Blog

DRI researcher studies new form of photosynthesis in Mono Lake hot springs

Yubanet.com — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:55:55 -0700

Research conducted in Mono Lake, Calif., demonstrates how bacteria use arsenic in photosynthesis in the absence of oxygen. Jenny Fisher, a Post Doctoral Fellow, in the Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences at the Desert Research Institute, was part of a study that was published in the August 15 issue of Science Magazine. Ron Oremland from the US Geological Survey Menlo Park, Calif., office was the principle investigator. Thomas Kulp, also from the USGS was the lead author of the report.

Yosemite Valley Landscape Commemorated on Postage

Yubanet.com — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:40:25 -0700

The U.S. Postal Service dedicated the Valley of the Yosemite commemorative 42-cent first class stamp at the American Philatelic Stamp Show in Hartford, CT. The stamp image is based on an 1864 oil-on-paperboard painting by landscape artist Albert Bierstadt. The original painting belongs to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The Albert Bierstadt: Valley of the Yosemite stamp, as the eighth issuance in the American Treasures series, is available nationwide.

Stanislaus NF: Fire Restrictions Go Into Effect in Moderate Hazard Areas

Yubanet.com — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 23:06:35 -0700

The Forest Service today announced that, because of high fire danger, a Forest Order enacting temporary fire restrictions is in effect in Moderate Fire Hazard Areas of the Stanislaus National Forest (NF).

Critical Habitat Finalized for Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep

Yubanet.com — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:34:45 -0700

Responding to a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today finalized critical habitat for the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep, including more than 400,000 acres of land deemed essential for the sheep's survival and recovery in the eastern Sierra Nevada.

New report: Greatest value of forests is sustainable water supply

Yubanet.com — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:29:12 -0700

The forests of the future may need to be managed as much for a sustainable supply of clean water as any other goal, researchers say in a new federal report - but even so, forest resources will offer no "quick fix" to the insatiable, often conflicting demands for this precious resource.

This new view of forests is evolving, scientists say, as both urban and agricultural demands for water continue to increase, and the role of clean water from forests becomes better understood as an "ecosystem service" of great value. Many factors - changing climate, wildfires, insect outbreaks, timber harvest, roads, and even urban sprawl - are influencing water supplies from forests.

Preserving and managing forests may help sustain water supplies and water quality from the nation's headwaters in the future, they conclude, but forest management is unlikely to increase water supplies.

"Historically, forest managers have not focused much of their attention on water, and water managers have not focused on forests," said Julia Jones, a professor of geosciences at Oregon State University, and vice chair of a committee of the National Research Council, which today released a report on the hydrologic effects of a changing forest landscape. "But today's water problems demand that these groups work together closely.

Read the rest of this article at Yubanet.com

Dave the Forester's Tips on Fire Safe Sierra Homes

Yubanet.com — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:47:34 -0700

Hello Sierra homeowners. During each season, I will be writing an article coinciding with the release of our newsletter highlighting what you can do to better prepare your home and property for the coming fire season. There are simple steps you can take to help reduce the likelihood of your home igniting during a wildfire event.

Taking a little time to perform some easy and essential corrective measures can go a long way in making your home fire safe and allowing you to rest a little easier during the height of fire season.

Read Dave's Tips and find links to Firesafe Councils at Sierra Forest Legacy.org

Water Rights and Wrongs in the Sierra

Yubanet.com — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 11:58:44 -0700

Water law in the state of California can best be described as one of those incredibly complex multiple level chess games, with varying and not necessarily consistent rules for each level. In the crazy California water game different norms control, depending on whether ground water, riparian rights, appropriative rights, or prescriptive rights are involved (and this is short form-there are many other variations), and even whether rights were acquired before or after 1914. Add in all the various water projects, which divert water far away from its mountain origins, and its one-time inevitable flow towards the sea, to provide water for agricultural interests and urban needs, and you get an even more layered, confusing system, with consequent over appropriation of surface waters, and overdraw of groundwater.

There are many who feel the current system of water allocation in California is unfair, inefficient, and sadly broken. This year's collapse of the salmon fisheries, and the precarious situation of the Delta underscore the need to reassess how California's water is used, abused, and wasted. The debate promises to be heated, with, on one side, those who are convinced dams, and canals are a magic bandaid, and on the other side, those who favor protection of the environment, and who emphasize conservation and wise use of water over building yet another dam, and who think it's absolutely profligate to ship water to places like Westlands Water District to grow thirsty crops and forage, when that water is taken at the expense of protection of instream uses, such as keeping endangered fish out of the maws of the vast water project pumps.

There is a basic core of rationality in California's water system, though. The Public Trust Doctrine requires a balancing of consumptive and instream uses. This doctrine was successfully applied to water appropriation through the vigilance of those who fought for more than 20 years to prevent the siphoning away of Mono Lake to slake Los Angeles's thirst. Further, the California Constitution prohibits waste and unreasonable use of water. The terms "waste" and "unreasonable use" are a virtual full employment act for attorneys specializing in water law, but I'll spare you a treatise on "legally correct" usage. What I'd like to talk about is a real-life, shameful waste of water in the Sierra Nevada, up near Donner Summit.

Read more of this Op/Ed by Kathryn Gray at Yubanet.com.

Placer Land Trust preserves 912 acres on Bear River

Yubanet.com — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:57:21 -0700

Placer Land Trust is pleased to announce the completion of its largest conservation project to date, the 912-acre Garden Bar Preserve, situated along the Bear River northeast of Garden Bar Road in rural Lincoln.

The Trust purchased a conservation easement at below market value from the landowner to permanently protect the property.

Op Ed: The Glitter of Growth

Yubanet.com — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 23:08:01 -0700

Jim Hurley offers this view on growth in the Sierra Foothills:

"The room was packed. Not just the usual riffraff, but luminaries of every hue and sheen. You couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting an elected official. They came from Truckee, Nevada City, Grass Valley and the County Board of Supervisors. It was one of the periodic joint meetings held in order to coordinate county and city business. Usually these meetings attract crowds numbering in the tens. This one boasted an audience numbering in the hundreds.

We all came to hear if we got our money's worth ($50,000) from the San Francisco consulting firm of Seifel Inc. Not surprisingly, we learned that Nevada County should look more like San Francisco. We need to shift the area away from tourism, we were told, and "expand the capacity of Nevada County to engage in business attraction," in the areas of construction, financing, health care services and information services to the tune of $300,000. "Whew," some of us were saying, not only is that a lot of money to be spending when money is in short supply, but we haven't agreed that it is a good idea to begin with."

Read the entire op-ed.

Scientists Believe Photograph Depicts Wolverine in California

Yubanet.com — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 22:59:57 -0700

ALBANY, Calif. - U.S. Forest Service scientists believe an Oregon State University graduate student working on a cooperative project with the agency's Pacific Southwest Research station on the Tahoe National Forest has photographed a wolverine, an animal whose presence has not been confirmed in California since the 1920s.

Katie Moriarty, a wildlife biology student, was conducting research on another carnivore called the American marten when a remote-controlled camera she set photographed the animal on February 28, 2008. Forest Service scientists who are experts at detecting rare carnivores believe the photographed animal is a wolverine.