JUNE 2015
Serving Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito and San Luis Obispo Counties
Paso Robles responds to water conservation mandate
Elkhorn Slough gets financial boost
$2.9 million grant will help with greenhouse gas reduction studies
By BETH BOLYARD Of the Land
PASO ROBLES — The Paso Robles City Council outlined the city’s response to Gov. Jerry Brown’s water restriction mandate at their regular meeting Tuesday, May 5. Brown issued the water restriction mandate to cities across the state in early April because the state entered into a fourth year of severe drought. Cities are required to decrease water use by a certain percentage depending on each city’s per person per day water use and have until June 1 to comply with the mandate. The City of Paso Robles is required to reduce water usage rates by a 28 percent total and the compliance period to meet the Governor’s mandate is between June 1 and Feb. 1. Since 2013, Paso Robles has reduced water use by 11 percent, a savings of 194 million gallons of water, but still needs to reduce water use by 19 percent to achieve the mandated 28 percent reduction. The City Council adopted an urgency ordinance effectively immediately that would add additional mandatory watering restrictions to the municipal code including moving from three-day watering allowance to a two-day allowance, ceasing irrigation of turf within 48 hours of rainfall and eliminating city-managed irrigation of ornamental turf. The Council also adopted a resolution to establish residential use water allowances for customers with landscape water meters and directed the city to take additional measures for city-managed irrigation systems including ceasing irrigation of street medians and watering ornamental Please turn to Page 4
By TODD GUILD Of the Land
Grand Champion Market Beef was awarded to Madison Andrade from Ausaymus 4-H with the buyer. Photo by Samantha Bengtson/The Land
Junior Livestock Auction brings in $1.86 million at Fair
By SAMANTHA BENGTSON Of the Land
KING CITY — Another Salinas Valley Fair is a wrap for the history books with more than 970 exhibitors auctioning off their hogs, sheep, steer, goats and chickens during the May 16 Junior Livestock Auction. After two days of showing off their animals to be judged for their quality and overall look, 4-H and FFA members cleaned their animals and prepared them to be auctioned off. The 4-H and FFA animals and projects at the Fair represented many months of hard work for 4-H and FFA members and gave them memories to never forget. At 8 a.m. the first livestock hog, showed by Lesly Rodriguez, of King City High School FFA entered the ring
and within minutes the Jr. Livestock Auction was under way. Marking the halfway point was Rachel Hart, also from King City High School FFA, who is this year’s Heritage Scholarship winner. Hart raised a lamb named Laine, who weighed in at 112 pounds. The auctioneer started the bidding and the final bid came in at $690 per pound for Laine. Laine marks the fifth lamb that Hart has shown in the past three years. “I would like to thank the fair and the Heritage Foundation for not only giving me the opportunity to show the Heritage animal but also for everything that they’ve done for FFA members and the 4-Hers,” Hart said. Hart came to King City in eighth Please turn to Page 3
Annual Day on the Farm attracts hundreds By ERIK CHALHOUB Of the Land
Bill Horgos demonstrates wood carving during Day on the Farm at the Agricultural History Project. Photo by Erik Chalhoub/The Land
WATSONVILLE — From ice cream making, to hay rides and tractor driving, the Agricultural History Project’s annual Day on the Farm May 9 gave families a glimpse of the daily life their predecessors experienced. Attendees had the opportunity to see how vintage equipment, such as a 1920 hay mower, were used to cut hay for animals on the farm. Fred Silva’s Draft Horses gave hay rides, and children even had the chance to drive a tractor. And of course, it wouldn’t be a farm without animals: Sheep
shearing demonstrations took part throughout the day and 4-H members held their annual 4-H Fair. Teresa Decker of Santa Cruz visited Day on the Farm for the first time with family, noting that it was valuable for youth to experience first-hand where their food comes from, as well as being exposed to old-world craftsmanship. “This is wonderful,” she said. “A lot of this stuff you don’t see as often as you should.” Woodworker Bill Horgos of Aptos was demonstrating the art of carving wood. A regular at the Please turn to Page 2
ELKHORN — A comprehensive study of a local wetlands system got a giant boost in late April after the Elkhorn Slough Foundation received a sizable state grant. The $2.9 million grant from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife will help researchers from the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve study how restoring salt marsh ecosystems — which capture carbon dioxide — could help temper global warming by removing more of the greenhouse gas from the air, said Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve Kerstin Wasson.
Snowy egrets work the waters of Elkhorn Road for a meal. Photo by Tarmo Hannula/The Land
The 11-year-old Tidal Marsh Restoration Project is one of 12 projects statewide that will receive funding to restore wetlands that sequester greenhouse gases and provide a wealth of other environmental benefits. Under the project, researchers will restore approximately 66 acres, with aims to eventually restore 135 acres. “This funding is really testing a hypothesis that wetland restoration can mitigate the effects of greenhouse gasses and reduce global warming,” Wasson said. While the trees and plants in forests also remove carbon dioxide from the air, studies of how salt marshes do it is a relatively new field, she said. Considered a keystone ecosystem, the slough and its salt marshes have Please turn to Page 3
Inside ... FFA degrees
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Strawberry Scholarships
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Pinnacles
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Horse park
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Beautification Week
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