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"title": "Healdsburg Cut Its Water Use in Half. What's in the City's Secret, Water-Saving Sauce?",
"headTitle": "Healdsburg Cut Its Water Use in Half. What’s in the City’s Secret, Water-Saving Sauce? | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Cutting water use became a bit of a competition for retiree John Diniakos and his wife Merrilyn Joyce after their city mandated a 40% water restriction back in \u003ca href=\"https://ci.healdsburg.ca.us/714/Current-Drought-Information\">June\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wearing a faded green collared shirt tucked into equally worn blue jeans, Diniakos said he now limits his showers to “once every other day, sometimes every three days.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He doesn’t want to, but he’s doing it. “I would rather take a shower every day,” he said. “It just feels better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even so, Joyce says she’s winning their water war because she does “laundry much less often.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among a maze of potted succulents beneath a broad magnolia tree in the couple’s front yard is a sign that reads “drought proofed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diniakos and Joyce live in Healdsburg, in Sonoma County. These signs are everywhere around town — the city gave them to residents who participated in its water-saving program. Just like the rest of the state, Healdsburg is gripped by drought. But the city is conserving at a much higher rate than California overall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977231\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1977231 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Diniakos and his wife, Merrilyn Joyce. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Healdsburg nearly cut its water use in half in August, compared to the same time last year. Californians overall \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1977196/newsom-declares-drought-emergency-across-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">saved just 5%, \u003c/a>and that’s after Gov. Gavin Newsom asked everyone to voluntarily reduce their water use by 15% back in July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom declared a drought emergency across the entire state this week, as conservation targets continue to fall far short.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, what’s in Healdsburg’s secret, water-saving sauce? The city capped household water use and \u003ca href=\"https://ci.healdsburg.ca.us/714/Current-Drought-Information\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">banned sprinklers. \u003c/a>And residents largely followed the rules — no surprise there, as the signs of drought are everywhere. A pencil-thin band of the Russian River flows from Lake Mendocino through town. Crunchy front lawns with yellow grass dot the community of 12,000 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were in a dire situation,” said Joyce. “People got that and wanted to do the right thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple practically lives out of buckets in an effort to save, watering plants and soaking greasy pans using grey water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They tracked how much water they used brushing their teeth and showering with a \u003ca href=\"https://ci.healdsburg.ca.us/723/Water-Rebates\">phone\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://ci.healdsburg.ca.us/723/Water-Rebates\">app\u003c/a> that pulls data from a sensor connected to their meter, which Joyce said “made it fun.” She could see how much water they wasted in real time and discovered there’s always an opportunity to “turn the volume down a little bit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All that conservation worked: The couple averaged 24 gallons a day this summer and fall — incredible, and well below the city’s allotment of 74 gallons per person, which is about half of what a person in Healdsburg normally uses.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A system in crisis\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>What makes Healdsburg’s situation unique is that the Russian River system, starting high in the coastal range and flowing to the ocean, is in crisis. The river sits isolated from the rest of the state. There are no canals or aqueducts connecting it to the state’s vast system of waterways or the meltwaters that originate high in the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike much of the Bay Area, the only water Healdsburg gets is from rain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lake Mendocino is now just \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/current-water-supply-levels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">22% full\u003c/a> and for much of the summer it resembled a muddy bathtub. The city saw that the lake levels were depleted and it prompted them to save, said \u003ca href=\"https://www.ci.healdsburg.ca.us/directory.aspx?EID=85\">Terry\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.ci.healdsburg.ca.us/directory.aspx?EID=85\">Crowley\u003c/a>, the city’s utilities director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The rainfall totals were the lowest in 100 years,” said Crowley. “We really need to see some rain this winter or it’s going to be very difficult next summer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A series of rainstorms are soaking Northern California this week, with most of the precipitation falling across the North Bay. The badly needed showers could help the reservoir bounce back, but it won’t end the drought, not by a long shot. That will take several months of wet weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘Lawns should be banned’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Many people in Healdsburg have large yards, and the city took a risk by cutting off water to lawns. But as climate change gets worse and droughts become more frequent, Crowley envisions the city will look very different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[What] I would expect to happen over the next 10 to 15 years is a lot of those lawns would be changed out to drought-tolerant plantings,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crowley says around 10% of the city’s residential customers already have swapped their lawns for drought-resistant shrubs, succulents and cacti. Many more have let their lawns become dry and brittle. To help residents, the city offers rebates for various water conservation efforts: converting lawns to droughtscapes, using water-usage tracking apps and purchasing efficient washing machines and low-flow toilets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://waterinthewest.stanford.edu/about/people/newsha-ajami\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Newsha Ajami\u003c/a>, who studies Water in the West at Stanford, says Healdsburg’s conservation tactics — water budgets and limiting outdoor water use — can be applied across the state, because \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/R_1016EH3R.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">half the water cities use is for outdoor irrigation\u003c/a>. Cutting water use in the state’s most populated areas by 50% would be a huge deal for a state with \u003ca href=\"https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/CA/RHI725219\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">14 million homes\u003c/a> and growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Lawns should be banned,” she said. “Every drop of water that’s used to maintain that lawn can be a drop of water that we can leave in the reservoir if this drought ends up being a 10-year drought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Secondly, Ajami says water monitoring apps made it easy for people to understand their water usage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The more information you provide to customers, the more public awareness you create, the better customers respond to different asks that the utilities have,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘We have to adapt’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>But meeting the city’s water budget hasn’t been easy for everyone in Healdsburg. For Megan Bowman, convincing her two teenagers to take shorter showers is constant work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We actually time showers,” she said. “They get three-minute showers and that’s it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977234\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1977234 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with a gray shirt and white baseball hat holds a black hose. \" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Megan Bowman waters her garden with recycled water using a drip system. (Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What’s even more work for Bowman is keeping the dozens of trees on her property alive. Every week she gets 500 gallons of recycled water provided by the city — originally free of charge, now for $45 a week. Residents must buy the pumps and hoses to get the water out of the plastic tanks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman douses her thirsty plants and trees with the recycled water nightly through a web of hoses and pumps. The water keeps her yard alive, but not thriving. Some of the redwoods on her one-acre lot have sprouted light green new growth, but others are less verdant and look brown and sad. “They’re really struggling and this one, you can see I think we’re going to lose,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Bowman can afford to pay for the recycled water, not everyone in Healdsburg can. Some of her neighbors are adapting to the drought differently. She says the owners of the house at the top of the hill are buying water from a private company. Across the street the neighbor’s lawn is all dried up. And another neighbor is ditching Healdsburg for the East Coast, fleeing the dual threat of drought and wildfire. “They’re done,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for Bowman, manually watering her plants and taking shorter showers isn’t a reason to leave the city she’s lived in for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is home, I love it here,” she said. “This is part of living in California and this is part of climate change, right? So, we have to change and we have to adapt.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Healdsburg receives only a little rain this winter, Bowman says she’ll be out in the yard next summer with her pumps and hoses, trying to figure out how to keep her yard alive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Cutting water use became a bit of a competition for retiree John Diniakos and his wife Merrilyn Joyce after their city mandated a 40% water restriction back in \u003ca href=\"https://ci.healdsburg.ca.us/714/Current-Drought-Information\">June\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wearing a faded green collared shirt tucked into equally worn blue jeans, Diniakos said he now limits his showers to “once every other day, sometimes every three days.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He doesn’t want to, but he’s doing it. “I would rather take a shower every day,” he said. “It just feels better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even so, Joyce says she’s winning their water war because she does “laundry much less often.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among a maze of potted succulents beneath a broad magnolia tree in the couple’s front yard is a sign that reads “drought proofed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Diniakos and Joyce live in Healdsburg, in Sonoma County. These signs are everywhere around town — the city gave them to residents who participated in its water-saving program. Just like the rest of the state, Healdsburg is gripped by drought. But the city is conserving at a much higher rate than California overall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977231\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1977231 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-9-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Diniakos and his wife, Merrilyn Joyce. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Healdsburg nearly cut its water use in half in August, compared to the same time last year. Californians overall \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1977196/newsom-declares-drought-emergency-across-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">saved just 5%, \u003c/a>and that’s after Gov. Gavin Newsom asked everyone to voluntarily reduce their water use by 15% back in July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom declared a drought emergency across the entire state this week, as conservation targets continue to fall far short.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, what’s in Healdsburg’s secret, water-saving sauce? The city capped household water use and \u003ca href=\"https://ci.healdsburg.ca.us/714/Current-Drought-Information\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">banned sprinklers. \u003c/a>And residents largely followed the rules — no surprise there, as the signs of drought are everywhere. A pencil-thin band of the Russian River flows from Lake Mendocino through town. Crunchy front lawns with yellow grass dot the community of 12,000 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were in a dire situation,” said Joyce. “People got that and wanted to do the right thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The couple practically lives out of buckets in an effort to save, watering plants and soaking greasy pans using grey water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They tracked how much water they used brushing their teeth and showering with a \u003ca href=\"https://ci.healdsburg.ca.us/723/Water-Rebates\">phone\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://ci.healdsburg.ca.us/723/Water-Rebates\">app\u003c/a> that pulls data from a sensor connected to their meter, which Joyce said “made it fun.” She could see how much water they wasted in real time and discovered there’s always an opportunity to “turn the volume down a little bit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All that conservation worked: The couple averaged 24 gallons a day this summer and fall — incredible, and well below the city’s allotment of 74 gallons per person, which is about half of what a person in Healdsburg normally uses.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A system in crisis\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>What makes Healdsburg’s situation unique is that the Russian River system, starting high in the coastal range and flowing to the ocean, is in crisis. The river sits isolated from the rest of the state. There are no canals or aqueducts connecting it to the state’s vast system of waterways or the meltwaters that originate high in the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike much of the Bay Area, the only water Healdsburg gets is from rain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lake Mendocino is now just \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/current-water-supply-levels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">22% full\u003c/a> and for much of the summer it resembled a muddy bathtub. The city saw that the lake levels were depleted and it prompted them to save, said \u003ca href=\"https://www.ci.healdsburg.ca.us/directory.aspx?EID=85\">Terry\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.ci.healdsburg.ca.us/directory.aspx?EID=85\">Crowley\u003c/a>, the city’s utilities director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The rainfall totals were the lowest in 100 years,” said Crowley. “We really need to see some rain this winter or it’s going to be very difficult next summer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A series of rainstorms are soaking Northern California this week, with most of the precipitation falling across the North Bay. The badly needed showers could help the reservoir bounce back, but it won’t end the drought, not by a long shot. That will take several months of wet weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘Lawns should be banned’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Many people in Healdsburg have large yards, and the city took a risk by cutting off water to lawns. But as climate change gets worse and droughts become more frequent, Crowley envisions the city will look very different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[What] I would expect to happen over the next 10 to 15 years is a lot of those lawns would be changed out to drought-tolerant plantings,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crowley says around 10% of the city’s residential customers already have swapped their lawns for drought-resistant shrubs, succulents and cacti. Many more have let their lawns become dry and brittle. To help residents, the city offers rebates for various water conservation efforts: converting lawns to droughtscapes, using water-usage tracking apps and purchasing efficient washing machines and low-flow toilets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://waterinthewest.stanford.edu/about/people/newsha-ajami\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Newsha Ajami\u003c/a>, who studies Water in the West at Stanford, says Healdsburg’s conservation tactics — water budgets and limiting outdoor water use — can be applied across the state, because \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/R_1016EH3R.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">half the water cities use is for outdoor irrigation\u003c/a>. Cutting water use in the state’s most populated areas by 50% would be a huge deal for a state with \u003ca href=\"https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/CA/RHI725219\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">14 million homes\u003c/a> and growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Lawns should be banned,” she said. “Every drop of water that’s used to maintain that lawn can be a drop of water that we can leave in the reservoir if this drought ends up being a 10-year drought.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Secondly, Ajami says water monitoring apps made it easy for people to understand their water usage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The more information you provide to customers, the more public awareness you create, the better customers respond to different asks that the utilities have,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>‘We have to adapt’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>But meeting the city’s water budget hasn’t been easy for everyone in Healdsburg. For Megan Bowman, convincing her two teenagers to take shorter showers is constant work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We actually time showers,” she said. “They get three-minute showers and that’s it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977234\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1977234 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A woman with a gray shirt and white baseball hat holds a black hose. \" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Healdsburg-Drougth-PHOTOS-19-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Megan Bowman waters her garden with recycled water using a drip system. (Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What’s even more work for Bowman is keeping the dozens of trees on her property alive. Every week she gets 500 gallons of recycled water provided by the city — originally free of charge, now for $45 a week. Residents must buy the pumps and hoses to get the water out of the plastic tanks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bowman douses her thirsty plants and trees with the recycled water nightly through a web of hoses and pumps. The water keeps her yard alive, but not thriving. Some of the redwoods on her one-acre lot have sprouted light green new growth, but others are less verdant and look brown and sad. “They’re really struggling and this one, you can see I think we’re going to lose,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Bowman can afford to pay for the recycled water, not everyone in Healdsburg can. Some of her neighbors are adapting to the drought differently. She says the owners of the house at the top of the hill are buying water from a private company. Across the street the neighbor’s lawn is all dried up. And another neighbor is ditching Healdsburg for the East Coast, fleeing the dual threat of drought and wildfire. “They’re done,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for Bowman, manually watering her plants and taking shorter showers isn’t a reason to leave the city she’s lived in for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is home, I love it here,” she said. “This is part of living in California and this is part of climate change, right? So, we have to change and we have to adapt.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Healdsburg receives only a little rain this winter, Bowman says she’ll be out in the yard next summer with her pumps and hoses, trying to figure out how to keep her yard alive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Newsom Declares Drought Emergency Across California",
"headTitle": "Newsom Declares Drought Emergency Across California | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought emergency for the entire state of California, as conservation efforts continue to fall far short of state targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/10/19/governor-newsom-expands-drought-emergency-statewide-urges-californians-to-redouble-water-conservation-efforts/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Newsom also authorized\u003c/a> California’s water regulators to ban wasteful water use, such as spraying down public sidewalks, and directed his Office of Emergency Services to fund drinking water as needed. But he stopped short of issuing any statewide conservation mandates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As the western U.S. faces a potential third year of drought, it’s critical that Californians across the state redouble our efforts to save water in every way possible,” Newsom said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yesterday’s announcement extends drought emergencies, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/07/california-water-use-drought/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">already declared in 50 counties\u003c/a>, to the eight remaining counties where conditions had thus far not been deemed severe enough: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Imperial, San Francisco and Ventura.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The emergency declarations are aimed at easing responses to the deepening drought — such as emergency bottled water purchases or construction to bolster water supplies — by reducing environmental and other regulations. Under the proclamation, local water suppliers must begin preparing for the possibility of a dry year ahead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think we’ll be able to manage through this year,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pettijohn-bb521592/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">David Pettijohn\u003c/a>, director of water resources at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. “Next year is the issue. And we don’t know what the water year is going to look like. Nobody can predict the weather.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But California’s water watchers say that without a conservation mandate, California is losing time, and water. “We know mandates are more effective than voluntary calls,” said \u003ca href=\"https://pacinst.org/team/heather-cooley/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Heather Cooley\u003c/a>, director of research at the Pacific Institute, a global water think tank. “It takes time to ramp up, and because of the delay in asking Californians to save water this spring, we are further behind than we should be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 id=\"h-conservation-improving-but-still-short-of-goals\">Conservation improving, but still short of goals\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>New data released by the State Water Resources Control Board reveals that Californians cut their water use at home by 5% in August compared to August 2020, an improvement \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/drought-2021/2021/09/california-drought-conservation/\">over the reductions of less than 2% in July\u003c/a> but still far short of the voluntary \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/07/california-water-use-drought/\">15% cuts\u003c/a> Newsom urged in July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hard-hit North Coast, where the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/04/governor-drought-emergency-in-northwestern-counties/\">first drought emergencies\u003c/a> were declared in April, continued to show the biggest drops in household water use — with an 18.3% decrease compared to August of last year. Conservation numbers tapered off moving south, with the San Francisco Bay Area conserving nearly 10% more water than last August.\u003cbr>\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/mmBVo/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The South Coast region — which includes Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Ventura counties — showed an improvement over July, when water use was roughly even with last year. In August, residents used about 3.1% less water than they did in August 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those numbers are a little bit misleading, frankly,” said Pettijohn, pointing to existing conservation measures including \u003ca href=\"https://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/faces/ladwp/aboutus/a-water/a-w-conservation/a-w-c-droughtbusters;jsessionid=R21nhvKYGDWpr99rRxkybMLNCPf91KQ97Ybv5rv54Zypl011DbVz!663354585?_afrLoop=320938500431843&_afrWindowMode=0&_afrWindowId=null#%40%3F_afrWindowId%3Dnull%26_afrLoop%3D320938500431843%26_afrWindowMode%3D0%26_adf.ctrl-state%3Datsadqua0_4\">mandatory outdoor watering restrictions\u003c/a>. “Looking at one month, in one year, compared to the same exact month in the current year, it’s really not a true measure of what the efforts in the city have been.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current reductions in water use are on top of conservation that has continued since the last drought. In 2020, Californians were already using about 16% less water in their homes and businesses statewide compared to 2013, according to water board data analyst Marielle Pinheiro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This August was both the hottest and driest on record, according to the governor’s office. And the increased conservation, even during an exceptionally dry month, “is especially significant,” Pinheiro said at the water board meeting today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once you’ve learned to save water, why turn the water on when you’re brushing your teeth?” said former water board chairperson Felicia Marcus, who led the response during the last drought under former Gov. Jerry Brown. “The glass half full view of that is that messaging is starting to take hold.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, \u003ca href=\"https://waterinthewest.stanford.edu/about/people/newsha-ajami\">Newsha Ajami\u003c/a>, director of Urban Water Policy at Stanford University, was surprised that Newsom didn’t declare a statewide water conservation mandate today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really need to reduce per capita water use significantly in some areas of the state,” she said. “If this drought lingers longer and we end up having a few more dry years we are going to have a lot more communities experiencing water scarcity and water access issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>An unknown water year ahead\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s announcement today comes at a pivotal moment for California’s water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state just closed out its \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Water-Basics/Drought/Files/Publications-And-Reports/091521-Water-Year-2021-broch_v2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">second-driest water year\u003c/a> on record, with nearly \u003ca href=\"https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">88% of California \u003c/a>now in the clutches of extreme drought, or worse. By the end of September, statewide reservoir storage \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Water-Basics/Drought/Files/Publications-And-Reports/091521-Water-Year-2021-broch_v2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">had hit 60% of average\u003c/a>, with Lake Oroville setting a new record low.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s amazing that in the second dry year, we’re in as scary a position if not scarier than what we faced in that last drought. It’s almost beyond comprehension,” Marcus said. “It’s a stunning challenge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials have warned water providers south of the Delta relying on state water allocations that \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/drought-2021/2021/09/california-drought-conservation/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">they might be cut off completely\u003c/a> next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re starting with record low (reservoir) storage,” \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Executive-Bios-Director\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Karla Nemeth\u003c/a>, director of the state Department of Water Resources, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/drought-2021/2021/09/california-drought-conservation/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said last month\u003c/a>. “We would have to have north of 140% of (average) precipitation to generate average runoff into the reservoirs that would begin filling that hole.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2021/10/19/forecast-rainstorms-could-quell-wildfire-risk-in-santa-cruz-county/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">some experts say\u003c/a> that number is likely an underestimate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, California is on the cusp of its rainy season, when it receives almost all of its yearly precipitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A series of storms are expected to reach Northern California this week, with another that could unleash some rain over Southern California as soon as this weekend, according to Chad Hecht, a meteorology staff researcher with the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Precipitation forecasts range from eight inches in the Sierras over the next seven days, to less than half an inch in Southern California, said \u003ca href=\"https://cw3e.ucsd.edu/cw3e-welcomes-dr-julie-kalansky/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Julie Kalansky,\u003c/a> the center’s deputy director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the rain is highly unlikely to substantially refill empty reservoirs, it could help prepare thirsty soils for more rains to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For these storms, “the runoff from them may not be very high, but they’ll help moisten the soils. So if we get more, hopefully you get more runoff that can go into reservoirs or streams and ecosystems,” Kalansky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the water year ahead remains murky: Cooler than average temperatures in the tropical Pacific herald the arrival of La Niña conditions, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center\u003c/a> reports have an 87% chance of continuing between December and February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>La Niña can stir up storm tracks, changing how much precipitation falls on California. But the results vary — especially for Northern California — making it difficult to predict what this means for rain and snowfall in the northern two-thirds of the state, Kalansky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Southern California, on the other hand, La Niña tends to foretell a drier year. “It doesn’t mean that we’re necessarily going to have a really dry year, but we typically don’t get really wet years when it’s a La Niña,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overall, Kalansky said, “it’s still yet to be decided on whether or not this year is going to be wet or dry and what this means for drought. We just don’t have those answers yet.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Gov. Newsom expands the California drought emergency from 50 counties to statewide, but does not order mandatory water conservation. He did authorize water regulators to ban wasteful water use, such as spraying down public sidewalks.",
