Environment & Forest Defense News

Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) has purchased an additional 2,284 acres of the historic Sargent Ranch property, originally named Rancho Juristac. To date, POST has protected 6,114 acres of the 6,500-acre ranch that is home to multiple at-risk species and provides vital habitat and connectivity for wildlife across the region. This land forms the core of the Juristac Tribal Cultural Landscape, an area held sacred by the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band.

Big Oil pumped $34 million into influencing lawmakers in Sacramento in 2025, allowing fossil fuel corporations to stonewall and roll back health and climate policy. Chevron and the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) are not only the biggest spenders in the fossil fuel industry, but have been the top spenders on overall lobbying most years. Chevron was among those pushing back against bills like the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act.

On December 20, the San Francisco Regional Tibetan Youth Congress held a demonstration in front of the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco over illegal gold-mining operations in Sershul, Eastern Tibet, and the subsequent arrests of more than 80 innocent Tibetans in the region. According to reports, the gold-mining operations were being undertaken in Serkhok, a traditional grazing site in the region.

On October 24, youth from 50 middle schools, high schools, and colleges in California walked out of class in a coordinated statewide action demanding that oil and gas corporations be held financially accountable for the damage caused by their pollution. Students called on lawmakers to pass the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act, SB 684/AB 1243. While not passed this legislative session, students and climate advocates are working to pass it next year.

In February 1975, construction work on Lee Road in Watsonville desecrated an Ohlone burial site, and bones and artifacts were removed by archeologists. When initial efforts failed to protect the sacred site, the cemetery was occupied by a group of armed local Native families, activists, and members of the American Indian Movement. John Malkin speaks with Patrick Yana-Hea Orozco, who played a critical role in the direct action at Wounded Lee.

Pesticides continue to be pervasive in the air throughout California’s agricultural regions, according to the 2023 Air Monitoring Network Report released in September by the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR). Weekly samples collected at DPR’s four air monitors detected 19 different pesticides at trace or quantifiable levels and 8 pesticides at quantifiable levels, with 80% of samples including at least one pesticide detection.

Big Oil won a major victory on September 13 when the California Legislature passed Governor Gavin Newsom’s bill, S.B. 237, as part of a controversial “climate” package that greenlights tens of thousands of new oil and gas drilling permits in Kern County over the next decade with no further environmental review. The bill passed as a last minute “gut and amend” measure at the end of the legislative session, truncating public participation.

The Amah Mutsun Land Trust has announced that by the end of 2025 they will acquire a 50-acre property near the intersection of Highways 129 and 101 in San Juan Bautista, marking the first time the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band has regained full access rights to land in its traditional territory since their forced removal over 225 years ago. The property has been renamed tooromakma hinse nii, which means “bobcats wander here”.