It’s not every week that you find yourself scrambling for high ground during a tsunami warning, but for coastal Northern Californians, this was the week! We’re very glad the 7.0 offshore temblor didn’t manifest the destructive ocean surge it could have. In this week’s issue, we’ll get a giant helping of actual bear news, along with some big moves to combat sea level rise and yet another forehead-slapping CEQA lawsuit stopping an approved development project. Onward!

🐻🐻🐻 BEARS!

This wouldn’t be “Bear Essentials” if we didn’t lead with the biggest bear story of the year, thanks to the New Yorker’s Paige Williams. And settle in, because we do mean big: Clocking in at nearly 10,000 words, Williams’ piece explores Lake Tahoe’s unsettling “Bear Boom,” brought about by a flood of tourists and relocated residents drawn by the lake’s crystal clear allure. Overcrowding, trash (four tons of it left on July 4th alone), and the unflattering rise of the "touron" (tourist-moron) highlight the human impact. Adding to the strain, Tahoe’s dense black bear population faces new challenges as bears adapt to human presence, raiding unsecured trash, breaking into homes, and even stealing picnic lunches. Organizations like BEAR League advocate for coexisting responsibly, promoting bear-proofing strategies like secure garbage bins and electric deterrents. Yet rising housing costs, regulatory hurdles, and reluctance to adopt safeguards leave the area balancing on a fragile edge of coexistence.

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🤫Everything you should know

- RISING WATERS — San Francisco’s Bay Conservation and Development Commission just approved a “generational” roadmap for tackling sea-level rise, tasking 50+ Bay Area cities with keeping their shorelines above water—literally and figuratively. The Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan includes checklists for everything from saving utilities to avoiding displacement, but with one big catch: no funding, just mandates. Business groups want development to foot the bill, while environmentalists warn against plans that shove risks onto disadvantaged communities. With $110 billion needed by 2050 and only $5 billion in the coffers, the clock is ticking—and cities have until 2034 to get their act together. The sea waits for no one! Bay Adapt

- CEQA…AGAIN — Another day, another CEQA lawsuit. This time it’s coming from the Center for Biological Diversity, which is suing the city of Pittsburg, CA for approving a technology park last month that will most likely include a data center. (But let’s be honest, why would the city of Pittsburg be interested in developing a technology park with all of those soft, modern — but good-paying — jobs when it could return to its halcyon days as a coal town? Come on Pittsburg! A little black lung never hurt anyone! But we digress…)The Center for Biological Diversity is aghast — AGHAST — claiming that the environmental impact study (launched in 2020) didn’t examine how the tech center might impact the Cooper’s hawk and the western pond turtle in the area. Also the noise. And traffic. And water quality. And whether it’s a wildfire risk. Did we mention that the development site is just over a mile away from a landfill? It is. Data Center Dynamics

- NEW CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH? — California is catching gold fever again, but this time instead of the northern Sierras, fortune seekers are headed to the Mojave Desert. Spiking gold prices have sparked a new rush for the craggy terrain around Randsburg, a tiny hamlet about 100 miles east of Bakersfield. Once a bustling mining hub, this “living ghost town” is now drawing prospectors and investors eager to revive its untapped potential. Patented mining properties, offering full rights to the land and its minerals, are in high demand, with small claims selling for tens of thousands and larger parcels fetching hundreds of thousands. The renewed interest comes as gold tops $2,600 per ounce, incentivizing modern mining operations. Yet, this boom faces old challenges: harsh desert conditions, regulatory hurdles, and environmental risks. The promise of buried treasure remains, but success is anything but guaranteed. LA Times

🤯 Would you look at that! Build housing, prices fall!

If you’re anything like us, you love charts and graphs that confirm your priors. And what do we have for you today? Why, it’s a chart from Tina Smith, the honorable U.S. senator from Minnesota, showing that the cities building the most housing are also experiencing slower growing (or, in Minneapolis’ case, declining!) rents. That’s quite a flex Minneapolis. Well played.

https://x.com/SenTinaSmith/status/1863961424034443700

🌎🚶🏿 Planetwalker

The story of John Francis is one that could only have happened in California. After witnessing the devastation of an oil spill from his home in Point Reyes Station, CA in the early 1970s, Francis stopped driving or riding in cars. He also stopped talking — for 17 years. During that period, he walked across the United States and back again, stopping to achieve college degrees in Oregon and Montana, playing his banjo and touching countless people along the way. In a short documentary well worth your time, the Los Angeles Times chronicles the extraordinary journey of a completely different kind of environmentalist: “Planetwalker.”

https://youtu.be/gfxST7YMrsg

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