Mendocino County Today: Wednesday, Aug 12, 2015

• Jerusalem Burning
• MRC Facts
• Weed Burritos
• Surreal Meeting
• County Lying
• The Kiss
• Hillary's Ambition
• Invisible Cabin
• Husband Store
• Catch of the Day
• Texas Steve
• Transcontinental Transcendence
• WSJ at Hendy

WEDNESDAY MORNING UPDATE: 16,500 acres burned, 6% contained, 50 structures threatened.

 

JERUSALEM FIRE SOUTH OF ROCKY FIRE EXPANDS DRAMATICALLY. Many new evacuations ordered. (Tuesday evening)

The blaze has so far charred 14,000 acres, is burning further to the southeast into mainly uninhabited wildland, in rugged, difficult terrain. Containment as of late Tuesday was estimated at only 5%. The latest evacuation order is for Morgan Valley Road from the Reiff Road intersection east to the Napa County line, and from Reiff Road from the Morgan Valley Road intersection east to the Yolo County line. An evacuation center has been set up at Middletown High School, and a shelter for pets has been set up at the Old Water Park in Clearlake. The fire is burning in steep, rugged terrain, south of the Rocky Fire, which has already charred about 70,000 acres but is now 88% contained. After growing rapidly Monday night, the Jerusalem Fire was moving slower Tuesday but picked up again as temperatures rose in the afternoon. Road closures include: Jerusalem Valley Road at Spruce Grove Road, Morgan Valley Road from Reiff Road southeast to the Napa County line, Reiff Road to Morgan Valley Road east to the Yolo County line and Berryessa Knoxville Road from Lake Berryessa north. No homes have been reported damaged or destroyed and no injuries have been reported, although 50 structures are said to be threatened. Firefighters said Tuesday that wind shifts may blow the Jerusalem Fire toward the burned out area of Rocky Fire, which would slow the progress of the fire. No cause has been announced for either of the fires. 1700 firefighters, 118 engines, 53 crews, 4 air tankers, 18 helicopters, 28 dozers and 22 water tenders are on scene, most transferred from the Rocky Fire incident.

CalFire: “The fire is burning in heavy decadent brush and the lack of roads in the area continue to hamper fire suppression efforts. The fire remains active and firefighters are working aggressively to stop the forward progression and sustain perimeter control. Erratic winds are contributing to the increased fire activity and promoting high intensity runs with short range spotting.”

RESPONDING TO MRC

by Will Parrish

Shortly after I published a lengthy February 11th article in the East Bay Express and the AVA entitled “The Lumber Man In Charge of Climate Policy,” Mendocino Redwood Company/Humboldt Redwood Company issued an extensive response to it on their website, located at

http://www.hrcllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/MRC-reponse-to-East-Bay-Press-article.pdf.

Actually, MRC/HRC has now published three responses to articles I've written this year. They also took exception to the THP study I published about them earlier this month and my piece reporting on their disgruntled employees.

Now, let's face it: Your average working class investigative journalist whose office is the converted northwestern corner of a barn located in the Mendocino County hinterlands doesn't have the same resources at his disposal as a regional timber barony owned by the multi-billionaire Fisher family. So, if I'm going to get engaged in a back-and-forth with MRC beyond what you read here, I'd rather make my time and energy count. If MRC wants to carry this further, we can have an in-person debate in a public venue. That way, we'll all get the most out of it. Otherwise, I'll consider the matter closed.

In my response, I'm omitting MRC's generic cut-and-paste answers that they culled from their web site and dropped into their column box entitled “Facts About Mendocino and Humboldt Redwood.” (I considered formatting my reply piece in the same column format as MRC used and labeling my column “Better Facts About Mendocino and Humboldt Redwood” but decided against that format which would probably make for torturous reading). Rather, I'm picking the most substantive points they raised in response to my specific article and replying only to those.

 

The Mattole Forest Blockade

Original Text: “The world's largest remaining contiguous stand of old-growth redwood forest resides in Humboldt Redwoods State Park in Northern California. On the park's northwestern flank, six people gathered last May to oppose a logging venture on adjacent private property. For four days, the activists shadowed the loggers and their supervising forester, as well as three Humboldt County sheriff's deputies who were keeping a watchful eye on the forest defenders in case they edged over the park boundary. The activists sought to obstruct the logging operation. But initially, the Humboldt Redwood Company (HRC) loggers ignored them, toppling Douglas firs and madrone within thirty feet of where the protesters stood. The supervising forester dispassionately informed them that if any of them died, it would be ruled a suicide. Soon after, a tree crashed against the dead top of a smaller one, sending an errant wood chunk sailing perilously close to an activist's head.”

MRC Reply: “Activists put themselves and the fallers in an unsafe and potentially dangerous situation by coming up unannounced behind the active logging crew to film the fallers in close proximity. The activists did not inform the timber fallers of their presence on multiple occasions. As soon as the logging contractor saw activists they stopped active logging. Eventually the Sheriff’s Office was called and deputies were dispatched to help ensure everyone’s safety. Active logging operations are hazardous. Even when company employees visit an active logging site, the company stays in constant communication with the logging contractors to ensure everyone’s safety.”

WP Reply: It doesn't help the timber company's credibility when their first rebuttal is contradicted by videos that are easily accessible online, such as one at

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h2Cjh_W8MzM.

In the opening moments of this video, the faller finishes sawing the base of a tree and strides to within a few feet of the activist holding the camera as the tree drops behind him. Two sheriffs are already on hand, so this must have been at least an hour into the event given the remoteness of the location. The logger had been cutting trees with full knowledge of how close the activists were, and continued to do so after the clip ends. The activists were standing on public park land the entire time.

 

Road Construction vs. Logging

Original text: “HRC crews soon turned to logging a far more remote 800-acre area of the same stretch of forestland, located in the rugged headwaters of the 72-mile-long Mattole River, which flows northwest through Mendocino and Humboldt counties. On their way to work on a late-June morning, loggers crossed over a high mountain pass – the sole access point to an area known as Long Ridge. They were met by an elaborate and fantastical blockade: Under the cover of darkness, activists had lashed together a jumble of logs, forming a wooden contraption reminiscent of a massive woodrat's nest that splayed across the entire roadway.”

