| Click the button below to search for articles... View News Items from prior months... June 2021 July 2020 June 2016 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 July 2013 June 2013 March 2013 February 2013 November 2012 October 2012 August 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 November 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 October 2010 September 2010 February 2010 January 2010 | No Relief in Sight From California Wildfire Risk AccuWeather Global Weather Center -- 28 May 2014 -- AccuWeather.com reports the ongoing drought will continue to keep the fire danger elevated in California indefinitely into the summer. While a storm system was bringing showers to parts of the Northwest on Wednesday, no rainfall is forecast to reach central and Southern California through the weekend and beyond. Moisture from Amanda, now diminishing over the Eastern Pacific, will not reach the state. Weather fairly typical of California for late May and early June will continue into next week with areas of low clouds yielding to sunshine on the coast and sunshine all day across the interior. According to Western Weather Expert Ken Clark, "In California, there will be slight cooling this weekend, followed by a warming trend next week, but the risk of wildfires will continue." Very little rainfall typically occurs in California this time of the year, and when it does occur it tends to be very sporadic. "The problem has been, and will continue to be, associated with the lack of rainfall and mountain snow over the winter," Clark said. Since Nov. 1, 2013, many areas in California have received less than half their normal precipitation. As a result, the brush is very dry and more typical of late summer, when there is an uptick in wildfires. A large fire broke out on Memorial Day in Mariposa County, California. The blaze, known as the Hunters Fire, began near the Hunters Valley Access Road in the Bear Valley area. According to CAL FIRE, as of late Tuesday, the fire had consumed 1,300 acres, threatened 100 residences and was only 20 percent contained. The cause of the fire is under investigation. A breeze averaging 10 to 20 mph from the northwest can cause problems for firefighters Wednesday and again on Saturday in Mariposa County. While light winds are generally forecast during most other days, large fires can generate their own wind and can be unpredictable. As of the Memorial Day weekend, there have been more than 1,700 wildfires in California since the start of the year, which have burned more than 15,000 acres. For the year to date, compared to the five-year average, the number of California fires is nearly double and the amount of acres that have burned is more than double. Fires have scorched other parts of the Southwest this spring. The Slide Fire close to Slide Rock State Park, in the Flagstaff, Arizona, area continued to burn Tuesday. According to InciWeb, the fire has consumed more than 14,000 acres and was 25 percent contained. The blaze was reported on May 20, 2014, and the cause is under investigation. While a developing El Nino typically brings a bumper crop of tropical systems over the Eastern Pacific during the summer, a direct visit by a tropical storm is extremely rare in California. The warmer-than-average water temperatures of the tropical Pacific Ocean produced by an El Nino pattern cause changes in steering winds around the globe. According to AccuWeather Long Range Expert Paul Pastelok, "There is a chance that some moisture comes in from the tropics later in the summer, but rainfall would tend to be very spotty." Winter is a long way off, but there is some hope that the developing El Nino will deliver much needed rain to the region. Published: 05/29/14 OPERATION SAFE BOAT 15 Minutes of your time could save your life or the life of someone on your boat. When: Saturday, June 14, 2014 9:00 am – 4:00 pm Where: Frenchman Lake Boat Ramp Detail: Voluntary Safety Equipment Inspection A joint agency “Water Safety” day at will be held at Frenchman Lake on Saturday, June 14 from 9:00 am -4:00 pm. The event will be staged at the Frenchman Lake Boat Ramp. Voluntary safety equipment inspections by US Coast Guard Auxiliary & Plumas County Sheriff’s Boat Patrol personnel will be conducted to ensure boaters have all of the required US Coast Guard safety equipment. The CA Highway Patrol will be looking at trailers to ensure that they are properly equipped and safe to operate on the highway. Fish & Wildlife Wardens and specially trained K9’s will be examining boats for invasive species mussels. Boating Safety Items such as Personal Flotation Devices (Life Jackets), Type IV Throw able (seat cushions), Fire Extinguishers, Sound Making Devices, Operational Navigation Lighting and Engine / Fuel enclosure requirements will be examined. Boat owners may go to the US Coast Guard Web Site at http://cgaux.org/vsc/ or read the California ABC of Boating Book to review requirements and be prepared for the inspections. Representatives from the various organizations may also have informational booths set up. There will be handout materials and some free items available for the public. Please call the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office with any questions at 530-283-6375; ask to speak with a member of the Sheriff’s Boat Patrol. Boating Safety