Dry: 2/23/13
Extra Dry: 2/22/14
Number of months since a month of average or above average rainfall: 13
Salinas Valley Drought Index
February 25, 2014
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Posted by xasauan
Rain Making
February 6, 2014
Lake Nacimiento
The Reservoir Operations Committee of the Monterey County Water Resources Agency Board meets today to discuss options for dealing with the shrinking San Antonio and Nacimiento reservoirs.
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Posted by xasauan
Talking Drought
January 30, 2014
The bone dry Nacimiento River
Rain. For the first time in a long time it actually rained a little last night. Little being the operative word as, on the Monterey Peninsula, it amounted to only a couple hundredths of an inch. But that’s OK. We’ll take what we can get. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by xasauan
Reflections on the Pfeiffer Ridge Fire
December 20, 2013
The 1972 Molera Fire burning in the Big Sur Valley
Three years ago we wrote: “Big Sur’s real nightmare fire scenario is not a massive fire escaping from the Wilderness, but a fire carelessly started along Highway One that makes a quick run up one of the inhabited canyons before a major firefighting effort can be launched.”
The Pfeiffer Ridge Fire wasn’t quite that nightmare scenario, but it was close. Like the explosive Molera Fire, in 1972, it started along the Highway and reached inhabited areas so quickly that those closest to the fire front had only minutes to choose between fleeing for their lives or staying on to fight with whatever resources they happened to have on hand. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by xasauan
Fire on Pfeiffer Ridge
December 16, 2013
Sycamore Canyon and the Big Sur Valley. Pfeiffer Ridge is at the back of the Sycamore Canyon drainage, running parallel to, and just to the west of, Hwy. 1. Pfeiffer Beach is at the bottom of the photo.
As many of you have been pointing out to us this morning. A fire broke out on Pfeiffer Ridge last night and has been burning through the Sycamore Canyon drainage toward the ocean. We’ve seen reports of as many as 500 acres burned and structures, including homes, have reportedly been destroyed. Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Big Sur, Fire, Flood & Apocalypse, Santa Lucias | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
Is Overcrowding at Sykes Camp Getting Worse?
November 18, 2013
2 Comments | Big Sur, On Foot, Santa Lucias | Tagged: Big Sur, Big Sur River, Logwood Creek, Pine Ridge Trail, Sykes Hot Springs | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
The Condor Conspiracy
October 31, 2013
El Condor Pasa
If you’re like us, you probably assume the biologists, veterinarians, technicians, and volunteers working tirelessly to save California condors from extinction do it because they care deeply about the condors and their place in the web of life. It turns out, though, that the real agenda of the Condor Recovery Program is to disarm the American people preparatory to imposing the enviro-fascist mandates of UN Agenda 21. That’s what we’ve been reading in the comment sections of dozens of online periodicals, anyway.
1 Comment | Big Sur, Fire, Flood & Apocalypse, Politics, Santa Lucias | Tagged: condors, lead ammunition, lead poisoning | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
Methyl Bromide Linked to Smaller Babies in Salinas Valley
September 19, 2013
A study conducted in the Salinas Valley has found that women who lived within three miles of fields treated with the fumigant methyl bromide during their second trimester of pregnancy gave birth to babies an average of four ounces lighter than babies born to women living further away. This is not entirely a surprise, as animal studies have suggested that methyl bromide interferes with fetal development. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by xasauan
Long Summer
August 31, 2013With the last rainy season fizzling out in January, it seems like it’s been summer for about eight months now. Plenty of time to paddle, pedal, and roam around in the hills — which is why we haven’t been posting here much. Don’t worry, though. We promise to turn our jaundiced eye back to water and development issues again someday soon. Maybe when the rains begin to fall.
In the meantime, here’re a few clues as to what we’ve been up to …
Trail near the summit of Cone Peak. Coast partially obscured by smoke from an escaped controlled burn on Ft. Hunter Liggett. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | Big Sur, Cycling, On Foot, Santa Lucias, Transportation | Tagged: Cone Peak, Ft. Ord blight, Nacimiento River, outrigger canoe, pagani, sunset, The Indians, Wagon Cave | Permalink
Posted by xasauan
Fire Near Tassajara
July 17, 2013
Looking toward Tassajara from the Pine Ridge Trail in the upper Church Creek drainage ten months after the Basin Complex Fire. Today’s fire is probably (make that definitely) burning behind the low hill in the center left of the photo.
A fire broke out earlier this afternoon along the Tassajara Rd. It’s apparently a little north of the Zen Center. A column of smoke is now (3:15pm) visible from the Salinas Valley. A lot of equipment is headed that way so, hopefully, folks will do their best to avoid the roads in the upper Carmel Valley, Cachagua and Jamesburg for the time being. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by xasauan
Xasáuan Today 