Off To The Carizzo

The Nature Conservancy Legacy Club held it's annual field trip to the Carrizo Plain National Monument yesterday.  What seems like centuries ago, I and other volunteers often went out to the newly built visitor's center on work days to help landscape and plant natives around the area, including crawling around on hands and knees to put in plugs of salt grass, a staggering bit of botanical hubris, considering the scale of what actually needed revegetating.  But, miraculously, some of the seedlings have survived all these years.

 

The Legacy visitors were loaded on a bus for the drive up to the sacred Painted Rock.  This was a meeting place for both Chumash and Yokut tribes (among others)  both for trading and for ceremonial rites.  The rock is a remnant of sandstone outcropping from a prehistoric inland sea.  Its fragility (and historical and sacred importance to the Chumash) is one reason that since becoming a National Monument, a serious effort was made to repair, protect, restrict visitors.

 Years ago, when the land was in private hands, little care was taken of the rock.  Sheep were penned in its bowl-like center, generations of nincompoops carved or spray painted their initials on it, defacing the ancient pictographs within.  The Getty Museum restoration team assisted in the work to repair the rock and much of the more recent graffiti was removed and restricted use will protect the rock as well as the nesting peregrines and hawks (and an owl) that call it home.

 Most of the remaining pictographs are tucked under some of the overhanging rock where they were protected from the elements.

And,  standing in the center of the rock and looking out into the valley, it's easy to see why this became a very special place to so many. 

And, of course, no visit to the Carrizo would be complete without visiting its keystone species, the famed, endangered Kangaroo Rat.  The rains have been late and/or nonexistent at his point, so the vegetation around their "precincts" was pretty scant.  When the rains are abundant, the rat family cuts down a swath of grasses about 3' feet around his burrow (which territory they ferociously defend against another rat family with their nearby 3' circle.)  The cut grass dries and as needed, the seed heads are dragged into the burrow for din-din.  Recent aerial surveys have discovered that these circular precincts extend over a far wider swath of the plains than had been previously believed.  Which is good news for an endangered species. And further research of this kind is also revealing just profound an impact the little grass-cutting critter has on the overall  health of the plains and the other animals whose lives depend on that environment.  Including the lovely kit fox who depends on the K-rat for food.  Hence the rat's designation as "keystone."

At the center of the plains is the great Soda Lake.  Since the rains have been so poor this year, there's lots of soda, very little lake. 

  

But what would the Carrizo Plains be without the great Soda Lake.  Since the rains were missing, the vast sheets of wildflowers were either still asleep or had already given up the ghost, or, if the rains come today and tomorrow, they may start their life cycle again.  But the Carrizo dressed up in it's finery or sere and dry, is still a very special place of abiding. of endurance and great beauty.

 

Light It Up, Part III

On Thursday, the Planning Commission returned to the job of parsing the Sun Power solar generation plant out on the Carrizo plains. The Commissioners had taken a tour of the site on Wednesday. Some notes and oddities:

Visual Issues:
--Set backs from Highway 58 has been moved from 200 to 250 yards.
-- power poles are to be light colored
-- it’s likely the visitor center will be moved out from the center of the facility and put closer to Highway 58 or moved into California City itself where there are already buildings and easy access from the road. Concerns were expressed that having the visitor center in the middle of the array would present security issues as well as environmental ones. And there was talk of combining visitor center activities with the other solar array that’s planned to go out in that neck of the woods since it would be silly to build two of them. It was also suggested that the visitor center be sited where it could, perhaps, overlook at least one array and possibly give an overview of the entire valley, which would give visitors a sense of the entire place and a its place within the valley.

