SUMMER ARRIVES

For awhile we speculated that summer has again passed us by. But today and yesterday temperatures have reached 90 degrees or better. Be that as it may, my decision to forgo speculation about political issues seem to be working. It saddens me that when our country faces serious deficiencies in almost every direction. Lets see:

• roads, bridges, dams, levies, schools all need modernizing
• we continue to funnel resources (money, lives, reputation) into Iraq and Afghanistan
• terrorists can still construct nuclear bombs
• our water supplies and systems are outdated and subject to failure
• wealth continues to accumulate for the 3 or 4 percent of our population
• drive by shootings in Oakland and Richmond continue at record levels.

I can continue to list things that need correction with hardly any solutions coming to mind.

Weather Report

Heavy December rains and snow lead me to consider the issues of global warming. Although the US is set to benefit from warmer winters, the south Pacific is already experiencing the effects of global warming. The US is the ONLY major country where the legislative leaders question the reality of the effects of a warmer earth. During the next 10 years we will witness the deaths and damages directly attributable to changes in weather. The Cancun Conference http://www.daraint.org made several things clear. We can no longer worship at the altar of Adam Smith,

Smokey Air and View

For the past several days, near synrise and sunset, it has been possible to look directly at the sun without colored glasses. The smoke from the various fires up and down California hangs in the atmoshere dimming the rays from the sun. One of these days it will clear up. Maybe next November!!!

SALMON SEASON GONE

For any of you expecting fresh, newly caught northwestern salmon, it will be a long wait. Might be the time to buy an ocean going skiff....

Salmon Fishing Banned in U.S. Northwest
Donna Gordon Blankinship in Seatac,
WashingtonAssociated Press
April 11, 2008

West Coast fisheries
managers voted Thursday to cancel all commercial salmon fishing off the California and Oregon coasts this year. The Pacific Fishery Management Council decided to allow limited recreational fishing of coho salmon on holiday weekends off the Oregon coast, but no recreational fishing off California after several members of the
panel argued that every salmon counts.Scientists and government officials are expecting this year's West Coast salmon season to be poor because of the collapse of Sacramento River chinook, one of the West Coast's biggest wild salmon runs.Although commercial salmon fishing off the Washington coast is scheduled to begin May 1, fisheries managers do not predict a good season off either the north or south Pacific coasts."For the entire West Coast, this is the worst in history," said Don McIsaac, executive director of the Pacific Fishery Management Council.The council's decision still must be
confirmed by NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, the federal agency in charge of salmon management.Relief for FishersEven before the vote, however, officials were on to the next step: disaster relief for fishers, said Mariam McCall, an attorney with the marine fisheries service.The governors of Washington, Oregon, and California have already signed letters seeking a disaster declaration. Congress will be asked to make a fast decision on money to alleviate the suffering of fishers and any other negative effects the cutback might have, said Brian Gorman, a NOAA Fisheries spokesperson.Scientists are studying the causes of the Sacramento River chinook collapse, with possible
factors ranging from ocean conditions and habitat destruction to dam operations and agricultural pollution. But a proposal to allow limited fishing for scientific purposes was struck down by the panel.Last year average quotas for the southern coast were allowed, while fishing was restricted north of Cape Falcon to the Canadian border.

Only in California

California Town Digs for Ideas for Historic Ditch Story by Margaret Foster / Jan. 8, 2008

In California, where water is king, an irrigation ditch can have more historic clout than Plymouth Rock.
A Southern California group wants to create parkland around a historic 12-mile-long ditch, built in 1819 in Redlands, Calif.
Located in San Bernardino County, the Zanja, which is Spanish for ditch, delivered water to the local Spanish mission, San Bernardino Asistencia; it has been a flood-control channel for the past 80 years.
A third of the trench has already been cemented over and erased by apartment buildings and other development, so now is the time to act, says Sherli Leonard, executive director of the Redlands Conservancy, which will welcome the public's ideas in a Jan. 28 meeting.
"It's so important to the history of this community that we feel we ought to do something about it," Leonard says.
Last year, the city bristled at plans for an apartment building that would have taken down trees and redirect part of the Zanja, which has been listed on the National Register since 1977.
To create an eight-mile-long park with a trail, interpretive signs, and parks the Redlands Conservancy wants to buy and place easements on the privately owned sections of the Zanja, Leonard says. It also plans list the entire stretch on the local register, which offers more protection than the state and National Register.
"We'd have to find foundations or agencies that would support this project," Leonard says. "I'm really hoping we can get it all done by 2019. We're in the very early stages."
© Preservation Magazine

Real Global Warming Results

I sus pect the residents of Kivalina, Alaska are not sympathetic to those who discount the reality of global warming effects. This small village will be gone in a few years. Check it out on the web.

Kivalina is an Inupiat community first reported as "Kivualinagmut" in 1847 by Lt. Lavrenty Zagoskin of the Imperial Russian Navy. It has long been a stopping place for travelers between arctic coastal areas and Kotzebue Sound communities. It is the only village in the region where people hunt the bowhead whale. The original village was located at the north end of the Kivalina Lagoon but was relocated.
In about 1900, reindeer were brought to the area and some people were trained as reindeer herders.
An airstrip was built at Kivalina in 1960. Kivalina incorporated as a city in 1969. During the 1970s, a new school and an electric system were constructed in the village.
Due to severe erosion, the City intends to relocate again to a new site 12 km (7.5 miles) from the present site.