Posted on 12/17/2001 4:52:44 AM PST by sasquatch
CRESCENT CITY -- By now, Del Norte County knows the language of layoffs. Timber
mills in the far northwest corner of California have closed, going from 50 to just a handful.
Commercial fishing in this coastal community has dried up. Today, even government employees
are threatened with layoffs, because Del Norte County is going broke.
County officials say they've cut as much as they can in their $34 million budget and now
need $1.7 million from the state to pay for increases in state-mandated programs,
such as foster care, to balance their books. California, with its own budget problems, won't help.
``We're in a bare-bones situation and they want us to go into the marrow,'' said Martha McClure,
a Del Norte County supervisor. Most of the county's budget pays for state-mandated programs.
The county's public safety, health and local government programs split the remaining $9 million.
Counties raise money through sales and property taxes and vehicle license fees, much of which goes to the state.
Del Norte, population 28,000, once supplemented its income with timber yield taxes,
which in the late 1970s brought in more than $1 million annually. But this year, those fees will bring in only $80,000.
Three-quarters of the rural county on the Oregon border is owned by the government, which doesn't pay property tax. A proposed sale of 26,000 acres of timber land to the state will further dent an already tight budget.
The Save the Redwoods League plans to buy the property, owned by Stimson Lumber, then transfer it to the state park system. Stimson stopped logging in November 2000, but paid about $55,000 a year in property taxes. Del Norte will miss the money, and county officials are scrambling to find money in its budget to cover county workers' salaries, including sheriff's deputies. Many California counties face similar problems, said Pat Leary, legislative representative for the California State Association of Counties.
``In a lot of ways,'' Leary said, Del Norte ``may be a harbinger of things to come.''
You should see how those bushes along the road on the south end are responding! It's amazing considering how much dirt I moved around their roots redoing the drainage into a sheet-wash, that I didn't water anything, and started late in a drought winter. All the iris planted last year took (which is what emboldedned me this time). That big (and old) adenostoma (chamise) started putting out some new shoots, but nothing came up from the seed I sowed (which was expected, I need to learn to do fire-scarification - the deer love the stuff). The pruned heteromeles (toyon) are both thickening and forcing up from the root crown per plan. Most didn't seem too affected by the grading, though we'll see. Some look a little unhappy due to fungus, lost one, but I'd hammered it. A couple of arctostaphylos (manzanita) started from exposed roots and put up branches! At least two of the air-layered branches I severed took, but the other four died (no water). I call it a good deal, and this year I have remote watering capability for the first time. All of the ceanothus thyrsiflorus (tick bush) made it though the sun shades for the sprouts left them looking a little peaked (the deer love that too, I'll have to cage them until they can take the browsing). I added a couple of toyons I got free from Native Revival. BTW, the folks at Native Revival fell all over themselves when they saw the book and said that it was likely that they would sell it there! Might reach a few RICOnuts that would be worth saving. We traded notes about weeds. They are as sick of the system as we are.
It appears that toyon responds to air-layering as several long and low branches that I had buried seem to be starting roots. Toyon roots also seem to sprout when exposed to light. I found a patch of what looks to be a local native fescue so I'm moving a few of those too. All the poison oak made it. That stuff is indestructable.
Speaking of which, I found a root in a mound along the road that looks like poison oak, but it is almost 2" in diameter about thirty feet from the nearest bush after running under a large oak! Stuff's amazing. I bet if I sever and expose it I'll get a nice bush. Maybe I'll name it George.
Then they'll burn it to take it off the market permanently. OK, so I'm cynical. They'll do it anyway.
I suppose you remember that fish hatcheries used to be operated by fishmerman's associations? Stop chugging that swill from Zeke Grader and Glen Spain and wake up! Government abetted this problem by not selling off fishing allotments and kissing up to the Japanese, Korean, and Russian fishing fleets. Those big trawlers have made an absolute mess. Government also starved coastal marine ecosystems of primary nutrients in the name of clean water. Look at coastal intertidal zones and see what it has done. Consider the effects of "public access." Now realize that the reason no one goes out and stakes a claim of private property to the ocean is that it is UNder the control of... who? What you are seeing is the disastrous effects of a socialized commons.
Ah yes, the gentleman herb farmers. Biggest cash crop in the state.
according to our own government's research going back 500 years
Umm. Did our Pilgrim government keep records this detailed? Bump on the post about plants. Didn't know there was that much science ("air layering"?) involved. Maybe that's way my dadgum carrots look like radishes, only orange and smaller.
The only energy mess was caused by Democrats who think that you can buy high and sell low without going bankrupt. If there was a flaw in the older "de-regulation" bill then the Democrats had and have the power to fix it. They have the Governor's office, and a majority of both the state Senate and Assembly.
Instead, Gray-out Davis decided that he knew how to regulate the energy industry single-handedly. He is totally responsible for the result.
The ability of roots to differentiate into full plants is pretty common too. Same trick: expose the root, see if it sprouts leaves, wait and sever. Rhizomatous plants, such as iris, do it for you. If they seem to do OK after severing, the plants are then ready for relocation. In the case described above, because I was grading, I wasn't so gentle.
That can actually help. There are apparently some species that require a slight nick or cut in the cambium for the technique to work. It will take a couple of more experiments with these plants to see if that was the case here.
This technique is very attractive for plants that are difficult to propagate by seed, though it does little to genetically differentiate the species. Many California natives are very tough to propagate without fire and careful temperature treatments. This is in part because of the weather where we get months of rain followed by seven months of drought. The seeds must not sprout simply because of a freak storm in the summer. The same can be said of sprouting without adequate light or space, which is why so many are dependent upon fire for germination. When I get the weeds on this place more under control, I may give it a shot.
If you are interested in developing propagation techniques, here are a couple of references:
Hartmann, Hudson T., Dale E. Kester, and Fred T. Davies, Jr.; Plant Propagation: Principles and Practices, Fifth Edition; Prentice Hall, 1990.
Emery, Dara E.; Seed Propagation of California Native Plants; Santa Barbara Botanical Garden, 1988. This book represents a lifetime of research.
I realize all of this is off-subject...sorry.
Habitat restoration is a hobby. Writing about environmental policy is more of a calling than it is a living.
Amen, amen, amen.
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