Abalone season is almost here. From April 1 through November with a month long break in July, the harvesting of Abalones is popular with locals and tourist alike. The search for abalone ranges from friendly foray to full scale abalone obsession for California divers.

The prized abalone is of course the Red Abalone. The classification in the animal kingdom, abalone belong to the phylum Mollusca, a group which includes clams, scallops, sea slugs, octopuses and squids.

Anatomy: The abalone shell is prized because of their inner, iridescent layer. The outside of the shell has a row of respiratory pores. The musculer foot has a strong suction power permitting the abalone to hold tightly to rocky surfaces. A column of shell muscle attaches the body to its shell. There is a mantle and epipodium that circles the foot which is a sensory structure and extension of the foot which bears tentacles.

The internal organs are arranged around the foot and under the shell. The crescent shaped gonad, is gray or green in females and creamed colored in males. It extends around the side opposite the pores and to the rear of the abalone. The abalone has a pair of eyes, a mouth and an enlarged pair of tentacles. Inside the mouth is a long, file-like tongue called the radula, which scrapes its food matter to a size that can be ingested.

The gill chamber is next to the mouth and under the respitory pores. The water is drawn from under the edge of the shell, and then flows over the gills and out the pores. Waste and reproductive products are carried out in the flow of water. Since an abalone has no obvious brain structure, the abalone is considered to be a primitive animal. However, it does have a heart on its left side and blood flows through the arteries, sinuses and veins, assisted by the surrounding tissues and muscles.

Reproduction: The sexes are seperate and can be distinguised in individuals as small as one inch when the gonads begin to develop. An 8 inch abalone may spawn 11 million eggs or more, while a male abalone can release trillions of sperm. The presence of eggs and sperm in the water may stimulate other abalone to spawn, thus increasing the chances of fertilization. When eggs hatch they are a microscopic, free living larvae. It drifts with the currents for about a week, then the abalone larvae settles to the bottom, and sheds its swimming hairs and begins to develop the adult shell form. The chance that an individual larvae will survive to adulthood is very very low. Fortunately abalone and most mollusks are prolific spawners but the mortality still exceeds 99%.

Food: Abalone eat marine algae. The adults can feed on loose peices drifting with the current. Abalones eat giant kelp, bull kelp, feather boa kelp and elk kelp are preferred, although most others may be eaten at other times. Abalone tend to stay in one location waiting for food to drift by. They can move daily, seasonally or when food becomes scarce for a long period. Juvenille abalone graze on coralline algae that grows on the rocks and diatoms and bacterial films. As they grow they increasingly rely on drifting algae.

Withering Syndrome: is a terminal phase of a bacterial infection. “Rickettsia-like Procaryote” (RLP) is a newly found bacterium. The RLP bacterium infects the digestive system of the abalone. When RLP sufficiently develops, the abalone slowly starves to death. Once abalone exhibit the visual signs of Withering Syndrome, they will expire within a few months.

In 1998, California Department of Fish & Game (CDFG) realized that they had been authorizing the transfer of RLP infected abalone from southern California to northern California aquaculture facilities. Inspection of abalone from California’s aquaculture facilities quickly confirmed RLP infested facilities from southern California up to the Oregon border. In August 1998, CDFG banned shipments of RLP infected abalone seed from southern California to facilities north of San Francisco.

What was an RLP free nursery facility in Crescent City has been infected with RLP and was pumping untreated effluent into the ocean. According to a letter dated February 8, 2000, circulated by the Director of the CDFG, the ban on shipment of RLP infected abalone north of San Francisco was re-imposed following the shipment of these 6400 RLP infected abalone.

Ground Zero: Northern California’s remaining abalone represents about 17% of the state’s original abundant resource. RLP has been found at Van Damme State Park. The Park is in the heart of the recreational abalone diving Mecca in Northern California. One of sixty abalone tested from Van Damme State Park has been found infected with RLP. The presence of RLP at Van Damme is believed to be the result of a single out-planting five years ago. Van Damme could be ground zero for a northern Withering Syndrome epidemic, which would totally decimate the northern California red abalone. The future survival of California’s last remaining abalone may well rest on sciences’s purging the RLP infestation, and on the public’s resolve to save this valuable resource.

