Pelecanus

On today’s Conservation Conversations episode we talk with Rosanna Xia. Rosanna is an author, documentary filmmaker and environmental reporter for the Los Angeles Times, where she specializes in stories about the coast and ocean. Her new book called California Against the Sea is out now wherever you purchase books, but we always like to recommend your local independent book store. Let’s get straight to our conversation with Rosanna about the future of California’s coast!

Please find her book, documentary Out of Plan Sight, and all of her work with the LA Times. She’s published so many great stories. You can find her on social media at @rosanna.xia and her website https://www.rosannaxia.com/ and help support her in getting these kinds of stories out to the world.

Host and producer is Austin Parker

Music was provided by A Picture Book studio

Don't forget to like comment and subscribe if you want to help

Awards

San Diego Zoo, Safari Park win prestigious botanic gardens award

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/07/06/its-not-all-about-the-animals-san-diego-zoo-safari-park-win-prestigious-botanic-gardens-award/

Clean!

Parisians take a historic plunge into the River Seine after more than a century

https://apnews.com/article/paris-seine-river-swimming-4ba28e3b0c9c224a1811f538df2a208e

In Zion National Park, ‘the Smog Is Gone’

https://www.dailygood.org/news/?nid=5104

Rewilding

Arizona Game and Fish is using beavers to help restore wetland habitats

https://www.kjzz.org/science/2025-07-04/arizona-game-and-fish-is-using-beavers-to-help-restore-wetland-habitats

Georgia's bald eagle population takes flight as rebound continues years after near extinction

https://georgiarecorder.com/2025/07/04/georgias-bald-eagle-population-takes-flight-as-rebound-continues-years-after-near-extinction/

“Bird of Legend” reappears in Malaysia after more than a century

https://www.birdlife.org/news/2025/07/07/bird-of-legend-reappears-in-malaysia-after-more-than-a-century/

Water

California achieved significant groundwater recharge last year, state report says

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-06-24/california-2024-groundwater-report

Protected areas

Major breakthrough in marine conservation unveiled at UN Ocean Conference

https://iucn.org/press-release/202506/major-breakthrough-marine-conservation-unveiled-un-ocean-conference

China is building the world’s largest national parks system

https://www.daily8.com/en/article/d4b90b7c59a3e4f6864166970e9ab46b

California’s Marine Protected Area Network Recognized as International Gold Standard for Marine Conservation

https://opc.ca.gov/2025/06/for-immediate-release-californias-marine-protected-area-network-recognized-as-international-gold-standard-for-marine-conservation/

On today’s Conservation Conversations episode we talk with Karina Johnston, a PHD candidate at UCSB, a coastal habitat restoration ecologist formerly with Tidal Influence, and the newly appointed executive director of Heal the Ocean, a southern California nonprofit. She has so much experience and a wealth of knowledge to share, so let’s get straight to it with Karina as part of our series on coastal resiliency!

Thank you again to Karina for taking the time to talk with us. It’s the work like what she does that can give us all hope for the future of the CA coastline.

Please check out the Tidal Influence or Heal the Ocean website and get involved with them, or wherever you can.

http://www.tidalinfluence.com/

https://www.healtheocean.org/

Host and producer is Austin Parker

Music was provided by A Picture Book studio

Don't forget to like comment and subscribe if you want to help!

Land

California’s largest ‘land-back’ deal returns 47,000 acres to tribe

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/06/05/3094125/0/en/Largest-Ever-Land-Back-Conservation-Deal-in-Calif-Now-Complete-Western-Rivers-Conservancy-Conveys-Final-Acreage-to-Yurok-Tribe-in-a-47-000-Acre-Effort-Critical-to-the-Salmon-Wildli.html

Newly-declared conservation area in Peru is home to pink dolphins, giant armadillos

https://phys.org/news/2025-06-newly-declared-area-peru-home.html

Biodiversity

Three new wolf packs discovered in Northern California

https://phys.org/news/2025-05-wolf-northern-california.html

Western quolls and brushtail possums thrive in Australian national park a decade after reintroduction

https://www.animalsaroundtheglobe.com/western-quolls-and-brushtail-possums-thrive-a-decade-after-reintroduction-to-national-park-1-335680/