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"description": "Gov. Newsom expands the California drought emergency from 50 counties to statewide, but does not order mandatory water conservation. He did authorize water regulators to ban wasteful water use, such as spraying down public sidewalks.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought emergency for the entire state of California, as conservation efforts continue to fall far short of state targets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/10/19/governor-newsom-expands-drought-emergency-statewide-urges-californians-to-redouble-water-conservation-efforts/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Newsom also authorized\u003c/a> California’s water regulators to ban wasteful water use, such as spraying down public sidewalks, and directed his Office of Emergency Services to fund drinking water as needed. But he stopped short of issuing any statewide conservation mandates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As the western U.S. faces a potential third year of drought, it’s critical that Californians across the state redouble our efforts to save water in every way possible,” Newsom said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yesterday’s announcement extends drought emergencies, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/07/california-water-use-drought/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">already declared in 50 counties\u003c/a>, to the eight remaining counties where conditions had thus far not been deemed severe enough: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Imperial, San Francisco and Ventura.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The emergency declarations are aimed at easing responses to the deepening drought — such as emergency bottled water purchases or construction to bolster water supplies — by reducing environmental and other regulations. Under the proclamation, local water suppliers must begin preparing for the possibility of a dry year ahead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think we’ll be able to manage through this year,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pettijohn-bb521592/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">David Pettijohn\u003c/a>, director of water resources at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. “Next year is the issue. And we don’t know what the water year is going to look like. Nobody can predict the weather.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But California’s water watchers say that without a conservation mandate, California is losing time, and water. “We know mandates are more effective than voluntary calls,” said \u003ca href=\"https://pacinst.org/team/heather-cooley/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Heather Cooley\u003c/a>, director of research at the Pacific Institute, a global water think tank. “It takes time to ramp up, and because of the delay in asking Californians to save water this spring, we are further behind than we should be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 id=\"h-conservation-improving-but-still-short-of-goals\">Conservation improving, but still short of goals\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>New data released by the State Water Resources Control Board reveals that Californians cut their water use at home by 5% in August compared to August 2020, an improvement \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/drought-2021/2021/09/california-drought-conservation/\">over the reductions of less than 2% in July\u003c/a> but still far short of the voluntary \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/07/california-water-use-drought/\">15% cuts\u003c/a> Newsom urged in July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hard-hit North Coast, where the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/04/governor-drought-emergency-in-northwestern-counties/\">first drought emergencies\u003c/a> were declared in April, continued to show the biggest drops in household water use — with an 18.3% decrease compared to August of last year. Conservation numbers tapered off moving south, with the San Francisco Bay Area conserving nearly 10% more water than last August.\u003cbr>\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/mmBVo/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The South Coast region — which includes Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Ventura counties — showed an improvement over July, when water use was roughly even with last year. In August, residents used about 3.1% less water than they did in August 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those numbers are a little bit misleading, frankly,” said Pettijohn, pointing to existing conservation measures including \u003ca href=\"https://www.ladwp.com/ladwp/faces/ladwp/aboutus/a-water/a-w-conservation/a-w-c-droughtbusters;jsessionid=R21nhvKYGDWpr99rRxkybMLNCPf91KQ97Ybv5rv54Zypl011DbVz!663354585?_afrLoop=320938500431843&_afrWindowMode=0&_afrWindowId=null#%40%3F_afrWindowId%3Dnull%26_afrLoop%3D320938500431843%26_afrWindowMode%3D0%26_adf.ctrl-state%3Datsadqua0_4\">mandatory outdoor watering restrictions\u003c/a>. “Looking at one month, in one year, compared to the same exact month in the current year, it’s really not a true measure of what the efforts in the city have been.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current reductions in water use are on top of conservation that has continued since the last drought. In 2020, Californians were already using about 16% less water in their homes and businesses statewide compared to 2013, according to water board data analyst Marielle Pinheiro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This August was both the hottest and driest on record, according to the governor’s office. And the increased conservation, even during an exceptionally dry month, “is especially significant,” Pinheiro said at the water board meeting today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Once you’ve learned to save water, why turn the water on when you’re brushing your teeth?” said former water board chairperson Felicia Marcus, who led the response during the last drought under former Gov. Jerry Brown. “The glass half full view of that is that messaging is starting to take hold.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, \u003ca href=\"https://waterinthewest.stanford.edu/about/people/newsha-ajami\">Newsha Ajami\u003c/a>, director of Urban Water Policy at Stanford University, was surprised that Newsom didn’t declare a statewide water conservation mandate today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really need to reduce per capita water use significantly in some areas of the state,” she said. “If this drought lingers longer and we end up having a few more dry years we are going to have a lot more communities experiencing water scarcity and water access issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>An unknown water year ahead\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s announcement today comes at a pivotal moment for California’s water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state just closed out its \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Water-Basics/Drought/Files/Publications-And-Reports/091521-Water-Year-2021-broch_v2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">second-driest water year\u003c/a> on record, with nearly \u003ca href=\"https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">88% of California \u003c/a>now in the clutches of extreme drought, or worse. By the end of September, statewide reservoir storage \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Water-Basics/Drought/Files/Publications-And-Reports/091521-Water-Year-2021-broch_v2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">had hit 60% of average\u003c/a>, with Lake Oroville setting a new record low.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s amazing that in the second dry year, we’re in as scary a position if not scarier than what we faced in that last drought. It’s almost beyond comprehension,” Marcus said. “It’s a stunning challenge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials have warned water providers south of the Delta relying on state water allocations that \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/drought-2021/2021/09/california-drought-conservation/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">they might be cut off completely\u003c/a> next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re starting with record low (reservoir) storage,” \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Executive-Bios-Director\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Karla Nemeth\u003c/a>, director of the state Department of Water Resources, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/drought-2021/2021/09/california-drought-conservation/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said last month\u003c/a>. “We would have to have north of 140% of (average) precipitation to generate average runoff into the reservoirs that would begin filling that hole.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \u003ca href=\"https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2021/10/19/forecast-rainstorms-could-quell-wildfire-risk-in-santa-cruz-county/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">some experts say\u003c/a> that number is likely an underestimate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, California is on the cusp of its rainy season, when it receives almost all of its yearly precipitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A series of storms are expected to reach Northern California this week, with another that could unleash some rain over Southern California as soon as this weekend, according to Chad Hecht, a meteorology staff researcher with the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Precipitation forecasts range from eight inches in the Sierras over the next seven days, to less than half an inch in Southern California, said \u003ca href=\"https://cw3e.ucsd.edu/cw3e-welcomes-dr-julie-kalansky/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Julie Kalansky,\u003c/a> the center’s deputy director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the rain is highly unlikely to substantially refill empty reservoirs, it could help prepare thirsty soils for more rains to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For these storms, “the runoff from them may not be very high, but they’ll help moisten the soils. So if we get more, hopefully you get more runoff that can go into reservoirs or streams and ecosystems,” Kalansky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the water year ahead remains murky: Cooler than average temperatures in the tropical Pacific herald the arrival of La Niña conditions, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center\u003c/a> reports have an 87% chance of continuing between December and February.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>La Niña can stir up storm tracks, changing how much precipitation falls on California. But the results vary — especially for Northern California — making it difficult to predict what this means for rain and snowfall in the northern two-thirds of the state, Kalansky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Southern California, on the other hand, La Niña tends to foretell a drier year. “It doesn’t mean that we’re necessarily going to have a really dry year, but we typically don’t get really wet years when it’s a La Niña,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overall, Kalansky said, “it’s still yet to be decided on whether or not this year is going to be wet or dry and what this means for drought. We just don’t have those answers yet.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California to Swap New Gas-Powered Landscaping Equipment for Zero Emissions Tools",
"headTitle": "California to Swap New Gas-Powered Landscaping Equipment for Zero Emissions Tools | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Those ubiquitous, noisy leaf blowers, lawn mowers, and weed whackers are producing something more than a high-pitched whirring: pollution that’s harmful to human health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an effort to curb this air pollution and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, California will phase out the new manufacture of common gas-powered versions of landscaping equipment as early as 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1346\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Assembly Bill 1346\u003c/a> into law this month, effectively banning what the state describes as “small off-road engines,” including common landscaping tools, chain saws and even golf carts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law also requires new portable, gas-powered generators to be zero emission as soon as 2028.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mostly, these tools are used by people to tidy home lawns and gardens, although commercial landscapers, construction crews and farmers use them, too, at a smaller percentage, \u003ca href=\"https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/offroad/sm_en_fs.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according to the California Air Resources Board\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People can still use the gas-powered equipment they already own, and stores can still sell their older stock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christopher Dilbeck works at the air board and helped design the emissions regulations. “[These tools] actually have more smog-forming emissions than light duty passenger cars in California,” Dilbeck said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One hour spent clearing a yard with a leaf blower emits the \u003ca href=\"https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/offroad/sm_en_fs.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">same amount of smog-forming gases\u003c/a> as driving 1,100 miles in a standard passenger car, according to the air regulator. That would be like driving from Los Angeles to Denver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Specifically, the gas-powered engines produce particulate matter and ozone. These machines are not major emitters of planet warming gases, although they do produce some carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Multiple environmental and health organizations supported the bill, while a handful of groups opposed it, including those representing landscapers and equipment manufacturers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assemblyman Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, co-authored the legislation and said it will particularly benefit workers “who face disproportionate health risks from air pollution.” Those risks include \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/ground-level-ozone-pollution/health-effects-ozone-pollution\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">exacerbating asthma\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution/health-and-environmental-effects-particulate-matter-pm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">heart disease, and causing premature death\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Cruz landscaper Brett Graf owns Habitat Gardens. He says he’s already experienced multiple upsides from using zero-emission tools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re easier to use. They smell better, they’re not as loud, you’re not breathing in these fumes,” Graf said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Graf’s tools are plug-ins or battery powered, and he said his clients are open to him charging his batteries from their outlets while he works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s new law is coupled with $30 million in incentives for people to buy zero-emission equipment, meant to aid an equitable transition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some landscape professionals fear that the transition won’t be equitable or smooth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniel Martinez Quiróz owns Martinez Landscape, a three-person outfit in the East Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This quick transition is a huge change for us and it’s catching us by surprise,” Martinez Quiróz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to be a bit more difficult for us to compete, because we have to buy new equipment and that will bring our costs up,” he added. “It’s going to have a big impact on contractors, as well as on clients.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sandra Giarde is the executive director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.clca.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Landscape Contractors Association\u003c/a>. She says the group surveyed its members and found that the landscapers who most often use electric equipment service wealthier communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How is this [law] going to impact the rest of the communities?” Giarde asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State regulators point to the availability of battery-powered and plug-in alternatives for commonly used landscaping tools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those tools will work fine for personal and residential use, Giarde says, but the equipment isn’t up to the job required by commercial landscapers: slogging from site to site for six to eight hours each day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to use this equipment,” Giarde said. “It’s not there yet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jason Barbose of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucsusa.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Union of Concerned Scientists\u003c/a> said that may be true “but that’s sort of the whole point of the regulation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to put standards out there,” he said. “It may not be achievable today, but that the state determines they can be met.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says the law is an important step for California as it moves away from fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Those ubiquitous, noisy leaf blowers, lawn mowers, and weed whackers are producing something more than a high-pitched whirring: pollution that’s harmful to human health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an effort to curb this air pollution and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases, California will phase out the new manufacture of common gas-powered versions of landscaping equipment as early as 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1346\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Assembly Bill 1346\u003c/a> into law this month, effectively banning what the state describes as “small off-road engines,” including common landscaping tools, chain saws and even golf carts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law also requires new portable, gas-powered generators to be zero emission as soon as 2028.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mostly, these tools are used by people to tidy home lawns and gardens, although commercial landscapers, construction crews and farmers use them, too, at a smaller percentage, \u003ca href=\"https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/offroad/sm_en_fs.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">according to the California Air Resources Board\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People can still use the gas-powered equipment they already own, and stores can still sell their older stock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christopher Dilbeck works at the air board and helped design the emissions regulations. “[These tools] actually have more smog-forming emissions than light duty passenger cars in California,” Dilbeck said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One hour spent clearing a yard with a leaf blower emits the \u003ca href=\"https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/offroad/sm_en_fs.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">same amount of smog-forming gases\u003c/a> as driving 1,100 miles in a standard passenger car, according to the air regulator. That would be like driving from Los Angeles to Denver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Specifically, the gas-powered engines produce particulate matter and ozone. These machines are not major emitters of planet warming gases, although they do produce some carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Multiple environmental and health organizations supported the bill, while a handful of groups opposed it, including those representing landscapers and equipment manufacturers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assemblyman Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, co-authored the legislation and said it will particularly benefit workers “who face disproportionate health risks from air pollution.” Those risks include \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/ground-level-ozone-pollution/health-effects-ozone-pollution\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">exacerbating asthma\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution/health-and-environmental-effects-particulate-matter-pm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">heart disease, and causing premature death\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Cruz landscaper Brett Graf owns Habitat Gardens. He says he’s already experienced multiple upsides from using zero-emission tools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re easier to use. They smell better, they’re not as loud, you’re not breathing in these fumes,” Graf said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Graf’s tools are plug-ins or battery powered, and he said his clients are open to him charging his batteries from their outlets while he works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s new law is coupled with $30 million in incentives for people to buy zero-emission equipment, meant to aid an equitable transition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some landscape professionals fear that the transition won’t be equitable or smooth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Daniel Martinez Quiróz owns Martinez Landscape, a three-person outfit in the East Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This quick transition is a huge change for us and it’s catching us by surprise,” Martinez Quiróz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to be a bit more difficult for us to compete, because we have to buy new equipment and that will bring our costs up,” he added. “It’s going to have a big impact on contractors, as well as on clients.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sandra Giarde is the executive director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.clca.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Landscape Contractors Association\u003c/a>. She says the group surveyed its members and found that the landscapers who most often use electric equipment service wealthier communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How is this [law] going to impact the rest of the communities?” Giarde asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State regulators point to the availability of battery-powered and plug-in alternatives for commonly used landscaping tools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those tools will work fine for personal and residential use, Giarde says, but the equipment isn’t up to the job required by commercial landscapers: slogging from site to site for six to eight hours each day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to use this equipment,” Giarde said. “It’s not there yet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jason Barbose of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ucsusa.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Union of Concerned Scientists\u003c/a> said that may be true “but that’s sort of the whole point of the regulation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to put standards out there,” he said. “It may not be achievable today, but that the state determines they can be met.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He says the law is an important step for California as it moves away from fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Wildfires Burning in California's Giant Sequoia Groves Threaten Hundreds of Ancient Trees",
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"content": "\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">Northern California wildfires may have killed hundreds of giant sequoias as they swept through groves of the majestic monarchs in the Sierra Nevada, an official said Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">“It’s heartbreaking,” said Christy Brigham, head of resource management and science for Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">The lightning-caused KNP Complex that erupted on Sept. 9 has burned into 15 giant sequoia groves in the park, Brigham said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">More than 2,000 firefighters were battling the blaze in sometimes treacherous terrain. On Wednesday afternoon, four people working on the fire were injured when a tree fell on them, the National Park Service reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">The four were airlifted to hospitals and “while the injuries are serious, they are in stable condition,” the report said. It didn’t provide other details.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">The KNP Complex was only 11% contained after burning 134 square miles of forest. Cooler weather has helped slow the flames and the area could see some slight rain on Friday, forecasters said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">The fire’s impact on giant sequoia groves was mixed. Most saw low- to medium-intensity fire behavior that the sequoias have evolved to survive, Brigham said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"Component-dfp-0-2-56\">\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">However, it appeared that two groves — including one with 5,000 trees — were seared by high-intensity fire that can send up 100-foot flames capable of burning the canopies of the towering trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">That leaves the monarchs at risk of going up “like a horrible Roman candle,” Brigham said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">Two burned trees fell in Giant Forest, which is home to about 2,000 sequoias, including the General Sherman Tree, which is considered the world’s largest by volume. However, the most notable trees survived and Brigham said the grove appeared to be mostly intact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">Firefighters have taken extraordinary measures to protect the sequoias by wrapping fire-resistant material around the bases of some giants, raking and clearing vegetation around them, installing sprinklers and dousing some with water or fire retardant gel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">However, the full extent of the damage won’t be known for months, Brigham said. Firefighters are still occupied protecting trees, homes and lives or can’t safely reach steep, remote groves that lack roads or even trails, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">To the south, the Windy Fire had burned at least 74 sequoias, Garrett Dickman told the Los Angeles Times. The wildfire botanist has recorded damage as part of a sequoia task force preparing and assessing trees in the fire zone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">In one grove, Dickman counted 29 sequoias that were “just incinerated,” he told CNN.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">“There were four of those that had burned so hot that they’d fallen over,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">The 152-acre fire was 75% contained.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">Northern California wildfires may have killed hundreds of giant sequoias as they swept through groves of the majestic monarchs in the Sierra Nevada, an official said Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">“It’s heartbreaking,” said Christy Brigham, head of resource management and science for Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">The lightning-caused KNP Complex that erupted on Sept. 9 has burned into 15 giant sequoia groves in the park, Brigham said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">More than 2,000 firefighters were battling the blaze in sometimes treacherous terrain. On Wednesday afternoon, four people working on the fire were injured when a tree fell on them, the National Park Service reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">The four were airlifted to hospitals and “while the injuries are serious, they are in stable condition,” the report said. It didn’t provide other details.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">The KNP Complex was only 11% contained after burning 134 square miles of forest. Cooler weather has helped slow the flames and the area could see some slight rain on Friday, forecasters said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">The fire’s impact on giant sequoia groves was mixed. Most saw low- to medium-intensity fire behavior that the sequoias have evolved to survive, Brigham said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"Component-dfp-0-2-56\">\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">However, it appeared that two groves — including one with 5,000 trees — were seared by high-intensity fire that can send up 100-foot flames capable of burning the canopies of the towering trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">That leaves the monarchs at risk of going up “like a horrible Roman candle,” Brigham said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">Two burned trees fell in Giant Forest, which is home to about 2,000 sequoias, including the General Sherman Tree, which is considered the world’s largest by volume. However, the most notable trees survived and Brigham said the grove appeared to be mostly intact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">Firefighters have taken extraordinary measures to protect the sequoias by wrapping fire-resistant material around the bases of some giants, raking and clearing vegetation around them, installing sprinklers and dousing some with water or fire retardant gel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">However, the full extent of the damage won’t be known for months, Brigham said. Firefighters are still occupied protecting trees, homes and lives or can’t safely reach steep, remote groves that lack roads or even trails, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">To the south, the Windy Fire had burned at least 74 sequoias, Garrett Dickman told the Los Angeles Times. The wildfire botanist has recorded damage as part of a sequoia task force preparing and assessing trees in the fire zone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">In one grove, Dickman counted 29 sequoias that were “just incinerated,” he told CNN.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">“There were four of those that had burned so hot that they’d fallen over,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"Component-root-0-2-61 Component-p-0-2-52\">The 152-acre fire was 75% contained.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Wildfire Torched the Sierra All Summer, Evading Containment. Here’s How Tahoe Protected Itself",
