That is the topic for our next meeting of the Condor Group, Saturday, April 7th, at 7 PM in the Pool Pavilion Room of the Pine Mountain Clubhouse. This is your great opportunity to learn about bears and their outlook on the world with humans in it and about humans who live with bears (that’s you and me). Liz Bolton, our local bear lady, will be in charge of the power point presentation. Printed information will also be distributed at this meeting. As always, everyone is invited to attend. 6 PM will be potluck time. If you plan to attend just bring a dish to share and your own table setting. 7 PM will be program time.
The Kern Kaweah Chapter Banquet is coming up, and it is going to be a good one indeed! Saturday April 21 is the date. The speaker will be the artist Garrett Burke, designer of the California 2005 Commemorative State Quarter. He will tell us how the design was created, step by step, down to the addition of the Condor, requested by Gov. Schwarzenegger.
This affair will be held at the Chalet Basque Restaurant, in Bakersfield. The meal is a full layout of a Basque meal: soup, chicken, tongue, variety of vegetables, salsa, breads, ice cream for desert. Your choice of coffee, tea or iced tea. Basic charge for the meal: $24. Social Hour is from 5:30 to 6:30. Wine will be $3 for each glass. Dinner is from 6:30 to 7:30, followed by awards and our guest speaker.
Special feature: Need to recycle your batteries? Buena Vista Group will take care of it for you. (No CAR batteries however!)
This year reservations MUST be made by APRIL 16 (Monday). There will be no exceptions, a requirement of the restaurant. Please fill in the coupon on page 8 and mail it promptly.
Foreword: A tipping point was reached, and it tipped in our direction. That doesn’t mean that good fortune or whatever is just pouring out in great gushes, but it surely gives us opportunities that have not been there in the past six years and takes us out of the "just holding on for dear life" mode.
What is being talked about? The November election returns that brought hope and renewed energy to those of us who are deeply involved in the green world, joy that the environmental devastation that has occurred during the last six years would be, at a minimum, partially leashed and put in a holding pattern for two more years; at a maximum, progress would be once more on the way to keeping our planet livable and thriving for both humans and all other life. Forward!
SO, JOIN US OUT IN THE FRESH AIR, BREATHE IN DEEPLY UP IN THE MOUNTAINS. WALK, WALK WALK, STRETCH THOSE MUSCLES–SPRING IS HERE!
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY IF YOU PLAN TO PARTICIPATE IN SIERRA CLUB HIKES: Everyone is welcome, Sierra Club members and non-members, to join in any of the outdoor activities. Requirements: You must be in condition for type of hike, equipped appropriately for the activity, and prepared to sign a Sierra Club release from liability. You must be willing to follow leader’s directions. Be sure to bring any personal medicines you might need. Customary appropriate equipment includes good hiking shoes, plenty of water, snack, sunglasses, suntan lotion, layered clothing. Long pants recommended. Unprepared for the prospective hike? It will be a no-go for you. Please let the leader know ahead of time that you are intending to participate. As unexpected change of plans may be necessary, it is recommended that YOU call the hike leader the night before to assure that the hike is still going to happen.
March 24 (Sat) 8 AM. Liebre Mountain. Opportunity to observe the changes in vegetation as we climb. Excellent views of the flatlands of Antelope Valley. Overlook of proposed Tejon Corporation development, Centennial. Wear layered clothing for temperature changes. Wear good hiking shoes, take lots of drinking water and a snack. Be prepared for a long climb, approximately 8 miles round trip. Meet at PMC tennis courts at 8 AM. From outside areas plan to meet at the Flying J. Call Dale at 661.242.1076 to make arrangements.
April 28 (Sat) 8 AM. Piedras Blancas National Recreation Trail. This is the only national recreation trial in our area, and we will be hiking only the first segment. Located at the western end of the Lockwood Valley, the trail begins near the Lower Reyes campground and continues along various creekbeds which should have running water and wildflowers at this time of year. Our destination is the Upper Reyes campground, which is located in a beautiful cedar grove. It is a short hike, approximately 6 miles round trip, with an elevation gain of about 900 feet. Wear good shoes, there is a possibility of wet feet crossing the streams, and bring lots of drinking water. After the hike we can have burgers and a beer at rustic Camp Sheideck. Meet at the PMC tennis courts at 8 AM. Arrangements can be made to meet in Lockwood Valley. Call Dale at 661.242.1076 to make arrangements.
