Enviro Updates – An environmental newsfeed for Sonoma County

Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition appeals Santa Rosa Plaza drive lane project

February 24, 2026

Natalie Hanson, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition is appealing Santa Rosa Plaza’s proposal to add a drive lane and new parking spaces in front of the downtown mall.

City Zoning Administrator Conor McKay approved the “minor design review” earlier this month for a one-way lane curving toward the mall’s B Street entrance with 10 parking spaces. The design would replace part of the plaza in front of the main entrance at the intersection of B and Fourth streets, where the hand statue, Agraria, once stood.

Eris Weaver, executive director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, filed an appeal Feb. 19 which she said received support from various members of the public.

Weaver said earlier this month she did not find the project consistent with goals to make the downtown area more walkable and bikeable. She said in an interview Tuesday, Feb. 24, that the proposal presents various safety and quality of life issues which the city must resolve.

“Santa Rosa has been moving toward a downtown that is more bike and pedestrian friendly,” Weaver said. “Why do they need more parking? It feels like they’re trying to sneak something by the public.’’

Transportationbicycle-friendly, pedestrian safety, Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, walkability

Bill would shift state demonstration forests from logging to restoration

February 20, 2026

Sarah Stierch, MENDOCINO VOICE

A bill to change how California’s demonstration state forests are managed — placing greater emphasis on research, public access and forest restoration rather than logging — was introduced in the State Assembly on Friday.

Assembly Bill 2494 was introduced by Assemblymember Chris Rogers, D-Santa Rosa and co-authored by state Senator Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg.

According to Cal Fire, California has 14 demonstration state forests totaling 85,000 acres. Unlike state parks, they are working forests. Cal Fire manages the lands that are used to test and show forestry practices, conduct research, and harvest timber while remaining open to the public for recreation.

Two of the state’s 14 demonstration forests are in Rogers’ district: Jackson Demonstration State Forest in Mendocino County and Ellen Pickett State Forest in Trinity County.

Rogers introduced the bill with the goal of modernizing policies that he says haven’t been updated in decades and are not aligned with the state’s current climate initiatives.

Under current law, known as the State Demonstration Act, timber production is a key part of how demonstration forests are funded and managed. AB 2494 would shift that emphasis by stating that research, recreation and forest restoration are the primary purposes of the forests.

Forestsconservation, forest restoration, Jackson Demonstration State Forest, recreation, redwoods, sustainable logging

Tools tweak beaver dams

February 14, 2026

Mark DeGraff, KNEEDEEP TIMES

CDFW Beaver Restoration Program

The town of El Dorado Hills, California was facing a problem. A beaver dam had inundated a popular walking trail. The community wanted to reverse the flooding without harming their buck-toothed neighbors.

Beaver experts visited the area and proposed a simple solution: a flood-control pipe threaded through the mass of sticks and mud that formed the dam. Once installed, the pipe quickly lowered the water level. Today, the trail remains dry, and beavers still call El Dorado Hills home.

Projects that help beavers and humans coexist have only grown easier since 2018, when El Dorado Hills began its beaver friendly project. Last October, Occidental Arts & Ecology Center launched the Beaver Help Desk, a state-funded resource that matches beaver-beleaguered landowners like the ones in El Dorado Hills with certified beaver coexistence professionals. It’s just one of a flood of new efforts to restore the water-storing rodent to its former habitats across California.

Beaver habitat restoration has become a priority among landowners, legislators, and environmentalists alike as climate change threatens the state’s ecosystems and water supply. A growing body of evidence has found that beavers were once abundant throughout California, and bringing them back will foster climate resilience. They build ponds where salmon can weather dry summers and create wet meadows that serve as firebreaks. One study calculated that repopulating the Sierra Nevada with beavers would create enough dams to store 32 billion gallons of water, making an area three-quarters as large as Yosemite wet enough to resist wildfires.

Water, Wildlifebeaver dams, beavers, flooding, OAEC, water storage

Santa Rosa BoDean facility faces $1.28 million air-quality fine

February 13, 2026

Jeff Quackenbush, NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District on Tuesday announced a $1.28 million fine against BoDean Company Inc. for nine violations at its Santa Rosa and Windsor facilities, marking the latest enforcement action involving the Santa Rosa-based construction materials supplier.

The district said the violations occurred between 2021 and 2025 and included “significant unauthorized operations” of rubberized asphalt equipment from August to September 2022. The agency said the activity generated “prolonged, intense odors” that impacted nearby communities for weeks and “produced visible black smoke” from facility equipment.

“Air quality rules exist to prevent harm to the public, and they apply to everyone,” said Dr. Philip Fine, executive officer of the Air District, in the news release. “This penalty makes clear that violations have consequences and that facilities are expected to always comply with air quality requirements.”

The penalty resolves all nine violations, and the company’s facilities have since come into compliance, according to the district. Funds collected will be distributed under the agency’s Community Benefits Policy to support projects aimed at improving air quality and public health across the nine-county region it oversees.

Airair pollution, air quality, BAAQMD, BoDean Company

New backyard beekeeping regulations in Santa Rosa move forward

February 7, 2026

Paulina Pineda, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Draft regulations

Santa Rosa has released a draft set of rules that would legalize backyard beekeeping, a proposal spurred by a young boy and his family who helped champion residents’ rights to raise bees in the city.

The new regulations would set standards for colony limits, hive placement and maintenance as well as guidelines for small-scale honey sales.

The ordinance also would require beekeepers to display their name and telephone number at the property in case of any issues. It outlines enforcement provisions if beekeepers violate the code.

Community members for the better part of a year have urged the city to update its zoning code after then 9-year-old Nicholas Bard and his family were ordered to relocate their hive — a decision that has since been rescinded as staff worked on the new policies.

Agriculture/Food Systembees, honeybees, pollinators, regulations

Healdsburg council OKs clean energy funds for e-bike rebates, charging discounts for low-income residents

February 4, 2026

Amie Windsor, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Qualifying low-income Healdsburg residents now have a new suite of city rebates meant to make electric vehicles and e-bikes more affordable and accessible.

Council members on Monday, Feb. 2, authorized tapping into a pool of funds collected annually through a clean energy program run by the state to expand three current EV-based programs for residents enrolled in the city’s CARE initiative, which offers electricity-bill discounts for low income households.

The new incentives include two $1,000 rebate for e-bikes, 50% off the fee at city-owned chargers and a $4,000 rebate for installing an at-home EV charger.

The council also endorsed a tentative rebate for electric vehicles that could offer up to $5,000 back. The city’s hope is to spur greater use of the programs, which have drawn scant participation since Healdsburg offered its original EV incentive seven years ago.

“At the end of the day it is about affordability,” Council member David Hagele said. “We need to be able to help people buy the cars. We’re really trying to move the needle.”

Climate Change & Energy, Transportatione-bikes, EV charging stations

Study ties particle pollution from wildfire smoke to 24,100 US deaths per year

February 4, 2026

Dorany Pineda, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Chronic exposure to pollution from wildfires has been linked to tens of thousands of deaths annually in the United States, according to a new study.

The paper, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, found that from 2006 to 2020, long-term exposure to tiny particulates from wildfire smoke contributed to an average of 24,100 deaths a year in the lower 48 states.

“Our message is: Wildfire smoke is very dangerous. It is an increasing threat to human health,” said Yaguang Wei, a study author and assistant professor in the department of environmental medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Other scientists who have studied the death toll from wildfire smoke were not surprised by the findings.

Air, Forestsair pollution, particulates, wildfire smoke