This is the 3d in my series. I have decided to lighten it up a bit again, because as we get closer to the vote on the MCCWPP on the 21st, we need to be reminded of why we are here, and what we can do.
I have another post ready on Protecting Big Sur from Wildfires, which I will post tomorrow, but tonight, enjoy the play of patterns, and textures, and light.
I actually had something else planned for my “Part 4” of this critical and controversial issue, but CPOA put out this notice tonight, and I thought it important to get as broad an audience for it as possible.
If you have any difficulty reading the email addresses of our Board of Supervisors, let me know, and I will add those to this post.
What is so appealing to me about this photograph is the sliver of light reflected off the back of the smaller vase, delineating it from the larger one.
Cherish vision.
Whenever I get into heavy topics, I like to lighten it up with a few photos. Last night, I was in a hotel waiting for the restaurant to open, and I found an incredible number of photo ops, all on the subject of patterns and light. This is the first one. In many respects, this looks more like a painting than a photo, but this is all in camera. No photoshop, no changing of anything. What I saw and recorded is what you get. There are at least a dozen photos that I want to share from that shoot. I will post as time and news allows.
5:30 pm – nothing further, which is good news.
3:45 pm – Now 200 AC and still spotting but they are reporting that they are making progress.
3:20 pm – Bear Trap road x Sam Jones inside the base, 100 AC, ROS, spotting, both flanks are running on ground crews, having erratic winds on fire. BEU sent full wildland response
3:00 pm – Still trying to get details, but I can see the smoke from here off the back side of the ridge. A friend in Paso said a couple of planes took off a short while ago, and this is being reported:
as of now LPF sending: Div-1; BC-11; Monterey hotshots; Eng: 15, and 19
BEU (CALFIRE) just sent BC, Dozer, Engine’s # ?, C406, onto the fort to assist FHL with a fire in the Bear trap loop area from BC 4613 on scene 10-15 acres spotting across the road.
Dispatch is reporting erratic winds in the area. Lockwood reports very smoky on the valley side.
09/12/2010 14:02 LPF-2881 BEARTRAP Wildfire Fort Hunter Liggit
A tad late, but as promised, the third installment. Last time I gave you an overview of the draft Monterey County Community Wildfire Protection Plan, and a link so your could read it yourself. Knowing it is a 186 page document few would actually take time to read, I thought this segment I would focus on the “recommendations” portion of the plan.
I have chosen a couple of these recommendations as being representative of some of the controversy surrounding this document, and will post one of these here today. I would like to remind you, that this is just a draft, is still being circulated, and is being worked on almost every week. Remember, you can read this draft Wildfire Protection Plan yourself here:
One controversial recommendation (and that’s what these are, only recommendations) is maintaining year-round the “Big Box” fire break. This is a fire break that was used in the Basin Fire of 2008, and a number of fires that preceded it. This fire break has historical significance in the firefighting and local communities for fire containment.
This is what the MCCWPP recommends regarding Maintaining the “Big Box Fire Break”
“Maintain the Big Box Firebreak Background: The Big Box Firebreak, which generally surrounds much of the Monterey District of the LPNF, protects the following at-risk communities from fires originating in the LPNF, and protects the LPNF from fires originating in the following at-risk communities:
• Arroyo Seco • Big Sur • Big Sur, South Coast • Bryson-Hesperia
• Cachagua • Carmel Highlands • Carmel Valley • Carmel Valley Village • Indians • Jamesburg • Lockwood • Palo Colorado • Pine Canyon (south) • Rancho San Carlos • Rancho San Clemente
• Reliz Canyon • San Antonio Lake • Tassajara • White Rock
Recommendation: Reduce the risk to communities by maintaining the Big Box Firebreak at all times, in a condition that will result in a high probability that the firebreak will serve to stop the spread of wildfire under extreme fire conditions. Additionally, the maintenance and defense of the firebreak includes, but is not limited to, treatment on each side of the Big Box Firebreak to ensure that it is effective in stopping fire spread. The width of treatment should be determined utilizing such factors as fuel loads, topography, predominant winds, values at risk and fire behavior modeling. The location of the Big Box Firebreak is shown on the map in Appendix B-7.
Rationale: The Big Box Firebreak was used to protect at-risk communities surrounding the LPNF from the 178,000 acre Marble Cone Fire in 1977, the 86,000 acre Kirk Complex Fire in 1999, and the 163,000 acre Basin Complex Fire and 81,000 acre Indians Fire in 2008. The Basin Complex Fire burned on the west side of an 8 mile segment of the western portion of the Big Box Firebreak, consuming 26 homes and 32 other structures in the Big Sur at-risk community, and threatening approximately 300 homes in the Palo Colorado at-risk community. Maintaining and defending the Big Box Firebreak will reduce the threat of harm to firefighters and to the communities surrounding the Los Padres National Forest. To the extent the Big Box Firebreak is on non-federal land, this recommendation should be construed as recommending that federal funds be made available for its maintenance (e.g., through grants).”