MRC: The “far more remote 800 acre” activity described here was for the construction of a road authorized by appropriate regulators, including the California Department of Fire and Forestry Protection (Cal Fire).

WP: MRC was authorized to build a road by Cal Fire so they could begin logging in a far more remote area roughly 800 acres in size. From what I can tell, the intention of MRC's statement is to create a false distinction that renders the impression of their activity as benign. Road-building, though, is arguably the most destructive aspect of industrial forestry. Sediment discharge from a logging road can be ten times greater than from a clearcut surrounding the road. Roads alter water runoff patterns and permanently disrupt subsurface water flow. That Cal Fire signed off is not in itself reassuring. The California Board of Forestry is dominated by the timber industry. Cal Fire's restrictions on logging are quite limited.

 

Mattole Old-Growth?

Original Text: “Direct actions that aim to escalate the cost of cutting talismanic forest stands have a long history on California's North Coast. But efforts to protect the Mattole are notable, in part, because of who owns both the forest and the lumber company that has sought to fell it: the Fisher family of San Francisco. Best known as owners of The Gap and Banana Republic retail clothing empire, family matriarch Doris Fisher and her sons Robert, William, and John (who is also well-known in the East Bay as the majority owner of the Oakland A's) are all billionaires. Their collective worth exceeds $9 billion. Within the Fishers' 440,000 acres of forestland in Humboldt, Mendocino, and Sonoma counties, the family owns more coastal redwood forest than any private entity ever has.”

MRC: “In keeping with the company's forest management policies and FSC Standards pertaining to old growth forests, and after much engagement which included several field visits with members of the Mattole River watershed and other interested parties, Humboldt Redwood has already set aside from harvest the most notable stands in the Mattole. The stands referenced in this article are comprised of a modest percentage of scattered old growth trees (all of which are already being reserved from harvest in accordance with long-standing company policy) along with the remaining forest of trees that have taken hold as a result of natural fire being suppressed in this area over the last 100-150 years.

WP: And none of those negotiations would have happened had it not been for the blockade.

 

FSC Support By Environmental Groups

Original Text: By the 1980s, large timber corporations, such as Maxxam and Louisiana Pacific, had initiated one of the most intense logging waves that California's North Coast had ever known. But they were opposed by ecologists who had moved into the area during the previous twenty years and who believe fervently in a forest's inherent right to exist, as well as by some loggers who recognized that their jobs were threatened by the liquidation of the large forests that still remained. In addition, scientists had developed new ways of measuring the forests' societal and ecological worth. Professor Franklin's research, for example, helped reveal the ecological importance of old-growth redwoods to numerous critters — including the spotted owl.

MRC: Forest Stewardship Council certification is recognized as the most rigorous voluntary independent standard for exemplary forest management, and is supported by a variety of local, regional, national and international environmental organization. From time to time, there are additional requirements outsiders seek to impose to further control and oversee the company’s operations to assure faithful compliance to all of these rules and restrictions.

WP: Who are MRC defining as “outsiders” here? This company is entitled to 227,000 acres in Mendocino County. It's owned by one of the US' wealthiest families. Sometimes, neighboring residents get upset about the company's practices, such as the herbicide spraying of thousands of acres annually of tan oaks and other unmarketable trees, then leaving them standing-dead and waiting to be torched like so many matchsticks after the next lightning strike. I'd be careful about labeling people who live adjacent to those areas, or any other critic of the company, an “outsider.”

The most vocal environmental NGO supporters of the FSC are Greenpeace International and the Sierra Club, which both participate in the FSC's governance. Last year, prompted by the FSC's certification of clear-cutting timber corporation Green Diamond, Greenpeace initiated an ongoing series of glossy reports highlighting the FSC's successes and failures (for my own overview of these failings, see my October 10, 2012 AVA piece “Greenwashing Forest Destruction”). As part of Greenpeace's FSC “audit,” it published a glowing overview of MRC. The report was full of inaccuracies, one of which was the assertion that MRC plans to phase out herbicide use by the year 2020. MRC plans to do no such thing. Roughly half the citations in Greenpeace's report were from MRC's website. An article I published in 2012 was Greenpeace's only countervailing citation. In preparing their report, Greenpeace interviewed nobody who is critical of the company. And that's just one example of how the Big Green groups supporting the FSC have a serious credibility problem that they aren't addressing.

 

Carbon Sequestration in Logged Timberlands

Original Text: “Patrick Gonzalez, who is a National Park Service climate change scientist and a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley's Center for Forestry, is one of the world's leading experts on carbon sequestration. He notes the importance of studying remaining old-growth forests to establish a benchmark for how much carbon the degraded lands could store in the future. "Published field research shows that old-growth coast redwoods in Humboldt Redwoods State Park attain the highest carbon densities (tons of carbon per hectare) of any ecosystem in the world," Gonzales wrote to me in an email, referring to the forest directly adjacent to the Mattole Forest (of which the Fisher family owns roughly 8,000 acres in total). 'They achieve such high densities because they attain the tallest heights of any tree in the world.'”

MRC: Humboldt Redwood agrees that density is important as a carbon sink. Similar soil conditions on company lands that contain plantations of pure redwood have been measured by the company and University of California researchers under Dr. Kevin O’Hara. The research shows that Humboldt Redwood’s managed forests are among the fastest carbon sequestering forests in the world.

WP: Thanks to MRC for letting us know that about their “plantations of pure redwood.” Redwood forests are the fastest carbon sequestering forests in the world, as I noted in various locations in the article in question. So, I'm sure some sections of HRC forest are among the fastest carbon sequestering forests in the world. The operative question here is whether older or younger trees are better at sequestering carbon. The timber industry has consistently promoted the now widely-discredited idea view that young tree plantations sequester carbon faster than, say, the old-growth forests in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

 

MRC and Clearcutting

Original Text: But according to many environmentalists, the cap-and-trade program is fraught with problems, some of the most glaring of which are its provisions concerning forests. For example, cap and trade currently allows timber operators to generate carbon credits even when they clear-cut a forest, so long as the cut is no larger than forty acres.

