Opinion
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- Written by: Don Saylor, Linda Seifert and Denise Rushing
We urge President Obama to take steps to permanently protect the Berryessa Snow Mountain Region by declaring the area a National Monument.
Thanks to a recent designation by President Obama another piece of our country's outdoor legacy will be preserved as the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in New Mexico.
The designation will preserve irreplaceable archaeological, prehistoric, and cultural sites, while safeguarding outdoor recreation opportunities that are so important for the state.
The designation, under the Antiquities Act, is the second by President Obama in New Mexico, following the creation of Rio Grande del Norte National Monument last year.
President Obama has recognized areas in California too, adding Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands to the California Coastal National Monument earlier this year.
The addition of Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands to the monument provides a boost to the rural coastal economy and the everyday lives of those of know and love the North Coast.
Across the state protected public lands, like national monuments, help provide outdoor recreation opportunities that generate more than $6 billion for the California economy each year, according to the Outdoor Industry Association.
We've seen time after time that communities flourish and local economies grow when nearby public lands are permanently protected.
After designation, the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument drew 50,000 new visitors in 2013, overall a 40 percent increase in visitation over 2012.
Closer to home, the counties around Giant Sequoia National Monument saw jobs grow by 11 percent and real personal income rise by 24 percent after the area was protected. That same potential is offered by the Berryessa Snow Mountain region.
Just a short drive from the Bay Area and Sacramento, the area between Lake Berryessa and Snow Mountain provides easily-accessible opportunities to recreate and enjoy the beauty of the outdoors.
Whether it’s hiking to the 80-foot-high Zim Zim waterfall, fly-fishing in Putah Creek, or viewing wildflowers and wildlife, the Berryessa Snow Mountain region offers something for everyone.
Visitors can take a relaxing horseback ride, spend quality time with family, or experience the adrenaline rush of a white water rafting trip through Cache Creek.
The Berryessa Snow Mountain region is one of the last remaining areas of undisturbed public lands in California, making it an ideal space for people to get outside.
It's also important for a host of wildlife that calls the area home, from bald eagles, to endangered Pacific Fishers and rare plants.
We're quite proud of this amazing place and our communities that have grown around it. It's an area that deserves to be recognized and permanently protected.
The benefits of such protection will extend far beyond the land itself to the surrounding areas, bringing new visitors to our towns as they take advantage of new recreation opportunities.
It's a move that's broadly supported, unlike recent legislative attempts in Congress to undermine the president’s ability to permanently protect special places like Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, Point Arena- Stornetta Public Lands, or Berryessa Snow Mountain.
These attempts are out of step with public opinion, and attempt to limit one of our nation’s most valuable conservation tools – the Antiquities Act.
Permanently protecting Berryessa Snow Mountain is of course good for the local communities, but we think it will also benefit anyone who is able to come sample our piece of the outdoor wonder California is known for. The door, after all, is always open.
Don Saylor, Linda Seifert and Denise Rushing are supervisors for the California counties of Yolo, Solano and Lake, respectively.
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- Written by: Christopher Veach
The first day of summer is June 21, which means it’s close to time to kick back and relax.
What better way to relax than reading a book you just can’t put down? Nothing is better than cracking open a new book on warm, lazy afternoon.
Of course, if you are headed to the beach a book is a perfect companion.
Keep an eye out for these new books to be published this summer.
'Mr. Mercedes' by Stephen King
The latest from Stephen King is sure to thrill. King calls this his first “hard-boiled” detective novel.
A lone driver plows through a crowd at a job fair in a stolen Mercedes, killing eight people. The murderous driver is never found.
The novel follows Bill Hodges, a retired cop, who is haunted by the unsolved crime.
When Hodges receives a tip that the driver is attempting to rack up an even greater body count, he vows to stop him.
'Summer house with Swimming Pool' by Herman Koch
Another psychological thriller from the author of “The Dinner,” this story follow a doctor to the rich and famous whose summer vacation goes horribly wrong.
After a disquieting vacation with his rich clients, one of his patients ends up dead.
Koch’s characters are complex and at times very unnerving but the novel is fascinating to those who enjoy skillfully developed characters.
'Written in My Own Heart’s Blood' by Diana Gabaldon
After a few delays Gabaldon’s latest entry in the Outlander series is finally released.
The Outlander series is a bestselling historical romance series originally set in Scotland.
