_BONNYDOON_GC-13-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Daffodils bloom at the entrance of Bonny Doon Elementary School on March 11, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Robbins understood the ecological concern, but she said she had not seen the daffodils spreading. She actually planned to remind her neighbors to give them some fertilizer so they don’t disappear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now, when you drive by, you see these little, tiny random clusters of daffodils, and it’s like, ‘Oh yeah,’” Robbins said. “It’s cheery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "lessons-from-elsewhere-managing-san-franciscos-stormwater-sewage-mess",
"title": "Lessons From Elsewhere: Managing San Francisco's Stormwater and Sewage Mess",
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"headTitle": "Lessons From Elsewhere: Managing San Francisco’s Stormwater and Sewage Mess | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco shares one nasty thing in common with New York, Chicago and Milwaukee. When big storms soak each city, \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/science/1996145/sf-dumps-millions-of-gallons-of-sewage-during-big-storms-surfers-say-that-needs-to-stop\">millions of gallons of stormwater and raw sewage pour\u003c/a> into nearby waterways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a legacy of how the cities were built over a century ago. Sewage and stormwater flow through the same pipes, and during large storms, the combined systems overflow, spilling into rivers, lakes and oceans. The federal government has mandated that the four cities clean up the water pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco has spent billions of dollars to improve its system, but it has a long way to go, especially with the growing intensity of storms due to human-caused climate change. Water experts suggest the city can learn from the successes of other cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New York has invested in green infrastructure, turning its concrete jungle into a sponge to soak up water. Chicago and Milwaukee both dug massive tunnels deep in the earth to capture water flows while also leading the way with adaptation strategies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco has upgraded parts of the combined sewer and stormwater system, installed collection boxes across the city and created hundreds of small green infrastructure projects, all to capture hundreds of millions of gallons of water annually, reducing overflows by 80% since the 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996294\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996294\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-04-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-04-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-04-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-04-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-04-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-04-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-04-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-04-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A greener, safer corridor: Trees line the center median of Cesar Chavez Street in San Francisco on Feb. 28, 2025, as part of a streetscape project that transformed the area with widened sidewalks, stormwater planters and redesigned intersections to enhance pedestrian safety and urban greenery. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most of the year, the system works well, treating all of the city’s wastewater with little issue. However, during the rainy season, the city discharges nearly \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-05/3-24-cv-02594-city-county-san-francisco-complaint-2024-05-01.pdf\">2 billion gallons of sewage water\u003c/a> into the ocean and San Francisco Bay, according to the Federal Environmental Protection Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1996145/sf-dumps-millions-of-gallons-of-sewage-during-big-storms-surfers-say-that-needs-to-stop\">Surfers and environmentalists\u003c/a> are pressing the city to reduce pollution further and say they avoid the ocean on rainy days because swimming in the murky water can lead to ear and skin infections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last winter, sewers spilled into the bay 15 times, according to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. In an email to KQED, city officials wrote that all its fixes “alone are not a solution for reducing the impact of the increasingly intense storms that climate change brings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996293\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996293 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-37-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-37-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-37-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-37-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-37-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-37-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-37-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-37-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Revitalizing a historic alley: Trees line Spofford Alley in San Francisco’s Chinatown on Feb. 28, 2025, as part of the Chinatown Spofford Living Alley project. The project includes flow-through planters that manage stormwater, pedestrian lighting for safety and bench seating for visitors to rest and take in the area. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The dispute over water pollution in San Francisco reached the Supreme Court after the EPA alleged the city repeatedly violated the Clean Water Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco sued in response, claiming the regulations were too vague. The conservative-leaning court \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029553/supreme-court-sides-with-san-francisco-against-epa-sewage-lawsuit\">largely sided with the city\u003c/a> in an opinion released in early March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s no simple or cheap solution for San Francisco’s sewage woes, and no city has implemented a perfect fix, but Chicago, Milwaukee and New York’s efforts to soak up the rain provide a potential model for how to tackle the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Chicago — ‘Waterways are cleaner than ever’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Chicago has a long history of water quality issues. In the late 1800s, the Chicago River was essentially the city’s latrine and flowed directly into Lake Michigan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We soon started to see massive outbreaks of typhoid and other waterborne diseases,” said Karl Rockne, an environmental engineering professor at the University of Illinois Chicago. “We recognized that we had to do something here in Chicago.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996291\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996291\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0201_daily_historical_1904_0922_2958_000.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1258\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0201_daily_historical_1904_0922_2958_000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0201_daily_historical_1904_0922_2958_000-800x503.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0201_daily_historical_1904_0922_2958_000-1020x642.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0201_daily_historical_1904_0922_2958_000-160x101.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0201_daily_historical_1904_0922_2958_000-768x483.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0201_daily_historical_1904_0922_2958_000-1536x966.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0201_daily_historical_1904_0922_2958_000-1920x1208.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Grit and progress: Laborers pause for a photograph on Sept. 22, 1904, during construction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal extension. Covered in drilling mud, they stand beside compressed air rock drills used to bore holes for explosives. Built from 1903 to 1907, the four-mile extension connected Lockport to Joliet, enabling full navigation from Lake Michigan to the Des Plaines River and replacing the aging I&M Canal. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To prevent sewage from reaching Lake Michigan, the city \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=kSsrrKMwPzQ&feature=youtu.be\">reversed the river’s flow\u003c/a> on \u003ca href=\"https://mwrd.org/news/chicago-rivers-reversal-1900-was-engineering-triumph-transformed-our-city-chicago-sun-times\">Jan. 2, 1900\u003c/a>. The city later built an elaborate maze of sewers and treatment plants and by 1930, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.chipublib.org/fa-chicago-sewers-collection/#:~:text=Later%2C%20the%20establishment%20of%20the,most%20extensive%20in%20the%20world.\">Sewers Collection\u003c/a> at the Chicago Library, it had the most extensive system in the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that was not enough, and in the 1970s, the Windy City still discharged sewage into waterways about 100 times a year. The federal government required Chicago to clean up its act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, Chicago has reduced its smelly water issues by digging massive tunnels up to 300 feet below the Chicago River and others that flow around the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12029553 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2017/08/cleaner-1180x787.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city also captures runoff and sewage in three above-ground reservoirs, storing the water until it can be treated and released. The current system can store 11 billion gallons of water and will have the capacity to hold 17.5 billion gallons by 2029.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is working, but there is always going to be some storm that will create problems,” said Marcelo Garcia, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “When the tunnels and reservoirs fill up, and you get another storm that takes you basically back to ground zero.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the city discharges about 10 times annually, about the same as San Francisco. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago hopes discharges will decrease when the new reservoir is finished.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The pollution load has drastically decreased,” said Kevin Fitzpatrick, assistant director of engineering for Chicago’s reclamation district. But storms are testing the system, he added, which was designed before the current effects of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996295\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996295\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/481300323_938424718481344_7313946279226847448_n-e1741972639259.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1254\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Building Chicago’s infrastructure: Workers construct the Calumet Sag Sewer near 127th Street and the Little Calumet River on July 20, 1921. This vital project helped expand the city’s sewer system, supporting flood control and wastewater management in the growing region. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The waterways are cleaner than ever, but we still have flooding,” Fitzpatrick said. “So we realize [the tunnels and reservoirs] aren’t the only solution.” The agency also manages porous parking lots and hundreds of other projects that allow rainwater to infiltrate into the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What can San Francisco learn from Chicago regarding reducing dirty flows? Garcia said tunnels are an “obvious thing to do,” but it is important to remember that Chicago has many times the open space and can store 16 times more water than San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFPUC said digging tunnels would significantly raise water bills for San Franciscans. In a fact sheet, the agency wrote the 7-by-7 mile-wide city would need 13 miles of tunnels 24 feet in diameter to capture overflows just on the city’s bayside each year but noted it still wouldn’t prevent discharges “in the biggest storms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>New York — ‘An all-the-above strategy’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2005, the federal government cited New York City for violating the Clean Water Act because its sewer systems \u003ca href=\"https://dec.ny.gov/environmental-protection/water/cso/nyc-cso\">spewed contaminated water\u003c/a> into Flushing Bay, Jamaica Bay and tributaries to the East River, Long Island Sound and Outer Harbor. Around 60% of New York City’s sewers are part of a combined system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike Chicago, which sits on massive amounts of limestone that it was able to dig into, New York City has limited subterranean space, extensive underground infrastructure and a high water table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996288\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996288\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_254.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_254.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_254-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_254-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_254-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_254-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_254-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_254-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A living landscape: The green roof at Greenpoint Public Library in Brooklyn, New York, on March 7, 2025. Completed in 2020 as part of the library’s Environmental Education Center, the space features soil beds for horticultural programs, solar panels for renewable energy and permeable paving to manage rainwater sustainably. \u003ccite>(Jack Beal for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Big Apple has instead invested in more than 13,000 rain gardens, green roofs, permeable pavement and other infrastructure projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“New York City is not the first city to use green infrastructure, but it is the first city to broadly implement it specifically for this purpose of combined sewer overflow management,” said Bernice Rosenzweig\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>professor of environmental science at Sarah Lawrence College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While New York still grapples with reducing its discharges, Rosenzweig thinks San Francisco can learn a lot from it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996289\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996289\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/NYC_Map-e1741973347558.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1355\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mapping sustainability: The Green Infrastructure Program map, created by New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, offers an interactive tool for users to explore green infrastructure projects across the city’s five boroughs, highlighting efforts to manage stormwater and promote environmental resilience. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of New York City Department of Environmental Protection)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“New York City and San Francisco have a lot of similarities,” Rosenzweig said — even though New York’s population is more than 10 times bigger. “They’re some of the densest communities in the United States, and they both rely on subterranean infrastructure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building green infrastructure has the effect of punching “holes” in the hard concrete landscape to “create sponges” so rainwater can be absorbed into the ground, said Jennifer Cherrier, an earth and environmental sciences professor at City University of New York.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city isn’t relying solely on green infrastructure; it also has plans that include holding tanks, sewer improvements and marsh restoration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996290\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996290 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_121_duo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"659\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_121_duo.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_121_duo-800x264.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_121_duo-1020x336.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_121_duo-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_121_duo-768x253.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_121_duo-1536x506.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_121_duo-1920x633.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nature’s solutions: (Left) A rain garden at Saint Mary’s Park in the Bronx, New York, in March 2025, captures runoff from the recreation center’s roof, gradually releasing it to irrigate the garden while easing the strain on the city’s drainage system. The curb cuts direct water from the pavement into the ground. (Right) Snowdrops bloom in a rain garden beside permeable pavers at the Gil Hodges Community Garden in Brooklyn, New York, in March 2025. This rain garden, paired with permeable pavers, captures and reuses over 285,000 gallons of rainwater annually, promoting sustainable stormwater management. \u003ccite>(Jack Beal for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Our waters are getting a lot cleaner,” Cherrier said. “We have great white shark nursery grounds showing up again. We have had whales underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the advocacy group Save the Sound estimates that more than 21 billion gallons of raw sewage enter New York City’s coastal waters annually, more than 10 times that of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really do need an all-of-the-above strategy, and the strategies that are implemented are going to vary across the city,” Rosenzweig said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Milwaukee — ‘Every drop of water counts’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At the height of a water quality crisis in the 1970s, Milwaukee poured millions of gallons of sewage and stormwater into Lake Michigan an average of 60 times a year. Kevin Shafer, executive director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, described the rivers in the region “as big, open sewers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, over time, the city brought down the number of discharges; last year, it had only one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The goal was zero, and we had one,” Shafer said. “That’s not good enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996284\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996284 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0515_0005.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1121\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0515_0005.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0515_0005-800x448.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0515_0005-1020x572.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0515_0005-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0515_0005-768x430.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0515_0005-1536x861.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0515_0005-1920x1076.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lessons from Chicago’s infrastructure: The McCook Reservoir, stages 1 and 2, part of Chicago’s Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP), photographed on May 15, 2023, during excavation. This critical infrastructure project is designed to prevent pollution and manage stormwater, helping to protect the city from flooding and improve water quality. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Dan Wendt/MWRDGC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Milwaukee applied the strategies pioneered in Chicago, digging miles of deep tunnels. It’s also developed more green infrastructure, like New York, transforming more than 5 square miles of land into a watershed and deploying rain barrels and green roofs to capture billions of gallons of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tunnels are the backbone of everything we do,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency also sends alerts for residents to reduce water use during storms to “preserve the tunnels for the big events by cutting off the water at the surface.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996321\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996321 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-19-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-19-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-19-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-19-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-19-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-19-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-19-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-19-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A step toward sustainability: A green infrastructure installation at San Francisco State University on Feb. 28, 2025, outside the science building. This basin captures and infiltrates stormwater through a spillway, channeling runoff into a swale that directs water to an outlet drain, enhancing the campus’s resilience to heavy rainfall. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When we started it, we were laughed at,” Shafer said. “Now we have people actively signing up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFPUC said San Francisco’s water use is low compared to other cities, and the city has enough capacity to not issue household alerts. “We’re more worried about the rain coming down rather than people flushing their toilets; we can generally handle that,” said Joel Prather, the SFPUC’s assistant general manager for wastewater enterprise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Shafer understands San Francisco is geographically different, he thinks the city could learn from Milwaukee’s success at reducing pollution in Lake Michigan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think you have to take this approach that every drop of water counts, no matter where it hits the surface,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "San Francisco’s aging sewer system overflows during storms, polluting the ocean and bay. Other big cities have tackled the issue with tunnels, green development and holistic water management. ",
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"title": "Lessons From Elsewhere: Managing San Francisco's Stormwater and Sewage Mess | KQED",
"description": "San Francisco’s aging sewer system overflows during storms, polluting the ocean and bay. Other big cities have tackled the issue with tunnels, green development and holistic water management. ",