is our Goal Published: 05/29/14 Multiple Sclerosis Center in Loyalton BONNI SUE HICKSON is seen zipping around Loyalton in her power chair. Bonni Sue has Multiple Sclerosis, an inflammatory disease in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This damage disrupts the ability of parts of the nervous system to communicate, resulting in a wide range of signs and symptoms, including physical, mental, and sometimes psychiatric problems. But she hasn’t let it stop her. Bonni Sue was honored as the 1985 Disabled and Outstanding employee of NV and inducted into the National Hall of Fame at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, D.C. in 1988, received the U.S. Wheelchair Tennis Association Community Service Award in 1990 and 1998 for outstanding contributions to tennis development for wheelchair players and the Hall of Fame for Northern Nevada Tennis Association in 1997 and the Soroptimist International of the Americas’ “Woman of Distinction” in recognition of her professional and voluntary accomplishments in the program of Health and Education, September 11, 1991. Bonni Sue is healing from a recent MS flare in Eastern Plumas Health Care’s skilled nursing while maintaining her home at Sierra Valley Apartments and keeping regular hours at an office behind Stuff n’ Things on Highway 49 in Loyalton. Her office in Loyalton is for the MS Society and a support group focused on Rural Outreach to Wellness which serves Sierra, Plumas and Lassen Counties. It is a Nevada non-profit 17 years, when Bonni Sue started her vision in 1984 during an eleven-month hospital stay at Washoe Medical Center in Reno. It is to co-create and build, for physically challenged adults and children, families and communities, a sustainable “green” eco-village designed as an educational and prevention/wellness transformative self-healing retreat. Through the Rplefct (“a ripple effect,”) Foundation, she is focused on Phase 1 with Bureau of Land Management in CA for 60 acres in Palomino Valley in Nevada near the Mustang holding ground and Phase II, a 1,000-acre mountain transformational retreat center for the physically disabled, their families and communities. Bonni Sue says silence is a prerequisite and it’s healing. “We will be exploring consciousness studies, medicine, science, transpersonal psychology and the perennial philosophy of the ages,” she states. Several hospitals and philanthropic organizations have requested her presentations on the Rplefct Foundation. She is at her Loyalton office every afternoon which she calls her “healing space.” Its window space, overstuffed chairs and her 1918 piano are all for wellness. Meetings for those with Multiple Sclerosis, one on one or groups and families are all about community. And, she is getting the first laptop to do social networking to be in sync. Bonni Sue is a registered nurse in both states 35 years and is keeping current with new therapies and therapeutic medicines coming out; a lot oral and she says, “A lot going on; changes.” Having had MS 45 years, she calls it “true and dear to my heart.” She believes in living life fully and will learn how to walk again. In the meantime, her power chair allows her any place accessible. Living temporarily at the skilled nursing allows her the physical therapy and rehabilitation needed. “Patience, humor and faith,” are her mantra, “not particularly in that order,” she adds. Bonnie will celebrate a Grand Opening at Suite 1, 213 Main Street, Hiway 49 in Loyalton on Saturday, June 28 from 1 to 5 p.m. Messages can be left at (530) 993-4499 between 1 and 6 p.m. daily. Published: 05/22/14 California Rancher: Worst Drought in a Lifetime Forces Slaughter, Sale of Cattle AccuWeather Global Weather Center -- 9 May 2014 -- AccuWeather.com reports when it's over, it'll rain a sunny day for cattle ranchers from Texas to California seeking a release from the dry, withered grip of persistent drought strangling the nation's top cattle-producing states. However, recovery from years of less than substantial rainfall has contributed to a drastic decline in cattle numbers nationwide, which will have long-lasting impacts on the industry, according to cattle ranchers and industry officials. "By far, the last four years have been the most stressful and economically damaging," Alameda County, California-based Rancher Tim Koopmann said. "It's the worst I can remember." Koopmann, 61, who serves as the president for the California Cattlemen's Association, has lived through several harsh droughts at his 2,600-acre family ranch, which has been located in the county since 1918. The years between 1975 and 1977, and between 1987 and 1989, were particularly hard, he recalled, adding that some people never recovered. "We're still surviving," he said, referring to the collective of cattlemen living in the area, which houses an annual grassland of approximately 180,000 acres. Koopmann, who has had to cull about half of his own herd down to 200 mother cows, said cattle ranchers are faced tough decisions due to a lack of forageable food and basic water supplies. Rebuilding their herds in the future will be a steep road for many ranchers. According to his estimate, approximately 140,000 mother cows had to be liquidated either as breeding stock or sent off for slaughter and processing. An average cow requires about three