Study Of Air Pollutants Continue In Sequoia

Sequoia National Park - Smog, pesticides and other airborne contaminants like mercury are riding the airwaves to the Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks. The question remains - how much and at what level of harm?

Research on these contaminants has gone on for a few years - at first focusing on smog’s effect on the famous Big Trees themselves and now a closer examination of all kinds of pollutants some locally generated and some who ride the jet stream from the Orient that may be harming both plants and critters in national parks.

Park officials have known for several years that smog is hurting the big stands of Jeffrey pine trees on the western face of the Sierra as well as stunting seedlings of Sequoia trees.

Local air resources specialist Annie Esperanza says she has been monitoring Sequoia’s airshed for several years noticed recent reports that the mountain air had shown a deterioration from 1999 to 2003 with the number of days exceeding the state and federal ozone standard generally rising. That was true until last year when cooler temps helped by more air movement cleared out the haze that is typically found on stagnant summer days. Breezy cool weather so far this year has helped again in 2005. “Is this a trend? Only time will tell,” suggests Esperanza.

Chief interpreter for the park Bill Tweed notes that while focusing on pollution sources has meant cleaner cars for example, the valley’s growth may well be offsetting the gains made by clean technology. He quips that “The air has already gone from broth to stew and if we aren’t careful our stew will turn to chowder.”

Esperanza says long range studies on the effect of pollutants on park resources includes work being done at eight US national parks carried out by the Western Airborne Contaminants (WACAP) project, monitoring of trans Pacific dust carried from Asia and China to the Western US. The highest jet stream winds hit the Sierra where researchers are finding worrisome persistent organic pollutants, volatile organic compound and compounds like mercury being deposited.

Mercury is a big problem back east from coal fired power plants. But mercury laden dust also rides the wind coming from large scale open burning, says Esperanza. She says while mercury is being measured at a new station in Giant Forest, the comparison to other regions is not yet known.

The WACAP project collected data from Sequoia park in 2003 and some of that raw data has been released now that shows pesticides locally generated from the valley floor as well as banned pesticides found in snow and water samples at several high elevation lakes.

Data shows higher concentrations of the pesticide dacthal in snow in Sequoia found in 2003 than found in other western national parks. Dacthal is a pre-emergent herbicide used in both speciality crops and on turf like golf courses and works by killing germinating seeds. Focusing on a banned pesticide HCH, levels are similar at all western national parks showing the widespread distribution of these world-traveling airborne contaminants. By contrast, some of the contaminants clearly are being generated from the farms sitting just below Sequoia.

Researcher Tamara Blett with NPS says they found residues of a pesticide used widely in the valley - the herbicide endosulfan in Pear Lake in Sequoia found only at the upper level of the lake. Much further down in the sediment of the lake they found the banned pesticide dieldrin deposited apparently in 1963 but not at upper levels. “That tells us the banning of the chemical reduced the disposition,” says Blett.

Esperanza says EPA is gathering information on fish and amphibian tissue this summer to see if the toxic substances magnify as has been the case of other contaminants that can reduce reproductive success and become what is called endocrine disruptors. That may be what happened to the historic mountain frog population.

Also worrisome are the flow of toxic materials from Asia on prevailing air currents found in snow in Sequoia and elsewhere including nasty materials like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) long banned here but still used overseas.

What’s the effect of long banned chemicals? For example the peregrine falcons that nest at Moro Rock in Sequoia National Park have never been able to produce offspring. Abandoned eggs contained high quantities (13 mg/kg wet weight) of DDE (the breakdown product of the US-banned pesticide DDT), and eggshells averaged 15% thinner than they should be. More recently, the peregrines produced eggs that lacked the normal smooth waxy brown-spotted shell; instead the shells were white and chalky. Additionally, the foothill yellow-logged frog completely disappeared form these parks in the 1970s, and today exists in the Sierra Nevada only in a handful of widely scattered populations along the western foothills.

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By Miles Shuper

Tulare County - While there is no hard evidence that two major gangs with international connections have made their way into Tulare County, law enforcement authorities say they wouldn’t be surprised if it has happened or will happen.

At least one of two more notorious so-called Globalized groups, the Calle 18, or 18th Street and the Mara Salvatrucha, better known as the MS-13 has been identified as being in Delano and Bakersfield and possibly in Fresno County, according to Ken Smythe, gang investigator for the Tulare County Office of District Attorney.

