Category: Environment

Watershed Council Meeting

Next Big Sur River Watershed Planning Meeting is March 28th!

The next meeting to discuss the Big Sur Watershed Management Plan is set for Thursday March 28th from 3 to 5 pm at the Big Sur Station MAF conference room. The group has been meeting every other month since last September to discuss the preparation of a plan that will look at the health of the watershed. If you live in and/or work in the Big Sur River watershed, or use water from the Big Sur River, your participation is extremely valuable. The focus of this meeting will be to discuss factors, which may be limiting the steelhead population; we will also start to gather historical knowledge about how the Big Sur River has changed over time. If you have family stories or pictures that show the river or activities on the river, please let us know or bring them along.

Development of the plan is being coordinated by the Resource Conservation District of Monterey County with assistance from the Garrapata Watershed Council. For more information, please call Ken Ekelund at (831) 625-9621.

Foragers Festival

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This next weekend would be a great weekend to plan a trip to Big Sur, spend a few nights, check out the locals event on Thursday, January 10th, Oceans Fronteirs by B-SAGE, and stay on for the Foragers Festival events on Friday and Saturday, January 11-12! Join us for some wonderful winter events!

FORAGERS FESTIVAL*
January 11 – 12, 2013

Enjoy A Culinary Exploration into the World of Wild Foods

A celebration of the amazing array of wild foods will be the centerpiece for a Big Sur weekend of gourmet food, world-class wine and beer, entertainment, expert-led foraging hikes, a chef competition and a very special dinner with Kory Stewart, a chef who Forages! All events are for the benefit of the Big Sur Health Center.

Friday night will feature dinners at local restaurants. The Big Sur Bakery will host “Forage with Friends” dinner. The River Inn will partner with Firestone Brewery for a “Foragers Beer Dinner” And many exciting dinners/specials venues.

Saturday morning kicks off with Wild Mushroom Walks and Talks led by expert foragers. These will be informative and entertaining strolls through Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.

The Restaurant at Ventana will host two events on Saturday beginning with a chef competition featuring wild mushrooms. Titled “Fungus Face-Off”, the event will put participating chefs in friendly competition for “best” in numerous categories by noted judges, culminating in “People’s Choice”. The food and wine tastings also features a silent auction with many unique offerings. The Fungus Face-Off takes place from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

Saturday evening, Truman Jones, executive chef at the Restaurant at Ventana and Kory Stewart, executive chef at Americano Restaurant located in San Francisco’s Hotel Vitale, will prepare the grand dinner beginning at 6:00 pm at the Restaurant at Ventana. The multi-course dinner, destined to be a memorable feast, will be paired with incredible wine selections.

Please visit our site: Big Sur Foragers Festival for more information including schedule, prices and ticket sales.
*The Chanterelle Festival has been discontinued.
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Ocean Frontiers presented by B-SAGE

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Award Winning Ocean Film
Makes Big Sur Debut

You are invited to a free showing of Ocean Frontiers on Thursday, January 10 at the Big Sur Grange. Come for soup, salad and bread at 6. Bring your own place setting. Or come just for the show at 6:30. We plan to be prompt.

Ocean Frontiers” will take you on an inspiring 60‐minute voyage to seaports and watersheds across the country; from the busy shipping lanes and whale corridors of Boston Harbor to the small fishing community of Port Orford, Oregon; from the nation’s premier seafood nursery in the Mississippi Delta to the cornfields of Iowa.

Hear the voices of unlikely allies working together: industrial shippers teaming up with whale biologists, pig farmers with wetland ecologists, and many more, all of them embarking on a new course of cooperation.

The panel discussion immediately following the film showing will be moderated by retired Fire Chief, Frank Pinney. On the panel will be Laura Kasa, Executive Director of Save Our Shores, Biologists David Moen and Joe Burnett from Ventana Wildlife Society, Marcus Foster – surfer, Jess Mason – deep sea diver and Kirk Gafill, President of the Big Sur Chamber of Commerce. Dr. George Somero, Hopkins Marine Station will be present if his schedule allows. The panel will discuss the film and take questions and comments from the audience.

