No More Dam Sites

I had a day to myself, so I did what I do best: I chose to climb a peak. Naturally, it was a county highpoint--Snow Mountain East, the highest point in Colusa and Lake counties, at 7056 feet. This checks one more peak and two counties off the list. My lifelong goal is to reach the highest point in each of California's 58 counties, and I've got six more on the list that are higher than this one and nine more that are lower. At a rate of one per year lately, I've got about 15 years left on this project. The nice thing about doing this is you get to spend time in and learn about every county in the state.

Snow Mountain East is the southernmost subalpine peak in the Coast Ranges, and the closest one to the Bay Area. It isn't very close though--it takes about four hours of driving to get to the trailhead, and about an hour of that is on dirt or curvy roads. You can get there from the west through the watershed of the Rice Fork of the Eel River, whose waters are diverted to the Russian River below Pillsbury Reservoir. Or you can get there the way I did, from the east, via the Stony Creek drainage, and just to the east of that, the proposed Sites Reservoir.

View from Snow Mountain of the Sacramento Valley. The Sutter Buttes can
be seen at the top right. East Park Reservoir is visible in the middle, and the
much larger area proposed for Sites Reservoir is just behind the hills behind it.

A Great Great Grand Coincidence?

My last update on the mystery of my great-great-grandparents left off with a probable coincidence in similar names. The essence of the mystery is that before the 1860 census, I couldn't find much information about my Spanish ancestors. Their names in the records available on the Internet are often misspelled, or variably-spelled. Not only that, but the change in countries when the U.S. conquered California means that to take my family history back deeper into the past, and farther southeast geographically, I need to start looking at Mexican records instead of U.S. records. At least, that is what I used to think the major challenge was.

I've got some new breakthroughs to report, thanks to some new resources I've discovered, and some more-than-coincidences that my detective work has unearthed.

I Should Have Been a Schnautenhaus

I wanted to post it here, but the script wouldn't work on blogspot, so here is my family tree, color-coded with the migration status of my ancestors. This project had its roots in a California Geography class I took two decades ago at El Camino College, when the assignment was to summarize the immigration history of my ancestors. Below is an expanded (beyond what was on my former Website) Javascript version of just my mom's side, four years in the making (mostly four years of not getting around to finishing it).

This wouldn't have been possible without the work of my cousin Brian who did extensive research and put together a book on the Schwerin family history. I intend to refine, update, and fine tune the page as needed.

The surprising thing is that despite my grandfather's parents "arriving" (one was born there) in San Francisco by 1864, the proportion of my ancestors that never reached the New World (in black text) is overwhelming. Going back 350-450 years, 67 of my direct ancestors on my mom's side never reached the New World, one reached the New World but not San Francisco, four migrated to San Francisco, and only three (including my mom) were born in San Francisco. If we look back only to the last 164 years, since my first ancestor to get off the boat arrived in San Francisco in January 1850, four migrated and only three were born here.

That is fascinating because if you think about how long white people's families have been in California, it really isn't very long when measured in direct ancestors. I feel like my family has a long history in California, but only three of my direct ancestors on my mom's side were born here and only about five or six on my dad's side. On my mom's side, 8 lived in California, and probably 9 on my dad's side. So my generation is the pivot point where half of my direct ancestors that lived in California were born here.

Think about how new we all are! How quickly we have changed this state! Can we please stop messing it up and work a little harder to live here sustainably and restore the amazing and incredible natural environment that we took from the natives? Because a lot of us plan to be here a while...

Reading the Rocks on Reading Peak

Reading Peak - 8,714'

Lassen peak was closed. This season was the 100th anniversary of the mountain's volcanic explosion in 1914, and we couldn't hike to the top. Five years ago, on our last trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park, it was closed due to a fatal accident on the disintegrating trail, and now to reach the top we'd still have to wait one more year for the trail rebuilding project to be completed.

On a trip to Lassen about ten years ago, I climbed Brokeoff Mountain instead of the park's namesake peak. I knew I'd return to climb the big one (pictured here). But it wasn't going to be this year.

