You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘San Gregorio’ tag.
According to page 5 of Exhibit A of San Mateo County’s Director of Public Works “Executive Summary, Vegetation Management Plan,” there are “only a handful of people” asking for San Mateo County to begin a Mow Only Program with only very minimal use of herbicides to manage unincorporated San Mateo County roadsides.
“Recommendation #24 Hire facilitator to work with staff and citizens to improve communication - low prioritization ‐ Cost: $25.000 ‐ $30,000 – This could be considered in the future. However, we believe several other communication enhancements are an appropriate first step, especially in light of the fact that there are no more than a handful of residents who have expressed concern in this area.”
This Tuesday, March 13, at 9:00 a.m., the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, will vote Yes or No on the following statement found on the last page of San Mateo County’s Director of Public Works, “Executive Summary, Vegetation Management Plan,” which is posted on the internet at: To view the Executive Summary, click on:
http://sanmateo.siretechnologies.com/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=76&doctype=AGENDA
then click on REGULAR AGENDA #12:
PUBLIC WORKS 12. Resolution authorizing the Director of Public Works to supplement current vegetation management practices through the implementation of a program enhancement plan.
then click on the PDF link in the right-side window.
“NOW THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY DETERMINED AND ORDERED that the San Mateo County Department of Public Works continue to manage roadside vegetation through a combination of mowing and spraying, but supplement its practices with the enhancements identified in the Department’s program enhancement plan.”
This statement does not establish Just Say Mow (with minimal use of herbicide spray), as more than a handful of residents have requested. Over 600 unincorporated county residents have asked the county to cease and desist the use of spraying herbicides within the La Honda ~ San Gregorio Creek Watershed. For about ten years, Pescadero Creek Watershed roads have functioned just fine with a mow only program and without the county spraying any of its roads.
The county sprays herbicides along the roadsides of county-managed roads as found on the map posted as page 16 on the above-referenced Executive Summary.
CalTrans District 4 uses broadcast herbicide spray along Highway 84, but not along Highway 1 due to the population of human residents and the agricultural uses of fields that border the highway. CalTrans does not use broadcast herbicide spray along Highway 92 due to the amount of human activity/traffic impeding a safe time when to spray.
The statement to be voted upon above, asks that DPW be allowed to continue to use herbicide spray. This will then allow CalTrans to continue its use of herbicide spray along Highway 84.
The supplemental practices, the enhancements to the mow/spray program, are detailed on pages 1 – 8 of Exhibit A of the above-referenced Executive Summary.
Of the 34 Enhancements and Recommendations, all but one Recommendation support the continued use of Herbicide Spray for roadside vegetation management. Only Recommendation #11 received a Pro/Con Comment of “No downsides.”
“Recommendation #11: Continue to investigate on an on‐going basis, alternative herbicide products, including organic and natural products – high prioritzation ‐ discussed but not specifically presented among the Baefsky report recommendations. TBD. Work towards achieving greater efficiencies, cost savings and greater program effectiveness. Comment: No downsides.”
All the other 33 Recommendations are Pro-Spray, and, even if a Recommendation is proposed as No spray – Pro Mowing, the Recommendation is negated in the Pro/Con Comment, such as:
“Recommendation #27 Upgrade and Replace Old Mowers: one every two years - medium prioritization ‐ Cost: $100,000 annually – We will create long term mower replacement plans. However, a new mower is approximately $135,000 and we do not believe the program could absorb such costs every one to two years.”
Why would a new $135K mower need to be replaced every one or two years?
You can read all the 34 Recommendations on pages 7 – 14 within the above-referenced Executive Summary.
Sign the Just Say Mow Petition at:
Directly write your San Mateo County BOS asking them to please not vote Yes to this statement on Tuesday, and instead to require the SMC Department of Public Works to open itself up to the possibility of an Herbicide-Free Coastal Zone:
SMC Board of Supervisors to contact :
President Adrienne Tissier <atissier at co.sanmateo.ca.us>; phone: 650-363-4572
Vice Pres. Don Horsley <Dhorsley at co.sanmateo.ca.us>; phone: 363-4569
Supervisor Dave Pine <Dpine at co.sanmateo.ca.us>; phone: 363-4571
Supervisor Carole Groom <cgroom at co.sanmateo.ca.us>; phone: 363-4568
Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson <RoseJG at co.sanmateo.ca.us>; phone: 363-4570
The Baefsky Report on San Mateo County’s Roadside Vegetation Management can be found on page 7 at:
http://www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/Attachments/bos/pdfs/Environmental%20Quality/2012/EQAgenda_20120117.pdf
Dude gave me his name, but I didn’t ask his permission to share, so I’ll tell you that dude’s name is “Noah.” Noah’s hitched rides from Shasta County to the San Mateo County coast. He has no specific destination. New Mexico, ultimately, then back home.
