News

In 20 Years, Wildfires Will Be Six Times Larger

March 22, 2018
From Montana to California, wildfires in 2017 shattered record after record and cost the Forest Service an unprecedented $2 billion . The blazes ravaged rural landscapes and business centers and claimed dozens of lives , including those of at least two firefighters. This season’s...

Los Cenzontles in Concert at UC Merced

March 12, 2018
Los Cenzontles (The Mockingbirds), an award-winning band heavily influenced by Mexican folk music, is coming to UC Merced on March 14 for a free concert and a music workshop. Both events are free and open to all. The workshop takes place at 2 p.m. in the Crescent Arch Room, and the concert begins...

Study indicates that climate change will wreak havoc on California agriculture

March 9, 2018
The California we know is the breadbasket of the nation, producing more than two-thirds of the country's fruits and nuts, including almonds, pistachios, oranges, apricots, nectarines and prunes, and more than a third of its vegetables, including artichokes, broccoli, spinach and carrots. It...

Wildfire problem to increase in coming decades

March 5, 2018
Research projects substantial increases in area burned across western North America, with implications for land managers and policy makers. Above: Projected change in annual area burned for the period 2010–2039, with red colors indicating areas with the greatest increase in area...

California agriculture faces serious threats from climate change, study finds

February 27, 2018
Over the past decade, California farmers have been seeing symptoms of climate change in their fields and orchards: less winter chill, crops blooming earlier, more heat waves and years of drought when the state baked in record temperatures. Scientists say California agriculture will face much...

Study: Climate Change Threatens Major Crops in California

February 27, 2018
California currently provides two-thirds of the country’s fruits and nuts, but according to a new study published Tuesday, by the end of the century California’s climate will no longer be able to support the state’s major crops, including orchards. The report, published in...

Study finds ‘rock moisture’ spared California forest from drought

February 26, 2018
The recent drought left record numbers of trees dead and dying and vulnerable to fire in virtually every corner of California, but a dense tract of evergreen forest in northern Mendocino County remained wet and healthy.   The reason, say the authors of a study published Monday, is...

Why We Need Working Floodplains

February 22, 2018
Floodplains are hard-working landscapes when they’re allowed to “act naturally.” But their flood-taming, habitat-feeding abilities are compromised when they’re paved over or constricted by levees. We talked with Josh Viers, a watershed scientist at UC Merced and a member of...

State Water Resources Challenge Described by Merced Expert

February 22, 2018
In a state where nature produces multi-year droughts, and at a time when global warming is reducing the traditional Sierra snow pack, California must do more to understand and protect its precious water resource, according to a nationally known expert on the subject. The expert is Roger Bales, a...

Documentary warns water shortage in SJV a matter of national security

February 21, 2018
It's a film that explores a possible and dire future where water, food and natural resources teeter on the edge of collapse. And the San Joaquin Valley is at the center of the drama. Filmmaker Jim Thebaut's documentary "Running Dry: Beyond the Brink" premiered...

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