Monthly Archives: September 2021

A ‘thirsty’ atmosphere is propelling Northern California’s drought into the record books

By Paul Duginski | September 25, 2021 | Los Angeles Times

Increasing evaporative demand is escalating summertime drought severity in California and the West, according to climate researchers.

Evaporative demand is essentially the atmosphere’s “thirst.” It is calculated based on temperature, humidity, wind speed and solar radiation. It’s the sum of evaporation and transpiration from plants, and it’s driven by warmer global temperatures, which can be attributed to climate change.

The meteorological summer of 2021 in the contiguous United States, which runs from June through August, tied the extreme heat of the Dust Bowl summer in 1936.

Click here to read the article in full.

Green Means Go, and SB 743 – Join us Sept 29

Join ECOS to hear representatives from Caltrans and the Sacramento Council of Governments (SACOG) discuss recent State actions that provide good news for ECOS goals to reduce sprawl and encourage infill development. This saves habitat, reduces air pollution & climate change impacts, and encourages affordable housing.

Wednesday, September 29, 2021 at 6:00 pm

Zoom Meeting ID 818 6537 7865 | Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81865377865 | Call-in: 1-669-900-6833

Click here for the agenda.

Green Means Go

The State has approved major funding to SACOG to incentivize infill development, in order to enable our region to meet the State’s mandate for 19% per-capita greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction by 2035. Kacey Lizon, SACOG’s Deputy Executive Director, will present the latest information on how this funding will be used. (SACOG: Sacramento Area Council of Governments)

Senate Bill (SB) 743

This law prioritizes development and transportation projects that get us out of cars and into sustainable modes of transportation, to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT), air pollution, and GHG emissions. Adding to roadways “induces demand” that can re-congest roads. Caltrans’ Eric Sundquist will inform us about their recently adopted guidance to this law. Caltrans Deputies Jeanie Ward-Waller and Chris Ganson (lead for review of land use projects) will contribute to the discussion.

Note: Our next board meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 30th, 2021.

Photo by JESHOOTS.com, found on pexels.com

U.C. Davis study finds dams ineffective for conservation…

By Dan Bacher | September 9, 2021 | Sacramento News and Review

For many years, federal, state and corporate proponents of building more dams in California have touted cold water river releases provided by increased water storage behind dams as a key tool in “saving” struggling salmon and steelhead populations.

Yet a just published study by the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences, Dams Ineffective for Cold-Water Conservation– 8/25/21, has found that dams are ineffective for the cold water conservation that is needed to preserve imperiled salmon, steelhead and trout.

”Dams poorly mimic the temperature patterns California streams require to support the state’s native salmon and trout — more than three-quarters of which risk extinction,” according to the study published in the journal PLOS ONE by the University of California, Davis. “Bold actions are needed to reverse extinction trends and protect cold-water streams that are resilient to climate warming.”

The study helps identify where high-quality, cold-water habitat remains to help managers prioritize conservation efforts.

https://sacramento.newsreview.com/2021/09/09/u-c-davis-study-finds-dams-ineffective-for-conservation-of-salmon-and-trout-in-sacramento-area-waterways/

Click here to read this article in full.

California moves to ban sale of gas-powered lawn mowers and leaf blowers

By Andrew Sheeler | September 9, 2021 | The Sacramento Bee

California could soon ban the sale of gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers under a bill the Legislature passed and sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday.

Assembly Bill 1346 would direct the California Air Resources Board to phase out the sale of “small off-road engines” by 2024, or as soon as the board finds feasible, whichever is later.

The bill also requires the Air Resources Board to identify and make available, where feasible, funding for commercial rebates or similar incentive funding.

…

The bill’s author, Assemblyman Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, tweeted on Wednesday that the state will spend $30 million “to help gardeners transition to cleaner, greener equipment.”

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article254086403.html

Click here to read the article in full.

Photo from Pixabay on Pexels.

Local Groundwater Sustainability

On September 8, 2021, ECOS and Habitat 2020 submitted a letter regarding the Groundwater Sustainability Plan of the South American Sub-basin (SASb), just south of the American River.

Background

Climate change in the Sacramento region requires innovation to deal with more extremes in precipitation. In wetter years, we should pump water into groundwater basins so that we can pump it out during drier years. Just south of the American River is the South American Sub-basin (SASb) that we agree should be used this way. The SASb Groundwater Sustainability Plan includes a Sustainable Yield value – the amount of groundwater that can be extracted annually from the SASb while maintaining it at a sustainable level. This letter provides comments on how the draft Groundwater Sustainability Plan develops the Sustainable Yield level and proposes management actions that should be taken to ensure the SASb’s Sustainable Yield is maintained in the future. 

Click here to read our letter in full.

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger from Pexels