The dark-sided flycatcher, a small brown bird from Asia, made its California debut last week when it veered off-route and spent three days at the nature preserve behind Google’s Mountain View campus, attracting birding enthusiasts from across the country.

As the Mountain View Voice reports, a couple of birders first spotted the flycatcher the morning of Wednesday, September 17 at Charleston Retention Basin, a six-acre marsh and nature trail that runs adjacent to Google’s campus.

The outlet reports that the sighting was immediately listed on the eBird list-serve, and word quickly spread. Within a few hours, 40 birders had shown up hoping to catch a glimpse. The next day there were 80 visitors, and over the course of three days, birders from as far as Michigan, New York, and Washington State hopped on planes to capture the tiny celebrity on camera.

The Mountain View Voice spoke to Matthew Dodder of the Santa Clara Valley Bird Alliance who said the bird had previously never been spotted in the lower 48 states, and there have only been a few sightings in Alaska. He said the flycatcher likely took a wrong turn when heading south along its usual migratory route from the Siberian region to China or the Himalayas.

Per the Voice, Google also took part in the flycatcher’s big welcome, inviting visitors to upload photos via a QR code. The company also provided parking and refreshments.

The last flycatcher sighting was reportedly on Friday evening when birders speculate it either moved somewhere else in the area or left altogether, per the Voice. Perhaps it gained enough respite to get back on its course.

As a commenter on the Voice emphasized, “protected spots like the Charleston Retention Basin can serve as sanctuaries for wildlife, welcoming unexpected visitors from far away. By preserving and restoring these natural spaces, we not only support the species we already know but we also open the door to surprises!”

Top image: Kevin Shen, ABA Birds and Birding Group/Facebook

A well-known environmental research vessel sank Sunday evening while docked in the Oakland Estuary. No one was onboard, and firefighters worked to contain the nearly 400 gallons of diesel that was onboard.

As the Chronicle reports, the Kaisei, a large double-masted replica ship operated by the Ocean Voyages Institute in Sausalito, began sinking around 6 p.m. near the 2500 block of Blanding Avenue in Alameda. Witnesses on land saw the vessel partially submerged and alerted authorities, according to US Coast Guard spokesperson Petty Officer Kenneth Wiese.

Crews from both Alameda and Oakland fire departments responded, including a fireboat, and worked to stabilize the scene. As NBC Bay Area reports, the ship had begun pulling part of the dock down with it, and responders cut the mooring lines to prevent further structural damage, according to Alameda Fire Department Public Information Officer Kevin Tidwell.

The Kaisei, which was not occupied at the time of the incident, has since settled on the estuary floor. Firefighters deployed a floating boom around the wreck to contain a visible sheen of leaking fuel, as reported by ABC7. The vessel is believed to have contained up to 400 gallons of diesel onboard, Wiese said.

A person reached at a number associated with the Kaisei Project told theSan Francisco Chronicle they believed “something hit” the vessel, though the exact cause of the sinking remains under investigation. Officials with the Coast Guard and other agencies are monitoring the situation and coordinating next steps, which could involve salvage or removal depending on the assessment of the ship’s condition.

The Kaisei is a modern replica of a traditional Japanese training vessel and serves as the flagship for the Ocean Voyages Institute’s cleanup missions. The nonprofit has operated out of Sausalito since 1979 and launched the Kaisei Project to remove plastic waste and marine debris from the Pacific, including three expeditions to the North Pacific Garbage Patch.

Based on a Reddit post from five years ago, it appears that the Kaisei was routinely docked in Alameda between expeditions:

The Kaisei currently docked in Alameda. The brigantine is currently operated by Ocean Voyages Institute as the figurehead and expedition ship of "Project Kaisei" which is an international program dedicated to implementing solutions to the problem of marine debris.
byu/carnegiehall insailing

The ship’s sinking has raised concern among environmental advocates, given its symbolic role in ocean preservation. Authorities are urging anyone with information about what may have caused the vessel’s damage to contact the U.S. Coast Guard.