Endangered snow leopard cub born at Kent big cat sanctuary

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjwqy3q4zeno

Rewilding

Experts celebrate as rare parrot makes miraculous comeback from brink of extinction: 'They're already ready to fly'

https://www.thecooldown.com/outdoors/red-tailed-amazon-parrots-brazil/

2025 Lion census shows 32% population rise

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/out-of-the-woods-in-gujarat-why-asiatic-lions-future-cant-be-secured-by-numbers-alone-10022963/

Spectacular creature makes stunning comeback after decades of absence

https://www.thecooldown.com/outdoors/bearded-vulture-chick-spain-conservation/

Water

City of Phoenix encouraging residents to harvest rainwater this summer

https://www.abc15.com/weather/impact-earth/city-of-phoenix-encouraging-residents-to-harvest-rainwater-this-summer

How California’s farmers can recharge the aquifers they’ve drained

https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/california-groundwater-study-central-valley-drought-managed-aquifer-recharge/

Drawdown

This Solar-Powered Device Sucks CO2 From the Air—and Turns It Into Fuel

https://gizmodo.com/this-solar-powered-reactor-sucks-co2-from-the-air-and-turns-it-into-fuel-2000563558

Genetically enhanced crops proposed as scalable solution for CO₂ removal

https://phys.org/news/2025-05-genetically-crops-scalable-solution.html

Marine

IUCN launches project to combat marine plastic pollution in the Pacific

https://iucn.org/news/202504/iucn-launches-project-combat-marine-plastic-pollution-pacific

Indonesia plans 200000 hectares of new marine conservation areas in 2025

https://en.antaranews.com/news/354329/indonesia-targets-200-thousand-hectares-marine-conservation-growth

Rewilding

Captive-Bred Axolotls Can Survive in the Wild, Sparking Hope for the Endangered Species

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/captive-bred-axolotls-can-survive-in-the-wild-offering-hope-for-the-critically-endangered-amphibians-180986543/

Study suggests there are more jaguars in the Amazon than previously thought

https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/study-suggests-there-are-more-jaguars-in-the-amazon-than-previously-thought/

Drawdown

Small coal town shocks experts by building first-of-its-kind plant: 'The cultural aspect of this is so bedeviling'

https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/delta-utah-hydrogen-power-plant-transformation-community/

Biodiversity

Mystical eagle thought to be extinct in Mexico reappears in Chiapas

https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/believed-extinct-mexico-harpy-eagle-resurfaces-chiapas/

Endangered sea turtle populations show signs of recovery in more than half the world, survey finds

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/endangered-sea-turtle-populations-show-signs-recovery-half-world-surve-rcna201788

Critically endangered plant species once thought extinct makes extraordinary return to the wild: 'We hope to inspire greater awareness and action'

https://www.yahoo.com/news/critically-endangered-species-once-thought-111518884.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZWNvc2lhLm9yZy8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJ9vDCng51YwZcXjcpTcnXqTlRspKJmevErxGOdhj0OeF0LzjfAqCdf5rlehlNuCRdCeFghJ9cNnF6wEwO2XjTW0YcHdDGnQiSCu7sJ8dD4rKwXUFU5nZVmnLl3GVMwx53qu41GCSYAMTsV_zOYxEi0xyXmaMYtR_sblS6uhUAe6

New plastic dissolves in the ocean overnight, leaving no microplastics

https://newatlas.com/materials/plastic-dissolves-ocean-overnight-no-microplastics/

California's first solar-over-canal project now generating electricity

https://abc30.com/post/californias-first-solar-canal-project-now-generating-electricity/16120467/

A biotech company says it has bred three pups with traits of the extinct dire wolf

https://www.npr.org/2025/04/08/nx-s1-5355686/dire-wolf-extinct-colossal-biosciences

Rewilding

Bighorn sheep reintroduced to Franklin Mountains in major conservation effort https://www.ktsm.com/news/bighorn-sheep-reintroduced-to-franklin-mountains-in-major-conservation-effort/

Drawdown

World's First Carbon Capture Plant Powered Directly by Wind Planned

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/worlds-first-carbon-capture-plant-powered-directly-by-wind-planned/

Al Gore’s Just Climate fund raises $175M from Microsoft and CalSTRS for nature-based climate investments

https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/18/al-gores-just-climate-fund-raises-175m-from-microsoft-and-calstrs-for-nature-based-climate-investments/