There are 75 documented gangs in the county with an estimated membership of 3,000.

Although no members of either the 18th Street or MS-13 has been documented in Tulare County, Smythe said, aggressive recruiting efforts and the desire for new turf make the local area a likely target for their appearance. The 18th Street gang has been around since the 1960s with the increasing immigration of Mexican migrants into Los Angeles.

The 18th Street gang was the first known to recruit outside its home city and state, seeking middle school and elementary aged youth to help steal, obtain protection money and sell drugs. Mexican and Colombian traffickers reportedly now use the gang to distribute narcotics into the U.S.

MS-13, authorities say, “is one of the most feared” and brutal gangs because a number of members are former guerilla recruits from Salvadoran slums. They bring knowledge of weapons, explosives and combat tactics. Authorities cite the 12-year civil war in that country between communist guerillas and a fledgling democratic government with the displacement of an estimated one million people. It’s been estimated that about half of them made their way to the States.

Gang investigators say other gangs fear them. The fact that the Central American gangs and the Mexican-based gangs do not like one another, leads to concern for those battling the war against major gangs. MS-13 have been and are involved in murders, robberies, prostitution, drugs, smuggling, and, as one veteran investigator says, “anything that can bring them money.”

Money is not the motivation in most local gangs, but is a prime factor in the larger gangs where turf fights are for control. In some cases it is more violent than traditional organized crime, sources say.

While gangs represent a tiny fraction of the general population, law enforcement officials stress that there is a disproportionate growth and violence among and between gangs resulting in a drain on the funding and manpower of law enforcement at all levels.

Gangs are in practically every city. The number of cities reporting gangs in 1970 totaled 270. That number climbed to 2,500 in 1998, an increase of about 800 percent. In 2002 the National Youth Gang Survey (NYGS) estimated there were 21,500 gangs and more than 730,000 active gang members in the U.S. Surveys indicate about 85 percent of gang members reside in large cities.

But there can be no doubt that smaller cities, especially in California, are fast becoming infiltrated by gangs.

In testimony before the Subcommittee of the Western Hemisphere of the U.S. House of Representatives this spring touched on many aspects of the growing gang problems, especially in migrant communities.

According to testimony, in 2004 U.S. authorities caught more than 120,000 un-accompanied juveniles trying to cross the southwest order hoping to join relatives already in the Unites States.

“Gangs offer stability, identity, status and protection for youth who have no parents or who must spend most of their time on the streets,” according to testimony.

Tulare County, as well as other counties in the agriculturally rich San Joaquin Valley rely on immigrant farm labor, the majority from Mexico, and some from Central and South America. Though not specific to any location, testimony before the Subcommittee cites the Valley’s situation. “People forced to move as a result of difficult circumstances-whether internally or from another country,--seldom have much choice but to settle in disorganized and inferior neighborhoods.”

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that are now between 10 to 12 million “undocumented Hispanic aliens in the U.S. attracted mostly to seasonal work in agriculture and construction.

Although the vast majority are hard working and law abiding, some of their number have fueled Hispanic gang growth. According to the NYGA gang growth survey, the racial and ethnic composition of U.S. gang members is 47 percent Hispanic, 31 percent African American, 13 percent white, 7 percent Asian and 3 percent “others.”

Next: A look at some of Tulare County’s gangs, tactics & actions.

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Tulare - Tulare District Hospital will seek support of two thirds of the district’s voters to approve an $85 million expansion of the hospital. The mail-in ballots will be sent to residents August 15 and will need to be returned to the Tulare County Election Department by September 13. The plan to ask voters for their financial commitment was approved by the TDH board June 8th.

“In fact we are planning $100 million in improvements although we are asking for bond monies totaling $85 million,” says CEO Bob Montion “to pay for essentially a new hospital.” He says the bond monies will cost property owners $48 per year for every $100,000 in valuation.

Montion called the requirement to get two thirds approvals tough but noted a poll done in April showed 69% support for the idea. Neighbor Kaweah Delta passed a bond in 2003.

Anchoring the project will be an enlarged, state-of-the-art emergency department with 24 beds, double the present number of beds. The project would also include additional hospital rooms and beds, additional rooms in The Birthplace and double the number of surgery rooms from three to six.