Top image via the Ocean Voyages Institute

Sempervirens Fund, founded in 1900, protects California’s redwoods through land conservation, forest restoration, and climate resilience efforts, saving over 35,000 acres since its start.

The Sempervirens Fund, originally founded as the Sempervirens Club in 1900, is California’s oldest land trust and one of the first conservation groups in the U.S. It’s named for Sequoia sempervirens, the coast redwoods it set out to protect. According to NBC Bay Area, the fund has protected more than 35,000 acres of redwood forest, ensuring that these ancient trees are preserved for future generations.

The organization’s story began when artist Andrew P. Hill tried to photograph the redwoods but was stopped by local loggers. Outraged, he rallied a group of conservationists and community leaders, including Laura White and Carrie Stevens Walter, whose leadership was crucial to the movement’s early success. Thanks to their efforts, Big Basin Redwoods State Park became California’s first state park in 1902, with political help from figures like Herbert C. Jones, a naval officer known for his heroic efforts during Pearl Harbor.

Over the decades, Sempervirens Fund helped establish additional parks, including Castle Rock, Butano, and Portola Redwoods.

Today, after challenges like the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex fires, Sempervirens Fund has expanded its focus beyond land preservation to ensuring that redwood forests thrive in the face of climate change. The fund now works on thinning overcrowded areas and restoring healthy fire patterns to help the forests recover and adapt.

After more than 120 years, Sempervirens Fund continues its mission to protect, restore, and connect these magnificent trees, ensuring they remain a part of the landscape for future generations.

The Bay Area played host to a variety of Earth Day activities this weekend, including BART’s nature walks, the 2025 Climate Action Youth Summit, and the Green Business Expo and Earth Day Festival. Plus, a citywide cleanup with Refuse Refuse is coming up on Tuesday.

On Friday, more than 3,000 people gathered at Yerba Buena Gardens for San Francisco Environment’s second annual Climate Action Youth Summit, where students from across the city presented creative climate solutions through art, science, fashion, and performance. Centered around the theme “Climate Action Across Careers,” the event invited youth to explore how any profession can support environmental progress.

With twice as many student-led presentations as last year, the day was filled with inspiring ideas and innovations. A standout showcase came from Jefferson Elementary students, who collected 85 pounds of trash at school in just four days—an effort that helped them become the first plastic-free school in the district.

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On Saturday, BART hosted two Nature Walks starting at 19th Street Station and circling Lake Merritt, led by conservationist Jeff Miller, author of Bay Area Wildlife: An Irreverent Guide.

Participants spotted local wildlife and discussed habitat loss, land-use history, and resilience. The nature walks were the first in a new series of free outdoor excursions aimed at encouraging Bay Area residents to use BART to explore the region’s natural landscape. Check out their upcoming events here.

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Also on Saturday, San Francisco Environment hosted the Green Business Expo and Earth Day Festival, where attendees browsed booths from certified green businesses, played games, listened to live music by teen band Swami 3, and enjoyed activities like tree planting demos and biodiversity tours. The festival spotlighted eco-friendly innovations such as plant-based gel nail polish from local company Lilaque and hands-on learning with live snakes from Tree Frog Treks.

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Other Earth Day events this weekend included the launch of the new season of Sunset Mercantile's Secondhand Saturdays vintage market, which runs every third Saturday through November, and the World Naked Bike Ride leading a climate protest.

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Earth Day festivities continue through the week with a full roster of events as part of SF Climate Week. Additionally, grassroots volunteer group, Refuse Refuse, is hosting a day-long cleanup that covers all of downtown and SoMa on Tuesday, along with cleanups in various neighborhoods throughout the week. The group organizes weekly neighborhood cleanups year-round.

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Image via Refuse Refuse in SoMa/Facebook

Back in the summer of 2022, 288 specially designed tiles were installed along San Francisco’s Embarcadero seawall, which are now brimming with marine life, including barnacles, mussels, and algae, marking significant progress in the Living Seawall Pilot.