"headTitle": "Wildfire Torched the Sierra All Summer, Evading Containment. Here’s How Tahoe Protected Itself | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Susie Kocher watched with increasing dread as the Caldor Fire roared across the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, churning toward her home near the base of Echo Summit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From high along the granite ridge nearby, the view of Lake Tahoe is normally pristine — a cerulean ocean in the sky, dotted with boats and casinos lining the pine forest along the South Shore. But for two weeks at the end of August, smoke as brown as car exhaust clouded the basin’s air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Kocher well knows, having worked tirelessly for more than a decade to prepare this community for a wildfire as a UC Cooperative Extension forestry adviser, under almost every tree near South Lake Tahoe is a house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She feared the fast approaching edge of the fire, with its flames licking beyond 100 feet in the air. But she worried most about showers of red hot embers, carried over a mile beyond the fire’s edge by wind gusts, stealing entrance into these homes through open vents or siding gaps, burning them from the inside out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A firefighter is not going to help your home if the ember goes in through the attic,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the fire approached, she cleared away needles and brush from around her house. With their truck, Kocher’s husband, Rick George, hauled their sailboat and other fire hazards to a vacant lot away from their home. She collected her “wedding dress, my husband’s silver and his mother’s wedding dress,” irreplaceable items to take with her when they evacuated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Aug. 30, officials ordered South Lake Tahoe to evacuate immediately. She joined thousands of others leaving en masse, her face obscured by a heavy blue and red respirator to protect her lungs from the hazardous smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Behind her as she drove away, ash and a hazy amber glow floated around her home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/UCsierraforest/status/1432458308812619779\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The ‘wake-up moment’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>When the Valley Fire in Lake County destroyed 1,300 homes and killed four people in 2015, the wildfire community called it a “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1976490/showing-climate-change-as-it-happens-a-veteran-photojournalist-on-capturing-californias-intensifying-wildfires\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wake-up moment\u003c/a>” to an era of catastrophic wildfire in California, driven in part by climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Caldor, Dixie and other fires this summer make it crystal clear that California’s wildfire crisis is escalating. About 4.3 million acres burned in 2020, a record that could be surpassed by this year’s extreme fire season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state is in a dangerous place. Scorching summers coupled with tinderbox dry forests render fire containment ineffective — especially when it’s hot, windy or a combination of the two.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the Caldor Fire burned into the Tahoe Basin, it looked like this city, a center of gravity for culture in this part of the Sierra, could (and many thought would) burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it did not, thanks to the 3,500 firefighters, a timely shift in the winds and years of fire preparations by a myriad of players.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Caldor Fire showed the danger California faces, but also a path forward, beginning with \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/09/09/interview-pyrogeographer-crystal-kolden-on-fighting-californias-modern-megafires/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">acceptance that wildfires are a part of our lives\u003c/a> and not inherently bad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1976869/heres-whats-inside-newsoms-whopping-15-billion-climate-spending-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">acknowledged\u003c/a> as much when he detailed about $1 billion in new spending for fire breaks, tree thinning and other measures meant to prevent catastrophic wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not going to respond our way out of this wildfire crisis,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A “confluence of all the right ingredients” coalesced to drive the Caldor Fire’s erratic fire behavior, accelerating the arrival of conditions expected to emerge over the next century, said \u003ca href=\"https://www.dri.edu/directory/benjamin-hatchett/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Benjamin Hatchett,\u003c/a> an atmospheric scientist with the Desert Research Institute in Reno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I hope Tahoe is the wake-up call,” he said. “We all need to get together and figure out what we’re going to do so that it’s not Tahoe City next year or Truckee next year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977050\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1977050 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2842.jpg\" alt=\"Fire crews manage a back fire while fighting the Caldor Fire. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2842.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2842-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2842-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2842-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2842-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2842-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2842-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fire crews manage a back fire in Sly Park, Calif., fighting the Caldor Fire on Monday, Aug, 23, 2021. \u003ccite>(Andrew Nixon/CapRadio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>‘Hat’s off’ for forest thinning\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The Caldor Fire ignited on Aug. 14 near Pollock Pines in El Dorado County, and quickly decimated Grizzly Flats, burning a school, church and the post office, leaving little left in the mountain hamlet. To date, the fire has burned more than 1,000 buildings and north of 220,000 acres. Officials lifted the last of the evacuation orders just \u003ca href=\"https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FA4qSO7VcAEVKRE.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this week\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/pyrogeog/status/1435358566139904005\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A few days earlier\u003c/a>, the Dixie Fire burned across Kettle Ridge, west of Susanville, and into the Great Basin, becoming the first known wildfire to run across the Sierra Nevada. The flames ripped through high elevation forests usually too saturated with heavy snow melt to burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977051\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1977051\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2208.jpg\" alt=\"A burned entrance sign at Walter Tyler Elementary school with charred playground equipment in the background. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2208.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2208-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2208-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2208-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2208-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2208-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2208-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Walter Tyler Elementary in Grizzly Flats, Calif. Tuesday, August 17, 2021. \u003ccite>(Andrew Nixon/CapRadio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have any record of that happening before,” Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter said, adding the blaze — 32 times the size of San Francisco — “was exceedingly resistant to control.” The Dixie Fire is California’s largest single fire on record, having consumed nearly 1 million acres across five counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of August, the Caldor Fire had burned into the Tahoe Basin, becoming the second recorded fire to cross the Sierra Nevada. Its erratic fire behavior \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/08/19/caldor-fires-explosive-growth-following-dixie-fires-playbook/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">mirrored the Dixie Fire\u003c/a> to the north, and residents watched with alarm as the embers ignited spot fires miles in front of the flames, like missiles shot from behind enemy lines, rendering firefighter containment lines — painstakingly hacked with hand tools and bulldozers — essentially useless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For firefighters, this year has been a grueling slog, and the last two weeks of August were some of the worst.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since we got here, our first time actually sleeping was yesterday,” said Micah Conant, nearly a week into a shift at the Caldor Fire with his Tahoe Douglas Fire Department crew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The firefighters’ main objective: keep the blaze out of South Lake Tahoe, a dense mountain city of more than 21,000 people, and the surrounding communities, home of Kocher and thousands more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a first line of defense, crews with bulldozers scraped earth bare against homes in Meyers and Christmas Valley, where they expected to make a desperate stand, said Phil Heitzke, a fuels specialist with the U.S. Forest Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the wildfire charged towards the fire line, “we were getting 100 or 150 foot flame lengths,” Heitzke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977052\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1977052\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51740_IMG_1817-1-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51740_IMG_1817-1-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51740_IMG_1817-1-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51740_IMG_1817-1-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51740_IMG_1817-1-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51740_IMG_1817-1-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51740_IMG_1817-1-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cut stumps in the forest near South Lake Tahoe show where preventative forest thinning took place before the Caldor Fire burned the area. \u003ccite>(Danielle Venton/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But suddenly, the flames lowered to the forest floor. Firefighters crossed the dozer lines, safely able to work next to the flames, steering the wildfire away from the homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fire behavior dropped down as soon as it hit this unit,” Heitzke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If crews hadn’t thinned small trees and brush here a few years ago, that wouldn’t have been possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The canopy is open, and that’s the key thing with these fires, having that open canopy so the [wildfire] can’t sustain a crown run” where the fire burns from treetop to treetop, Heitzke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For the folks who have been working on these projects the last two decades my hat’s off to them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A built-in buffer\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Tens of thousands of acres have been treated in the Lake Tahoe Basin in the last 15 years, more than is typical for forested mountain communities. The work is not cheap. Paying crews with chain saws to thin overgrown forests can cost around $2,000 an acre.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1977041\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/KQED_Caldor-1.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"887\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Comparing that against the value of homes saved — recent home sales in the area have garnered a median price of $750,000 — it looks like a good investment. But here, Lake Tahoe is privileged. The city has a much larger population than most mountain towns and boasts a wealthy, largely white conservation community that can afford to pay for expertise needed to get good at winning competitive grants. “There’s a political pressure there,” Heitzke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents and others have treated more than 40% of the Tahoe Basin since 2008 with mechanical thinning and “good fire,” the intentional burning of thick underbrush to slow down future wildfires. Additionally, hundreds of homeowners around the Tahoe Basin have prepared their houses and properties to withstand wildfire including cleaning needles, trees and debris around homes, and installing new roofs and vent covers to prevent embers from getting inside a house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?url=https://services6.arcgis.com/1KtlSd2mklZMBKaz/ArcGIS/rest/services/Tahoe_Forest_Fuels_Tx_OFFICIAL_Public_View/FeatureServer&source=sd\">map\u003c/a> of treatments in the area shows an extensive, though patchy, jigsaw puzzle of mechanical thinning and pile burns on both sides of Highway 50. The Forest Service said in the past five years many of those fuel treatments in the Tahoe Basin included prescribed fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“South Lake Tahoe and that whole area has done an absolutely extraordinary job of doing a lot of work to reduce fuels,” said Crystal Kolden, a UC Merced fire scientist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bob Larsen’s home is about a block away from where the Caldor Fire stopped. He credits the areas of treated forest with saving his and his neighbors homes and said the 2007 Angora Fire, which incinerated 240 homes southwest of South Lake Tahoe, galvanized the community around fire preparations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://projects.capradio.org/california-fire-history/#9.69/39.0438/-120.1474\" style=\"border: 0px #ffffff none;\" name=\"myiFrame\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" marginheight=\"0px\" marginwidth=\"0px\" height=\"500px\" width=\"100%\" allowfullscreen class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Angora] highlighted the importance of doing something about the overstocked forest and trying to make sure that homeowners are doing the work that they need to do to provide that defensible space,” Larsen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of forest treatments, he said his neighborhood had a “buffer between sort of the very hot fire and fire that was more manageable, I think is a big part of why they were able to succeed and why we are so lucky.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977053\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1977053\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51741_IMG_1815-1-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51741_IMG_1815-1-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51741_IMG_1815-1-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51741_IMG_1815-1-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51741_IMG_1815-1-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51741_IMG_1815-1-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51741_IMG_1815-1-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bob Larsen stands in the forest near his home. \u003ccite>(Danielle Venton/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Fire here is expected\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>For roughly four decades, California wildfires have advanced higher and higher into the backcountry, rising in elevation at a rate of 25 feet per year, with the largest growth in the Sierra Nevada, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://tahoe.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk4286/files/inline-files/Warming_Enabled_e2009717118.full_.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new study\u003c/a> from researchers at UC Merced and elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers say the fire’s spread is driven by warmer and dryer conditions with snow melting earlier in the year. Warming temperatures have driven a fivefold increase in summertime forest fires across California, felt most dramatically in the Sierra Nevada, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1944993/study-climate-change-a-leading-driver-of-californias-wildfires\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">research published in 2019, a year before last summer’s record-torching fire season\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the \u003ca href=\"https://tahoe.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/257/2020/04/Integrated-Vulnerability-Assessment-of-Climate-Change-in-the-Lake-Tahoe-Basin_2020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Tahoe Conservancy’s assessment of the Lake Tahoe Basin’s vulnerability to climate change\u003c/a>, the basin can expect to see higher temperatures, more extreme storms, less snow, more drought stress and larger areas burned by wildfires over the next century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s something that’s happening today,” said South Lake Tahoe Mayor Pro Tem Devin Middlebrook. “[Preparing for big fires] isn’t something that we can put off for 20 or 30 years,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977057\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1977057\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51299_067_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51299_067_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51299_067_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51299_067_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51299_067_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51299_067_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51299_067_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A CalFire truck drives on a smoke-filled Highway 50 between Pollock Pines and Strawberry, as the Caldor Fire burns nearby. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Culture of suppression\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Fire experts say a policy of fire prevention has left forest stands across the state thick with overgrown brush and trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the Great Fire of 1910, which burned 20 million acres across the northwest and killed 86 people, California forest managers began actively suppressing wildfires. The majority of the tens of millions of acres of forest in California are controlled by the U.S. Forest Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1935, that agency passed the 10 a.m. rule, a mandate dictating any fire must be controlled by the next day at 10 a.m. Although this policy was rescinded in 1974, this way of managing forests has led to more than 80 years of suppressing fires by federal firefighters and Cal Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What experts say is often missing from this conversation is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2020/09/16/the-racist-removal-of-native-americans-in-california-is-often-missing-from-wildfire-discussions-experts-say/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">racist removal of Native American people\u003c/a> from California in the mid-19th century. More than \u003ca href=\"https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/revealing-the-history-of-genocide-against-californias-native-americans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">16,000 were killed\u003c/a>, others were forced onto reservations and many were enslaved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with their physical beings, the knowledge of taking care of the land through forest thinning and cultural burns was also removed. This action resulted in overgrown forests, said \u003ca href=\"https://www.csuchico.edu/geop/department/dhankins.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Don Hankins\u003c/a>, a Plains Miwok fire expert at Chico State.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If California was “still stewarded continuously with Indigenous fire, we would definitely not see the same level of fires that we’re seeing,” he said in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are indications that the state is changing its fire policies. Having spent \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/hub/california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$3.4 billion on wildfire suppression last year\u003c/a>, Gov. Gavin Newsom earmarked about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1976869/heres-whats-inside-newsoms-whopping-15-billion-climate-spending-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$1 billion in new spending\u003c/a> for fire breaks, forest thinning, and other measures to stop megafires before they get out of control. Crowfoot, of the Natural Resources Agency, indicated the state is prepared to expand “upfront, proactive actions,” and the package includes $19 million for the state to work with tribes on prescribed burns, up from just $1 million last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California lawmakers have also passed \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB332\">a\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB332\">bill\u003c/a> that wouldn’t hold prescribed burners liable if a fire escapes it’s containment lines, unless they are grossly negligent. Lastly, a federal Senate infrastructure bill could provide more than \u003ca href=\"https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AG/AG00/20210910/114025/BILLS-117SConRes14pp.pdf\">$16 \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AG/AG00/20210910/114025/BILLS-117SConRes14pp.pdf\">billion\u003c/a> over a decade for fuels management.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Megafires push forest communities to the brink\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A trail of cars lined Highway 50 during South Lake Tahoe’s evacuation on Aug. 30, but Bill Schaeffer, wearing a T-shirt, the same moody gray color as the smoke-darkened sky, pushed his bike toward the fire. The scruffy man with long locks hurried to gather his belongings at home in time to catch a bus out of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just two weeks prior, Schaeffer, 68, was unhoused, like he had been on and off for almost two decades. He recently moved into a small, affordable home with the help of a local support group for unhoused people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I lose my place to live, then I’m going to probably be forced back to being homeless again,” he said, noting that rents here, like elsewhere throughout California, have risen to be “sky high.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Known to the outside world as a sparkling tourist area, South Lake Tahoe is home to the resort staff, bartenders and thousands of others who live and work there, keeping the machinery of the place humming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction workers Jose Mora and Henry Jose Mendoza fled South Lake Tahoe, too, taking shelter at an evacuation center in Carson City, Nevada. Mendoza only had the clothes on his body because they didn’t have time to pack before leaving. The friends were confused whether or not they needed to evacuate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977058\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1977058\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jose Mora (right) and Henry Jose Mendoza, both construction workers, fled South Lake Tahoe during the Caldor Fire, taking shelter at an evacuation center in Carson City, Nevada. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We were looking at Facebook, and then the news,” said Mora. “We were just waiting. Then we received a call and we [saw] the map and we just started getting whatever we could.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the eve of the evacuation, Donarae Reynolds and her husband bustled around their home in the \u003ca href=\"https://goldenbearha.org/current-conditions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Golden Bear neighborhood just outside South Lake Tahoe\u003c/a>, packing medications, clothes and other essentials into their cars and camper trailer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’d removed unrecoverable family photos from the walls, and stowed their passports, living trust and other important documents in a safety deposit box at the bank. Their neighborhood was ready when the evacuation order came in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We all simply got in our cars and waved to each other and we took off,” Reynolds said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reynolds’ neighborhood was uniquely prepared for this day to come. In 2019, Reynolds and her neighbors held an \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/news/tahoeland/2019/10/02/climate-change-is-increasing-tahoes-risk-of-wildfire-these-residents-want-to-be-ready/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">evacuation drill to prepare for disasters like the Caldor Fire. \u003c/a>They’ve also held clean-up days and got residents to sign up for emergency alerts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it were a situation where you had no warning and everyone just had to scramble, I think that it would have been a totally different kind of an evacuation,” Reynolds said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neighbors kept up with each other while they were evacuated, trading Ring doorbell camera footage and aerial views of the neighborhood to see if the fire had reached it. The fire spared their homes this time, and they’ve since returned to Golden Bear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977060\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1977060\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51290_048_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Lake Tahoe Blvd in South Lake Tahoe is mostly empty, after evacuees waited hours to leave the area.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51290_048_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51290_048_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51290_048_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51290_048_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51290_048_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51290_048_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lake Tahoe Blvd in South Lake Tahoe is mostly empty on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021, after evacuees waited hours to leave the area. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>A matter of survival\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Back in Tahoe with her home and its two decks still standing, Kocher said she feels fortunate to live in South Lake Tahoe with ample fire prevention and suppression assets, especially when nearby communities don’t have the same resources to stop the flames.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m concerned for those communities,” she said. “It’s a matter of survival unless we get our act together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s easy to blame the fires all on a warming climate, but UC Berkeley fire science professor Scott Stephens said the lack of prevention efforts and the overgrown forests amount to the “vast majority” of the state’s current problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hatchett, with the Desert Research Institute, said that still-rising temperatures, increasingly arid conditions, and other impacts of climate change is like “pouring gas” on wildfires and why “we need climate action now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even climate action, he admits, won’t stop the sheer volume of dead brush and trees in forests from burning or prevent the amount of global warming already baked into the atmosphere. But, yet, he has hope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not going to stop that train,” he admitted, “but we might be able to divert it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"description": "About 3,500 firefighters and years of preventative fire preparations largely saved South Lake Tahoe from the Caldor Fire. ",