The series spans multiple decades and is sure to delight fans of the genre.
This latest entry follows the main characters, Claire and Jamie, as they try to survive and stay together during the revolutionary war in Philadelphia.
'The Silkworm' by Robert Galbraith
“The Silkworm” is the next novel from Robert Galbraith, actually a pen name for J.K. Rowling, famous for her Harry Potter series.
Her first novel underneath that pen name, “The Cuckoo’s Calling,” shot to the top of the bestseller charts once it came out that Robert Galbraith was actually Rowling.
“Silkworm” continues to follow private detective Cormoran Strike.
When a novelist goes missing Strike is called in to look into his disappearance. When it turns out that the novelist was actually murdered it’s a race against time to find the killer.
“The Silkworm” is a traditional mystery novel that may appeal to readers of Agatha Christie.
To find these books and more at your local library visit the Lake County Library Web site at www.library.lakecountyca.gov .
Christopher Veach is the county librarian for Lake County, Calif.
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- Written by: Ron Green
Recently, I’ve seen several letters that misrepresent the facts on Measure N. I’d like to set the record straight, with just the facts. Well, just the facts with a bit of commentary. I strongly urge a no on N vote.
1. Measure N prohibits any outdoor cultivation of cannabis for patients that can’t afford more than an acre of land. That’s the vast majority of the medical marijuana patients in the county.
It doesn’t matter whether your neighbors object or not, or whether all your neighbors are growing cannabis, you are simply not allowed to grow one plant outdoors if you’re not rich enough to own acreage. Thus, it discriminates against the poorest patients.
It also bans outdoor cultivation in the community growth boundaries, even if one lives on 5 or 10 acres. The community growth boundaries include the towns and a large area surrounding the towns.
2. Measure N is bad for the environment, forcing patients to grow indoors. As noted by environmental leaders Ed Robey and Victoria Brandon in a letter to the Board of Supervisors: “Our primary [environmental] concern . . . is the effect of the blanket ban on outdoor cultivation of even very small numbers of plants on almost all residential parcels . . . . the great majority of these grows will be driven indoors, with a dramatic increase in power consumption and likely damage to structures and human health caused by increased humidity [and mold].”
3. Measure N not only forces patients to grow indoors, it also requires those growing indoors to post their confidential doctor’s recommendation and confidential state-issued cannabis card on the front of their homes for all to see, violating HIPPA regulations, invading privacy and inviting home invasions.
And, the sheriff is “authorized to determine the number and timing of inspections.” Is the sheriff going to knock on front doors and demand to search our homes for marijuana plants? As a civil libertarian, this is very scary to me!
4. Measure N makes criminals of patients who grow even one plant outdoors, and could result in the frail, sick and elderly being sentenced to six months in jail! It unlawfully and unconstitutionally attempts to amend Proposition 215 and criminalize what is legal under state law.
It also allows landlords to be charged with a crime and sentenced to 6 months in jail if a tenant cultivates cannabis. The word “draconian” comes to mind.
5. It is essentially unenforceable since it provides no funding for its enforcement by the understaffed agency primarily charged with its enforcement, the Community Development Department.
There is an initiative headed for the November ballot which mirrors the few good provisions in Measure N but also is much more fair and reasonable and provides a funding source by charging a fee of $50 per plant for collectives and cooperatives.
This is the Medical Marijuana Control Act; it funds and creates a new enforcement position within the Community Development Department, and it is anticipated that enough money will be collected from fees to fund several other enforcement employees to assure compliance and enforcement of zoning and environmental laws.
6. Measure N bans more than six outdoor plants on properties outside the community growth boundaries, even if someone owns 10 or 40 or 200 acres of rural residential land, which is where most of the county’s collectives grow. Agriculture is a permitted use on parcels zoned rural residential.
There are thousands of collectives growing cannabis on five-, 10-, 50- and 100-acre and larger parcels in the county. The vast majority grow responsibly with no detriment to the environment and without disturbing or causing a nuisance to their neighbors.
These collective growers often supply dispensaries within the county and in the cities, where people are not able to grow for themselves. They employ many people and drive the economy of Lake County.
The best estimate (including from a State Department of Justice official) is that cannabis constitutes between one-third and one-half of our county’s economy.