For the past few years, scientists from Tiburon-based Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) have been monitoring the 288 tiles that they installed along three parts of the seawall — the Pier 45 Breakwater, the Agricultural Building Seawall, and the South Beach Harbor East Breakwater, which are designed to help the seawall function as a habitat for marine life.

As reported by SFist back in 2022, this effort is part of the Living Seawall Pilot, a partnership between the Port of San Francisco and SERC to make the seawall more eco-friendly and better prepared for sea level rise. The tiles mimic natural shapes like coral or mangrove roots, offering nooks and surfaces where sea life can grow, hide, and thrive.

Researchers are comparing different textures and tile sizes at a variety of depths to see what works best in the Bay’s unique environment. According to KPIX, early results are promising — these once-bare concrete walls are now brimming with sea life, including barnacles, mussels, oysters, sponges, sea stars, and algae.

The pilot also supports long-term goals. With sea levels projected to rise nearly two feet in the next 30 years, the Bay Area is exploring more sustainable, resilient solutions for protecting infrastructure and ecosystems. These living seawalls cost about $1 million — a fraction of the $425 million bond measure (Proposition A, 2018) passed to upgrade San Francisco’s waterfront.

In addition to supporting  biodiversity, the seawalls could also help guard against erosion and earthquake damage — making them a win for both nature and city planning.

Image: Jared Erondu/Unsplash

For the first time since the 1800s, the Farallon Islands will no longer have a year-round human presence. Due to federal budget cuts that predate the current administration, as well as $10 million in needed repairs, biologists from Point Blue Conservation Science will now leave in September, returning only seasonally from mid-March to mid-September, according to the Chronicle.

This change threatens decades of conservation efforts that helped species like common murres and northern fur seals recover. Without researchers on site, key data on elephant seals, white sharks, and whale migrations will be lost, and the islands will be more vulnerable to human disturbances. The reduced presence also means fewer resources to combat invasive species like house mice, which disrupt the fragile ecosystem.

Officials estimate that scaling back will lower annual maintenance costs from $600,000 to about $106,400, but essential infrastructure, including the island’s crane and water systems, remains in disrepair. Point Blue is urgently seeking funding to maintain a year-round presence in some capacity, hoping for a last-minute solution to avoid abandoning the islands entirely.

Previously: Two Dozen Killer Whales Spotted Off Farallon Islands, Likely There To Chow On Seals And Baby Whales

Image: Sharon Mollerus/Flickr

In 2023, teen-led group Protect Monterey Bay successfully lobbied the Monterey City Council to impose new restrictions on cruise ship passenger landings in an effort to curb environmental damage to the bay, including wastewater dumping, air pollution, and harm to marine life.

While ships can still anchor offshore, cruise companies refused to hire staff at the dock, halting cruise tourism.

Local merchants opposed the city council's decision, citing the economic loss of passengers who spend an average of $125 per visit, which Monterey City Manager Hans Uslar characterized as a "drop in the bucket" compared to the amount of revenue the city receives from non-cruise based tourism.

Prior to COVID, an average of 7–12 ships per year docked in Monterey Bay, and 21 ships were booked in 2023 before the new changes.

Media outlets have recently been criticizing the teens for the city's loss in revenue over the past two years, while glossing over the cruise industry’s decision not to comply with the new regulations — on top of their history of environmental violations.

Protect Monterey Bay argues that no amount of money justifies the risks. Aliya Denton, a student leader for the group, said in the group's original appeal to the city council:

We have thousands upon thousands of tourists who visit and look at our beautiful bay. It takes their breath away, and they call it priceless. Well, according to the cruise industry, it isn’t priceless. It has a price: $125 average per passenger. My friends, no amount is worth sacrificing our integrity.

Monterey's policy mirrors restrictions in places like Amsterdam, Venice, and Key West, where communities have resisted overtourism.