Biological issues
--SunPower will settle land mitigation costs up front to take care of those costs early-on, it being stated that that would help reassure investors since there won’t be any hidden or unknown costs waiting in the wings.
-- There is an abundance of mitigation land available. (I’ll bet, considering California Valley has a long history as a sort of “swampland in Florida” real estate scheme that suckered in a long list of buyers with dreams of becoming land barons, only to hit the reality wall when lack of water caused the whole scheme to crash and burn. Which means there’s likely a whole lot of “willing sellers” out there just waiting for someone looking to buy mitigation-offset land.)
--noise and night lighting impacts: suggested use of downcast lighting, minimize lights in the first place, link security lights to a security system – lights go on only when the alarm system is triggered, which would give security personnel light to go check things out, but would mean security lights wouldn’t have to stay on all night & etc. The real concern here is affecting the Carrizo’s stunning “dark skies.”
--- Commissioner Topping repeatedly returned to the rather ridiculous land use policies that resulted in a rather ironic situation that puts all sorts of expensive EIR’s and mitigation measures for SunPower, for example, to install a solar array, while Farmer Jones can happily farm his 1500 acres with no requirements, even though he’s farming smack dab in the middle of a valley filled with endangered species of all kinds and that farming long ago destroyed endangered habitat and annual plowing keeps that habitat destroyed.
     True, any farmer who knowingly destroys a K-rat, for example, can be fined (or if the Fish and Wildlife ranger catches Farmer John actually killing a K-rat, he can be arrested on the spot), but define “knowingly,” as in “knowingly destroy.” And, yes, if you suddenly start farming fallow land, land likely to have been colonized with K-rats, the Feds could end your farming days right quick. And yes, most farmers and ranchers are wonderful stewards of the land and are more and more going “organic” in their land use practices But, the fact remains: farming destroys endangered habitat, so while a company like SunPower has to pay through the nose and jump through a great many mitigation hoops to offset destroyed habitat, Farmer John can plow his acres pretty freely. A point Mr. Topping repeatedly pointed out, to the general agreement of the Commissioners who are well aware of the various oddities in the County’s land use plans.
-- More irony – once farming stops, K-rats recolonize the area. So, it’s likely, since you can’t “farm” under solar arrays, the rat population may boom under and around the arrays, while farmland all around the arrays will continue to be disked all to hell and gone with nary a whisper of “mitigation.”

Worker Safety
-- SunPower will pay up front for increased CHP presence and the taxes the arrays generate will pay for increased presence of Sheriff, code enforcement, environmental monitors and fire personnel. This increase needed to adequately cover the workers camps and also make sure there’s sufficient manpower to suppress any grassland/wild-fires that could endanger the fragile habitat.
--Concerns were expressed over Valley Fever being stirred up by building the arrays, but it was noted that regular farm plowing would release more dust at one time than that being released by the arrays since they’re going in piece meal and the project is required to use dust suppression techniques (which aren’t required when plowing a field.) A representative from County Public Health made it clear that Valley Fever is endemic in the soil of the whole county (along with anthrax, which is in soil where cows and sheep are raised) so trying to pinpoint the source of any Valley Fever spores is nearly impossible. (Said public health personage put up a county Valley Fever map (second highest number of cases being in Paso Robles area) and noted that CMC inmates are a huge “hot spot” of cases, and alluded to prisoners being exposed to roadway dust, so I can only presume CMC road-crew prisoners are being exposed in high numbers, which means they’re not given proper safety (breathing) apparatus while they’re working, which sets up the creepy vision of slave labor gangs sent into dangerous situations where they’re exposed to possibly deadly pathogens?)
--So while real mitigation was impossible vis a vis Valley Fever, it was suggested that SunPower conduct an education outreach for valley residents, and staff will inquire further and get back to the Commissioners with any further information that might help with that issue.

Meeting to be continued on Thursday, February 10 th, from 9 a.m. – 12, Topics still left to go through: Water, Ag issues and noise. If the Commissioners get through those issues, they’ll also receive more staff information from their previous deliberation, and may start voting on the issue. Or, as is more likely, that session will be continued to Thursday Feb. 24th, (9-?) where it will most likely be completed, voted on, then go to the BOS.

Light It Up

The SLO Planning Commission will be reviewing the plans to build a solar array out on the Carrizo Plains this Thursday, Jan 27, starting at nine and likely going all day. Bring a sandwich and an apple. It’ll be a long, complex meeting, I’m sure.

