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"content": "\u003cp>Tromping through multiple feet of snow near Lake Tahoe on Tuesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled the state’s updated water plan for a climate-changed future as “snow droughts,” deluges and dry times intensify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can take a deep breath this year, but don’t quadruple the amount of time in your shower; then consider that this time next year, we may be at a different place,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom said California’s new climate reality demands a new sophisticated approach to modernize aging water infrastructure and limited water supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Programs/California-Water-Plan/Update-2023\">California Water Plan\u003c/a> 2023 update is a strategic blueprint \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that guides water managers\u003c/span> to ensure that water systems — from rural communities plagued by contaminated water to metropolitan areas capturing stormwater for drier times to the state’s interconnected water system — are prepared for weather whiplash, deepened by human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ll remind all of you the water system in California was designed for a world that no longer exists,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year isn’t a prime example of the future — the snowpack is glistening white at \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/snowapp/sweq.action\">110% of the average for April\u003c/a>, which means the state is heading into warmer months with plentiful water supplies — but snow-packed years aren’t a guarantee. And the snowpack accounts for 30% of the state’s water needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"science_1991866,science_1991662,science_1991522\"]“Those are pretty healthy numbers,” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said. “From a short-term water supply problem, we’re not going to have major issues in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With climate change “an urgent threat,” the state’s sprawling plan, updated every five years, addresses three key areas: strengthening watersheds, addressing climate change and closing a gap in “long-standing inequities” in water management. Planning with equity in mind is important because the report notes that water supplies will likely decrease by 10% by 2040, “challenging many vulnerable Californians in accessing their human right to water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom also lauded an endeavor to potentially build a new reservoir and a controversial plan to build a 45-mile water tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and said the project is “critical if we’re going to address the issue of climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement comes after the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1991979/california-eases-urban-water-use-rules-as-residents-still-urged-to-conserve\">new conservation rules received strong criticism\u003c/a>. If the regulations go into effect, they will likely ease standards, giving water managers more time to comply, and environmentalists argue that this will lead to smaller water savings statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocacy groups, like the Community Water Center, applaud the state for focusing on equity and calling out a lack of inclusion in the world of water management. But Abraham Mendoza, the group’s policy manages, said the plan does “not speak to solving the problem in a timely manner.” He said funding and solutions are needed for “the infrastructure to implement community-driven solutions, programs for affordability.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>‘Average is awesome’\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In January, the snowpack measured just 25% of the average, and scientists warned of a potential “snow drought.” Water managers worried storms wouldn’t build it up and that the long-term trend of a shrinking snowpack would hold true this winter. But California’s luck changed in February as storm after storm rolled over the state. Then another in early March added as much as 12 feet of snow to the height of the Sierra.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"California Gov. Gavin Newsom\"]‘I’ll remind all of you the water system in California was designed for a world that no longer exists.’[/pullquote]“The beginning of the year was more indicative of what we expect to see in the future,” said Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist at the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab. “In terms of overall climate change this year, this is one of those years where we kind of wound up fortunate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, state leaders are rejoicing over this year’s snowpack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Average is awesome,” said Karla Nemeth, director of California’s Department of Water Resources. “We’ve had some pretty big swings in the last couple of years, but average may be coming less and less common feature of snowpack.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s even more good news in the near term: the above-average snowpack could deepen this week — and potentially through the rest of April — as a cold storm could drop as much as a foot of fresh powder on the range starting Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over the next week, another couple of storms may come through,” Schwartz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/UCB_CSSL/status/1775194478288175359\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schwartz said the slightly above-average snowpack means a lighter flood risk as it melts, ultimately replenishing reservoirs “to help us prepare for a year when we might have a shortfall.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is another year that’s helping us along; We’re looking like we’re in good shape this year,” he said of state reservoirs already at 116% of average levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he said two years of above-average snow does not mean California should pause preparing for future droughts — which is why the state’s new water plan is essential. Over the past decades, California has had two multiyear droughts followed by record snowpacks and damaging floods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The heightened snowpack is also good news for staving off the threat of early-season wildfires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s going to be an opportunity for a lot of prescribed burning,” UCLA’s Swain said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While all the snow most likely means decreased wildfire risk at high elevations, Swain expects “a significant increase in fire activity” in late summer because lower elevations are now bright green with grasses, shrubs and chaparral. All the growth could mean fires in areas of the state that don’t often burn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All the water will allow “invasive grasses to fill in the gaps between sagebrush and Joshua trees,” which “may increase the likelihood of fires in the deserts earlier in the season,” Swain said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cp>For the first time in more than three decades of fishing for salmon near Bodega Bay, Dick Ogg will motor his white and navy boat, Karen Jeanne, north this summer past his typical fisheries in hopes of finding the multicolored species along the Oregon coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There aren’t enough salmon left off the California coast for Ogg to sell on Bodega Bay’s historic docks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We, as fishermen, have nowhere to turn,” he said.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Dick Ogg, Bay Area fisher\"]‘We, as fishermen, have nowhere to turn.’[/pullquote]Fishery managers are signaling they may cancel California’s commercial salmon season for the second year in a row, which means the 71-year-old has two options: temporarily traveling to Oregon to catch salmon or barely making ends meet luring in rockfish and sablefish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ogg, often in a gray hoodie and wiry sunglasses, wishes there was a solution for boosting California’s salmon schools. He describes the species as “having one of the greatest spirits” an ocean-fairing creature can have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They can take a hook and bend it straight to get away,” he said, remembering countless salmon that escaped. “Maybe that’s what they were supposed to do, having the chance to go up the river to spawn.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers think they have a solution for at least one part of the salmon mortality problem: purifying highway runoff of toxic dust from tires that enters streams and rivers during storms — made worse by human-caused climate change. When the chemical enters waterways, it quickly kills some species of salmon and trout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San Mateo) recently introduced legislation — \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1798\">AB 1798\u003c/a> — that would mandate the state’s leading transportation agency to devise a plan for naturally removing the toxic tire particles, known as 6PPD-quinone, before they slip into waterways and kill fish. While the state has already asked the tire industry to develop alternatives for the chemicals in every tire sold in California, Papan’s plan seeks to clean up the pollution from the cars already on the road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1992175\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-003_qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1992175\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-003_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a grayish hoodie and sun glasses stands in the doorway on a boat with bright blue overalls to the left.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-003_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-003_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-003_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-003_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-003_qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-003_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Salmon fisherman Richard “Dick” Ogg stands for a portrait on his boat, the Karen Jeanne at Spud Point Marina in Bodega Bay, Calif., on Saturday, March 30, 2024. Ogg is planning on going to Oregon for salmon season this year, due to California’s shortage. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While purifying runoff from tiny, tainted rubber bits won’t entirely solve the salmon die-off, Ogg sees the effort as an “opportunity to do what we can to support the fish.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The perils to California’s salmon are growing.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Sarah Bates, Bay Area fisher\"]‘… these fish are in peril because their river ecosystems are in peril. If we don’t take some steps now, then we might be looking at the final days of the species and the fishing fleet.’[/pullquote]A changing ocean, dams blocking migration paths, worsening drought conditions drastically decreasing water flows, and climate-fueled storms further complicate river systems. People are feeling the effects on land, even if they don’t realize it — fishers lose jobs, restaurants turn to farm-grown fish, and tribes who view salmon as part of their cultural identity can’t rely on salmon as a food source.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sarah Bates, who captains Bounty, a commercial fishing boat docked at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, said the industry is suffering after years of diminished salmon populations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1992177\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-020_qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1992177\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-020_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man walks by boats on a dock.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-020_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-020_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-020_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-020_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-020_qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-020_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Salmon fisherman Richard “Dick” Ogg walks through Spud Point Marina in Bodega Bay, on Saturday, March 30, 2024. If fisheries cancel California’s salmon season for the second year in a row, Ogg plans to make a trip to Oregon to catch salmon there. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people are out of work and struggling financially and emotionally,” she said. “But the fact is that these fish are in peril because their river ecosystems are in peril. If we don’t take some steps now, then we might be looking at the final days of the species and the fishing fleet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What is 6PPD?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For over half a century, manufacturers have included the chemical \u003ca href=\"https://comptox.epa.gov/dashboard/chemical/details/DTXSID9025114\">6PPD\u003c/a> in the tire-making process to help them last longer. When ozone in the air comes into contact with the chemical, it turns into 6PPD-quinone. The byproduct ends up as toxic dust on roadways. During storms, the chemical gets washed into rivers and streams, where it comes in contact with fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent studies have linked the death of coho salmon to the chemical. In watersheds near the busiest roadways, researchers found \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abd6951\">up to 90% of returning salmon in the Pacific Northwest may die before spawning\u003c/a>. They also found the chemical in roadway runoff in Los Angeles and creeks in San Francisco and suggested the contaminated bits of rubber kill steelhead trout and chinook salmon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1992167\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1992167\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chinook salmon (pictured) as well as steelhead trout are being killed by toxic tire dust that produces the chemical byproduct called 6PPD-quinone when ozone in the air comes into contact with the chemical. Researchers found the byproduct in roadway runoff in Los Angeles and creeks in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Patrick T. Fallon/AFL via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some species, like coho, are susceptible, and the substance diluted in water can kill them in hours. In 2022, researchers found that “\u003ca href=\"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.2c00467\">significant mortality occurred in coho even when roadway runoff was diluted by 95% in clean water\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chemical’s effect on human health is still unknown, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the Russian River in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, officials counted \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/chinook\">fewer than 2,000 chinook salmon in December\u003c/a>, down from nearly 7,000 in 2012 — a far cry from the more than 150,000 fish that swam the river more than a century ago, said Don McEnhill, executive director of the environmental nonprofit Russian Riverkeeper.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Joseph L. James, chairman, Yurok Tribe\"]‘We could not sit idle while 6PPD kills the fish that sustain us.’[/pullquote]“This is kind of a straw that breaks the camel’s back kind of situation,” he said. “We have created a host of impacts on aquatic ecosystems, and this new stressor, climate change, is putting a lot more pressure on them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last November, the U.S. EPA granted \u003ca href=\"https://earthjustice.org/press/2023/epa-grants-tribal-nations-petition-to-restrict-6ppd-in-tires\">a petition by tribes\u003c/a> for the agency to consider establishing regulations prohibiting the manufacturing, processing, use and distribution of 6PPD in tires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We could not sit idle while 6PPD kills the fish that sustain us,” said Joseph L. James, chairman of the Yurok Tribe, in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EPA officials said last fall that addressing the contaminant in the environment “is one way we can work to reverse this trend.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, the state required the tire industry to give California a list of more than 40 alternatives to 6PPD by last Friday. The state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control has two months to evaluate the findings before providing feedback to the tire companies, but in a statement, it said, “the responsibility to comply falls first on manufacturers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This marks a crucial milestone in our efforts to compel manufacturers to look for safer alternatives to this toxic chemical while ensuring tire safety on California’s roads,” said Meredith Williams, the agency’s director.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘It’s in every vehicle tire’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Removing 6PPD-quinone from storm runoff is a massive undertaking, but Assemblymember Papan is spearheading the challenge. In March, she introduced legislation \u003ca href=\"https://a21.asmdc.org/press-releases/20240319-legislation-safeguard-salmon-and-steelhead-trout-lethal-storm-water#:~:text=The%20S.A.L.M.O.N%20Act%20will%20direct,salmon%20and%20steelhead%20trout%20habitats.\">mandating Caltrans develop a regional strategy to eliminate the chemicals from stormwater discharge\u003c/a> into salmon and steelhead trout habitats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While tribes call for eliminating 6PPD in tires everywhere, Papan’s bill focuses on removing existing toxic dust from roadways because eliminating the chemicals from tires doesn’t address out-of-state travelers, imported tires or tires already on cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982500\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/04/RS50202_IMG_6476-2-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982500\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/04/RS50202_IMG_6476-2-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Cars and trucks on an interstate highway as seen from an overpass.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/04/RS50202_IMG_6476-2-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/04/RS50202_IMG_6476-2-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/04/RS50202_IMG_6476-2-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/04/RS50202_IMG_6476-2-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/04/RS50202_IMG_6476-2-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/04/RS50202_IMG_6476-2-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Traffic on Interstate 880 toward Oakland flowing with cars and diesel trucks midafternoon on Monday, June 28, 2021. \u003ccite>(Joyce Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s sort of the first step,” she said. “It’s in every vehicle tire, and we’ve got to find a replacement. In short of finding that replacement, this bill plays a key role in keeping our waterways clean.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation directs Caltrans to create five pilot projects in San Mateo, Contra Costa, Sonoma, Humboldt and Nevada counties where highways cross salmon and steelhead-bearing waters. The bill also advises Caltrans to create green basins near roads where plants and soil naturally remove the chemicals from runoff before entering rivers and streams.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San Mateo)\"]‘It’s in every vehicle tire, and we’ve got to find a replacement. In short of finding that replacement, this bill plays a key role in keeping our waterways clean.’[/pullquote]“We won’t be able to do it everywhere, but as we expand out, we will look at where we can do it in a targeted fashion,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caltrans declined to comment because the agency does not comment on pending legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association, representing a dozen companies that operate 57 tire-related facilities across the country, supports Papan’s bill. Sean Moore, who leads the group’s government relations team, said the organization is working with Papan because it could take years for the rules banning the preservative to come into effect, and “in the meantime, it’s important to look at other ways to mitigate concerns related to stormwater more broadly in the environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental groups, like the California Coastkeeper Alliance, also back Papan’s effort, though it is unclear exactly how many salmon and trout in California die daily from exposure to the chemical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to start taking action, or else these species might go extinct,” the group’s executive director, Sean Bothwell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said filtering out the contaminants from stormwater using natural barriers is just the beginning; other roadway debris, like grease, oil and microplastics, could be treated using the same methods.[aside label='More on Climate Change' tag='climate-change']“It can address all that in one swoop,” he said. “We’re using 6PPD as the poster child of why we need to do this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Papan’s solution for reducing salmon and trout dieoff may also have a secondary benefit: reducing flooding during storms, which are only becoming more intense as the world warms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t think about our infrastructure as one-trick ponies anymore,” said Hayley Currier, policy manager with the environmental nonprofit Save the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because much of the state’s water infrastructure is not ready for future storms, Currier said she hopes the pilot projects prove that creating extra space for tainted runoff to pool into will help save fish species while also reducing flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything has to do multiple things,” she said. “When building our infrastructure, we need to think about climate resilience, and flooding needs to be right up there with fire and heat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "California salmon are in decline, but lawmakers believe they have a solution to the part of the problem: cleaning toxic tire dust from storm runoff that kills fish.",
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"title": "Toxic Dust Threatens California Salmon Population, Lawmaker Seeks Solution | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>For the first time in more than three decades of fishing for salmon near Bodega Bay, Dick Ogg will motor his white and navy boat, Karen Jeanne, north this summer past his typical fisheries in hopes of finding the multicolored species along the Oregon coast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There aren’t enough salmon left off the California coast for Ogg to sell on Bodega Bay’s historic docks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We, as fishermen, have nowhere to turn,” he said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Fishery managers are signaling they may cancel California’s commercial salmon season for the second year in a row, which means the 71-year-old has two options: temporarily traveling to Oregon to catch salmon or barely making ends meet luring in rockfish and sablefish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ogg, often in a gray hoodie and wiry sunglasses, wishes there was a solution for boosting California’s salmon schools. He describes the species as “having one of the greatest spirits” an ocean-fairing creature can have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They can take a hook and bend it straight to get away,” he said, remembering countless salmon that escaped. “Maybe that’s what they were supposed to do, having the chance to go up the river to spawn.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers think they have a solution for at least one part of the salmon mortality problem: purifying highway runoff of toxic dust from tires that enters streams and rivers during storms — made worse by human-caused climate change. When the chemical enters waterways, it quickly kills some species of salmon and trout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San Mateo) recently introduced legislation — \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1798\">AB 1798\u003c/a> — that would mandate the state’s leading transportation agency to devise a plan for naturally removing the toxic tire particles, known as 6PPD-quinone, before they slip into waterways and kill fish. While the state has already asked the tire industry to develop alternatives for the chemicals in every tire sold in California, Papan’s plan seeks to clean up the pollution from the cars already on the road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1992175\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-003_qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1992175\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-003_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man wearing a grayish hoodie and sun glasses stands in the doorway on a boat with bright blue overalls to the left.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-003_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-003_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-003_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-003_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-003_qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-003_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Salmon fisherman Richard “Dick” Ogg stands for a portrait on his boat, the Karen Jeanne at Spud Point Marina in Bodega Bay, Calif., on Saturday, March 30, 2024. Ogg is planning on going to Oregon for salmon season this year, due to California’s shortage. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While purifying runoff from tiny, tainted rubber bits won’t entirely solve the salmon die-off, Ogg sees the effort as an “opportunity to do what we can to support the fish.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The perils to California’s salmon are growing.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A changing ocean, dams blocking migration paths, worsening drought conditions drastically decreasing water flows, and climate-fueled storms further complicate river systems. People are feeling the effects on land, even if they don’t realize it — fishers lose jobs, restaurants turn to farm-grown fish, and tribes who view salmon as part of their cultural identity can’t rely on salmon as a food source.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sarah Bates, who captains Bounty, a commercial fishing boat docked at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, said the industry is suffering after years of diminished salmon populations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1992177\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-020_qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1992177\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-020_qut.jpg\" alt=\"A man walks by boats on a dock.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-020_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-020_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-020_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-020_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-020_qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240330-Salmon-JY-020_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Salmon fisherman Richard “Dick” Ogg walks through Spud Point Marina in Bodega Bay, on Saturday, March 30, 2024. If fisheries cancel California’s salmon season for the second year in a row, Ogg plans to make a trip to Oregon to catch salmon there. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people are out of work and struggling financially and emotionally,” she said. “But the fact is that these fish are in peril because their river ecosystems are in peril. If we don’t take some steps now, then we might be looking at the final days of the species and the fishing fleet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What is 6PPD?