Image: Joe Ross/Flickr

Nearby resorts are now offering $110 private shuttle tours to Yosemite’s annual “Firefall” phenomenon at Horsetail Falls, allowing resort guests and non-guests alike to bypass the park’s reservation system, which was implemented on weekends to help curb the environmental damage, including trampled vegetation, littering, and erosion, caused by growing crowds.  

According to SF Gate, in 2022 nearly 2,500 visitors crammed into an observation area to see the sites and others waded into the Merced River, creating unsanitary conditions due to the area’s lack of restrooms.

One tour operator's trip summary reads, “leave the driving and logistics to us, and enjoy a nice cup of hot  cocoa along the way on our Yosemite Firefall Express Shuttle.” But they still have to hike a mile to the viewing area, of course.

Other tour operators have abandoned Firefall trips altogether due to the environmental impact. One operator pointed out that without professional photography equipment, the effect is often underwhelming, making the ecological destruction an unjustifiable cost.

Image: Matthew Dillon/Wikimedia

Previously: How to See the Famous "Firefall" at Yosemite This Month

With the lawsuit filed in San Francisco County Superior Court Friday, California became the largest economy to take such legal action against the fossil fuel industry.

Rob Bonta, California's Attorney General, is accusing oil giants BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and ConocoPhillips, as well as the American Petroleum Institute, of misleading the public about the risks associated with fossil fuels, causing extensive harm to the environment and communities while violating state laws, according to CNN.

The suit also reportedly alleges that, since these oil companies have been aware of the negative impacts of burning fossil fuels since the 1960s, they have willfully created a public nuisance, damaged natural resources and state property, and misled Californians through false advertising and deceptive environmental marketing. The state has suffered wildfires, poor air quality, deadly heatwaves, droughts, sea level rise, and substantial financial costs since, Bonta said in the press release about it. Gov. Gavin Newsom also said in a statement the companies named in the lawsuit should be held accountable.

The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief, damages, and penalties against the companies — specifically, it seeks creation of a fund, privately financed by the defendants, to pay for recovery and adaptation efforts following damaging storms and fires, per the AP.

This legal action aligns with increasing efforts worldwide to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for their role in climate change and its consequences (the Guardian has a good roundup here, including the landmark youth-led lawsuit against the Montana state legislature claiming a constitutional right to a healthy environment, requiring the state to consider potential climate damage when approving projects, last month).

Oil companies have responded by emphasizing their efforts to reduce emissions and have criticized the lawsuit as a distraction from broader climate policy discussions, suggesting that Congress should address climate policy rather than the courts and generally denying culpability.

Photo: Robin Sommers

In just a week's time, the conservative-led Supreme Court — more the Alito Court than the Roberts Court at this point — has made itself Enemy Number One of the Democratic Party, and of women, LGBTQ people, climate activists, and liberals generally.

On Thursday, as the court closes out its 2021-22 docket and as Justice Stephen Breyer retires with his middle fingers held high on his way out the door, the court issued a ruling that kneecaps the Environmental Protection Agency at a moment in history when this is the last thing they should be doing. It was the last in a string of blows to both the will of the people and to decency in general, but Alito and Thomas et al will just tell you it's about strict textualism and the fact that the framers didn't want things this way — because human-created climate change was surely at the top of mind in 1788. A dissenting opinion from the court's liberal wing argues that there is nothing textualist about this decision — it's just pure conservative politics and the desire to limit the administrative powers of the federal government.

What did California Governor Gavin Newsom do in response? It's not clear where he is as many people are beginning their five-day holiday weekends — maybe near Tahoe? But he went up to some fire-charred woods and shot a quick video, posted Thursday morning to Twitter, slamming the court's decision, and saying to climate deniers, "If you don't believe in climate change, you've got to believe your own eyes. Come to California."

Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the majority opinion in the case, known as West Virginia v. EPA though the plaintiffs also include the North American Coal Corporation, Westmoreland Mining Holdings, and the state of North Dakota. For all the even-handed-sounding legal rhetoric that Roberts imbues in the ruling, discussing arcane rules and precedents regarding congressional acts and the powers of government agencies, the result is clearly another win for Mitch McConnell and the Republicans' five-decade project to finally secure a conservative court majority to do their bidding. And it's a win, clearly, for West Virginia's coal industry, and polluters nationwide.

As Justice Elena Kagan writes in a dissent, the climate-action rule put in place at the end of the Obama administration, which this ruling concerns, known as the Clean Power Plan, was already moot by the time Biden took office last year — and this is just some clear conservative activism to kneecap the EPA overall, much like Trump briefly tried to do, just now enshrined in legal rhetoric.

Kagan takes aim at the majority's use of the term "major questions doctrine," which is used to describe whether the EPA overstepped in creating a rule that pushed for a shift away from more-polluting forms of energy generation to combat climate change. "The current Court is textualist only when being so suits it," Kagan writes. "When that method would frustrate broader goals, special canons like the 'major questions doctrine' magically appear as get-out-of-text-free cards."

And, she concludes, "The stakes here are high. Yet the Court today prevents congressionally authorized agency action to curb power plants’ carbon dioxide emissions. The Court appoints itself — instead of Congress or the expert agency — the decisionmaker on climate policy. I cannot think of many things more frightening."

Much as the court's ruling on concealed-carry weapons last week has implications in California, so too does this ruling, which could lead to battles over cap-and-trade programs and more. The Trump hangover is long, and it is painful.

Hundreds of millions of eggplant-colored sea urchins are devouring our state’s pristine, undulating kelp forests by the literal mile. Now, their insatiable stampede seems to be ascending northern California's coastline, reaching as far as Oregon.

According to the Associated Press (AP) via the Scientific Reports, these voracious urchins – which commonly get as large as a human palm – are slowly marching north toward Oregon’s coastal reefs, now having already decimated 90 percent of the kelp forests along the Golden State’s coastline. Adding insult to injury, the AP reported that 350 million purple urchins were estimated to be in a single Oregon reef, alone.

That population count, too, is a 10,000 percent increase from a prior like-area survey conducted in 2014. But, even before then, the faunal red flags were waving in the wind.

“The first sign of trouble arose in 2013 when sea stars in the area were hit with a mysterious disease and began “wast[ing] to nothing,” said the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) in a statement, per ScienceDaily. “Sea stars play an important role in their ecosystem, preying on native purple urchins and keeping their numbers in check. With mass numbers of sea stars dead, the urchins proliferated, chomping their way through the kelp forests.”

As SFist reported on back in 2016, on the tail-end of the mass starfish die-off that began in 2013 (see the correlation?), these celestial cnidarians suffered a catastrophic blow to their population, leaving said episcopal-colored critters to run amok.

Expansive "urchin barrens" — swaths of stripped, naked seafloor that are carpeted only by these sea porcupines — have become common along the NorCal coastline, but they’re now showing up in Oregon's once luscious kelp forests.

And, in doing so, these overpopulated urchins are responsible for killing-off marine biodiversity and crippling fisheries. For example, species like California’s beloved red abalone currently number 96 percent less than they did a few years ago; conversely, the state's purple sea urchin population multiplied by six during that time. Each of these stats was released earlier this week by UC Davis.

In 2018, California had to close down its red abalone fisheries, responsible for an estimated $44 million in “coastal economy” per year, due to the population decline. Oregon followed suit in a similar fashion, suspending permits to some 300 abalone drivers for the next three years, in order to give the remaining red abalone a chance to breed and repopulate, sans commercial harvesting.

“That’s a huge economic loss for our small coastal communities,” said Cynthia Catton, a research associate with the UC Davis Bodega Marine Lab, told the AP. “In California, there were 30,000 to 40,000 participants in [the abalone] fishery every year for decades, and for the first time ever that fishery had to close.”