MRC: Traditional clear-cutting was eliminated as a harvesting method soon after the formation of each company; Mendocino Redwood Company in 1998, and Humboldt Redwood Company in 2008.

WP: I never claimed in this piece that MRC is guilty of clear-cutting. In fact, I stated the opposite. Since they brought it up, though, I'll delve into the subject here. In 1998, the company's logging plans filed with Cal Fire featured 866.1 acres of clearcuts. The company officially moved away from clearcutting after that point. Good for them. But a large proportion of its harvests filed as “alternative prescription” after that point were essentially clearcuts. MRC foresters listed “clearcut” as the “closest prescription” on 5,425 acres filed as “alternative prescription” harvests between 1999 and 2007. The last year that MRC conducted more than 800 acres of “alternative prescription” clearcutting was in 2005. The data I've compiled overwhelmingly indicates that the company has used a logging method called “variable retention” as a substitute for clearcutting since then. A long-standing colloquial term for “variable retention” among some foresters is “fuzzy clear-cutting.”

 

MRC's HCP

Original: “FSC certification is based on exceeding the requirements of state regulations to maintain certain areas of forest based on their value to the environment. According to figures in MRC's Habitat Conservation Plan filed with regulatory agencies, by 2045, the company intends to increase the board-foot volume level in its forests from 10,000 to 20,000 per acre, the latter of which equates to the volume of a young second- or third-growth redwood or fir forest. Company reps highlight the timber volume increase, as well as a policy that prohibits cutting of old-growth forests, as an example of how it goes beyond state requirements.”

MRC: “Mendocino Redwood Company's Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) is a draft document (over 1600 pages) and work in progress since 2001 (see http://calfire.ca.gov/resource_mgt/resource_mgt_EPRP_PTEIR_MendocinoRedwoodCo.php). The HCP is a long term planning agreement with a consortium of regulatory agencies that takes a landscape level approach to exceeding regulatory forest management requirements in exchange for more efficient interaction with regulators. A public draft was released in late 2012, with expectations of a final approved version in early 2016.”

WP: Notice that most of these assertions have only a tenuous connection with my original text? I wrote a piece deconstructing the HCP earlier this year. Among the highlights are MRC's plan to cut down endangered northern spotted owl habitat in exchange for eventually creating new spotted owl habitat somewhere else. We'll hope the spotted owls read the HCP and figure out the locations of their new digs.

 

“Taking Down” the Albion

Original: “One of these areas surrounds the small coastal town of Albion. Nobody in Mendocino County has conducted more in-depth reviews of logging plans than Albion resident Linda Perkins, who chairs the Albion River Watershed Protection Association. When MRC purchased 15,000 acres in the watershed, the land averaged 26,000 board feet per acre. The company is reducing that total to 18,000 per acre, as part of a goal of evening out forest sizes across its properties. "MRC claims credit for the high timber volumes [in the Albion], but they're continuing to take the forest down," Perkins noted. "Their goal is to make the forest more homogeneous. When you do that, and you don't have much timber, you have to take the big trees." ”

MRC: “Timber volumes across the Albion watershed have increased by more than 50 million board feet since the formation of Mendocino Redwood in 1998.”

WP: According to Linda Perkins, an MRC forester told her exactly this at a public forum: They plan to take the Albion down to 18,000 board feet an acre. And that's likely what will happen if the company follows its prescription in the aforementioned Habitat Conservation Plan for eliminating much of the Albion's spotted owl habitat (which, by definition, are some of the largest remaining forested stands in the watershed).

 

Elk River Flooding

Original: “According to numerous sources, [MRC’s Mike] Jani frequently lobbies regulatory agencies and legislators to prevent restrictions on the company's ability to harvest timber. Recently, he has strongly opposed a proposal by the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board to reduce tree felling on the company's properties in the Elk River watershed of Humboldt County. The proposal was designed to prevent flash-flooding in the region. Flooding is a legacy of over-logging, which has reduced the soil's ability to retain moisture and has destroyed numerous properties in the area.”

MRC: Humboldt Redwood had a recent difference of scientific opinion with the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and remains in dialogue with the agency about the best way to address downstream flooding issues.

WP: Mike Jani has filed three complaints about the license of the Water Board's lead staff person vis-a-vis development of the Elk River Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) document mandated by the federal Clean Water Act. That hardly constitutes a “difference of scientific opinion.” Essentially, the TMDL calls for a 97 percent reduction in logging the watershed with a goal of abating the flooding problem in thirty years. Since a disproportionate share of HRC's annual timber volume comes from the watershed, that's a hard pill for them to swallow. So, even though careful monitoring of the Elk River has recorded big increases in the rate and extent of sediment deposition in the Elk River under HRC's logging regime, HRC claims the problem is entirely due to “legacy deposits” owing to Pacific Lumber's logging.

 

Increase in Harvesting?

Original: Because of the activists' blockade last year, HRC management has put its plans for the Mattole on hold for the time being. Company reps have even been talking with environmental groups about altering some aspects of the plan. According to Jani, however, the company is unlikely to change its original plans significantly, because that would mean re-filing the proposal with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

MRC response: Some of Mendocino Redwood Company's neighbors and interested members of the community have asked for timber harvest planning to take place across bigger landscapes as opposed to smaller discrete planning areas so that a broader ecological view can be employed in formulating the plans. This has resulted in the company sometimes using bigger planning areas for harvesting, while still covering about the same number of acres per year for overall harvest.

WP: It's true that, in the last year or two, MRC hasn't actually been filing to cut a greater number of acres than its historical norm, as I confirmed in my recent study of MRC's 1998-2012 THP filings.

 

758-225-185

Original: According to a video made of MRC's tour with local residents, when Williams told MRC Vice President Dennis Thibeault that "you should not cut 758 acres," Thibeault responded by saying, "Unfortunately, as a company, we're still here. What you're asking us to do is go away. That's not a solution for us."

MRC: There are 758 acres within the Albion timber harvest plan boundaries. Of that 758 acres, approximately 185 acres are designated no harvest zones, and another 225 acres are significantly restricted harvest due to adjacent watercourses.