May 26 (Sat) 8 AM. Tecuya Canyon. We have received permission from Dave Clendenen, preserve manager for the Wind Wolves Preserve, to hike this picturesque canyon, which is generally not open to visitors. We will hike from an abandoned hunting lodge up canyon along the Tecuya Creek, which will have running water this time of year. We can see some of the restoration efforts of the preserve as we hike along a graded road up the canyon. The climb is very gentle and we can hike as far up the canyon as we choose. One of the most scenic canyons in the Preserve, it suffered some fire damage during this winter’s West fire, but fortunately there was minimal destruction of the trees. Wear good hiking shoes; there is a chance of getting wet feet, as we will cross the creek many times during the course of the hike. Bring lots of drinking water and a snack. We will meet at the PMC tennis courts at 8 AM. From out of the area we can meet at the Laval Rd. Starbucks off I-5 at 9 AM. We must give Wind Wolves Preserve a participant count before the hike, so YOU MUST MAKE RESERVATION PRIOR TO THURSDAY MAY 24 IF YOU WISH TO PARTICIPATE. Call Dale 661.242.1076 to make reservations.
June 23 (Sat) 8 AM. Three Falls and Lily Meadows. This hike takes us up the south side of the Pinos range. We will start our hike near the Ventura County Boy Scout camp and hike alongside the middle fork of the Lockwood Creek. Very gentle hike along a graded road until we come to the Three Falls area, then from there to Lily Meadows the trail is steeper. Wear good hiking shoes. Bring lots of water and a snack. Meet at PMC tennis courts at 8 AM. Others may choose to meet in Lockwood Valley. Call Dale 661.242.1076 to make arrangements.
Everybody can do it:
Recordkeeping as an Enhancement of the Outdoor Experience
Many of us love to spend time out in nature. It is fun, it is relaxing, it is a healthy way to get away from everyday routine. What we are not looking for is work. And the first word in the title of this article certainly smells like work. Recordkeeping! Why?
Obviously, if a person is actually working professionally in natural areas, recordkeeping makes sense. Biological surveys, seismic studies, prescribed burning monitoring, stream water quality and quantity studies, etc., all require careful records.
However, there are benefits of recordkeeping also for the recreational outdoor traveler. As great as our brains are, memories do fade, blend in with other memories, and are often resistant to careful analysis. Keeping track of one’s observations while walking trails, gardening, watching bird feeders, photographing wild flowers, walking the dog, and collecting firewood can have amazing results.
First of all, what do we mean by recordkeeping? It is a rather stuffy sounding word, but it can involve a lot of enjoyable activities. It can mean keeping photo records, sketches, notes in an engagement or wall calendar, or entries in a pocket notebook. The whole idea of recordkeeping is to help one’s memory, and to help share these memories with others. So many times in my life I have thought I remembered some episode well, only to browse some old notes or photographs to realize that my memory had scrambled and abbreviated events a bit, or a whole lot!
One thing that happens with recordkeeping is that it becomes easier to analyze what one is observing. Are the meadows where I walk my dogs covered with the same species of wild flowers each spring? And do the major blooms occur at the same time year after year? Does a certain intermittent stream near my home dry up and begin flowing at the same times each year? Of course, it depends on one’s interest in nature, and on one’s preferred way of keeping track of things.
In my case, I have studied birds most of my life. I am a lousy photographer, and my artistic skills are unmentionable. But I love to keep notes, and enjoy number-crunching. So it is not too surprising that I have a data base of personal bird species records in California from 1961 to the present. There are more than 60,000 entries. I can check arrival times of spring migrants. I have records of places that no longer exist, such as a salt marsh in Marin County. I have contributed to the recordkeeping of county and state parks, national forests, and other official organizations.