The solution to this oceanic catastrophe? Well, it’s by no means a one-size-fits-all approach. Researchers believe that, even under the most ideal culling scenarios, it could take upwards of 20 years to clear 100 million pounds of overpopulated purple sea urchins – from just a single reef, no less. Extrapolate that figure out further, and it’s a hellish scenario that offers little in the way of hope.

However, “urchin farming” – physically removing large numbers of purple sea urchins from these kelp forest to be “fattened up” in controlled environments for human consumption (uni), in lieu of traditional red sea urchin row – in tandem with legal urchin hunting and bolstering populations of natural predators (starfish, stingray, sea otters, horn and leopard sharks) offers some semblance of ecological success.

For more information on how you can help support ocean conservation, visit montereybayaquarium.org/conservation-and-science to learn how even the smallest positive impact can ripple out for generations to come.

Related: Starfish Return In Huge Numbers On California Coast After Mass Die-Off

Image: Flickr via brewbooks

Following the lead of a Berkeley measure from last week, Supervisors Vallie Brown and Rafeal Mandelman are introducing a measure Tuesday to make city buildings all-electric and out of gas.

You’ve seen (and perhaps rolled your eyes at) San Francisco’s recently enacted plastic bag ban and plastic straw ban, but the latest modern convenience in the Board of Supervisors’ crosshairs is a real gas. KPIX/CBS SF reports that Supervisors Vallie Brown and Rafeal Mandelman plan to introduce a ban on natural gas lines in any city-owned buildings or city-sponsored renovation projects. The two lawmakers say they hope to enact the ban in September, and have it go into effect by January 1, 2020.

“When we think of greenhouse gases, we usually think of cars, but buildings generate a whopping 44 percent of San Francisco’s greenhouse gas emissions,” Sup. Brown told KPIX. “We’ll never achieve our net zero carbon climate goals until all our buildings go all-electric.”

Brown says the measure would reduce emissions in new city buildings to zero, since new and rehabilitated municipal buildings are powered by greenhouse gas-free hydroelectricity. Natural gas is generally considered cleaner than coal or oil, but the industry’s recent switch to fracking has caused significant environmental and public health concerns like unusual earthquake patterns and tap water that catches on fire.

The City of Berkeley passed a similar measure last week, but Berkeley’s ban extends to all new homes constructed in the city, and will eventually also cover commercial buildings and multi-unit residential structures. The proposed San Francisco natural gas ban would only cover new construction and renovations on city-owned buildings.

This is the latest copycat measure that the San Francisco Supervisors jumped onto after other cities adopted them, just like the proposed tech cafeteria ban had its roots in similar laws from Menlo Park and Mountain View. So at the rate SF supervisors are taking on other Bay Area cities’ unconventional bans, expect the supes to remove the word “manhole” from municipal codes any day now.

Related: Vallejo Residents Hospitalized Following Mysterious Odor And 'Sheen' On San Pablo Bay [SFist]

Image: AZAdam via Flickr

An environmental group just sued the state of California, alleging that the state "wasn't doing enough to keep Dungeness crab fishing gear from killing protected whales."

That quote comes from the Associated Press, who also spoke with Kristen Monsell, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed the suit. Monsell said of the incidents, "These entanglements are heartbreaking, illegal and way too common. California officials can’t let this minefield of crab traps continue to slaughter endangered whales and sea turtles."

The suit was filed in federal court in San Francisco, and in it, the Center alleges that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is responsible for the entanglement-related deaths since they authorized and managed a fishery which was responsible for the deaths of endangered whales. They believe that the department should also be more stringent in where they allow people to fish for Dungeness crabs, hopefully requiring that people place their gear farther away from waters where protected whales and turtles live.

The Center for Biological Diversity originally ran a press release back in June announcing their intent to sue the state of California over this matter. In it, they mention the fishery authorized and managed by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, saying that it was allegedly responsible for the deaths of "21 endangered or threatened whales, contributing to a third straight record-breaking year for entanglements along the U.S. West Coast." Their data comes from a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report on "West Coast Entanglements" dated March 2017.