WP: Huh? If there are “no harvest areas,” I see none designated in the plan. With regard to the latter, maybe they are referring to the Anadromous Salmonid Protection (ASP) the State Board of Forestry promulgated in 2009, then weakened in 2012 after lobbying by the timber industry (including MRC), in which case it's an enormous stretch to say “225 acres are significantly restricted harvest due to adjacent watercourses.”

 

FSC Certification of the Redwood Forest Foundation

Original: Various efforts to do better than either the FSC or the Fisher family's logging operations have emerged in recent years, including the nonprofit Redwood Forest Foundation, which manages 50,000 acres on the Mendocino Coast, a little south of the Mattole.

MRC: “Our information is that the Redwood Forest Foundation is seeking FSC certification of its forest.”

WP: Touche'. But hey, nobody ever said the FSC imprimatur doesn't make lumber more marketable. Just ask Green Diamond.

MY CRAZIEST HUMBOLDT DAY EVER:

A Pot Grower’s Account Of Rescuing A Friend’s Pot Patch From A Lightning Fire

One grower tells his story about rescuing a friend’s marijuana farm from a lightning fire last night. For obvious reasons, we cannot verify all aspects of the story or identify the writer. However, we have verified some aspects of the story and are satisfied that the story is reasonably accurate. Minor edits were made to a text document typed on a cellphone…

So it’s 7am, I still haven’t slept yet, but as I sit here reflecting on what might have been the craziest night of my weed career in Humboldt, I can’t help but smile. I made it. What that means will become more clear as this story evolves. You may find yourself in disbelief, but I promise the events that unfolded are 100% true.

Yesterday started out as most of my days do, I hopped into my diesel truck and headed out to “The Hill,” like all dopers do, to check on a few properties. Currently all my light dep [light deprivation grows] is down at the moment so I’m knee deep in trimmers. My main purpose for the day was to shuffle a few trimmers from one property to another. So I stopped somewhere off the 36, picked up my crew of smelly trimsters, and headed out towards Hyampom [a small town in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest about 20 miles east of Hayfork, a little more than half-way between Redding and Eureka on the South Fork of the Trinity River]. When the term BFE was first coined I’m pretty sure Hyampom was what they had in mind. It’s a small town in a secluded valley nestled right in between the 36 and 299. From the 36 the easiest way to get there is to take Route 1 north, and then a dirt road for about 20 miles until you pop into Hyampom.

So as I headed up Route 1 I noticed all these ominous dark clouds and thought to myself FUUUUUUUUUCK, those are thunderheads and it’s about to get really real out here. That’s when the Lightning started, the catalyst to my craziest day ever. I don’t know if you read the news much, but there’s a drought, and the forest is a matchbox right now.

Lightning was going off everywhere and as I got to the top of Route 1, I could see in the distance about 15 different fires of varying sizes. Somehow by the grace of God none of these fires were near me. While I was not happy by any means because I understand fires put people’s lives in danger, I felt relief knowing I was in the clear. The closest fire to me was a small brush fire right on Route 1. Not a big deal, or so I thought.

I get to my property about 7ish pm and I’m hanging out with my buddy and we decide to go for a drive back to Route 1 where all the mountains in the distance are visible to see how these fires are progressing.

At this point it’s about 9pm, I took a picture and you can see all the different little fires going on. They are way off in the distance which is why I felt relatively safe.

This is where it starts to get sideways on me. I get a call from my friend Bear and he tells me that lightning struck an hour ago, about a 1000 yards from his place, and he was in serious danger of losing all his Pot that was currently hang drying and he asked me if I could help him out. Never to let a friend in need down, I looked at my buddy to the right of me and said, “Let’s go save this poor guy.” My buddy was in.

As the crow flies, Bear is only like 6 miles away, but by the time we get through all the gates and traverse the windy roads, it’s like 11:30 at night before we get to the road to his property. Now as we arrive 3 big Calif. Dept. of Forestry trucks come a rumbling down the road and wave us down.

This burly guy looks at me and says, “What the hell are you doing.” So I told him, “My buddy’s place is about to burn down but we need to get his ‘valuables’ out before he abandons ship.” This guy looks at me and says, “The LEO’s [law enforcement officers] will be here in the morning so if you’re gonna move a bunch of weed around you better do it now or you might be looking at some trouble in the morning. But I gotta be honest with you, the fire is only 75 yards from the road. I wouldn’t risk it.”

So I said thanks for the heads up, looked at my buddy to the right of me, and said, “Fuck it, we’ll be fine.” So, of course, we jam up this mountain road and upon arrival I can tell my buddy is flipped. You probably would be too if you worked your ass off for the last six months just to end up losing everything to a fire. So he’s running around trying to grab everything valuable and throw it in the back of his truck. He has two workers in a carport that is full of hanging weed taking all of that down and throwing it into two big tarps.

…I brought my trailer with me so we wrap all that weed up into two giant tarped weed burritos and stuff my trailer with it. Unfortunately, there is one more carport full of hanging weed and no place to put it, so we brainstorm for a minute. We came up with a pretty good idea. He had a 2500 gallon water tank that he wasn’t using so we literally, (and maybe you had to be there because it seemed absurd to me,) are stuffing this water tank with dried pot plants and are able to fit it all in there. It was stuffed to the brim.

We strap that to a quad trailer he has on the property and start to head out. Now if you can imagine this, there is a jeep with a quad trailer behind it with this giant water tank strapped to it full of weed. A trailer behind my truck stuffed full of weed. One of the workers is driving a Polaris with goggles on and my buddy in his truck. Quite the dirty convoy headed out.

Now, to be honest, I wasn’t that worried about law enforcement because the plan was to back road it to my place and put his stuff in my barn to sort out later. I’m an idiot, what was I thinking? This is where it gets crazier.
 At the bottom of the road is a truck with two federal game wardens waiting for us to come down because they were told by some California Department of Forestry guys that we might need rescuing and they wanted to make sure we made it out ok. So they stop us and ask us about the fire which really wasn’t getting any closer to the road but was definitely climbing the mountain so we answered their questions about the fire.

