Invading Bugs March North
Is Climate Change A Factor?

San Joaquin Valley - June is busting out all over - with bugs.  The (fire) ants are marching 2 by 2 and in larger numbers into the Central Valley along with a slew of other tropical critters - many with strange names each of which target our lush smorgasbord of well watered crops - an invasion that is making headlines here daily this Spring.

Not in all cases, but in most, the buggy invaders are coming from warmer climates into this region.  Recent finds of fire ants, glassy-winged sharpshooters and olive fruit flies in the Central Valley have mobilized state agencies, prompted infestation proclamations and worried farmers and the communities that depend on their production.  The severe volume of the onslaught has many people scratching their heads asking why now?

Is the well reported news of world climate change a factor?  Do hotter temperatures lead to hoards of bugs munching their way through our cropland?

What most entomologists agree upon is that a lack of good killing frost this winter means that many introduced species that may have hitchhiked from southern California, have overwintered here setting off a springtime explosion.  Finding of egg masses left over from last fall show the glassy-winged sharpshooter - a native of the Gulf Coast area and Mexico introduced likely by nursery stock from southern California overwintered in the Valley allowing its population to build up here.  The glassy-winged, which threatens the billion dollar grape industry since it is a vector for Pierce’s Disease, has been found in a residential area of Fresno, Porterville, Reedley and Madera in recent weeks.  Before this year the furthest north extension of the infestation was the Arvin area of Kern County.  In Temecula, in southern California, there are fears the effect of the half inch insect will be to essentially wipe out the prosperous grape/wine industry in coming years unless creative control strategy is successful.

In the past few days Tulare County has seen an infestation of the olive fruit fly in the heart of the olive growing region with six new finds near Lindsay/Porterville adding to another find earlier near Terra Bella.  The range of the olive fruit fly, which is established in southern California, is now moving steadily northward say entomologists.  In Tulare County, where we grow 37% of the state’s olive crop there is fear of early fruit drop and reduced yields in the hard hit olive industry.  It is the last thing they need.

Also in recent days new finds of aggressive fire ants have been found in Madera County.  The ant, native of South America, landed in California three years ago and has also been expanding its range.  How do they establish new colonies?  These critters fly.  The fire ant can be a health hazard to people and eat crops like almonds where they are found in Madera.  They may have hitchhiked here on bee hives brought in from out of state.

Of course the most famous warm climate pest - the Mediterranean fruit fly - has worried farmers in California for decades but the pest has suffered setbacks using the sterile release program to thwart its reproduction.  “That program appears to have worked,” says Kearney Field Station farm advisor Dick Rice.

For new finds the strategy is to attack the bug to keep it from becoming established as soon as you find it - the reason officials call for vigilance of the part of the public to any unusual looking new pest.
The list of warm climate invaders is large and include the silverleaf whitefly, sweet potato whitefly and Mexican Fruit.  The global economy is one reason cited by many as the way the pests are introduced.  “The global movement of people and products quickly around the world allows for many new insect invasions,” says Dennis Haines, staff biologist for Tulare County’s Ag Commission.  “Insects are opportunists.”  Haines points to another pest that hasn’t got much press - the red gum lerp psyllied that threatens the eucalyptus groves having recently invaded our valley.

Dr. Rice says something is affecting a native pest causing an explosion of what was once a scattered minor pest population this Spring into pistachios on many orchards “across the board”.  The leaf-footed bug population can damage up to half the crop of pistachios, Rice says.  “We may have lost some of this bug’s natural enemies recently,” he suggests - a parasite that might have been keeping that pest in check before.  Rice suggests warm weather - lack of killing frosts over extended periods - less fog for long periods - could be having an impact on some insects.

But farmers may have acerbated the problem by sprays that might have killed off the pest’s natural enemies.  “We’re studying why this might have happened,” he says.  “We didn’t appreciate what the egg parasite did before now,” he says.  The news shows the need for farmers to watch their IPM strategy to keep beneficial insects population up.

Global Warming?

