The ancient coastal waters of the Pacific, roughly 11 to 5 million years ago, were home to a bizarre and fascinating species of giant salmon with large spike-like teeth. This spike-toothed salmon reached sizes of 3 to 9 feet in length (1-3 meters), much larger than the typical salmon found in the Pacific today. These … Read more
California is well known as an agricultural powerhouse, feeding the world with almonds, rice, avocados, stone fruits and wine. But long ago, from its coastal watersheds to its interior mountains, this state was shaped by another force altogether: salmon. Caleen Sisk, chief of the Winnemem Wintu people, wants to see California embrace its natural – … Read more
Our metal powerboat is puttering near a bend low in the Klamath River. Morning fog pours off the hills against a flat gray sky, but we can see a fight up around a bird’s nest. “The eagles are perched up here in the tree,” says Mike Belchik, a fisheries biologist for the Yurok tribe, whose … Read more
Remember the California drought? It was all over the news a year ago, when the state took the unprecedented step of mandating statewide water cutbacks. The Sierra Nevada snowpack was at its lowest recorded level. Rivers and reservoirs were getting shallower and shallower. Wells in rural towns were literally running dry. That drought is still … Read more
FRESNO — New figures Wednesday show Californians’ summer water use up by more than a third since the same time last year, making water regulators worry some areas have abandoned drought-time water savings since the state lifted mandatory conservation orders. “We’re at yellow alert,” said Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the state Water Resources Control Board, … Read more
Hezekiah Allen of the California Growers Association Tells LoCO Why He Won’t Vote for Weed Legalization This Fall Humboldt County voted against marijuana legalization last time it was on the ballot, in 2010, and Southern Humboldt — the weed-growing capital of the county — voted against it by a wide margin. This has given us … Read more
The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit Authority prevented a North Coast freight operator from delivering a dozen more rail cars filled with an estimated 396,000 gallons of flammable gas to a storage site south of Sonoma, escalating tensions between the rail agencies. The squabble is increasing uncertainty for freight customers along the Highway 101 corridor, where … Read more
WEED, Calif. — The water that gurgles from a spring on the edge of this Northern California logging town is so pristine that for more than a century it has been piped directly to the wooden homes spread across hills and gullies. To the residents of Weed, which sits in the foothills of Mount Shasta, … Read more