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"headline": "Lessons From Elsewhere: Managing San Francisco's Stormwater and Sewage Mess",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco shares one nasty thing in common with New York, Chicago and Milwaukee. When big storms soak each city, \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/science/1996145/sf-dumps-millions-of-gallons-of-sewage-during-big-storms-surfers-say-that-needs-to-stop\">millions of gallons of stormwater and raw sewage pour\u003c/a> into nearby waterways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a legacy of how the cities were built over a century ago. Sewage and stormwater flow through the same pipes, and during large storms, the combined systems overflow, spilling into rivers, lakes and oceans. The federal government has mandated that the four cities clean up the water pollution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco has spent billions of dollars to improve its system, but it has a long way to go, especially with the growing intensity of storms due to human-caused climate change. Water experts suggest the city can learn from the successes of other cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New York has invested in green infrastructure, turning its concrete jungle into a sponge to soak up water. Chicago and Milwaukee both dug massive tunnels deep in the earth to capture water flows while also leading the way with adaptation strategies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco has upgraded parts of the combined sewer and stormwater system, installed collection boxes across the city and created hundreds of small green infrastructure projects, all to capture hundreds of millions of gallons of water annually, reducing overflows by 80% since the 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996294\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996294\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-04-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-04-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-04-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-04-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-04-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-04-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-04-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-04-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A greener, safer corridor: Trees line the center median of Cesar Chavez Street in San Francisco on Feb. 28, 2025, as part of a streetscape project that transformed the area with widened sidewalks, stormwater planters and redesigned intersections to enhance pedestrian safety and urban greenery. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most of the year, the system works well, treating all of the city’s wastewater with little issue. However, during the rainy season, the city discharges nearly \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-05/3-24-cv-02594-city-county-san-francisco-complaint-2024-05-01.pdf\">2 billion gallons of sewage water\u003c/a> into the ocean and San Francisco Bay, according to the Federal Environmental Protection Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1996145/sf-dumps-millions-of-gallons-of-sewage-during-big-storms-surfers-say-that-needs-to-stop\">Surfers and environmentalists\u003c/a> are pressing the city to reduce pollution further and say they avoid the ocean on rainy days because swimming in the murky water can lead to ear and skin infections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last winter, sewers spilled into the bay 15 times, according to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. In an email to KQED, city officials wrote that all its fixes “alone are not a solution for reducing the impact of the increasingly intense storms that climate change brings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996293\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996293 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-37-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-37-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-37-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-37-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-37-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-37-BL-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-37-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-37-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Revitalizing a historic alley: Trees line Spofford Alley in San Francisco’s Chinatown on Feb. 28, 2025, as part of the Chinatown Spofford Living Alley project. The project includes flow-through planters that manage stormwater, pedestrian lighting for safety and bench seating for visitors to rest and take in the area. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The dispute over water pollution in San Francisco reached the Supreme Court after the EPA alleged the city repeatedly violated the Clean Water Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco sued in response, claiming the regulations were too vague. The conservative-leaning court \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12029553/supreme-court-sides-with-san-francisco-against-epa-sewage-lawsuit\">largely sided with the city\u003c/a> in an opinion released in early March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s no simple or cheap solution for San Francisco’s sewage woes, and no city has implemented a perfect fix, but Chicago, Milwaukee and New York’s efforts to soak up the rain provide a potential model for how to tackle the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Chicago — ‘Waterways are cleaner than ever’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Chicago has a long history of water quality issues. In the late 1800s, the Chicago River was essentially the city’s latrine and flowed directly into Lake Michigan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We soon started to see massive outbreaks of typhoid and other waterborne diseases,” said Karl Rockne, an environmental engineering professor at the University of Illinois Chicago. “We recognized that we had to do something here in Chicago.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996291\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996291\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0201_daily_historical_1904_0922_2958_000.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1258\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0201_daily_historical_1904_0922_2958_000.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0201_daily_historical_1904_0922_2958_000-800x503.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0201_daily_historical_1904_0922_2958_000-1020x642.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0201_daily_historical_1904_0922_2958_000-160x101.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0201_daily_historical_1904_0922_2958_000-768x483.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0201_daily_historical_1904_0922_2958_000-1536x966.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0201_daily_historical_1904_0922_2958_000-1920x1208.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Grit and progress: Laborers pause for a photograph on Sept. 22, 1904, during construction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal extension. Covered in drilling mud, they stand beside compressed air rock drills used to bore holes for explosives. Built from 1903 to 1907, the four-mile extension connected Lockport to Joliet, enabling full navigation from Lake Michigan to the Des Plaines River and replacing the aging I&M Canal. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To prevent sewage from reaching Lake Michigan, the city \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=kSsrrKMwPzQ&feature=youtu.be\">reversed the river’s flow\u003c/a> on \u003ca href=\"https://mwrd.org/news/chicago-rivers-reversal-1900-was-engineering-triumph-transformed-our-city-chicago-sun-times\">Jan. 2, 1900\u003c/a>. The city later built an elaborate maze of sewers and treatment plants and by 1930, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.chipublib.org/fa-chicago-sewers-collection/#:~:text=Later%2C%20the%20establishment%20of%20the,most%20extensive%20in%20the%20world.\">Sewers Collection\u003c/a> at the Chicago Library, it had the most extensive system in the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that was not enough, and in the 1970s, the Windy City still discharged sewage into waterways about 100 times a year. The federal government required Chicago to clean up its act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, Chicago has reduced its smelly water issues by digging massive tunnels up to 300 feet below the Chicago River and others that flow around the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city also captures runoff and sewage in three above-ground reservoirs, storing the water until it can be treated and released. The current system can store 11 billion gallons of water and will have the capacity to hold 17.5 billion gallons by 2029.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is working, but there is always going to be some storm that will create problems,” said Marcelo Garcia, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “When the tunnels and reservoirs fill up, and you get another storm that takes you basically back to ground zero.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, the city discharges about 10 times annually, about the same as San Francisco. The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago hopes discharges will decrease when the new reservoir is finished.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The pollution load has drastically decreased,” said Kevin Fitzpatrick, assistant director of engineering for Chicago’s reclamation district. But storms are testing the system, he added, which was designed before the current effects of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996295\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996295\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/481300323_938424718481344_7313946279226847448_n-e1741972639259.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1254\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Building Chicago’s infrastructure: Workers construct the Calumet Sag Sewer near 127th Street and the Little Calumet River on July 20, 1921. This vital project helped expand the city’s sewer system, supporting flood control and wastewater management in the growing region. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The waterways are cleaner than ever, but we still have flooding,” Fitzpatrick said. “So we realize [the tunnels and reservoirs] aren’t the only solution.” The agency also manages porous parking lots and hundreds of other projects that allow rainwater to infiltrate into the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What can San Francisco learn from Chicago regarding reducing dirty flows? Garcia said tunnels are an “obvious thing to do,” but it is important to remember that Chicago has many times the open space and can store 16 times more water than San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFPUC said digging tunnels would significantly raise water bills for San Franciscans. In a fact sheet, the agency wrote the 7-by-7 mile-wide city would need 13 miles of tunnels 24 feet in diameter to capture overflows just on the city’s bayside each year but noted it still wouldn’t prevent discharges “in the biggest storms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>New York — ‘An all-the-above strategy’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2005, the federal government cited New York City for violating the Clean Water Act because its sewer systems \u003ca href=\"https://dec.ny.gov/environmental-protection/water/cso/nyc-cso\">spewed contaminated water\u003c/a> into Flushing Bay, Jamaica Bay and tributaries to the East River, Long Island Sound and Outer Harbor. Around 60% of New York City’s sewers are part of a combined system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike Chicago, which sits on massive amounts of limestone that it was able to dig into, New York City has limited subterranean space, extensive underground infrastructure and a high water table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996288\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996288\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_254.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_254.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_254-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_254-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_254-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_254-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_254-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_254-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A living landscape: The green roof at Greenpoint Public Library in Brooklyn, New York, on March 7, 2025. Completed in 2020 as part of the library’s Environmental Education Center, the space features soil beds for horticultural programs, solar panels for renewable energy and permeable paving to manage rainwater sustainably. \u003ccite>(Jack Beal for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Big Apple has instead invested in more than 13,000 rain gardens, green roofs, permeable pavement and other infrastructure projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“New York City is not the first city to use green infrastructure, but it is the first city to broadly implement it specifically for this purpose of combined sewer overflow management,” said Bernice Rosenzweig\u003cstrong>, \u003c/strong>professor of environmental science at Sarah Lawrence College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While New York still grapples with reducing its discharges, Rosenzweig thinks San Francisco can learn a lot from it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996289\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1996289\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/NYC_Map-e1741973347558.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1355\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mapping sustainability: The Green Infrastructure Program map, created by New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, offers an interactive tool for users to explore green infrastructure projects across the city’s five boroughs, highlighting efforts to manage stormwater and promote environmental resilience. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of New York City Department of Environmental Protection)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“New York City and San Francisco have a lot of similarities,” Rosenzweig said — even though New York’s population is more than 10 times bigger. “They’re some of the densest communities in the United States, and they both rely on subterranean infrastructure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building green infrastructure has the effect of punching “holes” in the hard concrete landscape to “create sponges” so rainwater can be absorbed into the ground, said Jennifer Cherrier, an earth and environmental sciences professor at City University of New York.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city isn’t relying solely on green infrastructure; it also has plans that include holding tanks, sewer improvements and marsh restoration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996290\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996290 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_121_duo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"659\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_121_duo.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_121_duo-800x264.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_121_duo-1020x336.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_121_duo-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_121_duo-768x253.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_121_duo-1536x506.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250307_Water-Cities_JB_121_duo-1920x633.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nature’s solutions: (Left) A rain garden at Saint Mary’s Park in the Bronx, New York, in March 2025, captures runoff from the recreation center’s roof, gradually releasing it to irrigate the garden while easing the strain on the city’s drainage system. The curb cuts direct water from the pavement into the ground. (Right) Snowdrops bloom in a rain garden beside permeable pavers at the Gil Hodges Community Garden in Brooklyn, New York, in March 2025. This rain garden, paired with permeable pavers, captures and reuses over 285,000 gallons of rainwater annually, promoting sustainable stormwater management. \u003ccite>(Jack Beal for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Our waters are getting a lot cleaner,” Cherrier said. “We have great white shark nursery grounds showing up again. We have had whales underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the advocacy group Save the Sound estimates that more than 21 billion gallons of raw sewage enter New York City’s coastal waters annually, more than 10 times that of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really do need an all-of-the-above strategy, and the strategies that are implemented are going to vary across the city,” Rosenzweig said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Milwaukee — ‘Every drop of water counts’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At the height of a water quality crisis in the 1970s, Milwaukee poured millions of gallons of sewage and stormwater into Lake Michigan an average of 60 times a year. Kevin Shafer, executive director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, described the rivers in the region “as big, open sewers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, over time, the city brought down the number of discharges; last year, it had only one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The goal was zero, and we had one,” Shafer said. “That’s not good enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996284\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996284 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0515_0005.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1121\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0515_0005.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0515_0005-800x448.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0515_0005-1020x572.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0515_0005-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0515_0005-768x430.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0515_0005-1536x861.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/23-0515_0005-1920x1076.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lessons from Chicago’s infrastructure: The McCook Reservoir, stages 1 and 2, part of Chicago’s Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP), photographed on May 15, 2023, during excavation. This critical infrastructure project is designed to prevent pollution and manage stormwater, helping to protect the city from flooding and improve water quality. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Dan Wendt/MWRDGC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Milwaukee applied the strategies pioneered in Chicago, digging miles of deep tunnels. It’s also developed more green infrastructure, like New York, transforming more than 5 square miles of land into a watershed and deploying rain barrels and green roofs to capture billions of gallons of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tunnels are the backbone of everything we do,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency also sends alerts for residents to reduce water use during storms to “preserve the tunnels for the big events by cutting off the water at the surface.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1996321\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1996321 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-19-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-19-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-19-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-19-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-19-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-19-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-19-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/250228-WaterCitiesSF-19-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A step toward sustainability: A green infrastructure installation at San Francisco State University on Feb. 28, 2025, outside the science building. This basin captures and infiltrates stormwater through a spillway, channeling runoff into a swale that directs water to an outlet drain, enhancing the campus’s resilience to heavy rainfall. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When we started it, we were laughed at,” Shafer said. “Now we have people actively signing up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The SFPUC said San Francisco’s water use is low compared to other cities, and the city has enough capacity to not issue household alerts. “We’re more worried about the rain coming down rather than people flushing their toilets; we can generally handle that,” said Joel Prather, the SFPUC’s assistant general manager for wastewater enterprise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Shafer understands San Francisco is geographically different, he thinks the city could learn from Milwaukee’s success at reducing pollution in Lake Michigan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think you have to take this approach that every drop of water counts, no matter where it hits the surface,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "at-hidden-tahoe-lab-scientists-learn-the-art-of-measuring-snow",
"title": "At Hidden Tahoe Lab, Scientists Learn the Art of Measuring Snow",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]A[/dropcap]nyone riding the gondola lift at Sugar Bowl Ski Resort one bright day in January might have seen something unexpected in the glade below them: A series of figures energetically digging pits in the snow by hand — deep enough for them to then jump inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These pit diggers intently studied the walls of their newly carved chambers before pressing bright yellow sensors into the ice. They were, in fact, student scientists receiving training from the Central Sierra Snow Lab close by.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while most visitors to the Sierra would never have a reason to come across this stocky, unassuming 1940s cabin nestled on a nearby backroad, the Snow Lab has been at the forefront of snow science for almost 80 years, maintaining the data that has huge implications for California’s water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995844\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995844\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"845\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-800x264.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-1020x337.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-768x253.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-1536x507.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-2048x676.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-1920x634.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Measuring implements to gauge the layers and depth of the Sierra snowpack (left) in use at the Snow Science School. Anne Nolin (right), professor of geography at the University of Nevada, Reno and a snow school attendee, marks the edge of where to dig a pit in the snowpack. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, this event, its first-ever Snow Science School, saw the Snow Lab open its doors to teach a new generation the tools of their trade — almost 7,000 feet above sea level in the mountains of Tahoe National Forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hidden history on Donner Summit\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Though now managed by UC Berkeley, the Central Sierra Snow Lab in Soda Springs began life in 1946 as a collaboration between the Army Corps of Engineers and what’s now known as the National Weather Service. But while the Snow Lab’s own snowfall and snow depth measurements date back to its birth, this cabin beneath towering pine trees near Donner Summit also maintains much older records from the area going back to 1878 documenting the Central Pacific Railroad’s own efforts — making these the longest such climatological records in the world when it comes to snow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And for the scientists working up here in 2025, the job is essentially “to play in the snow and learn more about it,” said Andrew Schwartz, its director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995851\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995851\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1585\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-800x495.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-1020x632.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-768x476.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-1536x951.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-2048x1268.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-1920x1189.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrew Schwartz, director of UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab, holds a decades-old printout of snow measurements (left) and a black-and-white photograph (right) in the lab’s archives. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For the three days in January that saw 20 students from across the U.S. arrive at the Snow Science School, Tahoe was in the middle of a sunny, dry spell, with the snowpack at Donner Summit at 94% of the average for this time of year. But at an elevation of over 6,700 feet, the Snow Lab has seen its share of wild winters and momentous snowfall — making it an apt place to study snow science any time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schwartz, who took over the Snow Lab in 2021 and lived inside the building for his first two years, recalled how, in 2023, the snow was so deep that he and his colleagues could “walk directly into the third-floor windows.” That year, the Snow Lab received a total of 63 feet of snow, its second-biggest winter accumulation on record — precipitation that would eventually become the snowmelt that’s crucial for California’s water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995837\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995837\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00729.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00729.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00729-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00729-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00729-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00729-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00729-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00729-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants listen during a morning lecture at the Clair Tappan Lodge during the Snow Science School organized by UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Schwartz, his “number one” hope for the Snow Lab’s inaugural school is that the students leave “with an appreciation of snow and a better understanding of how it works, really — because it’s so important to the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Roughly two billion people [around the world] use water obtained from snowpack. And we tend to take it for granted,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school’s student body included a large handful of people from the California Department of Water Resources — one of the Snow Lab’s partners in this work — but also graduate students, researchers, snow modelers and teachers, as well as folks sent by the National Parks Service and the National Forest Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995836\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995836\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00032.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00032.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00032-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00032-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00032-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00032-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00032-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00032-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants gather for a morning lecture during Snow Science School. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The breadth of experience and background among the Snow Science School’s students is a testimony to the wide range of applications this work can have — and to the disciplines that snow brings together. “It’s a very close-knit community,” said Preetika Kaur, a Snow Lab student attending from the University of Wyoming. “I love to meet people who are pros.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>All work and no play? Not at the Snow Lab\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>After climbing up the steep hill to the Snow Lab on their first day, students were shown past the bright red snowcat — the exact same model that’s featured in the movie \u003cem>The Shining\u003c/em>, noted Schwartz approvingly — and into the warren-like building. Above their heads, the top floor holds sleeping quarters for the scientists who board overnight to conduct research or who’ve been trapped inside by an impenetrable Sierra storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995838\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1104\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-800x345.