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For over half a century, manufacturers have included the chemical \u003ca href=\"https://comptox.epa.gov/dashboard/chemical/details/DTXSID9025114\">6PPD\u003c/a> in the tire-making process to help them last longer. When ozone in the air comes into contact with the chemical, it turns into 6PPD-quinone. The byproduct ends up as toxic dust on roadways. During storms, the chemical gets washed into rivers and streams, where it comes in contact with fish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent studies have linked the death of coho salmon to the chemical. In watersheds near the busiest roadways, researchers found \u003ca href=\"https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abd6951\">up to 90% of returning salmon in the Pacific Northwest may die before spawning\u003c/a>. They also found the chemical in roadway runoff in Los Angeles and creeks in San Francisco and suggested the contaminated bits of rubber kill steelhead trout and chinook salmon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1992167\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1992167\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/GettyImages-1233162632-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chinook salmon (pictured) as well as steelhead trout are being killed by toxic tire dust that produces the chemical byproduct called 6PPD-quinone when ozone in the air comes into contact with the chemical. Researchers found the byproduct in roadway runoff in Los Angeles and creeks in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Patrick T. Fallon/AFL via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some species, like coho, are susceptible, and the substance diluted in water can kill them in hours. In 2022, researchers found that “\u003ca href=\"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.2c00467\">significant mortality occurred in coho even when roadway runoff was diluted by 95% in clean water\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chemical’s effect on human health is still unknown, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the Russian River in Sonoma and Mendocino counties, officials counted \u003ca href=\"https://www.sonomawater.org/chinook\">fewer than 2,000 chinook salmon in December\u003c/a>, down from nearly 7,000 in 2012 — a far cry from the more than 150,000 fish that swam the river more than a century ago, said Don McEnhill, executive director of the environmental nonprofit Russian Riverkeeper.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We could not sit idle while 6PPD kills the fish that sustain us.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“This is kind of a straw that breaks the camel’s back kind of situation,” he said. “We have created a host of impacts on aquatic ecosystems, and this new stressor, climate change, is putting a lot more pressure on them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last November, the U.S. EPA granted \u003ca href=\"https://earthjustice.org/press/2023/epa-grants-tribal-nations-petition-to-restrict-6ppd-in-tires\">a petition by tribes\u003c/a> for the agency to consider establishing regulations prohibiting the manufacturing, processing, use and distribution of 6PPD in tires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We could not sit idle while 6PPD kills the fish that sustain us,” said Joseph L. James, chairman of the Yurok Tribe, in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EPA officials said last fall that addressing the contaminant in the environment “is one way we can work to reverse this trend.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a result, the state required the tire industry to give California a list of more than 40 alternatives to 6PPD by last Friday. The state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control has two months to evaluate the findings before providing feedback to the tire companies, but in a statement, it said, “the responsibility to comply falls first on manufacturers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This marks a crucial milestone in our efforts to compel manufacturers to look for safer alternatives to this toxic chemical while ensuring tire safety on California’s roads,” said Meredith Williams, the agency’s director.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘It’s in every vehicle tire’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Removing 6PPD-quinone from storm runoff is a massive undertaking, but Assemblymember Papan is spearheading the challenge. In March, she introduced legislation \u003ca href=\"https://a21.asmdc.org/press-releases/20240319-legislation-safeguard-salmon-and-steelhead-trout-lethal-storm-water#:~:text=The%20S.A.L.M.O.N%20Act%20will%20direct,salmon%20and%20steelhead%20trout%20habitats.\">mandating Caltrans develop a regional strategy to eliminate the chemicals from stormwater discharge\u003c/a> into salmon and steelhead trout habitats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While tribes call for eliminating 6PPD in tires everywhere, Papan’s bill focuses on removing existing toxic dust from roadways because eliminating the chemicals from tires doesn’t address out-of-state travelers, imported tires or tires already on cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1982500\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/04/RS50202_IMG_6476-2-qut.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1982500\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/04/RS50202_IMG_6476-2-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Cars and trucks on an interstate highway as seen from an overpass.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/04/RS50202_IMG_6476-2-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/04/RS50202_IMG_6476-2-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/04/RS50202_IMG_6476-2-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/04/RS50202_IMG_6476-2-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/04/RS50202_IMG_6476-2-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/04/RS50202_IMG_6476-2-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Traffic on Interstate 880 toward Oakland flowing with cars and diesel trucks midafternoon on Monday, June 28, 2021. \u003ccite>(Joyce Tsai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s sort of the first step,” she said. “It’s in every vehicle tire, and we’ve got to find a replacement. In short of finding that replacement, this bill plays a key role in keeping our waterways clean.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation directs Caltrans to create five pilot projects in San Mateo, Contra Costa, Sonoma, Humboldt and Nevada counties where highways cross salmon and steelhead-bearing waters. The bill also advises Caltrans to create green basins near roads where plants and soil naturally remove the chemicals from runoff before entering rivers and streams.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘It’s in every vehicle tire, and we’ve got to find a replacement. In short of finding that replacement, this bill plays a key role in keeping our waterways clean.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“We won’t be able to do it everywhere, but as we expand out, we will look at where we can do it in a targeted fashion,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caltrans declined to comment because the agency does not comment on pending legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association, representing a dozen companies that operate 57 tire-related facilities across the country, supports Papan’s bill. Sean Moore, who leads the group’s government relations team, said the organization is working with Papan because it could take years for the rules banning the preservative to come into effect, and “in the meantime, it’s important to look at other ways to mitigate concerns related to stormwater more broadly in the environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental groups, like the California Coastkeeper Alliance, also back Papan’s effort, though it is unclear exactly how many salmon and trout in California die daily from exposure to the chemical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to start taking action, or else these species might go extinct,” the group’s executive director, Sean Bothwell said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said filtering out the contaminants from stormwater using natural barriers is just the beginning; other roadway debris, like grease, oil and microplastics, could be treated using the same methods.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“It can address all that in one swoop,” he said. “We’re using 6PPD as the poster child of why we need to do this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Papan’s solution for reducing salmon and trout dieoff may also have a secondary benefit: reducing flooding during storms, which are only becoming more intense as the world warms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t think about our infrastructure as one-trick ponies anymore,” said Hayley Currier, policy manager with the environmental nonprofit Save the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because much of the state’s water infrastructure is not ready for future storms, Currier said she hopes the pilot projects prove that creating extra space for tainted runoff to pool into will help save fish species while also reducing flooding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything has to do multiple things,” she said. “When building our infrastructure, we need to think about climate resilience, and flooding needs to be right up there with fire and heat.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "San Francisco Will Continue Enforcing New-Building Gas Ban Despite Berkeley's Repeal of Similar Rules",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 4 p.m. Tuesday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berkeley was the first city in the nation to ban natural gas piping from being installed into new buildings, a progressive policy that quickly spread to other municipalities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as that city abandons its bellwether policy, San Francisco’s version of the all-electric building code may endure — at least for now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco officials told KQED that the city would continue prohibiting gas hookups in new housing and commercial construction, even after Berkeley agreed last week to repeal its hard-fought ban as part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.calrest.org/news/california-restaurant-association-and-berkeley-settle-gas-ban-lawsuit-berkeley-will-not-enforce\">settlement with the California Restaurant Association\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No one has come to us asking us to change or repeal our law,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who proposed \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/all-electric-new-construction-ordinance#:~:text=All%20new%20construction%20must%20use,systems%20must%20be%20all%2Delectric.\">San Francisco’s 2020 policy\u003c/a>. “We will continue to enforce it, continue to implement it, consistent with this court decision in the Berkeley case. We think we can do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The powerful state restaurant group challenged the legality of Berkeley’s regulations, arguing the city overstepped its authority \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11946999/court-strikes-down-berkeleys-landmark-ban-on-natural-gas-in-new-construction\">in violation of a nearly 50-year-old U.S. law\u003c/a> authorizing federal officials to set national efficiency standards. Last April, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed and struck down the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11947150/socalgas-helped-bankroll-law-firms-fight-against-berkeley-natural-gas-ban\">subsequently reported\u003c/a> that SoCalGas, the nation’s largest natural gas utility, billed a ratepayer account more than $1 million to help bankroll the law firm that successfully challenged Berkeley’s gas ban.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January, the full appeals court \u003ca href=\"https://subscriber.politicopro.com/f/?id=0000018c-cb3f-db9e-abbf-ffbf166e0000\">declined Berkeley’s request\u003c/a> to reconsider the ruling, prompting the city to agree to stop enforcing the policy and begin the legal process of repealing it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The court’s denial for a rehearing “left us with very few options to seek review,” Stefan Elgstrand, the mayor’s legislative aide, said in an email on Tuesday. “However, the ruling leaves open many policymaking avenues for Berkeley to address environmental and public health hazards within its borders.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the setback, he added, “Berkeley will continue to lead in climate action.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the city’s legal saga began nearly five years ago, dozens of other cities in California, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, have passed similar measures to prohibit gas lines in new construction projects. And both \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/climate/article/bay-area-regulators-vote-end-sales-key-gas-home-17836615.php\">Bay Area\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/california-will-ban-the-sale-of-natural-gas-17460877.php\">statewide\u003c/a> air regulators last year issued rules phasing out the sale of new gas-powered furnaces and water heaters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the court struck down Berkeley’s law last year, however, a number of other jurisdictions that initially followed the city’s lead in limiting natural gas in new construction have since suspended enforcement of their bans — including \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1991664/san-mateo-contra-costa-pause-natural-gas-bans-for-new-buildings\">San Mateo and Contra Costa counties\u003c/a> and the cities of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article287006140.html\">Sacramento\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2023/06/14/santa-cruz-city-council-suspends-natural-gas-ordinance/\">Santa Cruz\u003c/a>. Other cities that have recently enacted gas bans, like San José, say they are evaluating the implications of the court’s ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jot Condie, CEO of the restaurant association, said in a statement that his group is encouraged that Berkeley finally agreed to repeal its ordinance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every city and county in California that has passed a similar ordinance should follow their lead,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But San Francisco officials believe the city may be inoculated from a lawsuit because of the policy’s focus on building safety and because it allows some restaurants and other businesses in new buildings to opt out of the regulation — even though none have yet to do so, according to the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were, frankly, a more robust set of off ramps [in San Francisco’s legislation] and ways for people to seek exemptions, including exemptions for restaurants,” Mandelman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental groups insist that the court ruling against Berkeley’s policy won’t stop the growing electrification movement and are urging municipalities to continue transitioning away from fossil fuels in new construction in an effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Thankfully, since 2019, cities and local air quality agencies have developed a wide variety of policy paths to move forward, from energy codes to air quality protections, to protect their residents and help us all step into a zero-emissions future,” Matt Vespa, a senior attorney with Earthjustice, said in a statement. “The future is clean energy, and nothing can hold that back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated 4 p.m. Tuesday\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berkeley was the first city in the nation to ban natural gas piping from being installed into new buildings, a progressive policy that quickly spread to other municipalities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as that city abandons its bellwether policy, San Francisco’s version of the all-electric building code may endure — at least for now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco officials told KQED that the city would continue prohibiting gas hookups in new housing and commercial construction, even after Berkeley agreed last week to repeal its hard-fought ban as part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.calrest.org/news/california-restaurant-association-and-berkeley-settle-gas-ban-lawsuit-berkeley-will-not-enforce\">settlement with the California Restaurant Association\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No one has come to us asking us to change or repeal our law,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who proposed \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/all-electric-new-construction-ordinance#:~:text=All%20new%20construction%20must%20use,systems%20must%20be%20all%2Delectric.\">San Francisco’s 2020 policy\u003c/a>. “We will continue to enforce it, continue to implement it, consistent with this court decision in the Berkeley case. We think we can do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The powerful state restaurant group challenged the legality of Berkeley’s regulations, arguing the city overstepped its authority \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11946999/court-strikes-down-berkeleys-landmark-ban-on-natural-gas-in-new-construction\">in violation of a nearly 50-year-old U.S. law\u003c/a> authorizing federal officials to set national efficiency standards. Last April, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed and struck down the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11947150/socalgas-helped-bankroll-law-firms-fight-against-berkeley-natural-gas-ban\">subsequently reported\u003c/a> that SoCalGas, the nation’s largest natural gas utility, billed a ratepayer account more than $1 million to help bankroll the law firm that successfully challenged Berkeley’s gas ban.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In January, the full appeals court \u003ca href=\"https://subscriber.politicopro.com/f/?id=0000018c-cb3f-db9e-abbf-ffbf166e0000\">declined Berkeley’s request\u003c/a> to reconsider the ruling, prompting the city to agree to stop enforcing the policy and begin the legal process of repealing it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The court’s denial for a rehearing “left us with very few options to seek review,” Stefan Elgstrand, the mayor’s legislative aide, said in an email on Tuesday. “However, the ruling leaves open many policymaking avenues for Berkeley to address environmental and public health hazards within its borders.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the setback, he added, “Berkeley will continue to lead in climate action.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the city’s legal saga began nearly five years ago, dozens of other cities in California, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, have passed similar measures to prohibit gas lines in new construction projects. And both \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/climate/article/bay-area-regulators-vote-end-sales-key-gas-home-17836615.php\">Bay Area\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/california-will-ban-the-sale-of-natural-gas-17460877.php\">statewide\u003c/a> air regulators last year issued rules phasing out the sale of new gas-powered furnaces and water heaters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the court struck down Berkeley’s law last year, however, a number of other jurisdictions that initially followed the city’s lead in limiting natural gas in new construction have since suspended enforcement of their bans — including \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1991664/san-mateo-contra-costa-pause-natural-gas-bans-for-new-buildings\">San Mateo and Contra Costa counties\u003c/a> and the cities of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article287006140.html\">Sacramento\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2023/06/14/santa-cruz-city-council-suspends-natural-gas-ordinance/\">Santa Cruz\u003c/a>. Other cities that have recently enacted gas bans, like San José, say they are evaluating the implications of the court’s ruling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jot Condie, CEO of the restaurant association, said in a statement that his group is encouraged that Berkeley finally agreed to repeal its ordinance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every city and county in California that has passed a similar ordinance should follow their lead,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But San Francisco officials believe the city may be inoculated from a lawsuit because of the policy’s focus on building safety and because it allows some restaurants and other businesses in new buildings to opt out of the regulation — even though none have yet to do so, according to the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were, frankly, a more robust set of off ramps [in San Francisco’s legislation] and ways for people to seek exemptions, including exemptions for restaurants,” Mandelman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental groups insist that the court ruling against Berkeley’s policy won’t stop the growing electrification movement and are urging municipalities to continue transitioning away from fossil fuels in new construction in an effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Thankfully, since 2019, cities and local air quality agencies have developed a wide variety of policy paths to move forward, from energy codes to air quality protections, to protect their residents and help us all step into a zero-emissions future,” Matt Vespa, a senior attorney with Earthjustice, said in a statement. “The future is clean energy, and nothing can hold that back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Readying Marin County for future sea-level rise — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1979603/california-overhauls-its-sea-level-rise-plan-as-climate-change-reshapes-coastal-life\">as much as 3 feet by the end of the century\u003c/a> — starts with reimagining how local governments think about the impact of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why the Marin County Board of Supervisors approved a contract on Tuesday for a plan that could potentially restructure county government to prepare the more than 110 miles of coastal and bay shoreline for rising tides and extreme storms.[aside postID=science_1980525 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2022/10/GettyImages-1348806842-1020x691.jpg']County officials want AECOM, the consulting firm awarded the contract, to figure out how to advance solutions for rising seas while best using existing staff and resources to prepare for climate effects. This could mean creating a new sea-level rise department. Residents and climate advocates argue whatever the firm comes up with must benefit communities of color, who face disproportionate adverse outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study aims to develop “a governance structure that will unite the community,” said Ariel Espiritu Santo, an assistant county executive with Marin County, who presented on the topic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project will have two phases: recommending a sea-level rise decision-making model and determining how the county can fund and support the model. It will cost over $500,000 and has a late 2025 timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This project is timely because it occurs in tandem with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1981687/the-bay-could-soon-have-its-first-region-wide-sea-level-rise-plan-but-no-one-to-enforce-it\">a Bay Area sea-level rise plan due at the end of the year\u003c/a> by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. The plan, led by Dana Brechwald, is developing standards for sub-regional strategies like the one Marin may consider.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Dana Brechwald, assistant planning director for climate adaptation, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission\"]‘Their lives are just as valuable as people who own multimillion-dollar properties on the shoreline.’[/pullquote]Communities on the edges of the county frequently flood during king tides and storms — and inundation may get much worse by the end of the century. In the county alone, rising tides and extreme storms could impact more than 120 miles of roads and 10,000 buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brechwald said the study could result in a new sea-level rise department \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1985919/san-mateo-county-proposes-off-shore-doors-to-combat-sea-level-rise\">like San Mateo County formed in 2020\u003c/a>. For it to be successful, she said the county needs to protect the most vulnerable residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their lives are just as valuable as people who own multimillion-dollar properties on the shoreline,” she said.[aside label='More on Sea-Level Rise' tag='sea-level-rise']The county plans to address equity issues within its review and mandate the consultant to create a governance structure that “lifts up the voices of those that will be most directly impacted by it,” Espiritu Santo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents in places like Marin City, a bowl of a town sandwiched between steep mountains and Highway 101 and just 5 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge, are no strangers to flooding issues and have advocated for solutions for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Marin City has flooded for over 80 years,” said Marin City resident and climate advocate Terrie Harris-Green.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Creating a new department to tackle sea-level rise, however, will be complex, and Gary Griggs, a distinguished professor of sciences at UC Santa Cruz, said putting the onus on one agency to prepare for sea-level rise could be shortsighted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m a little cautious of a whole new department,” he said, especially when staff in existing programs and departments can work together to plan for sea-level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The real question he asked is, “How can you bring those people together?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Readying Marin County for future sea-level rise — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1979603/california-overhauls-its-sea-level-rise-plan-as-climate-change-reshapes-coastal-life\">as much as 3 feet by the end of the century\u003c/a> — starts with reimagining how local governments think about the impact of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why the Marin County Board of Supervisors approved a contract on Tuesday for a plan that could potentially restructure county government to prepare the more than 110 miles of coastal and bay shoreline for rising tides and extreme storms.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>County officials want AECOM, the consulting firm awarded the contract, to figure out how to advance solutions for rising seas while best using existing staff and resources to prepare for climate effects. This could mean creating a new sea-level rise department. Residents and climate advocates argue whatever the firm comes up with must benefit communities of color, who face disproportionate adverse outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study aims to develop “a governance structure that will unite the community,” said Ariel Espiritu Santo, an assistant county executive with Marin County, who presented on the topic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project will have two phases: recommending a sea-level rise decision-making model and determining how the county can fund and support the model. It will cost over $500,000 and has a late 2025 timeline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This project is timely because it occurs in tandem with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1981687/the-bay-could-soon-have-its-first-region-wide-sea-level-rise-plan-but-no-one-to-enforce-it\">a Bay Area sea-level rise plan due at the end of the year\u003c/a> by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. The plan, led by Dana Brechwald, is developing standards for sub-regional strategies like the one Marin may consider.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Communities on the edges of the county frequently flood during king tides and storms — and inundation may get much worse by the end of the century. In the county alone, rising tides and extreme storms could impact more than 120 miles of roads and 10,000 buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brechwald said the study could result in a new sea-level rise department \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1985919/san-mateo-county-proposes-off-shore-doors-to-combat-sea-level-rise\">like San Mateo County formed in 2020\u003c/a>. For it to be successful, she said the county needs to protect the most vulnerable residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their lives are just as valuable as people who own multimillion-dollar properties on the shoreline,” she said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The county plans to address equity issues within its review and mandate the consultant to create a governance structure that “lifts up the voices of those that will be most directly impacted by it,” Espiritu Santo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Residents in places like Marin City, a bowl of a town sandwiched between steep mountains and Highway 101 and just 5 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge, are no strangers to flooding issues and have advocated for solutions for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Marin City has flooded for over 80 years,” said Marin City resident and climate advocate Terrie Harris-Green.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Creating a new department to tackle sea-level rise, however, will be complex, and Gary Griggs, a distinguished professor of sciences at UC Santa Cruz, said putting the onus on one agency to prepare for sea-level rise could be shortsighted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m a little cautious of a whole new department,” he said, especially when staff in existing programs and departments can work together to plan for sea-level rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The real question he asked is, “How can you bring those people together?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Don't Think Heat Pumps Are Sexy? Time to Listen to This Slow Jam",