Up here on the "Hill" are amateur astronomers, naturalists, mineralogists, meteorologists, fishermen, hikers, and activists in many areas such as air quality, traffic, stream health, development, and so on. Also, there is a varied wealth of expressive talent. Some folks sketch, some photograph, some take notes, some write. The trick is to combine one’s nature interest with one’s expressive interest. Keeping a notebook or sketch pad, binoculars, and camera on the dining table near the bird feeders can produce a habit pattern of keeping track. How many species do I see each day? Which winter birds leave for the summer? What are some of the behaviors I observe?
One of the added benefits of taking regular notes of some kind is that it tends to make one pay more attention. Soon one is asking questions, looking a little more closely, checking in a reference book, etc. I once walked behind a tarantula for a few hours, taking notes. We did not travel very far, but I looked at that hillside in a way that I never had before. My notes were quite weird, but I was able to record what seemed to interest the little creature, and how it hunted. Another time, I followed a Nuttall’s woodpecker on her daily foraging jaunts. My records showed that about every fifteen minutes she took a short nap on the underside of an inclined branch. This was a bit of information I never would have guessed, and something I never have read. All it took was a little attention and patience.
By Lynn Stafford
Litigation went on and on, but at last the final decision came out in the water extraction case. Just to remind you, Orr and Company proposed a project that would draw up to 300 acre feet of water per year from the Gorman Hills. The Condor Group challenged the fact that this project had been supported without the preparation of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The court upheld our challenge on three counts: wetlands, air pollution potential, and seismic risks. All the permits, permissions, and decisions of the Planning Commission and the Los Angeles Board were nullified, and everybody is back to ground zero.
At this writing, we know that Orr and company did not challenge the judge’s decision, so it has become final. We understand that Orr and company are going to proceed with the development of an EIR for the water extraction project.
THE LAW: The role of the California Environmental Quality is clearly illustrated by this case.
Orr and company will have to follow the process for developing an EIR as is prescribed by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) before the project can be reconsidered. These are the basic steps:
(1) Orr and company will have to prepare a notice of Preparation (NOP). This outlines the basic project and contains analysis of potential environmental impacts.
(2) Next, Orr and company must prepare the company’s draft EIR (environmental impact report), responding to all issues brought up by respondents to the NOP. This is the second opportunity for public input.
(3) The presentation of the final EIR is a third opportunity for reaction. With the final EIR in place, the project will be
(4) presented to the Planning Commission of the Los Angeles Regional Planning Dept. This group recommends whether the project should be approved or not approved by the Board of Supervisors. The public can be heard by this group before they make a decision.
(5) The Board of Supervisors, the final decision makers, will consider the recommendation of the Planning Commission. However, the Board of Supervisors does not have to follow the recommendation of the Planning Commission. Before the Board of Supervisors makes its decision, the public can be heard once again.
If the Board of Supervisors makes an unfavorable decision, an appeal can be filed and the case will go to court. The court upheld the Sierra Club claims for the need of an EIR; its future attitude remains in question. That, then, is what has happened with the project up to this point.
There are basically five official opportunities for us, the public, to express our opinions on any project governed by CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act). We need your help particularly because the set of developments is in a compact area and represents a single threat, but two jurisdictions are involved and two groups of officials must be appealed to. In these situations, as in the water extraction case, where victories are rarely final, a special persistence is required. Continue on!
Challenge 1. The Frazier Park Estates, formerly Fallingstar Homes, (Kern County) is a project redrawn from over 800 houses down to 650-plus, with commercial and some multi-unit constructions in addition. Presentation of this plan produced so many negative comments and concerns that it was withdrawn by Kern County Planning Department. Water concerns included the following actions of note: Original plans for lands from LA County to be used for wastewater plant were canceled. A plan by the developer to become a part of the Frazier Mountain Water District was not accepted by the Water District.
It is said that the Frazier Estates Plan will be reintroduced sometime in this year, 2007. Watch for the announcement of this meeting so you can arrange to attend and add your voice to the comments.
