pears, it does, if slower and less efficiently than we might like. It did, here, because of the efforts and drive of many private and public individuals and organizations. This would not have happened without, in particular, the decisions, actions, and support of elected offici
Editor,
When listening to NPR I heard a story about the decline of the Wright whale. It seems they are being decimated by ship strikes and drowning while being caught in abandoned fishing nets. Biologist also reported that during the recent calving season they did not see any whale babies. Sudan, the last male northern white rhino died in mid-March because of loss of habitat and the near religious belief that ground rhino horn was good for your sex life. It's not! These are magnificent animals that are going the way of the dodo bird. As an environmentalist I am concerned. I want all our children to enjoy and be aware of these animals. There are also endangered animals, such as bees that are instrumental to our survival. Does anyone care? Earth is where our children live. We should not destroy it.
Don McKechnie
Sierraville
Jan,
In the 20-plus years that I have owned property in Beckwourth, commercial property, the department has improved its fire fighting equipment, housing, and volunteer personnel.
I joined the volunteers when they had a single fire truck and a small garage to keep it in.
Ole Number One. 1958 Ford F600 tanker. Today the district has expanded clean out of the Valley all the way up to Lake Davis. With a “live†crew and trucks and garages and offices.
When it was first proposed that Beckwourth expand the district old Number 1 was unable to climb the hill iwithout overheating and at a blistering speeed of' 'bout 15mph in second gear.
A great deal of effort and revenue was used to build the good looking department that is operating today.
Today I read of the loss of two businesses and of the misfortune of the owners.
What's right and what's not isn't for me to decide. Butshouldn't someone ask why the little community of Beckwourth took on fire protection of Grizzly Road all the way to the Lake 10 miles from home base, but won't put out a fire across the street from the main fire hall in Beckwourth.
“Back when†I tried to insure my property on Main Street in Beckwourth, the agent told me the fire rating for the department was too low. Insurance companies won't issue policies for fire in districts with low ratings.
I told the agent that I had the keys to the fire hall and fire truck and that I had trained on the operation of the truck for the previous five years as a volunteer firefighter. The hall is one city block from my garage and that my shop is in “good hands†- my hands, not Allstate.
He issued the policy I desired. A lot of this has to do with insurance coverage for the firefighters themselves. As I understand it they are not covered if they are “out of district†without mutual aid agreements.
It was that way when Chief Shafer and I discussed what to do when the poop hits the fan “out of district,†but you're the closest available firefighters. We felt the best policy was to attack the fire to the fullest of our ability.
Let the lawyers work out the problems created by the emergency personnel, after they put the damn fire out.
Ed Laurie
Former volunteer
Howdy, our Grange membership decided to give our '3rd. Sat. Dinner/Dance' another go...so, it depends on YOU, as without your support, we will not be doing these as our fund raiser....Just for information, it cost us, the Grange, over $30,000 a year, just to keep the doors open, for other people's fundraisers. Our COWBOY POETRY is our big fund raiser, and we get very little support from our locals, I hope that changes, or our doors won't be able to stay open....just saying.....
Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing all of you again, for a fun year of eating and dancing, starting Sat. April 21st., we will be serving a Pork Loin dinner, starting at 5:30-6:30--$10......free dance class with paid admission, starting around 6:30.....open dancing
($5) to CD's right after lessons until ???
I will be teaching HAY HO (line) and BANDERA (partner). Come join us for these two brand new dances....to me anyway....
Sierra Valley Grange is located in Vinton, Ca., just an easy 30 min. drive from the Reno area. It's a big, white building, with a blue roof, just before hwy 49 turn-off. In order to be sure we have enough food, please call me at: 530-993-1182. Remember: "God Created Country Music So We Could Dance," sooooo, let's do it!!
Annie
Editor; Sierra Booster,
Am I the only one to be outraged to read about three different fire suppression agencies responding to a fire, then sitting in the comfort of their, no, taxpayer's trucks, and watching a fire burn???
I swear, no fire agency should be a boss unless they themselves have suffered a fire loss! My fire loss, in comparison, was minor to McCollum and White plus Dan's personal and business equipment was lost. A total loss. And the lame excuse that they were not enrolled!
