Damage Likely Not as Severe As Initial
Estimates
Tulare County - During her report to the Board of Supervisors at an emergency meeting last week, county Agricultural Commissioner Marilyn Kinoshita reported that storm damages could be as high as $50 million. But a break in the wet weather has allowed farmers and ranchers around the county to better assess the results of storm's more than five inches of rain and news from the commissioner's office this week is much better: “I don't think we'll be anywhere near our initial damage estimates,” said Kinoshita. “It will probably take us several months before we can know specific numbers but I would say that overall, damages will be closer to $15 million.”
Kinoshita said the series of storms that drenched the Valley in late December likely caused a 10 to 15 percent reduction in milk production at the county's 335 dairies due to "stressed cows." She estimated the total losses to dairymen could reach $2 million.
"The greatest concern to dairymen," Kinoshita added, "is a mandate from the Regional Water Quality Board to keep discharge [from lagoons] on dairy property. (Dairymen face criminal consequences for violating the mandate.)
“Lagoons are full so dairymen have to pump the excess discharge onto nearby alfalfa and winter grain fields,” Kinoshita told supervisors last week. “The grain fields might recover, but alfalfa drowns out with too much water," the ag commissioner said.
“Alfalfa looks to be the biggest casualty of the storm” – and could account for the lion share of the updated $15 million damage estimate.
Kinoshita said it would be several months before dairymen can assess how much of their baled alfalfa feed supply was damaged or ruined. “Most of the dairies probably lost at least a layer from their big stacks” of alfalfa, she said.
Kinoshita also warned of potential problems due to water-logged soils and drowning of young grain fields. "The wet weather," she said, "is slowing down the ground preparation for further plantings."
Kinoshita said the area's citrus industry “did not seem to be impacted to any great degree” by the storm, although “most picking and packing operations came to a standstill for the duration of the storm” because of muddy conditions in the groves. “I know that there were at least two packing houses that continued to operate during the storm but for the most part, pickers were told not to come in during the storm so there will be a temporary loss of wages for pickers and packers.”
Pre-emergent herbicides and weed control may have to be redone in a number of fields around the county, Kinoshita said, and alfalfa fields that were recently seeded may have to be replanted.
“Alfalfa seed is really expensive,” said Kinoshita. “Hammering it with several inches of rain is not good.”
Kinoshita said the dairymen around the county minimized the stress on their herds “by putting in more bedding material than normal and by removing excess runoff slurry from animal pens.”
She doubted that the temporary loss in milk production would have any impact on already weak milk prices, which have been sagging for more than two years.
“It would take a much bigger disaster on a much larger scale to cause a milk supply shortage and move prices higher,” she said.
Explaining her initial $50 million damage estimate, Kinoshita said: “You have to aim high, just in case, when making estimated damages to give to the governor's office.”
Although Tulare was one of a half dozen California counties to be designated with disaster declarations by the governor's office, Kinoshita said it was “way too early to issue disaster declarations for specific commodities.”
The ag commission did see some silver lining in the recent storm. “The cool weather pattern is good for the stone fruit industry, which relies on chilling hours and they've certainly been able to get them recently,” she said.
Another positive effect of the storms: The ongoing above average rainfall is greatly improving rangeland conditions and will reduce the need for supplemental feedings.
New Law Mandates Facilities Post Controversial Star Ratings
Visalia - Much like restaurants now post health department letter grades, beginning in 2011, a new state law mandates that all California nursing homes — including more than a dozen in Visalia — post at their entrance new federal “star ratings” which rank facilities based on their overall quality of care.
The one- to five-star rankings, determined by nursing homes' history of complaints and accidents as well as their overall quality of care, are compiled by the California Department of Public Health.
The new law is meant to ensure that a facility's history and whether it has any ongoing issues are made public but even the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which pushed for the new system, has called it “a work in progress.”
Although the star ranking system has been in use since 2008, actual ratings did not have to be posted in a public place before January 1.
Patient advocates say the new system will help patients and their families make more informed decisions about nursing homes, which are also called skilled nursing homes or convalescent hospitals.
But critics of the law say it is based on information that is often outdated and can be easily rigged.
The new system, which ranks all of California's 1,235 federally rated nursing facilities, includes 16 facilities in Visalia.
Initial state rankings rate 187 nursing homes around the state as overall five-star facilities — including Visalia's Kaweah Manor Convalescent Hospital, located at 3710 W. Tulare Ave.
