Great Sutter Creek Duck Race
Here’s a great opportunity to help out the Foothill Conservancy and perhaps win yourself a million bucks! The Foothill Conservancy is one of the beneficiaries of this years’ Great Sutter Creek Duck Race and will share in the proceeds. You can help by adopting ducks for the race.
Ducks are:
one duck for $5 bucks,
five ducks for $20 bucks,
or 25 ducks for $100 bucks.
Over $8,500.00 in cash and prizes will be awarded,
AND you could win a million bucks!
You need not be present to win
Send your checks, made out to ACRA, to:
Foothill Conservancy
PO Box 1255
Pine Grove , CA 95665
We’ll mail you back your Duck adoption papers right away.
The race will be held April 24th From 9 am until 4 pm
Minne Provis Park
Church Street
Sutter Creek , CA
Please attend the event, it’s a lot of fun, “it’ll quack you up!”
For photos of last years’ race, go to: http://suttercreek.org/specialevents/duckrace/index.htm
We could use some volunteer help with the event.
Mar. 27--we need help selling “adoption papers”
Apr. 14-- we need help labeling duck bottoms
Apr. 23-- we need help setting up the event grounds
Apr. 24-- we really need help with odd jobs around the event
If you can give us a hand, please call Randy at the office 295-4900
Nominate the Mokelumne River and other cultural, historic sites for Amador County's Top Ten Endangered Sites list.
The Amador County Historical Society needs your help in identifying the 10 most endangered Native American and historic sites in Amador County.
In our opinion, the Mokelumne River from Salt Springs to Pardee is definitely Number One. here's why:
-- The Mokelumne has played a critical role in the human history of Amador County, as the home and trade route for native people for thousands of years, and later in the Gold Rush, hard-rock mining, and early hydroelectric power eras.
-- The Mokelumne is eligible for National Wild and Scenic River designation in large part because of its significant cultural and historical sites. Until the river is designated, those sites are at risk. The river canyon is home to the Mokelumne Special Archaeological Area; the historic Roaring Camp; Native American village, seasonal camp sites and trade routes; the Blue Lakes Powerhouse site (one of California's first hydro plants); historic mining and mill sites; and many other important Native American and historical resources.
-- The proposed Pardee Dam expansion threatens the 1912 Middle Bar Bridge and numerous cultural and historical sites along the river, including a willow-gathering area used by local native people today and what remains of the community of Middle Bar.
Please nominate the river and other endangered Native American and historic sites today! Nominations are due by March 31. See http://acn.homestead.com/ACHS-Survey.html
Gold Rush Ranch
Sutter Creek City Council approves Gold Rush Ranch referendum argument
Content called a "scare tactic" by one planning commissioner. Amador Ledger Dispatch, March 12, http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/news/newsview.asp?c=267004
Water
Tim Palmer to release new book: "River of California"
New book focuses on the beauty of our state's rivers. Available in August. YubaNet, March 14, http://yubanet.com/regional/Tim-Palmer-s-Rivers-of-California-Nature-s-L...
Growth and Development
Calaveras workshops to look at intersections of Highways 12 and 26
County to seek resident comments this week on intersection improvements, including a signal or roundabout. Calaveras Enterprise, March 12, http://www.calaverasenterprise.com/articles/2010/03/14/top_story/top01_c...
Murphys residents kick off general plan review
Calaveras County is holding community workshops on the draft general plan alternatives. Calaveras Enterprise, March 12, http://www.calaverasenterprise.com/articles/2010/03/14/news/news01_plan.txt
Bankruptcy judge to send golf course lawsuit back to Calaveras County
The Record
By Dana M. Nichols
Record Staff Writer
March 11, 2010
MODESTO - A federal bankruptcy judge in Modesto this week dished out one victory to the owners of the Trinitas golf course and another to Calaveras County government officials who are the targets of Trinitas lawsuits.
Judge Ronald H. Sargis of the Eastern District federal Bankruptcy Court in Modesto indicated in postings on court Web sites that he is sending one of the lawsuits back to Calaveras County Superior Court - a move county attorneys had requested. A second lawsuit will continue to be handled by the bankruptcy court.
Since last year, Trinitas owners Michael and Michelle Nemee have filed three lawsuits against Calaveras County. Two of the lawsuits argue that a golf course is a legal form of agritourism under county law and one argues that county officials mishandled environmental studies for the golf course built on the Nemee's 280-acre olive farm.