One fire author explained: “Firefighters once could choose where to make their stand. Like generals in military battles, they chose advantages that the land offered — rivers, roads, rocky ridges — so that terrain became an ally. But now the presence of homes and lives to be protected has robbed them of choice. Too often now they must draw their line on inopportune ground and make their stand in dangerous places. Sometimes the price is high, as in 1990, when six Arizona firefighters died, backs to the wall, trapped on the line they defended in a canyon below a forest subdivision. Or in 1994, when fourteen firefighters died at the South Canyon Fire on the flanks of Colorado’s Storm King Mountain, battling an upslope blaze within sight of a rural subdivision.” (Thoele, Michael, Fire Line: Summer Battles of the West, 1995, p. 14.)
Seems to me that maintaining the Big Box Firebreak year-round, recommended in the MCCPP, would provide a way of making the terrain an ally, providing firefighters with a safer place from which to battle these fires, protecting their lives and ours. Of course, others opinions may differ, and all points of view on this issue are welcome in the comment section below.
Part 4 will address defensible space and regulatory restrictions, another controversial recommendation.
One source reports that Gamboa Point is just about done, and the paving should be complete shortly. That means one less stop light on the South Coast. We’ve had 3 for quite some time now. YAY!! Of course, in a few months, the road could fall once again – the never ending battle for the road that defies gravity.
Another source reports that tomorrow is the opening day of squirrel season. This is a much more difficult time that deer season (which I think is still going on). It is a cultural thing that I don’t get. I do know I have reported these hunters in the past, and Fish & Game caught the six guys I reported with over 200 dead critters from flickers to other birds to squirrels. Only squirrels are legal. The problem with squirrel hunters is that they shoot anything and everything and REALLY go back in the woods and have no compunction about having campfires in the middle of the forest, far away from accessible roads. So, of course, this is a bother to those who live here, but my main concern is all the small critters they shoot and get away with shooting.
Tell me, why is there a squirrel season? Don’t we have enough natural predators without bringing in hunters from San Jose? I mean, really. What am I missing here? Anyone care to explain it it me?
Art, Food, Wine & Live Music…
Sunday, September 12
3pm-6pm
The Terrace At The Restaurant At Ventana
Big Sur, CA
Silent and Live Auction (at 4:30 pm)
Tickets: $75.00 per person
http://www.bigsurhealthcenter.org
Call: 831-626-3485
Or Purchase at Event
Live Auction Items:
#1 – ‘Art of Land and Water‘
Belgian Artist Mi Desmedt creates works ranging from the abstract to the figurative. Her inspiration often comes from nature as is shown in this Triptych which is from her collection entitled: “Land and Water” – land and seascapes inspired by the Big Sur area. Each framed piece is 26″ x 33″. Mi Desmedt has exhibited in galleries and cultural centers all over the world.
Donor: Victor and Laura Pavloff
Value: $3,000
#2 – ‘Doe’ #25/50 Limited Edition Bronze Sculpture (13″ x 10″)
Lygia Chappellet is an incredible painter and sculptor who is intrigued by the animals and landscape she observes daily on her family’s ranch in Big Sur. Lygia says, “Intuitively, we are all drawn toward certain elements. These may be visions, weeds, animals, ideas, loved ones, etc…They are all symbolic keys of our greatest revelations and our deepest feelings; subjects worth recording as ‘artwork’.” Lygia has shown extensively in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, Napa Valley, Big Sur, Carmel and Ketchum, Idaho.
Donor: Lygia Chappellet
Value: $1,500
#3 – ‘Art Times Three’
Three incredible pieces of Art that will transform your home…
* Patricia’s acrylic on canvas ‘Luminosity’ 10″ x 30″. Patricia views art as a blessing. Her work is in many private collections and galleries.
* John’s “Ancient Column” Lamp- John has an affinity for natural materials that is apparent in all his works of stone, steel and cement lamps and tables.
* Bob & Sandy’s Ceramic Pond – Their work is often a collaboration of Bob’s wheel-generated textured slabs and Sandy’s hand building of teapots and vases. Their work is in both museums and private collections.
Donor: Patricia Qualls Value: $1,500
Donor: John Chappell Design Value: $595
Donor: Bob & Sandy Kinzie Value: $300
#4 – ‘The Art of Wine’
Love Art and Wine… This special package for two to the 27th Annual Central Coast Wine Classic, July 7th-11, 2011 is what you want! It will include a full weekend of incredible wine and food:
Thursday afternoon Barrel Tasting, in the evening Dinner at Hearst Castle – an unforgettable evening surrounded by Art!
Friday Varietal Symposium, Cooking Demo & Luncheon by Narsai David, Celebrity Chef and much, much more to complete this weekend. Please go to the Live Auction display area for the entire list of events.
This package does not include transportation and accommodations.
