Monday, June 11, 2018

Liz Writes Life 6-12-18


June 12, 2018

Liz Writes Life

Garden

When the weather forecast said it would get down to 36 degrees on June 9, 2018 (really Sunday morning), I figured it was going to freeze. Yep, it did. Yep, I covered all the plants with cardboard boxes over the cucumbers and zucchini, big plastic tubs over the tall sunflower and several foot-tall tomatoes, plastic table cloths and a sheet over the tall potatoes and kitchen plastic bowels over the two shorter tomatoes and some volunteer amaranth that I wanted to transplant. Used more sheets and table cloths to cover the newly-planted zinnias and ice plants; and several blankets to cover the soon-to-be red bee balm that is four-feet tall. It looks like everything made it through. Whew!

I was out checking the plants as the sun came up and it felt like a layer of very thin ice on the coverings, so I was surprised when the begonias, cosmos and four-o’clocks near the house and under the pine tree did not get hit by the frost, cuz I hadn’t covered them. Another whew!

This year, I decided to scale-back the garden, so I didn’t have to worry about young green beans, peppers, pumpkin, cantaloupe or watermelon plants. Because the night temperatures throughout May were so warm, I really didn’t think we would get this typical cold spell. But, we sure did! Luckily, it should only be that one morning. I remember some years, when I threw the blankets and sheets over the fence to dry and left all the boxes and coverings right by the plants to do it all over again. The garden looked a mess for weeks during May and June.

POW

Much more was discussed at the May 31, 2018 Scott Valley Protect Our Water meeting. Ray Haupt, our Dist. 5 Siskiyou Co. Supervisor, reported on a number of activities. He and Dist. 3 Supervisor, Michael Kobseff, were invited to a Legislative Woods Tour hosted by Klamath Alliance for Resources and Environment. KARE was organized as a 501 c (3) non-profit in the mid-1980s specifically to share information about the importance of well-managed forests. No, this is not a Greenie group. Private forestry companies show-off their healthy forest managements, which include thinning trees.

Ray, who is a Certified CA. Forester and retired USFS District Forest Ranger, was impressed with the information shared by the KARE hosts. There was discussion on how much water trees consume (shouldn’t have so many thick forests), the deadly disease from bug infestation (again from too thick of forests and they get stressed from lack of water) to how much wood is imported into the United States, which is ridiculous since we have lots and lots of over-stocking of forests. Ray mentioned the frustration that we now have to breathe so much smoke, each the summer, from the catastrophic wildfires, instead of harvesting trees. Pure stupidity!

KARE has been holding Legislative Woods Tours since the 1980s. I was invited to attend one, when Wally Herger was our congressman. He was instrumental in inviting congressmen and U.S. senators. The Tour was impressive and truly showed how “thinning” (I call it logging) made the forests healthier. Our present Congressman Doug LaMalfa is also very supportive and helpful for the KARE Tours.

This Tour was a bit different. Ray said that CA. state assembly and senators were invited, instead of the federal ones, and were impressed.

Then Ray, and I think Michael, were invited on a Sucker Tour. Ha, ha, I know what you are thinking! Stop it! This was an educational trip into the Upper Klamath Basin to view sucker fish that are being raised by agriculturists and then released into the wild. This is a program instigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife.

Interestingly, when the contract was put out by the feds, the agriculture group came in with the lowest bid at $150,000, so received the contract and is doing a great job. The Siskiyou Supervisors have been reaching out to communicate with Klamath Farmers. Some of those farmers’ irrigation district leaders attended the Sucker Tour and good discussions were held.

Remember, these sucker fish are listed with the Endangered Species Act and are protected. So, this kind of a project is actually quite positive.

About that same time, in mid-May, irrigation water was shut-off by the Bureau of Reclamation to several thousand Klamath Project Farmers. Ray and Michael, along with Congressman LaMalfa and his staff, burned-up the phone lines explaining why the water was a legal delivery. After Congressman LaMalfa talked to the right people, the water was to be turned-on. But, by morning the Klamath Tribe had threatened a lawsuit against the federal agencies and the water was withheld.  

You know, farmers can’t grow crops if they don’t have irrigation water. As I wrote last week, the Klamath Basin situation is dire. Where is any compassion? And a desire for American-grown food?

Then, Ray, Dist. 1 Supervisor Brandon Criss, and Elizabeth Nielsen, the Siskiyou Co. Natural Resources Policy Specialist, made a trip to the coast to meet with the Yurok Chief and Council members. The group agreed to stay away from the politically hot-potato Klamath dam removal discussion; and actually enjoyed an informational meeting.

The Yurok Council would like to help Siskiyou Co. obtain its 60,000 acre feet of water from the Klamath River that is held in trust for Shasta Valley farmers. The Yuroks believe this is a positive replacement of water. The Shasta Valley farmers have never received this allotted irrigation water, so it might be the right time to try to get it. The county has been told that the cost to apply to obtain the water starts out at a $250,000 fee. Gulp!

Believe it or not, Ray said the Yurok Council has zero tolerance for growing marijuana. When a plantation is found on the Reservation, it is destroyed.

Ray talked about the county’s budget, which was at a $4.4 million shortfall, but has been whittled-down to $1 million short. Still not good. The county is once again, protesting the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan where the feds guaranteed $8.5 million in taxes to replace timber harvests, but is now paying the county a mere $300,000 each year. Policies that stopped harvests on USFS managed lands have drastically affected county coffers and turned good harvestable trees into detestable -- and costly -- smoke! 

Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan. Call her at 530-467-3515. Check out her blog at: LizWritesLife.blogspot.com

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