The slow pace of snow at the start of this season worried water managers at first, but California has now exceeded 100% of the average for this time of the year. To read the full article from the Union of Concerned Scientists, click here.
After evaluating more than 100 photo entries, our staff has selected the winning photos in CSERC’s 2024 “Celebrate Winter” Photo Contest! View the winners below, followed by other great shots that fill out the Top 10 (in no particular order).
To those who know and admire it, the newt is many things: a marvel of longevity; a paragon of resiliency; a deadly vessel of poison; a model organism for regenerative medicine; a golden-eyed charmer of quiet charisma. Though newts share a flat, slithery body shape with lizards, they are amphibians (a type of salamander), […]
A 20-year experiment in the Sierra Nevada confirms that different forest management techniques — prescribed burning, restoration thinning, or a combination of both — are effective at reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire in California. To read the full article from Berkeley News, click here.
CSERC staff has been monitoring Ackerson Meadow for decades, and we’re currently participating in a process to improve this project even more for wildlife, especially the western pond turtle. For an excellent update on the project from American Rivers, click here.
CSERC staff has been monitoring recovery efforts for the endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep for more than 25 years. Significant achievements had been made, so it’s heartbreaking to share that half of the Sierra Nevada population tracked by scientists died during last season’s record-breaking winter. Some sheep got trapped in avalanches, some died of starvation, […]
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced a proposal to list both species of western pond turtle – the northwestern pond turtle and the southwestern pond turtle – as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. In our local forests, pond turtles occur in lower elevation ponds and year-round streams. To read the […]
Fire suppression has resulted in forests with fuel loads so unnaturally high that when a wildfire comes through it can be dangerous to communities, firefighters, and ecosystem health. Prescribed fire and the management of natural lightning ignitions for resource benefit are the park’s primary tools for restoring forests. However, mechanical thinning may be necessary around […]
California has a new gray wolf pack in Tulare County, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced this week. This is the Golden State’s southernmost pack and it is at least 200 air miles from the nearest known pack in northeastern California. That puts the Stanislaus Forest right in between two known wolf packs. If […]
Water in Yosemite is incredibly beautiful, but can be powerful and deadly. In the video linked below, Yosemite Search and Rescue rangers share their knowledge of common mistakes and how to avoid them. To watch the video, click here.