Monday, June 1, 2020

Liz Writes Life 6-3-2020


June 3, 2020

Liz Writes Life

Life certainly wasn’t boring last week with extreme temps of 95 degrees-plus, thunderstorms that must have included a small twister that flattened some barns, fences and big trees at several ranches in the middle and east side of the valley; and then a steady, long rain on Saturday with a big cool-down of the temps to the 50s on Saturday night. Sure sorry for that mess and the loss of the barns and twisted wheel-lines. So very frustrating. Oh and here at the south end of the valley, the power was out all of Saturday afternoon.

It sounds like the lightning-caused fires on Thursday night were immediately put out by firefighters. Good work fire guys and gals. Whew!

Firefighting

Because so many of us are worried about the danger of wildfires amid this drought and Covid-19 virus threat, I called Ray Haupt, our Dist. 5 Siskiyou Co. Supervisor, to see if any decisions had been made. He was on a Klamath National Forest and Cal-Fire briefing teleconference in mid-May and said the goal of both agencies is to attack the fires as quickly as possible with all resources and firefighters that are needed. In past years, there have been complaints about poor-management of fires. This year really should be different. Ray said the directive is that large fires must be avoided at all costs. And, it sounds like that directive is coming from pretty high up at state and federal levels.

Luckily, KNF completed its hiring of personnel and equipment contracts before the Covid-19 shutdown. Apparently, some areas of the USFS in Northern California are under-staffed for fires, which is still a concern.

Ray is part of a healthy forests group of retired forest management professionals with extensive fire suppression experience. In early May, the group, which is called “National Wildfire Institute,” compiled concerns and potential solutions into a letter and sent it to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Each leader of this group then contacted any and all higher officials (whom they knew) to help influence the ultimate goal of attacking fires immediately.

Ray spoke with Jim Hubbard, the Undersecretary of Agriculture, whom he has met several times and explained his concerns for Siskiyou Co. and the west. The NWI letter of recommendations was also sent to 11 western U.S. Senators, who are taking the overwhelming dangers of wildfires seriously, and sent a letter on April 30, 2020 to the U.S. Forest Service Chief regarding the impending fire-threat issues and poor management of public forests.

Several recommendations included contracting smaller aircrafts that can utilize retardant in 30 to 45 minutes of a fire starting, because they can be stationed at smaller (local) airports. And, to also deploy smokejumpers and rappelers for initial attack. More solutions were also explained.
The NWI group also reminded Ag. Sec. Perdue the possibility of fire camps and threat of Covid-19 may add to health problems and loss of life to firefighters and in neighboring communities.

Also, Ray said the Siskiyou Co. Board of Supervisors re-authorized the Declaration of Emergency based on the continued lack of forest health and threat of wildfire. This declaration was established in 2014 and is still active.

Gratefully, I want to thank our local volunteer fire departments and Scott Valley Fire District firefighters for their dedication and hard work to stop fires – along with our Cal-Fire and KNF people. All firefighters are so appreciated!

A little aside story: There seems to be some realization (at the higher levels of federal agencies) that vegetation is much too thick in many areas of the public lands. I have noticed several articles where 100s of sheep or goats will be released, monitored by herders and guard dogs, so grazing can be used as a way to reduce the risk of destructive wildfires. This type of grazing has gone full circle and is now considered to be cost-effective, low impact to the environment and natural. Good news for sure. Now, we need to get more cattle back in our mountains.

Garden

The lettuce and spinach didn’t seem to mind the three days of 95-plus temps, but I sure did! Everything added lots of growth and I see the zucchini, cucumber and green beans are popping up. The onion seeds are also up about an inch, but so are masses of tiny weeds that will need to be carefully picked out - ASAP. At least, this is only in a few feet. My plan is to transplant the onions as they get bigger.

Outside the garden fence, volunteer California poppies and lavender lupine have been gracing the landscape. The larger orange and salmon-colored Oriental poppies are finally blooming. Under the pine tree, the purple and lavender iris are also in their glory; and several yellow ones by the house just opened. It is so nice to have bright colors. The perennial Sweet Williams are also blooming in dark pink and variegated pinks.

Two dahlias are over a foot tall and I planted some cosmos and four o’clock flower seeds for some August flowers. I decided to stop the irrigation in an area of the perennials, where the dreaded rye grass has invaded. Quite a few comfrey plants are blooming with their little pink bells in that area. I want to continue to have comfrey, so will need to cut them back this week and transplant a handful to the vegetable garden, where they will receive water.

After these good rains, the weeds will be growing. But, the soil is soft for easy hoeing. So, I will get busy on that bigger job. Yep, there is always something to do when you have a garden.

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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