Is the Valley warming up - is that part of the equation here?  “The jury is still out on whether there is global warming,” says another Kearney entomologist, Dr. Charles Summers.  He says he doesn’t really believe there has been  warmer average temps in the Valley.

But US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration notes that 1999 was the second warmest on record and that there has been a substantial warming here since the 1970s.  A UCS/ESA report suggest winters are likely to warm by 5-6EF and summers by 1 to 2 degrees as soon as 2030.  The warming will effect water availability along with a number of consequences.  Distribution of rain could change causing drought in some parts of the country and a drenched weather in others.  That factor is why some are worried about the West and its wildfire problems.

The EPA recently published a report on global warming suggesting that “over the last century, the average temperature in Fresno, California has increased from 61.9EF (1899-1928 average) to 63.3EF (1966-1995 average).  The report goes on to suggest the effect on agriculture might shift production patterns northward and that natural ecosystem - including insect population could be impacted.

Just a few days ago British scientists reported some butterfly species can now be seen arriving a month earlier and that warming temperatures is spreading the range of butterflies into areas not seen before.  The report says only a one degree increase has made the difference.
An early Spring has been seen around the US and the Valley for the past few seasons as crops are arriving early as well.  The theory is again that global warming caused by an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is shifting the seasons.

In California a species of butterfly - Edith’s Checkerspot - is shifting from southern to northern limits of its range as well as lower elevation to higher elevation sites - a likely consequence of rising temps.
In our forests, too, decrease in rainfall with rising pest population has meant the dying of some trees and weakening of others.  With a policy of fire suppression in the mountains and build up of the density of the forest there is concern among scientists and foresters who worry about dry condition wildfires here.

More climate variability can mean a heavy rain storm in June in Visalia, too!

If some don’t take the talk of climate change too seriously, the Metropolitan Water District of Los Angeles is.  Late last month the agency was concerned about change in precipitation patterns that could effect the availability of delivering enough water to its 17 million customers.  The consolidation of El Nino and La Nina could mean one-third less precipitation in the LA Basin in the next 10 to 20 years according to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Ocean Sciences Division.

“It’s time to stop arguing over whether climate will change and time to begin preparing for the consequence,” warns Dr. Peter Gleick, co-founder of the Pacific Institute of Studies in Development, Environment and Security.

They are concerned this year about a larger than normal mosquito population too from a company who did the first nationwide mosquito forecast. The outbreak of West Nile Fever in NY exacerbated worries.  The concern is that tropical bugs are more than a nuisance - they bring in new disease.  In New Orleans an outbreak of termites threatens the city.

Locally the Delta Vector Control says the southern house mosquito population that naturally peaks in August “is already very active,” and the more dangerous California encephalitis mosquito population is “relatively stable,” says Michael Alburn the agency manager.

Insects pose problems for those who would eradicate the pests with chemicals.  Tulare County Ag officials would like to use Dursban on the sharpshooter infestation but the EPA just banned the stuff for home use suggesting the chemical in enough dosage could hurt children.  In Arizona they are contemplating using methyl bromide - again with a ban in the works - on fire ants.

But local experts disagree whether climate change is real or if this current bug bonanza is evidence of it.  Dr. Rice says he has seen a greater influx of overwintering insect populations in the valley compared to 20 years ago and cites a decrease in cold winters as a major factor.

But Dr. Summer says “there is no evidence of tie-in of global warming and exotic pests.”  His theory is that California has fought the battle with bugs for decades and that we “face a constant barrage of pests” that we have in some cases successfully fought off.”  As the world shrinks, the bugs arrived attracted by a Hometown Buffet of 250 crop varieties in one compact Valley.

Whatever the reason, it is clear that farm pest control costs are likely to go up and it will take creative research and vigilance to fight the hoards.  Dennis Haines points out that olive fruit fly apparently overwintered in Tulare County and “we should have found them last year,” he says the traps using phermones are good.  Dr. Rice says while the strategy of disrupting mating of insects has worked well with the dreaded Mediterranean Fruit Fly, that in the Olive Fruit Fly there is no sterile variety as yet.  “That’s what they are working on right now,” he says.