By banning legal collectives from large acreage rural residential parcels, Measure N will devastate our economy, resulting in a huge drop in property values, boarded up businesses (including some of the county’s largest) and ghost towns. Also, it will drive the illegal criminal growers to the public lands, not a good result.
7. Measure N allows collectives to only grow on land zoned “ag” that is at least 20 acres in size. The fact is that there is very little “ag” land available, so this is a joke, and most of the “ag” land is around the Kelseyville/Big Valley area, which will lead to a concentration of cannabis grows in that area.
8. Of course, there are some bad players that are growing cannabis, but they are a small minority. There is no need to try to punish everybody for the sins of the few. The true criminals are growing marijuana by trespassing on public and private lands, stealing water, polluting the lakes and creeks, and poisoning wildlife.
We need aggressive action to stop this activity. Measure N provides no funding to accomplish this. As a candidate for sheriff recently admitted on my KPFZ radio show, there are “thousands” of people growing cannabis in Lake County, and we need to fund a sound regulatory ordinance to go after the true criminals, as well as those abusing the law in the neighborhoods and causing neighborhood strife. Measure N is not the answer.
9. Measure N is an Orwellian, poorly written ordinance that deserves to be voted down by the people. Don’t be fooled by claims that then there won’t be any regulations. The board can pass the Medical Marijuana Control Act instead of placing it on the November ballot, or they can pass the interim ordinance, which runs out during July, as a permanent ordinance.
Ron Green is an attorney and has been involved with the drafting of the Medical Marijuana Control Act. He lives in Lower Lake, Calif.
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- Written by: Jim Steele
Again Lake County has a proposed half-cent sales tax to raise money that could only be spent on the lake. This one has more process oversight with the sunset, but can it work?
Bringing the lake back from decades of ecologically wrong decisions is not a small or inexpensive chore and the question may be, does this approach measure up as the best way?
The lake responds to the treatment dealt. So it’s not surprising that removing wetlands and emergent vegetation with significant upland sediment runoff over the last 60-plus years led to runaway summertime cyanobacteria blooms.
The ecology of the lake is dependent on the rimland, wetland and upland, and much of our vibrant economy is dependent on a vibrant lake ecosystem.
A case could be made that reordering the county general fund spending priority would take us where we want to go for a fix, as many have said.
I agree, but this would probably take the same 60 years of incremental decisions over many successions of county supervisors. Not likely, unless a degree in ecology is required for the job.
A better, more efficient way that maintains the required focus on the prize is needed and over the years there has emerged a preferred governance method for problems such as ours, the dedicated special fund program or project.
I remember discussions for years, without results, over restoring coastal salmonid streams from past timber harvest practices.
Changing the timber cutting practices, even though the battleground was hard fought, was the easy part compared to the cost and effort of restoring the streams.
Piecemeal restoration would take eons. It just wasn’t going to happen using the same old general fund methods.
Establishing a separate, dedicated source of funds with focused goals cut through the noise allowing the restoration to begin and meaningful progress made.
There have been many recommendations from concerned individuals and committees about the impending doom of the quagga/zebra mussels and the lost tourism from weeds and algae.
Frustration appears to rule both sides of the Board of Supervisors’ dias. What program would you cut to keep a balanced budget and what personnel are skilled in science and management to deliver the solution?
Nothing happened until a mostly volunteer mussel inspection program was instituted, weeds were cut as money was available and algae mats were herded with booms.
Did any of this make a difference? There’s no monitoring of course to know and counter claims remain.
What’s special about a Measure L dedicated fund approach?
It takes away the competition from other general fund needs such as road repair or social programs. These are hard competitors for the attention of elected officials.
When the voters say they want the lake protected from mussel invasion and the cyanobacteria blooms to be controlled, that of course will be the dedicated focus.
So, the elected know that results rather than a favorite public project are the coin of the realm. Their immediate task will be making sure the program can produce measurable results.
Putting a program in place with the right structure is a good first step but these are not programs that will run without good science, oversight and monitoring.
Feedback to the supervisors and public is required in determining priority spending direction. The second key ingredient will be skilled staff practitioners freed from other distractions, honed from immersion in the details and goals and who can maintain a course while explaining the maneuvers.
All of this focus and momentum comes from a dedicated fund program structure as in Measure L. The issues with the old approach will fade into background noise.
Jim Steele is a retired state wildlife biologist. He lives in Clearlake Oaks, Calif.
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