The builders have already modified their plans, reducing the footprint of the array and reducing the wattage generated, while opponents and some residents want them to build the damned thing over the hills in the San Joaquin in areas unfit ag use, but also not quite so full of kit foxes and kangaroo rats and endangered plants & etc.

You know, the usual issues and the usual suspects. But, in an odd way, the argument may be moot, one way or the other. First, climate change will change the Carrizo no matter what anybody does because of the heat rise already in the pipeline and even if we suddenly stop carbon production cold tomorrow, that rise will continue to change the land. So, if the little kit foxes and rats can only exist within a very narrow band of temperature and moisture in a very small, particular place, they’re finished no matter what. Kaput because of the changes coming that we can do nothing about now.

But, if they’re tough enough and flexible enough (and lucky enough), they will survive by moving north (or east or west or wherever) and make a new niche, again, no matter what we do out there.

And if we do nothing, just continue drilling and burning for energy, the rate of changes will be so devastating that the critters will most assuredly be wiped out. And if we build solars all over the place, we might have a shot at slowing these changes enough to at least give the critters a fighting chance. Maybe.

So, I say, build it and lots more like it, and get this lobbyist-crippled Congress off the dime to remove all hidden subsidies and tax breaks to all carbon burning fuels in hopes that technology and clever people will come up with new power sources that will save our bacon.

And the bacons of kit foxes and K-rats and fragile flowers.

Light It Up On The Roof

Some time ago, I asked, “Hey, why doesn’t somebody come up with a Rent-a-Roof solar business?” Well, somebody has. Several somebodies. An AP Story by Laura Impellizzeri outlines several companies that are starting up solar panel leasing companies.

Since the average $12,000-plus cost for the initial investment keeps a lot of people from going solar, this scheme allows them to “lease” the equipment. The company owns and cares for the system, you can (like leasing a car) have the option of buying it at the end of the lease. “As the owners of the panels that they or their agents install, solar leasing companies receive the 30 percent federal homeowner tax credit plus any state or local incentives the homeowner qualifies for.” And, “Instead of generating the electricity you use from one moment to the next, a leased solar array feeds into the regional power grid and homeowners are credited on their monthly electric bill. In some states, like California, the less power your household uses (after deducting for what you generate) the lower rate you pay, so it makes financial sense not to generate every last kilowatt you use but to buy some power at the lowest rates.”

“So leasing companies recommend installing the smallest system that will bring the biggest benefit. With Sungevity Development LLC, an Oakland leasing company that contracts with other companies for installation, leasing a 2.8 kW system in town will cost about $67 a month and be guaranteed to generate enough power to wipe out most of an $80 average monthly electricity bill, leaving the homeowner roughly breaking even with an estimated monthly electricity bill of $12. Buying the same system through Sungevity would cost about $16,000 after incentives.”

So, take a look at your electric bill, if you’re a business, might want to really take a look at your electric bill. Then check out www.calsia.org/ and click on the residential-leases tab for more information. Calseia’s (California Solar Energy Industries Association) site lists the various solar companies that are members.

Jim Dee’s Palm Theatre went solar long ago. Time for all of the roofs of SLOTOWN to sprout arrays?

God Bless Jack LaLanne.

Exercise pioneer, Jack LaLanne died at age 96 at his home in Morro Bay. Proof positive that healthful foods and proper exercise can certainly help you live a long, long life in good health.

Jack was one of the first to move “fitness” out of the weird homo-erotic, Muscle-Beach, Mr. America milieu and take it into the area of overall proper diet and health rather than just turning wimps into a muscle-man so bullies wouldn’t kick sand in their faces. He also marketed his TV show to stay-a-home diet-conscious Moms, which really helped open up the whole fitness craze. And built a fitness empire that included health clubs, videos, books. Which also helped mainstream the whole issue away from the small, weird enclave of "health nut" cranks.

As kids watching his show on TV, we thought he was goofy-funny and gleefully mocked his enthusiastic, bright-eyed patter while doing jumping-jacks and touting the benefits of juicing veggies. Later, of course, as age crept up, his message suddenly started looking decidedly un-funny and instead became a given: eat right, exercise every day, just common sense for feeling your best.

