IMPORTANT, READ THIS POST FIRST FOR INFORMATION ABOUT VISITING BIG SUR!!
Many of the National Forests in California are closed indefinitely due to the critical fire danger, including Los Padres National Forest. Two day use areas of the USFS are open — Willow Creek and Mill Creek. State Park day use areas are open. Businesses are open. Highway One is open. Nacimiento-Fergusson is closed.
For the most thorough and complete guide to Big Sur on the internet see:
Interactive Highway Map with Mile Markers and slide names is to the right, under “Pages” first one *Big Sur Interactive Maps... if the following link doesn’t work. *Big Sur Interactive Slide Maps will answer any questions you may have about where something is in relation to something else.
MY DIRECT EMAIL IS: kwnovoa@mac.com
(Size for any header photos you may wish to submit it is 760×151 pixels.)
Some people attempt to comment (all first time commenters must be approved) using a fake email account. Your email account shows to no one but me, but if you use a fake account (and I check) I will not be approving your comment.
Lastly, there are two “seasons” on BigSurKate — fire season and rainy season. Twice a year I change my links over from one season to the other. The “change over” takes hours, so it is sometimes spread over days. It is during this “transition time” you will notice the two categories simultaneous — one growing and one shrinking. Always a fun time for me.
We are also running an online auction concurrently with the event. If you believe your readers would have any interest any of the items feel free to share this as well: https://event.gives/seastars2020/items
CALTRANS TO SUSPEND PREEMPTIVE CLOSURES THIS WINTER FOR HIGHWAY 1 ALONG THE BIG SUR COAST
MONTEREY COUNTY – In a break from protocols which were in effect over the last two winters, Caltrans announced today that it will not preemptively close Highway 1 along the Big Sur coast this winter when heavy rains are in the forecast.
Caltrans had previously closed portions of Highway 1 in Monterey County out of concerns about the performance of landslides at Mud Creek, one mile south of Gorda, and at Paul’s Slide, just north of Limekiln State Park. Advanced monitoring and assessment at these two, still active slides, helped inform this decision.
Caltrans District 5 Director Tim Gubbins said, “Our absolute priority for Highway 1 and the Big Sur Coast is safety, for the local community, the travelling public, and our road maintenance crews. Our continuous measurement and monitoring of these slides give us confidence that we will be able to react to any activity there without having to close the highway in advance.”
Annual work to prepare Highway 1 for winter has taken on a new dimension this year and progress is being made at locations affected by this summer’s Dolan Fire.
Caltrans crews, alongside contractors engaged for this effort, continue to inspect and fortify drains and culverts along the roadway. Many of these are in areas susceptible to impacts from potential debris flows originating from the Dolan Fire burn scar.
To keep drainage systems from being blocked by rocks and debris, crews have constructed protective measures and inlet redundancies at dozens of locations, including armoring the entrance to culverts with debris flow racks. These features are critical to keeping culverts open and preventing water from spilling on to the roadway.
Crews have also installed flexible debris flow barriers consisting of interwoven steel ring nets and cable infrastructure at two critical drainage locations to minimize the risk of debris flows reaching the highway.
Caltrans crews have also scrambled their way up innumerable hillsides to perform rock scaling – identifying and removing loose debris that might fall on the road below. Though rock scaling is performed every year during winter prep work, special emphasis was required at burned hillsides damaged by the Dolan Fire.
Additionally, Caltrans has made significant progress on a pavement rehabilitation project on Highway 1, from Carpenter St. in Carmel, to the Torre Canyon Bridge. Though some follow up work may continue on this $24 million project through next summer, major paving and permanent lane striping have been completed along this nearly 35-mile stretch of highway.
Caltrans District 5 Director Tim Gubbins said, “Highway 1 along the Big Sur coast is a treasure. It poses challenges like erosion and landslides even in years when we don’t have a fire. As they always do, the professional women and men of our Caltrans crews will keep an active eye and exert continuous effort to keep this renowned highway safe.”