According to another AP report, Monsell also commented on the injuries and deaths, saying, "We've been hearing for years now from both the state of California and fishermen that they care about the problem and want to address it. But nothing has changed other than more whales are getting tangled off our coast and dying painful, tragic deaths."

Related: Photo: Dead Humpback Whale Washes Up Near Pebble Beach

President Trump on Friday issued an executive order requiring Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke to "review" all national monument designations made during the last three administrations that are over 100,000 acres. As San Francisco's KPIX reports, among these is Giant Sequoia National Monument, which spans 328,000 acres across Tulare, Kern and Fresno counties — and the Trump administration has apparently recommended shrinking it to 90,000 acres.

Also threatened with being shrunk or removed entirely from federal protection are Berryessa Snow Mountain, Carrizo Plain, Sand to Snow, San Gabriel Mountains, Santa Rosa & San Jacinto Mountains, and Mojave Trails National Monument.

In statements to the press on Friday, Zinke suggested that "in some cases, the designation of the monuments may have resulted in loss of jobs, reduced wages and reduced public access."

But critics and environmentalists have been quick to call this a land grab and potential gift to developers and, in the case of Giant Sequoia National Monument, the logging industry.

According to the order, "Designations [under the Antiquities Act of 1906] should be made in accordance with the requirements and original objectives of the Act and appropriately balance the protection of landmarks, structures, and objects against the appropriate use of Federal lands and the effects on surrounding lands and communities."

KPIX notes that an estimated eight million trees in Giant Sequoia National Monument are dead or dying due to drought-related bark beetle infestation — and as we learned from the temple builders at this year's Burning Man, who were using wood from such dead trees donated by PG&E, wood from non-living trees is not construction grade and therefore may not even be of interest to logging companies.

The station also talks to two members of the Tulare County Board of Supervisors, one of whom supports the idea of shrinking the monument because it will make it easier to manage and thereby less prone to fire. "“Locking [the trees] up in a monument and doing nothing — which is essentially what the Forest Service has done for the past 20-plus years — is not in their best interest,” says Tulare County Supervisor Steve Worthley to KPIX.

The Department of the Interior began taking public comment on national monuments in May. As Zinke said on Friday, "There's no requirement for public input before the designation of a monument and there's no NEPA requirement. Normally, when you do a land use project, we normally NEPA. The Antiquities Act is the exception."

In July, President Trump signed something called the America First Offshore Energy Executive Order which, similar to this latest one, calls for review of national marine sanctuaries like the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary off the Northern California coast, for possible offshore drilling. That sanctuary was expanded under President Obama to include 2,013 miles of coastal waters along the Sonoma and Mendocino coastline.

Related: Trump Administration Explores Possibility Of Deep-Sea Drilling In Farallones Marine Sanctuary

As part of an executive order to review all national marine sanctuaries that have been declared in the last ten years, the Trump Administration will be exploring any "lost opportunity costs" for oil, gas or methane hydrate drilling, or hard mineral mining in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary off the Northern California coast. As CBS 5 reports, the America First Offshore Energy Executive Order will review President Obama's expansion of the marine sanctuary to include 2,013 miles of coastal waters along the Sonoma and Mendocino coastline, which were officially added to the sanctuary in March 2015 after two years of review.

CBS 5 got a statement from the Western States Petroleum Association saying they didn't have any current interest in drilling in this area, but the review will be conducted nonetheless. "Our focus is on how best to produce and refine needed petroleum products in California and the West," said the association.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is in charge of the review, and local lawmakers have already been filing letters with them in support of protecting the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.

The sanctuary includes habitat for multiple endangered species, as well as a newly discovered type of coral.

Kathi George with the Oceanic Society tells CBS 5 that she's frustrated that all the work that went into establishing and expanding the sanctuary is going to have to be revisited now in "such a short time-frame." "We need to think long-term solutions, not short-term solutions... Hopefully the science will be looked at and recognized as what science is," she says.