This will be the first time the hospital district that serves the communities of Tulare, Tipton, Pixley, Woodville and Waukena has gone to voters for a bond measure since the district was formed in 1946. The hospital opened in 1951.

Founded in 1946, Tulare District Hospital is a 112-bed facility providing 24-hour care to the district that encompasses southern Tulare County and its 115,000 residents. Located at 869 Cherry St., the hospital offers the most up-to-date and finest health care and personalized services including respiratory therapy, cardiology, oncology, physical therapy, medical imaging, laboratory, pharmacy and more. For more information call 688-0821 or visit the hospital website at www.tdhs.org.

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Tulare County - The sudden retirement decision by long time county Health and Human Services Agency director Ron Probasco in the past week may set in motion changes to the county’s largest department - Tulare County Health and Human Services (HHS).

Mr. Probasco has been on the job for 23 years surprised some members of the Board of Supervisors with his decision to step down. This past week the board agreed to a “golden handshake” agreement with Probasco allowing him to retire at least a year earlier than he had anticipated. Probasco will be 64 years old this year. Several members of the Board of Supervisors cited health concerns as weighing in Mr. Probasco’s decision.

Probasco told the Voice that with three grandchildren and the agreement with the county “I want time to play a lot more golf and concentrate on some investments.” He says his last day will be June 24.

Credited with being an able administrator who brought in substantial grant funds to supplement a meager county budget in one of the poorest counties in the state, Probasco says he feels he has helped make a difference for the “less fortunate” in the county over the years.

On the other hand, Probasco was also a lightening rod for controversy during his long tenure as he built up the county’s largest “superagency” that has nearly 60% of the county’s budget as well as more than half the employees. Several grand jury investigations complained about the administration of the agency, low morale at the agency and a competitive atmosphere in the county over use of millions of dollars in grant funds.

One fellow administrator who knocked heads with Probasco over the years is Tulare District Hospital CEO Bob Montion. The two squabbled over several issues that Probasco pursued over the years including the coming of managed Medi-Cal in this county. The program sought to use an HMO model to provide health care to low income people here. In the end a county run program did not work in part because stakeholders strongly disagreed with Probasco’s model.

In another case Montion says the county took away a contract from TDH for reimbursement in treating the medically indigent in the county - a matter that was later settled in court. Montion says the knock against Probasco is that he sought and succeeded in “building an empire.”

Member of the Board of Supervisors Alan Ishida says the departure of Probasco “gives us an opportunity” to look at a possible break up of the agency. “I think we will be asking for a private firm to come and perform a management audit,” says Ishida. He says the “original idea” of making a superagency was to cut administration cost with fewer department heads.

Agreeing with Ishida is supervisor Phil Cox that “it may be time to look at the break up of the superagency” noting that “no one but Ron Probasco could have held this together.”

Probasco formed HHS in 1996 that combined the health department as well as environmental health with the mental health services, welfare and social service programs as well as the Agency on Aging.

In the past six months there has been a focus on Mental Health because of the passage of Prop. 63 that will bring perhaps $7 million or more in funds to Tulare County for new mental health services. Probasco’s office had been criticized by stakeholders here in recent months that there had not been adequate input from all the non-profits who have an interest in how service will be delivered.

Ishida says in recent weeks the county has been looking at putting the oversite for Prop. 63 monies with the county’s CAO rather than Health and Human Services. “That’s the model they followed in Fresno,” he says. “Over the years the non-profits and HHS have had conflicts,” says Ishida.

Cox says he seen an opportunity with the break up to relocate some agencies using the monies they get for overhead to accomplish some of the space need goals of the county. Most of the agencies are housed at the big Government Plaza building on South Mooney currently.

While not all agreed with Probasco’s management style the fact is, says Montion, that “Ron brought in a lot of money into this county” that would not have otherwise been available. Probasco says the annual budget of the HHS is over $300 million, all but $11 million that is county funded. “We’ve been able to serve the big low income population here without dipping into the county general fund,” says Probasco, administering over 100 grant programs.

The county has a network of low income health clinics around the county that provide primary care service to people. The clinics compete with several non-profit clinics that seek to provide health care to this same population including the Family HealthCare Network and community clinic in Dinuba, Exeter, and Tulare. The competition has had an upside - more health care choices for people.