If you feel a little guilty every time you flip the light switch, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has created a way to ease the pain.

Through its ClimateSmart program, launched in June 2007, customers can pay an extra fee (about $5.00 a month) to offset emissions from their electricity and gas usage.

It announced recently the first projects to benefit from its customers’ generosity. It will spend approximately $2 million to help restore California redwood forests in Mendocino and Santa Cruz counties.

The restoration programs were selected through a competitive process and both projects are approved by the nonprofit California Climate Action Registry and accepted by the California Public Utilities Commission.

PG&E says it plans to have contracts to offset 1.5 million tons of greenhouse-gas emissions by the end of 2009.
www.pge.com/myhome/environment/whatyoucando/climatesmart/

As Mendocino and Fort Bragg are getting ready for the upcoming whale Festivals on March 1 & 2 and March 15 & 16, 2008, little is known about how the whale wars before the Whale Festivals were started.

Thirty-two years ago in 1976, the cause was saving the remaining great whales from slaughter from Japanese and Russian commercial whale fleets.

The inspiration started in June, 1975, when a Greenpeace Foundation patrol boat located a Russian whaling fleet killing sperm whales off Cape Mendocino. They captured dramatic film footage of a canon-fired explosive harpoon flying over their heads and striking a whale. When the film was broadcast on national TV news, some Mendocino locals were inspired to get involved in stopping the whale slaughter off our shores.

Byrd Baker, a local wood sculptur, was probably the one who came up with the name “Mendocino Whale War”. Byrd and friends began campaigning to save whales, and many other locals joined in on the effort. The California Gray Whales swim past Mendocino twice a year on their migration between the Bering Sea and Lagoons of Baja Califorinia. Whale watching from the coastal headlands of Mendocino has long been a popular pastime.

Byrd with other locals formed the Mendocino Whale War Association in December 1975, with Byrd as one of the founding trustees. Byrd looked the part of an old-time sea captain with a lot of charm. With the help of media-savvy locals like John Baer, an advertising man who was the first president of the Mendocino Whale War Association, and magazine writer Jules Siegel, and the media soon picked up the story. Major coverage began early in 1976 with a big feature in the Detroit Free Press which hyped the idea of Mendocino, a small coastal town in California declaring war on Japan and the Soviet Union. This was especially impotant since this was the height of the Cold War.

The Mendocino Whale War Association organized the 1st Whale Festival in Mendocino in March 1976. The goal was to make the public aware that the whales were still being hunted. The festival was also a fundraiser for an ocean voyage to challenge the whalers off the Mendocino Coast, as Greenpeace had done the previous summer.

Byrd traveled to Vancouver, and with the help from Greenpeace he was able to charter the same boat Greenpeace used in 1975, the Phyllis Cormack. Greenpeace had acquired a former Canadian Navy mine-sweeper named the James Bay, and they would be using the bigger, faster ship in 1976.

In late June, the Phyllis Cormack went heading down the coast to San Francisco, where the Mendocino Whale War’s save the whales patrol voyage would be launched. The Four Mendocino people aboard the Phyllis Cormack was Byrd Baker, J.D. Mayhew, John Griffith and Nicholas Wilson the official photographer, who after thirty years is the only one of the four left to tell the story.

After a few days at sea, on July 1, the Mendocino Whale War boat and the Greenpeaces’s James Bay boat were about 100 miles off Cape Mendocino, near where they had found the Russian whalers the year before.

They didn’t spot any whalers off the coast, but they did find a large fleet of big 300 foot Soviet trawlers scraping the ocean bottom with huge nets. They also saw and photographed a 150 foot Korean crabber just outside the 12 mile limit.

The photos taken of the Russian and Korean fishing boats were bought and used by the San Francisco papers, U.P.I. Wire Service, and Oceans Magazine, helping add to political pressure that brought about the 200 mile limit.

The Mendocino Whale War voyage ended with a brief courtesy call to Mendocino the morning of the July 4, 1976, the Bicentennial Day, and then returned to San Francisco the next morning.

