Michael G. Barbour
1942 Jan. 7, 2021
Michael Barbour lived a full and generous life that ended peacefully in his home in Winters on Jan. 7, 2021. Born in 1942 to George and Mae Barbour of Jackson, Mich., he attended MSU, then completed a Ph.D. at Duke University in botany.
Recruited to UC Davis in 1967, he introduced many students to California’s botany. His students went on to transform the documentation of the California landscape.
Beyond academia, Michael performed with the Winters Theatre Company, sang with a Winters folk group and danced with Pam Trokanski’s Parkinson’s dance class. He and his wife owned and ran Classic Video in Winters.
LIVERMORE â A Sacramento County Superior Court judge has ruled in favor of Alameda County in the countyâs challenge to an environmental impact report (EIR) that would have cleared the way to turn a biologically unique open space area into an off-road vehicle park.
Judge Shelleyanne W. L. Chang released the ruling on Jan. 12. She found that the State Department of Parks and Recreationâs 2016 EIR and general plan for Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area, which included opening the Tesla Park land to off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreation, are legally invalid and must be set aside.
âThis is a great victory for the decadesâ long battle to protect the Tesla Park land from the ill-conceived plan by State Parks to open it to damaging off highway motorized recreation,â said Livermore resident Nancy Rodrigue of the Friends of Tesla Park. âTesla Park is one of the most beautiful and ecologically rich places in the East Bay. We have a duty to preserve this
In 2016, the Bureau of Land Management, working with numerous conservation and recreation organizations, finalized the Desert Renewable Conservation Plan, an eight-year plan that set aside millions of acres for conservation and recreation, as well as for renewable energy. Managing editor Tami Roleff says the Trump administration released amendments Wednesday that will increase the land available for energy and reduce the acreage available for conservation and recreation…
California Native Plant Society photo
In the last week of the Trump administration, the Bureau of Land Management is proposing big changes to the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan. The BLM is now proposing to allow activities like energy development, mining and grazing on more than one million additional acres. Jeff Aardahl with the group Defenders of Wildlife says the habitat protections in the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan are crucial to stopping the desert tortoise’s slide toward extincti
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Broad Coalition Of Agriculture, Business, Environmental, Forestry Leaders Call On Gov. Newsom, Legislature For “Urgent Action” On Wildfires
December 17, 2020 GMT
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ A new coalition of forestry, agricultural, business and environmental groups today called on Governor Gavin Newsom and the Legislature to provide stable and sustainable financial resources of more than $1.5 billion in the Governor’s upcoming budget designed to thwart wildfires that will provide multiple benefits to wildlife, water quality and security, as well as climate mitigation and resilience.
The renewed push for action comes after California experienced more than 9,600 fires in 2020, with more than 4.1 million total acres burned, 31 fatalities, and over 10,400 structures damaged or destroyed.