Water
IRCUP concept would enlarge Pardee and other reservoirs
The Interregional Conjuctive Use Project is a conceptual project to draw more water from the Mokelumne in winter, use some locally, and ship more to the Central Valley and East Bay. Amador Ledger Dispatch, February 5, http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/news/newsview.asp?c=265627
Growth and Development
Calaveras's new general plan coordinator begins work
Has "trial by fire" at last Tuesday's workshop. Calaveras Enterprise, February 8, http://www.calaverasenterprise.com/articles/2010/02/08/news/news02_plan.txt
Neighborhood inclusion on table again
The Record
By Dana M. Nichols
Record Staff Writer
February 08, 2010
VALLEY SPRINGS - Plans for the future of Valley Springs my end up excluding the area's largest residential subdivision.
After months of protests from residents of the Rancho Calaveras subdivision that they don't want to be included in a new Valley Springs community plan, Calaveras County Council of Government officials announced this week it will hold a new community meeting later this month to reconsider the question.
Rancho Calaveras, as well as smaller housing tracts along Highway 26 such as La Contenta and Gold Creek, were all tentatively included within the boundaries of the community plan after an Aug. 27 meeting at which more than 150 area residents voted using electronic hand-held devices.
Valley Springs Community Plan
After several months of delays, the Valley Springs Community Plan effort will resume with a community meeting at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 23 at Valley Springs Elementary School, 240 Pine St. The meeting will consider whether to change the planning area boundaries from Option C, which includes Rancho Calaveras, to Option B, which includes all of contemporary Valley Springs except Rancho Calaveras.
Other upcoming meetings, also at the school, will be: 6:30 p.m. Feb. 25 to consider alternative land use and traffic circulation maps for Valley Springs; and 9 a.m. to noon Feb. 27 to review and discuss all maps and materials created in community plan workshops.
Information: www.calacog.org/vs_cbtp.shtml.
Although the boundary option that included Rancho Calaveras got the most votes - 47 percent - no option got a majority, and Rancho Calaveras residents soon began objecting to being included.
Rancho Calaveras - a 6,000-acre homes-only subdivision with no stores or other businesses - already has a special plan that guides its development.
And many residents there say they are suspicious the new community plan would bring changes they won't want.
"Why would they want a planned community to come within the Valley Springs Plan? And the one that is the furthest away?" said Doris Toth, president of the Rancho Calaveras Property Owners Association. "It just didn't make sense."
Tyler Summersett, a planner for the Calaveras County Council of Governments who is overseeing the community planning effort, said he thinks the fears of Rancho Calaveras opponents to the community plan are misguided.
"This is not an effort to try to eliminate the special plan," Summersett said. And he said he believes Rancho residents would benefit from a plan that included all the major Valley Springs neighborhoods.
"Do you want to have a say in what happens around you? Do you want to formalize that in a community plan?"
Opponents of including Rancho Calaveras say their concerns go beyond the mere creation of maps showing how future traffic will be routed. And that's because the majority of Valley Springs' population lives in Rancho Calaveras.
"They need us for the money to help fund what is going to go on in Valley Springs, whatever that is," Toth said.
Summersett said the idea that planners are scheming to make Rancho Calaveras a tax base to serve needs elsewhere "is not accurate.
"The simple fact is single-family residences don't generate income for the county," Summersett said. That, he said, is because it costs more to provide services to homes than they bring in through taxes.
Part of creating a viable community plan for Valley Springs, however, does include efforts to find places to build more stores and other businesses that can give the town a self-sustaining tax base. Summersett noted that the special plan and zoning for Rancho Calaveras mean it is impossible to locate such businesses there, and therefore residents don't need to fear they might someday be within walking distance of stores.
Summersett said he still hopes to complete the Valley Springs Community Plan this year in time to have it incorporated into an updated General Plan now being prepared for Calaveras County.
Contact reporter Dana M. Nichols at (209) 607-1361 or dnichols@recordnet.com.
Public Lands
Property owners who share boundaries with Bureau of Land Management
(BLM)-administered public lands may now apply for permits to clear
up to 100' of flammable vegetation from public lands adjacent to
their private property.
The BLM Mother Lode Field Office will issue free "hazardous fuels
reduction variance permits" valid for public lands in their service
area which includes Calaveras and Amador Counties.
Permit applications will be considered individually and
permits will be specifically written for each site. Each will contain
stipulations about the amount of area that can be cleared and the
methods that can be used.
Because the work will be completed on public land, BLM will
inspect each area prior to issuing permits. The BLM will complete
any needed surveys for threatened and endangered plants and animals,
cultural resources or other natural resources that require special
attention or protection.
It is important for anyone interested to contact the BLM as
soon as possible to get the permit process started. Permit
applications received during fire season may take longer to
process because agency personnel may be assigned to fires
and not immediately available for site inspections and clearances.
For more information and an application visit:
http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/ca/pdf/folsom/Variance_Progra...
Wildlife
Orphan bear cubs to be photographed remotely
Cubs have been placed into a den for winter. Sacramento Bee, February 7, http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/2519180.html
Note: the web address for the bear den cam in the article is incorrect. Try:
http://sagehen.berkeley.edu/
Odds and Ends
Congressman Lungren to hold town hall meeting in Angels Camp Saturday
From Hometown Radio website, www.htradio.net: Congressman Dan Lungren will host a town hall meeting in Calaveras County next week. The District 3 Republican will speak and answer questions at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp Saturday, Feb. 13. The town hall meeting, expected to run from 10:30 a.m. until noon, will be in the Mark Twain Hall. For more information, visit lungren.house.gov.