Let me get this right. They could drive to the scene of the fire but all of a sudden the fire fighting equipment would not function? I am just beside myself thinking about this. A year or two ago, the same thing happened in the Reno-Sparks area. The fire trucks showed up at a home, but sat there and watched it burn. Not in their district! Why can't you people put the fire out, then argue or agree about it after the fact?? Duh!
I lost my Quincy High School letter due to a home fire, and toy models, etc. That happened October 1948. Fortunately, the home was saved by the quick response of the volunteer fire department.
Sincerely,
Marvin Reed
Dear Jan,
The photographs of and stories on the cover and inside the April 5 number of the Booster, describing the return to service of the Loyalton Cogen, give joy to me and other friends of Loyalton and other forests communities of California. This is an important event,
Continued next page........worthy of celebration.
While a parade or party may be called for, an easy starting point is to recognize and thank several people and organizations whose contributions have been essential.
Historians will identify the launching event that led to this moment as the passage, in July 2014, of the Sierra County Supervisor's Proclamation of a State of Local Emergency, which was joined immediately by the Supervisors of neighboring Plumas and Nevada Counties, and eventually by the full set of California's forest counties, extending well beyond the Sierra Nevada. Supervisor Paul Roen was the hard-driving leader of this effort, with Planning Director Tim Beals coordinating the essential staff support. Dave Roberti and the PSREC team supported the identification of the Cogen project as a key element of the response both to the ongoing local emergency and to the larger statewide crisis, which was eventually recognized by Governor Brown's October 2015 Proclamation of Tree Mortality Emergency. Embarking on the journey took courage and foresight, and we are rightfully proud of our friends and neighbors. Thank you, Paul, and those who travel with you.
Steve Mueller, Jim Turner, and the rest of the ARP team, have earned a Healthy Forests Communities Entreprenurship Acheivement Award. Some doubted this day would ever come. Through the expert work of this company, a new era dawns in our communities. Thank you, ARP Team.
The ARP investors deserve special mention. The full transaction, involving all of SPI's California cogenerators, was large and complex. The Loyalton element involved, and involves, substantial economic risk, especially around the ability to monetize the contributions that the facility makes to forest health activities and to a sustainable energy future. This project would not have moved forward without large investments by far-seeing organizations and individuals. Thank you, ARP Investors.
The return to service of the Loyalton Cogen (and of the similar facility at Burney) required the development of commercial arrangements for the delivery of electric power to the grid, sufficient to allow financially prudent operations. These arrangements were developed through negotiations betweeen biomass operators, participants in California's electric power industry (including the utilities, competing suppliers of or renewable energy, and the Public Utilities Comission), through the work of the Governor's Tree Mortality Emergency Task Force, with the active support and leadership of several Agencies, Departments, and Offices of the State of California, and the involvment of a significant subset of the stakeholders in the health of the forests of California. The resulting arrangements cause California's electricity users to accept some of the cost of the facilities. While these arrangements depart from standard utility practice, they are pragmatic and effective, for the emergency circumstances under which they were developed; they are, in the industry's vocabulary, Good Utility Practice. Developing efficient long-term commercial arrangements for forest-health energy deliveries remains a task for the future. For their contributions here and elsewhere, Thank you, Governor's Tree Mortality Emergency Task Force.
Several months ago, a friendly operator of log trucks heard enthusiastic words about the benefits an operating Loyalton Cogen would deliver to the forests and those who work in them. He stated that the loggers all knew of and liked these nice words, but doubted that anything would come of it. Asked why not, he said, "'Cuz gummint don't work." Sometimes, it apspending somewhere between 3 weeks and 4
months each visit.
Every trip is a little different. We go with the attitude that we will help however we can, without any preconceived idea of what we will do. Typically we work with the college students, teaching classes and providing some mentorship. Bobby also oversees 60 or 70 churches on several islands. We attend pastor fellowships, speak at churches, etc. Next week is the annual pastor's conference. I'm sure we'll be speaking and leading some workshops. Over the years
we've developed a garden area at the ca