The Tribune noted, “In 2005, the Morro Bay Chamber of Commerce presented LaLanne its Living Treasure award, a lifetime achievement honor given to local citizens.” And how cool is that?

While Morro Bay will miss one of its more colorful “characters,” his wife, Elaine, will miss her partner and ‘best friend” of 51 years and no amount of juice or jumping jacks will soothe that sorrow.

So, grab a V-8 and hoist a toast to Jack and a blessing. He changed a lot of lives for the better. And nobody can leave a better legacy than that.

Viewpoint & Other Events

The Tribune recently ran a Bruce-centric, County-centric-pat-ourselves-on-the-back editorial regarding the $87 million loan for the sewer. And, as usual, er, “forgot” to mention some key things, but did try to lay blame on folks who appealed the issue to the Coastal Commission, while, er, overlooking, even more key issues regarding that appeal or the reasons why it was necessary. Typical.


Here’s Julie Tacker’s “Viewpoint” which may or may not make it into the Tribune. Once again, proof positive, that it’s impossible to tell The Hideous Los Osos Sewer Story without about 7,000 footnotes and addenda. Posted with permission.

The September 9 Tribune editorial, “Credit goes to many for securing sewer funds” may as well have read “Blame goes to appellants for County filing late application.” The op-ed piece states “delays in granting the permit – including a nearly six-month continuance by the Coastal Commission – caused the application to be filed later than originally hoped.”

Without naming names the Tribune, parroting statements made by Supervisor Bruce Gibson at the September 7, 2010 Board of Supervisors meeting, blames the twenty-nine appellants for the County’s late application. Twenty-nine appellants (vacant lot owners, long time sewer watchers, a LOCSD Director, a local developer, Sierra Club, Surfrider and two Coastal Commissioners) raised myriad environmental impacts overlooked by the project.

If truth be told, blame for delays rests squarely on the shoulders of Gibson and the Public Works Department. This four year pursuit of the Los Osos Wastewater Project is different than any iteration of the past. By disconnecting water from wastewater -- leaving management of water supply to the purveyor shifts the financial burden to the water bill, equal to or greater than the monthly wastewater bill.

Over a year was lost chasing the “dead on arrival” water wasting sprayfield project at the Tonini Ranch. In the process, the County spent well over $4 million conducting site specific studies of the 642 acre property.

Further removed are the vacant properties from the financial equation, no service -- no charge, no savings from economies of scale. Leaving a $27 million funding shortfall, shifting the entire project cost to the developed properties and adding approximately $30 per month to the already high price.

The leading appeal contention, STEP vs. Gravity, could have been resolved with a side-by-side comparison as was promised in the assessment vote of 2007. Instead, the County spent money elsewhere and thus allowed the debate to continue unresolved.

The USDA money is more complicated than it appears. At 3.25 percent interest for 40 years, when Los Osos is eligible for lower interest through State funding, what “huge relief” does the Tribune see that we don’t? USDA funds at higher interest for a longer duration increases the project cost and a $4 million grant is not “free money” there are always strings attached. Let’s see the fine print.

The County driven delays came long before the permitting process or any appeals were filed. These missteps will continue to plague the project and shift the costs to the project’s rates and charges or to the Golden State and LOCSD water customers.

Blaming appellants perpetuates the divisive tenor in Los Osos, no thanks to the Supervisor or the Tribune for continuing to stir the pot.

K Rat, DOA?

The Solar Ranch folks, who are planning on building a huge solar array out in the Carrizo Plains area, will be holding a workshop at Embassy Suites, in the Edna Room, (333 Madonna Road, SLO) Wednesday, Sept 15th, 7 – 8:30 pm.

The Tribune recently ran a story about the little giant kangaroo rat likely putting a kink in this project’s proposed footprint. Seems there’s giant kangaroo rat dwellings all over the area the 250-megawatt photo voltaic power plan was planning to use. So, now the power-plant footprint shuffle starts. Some of the alternative plans are being looked at by county planners, including putting the whole thing in the central valley, which has already destroyed any native habitat.

