Nessie

Nessie thinks she’s a Lab. She would rather chase a ball than anything else. But she’s actually a very sweet purebred German shorthaired pointer, who is perhaps 10 years old with lots of energy.

Being mature, she is house trained and has good manners. She is able to put down the ball and play with other well-mannered dogs and she is happy to hang out with her people, also.

Nessie is spayed, microchipped, and vaccinated. She is at the El Dorado County Animal Services shelter in Meyers, along with many other dogs and cats who are waiting for their new homes.

Go online to see photos and descriptions of all pets at the shelter.

Call (530) 573.7925 for directions, hours, and other information on adopting a pet.

— Karen Kuentz

By Kathryn Reed

“With all of the major fires burning across California, and the corresponding inundation of smoke in the Tahoe basin, complacency is at an all time low again.”

And that has Gareth Harris, chief of Lake Valley Fire Protection District, worried. His colleagues throughout the Lake Tahoe Basin are worried as well.

Most people in the firefighting world would like to see more resources devoted to prevention because that is more effective in terms of manpower, resources and forest health compared to suppressing a fire once it has ignited.

Even though the South Shore lost 254 houses in June 2007 to the Angora Fire, it has left people questioning why the U.S. Forest Service has embarked on a multi-year project to thin 10,000 acres here.

While the Forest Service’s forest, fuels and fire management policies have changed through the years with much debate and criticism, fire officials in other agencies are on board with the belief that prevention is key. Political figures agree.

Govs. Jerry Brown, left, and Brian Sandoval at the Aug. 19 Lake Tahoe Environmental Summit. Photo/Kathryn Reed

Govs. Jerry Brown and Brian Sandoval re-upped that commitment a week ago before the Lake Tahoe Environmental Summit at Sand Harbor. A bi-state fire commission was convened in 2008 after the Angora Fire to look into what could be done to prevent another such devastating fire in the basin. Many of the findings are in place.

With the California and Nevada governors signing the proclamation, it reaffirmed the states’ commitment to recognizing the importance of fire prevention, and the effects a fire could have on the environment and economy of Tahoe.

Most of the basin’s fire chiefs were in the front row at the summit. And while people like Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., each year point to the need for a healthy forest, those that appropriate money to make that happen aren’t always in agreement, nor are individuals in the basin doing what they can via defensible space techniques.

Keeping fire issues in the front of people’s minds is what fire officials hope is one of the outcomes of the proclamation.

“It’s important because it refocuses and keeps awareness of the Tahoe basin and the needs we have to protect our resources and our jewel here,” Eric Guevin with Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District said of the agreement. “Some of that is political and some of that is economic. It drives the economic engine that keeps these prevention programs in place so we can do much more.”

Money is an ongoing concern. Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act money is drying up. And it’s not cheap to do these projects.

In fiscal year 2012-13, the USFS spent almost $800,000 on hazardous fuel reduction projects on nonfederal lands, about $500,000 went to residents and landowners through the California Fire Safe Council, and approximately $1.67 million was given to South Tahoe Public Utility District to improve water systems for fire protection.

“One of the biggest issues which a number of the points in the proclamation address is funding for fuel reduction projects. We have the crews ready to work, we have the plan in place, we have regulatory approval, we just need sustainable funding sources in order to get the fuels reduction work done. Reauthorization of the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act would represent a substantial move in the right direction,” Harris told Lake Tahoe News.

Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the Aug. 25, 2013, Sacramento Bee.

Nevada and California have stepped back from the brink of breaking up the two-state compact to protect Lake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in the world once famed for its crystal clarity.

Nevada’s threat two years ago to withdraw from the compact has receded with a new agreement between California Gov. Jerry Brown and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval. Whether changes agreed to by the two governors – already approved by the Nevada Legislature and now working their way through California’s – will reverse deterioration in the lake and promote orderly development remains to be seen.

Monitoring will be critical. So will continued funding – for stormwater, erosion-control, and road improvement projects and other measures. The federal Lake Tahoe Restoration Act of 2000, which expired in 2010, provided significant funds for this national resource, where 78 percent of the lands in the Tahoe basin belong to the American people – and drew in significant state and local funding, including private funds.

