Tis the Season
No, it’s not Christmas yet, although some smart folks are already starting their shopping so they can avoid the mad rush in December. I am referring to two things that signify this time of year, although one is early and the other is worth mentioning because of its oddity.
First, I refer to the Zaca fire which, amazingly, is still burning over a month after it started. I can remember some pretty serious fires in my lifetime here but don’t ever remember one that lasted this long. Do you? There are some pretty good and bad reasons for this happening. It’s definitely not helping people’s allergies or asthma. Forget measuring the air quality as it is worse than ever. Wildlife is starting to drift this way to avoid the flames and choking air. On the ranch last week Sergio our hay producer (among other outstanding qualities) ran into a mother bear and her cub by our big hay barn not too far from Highway 154. There’s going to be a lot of erosion this winter if we get some decent rainfall. But there are the good things that will happen too such as the fact that a lot of dead vegetation will be gone, preventing such a bad fire from occurring for some years to come. Some plants which require fire to open their seed pods for germination will sprout this spring, with adequate moisture, of course. The wildflowers will be magnificent. Ten years ago someone up at Cachuma Dam set fire to a pile of dried prunings which got away from them and burned 900 acres across from my house. The next spring there was the most amazing display of native California poppies I have ever seen. It looked like the hill was on fire all over again! And the wildlife will have an abundance of grass to eat because now the ground has been cleared of dead material and the sun can now get through to make it sprout. The oddity I was referring to earlier was the huge number of public meetings scheduled for this month. I don’t believe I have ever heard of so many in the month of August when many people are out of town on vacation since summer is ending soon and school starts at the end of the month or the beginning of next month. What is going on here? By the time you read this, two of the big meetings will have already occurred and hopefully you have participated in some way. The Santa Ynez Valley Community Plan Environmental Impact Report (EIR) Public Scoping Meeting held Aug. 8 is particularly important. Comments will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 4. The Ordinance 661 Consistency Rezone Project Draft Negative Declaration meeting held Aug. 9 primarily concerns land in the Santa Maria Valley but could have implications for agricultural land and allowed uses elsewhere. Aug. 15 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Solvang Veteran’s Building (1745 Mission Drive) a public hearing will be held to consider the Agricultural Preserve Program, Uniform Rules Update Revised Draft EIR. If you’ll recall my discussion of this very important program several months ago, I mentioned that some people in the community had been misinformed into believing that this program as written would allow great amounts of development on agricultural lands. In actual fact, this program is the single most important weapon we have to keep major development OFF ag lands. By lowering the tax rate we enable people in agriculture to compete on the world market with what they produce. Even more important, it helps keep our food and raw materials for clothing in a price range so people can afford it. It also helps to assure that we have the safest food supply in the world. Not something to scoff at when you think about all the recent food recalls of things produced in other countries. Comments on this program also must be received by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4. More Misses Clearly, the author of this unfortunate article doesn’t know much about why trees have been planted in long rows. Sometimes they are planted that way to mark a property line or to prevent cross-pollination between different crops. Many times, however, trees are planted in rows to break the wind to make it have less of an impact on their crop. It is common to see rows of eucalyptus trees which grow tall and fast between fields. As for the grasslands disappearing because of “expansive feedlots for livestock,” the author must have been driving up Interstate 5 past the Harris Ranch feedlot. When I lived briefly down south in Pasadena while in school, whenever I drove north to visit friends in the Bay Area, I loved going by that feedlot because it reminded me of familiar ranch smells which I adore. Of course, it was substantially more pungent than home but familiar nonetheless. In spite of the obvious lack of knowledge about rural landscapes, I empathize with the author and agree that we need to look out for our fellow creatures. This is why I feel agricultural lands are such a vital part of the overall landscape. It is here where the majority of the non-human creatures exist in harmony separate from the hustle and bustle of urban life. This is where the farmer and rancher provide the food and water and other necessities of life for those creatures. They cannot exist where there are many humans because their needs and wants are different. Space and peace and quiet to conduct their normal lives, whatever that might be, is what is required. A Thingy I have not seen a bobcat around here since I came home one afternoon 15 years ago to find a smaller version skinning my rabbit that had, I am sure, died of fright prior to this horrible act. I tried to shoo it away and finally had to heave a stick at it to make it leave. I’m sure it was disappointed in losing what had promised to be an exquisite dinner, but I felt better about having tried to save my bunny. I did not have a camera with me then and probably could not have taken a picture anyway as I was shaking from fright at being so close to such a fierce animal and shaking from anger at what it did to my pet. Ah, Nature.
In another local paper a couple of weeks ago, I was horrified to read a reprint from some other paper making some wild statements about the causes of the disappearance of numerous populations of birds. Climate change was one reason offered saying that perhaps the birds moved north to follow the pests plaguing forests there. Agricultural practices, apparently, were also responsible for their disappearance as farms were becoming larger, trees being planted for erosion (huh?) were no longer being planted and huge feedlots were sprouting up everywhere. Wow! Yes, there are some larger ag operations these days as it is more economical to produce things on a large scale and let’s not forget the number one reason the family farm is itself disappearing and that is the estate tax otherwise known as the death tax. Actually it’s not only the death of the owner of the farm or ranch that is happening but the death of the farm itself because of the confiscatory nature of the tax. But that’s a topic for another day.
The other day the most incredible thing happened outside the ranch office. Cheryl, my office manager, was informed by my husband that as he was driving up, he spotted a fox in the back yard. Cheryl, a definite city person, went to the window to look and started yelling, “No, it’s a thingy, it’s a thingy!” I wasn’t there at the time, unfortunately, because I missed seeing for the second time a large bobcat. I am glad, however, that both Cheryl and my husband got to see one of the most elusive residents of this ranch, and in broad daylight. My husband took some pictures of it which I include for your viewing pleasure. 