After a few days dealing photos to media outlets, another chapter ended with the Mendocino Whale War. Byrd located an old school bus and converted it into a Mendocino Whale War tour bus. Byrd Campaigned around the country, talking at schools and civic organization meetings for some time after that, spreading his message to “save God’s whales”.

 In 1977 “The Boy Who Talks to Whales” starring Byrd Baker, Victor Jory, Andy Gordon, and “Gigi” the whale, brought more attention to the whales.

In 1986 the International Whaling Commission finally yielded to growing public pressure and diminishing numbers of whales and passed a moratorium on commercial whaling that continues today.

In the summer of 2005, Ellen Findley Herdegen, a kindergarten teacher then and now, who was Secretary of the Mendocino Whale War Association turned over the group’s archives to the Kelley House historical museum in Mendocino. Ellen provided five ring binders of carefully organized media clippings, photos, flyers, meeting minutes and other documents. They are now on public exhibit.

 

Scandalous Whale hunt has resumed: (February 6, 2008) Japanese whaling fleet has again defied world opinion and resumed whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

The Australian Customs vessel, the Oceanic Viking, reports that the Fisheries Agency of Japan’s whaling fleet has killed at least five whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

In celebration of the year of the Rat on the Chinese Calendar makes it the year 4706. The Temple of Kwan Tai at Mendocino, California is dedicated to the Chinese god of war. A Taoist symbol of Integrity and loyalty, the Temple of Kwan Tai offers living evidence of Mendocino’s 19th century chinese community.

This original Taoist Temple, a site now recognized as California Registered Historic Landmark # 927. The Temple of Kwan Tai was restored and rededicated in October 2001 through the efforts of the Hee Family, the Temple Trustees, Mendocino youth involved in the North Coast Rural Challenge Network, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the California Coastal Resources Agency. Visitors may view Temple of Kwan Tai at 45160 Albion Street, in the National Historic District of Mendocino.

Founders of the Temple: It was about 1850 when the gold rush was just beginning in California. With starvation and insurrection at home (China), immigration was a natural choice for residents of the Canton district, the capitol of Guangdong Province in southern china. The first chinese are believed to have reached the north coast of Mendocino in the early 1850’s. The north coast chinese population grew quickly, particularly in the redwood logging camps where men served as cooks, launderers, and water slingers.

By the 1860’s Mendocino was home to 500 to 700 chinese. Among the early chinese settlers were Lee Sing John and his wife Fung Sun Choy, both born in the village of Lee Ook Bin, Guangdong Province. Lee Sing John worked for a time as a cook in the woods. Later he worked in the Caspar Mill cookhouse. Their granddaughter, Grace Hee Yee was provided much of the oral history anecdotal family information that dates construction of the Temple of Kwan Tai to 1852.

Temple History: Official records report the sale of the temple’s Albion Street site to the Chinese in 1867. A Mendocino Beacon article describes formal opening ceremonies held on November 4, 1882. Since 1871, when the deed was recorded to Lee Sing John, successive generations of the Hee Family have held and preserved the Temple, which was awarded California Registered Historic Landmark status in 1979. In support of anecdotal dating of the Temple construction as 1852, a report by the California State Architect dates construction to the early 1850’s based on materials used in the structure. If accurate, this report establishes Temple of Kwan Tai as the oldest “original” Chinese Joss House in rural California. In 1995, Hee family members deeded the temple property concerning Chinese immigrant history and to the celebration of community and diversity.

 The Temple Features: The Temple of Kwan Tai is on a south facing hillside above Albion Street overlooking Mendocino Bay. A simple structure, reportedly built with $12.00 worth of virgin redwood, it survived remarkably intact for nearly 150 years prior to its restoration and rededication in October of 2001.

Freshly painted in its original red with green trim. The brilliant red of the simple shiplap siding signifies the essence of joy and good luck. When entering the building, one walks under a sign in gold Chinese characters on a red painted background. Read from right to left, the symbols proclaim Do Dai Miu, which means, roughly, “Military God-King Temple.

 While the exterior of the building is not a rare architectural gem, the interior is an invaluable resource of ethnic history. Entering the main room, you will find a small table in front of the altar that holds three place settings of chopsticks, and small bowls of various sizes. Centrally located in the mainroom is a small table with a bamboo mat in front where the worshipper may kneel and pray. There is also a small stove in the southwest corner of the room which was used for the burning of prayer papers. Behind the small table is the shrine containing an image of Kwan Tai, the deity to whom the temple is dedicated.

