FEATURE-Cartoons and calendars help Bolivian farmers dampen fire risk

A mix of high-tech satellite data and brightly colored cartoons is helping subsistence farmers around Riberalta in Bolivia’s northern Amazon pick the best time to burn off their land and reduce the risk of uncontrolled blazes, as persistent drought makes wildfires a hot issue in Latin America. “Fire is a real problem with these communities – it’s something they’re very concerned about,” said Veronica Ibarnegaray, program director at Bolivia’s Fundacion Amigos de la Naturaleza , explaining that slash-and-burn farming for crops and cattle is largely to blame.

Landsat 8 Images Show Rains Reviving Central Coast Reservoirs

Images captured by a satellite launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base four years ago show the dramatic difference in water levels for two Central Coast reservoirs due to recent rains. Lake Nacimiento is now at 86 percent full, while Lake San Antonio – virtually dry before – sits at 32 percent full, as of Friday, according to Monterey County Water Resources Agency.

Sinking land concerns California

Land in California’s Central Valley is sinking so much from over-pumping of groundwater during the drought that officials said Thursday they will press for new laws to limit drilling. The sinking threatens to curtail as much as one-fifth of water deliveries through the vital California Aqueduct to San Joaquin Valley farms and millions of Southern California residents, state water managers said.

Big telcos may take wi-fi away from rural families: provider

A small internet provider helping to end the data drought in regional southern Queensland says it could soon be outbid by larger internet companies on digital spectrum access, thanks to a review by the Australian Communications and Media Authority . Toowoomba-based company Red WiFi has been using elevated positions on silos, water tanks and sheds to install dishes that stream wireless internet across rural communities, offering unlimited data to hundreds of families.