The Nemees filed the lawsuits last year after the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors in May voted against the Nemees' request to legalize their operation. The Nemees had asked the county to change the zoning of the land to a "recreation" designation.
County officials say the existing agricultural zoning does not allow golf courses.
The golf course was built in an agricultural preserve before the Nemees had obtained all necessary approvals. And the course has long faced opposition from some neighbors who say it is an illegal and disruptive use of a rural landscape.
In June, the Nemees were declared in default on loans they'd taken out to build the facility. In October, they filed for bankruptcy. After that, two of the three lawsuits were moved to the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court because the outcome of the cases could affect whether the Nemees are able to run a viable business and pay their creditors.
The lawsuit Sargis sent back to the court in Calaveras County is a so-called "writ of mandate" action that argues county officials mishandled the environmental studies for Trinitas and so sabotaged the development's chances for approval.
The lawsuit Sargis decided to keep is a "declaratory relief" action in which the Nemees argued that the county's agritourism ordinance makes the golf course a legal operation on land zoned for agriculture.
The third lawsuit, which never left Calaveras County Superior Court, also addresses the agritourism ordinance but is cast as a "writ of mandate," a different type of legal action.
Michael Nemee on Wednesday afternoon said he was aware of the rulings but declined to comment on them. He did say that he's confident his business is perfectly legal.
"We are open for business and business is booming," Nemee said.
Nemee referred questions to his attorney, Ken Foley of San Andreas.
A staffer in Foley's office said that he was on the road returning from Modesto late Wednesday and was scheduled to judge a youth speaking competition later that night.
Calaveras County Counsel Jim Jones declined to discuss Sargis' rulings or to explain why county attorneys would prefer to have the cases heard in the local court.
Lew and Kathy Mayhew, a couple who live near Trinitas and have spearheaded opposition to it by organizing a group called Keep It Rural Calaveras, said they don't think it matters where the cases are heard.
"The cases are going to be heard on the basis of state law," Kathy Mayhew said.
Contact reporter Dana M. Nichols at (209) 607-1361 or dnichols@recordnet.com.
Public Lands
Interview with a conservative environmentalist
Former Secretary of the Interior on her experience and why conservatives should care about the environment. LA Times, March 8, http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-scarlett9-2010mar09,0,3488369.story
Wildlife
Yellow-legged frogs fidelity to home sites may be a factor in their decline
Latest study on our high-elevation mountain yellow-legged frogs. YubaNet, March 11, http://yubanet.com/regional/Sierra-Nevada-yellow-legged-frog-s-site-fide...
Freeing fish enables kids to see circle of river life
The Record
By Keith Reid
March 10, 2010
CLEMENTS - Jenny Lind Elementary School first-grader Wyatt Moore peeked through the eye-hole of a plastic fish viewer and took a final glance at a salmon fry he has helped raise since it was an egg as part of a classroom project.
Moore thought for a second and decided on the perfect name for the fish.
"I named him 'Buster,' " the Calaveras County pupil said.
One by one, Wyatt and his classmates carried their fry to the edge of the water near the Mokelumne River Fish Hatchery and offered a farewell as the tiny fish swam off into the river.
Teaching students about salmon, the cycle of a salmon's life, and raising awareness about the Mokelumne River watershed is a service-learning project, said consultant Mary Anne Garamendi.
The program is sponsored by the San Joaquin County Office of Education and a group called Stewardship Through Education.
More than 200 children representing eight schools in San Joaquin, Calaveras and Amador counties spent Tuesday at the Clements fish hatchery, learning about fish and the biology of surrounding plants and animals at the river.
The majority of fry released by the children will find their way to the Pacific Ocean; others will be eaten by bigger fish or other predators.
And predators have sharp teeth, the children learned Tuesday. Some fish even have teeth on their tongues that make sure the fry can't wriggle away. And the kids got to feel those teeth on a real trout fish head at one of six learning stations throughout the day.
If all ends well through the life of the salmon fry, however, they will return to the hatchery in six years, presenter Fred Velasquez said.
That was good news for Lodi's Joe Serna Charter School second-grader Alonzo Gonzalez, 8, who named his fry "Juan."
"I'll be in the eighth grade when Juan comes back," he figured. "That would be cool."