"headTitle": "Don’t Think Heat Pumps Are Sexy? Time to Listen to This Slow Jam | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>You know what’s hot but also cool? R&B music. You know what else is? \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1981511/how-the-unassuming-heat-pump-can-stave-off-warming\">Heat pumps\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A pair of Berkeley musicians set out to prove it by combining the two in a sultry, catchy slow jam called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.hotmike.com/heat-pump.html\">(I’m Your) Heat Pump\u003c/a>”—and the unlikely song delivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“(I’m Your) Heat Pump” is full of delightful double entendres, with the heat pump playing the role of both lover and steady, dependable appliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you want it hot, I’m hot for you, when you want it cool, I’m cool witchu, babe,” croons singer Will Hammond Jr., in a line that will surely earworm its way into your head. “Cause I can do it all for you, baby, all you got to do is turn me on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with being surprisingly catchy, the song educates listeners about the heat pump: how it fights climate change, how heat pumps work, and why you might consider the heating and cooling device.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can listen to the song here:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1746273273&color=0053a4&hide_related=true&show_comments=false&show_teaser=false\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#song\">Why write a song about heat pumps?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#heatpump\">What’s a heat pump?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#climatesolution\">Why do heat pumps matter as a climate solution?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#cost\">How much do heat pumps cost?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#info\">What else should I know about heat pumps?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"song\">\u003c/a>Why write a song about heat pumps?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“People can mistakenly think that maybe [heat pumps] are a little boring. Maybe they’re a little humdrum,” said Mike Roberts, a part-time musician and part-time music teacher. But, he said, they aren’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want people to know that heat pumps are actually very exciting,” Roberts said. They are “such a great way for us as individuals to make a difference with the climate and to improve our lives at the same time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roberts converted his furnace, water heater, stove and clothes dryer — the most common gas-powered appliances — to electric appliances a few years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s been such a fan of home electrification since then that he volunteers with the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://switchison.org/\">The Switch Is On\u003c/a>, which facilitates home electrification. He had joked before that he’d like to write music about electrification. And then he did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first lyrics he wrote were, “I’m your heat pump,” Roberts said. “And I just started laughing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roberts recruited his bandmate and music publisher, Will Hammond Jr., to sing the ballad with his deep and resonant voice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991928\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1991928 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240313-HEATPUMPSONG-KSM-5-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240313-HEATPUMPSONG-KSM-5-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240313-HEATPUMPSONG-KSM-5-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240313-HEATPUMPSONG-KSM-5-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240313-HEATPUMPSONG-KSM-5-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240313-HEATPUMPSONG-KSM-5-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240313-HEATPUMPSONG-KSM-5-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240313-HEATPUMPSONG-KSM-5-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bandmates Will Hammond Jr. (left) and Mike Roberts at Roberts’s home in Berkeley on Mar. 13, 2024. \u003ccite>(Kathryn Styer Martínez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I had the ghost of Barry White sort of talking to me like, ‘Come on, man, you can do this,’” Hammond said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both musicians wanted the song to be more than funny; they wanted it to actually tell people about heat pumps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s like edutainment,” Hammond said. “We’re educating people, but we’re also entertaining them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think there’s a lot of appetite in the climate space right now for a little bit of fun,” Roberts said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"heatpump\">\u003c/a>What’s a heat pump?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A heat pump can warm or cool a home, serving the same role as a furnace and air conditioner all rolled into one. The difference is that most furnaces use gas, while a heat pump uses electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heat pumps can also warm and cool water, like a water heater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the technology sounds strange, you may be surprised to know that you likely already have a type of heat pump in your home. This is how your refrigerator works.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"climatesolution\">\u003c/a>Why do heat pumps matter as a climate solution?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The largest source of emissions in your home comes from heating and cooling your indoor air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heat pumps are \u003ca href=\"https://www.iea.org/reports/the-future-of-heat-pumps/how-a-heat-pump-works\">three to five times more efficient than gas furnaces\u003c/a> and can \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421522000386\">cut a home’s carbon pollution by 40%–50%\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=science_1981511 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2023/02/RS60056_023_KQED_HomeElectrificationOakland_11072022-qut-1020x680.jpg']California’s grid is constantly getting greener as more zero-carbon and clean energy sources come online. And the state has\u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/07/22/governor-newsom-calls-for-bold-actions-to-move-faster-toward-climate-goals/\"> the goal of installing 6 million heat pumps by 2030\u003c/a> — which would save millions of pounds of CO2.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"cost\">\u003c/a>How much do heat pumps cost?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Heat pumps tend to be more expensive than gas furnaces but less expensive than the price of a gas furnace and an air conditioning unit combined (and heat pumps do both things).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether a new build or an upgrade to an existing home, \u003ca href=\"https://apppack-app-tech-reporting-prod-privates3bucket-z0onruvirqb2.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Heat_Pump_HVAC_Retrofit_Cost_Drivers_v4W3bW0_kiFU8k4.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=ASIASLLU4AX2FB6R7KFU&Signature=yGZT7rLoaJ7%2BRNLitrtUIa35LWM%3D&x-amz-security-token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjENT%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCXVzLXdlc3QtMiJHMEUCIDuu23RY5qtWEH25BKaYSOEaWzz1KxBLDbTY3oVyraq4AiEAxwp7Dhf0PmNINjscaVg6F8RAJp6K8C%2FqKYFi9%2F3uJ8QqvgQI3f%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FARAGGgwxNjE4NDMyNTA2NzYiDFqtIb9jZcB%2FpgTqSCqSBMbA6qw4M1r8zkkA14FsfYZ9uuZY%2F95sBuPy3eEUZ8Rzp6PN1ZRLeuZu2pQsJuTjh8D1Gl5x2IYSiFgLTab4%2FiAzkOGbaifO3WXCmZB6DEHpJFyj%2BGcvoLrzDGKRk%2BRi312XMpGr0Oa8Lc6BvQXhwUlkXlzNyZbncs9KkGs%2FfyCAZbxC5xQ6BjHmZEH7H%2FlCPFGCyTCvaOGkgkiIWjrn1Xn0zZ4xJVVhZv7q%2BqxkHu9mIPo731fF5BoLVlDGwqs%2FkjS%2BlU0nyI1tsujjM3rJLlSDYamJYZ033H8eyatr0Viuyz5qZzNKfEARMcmRyDLduwyHvtORObJ3W9zJjDV3FObT3F6pVdMxcJBCykTHq1SY9GUfr7y1djCZnD%2B92cGh6WgZudJvF4mZwO6PtrWX5QeHFh9vADLaYYFtzu%2FAEzylrlYOdnd%2BRnBWhxCuRZWOkmn8A%2Fqw3d6jKu2pyMIg8GAU8srPNXslMJZWVfpYFr%2BL9sdRBYmNfy%2BxKDHchlzVGOC4GXBWp6ZorlkiJU8cCYruNjlL3uzOxxbgTdTrIfkor1rdw9Jv%2FnfohdQAMccOLcOmHdq6oTHLS74kP0vBn91kPYttUP8aSAA3skL3KURQh2LFEObVgZXHGCY4Hm6%2BfBtR5cKS1LJHmZ4ngl3VWMjXNrTkFzfrt0q4pVEswMlTw6lsHNmwNo0ahEuDTYV2VXyAMNus4q8GOqYBu6bjwn5L3uFxMMCVQWEjSXUCyqWG089lLC97XuE487rinw9Y%2B0CYSn9RbV4MdY6na2VLd1CjrLR%2BVFQsVn%2BvwU9NmxOTtwEyjhC5e8oG3nUUEDtMx29jA8prRXyNiZ28GmX4AbuOnOdHgNRl77FF%2BEJieTIUlgxHc4tfQa14Ai11xO%2FQCxKD5hNh95pNoCB8X9UdtJtk3o%2Fsty3BB7V21EhyInpLcw%3D%3D&Expires=1711408848\">the average installation project costs roughly $13,000 to $23,000 in California (PDF)\u003c/a>. This, of course, varies widely based on home size, the type of heat pump you purchase, and whether you need to upgrade any other aspects of your electrical system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there are state and federal programs to help defray the cost. You can search for incentives through \u003ca href=\"https://incentives.switchison.org/residents/incentives?state=CA\">The Switch Is On\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://homes.rewiringamerica.org/calculator\">Rewiring America\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022, also includes a $2,000 tax credit for heat pumps and an additional $11,500 in rebates for low- and moderate-income households.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"info\">\u003c/a>What else should I know about heat pumps?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It’s hard to say exactly how a heat pump will affect your monthly bills. \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2024/benefits-of-heat-pumps-detailed-in-new-nrel-report.html\">The majority of Americans see a drop in their energy bills by using a heat pump\u003c/a>, but in many cases, the high upfront costs of the appliance cancel out savings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some heat pump critics say the appliance isn’t up to the task of warming a home when it’s sub-zero outside. A heat pump gets less efficient in extreme cold, but many models still operate well, even \u003ca href=\"https://www.mncee.org/cold-climate-air-source-heat-pump-final-report\">as low as -13 degrees Fahrenheit\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>–\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roberts and Hammond don’t think their song will start a revolution, but they hope you’ll think of that humdrum, dependable appliance a little differently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not that I think this song alone is going to make people run out and replace their gas furnace with a heat pump,” Roberts said. “But I’m hoping this is just going to create a good feeling. ‘Heat pumps are very cool. I don’t know why I think they’re so cool or sexy, but I’ll look into it.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Heat pumps are heroes in the fight against climate change. But the appliances have a publicity problem. So 2 Berkeley musicians wrote them a sultry slow jam.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>You know what’s hot but also cool? R&B music. You know what else is? \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1981511/how-the-unassuming-heat-pump-can-stave-off-warming\">Heat pumps\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A pair of Berkeley musicians set out to prove it by combining the two in a sultry, catchy slow jam called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.hotmike.com/heat-pump.html\">(I’m Your) Heat Pump\u003c/a>”—and the unlikely song delivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“(I’m Your) Heat Pump” is full of delightful double entendres, with the heat pump playing the role of both lover and steady, dependable appliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you want it hot, I’m hot for you, when you want it cool, I’m cool witchu, babe,” croons singer Will Hammond Jr., in a line that will surely earworm its way into your head. “Cause I can do it all for you, baby, all you got to do is turn me on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with being surprisingly catchy, the song educates listeners about the heat pump: how it fights climate change, how heat pumps work, and why you might consider the heating and cooling device.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can listen to the song here:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1746273273&color=0053a4&hide_related=true&show_comments=false&show_teaser=false\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#song\">Why write a song about heat pumps?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#heatpump\">What’s a heat pump?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#climatesolution\">Why do heat pumps matter as a climate solution?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#cost\">How much do heat pumps cost?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#info\">What else should I know about heat pumps?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"song\">\u003c/a>Why write a song about heat pumps?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“People can mistakenly think that maybe [heat pumps] are a little boring. Maybe they’re a little humdrum,” said Mike Roberts, a part-time musician and part-time music teacher. But, he said, they aren’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want people to know that heat pumps are actually very exciting,” Roberts said. They are “such a great way for us as individuals to make a difference with the climate and to improve our lives at the same time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roberts converted his furnace, water heater, stove and clothes dryer — the most common gas-powered appliances — to electric appliances a few years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s been such a fan of home electrification since then that he volunteers with the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://switchison.org/\">The Switch Is On\u003c/a>, which facilitates home electrification. He had joked before that he’d like to write music about electrification. And then he did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first lyrics he wrote were, “I’m your heat pump,” Roberts said. “And I just started laughing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roberts recruited his bandmate and music publisher, Will Hammond Jr., to sing the ballad with his deep and resonant voice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991928\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1991928 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240313-HEATPUMPSONG-KSM-5-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240313-HEATPUMPSONG-KSM-5-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240313-HEATPUMPSONG-KSM-5-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240313-HEATPUMPSONG-KSM-5-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240313-HEATPUMPSONG-KSM-5-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240313-HEATPUMPSONG-KSM-5-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240313-HEATPUMPSONG-KSM-5-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240313-HEATPUMPSONG-KSM-5-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bandmates Will Hammond Jr. (left) and Mike Roberts at Roberts’s home in Berkeley on Mar. 13, 2024. \u003ccite>(Kathryn Styer Martínez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I had the ghost of Barry White sort of talking to me like, ‘Come on, man, you can do this,’” Hammond said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both musicians wanted the song to be more than funny; they wanted it to actually tell people about heat pumps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s like edutainment,” Hammond said. “We’re educating people, but we’re also entertaining them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think there’s a lot of appetite in the climate space right now for a little bit of fun,” Roberts said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"heatpump\">\u003c/a>What’s a heat pump?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A heat pump can warm or cool a home, serving the same role as a furnace and air conditioner all rolled into one. The difference is that most furnaces use gas, while a heat pump uses electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heat pumps can also warm and cool water, like a water heater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the technology sounds strange, you may be surprised to know that you likely already have a type of heat pump in your home. This is how your refrigerator works.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"climatesolution\">\u003c/a>Why do heat pumps matter as a climate solution?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The largest source of emissions in your home comes from heating and cooling your indoor air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heat pumps are \u003ca href=\"https://www.iea.org/reports/the-future-of-heat-pumps/how-a-heat-pump-works\">three to five times more efficient than gas furnaces\u003c/a> and can \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421522000386\">cut a home’s carbon pollution by 40%–50%\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>California’s grid is constantly getting greener as more zero-carbon and clean energy sources come online. And the state has\u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/07/22/governor-newsom-calls-for-bold-actions-to-move-faster-toward-climate-goals/\"> the goal of installing 6 million heat pumps by 2030\u003c/a> — which would save millions of pounds of CO2.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"cost\">\u003c/a>How much do heat pumps cost?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Heat pumps tend to be more expensive than gas furnaces but less expensive than the price of a gas furnace and an air conditioning unit combined (and heat pumps do both things).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether a new build or an upgrade to an existing home, \u003ca href=\"https://apppack-app-tech-reporting-prod-privates3bucket-z0onruvirqb2.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Heat_Pump_HVAC_Retrofit_Cost_Drivers_v4W3bW0_kiFU8k4.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=ASIASLLU4AX2FB6R7KFU&Signature=yGZT7rLoaJ7%2BRNLitrtUIa35LWM%3D&x-amz-security-token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjENT%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCXVzLXdlc3QtMiJHMEUCIDuu23RY5qtWEH25BKaYSOEaWzz1KxBLDbTY3oVyraq4AiEAxwp7Dhf0PmNINjscaVg6F8RAJp6K8C%2FqKYFi9%2F3uJ8QqvgQI3f%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FARAGGgwxNjE4NDMyNTA2NzYiDFqtIb9jZcB%2FpgTqSCqSBMbA6qw4M1r8zkkA14FsfYZ9uuZY%2F95sBuPy3eEUZ8Rzp6PN1ZRLeuZu2pQsJuTjh8D1Gl5x2IYSiFgLTab4%2FiAzkOGbaifO3WXCmZB6DEHpJFyj%2BGcvoLrzDGKRk%2BRi312XMpGr0Oa8Lc6BvQXhwUlkXlzNyZbncs9KkGs%2FfyCAZbxC5xQ6BjHmZEH7H%2FlCPFGCyTCvaOGkgkiIWjrn1Xn0zZ4xJVVhZv7q%2BqxkHu9mIPo731fF5BoLVlDGwqs%2FkjS%2BlU0nyI1tsujjM3rJLlSDYamJYZ033H8eyatr0Viuyz5qZzNKfEARMcmRyDLduwyHvtORObJ3W9zJjDV3FObT3F6pVdMxcJBCykTHq1SY9GUfr7y1djCZnD%2B92cGh6WgZudJvF4mZwO6PtrWX5QeHFh9vADLaYYFtzu%2FAEzylrlYOdnd%2BRnBWhxCuRZWOkmn8A%2Fqw3d6jKu2pyMIg8GAU8srPNXslMJZWVfpYFr%2BL9sdRBYmNfy%2BxKDHchlzVGOC4GXBWp6ZorlkiJU8cCYruNjlL3uzOxxbgTdTrIfkor1rdw9Jv%2FnfohdQAMccOLcOmHdq6oTHLS74kP0vBn91kPYttUP8aSAA3skL3KURQh2LFEObVgZXHGCY4Hm6%2BfBtR5cKS1LJHmZ4ngl3VWMjXNrTkFzfrt0q4pVEswMlTw6lsHNmwNo0ahEuDTYV2VXyAMNus4q8GOqYBu6bjwn5L3uFxMMCVQWEjSXUCyqWG089lLC97XuE487rinw9Y%2B0CYSn9RbV4MdY6na2VLd1CjrLR%2BVFQsVn%2BvwU9NmxOTtwEyjhC5e8oG3nUUEDtMx29jA8prRXyNiZ28GmX4AbuOnOdHgNRl77FF%2BEJieTIUlgxHc4tfQa14Ai11xO%2FQCxKD5hNh95pNoCB8X9UdtJtk3o%2Fsty3BB7V21EhyInpLcw%3D%3D&Expires=1711408848\">the average installation project costs roughly $13,000 to $23,000 in California (PDF)\u003c/a>. This, of course, varies widely based on home size, the type of heat pump you purchase, and whether you need to upgrade any other aspects of your electrical system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there are state and federal programs to help defray the cost. You can search for incentives through \u003ca href=\"https://incentives.switchison.org/residents/incentives?state=CA\">The Switch Is On\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://homes.rewiringamerica.org/calculator\">Rewiring America\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022, also includes a $2,000 tax credit for heat pumps and an additional $11,500 in rebates for low- and moderate-income households.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"info\">\u003c/a>What else should I know about heat pumps?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It’s hard to say exactly how a heat pump will affect your monthly bills. \u003ca href=\"https://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2024/benefits-of-heat-pumps-detailed-in-new-nrel-report.html\">The majority of Americans see a drop in their energy bills by using a heat pump\u003c/a>, but in many cases, the high upfront costs of the appliance cancel out savings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some heat pump critics say the appliance isn’t up to the task of warming a home when it’s sub-zero outside. A heat pump gets less efficient in extreme cold, but many models still operate well, even \u003ca href=\"https://www.mncee.org/cold-climate-air-source-heat-pump-final-report\">as low as -13 degrees Fahrenheit\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>–\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Roberts and Hammond don’t think their song will start a revolution, but they hope you’ll think of that humdrum, dependable appliance a little differently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not that I think this song alone is going to make people run out and replace their gas furnace with a heat pump,” Roberts said. “But I’m hoping this is just going to create a good feeling. ‘Heat pumps are very cool. I don’t know why I think they’re so cool or sexy, but I’ll look into it.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The California snowpack is glistening white at more than 100% of the average for this time of year — and meteorologists forecast a storm this weekend could deepen it even more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The snowpack could grow by as much as 2 feet at the highest elevations as a typical winter-like storm passes over the Sierra Nevada as soon as Friday and lasts through Sunday, said National Weather Service Sacramento meteorologist Dakari Anderson.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist, UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab\"]‘If these storms pan out, we could go from 100% of our April 1 average to potentially above that. We’re in a good spot.”[/pullquote]Water managers consider California’s snowpack as a frozen reservoir that plays a significant role in providing water to farms and cities as it slowly melts into reservoirs, rivers and streams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The storm won’t be like anything we saw in the last few storms,” Anderson said \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11977803/storm-barrels-down-on-sierra-as-blizzard-conditions-close-tahoe-resorts\">of weather patterns that piled as much as 12 feet of snow in parts of the Sierra\u003c/a>. “Overall, we are looking at above-normal amounts of snow across the Sierra because of what happened in February.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, California’s snowpack is \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/snowapp/sweq.action\">100% of the average for this time of year and 104% of the average of the April 1 snowpack\u003c/a>, which is the timeframe water managers look to as an indicator of potential water supply for the rest of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If these storms pan out, we could go from 100% of our April 1 average to potentially above that,” said Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist at the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab. “We’re in a good spot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/NWSSacramento/status/1769708214788981173\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even without the coming storm, California is on track to have an average snow year, which is a big deal because residents are used to bouncing back and forth between extremes: droughts, when Californians conserve water, and extremely wet years when the flood risk is highest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s infrequent that we actually get somewhat of a normal winter, and so far, it’s shaped up to be just that,” he said. “It’s that thing that we really want to aspire to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Significant snow years can increase flood risk as it melts into rivers and streams, but Schwartz and state officials said it is hard to tell if flooding will happen this year because of the snowpack melting. What could cause flooding is if spring heatwaves melt snow rapidly.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"David Rizzardo, manager, California Department of Water Resources hydrology section\"]‘The question now is how the snowpack translates into snowmelt and how much runoff reaches our reservoirs during the spring and summer.’[/pullquote]“The question now is how the snowpack translates into snowmelt and how much runoff reaches our reservoirs during the spring and summer,” said David Rizzardo, California Department of Water Resources hydrology section manager. “It is still possible that snowmelt runoff will be below average if we don’t see much added to the snowpack this month.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On top of a heatwave, Alan Rhoades, a Lawrence Berkeley National Lab atmospheric scientist, is aware that the\u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/ocean-temperature-hit-record-high-february-2024-eu-scientists-say-2024-03-07/#:~:text=Ocean%20temperature%20hit%20record%20high%20in%20February%202024%2C%20EU%20scientists%20say,-By%20Gloria%20Dickie&text=LONDON%2C%20March%207%20(Reuters),(C3S)%20said%20on%20Thursday.