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Visalia - Kaweah Delta Health Care District officials are scrambling this month to deal with a shortage of surgeons and other emergency room doctors to take call apparently because of a steady rise in medically indigent patients seeking service.  “We have fewer surgeons today than in 1991 when we had only 20,000 emergency room visits a year,” says Dr. Victoria Gerken, a local surgeon.  Today Kaweah Delta is experiencing about 50,000 ER visits a year and plans are underway for an ER that can handle 75,000 visits a year.

Hospital administrator Tom Johnson confirms the need saying “we had eight surgeons here 10 years ago and now we have five.”  Meanwhile, the ER has doubled in size.  Nationwide Johnson says good practice assumes one surgeon for every 15,000 in population.  Figuring service to about 150,000, the hospital would need 10 surgeons - not five.  “The doctors are working all weekend and they need to get back to their private practice,” says Johnson.  “In the meantime, they’ve been up all night getting low pay or often no pay for their work,” he admits.

Local doctors have retired and some have moved on, says Dr. Gerken, leaving the remaining docs with a larger load of patients to see.  “We desperately  need to recruit 2 to 3 more surgeons,” says Gerken.  “We have become a large referral center for the surrounding area now,” says the solo practitioner.

The Board of Directors of the district took the issue up this week, voting to increase compensation for docs who take call.

Gerken says she recently recruited a new doctor to come to Visalia who worked here a few weekends on call for the ER and ended up deciding to practice in LA even though he might be paid less because of the large volume of medically indigent patients here who pay nothing for their services.  “This is a crisis for the community if your daughter has to wait in the ER for an appendectomy because a heavy work load of non paying patients in our ER, says Gerken.
Gerken says more patients are being referred to Visalia and because of new enforcement of existing law we can’t refuse service.

Tulare hospital administrator Bob Montion says he isn’t surprised by Kaweah’s dilemma since the County, with KDDH’s help, he believes, orchestrated the relocation of the medically indigent TCMS patients away from TDDH to either Kaweah or Porterville.  “They are reaping what they sow,” says Montion who says Kaweah decided it wanted to take the role of the “County hospital.”

Montion complains that there was an orchestrated effort to remove Tulare area patients from the Tulare hospital counting both medically indigent and OB patients.  Montion estimates Kaweah is getting 5 to 7 extra ER patients a day that would otherwise come to TDDH if the County covered them there.  “We said we want to take care of our own patients,” says Montion.  He estimates that counting relocation of OB patients and County docs leaving the hospital, they have taken $2.5 million out of District 2.

Johnson says Kaweah doesn’t mind taking their fair share of the low pay patient load but complains that state still has not resolved a key funding initiative to increase MediCal compensation in California.  While the governor recently announced support for increasing compensation for physicians, he hasn’t budgeted more monies for hospitals because he says a lawsuit is leveled over the issue.  “He is holding us hostage,” Johnson says. “There is a real crisis that the public needs to know about.  Not having enough emergency room doctors is like not having enough policemen,” he says.

In addition, Johnson says he is concerned about County reimbursement for TCMS patients which he feels is too restrictive on qualifications and reimbursement.  In addition, Johnson says he expects the County will kick in some money to help recruit more docs here.  This week the County took up the matter in closed session.

One angle is to increase pay for docs who go on call - increase their reimbursement for the fact that so many patients can’t pay.  Family Health Care Network administrator Harry Foster says he doesn’t know why new doctors moving to the area should be surprised at the number of poor patients seeking treatment at the hospital.  “At least half our population is medically indigent,” notes Foster who runs federally qualified health clinics that care for a large number of this population.  Gerken says federally backed clinics get paid higher reimbursement for taking care of those patients but when they come to the hospital the higher reimbursement doesn’t qualify.  She says we should push the government to increase pay for the medically indigent in the hospital.

The shortfall of monies has pumped up the volume of complaints to the County to share some of the tobacco settlement money it got to cover medically indigent costs that health care providers and hospitals face, says Gerken.  A coalition of providers has been pressuring the County to share the multi-million dollar windfall.

