Environment

A recent statewide snowpack measurement from the California Department of Water Resources is another indication that the tremendously wet winter might have been too much of a good thing. The agency’s readings from 130 snow sensors placed throughout the Sierra Nevada show the  snowpack’s snow-water...

Updated June 27, 2022 at 5:22pm: 90% containment. A fire burning along Highway 17 was 90% contained at 5:20pm after burning two acres Monday, authorities said. Cal Fire learned of the blaze near the summit—on the Santa Cruz County side in the Alta Vista Lane area—at...

After nearly two years out of commission, Big Basin Redwoods State Park—the oldest State Park in California—is about to open to the public, once again. It was closed after being ravaged by the CZU Lightning Complex fire, (97% destroyed), but on July 22, the proverbial...

Santa Clara County suffered an estimated $15.4 million in damage to local roadways during the winter storms that doused the West Coast in the first three months of the year, according to county officials. The initial storms during the end of December 2022 and throughout...

In the preface to his book “California: A Fire Survey,” Stephen J. Pyne notes that the “California fire scene” has long shaped the broader American agenda. “For the national narrative the important fact is that what happened in California did not stay in California,” he...

Pam Hansen, of Los Gatos, and Don Vu, of Saratoga, were honored last month for the incredible photographs they took while out in nature, winning a Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District contest that was decided by social media voting. Each year Midpen hosts a photography...

About a year ago, the Town of Los Gatos hired Chris Todd as its “emergency manager”—a new role for the community that’s situated along the Santa Cruz Mountains. The hope is to implement safety measures, in order to save lives, property and wildlife in...

The Santa Clara County Department of Planning and Development has been preventing a homeowner in the Lexington Hills area of Los Gatos from accessing public documents needed to fix damage caused by the storm that sparked the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex fire. A Department of...

As part of the Sanborn and Upper Stevens Creek Forest Health Plan, adopted in August 2023 by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, Santa Clara County Parks is closing a few hiking trails. The closures are necessary, officials say, in order to put vital...

A dead rat was spotted Downtown Los Gatos on Monday morning, at North Santa Cruz Avenue and Main Street. It was unclear what killed the animal, however, it lay next to a black animal control box containing poison. Per the label, the bait station contains desmethyl...