After the small talk one of the officers kind of bluntly says, “Is that trailer full of weed because it smells terrible.”

I said “You know what, sir? It is, but it’s all medical.”

Then he says, “And that water tank, that’s full of weed too?”

I said “Yup, but that weed is medical too.”

So he starts laughing and I’m laughing and he grabs his phone and is like “I gotta get a picture of this.” So he takes his picture and then says, “So you’re the guys at the top of the hill.”

We say, “Yah.”

He’s like “Well, normally I would arrest all of you right now, but I have to do more of these evacuations,” and then he looks at my buddy and says, “You are probably gonna lose your cabin and whatever you didn’t get out of there so get the fuck out of here and maybe you can make some money off your stuff to rebuild.”

I shit you not, this guy was fucking dialed. So we jam down the mountain back to my place and it’s like 3am when we get back. I have a panic attack for about 30 minutes because in my mind I was about to be arrested for doing a stupid favor. Eventually I calm down and I realize I’m not going to jail but also I’m not that tired and decide to go home. I had enough of the “hill” at this point.

Well, that small fire I mentioned to you in the beginning of this story turned into a big one.

So I drove through hell and decided to text my friend Kym about my crazy day and she asked me to please tell this story. So right now it’s 8:14am. I just finished writing this, I need a nap, and I hope y’all get a good laugh:)

And that’s my craziest Humboldt day ever.

(Courtesy Kym Kemp's blog, kymkemp.com)

REX GRESSETT ON THE FORT BRAGG CITY COUNCIL: The city council meeting last night made it all the way to surreal. I already felt weird. I was on the way to the city council meeting on my bicycle when I got somewhat dizzy. My bike has no brakes, which really does add something to the comparatively pusillanimous riding of bikes with them, but by grace I made it down to city hall. I lay on the grass by the museum and there was the beautiful smell of flowers, and the feel of the ocean coming across the mill site, and after a time I felt a little better and went into the meeting. But it all seemed somehow unreal. It was.

During the reports from the council when it came to Lindy , he asked the city council to agree to put on the agenda for the next meeting , that is to discuss and vote on, allowing the Ballot Initiative to be on the ballot. This ballot issue is on the proposed use of the Old Coast Hotel. One by one, each city councilman agreed to discuss it and to vote on it. Amazement , fear , perplexity, They wouldn't agree yesterday. Watsup.

This ballot Initiative would allow the people to decide by a direct vote the fate and future of their own downtown area. This is the ballot initiative that famously failed by one quarter vote to have the required number of signatures. One quarter of a signature. About a third of the signatures were declared invalid, all by some technicality unknown to the voter . It is the privilege of the city council to accept it anyway.

For two weeks Councilmen Scott Dietz and Doug Hammerstrom have declared piously that no point of ethics no basic regard for democratic courtesy, no respect for peoples inalienable and inarguable right to decide by election their future , ever at any time would or could induce them to allow this initiative to go forward. After all a quarter of a person is a quarter of a person. Right?

It was put to them that this petty refusal was somewhat insulting to those that hold that the freedom of the people ought not to be artificially constrained by a raw technicality. And when they were accused of insulting the basic values of a free people and American tradition, they firmly stated that they did not care.

An initiative does not decide anything. It makes an election.

There are people that do not want the Old Coast Hotel converted into an administrative center for an empire of homeless services moochers. There is a minority that claim that they have a higher moral right to decide for the rest of us.

Neither get their way by this initiative unless they are the majority. Then they do get their way.

This election was to be a chance which we were never given as a community to decide without Linda Ruffing secretly making the decision for us. An election was a hard earned and precious opportunity, earned by patriots for the town to discuss the issue , to disagree, to explain and to advocate. To talk it over as a town. But in all to identify the will of the people in preference to the will of a political machine.

Everybody at city hall was certainly against that. The mayor in his position of leadership was outspoken, he even lost his composure with me, first time for that.

Scott and Doug don't know ethical, they know the wrath of Linda Ruffing. But suddenly in the midst of their strong stand they flipped like pancakes and agreed to put it on the agenda. This appeared a great concession. Dare we think it even repentance? Perhaps there was an angelic intervention some strange and sudden turning toward the light.

As we all know at a city council meeting anybody can talk to them — well at them. You get three minutes. They can’t respond and are only allowed to sit there and try hard not to roll their eyes. So when my turn came I arose and solemnly thanked them all for this inexplicable and sudden reversal of position. Linda Ruffing was doing her silent best to convey hatred and revulsion, which is entirely normal , but oddly off putting when one is trying to speak rationally. But I am getting use to it. Learning even to enjoy it. God help me.

So the Old Coast Hotel is on the agenda. Doug would be out of town at the next meeting but we can do it without him so lets put it off another two weeks and do it then. All agreed. Sept 21.

When I got back to my seat. My buddy Jay Rosenquist, quiet intelligent Jay, whispered to me that the deadline to have it on the ballot was August 7, three days ago. At one time I had known that, I really thought I had. But I got swept up in my own amazement and apprehension of improvement at the city council. But they were agreeing to discuss something whose deadline had already passed , and I was thanking them for it. The unreality deepened.

Scott Menz, the kung fu guy, arose. He didn't know about the deadline either .. we dont get to vote on every little thing. Plight of the homeless, blah blah blah , the helpless, the least of these blah blah blah. . How dare you vote on that? This is a civil right.

Scott has a unique mind. This is the guy who told us in sonorous tones that he supported the mayor ( this was during the charmingly abortive recall) and supported the political machine generally not because he is hooked into the money, which he is , but because he doesn't think that society ought to inconvenience him more than it does. He don't want no elections, he don't want no discord, he wants quiet. He told us that the extreme limits of his civic obligation ought to be no more than spending ten minutes filling out the ballot form. From that point it is our reasonable office to trust them. And that it is because we don't, that he has had to take time out to reprove us.

That was then, tonight he wants to go to war. Claiming that the right of a small minority of pill pushers, poverty pimps and kung fu, teachers can declare a civil rights violation when they feel it will help them. He is, he says, willing to fight for it. What means he did not say. The small number that support the mayor and the machine often take the moral high ground. It is the only course open to them.