Challenge 2. Gorman Post Ranch (Los Angeles County). 400-plus homes are planned for lands bordered by HW 138 on the south side, I-5 on the west and the lands where all the communication towers are located on the east north-east. Located on these lands are over 4,000 oak trees, more than half of which, according to the present plan, would be removed. Movement of 13 MILLION yards of earth will be required to site the proposed homes. Water sources for these homes–incredibly, individual wells.
Notice of Preparation meeting has been held for this project. Over 70 written comments were submitted by agencies, conservation groups, and individuals. Next step? Preparation of draft EIR.
Challenges 3 and 4. Centennial (Los Angeles County) and Mountain Village (Kern County) Tejon projects. Both EIRs are scheduled to be revealed in this year but don’t count on it .
Challenge 5. San Emidio New Town (Kern Countty). Rising from the past is this plan for a town at the southern end of the Central Valley in the vicinity of Wind Wolves. It was approved in 1992 by Kern Board of Supervisors, but no work was ever started on this project. Developers are now consulting with Kern County Planning about the project, but nothing official has been revealed.
Remember also the fact of the Tejon Industrial Complexes, located at the foot of the Grapevine to the north. One is already built, the other is in the courts being sued by the Center for Biological Diversity.
More background? Our local papers, the Mountain Enterprise and the Pioneer, provide continual coverage of proposed projects in our area. The web site, cuddyvalley.org, developed and maintained by Jan de Leeuw, head of the UCLA Statistics Dept. and a local citizen, is invaluable for information concerning these projects and more. Go to the website and then on to local projects. For more complete biological evidence, go to the Center for Biological Diversity home page via Google for a variety of information on these projects and area.
Here are suggesstions that might help you in writing your letters. We encourage you to emphasize the cumulative impact of all these proposed projects. To quote from Jan de Leeuw’s article in the Pioneer (Feb 2007), "The region has a length of about 20 miles along the I-5 corridor between SR-138 and the beginning of HW 99. It encompasses 20 miles to the east of this stretch and 20 miles to the west." The area presently has approximately 7 to 12 thousand inhabitants, with little of the infrastructure required by large developments. These projects are proposed for sites in the middle of nowhere, being 35 miles from Bakersfield to the north, and 35 miles to Santa Clarita to the south, with no large communities in between. They would increase the area’s population by at least hundreds of percent.
Other Major Concerns: Water. Present usage has already been shown to place great stress on the groundwater. Little is known about the actual availability of water and the configurations of the region’s aquifers. Air pollution. If the water extraction project is approved in the future, there will be the problem of idling trucks waiting to be filled, as well as all the additional traffic "inspired" by housing developments and the industrial complexes. Effect on these most special natural areas (Tejon Ranch lands are listed as one of the ten most threatened areas of California). Condors. Protection of wildflower areas (especially the Gorman Hills, a possible future preserve). Seismic risk. All the proposed developments are located on major faults. Effects on the already congested traffic on I-5. Tax costs imposed on the general taxpayers of the state to maintain these developments once the developers are gone.
WHAT NEXT? Be watchful for news of these projects. When they are addressed in the newspapers, on the TV, wherever, write your letters and write again and again as the months and years pass. It is good to alert our representatives and decision makers BEFORE items come to their immediate attention. Keep reminding the politicians as to what is happening and as to what you think should be happening.
If you would like to be reminded of particular times when it would be especially helpful to have letters written, please send an e-mail to jmal@frazmtn.com. Your address will be kept on a list for notification.
Please keep this copy of this edition of the Condor Flyer so that you will have contact information at hand when asked to help with contacting decision-making officials.
You can send essentially the same letter to all concerned, just varying the recipient and address; you do not have to vary the actual content for each person. In writing to the sets of supervisors and commissioners below, you can include separate envelopes each for a different individual within a single envelope sent to the general address, whereupon they will be distributed to the intended individuals. Be prepared to write again and still again as the projects wend their way through the processes described in detail for the water extracton project. Personalize them with your own feelings and understandings about what is happening up here in the Mountain Communities area.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is the five member governing board of Los Angeles County, California. Members of the board of supervisors are elected by district, the current members as of April 2006 are:
The address below applies to all supervisors. Just note that the room numbers are different.