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by Richard Mavis

Tulare County - “Newly developed areas have grown significantly faster than the streets that are established,” says Myron Rounsull, Traffic Engineering Specialist with the City of Visalia. Especially in the hotspots both in the northwest and southeast areas of town. “Older roads experience growth, but not at the same rate.”

If trends hold, and forecasts prove correct, the engineers are going to have quite a task in front of them. The population of the Central Valley is expected to double by 2040. Visalia’s population alone has jumped by just over 18,000 in the last 10 years. Visalia is growing at a faster rate than both Tulare County and the state of California.

But right people in the right places have a plan. Ted Smalley, Transportation Engineer with Tulare County Association of Governments, says they plan to “stay ahead of the ballgame, fix congestion, and plan for it.”

He notes a significant “increase of interstate travel on 99,” with expansion projects planned, part by part, for the next 20 years.

Among the first of their projects will be Mooney Boulevard, aka State Route 63, which “will be widening subject to receiving funding,” says Smalley, but on that matter there are “no guarantees.” The area under consideration runs between 198 and Ave 28 (Caldwell). The plan is to expand from four to six lanes. The project will have to be scheduled around the Christmas traffic, says Smalley. Nobody wants to deal with the kind of nightmare that would be.

As it is, intersections along Mooney consistently receive C and D Level of Service (LOS) ratings—letters which may or may not look horribly familiar to our recent graduates. Dennis Mills, Transportation Engineer with Tulare County Association of Governments, explains: “the Level of Service for intersections is measured by the amount of delay a typical auto may endure. LOS A is less than 10 sec. delay, LOS B is between 10 and 20 seconds, LOS C is between 20 and 35 seconds of delay...”

But there are a myriad of factors that go into that rating, says Eric Bons, Senior Civil Engineer with the City of Visalia. The volume of cars and width of the road are just a couple.

As Rounsfull says, a comparative look at the rates is a much better indicator than looking at the numbers. As in, “intersections along Mooney numerically have the most accidents—but ratewise, maybe not.”

AADT—annual average daily traffic—count for 1995 shows close to 30,000 cars passed through the intersection of Mooney and Walnut every day that year. That number jumped to between 32,500 and 34,500 for the 2000 count. It made a similar jump, to around 38,000, in the count for 2004.

So how do drivers perceive the traffic problem? That's hard to say. “Visalia in general has a pretty good ranking,” says Rounsfull. “It averaged good as far as the traffic is concerned.” But he adds: “there is a lot of traffic in this town, and I think the people are concerned about it. That’s pretty traditional.”

Engineers are doing what they can. “There’s always room for improvement,” says Bons.

“For a long time Goshen at Ben Maddox was a fixed-time signal,” says Rounsfull, but now every intersection in town with traffic signals has roadbed sensors installed.

However, he adds, “often times other types of traffic control will be more effective than signals. Signals will not prevent a driver from tearing through town and causing damage to himself and others.” Much of the problem “can be attributed to driver error.”

One alternative gaining momentum in the US is traffic circles, or roundabouts. Two are currently being installed in town, says Bons. “We have one going in on Houston at Santa Fe, and another going in Shannon Ranch, Shannon Parkway at County Center.”

If space allows, roundabouts are preferable over four-way or all-way stops because of one major advantage: “the driver’s need to stop has nearly been completely eliminated,” says Rounsfull. “Traffic flows smoother without the necessary stopping.”

At conventional four-legged, signed intersections, “every vehicle must stop,” he explains. “No matter what time of day, no matter how much traffic, you must stop. This affects air quality, fuel consumption, congestion management, roadway capacity, and motorists’ time and money.”

An area’s air quality is among the factors the state uses to determine who gets funding. Regions with plans for reducing pollution usually receive more funding for their road improvement projects.

The main drawback for roundabouts today, says Rounsfull, is the education process. “Few drivers have had much (or any) experience with them, so it will take awhile for motorists” to become accustomed. “But I think that once people get used to them they will find out driving though them is a rather quick and easy task.”

Bons agrees, saying roundabouts are “something new and different. I think they'll adapt just fine.”

For more information: www.tularecog.org or www.dot.ca.gov

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Visalia - A Bloomington, IL Garden wholesale supply company has chosen Visalia for its expansion to the West Coast.