\"> world’s oceans have experienced a year of unprecedented heat\u003c/a>. He said temperatures are way outside the normal range globally, which could impact the snowpack locally. The ocean temperature can significantly alter how much or how little rain or snow falls over the Sierra and how warm or cold the region is.[aside label='More on Climate Change' tag='climate-change']“With our snowpack, things like heat waves are something to keep in mind; they could lead to a potential ripening of the snow and an abrupt melt,” he said. “As we’re moving into a climate-changed world, we’re starting to see these heat waves start to occur more frequently in late spring and early summer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The positive news is that now that the state has had two wet winters, \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/resapp/RescondMain\">its reservoir storage is above average\u003c/a>, meaning the threat of drought is virtually zero heading into the summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a similar story for wildfire risk with two back-to-back wet years. UC Berkeley’s Schwartz doesn’t expect much fire danger at higher elevations because the forest is covered in thick snow, preventing brush and grasses from growing fast. The concern, he said, is primarily at lower elevations where rain has been more predominant in recent storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s always a concern during an above-average year down at the lower elevations, where grasses and shrubs experience a burst of growth as the temperatures warm up and then die off in the summer heat,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The California snowpack exceeds 100% of the average for this season, with meteorologists forecasting a weekend storm to further increase its depth. At this point, climate scientists don’t see extreme flooding or fire risk this year.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The California snowpack is glistening white at more than 100% of the average for this time of year — and meteorologists forecast a storm this weekend could deepen it even more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The snowpack could grow by as much as 2 feet at the highest elevations as a typical winter-like storm passes over the Sierra Nevada as soon as Friday and lasts through Sunday, said National Weather Service Sacramento meteorologist Dakari Anderson.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Water managers consider California’s snowpack as a frozen reservoir that plays a significant role in providing water to farms and cities as it slowly melts into reservoirs, rivers and streams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The storm won’t be like anything we saw in the last few storms,” Anderson said \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11977803/storm-barrels-down-on-sierra-as-blizzard-conditions-close-tahoe-resorts\">of weather patterns that piled as much as 12 feet of snow in parts of the Sierra\u003c/a>. “Overall, we are looking at above-normal amounts of snow across the Sierra because of what happened in February.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, California’s snowpack is \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/snowapp/sweq.action\">100% of the average for this time of year and 104% of the average of the April 1 snowpack\u003c/a>, which is the timeframe water managers look to as an indicator of potential water supply for the rest of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If these storms pan out, we could go from 100% of our April 1 average to potentially above that,” said Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist at the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab. “We’re in a good spot.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Even without the coming storm, California is on track to have an average snow year, which is a big deal because residents are used to bouncing back and forth between extremes: droughts, when Californians conserve water, and extremely wet years when the flood risk is highest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s infrequent that we actually get somewhat of a normal winter, and so far, it’s shaped up to be just that,” he said. “It’s that thing that we really want to aspire to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Significant snow years can increase flood risk as it melts into rivers and streams, but Schwartz and state officials said it is hard to tell if flooding will happen this year because of the snowpack melting. What could cause flooding is if spring heatwaves melt snow rapidly.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The question now is how the snowpack translates into snowmelt and how much runoff reaches our reservoirs during the spring and summer,” said David Rizzardo, California Department of Water Resources hydrology section manager. “It is still possible that snowmelt runoff will be below average if we don’t see much added to the snowpack this month.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On top of a heatwave, Alan Rhoades, a Lawrence Berkeley National Lab atmospheric scientist, is aware that the\u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/ocean-temperature-hit-record-high-february-2024-eu-scientists-say-2024-03-07/#:~:text=Ocean%20temperature%20hit%20record%20high%20in%20February%202024%2C%20EU%20scientists%20say,-By%20Gloria%20Dickie&text=LONDON%2C%20March%207%20(Reuters),(C3S)%20said%20on%20Thursday.\"> world’s oceans have experienced a year of unprecedented heat\u003c/a>. He said temperatures are way outside the normal range globally, which could impact the snowpack locally. The ocean temperature can significantly alter how much or how little rain or snow falls over the Sierra and how warm or cold the region is.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“With our snowpack, things like heat waves are something to keep in mind; they could lead to a potential ripening of the snow and an abrupt melt,” he said. “As we’re moving into a climate-changed world, we’re starting to see these heat waves start to occur more frequently in late spring and early summer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The positive news is that now that the state has had two wet winters, \u003ca href=\"https://cdec.water.ca.gov/resapp/RescondMain\">its reservoir storage is above average\u003c/a>, meaning the threat of drought is virtually zero heading into the summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a similar story for wildfire risk with two back-to-back wet years. UC Berkeley’s Schwartz doesn’t expect much fire danger at higher elevations because the forest is covered in thick snow, preventing brush and grasses from growing fast. The concern, he said, is primarily at lower elevations where rain has been more predominant in recent storms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s always a concern during an above-average year down at the lower elevations, where grasses and shrubs experience a burst of growth as the temperatures warm up and then die off in the summer heat,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Bay Area Researchers Find Oil and Gas Companies’ Methane Output Surpasses EPA Reports",
"headTitle": "Bay Area Researchers Find Oil and Gas Companies’ Methane Output Surpasses EPA Reports | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The oil and gas industry may be emitting about three times the amount of climate-warming methane as government estimates show, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07117-5\">new study in Nature\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Methane is the main component of natural gas, and it is also produced when extracting crude oil. Methane is among the greenhouse gasses heating the planet, \u003ca href=\"https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/video/whats-deal-methane#:~:text=Due%20to%20its%20structure%2C%20methane,years%20after%20it%20is%20released.\">and it is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study’s researchers used airplanes to gather 986,238 measurements of methane emissions from six domestic oil and gas production areas. The data include about half the country’s onshore oil production and 29% of natural gas production. Then, researchers combined that aerial data with information from sites on the ground, including wells, compressor stations, gas processing plants and pipelines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers, from Stanford University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and other organizations, estimate that an average of 2.95% of gas the industry produces leaks into the air as methane. The authors said that’s nearly three times EPA estimates of 1.01%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Specific measurements varied from a low of less than 1%, or about what the Environmental Protection Agency estimates, at a site in Pennsylvania to a high of nearly 10% in New Mexico. Researchers found the higher percentages of methane released generally had something in common.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are places where production is mostly focusing on oil,” said Evan Sherwin, a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who conducted the research as a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University. But oil and gas often come out of the ground together, and if there wasn’t a way to transport the less-valuable gas to where it could be sold, leaks were higher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Pennsylvania, by contrast, drillers are focused on producing natural gas, and very little of the methane is wasted there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That complicates an argument many in the industry have made, generally in opposition to tighter government regulations on methane.\u003ca href=\"https://www.ipaa.org/methane/\"> They say drillers have an incentive to capture gas leaks\u003c/a> so they can sell the fossil fuel. But that’s not always possible if the industry hasn’t built the pipelines and other infrastructure to get the gas to consumers. In this study, researchers estimate the industry releases about 6.2 million tons of methane a year, valued at $1.08 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The findings echo \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2215275120\">other studies\u003c/a> that also conclude the EPA’s estimates are too low. Getting accurate measurements is important because the U.S. is among the countries pledging to cut methane pollution as one of its key climate goals. To achieve that, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/12/02/1216401828/epa-aims-to-slash-the-oil-industrys-climate-warming-methane-pollution\">EPA issued rules\u003c/a> for slashing the industry’s methane emissions in December. Those rules \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/texas-challenges-us-epa-limits-oil-gas-industry-methane-emissions-2024-03-09/\">now face a legal challenge\u003c/a> from Texas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Methane from human activities is responsible for \u003ca href=\"https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/methane-emissions-are-driving-climate-change-heres-how-reduce-them\">about a third of the rise in global temperatures\u003c/a> since the start of the Industrial Revolution. The oil industry is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases#methane\">second-largest source of human-caused methane\u003c/a> after agriculture. While \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases#methane\">U.S. methane emissions have generally declined in recent decades\u003c/a>, the world is not on track to meet its goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (about 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While governments and the industry have routinely undercounted methane emissions, that may be changing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the COP28 climate summit in Dubai last year, more countries joined the \u003ca href=\"https://www.globalmethanepledge.org/news/highlights-2023-global-methane-pledge-ministerial\">U.S. and European Union-led Global Methane Pledge\u003c/a> to cut emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030. More than 155 countries have signed the pledge, representing nearly half the world’s human-caused methane emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the ability to measure methane pollution is improving rapidly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s night and day, even compared to five or six years ago,” Sherwin said. In the past, collecting data was done mostly on the ground and was labor intensive. But now, he said, airplanes and satellites are able to gather much more information in a shorter amount of time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/03/05/1235694992/a-new-satellite-will-track-climate-warming-pollution-heres-why-thats-a-big-deal\">Earlier this month,\u003c/a> the Environmental Defense Fund led the launch of \u003ca href=\"https://www.methanesat.org/\">MethaneSAT\u003c/a>, which will circle the Earth 15 times a day, looking for methane from the oil and gas industry. It joins other projects, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-mission-excels-at-spotting-greenhouse-gas-emission-sources\">one from NASA\u003c/a>, that give researchers and the public a better understanding of the extent of the methane pollution problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Emissions of methane from fossil fuel operations remain unacceptably high,” said Tim Gould, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, during a Tuesday call with reporters. The organization’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.iea.org/reports/global-methane-tracker-2024\">Global Methane Tracker\u003c/a> shows methane from the energy sector was near the record high level in 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite that, the IEA concludes that if countries fully implement existing pledges on methane reductions, that would make significant progress toward achieving global climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“2024 could mark a turning point, and policies are starting to be put into place. Greater transparency is coming. Awareness is spreading, and we have enhanced ability to track large leaks and act quickly to shut them down,” Gould said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gould said he hopes to have good news to share, about a \u003cem>reduction \u003c/em>in methane emissions, next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2024 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=Oil+and+gas+companies+emit+more+climate-warming+methane+than+EPA+reports&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The oil and gas industry may be emitting about three times the amount of climate-warming methane as government estimates show, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07117-5\">new study in Nature\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Methane is the main component of natural gas, and it is also produced when extracting crude oil. Methane is among the greenhouse gasses heating the planet, \u003ca href=\"https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/video/whats-deal-methane#:~:text=Due%20to%20its%20structure%2C%20methane,years%20after%20it%20is%20released.\">and it is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study’s researchers used airplanes to gather 986,238 measurements of methane emissions from six domestic oil and gas production areas. The data include about half the country’s onshore oil production and 29% of natural gas production. Then, researchers combined that aerial data with information from sites on the ground, including wells, compressor stations, gas processing plants and pipelines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers, from Stanford University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and other organizations, estimate that an average of 2.95% of gas the industry produces leaks into the air as methane. The authors said that’s nearly three times EPA estimates of 1.01%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Specific measurements varied from a low of less than 1%, or about what the Environmental Protection Agency estimates, at a site in Pennsylvania to a high of nearly 10% in New Mexico. Researchers found the higher percentages of methane released generally had something in common.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are places where production is mostly focusing on oil,” said Evan Sherwin, a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who conducted the research as a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University. But oil and gas often come out of the ground together, and if there wasn’t a way to transport the less-valuable gas to where it could be sold, leaks were higher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Pennsylvania, by contrast, drillers are focused on producing natural gas, and very little of the methane is wasted there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That complicates an argument many in the industry have made, generally in opposition to tighter government regulations on methane.\u003ca href=\"https://www.ipaa.org/methane/\"> They say drillers have an incentive to capture gas leaks\u003c/a> so they can sell the fossil fuel. But that’s not always possible if the industry hasn’t built the pipelines and other infrastructure to get the gas to consumers. In this study, researchers estimate the industry releases about 6.2 million tons of methane a year, valued at $1.08 billion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The findings echo \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2215275120\">other studies\u003c/a> that also conclude the EPA’s estimates are too low. Getting accurate measurements is important because the U.S. is among the countries pledging to cut methane pollution as one of its key climate goals. To achieve that, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/12/02/1216401828/epa-aims-to-slash-the-oil-industrys-climate-warming-methane-pollution\">EPA issued rules\u003c/a> for slashing the industry’s methane emissions in December. Those rules \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/texas-challenges-us-epa-limits-oil-gas-industry-methane-emissions-2024-03-09/\">now face a legal challenge\u003c/a> from Texas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Methane from human activities is responsible for \u003ca href=\"https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/methane-emissions-are-driving-climate-change-heres-how-reduce-them\">about a third of the rise in global temperatures\u003c/a> since the start of the Industrial Revolution. The oil industry is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases#methane\">second-largest source of human-caused methane\u003c/a> after agriculture. While \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases#methane\">U.S. methane emissions have generally declined in recent decades\u003c/a>, the world is not on track to meet its goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (about 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While governments and the industry have routinely undercounted methane emissions, that may be changing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the COP28 climate summit in Dubai last year, more countries joined the \u003ca href=\"https://www.globalmethanepledge.org/news/highlights-2023-global-methane-pledge-ministerial\">U.S. and European Union-led Global Methane Pledge\u003c/a> to cut emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030. More than 155 countries have signed the pledge, representing nearly half the world’s human-caused methane emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the ability to measure methane pollution is improving rapidly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s night and day, even compared to five or six years ago,” Sherwin said. In the past, collecting data was done mostly on the ground and was labor intensive. But now, he said, airplanes and satellites are able to gather much more information in a shorter amount of time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/03/05/1235694992/a-new-satellite-will-track-climate-warming-pollution-heres-why-thats-a-big-deal\">Earlier this month,\u003c/a> the Environmental Defense Fund led the launch of \u003ca href=\"https://www.methanesat.org/\">MethaneSAT\u003c/a>, which will circle the Earth 15 times a day, looking for methane from the oil and gas industry. It joins other projects, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-mission-excels-at-spotting-greenhouse-gas-emission-sources\">one from NASA\u003c/a>, that give researchers and the public a better understanding of the extent of the methane pollution problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Emissions of methane from fossil fuel operations remain unacceptably high,” said Tim Gould, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, during a Tuesday call with reporters. The organization’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.iea.org/reports/global-methane-tracker-2024\">Global Methane Tracker\u003c/a> shows methane from the energy sector was near the record high level in 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite that, the IEA concludes that if countries fully implement existing pledges on methane reductions, that would make significant progress toward achieving global climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“2024 could mark a turning point, and policies are starting to be put into place. Greater transparency is coming. Awareness is spreading, and we have enhanced ability to track large leaks and act quickly to shut them down,” Gould said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gould said he hopes to have good news to share, about a \u003cem>reduction \u003c/em>in methane emissions, next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2024 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=Oil+and+gas+companies+emit+more+climate-warming+methane+than+EPA+reports&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>I’m concerned about how our climate is changing. My son is not growing up on the planet of my childhood. As a science reporter, I’ve covered climate-related issues for over a decade. Yet, there is still so much more for me to know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s why I’m launching a climate book club with KQED Science and Forum, our flagship morning call-in show. I want a refresher on the basics of climate change, where the most promising solutions lie, and how we can work to make the future better. And I want people to talk with. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Katharine Hayhoe, author, Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope\"]‘But we can’t give in to despair. We have to go out and actively look for the hope that we need, that will inspire us to act. And that hope begins with a conversation today.’[/pullquote] Katharine Hayhoe, author of \u003cem>Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope\u003c/em>, said about climate change, “The number one thing we can do is the exact thing that we’re not doing: talk about it.” There are so many smart, well-researched climate books that I know will be interesting and impactful. Yet I haven’t read them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Can you relate?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Find support, accountability and people to talk to in our book club. Will you join us?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Who is behind it?\u003c/strong> Danielle Venton, science reporter, and Francesca Fenzi, Forum digital community producer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991816\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991816\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240311-FENZI-VENTON-DIPTYCH-MD-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240311-FENZI-VENTON-DIPTYCH-MD-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240311-FENZI-VENTON-DIPTYCH-MD-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240311-FENZI-VENTON-DIPTYCH-MD-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240311-FENZI-VENTON-DIPTYCH-MD-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240311-FENZI-VENTON-DIPTYCH-MD-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240311-FENZI-VENTON-DIPTYCH-MD-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240311-FENZI-VENTON-DIPTYCH-MD-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Francesca Fenzi and Danielle Venton\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What is it?\u003c/strong> We’ll read a climate book every few months throughout 2024. You can join an online discussion group via \u003ca href=\"https://discord.gg/kqedforum\">Forum’s community on Discord\u003c/a>. (If you are new to the social media platform, read step-by-step instructions at \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/forum\">kqed.org/forum\u003c/a>.) Then join us for a live discussion, sometimes with the book author or with journalists and climate experts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where and when is it?\u003c/strong> We’ll post discussion topics on Discord for our first book starting March 18, with new topics every week. On May 8, we’ll have our first live conversation about the book with KQED climate reporter Laura Klivans. (More details about that will be posted at \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/live\">KQED.org/live\u003c/a> in the coming weeks.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Which book? \u003c/strong>We’re starting with \u003cem>Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation To Build a Sustainable Planet \u003c/em>by Hannah Ritchie. This book is “for anyone who finds it difficult to believe in a better future,” the \u003cem>Times of London\u003c/em> review said. Ritchie is a data scientist and researcher at Oxford University. Her goal is to convince her readers that there’s a lot the average person can do to make sure the planet our children inherit is healthier than the one we were born into. Grab your copy now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Who is it for? \u003c/strong>People who want a better climate future and need a little hope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> Katharine Hayhoe, author of \u003cem>Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope\u003c/em>, said about climate change, “The number one thing we can do is the exact thing that we’re not doing: talk about it.” There are so many smart, well-researched climate books that I know will be interesting and impactful. Yet I haven’t read them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Can you relate?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Find support, accountability and people to talk to in our book club. Will you join us?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Who is behind it?\u003c/strong> Danielle Venton, science reporter, and Francesca Fenzi, Forum digital community producer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991816\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991816\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240311-FENZI-VENTON-DIPTYCH-MD-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240311-FENZI-VENTON-DIPTYCH-MD-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240311-FENZI-VENTON-DIPTYCH-MD-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240311-FENZI-VENTON-DIPTYCH-MD-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240311-FENZI-VENTON-DIPTYCH-MD-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240311-FENZI-VENTON-DIPTYCH-MD-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240311-FENZI-VENTON-DIPTYCH-MD-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240311-FENZI-VENTON-DIPTYCH-MD-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Francesca Fenzi and Danielle Venton\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What is it?\u003c/strong> We’ll read a climate book every few months throughout 2024. You can join an online discussion group via \u003ca href=\"https://discord.gg/kqedforum\">Forum’s community on Discord\u003c/a>. (If you are new to the social media platform, read step-by-step instructions at \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/forum\">kqed.org/forum\u003c/a>.) Then join us for a live discussion, sometimes with the book author or with journalists and climate experts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Where and when is it?\u003c/strong> We’ll post discussion topics on Discord for our first book starting March 18, with new topics every week. On May 8, we’ll have our first live conversation about the book with KQED climate reporter Laura Klivans. (More details about that will be posted at \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/live\">KQED.org/live\u003c/a> in the coming weeks.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Which book? \u003c/strong>We’re starting with \u003cem>Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation To Build a Sustainable Planet \u003c/em>by Hannah Ritchie. This book is “for anyone who finds it difficult to believe in a better future,” the \u003cem>Times of London\u003c/em> review said. Ritchie is a data scientist and researcher at Oxford University. Her goal is to convince her readers that there’s a lot the average person can do to make sure the planet our children inherit is healthier than the one we were born into. Grab your copy now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Who is it for? \u003c/strong>People who want a better climate future and need a little hope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "u-s-navy-acknowledges-rising-toxic-groundwater-threat-at-sf-superfund-site",
