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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