Thieves mine historic sites in Lode for iron
Remote areas targeted as scrap metal prices rise
The Record
By Dana M. Nichols
Record Staff Writer
February 06, 2010
SAN ANDREAS - Massive iron objects that have weathered the Mother Lode's fires and rains since the Gold Rush are now melting away in the face of more insidious forces: thievery and strong prices for scrap metal.
In the past two years, thefts of iron objects have been reported at four historic mine sites in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties, as well as from two historic buildings in downtown San Andreas.
In the most recent incident, an employee at the Calaveras Arts Council arrived at work Jan. 4 to discover two 10-foot-tall fire doors, each weighing about 300 pounds, were gone.
The Arts Council was lucky. Less than a week later, Calaveras County Sheriff's Department investigators found the doors at a home in San Andreas. Douglas Alameda of San Andreas was arrested on a charge of possessing stolen property, and the doors were returned.
But historians, historic property owners and public officials say the problem is much larger than Alameda.
"One person couldn't have ever handled that, and they've only arrested one," Penny West, executive director of the Arts Council, said of the door theft.
In Tuolumne County, authorities are prosecuting three men charged with using trucks, cutting torches and other heavy equipment to take metal from mine sites and sell for scrap in Stockton and Modesto.
Remote locations and a lack of witnesses initially hampered the Tuolumne County investigation. After hearing a report that the historic Buchanan Mine site was being looted in August 2008, for example, a Stanislaus National Forest patrol captain went to the site only to find that "a historic processing plant had been completely stripped of its contents and portions of the metal building had been removed."
A rancher and other witnesses who obtained license plate numbers of suspicious vehicles eventually enabled Tuolumne County Sheriff's detectives to crack the case and document repeated sales of the stolen metal in Stockton.
The Tuolumne County District Attorney's Office is now prosecuting Guy Graham, Michael Streib and William Horton, all of Modesto, on theft charges. Graham also faces a charge of transporting the stolen metal. That trial is set to begin Wednesday.
Whether anyone will be prosecuted for the disappearance of a historic stamp mill from the Etna Mine near Glencoe is unclear. Locals say the stamp mill disappeared sometime since summer 2008.
An archeologist for the Bureau of Land Management, which manages the site, said he was not allowed to talk about the Etna Mine theft and referred questions to a BLM law enforcement agent. Neither that agent nor BLM Field Office Manager Bill Haigh responded to messages asking for comment.
Calaveras County Supervisor Steve Wilensky, who lives only miles from the Etna Mine site, said he knows of the Etna Mine theft and that the case is only the most recent example of a larger problem.
"With the price of metals having gone up, this has led to an increase in people simply carrying artifacts away," Wilensky said. "We are an area that values its history and yet tolerates its plundering with little organized response."
Calaveras County District Attorney Jeffrey Tuttle said he was not aware of the Etna Mine stamp mill theft or of any effort to prosecute those responsible.
Tuttle and other officials said one way to combat the disappearance of historic iron objects is to report thefts promptly. Thanks to pressure from farmers, who are also frequent victims of scrap metal bandits, California's legislature in recent years has passed laws to crack down on the illicit scrap metal trade.
Scrap metal dealers, for example, now must pay for scrap with checks and take other measures to document transactions.
Those in the business say it is possible that some artifacts, such as the fire doors taken in San Andreas, might fetch a better price if purchased as antiques by someone seeking the doors for their home.
Yet salvage dealers say they are also cautious about such transactions.
"We require a valid ID, and we try to record as much as possible," said Sean Oconnell, an employee at Ohmega Salvage in Oakland.
Because there are only a limited number of salvage and scrap dealers in the region, investigators and those in the business say it is often possible to find distinctive historic metal items if the theft is reported promptly.
Chris Airola, owner of a historic building just up Main Street from the Calaveras Arts Council, says he now wishes he'd made a prompt report after learning from a tenant that a set of his building's iron fire doors were taken last summer.
"I just figured by the time I found out about it, it would be melted down," Airola said. "I would love it if they were able to get them back."
Contact reporter Dana M. Nichols at (209) 607-1361 or dnichols@recordnet.com.
Register Today in Conflict Resolution Winter Courses
There's still time to enroll in Conflict Resolution courses at UC Davis Extension. Don't miss your opportunity to learn how you can positively change the dynamics in your organization and move from conflict to collaboration.
Conflict Resolution Courses
Introduction to Mediation, Facilitation and Community Engagement
Enroll now through Feb. 22 and complete by March 29.
Become a vital problem-solver in your organization or community with this online course. Build a solid foundation in the basics of conflict resolution, with specific focus on the practice of mediation, facilitation and the range of processes related to the prevention and resolution of conflict within communities. This introduction prepares you for the remaining courses in the Conflict Resolution Certificate Program.
How to Work with Difficult People
Feb. 17: Wed., 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Don't let a difficult customer, co-worker or stranger ruin your day. Practice setting limits and saying "no" to protect yourself from problem people. Learn how to understand difficult people, defuse emotion and move to constructive problem-solving. You'll see an immediate difference in your daily interactions with this course's practical, positive approaches to conflict.
Contact us
UC Davis Extension
1333 Research Park Dr.
Davis, CA 95618
(800)752-0881
info@ucde.ucdavis.edu
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