Kaweah Manor, a 99-bed skilled nursing facility, also received five-star ratings for health inspections and quality measures. Its nursing staff received a two-star rating. In 2010, health officials registered one complaint at the facility, no self-reported incidents and 13 survey deficiencies.
Kaweah Manor is operated by Magnolia Health Corp., a Tulare-based company which also has facilities in Porterville and Delano and operates Twin Oaks Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Tulare, a 99-bed facility which also has an overall five-star ranking.
Kenny Moyle, whose family owns Magnolia, said: “We love being a five-star facility. But I don't think consumers should rely solely on the star ratings. This is cumulative data used by the government to try to quantify a system. But there are a lot of very good two- and three-star facilities out there. The best thing for consumers to do is to visit the facilities they are interested in.”
On the other end of the ratings spectrum, 195 California nursing homes are currently one-star rated – including one in Visalia, Linwood Gardens Care Center, located at 4444 West Meadow.
Linwood Gardens, a 98-bed facility, received a two-star health inspection rating, a one-star rating for its nursing staff and a four-star rating for what the system terms “quality measures.” The report on the facility from the state health department notes that in 2010 at Linwood Gardens, there were 2 complaints, 6 self-reported incidents and 13 survey deficiencies.
Dan Niccum, a spokesman at Horizon West Healthcare, which is headquartered in Rocklin and owns Linwood Gardens as well as 33 other facilities in California and Utah, called the new star ranking system “inaccurate and misleading.”
Niccum said that the facilities “that deal with more acute patients will score lower than the facilities that don't. The system is unfair because it's not risk-adjusted.
Twenty percent of all facilities are set up to get failing ratings. Some facilities will staff up just for the two-week period when they are being rated.”
Redwood Springs Healthcare Center, located at 1925 E. Houston Avenue in Visalia, received an overall rating of three stars, tallying zero complaints in 2010 but 6 self-reported incidents and 18 survey deficiencies. The skilled nursing facility, owned by San Marcos-based Plum Healthcare and formerly operating as Visalia Nursing and Rehab Center, is licensed to care for 176 patients and recently underwent a $2.5 million renovation.
Redwood administrator Brandon Bigelow said the recent renovation and name change will allow the facility to head in a “new direction” and “refocus on our quality initiatives.”
Bigelow said he supports the new star ranking system. “I embrace promoting quality initiatives but putting a number on overall quality only tells part of the story.”
The new ranking system, Bigelow added, favors nonprofits. Redwood Springs currently has a two-star nurse staffing rating. “In order to get a five-star ranking, facilities like nonprofits can staff to the roof,” Bigelow said. “Even though their care may not be any better, they get a higher ranking.”
The state requires nursing facilities to provide at least 3.2 hours per day per patient of skilled nursing care. Bigelow said Redwood Springs' average is 3.6 to 3.7. The ranking system also is biased, Bigelow added, toward larger facilities like Redwood Springs.
“The star ranking system needs to be refined,” he said. “It doesn't tell an absolute story.”
Detailed information regarding a facility's star ratings is available on the state's Public Health website at www.cdph.ca.gov.
Visalia - When Deyetta “Cassetta” Crowley-Gaytan stopped speaking her Native American language during her teenage years, she never thought some of the language would be forgotten. And when her long time family friend, Darlene Franco, approached her this summer to ask if she would become a Native language teacher for the Owens Valley Career Development Center, Gaytan never thought that 60 years later, she would be speaking “Choinumni” again.
“I didn't want to do it at first,” Gaytan said. “There were words that I had forgotten.”
Now 77 years old, Gaytan, who has resided in Visalia most of her life, has something else to look forward to other than her full-time job—remembering a language she once spoke fluently throughout her youth.
Gaytan grew up in Fresno
and remembers speaking to her grandparents and parents in
Choinumni, which is part of the Yokut Indian tribal language
and native to central California. She stopped speaking the
language in the 1940s while attending school.
“The language got lost when I went to school,”
she said. “There just wasn't anyone to speak to.”
At the age of 17, she moved to Visalia and that's when the language became even more distant. Since most of her family members either got married or relocated, she was separated from them for many years. Still, she was able to keep in contact with her brother.
“We would say only a few words to each other. Especially when we didn't want the kids to know what we were saying,” she joked.
The passing of her brother, who died just this year, has left Gaytan to be the last known member of the Bird family and motivates her even more to keep her Native heritage alive.
(Editor's note: Deyetta Crowley-Gaytan is reporter's grandmother.)