"title": "Wildfire Torched the Sierra All Summer, Evading Containment. Here’s How Tahoe Protected Itself | KQED",
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"headline": "Wildfire Torched the Sierra All Summer, Evading Containment. Here’s How Tahoe Protected Itself",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Susie Kocher watched with increasing dread as the Caldor Fire roared across the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, churning toward her home near the base of Echo Summit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From high along the granite ridge nearby, the view of Lake Tahoe is normally pristine — a cerulean ocean in the sky, dotted with boats and casinos lining the pine forest along the South Shore. But for two weeks at the end of August, smoke as brown as car exhaust clouded the basin’s air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Kocher well knows, having worked tirelessly for more than a decade to prepare this community for a wildfire as a UC Cooperative Extension forestry adviser, under almost every tree near South Lake Tahoe is a house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She feared the fast approaching edge of the fire, with its flames licking beyond 100 feet in the air. But she worried most about showers of red hot embers, carried over a mile beyond the fire’s edge by wind gusts, stealing entrance into these homes through open vents or siding gaps, burning them from the inside out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A firefighter is not going to help your home if the ember goes in through the attic,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the fire approached, she cleared away needles and brush from around her house. With their truck, Kocher’s husband, Rick George, hauled their sailboat and other fire hazards to a vacant lot away from their home. She collected her “wedding dress, my husband’s silver and his mother’s wedding dress,” irreplaceable items to take with her when they evacuated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Aug. 30, officials ordered South Lake Tahoe to evacuate immediately. She joined thousands of others leaving en masse, her face obscured by a heavy blue and red respirator to protect her lungs from the hazardous smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Behind her as she drove away, ash and a hazy amber glow floated around her home.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003ch3>The ‘wake-up moment’\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>When the Valley Fire in Lake County destroyed 1,300 homes and killed four people in 2015, the wildfire community called it a “\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1976490/showing-climate-change-as-it-happens-a-veteran-photojournalist-on-capturing-californias-intensifying-wildfires\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wake-up moment\u003c/a>” to an era of catastrophic wildfire in California, driven in part by climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Caldor, Dixie and other fires this summer make it crystal clear that California’s wildfire crisis is escalating. About 4.3 million acres burned in 2020, a record that could be surpassed by this year’s extreme fire season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state is in a dangerous place. Scorching summers coupled with tinderbox dry forests render fire containment ineffective — especially when it’s hot, windy or a combination of the two.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the Caldor Fire burned into the Tahoe Basin, it looked like this city, a center of gravity for culture in this part of the Sierra, could (and many thought would) burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it did not, thanks to the 3,500 firefighters, a timely shift in the winds and years of fire preparations by a myriad of players.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Caldor Fire showed the danger California faces, but also a path forward, beginning with \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/09/09/interview-pyrogeographer-crystal-kolden-on-fighting-californias-modern-megafires/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">acceptance that wildfires are a part of our lives\u003c/a> and not inherently bad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1976869/heres-whats-inside-newsoms-whopping-15-billion-climate-spending-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">acknowledged\u003c/a> as much when he detailed about $1 billion in new spending for fire breaks, tree thinning and other measures meant to prevent catastrophic wildfire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not going to respond our way out of this wildfire crisis,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A “confluence of all the right ingredients” coalesced to drive the Caldor Fire’s erratic fire behavior, accelerating the arrival of conditions expected to emerge over the next century, said \u003ca href=\"https://www.dri.edu/directory/benjamin-hatchett/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Benjamin Hatchett,\u003c/a> an atmospheric scientist with the Desert Research Institute in Reno.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I hope Tahoe is the wake-up call,” he said. “We all need to get together and figure out what we’re going to do so that it’s not Tahoe City next year or Truckee next year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977050\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1977050 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2842.jpg\" alt=\"Fire crews manage a back fire while fighting the Caldor Fire. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2842.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2842-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2842-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2842-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2842-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2842-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2842-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fire crews manage a back fire in Sly Park, Calif., fighting the Caldor Fire on Monday, Aug, 23, 2021. \u003ccite>(Andrew Nixon/CapRadio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>‘Hat’s off’ for forest thinning\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The Caldor Fire ignited on Aug. 14 near Pollock Pines in El Dorado County, and quickly decimated Grizzly Flats, burning a school, church and the post office, leaving little left in the mountain hamlet. To date, the fire has burned more than 1,000 buildings and north of 220,000 acres. Officials lifted the last of the evacuation orders just \u003ca href=\"https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FA4qSO7VcAEVKRE.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this week\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/pyrogeog/status/1435358566139904005\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A few days earlier\u003c/a>, the Dixie Fire burned across Kettle Ridge, west of Susanville, and into the Great Basin, becoming the first known wildfire to run across the Sierra Nevada. The flames ripped through high elevation forests usually too saturated with heavy snow melt to burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977051\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1977051\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2208.jpg\" alt=\"A burned entrance sign at Walter Tyler Elementary school with charred playground equipment in the background. \" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2208.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2208-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2208-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2208-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2208-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2208-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/DSCF2208-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Walter Tyler Elementary in Grizzly Flats, Calif. Tuesday, August 17, 2021. \u003ccite>(Andrew Nixon/CapRadio)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We don’t have any record of that happening before,” Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter said, adding the blaze — 32 times the size of San Francisco — “was exceedingly resistant to control.” The Dixie Fire is California’s largest single fire on record, having consumed nearly 1 million acres across five counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the end of August, the Caldor Fire had burned into the Tahoe Basin, becoming the second recorded fire to cross the Sierra Nevada. Its erratic fire behavior \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/08/19/caldor-fires-explosive-growth-following-dixie-fires-playbook/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">mirrored the Dixie Fire\u003c/a> to the north, and residents watched with alarm as the embers ignited spot fires miles in front of the flames, like missiles shot from behind enemy lines, rendering firefighter containment lines — painstakingly hacked with hand tools and bulldozers — essentially useless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For firefighters, this year has been a grueling slog, and the last two weeks of August were some of the worst.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since we got here, our first time actually sleeping was yesterday,” said Micah Conant, nearly a week into a shift at the Caldor Fire with his Tahoe Douglas Fire Department crew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The firefighters’ main objective: keep the blaze out of South Lake Tahoe, a dense mountain city of more than 21,000 people, and the surrounding communities, home of Kocher and thousands more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a first line of defense, crews with bulldozers scraped earth bare against homes in Meyers and Christmas Valley, where they expected to make a desperate stand, said Phil Heitzke, a fuels specialist with the U.S. Forest Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the wildfire charged towards the fire line, “we were getting 100 or 150 foot flame lengths,” Heitzke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977052\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1977052\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51740_IMG_1817-1-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51740_IMG_1817-1-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51740_IMG_1817-1-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51740_IMG_1817-1-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51740_IMG_1817-1-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51740_IMG_1817-1-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51740_IMG_1817-1-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cut stumps in the forest near South Lake Tahoe show where preventative forest thinning took place before the Caldor Fire burned the area. \u003ccite>(Danielle Venton/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But suddenly, the flames lowered to the forest floor. Firefighters crossed the dozer lines, safely able to work next to the flames, steering the wildfire away from the homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fire behavior dropped down as soon as it hit this unit,” Heitzke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If crews hadn’t thinned small trees and brush here a few years ago, that wouldn’t have been possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The canopy is open, and that’s the key thing with these fires, having that open canopy so the [wildfire] can’t sustain a crown run” where the fire burns from treetop to treetop, Heitzke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For the folks who have been working on these projects the last two decades my hat’s off to them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>A built-in buffer\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Tens of thousands of acres have been treated in the Lake Tahoe Basin in the last 15 years, more than is typical for forested mountain communities. The work is not cheap. Paying crews with chain saws to thin overgrown forests can cost around $2,000 an acre.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1977041\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/KQED_Caldor-1.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"887\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Comparing that against the value of homes saved — recent home sales in the area have garnered a median price of $750,000 — it looks like a good investment. But here, Lake Tahoe is privileged. The city has a much larger population than most mountain towns and boasts a wealthy, largely white conservation community that can afford to pay for expertise needed to get good at winning competitive grants. “There’s a political pressure there,” Heitzke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents and others have treated more than 40% of the Tahoe Basin since 2008 with mechanical thinning and “good fire,” the intentional burning of thick underbrush to slow down future wildfires. Additionally, hundreds of homeowners around the Tahoe Basin have prepared their houses and properties to withstand wildfire including cleaning needles, trees and debris around homes, and installing new roofs and vent covers to prevent embers from getting inside a house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?url=https://services6.arcgis.com/1KtlSd2mklZMBKaz/ArcGIS/rest/services/Tahoe_Forest_Fuels_Tx_OFFICIAL_Public_View/FeatureServer&source=sd\">map\u003c/a> of treatments in the area shows an extensive, though patchy, jigsaw puzzle of mechanical thinning and pile burns on both sides of Highway 50. The Forest Service said in the past five years many of those fuel treatments in the Tahoe Basin included prescribed fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“South Lake Tahoe and that whole area has done an absolutely extraordinary job of doing a lot of work to reduce fuels,” said Crystal Kolden, a UC Merced fire scientist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bob Larsen’s home is about a block away from where the Caldor Fire stopped. He credits the areas of treated forest with saving his and his neighbors homes and said the 2007 Angora Fire, which incinerated 240 homes southwest of South Lake Tahoe, galvanized the community around fire preparations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://projects.capradio.org/california-fire-history/#9.69/39.0438/-120.1474\" style=\"border: 0px #ffffff none;\" name=\"myiFrame\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" marginheight=\"0px\" marginwidth=\"0px\" height=\"500px\" width=\"100%\" allowfullscreen class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[Angora] highlighted the importance of doing something about the overstocked forest and trying to make sure that homeowners are doing the work that they need to do to provide that defensible space,” Larsen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of forest treatments, he said his neighborhood had a “buffer between sort of the very hot fire and fire that was more manageable, I think is a big part of why they were able to succeed and why we are so lucky.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977053\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1977053\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51741_IMG_1815-1-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51741_IMG_1815-1-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51741_IMG_1815-1-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51741_IMG_1815-1-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51741_IMG_1815-1-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51741_IMG_1815-1-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51741_IMG_1815-1-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bob Larsen stands in the forest near his home. \u003ccite>(Danielle Venton/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Fire here is expected\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>For roughly four decades, California wildfires have advanced higher and higher into the backcountry, rising in elevation at a rate of 25 feet per year, with the largest growth in the Sierra Nevada, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://tahoe.ucdavis.edu/sites/g/files/dgvnsk4286/files/inline-files/Warming_Enabled_e2009717118.full_.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new study\u003c/a> from researchers at UC Merced and elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers say the fire’s spread is driven by warmer and dryer conditions with snow melting earlier in the year. Warming temperatures have driven a fivefold increase in summertime forest fires across California, felt most dramatically in the Sierra Nevada, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1944993/study-climate-change-a-leading-driver-of-californias-wildfires\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">research published in 2019, a year before last summer’s record-torching fire season\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the \u003ca href=\"https://tahoe.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/257/2020/04/Integrated-Vulnerability-Assessment-of-Climate-Change-in-the-Lake-Tahoe-Basin_2020.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Tahoe Conservancy’s assessment of the Lake Tahoe Basin’s vulnerability to climate change\u003c/a>, the basin can expect to see higher temperatures, more extreme storms, less snow, more drought stress and larger areas burned by wildfires over the next century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s something that’s happening today,” said South Lake Tahoe Mayor Pro Tem Devin Middlebrook. “[Preparing for big fires] isn’t something that we can put off for 20 or 30 years,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977057\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1977057\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51299_067_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51299_067_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51299_067_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51299_067_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51299_067_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51299_067_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51299_067_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A CalFire truck drives on a smoke-filled Highway 50 between Pollock Pines and Strawberry, as the Caldor Fire burns nearby. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>Culture of suppression\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Fire experts say a policy of fire prevention has left forest stands across the state thick with overgrown brush and trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the Great Fire of 1910, which burned 20 million acres across the northwest and killed 86 people, California forest managers began actively suppressing wildfires. The majority of the tens of millions of acres of forest in California are controlled by the U.S. Forest Service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1935, that agency passed the 10 a.m. rule, a mandate dictating any fire must be controlled by the next day at 10 a.m. Although this policy was rescinded in 1974, this way of managing forests has led to more than 80 years of suppressing fires by federal firefighters and Cal Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What experts say is often missing from this conversation is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2020/09/16/the-racist-removal-of-native-americans-in-california-is-often-missing-from-wildfire-discussions-experts-say/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">racist removal of Native American people\u003c/a> from California in the mid-19th century. More than \u003ca href=\"https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/revealing-the-history-of-genocide-against-californias-native-americans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">16,000 were killed\u003c/a>, others were forced onto reservations and many were enslaved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with their physical beings, the knowledge of taking care of the land through forest thinning and cultural burns was also removed. This action resulted in overgrown forests, said \u003ca href=\"https://www.csuchico.edu/geop/department/dhankins.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Don Hankins\u003c/a>, a Plains Miwok fire expert at Chico State.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If California was “still stewarded continuously with Indigenous fire, we would definitely not see the same level of fires that we’re seeing,” he said in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are indications that the state is changing its fire policies. Having spent \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/hub/california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$3.4 billion on wildfire suppression last year\u003c/a>, Gov. Gavin Newsom earmarked about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1976869/heres-whats-inside-newsoms-whopping-15-billion-climate-spending-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$1 billion in new spending\u003c/a> for fire breaks, forest thinning, and other measures to stop megafires before they get out of control. Crowfoot, of the Natural Resources Agency, indicated the state is prepared to expand “upfront, proactive actions,” and the package includes $19 million for the state to work with tribes on prescribed burns, up from just $1 million last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California lawmakers have also passed \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB332\">a\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB332\">bill\u003c/a> that wouldn’t hold prescribed burners liable if a fire escapes it’s containment lines, unless they are grossly negligent. Lastly, a federal Senate infrastructure bill could provide more than \u003ca href=\"https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AG/AG00/20210910/114025/BILLS-117SConRes14pp.pdf\">$16 \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AG/AG00/20210910/114025/BILLS-117SConRes14pp.pdf\">billion\u003c/a> over a decade for fuels management.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Megafires push forest communities to the brink\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>A trail of cars lined Highway 50 during South Lake Tahoe’s evacuation on Aug. 30, but Bill Schaeffer, wearing a T-shirt, the same moody gray color as the smoke-darkened sky, pushed his bike toward the fire. The scruffy man with long locks hurried to gather his belongings at home in time to catch a bus out of the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just two weeks prior, Schaeffer, 68, was unhoused, like he had been on and off for almost two decades. He recently moved into a small, affordable home with the help of a local support group for unhoused people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I lose my place to live, then I’m going to probably be forced back to being homeless again,” he said, noting that rents here, like elsewhere throughout California, have risen to be “sky high.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Known to the outside world as a sparkling tourist area, South Lake Tahoe is home to the resort staff, bartenders and thousands of others who live and work there, keeping the machinery of the place humming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction workers Jose Mora and Henry Jose Mendoza fled South Lake Tahoe, too, taking shelter at an evacuation center in Carson City, Nevada. Mendoza only had the clothes on his body because they didn’t have time to pack before leaving. The friends were confused whether or not they needed to evacuate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977058\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1977058\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/Image-from-iOS-copy-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jose Mora (right) and Henry Jose Mendoza, both construction workers, fled South Lake Tahoe during the Caldor Fire, taking shelter at an evacuation center in Carson City, Nevada. \u003ccite>(Ezra David Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We were looking at Facebook, and then the news,” said Mora. “We were just waiting. Then we received a call and we [saw] the map and we just started getting whatever we could.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the eve of the evacuation, Donarae Reynolds and her husband bustled around their home in the \u003ca href=\"https://goldenbearha.org/current-conditions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Golden Bear neighborhood just outside South Lake Tahoe\u003c/a>, packing medications, clothes and other essentials into their cars and camper trailer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’d removed unrecoverable family photos from the walls, and stowed their passports, living trust and other important documents in a safety deposit box at the bank. Their neighborhood was ready when the evacuation order came in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We all simply got in our cars and waved to each other and we took off,” Reynolds said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reynolds’ neighborhood was uniquely prepared for this day to come. In 2019, Reynolds and her neighbors held an \u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/news/tahoeland/2019/10/02/climate-change-is-increasing-tahoes-risk-of-wildfire-these-residents-want-to-be-ready/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">evacuation drill to prepare for disasters like the Caldor Fire. \u003c/a>They’ve also held clean-up days and got residents to sign up for emergency alerts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it were a situation where you had no warning and everyone just had to scramble, I think that it would have been a totally different kind of an evacuation,” Reynolds said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neighbors kept up with each other while they were evacuated, trading Ring doorbell camera footage and aerial views of the neighborhood to see if the fire had reached it. The fire spared their homes this time, and they’ve since returned to Golden Bear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1977060\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1977060\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51290_048_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Lake Tahoe Blvd in South Lake Tahoe is mostly empty, after evacuees waited hours to leave the area.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51290_048_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51290_048_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51290_048_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51290_048_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51290_048_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/RS51290_048_Meyers_CaldorFire_08312021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lake Tahoe Blvd in South Lake Tahoe is mostly empty on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021, after evacuees waited hours to leave the area. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch3>A matter of survival\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Back in Tahoe with her home and its two decks still standing, Kocher said she feels fortunate to live in South Lake Tahoe with ample fire prevention and suppression assets, especially when nearby communities don’t have the same resources to stop the flames.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m concerned for those communities,” she said. “It’s a matter of survival unless we get our act together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s easy to blame the fires all on a warming climate, but UC Berkeley fire science professor Scott Stephens said the lack of prevention efforts and the overgrown forests amount to the “vast majority” of the state’s current problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hatchett, with the Desert Research Institute, said that still-rising temperatures, increasingly arid conditions, and other impacts of climate change is like “pouring gas” on wildfires and why “we need climate action now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even climate action, he admits, won’t stop the sheer volume of dead brush and trees in forests from burning or prevent the amount of global warming already baked into the atmosphere. But, yet, he has hope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not going to stop that train,” he admitted, “but we might be able to divert it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Humans May Have Walked the Americas Thousands of Years Earlier Than Once Thought",