Bloomington Wholesale Garden Supply (BWGS) is the largest supplier of year-round gardening supplies in the nation. This week the firm finalized the leasing of about 35,000 sq. ft of space from the Allen Group at the northwest corner of Plaza Drive and Ferguson. BWGS will be the first occupant of the 150,000 sq. ft. warehouse, one of several in that area.

BWGS, a 20-year-old firm, is expanding to the West Coast to insure rapid shipping to wholesale customers, said Ty Connally, BWGS Marketing Director. He said the company hopes to begin operation in Visalia by August. The move should mean six to eight new jobs. There will be some warehouse job hiring from the area, Connally said.

Two to three employees from the Bloomington headquarters will be moving to Visalia. Dale Thompson will be the West Coast Sales Director in charge of operations.

The company carries a huge selection of hydroponic and organic products from a wide variety of vendors. The firm’s customer catalog lists organic fertilizers, pest controls, soil and amendments, tools, drip irrigation supplies, indoor climate control, greenhouses and lighting among its products.

The lease agreement was handled by Grubb & Ellis/Pearson Commercial Realty.

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The Lindsay Save Mart shopping center will be getting a makeover and a new Starbucks as well as Movie Galley store, a unit of Blockbuster.

The new Horizon Outlet center expansion will mean 12 new stores that will open by this fall including Calvin Klein, Haggar, and Casual Corner.

Supervisor Allen Ishida is working with the Corps of Engineers on a potential plan to use about five acres adjacent the new Slick Rock parking area north of the current Slick Rock - for a potential visitor center. Three Rivers last federal funds for such a visitor center recently. But Ishida wants to hold a meeting of potential stakeholders including Park Service related groups to see if there is support for a new application for a visitor center for Three Rivers that could get in line for funding. The large parking area under development is moving forward because of the expansion of Kaweah Lake that has inundated the existing Slick Rock parking area. The Corps says the new parking area would be just north and have a new entrance off Highway 198.

Sierra View Golf Course south of Visalia may be converted to new homes according to a preliminary plan filed with the county recently. Mangano Homes has filed the plan site for about 140 new homes in place of the golf course, says county planner Roberto Brady. The course may be victim of the times with fewer golfers and too many courses nationwide to be profitable. Sierra View is an 18 hole course on Ave. 264 not far from Mooney Grove. The project would require a general plan amendment approval by the Board of Supervisors. Core golfers who regularly use courses have fallen in recent years down nearly 5% last year according to the National Golf Foundation. Some golf courses use their greenways to attract new homes surrounding the course. But in this case the apparent plan is to displace the course. It's not clear if the City of Visalia will fight the project that would urbanize the area south of the city limit. The city just lost a round on their northern border with approval by the county Board of Supervisors of a small rural subdivision on the north side of the St. Johns at Ben Maddox.

Fewer workers are covered by health insurance a UC Berkeley center has found. From 2000 to 2004 the number of Californian's with access to health care supplied through their employer dropped from 61% to 58%. From 2000 to 2004 the number of uninsured adults jumped some 7 million nationwide. Rising health care premiums are leading to an erosion of employer sponsored health care coverage, says the report.

A Kings River area property owner is fighting Riverland Resort's plan to sell off homesites on their property in what she says is a violation of county permitting requirements. She is trying to convince the county planning commission to declare a stop notice to halt the construction. Riverland claims they are within their right to build on the site and offer 25 year leases of the cottages. The critic Betsy Tunnel provided the planning commission with a photo of a backhoe "illegally" digging, she says - in river flood water on May 28.

Special delivery: Kaweah Delta Hospital does some 4000 baby deliveries a year and far too many of them are premature says CEO Lindsay Mann. That's why the hospital is in the planning stage of adding five new neonatal beds to add to the 10 intensive care beds for premies they have now. "We run at 100% of capacity now," says Mann.

More ICU beds too. While the hospital waits for the major North expansion in December of 2007 they are converting six beds to the 3 West wing of the hospital to intensive care, says Lindsay Mann, adding to their 21 ICU beds they have now. The longer term North expansion will add another 20 ICU beds.

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Visalia - A contract that took over three years to reach appears to have an incentive built in that would grow the student population at College of the Sequoias. The board of trustees finalized the agreement at a special meeting May 31 between the college and the COS Teacher's Association. The contract is retroactive to June 2004 and in place until June of next year.