But one thing that needs to be addressed in all our plans for building anything that will reduce carbon emissions is this: Is the giant k-rat (or any other critter) a critter that can only survive in an environment with very narrow parameters and variants in temperature/moisture/food supply? If so, then because of what we have already burned, the climate change is already in the pipeline and cannot be stopped. So, is it likely that the Carrizo Plains will either get hotter/drier or wetter/colder or swing wildly between, the grasses and plants will change as well, and the k-rat’s narrow world will be destroyed even if no solar arrays are built out there. So, do we delay going green for fear of wiping out a little critter that’s already doomed, thereby making things worse for other critters down the line? Or do we figure this is all triage and accept that our failure to act years ago has already finished off X amount of critters and we’d best move as quickly as possible to try to avoid killing off Y more?

Well, maybe that question and others will be discussed at the workshop.

If You Plant It, They Will Come

My sister sent a Fresno Bee story that’s a sign of the high times to come if marijuana initiative gets passed.

Remember the good old days when kids climbed Farmer McGuillicuddy’s fence and stole his apples? Well, a field of marijuana in the back yard of a guy with an official medical marijuana permit was growing away under the nice Fresno sun, its green spiky leaves towering over the 6’ fence. Mmmmm, lush, green, 50 x 75 feet of the stuff, right there, mmmm, just over the fence. So, naturally, some guy climbed the fence and started helping himself to some of the lush crop and got himself shot for his trespass.

The shootee is in the hospital in serious condition and the shooter is in a world of legal trouble. (Farmer McGuilicuddy used to just holler at the kids. Nowadays, people pick up guns and end up with a whole passel of violations having to do with excessive use of force.)

Ah, sign of the times, I suppose. If the state-wide initiative passes, maybe a homeowner trying to grow a whole backyard of marijuana would be smart to toss a few seeds out in the public rights of way to lure away thieves and post a sign out at the edge of the property line saying, “Git yer own box!” in hopes it would distract some stoner and prevent the need to shoot the idiot for criminal trespass.

Or get a big dog and hope he doesn’t like to nibble on the leaves.

Your Sunday Photos

I played hooky Thursday and headed out to the Carrizo Plains. Had heard the wildflowers were running amok, so friends and I packed a picnic lunch and drove east to the wildflower preserve on Shell Creek Rd, then cut back to Hwy 46, over to Cholame, then right again on Bitterwater Creek road and tooled on down into the Carrizo through the back entrance, which is a nice way to go since the creek road is wonderfully twisty and quite beautiful. Lots of lupine clumps out there.

I think the poppies were still asleep, but the tidy tips and goldfields and fiddleheads and that yellow flower and that other yellow flower and those baby blue whatevers and that purple thingee and that white thingee were all blooming all over the place.

And the local cows were most obliging, making sure visitors would have no trouble identifying what kind of animal they were by standing next to the informative roadsigns.

The painted rock is often is closed for nesting falcons, so I’d check their website (www.carrizo.org) before going, if that’s what you specifically wanted to see. Otherwise, the visitor center’s open Thurs –Sun, I think, and that’s worth a visit. And, sign up and join The Friends of the Carrizo Plain. They publish a very nice, informative bulletin and keep you informed of various events out there. For example, April 10th the BLM is planning a National Landscape Conservation System’s, 10th Anniversary Celebration and Spring Gala, with BBQ lunch, speakers, displays and tours, which should bring you up to speed on the restoration efforts out there. I’ve been to some of those events and they’re really informative and fun. And with this one you could combine flower peeping with the anniversary celebration.

It’s hard to capture the vastness of the place, or its singular beauty. But it’s worth a trip out there, the sooner the better. Once a heat wave hits, the flowers will all be blasted and gone for another year. Although there’s something to be said for visiting the Carrizo in its more brutish form during the non-spring months. Having that tough vision in your memory bank makes reveling in the soft flower-times even more special.

A Day Late & A Dollar Short

The Tribune finally got around to writing a piece on the Watson Montgomery Harza and New Orleans Inspector General Report a while back. And a few regular lurking Sewer Crazies came on this blog and had a cow or two. Now, Piper Riley has written an opinion piece posted on Cal Coast News at http://calcoastnews.com/2010/03looking-for-transparency-in-los-osos/ .

