 September/October 2018 issue |
|
Preparing for Wildfire During the Height of Fire Season Joe Christy, President, Bonny Doon Fire Safe Council Wednesday September 12th 7:30 p.m. Bonny Doon School Multipurpose Room, Pine Flat Road & Ice Cream Grade |
|
Preparing for Wildfire During the Height of Fire Season  In 2010, Joe Christy, a
former chairman of the RBDA, was lucky enough join a
truly extraordinary group of Bonny Doon residents in
forming the Bonny Doon Fire Safe Council, whose
mission is to “educate and mobilize people of Bonny
Doon to protect our community, homes and environment
from wildfire.” He has served as President since
that time, writing a monthly column in the Battle
Mountain News on wildfire preparedness. The Bonny
Doon Fire Safe Council has secured over $500,000 in
grant funding and a somewhat greater amount in
in-kind contributions from community members in
order to carry out a variety of projects on the
landscape and neighborhood scale. In addition, with
the generous financial support of our community, the
Council works with individual homeowners to make
their properties fire safe. He has been trained by
the National Fire Prevention Association on
Assessing Wildfire Risk in the Home Ignition Zone
and currently serves as Vice President of Fire Safe
Santa Cruz County.Please join us at the RBDA Public meeting for a presentation and discussion led by Joe Christy on September 12 about how to prepare and respond to wildfire. Draft
Environmental Impact Report for North Coast Rail
Trail Released
Faced with a December 2020 deadline to begin construction if they don’t want to lose millions of dollars in funding from the State and the Santa Cruz County Land Trust, the RTC seems to be risking the project flying off the rails by taking the unusual path of preparing a DEIR for a project whose exact location is still unknown. As we reported last year, the RTC committed the error of assuming that the present track from Wilder Ranch State Park to Davenport was within the proper right-of-way, and planned the path to follow it. But when its surveyors went out they discovered that is not the case. Apparently, over the many years that trains have plied that route, the tracks have followed at least three different paths. That means that the RTC has to negotiate new rights-of-way, and that the DEIR has not studied at least some of the actual areas on which the Rail Trail will be built. Securing the new rights-of-way is not necessarily a given. Most of the Rail Trail goes through land owned by State Parks and private individuals, most of whom are farmers. Much of the land is leased by the State to other farmers, who have a say in the matter. And right now the farmers are not happy, because the proposed path cuts them off from some of their fields and equipment yards, and makes their operations more difficult and expensive. They also are not delighted that a lot of people will be tramping or cycling through their farms. The farmers submitted their own idea for where the trail should go, with the southern half, below Davenport, located much closer to Highway One. The RTC studied that route in a cursory way in the DEIR, and rejected it as environmentally inferior to their preferred path along the rail bed. Don’t be surprised if the farmers take the matter to court, which would virtually guarantee that construction won’t start before the December 2020 deadline to not forfeit the State and Land Trust funding. Opposition to the RTC’s plan is also coming from Santa Cruz Greenway, which is fighting for a trail that excludes trains. While a train on the southern portion of the trail, between Watsonville and Santa Cruz, may make sense despite serious problems including high cost, low ridership, the so-called “last mile” of a commute, parking lot and station construction, the serious physical challenges of fitting a bicycle/pedestrian path and a train track in several areas of the route, the impact of a train on bikers and walkers, and determined neighborhood opposition. However, the economics of repairing and then maintaining tracks between Santa Cruz and Davenport for the occasional tourist train seem prohibitive. The DEIR studied in detail the RTC’s preferred option of rail plus trail, and the alternative of trail-only. They concluded that removing the rail would be more of an environmentally impactful option than keeping it, despite the fact that the present tracks and ties are much deteriorated and need to be largely replaced and new ties and track periodically installed. An additional problem is that weed killers would be constantly applied to keep vegetation off the tracks. The RTC’s bias for keeping the rail is evident in their claim that removing the tracks will delay the beginning of the trail’s construction by eight years, in order to obtain the proper permits. At the meeting in late August to present the DEIR and take public comment, the RTC staff admitted the eight-year estimate was little more than a guess. We think it’s very possible that permits can be obtained much more quickly, and that the RTC is putting out that claim as a scare tactic to support its preference for keeping the tracks, which they say is a historic resource. In addition, keeping the tracks requires that a fence be built to separate it from the bike/pedestrian path. This adds expense and impacts the experience of using the trail. Even if it takes a longer time to complete the trail, we feel that the criteria should not be building it in the shortest time, but making it the best possible experience for the people who will use it for years to come.
County Reviewing Land
Trust’s Pubic Access Plan for San Vicente Redwoods
These plans are presently under review at County Planning, and while this process is active, there will be no public meetings. Bryan Largay, Conservation Director at the LTSCC, informed the RBDA that there is no current time line for milestones, including public meetings held by the County, but meetings are expected in the future. Largay encourages people to join their e-mail list to receive updates. Just let the LTSCC know you are interested by sending an email to Access@LandTrustSantaCruz.org. Construction of trails is anticipated to begin in the spring of 2019, opening Phase I access by the end of 2019. The RBDA Executive Board is still interested in hearing from you about this issue. Do you have any concerns about the LTSCC’s management plan for SVR? What do residents consider an unacceptable impact to their neighborhood? Please share your opinions by contacting any of the Board members, or e-mail us at board@rbda.us.