But let us pause , and actually for one moment consider the civil rights of the homeless.

What does it mean that all the money is being spent on an administrative center costing well upwards of a million dollars that has no use for the homeless they value.

Is this the last million of a multi-million dollar campaign? Is this the final step? Nom this is all the money they have and they are going to use it first to make fancy offices for themselves so that they will then have a place from which to conduct their work; anything that might be going to the homeless will have to come later. They did have a few million laid on them before this, but that's all gone, and like the current money it was thought to have a more lasting value converted into real estate than being wasted on actual and therefore ephemeral services for ungrateful homeless people. And anyway they are confident they can always get more money. For that you do need offices. Really nice ones.

Anyway, some of that real estate really is used by small minorities of the homeless. Tiny minorities. In the case of the hotel only five rooms will be available and not to homeless people. This is their fundamental formula to restrict use to an extreme few and take all the money to do it. Where are the civil rights of the homeless in that, Scott?

Where are the civil rights of people that are homeless and can't get in , which of course the very great majority. Or get thrown out, which is a number much greater than the few that they keep. Ultimately, they'll throw out all but a tiny few. The five rooms are for that select number. Its a tough job. But nice offices do help.

But hold on buddy. They do wellness. What you may well ask is wellness? I cannot truly say because nobody has ever really been able to tie it down. But in practice it consists of doing things to make yourself feel better, more content , less anxious. They noticed that homeless people do feel these things. Homeless people want jobs and can't get them, they miss their kids and can't get to them; they have to eat the rotten food and take the abuse that the paid sadists that oversee the system dish out. Hospitality Center noticed those things. They wanted to address the problem directly and in such a way as to not actually solve anything, which is not the way to get money. When people stop being homeless they stop being worth any money at all. Inducing and then making comfortable permanent failure pays the shelter so much more. Wellness is a way to get them to feel OK , when they are not. It gives them something to do with themselves when they are not able to address the more pressing problems of life. They have various techniques. Including kung fu. Wellness.

Thank you Scott, for clearing the air. The minority has decided not only what is to be done but how to do it. What would the majority do without you? They might even be running their own town. Intolerable. The homeless would probably be getting the money — Gad. RG

A BOLD FACED LIE

Editor,

The County is not being truthful about the Grand Jury’s statistical data used in their report titled “Children at Risk.” They are trying to convince everyone that the statistical database that the Grand Jury used was skewed due to late data entry. “That is a bold faced lie, and the County knows it.” The Grand Jury went back to the first quarter of 2011 thru the third quarter of 2014 in their May 2015 report.

“Every 3 months the data on the Child Welfare Dynamic Report System

@ http://cssr.berkeley.edu/ucb_childwelfare/default.aspx

is refreshed in the form of a new set of extract data.

The extract time frame is identified in the form of the year and quarter (for example "CWS/CMS 2012 Quarter 1 Extract") and the data reviewed at any point in time documents the operational extract for that moment.

The new data extract not only provides data for a new twelve month period or quarter (three months previous) but it updates the data for previously released periods due to further data input into the system and any data reconfigurations. “

http://www.co.fresno.ca.us/DepartmentPage.aspx?id=22415

* * *

In order for me to get my both BSW and MSW degrees, I was required to take several statistical courses. I can be considered an expert on this issue. Statistics are vital to real social workers. That is one of the reasons the state requires “Master Level Social Workers.” The only way the data that the grand jury used could have been skewed by late reports is if FCS social workers were years behind in entering data. However, that would mean that those investigations would have been left open in the system for years too. That is impossible, according to the same database, FCS met or exceeded state averages in 30 day closures, the third Emergency Response measure. Therefore, the statistical data is as real as it gets. Mendocino County should be embarrassed that they did not meet the first two measures which are the most important, Immediate and 10 day responses.

James Marmon, Lake County

THE KISS

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Hillary’s ambition is not personal but corporate. By which I mean she stands firmly with the so called permanent government, for want of a better term. The people who are connected via large corporations.

The Clintons went from possibly the poorest people ever to enter the White House, or the presidency pre White House, to a net worth deep in 8 figures. This has surely validated in her mind the rightness of neoliberalism, wherein everything is a market, and everyone is a product of their own making to sell into the market. This is the arrow of history and she is riding it and why not. She is a product of the times.

CABIN DISCOVERED IN ARCATA COMMUNITY FOREST

by Kevin Hoover

ARCATA – Mark Andre was marking trees in one of the Arcata Community Forest’s most remote sections recently when he happened upon something that wasn’t there the last time he’d been in the area. That was back in 1985, when Arcata’s Environmental Services director was a city forest technician.

It was a cabin. And not the usual ramshackle, trash-strewn heap of debris, but a proper house, constructed, if not for the ages, for more than just a brief stay.

The sturdy shack, measuring perhaps eight by 12 feet and 15 or so feet high, features a concrete block foundation, stout frame, peaked roof, small porch with wooden awning, multiple windows and walls of plywood covered on the outside with brown tarps, black plastic sheeting and lots of concealing forest duff.

Take a few steps away, turn around, and the building is all but invisible. “I didn’t see it until I was 12 feet from it,” Andre said. “It’s in the perfect out-of-the-way spot where it wouldn’t be detected.”

No trails lead to the small home, and the faintest of footpaths in the immediate area trail off to none of the environmental abuse normally associated with forest campsites – no trash piles, no discarded clothing, no open-air latrine strewn with toilet paper; nothing to show anything but scrupulous regard for the natural surroundings.

A Friday trek to the site required serious bushwhacking through dense woods, over fallen trees and through brush and brambles. Environmental Services Forest Technician Javier Nogueira had last visited the cabin three weeks earlier, but, along with fellow Forest Tech Nick Manfredonia (in his first day on the job) and APD Park Ranger Heidi Groszmann, had to fan out across the general area to re-locate the stealthy structure. After a few minutes, Manfredonia’s voice rang out: “I found it!”

Groszmann, the ES crew and a reporter peered in through a dislodged side window, which offered a partial view of the interior. The ranger had to make a decision. If the cabin was in use as a residence, then even though it is located on public land, a search warrant would be required for entry.