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-1020x440.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-160x69.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-768x331.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-1536x662.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-2048x883.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-1920x828.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995839\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995839\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00964.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00964.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00964-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00964-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00964-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00964-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00964-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00964-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab, based in Soda Springs near Donner Summit. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The first floor and basement, where the lab’s scientists work throughout the day, was full not just of computer screens and boxes full of measuring tools but also handwritten logs, archive photography depicting their Snow Lab predecessors out on the job, vintage road signs and instruments saved from the building’s past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s even an oscilloscope — an instrument that once measured voltage — with a large “NASA AMES” sticker on it, and even though Schwartz admits they “have no clue” what the Snow Lab scientists of previous years used it for up here, “I’d be lying if I still don’t like to play with the knobs on it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995849\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995849\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04870.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04870.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04870-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04870-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04870-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04870-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04870-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04870-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Type 555 Dual-beam Oscilloscope, circa 1960s, at the Central Sierra Snow Lab. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995848\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1102\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-800x344.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-1020x439.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-160x69.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-768x330.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-1536x661.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-2048x881.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-1920x826.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spatulas and rulers (right) are some of the tools used to measure snowfall at the Snow Lab. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Outside, the students tour Snow Lab’s network of remote snow equipment, like the fluid-filled “snow pillow” that detects the weight of the snow falling on it and the sensors submerged in the creek behind the lab that will gauge the height of the icy water as it starts to rise with spring snowmelt. Other remote sensors constantly assess solar radiation — in a region where sunlight can contribute to up to 95% of snowmelt — and soil temperature to get an idea of just how fast the snowpack could melt this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as this data collection hums in the background, Schwartz still maintains the lab’s twice-daily manual measurement tradition, which sees him and his colleagues crunch out onto the snow with “our very fancy ruler” — work that on some days, depending on conditions, can feel more like a polar expedition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995840\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995840\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01055.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01055.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01055-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01055-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01055-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01055-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01055-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01055-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gaby May Lagunes, a Ph.D. student in the Environmental Science, Policy, and Management Department at UC Berkeley, puts on her snowshoes to head into the field. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/UCB_CSSL\">the Snow Lab’s social media presence\u003c/a> has gained in popularity in the last few years, the snow measurements that Schwartz and his team make public are also watched eagerly by a different group of California enthusiasts: skiers and snowboarders desperate to know when to hit the Tahoe slopes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I love the different uses of our data in our information,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The impact of the snowpack on water supply\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The snowpack can contain clues of the past as well as the future — which is why the snow analysis techniques being taught at the Snow Science School go way beyond just assessing depth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A key concept hydrology students are taught about is “snow water equivalent,” or SWE (usually pronounced “swee” by snow scientists): A measurement that tells scientists just how much water is contained in an area of snow versus the air it also contains alongside its ice crystals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995841\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995841\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01224.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01224-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01224-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01224-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01224-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01224-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01224-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrew Schwartz, right, director of the Central Sierra Snow Lab, leads instructors and participants of the Snow Science School into the field. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“A lot of the water in California originally falls as snow, and it’s really valuable to humans because there’s a lot of it and because it stores itself for free in places where it’s cold and then melts in the spring, which is when we need it for agriculture,” said Marianne Cowherd, research associate at the Snow Lab and one of the instructors. “Having a good understanding of how much water we have available upstream lets us do things like manage our reservoir levels — so we still have enough water, but we don’t have dangerous operations or overflow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next piece of the snow science puzzle is working out when and how the state can expect that snow to melt. At the school, the students learn more about how energy from the sun and from the warm temperatures of the air and from the ground melts the snowpack and how the water flows into California’s soils and streams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The thing that I’m trying to do is understand the effect of human changes in the landscape, specifically with irrigation on future precipitation patterns and precipitation extremes,” said Gaby May Lagunes, a snow lab student and UC Berkeley graduate researcher. “How the way people change the environment has an impact on the water cycle, not only locally, regionally and globally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So “if I want to understand water from a data-driven perspective, I need to have an idea of what snow people know,” she said. “We need to work together a lot because we cannot know everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995845\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995845\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02033.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02033.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02033-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02033-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02033-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02033-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02033-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02033-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Preetika Kaur, left, a Ph.D. student at the University of Wyoming, and Joe Ammatelli, an assistant research scientist with the Desert Research Institute, dig a pit in the snowpack during Snow Science School. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Up close in the snow pits\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For students, the real action came when the school decamped closer to Donner Summit for the field measurement portion of their studies. After suiting up in thermal layers, bibs and beanies — plus lab-supplied polarized sunglasses that read “No Biz Like Snow Biz” on the side — the students strap on snowshoes to make the hike along a snow-covered trail to a secluded woods, sandwiched between Sugar Bowl and Donner Ski Ranch. Here, they began to dig out a series of 4-foot-deep snow pits using shovels, low enough to strike soil and complete with steps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The snowpack can be far larger, sometimes as deep as 20 feet, and scientists “have to build literal levels down to measure the whole thing,” Schwartz said — “so you don’t have to Spider-Man your way out every time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joe Ammatelli was sent by the Desert Research Institute in Nevada, where he carries out snow modeling, which needs to be validated by field observations. “It’s really valuable as a modeler to get out here and see how it’s done,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995846\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995846\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"845\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-800x264.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-1020x337.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-768x253.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-1536x507.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-2048x676.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-1920x634.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Snow crystals lay on a measuring device during a field outing with the Snow Science School in January. Chris Northart, right, with the Department of Water Resources Statewide Monitoring Network Unit and a participant of the Snow Science School, uses a magnification lens to measure the size of snow granules. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995847\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995847\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_03173.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_03173.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_03173-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_03173-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_03173-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_03173-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_03173-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_03173-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A participant of the Snow School weighs a wedge of snow collected from the snowpack in a field outing. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And for all the technological developments in snow science, it remains deeply tactile for its practitioners. Down in the pits, the students measured the snow’s temperature and observed how it changed the deeper the pit went. Then, using specialized shovels, the students scooped out and leveled off snow before weighing it on a scale — a method of measuring density and snow water equivalent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They examined physical changes in the different layers in the smooth white walls of the snow pits, like studying rings in a tree trunk. These kinds of measurements are an exercise in time travel, explained instructor Cowherd, given the different qualities of snowflakes that fall at different times and how the ever-accumulating snowpack ages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the air heats and cools, the snow melts and compresses under its own weight — all of which “tells us about the history of what’s happened there,” Cowherd said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Every day in the snow is a good day’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The observations that the instructors taught its snow students in the pits are the kind that stretches back almost a century and a half in the Snow Lab’s own archives — and this volume of information is invaluable for assessing the impact of climate change, Schwartz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We see the same amount of precipitation coming in, but it’s shifting from snow terrain in all the months — so we’re seeing warming,” he said. “Our rain-snow line is going up in elevation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The almost 150 years of data can also aid forecasters in looking for variables that smaller data sets just can’t encompass, he said — like the Sierra’s dry spells that are followed by big years for rain and snowfall, a swing that’s seen in “five year periods.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995850\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1333px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995850\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04872.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1333\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04872.jpg 1333w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04872-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04872-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04872-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04872-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04872-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign to alert the public of a snow survey shelter structure from the Department of Water Resources is one of the objects in the archive at the Snow Lab. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The school’s emphasis on continuing the tradition of meticulous data collection is shot through with the deep enthusiasm that marks the people in its orbit. Even in the chill of the field, when digging out feet of snow, the students remain upbeat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Snow people are really fun people for the most part,” said instructor Micah Johnson, as he demonstrated an invention he’d been working on for a decade — showing the students how to stab his Bluetooth-enabled “penetrometer-reflectometer” stick into the snow and call up data from its sensors. “I have yet to meet an indifferent snow scientist of sorts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or, as Ammatelli from the Desert Research Institute said, “Every day in the snow is a good day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Joe Ammatelli’s name.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"title": "Scientists Learn the Art of Measuring Snow at Hidden Tahoe Lab | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">A\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>nyone riding the gondola lift at Sugar Bowl Ski Resort one bright day in January might have seen something unexpected in the glade below them: A series of figures energetically digging pits in the snow by hand — deep enough for them to then jump inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These pit diggers intently studied the walls of their newly carved chambers before pressing bright yellow sensors into the ice. They were, in fact, student scientists receiving training from the Central Sierra Snow Lab close by.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while most visitors to the Sierra would never have a reason to come across this stocky, unassuming 1940s cabin nestled on a nearby backroad, the Snow Lab has been at the forefront of snow science for almost 80 years, maintaining the data that has huge implications for California’s water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995844\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995844\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"845\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-800x264.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-1020x337.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-768x253.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-1536x507.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-2048x676.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01549_duo-1920x634.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Measuring implements to gauge the layers and depth of the Sierra snowpack (left) in use at the Snow Science School. Anne Nolin (right), professor of geography at the University of Nevada, Reno and a snow school attendee, marks the edge of where to dig a pit in the snowpack. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, this event, its first-ever Snow Science School, saw the Snow Lab open its doors to teach a new generation the tools of their trade — almost 7,000 feet above sea level in the mountains of Tahoe National Forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hidden history on Donner Summit\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Though now managed by UC Berkeley, the Central Sierra Snow Lab in Soda Springs began life in 1946 as a collaboration between the Army Corps of Engineers and what’s now known as the National Weather Service. But while the Snow Lab’s own snowfall and snow depth measurements date back to its birth, this cabin beneath towering pine trees near Donner Summit also maintains much older records from the area going back to 1878 documenting the Central Pacific Railroad’s own efforts — making these the longest such climatological records in the world when it comes to snow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And for the scientists working up here in 2025, the job is essentially “to play in the snow and learn more about it,” said Andrew Schwartz, its director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995851\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995851\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1585\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-800x495.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-1020x632.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-768x476.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-1536x951.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-2048x1268.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04876_duo-1920x1189.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrew Schwartz, director of UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab, holds a decades-old printout of snow measurements (left) and a black-and-white photograph (right) in the lab’s archives. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For the three days in January that saw 20 students from across the U.S. arrive at the Snow Science School, Tahoe was in the middle of a sunny, dry spell, with the snowpack at Donner Summit at 94% of the average for this time of year. But at an elevation of over 6,700 feet, the Snow Lab has seen its share of wild winters and momentous snowfall — making it an apt place to study snow science any time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schwartz, who took over the Snow Lab in 2021 and lived inside the building for his first two years, recalled how, in 2023, the snow was so deep that he and his colleagues could “walk directly into the third-floor windows.” That year, the Snow Lab received a total of 63 feet of snow, its second-biggest winter accumulation on record — precipitation that would eventually become the snowmelt that’s crucial for California’s water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995837\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995837\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00729.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00729.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00729-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00729-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00729-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00729-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00729-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00729-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants listen during a morning lecture at the Clair Tappan Lodge during the Snow Science School organized by UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For Schwartz, his “number one” hope for the Snow Lab’s inaugural school is that the students leave “with an appreciation of snow and a better understanding of how it works, really — because it’s so important to the world.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Roughly two billion people [around the world] use water obtained from snowpack. And we tend to take it for granted,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school’s student body included a large handful of people from the California Department of Water Resources — one of the Snow Lab’s partners in this work — but also graduate students, researchers, snow modelers and teachers, as well as folks sent by the National Parks Service and the National Forest Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995836\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995836\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00032.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00032.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00032-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00032-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00032-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00032-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00032-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00032-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Participants gather for a morning lecture during Snow Science School. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The breadth of experience and background among the Snow Science School’s students is a testimony to the wide range of applications this work can have — and to the disciplines that snow brings together. “It’s a very close-knit community,” said Preetika Kaur, a Snow Lab student attending from the University of Wyoming. “I love to meet people who are pros.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>All work and no play? Not at the Snow Lab\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>After climbing up the steep hill to the Snow Lab on their first day, students were shown past the bright red snowcat — the exact same model that’s featured in the movie \u003cem>The Shining\u003c/em>, noted Schwartz approvingly — and into the warren-like building. Above their heads, the top floor holds sleeping quarters for the scientists who board overnight to conduct research or who’ve been trapped inside by an impenetrable Sierra storm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995838\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1104\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-800x345.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-1020x440.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-160x69.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-768x331.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-1536x662.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-2048x883.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00955_duo-1920x828.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995839\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995839\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00964.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00964.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00964-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00964-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00964-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00964-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00964-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_00964-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab, based in Soda Springs near Donner Summit. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The first floor and basement, where the lab’s scientists work throughout the day, was full not just of computer screens and boxes full of measuring tools but also handwritten logs, archive photography depicting their Snow Lab predecessors out on the job, vintage road signs and instruments saved from the building’s past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s even an oscilloscope — an instrument that once measured voltage — with a large “NASA AMES” sticker on it, and even though Schwartz admits they “have no clue” what the Snow Lab scientists of previous years used it for up here, “I’d be lying if I still don’t like to play with the knobs on it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995849\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995849\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04870.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04870.