Since she's been attending classes and studying as many words as she can with her eldest granddaughter, who is also learning Choinumni, Gaytan has remembered how to count and has learned numerous animal names.
An even bigger moment in her return to her roots was reuniting with her cousin, whom she hadn't seen in years. Even his children and grandchildren have become involved in learning the language.
The Owens Valley Career Development Center is a Tribal Organization headquartered in Bishop that provides career education, family literacy, language and temporary assistance services in five California counties: Fresno, Inyo, Kern, Kings and Tulare. There is an Owens Valley office located in Visalia at 2370 W. Whitendale.
OVCDC is governed by a seven-member Owens Valley Board of Trustees consisting of five members from the Bishop Paiute Tribal Council, one elected trustee representing the Big Pine Paiute Tribe and one elected trustee representing the Lone Pine Paiute Tribe.
“We offer language classes in all areas for our communities,” said Darlene Franco, director of the OVCDC Nüümü Yadoha Language Program. This includes; Owens Valley Paiute, Pakanapul, Kawaiisu, Kitanamuk, Wukchumni, Yowlumni, Lakota, Western Mono & Yaqui.
Classes are taught for families in the evenings and on the weekends. Language is also incorporated daily into the OVCDC Family Literacy programs through the Early Childhood Education program and the TANF Prevention programs.
“Without the program, many of our language teachers wouldn't have a place to have classes, or have the support to continue,” said Franco.
Now working in its second year of the program's two-year grant from ANA —Administration for Native Americans -- the program is going strong, with as many as 30 people attending classes at times.
Two main goals of the
program are to produce more language teachers through an
immersion process called “Master Apprentice”
program and “Teacher Training,” where the hope
is that students will eventually become a new generation
of teachers.
“These programs are very important in order to carry
on our culture through language. Without our languages we
become lost people,” Franco said. “It is how
we were taught to communicate to our Creator.”
As for Gaytan, she continues to remember words in the midst of her everyday activities. Even in her sleep or when she's just resting at home, she said, “The words just come to me…I feel very proud to be able to teach the language, not only to my kids, but to 'my-yee' meaning my people,” Gaytan said.
For more information on OVCDC or the language program, call Franco at 738-8248.
Designed Around Unique Concept
Visalia - Drawing on his extensive background in education and passion for technology, David Frisby wants to make SOCRATES High the next one-of-a-kind charter school in Visalia. At their January 11 board meeting, Visalia Unified School District trustees could make Frisby's dream come true.
SOCRATES, which stands for School Of Career Research, Arts, Technology, Ethics and Social Responsibility, would be a free public charter high school focusing specifically on digital design.
“They have an interesting concept using Adobe software that I think is unique,” said Todd Otto, VUSD area superintendent.
SOCRATES would offer students an early start on potential graphic design related careers by giving them exposure to software programs normally not introduced until college. Those programs include Adobe Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premier, After Effects and more.
As charter schools grow in popularity within school systems throughout the United States, Tulare County is also seeing an increase in charter schools as more and more students and parents decide “traditional schooling may not be the best choice for them,” said Frisby, who came up with his school of digital design idea more than four years ago.
“I have witnessed a high student demand for alternative education programs in the Visalia area,” added Frisby, who lives in Fresno and has worked with students doing independent study for the past four years.
According to U.S. Charter Schools, California currently has over 900 charter schools, with 115 registered statewide, this year alone. Tulare County opened 3 charter schools for the 2010-11 school year, which gives the county a total of 14 charter schools. Fresno County has over 30.
The proposed SOCRATES program, which offers something different than what is normally found in a traditional high school, integrates technical education into traditional coursework using graphic design.
Each student would receive a netbook or laptop computer, would allow for the opportunity to have immediate access to their studies and research.
“The career research is critical. Most young people don't really know what they want to do in life and this allows them to spend the time researching the careers that are available and come up with a plan for their future,” Frisby said. “It will motivate them to work hard.”
Under Frisby's plan, students would combine digital design learning with more traditional math, English, science and reading courses.
The instructional method will be more like a “college format” Frisby said. While some instruction will take place in a hybrid setting, students would be required to attend class sessions two to three days per week, and complete the majority of their studies independently, online, in the school lab or at home.
Concerned parent and English teacher, Laura Brown said this kind of school gives students a chance to work at their own pace, something she know from experience, since her daughter had great success while attending Visalia Charter Independent Study.
“She was in a situation where she was more focused on her work and even graduated with extra units,” Brown said about her daughter, who first attended public school.