Read the whole story

By Kathryn Reed

Summer is such a good time for salads. And with all this smoke in the air, who really wants to get the kitchen hot or to fire up the barbecue.

And with all the warm days we’ve been having, they are also a nice alternative.

The one below, though, isn’t ideal for a main dish for most people, but it would be a complement to many entrees.

With the plethora of salad choices, it’s time to skip the lettuce and venture into new terrain. But this doesn’t mean having to become a vegetarian. Plenty of salads call for meat and those that don’t can easily have morsels added. Bacon would be a good addition to this salad.

Staples in my summer salad repertoire include my mom’s potato salad, Sue’s potato salad, a friend’s pasta salad, black bean-corn salad and green bean salad. The latter I adapted from my favorite grocery store when I lived in Sonoma County. Oliver’s makes this delicious salad that I have re-created for the past few years and now call my own.

Until I decided to write about the green bean salad I had never measured the ingredients. So, like all recipes, make whatever adjustments you want. The first batch I made was super spicy – went a little overboard with the chili oil – and Sue needed an ice cube to cut the heat. It meant more for me. But what I have here is something that is more sesame flavored than spicy.

Green Bean Sesame Salad

1 ½ pounds green beans

1 ½ cups sliced mushrooms

4 cloves garlic, minced

2/3 cup sesame oil

¼ cup rice vinegar

2 T hot chili oil

1/8 cup toasted sesame seeds

½ cup sliced almonds (optional)

Rinse and trim green beans. Parboil or steam until lightly crunchy. Drain, cool with cold water. Put beans into mixing bowl. Add mushrooms and garlic. Toss. Add liquid ingredients. Toss. Add sesame seeds and almonds. Toss again. Best if served a few hours later to let flavors meld. Serves 6.

By Adam Nagourney, New York Times

RACHEL, Nev. — The Little A’Le’Inn has been an unlikely tourist destination in the Mojave Desert for nearly 25 years, selling souvenirs — from green alien coffee cups to E.T. Highway T-shirts — dedicated to the notion that we are not alone. Understandably.

Nine miles up a nearby dirt road is the top-secret military installation known as Area 51, whose murky provenance fueled decades of speculation about extraterrestrial aliens and kept the U.F.O.-hunting tourists coming.

Or rather, the top-secret military installation not known as Area 51 — at least until last week, when the CIA released a classified report on the history of the U-2 spy plane, which officially acknowledged what everyone here has long known: There is a secret military testing base at Groom Lake called Area 51. It is 150 miles north by car from Las Vegas, in a vast expanse of utterly empty scabland, desert and mountain, and signs reading “No gas station next 150 miles.”

The report, released after eight years of prodding by a George Washington University archivist researching the history of the U-2, made no mention of colonies of alien life, suggesting that the secret base was dedicated to the relatively more mundane task of testing spy planes.

But no matter. Even this little bit of validation was welcome in Rachel, which claimed a population of 57 as of last Tuesday afternoon, and where the tourists have not been coming at quite the pace they once did. The movies and television shows that once fed an international fixation with aliens secreted at Area 51 — from “The X Files” to movies like “Independence Day” and “Paul” — are, with the passage of time and the inevitable rise of new subjects of national interest, not quite as gripping as they once were.

Read the whole story

By Cathy Locke, Sacramento Bee

Anticipating an influx of visitors over the Labor Day weekend, the El Dorado County sheriff and U.S. Forest Service officials seek to assure the public that, despite recent tensions between their agencies, they are working together to ensure public safety and protect natural resources.

In June, Sheriff John D’Agostini announced that he was suspending the authority of Forest Service officers to enforce state laws in the county. A sheriff’s office spokesman said D’Agostini had received complaints from citizens about the officers.

The suspension took effect July 22, a week before Laurence Crabtree assumed the post of forest supervisor for the Eldorado National Forest.

D’Agostini announced last week that he had met with Crabtree and Capt. Frank Aguilar of Forest Service law enforcement to get acquainted and discuss issues.

Crabtree, in a telephone interview, said he has worked in many places where peace officer authority was not granted to Forest Service officers.

Read the whole story

By Teri Mizuhara

The recent wildland fire in Diamond Springs is a compelling illustration of how well defensible space works. Homes surrounding the fire area were spared major damage due in part to a swatch around the perimeter that had been mowed earlier in the year.

his “defensible space” prevented the wildland fire from sweeping straight into many of the homes and the mobile home park.