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04870-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04870-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04870-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04870-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04870-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04870-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Type 555 Dual-beam Oscilloscope, circa 1960s, at the Central Sierra Snow Lab. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995848\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995848\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1102\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-800x344.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-1020x439.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-160x69.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-768x330.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-1536x661.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-2048x881.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04694_duo-1920x826.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spatulas and rulers (right) are some of the tools used to measure snowfall at the Snow Lab. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Outside, the students tour Snow Lab’s network of remote snow equipment, like the fluid-filled “snow pillow” that detects the weight of the snow falling on it and the sensors submerged in the creek behind the lab that will gauge the height of the icy water as it starts to rise with spring snowmelt. Other remote sensors constantly assess solar radiation — in a region where sunlight can contribute to up to 95% of snowmelt — and soil temperature to get an idea of just how fast the snowpack could melt this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as this data collection hums in the background, Schwartz still maintains the lab’s twice-daily manual measurement tradition, which sees him and his colleagues crunch out onto the snow with “our very fancy ruler” — work that on some days, depending on conditions, can feel more like a polar expedition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995840\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995840\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01055.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01055.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01055-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01055-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01055-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01055-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01055-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01055-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gaby May Lagunes, a Ph.D. student in the Environmental Science, Policy, and Management Department at UC Berkeley, puts on her snowshoes to head into the field. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/UCB_CSSL\">the Snow Lab’s social media presence\u003c/a> has gained in popularity in the last few years, the snow measurements that Schwartz and his team make public are also watched eagerly by a different group of California enthusiasts: skiers and snowboarders desperate to know when to hit the Tahoe slopes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I love the different uses of our data in our information,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The impact of the snowpack on water supply\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The snowpack can contain clues of the past as well as the future — which is why the snow analysis techniques being taught at the Snow Science School go way beyond just assessing depth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A key concept hydrology students are taught about is “snow water equivalent,” or SWE (usually pronounced “swee” by snow scientists): A measurement that tells scientists just how much water is contained in an area of snow versus the air it also contains alongside its ice crystals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995841\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995841\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01224.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01224-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01224-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01224-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01224-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01224-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_01224-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrew Schwartz, right, director of the Central Sierra Snow Lab, leads instructors and participants of the Snow Science School into the field. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“A lot of the water in California originally falls as snow, and it’s really valuable to humans because there’s a lot of it and because it stores itself for free in places where it’s cold and then melts in the spring, which is when we need it for agriculture,” said Marianne Cowherd, research associate at the Snow Lab and one of the instructors. “Having a good understanding of how much water we have available upstream lets us do things like manage our reservoir levels — so we still have enough water, but we don’t have dangerous operations or overflow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The next piece of the snow science puzzle is working out when and how the state can expect that snow to melt. At the school, the students learn more about how energy from the sun and from the warm temperatures of the air and from the ground melts the snowpack and how the water flows into California’s soils and streams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The thing that I’m trying to do is understand the effect of human changes in the landscape, specifically with irrigation on future precipitation patterns and precipitation extremes,” said Gaby May Lagunes, a snow lab student and UC Berkeley graduate researcher. “How the way people change the environment has an impact on the water cycle, not only locally, regionally and globally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So “if I want to understand water from a data-driven perspective, I need to have an idea of what snow people know,” she said. “We need to work together a lot because we cannot know everything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995845\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995845\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02033.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02033.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02033-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02033-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02033-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02033-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02033-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02033-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Preetika Kaur, left, a Ph.D. student at the University of Wyoming, and Joe Ammatelli, an assistant research scientist with the Desert Research Institute, dig a pit in the snowpack during Snow Science School. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Up close in the snow pits\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For students, the real action came when the school decamped closer to Donner Summit for the field measurement portion of their studies. After suiting up in thermal layers, bibs and beanies — plus lab-supplied polarized sunglasses that read “No Biz Like Snow Biz” on the side — the students strap on snowshoes to make the hike along a snow-covered trail to a secluded woods, sandwiched between Sugar Bowl and Donner Ski Ranch. Here, they began to dig out a series of 4-foot-deep snow pits using shovels, low enough to strike soil and complete with steps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The snowpack can be far larger, sometimes as deep as 20 feet, and scientists “have to build literal levels down to measure the whole thing,” Schwartz said — “so you don’t have to Spider-Man your way out every time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joe Ammatelli was sent by the Desert Research Institute in Nevada, where he carries out snow modeling, which needs to be validated by field observations. “It’s really valuable as a modeler to get out here and see how it’s done,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995846\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995846\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"845\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-800x264.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-1020x337.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-768x253.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-1536x507.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-2048x676.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_02943_duo-1920x634.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Snow crystals lay on a measuring device during a field outing with the Snow Science School in January. Chris Northart, right, with the Department of Water Resources Statewide Monitoring Network Unit and a participant of the Snow Science School, uses a magnification lens to measure the size of snow granules. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995847\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995847\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_03173.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_03173.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_03173-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_03173-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_03173-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_03173-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_03173-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_03173-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A participant of the Snow School weighs a wedge of snow collected from the snowpack in a field outing. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And for all the technological developments in snow science, it remains deeply tactile for its practitioners. Down in the pits, the students measured the snow’s temperature and observed how it changed the deeper the pit went. Then, using specialized shovels, the students scooped out and leveled off snow before weighing it on a scale — a method of measuring density and snow water equivalent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They examined physical changes in the different layers in the smooth white walls of the snow pits, like studying rings in a tree trunk. These kinds of measurements are an exercise in time travel, explained instructor Cowherd, given the different qualities of snowflakes that fall at different times and how the ever-accumulating snowpack ages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the air heats and cools, the snow melts and compresses under its own weight — all of which “tells us about the history of what’s happened there,” Cowherd said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Every day in the snow is a good day’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The observations that the instructors taught its snow students in the pits are the kind that stretches back almost a century and a half in the Snow Lab’s own archives — and this volume of information is invaluable for assessing the impact of climate change, Schwartz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We see the same amount of precipitation coming in, but it’s shifting from snow terrain in all the months — so we’re seeing warming,” he said. “Our rain-snow line is going up in elevation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The almost 150 years of data can also aid forecasters in looking for variables that smaller data sets just can’t encompass, he said — like the Sierra’s dry spells that are followed by big years for rain and snowfall, a swing that’s seen in “five year periods.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995850\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1333px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995850\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04872.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1333\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04872.jpg 1333w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04872-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04872-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04872-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04872-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250116_Snow-School_DMB_04872-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign to alert the public of a snow survey shelter structure from the Department of Water Resources is one of the objects in the archive at the Snow Lab. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The school’s emphasis on continuing the tradition of meticulous data collection is shot through with the deep enthusiasm that marks the people in its orbit. Even in the chill of the field, when digging out feet of snow, the students remain upbeat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Snow people are really fun people for the most part,” said instructor Micah Johnson, as he demonstrated an invention he’d been working on for a decade — showing the students how to stab his Bluetooth-enabled “penetrometer-reflectometer” stick into the snow and call up data from its sensors. “I have yet to meet an indifferent snow scientist of sorts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Or, as Ammatelli from the Desert Research Institute said, “Every day in the snow is a good day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Joe Ammatelli’s name.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "this-project-is-a-win-for-the-climate-and-ratepayers-why-is-pge-pulling-the-plug",
"title": "PG&E Wants to Pull the Plug on Electrification Project at CSU Monterey Bay",
"publishDate": 1738591218,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "PG&E Wants to Pull the Plug on Electrification Project at CSU Monterey Bay | KQED",
"labelTerm": {
"site": "science"
},
"content": "\u003cp>The lines sprawl below ground unnoticed, starting out large, then branching like limbs of a tree, reaching nearly every home. We pay for them, and we probably never think about them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For most Californians, the maze of gas pipelines beneath our feet allows us to heat our homes and water, dry our clothes and cook our food. But all these functions can be done another way, too: with electricity. And maintaining two systems — gas and electric — is costly and incompatible with California’s climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what if we could consolidate these systems, particularly in a way that would save ratepayers and utilities money?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, PG&E proposed a project that would do just that in roughly 400 campus apartments for students and their families at Cal State Monterey Bay. The project would be the largest of its kind in California, and likely the U.S., to date, and PG&E’s first neighborhood-scale electrification initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their application, the utility wrote that the project “represents a unique opportunity to address customer safety needs, long-term rate affordability, customer energy preference, and alignment with California’s climate goals,” in other words, a win-win-win-win.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, people involved in the project were dumbfounded when the utility abruptly scrapped the project early this year, citing time pressure, unknown costs to address toxic asbestos in some buildings, and disagreements over how it would be financed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E representatives wrote that it was “reluctantly terminating” the project. “There remains too great a divide in parties’ perspectives on core project details that PG&E views as essential for success.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995544\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995544\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00458_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00458_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00458_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00458_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00458_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00458_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00458_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00458_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of the East Campus housing development of California State University at Monterey Bay, with power lines in the background, in Marina, California, on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995545\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995545\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"833\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-800x267.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1020x340.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-768x256.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1536x512.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-2048x682.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1920x640.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: A sign directs visitors to the East Campus housing office of California State University, Monterey Bay, in Marina. Right: A laundromat for residents of East Campus housing. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the turn came as a “complete surprise,” said Hayley Goodson, a managing attorney at The Utility Reform Network, one of the project stakeholders. “PG&E has been saying for years that it costs less for gas ratepayers to do the electrification project.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goodson said the reasons PG&E cited for dropping the project have all been known for months and argued it came down to financials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E is a heavily regulated monopoly owned by investors. One of the ways it makes a return for shareholders is on capital investments — long-lasting physical infrastructure it owns and maintains, like gas pipelines, transformers and power lines. The utility can recoup the costs of these, plus an extra percentage of that cost from their customers, which is wrapped into monthly bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995543\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995543\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250128_Hayley-Goodson_DB_00012_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250128_Hayley-Goodson_DB_00012_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250128_Hayley-Goodson_DB_00012_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250128_Hayley-Goodson_DB_00012_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250128_Hayley-Goodson_DB_00012_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250128_Hayley-Goodson_DB_00012_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250128_Hayley-Goodson_DB_00012_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250128_Hayley-Goodson_DB_00012_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hayley Goodson, a managing attorney with The Utility Reform Network (TURN), poses for a portrait in the organization’s office in Oakland on Jan. 28, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, the appliances at CSU Monterey Bay would not be owned or maintained by PG&E. They would be property of the university, even though the utility would initially buy and install them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E wanted to pay for the project through its capital budget, and while some stakeholders agreed, others pushed back, asking for the costs of electric appliances to come from the utility’s operating expense budget. This would mean they would recover the costs and break even, but there would be no additional profit for shareholders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard not to think that PG&E just doesn’t want to do the right thing for its ratepayers if they can’t earn a profit from it,” Goodson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CSU Monterey Bay spokesperson Walter Ryce said PG&E notified the university it was withdrawing the application the same week it informed the California Public Utilities Commission. The project “was set to be fully funded by PG&E, and the university does not have funding to pursue a gas replacement project on its own.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Two systems, rising costs\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The idea of “pruning” the gas system is not new. Since 2018, PG&E has executed more than a hundred of these projects, ripping out old pipelines while covering the costs to electrify the homes and businesses affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Picture a 2-mile gas line in need of repair, winding its way to just two homes. It’s typically cheaper for PG&E, and therefore their ratepayers, if the company pays to fully electrify customers on these lines and retire rather than replace them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995546\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995546\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00504_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00504_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00504_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00504_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00504_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00504_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00504_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00504_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">PG&E is withdrawing an ambitious plan to electrify the East Campus Housing development of California State University, Monterey Bay, at a community scale, seen here in Marina, California, on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Shrinking California’s natural gas system is an objective of \u003ca href=\"https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M542/K040/542040675.PDF\">state regulators\u003c/a>, as well. The CPUC published a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/news-and-updates/all-news/cpuc-creates-new-framework-to-advance-california-transition-away-from-natural-gas\">framework\u003c/a> to transition away from natural gas to benefit the climate and avoid spending on infrastructure that will be obsolete before the end of its useful life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The majority of the state’s electricity, \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/news/2024-05/new-data-shows-investments-build-californias-clean-energy-grid-future-are-paying\">61%\u003c/a>, comes from sources that create no planet-warming pollution, such as renewables, hydropower, and nuclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The alternative to a managed transition away from gas would be a haphazard one, which would lead to higher bills for those who still use gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If nearly an entire street wants to go all-electric, except for just one home, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1992348/is-it-time-for-an-essential-california-energy-code-to-get-a-climate-edit\">utilities interpret California code\u003c/a> to mean they must maintain the whole pipeline serving that street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995549\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995549\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"833\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1-800x267.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1-1020x340.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1-768x256.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1-1536x512.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1-2048x682.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1-1920x640.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Homes and businesses powered by gas are connected through a lattice of pipelines beneath the street (left). Electrifying a neighborhood means capping a gas line and replacing the gas-fueled appliances with electric ones (right). \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As more middle- and high-income people and homeowners switch to electricity, fewer people are left paying for the largely fixed costs of gas infrastructure. That leaves lower-income people and renters, who are less likely to electrify, on the hook for the cost of the gas system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California took a small step toward addressing this issue with a law that will allow 30 communities to go all-electric with just two-thirds of residents’ consent. These are pilots, though, and will kick off in 2026 at the earliest.