Ocean Frontiers is an independent film from Green Fire Productions, founded by Oregon residents Karen and Ralf Meyer. To make the documentary, the couple crisscrossed the country, meeting and filming people they call “ocean pioneers.” Along the way they discovered some unlikely allies at the forefront of implementing promising new approaches to ocean and coastal management.

The HuffPost internet newspaper notes: “Ocean Frontiers is a film that can help
turn the tide in protecting our oceans, and one which every member of Congress―and
every American―should see. It has been premiering to rave reviews all across the
country and internationally as well, and it delivers a message we all need to heed.

Ocean Frontiers” is an Official Selection of the 2012 Wild and Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City, Calif., as well as a jury nomination for Best Science Communication and Official Selection for the 2012 Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival in Palmerston, New Zealand.

More information about “Ocean Frontiers” can be found at http://www.ocean‐frontiers.org.

Thursday, January 10, 2013 at the Big Sur Grange. *

Come for soup, salad and bread at 6. Bring your own place setting. Or, come just for the show at 6:30. Donations are gratefully accepted We welcome help with set up at 5:15

*Big Sur Grange Hall, Hwy 1 & Juan Higuera Creek

Frac’ing in Monterey County

I have posted about this issue before, and if you haven’t seen Gasland, go to this link to review the issues from one perspective Gasland the Movie. I have seen the movie, and it is an eye opener.

Just a few days ago, the Monterey Herald ran this article:

Feds auction prime Monterey County land for oil development

Impact on environment in question
By GARANCE BURKE
Associated Press
Posted: 12/12/2012 04:38:55 PM PST
Updated: 12/13/2012 08:31:46 AM PST

SAN FRANCISCO — The federal government auctioned off nearly 18,000 acres of oil leases on prime public lands on Wednesday in Central California, home to prized vineyards, endangered species and one of the largest deposits of shale oil in the country.

The full article can be found here:
Feds auction prime MoCo land for oil development

I discussed this in January 2011 in a post that provides many links to information about fracking, the BLM, oil development, and the Salinas Valley Aquifer. You can find this post here:
Frac’ing in Monterey County

Radio KAZU reported this, a few days ago:

At his office in Monterey, County Supervisor Dave Potter isn’t looking for compromise. He’s concerned that in this agricultural rich county fracking could contaminate the water supply or do other harm. He wants state regulators to act now. “Quite frankly I’d hope they’d put a ban on it, right now. I suspect when they do look into this, they’re going to find that fracking is having a serious impact on Mother Nature,” said Potter. Potter and fellow supervisor Simon Salinas recently wrote to the federal Bureau of Land Management. The asked the BLM to postpone Wednesday’s auction of oil and gas exploration rights for nearly 18,000 acres of public land in Monterey, San Benito and Fresno counties. By law, the BLM must periodically auction off these mineral rights. So despite this opposition, and a protest outside the auction in Sacramento, the sale went ahead, and all the parcels sold. Supervisor Potter says his constituents are worried. “A lot of concern, a lot of fear of the unknown. And the water supply we have in some areas are very marginal to begin with. They’re concerned they’ll be without potable water,” said Potter.

Here is a fracking map and link a reader sent me: Fracking Map

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Street Signs in Big Sur … I don’t think so

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A loyal reader sent me this on December 11, 2012. When I first saw it, I thought, “Wow, this won’t last! Some tourist will think it would make a great souvenir, or some local will think street signs have no place in Big Sur, or both.” I don’t think it was even legal. I say “was” because it did not even last a week. Bad idea, ill conceived, IMHO.

Strategic Community Fuel Break Improvement Project

Dear All-

The USFS will be conducting a scoping meeting to gather public input on proposed actions in the Monterey District of the Los Padres National Forest. The proposed action, known as the “Strategic Community Fuel Break Improvement Project” is entering the first phase of the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process towards implementation. Although there are some specifics as to the geographical area to be treated and some basic ideas of how the proposed work may be executed, this meeting will allow interested parties the opportunity to weigh in with their support or concern and to offer up specific recommendations to USFS representatives in context with this project.