Donor: Archie McLaren
Value: $3,350
#5 – ‘Big Sur Tapestry’
Acrylic on paper by Celia Sanborn (22” x 28.5”). Born and raised in Big Sur, Celia creates her paintings as though she is in them. For her, painting is a way of touching the land in a way you cannot touch…a painting becomes a condensed image of what she sees…an essence. Celia’s parents moved here in the 1940’s seeking solitude and land and fell in love with this magnificent place. Artists themselves, they created a backdrop where Celia and her siblings could participate in a world of creativity. Celia continues the tradition by living in the place that ‘stirs’ the art within her, weaving art into all of life’s other callings.
Donor: Celia Sanborn
Value: $2,500
# 6 – ‘Art and Nature’
Four lucky individuals will get to enjoy Condors all day up close and personal with Kelly Sorenson, Executive Director of VWS. You will travel high into the Big Sur wilderness on a private dirt road, stopping for views and to track the birds. Enjoy a picnic lunch by the Big Sur Bakery crew on the way. You will feel as though you are soaring with the birds at 2800 feet. You will leave with a photo by Daniel Bianchetta – ‘Condors over Big Sur’.
Donor: Ventana Wildlife Society, D. Bianchetta and The Big Sur Bakery
Value: $1,425
#7 – ‘Violet Madrones’
Oil on canvas (48” x 36”) by Melissa Lofton. Having lived in Big Sur most of her life, she is constantly surprised and delighted at how rich and varied the coast and mountains are. Melissa paints people and everyday objects in her world and in her travels. Chairs, water, oak and madrone trees are also ongoing subjects of fascination for her and are painted in many permutations. Her work is in many private collections and local galleries.
Donor: Melissa Lofton
Value: $3,800
#8 – ‘Art & Food in a Garden’
Six of you will enjoy a one-of-a-kind Big Sur experience… John Batz and Gabriel Hyppolite will share their private home and Sculpture Garden with a 3-course lunch created especially for you by Executive Chef Domingo Santamaria of Deetjens. Wines will be paired with each course as you take in your surroundings. Choose a date in April 2011 for this immersion of 85 Sculptures, a lunch you will not forget, and the company of two well travelled and entertaining gentlemen… you will not want the day to end.
Donors: John Batz & Gabriel Hyppolite and Domingo Santamaria & Deetjens Big Sur Inn
Value: Priceless
#9 – ‘A Spirit Nest’
Your own personal Nest for dreaming and creating! Not only will your kids love it… you will love it! Each nest is a one of a kind interactive & functional art sculpture that is intended for people of all ages. Jayson will custom build an 8-person Nest and install in Monterey County. Jayson’s Nests can be found on many private properties in Big Sur; Esalen; the Spirit Garden; Treebones Resort; Pacific Grove Natural History Museum; movie set of ‘Wanderlust’ being filmed in Atlanta, Georgia, starring Jennifer Anniston and throughout the US.
Installation outside Monterey County, bidder to work out expense for time, travel, accommodations and transport of Nest with Jayson separate from the Health Center benefit. Cushions not included.
Donor: Jayson Fann, Big Sur Spirit Garden
Value: $10,000
#10 – ‘Body Language’
A private photo shoot with Greg and Susan Hawthorne at their Gallery starts off this amazing art piece of You!! Greg starts off with a Photo Mono Print and then adds his abstract touch of color on you and the background. Body Art with the Hawthorne touch. Greg’s diverse work incorporates painting, sculpture and design. His work is represented in hundreds of private, public, and corporate collections.
Donor: Gregory Hawthorne, Hawthorne Gallery
Value: $10,000
Around 6 pm this evening, a natural gas main, 24″ pipe exploded, causing a crater 30′ x 25′ x 15′ deep. Many homes and vegetation are on fire. 53 homes destroyed, 120 damaged so far, at 10:30 pm. All medical staff have been called back to duty in Daly City. Injuries and casualties are expected to mount throughout the evening. Most Bay Area stations are providing live feed, and from what I can tell, it is pretty horrific. Firefighters are being called in from throughout neighboring areas, and the planning for tomorrow is already being discussed. I won’t be covering this one, other than to mention it here, but suggest you follow the local stations for that area for additional information about this fire. Our hearts and prayers go out to our neighbors to the north.
For more information on this incident, you can follow the LA Times blog here.
I try to post almost every day about what is going on here in the Wilds of Big Sur, whether it be weather, road, fire conditions- or sometimes just photographs, and I usually succeed. Sometimes I cannot. Life is just too busy. My time is not my own. I am juggling too many objects, some of them sharp. Right now is one of those times. I hope to be able to post something of interest in the next few days, as I did promise you Part 3 of my Keeping Big Sur safe from wildfires series. That would be Saturday, if I am lucky. In the mean time, enjoy this beautiful weather we are having. I am!
Namasté
Oh, and don’t forget the “Art from Here to There” on Sunday at 3 pm at the Ventana Terrace to benefit the Big Sur Health Clinic. Will see you there!