"title": "US Navy Acknowledges Rising Toxic Groundwater Threat at SF Superfund Site",
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"content": "\u003cp>The U.S. Navy, for the first time, has acknowledged what Bay Area climate scientists and residents have asked the agency to look into for years: that in just over a decade, potentially toxic groundwater could surface at a San Francisco Superfund site partly because of human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every five years, the agency reviews the cleanup of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard next to the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood. The agency studied how climate effects — sea-level rise, groundwater rise and storm surge — could impact the cleanup of one of the nation’s largest and most complicated Superfund sites. The Navy finished the review in November and \u003ca href=\"https://www.bracpmo.navy.mil/Library/Announcements/Display/Article/3653648/former-nsy-hunters-point-fifth-cercla-five-year-review-draft/\">released it to the public in late January.\u003c/a> The details of the climate review were buried deep in a 566-page document, and KQED is reporting on them for the first time. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Arieann Harrison, founder and CEO, Marie Harrison Community Foundation\"]‘The five-year review based on sea-level rise confirms some of our collective concerns in Bayview-Hunters Point.’[/pullquote]The Navy found that in 2035, contaminated groundwater from heavy metals and “low-level radiological objects” — steeping in the water like a tea bag — could surface in an area of the site called “Parcel D-1,” which the Navy used for ship repair, maintenance and radiological research. The Navy capped this area with asphalt to keep any remaining pollution underground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Navy’s assessment said heavy metals in permanent groundwater could surface in five other places by 2065.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The five-year review based on sea-level rise confirms some of our collective concerns in Bayview-Hunters Point,” said Arieann Harrison, founder and CEO of the Marie Harrison Community Foundation, an environmental justice group serving the Bayview community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to take more work to reach the goal of creating a safe environment for us all,” she added in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Navy also found that a 100-year storm surge in 2035 could cause flooding in some areas. By 2065, “a 100-year storm surge would impact portions of all parcels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report raises fresh questions about the city’s plans to build thousands of homes on what is an exceedingly complex and ongoing cleanup effort. When finished, \u003ca href=\"https://sfocii.org/projects/hunters-point-shipyard-candlestick-point-2/overview\">the 693-acre Candlestick Point-Hunters Point Shipyard project — which the Superfund site is part of — could have more than 10,000 housing units\u003c/a>. The development would include two new waterfront neighborhoods with housing, retail, and over 340 acres of parks and open space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991763\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1993px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991763\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"Two side by side aerial maps of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. A dark blue shaded areas show where flooding could occur from storms in 2035 and 2065.\" width=\"1993\" height=\"909\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-1-1.jpg 1993w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-1-1-800x365.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-1-1-1020x465.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-1-1-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-1-1-768x350.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-1-1-1536x701.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-1-1-1920x876.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1993px) 100vw, 1993px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In a changing climate, the blue-shaded areas depict how a 100-year storm event could temporarily flood a portion of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard by 2035 and 2065. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of U.S. Navy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bay Area climate scientists, like UC Berkeley’s Kristina Hill, have sounded the alarm for years that anthropogenic climate change causing rising seas will push up groundwater levels and mix with contaminants with the possibility of coming in contact with people and the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly two years ago, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1979658/poorly-prepared-sf-civil-grand-jury-slams-city-for-not-protecting-residents-from-toxic-contamination\">the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury issued a report alerting the public to the fact that groundwater rise \u003c/a>— a result of seas rising in response to global emissions melting ice caps and expanding oceans — could significantly impact the site in the coming decades. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Sara Miles, a member of the grand jury behind the report\"]‘We feel vindicated that the Navy thinks this is a serious threat that needs to be looked at and also that they understand that it’s imminent.’[/pullquote]“We feel vindicated that the Navy thinks this is a serious threat that needs to be looked at and also that they understand that it’s imminent,” said Sara Miles, a member of the grand jury behind the report. “This is a serious issue that needs to be addressed before there’s a land transfer, not to mention any more housing being built in those areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Pound, a base realignment and closure environmental coordinator with the Navy, defended the agency’s work to prepare the site for one of San Francisco’s most ambitious development projects in a generation. He said the Navy is taking a proactive approach to how rising seas could affect the Superfund site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Navy has not only considered climate change at Hunters Point for many years, but it has already developed some infrastructure at the Shipyard to prepare for future sea-level rise,” he said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Navy has armored and extended part of the site with a seawall and a landfill cap to protect against a 100-year storm and three feet of sea-level rise. Based on the two sea-level rise projections, the Navy, working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state regulatory agencies, will develop timelines for the Navy’s ongoing site-specific evaluations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA oversees the cleanup of Superfund sites and is studying the Navy’s latest review filing, along with California environmental agencies, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Pound said it could be finalized by this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>San Francisco leaders respond\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Mayor London Breed \u003ca href=\"https://civilgrandjury.sfgov.org/2021_2022/Hunters%20Point%20Response_MYR_081122.pdf\">did not agree with some of the Civil Grand Jury’s findings and recommendations\u003c/a> from 2022. In a statement, her office said the city is working with the Navy “to proactively ensure that all the actors responsible for the clean-up process are using remediation best practices so that the community’s health is, and remains, protected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton represents the Hunters Point area. His office declined an interview for this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991764\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1993px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991764\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-2-1.jpg\" alt=\"Two side by side aerial maps of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Dark blue circles are randomly spread out across the land showcasing where groundwater could be within three feet of the surface in 2035 and 2065.\" width=\"1993\" height=\"909\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-2-1.jpg 1993w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-2-1-800x365.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-2-1-1020x465.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-2-1-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-2-1-768x350.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-2-1-1536x701.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-2-1-1920x876.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1993px) 100vw, 1993px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In a changing climate, the dark blue circles show where groundwater could rise to within 3 feet of the surface at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard by 2035 and 2065. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of U.S. Navy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Department of Public Health wrote that the agency is conducting an in-depth analysis of the five-year review, including the section on climate impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, the Navy found nearly two dozen samples at the site contaminated by Strontium-90, a radioactive isotope that can cause cancer. In September 2018, the agency recovered a radioactive deck marker, more than a decade after the federal government declared the area safe and free of radioactive waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1985646/radioactive-object-found-at-san-franciscos-hunters-point-naval-shipyard-raises-new-concerns\">Last December, the Navy said it detected another piece of radioactive material\u003c/a> — a chip of glass smaller than a dime — during routine testing at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Located next to a historically Black neighborhood where more than 35,000 people live, the Tetris-shaped 866-acre shipyard comprises concrete docking bays and abandoned buildings that jut out of San Francisco’s southeast shoreline. In the middle of the last century, the Navy used the site to decontaminate ships after atomic bomb tests, a process that contaminated the soil with radionuclides, heavy metals and petroleum fuels, among other toxic compounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The whole area could be flooded’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Residents, environmental advocates and climate scientists applaud the Navy for studying how climate change could alter the site. However, they said environmental agencies should require the Navy to conduct a more thorough cleanup before any developer builds housing on the old shipyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeff Weitzel was on the civil grand jury that advised the city to look further into how groundwater rise will likely surface contamination at the shipyard. He said he was surprised the Navy looked at time horizons so near into the future and wished the agency would have considered a century ahead because homes built on the site would sit vulnerable for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991771\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991771\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-3.jpg\" alt=\"Two side by side aerial maps of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Dark blue circles are randomly spread out across the land showcasing where groundwater could emerge above the land surface in 2035 and 2065.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"952\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-3-800x381.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-3-1020x486.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-3-160x76.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-3-768x366.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-3-1536x731.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-3-1920x914.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In a changing climate, the circled light blue areas depict where groundwater could emerge above ground at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard by 2035 and 2065. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of U.S. Navy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If they look 100 years in the future, it might look two to four times as alarming,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weitzel also notes that the Navy’s study looks separately at flooding from storms, groundwater, and rising sea levels. He said a composite view is needed to understand actual vulnerability clearly. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Jeff Weitzel, civil grand jury member who advised the city\"]‘If they look 100 years in the future, it might look two to four times as alarming.’[/pullquote]“The whole area could be flooded; that’s what those maps are showing,” he said. “If we’re talking about building an entire community in that area, that has to be taken into account. There are all these chemicals under this soil, and we don’t know how they might be sneaking out. It’s very alarming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai, who tests the bodies of Bayview-Hunters Point residents to determine if they’ve been exposed to contamination through her Hunters Point Biomonitoring Foundation, the Navy’s findings are “devastating.” She said the city should question whether it is a good idea to build on the site with contamination still in the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Navy did go the extra mile in projecting climate change, and I think that they offered a more sensitive and respectful analysis of the protectiveness of the most dangerously contaminated parcels,” she said. “The bottom line is that the Navy is telling you the shipyard, in its current state, is not fully protective of human health and the environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991775\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991775\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/034_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/034_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/034_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/034_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/034_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/034_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022_qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/034_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai displays a map of Bayview Hunters Point at her office in Bayview, San Francisco, on Feb. 25, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Porter Sumchai has screened more than 150 residents and found elevated levels of contaminants like uranium, plutonium and radioactive potassium — some of which she notes can cause cancer in people when exposed to them over a period of time. Her next step is to create a toxic registry of the around 35,000 people who live within a one-mile perimeter of the Superfund site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of the clustering we are seeing is within the half-mile perimeter of the base,” she said. “The longer people have lived close to the base, the more significant their body burdens are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Water brings it all together’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Hill has spent much of the past decade deciphering how human-caused climate change will push up groundwater and come in contact with contamination in soil. Her findings \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1983106/map-more-than-5000-toxic-sites-along-sf-bay-are-threatened-by-rising-groundwater-new-study-finds\">showcase as many as 5,000 toxic sites in the Bay Area alone are at risk of inundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In reading the Navy’s review, the Institute for Urban and Regional Development director at UC Berkeley commends the agency for “looking at the issue at all” but said its methods were not granular enough. She said the Navy’s analysis is missing an understanding of how water moves. [aside label='More on Climate Change' tag='climate-change']The Navy assumed that a certain level of sea-level rise would push up groundwater unilaterally “as if it’s carved out of wood or ice” to see where it touches land or comes within three feet of the surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m concerned that there might be places where contaminants could flow off their site towards other parcels and certainly towards the bay,” Hill said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water moves differently based on topography, and because much of the soil on site is fill material, she said it is hard to know how the water will move. She suggests the Navy study each part of the site to decipher how surface water and groundwater will shift as seas rise and storms become more intense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Water brings it all together,” she said. “I would definitely hesitate about whether this land is ready for housing because they haven’t done a reasonably comprehensive study considering how groundwater moves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Navy said it plans to evaluate how contaminants could move in water using “more sophisticated groundwater modeling.” [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Kristina Hill, climate scientist, UC Berkeley\"]‘This isn’t an unsolvable problem where there’s already housing built. … It takes one family to suffer impacts, and everyone will regret not doing a better study.’[/pullquote]The agency will also look at the latest sea-level rise guidance from California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control. The first study would prioritize the 2035 scenario where “groundwater is first projected to rise above the current land surface.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Hill said the way to get around the troubles with contaminated groundwater is simple: remove all the contaminated soil or “treat them on-site with a fast enough process that it’ll be clean by the time the ocean gets there, or the groundwater gets up to it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This isn’t an unsolvable problem where there’s already housing built,” she said.” So, why not clean it up? It takes one family to suffer impacts, and everyone will regret not doing a better study.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Navy plans to discuss the climate portion of the review at the Hunters Point Shipyard Citizens Advisory Committee meeting on March 25 and is holding a community workshop on April 22. The last day for public comment on the Navy’s review is March 31.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The U.S. Navy, for the first time, has acknowledged what Bay Area climate scientists and residents have asked the agency to look into for years: that in just over a decade, potentially toxic groundwater could surface at a San Francisco Superfund site partly because of human-caused climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every five years, the agency reviews the cleanup of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard next to the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood. The agency studied how climate effects — sea-level rise, groundwater rise and storm surge — could impact the cleanup of one of the nation’s largest and most complicated Superfund sites. The Navy finished the review in November and \u003ca href=\"https://www.bracpmo.navy.mil/Library/Announcements/Display/Article/3653648/former-nsy-hunters-point-fifth-cercla-five-year-review-draft/\">released it to the public in late January.\u003c/a> The details of the climate review were buried deep in a 566-page document, and KQED is reporting on them for the first time. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘The five-year review based on sea-level rise confirms some of our collective concerns in Bayview-Hunters Point.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The Navy found that in 2035, contaminated groundwater from heavy metals and “low-level radiological objects” — steeping in the water like a tea bag — could surface in an area of the site called “Parcel D-1,” which the Navy used for ship repair, maintenance and radiological research. The Navy capped this area with asphalt to keep any remaining pollution underground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Navy’s assessment said heavy metals in permanent groundwater could surface in five other places by 2065.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The five-year review based on sea-level rise confirms some of our collective concerns in Bayview-Hunters Point,” said Arieann Harrison, founder and CEO of the Marie Harrison Community Foundation, an environmental justice group serving the Bayview community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s going to take more work to reach the goal of creating a safe environment for us all,” she added in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Navy also found that a 100-year storm surge in 2035 could cause flooding in some areas. By 2065, “a 100-year storm surge would impact portions of all parcels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report raises fresh questions about the city’s plans to build thousands of homes on what is an exceedingly complex and ongoing cleanup effort. When finished, \u003ca href=\"https://sfocii.org/projects/hunters-point-shipyard-candlestick-point-2/overview\">the 693-acre Candlestick Point-Hunters Point Shipyard project — which the Superfund site is part of — could have more than 10,000 housing units\u003c/a>. The development would include two new waterfront neighborhoods with housing, retail, and over 340 acres of parks and open space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991763\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1993px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991763\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"Two side by side aerial maps of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. A dark blue shaded areas show where flooding could occur from storms in 2035 and 2065.\" width=\"1993\" height=\"909\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-1-1.jpg 1993w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-1-1-800x365.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-1-1-1020x465.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-1-1-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-1-1-768x350.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-1-1-1536x701.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-1-1-1920x876.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1993px) 100vw, 1993px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In a changing climate, the blue-shaded areas depict how a 100-year storm event could temporarily flood a portion of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard by 2035 and 2065. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of U.S. Navy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Bay Area climate scientists, like UC Berkeley’s Kristina Hill, have sounded the alarm for years that anthropogenic climate change causing rising seas will push up groundwater levels and mix with contaminants with the possibility of coming in contact with people and the environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly two years ago, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1979658/poorly-prepared-sf-civil-grand-jury-slams-city-for-not-protecting-residents-from-toxic-contamination\">the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury issued a report alerting the public to the fact that groundwater rise \u003c/a>— a result of seas rising in response to global emissions melting ice caps and expanding oceans — could significantly impact the site in the coming decades. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“We feel vindicated that the Navy thinks this is a serious threat that needs to be looked at and also that they understand that it’s imminent,” said Sara Miles, a member of the grand jury behind the report. “This is a serious issue that needs to be addressed before there’s a land transfer, not to mention any more housing being built in those areas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Pound, a base realignment and closure environmental coordinator with the Navy, defended the agency’s work to prepare the site for one of San Francisco’s most ambitious development projects in a generation. He said the Navy is taking a proactive approach to how rising seas could affect the Superfund site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Navy has not only considered climate change at Hunters Point for many years, but it has already developed some infrastructure at the Shipyard to prepare for future sea-level rise,” he said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Navy has armored and extended part of the site with a seawall and a landfill cap to protect against a 100-year storm and three feet of sea-level rise. Based on the two sea-level rise projections, the Navy, working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state regulatory agencies, will develop timelines for the Navy’s ongoing site-specific evaluations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The EPA oversees the cleanup of Superfund sites and is studying the Navy’s latest review filing, along with California environmental agencies, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Pound said it could be finalized by this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>San Francisco leaders respond\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Mayor London Breed \u003ca href=\"https://civilgrandjury.sfgov.org/2021_2022/Hunters%20Point%20Response_MYR_081122.pdf\">did not agree with some of the Civil Grand Jury’s findings and recommendations\u003c/a> from 2022. In a statement, her office said the city is working with the Navy “to proactively ensure that all the actors responsible for the clean-up process are using remediation best practices so that the community’s health is, and remains, protected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton represents the Hunters Point area. His office declined an interview for this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991764\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1993px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991764\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-2-1.jpg\" alt=\"Two side by side aerial maps of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Dark blue circles are randomly spread out across the land showcasing where groundwater could be within three feet of the surface in 2035 and 2065.\" width=\"1993\" height=\"909\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-2-1.jpg 1993w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-2-1-800x365.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-2-1-1020x465.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-2-1-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-2-1-768x350.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-2-1-1536x701.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-2-1-1920x876.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1993px) 100vw, 1993px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In a changing climate, the dark blue circles show where groundwater could rise to within 3 feet of the surface at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard by 2035 and 2065. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of U.S. Navy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Department of Public Health wrote that the agency is conducting an in-depth analysis of the five-year review, including the section on climate impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, the Navy found nearly two dozen samples at the site contaminated by Strontium-90, a radioactive isotope that can cause cancer. In September 2018, the agency recovered a radioactive deck marker, more than a decade after the federal government declared the area safe and free of radioactive waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1985646/radioactive-object-found-at-san-franciscos-hunters-point-naval-shipyard-raises-new-concerns\">Last December, the Navy said it detected another piece of radioactive material\u003c/a> — a chip of glass smaller than a dime — during routine testing at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Located next to a historically Black neighborhood where more than 35,000 people live, the Tetris-shaped 866-acre shipyard comprises concrete docking bays and abandoned buildings that jut out of San Francisco’s southeast shoreline. In the middle of the last century, the Navy used the site to decontaminate ships after atomic bomb tests, a process that contaminated the soil with radionuclides, heavy metals and petroleum fuels, among other toxic compounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The whole area could be flooded’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Residents, environmental advocates and climate scientists applaud the Navy for studying how climate change could alter the site. However, they said environmental agencies should require the Navy to conduct a more thorough cleanup before any developer builds housing on the old shipyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeff Weitzel was on the civil grand jury that advised the city to look further into how groundwater rise will likely surface contamination at the shipyard. He said he was surprised the Navy looked at time horizons so near into the future and wished the agency would have considered a century ahead because homes built on the site would sit vulnerable for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991771\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991771\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-3.jpg\" alt=\"Two side by side aerial maps of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. Dark blue circles are randomly spread out across the land showcasing where groundwater could emerge above the land surface in 2035 and 2065.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"952\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-3-800x381.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-3-1020x486.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-3-160x76.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-3-768x366.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-3-1536x731.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/240306-HUNTERS-POINT-NAVAL-SHIPYARD-GRAPHIC-MD-3-1920x914.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In a changing climate, the circled light blue areas depict where groundwater could emerge above ground at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard by 2035 and 2065. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of U.S. Navy)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If they look 100 years in the future, it might look two to four times as alarming,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weitzel also notes that the Navy’s study looks separately at flooding from storms, groundwater, and rising sea levels. He said a composite view is needed to understand actual vulnerability clearly. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The whole area could be flooded; that’s what those maps are showing,” he said. “If we’re talking about building an entire community in that area, that has to be taken into account. There are all these chemicals under this soil, and we don’t know how they might be sneaking out. It’s very alarming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai, who tests the bodies of Bayview-Hunters Point residents to determine if they’ve been exposed to contamination through her Hunters Point Biomonitoring Foundation, the Navy’s findings are “devastating.” She said the city should question whether it is a good idea to build on the site with contamination still in the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Navy did go the extra mile in projecting climate change, and I think that they offered a more sensitive and respectful analysis of the protectiveness of the most dangerously contaminated parcels,” she said. “The bottom line is that the Navy is telling you the shipyard, in its current state, is not fully protective of human health and the environment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991775\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991775\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/034_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022_qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/034_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022_qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/034_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022_qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/034_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022_qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/034_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022_qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/034_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022_qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/03/034_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022_qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai displays a map of Bayview Hunters Point at her office in Bayview, San Francisco, on Feb. 25, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Porter Sumchai has screened more than 150 residents and found elevated levels of contaminants like uranium, plutonium and radioactive potassium — some of which she notes can cause cancer in people when exposed to them over a period of time. Her next step is to create a toxic registry of the around 35,000 people who live within a one-mile perimeter of the Superfund site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of the clustering we are seeing is within the half-mile perimeter of the base,” she said. “The longer people have lived close to the base, the more significant their body burdens are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Water brings it all together’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Hill has spent much of the past decade deciphering how human-caused climate change will push up groundwater and come in contact with contamination in soil. Her findings \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1983106/map-more-than-5000-toxic-sites-along-sf-bay-are-threatened-by-rising-groundwater-new-study-finds\">showcase as many as 5,000 toxic sites in the Bay Area alone are at risk of inundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In reading the Navy’s review, the Institute for Urban and Regional Development director at UC Berkeley commends the agency for “looking at the issue at all” but said its methods were not granular enough. She said the Navy’s analysis is missing an understanding of how water moves. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The Navy assumed that a certain level of sea-level rise would push up groundwater unilaterally “as if it’s carved out of wood or ice” to see where it touches land or comes within three feet of the surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m concerned that there might be places where contaminants could flow off their site towards other parcels and certainly towards the bay,” Hill said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water moves differently based on topography, and because much of the soil on site is fill material, she said it is hard to know how the water will move. She suggests the Navy study each part of the site to decipher how surface water and groundwater will shift as seas rise and storms become more intense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Water brings it all together,” she said. “I would definitely hesitate about whether this land is ready for housing because they haven’t done a reasonably comprehensive study considering how groundwater moves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Navy said it plans to evaluate how contaminants could move in water using “more sophisticated groundwater modeling.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘This isn’t an unsolvable problem where there’s already housing built. … It takes one family to suffer impacts, and everyone will regret not doing a better study.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The agency will also look at the latest sea-level rise guidance from California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control. The first study would prioritize the 2035 scenario where “groundwater is first projected to rise above the current land surface.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Hill said the way to get around the troubles with contaminated groundwater is simple: remove all the contaminated soil or “treat them on-site with a fast enough process that it’ll be clean by the time the ocean gets there, or the groundwater gets up to it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This isn’t an unsolvable problem where there’s already housing built,” she said.” So, why not clean it up? It takes one family to suffer impacts, and everyone will regret not doing a better study.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Navy plans to discuss the climate portion of the review at the Hunters Point Shipyard Citizens Advisory Committee meeting on March 25 and is holding a community workshop on April 22. The last day for public comment on the Navy’s review is March 31.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Contra Costa County this week halted enforcement of building codes requiring that new construction be all-electric, while \u003ca href=\"https://www.smcgov.org/planning/update-reach-code-enforcement\">San Mateo County\u003c/a> halted enforcement of its similar code earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The indefinite pauses follow a January ruling by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/berkeley-gas-ban-18585687.php\">U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit invalidating a city of Berkeley ordinance\u003c/a> that prohibited natural gas hookups in all new residential and commercial buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s after the legality of the ordinance was challenged by the California Restaurant Association, arguing that cities and counties are overstepping their authority \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11946999/court-strikes-down-berkeleys-landmark-ban-on-natural-gas-in-new-construction\">in violation of a nearly 50-year-old law\u003c/a> authorizing federal officials to set national efficiency standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This ruling is final for Berkeley unless the Supreme Court chooses to review the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa County supervisors \u003ca href=\"https://www.contracosta.ca.gov/8536/All--Electric-Buildings\">adopted the original ordinance in June 2022.\u003c/a> It required new construction of all residential, hotel, office and retail buildings to be all-electric.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a press release, Contra Costa County representatives said their all-electric requirement prohibited the installation of gas plumbing in new buildings, which is similar to Berkeley’s ordinance. The county was “therefore suspending this requirement in response to the Ninth Circuit’s decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Contra Costa County remains committed to reducing the use of fossil fuels in buildings and continues to support the construction of new buildings using all-electric technologies,” Federal D. Glover, chair of that county’s Board of Supervisors, said in a statement. We are eager to identify new and innovative ways to continue to pursue our goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from buildings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the lawsuit challenging Berkeley’s ban, officials from several other Bay Area counties, including San Francisco and Sonoma, still enforce their codes for all-electric new construction (Sonoma’s only applies to residential dwellings).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Napa County is still considering its own code update, which would incentivize new electric construction. It would also require builders to put vehicle charging ports in new homes and choose between going all-electric or installing a solar and battery system. The county Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on the plan next month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates for cutting gas from buildings argue that requiring all-electric construction reduces costs, indoor air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/building-decarbonization\">Roughly a quarter\u003c/a> of California’s emissions come from buildings and the energy used to power them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berkeley was the first city in the nation to pass such a ban on natural gas hookups in new construction, which went into effect in 2020. Nearly 100 other cities and counties have since followed suit, and it remains unclear how many will continue to enforce their codes in light of the recent court ruling.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Contra Costa County this week halted enforcement of building codes requiring that new construction be all-electric, while \u003ca href=\"https://www.smcgov.org/planning/update-reach-code-enforcement\">San Mateo County\u003c/a> halted enforcement of its similar code earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The indefinite pauses follow a January ruling by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/berkeley-gas-ban-18585687.php\">U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit invalidating a city of Berkeley ordinance\u003c/a> that prohibited natural gas hookups in all new residential and commercial buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s after the legality of the ordinance was challenged by the California Restaurant Association, arguing that cities and counties are overstepping their authority \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11946999/court-strikes-down-berkeleys-landmark-ban-on-natural-gas-in-new-construction\">in violation of a nearly 50-year-old law\u003c/a> authorizing federal officials to set national efficiency standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This ruling is final for Berkeley unless the Supreme Court chooses to review the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa County supervisors \u003ca href=\"https://www.contracosta.ca.gov/8536/All--Electric-Buildings\">adopted the original ordinance in June 2022.\u003c/a> It required new construction of all residential, hotel, office and retail buildings to be all-electric.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a press release, Contra Costa County representatives said their all-electric requirement prohibited the installation of gas plumbing in new buildings, which is similar to Berkeley’s ordinance. The county was “therefore suspending this requirement in response to the Ninth Circuit’s decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Contra Costa County remains committed to reducing the use of fossil fuels in buildings and continues to support the construction of new buildings using all-electric technologies,” Federal D. Glover, chair of that county’s Board of Supervisors, said in a statement. We are eager to identify new and innovative ways to continue to pursue our goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from buildings.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the lawsuit challenging Berkeley’s ban, officials from several other Bay Area counties, including San Francisco and Sonoma, still enforce their codes for all-electric new construction (Sonoma’s only applies to residential dwellings).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, Napa County is still considering its own code update, which would incentivize new electric construction. It would also require builders to put vehicle charging ports in new homes and choose between going all-electric or installing a solar and battery system. The county Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on the plan next month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates for cutting gas from buildings argue that requiring all-electric construction reduces costs, indoor air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/building-decarbonization\">Roughly a quarter\u003c/a> of California’s emissions come from buildings and the energy used to power them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berkeley was the first city in the nation to pass such a ban on natural gas hookups in new construction, which went into effect in 2020. Nearly 100 other cities and counties have since followed suit, and it remains unclear how many will continue to enforce their codes in light of the recent court ruling.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "wildfires-are-killing-californias-ancient-giants-can-seedlings-save-the-species",
"title": "Wildfires Are Killing California's Ancient Giants. Can Seedlings Save the Species?",
"publishDate": 1709035213,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "Wildfires Are Killing California’s Ancient Giants. Can Seedlings Save the Species? | KQED",
"labelTerm": {},
"content": "\u003cp>On a late autumn day, a team of forestry workers spreads out among the burned trunks of giant sequoia trees. The 1,000-year-old trees in the grove are dead but still standing, killed in an extreme wildfire that raced through Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the shadow of one of the trees, the crew gets to work, pulling tiny, 4-inch seedlings out of bags clipped to their belts and tucking them into the dirt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Wish it some luck, and that’s it,” says Micah Craig of the Eastern Sierra Conservation Corps, standing back to look at the young sequoia. He then grabs another seedling, part of a historic planting effort that the National Park Service hopes will be enough to preserve one of the world’s most iconic species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991564\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1991564 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9999_custom-97507e99af8b762a4029b26d5427f402a20fca1d-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9999_custom-97507e99af8b762a4029b26d5427f402a20fca1d-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9999_custom-97507e99af8b762a4029b26d5427f402a20fca1d-s1300-c85-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9999_custom-97507e99af8b762a4029b26d5427f402a20fca1d-s1300-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9999_custom-97507e99af8b762a4029b26d5427f402a20fca1d-s1300-c85-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9999_custom-97507e99af8b762a4029b26d5427f402a20fca1d-s1300-c85-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ecologists estimate that up to 14,000 sequoias have been killed in recent wildfires, a shocking number for a species that was thought to survive most fires. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Over only two years, about one-fifth of all giant sequoias have been killed in extreme wildfires in California. The numbers shocked ecologists since the enormous trees can live more than 2,000 years and have evolved to live with frequent, low-intensity fires in the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent fires have burned bigger and more intensely than sequoias are accustomed to, a result of the way humans have changed the forest. After the 2020 and 2021 fires, scientists watched the sequoia groves to see if the next generation of trees is emerging to replace their lost parents. In some places, seedlings are filling the forest floor. In others, fewer are emerging from the burned soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The smaller numbers of seedlings concerned scientists and the National Park Service. So, in a historic step, the agency, for the first time, has begun replanting some severely burned areas. With a life span of thousands of years, the new seedlings will grow up in a climate that’s rapidly changing. So, park officials are bringing in seedlings from other sequoia groves, ones that may have the genetic tools to handle a more hostile future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991565\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991565\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/triptych-copy_custom-aba63a380fe8b5154c5bbefa59a5d34391c14706-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"1305\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/triptych-copy_custom-aba63a380fe8b5154c5bbefa59a5d34391c14706-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/triptych-copy_custom-aba63a380fe8b5154c5bbefa59a5d34391c14706-s1300-c85-800x803.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/triptych-copy_custom-aba63a380fe8b5154c5bbefa59a5d34391c14706-s1300-c85-1020x1024.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/triptych-copy_custom-aba63a380fe8b5154c5bbefa59a5d34391c14706-s1300-c85-160x161.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/triptych-copy_custom-aba63a380fe8b5154c5bbefa59a5d34391c14706-s1300-c85-768x771.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">With so many ancient trees killed, the National Park Service has sprouted hundreds of sequoia seedlings to replant the severely burned areas, along with other species normally found there like white fir and sugar pines. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The project has run into opposition. A handful of conservation groups are suing to halt the effort, arguing that such intervention shouldn’t occur in an area designated as federal wilderness and that the sequoia trees could possibly regenerate adequately on their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate is one occurring on public lands across the country as the impacts of climate change get worse. Land managers face a key question: As humans take an increasing toll on natural landscapes, how far should we go to fix it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991551\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991551\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sequoia National Park was created in 1890 to protect the mammoth trees for the public. Along with Kings Canyon National Park, the two parks are home to about 40% of all sequoias. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A carpet of green\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Hopeful signs have emerged in the wake of the KNP Complex Fire, which tore through Sequoia National Park in 2021. The forest floor is still scorched black, but in some areas, thousands of lime-green sequoia seedlings have sprung up a few inches high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s awesome,” says Christy Brigham, chief of resources management and science at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. “This is what has happened for millennia.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lifecycle of sequoias is bound to fire. The massive trees, often 15 feet around, are protected from the heat by a thick, shaggy bark. Their lowest branches are far from the forest floor, reducing the chances they’ll ignite when smaller trees burn. And when a fire’s heat rises, the sequoias’ cones open up, releasing thousands of seeds. Those seeds sprout quickly in the newly cleared soil below their parent trees. Most of the seedlings will die, eventually leaving only one or two giant trees centuries from now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991566\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1991566 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/sap_1_custom-3e6531fb937b4d33bb53fd0ded107ff441cb96f7-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"429\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/sap_1_custom-3e6531fb937b4d33bb53fd0ded107ff441cb96f7-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/sap_1_custom-3e6531fb937b4d33bb53fd0ded107ff441cb96f7-s1300-c85-800x264.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/sap_1_custom-3e6531fb937b4d33bb53fd0ded107ff441cb96f7-s1300-c85-1020x337.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/sap_1_custom-3e6531fb937b4d33bb53fd0ded107ff441cb96f7-s1300-c85-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/sap_1_custom-3e6531fb937b4d33bb53fd0ded107ff441cb96f7-s1300-c85-768x253.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some areas of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks show a carpet of green — thousands of sequoia seedlings poking a few inches above the ground. In more severely burned areas, there are fewer emerging from the soil. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Lots of bad things are going to happen to these,” Brigham says, looking down at the carpet of green. “Another fire, fire after fire, before they get that big. Dead trees are going to fall on them. So they make a lot. A lot, a lot, a lot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>High above, the thousand-year-old sequoias in this part of Redwood Mountain Grove are still alive, their broccoli-shaped tops still green. The fire burned at low or moderate intensity here because the forest floor was relatively clear of brush and other vegetation that could burn. National Park Service crews had previously done prescribed burns, purposely using fire to remove the dry, dead fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991567\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991567\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0097_custom-4221da9369a4b356244c27dca988397cdbe1d694-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0097_custom-4221da9369a4b356244c27dca988397cdbe1d694-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0097_custom-4221da9369a4b356244c27dca988397cdbe1d694-s1300-c85-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0097_custom-4221da9369a4b356244c27dca988397cdbe1d694-s1300-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0097_custom-4221da9369a4b356244c27dca988397cdbe1d694-s1300-c85-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0097_custom-4221da9369a4b356244c27dca988397cdbe1d694-s1300-c85-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sequoia trees are susceptible to heat and drought, conditions that are expected to get more extreme as the climate keeps changing. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Gates of Mordor\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Farther down the trail, it’s a different story. Many of the giant sequoias have little or no green foliage left, their bare, jagged branches rising high above the rest of the forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have now arrived at the location we call the Gates of Mordor,” Brigham says. “These trees are not coming back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The KNP Complex Fire roared up this sequoia grove in less than a day. Fire crews made a last-ditch effort to save some of the enormous trees, clearing the vegetation around them as the flames moved in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was horrible,” Brigham says. “I don’t think I’ve cried so much in my entire life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991568\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991568\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0086_custom-25e1a08104985a1944cd691c3b94db2c2791b3f0-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0086_custom-25e1a08104985a1944cd691c3b94db2c2791b3f0-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0086_custom-25e1a08104985a1944cd691c3b94db2c2791b3f0-s1300-c85-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0086_custom-25e1a08104985a1944cd691c3b94db2c2791b3f0-s1300-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0086_custom-25e1a08104985a1944cd691c3b94db2c2791b3f0-s1300-c85-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0086_custom-25e1a08104985a1944cd691c3b94db2c2791b3f0-s1300-c85-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Smaller pines and other trees, killed in California’s extreme droughts, acted as kindling in recent wildfires, fueling the intense burning. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The forest here was primed to burn. Historically, the Sierra Nevada saw regular low-grade wildfires caused by lightning strikes and set by Native American tribes \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/08/24/899422710/to-manage-wildfire-california-looks-to-what-tribes-have-known-all-along\">who shaped the landscape through controlled burning\u003c/a>. But for the last century, humans have extinguished wildfires, allowing dead and dry vegetation to build up on the forest floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Extreme drought, exacerbated by climate change, has also led to \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r5/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD1088646\">millions of smaller trees dying\u003c/a> in recent years. Water-stressed pines and other trees were more vulnerable to attacks from bark beetles. Researchers found that the \u003ca href=\"https://news.uci.edu/2023/09/25/uc-irvine-scientists-reveal-what-fuels-wildfires-in-sierra-nevada-mountains/\">dead trees acted as kindling, contributing to the extreme heat\u003c/a> and intensity of the KNP Complex Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with two other extreme fires in 2020–21, between \u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/2021-fire-season-impacts-to-giant-sequoias.htm\">13% and 19% of all giant sequoias were killed\u003c/a>, up to more than 14,000 trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991569\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991569\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/following1.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christy Brigham walks through Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have never seen anything like this in giant sequoia,” Brigham says. “Large giant sequoias, before now, survived wildfire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With so many giant trees gone, teams from several federal agencies turned to another key issue: the next generation of sequoias. They surveyed how many seedlings are growing below the burned trees. \u003ca href=\"https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/5433/\">Two\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/5457/\">studies\u003c/a> from scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey found that some of the severely burned areas have lower densities of sequoia seedlings compared to the numbers found after previous fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brigham says it’s possible that too many sequoia cones and their seeds burned up in the fire. But with fewer adult trees left alive to make seeds in the future, there’s a risk some of this sequoia grove won’t come back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These parks were in part established to conserve sequoias,” Brigham says. “What would it mean for that mission if we did nothing here?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991570\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991570\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9920_custom-51f8b8e47a06557d1b51bf3d56ece980a640df23-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9920_custom-51f8b8e47a06557d1b51bf3d56ece980a640df23-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9920_custom-51f8b8e47a06557d1b51bf3d56ece980a640df23-s1300-c85-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9920_custom-51f8b8e47a06557d1b51bf3d56ece980a640df23-s1300-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9920_custom-51f8b8e47a06557d1b51bf3d56ece980a640df23-s1300-c85-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9920_custom-51f8b8e47a06557d1b51bf3d56ece980a640df23-s1300-c85-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mules and horses are stationed at a trailhead to help transport seedlings deep into the park. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A replanting effort begins\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the late afternoon, a line of mules winds its way through the burned sequoia grove. On their backs, they carry boxes of sequoia seedlings deep into the backcountry. A crew from the Eastern Sierra Conservation Corps takes the seedlings on the last steps of their journey, searching for planting spots that offer some protection from the upcoming summer heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Planting sequoias, that’s a legacy thing. Something we were all stoked to do that will transcend after us,” says crew member Micah Craig.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991571\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991571\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/dip2_custom-73668552806d16ffb0c6dacae938e5f448bd74e8-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"596\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/dip2_custom-73668552806d16ffb0c6dacae938e5f448bd74e8-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/dip2_custom-73668552806d16ffb0c6dacae938e5f448bd74e8-s1300-c85-800x367.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/dip2_custom-73668552806d16ffb0c6dacae938e5f448bd74e8-s1300-c85-1020x468.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/dip2_custom-73668552806d16ffb0c6dacae938e5f448bd74e8-s1300-c85-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/dip2_custom-73668552806d16ffb0c6dacae938e5f448bd74e8-s1300-c85-768x352.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Micah Craig and a team from the Eastern Sierra Conservation Corps replant sequoia seedlings. Some are from groves already experiencing hotter, drier conditions, which could give them a better shot at withstanding climate change. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most of these sequoia seedlings were grown from seeds collected from this same grove. But 20% come from seeds collected from other groves. Sequoia seedlings are vulnerable to heat and drought, conditions that will get more extreme as the climate keeps changing. With that in mind, managers selected seeds from groves at lower elevations that already naturally live in hotter conditions. The idea is to increase the genetic diversity in case those trees are better adapted to a hotter, drier future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have the ability to give this grove a little bit of a bigger toolkit for adapting to changing conditions, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Brigham says. “We’re asking a lot of these trees to survive for 400 years, 1,000 years, and they can do it, but let’s give them a little help.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991572\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991572\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a9959-2_custom-e9b7b11a792ea7cf1dc6e8b853ed55ebbbfb0a4d-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a9959-2_custom-e9b7b11a792ea7cf1dc6e8b853ed55ebbbfb0a4d-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a9959-2_custom-e9b7b11a792ea7cf1dc6e8b853ed55ebbbfb0a4d-s1300-c85-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a9959-2_custom-e9b7b11a792ea7cf1dc6e8b853ed55ebbbfb0a4d-s1300-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a9959-2_custom-e9b7b11a792ea7cf1dc6e8b853ed55ebbbfb0a4d-s1300-c85-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a9959-2_custom-e9b7b11a792ea7cf1dc6e8b853ed55ebbbfb0a4d-s1300-c85-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mule train delivers boxes of sequoia seedlings through shrubs that have sprung up in the wake of the KNP Complex Fire. Sequoia seedlings do best in the first few years after a fire when there’s little vegetation to shade them out. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The technique, known as “assisted gene flow,” has been used in a handful of cases already to \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2110559118\">help coral survive a hotter climate\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.americanforests.org/article/the-race-to-save-the-whitebark-pine/\">whitebark pine trees resist disease\u003c/a>. It’s part of a larger toolkit land managers are beginning to consider as ecosystems struggle to keep up with climate change. The National Park Service has developed a new framework for considering when to intervene, known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/subjects/climatechange/resistacceptdirect.htm\">“resist, accept, or direct\u003c/a>,” acknowledging that some ecosystems will need help to resist changes, while in others, change may be inevitable.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Lawsuit filed to stop replanting\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A group of four conservation groups \u003ca href=\"https://wildernesswatch.org/lawsuit-filed-to-protect-seki\">is suing to halt the project\u003c/a>, contending that because the sequoia groves are protected under the federal Wilderness Act, a higher level of intervention isn’t appropriate. They argue that having wilderness protection means the land should remain untouched, even if that means losing sequoias there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to allow nature some places where human beings aren’t trying to be the managers, aren’t trying to be the gardeners,” says George Nickas, executive director of Wilderness Watch, one of the groups that filed suit. “Because we’re the ones that messed it up, it doesn’t flow that we’re the ones to fix it. That’s that sort of arrogance of humanism, if you will. That’s when we need to learn to step back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1991573\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9967_custom-bd62b7ff8767a0ef8b596749df9464c66cc5b2af-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9967_custom-bd62b7ff8767a0ef8b596749df9464c66cc5b2af-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9967_custom-bd62b7ff8767a0ef8b596749df9464c66cc5b2af-s1300-c85-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9967_custom-bd62b7ff8767a0ef8b596749df9464c66cc5b2af-s1300-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9967_custom-bd62b7ff8767a0ef8b596749df9464c66cc5b2af-s1300-c85-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9967_custom-bd62b7ff8767a0ef8b596749df9464c66cc5b2af-s1300-c85-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Wilderness Act specifies that protected areas should be “untrammeled by man.” That framing has frustrated Native American tribes in California, which shaped the landscape for millennia with cultural, or prescribed, burning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Park Service doesn’t comment on pending lawsuits. But \u003ca href=\"https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=342&projectID=107200&documentID=131953\">in public documents\u003c/a>, it responded that language in the Wilderness Act mandates that the land be “protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions,” and the act doesn’t infringe on the agency’s responsibility to preserve the ecosystem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The conservation groups’ lawsuit also contends that sequoias in severely burned areas could regenerate on their own. Sequoia seedlings tend to do best in places that have burned more intensely since it clears out vegetation that shades the forest floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not worried about it because the system is massively and redundantly resilient to these sorts of disturbances,” says Chad Hanson, director of the John Muir Project, another group that joined the lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991574\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991574\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0009_custom-fc1a11c18f2b2a5a05261042cce54f2e69a42616-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0009_custom-fc1a11c18f2b2a5a05261042cce54f2e69a42616-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0009_custom-fc1a11c18f2b2a5a05261042cce54f2e69a42616-s1300-c85-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0009_custom-fc1a11c18f2b2a5a05261042cce54f2e69a42616-s1300-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0009_custom-fc1a11c18f2b2a5a05261042cce54f2e69a42616-s1300-c85-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0009_custom-fc1a11c18f2b2a5a05261042cce54f2e69a42616-s1300-c85-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“These parks were in part established to conserve sequoias,” says Christy Brigham of the National Park Service. “What would it mean for that mission if we did nothing here?” \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hanson contends that any number of sequoia seedlings, no matter how low, is adequate for the groves to endure into the future. However, numerous scientific studies show that sequoia seedlings have high rates of mortality over the first few centuries of life, with more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/47941096#page/20/mode/1up\">90% dying in the first 20 years alone\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In proposing the project, the National Park Service says climate change poses an even greater risk that sequoia seedlings will struggle to get established. Hanson says he’d prefer that the park service monitor the seedlings’ survival before making a decision to replant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I would say is if they start dying at high levels, which is inconsistent with the data we’ve had up until this point, then I would have to evaluate my assumptions and maybe would need to do something there,” Hanson says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991575\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991575\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0176-2_custom-564d5e3fb2efba9cd39533185311d638efd8c740-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0176-2_custom-564d5e3fb2efba9cd39533185311d638efd8c740-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0176-2_custom-564d5e3fb2efba9cd39533185311d638efd8c740-s1300-c85-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0176-2_custom-564d5e3fb2efba9cd39533185311d638efd8c740-s1300-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0176-2_custom-564d5e3fb2efba9cd39533185311d638efd8c740-s1300-c85-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0176-2_custom-564d5e3fb2efba9cd39533185311d638efd8c740-s1300-c85-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Light streams through the trees in Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The debate is a sign of the increasingly complex decisions land managers are facing in a hotter climate. In the face of unprecedented impacts, the risk of losing species only worsens. Managers have to weigh bigger and bigger human interventions if they seek to preserve what’s left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brigham says that as one of the largest and longest-living species on the planet, giant sequoia trees are forcing that conversation to happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You cannot look at them without thinking about 1,000 years in the future,” Brigham says. “They demand better of us. And I think we need that. We need those species that are being impacted by climate change that we love to be, like, hey, I think you can do better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2024 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=Wildfires+are+killing+California%27s+ancient+giants.+Can+seedlings+save+the+species%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Extreme wildfires have destroyed about one-fifth of all giant sequoia trees. To safeguard their future, the National Park Service is planting seedlings that could better survive a hotter climate.",
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"title": "Wildfires Are Killing California's Ancient Giants. Can Seedlings Save the Species? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On a late autumn day, a team of forestry workers spreads out among the burned trunks of giant sequoia trees. The 1,000-year-old trees in the grove are dead but still standing, killed in an extreme wildfire that raced through Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the shadow of one of the trees, the crew gets to work, pulling tiny, 4-inch seedlings out of bags clipped to their belts and tucking them into the dirt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Wish it some luck, and that’s it,” says Micah Craig of the Eastern Sierra Conservation Corps, standing back to look at the young sequoia. He then grabs another seedling, part of a historic planting effort that the National Park Service hopes will be enough to preserve one of the world’s most iconic species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991564\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1991564 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9999_custom-97507e99af8b762a4029b26d5427f402a20fca1d-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9999_custom-97507e99af8b762a4029b26d5427f402a20fca1d-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9999_custom-97507e99af8b762a4029b26d5427f402a20fca1d-s1300-c85-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9999_custom-97507e99af8b762a4029b26d5427f402a20fca1d-s1300-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9999_custom-97507e99af8b762a4029b26d5427f402a20fca1d-s1300-c85-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9999_custom-97507e99af8b762a4029b26d5427f402a20fca1d-s1300-c85-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ecologists estimate that up to 14,000 sequoias have been killed in recent wildfires, a shocking number for a species that was thought to survive most fires. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Over only two years, about one-fifth of all giant sequoias have been killed in extreme wildfires in California. The numbers shocked ecologists since the enormous trees can live more than 2,000 years and have evolved to live with frequent, low-intensity fires in the Sierra Nevada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent fires have burned bigger and more intensely than sequoias are accustomed to, a result of the way humans have changed the forest. After the 2020 and 2021 fires, scientists watched the sequoia groves to see if the next generation of trees is emerging to replace their lost parents. In some places, seedlings are filling the forest floor. In others, fewer are emerging from the burned soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The smaller numbers of seedlings concerned scientists and the National Park Service. So, in a historic step, the agency, for the first time, has begun replanting some severely burned areas. With a life span of thousands of years, the new seedlings will grow up in a climate that’s rapidly changing. So, park officials are bringing in seedlings from other sequoia groves, ones that may have the genetic tools to handle a more hostile future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991565\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991565\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/triptych-copy_custom-aba63a380fe8b5154c5bbefa59a5d34391c14706-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"1305\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/triptych-copy_custom-aba63a380fe8b5154c5bbefa59a5d34391c14706-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/triptych-copy_custom-aba63a380fe8b5154c5bbefa59a5d34391c14706-s1300-c85-800x803.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/triptych-copy_custom-aba63a380fe8b5154c5bbefa59a5d34391c14706-s1300-c85-1020x1024.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/triptych-copy_custom-aba63a380fe8b5154c5bbefa59a5d34391c14706-s1300-c85-160x161.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/triptych-copy_custom-aba63a380fe8b5154c5bbefa59a5d34391c14706-s1300-c85-768x771.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">With so many ancient trees killed, the National Park Service has sprouted hundreds of sequoia seedlings to replant the severely burned areas, along with other species normally found there like white fir and sugar pines. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The project has run into opposition. A handful of conservation groups are suing to halt the effort, arguing that such intervention shouldn’t occur in an area designated as federal wilderness and that the sequoia trees could possibly regenerate adequately on their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The debate is one occurring on public lands across the country as the impacts of climate change get worse. Land managers face a key question: As humans take an increasing toll on natural landscapes, how far should we go to fix it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991551\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991551\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0143-4701444110d81d883803d7f55e030103ea55df99-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sequoia National Park was created in 1890 to protect the mammoth trees for the public. Along with Kings Canyon National Park, the two parks are home to about 40% of all sequoias. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A carpet of green\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Hopeful signs have emerged in the wake of the KNP Complex Fire, which tore through Sequoia National Park in 2021. The forest floor is still scorched black, but in some areas, thousands of lime-green sequoia seedlings have sprung up a few inches high.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s awesome,” says Christy Brigham, chief of resources management and science at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. “This is what has happened for millennia.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lifecycle of sequoias is bound to fire. The massive trees, often 15 feet around, are protected from the heat by a thick, shaggy bark. Their lowest branches are far from the forest floor, reducing the chances they’ll ignite when smaller trees burn. And when a fire’s heat rises, the sequoias’ cones open up, releasing thousands of seeds. Those seeds sprout quickly in the newly cleared soil below their parent trees. Most of the seedlings will die, eventually leaving only one or two giant trees centuries from now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991566\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1991566 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/sap_1_custom-3e6531fb937b4d33bb53fd0ded107ff441cb96f7-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"429\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/sap_1_custom-3e6531fb937b4d33bb53fd0ded107ff441cb96f7-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/sap_1_custom-3e6531fb937b4d33bb53fd0ded107ff441cb96f7-s1300-c85-800x264.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/sap_1_custom-3e6531fb937b4d33bb53fd0ded107ff441cb96f7-s1300-c85-1020x337.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/sap_1_custom-3e6531fb937b4d33bb53fd0ded107ff441cb96f7-s1300-c85-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/sap_1_custom-3e6531fb937b4d33bb53fd0ded107ff441cb96f7-s1300-c85-768x253.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some areas of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks show a carpet of green — thousands of sequoia seedlings poking a few inches above the ground. In more severely burned areas, there are fewer emerging from the soil. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Lots of bad things are going to happen to these,” Brigham says, looking down at the carpet of green. “Another fire, fire after fire, before they get that big. Dead trees are going to fall on them. So they make a lot. A lot, a lot, a lot.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>High above, the thousand-year-old sequoias in this part of Redwood Mountain Grove are still alive, their broccoli-shaped tops still green. The fire burned at low or moderate intensity here because the forest floor was relatively clear of brush and other vegetation that could burn. National Park Service crews had previously done prescribed burns, purposely using fire to remove the dry, dead fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991567\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991567\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0097_custom-4221da9369a4b356244c27dca988397cdbe1d694-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0097_custom-4221da9369a4b356244c27dca988397cdbe1d694-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0097_custom-4221da9369a4b356244c27dca988397cdbe1d694-s1300-c85-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0097_custom-4221da9369a4b356244c27dca988397cdbe1d694-s1300-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0097_custom-4221da9369a4b356244c27dca988397cdbe1d694-s1300-c85-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0097_custom-4221da9369a4b356244c27dca988397cdbe1d694-s1300-c85-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sequoia trees are susceptible to heat and drought, conditions that are expected to get more extreme as the climate keeps changing. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Gates of Mordor\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Farther down the trail, it’s a different story. Many of the giant sequoias have little or no green foliage left, their bare, jagged branches rising high above the rest of the forest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have now arrived at the location we call the Gates of Mordor,” Brigham says. “These trees are not coming back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The KNP Complex Fire roared up this sequoia grove in less than a day. Fire crews made a last-ditch effort to save some of the enormous trees, clearing the vegetation around them as the flames moved in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was horrible,” Brigham says. “I don’t think I’ve cried so much in my entire life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991568\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991568\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0086_custom-25e1a08104985a1944cd691c3b94db2c2791b3f0-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0086_custom-25e1a08104985a1944cd691c3b94db2c2791b3f0-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0086_custom-25e1a08104985a1944cd691c3b94db2c2791b3f0-s1300-c85-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0086_custom-25e1a08104985a1944cd691c3b94db2c2791b3f0-s1300-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0086_custom-25e1a08104985a1944cd691c3b94db2c2791b3f0-s1300-c85-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0086_custom-25e1a08104985a1944cd691c3b94db2c2791b3f0-s1300-c85-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Smaller pines and other trees, killed in California’s extreme droughts, acted as kindling in recent wildfires, fueling the intense burning. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The forest here was primed to burn. Historically, the Sierra Nevada saw regular low-grade wildfires caused by lightning strikes and set by Native American tribes \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2020/08/24/899422710/to-manage-wildfire-california-looks-to-what-tribes-have-known-all-along\">who shaped the landscape through controlled burning\u003c/a>. But for the last century, humans have extinguished wildfires, allowing dead and dry vegetation to build up on the forest floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Extreme drought, exacerbated by climate change, has also led to \u003ca href=\"https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r5/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD1088646\">millions of smaller trees dying\u003c/a> in recent years. Water-stressed pines and other trees were more vulnerable to attacks from bark beetles. Researchers found that the \u003ca href=\"https://news.uci.edu/2023/09/25/uc-irvine-scientists-reveal-what-fuels-wildfires-in-sierra-nevada-mountains/\">dead trees acted as kindling, contributing to the extreme heat\u003c/a> and intensity of the KNP Complex Fire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Along with two other extreme fires in 2020–21, between \u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/2021-fire-season-impacts-to-giant-sequoias.htm\">13% and 19% of all giant sequoias were killed\u003c/a>, up to more than 14,000 trees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991569\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991569\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/following1.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christy Brigham walks through Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We have never seen anything like this in giant sequoia,” Brigham says. “Large giant sequoias, before now, survived wildfire.