The agreement comes only weeks after the surprise retirement of COS President Kim Badrkhan. VP Don Goodyear has been standing in as the college's top negotiator in recent weeks. "We're just ecstatic, " says Goodyear now the college faculty voted 133 to 4 in favor of the latest package offered by the college.

Still the new agreement was similar to one offered in December but rejected, says Goodyear. "The faculty didn't get a chance to vote on that one," he says as the board of the union did not submit it to membership for a vote.

President of the College of the Sequoias Teacher Association Mary Watte says the difference was when president Badrkhan retired and Don Goodyear took over, Goodyear dismissed the attorney that had been handling all the negotiations for the college. Watte claims the L.A. attorney had been paid over $1 million over a period of time hired by Badrkhan because the "president didn't want to come to the table." The attorney also handled the litigation over class scheduling. When Goodyear came in "we had some marathon negotiation sessions," says Watte and two weeks later we "settled it."

Goodyear says key components in the agreement provide a 3% rise of 2004-05 and a 5.23% increase for 2005-06 for instructors at the college. In addition instructors will be offered additional pay incentives, says Goodyear, if the number of students at the college exceed certain set goals.

The college has been concerned that the enrollment has grown slowly in recent years failing to keep up with the level of population growth, says Goodyear. "We should have had near 10,000 full time equivalent students right now," says Goodyear, instead about 8820 are expected this opening school year.

The college gets paid based on the number of students attending. Some believe students that might have gone to COS found other places to take classes at several other private and public venues that were not around until recently.

Important to the administration is that college professors will have to be present on campus a minimum of four days a week - a subject of strong controversy in the past. A second issue resolved in the agreement is how to work out details of school class scheduling with a committee of both teachers and administration with administration having the final say over the issue. "That was key to us," says trustee Bob Line.

In fact the union and COS were in protracted and bitter litigation over this issue that had cost the college big time to defend against. The agreement ends all litigation between the two says the college.

With the cost of living going up everyone appears to agree faculty deserved a raise.

Line says he believes the agreement may mean faculty and administration may pull together to grow COS district wide. Now both the college and faculty will receive a benefit where the college's FTEs go up (full time equivalent students). Failure of the college faculty and administration to get together in the past few years have crippled several attempts to convince the community about a need for a general bond obligation bond.

The new agreement says teachers would be eligible for a $1 salary increase for every 100 full time equivalent students added helping to increase reimbursement from the state. The plan to increase enrollment may be broached by offering more classes and increasing the limit that had been put on enrollment in some classes.

Dr. Goodyear expects a survey of community members will "give us direction" in the near future on how to proceed with a new bond - the only way the college can afford to grow plans for new campuses in Tulare and Hanford and the expansion at the Visalia campus. Any bond election would come next year looking at a time when 55% majority would pass a bond.

Right now a crisis exists on two new buildings for the Visalia campus, says Goodyear. Bids for the new gym came in $2 million above budget and in August the new Science building expected to be at least a $9 million project will go out to bid. Because of the hot real estate and construction climate in the state, construction bids have been running high. In the case of the new gym "we may need to downsize it," fears Goodyear.

Dr. Goodyear has told the board of trustees he will stick around for the next year to help transition in a new long term president.

The timing of the agreement coming after so long appears to suggest a new administrator at the helm and the coming of summer months when teachers could use that one year retroactive pay increase may have been justification enough to come to the table COS union representative Wayne Preston has commented about a "different attitude" on campus with Goodyear at the helm.

Watte says she is happy with the way both instructors and administration "have input over class scheduling" compared to what the college wanted - "just one person deciding everything without our input," she says.

Regarding the potential deal they turned down in December, Watte defended their actions suggesting that the offer "was informal" that it wasn't signed. Plus it had a change in the health care provision that was not included in the final agreement, she says.

Watte says faculty would like to support a future bond but hopes they too can have input over its structure. "We were behind the first bond paying for advertising to support it," says Watte although she admits they sat on the sidelines in the last two bond elections that failed. "We want to have buy in.

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by Richard Mavis

San Joaquin Valley - The Center for Biological Diversity, et al, failed to convince the Fish and Game Commission that the Tricolored Blackbird should be listed as endangered, but that's not stopping concerned parties from coming forward to act in their defense.

