Less than a week after the County drained the Carmel Lagoon to prevent flooding, waves have thrown up a new sandbar Read the rest of this entry »
Waves Rebuild Carmel River Lagoon Sandbar
October 18, 2009
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Posted by xasauan
Carmel Lagoon Breached in Annual “Emergency” Ritual
October 14, 2009
The Carmel River Lagoon drains into the ocean through the newly bulldozed cut
Every year when the Carmel River begins to flow it backs up behind the sandbar at the beach and threatens to flood homes built on the floor of the lagoon. And every year the County shows up with bulldozers and breaches the sandbar to protect the homes. The breaching empties the lagoon, saves the homes, and washes out to sea juvenile steelhead not yet prepared to survive in salt water. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by xasauan
Rivers Rise as Deluge gets Rainy Season Underway
October 14, 2009Well, the remnants of Typhoon Melor proved to be every bit as wet as advertised. As it so often does, Mining Ridge (above Big Creek) took the prize with a whopping 21.34 inches of rain. Accumulations of over 10 inches were common at higher elevations in the Santa Lucia’s and, while we haven’t heard of any serious debris flow problems, the rivers and creeks went from trickle to torrent in only a few hours. Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Big Sur, Carmel River, Fire, Flood & Apocalypse, Santa Lucias, Water | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
Palo Corona Regional Park
March 13, 2009
View of Carmel River mouth from “Inspiration Point”
When a coalition of state and private funders acquired the 10,000 acre Palo Corona Ranch in 2004, they created a protected wildland corridor reaching from the mouth of the Carmel River all the way to the Ventana Wilderness. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by xasauan
Remembering the 1995 Floods: Letter from Cachagua Part 1
March 10, 2009As today is the 14th anniversary of the March 1995 floods, the largest Carmel River flow on record, we’ve reached into the archives to bring you an excerpt from a letter written just days after the event — Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by xasauan
Cal-Am Puts Steelhead and Ratepayers at Risk With Decision to Leave Worthless San Clemente Dam in Place
March 5, 2009
San Clemente Dam is almost completely filled in with silt and is worthless for water storage – or any other purpose. It is also structurally unsafe and at risk of failure during earthquakes or high flows. This morning (when this picture was taken) the dam was spilling about 1,000 cubic feet per second. On March 10, 1995, the dam survived a 16,000cfs flow that overtopped it completely. Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Carmel River, Water | Tagged: carmel river, dam safety, San Clemente Dam, Steelhead | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
Big Rain Coming?
February 14, 2009So far, we’ve been lucky. We’ve gotten through November, December, January and half of February without a single major storm. The rain has come in such small doses, in fact, that we’ve been wondering whether we shouldn’t be more worried about drought than about the much feared post-fire floods and mudslides. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | Carmel River, Coastal Development/Erosion, Fire, Flood & Apocalypse | Tagged: carmel river, Carmel River Lagoon, Steelhead | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
State Budget Mess Halting Post-Fire Erosion Control Projects?
January 23, 2009The San Francisco Chronicle has reported that among the thousands of projects stopped by the budget roadblock in Sacramento are “a dozen projects to prevent erosion after last year’s wildfires along the Carmel and Big Sur watersheds …” We’re not sure which projects they’re referring to, but the bottom line is this: the state budget crisis is now creating real problems for all of us – and the situation is becoming more and more serious every day. Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments | Big Sur, Carmel River, Fire, Flood & Apocalypse, Politics | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
2008 Year in Review
December 31, 2008Well it’s been an interesting year, here at Xasáuan Today. We’ve looked at the Monterey Peninsula’s water supply problems and picked apart the county’s transportation dilemma. We’ve questioned development on eroding beaches and dissected the Light Brown Apple Moth. We’ve chimed in on local political issues. We’ve gone on some bike rides, examined some mushrooms, and even found time for a visit to Pat Springs.
But nothing gets attention quite like a fire. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Big Sur, Carmel River, Coastal Development/Erosion, Courts, Cycling, Fire, Flood & Apocalypse, Fungus, History, Insects, Living Wage, On Foot, Politics, Santa Lucias, Transportation, Water | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
Will the Fire Make Monterey’s Water Problems Worse?
August 20, 2008
The Carmel River watershed as seen from Pine Ridge 16 months after the Marble Cone Fire Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Carmel River, Fire, Flood & Apocalypse, Santa Lucias, Water | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
Xasáuan Today 