At least 1,200 evacuated as wildfire spreads in L.A. County

The Post Fire started in Gorman, in Los Angeles County, burned southeast toward Pyramid Lake and continued to spread

Today’s news from your EnviroPolitics Blog

By Kyle Melnick and Kelsey Baker, Washington Post, Updated June 16, 2024, 2:31 p.m. EDT

At least 1,200 people in California were evacuated this weekend as a wildfire in Los Angeles County spread over thousands of remote mountain acres, officials said.

As of late Sunday morning, the fire had spread across more than 12,200 acres, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said on its website. The blaze also damaged two commercial structures, fire officials said.

At 9 a.m. local time, the Los Angeles County Fire Department announced that the fire was just 2 percent contained.

The National Weather Service office in Los Angeles issued a red flag warning for the Interstate 5 corridor in Los Angeles County and Ventura County due to strong winds and low humidity.

Officials said they’re investigating what caused the fire and haven’t reported fatalities or injuries.

The blaze, which officials are calling the Post Fire, started about 1:45 p.m. Saturday in Gorman, about 65 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, according to state fire officials. It then moved southeast, toward Pyramid Lake.

Read the full story here

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Solar’s spread over farm soils alarms some in Georgia

Today’s news from your EnviroPolitics Blog

By Dave Williams, The Telegraph, June 14, 2024

Georgia is the largest state east of the Mississippi River, with eight million acres of prime farmland.

Yet, there’s so much concern over the spread of solar farms eating up huge portions of that acreage with vast fields of solar panels that the state Senate has formed a study committee to explore what can be done to save the most fertile land for farmers.

“We’ve lost a little over two and a half million acres of farmland in the last 40 years,” said Sen. Billy Hickman, R-Statesboro, who will chair the Senate Study Committee on the Preservation of Georgia’s Farmlands. “We’ve got to make sure to protect our farmland.”

Other factors are playing a role in the rapid shrinkage of farmland in Georgia, including the construction of housing subdivisions to accommodate population growth, warehouse-distribution centers and – most recently – data centers.

But solar projects also have cropped up across the state during the last decade, including some rooftop installations on individual homes and businesses but mostly the larger “utility-scale” deployments of fields of solar panels known as solar farms.

Read the full story here

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This foreign insect is making headlines–even in the New York Times

A joro spider makes a web against a blue sky.

Today’s news from your EnviroPolitics Blog

By Lola Fadulu, New York Times / June 6, 2024

This summer might be a buggy one. As many as one trillion cicadas are emerging in the United States, spotted lanternflies are back and now scientists are predicting the arrival in the Northeast of a newcomer: the joro spider.

It’s unclear when exactly the joro, a large, brightly colored spider, will make its way to the Northeast. And there are some silver linings: There won’t be millions of them, and they eat other pests, including spotted lanternflies, which officials have urged New Yorkers to kill on sight.

Here’s what to know about these spider invaders.

How large are we talking about?

These spiders are big, about the size of a Post-it note or a stretched-out human hand, and have long legs, said José R. Ramírez-Garofalo, an ecologist at Rutgers University. The female spiders can grow up to eight inches long, while the males are roughly half that size, he said.

They can fly, sort of: They move through the air by shooting silk threads that catch the wind, and the air currents carry them along, although not very far. They also travel on cars and trucks.

Click to read the full story

Related environmental news:
Giant Joro Spiders Are Coming: Here’s What to Expect (Scientific American)

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BOEM to Assist Maryland’s Offshore Wind Energy Efforts

© chungking / Adobe Stock

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the State of Maryland have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to support the coordinated development of offshore wind energy in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic state.

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2024 Black bass season opens in New York State

Quality Bass Fishing Opportunities Available throughout New York State

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Interim Commissioner Sean Mahar today announced that the open (harvest) season for largemouth and smallmouth bass, collectively known as black bass, begins June 15 and runs through Nov. 30. For most of the state, a catch-and-release season exists from Dec. 1 through June 14. Special fishing regulations exist for some waters, so anglers should check the current fishing regulations before heading out to fish. 

Black bass are New York’s most popular sportfish for good reason. Both largemouth and smallmouth bass can be found throughout the state, thriving in waters of all sizes, and are among the most exciting fish to catch.  

In 2023, New York State landed six lakes on Bassmaster Magazine’s top 100 best bass lakes in the country. Among the New York waters included are the St. Lawrence River (Thousand Islands), ranked as the second-best bass lake in the nation, and Lake Erie/Upper Niagara River, ranked as ninth-best lake. Lake Champlain, Cayuga Lake, Oneida Lake, and Chautauqua Lake made the list, as well, and are in Bassmaster Magazine’s top 25 Northeastern Best Bass Lakes 2023.  

New York’s warmwater rivers also provide outstanding bass fishing opportunities. The Chenango River, Tioughnioga River, Unadilla River, Chemung River, Wallkill, and Seneca River are just a few of the many warmwater rivers worth checking out to find great river bass fishing experiences. Be sure to check out DEC’s Places to Fish and Warmwater Fishing webpages for more information on where to go bass fishing, as well as the Tackle Box feature in the HuntFishNY mobile app.  

For tips on how to catch bass, see Fishing For Largemouth & Smallmouth Bass. Those new to fishing can check out the I FISH NY Beginners’ Guide to Freshwater Fishing, which has all the information needed to get started. There’s also a “how-to” video series on DEC’s YouTube channel. 

The New York State Department of Health (DOH) provides advice to anglers about what fish are safe to eat and how often. Visit DOH’s website to search by waterbody location. 

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Increased vessel traffic linked to East Coast whale strandings

By Sabrina Garone, WSHU


More than 500 whales were stranded on the East Coast between 1995 and 2022. Many of those were discovered in our region. 

WSHU’s Sabrina Garone spoke with Dr. Lesley Thorne of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.Thorne led a study that looked into the possible explanations.

WSHU: Of those hundreds of strandings, most of those happened between 2016 and 2022. Your study took a look at some of the reasons for this. Could you take me through the major findings?

LT: We looked at patterns of large whale strandings relative to that of different threats to large whales. And we focused on humpback whales, which are the species that strand most frequently on the East Coast. Vessel strikes, where whales are struck and hurt by vessels, and entanglement in fishing gear are major threats that face whales globally. So, we looked at patterns of vessel traffic and fishing efforts.

And we also looked at activities occurring along the U.S. East Coast associated with offshore wind development. And what we found was that mortalities and serious injuries due to vessel strikes increased threefold during this time period post-2016. We did not find any evidence that offshore wind development, or site assessment surveys for offshore wind development, played a role in the increase in whale strandings. In short, our analysis suggested that vessel strikes were an important driver, and that vessel strikes were exacerbated by increases in traffic in key regions. As well as key changes in humpback whale habitat use and distribution.

Click to read the full story

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