Tag: drought
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Having a Mix of Tree Heights Enhances Drought Resilience in Sierra Nevada Forests
The 2012-2015 drought resulted in widespread tree mortality in the southern Sierra Nevada. Photo by Margot Wholey In a paper published in Nature Communications, UC Merced Professor Roger Bales, collaborating with an international team, found that the height of neighboring trees strongly influenced whether a given tree survived California’s record 2012-15 drought. Using high-resolution maps developed from aircraft…
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Reducing Residential Water Use in the Santa Clarita Valley
The Partnership During the drought of 2015, residents of California’s Santa Clarita Valley stepped up their water conservation activities in a huge way. Participation in conservation programs like lawn replacement were at an all time high and the community seemed to be pulling together as a whole to reduce their use. In the years since…
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Spying on Beavers From Space Could Help Save California
Photo-illustration: Jacqui VanLiew; Getty Images A group of scientists taught an algorithm to spot beaver ponds in satellite imagery, which has the potential to help drought-ridden areas like California bounce back. For the first time in four centuries, it’s good to be a beaver. Long persecuted for their pelts and reviled as pests, the dam-building…
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National Climate Assessment predicts growing threats to society, economy
Devastation from Hurricane Michael is visible in Mexico Beach, Fla., in 2018. Gerald Herbert/AP A long-awaited federal climate report, released Tuesday, delivers a blunt warning: Rapidly curb planet-warming emissions or face dire consequences to human health, infrastructure and the economy. The fifth installment of the National Climate Assessment presents the most comprehensive evaluation to date of U.S.…
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Utah’s clawing way out of an extreme water deficit. Will it last?
Photo: Spenser Heaps, Deseret News Glen Canyon Dam holds back Lake Powell in Page, Ariz., on Monday, July 18, 2022. Upper Basin was at a staggering 4 million-acre feet loss, with power generation compromised, but wet winter helped It was with some pleasure Gene Shawcroft, chairman of the Colorado River Authority of Utah, was able…
