#california-newt

#california-newt

"This is a really important study because it sets the stage for researchers to go in and understand, almost in real time, a significant change not only in the behavior of this species but also the negative impacts of human activity."

"They didn't even try to fly away. They just feebly made noise," a woman told the Santa Barbara Independent on Saturday after spotting over two dozen dead or dying cormorants near Goleta Beach. "A few were on their stomachs, wings spread [and] gasping for breath.... Heartbreaking."

According to the Forest Service, these changes are taking place as part of an effort to 'unify research priorities, accelerate the application of science to management decisions, and reduce administrative duplication.'

Emily Taylor noted that her phone was 'ringing off the hook' with calls about rattlesnake sightings, indicating a dramatic increase in encounters this year compared to previous years.

But as he swept his flashlight through the dark waters, something unexpected emerged. Inching through the beam of light, an alien creature crawled across the surface of the sand, resembling an inch-long cluster of ghostly leaves fringed with silvery filigree and capped with a pair of antennae-like stalks. It immediately caught my eye, said Gosliner, Invertebrate Zoology Curator for the California Academy of Sciences. I've been diving there for 30 years and this one immediately struck me as different.

This is the first Ornate Nile monitor that our animal control officer and patrol officers have encountered," she said.

Out of an abundance of caution, access is being paused to give wildlife space and allow for ongoing monitoring. The investigation involves scientists from UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis, along with California State Parks, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the California Department of Public Health, the California Marine Mammal Stranding Network, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and NOAA Fisheries.

The question of how to protect fish and the ecological health of rivers that feed California's largest estuary is generating heated debate in a series of hearings in Sacramento, as state officials try to gain support for a plan that has been years in the making. "I am passionate that this is the pathway to recover fish," said state Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot. "This is the paradigm we need: collaborative, adaptive management versus conflict and litigation."

It was a race against nightfall. As he hurried across the sandy, bristling landscape of California's Carrizo Plain, ecologist Ian Axsom stopped every 10 yards to place an aluminum live trap on the ground, eventually distributing traps over an area the size of two baseball fields. Against the rolling playas and tawny mountains, the traps glinted with golden remnants of the September dusk.

California wildlife officials announced they have dismantled a large underground wildlife trafficking operation in Fresno and Madera counties, after federal agents intercepted a falsely labeled international shipment, Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said Friday. The investigation began after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service intercepted a shipment bound for Fresno. It was from Thailand and falsely labeled, containing four elephant trunks.

From Highway 101 to Monterey Road, traffic in Silicon Valley has become deadly for wildlife trying to move between the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo Range. Now, a major project is underway to connect preserved open spaces in the South Bay and reduce dangerous crashes for drivers. Monterey Road is a death trap, said Fraser Shilling, a researcher at UC Davis who studies how wildlife interacts with roads.