The California Grizzly

There have been many ideas for returning grizzly bears to California. Most of these ideas, such as the Center for Biological Diversity's legal petition in June 2014, focus on the Sierra Nevada. That is understandable, because that is where the most famous and scenic wilderness is, and that is where the last California Grizzly was seen only 90 years ago. Only 90 years ago! But it misses other opportunities and skips a logical selection process that this thoughtful article touches on (see also Wikipedia for other references). In fact, many areas of the state have less people now than there were 90 years ago. These areas are worth considering without putting the Sierra blinders on.

Man Accidentally Tears Online Map

BREAKING NEWS: Today a 53-year old man in Los Angeles, California, tore Google Maps while trying to unfold it. He had previously worn thin a section of Google Maps right on the fold by pacing back and forth while leaving his smartphone GPS tracking turned on. The next time he opened Google Maps, it tore in that location.

"Since the tear is right on my house, now I can't read the map there," the man complained. "If I try to navigate home from somewhere, the navigation system gets lost and circles my block forever because it can't find my house. If I want to navigate to somewhere else from home, I have to start the navigation a block after I leave my house--but sometimes I start off in the wrong direction."

One day, the edges of the map didn't match up along the tear, and he was instructed to navigate from one street instantly to the adjacent street.

"I couldn't get the map to tell me how to get over there," he said. "It just wanted me to beam over to the other street, like on Star Trek."

He has tried contacting Google to get them to repair his map, but according to the man, they told him to buy a new one. A Google spokesperson contacted for this story commented: "We are concerned about breaks in the space-time continuum due to improper handling of Google Maps. But we've discovered that instead of expending resources on repairs, it is best to reboot and buy a new map. If your flash memory is worn out from accessing the same data sectors over and over again, you may have to buy a new device."

The man planned to sell his phone on Ebay, to someone he doesn't know that would never need to come to his house. But he lamented the risks: "What if a Pizza delivery person buys it? Then I can't ever order pizza again."

Awash in a Colorful Landscape

California is a land of extremes, both temporally and spatially. And visually.
In much of low-elevation undeveloped California, the landscape is green from November to May. And green is an understatement. The grassy hills are so intensely green that your eyes get saturated with the color to the point where it doesn't seem real. The world is green if you look down and blue if you look up. It is an intense sensory experience. And in some places, you get the magical and majestic painted orange and blue and yellow colors of flowers added in the spring.

In much of high-elevation undeveloped California, the landscape is white from November to May. The world is blinding white if you look down, and brilliant blue if you look up. That is an equally intense sensory experience.

Bay Leaves and Asparagus

A couple of days ago I heard on the news that an attempt would be made to control Sudden Oak Death in Big Sur by removing individual "bay laurel" trees.

Two things about this news story were problematic.

1. "Bay laurel" is not the name of the Umbellularia californica tree. It is California bay. Or laurel. But not both. Using both is merges two separate common names, and is like merging "mountain lion" and "cougar". You wouldn't say "I saw a mountain lion cougar."

My Backyard Looks Like Mt. Everest

I was skimming through a recent California Department of Water Resources publication when I came across a mislabeled photo of the Eastern Sierra. I pointed this out to a hydrogeographer colleague, and he immediately showed me two more water agency/organization examples of a geographically misplaced or mislabeled photo of the Eastern Sierra. If you want a dramatic mountain photo in California, you want a photo of the Eastern Sierra--but it may not always be the geographically appropriate match for your materials. It is kind of like putting a shot of Yosemite next to "I played in the playground down the street all day." Unless, of course, Yosemite is down the street. Below are the misplaced photos, as well as a Google Earth screenshot of where it actually is.

When Bad Roads are Good Roads

The first time I ever drove through Samuel P. Taylor State Park, it was a busy weekend about ten years ago. The road was narrow and bumpy, and there were pedestrians and bicyclists and parked cars everywhere. It was vibrant. You could tell it was a place people wanted to be. It was also sketchy. I was driving a friend's old truck, and I had to be careful. I had to go slow.