Contact reporter Keith Reid at (209) 546-8257 or kreid@recordnet.com.
Forestry
Logging to increase on Stanislaus National Forest
Union Democrat, March 12, http://www.uniondemocrat.com/2010031299421/News/Local-News/Forest-Servic...
Fire
State considers charge for rural residents to pay for firefighting
The Record
By Dana M. Nichols
Record Staff Writer
March 14, 2010
See map at http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100314/A_NEWS/3140317
SAN ANDREAS - State officials looking for ways to increase funding for state firefighting efforts are debating whether to sock every homeowner in California with a surcharge on their insurance or whether to levy a special assessment only on property owners in so-called State Responsibility Areas.
The state Legislative Analyst's Office this week came out in favor of the special-assessment solution. Such a charge could mean that owners of homes in the rolling ranchlands or forested canyons in places such as Calaveras County would be billed an extra $500 a year. The proposal already is drawing fire from groups that advocate on behalf of rural areas.
"We are strongly opposed to it," said Paul A. Smith, senior legislative advocate for the Regional Council of Rural Counties. He said such an assessment would unfairly burden rural residents with the cost of fire protection when the benefits affect the entire state by protecting watersheds and forests. It also would undermine local fire agencies in rural areas, Smith said.
That's because residents already paying hundreds of dollars to a state agency for wildland fire protection would be unlikely to also vote to tax themselves to support the local fire districts.
"If this fee goes in, it will kill local fire protection."
The legislative analyst's report argues, in contrast, that it is only fair for rural building owners to shoulder the increased costs those structures have imposed on the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as CAL FIRE.
The agency's original mission was to protect wildlands, the report said, adding that "over time, however, there has been considerable 'mission creep' and the department now spends considerable time and resources protecting homes ... from wildfire, as well as responding to medical emergencies and other nonwildfire calls."
Portions of San Joaquin County and much of Calaveras County are within such State Responsibility Areas.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger launched the debate by proposing a 4.8 percent surcharge on the premium amount for insurance policies on homes and businesses across California. His plan would raise an estimated $238 million in 2010-11 and roughly $479 million a year thereafter.
Those funds would eliminate CAL FIRE from the state's General Fund and allow for expansion of some state fire programs, such as hiring an additional 1,100 seasonal firefighters.
The legislative analyst said that such a surcharge is really a tax, and as such would not yield as much money as the governor projected because state law requires that a portion of taxes must be diverted to education.
The report did not offer a suggested amount for a fee on the owners of structures inside State Responsibility Areas. But if the $478.7 million the governor seeks annually through his surcharge were instead divided among the estimated 860,000 affected homes, the cost would come to $557 per home.
At least some Calaveras officials say they prefer the analyst's suggestion.
"I think it is a horrible idea to put a tax on your insurance," Calaveras County Supervisor Tom Tryon said. "I would much prefer the LAO's proposal."
Others said that rural property owners should not bear the cost of fire protection that benefits the entire state. "Firefighting is for the greater good," said Mountain Ranch resident Bill Schmiett, a member of the Central Fire and Rescue Protection District board and a former firefighter.
Contact reporter Dana M. Nichols at (209) 607-1361 or dnichols@recordnet.com.
Odds and Ends
Mokelumne River features, Wild and Scenic Campaign make Sierra Nevada Geotourism map
National Geographic has just released the first section of the Sierra Nevada Geotourism map. You can use the map to find natural and historic points of interest, and to identify important campaigns. Our Mokelumne River Wild and Scenic Campaign and several Mokelumne River features made it through the screening process to the map! Check it out here: http://www.sierranevadageotourism.org/
SPI intends to remove entire Amador rail line
Huge timber and development company taking away another piece of Amador's heritage. Ledger-Dispatch, March 12, http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/news/newsview.asp?c=267009
Amador Resource Conservation District sponsors speech contest
The Amador Resource Conservation District will sponsor a speech contest for high school students residing in the Amador Resource Conservation District next week. The topic is “How the resource conservation district can assist schools with natural resource education.” The speech must be at least three minutes, and not more than five minutes. First place award is $200, second place is $100 and third place is $75. The winner will compete in the regional speech contest in April. The local contest will take place Thursday, March 18 at 5 p.m. at the County GSA building on Airport Road. Interested students should contact Amy Rocha at 223-6535 for more information.
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