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"content": "\u003cp>The question of when humans first migrated to North America has long been a matter of hot debate among researchers who have continually uncovered evidence of ever-earlier dates. Now, analysis of ancient fossilized human footprints in New Mexico has pushed the date back once again — to at least 21,000 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Writing in the journal \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abg7586\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Science\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, a team of researchers led by Matthew Bennett of Bournemouth University in England examined a set of human footprints preserved on an ancient lakeshore in New Mexico’s White Sands National Park, a location now known for its expansive — and dry — chalk-colored dunes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They concluded that the footprints were made between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago. The date would place human habitation in the Americas during the \u003ca href=\"https://www.britannica.com/science/Last-Glacial-Maximum\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Last Glacial Maximum\u003c/a> and at least 5,000 years earlier than widely accepted evidence has yet suggested.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The footprints were mostly made by children and teenagers\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Bennett and his colleagues, whose paper was published Thursday, determined that the tracks belonged to numerous people, mostly children and teenagers. What’s more, the footprints spanned a significant time period, suggesting that humans frequented the area for at least a few thousand years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the beautiful things about footprints is that, unlike stone tools or bones, they can’t be moved up or down the stratigraphy,” Bennett says, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-humans-came-to-americas-180973739/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Science News\u003c/a>, referring to the layers where artifacts and fossils are found. “They’re fixed, and they’re very precise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Normally, rock layers are “\u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02597-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a nightmare\u003c/a>” to date, says Bennett, a professor of environmental and geographical sciences. But he says that two years ago, archaeologist David Bustos, a study co-author, discovered a site where human footprints were co-mingled with a layer of sediment containing seeds from the spiral ditchgrass, an aquatic plant that could be carbon-dated. The results gave an estimate for the footprints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tom Higham, an archaeological scientist and radiocarbon-dating expert at the University of Vienna, who was not part of the study, called the latest findings “extremely exciting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am convinced that these footprints genuinely are of the age claimed,” he said, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02597-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Nature\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The evidence for older dates for migration to the Americas is less solid\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Although previous studies have suggested an even earlier migration of modern humans into North America — including a controversial 2017 paper suggesting that people lived in the Southern California region as long as \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/26/525628056/new-evidence-suggests-humans-arrived-in-the-americas-far-earlier-than-thought\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">130,000 years ago\u003c/a> — those claims have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02597-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">largely discounted\u003c/a> because of the “equivocality of the evidence,” \u003cem>Nature \u003c/em>says\u003cem>. \u003c/em>For instance\u003cem>, \u003c/em>rocks were mistaken for tools, and marks on animal bones thought to be made by humans turned out to have a natural origin, the journal says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For decades, archaeologists have debated when people first arrived in the Americas,” \u003ca href=\"https://news.arizona.edu/story/earliest-evidence-human-activity-found-americas\">says\u003c/a> Vance Holliday, a University of Arizona archaeologist and co-author of the latest paper. “Few archaeologists see reliable evidence for sites older than about 16,000 years. Some think the arrival was later, no more than 13,000 years ago by makers of artifacts called \u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-clovis-point-and-the-discovery-of-americas-first-culture-3825828/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clovis points\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, \u003cem>Nature\u003c/em> published a \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/news/2020/07/were-humans-living-mexican-cave-during-last-ice-age\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">paper\u003c/a> by archaeologists who claimed to have found human artifacts in Mexico’s Chiquihuite Cave dating to at least 26,000 years ago. But many fellow archaeologists were skeptical, pointing to the possibility that what the researchers had identified as stone tools were in fact naturally fractured rocks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ciprian Ardelean, who led the 2020 study at Chiquihuite, readily acknowledges that the discovery by Bennett and his colleagues “is very close to finding the Holy Grail.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel a healthy but profound envy — a good kind of jealousy — towards the team for finding such a thing,” Ardelean told \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/fossil-footprints-challenge-theory-when-people-first-arrived-americas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>National Geographic\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Ancient+Footprints+Suggest+Humans+Lived+In+The+Americas+Earlier+Than+Once+Thought&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A team of scientists dated the footprints along an extinct lake bed in New Mexico and found them to be between 21,000 and 23,000 years old — far older than reliable evidence has suggested to date.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The question of when humans first migrated to North America has long been a matter of hot debate among researchers who have continually uncovered evidence of ever-earlier dates. Now, analysis of ancient fossilized human footprints in New Mexico has pushed the date back once again — to at least 21,000 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Writing in the journal \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abg7586\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Science\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, a team of researchers led by Matthew Bennett of Bournemouth University in England examined a set of human footprints preserved on an ancient lakeshore in New Mexico’s White Sands National Park, a location now known for its expansive — and dry — chalk-colored dunes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They concluded that the footprints were made between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago. The date would place human habitation in the Americas during the \u003ca href=\"https://www.britannica.com/science/Last-Glacial-Maximum\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Last Glacial Maximum\u003c/a> and at least 5,000 years earlier than widely accepted evidence has yet suggested.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The footprints were mostly made by children and teenagers\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Bennett and his colleagues, whose paper was published Thursday, determined that the tracks belonged to numerous people, mostly children and teenagers. What’s more, the footprints spanned a significant time period, suggesting that humans frequented the area for at least a few thousand years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the beautiful things about footprints is that, unlike stone tools or bones, they can’t be moved up or down the stratigraphy,” Bennett says, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-humans-came-to-americas-180973739/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Science News\u003c/a>, referring to the layers where artifacts and fossils are found. “They’re fixed, and they’re very precise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Normally, rock layers are “\u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02597-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a nightmare\u003c/a>” to date, says Bennett, a professor of environmental and geographical sciences. But he says that two years ago, archaeologist David Bustos, a study co-author, discovered a site where human footprints were co-mingled with a layer of sediment containing seeds from the spiral ditchgrass, an aquatic plant that could be carbon-dated. The results gave an estimate for the footprints.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tom Higham, an archaeological scientist and radiocarbon-dating expert at the University of Vienna, who was not part of the study, called the latest findings “extremely exciting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am convinced that these footprints genuinely are of the age claimed,” he said, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02597-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>Nature\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>The evidence for older dates for migration to the Americas is less solid\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Although previous studies have suggested an even earlier migration of modern humans into North America — including a controversial 2017 paper suggesting that people lived in the Southern California region as long as \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/26/525628056/new-evidence-suggests-humans-arrived-in-the-americas-far-earlier-than-thought\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">130,000 years ago\u003c/a> — those claims have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02597-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">largely discounted\u003c/a> because of the “equivocality of the evidence,” \u003cem>Nature \u003c/em>says\u003cem>. \u003c/em>For instance\u003cem>, \u003c/em>rocks were mistaken for tools, and marks on animal bones thought to be made by humans turned out to have a natural origin, the journal says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For decades, archaeologists have debated when people first arrived in the Americas,” \u003ca href=\"https://news.arizona.edu/story/earliest-evidence-human-activity-found-americas\">says\u003c/a> Vance Holliday, a University of Arizona archaeologist and co-author of the latest paper. “Few archaeologists see reliable evidence for sites older than about 16,000 years. Some think the arrival was later, no more than 13,000 years ago by makers of artifacts called \u003ca href=\"https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-clovis-point-and-the-discovery-of-americas-first-culture-3825828/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clovis points\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, \u003cem>Nature\u003c/em> published a \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/news/2020/07/were-humans-living-mexican-cave-during-last-ice-age\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">paper\u003c/a> by archaeologists who claimed to have found human artifacts in Mexico’s Chiquihuite Cave dating to at least 26,000 years ago. But many fellow archaeologists were skeptical, pointing to the possibility that what the researchers had identified as stone tools were in fact naturally fractured rocks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ciprian Ardelean, who led the 2020 study at Chiquihuite, readily acknowledges that the discovery by Bennett and his colleagues “is very close to finding the Holy Grail.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel a healthy but profound envy — a good kind of jealousy — towards the team for finding such a thing,” Ardelean told \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/fossil-footprints-challenge-theory-when-people-first-arrived-americas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cem>National Geographic\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Ancient+Footprints+Suggest+Humans+Lived+In+The+Americas+Earlier+Than+Once+Thought&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>In what officials call a key step to combat climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency is sharply limiting domestic production and use of hydrofluorocarbons, highly potent greenhouse gases commonly used in refrigerators and air conditioners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new rule, which follows through on a law Congress passed last year, is intended to decrease U.S. production and use of HFCs by 85% over the next 15 years, part of a global phaseout designed to slow global warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HFCs are greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide. They often leak through pipes or appliances that use compressed refrigerants and are considered a major driver of global warming. President Joe Biden has pledged to embrace a 2016 global agreement to greatly reduce HFCs by 2036.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy, a former EPA administrator, said the new rule was “a win on climate and a win on jobs and American competitiveness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rule is expected to reduce harmful emissions by the equivalent of 4.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2050, McCarthy said, a total similar to three years of emissions from the U.S. power sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the phasedown is backed by a coalition of industry groups that see it as an opportunity to “supercharge” American leadership on domestic manufacturing and production of alternative refrigerants. The industry has long been shifting to the use of alternative refrigerants and pushed for a federal standard to avoid a patchwork of state laws and regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This action reaffirms what President Biden always says — that when he thinks about climate, he thinks about jobs,” Regan said, echoing a Biden refrain about climate change. Transitioning to safer alternatives and more energy-efficient cooling technologies is expected to generate more than $270 billion in cost savings and public health benefits over the next 30 years, Regan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A pandemic relief and spending bill passed by Congress last December directs the EPA to sharply reduce production and use of HFCs. The measure won wide support and was hailed as the most significant climate change law in at least a decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides targeting HFCs, the American Innovation and Manufacturing, or AIM, Act also promotes technologies to capture and store carbon dioxide produced by power and manufacturing plants and calls for reductions in diesel emissions by buses and other vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who is chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, was an influential backer of the law, along with Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. Both represent states that are home to chemical companies that produce alternative refrigerants and sought regulatory certainty through federal action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The HFC provision was supported by an unusual coalition that included major environmental and business groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers, American Chemistry Council and the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute. The chemistry council represents major companies including Dow, DuPont, Honeywell, Chemours and Arkema.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The administration said it also is taking other steps to ensure reductions in HFCs, including creation of an interagency task force to prevent illegal trade, production, use or sale of the climate-damaging gases. The task force will be led by the Department of Homeland Security, and EPA’s offices of Air and Radiation and Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Working with the departments of Justice, State and Defense, the task force will “detect, deter and disrupt any attempt to illegally import or produce HFCs in the United States,” the White House said in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/09/23/fact-sheet-biden-administration-combats-super-pollutants-and-bolsters-domestic-manufacturing-with-new-programs-and-historic-commitments/\">fact sheet.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joseph Goffman, a top official with EPA’s air and radiation office, said the experience of the European Union shows that enforcement is an important part of an HFC crackdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, (the EU) has experienced a lot of illegal activity” on HFC imports and other issues, Goffman said. “We’re going to be vigorous and proactive” in trying to stop illegal imports, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Biden issued an executive order in January that embraces a 2016 amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol on ozone pollution. That amendment calls for the United States and other large industrialized countries to reduce HFCs by 85% by 2036. The State Department has prepared documents for formal ratification of the amendment, but the White House has not submitted them to the Senate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McCarthy insisted “there is no hold up” on the amendment, but said she did not know when Biden would submit the matter to the Senate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In what officials call a key step to combat climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency is sharply limiting domestic production and use of hydrofluorocarbons, highly potent greenhouse gases commonly used in refrigerators and air conditioners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new rule, which follows through on a law Congress passed last year, is intended to decrease U.S. production and use of HFCs by 85% over the next 15 years, part of a global phaseout designed to slow global warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HFCs are greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide. They often leak through pipes or appliances that use compressed refrigerants and are considered a major driver of global warming. President Joe Biden has pledged to embrace a 2016 global agreement to greatly reduce HFCs by 2036.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy, a former EPA administrator, said the new rule was “a win on climate and a win on jobs and American competitiveness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rule is expected to reduce harmful emissions by the equivalent of 4.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2050, McCarthy said, a total similar to three years of emissions from the U.S. power sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the phasedown is backed by a coalition of industry groups that see it as an opportunity to “supercharge” American leadership on domestic manufacturing and production of alternative refrigerants. The industry has long been shifting to the use of alternative refrigerants and pushed for a federal standard to avoid a patchwork of state laws and regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This action reaffirms what President Biden always says — that when he thinks about climate, he thinks about jobs,” Regan said, echoing a Biden refrain about climate change. Transitioning to safer alternatives and more energy-efficient cooling technologies is expected to generate more than $270 billion in cost savings and public health benefits over the next 30 years, Regan said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A pandemic relief and spending bill passed by Congress last December directs the EPA to sharply reduce production and use of HFCs. The measure won wide support and was hailed as the most significant climate change law in at least a decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides targeting HFCs, the American Innovation and Manufacturing, or AIM, Act also promotes technologies to capture and store carbon dioxide produced by power and manufacturing plants and calls for reductions in diesel emissions by buses and other vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who is chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, was an influential backer of the law, along with Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. Both represent states that are home to chemical companies that produce alternative refrigerants and sought regulatory certainty through federal action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The HFC provision was supported by an unusual coalition that included major environmental and business groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers, American Chemistry Council and the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute. The chemistry council represents major companies including Dow, DuPont, Honeywell, Chemours and Arkema.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The administration said it also is taking other steps to ensure reductions in HFCs, including creation of an interagency task force to prevent illegal trade, production, use or sale of the climate-damaging gases. The task force will be led by the Department of Homeland Security, and EPA’s offices of Air and Radiation and Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Working with the departments of Justice, State and Defense, the task force will “detect, deter and disrupt any attempt to illegally import or produce HFCs in the United States,” the White House said in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/09/23/fact-sheet-biden-administration-combats-super-pollutants-and-bolsters-domestic-manufacturing-with-new-programs-and-historic-commitments/\">fact sheet.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joseph Goffman, a top official with EPA’s air and radiation office, said the experience of the European Union shows that enforcement is an important part of an HFC crackdown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, (the EU) has experienced a lot of illegal activity” on HFC imports and other issues, Goffman said. “We’re going to be vigorous and proactive” in trying to stop illegal imports, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Biden issued an executive order in January that embraces a 2016 amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol on ozone pollution. That amendment calls for the United States and other large industrialized countries to reduce HFCs by 85% by 2036. The State Department has prepared documents for formal ratification of the amendment, but the White House has not submitted them to the Senate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McCarthy insisted “there is no hold up” on the amendment, but said she did not know when Biden would submit the matter to the Senate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Here’s What’s Inside Newsom’s Whopping $15 Billion Climate Spending Plan",
"headTitle": "Here’s What’s Inside Newsom’s Whopping $15 Billion Climate Spending Plan | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a $15 billion climate package Thursday, as he stood in a cloud of wildfire smoke during a visit to the KNP Complex fires burning in Sequoia National Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With a backdrop of 1,000-year-old sequoia trees that nearly burned in recent days, and a park entrance sign wrapped in fire-protecting foil, the governor outlined the details of the largest climate investment in state history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our kids are going to inherit a world with 8-degree higher temperatures than they have today,” he said. “That’s the track we’re on. That’s the inheritance we’re leaving to our kids, unless we do something radically different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/NATION-LEADING-15B-CLIMATE-PACKAGE.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">multiyear package\u003c/a> is one of the final pieces of California’s record-high state budget, which Newsom signed with great fanfare in July, after agreeing to ongoing summer negotiations with lawmakers to refine the state’s spending plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Summer temperatures in California have already risen by an average of 3 degrees Fahrenheit, and that heat is baking the state’s forests, which are overgrown with fuel from decades of aggressive fire suppression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change is a\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1944993/study-climate-change-a-leading-driver-of-californias-wildfires\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> lead driver\u003c/a> of more frequent and ferocious summer forest fires in California, especially in the Sierra Nevada and the state’s North Coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Traditions, lifestyle, people, places wiped off the map,” said Newsom, whose package carves out more than $1.5 billion for wildfire response. “That’s what climate is about, this pollution blanket we put up in the air. Question is, will these trees survive us?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Responding to the worst drought in a generation\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Another impact of warming: a diminishing rainy season in California, with the state now experiencing longer dry periods, leaving it forced to increasingly depend on big, soaking atmospheric rivers to make up the difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"climate-change\"]About $5.2 billion — roughly a third of the package — will be spent on immediate drought relief and water measures, including money for projects to boost water recycling, reduce flooding risks, and clean up contaminated groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, state water officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1976840/alarm-bells-as-drought-worsens-and-californians-come-up-short-on-water-conservation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rang alarm bells\u003c/a> about a possible third year of drought, warning water providers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that they might not receive any allocations next year. Nearly 90% of the state is currently in category of “extreme drought” or worse, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">latest U.S. Drought Monitor\u003c/a> data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians reduced their home water use by less than 2% in July, compared to the same time last year, even after Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/07/california-water-use-drought/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">urged residents to conserve 15%\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of the new climate plan, the state will spend $815 million to help secure what little water is left in reservoirs and fund contingency planning initiatives for smaller communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Preventing megafires\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The plan also \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-science-business-california-gavin-newsom-f867c179fa49f32c0ed7098e98e33aeb\">earmarks about $1 billion\u003c/a> in new spending for fire breaks, tree thinning, and other measures meant to prevent fires from burning out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not going to respond our way out of this wildfire crisis,” said California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot during a morning video call with reporters in advance of Newsom’s signing event. “Expanding our upfront, proactive actions is essential to address the wildfire risks we now face.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That package includes $19 million for the state to work with tribes on prescribed burns, up from just $1 million last year, and training for firefighters. The state also plans to invest in micro-lumber mills and other businesses that reuse old wood from overgrown forests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forest thinning is expensive, and the market is slim for the wood that comes from removed trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This summer’s Dixie and Caldor fires were the first two wildfires on record to burn over the crest of the Sierra Nevada, a remarkable feat given that forests at high elevations are usually too saturated from heavy winter snow to burn out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crowfoot commended South Lake Tahoe officials for conducting years of proactive fuel treatments, a move he said that helped save the city of 22,000 people from being consumed by the Caldor Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The climate plan also directs $3.9 billion over the next three years to expand use of electric vehicles in the state, in accordance with \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/03/cars/california-2035-zev-mandate/index.html\">Newsom’s mandate\u003c/a> that only zero-emission new passenger cars and trucks be sold in California by 2035. That pot includes funding for new consumer rebates, the production of thousands of buses and heavy-duty trucks, and incentives for low-income Californians to trade in their gas cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California will also spend $3.7 billion to prepare communities to deal with sea level rise, fund energy-efficient homes, and invest in low-income communities and communities of color, with the goal of improving air quality and reducing heat disparities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists were quick to cheer the state’s latest climate spending plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This decade is really the most consequential for the future of our planet,” said Jason Barbose, a policy manager for the Union of Concerned Scientists. “We need to be spending billions to address climate change. This budget is an important down payment for that.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a $15 billion climate package Thursday, as he stood in a cloud of wildfire smoke during a visit to the KNP Complex fires burning in Sequoia National Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With a backdrop of 1,000-year-old sequoia trees that nearly burned in recent days, and a park entrance sign wrapped in fire-protecting foil, the governor outlined the details of the largest climate investment in state history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our kids are going to inherit a world with 8-degree higher temperatures than they have today,” he said. “That’s the track we’re on. That’s the inheritance we’re leaving to our kids, unless we do something radically different.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca class=\"c-link\" href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/NATION-LEADING-15B-CLIMATE-PACKAGE.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">multiyear package\u003c/a> is one of the final pieces of California’s record-high state budget, which Newsom signed with great fanfare in July, after agreeing to ongoing summer negotiations with lawmakers to refine the state’s spending plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Summer temperatures in California have already risen by an average of 3 degrees Fahrenheit, and that heat is baking the state’s forests, which are overgrown with fuel from decades of aggressive fire suppression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Climate change is a\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1944993/study-climate-change-a-leading-driver-of-californias-wildfires\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> lead driver\u003c/a> of more frequent and ferocious summer forest fires in California, especially in the Sierra Nevada and the state’s North Coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Traditions, lifestyle, people, places wiped off the map,” said Newsom, whose package carves out more than $1.5 billion for wildfire response. “That’s what climate is about, this pollution blanket we put up in the air. Question is, will these trees survive us?