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A special project\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The CSU Monterey Bay project would likely have saved ratepayers money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Purchasing and installing electric appliances for roughly 400 homes saved about \u003ca href=\"https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M500/K435/500435462.PDF\">$2.45\u003c/a> million over replacing about 8 miles of gas pipelines, PG&E estimated in its project application to the CPUC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a unicorn,” said the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Kiki Velez, who leads initiatives transitioning away from gas for the organization. “You have a big project that could likely deliver a lot of cost savings and emissions reductions. You have one willing customer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a 2022 article published by the university, then Sustainability Director Lacey Raak said it made sense not to invest in gas infrastructure. “It would be like buying a fax machine in 1999,” Raak said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>The clock ticks\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Time can be a major impediment when you set out to electrify a whole neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You want to be targeting pipelines that are close to the end of their lifetime because that’s a better deal for ratepayers,” said Beckie Menten, California director at the Building Decarbonization Coalition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead of replacing them with a pipeline that may be retired before its useful, sometimes \u003ca href=\"https://www.pge.com/en/about/pge-systems/gas-systems.html#accordion-2076aa78e1-item-4eb56cb1f4\">100-year-long\u003c/a> life, or before it’s slowly paid off, you convert the associated homes to rely on electricity instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Identifying a pipeline almost ready for replacement “sets a clock,” she said. “You have a certain number of years to not only get approval for the project, but to also implement the project before the safety concern becomes a risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995551\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995551\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00487_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00487_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00487_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00487_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00487_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00487_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00487_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00487_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An advisory sign warns of high-voltage electricity near the East Campus housing development of California State University, Monterey Bay, in Marina, California, on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>PG&E’s \u003ca href=\"https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M496/K451/496451495.PDF\">initial application (PDF)\u003c/a> asked the CPUC for approval by the summer of 2023, saying the utility would need to replace the gas lines from 2022–25 to ensure future “safe, reliable gas service.” In recent filings, PG&E wrote that it’d need the pipelines replaced by the end of 2026. The utility was still waiting for a decision in early 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Failing to replace aging pipelines can lead to \u003ca href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2015/09/methane-pipeline-replacement-090915#:~:text=In%20contrast%2C%20Manhattan%20still%20has,Stanford%20University%20funded%20the%20research.\">gas leaks\u003c/a> and cause dangerous explosions. One of PG&E’s most notorious disasters was a blast and resulting fire in San Bruno in 2010, which killed eight people. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/10667274/five-years-after-deadly-san-bruno-explosion-are-we-safer#:~:text=If%20any%20line%20in%20the,quality%20control%20failed%20to%20detect.\">The cause was a poorly welded pipeline of a very old pipe\u003c/a> and inadequate pipeline management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CSU Monterey Bay project stalled for a year after the school changed its chief financial officer. Then, campus officials found asbestos in the buildings, which could lead to health risks if disturbed during construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, project stakeholders argued over how PG&E should expense the new electric appliances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some stakeholders, including the Sierra Club, supported PG&E’s proposal to allow it to use capital funds and, therefore, make a profit in this case. Attorney Matt Vespa said the incentives to make climate-friendly electrification choices aren’t there yet for utilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If a gas company just replaces a pipeline and basically locks in fossil fuel infrastructure for decades at a pretty high cost, they make money. But if they avoid that and do a climate solution that benefits public health, air quality and the climate by electrifying, they actually don’t make any money at all,” Vespa said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995542\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1995542 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/250130-CSUMB-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/250130-CSUMB-01-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/250130-CSUMB-01-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/250130-CSUMB-01-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/250130-CSUMB-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/250130-CSUMB-01-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/250130-CSUMB-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/250130-CSUMB-01-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matt Vespa, a senior attorney with Earthjustice, sits on the counter at his home in San Francisco on Jan. 30, 2025, next to a newly installed induction stove. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other groups, including TURN, scoffed at PG&E’s proposed way to finance the project and said the utility would still be able to recover its costs. “What we’re talking about is whether they should earn a bonus on these activities. We don’t think that that bonus is necessary or appropriate,” Goodson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A PG&E spokesperson told KQED that the utility joins “with TURN in advocating for the safe and reliable delivery of energy for PG&E customers. This includes the replacement of pipeline for safety reasons when necessary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate was not atypical for a project like this, and in December, parties were coming to agreements on issues they’d argued over. How PG&E would finance the project was unresolved and would be put to the CPUC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But PG&E withdrew its application before it could, and with it, hopes for the largest neighborhood electrification project in the U.S. to date.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_12023805,news_11983675,news_11981173\"]“They are hoping to walk away with no consequences,” said Michael Colvin, director of regulatory and legislative affairs for the Environmental Defense Fund. “Promises were made to the university, promises were made to the residents of the university housing, promises were made to the rest of their customers to say we know how to do zonal electrification and we can be part of an example.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Colvin said other utilities around the country were watching the CSU Monterey Bay project and may not attempt similar projects if this one collapses. “There is a ripple effect outside of Monterey Bay and outside of California,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several stakeholders have responded to PG&E’s withdrawal, calling for the CPUC to reject it or at least hold the utility to some account.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Will student housing at the school’s East Campus be the vision of a campus electrified, as the school paper once touted? The question will be answered in the coming months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regardless, Menten of the Building Decarbonization Coalition said this doesn’t mean neighborhood-scale electrification won’t be in California’s future, just that this project came too early.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“PG&E was trying to be innovative. They were trying to push the envelope,” said Menten, “but they were a little bit ahead of where the CPUC was.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"headline": "PG&E Wants to Pull the Plug on Electrification Project at CSU Monterey Bay",
"datePublished": "2025-02-03T06:00:18-08:00",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The lines sprawl below ground unnoticed, starting out large, then branching like limbs of a tree, reaching nearly every home. We pay for them, and we probably never think about them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For most Californians, the maze of gas pipelines beneath our feet allows us to heat our homes and water, dry our clothes and cook our food. But all these functions can be done another way, too: with electricity. And maintaining two systems — gas and electric — is costly and incompatible with California’s climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So what if we could consolidate these systems, particularly in a way that would save ratepayers and utilities money?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, PG&E proposed a project that would do just that in roughly 400 campus apartments for students and their families at Cal State Monterey Bay. The project would be the largest of its kind in California, and likely the U.S., to date, and PG&E’s first neighborhood-scale electrification initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In their application, the utility wrote that the project “represents a unique opportunity to address customer safety needs, long-term rate affordability, customer energy preference, and alignment with California’s climate goals,” in other words, a win-win-win-win.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, people involved in the project were dumbfounded when the utility abruptly scrapped the project early this year, citing time pressure, unknown costs to address toxic asbestos in some buildings, and disagreements over how it would be financed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E representatives wrote that it was “reluctantly terminating” the project. “There remains too great a divide in parties’ perspectives on core project details that PG&E views as essential for success.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995544\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995544\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00458_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00458_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00458_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00458_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00458_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00458_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00458_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00458_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of the East Campus housing development of California State University at Monterey Bay, with power lines in the background, in Marina, California, on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995545\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995545\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"833\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-800x267.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1020x340.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-768x256.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1536x512.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-2048x682.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1920x640.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: A sign directs visitors to the East Campus housing office of California State University, Monterey Bay, in Marina. Right: A laundromat for residents of East Campus housing. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the turn came as a “complete surprise,” said Hayley Goodson, a managing attorney at The Utility Reform Network, one of the project stakeholders. “PG&E has been saying for years that it costs less for gas ratepayers to do the electrification project.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goodson said the reasons PG&E cited for dropping the project have all been known for months and argued it came down to financials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E is a heavily regulated monopoly owned by investors. One of the ways it makes a return for shareholders is on capital investments — long-lasting physical infrastructure it owns and maintains, like gas pipelines, transformers and power lines. The utility can recoup the costs of these, plus an extra percentage of that cost from their customers, which is wrapped into monthly bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995543\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995543\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250128_Hayley-Goodson_DB_00012_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250128_Hayley-Goodson_DB_00012_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250128_Hayley-Goodson_DB_00012_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250128_Hayley-Goodson_DB_00012_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250128_Hayley-Goodson_DB_00012_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250128_Hayley-Goodson_DB_00012_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250128_Hayley-Goodson_DB_00012_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250128_Hayley-Goodson_DB_00012_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hayley Goodson, a managing attorney with The Utility Reform Network (TURN), poses for a portrait in the organization’s office in Oakland on Jan. 28, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, the appliances at CSU Monterey Bay would not be owned or maintained by PG&E. They would be property of the university, even though the utility would initially buy and install them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PG&E wanted to pay for the project through its capital budget, and while some stakeholders agreed, others pushed back, asking for the costs of electric appliances to come from the utility’s operating expense budget. This would mean they would recover the costs and break even, but there would be no additional profit for shareholders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s hard not to think that PG&E just doesn’t want to do the right thing for its ratepayers if they can’t earn a profit from it,” Goodson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CSU Monterey Bay spokesperson Walter Ryce said PG&E notified the university it was withdrawing the application the same week it informed the California Public Utilities Commission. The project “was set to be fully funded by PG&E, and the university does not have funding to pursue a gas replacement project on its own.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Two systems, rising costs\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The idea of “pruning” the gas system is not new. Since 2018, PG&E has executed more than a hundred of these projects, ripping out old pipelines while covering the costs to electrify the homes and businesses affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Picture a 2-mile gas line in need of repair, winding its way to just two homes. It’s typically cheaper for PG&E, and therefore their ratepayers, if the company pays to fully electrify customers on these lines and retire rather than replace them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995546\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995546\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00504_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00504_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00504_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00504_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00504_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00504_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00504_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00504_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">PG&E is withdrawing an ambitious plan to electrify the East Campus Housing development of California State University, Monterey Bay, at a community scale, seen here in Marina, California, on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Shrinking California’s natural gas system is an objective of \u003ca href=\"https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M542/K040/542040675.PDF\">state regulators\u003c/a>, as well. The CPUC published a \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/news-and-updates/all-news/cpuc-creates-new-framework-to-advance-california-transition-away-from-natural-gas\">framework\u003c/a> to transition away from natural gas to benefit the climate and avoid spending on infrastructure that will be obsolete before the end of its useful life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The majority of the state’s electricity, \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/news/2024-05/new-data-shows-investments-build-californias-clean-energy-grid-future-are-paying\">61%\u003c/a>, comes from sources that create no planet-warming pollution, such as renewables, hydropower, and nuclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The alternative to a managed transition away from gas would be a haphazard one, which would lead to higher bills for those who still use gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If nearly an entire street wants to go all-electric, except for just one home, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1992348/is-it-time-for-an-essential-california-energy-code-to-get-a-climate-edit\">utilities interpret California code\u003c/a> to mean they must maintain the whole pipeline serving that street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995549\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995549\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"833\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1-800x267.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1-1020x340.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1-768x256.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1-1536x512.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1-2048x682.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/Copy-of-KQED-side-by-side-downpage-image-1-1920x640.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Homes and businesses powered by gas are connected through a lattice of pipelines beneath the street (left). Electrifying a neighborhood means capping a gas line and replacing the gas-fueled appliances with electric ones (right). \u003ccite>(Anna Vignet/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As more middle- and high-income people and homeowners switch to electricity, fewer people are left paying for the largely fixed costs of gas infrastructure. That leaves lower-income people and renters, who are less likely to electrify, on the hook for the cost of the gas system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California took a small step toward addressing this issue with a law that will allow 30 communities to go all-electric with just two-thirds of residents’ consent. These are pilots, though, and will kick off in 2026 at the earliest.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A special project\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The CSU Monterey Bay project would likely have saved ratepayers money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Purchasing and installing electric appliances for roughly 400 homes saved about \u003ca href=\"https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M500/K435/500435462.PDF\">$2.45\u003c/a> million over replacing about 8 miles of gas pipelines, PG&E estimated in its project application to the CPUC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a unicorn,” said the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Kiki Velez, who leads initiatives transitioning away from gas for the organization. “You have a big project that could likely deliver a lot of cost savings and emissions reductions. You have one willing customer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a 2022 article published by the university, then Sustainability Director Lacey Raak said it made sense not to invest in gas infrastructure. “It would be like buying a fax machine in 1999,” Raak said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>The clock ticks\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Time can be a major impediment when you set out to electrify a whole neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You want to be targeting pipelines that are close to the end of their lifetime because that’s a better deal for ratepayers,” said Beckie Menten, California director at the Building Decarbonization Coalition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead of replacing them with a pipeline that may be retired before its useful, sometimes \u003ca href=\"https://www.pge.com/en/about/pge-systems/gas-systems.html#accordion-2076aa78e1-item-4eb56cb1f4\">100-year-long\u003c/a> life, or before it’s slowly paid off, you convert the associated homes to rely on electricity instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Identifying a pipeline almost ready for replacement “sets a clock,” she said. “You have a certain number of years to not only get approval for the project, but to also implement the project before the safety concern becomes a risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995551\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995551\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00487_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00487_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00487_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00487_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00487_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00487_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00487_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/20250127_CSUMB-Electricity_DB_00487_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An advisory sign warns of high-voltage electricity near the East Campus housing development of California State University, Monterey Bay, in Marina, California, on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>PG&E’s \u003ca href=\"https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M496/K451/496451495.PDF\">initial application (PDF)\u003c/a> asked the CPUC for approval by the summer of 2023, saying the utility would need to replace the gas lines from 2022–25 to ensure future “safe, reliable gas service.” In recent filings, PG&E wrote that it’d need the pipelines replaced by the end of 2026. The utility was still waiting for a decision in early 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Failing to replace aging pipelines can lead to \u003ca href=\"https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2015/09/methane-pipeline-replacement-090915#:~:text=In%20contrast%2C%20Manhattan%20still%20has,Stanford%20University%20funded%20the%20research.\">gas leaks\u003c/a> and cause dangerous explosions. One of PG&E’s most notorious disasters was a blast and resulting fire in San Bruno in 2010, which killed eight people. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/10667274/five-years-after-deadly-san-bruno-explosion-are-we-safer#:~:text=If%20any%20line%20in%20the,quality%20control%20failed%20to%20detect.\">The cause was a poorly welded pipeline of a very old pipe\u003c/a> and inadequate pipeline management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The CSU Monterey Bay project stalled for a year after the school changed its chief financial officer. Then, campus officials found asbestos in the buildings, which could lead to health risks if disturbed during construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, project stakeholders argued over how PG&E should expense the new electric appliances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some stakeholders, including the Sierra Club, supported PG&E’s proposal to allow it to use capital funds and, therefore, make a profit in this case. Attorney Matt Vespa said the incentives to make climate-friendly electrification choices aren’t there yet for utilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If a gas company just replaces a pipeline and basically locks in fossil fuel infrastructure for decades at a pretty high cost, they make money. But if they avoid that and do a climate solution that benefits public health, air quality and the climate by electrifying, they actually don’t make any money at all,” Vespa said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995542\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1995542 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/250130-CSUMB-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/250130-CSUMB-01-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/250130-CSUMB-01-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/250130-CSUMB-01-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/250130-CSUMB-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/250130-CSUMB-01-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/250130-CSUMB-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/02/250130-CSUMB-01-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matt Vespa, a senior attorney with Earthjustice, sits on the counter at his home in San Francisco on Jan. 30, 2025, next to a newly installed induction stove. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other groups, including TURN, scoffed at PG&E’s proposed way to finance the project and said the utility would still be able to recover its costs. “What we’re talking about is whether they should earn a bonus on these activities. We don’t think that that bonus is necessary or appropriate,” Goodson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A PG&E spokesperson told KQED that the utility joins “with TURN in advocating for the safe and reliable delivery of energy for PG&E customers. This includes the replacement of pipeline for safety reasons when necessary.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate was not atypical for a project like this, and in December, parties were coming to agreements on issues they’d argued over. How PG&E would finance the project was unresolved and would be put to the CPUC.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But PG&E withdrew its application before it could, and with it, hopes for the largest neighborhood electrification project in the U.S. to date.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“They are hoping to walk away with no consequences,” said Michael Colvin, director of regulatory and legislative affairs for the Environmental Defense Fund. “Promises were made to the university, promises were made to the residents of the university housing, promises were made to the rest of their customers to say we know how to do zonal electrification and we can be part of an example.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Colvin said other utilities around the country were watching the CSU Monterey Bay project and may not attempt similar projects if this one collapses. “There is a ripple effect outside of Monterey Bay and outside of California,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several stakeholders have responded to PG&E’s withdrawal, calling for the CPUC to reject it or at least hold the utility to some account.