The fortune sticks flanking the portrait of Kwan Tai were formerly used by the priest who lived in the tiny lanteroom during the 1870’s. Other furnishings are sparse; two simple wood benches line the side walls and two ornate lanterns hang over the prayer table. Except for the portrait and one lantern, interior furnishings are said to be original.

Rare Historic Building: The Temple of Kwan Tai underwent a thorough Historic Building Assessment by Architect Laura Culberson of the San Fransisco architectural firm of Carey and Company. Miss Culberson concluded in her report with the following assessment of the significance of Temple of Kwan Tai:

“The Mendocino Joss House is and invaluable resource to the State of California. It is the only surviving physical document (made more significant by its continued use from the early 1850’s), which retains its original integrity and marks the now mostly lost history of the Chinese in Mendocino. Mendocino was one of the few communities along the Pacific North coast that housed a substantial chinese community. Although Mendocino’s Chinatown burned in 1910, the knowledge of its existence and the cultural and historical relationship between the Joss House and the Chinese community are significant aspects of local and state history”.

A team of Franklin & Marshall geologists has discovered a new active fault in Northern California which was announced at an annual meeting of the Seismological Society of America in San Francisco.

The new fault is located between the towns of Fort Bragg and Westport. This new fault, dubbed the Pacific Star Fault, is part of the San Andreas fault system. The newly discovered fault was revealed after Dr. Merritt and her team analyzed several abandoned paleo stream channels using GPS ground surveying of marine terraces, fieldwork, and large scale aerial photos of the area.

When the geologists came by the Pacific Star Winery and asked if they could look around for evidence of a fault, a geology major in college, Robert Zimmer had noticed what he thought was a fault (albeit and old, inactive one) on the western edge of the property. When he showed it to them, “their eyes grew as big as saucers”. It was not an old inactive fault, but a striking cross section of the fault they’d guessed might be here.

Three visible sections run parallel to the San Andreas Fault, which is located some 8 miles west of the winery under the Pacific Ocean. According to Dr. Merritt, the Pacific Star Fault has moved and average of 10mm per year, or about half an inch. No major movement has taken place though for a number of years.

Dr. Merritt and her team plan to continue their research of the Pacific Star Fault in the coming year in order to better understand the hazards associated with the fault system.

Two top Southern California real estate developers and a leading Republican political figure lead GreenWave Energy Solutions LLC, company President Wayne Burkamp told the newspaper.

One of five GreenWave members is former state Assemblyman Tony Strickland, who lost his bid last year as the GOP nominee for state controller. Strickland is the Republican candidate expected to run to replace termed-out Tom McClintock in a heavily Republican state senate district.

GreenWave, whose federal wave energy preliminary permit application covers waters from Little River to Fort Bragg, where it abuts the PG&E claim, was the topic of puzzled speculation at Saturday’s day-long wave energy event in Fort Bragg. While PG&E sent a team to the event and every federal and state agency now involved was on hand, GreenWave has yet to be seen locally. Many of those attending the event have been frustrated in efforts to find out who or what GreenWave is.

Rachel Binah, a leader of anti-offshore oil and gas drilling forces for two decades, asked during her presentation that Mendocino County dig up some information about Green Wave.

John Innes, of the North Coast Fishing Association, said the mysterious filing by GreenWave resembled many of the limited liability companies (LLCs) that filed for wind energy permits, which he handled in a previous job. He said those LLCs often acted as fronts for others. The devices ended up abandoned when the shell corporations departed. Innes speculated that a good reason why Green Wave has not come forward locally could be that it, too, is a shell corporation.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, known as FERC, has also questioned whether GreenWave’s lack of identifying information in their October filing could mean the company is banking their claim with the intent to sell to someone else later.

FERC found the filing “deficient” and has asked the firm to submit more information about the company’s origins and makeup, as part of the federal agencies’ efforts to avoid “banking” or speculative claims.