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Responding to the worst drought in a generation\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Another impact of warming: a diminishing rainy season in California, with the state now experiencing longer dry periods, leaving it forced to increasingly depend on big, soaking atmospheric rivers to make up the difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>About $5.2 billion — roughly a third of the package — will be spent on immediate drought relief and water measures, including money for projects to boost water recycling, reduce flooding risks, and clean up contaminated groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, state water officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1976840/alarm-bells-as-drought-worsens-and-californians-come-up-short-on-water-conservation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rang alarm bells\u003c/a> about a possible third year of drought, warning water providers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta that they might not receive any allocations next year. Nearly 90% of the state is currently in category of “extreme drought” or worse, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">latest U.S. Drought Monitor\u003c/a> data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians reduced their home water use by less than 2% in July, compared to the same time last year, even after Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/07/california-water-use-drought/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">urged residents to conserve 15%\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of the new climate plan, the state will spend $815 million to help secure what little water is left in reservoirs and fund contingency planning initiatives for smaller communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Preventing megafires\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The plan also \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-science-business-california-gavin-newsom-f867c179fa49f32c0ed7098e98e33aeb\">earmarks about $1 billion\u003c/a> in new spending for fire breaks, tree thinning, and other measures meant to prevent fires from burning out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not going to respond our way out of this wildfire crisis,” said California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot during a morning video call with reporters in advance of Newsom’s signing event. “Expanding our upfront, proactive actions is essential to address the wildfire risks we now face.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That package includes $19 million for the state to work with tribes on prescribed burns, up from just $1 million last year, and training for firefighters. The state also plans to invest in micro-lumber mills and other businesses that reuse old wood from overgrown forests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forest thinning is expensive, and the market is slim for the wood that comes from removed trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This summer’s Dixie and Caldor fires were the first two wildfires on record to burn over the crest of the Sierra Nevada, a remarkable feat given that forests at high elevations are usually too saturated from heavy winter snow to burn out of control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Crowfoot commended South Lake Tahoe officials for conducting years of proactive fuel treatments, a move he said that helped save the city of 22,000 people from being consumed by the Caldor Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The climate plan also directs $3.9 billion over the next three years to expand use of electric vehicles in the state, in accordance with \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/03/cars/california-2035-zev-mandate/index.html\">Newsom’s mandate\u003c/a> that only zero-emission new passenger cars and trucks be sold in California by 2035. That pot includes funding for new consumer rebates, the production of thousands of buses and heavy-duty trucks, and incentives for low-income Californians to trade in their gas cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California will also spend $3.7 billion to prepare communities to deal with sea level rise, fund energy-efficient homes, and invest in low-income communities and communities of color, with the goal of improving air quality and reducing heat disparities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmentalists were quick to cheer the state’s latest climate spending plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This decade is really the most consequential for the future of our planet,” said Jason Barbose, a policy manager for the Union of Concerned Scientists. “We need to be spending billions to address climate change. This budget is an important down payment for that.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Water Officials Ring Alarm Bells as Californians Come up Short on Conservation Goals",
"headTitle": "Water Officials Ring Alarm Bells as Californians Come up Short on Conservation Goals | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Californians reduced their water use at home by a meager 1.8% statewide in July compared to last year, even after Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/07/california-water-use-drought/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">urged residents to conserve 15%\u003c/a> and drought continues to spread across the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials today warned water providers south of the Delta who rely on state water allocations — already \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2021/March-21/SWP-Allocation-Update-March-23\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">slashed to 5% this year\u003c/a> — to brace for the possibility of zero supply next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Water Resources also cautioned that next year’s cuts in supply could expand to growers and others known as \u003ca href=\"https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R45342.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">settlement contractors\u003c/a>, whose claims to the water predate California’s massive systems of reservoirs, aqueducts and canals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Californians always have hope, and that’s healthy. But we need to be prudent,” \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Executive-Bios-Director\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Karla Nemeth\u003c/a>, director of the state Department of Water Resources, said in an interview. “We’re doing more conservative planning than we’ve ever done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drought conditions deemed extreme or worse now cover \u003ca href=\"https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">nearly 90% of the state\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://mydrywell.water.ca.gov/report/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hundreds\u003c/a> of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/08/california-groundwater-dry/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">domestic wells are running dry\u003c/a>, and levels in major reservoirs have \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/resapp/RescondMain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dropped drastically\u003c/a> below historic averages — which bodes ill for supplies next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The challenge is there is no water,” Nemeth said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re planning for the worst, but we are hoping for something better,” Nemeth added at today’s meeting of the State Water Resources Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 id=\"h-who-s-conserving-and-who-s-not\">Who’s conserving and who’s not?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In early July, Newsom urged Californians to voluntarily \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/07/california-water-use-drought/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cut domestic water use\u003c/a> by 15%, but in the absence of a statewide mandate, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/06/california-water-shortage/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a patchwork of restrictions\u003c/a> has emerged. The result: Californians used about 191.5 billion acre feet of water in their homes, businesses and other industrial or institutional spaces in July, only 1.8% less than a year earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not here to say 1.8 is a good number,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/about_us/board_members/\">Joaquin Esquivel\u003c/a>, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, at a Monday press briefing. “We’re going to have to continue to dig in deeper and look forward to seeing what the numbers show then in August.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked when to expect statewide conservation orders, Esquivel said that for now, the board is reflecting on the data. “We need to continue to see that response and decision-making, and the state’s here to make sure that if we need to go mandatory, that’s where we’re going.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest drops in household water use were along \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/04/governor-drought-emergency-in-northwestern-counties/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the hard-hit North Coast\u003c/a>, with a nearly 17% reduction in July 2021 compared with July 2020. The Sonoma County city of Healdsburg led the state by cutting its water use by more than half, and Cloverdale, which reduced its use by 37%. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cloverdale.net/263/Water-Conservation-Drought-Information\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Both\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://ci.healdsburg.ca.us/595/Mandatory-Water-Use-Restrictions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cities\u003c/a> enacted mandatory water use restrictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water use in the South Coast region, which includes Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Ventura counties, was roughly even with last summer, down 0.1%. However, about 40% of water suppliers in the area actually used more water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest increases came in El Segundo, up 31%; the Mission Viejo-Laguna Niguel area, up 15%; and the cities of Downey and Poway and Ventura County’s Casitas district, up 14%. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the city of San Diego used about 1% more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Bay Area residents cut their water use by 8.4%. Northern and southern San Joaquin Valley residents reduced use by 0.8% and 1.6%, respectively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statewide calculation doesn’t include two suppliers — the city of Exeter in Tulare County and the Desert Water Agency in the Coachella Valley — that had unexpectedly high water use. “Their percent increase was higher than reasonable and my attempts to confirm both 2020 and 2021 numbers received no reply,” said water board data specialist Marielle Pinheiro.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 id=\"h-a-squeeze-south-of-the-delta\">A squeeze south of the Delta\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Officials warned that major cuts could come for irrigation districts, cities and other water users south of the Delta relying on supplies from \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Programs/State-Water-Project\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the State Water Project\u003c/a>, which provides water to 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this point, Nemeth said there’s “a slim likelihood” of supplies for these water systems, which includes the giant Metropolitan Water District, which provides imported water to 19 million people in Southern California. Worst-case scenario, she said, “we’ve asked them to plan for no allocation from the State Water Project.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those suppliers, \u003ca href=\"https://swc.org/about-us/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">including in\u003c/a> the Bay Area, Southern California, the Central Coast and the San Joaquin Valley, have seen steep cuts before, \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/State-Water-Project/Management/SWP-Water-Contractors/Files/1996-2021_Allocation_Progression_073021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">during the last drought in 2014\u003c/a>. But this time is worse: Even a wet year is unlikely to bring relief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re starting with record low (reservoir) storage,” Nemeth said. “We would have to have north of 140% of (average) precipitation to generate average runoff into the reservoirs that would begin filling that hole.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://swc.org/about-us/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jennifer Pierre\u003c/a>, general manager of the State Water Contractors, an association of public water agencies, said “a 0% allocation next year would be extremely challenging.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even landowners, irrigation districts and others with rights to water that predate state and federal water projects could see their water supplies squeezed next year, Nemeth said. These water users agreed in contracts decades ago to limit their water rights \u003ca href=\"https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R45342.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">to allow construction of the massive projects\u003c/a>, which transferred water south. Their allocations aren’t cut to the same extent as more junior contractors, such as the Metropolitan Water District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With hydrology this bad, everything’s on the table that we could cut them even deeper — even deeper than their contracts allow for,” Nemeth said. “I don’t think we get out of next year without a lawsuit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already this summer, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2021/09/california-unemployment-benefits/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Central Valley irrigation districts\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://publicportal.fresno.courts.ca.gov/FRESNOPORTAL/DocumentViewer/Index/a4PzH-nAeLJkPn3JatbHpRwpmBKyoyQ3nqvk_cTElYkU2YHl4mBBbqIYF93RN5ksi9nykFqbd3_9chkNe-a9LScfPMDB1jwuPk7jc5m9su_be4Oid-LP4YXxczvTqaUR0?p=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the city of San Francisco have sued\u003c/a> the state over moves to stop them from diverting \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/drought-2021/2021/08/california-water-shortage-delta-pumping/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">water from rivers and streams.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and federal project operators have come under fire \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/experts/doug-obegi/whos-getting-unreasonable-water-allocations-ca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">from environmental advocates\u003c/a> for supplying \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drought/tucp/docs/2021/20210601_swb_tuco.pdf\">hundreds of thousands of acre feet\u003c/a> to these senior contractors, while \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/compliance_monitoring/sacramento_sanjoaquin/docs/2021/20210430_swbltr_bdcompliance.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">failing to meet water quality \u003c/a>and \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/drought/sacramento_river/docs/2021/notice_of_tmp_deviation.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">temperature standards\u003c/a> and cutting allocations to more-junior \u003ca href=\"https://mavensnotebook.com/2021/05/26/this-just-in-reclamation-updates-central-valley-project-2021-water-supply-2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">agricultural contractors\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2021/March-21/SWP-Allocation-Update-March-23\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cities\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Feather River Contractors, for instance, were allocated the lowest levels allowed in their contracts, but still were expected to receive nearly 600,000 acre feet of water, according \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drought/tucp/docs/2021/20210601_swb_tuco.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">to the Department of Water Resources \u003c/a>— enough water to \u003ca href=\"https://www.watereducation.org/western-water/water-stressed-california-and-southwest-acre-foot-water-goes-lot-further-it-used\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">supply 1.8 million Southern California households\u003c/a> for a year. That’s about three times more water than long-term State Water Project contractors, including the giant Metropolitan Water District, were provided.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/Drought\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California’s drought conditions\u003c/a> and warming temperatures are \u003ca href=\"https://californiawaterblog.com/2021/06/27/drought-makes-conditions-worse-for-californias-declining-native-fishes/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">threatening salmon and other rare fish\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For \u003ca href=\"https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/endangered-species-conservation/sacramento-river-winter-run-chinook-salmon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">endangered Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon\u003c/a>, “we’ve modeled the temperature dependent mortality at about 80% this year, meaning only 20% even survive to make it out of the gravel,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/contact/barry-thom\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Barry Thom\u003c/a>, West Coast regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries, told the water board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/experts/doug-obegi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Doug Obegi\u003c/a>, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, urged the board on Tuesday to require state and federal water project operators to cut supplies to settlement contractors to protect fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If supplies aren’t reduced, “you’re going to have even worse temperature mortality of salmon next year,” Obegi told CalMatters. “You start with less water, and you have less at the end of the year, you’re going to have a lot more dead fish. It’s grim.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nemeth said she issued the early warning to prepare growers dependent on senior contracts well in advance of making planting decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, early planting by growers “really limited the amount of decisions we thought we could make without causing real economic damage,” Nemeth said. This year, “We want to alert them sooner that it could be worse than they’ve experienced before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://calmatters.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CalMatters.org\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Officials warn that next year’s cuts in water supply could go even deeper as severe drought grips nearly 90% of California. Residents of the North Coast and Bay Area conserved more than Southern Californians did.",
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"description": "Officials warn that next year’s cuts in water supply could go even deeper as severe drought grips nearly 90% of California. Residents of the North Coast and Bay Area conserved more than Southern Californians did.",
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"headline": "Water Officials Ring Alarm Bells as Californians Come up Short on Conservation Goals",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Californians reduced their water use at home by a meager 1.8% statewide in July compared to last year, even after Gov. Gavin Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/07/california-water-use-drought/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">urged residents to conserve 15%\u003c/a> and drought continues to spread across the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials today warned water providers south of the Delta who rely on state water allocations — already \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2021/March-21/SWP-Allocation-Update-March-23\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">slashed to 5% this year\u003c/a> — to brace for the possibility of zero supply next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Water Resources also cautioned that next year’s cuts in supply could expand to growers and others known as \u003ca href=\"https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R45342.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">settlement contractors\u003c/a>, whose claims to the water predate California’s massive systems of reservoirs, aqueducts and canals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Californians always have hope, and that’s healthy. But we need to be prudent,” \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Executive-Bios-Director\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Karla Nemeth\u003c/a>, director of the state Department of Water Resources, said in an interview. “We’re doing more conservative planning than we’ve ever done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drought conditions deemed extreme or worse now cover \u003ca href=\"https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">nearly 90% of the state\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://mydrywell.water.ca.gov/report/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hundreds\u003c/a> of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/08/california-groundwater-dry/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">domestic wells are running dry\u003c/a>, and levels in major reservoirs have \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/resapp/RescondMain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dropped drastically\u003c/a> below historic averages — which bodes ill for supplies next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The challenge is there is no water,” Nemeth said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re planning for the worst, but we are hoping for something better,” Nemeth added at today’s meeting of the State Water Resources Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 id=\"h-who-s-conserving-and-who-s-not\">Who’s conserving and who’s not?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>In early July, Newsom urged Californians to voluntarily \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/07/california-water-use-drought/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cut domestic water use\u003c/a> by 15%, but in the absence of a statewide mandate, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/06/california-water-shortage/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a patchwork of restrictions\u003c/a> has emerged. The result: Californians used about 191.5 billion acre feet of water in their homes, businesses and other industrial or institutional spaces in July, only 1.8% less than a year earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not here to say 1.8 is a good number,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/about_us/board_members/\">Joaquin Esquivel\u003c/a>, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, at a Monday press briefing. “We’re going to have to continue to dig in deeper and look forward to seeing what the numbers show then in August.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked when to expect statewide conservation orders, Esquivel said that for now, the board is reflecting on the data. “We need to continue to see that response and decision-making, and the state’s here to make sure that if we need to go mandatory, that’s where we’re going.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest drops in household water use were along \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/04/governor-drought-emergency-in-northwestern-counties/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the hard-hit North Coast\u003c/a>, with a nearly 17% reduction in July 2021 compared with July 2020. The Sonoma County city of Healdsburg led the state by cutting its water use by more than half, and Cloverdale, which reduced its use by 37%. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cloverdale.net/263/Water-Conservation-Drought-Information\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Both\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://ci.healdsburg.ca.us/595/Mandatory-Water-Use-Restrictions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cities\u003c/a> enacted mandatory water use restrictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water use in the South Coast region, which includes Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Ventura counties, was roughly even with last summer, down 0.1%. However, about 40% of water suppliers in the area actually used more water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The biggest increases came in El Segundo, up 31%; the Mission Viejo-Laguna Niguel area, up 15%; and the cities of Downey and Poway and Ventura County’s Casitas district, up 14%. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the city of San Diego used about 1% more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Bay Area residents cut their water use by 8.4%. Northern and southern San Joaquin Valley residents reduced use by 0.8% and 1.6%, respectively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The statewide calculation doesn’t include two suppliers — the city of Exeter in Tulare County and the Desert Water Agency in the Coachella Valley — that had unexpectedly high water use. “Their percent increase was higher than reasonable and my attempts to confirm both 2020 and 2021 numbers received no reply,” said water board data specialist Marielle Pinheiro.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3 id=\"h-a-squeeze-south-of-the-delta\">A squeeze south of the Delta\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Officials warned that major cuts could come for irrigation districts, cities and other water users south of the Delta relying on supplies from \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Programs/State-Water-Project\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the State Water Project\u003c/a>, which provides water to 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this point, Nemeth said there’s “a slim likelihood” of supplies for these water systems, which includes the giant Metropolitan Water District, which provides imported water to 19 million people in Southern California. Worst-case scenario, she said, “we’ve asked them to plan for no allocation from the State Water Project.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those suppliers, \u003ca href=\"https://swc.org/about-us/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">including in\u003c/a> the Bay Area, Southern California, the Central Coast and the San Joaquin Valley, have seen steep cuts before, \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/State-Water-Project/Management/SWP-Water-Contractors/Files/1996-2021_Allocation_Progression_073021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">during the last drought in 2014\u003c/a>. But this time is worse: Even a wet year is unlikely to bring relief.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re starting with record low (reservoir) storage,” Nemeth said. “We would have to have north of 140% of (average) precipitation to generate average runoff into the reservoirs that would begin filling that hole.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://swc.org/about-us/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jennifer Pierre\u003c/a>, general manager of the State Water Contractors, an association of public water agencies, said “a 0% allocation next year would be extremely challenging.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even landowners, irrigation districts and others with rights to water that predate state and federal water projects could see their water supplies squeezed next year, Nemeth said. These water users agreed in contracts decades ago to limit their water rights \u003ca href=\"https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R45342.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">to allow construction of the massive projects\u003c/a>, which transferred water south. Their allocations aren’t cut to the same extent as more junior contractors, such as the Metropolitan Water District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With hydrology this bad, everything’s on the table that we could cut them even deeper — even deeper than their contracts allow for,” Nemeth said. “I don’t think we get out of next year without a lawsuit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Already this summer, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2021/09/california-unemployment-benefits/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Central Valley irrigation districts\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://publicportal.fresno.courts.ca.gov/FRESNOPORTAL/DocumentViewer/Index/a4PzH-nAeLJkPn3JatbHpRwpmBKyoyQ3nqvk_cTElYkU2YHl4mBBbqIYF93RN5ksi9nykFqbd3_9chkNe-a9LScfPMDB1jwuPk7jc5m9su_be4Oid-LP4YXxczvTqaUR0?p=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the city of San Francisco have sued\u003c/a> the state over moves to stop them from diverting \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/drought-2021/2021/08/california-water-shortage-delta-pumping/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">water from rivers and streams.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and federal project operators have come under fire \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/experts/doug-obegi/whos-getting-unreasonable-water-allocations-ca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">from environmental advocates\u003c/a> for supplying \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drought/tucp/docs/2021/20210601_swb_tuco.pdf\">hundreds of thousands of acre feet\u003c/a> to these senior contractors, while \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/compliance_monitoring/sacramento_sanjoaquin/docs/2021/20210430_swbltr_bdcompliance.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">failing to meet water quality \u003c/a>and \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/drought/sacramento_river/docs/2021/notice_of_tmp_deviation.