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Will student housing at the school’s East Campus be the vision of a campus electrified, as the school paper once touted? The question will be answered in the coming months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regardless, Menten of the Building Decarbonization Coalition said this doesn’t mean neighborhood-scale electrification won’t be in California’s future, just that this project came too early.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“PG&E was trying to be innovative. They were trying to push the envelope,” said Menten, “but they were a little bit ahead of where the CPUC was.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>California’s iconic monarch butterfly population saw a sharp decline this year, which biologists attribute to the hot summer and fall temperatures across the state affecting the species’ migratory path.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest Western Monarch Count by Xerces Society recorded 9,119 overwintering monarch butterflies — those that travel to warmer climates in the winter — in California, marking the second-lowest population since tracking began in 1997. This sharp decline follows three consecutive years of over 200,000 monarchs and remains well below the \u003ca href=\"https://westernmonarchcount.org/the-current-status-of-western-monarch-butterflies-by-the-numbers/\">millions observed in the 1980s\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The specific drop we saw this year largely attributed to the really hot temperatures and the drought that we saw across the West in July, somewhat into August and again in September and October, when that migratory generation should be making its way to the overwintering sites,” said Emma Pelton, an endangered species biologist with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Cruz County had the most overwintering monarch clusters this year, with Lighthouse Field State Park reporting 1,406 butterflies, Natural Bridges State Park counting 1,400, and Moran Lake recording 645. The fourth-largest site was Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove in San Luis Obispo County, with 556 monarchs recorded in late November. Skywest Golf Course in Hayward ranked fifth with 477 butterflies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other locations with higher densities of monarchs include the Pacific Grove Butterfly Sanctuary in Monterey County, which had 228, and UC Gill Tract Community Farm in Alameda, which recorded 196 and was one of the few sites to see a population increase this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, some historically significant sites experienced drastic declines. The Goleta Monarch Butterfly Grove at Ellwood Mesa had almost no clusters, with only three monarchs spotted across multiple locations. A privately-owned Santa Barbara site managed by The Nature Conservancy, which hosted 33,200 monarchs last winter, dramatically dropped to 198 this season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say the decline is caused by habitat loss, pesticide exposure, and climate change. Record-high temperatures and drought throughout the summer and fall months last year likely also contributed to the drop. In January, fires in Los Angeles County burned tree groves where monarchs overwinter, including a site in Lower Topanga Canyon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The western monarch population, which migrates separately from eastern monarchs overwintering in Mexico, relies on California’s coastal tree groves for shelter. Experts say voluntary efforts like pollinator gardens have helped prevent even steeper declines but that broader policy changes are needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='Related Coverage' tag='science']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a huge number of people that care about monarchs and are planting habitat or trying to protect the species. But the evidence points to how we need this work done at a much higher level,” Pelton said, referring to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2024-12/monarch-butterfly-proposed-endangered-species-act-protection\">U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposal\u003c/a> to list monarchs as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If approved, the proposal would provide improved protection for monarch overwintering habitat in California and more incentives for habitat restoration. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.fws.gov/initiative/pollinators/save-monarch\">public comment period on the listing is open\u003c/a> until March 12, and Xerces Society is asking individuals \u003ca href=\"https://win.newmode.net/xerces-fws-monarch\">to sign on to support the listing\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California’s iconic monarch butterfly population saw a sharp decline this year, which biologists attribute to the hot summer and fall temperatures across the state affecting the species’ migratory path.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest Western Monarch Count by Xerces Society recorded 9,119 overwintering monarch butterflies — those that travel to warmer climates in the winter — in California, marking the second-lowest population since tracking began in 1997. This sharp decline follows three consecutive years of over 200,000 monarchs and remains well below the \u003ca href=\"https://westernmonarchcount.org/the-current-status-of-western-monarch-butterflies-by-the-numbers/\">millions observed in the 1980s\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The specific drop we saw this year largely attributed to the really hot temperatures and the drought that we saw across the West in July, somewhat into August and again in September and October, when that migratory generation should be making its way to the overwintering sites,” said Emma Pelton, an endangered species biologist with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Cruz County had the most overwintering monarch clusters this year, with Lighthouse Field State Park reporting 1,406 butterflies, Natural Bridges State Park counting 1,400, and Moran Lake recording 645. The fourth-largest site was Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove in San Luis Obispo County, with 556 monarchs recorded in late November. Skywest Golf Course in Hayward ranked fifth with 477 butterflies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other locations with higher densities of monarchs include the Pacific Grove Butterfly Sanctuary in Monterey County, which had 228, and UC Gill Tract Community Farm in Alameda, which recorded 196 and was one of the few sites to see a population increase this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, some historically significant sites experienced drastic declines. The Goleta Monarch Butterfly Grove at Ellwood Mesa had almost no clusters, with only three monarchs spotted across multiple locations. A privately-owned Santa Barbara site managed by The Nature Conservancy, which hosted 33,200 monarchs last winter, dramatically dropped to 198 this season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say the decline is caused by habitat loss, pesticide exposure, and climate change. Record-high temperatures and drought throughout the summer and fall months last year likely also contributed to the drop. In January, fires in Los Angeles County burned tree groves where monarchs overwinter, including a site in Lower Topanga Canyon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The western monarch population, which migrates separately from eastern monarchs overwintering in Mexico, relies on California’s coastal tree groves for shelter. Experts say voluntary efforts like pollinator gardens have helped prevent even steeper declines but that broader policy changes are needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a huge number of people that care about monarchs and are planting habitat or trying to protect the species. But the evidence points to how we need this work done at a much higher level,” Pelton said, referring to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2024-12/monarch-butterfly-proposed-endangered-species-act-protection\">U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposal\u003c/a> to list monarchs as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If approved, the proposal would provide improved protection for monarch overwintering habitat in California and more incentives for habitat restoration. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.fws.gov/initiative/pollinators/save-monarch\">public comment period on the listing is open\u003c/a> until March 12, and Xerces Society is asking individuals \u003ca href=\"https://win.newmode.net/xerces-fws-monarch\">to sign on to support the listing\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Ray López-Chang stays with his grandma in the El Sereno neighborhood of Los Angeles, south of Pasadena, for now. The tall, bubbly 30-year-old with glowing skin hushed his dog, Cielo, from barking when we met at this temporary home: a one-story house on a hill. He lived here off and on when he was younger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>López-Chang evacuated his family from their home in Altadena at 3 a.m. on Jan. 8. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12022057/the-california-wildfires-could-be-leaving-deeper-inequality-in-their-wake\">Eaton Fire roared\u003c/a>, forcing evacuations across the town. Six hours later, he briefly returned to grab clothes, medications and valuables they didn’t want to lose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It felt very chaotic and perilous inside with cars snaking through small streets, folks running through sidewalks,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also spent precious time spraying down their house with water in hopes of preventing wind-whipped embers from igniting the house. Before they left, López-Chang said his mom grabbed a figurine of a Catholic saint. But then placed the icon back “to protect the home,” López-Chang said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995448\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995448\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_4641-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_4641-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_4641-1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_4641-1-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_4641-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_4641-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_4641-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_4641-1-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ray López-Chang at his grandmother’s house in the El Sereno neighborhood of Los Angeles, south of Pasadena, on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Salomón Huerta rents a small home in Altadena several blocks away. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/salomonhuerta/?hl=en\">figurative painter\u003c/a> was on his way home from work when his wife called nervously as the fire approached. “She goes: ‘You better hurry up because I can see the fire,’” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fires burning in Southern California have consumed more than 40,000 acres and more than 10,700 structures, as well as the lives of 25 people, at least. The Eaton Fire ripped through Altadena and is still not contained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>López-Chang and Huerta are two of the thousands of residents within that evacuation zone who cannot return, many who have yet to find out if their homes are still standing. KQED sent me to report on the fires, and friends connected me to them. The families tried to reach their homes multiple times after the wind and flames moderated, but the National Guard turned them around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995450\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995450\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1819.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1819.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1819-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1819-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1819-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1819-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1819-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1819-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Salomón Huerta in his sister’s house in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire and Los Angeles County created \u003ca href=\"https://recovery.lacounty.gov/eaton-fire/\">a website where families can check on the status of their homes. \u003c/a>When I checked, López-Chang’s home was not yet listed. On my next trip to the fire zone, I drove by to see for myself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turn off the 210 Freeway onto Lincoln Avenue and move toward the San Gabriel Mountains, and all along the road, you’ll find shops and groups of people collecting donations — boxes of clothes, stacks of bottled water and mountains of food — for fire victims, many of whom were still waiting to see what remains, if anything, of their homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I flashed my press pass to a public information officer at a National Guard station. When I arrived at López-Chang’s home, I found his one-story white house with bright green grass and a palm tree still standing, without scorch marks or piles of ash surrounding it. Later, I’d show him a photo of it, and he couldn’t stop staring at the phone, virtually expressionless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just locking eyes with it,” López-Chang said. “It’s like seeing someone you haven’t seen in a long time, and I just don’t want to lose that image.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995449\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995449\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1667.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1218\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1667.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1667-800x487.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1667-1020x621.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1667-160x97.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1667-768x468.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1667-1536x935.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1667-1920x1169.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">López-Chang’s house still standing in Altadena, on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>López-Chang said his mom made the right decision to leave the figurine of a Catholic saint to watch over their home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe the saints helped,” he said, noting that it was originally his grandmother’s figurine. “We tried as much as we could, but her hand was over the home as much as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said his parents would be so relieved to learn that the house they bought about a decade ago after immigrating from Nicaragua in the 1970s is still standing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This helps clarify a lot for us about what the next several weeks look like,” López-Chang said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the house did not burn, the smoke that enveloped the house could have rendered it uninhabitable. “At minimum, we’ll be able to access some of our belongings and memories,” he said.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"science_1995420,news_12022532,news_12022375\"]But not all residents were so lucky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huerta and his wife, Ana Morales-Huerta, rented a small home several blocks east of López-Chang.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huerta said he had five minutes to pack his belongings, selecting items he could resell in case he needed the cash. “I grabbed a large sketchbook with a David Bowie’s \u003cem>Diamond Dogs\u003c/em> album in it that’s worth a lot of money,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the evacuation frenzy, he did not even have time to think about grabbing his archives — mainly transparencies and photos of his previous work — dating back to 1992.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I drove down Huerta’s street, all the homes on the block had burned. Only a pile of rubble remained of his house, surrounded by a charred hedge and a tall tree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t recognize it,” Huerta said, leaning back in his chair, his face pressed into lines of confusion when I showed him photos of the burned mess. “I don’t know what I’m looking at because it doesn’t look like what I remember it to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire destroyed not only his home but also his favorite cafe, the diner where he met art collectors and his gym.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know anything about construction, but I don’t see how they’re going to rebuild for a very long time because the damage is just too massive,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995451\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995451\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1723-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1723-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1723-1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1723-1-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1723-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1723-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1723-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1723-1-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The burnt-out home that Salomón Huerta had rented with his wife Ana Morales-Huerta in Altadena on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Huerta is looking for a new home but doesn’t have renters insurance. His art dealer started a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-salomon-and-ana-recover-after-fire\">GoFundMe\u003c/a> to help with relocation costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even if we get 50% of what we had, we’d be really happy,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though López-Chang’s home is still standing, as a young person in Los Angeles living with the effects of human-caused climate change in real time, he wasn’t too surprised the fire grew out of control. Scientists believe human-caused \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1995420/climate-scientists-warn-of-growing-whiplash-effect-on-weather-patterns\">climate change exacerbated the dry conditions\u003c/a> that made the area easy to burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If this isn’t a perfect example of what the outcome of fast climate change looks like, I don’t know what is,” López-Chang said. “This affected people’s homes, businesses, livelihoods and memories.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "KQED met two of the many Angelenos waiting to find out if their homes are still standing. Los Angeles County created a website for residents to check the status of their homes.",
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"title": "Fire Evacuees Prepare to Return Home Unsure of What They'll Find | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Ray López-Chang stays with his grandma in the El Sereno neighborhood of Los Angeles, south of Pasadena, for now. The tall, bubbly 30-year-old with glowing skin hushed his dog, Cielo, from barking when we met at this temporary home: a one-story house on a hill. He lived here off and on when he was younger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>López-Chang evacuated his family from their home in Altadena at 3 a.m. on Jan. 8. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12022057/the-california-wildfires-could-be-leaving-deeper-inequality-in-their-wake\">Eaton Fire roared\u003c/a>, forcing evacuations across the town. Six hours later, he briefly returned to grab clothes, medications and valuables they didn’t want to lose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It felt very chaotic and perilous inside with cars snaking through small streets, folks running through sidewalks,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also spent precious time spraying down their house with water in hopes of preventing wind-whipped embers from igniting the house. Before they left, López-Chang said his mom grabbed a figurine of a Catholic saint. But then placed the icon back “to protect the home,” López-Chang said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995448\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995448\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_4641-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_4641-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_4641-1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_4641-1-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_4641-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_4641-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_4641-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_4641-1-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ray López-Chang at his grandmother’s house in the El Sereno neighborhood of Los Angeles, south of Pasadena, on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Salomón Huerta rents a small home in Altadena several blocks away. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/salomonhuerta/?hl=en\">figurative painter\u003c/a> was on his way home from work when his wife called nervously as the fire approached. “She goes: ‘You better hurry up because I can see the fire,’” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fires burning in Southern California have consumed more than 40,000 acres and more than 10,700 structures, as well as the lives of 25 people, at least. The Eaton Fire ripped through Altadena and is still not contained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>López-Chang and Huerta are two of the thousands of residents within that evacuation zone who cannot return, many who have yet to find out if their homes are still standing. KQED sent me to report on the fires, and friends connected me to them. The families tried to reach their homes multiple times after the wind and flames moderated, but the National Guard turned them around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995450\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995450\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1819.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1819.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1819-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1819-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1819-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1819-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1819-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1819-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Salomón Huerta in his sister’s house in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire and Los Angeles County created \u003ca href=\"https://recovery.lacounty.gov/eaton-fire/\">a website where families can check on the status of their homes. \u003c/a>When I checked, López-Chang’s home was not yet listed. On my next trip to the fire zone, I drove by to see for myself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turn off the 210 Freeway onto Lincoln Avenue and move toward the San Gabriel Mountains, and all along the road, you’ll find shops and groups of people collecting donations — boxes of clothes, stacks of bottled water and mountains of food — for fire victims, many of whom were still waiting to see what remains, if anything, of their homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I flashed my press pass to a public information officer at a National Guard station. When I arrived at López-Chang’s home, I found his one-story white house with bright green grass and a palm tree still standing, without scorch marks or piles of ash surrounding it. Later, I’d show him a photo of it, and he couldn’t stop staring at the phone, virtually expressionless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just locking eyes with it,” López-Chang said. “It’s like seeing someone you haven’t seen in a long time, and I just don’t want to lose that image.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995449\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995449\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1667.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1218\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1667.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1667-800x487.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1667-1020x621.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1667-160x97.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1667-768x468.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1667-1536x935.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1667-1920x1169.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">López-Chang’s house still standing in Altadena, on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>López-Chang said his mom made the right decision to leave the figurine of a Catholic saint to watch over their home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe the saints helped,” he said, noting that it was originally his grandmother’s figurine. “We tried as much as we could, but her hand was over the home as much as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said his parents would be so relieved to learn that the house they bought about a decade ago after immigrating from Nicaragua in the 1970s is still standing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This helps clarify a lot for us about what the next several weeks look like,” López-Chang said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the house did not burn, the smoke that enveloped the house could have rendered it uninhabitable. “At minimum, we’ll be able to access some of our belongings and memories,” he said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But not all residents were so lucky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huerta and his wife, Ana Morales-Huerta, rented a small home several blocks east of López-Chang.