After many hours on call, docs need a day off, says Gerken, but with fewer physicians to take up the load that’s impossible.  “We feel like indentured servants here.”

Because surgeons who care for patients through the ER, intensive care docs are in short supply as well, she says.   “We have to beg for hospitals to take care of our patients,” says Harry Foster.  Foster believes physicians have a community responsibility to take call as condition to gaining hospital privileges.  But increasingly that idea is giving way to increased pay for “volunteering” to go on call.

Docs sometimes called in the middle of the night for some difficult procedure - face the potential litigation and prospect of not being paid to boot.

Of those hospital administrators surveyed in 1998, 68% said there was a lack of on call back up available.

One avenue the hospital is pursuing - bring graduate medical students to Visalia to help carry the load.  The board of the hospital has a task force in place to contact graduate schools that would mean Kaweah would become a teaching hospital for some practices like general surgery.  “I’ve had some conversations with Cedar Sinai,” says Tom Johnson.

The need to increase space at Kaweah for the ER has prompted a plan to add 7 more exam spaces at the busy ER.  Besides patients shifting from TDDH for hospital care to the closure of a number of ERs in the area - at Exeter, Lindsay and Dinuba - has brought more patients to Visalia.

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Visalia - Kaweah Delta’s cardiac surgery program gained a huge honor this week with the news that the hospital had been named on the top 100 in the US and one of only 7 cited in the state of California.  The heart surgery program is affiliated with the Starr-Wood group headed by Dr. Fred Mayer.

“We’ve worked hard for this,” says Kaweah VP Lindsay Mann “you don’t just fall onto the top of the mountain.”

The Starr-Wood Cardiac Surgery Group is out of Portland, Oregon.   But Mayer noted “that while the group is a part of the Portland speciality group” the three surgeons who work at Kaweah Delta and two physician assistants “are all local residents.”  Mayer has been here since 1996.

Kaweah Delta Hospital was identified as one of the HCIA-Sachs 100 Top Hospitals in the Cardiovascular Benchmark for Success study.  Kaweah Delta was one of three non-teaching hospitals in California to achieve this measure of success.  Kaweah Delta was the only hospital in the Central Valley recognized as a top 100 hospital in the area of cardiovascular services.

HCIA-Sachs focused on hospitals that treat the full spectrum of cardiology patients from those needing open-heart procedures or angioplasty to those who do not require  invasive procedures.  HCIA-Sachs found that benchmark hospitals like Kaweah Delta have shorter lengths of stay and lower costs while achieving superior clinical outcomes.

The first open-heart surgery performed at Kaweah Delta Hospital occurred in January 1996.  Approximately 500 open-heart surgeries are performed at Kaweah Delta  Hospital on an annual basis.  The Starr-Wood Cardiac Surgery Group, the most experienced cardiovascular group  on the West Coast brings a tremendous amount of  expertise to the program and innovation in open-heart surgery procedures.  The Starr-Wood Cardiac surgery team at Kaweah Delta Hospital.

HCIA-Sachs developed the 100 Top Hospitals:  Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success Study in 1999 to identify the nation’s top cardiology hospitals and set a standard for management teams throughout the country.

The benefits of having a quality heart program at Kaweah means locals no longer have to travel to a big city for the best quality cardiac care, says Mayer.  The hospital runs a cardiac catherization lab for diagnosis, no invasive services, a 21 bed intensive care unit and a 34 bed intermediate critical care unit as well.  Altogether the program is staffed by about 50 professionals Mayer says.  While the program started a few years ago with a few hundred procedures in 1999 that grew to 500 surgeries a year.  Outcomes are good with morbidity at a low 3 to 5% depending on what you measure.  Mayer says about half the surgeries for the nation’s number one killer are elective and the other half come through the ER.

Mayer is pleased with the tie in the Portland home office where surgeons at branch offices around the country can share the latest information about research and procedures.

In addition the Portland office offers back up surgeons for the Visalia-based group.

The group recently discovered that using a drip to diabetic patients during surgery helped reduce the incidence of infection - a major problem during the first 48 hours of recovery.