Burkamp said GreenWave Energy Solutions LLC is not a shell corporation or a subsidiary of any other company.

“No, we are a completely independent business people. We have diverse talents and interests,” Burkamp said.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, known as FERC, has also questioned whether GreenWave’s lack of identifying information in their October filing could mean the company is banking their claim with the intent to sell to someone else later.

FERC found the filing “deficient” and has asked the firm to submit more information about the company’s origins and makeup, as part of the federal agencies’ efforts to avoid “banking” or speculative claims.

Burkamp said GreenWave Energy Solutions LLC is not a shell corporation or a subsidiary of any other company.

“No, we are a completely independent business people. We have diverse talents and interests,” Burkamp said.

 

GreenWave members

Burkamp said GreenWave started about a year ago as a limited liability company with five members who are interested in the blossoming field of alternative energy.

He said the members are Burkamp, Strickland, engineer Bill Bustamante, developer Dean Kunicki and developer Gary Gorian.

Internet searches showed that Kunicki and Gorian are well-known developers in Southern California. Kunicki has been involved in non-profit organizations such as the Red Cross and was elected last year to the Ventura County Board of Education.

Gorian, whose name is on California state LLC filings for GreenWave, runs Colton Lee Communities of Thousand Oaks, whose projects range from apartments and pre-fab housing to planned communities. Gorian is also on the board of directors of Casa Pacific, a temporary home for children in crisis.

None of the five men had visited the Mendocino site by Jan. 18, the filing having been made Oct. 23, 2007.

A FERC preliminary permit, which GreenWave has filed for waters off the town of Mendocino, acts like a mining claim or development agreement, whereby real estate is held for a certain time period for a certain use.

Burkamp said the skill developers use to navigate the political process would be key to developing wave energy, where the regulatory process is still being defined.

“We basically had the idea that we could develop these sites, and this was the right team to do it,” Burkamp said. “We could possibly streamline the development process with the help of our political arm (Strickland).”

 

Tony Strickland

Strickland wouldn’t have to stray far from his history to battle through wave energy regulations, as he has been one of the most strident foes of business regulations in California.

Strickland has been running California Club for Growth, an anti-tax and anti-regulation supply-side economics fund-raising organization that works to push Republican candidates to the right on fiscal issues. One recent statement attacked former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee for suggesting restrictions on CEO incomes.

As former chief of staff for the influential McClintock, Strickland is part of a small circle of powerful Republicans in the Simi Valley/Thousand Oaks area.

When Strickland termed out in the 37th Assembly District, his wife, Audra Strickland, replaced him as Republican assemblywoman in that seat.

 

Consultant Previsic Mirko

To choose the locations off San Luis Obispo (where GreenWave filed a second preliminary permit application on the same day) and the town of Mendocino, GreenWave hired Previsic Mirko, whom Burkamp characterized as a top expert in wave energy.

“We learned that these are the only two spots left with excellent potential to produce wave energy,” said Burkamp.

Mirko indeed has long been involved in important wave energy studies on both coasts of the United States, including the 2003 California state study that has been used as a text by all those involved in the issue. Mirko has helped alternative energy startup companies and been in on the invention of wave energy devices and is considered one of the top names in the field. Mirko is a consultant and not a member of the LLC, Burkamp said.

GreenWave has not issued any press releases and has had no involvement in any local public forums. Burkamp said he had hoped to attend the wave energy forum on Saturday in Fort Bragg but said it is too early in the process for specifics.

“We are at a preliminary stage of the process. There will be a time for us to hold public forums and do the things you suggest,” Burkamp said.

 

Where’s the money?

FERC is also requesting that GreenWave reveal where it would get the money to undertake the wave energy project and has asked the group to discuss what type of technology it would use.

Burkamp said GreenWave has sources for the financing and is leaning toward the Pelamis sea-snake design at this point.

“We have a number of sources for the funding … Again we believe the process is too early for us to finalize who our sources are, or to select the device that generates the wave energy,” said Burkamp.

Burkamp is an attorney with the San Francisco law firm Armstrong Teasdale. He specializes in real estate and also does corporate securities work.