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huerta said he had five minutes to pack his belongings, selecting items he could resell in case he needed the cash. “I grabbed a large sketchbook with a David Bowie’s \u003cem>Diamond Dogs\u003c/em> album in it that’s worth a lot of money,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in the evacuation frenzy, he did not even have time to think about grabbing his archives — mainly transparencies and photos of his previous work — dating back to 1992.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I drove down Huerta’s street, all the homes on the block had burned. Only a pile of rubble remained of his house, surrounded by a charred hedge and a tall tree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t recognize it,” Huerta said, leaning back in his chair, his face pressed into lines of confusion when I showed him photos of the burned mess. “I don’t know what I’m looking at because it doesn’t look like what I remember it to be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fire destroyed not only his home but also his favorite cafe, the diner where he met art collectors and his gym.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know anything about construction, but I don’t see how they’re going to rebuild for a very long time because the damage is just too massive,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995451\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995451\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1723-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1723-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1723-1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1723-1-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1723-1-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1723-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1723-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/IMG_1723-1-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The burnt-out home that Salomón Huerta had rented with his wife Ana Morales-Huerta in Altadena on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Huerta is looking for a new home but doesn’t have renters insurance. His art dealer started a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-salomon-and-ana-recover-after-fire\">GoFundMe\u003c/a> to help with relocation costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even if we get 50% of what we had, we’d be really happy,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though López-Chang’s home is still standing, as a young person in Los Angeles living with the effects of human-caused climate change in real time, he wasn’t too surprised the fire grew out of control. Scientists believe human-caused \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1995420/climate-scientists-warn-of-growing-whiplash-effect-on-weather-patterns\">climate change exacerbated the dry conditions\u003c/a> that made the area easy to burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If this isn’t a perfect example of what the outcome of fast climate change looks like, I don’t know what is,” López-Chang said. “This affected people’s homes, businesses, livelihoods and memories.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Californians are all too familiar with flip-flopping weather extremes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12020835/southern-california-fires-could-be-most-expensive-us-history\">massive wildfires currently burning in Southern California\u003c/a> followed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12015534/bay-area-record-breaking-rainfall-deluge-surprises-forecasters\">two years of excessive rainfall\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1994538/3-bay-area-cities-had-hottest-summer-in-history-as-climate-change-pushes-temps-up\">hottest summer on record\u003c/a>, major \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982460/southern-central-valley-counties-brace-for-flooding-as-heat-wave-melts-sierra-snowpack\">flooding that re-filled a historic lake in the Central Valley\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/24515/study-california-drought-most-severe-dry-spell-in-at-least-1200-years\">most severe drought in recorded history,\u003c/a> and so on, all in the last decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New research cements the idea that California’s weather whiplash is increasing as the atmosphere warms due to human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I see the last decade as a preview of what we should expect to see more of,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources and UCLA. Except that “the wettest wets and the driest dries we’ve seen recently are not the wettest wets and the driest dries we will see in the coming decades.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A group of climate scientists, led by Swain, published a \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/3TN5CrkYKnfnGW2jfjtWS4lsyf?domain=ucla.us10.list-manage.com\">study on Thursday in the journal \u003cem>Nature Reviews\u003c/em>\u003c/a> that found what they call “hydroclimate whiplash” — fast swings between alarmingly wet and seriously dry weather — is expanding globally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The phenomenon has grown up to 66% since the mid-20th century, and the authors expect it to nearly double at 3 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels. Average global temperatures \u003ca href=\"https://wmo.int/news/media-centre/global-temperature-likely-exceed-15degc-above-pre-industrial-level-temporarily-next-5-years\">could surpass a 1.5 degrees Celsius rise in the next five years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m still hoping we won’t get there at all, but we are right now still on a path to essentially double the amount of warming we’ve already seen,” Swain said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The team found that a warmer atmosphere has a greater capacity to hold water vapor and store that moisture for longer before it bursts out of clouds as rain and snow. This can create longer dry periods and more intense precipitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, global warming deepens droughts, increases storms or a season’s flood potential, and exacerbates wildfire risk, which is a big deal for California, which is already characterized by a boom-and-bust water cycle. The team describes this phenomenon as hydroclimate whiplash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It means that California’s already volatile hydroclimate is likely to become even more so, which makes water management even more difficult,” Swain said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Whiplash increases fire risk\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The wildfires burning in Southern California are a prime example of how the changing climate can exacerbate the impact of a swing between wet and dry conditions, according to study coauthor and UC Merced climatologist \u003ca href=\"https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/john-abatzoglou\">John Abatzoglou\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wet conditions encourage the growth of grasses and shrubs, and if a dry period follows, wildfires can flourish. An errant spark and strong winds can light up a mountainside or neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Warmer air can basically pull more water out of plants and the soil, and that’s one ingredient that sets the stage for fire in our forests,” Abatzoglou said. “We’re essentially adding fuel to the fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of Southern California experienced its driest start to the water year following a period of record warmth and two back-to-back wet years. Grasses and chaparral have grown to nearly double their regular rate. The preexisting conditions and strong winds caused the fires to explode out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the study’s indicators would have categorized Southern California as unusually wet earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now, like nine months later, they’re unusually dry,” he said. “They’ve got a pretty significant Santa Ana wind bearing down on them, and they’ve already had several significant fires this fall.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swain notes that climate change has deepened fire seasons into the winter months in Southern California. This is problematic because natural offshore winds usually occur during this period. When strong winds overlap with dry vegetation, “dangerous wildfire conditions can develop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This, ultimately, is the key climate change connection to Southern California wildfires,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995427\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995427\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/GettyImages-2193001120.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/GettyImages-2193001120.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/GettyImages-2193001120-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/GettyImages-2193001120-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/GettyImages-2193001120-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/GettyImages-2193001120-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Palisades Fire blows smoke over Santa Monica Beach on Jan. 8, 2025, in Santa Monica, Los Angeles County. Fueled by intense Santa Ana Winds, the Palisades Fire has grown to over 2,900 acres and 30,000 people have been ordered to evacuate while a second major fire has emerged near Eaton Canyon and Altadena. \u003ccite>(Tiffany Rose/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Defining hydroclimate whiplash\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The scientists reviewed 202 peer-reviewed climate studies, and Swain said they went “beyond what’s in the existing literature by formalizing the term hydroclimate whiplash, defining the phrase in two ways: subseasonal and interannual. The first describes rapid transitions between dry and wet conditions within a three-month season, and the second describes whiplash on a year-to-year scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The team, which included scientists from two countries and across the U.S., found that three-month-scale observations of hydroclimate whiplash are increasing on the high end of the climate model range and that longer-term episodes of hydroclimate whiplash are falling within what climate models have predicted so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That might tell us something about why it feels like we are just getting this unrelenting sequence of wet and dry extremes alternating back and forth,” Swain said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors also coined a new term: expanding atmospheric sponge, referring to the growing ability of the atmosphere to absorb water and later release it as precipitation. Scientists found that for every degree Celsius the planet warms, the atmosphere can hold 7% more water.[aside label=\"More Climate News\" postID=\"news_12020765,science_1935067,news_12020768\"]\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1995286/stanford-ai-predicts-scorching-future-even-greenhouse-gas-goals-met\">Noah Diffenbaugh\u003c/a>, a Stanford climate scientist and coauthor, said the atmosphere is like a yellow kitchen sponge that increases in size as it warms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you wring the sponge out, it’s going to have more water getting wrung out of it,” he said. “But at the same time, it will take more water to fill that sponge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some sense, he said anthropogenic climate change creates “a more thirsty” atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s kind of this paradox that as the atmosphere gets warmer, both the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere can increase, and the deficit of water vapor in the atmosphere can also increase exponentially,” Diffenbaugh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You don’t have to look too far in the past to see an example of how a super wet period broke up a severe drought. California’s stormy winter of 2022–23 dismantled a three-year drought and is an example of interannual hydroclimate whiplash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The silver lining is that we will still get those wet years,” Swain said. “The water did come. It just didn’t come in a nice, gentle, convenient way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>No more chasing average water years\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Abatzoglou said human-caused climate change will increase extremes, but average precipitation totals may not change “a heck of a lot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Abatzologu suggests that the state’s leaders plan for “changes in extremes” from wet to dry or vice versa instead of average precipitation totals. While the study shows “a little bit of a shift more toward potentially wetter periods in the future,” he said the extremes are dangerous, as they can cause flooding or drying out issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All the study authors, including Abatzolgou, Diffenbaugh, and Swain, have experienced extreme weather whiplash in recent years. Swain hosts weekly YouTube office hours dissecting hydroclimate whiplash, primarily along the West Coast. He discusses sudden changes in weather patterns, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018477/why-did-sf-get-tornado-warning-but-not-scotts-valley-where-twister-hit\">like tornados\u003c/a>, and has detailed how the state moved from drought to deluge in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overall, Swain describes hydroclimate whiplash, which Californians live with year in and year out, “as the flavor of climate change in California” that residents must endure unless the world reduces global emissions that cause atmospheric warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Californians are all too familiar with flip-flopping weather extremes, and new research suggests that weather whiplash is increasing as the atmosphere warms due to human-caused climate change.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Californians are all too familiar with flip-flopping weather extremes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12020835/southern-california-fires-could-be-most-expensive-us-history\">massive wildfires currently burning in Southern California\u003c/a> followed \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12015534/bay-area-record-breaking-rainfall-deluge-surprises-forecasters\">two years of excessive rainfall\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1994538/3-bay-area-cities-had-hottest-summer-in-history-as-climate-change-pushes-temps-up\">hottest summer on record\u003c/a>, major \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1982460/southern-central-valley-counties-brace-for-flooding-as-heat-wave-melts-sierra-snowpack\">flooding that re-filled a historic lake in the Central Valley\u003c/a>, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/24515/study-california-drought-most-severe-dry-spell-in-at-least-1200-years\">most severe drought in recorded history,\u003c/a> and so on, all in the last decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>New research cements the idea that California’s weather whiplash is increasing as the atmosphere warms due to human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I see the last decade as a preview of what we should expect to see more of,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with UC Agriculture and Natural Resources and UCLA. Except that “the wettest wets and the driest dries we’ve seen recently are not the wettest wets and the driest dries we will see in the coming decades.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A group of climate scientists, led by Swain, published a \u003ca href=\"https://url.us.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/3TN5CrkYKnfnGW2jfjtWS4lsyf?domain=ucla.us10.list-manage.com\">study on Thursday in the journal \u003cem>Nature Reviews\u003c/em>\u003c/a> that found what they call “hydroclimate whiplash” — fast swings between alarmingly wet and seriously dry weather — is expanding globally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The phenomenon has grown up to 66% since the mid-20th century, and the authors expect it to nearly double at 3 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels. Average global temperatures \u003ca href=\"https://wmo.int/news/media-centre/global-temperature-likely-exceed-15degc-above-pre-industrial-level-temporarily-next-5-years\">could surpass a 1.5 degrees Celsius rise in the next five years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m still hoping we won’t get there at all, but we are right now still on a path to essentially double the amount of warming we’ve already seen,” Swain said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The team found that a warmer atmosphere has a greater capacity to hold water vapor and store that moisture for longer before it bursts out of clouds as rain and snow. This can create longer dry periods and more intense precipitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, global warming deepens droughts, increases storms or a season’s flood potential, and exacerbates wildfire risk, which is a big deal for California, which is already characterized by a boom-and-bust water cycle. The team describes this phenomenon as hydroclimate whiplash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It means that California’s already volatile hydroclimate is likely to become even more so, which makes water management even more difficult,” Swain said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Whiplash increases fire risk\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The wildfires burning in Southern California are a prime example of how the changing climate can exacerbate the impact of a swing between wet and dry conditions, according to study coauthor and UC Merced climatologist \u003ca href=\"https://engineering.ucmerced.edu/content/john-abatzoglou\">John Abatzoglou\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wet conditions encourage the growth of grasses and shrubs, and if a dry period follows, wildfires can flourish. An errant spark and strong winds can light up a mountainside or neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Warmer air can basically pull more water out of plants and the soil, and that’s one ingredient that sets the stage for fire in our forests,” Abatzoglou said. “We’re essentially adding fuel to the fire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of Southern California experienced its driest start to the water year following a period of record warmth and two back-to-back wet years. Grasses and chaparral have grown to nearly double their regular rate. The preexisting conditions and strong winds caused the fires to explode out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the study’s indicators would have categorized Southern California as unusually wet earlier this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now, like nine months later, they’re unusually dry,” he said. “They’ve got a pretty significant Santa Ana wind bearing down on them, and they’ve already had several significant fires this fall.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swain notes that climate change has deepened fire seasons into the winter months in Southern California. This is problematic because natural offshore winds usually occur during this period. When strong winds overlap with dry vegetation, “dangerous wildfire conditions can develop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This, ultimately, is the key climate change connection to Southern California wildfires,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995427\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995427\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/GettyImages-2193001120.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/GettyImages-2193001120.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/GettyImages-2193001120-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/GettyImages-2193001120-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/GettyImages-2193001120-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/01/GettyImages-2193001120-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Palisades Fire blows smoke over Santa Monica Beach on Jan. 8, 2025, in Santa Monica, Los Angeles County. Fueled by intense Santa Ana Winds, the Palisades Fire has grown to over 2,900 acres and 30,000 people have been ordered to evacuate while a second major fire has emerged near Eaton Canyon and Altadena. \u003ccite>(Tiffany Rose/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Defining hydroclimate whiplash\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The scientists reviewed 202 peer-reviewed climate studies, and Swain said they went “beyond what’s in the existing literature by formalizing the term hydroclimate whiplash, defining the phrase in two ways: subseasonal and interannual. The first describes rapid transitions between dry and wet conditions within a three-month season, and the second describes whiplash on a year-to-year scale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The team, which included scientists from two countries and across the U.S., found that three-month-scale observations of hydroclimate whiplash are increasing on the high end of the climate model range and that longer-term episodes of hydroclimate whiplash are falling within what climate models have predicted so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That might tell us something about why it feels like we are just getting this unrelenting sequence of wet and dry extremes alternating back and forth,” Swain said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors also coined a new term: expanding atmospheric sponge, referring to the growing ability of the atmosphere to absorb water and later release it as precipitation. Scientists found that for every degree Celsius the planet warms, the atmosphere can hold 7% more water.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1995286/stanford-ai-predicts-scorching-future-even-greenhouse-gas-goals-met\">Noah Diffenbaugh\u003c/a>, a Stanford climate scientist and coauthor, said the atmosphere is like a yellow kitchen sponge that increases in size as it warms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you wring the sponge out, it’s going to have more water getting wrung out of it,” he said. “But at the same time, it will take more water to fill that sponge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some sense, he said anthropogenic climate change creates “a more thirsty” atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s kind of this paradox that as the atmosphere gets warmer, both the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere can increase, and the deficit of water vapor in the atmosphere can also increase exponentially,” Diffenbaugh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You don’t have to look too far in the past to see an example of how a super wet period broke up a severe drought. California’s stormy winter of 2022–23 dismantled a three-year drought and is an example of interannual hydroclimate whiplash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The silver lining is that we will still get those wet years,” Swain said. “The water did come. It just didn’t come in a nice, gentle, convenient way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>No more chasing average water years\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Abatzoglou said human-caused climate change will increase extremes, but average precipitation totals may not change “a heck of a lot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Abatzologu suggests that the state’s leaders plan for “changes in extremes” from wet to dry or vice versa instead of average precipitation totals. While the study shows “a little bit of a shift more toward potentially wetter periods in the future,” he said the extremes are dangerous, as they can cause flooding or drying out issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All the study authors, including Abatzolgou, Diffenbaugh, and Swain, have experienced extreme weather whiplash in recent years. Swain hosts weekly YouTube office hours dissecting hydroclimate whiplash, primarily along the West Coast. He discusses sudden changes in weather patterns, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12018477/why-did-sf-get-tornado-warning-but-not-scotts-valley-where-twister-hit\">like tornados\u003c/a>, and has detailed how the state moved from drought to deluge in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overall, Swain describes hydroclimate whiplash, which Californians live with year in and year out, “as the flavor of climate change in California” that residents must endure unless the world reduces global emissions that cause atmospheric warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "federal-government-approves-californias-ban-on-the-sale-of-new-gas-cars-by-2035",
"title": "Federal Government Approves California’s Ban on the Sale of New Gas Cars by 2035",