But if anyone was inside, possibly incapacitated or worse, leaving them unaided would be irresponsible. Nogueira said the cabin looked unchanged and unvisited since he had last been there. After multiple shout-outs to any occupant went unanswered, Groszmann gave the go-ahead for Manfredonia to cut the padlock on the plywood front door.

The ranger entered the cabin with gun drawn, announcing “Arcata Police!” But no one was inside, and she began to inspect the quarters for clues to the user’s identity.

The cabin’s interior appointments are spare, tidy and yet more than ample for comfortable habitation in an idyllic spot. One enters into a combination kitchen and living room, where well-organized cans of food and housekeeping supplies line the walls, their product labels facing forward. A rocking chair sits next to a pot-bellied stove across from a cushioned seating area. Small lanterns are located about the space, while shelves hold a variety of tools and curios ranging from a vintage Royal typewriter to a small library. One title is Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale. Storage bins contain fabric, camping equipment and other long-term supplies.

Thick curtains and small wooden panels made to fit window frames keep telltale light from escaping. The kitchen window opens to a gorgeous view of redwoods. A ladder leads to a roomy upper berth, where sleeping pads await. There is no bathroom.

Decorations are sparse – a print of A Young Girl Reading by 18th century painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard, a pair of crossed knives at the edge of the second floor, a postcard here and there. One slip of paper lists species of plants and trees found in the area, while another “Things To Do And Get” list includes tasks, some lined out, like “Build Bench” and “Big Spoon.” A few entries bear dates, presumably when the item was accomplished, the oldest being “Get tongs 1/22/11.”

If 2011 was the oldest habitation, the most recent would be a copy of the March 25, 2015 Humboldt State Lumberjack, found in a kindling bin by the stove.

Little identifying information was found. A shipping label and a California driver’s license bore two different names, but they may have been random objects found in the woods by the resident.

Andre speculates that the cabin is used as a seasonal retreat. A major mystery is how so many cumbersome, weighty objects such as lumber and the wood stove were physically transported to the site, leaving no mark on the land and undetected by forest workers who travel the trails daily. “Someone took a long time to walk in heavy items,” Andre said.

From the cabin’s contents and their arrangement, an overall portrait emerges of a settled, possibly older individual with life experience and minimal material needs. The thoughtfully composed, uncluttered tiny house appears to be the work of someone who knows who they are and what they need, guided or inspired by a succinct declaration of principles stapled to a wall.

Titled “Different Everywhere,” the single sheet of paper features a nude woman holding a knife. In typewritten, white-on-black text, the photocopied micro-manifesto states that “every community creates its own outlaws,” and celebrates “those individuals, who, willingly or not, have not abided by the laws of the gods or authorities [and who] have always been banished.” Concludes the statement, “we will carry our difference everywhere as individuals determined to subvert the rules of the community.”

The rules of the community, having been subverted – or at least eluded – for at least four years, are now about to end the cabin’s utility as a secluded getaway. Camping on public property is, of course, illegal. And despite its ultra-low impact and thoughtful design, the structure exists in what is supposed to be a nature refuge.

A warning notice and Groszmann’s contact information were left on the cabin’s front door.

The area, last logged in 1984, is set for a harvest next month, so the structure will have to be removed. If the responsible individual can’t be located beforehand, their possessions will be packed out and stored for later retrieval.

(Courtesy, the Mad River Union – madriverunion.com.)

A STORE THAT SELLS NEW HUSBANDS has opened in San Francisco where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates:

You may visit this store only once! There are six floors and the value of the products increases as the shopper ascends the flights. The shopper may choose any item from a particular floor, or may choose to go up to the next floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building!

So a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband. On the first floor the sign on the door reads:

“Floor 1 - These men have jobs.” 
She is intrigued, but continues to the second floor, where the sign reads:

“Floor 2 - These men have jobs and love kids.” 
'That's nice,' she thinks, 'but I want more.' 
So she continues upward. The third floor sign reads:

“Floor 3 - These men have jobs, love kids, and are extremely good looking.” 
” Wow,” she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going. 
She goes to the fourth floor and the sign reads:

“Floor 4 – These men have jobs, love kids, are drop-dead good looking and help with housework.” “'Oh, mercy me!” she exclaims, “I can hardly stand it!” 
Still, she goes to the fifth floor and the sign reads:

“Floor 5 – These men have jobs, love kids, are drop-dead gorgeous, help with housework, and have a strong romantic streak.” 
She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor, where the sign reads:

“Floor 6 - You are visitor 31,456,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store.”

Please note: To avoid gender bias charges, the store's owner opened a New Wives store just across the street. The first floor has wives that love sex. Tthe second floor has wives that love sex, have money, and like beer. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth floors have never been visited.”

CATCH OF THE DAY, August 11, 2015

LANCE BALDWIN, Arcata/Willits. DUI.

VANESSA BARTEL-BINDERUP, Ukiah. Battery, conspiracy.

ROY BRANSON III, Willits. DUI, misdemeanor hit & run.

CHRISTOPHER CAULEY, Ukiah. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, conspiracy, criminal threats.

DIANA CLARKE, Ukiah. Obstruction of justice, eavesdropping on confidential communications, unspecified computer crimes.*

ANDRES HERRERO, Santa Clarita/Ukiah. Battery, drunk in public.

WILIAM KING, Fort Bragg. Drunk in public.

VERNON KNAPP SR., Fort Bragg. Drunk in public. (Frequent flyer.)

LISA RAY, Santa Rosa/Laytonville. Resisting arrest.

MARK RAY, Laytonville. Domestic assault, suspended license, resisting, probation revocation.

---

 

*Ms. Clarke is an attorney and Executive Director of the Ukiah Senior Center. She is also listed as President of the Holy Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church in Ukiah (or perhaps was).