percent of its body weight daily in dry matter, he said. An average mother cow needs around 12 to 18 gallons of water a day to sustain itself. The area where Koopmann works features annual grasslands, a rarity for most cattle ranchers who must work in the perennial grasslands of the Plains states, he said. "From early winter, around November, we have a green feed source which peaks in June; they send thousands of stocker cattle to California for winter gains," he said. "We're a rare commodity." In November 2013, thousands of cattle were sent for their winter gains, which average around 300 pounds, but they were sent back to neighboring states in December due to a lack of water for both food supply and basic drinking sources. "There is no water," he said, citing a well on his property he thought would never go dry. "It's not just grazing, we don't have water for stocked cattle." This has been detrimental to some California cattle ranchers who rely on getting paid by weight for stocker cattle's winter gains. "It' had a big impact on folks because a lot of people count on that as their sole source of income," Koopmann said. Alternative methods of feed utilizing the by-product of corn and rice are being researched to offset the lack of grass, he said. "We're a pasture state," Koopmann said. AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Ken Clark said numerous beef-producing states are experiencing ongoing drought conditions, which has drastically decreased the national supply. Ongoing drought conditions have also reduced the supply of cattle in Texas, the nation's largest state for beef production, contributing 6.3 billion pounds in 2012, 15 percent of the national total, Texas Department of Agriculture Spokesman Bryan Black said. Some cattlemen have begun to rebuild their herd, primarily in East Texas, where drought conditions have subsided slightly. "Since January 2011, the total number of cattle and calves in Texas has declined by 2.4 million head to 10.9 million head," Black said. Beef cow numbers have dropped by 20 percent over the same period to 4.35 million head. "Right now the cattlemen have started to rebuild their herd," Texas Farm Bureau Spokesman Gene Hall said. "It will be cramped a bit if we get another round of no rain." Texas needs sufficient rainfall over a long period of time so pastures can recover, Black said. AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski said the horrible thing about a drought is that it lingers and perpetually builds despite close to normal statistical averages in rainfall. "To break a drought, you have to have above-normal rainfall for many months," he said. "You don't make up for lost rainfall, and it stays below normal for months or years because drought builds on itself. Drought is not always evident, it creeps up on you all of sudden." "In areas where grass plants have been completely killed by drought, pastures may have to be completely restored," Black said. "Weed, prickly pear and brush control are also an issue for ranchers since they often come back quicker than grasses." Koopmann and Hall said cattlemen have to either sell what they can as breeding stock or slaughter some of the herd, which has also ultimately slowed the breeding process. "It got to the genetic core," Hall said. "It takes nine months to make a new cow." Rebuilding the herd while maintaining the integrity of the breed will be extremely difficult for cattlemen because livestock are specifically bred for their respective climate and regions, Koopmann added. "It's like starting from scratch," Koopmann said. "We've all worked diligently to provide that. It's amazing how different cattle are. Everybody adapts their cows to their specific area." Clark said the area where Koopmann works is a much cooler, more moderate climate than parts of the Central Valley, which primarily houses dairy cows rather than beef cattle. "The cattle there would rely more on natural grazing there," he said. In order to rebuild herds, ranchers will have to be able to find replacement cows that are not so high in price that they cannot generate a profit, according to Black, citing increased demand for ranchers recovering from drought in East Texas. Ranchers could also forgo the profits of sales from heifers (young females that have not yet calved) from their own herd in order to hold them back for breeding, he said. It takes about 2.5 years for the beef from a calf to reach the meat counter. "Our beef cattle in the U.S. is at the lowest it's been in 63 years," Koopmann said. "It's the fewest mother cows we've had in 63 years." Due to the massive reduction in cattle supply nationwide, beef prices, already hovering at record highs, have spiked 1.9 percent in March, bringing the Choice beef retail value to $5.27 per pound. Koopmann said it frightens him to see areas of California being exhausted of their water resources, including increased sinking due to groundwater extraction in the Central Valley, one of the largest agricultural hubs in the United States. "There is a growing international market for our product," he said, citing an impairment in overall profitability for cattle ranchers nationwide. "I'm afraid our domestic supply will be challenged. I fear we're going to overprice ourselves." By Michael Kuhne, Staff Writer for AccuWeather.com Published: 05/09/14 |