Posts Tagged: trees

Capitol rebuild in flux; foes battle Legislature over preservation

The state Capitol in Sacramento surrounded by Capitol Park. (Photo: Merge Digital Media LLC, via Shutterstock)

by WILL SHUCK posted 12.26.2022

Preservationists understand that their appeal court victory this month will only delay a billion-dollar expansion of the state Capitol building, but they hope legislators will use the time-out to consider alternatives that would kill fewer trees, cost less money and keep Capitol Park more or less as generations of Californians have known and enjoyed it.

California’s drought, relentless and inexorable, takes its toll

A drought-stricken tree at sunset. (Photo: PG_Traveler, via Shutterstock)

by WILL SHUCK posted 05.17.2022

With the rainy season come and gone, drought’s withered hand remained firmly fixed on California this month, as it has been, with few exceptions, for the last decade. Woes pile up. Rain didn’t save us, the snowpack is all but gone, the Coastal Commission says no desalinating sea water, and urban-interface fires have already begun.

Forestry board’s fire-safe regulations won’t block fires

A wildfire approaches homes in Southern California. (Photo: StacieStauffSmith Photos, via Shutterstock.)

by RUBEN GRIJALVA posted 03.23.2022

OPINION: The California Board of Forestry is currently preparing to adopt an update to California’s Fire Safe Regulations. If adopted, the current draft will NOT stop California from burning. Instead, the new regulations will undermine California’s efforts to solve the growing housing crisis by preventing new fire safe homes from being constructed.

New digs — and a hefty price tag — for legislative office space

The existing annex of the state Capitol in Sacramento. Photo: (Department of General Services)

by URIEL ESPINOZA-PACHECO posted 11.30.2021

Sacramento’s core is being transformed by an array of construction and infrastructure improvements — much to the ire of detour-weary motorists. But the centerpiece of the building has nothing to do with the city —it’s the state Capitol’s annex, which contains a hive of government offices.

Capitol Annex Project: No transparency and too costly

California's state Capitol in Sacramento, viewed from the 10th Street side. (Photo: Kit Leong, via Shutterstock)

by DICK COWAN posted 03.21.2021

OPINION: Have you heard of the Capitol Annex Project? Probably not, though with a price tag of more than $1 billion (coming from taxpayers’ wallets), you should have. It’s no surprise the general public isn’t aware since this plan to uproot the Capitol grounds has been mired in secrecy since its inception.

California can cut wildfire risk by investing in resilient forests

A path into a Northern California redwood forest. (Photo: C. Levers, via Shutterstock)

by CHRIS PAULUS posted 02.25.2021

OPINION: As a 34-year employee of Cal Fire, I am deeply familiar with the consequences of state policy that for too long emphasized putting out all wildfires, rather than emphasizing the natural restorative role fire plays in California’s landscapes. With Gov. Newsom’s new $1 billion wildfire budget, we have an opportunity to prioritize wildfire resilience rather than just wildfire suppression.