“Lightning Fields, New Mexico,” I suggested. Noah hadn’t heard about Lightning Fields. I told him about Just John, riding a tricycle, heading south a couple of years ago, and that his plan was to reach the southern end of the Coast Road, then turn east to New Mexico, bound for the Lightning Fields.
“An electrical dude,” observed Noah. “I’ve been reading about Tesla and his inventions.”
Noah’s traveling south, dependent on hitchhiking to reach the next destination. “Riding a bike would be better,” says Noah after I tell him about Just John riding his tricycle. “More independence, travel at one’s own pace, stop wherever and whenever, and, more room to pack more supplies.”
Noah’s belongings fit within a modest-sized backpack, larger than what we slung across our backs when in school, but smaller than an expedition backpack, which may be more suitable for Noah’s coastal trek. A black canvas shoulder bag holds items requiring frequent use, such as Noah’s bullet-shaped, stainless steel thermos.
Noah’s tanned skin from the past couple weeks of unseasonably warm temperatures contrast to this week’s winter weather of snow at 1,000 foot elevations and hail storms at sea level. After a long rainy hitch that brought him through Marin County and across the Golden Gate, and a complicated navigation through the drizzly city, Noah got a ride from San Francisco, through Pacifica, around Devil’s Slide, then down the coast and up to Apple Jacks in La Honda. “I’ve enjoyed two good woodstove fires and really good music in the past 24 hours.”
Atop Noah’s long, brown, sun-kissed curls, sits a green felt hat, with a stubby brim, adequate-enough to provide sun and rain protection. Noah’s summer-weight, black pin-striped suit is layered underneath by a red tee, and a green wool v-neck sweater, topped by two thick scarves. Birkenstocks on Noah’s sockless feet display signs of wear at the heels.
Next stop Santa Cruz, then maybe Monterey, unless Noah hitches straight into the Sur.
Keep an eye to the Coast Road for “Noah,” and, if you’re headed to the next town south, maybe offer him a lift.
I’m here, just experiencing the winter doldrums + researching California’s Plein Air artists, learning about Tonalism, and the difference between Southern California Plein Air artists, and the Northern California ones.
Capitalization of “Southern” and “Northern,” entirely intentional. Keep visiting. I’ll post again soon.
A friend lent me his copy of A Separate Place, with text by Charles Jones and black-and-white photographs by Susan Friedman. Printed in 1974 by the Sierra Club with no reprints, A Separate Place describes California’s coastal corridor of San Gregorio to Pescadero and its inland nooks of La Honda and Loma Mar.
This is coastal southern San Mateo County, also known as, The South Coast.
Wallace Stegner writes the blurb on the back of the dust jacket, “A Separate Place is a book that will speak most eloquently to those who know La Honda and the redwood pockets on the Pacific side of the Santa Cruz Mountains. But it will speak to almost anyone who remembers real places and who resents the plastic nowheres we too often make them into. Everyone should know a piece of earth as Mr. Jones knows his – historically, scenically, meteorologically, humanly. Everybody should love one place as much as he loves his.”
Hot dog Buns
First day of Summer arrives bittersweet, for it marks the beginning of dwindling hours of daylight, until the solstice reaches its low, its demise, if you will, the blackout which signifies winter’s begin.
First day of Winter, hopeful. Days getting longer. First Day of Summer, full of regret over time wasted.
“After 30 years he’s finally listened to us old timers who have been stewards of the land. Cattle create holes around the creeks and ponds. The garter snake and red-legged frog love these holes. Cattle also graze the hillsides and woods, providing a fire danger defense.”
The land itself and the native animals. Not the horses and the land. Not the houses, shops and streets of the land, but the very insects which inhabit the land.
You only see flies. Houseflies. Occasionally, a butterfly. An orange and black Monarch.
We have way more than that. We have miniature, micro-micro, green irridescent little bugs with wings. They mystify and I am bewitched upon their landing on my arm, or knee. I watch them, do not brush them away, like I would a common housefly. I watch them and consider a relationship with them. They’re as supposed to be here, as am I.
But it’s Summer now. We’ve rolled past the line. From now on, treasure every moment you got. Got with the sunshine. Got with the hills. Got with the hawks, quail, and the silly little airplanes from over the hill. The flight path runs overhead, out in this paradise. Those sunny calm days that you also love so much, are interrupted by the little airplanes, buzzing overhead.
During these interrupts. These blights on the landscape, you will make lists of things to complete while in society. In – Out. That’s the objective. Upon that list, you write, “Hot dog Buns.”
It’s Summer. The bbq should be fired each night. Out on the coast. Onshore breeze, warmed by 3 ridges and 2 canyons. Scents of tall golden grasses, chaparral, sage and creeks. Reaches you salty.