A frustration in finding information about GreenWave has to do with ongoing problems with the FERC Website, which extends to several other filings. County officials, local activists and even a leading official from another federal agency complained about spotty searching of filings on the FERC Website.

Until the end of summer, new filings were reliably posted on the FERC Website, but none has been posted in the “new” area since October. Some searches work on the FERC Website and FERC has not answered requests from this reporter that all new wave energy filings be provided.

GreenWave’s filing, along with that of the county of Sonoma and a new filing by California Wave Energy partners off Cape Mendocino, rumored to be both wind and wave energy, have not appeared on the Website. A map prepared by the Department of Interior contained all the filings except the filing by California Wave Energy Partners, another LLC.

A phone call quickly revealed California Wave Energy Partners is a subsidiary of Ocean Power Technologies of New Jersey, which along with competitor Finavera are the leading wave energy firms.

Ocean Power Technologies has made headlines in recent days with the dramatic decline in its stock price.

By FRANK HARTZELL Of the Fort Bragg Advocate-News

 

Porcini Mushrooms

About 80% of Mendocino county’s wild mushrooms come from national forest lands, such as those prominent in Mendocino County. Some of the many mushrooms you will find here are Candy Caps, Black Trumpets, Porcinis, Morels, Oyster Mushrooms, Portobello, Yellow Foots, Hedgehogs, Golden, White & Black Chantrelles. Mendocino County in an average year produces and sells 300,000 to 500,000 pounds of mushrooms.

Of the 3,000 mushroom species found in Mendocino County about 500 are edible, 100 have the texture or presentation a chef can use and 20 are readily identifiable as most often used for cooking. The 2 most often exported from Mendocino County are Matsatake Mushroom (during Japanese New Years) and Horn of Plenty Blacks. Eric Schramm of Mendocino Mushrooms reports that he ships about 60,000 pounds of wild mushrooms per year.

Fall and Winter are peak seasons for foraging. A walk in the forest and you will no doubt see wild mushrooms, but don’t pick them unless you are an experienced harvester. Only a few mushrooms are deadly, but many can make you ill. Our seasonal downpours encourage the wild mushrooms to be found in fields, meadows, forests, and along the coastal wilderness. Mushrooms lie dormant throughout dry weather as mycelium. This microscopic form responds to the rains, feeding and fattening on earth’s organic matter until a cap poised sumptously, on a stalk pokes above the ground.

Defination:

A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name “mushroom” is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, hence the word mushroom is most often applied to fungi (Basidiomycota, Agaricomycetes) that have a stem (stipe), a cap (pileus), and gills (lamellae, sing. lamella) on the underside of the cap just as do store-bought white mushrooms. However, “mushroom” can also refer to a wide variety of gilled fungi, with or without stems, and the term is used even more generally to describe both the fleshy fruiting bodies of some Ascomycota and the woody or leathery fruiting bodies of some Basidiomycota, depending upon the context of the word. Forms deviating from the standard form usually have more specific names, such as “puffball”, “stinkhorn”, and “morel”, and gilled mushrooms themselves are often called “agarics” in reference to their similarity to Agaricus or their placement in the order Agaricales. By extension, “mushroom” can also designate the entire fungus when in culture or the thallus (called a mycelium) of species forming the fruiting bodies called mushrooms.

Other Uses:

Mushrooms can be used for dyeing wool and other natural fibers. The chromophores of mushrooms are organic compounds and produce strong and vivid colors, and all colors of the spectrum can be achieved with mushroom dyes. Before the invention of synthetic dyes mushrooms were the primary source of textile dyes. This technique has survived in Finland, and many Middle Ages re-enactors have revived the skill.

Medicinal mushrooms:

Currently, many species of mushrooms and fungi used in folk medicine for thousands of years are under intense study by ethnobotanists and medical researchers. Maitake, shiitake, chaga, and reishi are prominent among those being researched for their potential anti-cancer, anti-viral, or immunity-enhancing properties. Psilocybin, originally an extract of certain psychedelic mushrooms, is being studied for its ability to help people suffering from mental disease, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder. Minute amounts have been reported to stop cluster and migraine headaches.

Mushroom Glossary

Here are a few mushrooms, some more common than others, getting widespread culinary respect:

Black trumpet (Craterellus cornucopioides) A chanterelle with slim dark stem and tulip- or trumpet-like cap.