Gloria Molina ,, First District Rm 856 213. 974.4111 fax (213.)613.-1739
FAX
Yvonne B. Burke, Second District Rm 866 213.974.2222 fax 213.680.32383
Zev Yaroslavsky , Third District Rm 821 213. 974.3333 fFax 213. 625.7360
Don Knabe, Fourth District Rm 822 213.974.44444444 fFax 213.626.6941
Michael D. Antonovich, ch
Fifth District Rm t
County of Los Angeles
869 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration
500 West Temple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213). 974.-5555 fax (213.) 974.-1010
Att. Board of Supervisors, nt.
Antonovich is the most influential in this case, as the projects Centennial, Gorman Post Ranch, and water extraction are all in his district. However, the other supervisors should be contacted also. Each will have a votefax
when the decisions are made.
Esther L. Valadez, Chair
Leslie G. Bellamy
Harold V. Helsley, Vice Chair
Wayne Rew
Pat Modugno
Jon McQuiston, District 1
Don Maben, Chairman, District 2
Mike Maggard, District 3
Ray Watson, District 4 (this is the district the Kern County projects are in)
Michael J. Rubio, District 5
Peter John Belluomini Term 2005/2008 BOS S.D. 1
Chris E. Babcock Term 1998/2008 BOS S.D. 2
Kay Pitts Term 2001/2008 BOS S.D. 3
Ronald Curtis Sprague Term 2003/2009 BOS S.D. 4
Wendy Wayne Term 2005/2008 BOS S.D. 5
With cooperation of Mt. Pinos USFS District and others, the Condor Group will plan and present a Nature Fest. This is a revival of similar events held nearly ten years ago. At the Nature Fest there will be opportunity for young and old to see, learn and do activities that will help all to become more knowledgeable and appreciative about this grand place in which we are fortunate to live.
Visitors will have opportunities to make things, to do some experiments, to learn about flowers and trees found in our area–and even learn about tenting, treading lightly, observing closely and on and on! Who knows how some experience with the world of nature that we might highlight can affect you and your children?
MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW, SATURDAY MAY 12, and if you would like to help with this endeavor, please call 661.242.0432.
The film An Inconvenient Truth was viewed with rapt attention by over fifty persons attending the Condor Group’s potluck meeting in February. As Moderator for the evening program, Katherine King encouraged a post-show conversation, which centered on possible individual efforts to reduce global warming. Outstanding was Katherine’s remark that she saved tin cans for recycling and carried them for disposal to Lebec Transfer Center. Now that’s real devotion to the cause of planet health.
It is heartwarming to know that this inspiring environmental film received this year’s Oscar for the best documentary. Well-deserved, and good news for us all!
Carrizo Plain Monument has had great difficulties in the past years in developing a management plan for the Monument. With a shift of officials working out of the BLM office a public meeting was held just recently that dealt with consideration of the plan, and most people came away feeling positive about the future outcome of a balanced plan to accommodate farmers and conservationists. PS: There have been no sandhill cranes at the Plain for serveral years. Discouraging was the report that even the grass was not green there. We need another March Miracle, that is for sure!
Condor Group ExCom Members Want to contact Condor Flyer editor?
Co-Chairs: Lynn Stafford, , Mary Ann Lockhart. jmal@frazmtn.com
Treasurer: Dale Chitwood. Katherine King, 661.242.0432
Harry Nelson, Barbara Nusbaum, Mar Preston, ,
Dorothy Vokelek.. For information - 661.242.0432
You can read the Condor Flyer and more–on the web!
Just put Sierra Club Home Page into your search engine and follow the directions from there.
Easy as pie, really it is!
There are so many persons to express appreciation to–all the members of the executive committee who meet monthly to plan and carry out activities for our group, all those who spontaneously help out with setting up and cleaning up for our group meetings.
And then there is a very special person who has worked out of her home, making visits to the bank, sorting out bills, writing checks and doing all things related to the finances of our group–and that person is
FAY BENBROOK
our treasurer for over five years.
Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike. John Muir