The Strategic Community Fuel Break Improvement Project is the product of a collaborative process that invited stakeholders from the environmental / wilderness community, biologists, fire science professionals, Native Americans, Agency land managers and resident Property Owners in an effort to protect and enhance the natural, precious world we live in while at the same time, engaging in sensible, wildfire pre-suppression treatments using an “all lands” approach. This process was sponsored by the USFS and facilitated by the Nature Conservancy utilizing the Open Standards for Conservation guide. This guide stresses the importance of a results oriented, adaptive strategy for managing lands on a “landscape wide level”.

Please make some time to drop by the Big Sur Multi Agency Facility conference room from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM on Thursday, December 6th and express your opinion on the proposed actions.

Click on Scoping Document and Project Vicinity Map to download these documents that you should read prior to the meeting.

Sincerely,
Butch

Butch Kronlund
CPOA

So, how hot is it?

It may be October 2nd, but we have been reaching record temperatures, every where … The coast is no longer my refuge. It hit 102 at Ventana Restaurant, yesterday, and 95 in the valley, at the State Park. It was over 105 up here, although I spent the day on the Peninsula, running errands. It was about the same today, although I was in Cayucos and Cambria, where it was also hot. I read that it is to cool down considerably tomorrow and the rest of the week. I would settle for it cooling down at night!

So, how hot has it been where you are?

Hope for a Changing Planet

Hope for a Changing Planet

Thursday Oct. 4, Grange Hall, Big Sur
Potluck 6 pm, Program 6:30

Big Sur Advocates for a Green Environment (B-SAGE) and Big Sur Grange encourage everyone to come and hear about: Hope for a Changing Planet.

Global Warming can sometimes seem nebulous and distant. However, it is becoming clear that those distant changes will have local and personal effects on our daily life and health. The Climate Reality Project is a resource that is providing education and research on these changes as they are happening and how those changes are causing real consequences now and more so in the near future.

Central California volunteer and environmentalist, Tama Olver, attended a Climate Reality Project event in August 2012 with people from 47 states and 58 countries. She is coming to Big Sur to share the latest thinking about our changing climate and impending impacts on human health. Her focus is one of hope and action.

Come hear Tama Olver and see her informative power point presentation at the Big Sur Grange Pot Luck, 6:00pm October 4th. Bring a dish to share and your own place settings, program at 6:30. Donations for expenses are appreciated. For more information, call B-SAGE at 667-8823 or go to http://climaterealityproject.org.

Abalone poacher off Big Sur found guilty and sentenced

California Department of Fish and Game News Release

September 20, 2012

Media Contact:
Warden Patrick Foy, DFG Law Enforcement, (916) 651-2084

Marina Man Convicted of Poaching Endangered Black Abalone

A Monterey County jury recently convicted a Marina man of poaching 22 black abalone, a federally endangered species.

Hoang Tan Dinh, 53, was sentenced Sept. 12 to three years probation, a 90-day jail term suspended, and fined $15,000 for possession of black abalone for sale. His commercial fishing license was permanently revoked, and he is prohibited from recreational fishing for the duration of his three year probation. A second suspect, Hai Trung Luong, 41, of Salinas failed to appear in court. A $10,000 warrant has been issued for his arrest.

In April, Warden Brian Meyer was on routine patrol in the area of Big Sur when he noticed two men returning from the tidal area during a very low tide with wet clothes, wet hands and scratches. With assistance from a California Highway Patrol officer, Warden Meyer conducted a vehicle stop as the suspects were driving away. He found a backpack with 22 abalone in it, along with a 2-foot long screwdriver. He cited and released both men, photographed the evidence, then returned the abalone to the inter-tidal area in hopes that they would survive.

Monterey County Deputy District Attorney Kellin Dunne was instrumental during the prosecution phase of the case.

Abalone fishing is prohibited from San Francisco Bay south. Black abalone has gone locally extinct in most locations south of Point Conception. Black abalone is one of seven sub-species of abalone in California and was listed as endangered in 2009. Historical overfishing, withering syndrome disease and poaching are the primary causes of population decline.