“Everyone learns differently,” Brown added.
Frisby has already applied for a $250,000 Public Charter School Grant, which would fund SOCRATES' start-up.
If approved by the VUSD board, Visalia's newest charter school will be housed in a currently vacant building at North Jacob Street and West Murray Ave. Classes would begin in August.
“We feel confident it will pass,” Frisby said.
SOCRATES will have approximately four full-time instructors, including Frisby, and an administrator. In addition, SOCRATES may also staff one part-time contract instructor for Adobe trainings, one full-time clerical employee and one part-time compliance technician. The first-year budget is designed to provide for enrollment of approximately 85 students.
PC Scholarship Honors Raymond Muller
(Editor's note: This is part four of an ongoing series spotlighting noteworthy Valley residents whose lives and legacies have been memorialized through endowed scholarships at area colleges.)
Tulare County - Michael Wells, the current recipient of the Raymond Muller scholarship, comes from a south county ranching family and describes himself as an “ag kid.” Wells is pursuing a degree in animal husbandry at Porterville College and after graduation, plans to work in the cattle industry — “hopefully on the cutting edge,” he said. Wells works part-time to help pay tuition and vows “nothing will stop me from graduating.”
Raymond Muller would have admired Wells' intense focus on agriculture and drive to succeed. Muller, a long time Tulare County supervisor, was something of an unstoppable force himself.
No other fifth district supervisor — except for perhaps Jim Maples — had more influence on present day Tulare County than Ray Muller.
Born and raised in Terra Bella, he was a member of a pioneering Tulare County farming family and was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1966. He was re-elected three more times and represented his fellow south county residents from the mid-1960s until 1982.
Muller was an old-school-style politician. He had a reputation for being tireless and blunt-spoken and something of a character. Nothing made him happier, remembers his widow, Fanchon Muller, than helping his constituents.
“I remember a time this little old lady from Pixley came to Raymond once and complained to him about her dog getting picked up because it didn't have a license,” Fanchon recalled. “Ray dropped what he was doing, took her over to the pound, fixed things up and got her dog back. That's the kind of man he was.”
Muller, a Porterville High grad who also attended Porterville College, was a big supporter of the Porterville Fair and everything related to agriculture. In addition to being one of the area's most successful farmers, he also had a special ability to find water.
“Raymond Muller was a very well-known well-witcher, and a darned good one,” remembered current 5th District Supervisor Mike Ennis. In fact, Muller's well-witching services were much in demand throughout the Central Valley.“Folks would fly him halfway across the state for a day just so he could find water for them,” said Fanchon. “He used to tell me that all of his [well-witching] power was in his eyes…”
Ennis, a fellow Terra Bellan, remembered Muller as “a very conservative person, very much a self-made man. He was a man's man, very strong,” said Ennis. “He always could be counted on to stand up for ag interests and for folks who lived in the more rural parts of the county.”
A self-described “conservative Democrat,” Muller “was very sure of himself but not a braggart,” said his widow. During his tenure as supervisor, Muller once said:
“Nothing has been more gratifying to me than to be able to help someone who needs help.”
Muller was known as a champion of rights for farmers and also for senior citizens.
Frank Menne, who grew up near Ducor and is one of Muller's many area relatives, said: “Raymond was just an all-around swell guy, a class act all the way. When he and Fanchon attended a party, they made it a success just by being there.”
“Dad was a big believer in education and really loved Porterville College,” said his son Jerry Muller, who lives in Tulare. “He always saw [Porterville] college as one of our area's major assets.”
So when Muller died, in 1999, at the age of 81, his family established an endowed scholarship in his honor at PC and every year, an outstanding ag student receives $250.
Fanchon Muller, now about to turn 90 and still living a very active life in Porterville, one that includes regular visits to the Eagle Mountain Casino, said her husband would be “really happy” to know he was helping a student like Michael Wells – and Magnolia Fuentes, who received the Muller scholarship last year.
“Raymond really cared about the land and anything and everything to do with farming,” Fanchon Muller said. “He was just a tremendous and precious man” she adds, proudly showing off the condolence card she received from Bill and Hillary Clinton upon Muller's passing now more than ten years ago.
“Not a lot of people know,” Fanchon said, “that Ray had been approached to run for governor. He could have had an even bigger political career. But he choose to stay in Tulare County because he loved to see things that he planted grow.”