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">temperature standards\u003c/a> and cutting allocations to more-junior \u003ca href=\"https://mavensnotebook.com/2021/05/26/this-just-in-reclamation-updates-central-valley-project-2021-water-supply-2/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">agricultural contractors\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/News-Releases/2021/March-21/SWP-Allocation-Update-March-23\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cities\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Feather River Contractors, for instance, were allocated the lowest levels allowed in their contracts, but still were expected to receive nearly 600,000 acre feet of water, according \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drought/tucp/docs/2021/20210601_swb_tuco.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">to the Department of Water Resources \u003c/a>— enough water to \u003ca href=\"https://www.watereducation.org/western-water/water-stressed-california-and-southwest-acre-foot-water-goes-lot-further-it-used\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">supply 1.8 million Southern California households\u003c/a> for a year. That’s about three times more water than long-term State Water Project contractors, including the giant Metropolitan Water District, were provided.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/Drought\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California’s drought conditions\u003c/a> and warming temperatures are \u003ca href=\"https://californiawaterblog.com/2021/06/27/drought-makes-conditions-worse-for-californias-declining-native-fishes/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">threatening salmon and other rare fish\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For \u003ca href=\"https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/endangered-species-conservation/sacramento-river-winter-run-chinook-salmon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">endangered Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon\u003c/a>, “we’ve modeled the temperature dependent mortality at about 80% this year, meaning only 20% even survive to make it out of the gravel,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/contact/barry-thom\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Barry Thom\u003c/a>, West Coast regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries, told the water board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nrdc.org/experts/doug-obegi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Doug Obegi\u003c/a>, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, urged the board on Tuesday to require state and federal water project operators to cut supplies to settlement contractors to protect fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If supplies aren’t reduced, “you’re going to have even worse temperature mortality of salmon next year,” Obegi told CalMatters. “You start with less water, and you have less at the end of the year, you’re going to have a lot more dead fish. It’s grim.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nemeth said she issued the early warning to prepare growers dependent on senior contracts well in advance of making planting decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, early planting by growers “really limited the amount of decisions we thought we could make without causing real economic damage,” Nemeth said. This year, “We want to alert them sooner that it could be worse than they’ve experienced before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]Most damselflies prefer sunny spots, but the quirky San Francisco forktail damselfly digs the fogginess of its hometown. When they hook up, they do it in style — linking their delicate bodies in a heart shape, then flying tandem for an hour or more after.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>TRANSCRIPT\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s a classic summer day in San Francisco — foggy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But for the quirky San Francisco forktail damselfly, the weather is perfect for finding love. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Damselflies are dragonfly cousins. They’re both odonates, a group of flying insects. When they’re at rest, most damselflies neatly fold their wings back, while dragonflies keep theirs outstretched.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote]\u003cbr>\nADDITIONAL RESOURCES\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Rare-forktail-damselflies-introduced-at-9973051.php\">Read more\u003c/a> about how the Presidio Trust is working with the San Francisco Zoo in their attempt to reestablish the San Francisco forktail damselfly in its hometown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Find out more about the damselfly’s fascinating life cycle \u003ca href=\"http://lifeinfreshwater.net/damselfly-nymphs-odonata-zygoptera/\">here\u003c/a>.[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Male San Francisco forktail damselflies aren’t afraid to show some flair — they’re decked out in turquoise. Young females sport a soft pink. Down in the reeds, the courtship begins. The male flies up to the female. He then uses claspers at the end of his blue body to hold the female just behind her head.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In what looks like an advanced yoga pose, the female curves her entire body forward. She hooks the tip of her abdomen to his midsection. The male leaves nothing to chance. Inside her body, he carefully scrapes out the sperm from any previous partners. Then he deposits his own. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When the mating is over, the pair stays connected, sometimes for more than an hour. This keeps the other males at bay, and gives time for only his sperm to fertilize her eggs. When the female’s ready to lay her eggs, the pair moves close to the water. She slices tiny openings into these reeds with her ovipositor, a tube-shaped organ for laying eggs. She tucks them just under the plant’s surface — one at a time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A couple of weeks later, the eggs hatch into voracious nymphs called naiads. They’ll spend a few months like this in the water. Naiads breathe through caudal gills, these leafy things on their backside. Just like these dragonfly naiads, they’ll climb out of the water, shed their exoskeleton, and eventually fly off. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are thousands of species of damselflies, but the San Francisco forktail is special — it’s one of just a few that thrive in a foggy, coastal climate. Researchers think their darker, more robust bodies may better absorb heat and help them stay warm in cool places. But a warming world is diminishing the fog that blankets this city. Plus, the wetlands they lay their eggs in are disappearing. San Francisco forktail damselflies are now one of the rarest species of odonates in North America.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So researchers from the San Francisco Zoo are stepping in. They’ve figured out how to breed the San Francisco forktail in captivity, and are releasing and monitoring their populations. The number of these insects in the wild is increasing. But will their efforts be enough? It’s too early to tell. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Francisco has long been home to dreamers, misfits, lovers. The work of these scientists is not just for biodiversity — it’s an attempt to save another colorful resident that calls this City by the Bay its home.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Male San Francisco forktail damselflies aren’t afraid to show some flair — they’re decked out in turquoise. Young females sport a soft pink. Down in the reeds, the courtship begins. The male flies up to the female. He then uses claspers at the end of his blue body to hold the female just behind her head.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In what looks like an advanced yoga pose, the female curves her entire body forward. She hooks the tip of her abdomen to his midsection. The male leaves nothing to chance. Inside her body, he carefully scrapes out the sperm from any previous partners. Then he deposits his own. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When the mating is over, the pair stays connected, sometimes for more than an hour. This keeps the other males at bay, and gives time for only his sperm to fertilize her eggs. When the female’s ready to lay her eggs, the pair moves close to the water. She slices tiny openings into these reeds with her ovipositor, a tube-shaped organ for laying eggs. She tucks them just under the plant’s surface — one at a time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A couple of weeks later, the eggs hatch into voracious nymphs called naiads. They’ll spend a few months like this in the water. Naiads breathe through caudal gills, these leafy things on their backside. Just like these dragonfly naiads, they’ll climb out of the water, shed their exoskeleton, and eventually fly off. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are thousands of species of damselflies, but the San Francisco forktail is special — it’s one of just a few that thrive in a foggy, coastal climate. Researchers think their darker, more robust bodies may better absorb heat and help them stay warm in cool places. But a warming world is diminishing the fog that blankets this city. Plus, the wetlands they lay their eggs in are disappearing. San Francisco forktail damselflies are now one of the rarest species of odonates in North America.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So researchers from the San Francisco Zoo are stepping in. They’ve figured out how to breed the San Francisco forktail in captivity, and are releasing and monitoring their populations. The number of these insects in the wild is increasing. But will their efforts be enough? It’s too early to tell. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">San Francisco has long been home to dreamers, misfits, lovers. The work of these scientists is not just for biodiversity — it’s an attempt to save another colorful resident that calls this City by the Bay its home.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Firefighters From Mexico Battle California Fires, One After the Other",
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"content": "\u003cp>When a big wildfire sweeps through a rugged corner of California, fire crews come from all over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the incident command center for the Caldor Fire in South Lake Tahoe, red engines emblazoned with the seals of municipal fire departments across California, as well as green Forest Service engines with license plates from other states, sit side by side.\u003cbr>\nBut some of the firefighters who have come from farthest away are migrant workers from Mexico, hired by private contractors and working these dangerous jobs on temporary work visas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodrigo Rangel Aguilar is working his third year as a wildland firefighter for Franco’s Fire Service outside Salem, Oregon. His crew spent 28 days on the Dixie Fire, got two days off, then headed out to the Caldor Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s 25 years old, from a small town in Morelia, and the second youngest of seven siblings. Three of his brothers also are working as firefighters in the U.S. Two are heading to the Caldor Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know exactly which crew, but they’re … arriving soon,” he said in Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Depending on where they’re assigned on the sprawling fire, he plans on tracking them down. Otherwise, he’ll see them back in his hometown in Morelia, a ranchito of only 800 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The work there is mostly in the fields, growing corn, avocados, sawmills,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Entry-level contract firefighters on hand crews typically make about $15-$16 per hour, plus lots of overtime. Hand crews do the hard work of containment, hiking the steep hillsides to cut fire lines with hoses and Pulaski axes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lounging on a tailgate next to Aguilar was Casimiro Calvario Dominguez, who’s working his first season as a firefighter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The work in Mexico is harder and pays less,” he said. “I’m not saying we make money sitting around here. We’re working, but it’s more relaxed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calvario Dominguez used a choice Mexican curse word to sum up his dilemma: Leave his family to earn wages paid in dollars so he can provide for them, or stay and work himself into the ground while still earning too little to feed them. Firefighting is tough, he said, but the dollars he makes here support four kids, a wife and his parents.\u003cbr>\nDespite the risks, he’s grateful for the steady work. So far, he’s been able to stay safe, healthy and ready to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the nature of fighting a major wildfire. People converge from all over the continent to engage in perilous labor: contractors, pilots and thousands of workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the crew’s bosses, Manuel Carrillo, is from Porterville, in the Central Valley, and he had to brush up on his Spanish to communicate with the 20 men who work for him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My crew is very strong, passionate — very good men, hard workers,” he said. “They’ve taught me a lot, how to work hard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the boss on the ground, his responsibility is to keep his crew members safe. That was hard in Greenville, when the Dixie Fire blasted through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m always looking out for them as they’re working, looking up above for trees, buildings and dangerous things that could explode, like propane tanks,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The risks his crew had to take and the losses that the town of Greenville suffered stick with him. Firefighters, no matter what their citizenship, should be paid more for the risks they take to defend homes, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s exhausting. You’re dirty, sweaty — grease, oils, smoke. You got to keep your mental coolness, and direct the crew in the right path and make sure we’re all going home to our families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carrillo is half Mexican American, half Native American from the Santa Inez band of Chumash Indians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I’ve been told is that I’m Mother Earth’s protector. I’m helping calm these fires down, stop them from burning our lands,” he said, adding that his company does forest restoration work in the winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We help build these forests all over again, from the ground up until these trees are hundreds of feet tall.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He relishes not only the adventure of firefighting, but also his role as protector of the wildlands. While his job is to save homes, those same dwellings are encroaching on the land that he loves, and that his crew members have come to appreciate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having these cities in the heart of these forests. That’s where it hurts, because we see animals, once in a while we’ll run into them, burned alive,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everyone on his crew is curious to see which will end sooner, their work visas or this ferocious fire season.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Some of the firefighting crews in Northern California who have come from farthest away are migrants from Mexico, hired by private contractors and working on temporary work visas.",
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"description": "Some of the firefighting crews in Northern California who have come from farthest away are migrants from Mexico, hired by private contractors and working on temporary work visas.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When a big wildfire sweeps through a rugged corner of California, fire crews come from all over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the incident command center for the Caldor Fire in South Lake Tahoe, red engines emblazoned with the seals of municipal fire departments across California, as well as green Forest Service engines with license plates from other states, sit side by side.\u003cbr>\nBut some of the firefighters who have come from farthest away are migrant workers from Mexico, hired by private contractors and working these dangerous jobs on temporary work visas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodrigo Rangel Aguilar is working his third year as a wildland firefighter for Franco’s Fire Service outside Salem, Oregon. His crew spent 28 days on the Dixie Fire, got two days off, then headed out to the Caldor Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s 25 years old, from a small town in Morelia, and the second youngest of seven siblings. Three of his brothers also are working as firefighters in the U.S. Two are heading to the Caldor Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know exactly which crew, but they’re … arriving soon,” he said in Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Depending on where they’re assigned on the sprawling fire, he plans on tracking them down. Otherwise, he’ll see them back in his hometown in Morelia, a ranchito of only 800 people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The work there is mostly in the fields, growing corn, avocados, sawmills,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Entry-level contract firefighters on hand crews typically make about $15-$16 per hour, plus lots of overtime. Hand crews do the hard work of containment, hiking the steep hillsides to cut fire lines with hoses and Pulaski axes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lounging on a tailgate next to Aguilar was Casimiro Calvario Dominguez, who’s working his first season as a firefighter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The work in Mexico is harder and pays less,” he said. “I’m not saying we make money sitting around here. We’re working, but it’s more relaxed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calvario Dominguez used a choice Mexican curse word to sum up his dilemma: Leave his family to earn wages paid in dollars so he can provide for them, or stay and work himself into the ground while still earning too little to feed them. Firefighting is tough, he said, but the dollars he makes here support four kids, a wife and his parents.\u003cbr>\nDespite the risks, he’s grateful for the steady work. So far, he’s been able to stay safe, healthy and ready to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is the nature of fighting a major wildfire. People converge from all over the continent to engage in perilous labor: contractors, pilots and thousands of workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the crew’s bosses, Manuel Carrillo, is from Porterville, in the Central Valley, and he had to brush up on his Spanish to communicate with the 20 men who work for him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My crew is very strong, passionate — very good men, hard workers,” he said. “They’ve taught me a lot, how to work hard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the boss on the ground, his responsibility is to keep his crew members safe. That was hard in Greenville, when the Dixie Fire blasted through.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m always looking out for them as they’re working, looking up above for trees, buildings and dangerous things that could explode, like propane tanks,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The risks his crew had to take and the losses that the town of Greenville suffered stick with him. Firefighters, no matter what their citizenship, should be paid more for the risks they take to defend homes, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s exhausting. You’re dirty, sweaty — grease, oils, smoke. You got to keep your mental coolness, and direct the crew in the right path and make sure we’re all going home to our families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carrillo is half Mexican American, half Native American from the Santa Inez band of Chumash Indians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I’ve been told is that I’m Mother Earth’s protector. I’m helping calm these fires down, stop them from burning our lands,” he said, adding that his company does forest restoration work in the winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We help build these forests all over again, from the ground up until these trees are hundreds of feet tall.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He relishes not only the adventure of firefighting, but also his role as protector of the wildlands. While his job is to save homes, those same dwellings are encroaching on the land that he loves, and that his crew members have come to appreciate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having these cities in the heart of these forests. That’s where it hurts, because we see animals, once in a while we’ll run into them, burned alive,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Everyone on his crew is curious to see which will end sooner, their work visas or this ferocious fire season.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "how-to-get-or-make-a-free-low-cost-air-purifier-for-your-home",
"title": "How to Get — Or Make — a Free Or Low-Cost Air Purifier For Your Home",
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"headTitle": "How to Get — Or Make — a Free Or Low-Cost Air Purifier For Your Home | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Bay Area residents have navigated hazardous smoke each year since 2017. At this point, “smoke days” are expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year is no exception. Wildfires are burning across Northern California, producing noxious air that covers large swaths of the state, forcing people to evacuate or spend weeks inside to spare their lungs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/KQEDscience/status/1432805403394519040?s=20\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1975710/how-to-keep-indoor-air-clean-during-a-wildfire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> keep that indoor air clean\u003c/a>, it’s crucial to limit additional contaminants, like gas from stoves, fumes from scented candles, and outdoor air that may sneak in through leaky windows or exhaust fans. It’s also important to clean that indoor air. The best way to do this is with an air purifier or, if you have in-home air filtration, \u003ca href=\"https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2018/11/14/qa-how-to-protect-yourself-and-your-family-from-wildfire-smoke/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">upgrading the filters you use in your system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But preparation — including acquiring air purifiers — is expensive and largely left up to individuals, says Amee Raval, policy and research director at the environmental justice organization \u003ca href=\"https://apen4ej.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Asian Pacific Environmental Network\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are very few programs run by state and local governments to help people secure air purifiers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re told every year, that preparedness means going out and spending hundreds of dollars on air purifiers,” Raval said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These individual approaches are based on how much money you have and worsen the divide between people who have the means to spend hundreds of dollars on equipment and people who don’t,” Raval said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now the government and county run approaches are largely failing us,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until we address the root causes of these extreme fires (a century of fire suppression and warming temperatures driven by burning fossil fuels to start), individuals, community groups and governments must adapt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We asked counties, government agencies, and community-based organizations about programs that provide free or discounted assistance to help people attain cleaner indoor air when the smoke hits. Here’s what we found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#localgov\">Resources run by local government\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#community\">Resources run by community organizations\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#air\">How to make your own air purifier\u003cbr>\n\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#diy\">Tips for using your DIY air purifier\u003cbr>\n\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Where are the programs?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Counties and state agencies point to the\u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s\u003c/a> new \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/news-and-events/page-resources/2021-news/082621-cafp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clean Air Filtration Program\u003c/a>. The district will spend $350,000 to provide 3,000 portable air purifiers to mostly people with respiratory illnesses. The program will prioritize low-income areas and residents, and install larger air purifiers at homeless shelters and cooling centers. The regulator’s goal is to distribute all air purifiers before the end of this fire season, and to expand the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Air Resources Board\u003c/a> doesn’t offer free air filters but intends to spend \u003ca style=\"color: #41a62a\" href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/wildfire-smoke-clean-air-center-grant/about\">$5 million\u003c/a> to help communities upgrade ventilation systems and purchase portable air cleaners for cooling centers this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While this is a start, the scope of these programs are limited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976556\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"A Roots Community Health Program flyer advertises a program in which it partners with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. One aspect of this program involves receiving a free air purifier for your home.\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Roots Community Health Program flyer advertises an air filter partner program with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Julia Hatton, CEO at \u003ca href=\"https://risingsunopp.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rising Sun Center for Opportunity\u003c/a>, a workforce development organization that helps people make their homes more climate resilient, says there are a lot of programs that will measure air quality in local communities. “But they don’t necessarily offer any solutions for the residents of those communities,” Hatton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says many conversations around air quality are focused on installing air quality monitors in homes, “which is great. But if someone finds out their indoor air quality is really bad and they don’t have the ability to address that issue or leave the house, you’re not really contributing to a solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hatton says distributing air purifiers could be straightforward for programs like hers, which regularly provide other energy upgrades and could include air purifiers in their services. Funding, she says, is another story. She’d like to see financial support come from the entities responsible for sparking some of the state’s wildfires, like PG&E, or local or state air districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit organization, \u003ca href=\"https://aea.us.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Association for Energy Affordability,\u003c/a> also focuses on energy efficiency and healthy housing, centering their work in low-income communities. Andy Brooks is senior director of the West Coast office and agrees more programs are needed to secure air purifiers for communities around the Bay Area, “everyone in my space talks about it all the time,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A reason there are not more programs providing air purifiers or other filtration, he says, is that a lot of funding for housing improvements comes from utilities and must be tied to energy efficiency. Air purifiers do not fall into that category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brooks says collaboration between the Bay Area’s air district and organizations like his could address both energy and carbon use in residences, as well as health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Counties reported few resources for people seeking free or discounted air purifiers, apart from the air district’s program. Several suggested people seek a respite from poor indoor air quality by going to public centers with strong air systems. But during a pandemic, community centers can be a hard sell, and put people at more risk of exposure to COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Clean air respite centers, or cooling centers, are largely being underutilized,” Raval said. “And that’s because the solutions aren’t being designed with the leadership and partnership of community residents and advocates in mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raval says working with community groups will help better get the word out and build trust in centers like these, which are a good way to serve the community as a whole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and local counties do have some initiatives addressing cleaning up air in people’s homes, such as weatherization programs for people with low or fixed incomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While “weatherizing” a home includes things like installing carbon monoxide filters and water-saving devices, it also involves improvements that will keep dangerous particulates out of your house, says Michael Kent, hazardous materials ombudsman at \u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Contra Costa Health Services\u003c/a>. Improvements like sealing cracks, replacing damaged windows, and putting weatherstripping around drafty windows or doors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/Assistance-HomeEnergyEfficiency.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Department of Community Services and Development\u003c/a> also has \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/FindServicesInYourArea.