Monday, November 25, 2019

Liz Writes Life 11-20-19


Nov. 20, 2019

Liz Writes Life

Darn it, I didn’t get the garlic planted. Looks like temperatures are finally going to cool down with freezes into the upper-20s. I haven’t even checked how hard or soft the soil is where I want to plant about 30 garlic cloves. But, I think the soil is pretty soft where the potatoes are buried, so I really ought to dig a bunch of them out. Can’t believe it is nearly the end of November and the only rain was one weekend in September. Yep, I have been ignoring the garden. Really, it wouldn’t take long to do those two jobs. Oh, I also bought some hyacinths that need planting. Well, there is always something to do!

Salmon

The preliminary count of salmon entering Siskiyou County waters has been updated by Morgan Knechtle of the Klamath River Project of the California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. Here are the numbers so far.

The Shasta River adult fish counting facility has counted 5,752 Chinook salmon between Sept. 4, 2019 and Nov. 7, 2019 -- and five coho salmon were observed.

Bogus Creek station has counted 1,015 Chinook salmon and four coho between Sept. 5, 2019 and Nov. 8, 2019.

The Scott River station was installed on Sept. 19, 2019 and has counted 1,382 Chinook salmon and one coho through Nov. 13, 2019.

Power and fires

Ray Haupt spoke at the Scott Valley Protect Our Water meeting last month and discussed the fire situations. The October fire danger and fires had made power companies shut-off electricity to vast areas throughout the state. Residents were pretty upset. Governor Newsom was blaming the power companies for the difficult situations, but in reality it is Green government regulations that created the problems.

Ray explained that this new de-energization is mandated by CA. Senate Bill 901, which was signed by previous governor Jerry Brown. What is not being explained is that power companies have been mandated to develop and pay for green solar and wind programs. Somewhere along the line, it looks like power companies have been putting their monies needed for maintenance into the green programs. Also the leave-the-environment-natural green attitude has added to the over-load of trees and brush around utility infrastructure – power lines. This is stupidity.

Several Somes Bar residents reported to Ray they lost power. But, most of Siskiyou Co. was not affected although there are two other small areas that could lose power from a red flag warning. Ray said that because Pacific Power is a miner power generator, it was allowed to stop paying the solar subsidies two years ago.  

Remember in past years, football field-wide fire breaks were cleared and plowed every few years under and around the power lines. These are now over-grown. Ray said that the main power grid line East of McCloud is a frightening example. During his entire adult life of fighting fires, power companies maintained the transmission lines. He does not recall fighting fires actually started by poorly maintained faulty transmission lines.

Yep, it is a mess. But, it looks to me like over-regulations and the “save the environment” attitude are very destructive.

On that note, some folks have asked me what I know about the possible expansion of the Kidder Creek Orchard Camp program near Greenview. The Camp has submitted an Updated Project Description and is following correct procedure regarding Use Permits. Ray, and other folks, hopes the over-crowding of conifer trees throughout the facility does get addressed prior to recommendation to the board of supervisors.

The Siskiyou Co. Planning Commission has not made a recommendation regarding the project. It is still in the public comment period and planning department staff are working to address those issues.

Hooray for goats

Several weeks ago, when the fires were blazing south of us, I saw an article that praised goats for saving President Ronald Reagan’s Library, which was threatened by the Easy Fire in Simi Valley. Mellisa Giller, a spokesperson for the Reagan Library, voiced gratitude to the concentrated grazing from 500 goats, which had been contracted earlier in the summer to clear overgrown fuel loads surrounding the library complex.

Giller said she was told by a fire fighter that the fire break made their job easier as there truly was a large open space devoid of highly combustible brush and grass. The goats ate it all.

Apparently, the goat herd was contracted through a county government, but the article went on to say that grazing on federal lands can provide this service at virtually no cost to the taxpayer. Yep, livestock is beneficial to reducing fire fuels and should be encouraged and utilized. I won’t go into the years of verbal abuse and lawsuits by environmentalists that stopped much of the beneficial use of cattle and other grazers like goats. I am just glad the goats were appreciated.

POW
Scott Valley Protect Our Water will combine its November and December meeting and it will be held on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019 at the Fort Jones Community Center at 7 p.m. POW will not hold a meeting in November.


Liz Bowen began writing ranch and farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County and lives near Callahan. Columns from the past year can be found at: lizwriteslife.blogspot.com. Call her at 530-467-3515.
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