Things that brought me joy this week

MoCo is serious about this current SIP order. Every single vehicle parked on the side of highway 1 from Ragged Point to Big Creek at least, was slapped with a red tag warning Friday. You can bet they are keeping track of the license numbers. Mostly, if not all, locals. I guess Jade hunting is out…

There has been law enforcement up Plaskett and Willow, too, stopping people to prove they live here.

Los Padres Forest Supervisor’s Office

relocates from Goleta to Solvang

SOLVANG, Calif.— Los Padres National Forest (LPNF) officials announced that they’ve recently completed moving the Supervisor’s Office from its longtime location in Goleta to a new leased facility at 1980 Old Mission Drive in Solvang at the corner of Alamo Pintado Road and California Highway 246. 

LPNF officials have been studying potential sites for a new Supervisor’s Office for more than 10 years. A decision was made in 2015 to narrow the focus to the Buellton-Santa Ynez corridor, and in 2016 the General Services Administration (GSA) advertised for interested lessors. The new location was selected in 2017 and construction on the existing building was completed this fall.

The telephone numbers for Supervisor’s Office employees have been transferred to the Solvang office and will remain the same.

Due to Covid-19, LPNF offices have been closed since March when employees began working remotely to provide virtual services to the public. The Supervisor’s Office will remain closed until it is safe to reopen the building to employees and the public.

As a reminder, developed campgrounds are closed under a Regional Order until January 6, 2021, to align with the State Stay-at-Home order which prohibits overnight camping. LPNF day use areas, along with OHV and hiking trails, remain open to the public. Visitors are encouraged to be familiar with and follow CDC guidance when using public lands. (Note: all three ridge roads on the South Coast are also closed and there is currently a USFS LEO patrolling.)

For additional information, please visit the Forest website at https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/lpnf/home.

I had hoped for a bit more, as we are really behind in our rainfall for this season, but this will help stabilize the hillsides. I just got a new rain gauge yesterday, as my fancy dancy weather station needs to come down off the roof and have the batteries replaced. My old-fashioned one indicated .30” and is in line with what Chalk Peak weather station reported.

Per NOAA: “The next round of rainfall is knocking on our door….

The heaviest rainfall will arrive tonight with the cold front. Latest timing, which is slightly slower than yesterday, brings the heavier rainfall into the North Bay close to midnight and then spreading it south and east through the night and early Thursday. Steady rainfall will transition to showers behind the front from N to S on Thursday. One thing that has remained is the moisture content with the front. PWAT values are still forecast to be about 1-1.2". AR guidance also suggests the IVT values just under 500 kg/(ms). Rainfall amounts will be highest over the North Bay and coastal mountains 0.50-0.75"...interior valleys and Monterey Bay region about 0.25"...and interior Monterey/San Benito less than 0.25". Fortunately rainfall intensity does not appear to be higher enough to cause debris flow concerns with the burn areas,”

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Things that brought me joy this week.

And in other news…Lake Tahoe is closed to tourists starting Friday for at least three weeks.

MONTEREY COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS MARY L. ADAMS, SUPERVISOR – FIFTH DISTRICT

Greetings, Everyone~ Today, to preserve critical hospital bed capacity and to protect the health and safety of residents, the County of Monterey Health Officer announced that the County of Monterey will proactively implement the State Regional Stay At Home Order. This action was unanimously supported by the Board of Supervisors. The Order will take effect at 10 p.m. on Sunday, December 13, 2020and continue until 6 a.m. on Monday, January 11, 2021. The State Regional Stay At Home Order issued December 3, 2020 creates five regions in the state and requires additional restrictions if a region’s intensive care unit (ICU) bed availability drops below 15 percent. Monterey County is in the Bay Area Region, which has not yet reached the 15 percent threshold. However, local data indicate the healthcare system in our county is seeing a scarcity of both general acute bed and ICU bed capacity. In addition the ability of health care workers to attend to the sheer number of hospitalizations has suffered. While the state provides daily metrics of the ICU capacity in each region, the regional metrics do not adequately reflect the current situation at our local hospitals nor the strain on health care workers caring for our most critically ill patients. Information about what additional restrictions are in place for counties under the Regional Stay Home order is available on the California COVID-19 website https://covid19.ca.gov/stay-home-except-for-essential-needs/ I know it is challenging to have to again limit our social interactions. I can not thank you enough for the sacrifices you will make to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Monterey County. It is critical we take this step to release some of the pressure on our health care system so they can continue to provide care to our communities. Best,Mary. Mary L. Adams, SupervisorFifth District, County of Monterey

Good morningI found a big white dog on the highway last night about 9pm near coast galleryI have her with me at Pfeiffer park she is very big and sweet no tags

Marc (Lewis)

I have Marc’s phone number if this is your dog.

This is Polar. We are trying to get them reunited this afternoon, but it got complicated by a construction worker who gave the dog to his son who was on his way to No. Cal. I’ve given Derek Marc’s number as well as the number for the construction worker.

News Release

For Immediate Release

December 8, 2020

Media Contact: Andrew Madsen
(805) 895-0841
andrew.madsen@usda.gov

www.facebook.com/lpnf

Twitter: @LosPadresNF

Los Padres National Forest closes

developed campgrounds thru January 6

SOLVANG, Calif. – The USDA Pacific Southwest Region has issued a Regional Order that prohibits overnight camping in developed campgrounds in Los Padres National Forest and four other Southern California national forests. This Regional Order will be in effect December 8 through January 6, 2021.

The purpose of the Regional Order is to protect visitors and U.S. Forest Service employees by reducing potential exposure to COVID-19 and mitigating any further burden on our emergency responders and healthcare facilities. 

Current projections show that without additional steps to slow the spread of coronavirus, the number of available adult Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds in California will reach capacity by mid-December. As California along with the rest of the nation continues to experience an unprecedented surge in new COVID-19 cases, the rate of new increases threatens to overwhelm the state’s hospital system.

In response, the state on December 3 issued a Regional Stay-at-Home Order for areas where the number of adult ICU beds has fallen below 15 percent of capacity. The U.S. Forest Service’s Regional Order aligns with California’s December 3 Order that prohibits “overnight stays at campgrounds” while permitting the continued operation of outdoor recreation facilities in these areas.

Developed day use areas as well as hiking, dispersed camping and Off Highway Vehicle trails will remain open for use in Los Padres National Forest. (NOTE: dispersed camping and many hiking trails were damaged in the Dolan Fire and are still closed in the portions of Big Sur that include Nacimiento, South Coast Ridge Rd., Prewitt, Plaskett Ridge Rd, and Los Burros/Willow Creek Rd., among others.)

Visitors who have existing reservations at Los Padres National Forest concessionaire-managed campgrounds are encouraged to contact Parks Management Company or Recreation.gov to reschedule their visit or request a refund.

We encourage visitors to be familiar with and follow current federal and state guidelines for responsible recreation activities on public lands. Please keep health, safety and natural resources in mind when visiting Los Padres National Forest. Together, our personal responsibility will help to ensure public safety and prevent further restrictions.

Additional public information is available at Los Padres National Forest’s public website.

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