There may be a more significant threat in the near future, says Noelle Cremers, of the California Farm Bureau Federation. "The valley has seen a huge population increase, and as lands are developed, habitats are changing for a wide range of species."

Tricolored Blackbirds thrive in the Central Valley. Only one percent of their current estimated population lives outside of California. But the valley, predominately farmland, makes for easy living.

"There's plenty of room in their native habitat. They've found it's just easier to live on a dairy," says Paul Martin, director of environmental services for Western United Dairymen. "They're more successful (there) than in the wild, but that doesn't help the dairymen feed their cows."

And there's the rub. The tricolors' areas of choice are ricelands, rangeland, dairies and silage fields, where food is prevalent and predators are few. In their way, the birds are eating the profits.

The Tricolored Blackbird is a protected species, though, which means that once they've established their nest they cannot legally be driven away. Even if they nest among the silage a dairyman uses to feed his cows.

Presently, farmers have the privilege of choosing either to allow the birds to nest on their land or to drive them off. If the birds were to be listed as endangered, they wouldn't have that choice. The birds and wherever they choose to make their roost would be practically untouchable. For instance: if power lines crossed above a nesting area, and those lines needed maintenance, that maintenance would have to wait until the birds left the area on their own accord.

The Tricolor Blackbird Working Group has designed a brochure in effort to educate farmers about the birds and inform them of their rights and options.

"It is within (the farmers') legal authority to haze the birds away before they make their nest," says Cremers. But if tricolor population continues to fall, they might not retain that right for long.

Possibly a more enticing option is to sell the usage rights of their land. A significant collective of organizations, including the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Fish and Game, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the California Cattlemen's Association, and the California Farm Bureau, among others, has designed a program by which farmers are paid for the rights to their land while the birds nest there. Indeed, "there's a pretty good group of folks who are trying to develop voluntary, collaborative approaches," says Martin.

"If (farmers) are invaded by the birds, this gives them an alternative," he says. "We feel it's a very efficient way of protecting the birds. You get a lot bigger bang for your buck this way than any other way."

Once the birds leave, usage rights revert to the landowner.

The rates of land development and human influx into the Central Valley aren't expected to slow any time soon. "If we lose our agricultural land there are a lot of species that could decline, which is why we're working to keep the valley a strong agricultural area," says Cremers. "We're trying to educate farmers right now that this is an issue, and to recognize that when a huge flock of birds comes to their land they should work with the service."

Anyone interested in picking up a copy of the Working Group's brochure should be able to find some at the Kings County Farm Bureau office in Hanford. "They're available for the asking," says Martin. And if none are there, "I'd track one down for them."

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By Peyton Ellas

Success Lake - Every cloud has a silver lining, the saying goes, and the discovery of seismic problems at Success Reservoir is no exception. Beginning last November, the amount of water that the can be stored in the reservoir was lowered due to the discovery that the 44-year-old dam may not be able to withstand a large earthquake. While plans are made for the $200 million, six-year plan to build a new Reservoir, the lake enters its second year of a re-operating level of about a third of its former capacity.

That has meant that water releases will continue beyond the normal release the Army Corps of Engineers, managers of the Reservoir, does each winter in preparation for the April-May peak run-off and the build-up of storage for use in the dry summer months. This year the difference will be that the lake will not be allowed to rise any higher than it currently is, at about 30,000 acre feet.

"It's as high as it's going to get," said Karen Wagner, Senior Park Ranger for the Army Corps of Engineers at Success Lake.

But while later this summer this situation may cause water worries for area farmers and other water users who own entitlements to the water from the Tule River runoff, it has had a benefit for recreation seekers throughout the area, according to Wagner

"This year the situation has worked to our benefit," she said. "Other lakes have an over abundance of water that has meant inundated camping areas and limited access. We haven't had that. Actually, we have a good situation. All of our forks are open, and there's a large surface area for skiing, wind surfing and boating." The Success Reservoir is fed by a supply of water from the North, South and Middle forks of the Tule River.

Because many of the region's lakes, such as Millerton and Kaweah, are filled to capacity and flooding nearby recreation areas, Success Lake has seen the benefit of an increased number of campers and day-use visitors. Wagener said that over the Memorial Day holiday, the campground was full by Thursday night and remained busy through Monday. Advance reservations for the Fourth of July weekend also show that the campground will be full for that Holiday as well, reported Wagner, saying that day use of the park has also been "very good."