One interesting issue Piper mentions is the incident in Los Osos wherein “MWH local offices were broken into and all of the Los Osos records were stolen. Allegedly they were held in one sole location, the project manager’s laptop, which happened to be the only thing stolen. Around the same time, two integrally involved, government official’s hard drives were wiped clean” . . . “and MWH are also currently heading the heavily flawed, Morro Bay/Cayucos project. The project manager of the 2005, failed, MWH Los Osos Wastewater Project (whose lap top was ‘stolen’) is now the head of the Morro Bay/Cayucos Wastewater Project, the recent contract of which was questionable procured.” And so forth. Or as The Church Lady Would Say, “Well isn’t THAT convenient, hmmmm???”

And so, since I know that the regular lurking Sewer Crazies will have a cow with what Piper’s written and start chewing on each other’s ankles, I’ll best remind them now; Mind your manners, Children, or Momma will dump you.

New Rule

Since it’s clear that government employees don’t listen to Mother Calhoun’s Sage Advice for the Clueless when it comes to generalized canoodling inappropriately & other high crimes and dumb misdemeanors, I think we need a new generalized Rule for Firing People: Walking While Stupid.

I speak, this time, of Dean Smith, former superintendent of San Miguel Joint Union School District who, according to the March 27 Tribune, was investigated by the district and put on administrative leave in February and then resigned in March. According to documents, Mr. Smith formed a “friendship” with a student when she was in 7th grade and he was the principal of the school she attended, and after she turned 18 apparently that “friendship” became something more and they are now “dating” said Mr. Smith’s son. Also, Mr. Smith, after 33 years of marriage, was served a petition for legal separation from his wife -- last week. Which means he was “friending” this young woman while still married. And in its investigation, the school district also found (surprise!) that Mr. Smith had been Googling various inappropriate websites on district computers during work hours, and such like complaints.

Mr. Smith denies or ‘splains some of these charges and states that the district’s “personal disapproval of my associations with another adult, whom I happen to meet while she was minor, goes beyond legitimate district concerns about employee performance.”

See what I mean? I’m sure Mr. Smith is right. Private, of-hours behavior with an “adult” likely IS beyond legitimate district concerns, unless he and his “adult” associates are robbing banks. Which is why we need a New Rule: In addition to the endless list of reasons public employees can be fired, we need to add a new one – Walking While Stupid.

I mean, a Superintendent who moons after and “friends” a young student because his wife doesn’t understand him? Walking While Stupid. If he’s sad and lonely, he needs to get a dog, get a hobby, get a divorce and get out more – with people of the adult persuasion.

But here’s the kicker (and I do sympathize with Mr. Smith because I, too, am a quasi-Luddite,) but even I know that ANYTHING you do on a computer at work can be tracked. ANYTHYING. So if you’re tempted to Google “pictures of Playboy model Sara Jean Underwood in seductive poses” during your lunch hour – GO HOME and do it.

See? Walking while Stupid, you’re fired, Go away, Thank You.

Best Book Title

The Tribune reports that Karl Rove was in town and that 400 people coughed up serious money to attend a GOP dinner and maybe get a photo-op with him at $2,500 a pop. While outside the event, one protester held a sign that read, “I have a dream,” above an illustration of Rove being arrested.”

In addition to raising funds for the GOP, Rove was hustling his new book, which I think deserves an award for Best Ironic Book Title Of The Year: “Courage and Consequence, My Life as a Conservative in the Fight.”

Consequence? To date, Rove has never met a consequence he hasn’t been able to skate away from, with a little help from his well-connected friends.

Wildflower Alert

Saturday, I spoke with a couple who had driven up from Santa Barbara via the Carrizo Plains and said the wildflower display was spectacular. Also spoke to someone else who said the green-type grass is growing quickly as well, so if you want to catch the display, best do it ASAP. And pray a heat wave doesn’t suddenly hit and blast all the flowers to heck. So, time to play hooky. The Carrizo Plains visitor center has picnic benches, so pack a yummy lunch and head east.