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With so many giant trees gone, teams from several federal agencies turned to another key issue: the next generation of sequoias. They surveyed how many seedlings are growing below the burned trees. \u003ca href=\"https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/5433/\">Two\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/5457/\">studies\u003c/a> from scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey found that some of the severely burned areas have lower densities of sequoia seedlings compared to the numbers found after previous fires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brigham says it’s possible that too many sequoia cones and their seeds burned up in the fire. But with fewer adult trees left alive to make seeds in the future, there’s a risk some of this sequoia grove won’t come back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These parks were in part established to conserve sequoias,” Brigham says. “What would it mean for that mission if we did nothing here?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991570\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991570\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9920_custom-51f8b8e47a06557d1b51bf3d56ece980a640df23-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9920_custom-51f8b8e47a06557d1b51bf3d56ece980a640df23-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9920_custom-51f8b8e47a06557d1b51bf3d56ece980a640df23-s1300-c85-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9920_custom-51f8b8e47a06557d1b51bf3d56ece980a640df23-s1300-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9920_custom-51f8b8e47a06557d1b51bf3d56ece980a640df23-s1300-c85-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9920_custom-51f8b8e47a06557d1b51bf3d56ece980a640df23-s1300-c85-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mules and horses are stationed at a trailhead to help transport seedlings deep into the park. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A replanting effort begins\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the late afternoon, a line of mules winds its way through the burned sequoia grove. On their backs, they carry boxes of sequoia seedlings deep into the backcountry. A crew from the Eastern Sierra Conservation Corps takes the seedlings on the last steps of their journey, searching for planting spots that offer some protection from the upcoming summer heat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Planting sequoias, that’s a legacy thing. Something we were all stoked to do that will transcend after us,” says crew member Micah Craig.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991571\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991571\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/dip2_custom-73668552806d16ffb0c6dacae938e5f448bd74e8-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"596\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/dip2_custom-73668552806d16ffb0c6dacae938e5f448bd74e8-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/dip2_custom-73668552806d16ffb0c6dacae938e5f448bd74e8-s1300-c85-800x367.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/dip2_custom-73668552806d16ffb0c6dacae938e5f448bd74e8-s1300-c85-1020x468.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/dip2_custom-73668552806d16ffb0c6dacae938e5f448bd74e8-s1300-c85-160x73.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/dip2_custom-73668552806d16ffb0c6dacae938e5f448bd74e8-s1300-c85-768x352.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Micah Craig and a team from the Eastern Sierra Conservation Corps replant sequoia seedlings. Some are from groves already experiencing hotter, drier conditions, which could give them a better shot at withstanding climate change. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most of these sequoia seedlings were grown from seeds collected from this same grove. But 20% come from seeds collected from other groves. Sequoia seedlings are vulnerable to heat and drought, conditions that will get more extreme as the climate keeps changing. With that in mind, managers selected seeds from groves at lower elevations that already naturally live in hotter conditions. The idea is to increase the genetic diversity in case those trees are better adapted to a hotter, drier future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have the ability to give this grove a little bit of a bigger toolkit for adapting to changing conditions, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Brigham says. “We’re asking a lot of these trees to survive for 400 years, 1,000 years, and they can do it, but let’s give them a little help.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991572\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991572\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a9959-2_custom-e9b7b11a792ea7cf1dc6e8b853ed55ebbbfb0a4d-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a9959-2_custom-e9b7b11a792ea7cf1dc6e8b853ed55ebbbfb0a4d-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a9959-2_custom-e9b7b11a792ea7cf1dc6e8b853ed55ebbbfb0a4d-s1300-c85-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a9959-2_custom-e9b7b11a792ea7cf1dc6e8b853ed55ebbbfb0a4d-s1300-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a9959-2_custom-e9b7b11a792ea7cf1dc6e8b853ed55ebbbfb0a4d-s1300-c85-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a9959-2_custom-e9b7b11a792ea7cf1dc6e8b853ed55ebbbfb0a4d-s1300-c85-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mule train delivers boxes of sequoia seedlings through shrubs that have sprung up in the wake of the KNP Complex Fire. Sequoia seedlings do best in the first few years after a fire when there’s little vegetation to shade them out. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The technique, known as “assisted gene flow,” has been used in a handful of cases already to \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2110559118\">help coral survive a hotter climate\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.americanforests.org/article/the-race-to-save-the-whitebark-pine/\">whitebark pine trees resist disease\u003c/a>. It’s part of a larger toolkit land managers are beginning to consider as ecosystems struggle to keep up with climate change. The National Park Service has developed a new framework for considering when to intervene, known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/subjects/climatechange/resistacceptdirect.htm\">“resist, accept, or direct\u003c/a>,” acknowledging that some ecosystems will need help to resist changes, while in others, change may be inevitable.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Lawsuit filed to stop replanting\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A group of four conservation groups \u003ca href=\"https://wildernesswatch.org/lawsuit-filed-to-protect-seki\">is suing to halt the project\u003c/a>, contending that because the sequoia groves are protected under the federal Wilderness Act, a higher level of intervention isn’t appropriate. They argue that having wilderness protection means the land should remain untouched, even if that means losing sequoias there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to allow nature some places where human beings aren’t trying to be the managers, aren’t trying to be the gardeners,” says George Nickas, executive director of Wilderness Watch, one of the groups that filed suit. “Because we’re the ones that messed it up, it doesn’t flow that we’re the ones to fix it. That’s that sort of arrogance of humanism, if you will. That’s when we need to learn to step back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1991573\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9967_custom-bd62b7ff8767a0ef8b596749df9464c66cc5b2af-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9967_custom-bd62b7ff8767a0ef8b596749df9464c66cc5b2af-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9967_custom-bd62b7ff8767a0ef8b596749df9464c66cc5b2af-s1300-c85-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9967_custom-bd62b7ff8767a0ef8b596749df9464c66cc5b2af-s1300-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9967_custom-bd62b7ff8767a0ef8b596749df9464c66cc5b2af-s1300-c85-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a9967_custom-bd62b7ff8767a0ef8b596749df9464c66cc5b2af-s1300-c85-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Wilderness Act specifies that protected areas should be “untrammeled by man.” That framing has frustrated Native American tribes in California, which shaped the landscape for millennia with cultural, or prescribed, burning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Park Service doesn’t comment on pending lawsuits. But \u003ca href=\"https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=342&projectID=107200&documentID=131953\">in public documents\u003c/a>, it responded that language in the Wilderness Act mandates that the land be “protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions,” and the act doesn’t infringe on the agency’s responsibility to preserve the ecosystem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The conservation groups’ lawsuit also contends that sequoias in severely burned areas could regenerate on their own. Sequoia seedlings tend to do best in places that have burned more intensely since it clears out vegetation that shades the forest floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not worried about it because the system is massively and redundantly resilient to these sorts of disturbances,” says Chad Hanson, director of the John Muir Project, another group that joined the lawsuit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991574\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991574\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0009_custom-fc1a11c18f2b2a5a05261042cce54f2e69a42616-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0009_custom-fc1a11c18f2b2a5a05261042cce54f2e69a42616-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0009_custom-fc1a11c18f2b2a5a05261042cce54f2e69a42616-s1300-c85-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0009_custom-fc1a11c18f2b2a5a05261042cce54f2e69a42616-s1300-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0009_custom-fc1a11c18f2b2a5a05261042cce54f2e69a42616-s1300-c85-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/0b6a0009_custom-fc1a11c18f2b2a5a05261042cce54f2e69a42616-s1300-c85-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“These parks were in part established to conserve sequoias,” says Christy Brigham of the National Park Service. “What would it mean for that mission if we did nothing here?” \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hanson contends that any number of sequoia seedlings, no matter how low, is adequate for the groves to endure into the future. However, numerous scientific studies show that sequoia seedlings have high rates of mortality over the first few centuries of life, with more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/47941096#page/20/mode/1up\">90% dying in the first 20 years alone\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In proposing the project, the National Park Service says climate change poses an even greater risk that sequoia seedlings will struggle to get established. Hanson says he’d prefer that the park service monitor the seedlings’ survival before making a decision to replant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I would say is if they start dying at high levels, which is inconsistent with the data we’ve had up until this point, then I would have to evaluate my assumptions and maybe would need to do something there,” Hanson says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991575\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1300px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991575\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0176-2_custom-564d5e3fb2efba9cd39533185311d638efd8c740-s1300-c85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1300\" height=\"865\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0176-2_custom-564d5e3fb2efba9cd39533185311d638efd8c740-s1300-c85.jpg 1300w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0176-2_custom-564d5e3fb2efba9cd39533185311d638efd8c740-s1300-c85-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0176-2_custom-564d5e3fb2efba9cd39533185311d638efd8c740-s1300-c85-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0176-2_custom-564d5e3fb2efba9cd39533185311d638efd8c740-s1300-c85-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/02/d9a0176-2_custom-564d5e3fb2efba9cd39533185311d638efd8c740-s1300-c85-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1300px) 100vw, 1300px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Light streams through the trees in Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park. \u003ccite>(Ryan Kellman/NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The debate is a sign of the increasingly complex decisions land managers are facing in a hotter climate. In the face of unprecedented impacts, the risk of losing species only worsens. Managers have to weigh bigger and bigger human interventions if they seek to preserve what’s left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brigham says that as one of the largest and longest-living species on the planet, giant sequoia trees are forcing that conversation to happen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You cannot look at them without thinking about 1,000 years in the future,” Brigham says. “They demand better of us. And I think we need that. We need those species that are being impacted by climate change that we love to be, like, hey, I think you can do better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2024 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=Wildfires+are+killing+California%27s+ancient+giants.+Can+seedlings+save+the+species%3F&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Why the War in Ukraine Is Bad for Climate Science",
"headTitle": "Why the War in Ukraine Is Bad for Climate Science | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Lack of data about conditions in the Russian Arctic is already hampering climate science and will cause ever-growing gaps in our understanding of how climate change affects the fastest-warming region of the planet, scientists warn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Arctic is warming up to four times faster than the Earth as a whole. And Russia has more Arctic land than any other nation. But, since Russia invaded Ukraine, it’s been increasingly difficult for climate scientists in Russia to collaborate or share data about conditions in the country’s vast frozen areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That includes basic measurements of temperature and snowfall in the Russian Arctic, as well as more sophisticated details about greenhouse gas emissions and what’s happening to plants and animals in the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Excluding such data from climate models makes them less accurate, and the problem will get worse over time, a new study warns. “By neglecting Russian sites, we decrease our chances to mitigate the negative consequences of climate change,” says Efrén López-Blanco of Aarhus University in Denmark, who is one of the authors of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01903-1\">the paper\u003c/a> published in the journal \u003cem>Nature Climate Change.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to build climate models that can accurately predict what will happen to the Arctic in the future, scientists need measurements from across the Arctic. If the available data is concentrated in a few places, like Alaska, Canada and Scandinavia, and excludes Russia’s vast Arctic expanses, then the models will be increasingly inaccurate, the study finds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a huge landmass,” says Ken Tape, an ecologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. “You can’t ignore it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Beaver access has been cut off for Western scientists\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Tape is already seeing the negative effects of the war on his area of research. He studies beavers, which are \u003ca href=\"https://alaskapublic.org/2020/05/10/beaver-numbers-have-exploded-in-northwest-alaska-and-theyre-having-some-unexpected-effects/\">moving into the tundra\u003c/a> and are often unpopular neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s like an intruder,” he says. “The connotations are not positive, you know? Especially if fish is a big resource for you, you’re going to be very skeptical of someone who comes in and dams up fish-bearing streams.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists like Tape are studying where beavers are showing up and trying to understand how far North the population will move, how quickly, and at what scale. Such research can help local communities manage the animals: beavers are notorious for turning streams into bogs, for example, which can affect water quality for humans nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The research is also important because when beavers build dams, they can disturb the frozen ground, releasing trapped greenhouse gasses as it thaws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few years ago, Tape helped start the Arctic Beaver Observation Network so scientists all around the Arctic could collaborate and share data. But with the invasion of Ukraine, the dream of Russian collaboration in the project stalled, he says. “We’re having a meeting at the end of February,” he says, “and it’s basically Alaska, Canada and Scandinavia. There’s no one from Russia coming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On top of that, Western scientists no longer have access to field sites in Russia, he says. Instead, they have to rely on what they can see from space, from satellite images of beaver dams. “You can do a lot from space, but you need to have some boots on the ground confirming what you’re seeing,” Tape says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991178\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991178\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People walk next to a cracked panel apartment building in the eastern Siberian city of Yakutsk in 2018. Climate change is causing permafrost, or permanently frozen ground, to thaw across the Arctic. When the earth thaws, it can destabilize building foundations, roads, pipelines and other infrastructure. \u003ccite>(Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>For some, it’s a reminder of Cold War science\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Russian climate scientists who started their careers in the Soviet Union, the current situation can feel eerily familiar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the past — like, Soviet Union past — the data from this part of the world was also limited,” says Vladimir Romanovsky, a permafrost expert at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who trained in Moscow. In the mid-1970s, young scientists had virtually no contact with Western collaborators, he remembers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when things opened up in the 1990s, he says, his field exploded. “During that time, lots of data became available from the Russian permafrost regions,” he remembers. International scientists started collaborating with Russian scientists to investigate how permafrost was changing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the research findings were explosive. Permafrost is the permanently frozen ground found across the Arctic. As it thaws, it creates massive problems\u003ca href=\"https://climate.mit.edu/explainers/permafrost\"> for the infrastructure built on top of it\u003c/a>, causing roads to buckle, building foundations to crack and pipelines to break.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can also release enormous amounts of planet-warming gasses trapped within the frozen earth. Scientists now warn that virtually all surface permafrost \u003ca href=\"https://www.gi.alaska.edu/news/study-near-surface-permafrost-will-be-nearly-gone-2100\">could be gone from the Arctic\u003c/a> by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now the data that is so crucial for permafrost science is drying up, Romanovsky says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past, he and other Western scientists received temperature and soil measurements from Russian research facilities. “This year, there may not be any data,” he says. “If this will continue into the future, eventually it may have some impact on our understanding [of permafrost changes.]”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Romanovsky is also concerned about young Russian scientists who are important to the future of climate research in the region. “It’s very discouraging,” he says. “Eventually, I believe that we will be able to communicate openly again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2024 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=Why+the+war+in+Ukraine+is+bad+for+climate+science&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Lack of data about conditions in the Russian Arctic is already hampering climate science and will cause ever-growing gaps in our understanding of how climate change affects the fastest-warming region of the planet, scientists warn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Arctic is warming up to four times faster than the Earth as a whole. And Russia has more Arctic land than any other nation. But, since Russia invaded Ukraine, it’s been increasingly difficult for climate scientists in Russia to collaborate or share data about conditions in the country’s vast frozen areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That includes basic measurements of temperature and snowfall in the Russian Arctic, as well as more sophisticated details about greenhouse gas emissions and what’s happening to plants and animals in the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Excluding such data from climate models makes them less accurate, and the problem will get worse over time, a new study warns. “By neglecting Russian sites, we decrease our chances to mitigate the negative consequences of climate change,” says Efrén López-Blanco of Aarhus University in Denmark, who is one of the authors of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-023-01903-1\">the paper\u003c/a> published in the journal \u003cem>Nature Climate Change.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to build climate models that can accurately predict what will happen to the Arctic in the future, scientists need measurements from across the Arctic. If the available data is concentrated in a few places, like Alaska, Canada and Scandinavia, and excludes Russia’s vast Arctic expanses, then the models will be increasingly inaccurate, the study finds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a huge landmass,” says Ken Tape, an ecologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. “You can’t ignore it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Beaver access has been cut off for Western scientists\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Tape is already seeing the negative effects of the war on his area of research. He studies beavers, which are \u003ca href=\"https://alaskapublic.org/2020/05/10/beaver-numbers-have-exploded-in-northwest-alaska-and-theyre-having-some-unexpected-effects/\">moving into the tundra\u003c/a> and are often unpopular neighbors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s like an intruder,” he says. “The connotations are not positive, you know? Especially if fish is a big resource for you, you’re going to be very skeptical of someone who comes in and dams up fish-bearing streams.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists like Tape are studying where beavers are showing up and trying to understand how far North the population will move, how quickly, and at what scale. Such research can help local communities manage the animals: beavers are notorious for turning streams into bogs, for example, which can affect water quality for humans nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The research is also important because when beavers build dams, they can disturb the frozen ground, releasing trapped greenhouse gasses as it thaws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few years ago, Tape helped start the Arctic Beaver Observation Network so scientists all around the Arctic could collaborate and share data. But with the invasion of Ukraine, the dream of Russian collaboration in the project stalled, he says. “We’re having a meeting at the end of February,” he says, “and it’s basically Alaska, Canada and Scandinavia. There’s no one from Russia coming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On top of that, Western scientists no longer have access to field sites in Russia, he says. Instead, they have to rely on what they can see from space, from satellite images of beaver dams. “You can do a lot from space, but you need to have some boots on the ground confirming what you’re seeing,” Tape says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1991178\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1991178\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/01/gettyimages-1068523518-e0b1af529618017fb8f79cfb212643e56bb07337-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People walk next to a cracked panel apartment building in the eastern Siberian city of Yakutsk in 2018. Climate change is causing permafrost, or permanently frozen ground, to thaw across the Arctic. When the earth thaws, it can destabilize building foundations, roads, pipelines and other infrastructure. \u003ccite>(Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>For some, it’s a reminder of Cold War science\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Russian climate scientists who started their careers in the Soviet Union, the current situation can feel eerily familiar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the past — like, Soviet Union past — the data from this part of the world was also limited,” says Vladimir Romanovsky, a permafrost expert at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who trained in Moscow. In the mid-1970s, young scientists had virtually no contact with Western collaborators, he remembers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when things opened up in the 1990s, he says, his field exploded. “During that time, lots of data became available from the Russian permafrost regions,” he remembers. International scientists started collaborating with Russian scientists to investigate how permafrost was changing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the research findings were explosive. Permafrost is the permanently frozen ground found across the Arctic. As it thaws, it creates massive problems\u003ca href=\"https://climate.mit.edu/explainers/permafrost\"> for the infrastructure built on top of it\u003c/a>, causing roads to buckle, building foundations to crack and pipelines to break.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It can also release enormous amounts of planet-warming gasses trapped within the frozen earth. Scientists now warn that virtually all surface permafrost \u003ca href=\"https://www.gi.alaska.edu/news/study-near-surface-permafrost-will-be-nearly-gone-2100\">could be gone from the Arctic\u003c/a> by the end of the century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now the data that is so crucial for permafrost science is drying up, Romanovsky says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past, he and other Western scientists received temperature and soil measurements from Russian research facilities. “This year, there may not be any data,” he says. “If this will continue into the future, eventually it may have some impact on our understanding [of permafrost changes.]”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Romanovsky is also concerned about young Russian scientists who are important to the future of climate research in the region. “It’s very discouraging,” he says. “Eventually, I believe that we will be able to communicate openly again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">\u003cem>Copyright 2024 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=Why+the+war+in+Ukraine+is+bad+for+climate+science&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/em>\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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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": "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": "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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"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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"radiolab": {
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"soldout": {
"id": "soldout",
"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
"info": "Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
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