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

Texas Steve & The Tornados Playing 'Free' In Boonville

ON THE ROAD WITH CRAIG STEHR

Warmest spiritual greetings, Following a transcontinental flight, I arrived at Hostelling International at 11th & K Streets in Washington D.C. Took a cool shower to ameliorate the travel lag, and then headed out. I went to fado, (which is Irish for "once upon a time"), a popular pub, and quaffed two Guinness~Smithwick pints and inhaled a satisfying plateful of fish 'n chips. And it was pub quiz night, so I joined a couple at the bar and we got almost all of the answers wrong, but so did everybody else! On the walk back, passed by several places with large screens showing baseball, with a few customers drinking whiskey, and also smoking cigars outside. The glitzy places were almost empty, in mid-August when local residents are often somewhere less humid, such as Hyannisport playing golf, which the president of the United States of America is enjoying this week. Elsewise, the radical environmental frontline in the district is planning to fast in front of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in September, and everybody is awaiting the fall visit of the Catholic pontiff. I am uncertain what this critically has to do with fracking, but that is what is being said hereabout. Perhaps I require more information. Meanwhile, my magical associations are considering a procession 'round the D.C. beltway performing rituals, proceeding right to left (widdershins) and with full force directing energy to monkeywrench the postmodern pointlessness of neoliberalism and imperialistic militarism. The atmosphere here in the district is somnabulent, with nobody really interested in the upcoming political elections. Everybody would rather be watching baseball and drinking beer. Arguments in regard to the serious environmental condition of the planet earth are being ignored. Nobody here is particularly interested in any more discussion about the destabilization of the global climate. This is a bad sign. I plan to meet with longtime associations who refuse to live in a hypnotic condition, and co-organize an effective ritualistic response to the general stupidity which characterizes postmodern Washington D.C. And then, let's get it on with the direct action. Please feel free to eat, drink all of the beer that you like, and intervene in history during this summer's worthless prelude to the next round of national political elections in America. Fools will laugh at us, but the wise will understand. Power on, y'all!

Craig Louis Stehr

Email: CraigStehr@inbox.com
August 10, 2015, 10:52 P.M.
Washington, D.C.

ANDERSON VALLEY MENTIONED IN PARKS SEMI-PRIVATIZATION ARTICLE

Strapped States Farm Out Upkeep of Parks

by Jim Carlton

PHILO, Calif. — California’s cash-strapped parks system has a $1.2 billion maintenance backlog. But many of its 279 parks are getting spruced up anyway thanks to a secret weapon: conservation groups that have stepped in to rebuild trails, renovate restrooms and even buy more land.

Park Champions, a program run by the California State Parks Foundation, a nonprofit umbrella group, has had 3,202 volunteers work 23,790 hours cleaning up tarnished facilities around the state during the past four years. In Mendocino County north of San Francisco, two nonprofits recently picked up half the $160,000 tab to rebuild a dilapidated day-use area at Hendy Woods State Park that features a picturesque strand of towering, old-growth redwoods.

“Without the support of our nonprofit partners and all of our volunteers we would be in a lot worse spot,” said Dana Jones, a division chief for the California Department of Parks and Recreation, which has outsourced much of its maintenance and improvement to nonprofit groups.

Similar public-private partnerships have formed in Florida, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. In Florida, the number of volunteer hours contributed to state parks by nonprofit workers in 2014 was up 33% from before the recession in 2008. Over the same period, full-time park staffing remained at about 1,060, according to the Friends of Florida State Parks nonprofit group.

In Pennsylvania, volunteers in the state’s park and forest system nearly quadrupled to 2,260 in 2014 from six years earlier, according to the Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation. Marci Mowery, the group’s president, said nonprofits have stepped in because funding for parks and forests was slashed during the recession and never fully restored.

“We are all committed to making sure our parks are there for the next generation,” she said, adding that the public lands receive nearly 40 million visitors a year. “That’s a lot of loving, which creates a lot of maintenance and repair,” she said.

Municipal parks are getting a hand, too. In New York, the Central Park Conservancy provides 75% of the park’s $65 million annual operating budget, according to the group’s website.

The unpaid efforts have proved invaluable, park officials said.

In Pennsylvania, volunteers lead many school-group tours at the William Penn State Forest, said Joe Frassetta, a district manager at the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry. “In some cases, they are more informed than we are,” he said.

But for some, the growing role of nonprofits in parks raises concerns. Using donations to acquire more land to turn over to a state for parkland, as some groups have done, makes no sense when many states can’t maintain current facilities, said Steve Hammond, executive director of Citizens’ Alliance for Property Rights, a nonprofit advocacy group for private property based in Enumclaw, Wash.

“State budgets are strained, but that doesn’t stop [nonprofits] from buying more land,” Mr. Hammond said.

Others say the situation underscores the need for states to secure more reliable park funding.

General-fund revenue set aside for state parks has been cut nationally, forcing agencies to reduce costs by limiting hours and in some cases closing facilities, according to a 2013 report by Resources for the Future, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington.

Will Abberger, conservation finance director for the Trust for Public Land, an environmental group in San Francisco, said nonprofits are only a stopgap for financing park operations. “It’s not a long-term strategy for managing” the parks, he said.

From 2008 to 2010, as many as 80% of California’s state parks, the largest such system in the U.S., were threatened with closure, prompting the California State Parks Foundation to create a grant program to help keep them open. California’s fiscal picture has since brightened, but its parks aren’t back to their previous staffing level.

A group called Save the Redwoods League, meanwhile, stockpiled about 1,600 undeveloped acres of land it eventually plans to turn over to California’s state park system, while expanding into new areas such as park maintenance, said Sam Hodder, president and chief executive of the San Francisco nonprofit.

“What we are trying to do is stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the state,” he said.

In Mendocino County, the Hendy Woods rehab project was undertaken after the park was threatened with closure in 2012. With 92 campsites near wineries in the county’s Anderson Valley, the closure would have dealt a severe economic blow to the area, said Kathy Bailey, who heads the Hendy Woods Community group.

Her organization joined forces with Save the Redwoods to help the state pay for other improvements at the 816-acre park, including replacing a plywood outhouse with a modern restroom, adding concrete pathways and building shade-covered picnic tables.

The changes have been welcomed by visitors, including 68-year-old Judy Kerry of Kentfield, Calif., who noticed a new water fountain as she hiked with her family this summer. “To have running water here, that’s priceless,” she said.

(Courtesy, the Wall Street Journal)