Visalia - Renowned local historian Terry Ommen will be joining the Valley Voice as a regular, monthly contributor in 2011. Look for Ommen's inaugural column -- “Voices from Four Creeks Country” -- to appear in the January 6 issue of the Valley Voice.
SECOND FRONT PAGE
What's New
*Wettest December on record: The National Weather Service's office in Hanford confirmed this week that the Christmas night storm that drenched Tulare County pushed monthly rainfall totals in Visalia into record territory. For December, Visalia has so far received 6.12 inches of rain, eclipsing the previous record set in December 1955 when 6.06 inches of precipitation were recorded and swamping the third-wettest December ever, which occurred in 2004 when 4.89 inches of rain fell. And don't put away that umbrella just yet: forecasters are predicting another storm will roll into the county just in time for New Year's Eve.
*Fore! Valley Oaks Golf Course, Visalia's municipal course, recorded the least amount of rounds played in the course's most recent ten-year history, spurring one local business publication to chide course management for having a 2010 on par with Tiger Woods. The drop off in play translated to a decrease in course revenue of more than $100,000 -- although some of the shortfall was offset by increases registered by food services. (In 2010, Mazeo Frazer, a new food and beverage manager, expanded the clubhouse menu.) The overall downturn in the number of golfer rounds was blamed on bad weather and a sour economy. In January 2000, the City Council approved changing Valley Oaks from a city-operated course to one run by a private contractor – CourseCo Inc. In their annual analysis of CourseCo's ongoing operations at Valley Oaks, city staffers note the company is capturing more revenue per golfer and also report: “The course continues to cover its operational costs and make progress on debt payoff” – which currently stands at $2.6 million, down from $3.5 million at the end of 2000. And based on a recent report by the National Golf Federation, Valley Oaks is outperforming comparable courses around the country. Another bright note: Valley Oaks three nine-hole courses are getting a major irrigation system upgrade that course officials promise will eventually result in better and more economical watering -- meaning greener fairways and less puddles in the bunkers.
*Togni re-do: The historic Main Street building that was for many years the home of Togni Branch Stationers is in the midst of a rebirth. A group of local developers, operating under the banner of the newly formed Togni Partners LLC, is spending a reported $1.5 million to subdivide the old street-level stationary store space as well as 5,000 square feet on the second story. The renovation, expected to be complete by early May, will make room for multiple tenants on each level. Togni Branch closed in 2007. During its more than 100-year history, the building, located at 116 E. Main, has also housed mercantile and hardware stores.
*Dear Santa: Congressman Devin Nunes shared his Christmas wish list on his blog last week. Here are Nunes' top five wishes, which he offered to readers with “a good sense of humor.” 1. For the Dustbowl Democrats, a carriage pulled by a unicorn to transport them to the high-speed rail groundbreaking ceremony in the metropolis of Borden. 2. For former-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a TSA backscatter body-scan and pat-down to commemorate her first commercial airline flight in four years. 3. For outgoing-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Constitutional Amendment to give him a chance to do for America what he has done for California. 4. For the Fresno Bee and the Visalia Times Delta, a vote counting lesson to help them understand the absurdity of blaming House Republicans for the actions or inactions of a Democratic supermajority over the past four years in power. 5. For the people of the San Joaquin Valley, a transfer of high speed train-wreck funding to the construction of a 12 lane freeway from Modesto to Bakersfield.
*Top Honor for Fair: Representatives from the Tulare County Fair were recently in Las Vegas attending the International Association of Fairs and Expositions (IAFE) annual convention, where they picked up the top prize in their class for “Outstanding 2010 Fair Radio Advertisements." See the 'Talking Business' column in this week's Tulare Voice for more details.
Leadership Class Leading Good News Center Fence Project
By Miles Shuper
Visalia - A chain link and wrought iron fence will soon be installed around The Good News Center on North Dinuba Boulevard, a community center where food, clothing and other services are provided to those living at or below the federal poverty index.
The fence will help secure the site where in recent months transients have been congregating, sometimes sleeping around the building's exterior.
The Good News Center has long been a haven for those in need and with few other places to turn.
The fence construction is expected to take two to three days after final plans and permits are secured, officials said. Construction should be finished by the end of January.
Although the cost of the fencing and construction is being funded by the Catholic Charities for the Fresno Diocese, the project is being managed by the 2010-11Visalia Chamber of Commerce Leadership Class.
Catherine Manfredo, executive director of the Catholic Charities of the Fresno Diocese, said the safety of those being served at the facility as well as the security of staff, volunteers and others led to the decision to construct the fence.