Caltrans reminds motorists to move over and slow down when
I have had some trouble with this management plan since I first got the questionaire which was ill-designed and clearly biased, in my opinion. The resultant draft suffered from these same flaws. It has been difficult for me to articulate clearly, beyond the survey, where the difficulties lie, beyond the obvious. I found this letter expressed my own views.
Last night I was sent the following letter, which puts my concerns in an articulate form, written by a man with broad and long experience in the field of Land Management, who teaches this at UC Davis, and who has written around 100 articles on these subjects. I spoke with him at length last night, about our issues, and the same ones. Marin, where he lives, faces as well.
Today, I sent this letter to the Board of Supervisors to be included in the official record of tomorrow’s hearing. It is long, but well worth your time if you care about the future of Big Sur.
This is the link to the Zoom Meeting of the Board of Supervisors for Tuesday. This item is number 15 on the agenda, and on the item there are links to the draft plan, the agreement between CABS and MCCVB for creating this draft, and other links one might be interested in.
It isn’t set up on the agenda for action, just a presentation. I don’t believe it is a document that the County needs to “approve.” I expect they will take public comment, though, and it is an opportunity for the community to share their views on the DSP.
Yesterday, the most amazing gift came my way for my work on the Dolan Fire for our community, and for putting the organization in touch with Patte.
I’ve never seen rainbow colored thread like that used for the top stitching on this quilt. Thank you Monterey Peninsula Quilter’s Guild for the lovely gift. I will treasure this.
My contact near Paso Robles airport sent me this around 1:20 – “SLO just kicked out T’s 74 an 75 to a veg fire on lockwood/jolon road.” And now, and hour later, he says they are still working the fire. Nothing on any of the wildfire lists and can’t reach my friend in Lockwood. Will add what I know, when I know it.
This year, as with everything else, Thanksgiving will be different for many of us. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, remember with joy the loved ones who have preceded us, and the ones that can’t be with us. Remember how blessed we are behind this curtain of covid that will be parting soon. Blessings to all this day and all the days going forward.
EVENT IS FULL!! Now that they know how great the interest is, they will be scheduling others as they can.
Unfortunately, this educational walk filled up within an hour of me sending the email. I appreciate all of your positive feedback on this and I can see that there is a huge need to do more educational walks like this. Myself and volunteers Pat and Katie are working hard to accomadate everyone by scheduling more dates in January and I will let you know as soon as we have more dates determined for this new opportunity. I am truely impressed by the positive response this has gotten and I can’t wait to have you join us in the near future. Thank you for your patience. Best,
Kimiya Ghadiri
Forestry Aide
Volunteer Program Coordinator
Hello all, I am excited to share with you all that we will be having a special educational walk at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve lead by two of our docents and long-term Natural Resource Volunteers, Pat Lovejoy and Katie Spitz. On Monday, December 7th, Pat and Katie will be leading us through Point Lobos to discuss the different plant communities, the history of Point Lobos, and some of the natural resource management projects that have occurred. This will be a great experience to learn more about our beautiful Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. See the (above) flyer attached for more details! This educational walk will be limited to 10 people, but we will be scheduling a second date in January for those who do not catch it the first time around. For questions, comments, or to RSVP, please email me! Best,
The state of California is making this effort in an attempt to slow the spread, protect those who are at a higher risk, and prevent health facilities from becoming overwhelmed. By decreasing the hours of socialization during these hours where there are less essential things going on, California hopes to reduce the continued spread of the virus.
A great source for California COVID-19 updates can be found at: https://cerv501c3.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a2ef8ab462d32c3823dfa6f92&id=c117d00634&e=91d9e94e1e GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR STAYING SAFE * Residents who are NOT working at jobs between the hours of 10pm and 5am that are categorized as essential should stay in their homes during these hours * Facemasks should be worn at all times when outside of the home * A distance of 6-feet between individuals should be maintained when in public
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