Eco News

Featured Eco News

Volunteers prepare The Greenhouse Project space for the Jewish New Year. Photo credit: Chel Mandell

Jewish New Year Outside: Nature as a Vessel for Spirituality

By Naomi Friedland

Sept. 4, 2023—At the end of summer, many of us are not...

Celebrating the breathtaking view at Castle Rock State Park. Photo copyright Mike Kahn.

Castle Rock State Park Expands Thanks to Major Purchase from Sempervirens Fund

By Naomi Friedland

Aug. 22, 2023—A $4.21 million purchase of six properties...

Amah Mutsun native plants nursery at Cascade Ranch, photo copyright Mike Kahn.

Get to Know the Amah Mutsun Land Trust

by Hilltromper Staff

Aug. 11, 2023—The Amah Mutsun Land...

Saving the Santa Cruz Long-Toed Salamander

Adult Santa Cruz Long-Toed Salamander, observed at Ellicott Slough. Photo credit to Matthew Slater and Pacific Southwest Region USFWS

In the winter of 2015, drought conditions made the outlook for the Santa Cruz Long-Toed Salamander breeding season bleak indeed—until dedicated Fish & Wildlife Service staffers intervened.

Donations Doubled for Wildlife Crossing

A male puma pictured near Highway 17 in August 2014. Pathways for Wildlife photo.

Donate $100 to the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County's Wildlife Crossing campaign and help a mountain lion find a mate who isn't his cousin.

Elephant Seal Pup Rescue

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Too young to swim, this female elephant seal pup washed up the beach near Waddell last week. Doug Ross photo.

A volunteer with the Marine Mammal Center rescues a helpless elephant seal pup stranded on the beach between a rock and a sharky place.

Migration Celebration at Sanctuary Center

Sooty shearwaters and a humpback whale at Lighthouse Point, from a work-in-progress by Doug Ross.

'Live print' with Doug Ross at Sanctuary Exploration Center on First Friday.

Be a Docent!

Barbara Cooksey loves being a docent and you will too! Photo by Diane Terry.

State Parks volunteer docent training starts soon. Pick a park and sign up to help make Santa Cruz area parks more welcoming, interesting and fun.

El Niño: Winners and Losers

Coyotes and other local wildlife will get fat this year thanks to El Niño. Photo by Franco Folini on Flickr.

The heavy rain and warm ocean provided by El Niño has put local wildlife into categories of winners and losers.

Is A New Species of Giant Salamander Living Under UCSC?

California Giant Salamander adult compared to a Slender Salamander. Photo credit to Gary Nafis

El Nino rains could aid research on the population of California giant salamanders—or their close, not fully formed relatives—found in the Porter Cave system under UC-Santa Cruz.