So far, water users such as the Lower Tule River Irrigation District, which has an entitlement of 40,000 acre feet from Success, have so far been able receive adequate water supplies through their other entitlements from Friant-Kern Canal, which is carrying record flows of water after record-setting snow and rainfall totals.

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By Tom Wells

Tulare County - Part One of this series ended with the thought that the fate of SB 56 might be known by the time Part Two went to press. That thought was only partially correct. At press time, the bill to provide more judgeships for all fifty-eight of California's county court systems had been released from the Assembly desk and sent to the Committee on Judiciary. So, at least for now, it appears the legislation isn't being held over for action in the next session.

During my interview with Judge Paul Vortmann, the current presiding judge of the Tulare County Superior Court, his understanding of SB 56 was that it would provide fifty new judgeships a year for the next three years to be distributed by the California Judicial Council, the state's governing body for court systems, to all fifty-eight counties on a greatest-need basis.

But Judge Vortmann admitted he'd not been keeping up on the progress of the legislation (he does have quite a few other things to do, you know) and it seems the life of SB 56 has been a bit more complicated than one might think at first glance. A call to the office of the bill's author, Senator Joseph Dunn of Garden Grove, to clarify his brainchild's history and current status was not returned. So it must be reconstructed from information provided on the state Senate's web site.

Without going into enough detail to make your (and my) brain hurt, it appears SB 56 first saw the light of day with a first reading on the Senate floor in mid-January. Interestingly enough, it appears that version required the state to fund the judgeships but left unspecified the total number over three years and total number per year to be created.

Several revisions followed, one in which the number of new judge positions created became specific at fifty per year over three years for a total of one-hundred-fifty and the final amended version in which the numbers are not specified, the way in which the judgeships are created has changed and the Legislature's funding of them is no longer tied to a timetable more specific than authorizing the Governor to appoint an unspecified number of judges per year over three years.

The language of SB 56 as it was approved by the full state Senate requires courts to create the judgeships by elevating subordinate judicial officers (court commissioners and referees) to the position of judge based on need as determined by the Judicial Council and upon appropriation by the Legislature. Translation: you may go ahead and do it but we won't necessarily give you the money.

As Judge Vortmann made clear in the interview, the Judicial Council has been the one pressing the state to provide more positions for California's judiciary entities. And he indicated that of the first fifty judgeships thought to be provided for in the last version of SB 56 he saw, the Council had determined enough need to earmark forty-seven of them for south-valley counties. So the need is there and the Judicial Council, through its Office of Administration, would have no problem getting started on distributing much-needed help to overburdened county courts.

But without a firm commitment from the state to provide funding to expand the number of judges statewide, going ahead with fulfilling the need becomes problematic. And that situation is exacerbated by another revision in SB 56, one that, again, has to do with finances. If we think about it for a moment, the filling of new judgeships by elevating subordinate judicial officers leaves another vacancy in a county's court system. And that means obtaining funding to hire a new commissioner or referee.

How does the reconstituted SB 56 read on that account? It would "declare the Legislature's intent (underlining mine) to restore an appropriate balance between subordinate judicial officers and judges" in the courts where new judgeships are created. Translation: we'll help make you whole again if we can afford it. Given the current condition of the state budget, I wouldn't bet on the courts getting any of the money promised in this legislation.

Do you detect a pattern here? I certainly do. It's often said that to unravel the sometimes Machiavellian workings of business or government one must follow the money. In the case of SB 56, that exercise seems to lead one down a blind alley. The Judicial Council, which has a lobbyist in Sacramento, may have got a promise of help from the state Legislature, but it could very well turn out to be a hollow promise in the long run.

After all, if the money's not there, the unspecified number of judgeships each year will simply never materialize. And that's why I started this series emphasizing the word "possibility": at this point, that's all the needed new judgeships are, a somewhat vague possibility. And we don't even know if the bill, which has just been sent to the Assembly Judiciary Committee, will even make to the Governor's desk by the end of this session.

However, there's another possible upgrade for the courts in Tulare and other counties that doesn't depend on the will of the Legislature. Instead, it depends on the will of the people. And you'll hear about that in Part Three of the series. So, once again, don't forget to pick your copy of the next issue of the Valley Voice.

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