Curtis Brown, a Visalia police detective and member of the leadership class, said the fence will not only prevent transients from sleeping around the building but also prevent loitering and vandalism, especially during the nighttime hours.
There have been incidents at the site, including thefts of copper wire from an abandoned electrical system when a health clinic was operating there in earlier years, Brown said.
“Securing the property and developing new enthusiasm for volunteering will allow us to provide more resources in the long run, which is what we intend to do,” Manfredo said.
More than $90,000 has been budgeted for the overall project, which will include remodeling of restrooms, parking lot and other security improvements, Manfredo said.
Selection of the Good News Center as the Visalia Chamber of Commerce Leadership Class project is extremely timely because of the availability of the funding from the diocese, which had earmarked the Visalia center as a priority in its annual budget.
The Good News Center is open Monday through
Friday. Meals for those in need are served at 8 a.m. and
11:30 a.m.
At least 200 persons are fed each week day, center officials
said.
The center also operates a thrift store and provides social services assistance to individuals and families.
The average annual income of a family of four being served by Catholic Charities is less than $10,000.
Glen Morris, CEO of the Visalia Chamber, said, “Leadership Visalia has a rich tradition of strengthening the community with its class projects. The Chamber of Commerce is proud that this leadership class has selected the Good New Center.”
In addition to serving as project manager for the fence project, the leadership class is seeking resources to establish a computer lab, develop marketing strategies to boost volunteerism and help the center host a resource fair.
Morris said community projects allow class members to develop, expand and refine their leadership skills while also helping them realize the responsibility they have in giving back to their community.
In commending the efforts of the leadership class, Manfredo said: “The success of the Good News Center has always been based upon strong community support. We thank the Leadership Visalia class for its consideration and support. They will help get us through these tough economic times.”
Visalia - Sequoia Riverlands Trust (SRT) recently received $52,500 in grants from three different funders – the Alcoa Foundation, Sempra Energy Foundation and REI. The grants will help fund SRT's environmental education program for youth in Tulare County.
SRT received $22,500 from the Alcoa Foundation to expand its conservation-based service-learning program. The grant will be used to engage at least 120 youth from Tulare County middle schools and high schools in volunteer projects that allow them to connect coursework and field work to accomplish meaningful conservation projects.
This is the fourth year that Alcoa has funded SRT's environmental education program.
For the second year, the Sempra Energy Foundation awarded SRT with a $25,000 grant to maintain and enhance the very popular K-6 field trips to Kaweah Oaks Preserve, as well as augment the Alcoa grant for service-learning projects.
The grant also helps fund teacher trainings, which equip local teachers with curriculum-based, grade appropriate lesson plans to provide an entire week of stimulating nature-inspired education for their students.
Sempra is responsible for helping SRT reach kids multiple times throughout their education to emphasize the importance of caring for the environment.
And for the third straight year, REI awarded SRT with a $5,000 grant to purchase equipment and supplies that will enhance the experience of youth doing field trips and service learning projects on SRT nature preserves. With support from REI, last year SRT was able to purchase nets to catch insects and microscopes to study water quality, among other instructive supplies.
“We're really proud to have the continued funding commitment from Alcoa, REI and Sempra,” said Soapy Mulholland, SRT Executive Director. “It is a solid affirmation of the good work that we are doing for our community.”
SRT is a regional, nonprofit land trust dedicated to conserving the natural and agricultural legacy of the southern Sierra Nevada and San Joaquin Valley.
SRT's environmental education program serves more than 2,000 youth, teachers and community members each year through classroom field trips, service learning projects, teacher trainings, volunteer work days, community collaboratives and guided nature hikes.
While all of SRT's work benefits the community, the new and growing service learning program is particularly exciting. “Kids work in small groups to accomplish important work that restores native habitat, monitors water quality, inventories natural resources or enhances visitor experience to our nature preserves,” said Laura Childers, SRT Environmental Education & Volunteer Director.
Tulare County is home to some of the most spectacular biodiversity and in-tact natural landscapes in the world, but is plagued with an assortment of environmental, health and socio-economic challenges that will only worsen without the public's interest in conservation and sustainability. The goal of SRT's Environmental Education program is to help inspire the children of this community to appreciate and take care of their local environment.
More information about SRT's Environmental Education program—including how to sign up for a service learning project, field trip or monthly walk—can be found at www.sequoiariverlands.org.
The above stories are the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.
December 30, 2010