Having a top cardiac care program has helped improve other critical care services at Kaweah as well.  “There are so many benefits to our fine heart program,” says Mann.

Besides surgery, many of the procedures done at the hospital are less invasive like the use of stints - to open vessels and angioplasty.  To properly offer these alternative services however, you “need a heart surgeon to stand by,” notes Mayer in case the outcome of the alternative service doesn’t work out.  The thing we have “is the whole spectrum of care here,” says Dr. Mayer.

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Visalia - Visalia top city planner Phyllis Coring has been reassigned from the planning department to city administration as of the new budget year beginning in July, says city manager Steve Salomon.  Coring has been chief planner for the city since 1986 getting kudos from some who see her following the proscriptions of the city’s 2020 general plan closely. On the other hand developers - argue she has been an obstacle to growth in the city.

The veteran planner remains upbeat. “It’s very positive to me since I will get a chance to get in most development projects in a comprehensive way and get them done without dealing with all the daily issues in current planning,” says Coring.

Coring has been with the city planning department since 1973.  Most recently she has angered developers and their consultants who want to open the city growth boundary for new residential development (see last issue of Valley Voice).  Coring and other staff have recommended to the city they not open the growth boundary saying there is adequate vacant residential land to accommodate new housing tracts.  But critics say she is misinterpreting clear policy that should allow the development line to move outward to the next growth ring.

Coring’s reassignment carries with it no demotion or change in pay however and some might view a job with administration as a move up.  Salomon says he has plenty of important work for Coring that would take her away from the political limelight and day to day decision making on current projects.
Tops on Salomon’s list is a move to annex more than a score of small county islands within the city in the short term - important because the city manager sees it as a key factor in getting funding for community projects in the coming years depending on whether the city reaches the 100,000 population level or not.  “These are the next level of funding possibilities if you reach the population thresholds,” says Coring.  There are at least 1300 residences in the city - not counted in the census as Visalia residents.  Visalia is likely at the 98 to 99 thousand level by the end of this year but annexing 1300 more residents at an average of three people per house would put us over the top.  The state allows a short window of annexation approvals this year that can happen without lengthy protest hearings.

Regarding working on annexations, Coring says annexing the county islands should “end the confusion” of residents there of who to call in an emergency or some other situation.
Salomon says Coring will also work on air quality issues - “we have to do better on this,” says Salomon and Coring may be able to put together plans to help that.  Visalia’s air is known to be one of the worst in the nation.

Applying for grants will be a part of her job as well.  Currently the city has no one that specializes in that job.

At the planning department at City Hall at least some of Coring’s assignments will be divided between chief building official Dennis Lehman and redevelopment planner Bob Nance.  Just where the council is heading on the initiative to expand growth boundaries for residential development is the $64 question with the relocation of its principle critic to a desk job at City Hall.  “I believe the issue is coming back to the city council at a work session open forum soon,” says Coring who has been updating a report on the touchy issue.

“My overall role has been to carry out the planning policies of the city council,” says Coring who notes some of the hardest work is not dealing with developers but single family home owners who are trying to accomplish something.

One developer who isn’t complaining about Coring is former mayor Basil Perch who says, “Phyllis has always been fair in a very tough position.”

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Visalia - Visalia’s two largest hotels are on the sales block this month being handled by the same brokerage firm. Insignia/Hotel Partners, Inc. based in NY has a buyer for the 257 room Holiday Inn says broker Stan Kozlowski.  In addition Kozlowski says the 202 room Radisson in Visalia is for sale.  A package offering was sent out to prospective buyers recently, including locals.
The sale of the Holiday Inn is confirmed by Alan Baer, Senior Vice President of Outrigger - the firm that has managed the property for 6 years.  “We have an important date coming up in mid June,” says Baer.  It is expected to close in the next 60 days.

The hotel is owned by LaSalle Hotel Properties.  The prospective buyer of the Holiday Inn is said to be from overseas.  Last year the property was in escrow for a period of time ironically to American Property Management - the New Mexico company that bought the Radisson from the city and now has decided to sell it.