Creating a buffer zone between your home and the wildland greatly reduces the risk of your home catching on fire from direct contact from the fire, radiant heat or flying embers. These embers can destroy homes and even entire neighborhoods that are located far from the actual flame front of a wildfire.

It is crucial to have your defensible space established around your home and every other structure on your property. Don’t delay and start now if you haven’t already begun to create defensible space around your structures.

But keep in mind that the vegetation is critically dry and even with a bit of rain, the combination of a little sun and wind will dry out the grasses/weeds and shrubs in no time flat so don’t operate your gas powered equipment after 10am or before 7pm when humidity is at its lowest.

Here are some tips on achieving a defendable home and property:

Zone One extends up to 30 feet (or your property line whichever is closer) from every structure on your property

— Remove all dead and dying vegetation

— Remove leaf litter from your roof and rain gutters

— Relocate woodpiles well away from your home

— Trim trees so that they are a minimum of 10 feet from your chimney and roof line

— Remove “ladder fuels” (low-level vegetation that could allow fire to spread from the ground to shrubs and bushes to the tree canopies).

Zone Two extends from 30 feet to 100 feet (or to your property line whichever is closer):

— The key is to keep plant material separated from each other both horizontally and vertically, this prevents the vegetation from acting like a ladder and allowing the fire to move from the ground to the tree canopies

— Cut annual grasses down to a maximum of 4 inches in height.

The following areas of your home should be checked annually and maintained as needed:

Check that your chimney has an approved spark arrestor (screen) in good condition covering the opening. The screen should have openings no smaller than three-eighths inch and no larger than one-half inch.

Keep the area under your deck or balcony free of combustible material. Never store your firewood under your deck.

Consider having multiple garden hoses that are long enough to reach any area of your home and any structure on your property.

Teri Mizuhara works for the El Dorado-Amador unit of CalFire.

By Melissa Pandika, Los Angeles Times

Anthropologists have puzzled for decades over why a complex patchwork of languages emerged in California thousands of years ago, but not in other parts of North America. New research now traces California’s linguistic diversity to its ecological diversity.

A study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that the migrating tribes first settled along the state’s lush Pacific coast, then moved into progressively drier habitats farther inland, resulting in an array of language groups living alongside one another. Prehistoric California was home to speakers of about 64 distinct languages, according to the California Department of Parks and Recreation.

Earlier studies have shown an association between ecological and linguistic diversity, but anthropologists Brian Codding from the University of Utah and Terry Jones from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo wanted to understand how this diversity developed over time.

To that end, they tested a model of how people colonize landscapes, which behavioral ecologists first proposed around the 1970s. The model predicts that the greenest habitats will be settled first and have the densest populations, because of their ability to support more people. Later waves of migrants will settle in less suitable areas.

Read the whole story

By Deborah Franklin, NPR

Staying snug within a watertight tent as a storm rages around you is one of the joys of modern camping and modern tents.

But if the weather suddenly turns nasty on your next camping trip, or nights are just colder than you expected, don’t be tempted to bring your cook stove inside. Levels of poisonous carbon monoxide (CO) from the burning stove can build up fast.

That’s the warning from several Michigan emergency room doctors who wanted to know if varying the type of stove fuel might make a difference in such situations. They also wondered if the more rugged, four-season tents favored by those who like to be ready for anything would raise the concentration of carbon monoxide more than airier three-season versions. Quick answers from their small, first-pass test: Yes and yes.

All in the name of science: Volunteers hike in Colorado during their one-week hiatus from electrical lighting.

“Four-season tents are built really well to keep out the elements,” says David Betten, a medical toxicologist in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Mich. “Unfortunately, that same tight construction means they’re not all that well ventilated.”

The Placer County Fish and Game Commission is soliciting grant proposals from nonprofit organizations, schools, other organizations and individuals. Recipients must use the money for education, habitat improvement, or enforcement activities related to Placer County’s fish and wildlife.

The maximum award amount of any single grant is $1,000.

The deadline to submit grant applications is Oct. 12.

For an application or additional information, contact Ed King at (530) 889.7372.