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"headTitle": "Federal Government Approves California’s Ban on the Sale of New Gas Cars by 2035 | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The U.S. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/environmental-protection-agency\">Environmental Protection Agency\u003c/a> on Wednesday approved California’s authority to set tougher emissions standards on new cars, trucks and SUVs than those created by the federal government — a move the incoming Trump administration will almost certainly seek to revoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The waiver allows California and 11 other states to require that all new passenger vehicles sold by 2035 be zero-emission. Together, these states represent roughly \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/advanced-clean-cars-program/states-have-adopted-californias-vehicle-regulations\">40%\u003c/a> of new vehicle registrations in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California has longstanding authority to request waivers from EPA to protect its residents from dangerous air pollution coming from mobile sources like cars and trucks,” EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said. “Today’s actions follow through on EPA’s commitment to partner with states to reduce emissions and act on the threat of climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The majority of planet-warming emissions produced by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions\">U.S.\u003c/a> come from transportation, and the same is true for \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/ghg-inventory-graphs\">California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This rule is vital to ensure that we can reduce the amount of air pollution from the cars and trucks that we all drive in the state,” said David Reichmuth, a senior engineer in the Clean Transportation program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “It is also vitally important to reduce the amount of global warming pollution that is produced from transportation in the U.S.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995374\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995374\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/20240506_EVFile-10_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/20240506_EVFile-10_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/20240506_EVFile-10_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/20240506_EVFile-10_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/20240506_EVFile-10_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/20240506_EVFile-10_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/20240506_EVFile-10_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/20240506_EVFile-10_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An empty parking spot reserved for EV charging only is seen at Sutro Baths on Monday, May 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists and those setting the state’s climate policy say the ambitious goal is achievable. In the first three quarters of this year, more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/zero-emission-vehicle-and-infrastructure-statistics-collection/new-zev\">25%\u003c/a> of new car sales in California were zero-emissions vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a car and truck manufacturing trade group, said the \u003ca href=\"https://www.autosinnovate.org/posts/papers-reports/December%202024%20Memo%20-%20California%20and%20states%20with%20EV%20sales%20requirements.pdf\">opposite\u003c/a>, calling California’s clean car mandate “an unaccountable, unachievable regulatory wormhole” in a memo released this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rules, known as Advanced Clean Cars II, will allow people to continue to drive gas cars and sell used gas-powered vehicles after 2035. The zero-emissions requirement will apply only to new vehicle sales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zero-emissions vehicles include those that run solely on batteries, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell electric vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA’s approval continues the Biden administration’s push for aggressive climate policies, an approach President-elect \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/donald-trump\">Donald Trump\u003c/a> has scoffed at, calling climate change a “hoax” and pledging to “terminate” California’s regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trump’s EPA revoked California’s waiver in his first term, but California sued in response. That lawsuit became moot when Biden took office and reinstated the waiver. Experts anticipate something similar could happen this time around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The back-and-forth is challenging for automakers, who Reichmuth said need to plan their future models years ahead of time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California was the first state to regulate tailpipe emissions in the \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/about/history#:~:text=In%201966%20California%20established%20the,Air%20Resources%20Board%20was%20established.\">1960s\u003c/a>, as it struggled to bring harmful air pollution under control. Los Angeles was notoriously cloaked with smog from vehicles, which was so bad at some points that visibility was just three blocks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12017635 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/07/trucks-I880-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>President Richard Nixon signed the Clean Air Act into law in 1970, giving the EPA the authority to regulate air pollution from cars. The law bars states from enacting their own regulations, except California, given its unique air pollution problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s standards must be at least as strict as federal law and are considered necessary “to meet compelling and extraordinary conditions.” While other states can’t set their own standards, they can adopt California’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia have adopted the 2035 zero-emissions standards for new car sales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has weighed in on California’s authority to enforce its own tailpipe emissions standards. Earlier this week, the court denied an appeal calling into question the constitutionality of allowing a state like California to exceed federal standards on tailpipe emissions under the Clean Air Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But last week, the court agreed to hear a more narrow case involving California’s waiver: whether the oil and gas industry has the standing to sue the state over its exemption.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The passenger vehicle waiver is just one of eight California has requested from the EPA. The other waivers, still pending approval, address emissions from heavy-duty trucks, trains, leaf-blowers and other sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the likely conflict coming from the Trump administration, law professor Ethan Elkind believes the long-term trajectory toward electric vehicles will remain the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Battery prices are coming down so dramatically that in the end, it’s not going to matter that much,” said Elkind, who directs the Climate Program at UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment. “We’re moving toward all battery electric vehicles for most of our transportation with really just a few exceptions. It’s really just a question of how quickly we’re going to get there. And is the United States going to lag the rest of the world?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The U.S. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/environmental-protection-agency\">Environmental Protection Agency\u003c/a> on Wednesday approved California’s authority to set tougher emissions standards on new cars, trucks and SUVs than those created by the federal government — a move the incoming Trump administration will almost certainly seek to revoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The waiver allows California and 11 other states to require that all new passenger vehicles sold by 2035 be zero-emission. Together, these states represent roughly \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/advanced-clean-cars-program/states-have-adopted-californias-vehicle-regulations\">40%\u003c/a> of new vehicle registrations in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California has longstanding authority to request waivers from EPA to protect its residents from dangerous air pollution coming from mobile sources like cars and trucks,” EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said. “Today’s actions follow through on EPA’s commitment to partner with states to reduce emissions and act on the threat of climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The majority of planet-warming emissions produced by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions\">U.S.\u003c/a> come from transportation, and the same is true for \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/ghg-inventory-graphs\">California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This rule is vital to ensure that we can reduce the amount of air pollution from the cars and trucks that we all drive in the state,” said David Reichmuth, a senior engineer in the Clean Transportation program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “It is also vitally important to reduce the amount of global warming pollution that is produced from transportation in the U.S.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1995374\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1995374\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/20240506_EVFile-10_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/20240506_EVFile-10_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/20240506_EVFile-10_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/20240506_EVFile-10_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/20240506_EVFile-10_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/20240506_EVFile-10_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/20240506_EVFile-10_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/12/20240506_EVFile-10_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An empty parking spot reserved for EV charging only is seen at Sutro Baths on Monday, May 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists and those setting the state’s climate policy say the ambitious goal is achievable. In the first three quarters of this year, more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/zero-emission-vehicle-and-infrastructure-statistics-collection/new-zev\">25%\u003c/a> of new car sales in California were zero-emissions vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a car and truck manufacturing trade group, said the \u003ca href=\"https://www.autosinnovate.org/posts/papers-reports/December%202024%20Memo%20-%20California%20and%20states%20with%20EV%20sales%20requirements.pdf\">opposite\u003c/a>, calling California’s clean car mandate “an unaccountable, unachievable regulatory wormhole” in a memo released this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rules, known as Advanced Clean Cars II, will allow people to continue to drive gas cars and sell used gas-powered vehicles after 2035. The zero-emissions requirement will apply only to new vehicle sales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zero-emissions vehicles include those that run solely on batteries, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell electric vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA’s approval continues the Biden administration’s push for aggressive climate policies, an approach President-elect \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/donald-trump\">Donald Trump\u003c/a> has scoffed at, calling climate change a “hoax” and pledging to “terminate” California’s regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trump’s EPA revoked California’s waiver in his first term, but California sued in response. That lawsuit became moot when Biden took office and reinstated the waiver. Experts anticipate something similar could happen this time around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The back-and-forth is challenging for automakers, who Reichmuth said need to plan their future models years ahead of time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California was the first state to regulate tailpipe emissions in the \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/about/history#:~:text=In%201966%20California%20established%20the,Air%20Resources%20Board%20was%20established.\">1960s\u003c/a>, as it struggled to bring harmful air pollution under control. Los Angeles was notoriously cloaked with smog from vehicles, which was so bad at some points that visibility was just three blocks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>President Richard Nixon signed the Clean Air Act into law in 1970, giving the EPA the authority to regulate air pollution from cars. The law bars states from enacting their own regulations, except California, given its unique air pollution problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s standards must be at least as strict as federal law and are considered necessary “to meet compelling and extraordinary conditions.” While other states can’t set their own standards, they can adopt California’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia have adopted the 2035 zero-emissions standards for new car sales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has weighed in on California’s authority to enforce its own tailpipe emissions standards. Earlier this week, the court denied an appeal calling into question the constitutionality of allowing a state like California to exceed federal standards on tailpipe emissions under the Clean Air Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But last week, the court agreed to hear a more narrow case involving California’s waiver: whether the oil and gas industry has the standing to sue the state over its exemption.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The passenger vehicle waiver is just one of eight California has requested from the EPA. The other waivers, still pending approval, address emissions from heavy-duty trucks, trains, leaf-blowers and other sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the likely conflict coming from the Trump administration, law professor Ethan Elkind believes the long-term trajectory toward electric vehicles will remain the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Battery prices are coming down so dramatically that in the end, it’s not going to matter that much,” said Elkind, who directs the Climate Program at UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment. “We’re moving toward all battery electric vehicles for most of our transportation with really just a few exceptions. It’s really just a question of how quickly we’re going to get there. And is the United States going to lag the rest of the world?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Can the federal government have a favorite when it comes to states? The Supreme Court said on Friday that it would hear a case that tests that assertion in the context of a state that imposes tougher clean air standards than the federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this case, the so-called “golden child” is California. Under a provision of the Clean Air Act that was enacted in 1967, California was explicitly allowed to set its own motor vehicle emissions standards because of the unique pollution problem in the state. The problems were unique in both character and intensity because the state then, as now, had more motor vehicles than any other state in the country, and California had already enacted new air pollution standards that were actually tougher than the ones in the federal law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With auto manufacturers complaining that they couldn’t deal with 50 different state standards, the congressional compromise was to allow California’s existing and stricter standards to remain in place, and to require other states to either abide by federal air quality standards, or if they wished, to adopt air quality standards that would be “identical” to the existing California standards.[aside label=\"Environment Stories\" tag=\"car-emissions\"]Technically, all this was accomplished through a system in which the Environmental Protection Agency set emission standards for new motor vehicles, and granted waivers for more demanding standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in 2019 the Trump administration withdrew the waiver for California’s tougher standards on cars, and the state challenged that action in court. The case, however, was not resolved, and when President Biden took office, the EPA reinstated the waiver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Ohio and 16 other Republican-dominated states have sued, asserting that the waiver violates the basic design of the U.S. Constitution, which they assert should treat states as equals. Environmental groups allege that the GOP states have no intention of adopting standards that are anything like California’s regulations; rather, they contend, this is an effort to gut the Clean Air Act itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the EPA, finding that the Constitution does not bar Congress from leaving states with different levels of sovereign authority. Now the Supreme Court will decide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Technically, all this was accomplished through a system in which the Environmental Protection Agency set emission standards for new motor vehicles, and granted waivers for more demanding standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in 2019 the Trump administration withdrew the waiver for California’s tougher standards on cars, and the state challenged that action in court. The case, however, was not resolved, and when President Biden took office, the EPA reinstated the waiver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Ohio and 16 other Republican-dominated states have sued, asserting that the waiver violates the basic design of the U.S. Constitution, which they assert should treat states as equals. Environmental groups allege that the GOP states have no intention of adopting standards that are anything like California’s regulations; rather, they contend, this is an effort to gut the Clean Air Act itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the EPA, finding that the Constitution does not bar Congress from leaving states with different levels of sovereign authority. Now the Supreme Court will decide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Even after some of Earth’s warmest years in history, two new climate studies from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/stanford-university\">Stanford University\u003c/a> suggest that the hottest years ahead will likely shatter existing records — even if greenhouse gas emissions are slashed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The research comes as this year is likely on track to beat out 2023 as Earth’s hottest year on record. This summer was the warmest in the world for California and at least \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1994538/3-bay-area-cities-had-hottest-summer-in-history-as-climate-change-pushes-temps-up\">three Bay Area cities\u003c/a>. And as average temperatures continue to climb, more extreme \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/climate\">climate conditions\u003c/a> will be likely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the first study, published in \u003ca href=\"https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2024GL111832\">\u003cem>Geophysical Research Letters\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, the researchers trained artificial intelligence using historical temperature observations alongside a range of temperature and greenhouse gas data from global climate models.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They found that “the world’s virtually certain to cross” the Paris Climate Agreement’s threshold of limiting global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius to curb the worst impacts of climate change. They also found about a 50% chance of crossing the 2 degrees Celsius threshold. That’s even if humanity meets current goals of rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ll likely have an individual year that is at least as hot as what we faced in 2023,” said Noah Diffenbaugh, a Stanford climate scientist and coauthor of both studies. The record-breaking heat of 2023 influenced climate patterns, leading to marine heat waves, droughts, wildfires and significant flooding worldwide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12017333 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/LuigiMangioneAP1-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re arguably not keeping up with the climate change that’s already occurred,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the second study, published in \u003ca href=\"https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ad91ca\">\u003cem>Environmental Research Letters\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, the researchers trained artificial intelligence to predict how long until different regions reach different warming thresholds. They found that western North America has a high likelihood of meeting the 2-degree Celsius threshold by around 2030 and is “virtually certain” to reach that level by 2040.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is earlier than what has been projected based on just the climate model projections,” Diffenbaugh said. “We find a narrower uncertainty and, in many cases, an earlier crossing of these warming thresholds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diffenbaugh said the findings are a big deal for California and the Bay Area because he expects \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12016676/intense-california-storm-caused-2-6-million-damage-sonoma-county\">flood-inducing storms\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12016813/bay-area-now-has-first-ever-regional-sea-level-rise-plan\">sea level rise\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1994643/yes-these-california-heat-waves-are-connected-to-climate-change-heres-how\">heat waves\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12016806/congress-oks-long-awaited-tax-relief-california-wildfire-victims\">wildfires\u003c/a> to worsen as climate change heats the planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means state and local governments, as well as communities, will need to prepare for a warmer world and more extreme weather scenarios in the coming years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These results suggest that even in the best-case scenario for reducing emissions, people in ecosystems are still very likely to face conditions much more severe than what we’ve been exposed to so far,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cp>The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has released a new plan to protect the state’s iconic Joshua trees, which are imperiled by wildfires, human development and climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 294-page \u003ca href=\"https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=227460&inline\">draft plan\u003c/a> includes calls for avoiding or minimizing direct and indirect impacts from overgrazing, pesticide use and unauthorized off-roading; relocating trees when projects require their removal or could harm them; and identifying and protecting lands where they could thrive in a future projected to be drier and hotter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In many ways, it’s a good comprehensive plan of the things we need to do if the western Joshua tree is going to survive the very, very difficult decades ahead,” said Brendan Cummings, conservation director with the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit that in 2019 petitioned to list the western Joshua tree as threatened under the state’s Endangered Species Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The conservation plan is a requirement of the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act that passed last year, making it the first law in the state to protect a species from the threats of climate change. The law also prohibits anyone from killing, damaging or removing a tree without a state permit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan lists criteria and attributes to help identify land that should be prioritized for conservation, such as large areas with Joshua trees or areas with a high density of healthy and adult trees. It also suggests protecting regions where there is low risk of such threats as fires, invasive species and development, and where pollinators like moths or small mammal seed dispersers exist. It aims to identify these lands by December 2025 and permanently protect 70% of them by 2033.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan also calls on land managers and wildfire responders to create procedures to reduce and fight wildfires that threaten the species and their habitat, and develop measures to minimize impacts from rehabilitating burned areas. That includes protecting trees, replanting lost ones and other native species, and controlling invasives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as the proposed plan notes, its effectiveness and the survival of the trees will depend largely on whether humanity can limit and reduce the planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from burning coal, oil and gas that are causing climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under a business-as-usual scenario, climate change could wipe out most, if not all, of the tree’s habitat, Cummings said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Assuming we can keep to a mid-level emissions trajectory, we have a very good chance of saving the species if all the things outlined in this plan are carried out,” he said. “And primarily that’s doing what we can to protect as many of them as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The draft plan will have to be approved by the California Fish and Game Commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"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. ",
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"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. ",
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"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.",
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"mindshift": {
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"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>",
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"order": 12
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"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.",
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"onourwatch": {
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/reveal300px.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
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"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
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