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">weatherization programs\u003c/a>, including the federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), and the state cap-and-trade funded Low-Income Weatherization Program (LIWP). All \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/programs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three programs\u003c/a> are available for low-income households at no cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Resources run by local government\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"localgov\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/news-and-events/page-resources/2021-news/082621-cafp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Clean Air Filtration Program\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 3,000 air purifiers for Bay Area counties, plus larger purifiers for shelters and emergency centers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for: \u003c/strong>Medi-Cal patients and undocumented people without Medi-Cal. Most people who will qualify must have “moderate to severe” or “poorly controlled” asthma and be enrolled in the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/~/media/files/communications-and-outreach/publications/fact-sheets/asthma-mitigation-FAQ_final_080521r_web%20pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Asthma Mitigation Project\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Email the air district: airfilters@baaqmd.gov. Note: the process could take several weeks, according to partner organizations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Resources run by community organizations\u003ca id=\"community\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Several community-based organizations are building or providing materials and training for people to make their own air purifiers \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968863/helping-kids-protect-themselves-from-dirty-air-one-diy-filter-at-a-time\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">out of a box fan and filter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of them is the East Oakland-based community organization \u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Homies Empowerment\u003c/a>. The nonprofit already provides free food, toiletries, diapers and other basics at their \u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/freedom-store.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">FREEdom Store\u003c/a>. In September of last year, customers said they were struggling to breathe. So the Homies Empowerment team added air purifiers to their offerings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We took matters into our own hands and we did it do-it-yourself, DIY, style,” one of the group’s founders, César Cruz, said. The organization raised money to purchase a hundred fans and air filters. “They went like hotcakes,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the group is partnering with \u003ca href=\"https://www.acemakerspace.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ace Makerspace\u003c/a>, to bring the community 500 DIY air purifier kits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community-based organizations providing air purifiers:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>Homies Empowerment\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 500 DIY air purifier kits, with instructions in various languages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> “You can be from anywhere,” Cruz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Air purifier kits will be at the FREEdom Store, 7631 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94605. The store is open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://northfoca.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>North Fair Oaks Community Alliance\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 40 DIY air purifier kits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> Priority for residents of North Fair Oaks in San Mateo County, a community of roughly 4,200 households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">North Fair Oaks Community Alliance President Ever Rodriguez said “ideally, we would like to open it up to the surrounding communities. If more resources are available, we will be happy to continue giving those out to our surrounding neighbors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Contact \u003ca href=\"https://northfoca.org/contact/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">North Fair Oaks Community Alliance\u003c/a> directly. Purifier kits available in September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.brightlinedefense.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>Brightline Defense\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 20 DIY air purifiers, and workshops on assemblage and use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> SRO tenants anywhere in San Francisco, with a focus on SRO tenant leaders from Central City SRO Collaborative. The DIY purifiers are intended to be shared between tenants, as SRO rooms are small, and air can be cleaned relatively quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Contact Brightline Defense directly.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>How to make your own air purifier\u003ca id=\"air\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Not able to access an air purifier through any of the narrow means above? No problem. You can make your own:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Materials:\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>A new, 20″ box fan (the cord should come out of the bottom, not the center)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A 20″ x 20″ MERV 12 or 13 furnace/HVAC filter\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Heavy-duty tape (clear plastic or duct tape)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Steps:\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>Place the MERV filter on the back of the fan (the filter can be put on the front too, but can stress the motor).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Make sure the filter is facing the correct direction for air to flow through.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Tape around the edges, making a seal between the box fan and the filter.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Cost: roughly $40\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The makeshift devices are “not rocket science,” but are effective, said \u003ca href=\"https://cires.colorado.edu/council-fellows/jose-luis-jimenez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jose-Luis Jimenez\u003c/a>, a chemistry professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. He’s been looking into how \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/how-to-diy-an-air-purifier/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Do-It-Yourself purifiers\u003c/a> can help filter air from both COVID-19 and wildfire smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360132317305498?via%3Dihub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">peer-reviewed study\u003c/a> out of Singapore, which found similar DIY air filters removing around 75% of particulate matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The purifiers in that study pulled air from outside, something doctors and scientists recommend avoiding when thick wildfire smoke infiltrates indoors. Instead, they say, it’s better to keep the windows closed and to focus on cleaning the air that’s already in your home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also more effective to clean the air in a limited area, says \u003ca href=\"https://wcec.ucdavis.edu/about/directory/theresa-pistochini/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Theresa Pistochini\u003c/a>, engineering manager at the \u003ca href=\"https://wcec.ucdavis.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UC Davis Western Cooling Efficiency Center.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You want a smaller, enclosed space,” she said. “Like a bedroom that you’re trying to drop the smoke levels in. When [the smoke] was really bad, a couple of us were sleeping in one room, so we could manage to filter better,” she said, referring to her experience during the 2018 Camp Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Tips for your DIY filter\u003c/strong>\u003ca id=\"diy\">\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>Use a MERV 12 or 13 filter. HEPA filters are stronger but their thickness could cause the box fan to overheat or fail. Placing the filter on the back of the fan reduces the filtration a little, but is recommended over placing the filter on the front, which can tax the motor more.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli> Purchase box fans at a local hardware store or larger retailer. If filters are harder to find, try \u003ca href=\"https://filterbuy.com/air-filters/20x20x2/?gclid=CjwKCAjw8cCGBhB6EiwAgORey__i0-xU7wUDMz_YAqv2_KD_kQ8pcodn1qMap6cebT5jyA8vnJ_A1xoC_5MQAvD_BwE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Filter Buy\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.target.com/p/aerostar-ac-furnace-air-filter-health-merv-13-box-of-6/-/A-80014134?preselect=80014135#lnk=sametab\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Target\u003c/a>, or \u003ca href=\"https://www.homedepot.com/p/BestAir-20-x-20-x-1-Pleated-Air-Filter-FPR-10-MERV-13-B1-2020-13-6/314412067\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Home Depot\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">Don’t leave the DIY purifier unattended, it could become a fire hazard.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">Place the DIY purifier in the middle of the room at a height midway between the floor and the ceiling.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">DIY air purifiers are a short-term solution, for a few months or “until it’s visibly obstructed with smoke or dirt” Pistochini said.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/jrodriguez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez\u003c/a> contributed reporting to this post.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Bay Area air regulators offer free purifiers for wildfire smoke. Here's how to qualify, or make a DIY filter at home.",
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"title": "How to Get — Or Make — a Free Or Low-Cost Air Purifier For Your Home | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Bay Area residents have navigated hazardous smoke each year since 2017. At this point, “smoke days” are expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year is no exception. Wildfires are burning across Northern California, producing noxious air that covers large swaths of the state, forcing people to evacuate or spend weeks inside to spare their lungs.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>To\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1975710/how-to-keep-indoor-air-clean-during-a-wildfire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> keep that indoor air clean\u003c/a>, it’s crucial to limit additional contaminants, like gas from stoves, fumes from scented candles, and outdoor air that may sneak in through leaky windows or exhaust fans. It’s also important to clean that indoor air. The best way to do this is with an air purifier or, if you have in-home air filtration, \u003ca href=\"https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2018/11/14/qa-how-to-protect-yourself-and-your-family-from-wildfire-smoke/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">upgrading the filters you use in your system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But preparation — including acquiring air purifiers — is expensive and largely left up to individuals, says Amee Raval, policy and research director at the environmental justice organization \u003ca href=\"https://apen4ej.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Asian Pacific Environmental Network\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are very few programs run by state and local governments to help people secure air purifiers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re told every year, that preparedness means going out and spending hundreds of dollars on air purifiers,” Raval said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These individual approaches are based on how much money you have and worsen the divide between people who have the means to spend hundreds of dollars on equipment and people who don’t,” Raval said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now the government and county run approaches are largely failing us,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until we address the root causes of these extreme fires (a century of fire suppression and warming temperatures driven by burning fossil fuels to start), individuals, community groups and governments must adapt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We asked counties, government agencies, and community-based organizations about programs that provide free or discounted assistance to help people attain cleaner indoor air when the smoke hits. Here’s what we found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#localgov\">Resources run by local government\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#community\">Resources run by community organizations\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#air\">How to make your own air purifier\u003cbr>\n\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#diy\">Tips for using your DIY air purifier\u003cbr>\n\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Where are the programs?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Counties and state agencies point to the\u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s\u003c/a> new \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/news-and-events/page-resources/2021-news/082621-cafp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clean Air Filtration Program\u003c/a>. The district will spend $350,000 to provide 3,000 portable air purifiers to mostly people with respiratory illnesses. The program will prioritize low-income areas and residents, and install larger air purifiers at homeless shelters and cooling centers. The regulator’s goal is to distribute all air purifiers before the end of this fire season, and to expand the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Air Resources Board\u003c/a> doesn’t offer free air filters but intends to spend \u003ca style=\"color: #41a62a\" href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/wildfire-smoke-clean-air-center-grant/about\">$5 million\u003c/a> to help communities upgrade ventilation systems and purchase portable air cleaners for cooling centers this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While this is a start, the scope of these programs are limited.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1976556\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1976556\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-800x800.jpg\" alt=\"A Roots Community Health Program flyer advertises a program in which it partners with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. One aspect of this program involves receiving a free air purifier for your home.\" width=\"800\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-1020x1020.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-160x160.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/BreatheOaklandFlyer-1.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Roots Community Health Program flyer advertises an air filter partner program with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Julia Hatton, CEO at \u003ca href=\"https://risingsunopp.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rising Sun Center for Opportunity\u003c/a>, a workforce development organization that helps people make their homes more climate resilient, says there are a lot of programs that will measure air quality in local communities. “But they don’t necessarily offer any solutions for the residents of those communities,” Hatton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says many conversations around air quality are focused on installing air quality monitors in homes, “which is great. But if someone finds out their indoor air quality is really bad and they don’t have the ability to address that issue or leave the house, you’re not really contributing to a solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hatton says distributing air purifiers could be straightforward for programs like hers, which regularly provide other energy upgrades and could include air purifiers in their services. Funding, she says, is another story. She’d like to see financial support come from the entities responsible for sparking some of the state’s wildfires, like PG&E, or local or state air districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit organization, \u003ca href=\"https://aea.us.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Association for Energy Affordability,\u003c/a> also focuses on energy efficiency and healthy housing, centering their work in low-income communities. Andy Brooks is senior director of the West Coast office and agrees more programs are needed to secure air purifiers for communities around the Bay Area, “everyone in my space talks about it all the time,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A reason there are not more programs providing air purifiers or other filtration, he says, is that a lot of funding for housing improvements comes from utilities and must be tied to energy efficiency. Air purifiers do not fall into that category.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brooks says collaboration between the Bay Area’s air district and organizations like his could address both energy and carbon use in residences, as well as health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Counties reported few resources for people seeking free or discounted air purifiers, apart from the air district’s program. Several suggested people seek a respite from poor indoor air quality by going to public centers with strong air systems. But during a pandemic, community centers can be a hard sell, and put people at more risk of exposure to COVID-19.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Clean air respite centers, or cooling centers, are largely being underutilized,” Raval said. “And that’s because the solutions aren’t being designed with the leadership and partnership of community residents and advocates in mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raval says working with community groups will help better get the word out and build trust in centers like these, which are a good way to serve the community as a whole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and local counties do have some initiatives addressing cleaning up air in people’s homes, such as weatherization programs for people with low or fixed incomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While “weatherizing” a home includes things like installing carbon monoxide filters and water-saving devices, it also involves improvements that will keep dangerous particulates out of your house, says Michael Kent, hazardous materials ombudsman at \u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Contra Costa Health Services\u003c/a>. Improvements like sealing cracks, replacing damaged windows, and putting weatherstripping around drafty windows or doors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/Assistance-HomeEnergyEfficiency.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Department of Community Services and Development\u003c/a> also has \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/FindServicesInYourArea.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">weatherization programs\u003c/a>, including the federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), and the state cap-and-trade funded Low-Income Weatherization Program (LIWP). All \u003ca href=\"https://www.csd.ca.gov/programs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three programs\u003c/a> are available for low-income households at no cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Resources run by local government\u003cbr>\n\u003ca id=\"localgov\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/news-and-events/page-resources/2021-news/082621-cafp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Clean Air Filtration Program\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 3,000 air purifiers for Bay Area counties, plus larger purifiers for shelters and emergency centers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for: \u003c/strong>Medi-Cal patients and undocumented people without Medi-Cal. Most people who will qualify must have “moderate to severe” or “poorly controlled” asthma and be enrolled in the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.baaqmd.gov/~/media/files/communications-and-outreach/publications/fact-sheets/asthma-mitigation-FAQ_final_080521r_web%20pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Asthma Mitigation Project\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Email the air district: airfilters@baaqmd.gov. Note: the process could take several weeks, according to partner organizations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Resources run by community organizations\u003ca id=\"community\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Several community-based organizations are building or providing materials and training for people to make their own air purifiers \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1968863/helping-kids-protect-themselves-from-dirty-air-one-diy-filter-at-a-time\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">out of a box fan and filter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of them is the East Oakland-based community organization \u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Homies Empowerment\u003c/a>. The nonprofit already provides free food, toiletries, diapers and other basics at their \u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/freedom-store.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">FREEdom Store\u003c/a>. In September of last year, customers said they were struggling to breathe. So the Homies Empowerment team added air purifiers to their offerings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We took matters into our own hands and we did it do-it-yourself, DIY, style,” one of the group’s founders, César Cruz, said. The organization raised money to purchase a hundred fans and air filters. “They went like hotcakes,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the group is partnering with \u003ca href=\"https://www.acemakerspace.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ace Makerspace\u003c/a>, to bring the community 500 DIY air purifier kits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Community-based organizations providing air purifiers:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.homiesempowerment.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>Homies Empowerment\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 500 DIY air purifier kits, with instructions in various languages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> “You can be from anywhere,” Cruz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Air purifier kits will be at the FREEdom Store, 7631 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94605. The store is open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://northfoca.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>North Fair Oaks Community Alliance\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 40 DIY air purifier kits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> Priority for residents of North Fair Oaks in San Mateo County, a community of roughly 4,200 households.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">North Fair Oaks Community Alliance President Ever Rodriguez said “ideally, we would like to open it up to the surrounding communities. If more resources are available, we will be happy to continue giving those out to our surrounding neighbors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Contact \u003ca href=\"https://northfoca.org/contact/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">North Fair Oaks Community Alliance\u003c/a> directly. Purifier kits available in September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.brightlinedefense.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cstrong>Brightline Defense\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Supply:\u003c/strong> 20 DIY air purifiers, and workshops on assemblage and use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>Who’s it for:\u003c/strong> SRO tenants anywhere in San Francisco, with a focus on SRO tenant leaders from Central City SRO Collaborative. The DIY purifiers are intended to be shared between tenants, as SRO rooms are small, and air can be cleaned relatively quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">\u003cstrong>How to access:\u003c/strong> Contact Brightline Defense directly.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>How to make your own air purifier\u003ca id=\"air\">\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Not able to access an air purifier through any of the narrow means above? No problem. You can make your own:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Materials:\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>A new, 20″ box fan (the cord should come out of the bottom, not the center)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A 20″ x 20″ MERV 12 or 13 furnace/HVAC filter\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Heavy-duty tape (clear plastic or duct tape)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Steps:\u003c/p>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>Place the MERV filter on the back of the fan (the filter can be put on the front too, but can stress the motor).\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Make sure the filter is facing the correct direction for air to flow through.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Tape around the edges, making a seal between the box fan and the filter.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 40px\">Cost: roughly $40\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The makeshift devices are “not rocket science,” but are effective, said \u003ca href=\"https://cires.colorado.edu/council-fellows/jose-luis-jimenez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jose-Luis Jimenez\u003c/a>, a chemistry professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. He’s been looking into how \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/how-to-diy-an-air-purifier/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Do-It-Yourself purifiers\u003c/a> can help filter air from both COVID-19 and wildfire smoke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He points to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360132317305498?via%3Dihub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">peer-reviewed study\u003c/a> out of Singapore, which found similar DIY air filters removing around 75% of particulate matter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The purifiers in that study pulled air from outside, something doctors and scientists recommend avoiding when thick wildfire smoke infiltrates indoors. Instead, they say, it’s better to keep the windows closed and to focus on cleaning the air that’s already in your home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also more effective to clean the air in a limited area, says \u003ca href=\"https://wcec.ucdavis.edu/about/directory/theresa-pistochini/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Theresa Pistochini\u003c/a>, engineering manager at the \u003ca href=\"https://wcec.ucdavis.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UC Davis Western Cooling Efficiency Center.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You want a smaller, enclosed space,” she said. “Like a bedroom that you’re trying to drop the smoke levels in. When [the smoke] was really bad, a couple of us were sleeping in one room, so we could manage to filter better,” she said, referring to her experience during the 2018 Camp Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>\u003cstrong>Tips for your DIY filter\u003c/strong>\u003ca id=\"diy\">\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003col>\n\u003cli>Use a MERV 12 or 13 filter. HEPA filters are stronger but their thickness could cause the box fan to overheat or fail. Placing the filter on the back of the fan reduces the filtration a little, but is recommended over placing the filter on the front, which can tax the motor more.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli> Purchase box fans at a local hardware store or larger retailer. If filters are harder to find, try \u003ca href=\"https://filterbuy.com/air-filters/20x20x2/?gclid=CjwKCAjw8cCGBhB6EiwAgORey__i0-xU7wUDMz_YAqv2_KD_kQ8pcodn1qMap6cebT5jyA8vnJ_A1xoC_5MQAvD_BwE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Filter Buy\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.target.com/p/aerostar-ac-furnace-air-filter-health-merv-13-box-of-6/-/A-80014134?preselect=80014135#lnk=sametab\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Target\u003c/a>, or \u003ca href=\"https://www.homedepot.com/p/BestAir-20-x-20-x-1-Pleated-Air-Filter-FPR-10-MERV-13-B1-2020-13-6/314412067\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Home Depot\u003c/a>.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">Don’t leave the DIY purifier unattended, it could become a fire hazard.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">Place the DIY purifier in the middle of the room at a height midway between the floor and the ceiling.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli data-stringify-indent=\"0\" data-stringify-border=\"0\">DIY air purifiers are a short-term solution, for a few months or “until it’s visibly obstructed with smoke or dirt” Pistochini said.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ol>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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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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"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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"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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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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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.",
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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.",
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"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",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"order": 16
},
"link": "/podcasts/rightnowish",
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