Here is what it used to sound like to drive on, recorded last September. Click "play" to hear a sound that is gone forever--the sound of going to the beach, if you grew up in San Geronimo Valley.

California Utilities Still Freeloading on Independent Power Producers - Part III

What you've all been waiting for--part III of the ongoing saga. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I suggest reading Part I and Part II for background.

But if you want to skip the details, here is the quick summary:

Part I Recap
We operated a solar photovoltaic grid intertie with Net Energy Metering on our home from 2001-2011. The year we sold the house, 2011, we had a big surplus of generated electricity, since the house generated electricity all summer but no one was living there to use it. This electricity was worth $154.52. In December 2011, I was told we would only be paid only four cents per kWh for this valuable, renewable, distributed, peak-hours electricity, or a whopping $18.52. SCE (Southern California Edison) was 10 months behind in sending out letters, and when we got ours we should send it back saying how we wanted to be paid, and then in another 3 months we'd get our check.

Part II Recap
Two years later, in November 2013, we got the letter. After overcoming considerable confusion about what it was, and why it was being sent to us, and what we were supposed to do, I re-read part I (see link above), and then I filled out the form and sent it back.

Part III

Welcome to Part III! This may be the end...

In February, 2014, we got another envelope in the mail from SCE. I opened it. I laughed. What was inside? Nine double-sided pages of account statements. The first page said "Do not pay. Your account has a credit balance of $5.48.

Epic Water Conservation Tips for an Epic Drought

We need to step it up a little. If we are in the most severe drought on record, then we need some better tips than "turn off the water while you are brushing your teeth." Come on, everybody already started doing that during the 1976-77 drought! And "take shorter showers" is sooooo 80s! We all do that already too! Boring! Here are some alternative water conservation tips that you won't see in your water bill.

1. Drink more imported beer. That way you can be sure the water in the beer isn't from California. And whatever you do, don't eat almonds with your beer!
2. Don't eat your veggies. Agriculture consumes 80% of the water in California. In fact, if you stop eating and drinking altogether (except for imported beer), that would be best.
3. Don't reproduce. Even better, wait to have kids until the drought is over. Kids are messy and you need to use a lot of water to clean them up. They also like to play in the water.
4. Be obstructionist. Find the nearest new housing development or irrigated farm, and block its progress so that it isn't finished or irrigated until the drought is over. If you are rich, just buy it and bulldoze it and restore the natural habitat and put a conservation easement on it.
5. Stop doing the dishes. Just tell your husband/wife/parents/other that you are saving water. When you run out of clean dishes, use paper plates. Put the dirty dishes outside--they will get clean the next time it rains. You could even use them to be obstructionist (#4).
6. Stop mowing and watering your lawn. You had better things to do on Saturday anyway.
7. Buy a boat. Buy one for your neighbors too. But don't wash it. And only take it to reservoirs to recreate (every Saturday, instead of mowing your lawn). If we completely cover the surfaces of all our reservoirs with boats, we'll stop losing water to evaporation.
8. Stop driving. Fracking and oil refining use a lot of water. You bought a sailboat or a rowboat (#7) that you can just leave at the reservoir, right? And if you start riding your bike to work, make sure you don't start taking more showers. When people call you stinky, just call them a "water waster" back.
9. Stop buying technology. Silicon Valley was the fastest-growing area of the state last year. The 332,000 new residents added to California each year (see also #3) are using all the water you are saving (residents have to save 1% more water each year just to keep up). Even better, just move away--the rest of us would like a little more room.
10. Pass new laws. These, in particular. And add this one to the mix.

Disclaimer: Don't try these at home--they may have unwanted side-effects. But if any of them are compatible with your goals and lifestyle, then have at it! Even though these are tongue-in-cheek, many of them would actually save a lot more water than the tips most of us get in the mail from our water providers!