North Coast Rail Trail
Downtown Streets Team Cleanups on the North Coast
• Keep your
pet’s vaccinations current and always
keep a collar and tags on your pets. • Microchip
your pets. • Keep your supplies in a
safe, easily accessible
location. • Include
your pets in your evacuation drills so
they are relaxed about travel and confinement. • Submit
your pet’s information to SPCA’s free
Guardian Angel program. • Check SPCAmc.org for
disaster training
classes.
• When you
receive warning of a pending disaster
or evacuation, ensure your pets are wearing
collars and tags, bring them inside so you can
locate them quickly, and locate your
preparedness supplies. • Bring your
animals with you when
evacuating. If your animals are in danger, contact
the SPCA. • Locate a
current pet friendly hotels and motels
listing from the SPCA or contact friends and
family about taking you and your pets
in.
• Examine
your property to ensure fencing is intact and
remove dangerous debris. • Watch for
your pet’s personality changes or changes in
behavior.
• Permanent
forms of identification such as microchipping
is recommended; make
sure to register. • Other good
forms of ID: an tag attached to the
horse’s halter or a plastic neck- band engraved or
marked with information including
owners name(s), address, phone
number,backup contact’s name, address,
and phone number. • Temporary
identification is encouraged during an
evacuation such as a leg band, or spray
painting your name and phone number on
the horse. • Keep
photographs and medical records accessible.
Photographs should be
accompanied by detailed descriptions for each
horse you own including breed, color, size,
markings, scars, and other significant features.
Keep copies in a sealed waterproof
bag in a safe place. Send a copy to a
friend or family member, or keep a copy in
digital form on a cloud server for access
from a mobile device.
• On each
halter attach a luggage tag with the
following: the horse’s name, your name, e-mail
address, telephone number, and an emergency
contact’s telephone number.
• If you
have your own horse trailer, keep it road ready
by checking the tires, floors and hitch
frequently. Make sure your truck is in good
working order and that the gas tank is at least
half full. • If you
don’t have a horse trailer, make arrangements
to have your horse trailered in an
emergency. If you can, have several reliable
people lined up to help. • It is
vital that your horses are comfortable being
loaded into and unloaded from a trailer.
If your horses have not been trained to load
and unload, train or have them trained
and practice the procedure.
• Identify
at least two exit routes and a prearranged
destination. • Make
arrangements with another horse owner to
stable your horses in a safe zone. • Contact
your local animal control agency or local
emergency management
authorities for information about shelters in your
area. • During
mandatory evacuations, shelter sites for
animals will be identified by the Office of
Emergency Services.
• Consider
different types of disasters and whether
your horses would be better off in a barn or
loose in a field. Your local humane
organization or emergency management
agency should be able to provide
you with information about your community’s
disaster response plans.
• Have at
least 72 hours worth of fresh water and hay
available. Don’t forget the water buckets. • Prepare a
potable basic first-aid kit for y our horses
and keep it easily accessible. • Prepare an
emergency kit that includes water
buckets, tarpaulins, leg wraps, knife, scissors
and wire cutters (see cal-cares.
com/personal-family for emergency kit ideas).
|
 Are you an RBDA Member? Join the conversation, get news updates on the Facebook page exclusively for RBDA members: RBDA, Rural Bonny Doon Association |
|
Support Our Sponsors! Frans Lanting Gallery
Become
One of Our Sponsors
|
|
The
Highlander Bonny Doon's voice
in preserving our special quality of life, Send mail
correspondence to the Highlander Editor at the above
address,  Support the RBDA - Renew Your Membership: all 1-year memberships expire on January 31st. Your continued support enables the RBDA Board to work on issues critical to Bonny Doon, to hold meetings to educate and get feedback regarding those issues, and to publish The Highlander newsletter. Some people may not understand that receiving The Highlander in the mail doesn’t mean you are a current RBDA member. To reach the whole community we mail The Highlander to all mailboxes in Bonny Doon. So unless you joined for multiple years, all 1-year RBDA memberships will expire on Jan. 31, 2016. To continue to support the RBDA, we need you to renew now for the 2016 year. Details are here. Dues and donations go mainly to printing and mailing The Highlander, and rent and insurance for the public meetings at the school. |
|
Ideas
for RBDA Meeting Topics? We are always open to
suggestions for interesting programs and speakers at
our bimonthly (except July) RBDA public meetings.
What are
you interested in? Local flora and fauna, gardening,
environmental and political issues, Bonny Doon history
or geology, public safety?
What were
some of your favorite speakers or presentations at
past RBDA meetings? Were
there any that you would like us to repeat?
Please email us with your ideas and
comments at board@rbda.us. |
|
The Bonny Doon Planning District  If you
live in or own property within this district, roughly
from Empire Grade to the ocean Please support the RBDA!
Annual dues are used primarily for printing and mailing The Highlander, your voice for keeping Bonny Doon rural and natural. Click here for details! Those who make additional contributions qualify as: CONTRIBUTORS ($ 25+ dues) SUSTAINERS ($50+ dues), or PATRONS ($ 100+ dues)
|
Supervisor Coonerty’s
Update on North Coast Rail Trail and Coastal
Cleanups
Do You Have a
Plan for Pet Evacuation in a Wildfire Emergency?
Horses and Livestock
Sign Up for Bonny
Doon’s Alert Text Message System!