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GARRAPATA CREEK WATERSHED COUNCIL (GCWC)

GENERAL MEETING MINUTES – 5/11/02

Held at the main house at the Glen Deven Ranch. 39 people attended

Agenda

Welcome and Introductions - Ken Ekelund

The Big Sur Land Trust (BSLT) Update – Corey Brown, Executive Director

Fire Preparedness – Chief Cheryl Goetz, Mid-Coast Fire Brigade

Potluck/ Social Time

Updates from Ken Ekelund

- An update newsletter was prepared for this meeting by Martha Diehl and was passed out to all assembled. A copy is included with these minutes.

- Ken briefly made a few announcements:

- The watershed council is in need of funds. We have spent quite a bit to get our non-profit status and have bought a lot of scientific equipment including our stream gage. We need operating funds to pay for mailings and other office supplies and have a plan to purchase more equipment to measure the velocity of the stream and way to measure that the stream channel changes over time. Please consider making a donation. It is tax-deductible.

- The council will participate in the Big Sur Watershed Fair that will happen at the Henry Miller Library on 21-22 September. We’ll put the word out as we get closer.

Talk and questions by Corey Brown

Corey welcomed all and led a moment of silence to remember Seeley and Virginia Mudd who gave this ranch to the BSLT so it could be preserved in perpetuity.

He talked about the acquisition of the Palo Corona Ranch, which was announced on Thursday. The Palo Corona Ranch will be owned by the BSLT until it is sold to State and local agencies. There is no definite plan yet which parts will go to which agency. The ultimate acquisition was important because it joined together 13 different pieces of land that are already in preservation and protects a corridor from the Carmel River into the Ventana Wilderness. The sale got national and even worldwide attention.

Due to all of the work relating to the purchase of Palo Corona, final planning on how the Glen Deven Ranch will be used has had to wait. Now that that has been accomplished, they are working on a plan of how to best honor the wishes of the Mudd’s and put the property to best use while protecting its beauty and unique character. It might be a year or so until all of the details have been worked out. One of the first steps that they took was to participate in the road survey done by Pacific Watershed Associates (PWA) and will be planning and performing restoration work in the future. Unlike the Palo Corona Ranch, which will eventually be sold to government agencies, the Glen Deven will stay with the BSLT. One of its many values is its ability to help people appreciate the amazing natural resources in our area. As a result, the ranch will play a part in helping educate the public while protecting it.

Corey asked that just as we expect of private property rights to be honored, that the same should apply to them and he asked for neighbors to be considerate. They are trying to limit the amount of visitors on the land to protect it.

There has been no final decision on how to use the land but they have gotten a lot of ideas and are evaluating them. There are no plans to remove any of the structures but he stated that clearly they will not be developing the ranch. They do have some funding set aside to do manage the ranch but it does not cover all of the costs so they are looking at options to raise that money.

Corey fielded many questions about their plans.

Fire Talk by Chief Cheryl Goetz

Cheryl talked about the need for every resident to prepare now for fire season. It appears that it could be a bad one and is already very severe in Southern California. It also appears that we are going into another El NiÕo. We need to prepare now and not wait until disaster hits.

She provided a great deal of handout material on preparedness. Have lots of food (including pet food), fuel, and other emergency supplies and equipment such as a generator. The Red Cross has stated that there will not helicopters flying in and out in the next big disaster as happened in 1998. If there is a disaster, people will have to be self-sufficient for quite a while or they should get out until things get back to normal. It is also important to know your neighbors before the emergency occurs.

The Fire Brigade has Neighborhood coordinators who are located through out the service area; their job is to get the word out in the event of an emergency. In the event of a disaster, they should know who is there and who had left so that Fire Fighters or other emergency workers are not endangered checking on a house that is empty. Get in touch with your local coordinator. Call 626-3324 to find out who your coordinator is.

Cheryl talked about the need to make keep the area around the house free of excessive fuel. This means keep brush a minimum of 30 feet away from the house and up to 100 feet if it is on a slope. In this area you should plant species that are fire resistant and grow very low to the ground. There are many listed in one of the brochures that she provided. Fire travels faster up a slope than down. The roofing materials are very important to protecting from fires. All should consider replacing wood shake roofs. There are substitute materials that look very close to them but are fireproof. She talked about the “Miracle House” that was spared in a very big fire in southern California. All of the houses around it were lost but this house, which had good vegetation strip of fire resistant plants, a good buffer from the brush, a fire safe roof and sprinklers was spared.

The fire bridge wants to make sure that they know who lives where so that they can be located. The fire bridge wants to keep a very complete list and will NOT share this information with any one else. Their only concern is safety and the information will not be sued for any other purpose.

She gave an update on the new Fire Station. It will be located at the top of Murray’s Grade (about 4 miles from Highway 1 up Palo Colorado Road). Groundbreaking should occur in September.

She concluded that the Fire Brigade needs help and donations and also volunteer personnel.

The official meeting was concluded at 3:30 and everyone retired to the traditional Pot Luck meal.

Thanks to Corey Brown, Marsha Zelus McMahan, Sus Danner and Jim Cox of the Big Sur Land Trust for hosting the meeting. We would also like to thank Chief Cheryl Goetz for giving us an informative brief.

Next general Meeting is Saturday 28 September 2002 at 2:00 pm (we start gathering at 1:30); location will be the Big House at the Garrapata Trout Farm. (This is a change….)

/Ken Ekelund

12 May 2002

P.S

We are still looking for donations to fund the council’s activities and buy more scientific equipment. Please consider donating to keep us going. (Donations are tax-deductible).

Checks should be made out to the “Garrapata Creek Watershed Council” and sent to:

Garrapata Creek Watershed Council

35811 Highway 1

Monterey CA 93940

Check our web site at http://www.garrapatacreek.org for updates or call Ken at 625-9621.

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This page was last updated on June 25, 2002