News of two possible sales transactions of Visalia’s most prestigious hospitality properties appears to show a weakness in the marketplace.  But Baer says the Visalia Holiday Inn “had the best year ever” in 1999 due to the improving California economy as well as the local economy.  Still, the older Holiday Inn will reportedly need an infusion of cash to maintain the Holiday Inn flag, says local industry sources.  The purchase price for the hotel is believed to be in the $6 million range.

The Visalia Radisson, built in 1990, was purchased by American Property Management in January 1998 for $13.850,000.  That transaction was handled by Hotel Partners as well.  According to Kozlowski, the offering price is “in the mid teens.”  The city of Visalia reportedly spent about $23 million on the downtown project which is connected to the Visalia Convention Center.  Since the sale the city and Radisson do less coordinated marketing, say city officials.

The potential sales of over 450 rooms in town comes at a time that two new hotel properties are set to be constructed in town over the next half year.  One is the new Courtyards Fairfield Inn - about 68 rooms at Akers and 198.  The company has submitted building plans to the city.  The other is Anil Chagan’s Comfort Inn across from the Radisson on Center and Church.  Chagan has completed negotiations to buy and build the property on city owned land and is doing the paper work to gain his construction loan.  Chagan says he expects to close on purchase of the property by the end of this month or early July.  “Once we get the construction loan we have to move fast,” he says.  Between the two new properties the town would have nearly 140 new rooms to fill.  Sources say that Radisson is reporting a 72% occupancy.

Besides Visalia, Tulare has gone on a hotel construction rampage in the past few years with over 300 rooms having been built or nearing the construction stage now, including one by Anil Chagan and his partners.  Chagan also is a stakeholder in the Holiday Inn Express in Three Rivers and the new Comfort Inn just opened in Hanford.

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Governor Gray Davis and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt are expected to make an announcement this weekend (June 10) about a Record of Decision on the so-called CalFed process to improve both water quality and quantity in the Bay/Delta area.  The decision is expected to include an approval of additional storage for more water wanted by south Delta farmers and urban interests and an environmental water bank account of 600,000 acre feet. The plan is said to include a double of the size of Millerton Lake source of the Friant Kern canal.  “I think Friant interests will be happiest about this announcement,” says Congressman Cal Dooley.  However he fears Westlands may lose more water out of the deal.

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Tulare County - After lawsuits against both Kings and Tulare Counties over plans to expand dairies new operations looking to expand here may be wise to include anaerobic digesters or other means to reduce air emissions, applicants are now being told.

A lawsuit against the Boswell plan to sell dairy sites in Kings County has led to an upgrading of the standard new dairy operators must attain if they are going to put in new dairies.  Despite perhaps the most rigorous mitigation effort by a dairy plan, the environmental group who sued the company to force plan mitigation has again sued them and the County to extract more concessions, in recent weeks.   The Center For Race, Poverty and the Environment and Boswell are now in serious settlement talks over this latest suit.

In Tulare County, a suit against the recently adopted programic EIR in the number one dairy county, has apparently prompted new advice to applicants that they “beef up their mitigation plans,” says chief planner George Finney including literally taking pages out of the more rigorous Boswell EIR in Kings County.  “We believe our adopted EIR is adequate, but we are warning applicants they must share the risk if they proceed in case we lose the lawsuit.  While a judge may hear the case this year, Finney expects an appeal whoever wins and that process could take three years. “We’re not halting processing of dairy operations,”says Finney.  But applicants for large new dairies are being advised to look at the Boswell plans to make their applications bullet proof.  That translates to hundreds of thousands more dollars on large dairy operations, but a possible utilization of the methane for power purposes.

In the Tulare County suit there is also a mandatory settlement process that could potentially mean the higher standards could become Tulare County policy as well.  There are over 50 applicants for dairy permits in the wings in Tulare County who have been awaiting the outcome of the recently adopted EIR.

In a related matter, researchers in Britain have found that changing the rations fed to cattle with a bacteria that  aids digestion can reduce emission by 50%.  Emissions are a concern not just because they stink but because they are precursors to smog and global warming.

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