Candy cap (Lactarius fragilis) A small mushroom found mainly in the West with golden to reddish-brown caps and a slightly sweet, maple flavor that benefits desserts.

Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius) Also known as girolle or pfifferling, it has golden ruffles that flare upwardly along the stem like a tulip or trumpet.

Maitake (Grifola frondosa) Also known as hen of the woods, these are beautiful classic-shaped, gray-brown mushrooms with an earthy flavor.

Matsutake (Tricholoma magnivelare) A white to yellowish gilled mushroom with brown fibrils and cinnamonlike spicy pungency that is prized by the Japanese.

Morel (Morchella esculenta) Light green to black, with a honeycomb cap (a “peach pit on a stem,” says Eric Schramm), these coveted mushrooms thrive where there have been forest fires, thus their affinity for smoky flavors.

Oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus) There are many varieties of this multilayered mushroom named for its oysterlike shape. One is the king, which has a texture that is scalloplike. The cultivated blue is almost purple and the golden has a sweet nutty flavor.

Porcini (Boletus edulis) Also known as cèpe (French), steinpilz (German), or gamboni (Mendocino County), the porcini has a fleshy cap and stem with a spongy layer instead of gills.

Portobello (Agaricus bisporus) Found all over the country, these trendy giants (with a name developed by marketing folks) are not wild, but are mature cremini (a darker-capped version of the white button) that are allowed to grow longer and develop their meaty texture and large size.

Shiitake (Lentinus edodes) Parasol-shaped, this mushroom, long popular in Asian cuisine, has a smooth, dark brown cap with gills and a tough stem.

 

Board of Forestry Approves New Management Plan

Sacramento, January 9, 2008. In an action that culminated 8 years of controversy and litigation, the Board of Forestry voted 8 in favor and 1 abstention to approve a new management plan for Jackson Forest that is a milestone in moving Jackson State Forest towards management in the broad public interest.

At the meeting, the Board accepted several amendments that brought the management plan into full conformance with the consensus plan for the forest developed by the Mendocino Working Group.

The Board agreed to limit timber harvesting during a 3-year interim period to that needed to fund the operations of Jackson Forest, and not to generate surpluses. It also agreed to give a newly-formed Jackson Advisory Group the authority to review essentially all timber harvest plans during the interim period. These were the final keys to getting the agreement of the Campaign to Restore Jackson State Forest to support the new management plan.

At the same meeting, the Board also approved the supporting Environmental Impact Report for the management plan. The vote was 8 in favor, 1 opposed. This EIR had been in process since July 2003, when the previous EIR was declared invalid by the courts.

Attention will now turn to the next phase of reforming the management of Jackson Forest. During this phase, the new Jackson Advisory Group will work with the public and Jackson staff to develop a consensus long-term landscape plan for the forest.

Jackson Advisory Group Charter Approved
Nominations solicited

Sacramento, January 9, 2008. The Board of Forestry approved a charter for a new Jackson Advisory Group. The charter provides the advisory group with broad authority and support to develop a long-term landscape plan and associated timber harvesting, forest and stream restoration, and recreation activities.

The California Department of Forestry released a request to the public to submit nominations for the Advisory Group. The deadline for submitting a letter request and resume is February 8, 2008. The Director of CDF will select the members and present them to the Board of Forestry for confirmation.

The advisory group will have up to 14 members. It’s membership will be a mix of people with science skills, timber management knowledge and interests, conservation and environmental concerns, and recreation knowledge. It will have a preponderance of people from the local Mendocino area. All members will represent the public interest, regardless of their affiliations.

The advisory group will work with the public and Jackson staff to develop a consensus on a long-term landscape and plan and operations in support of the plan.

By the end of a 3-year Interim Period, the advisory group will recommend changes to the new management plan to reflect the group’s vision for the future of the forest.

Establishment of the advisory group was one of the key recommendations of the Mendocino Working Group.

Help Restore Our Publicly Owned Redwood Forest

 

 

 

Did you know that Mendocino County, which has a population of about 90,000 has four microbreweries.

The Mendocino Brewing Company, was founded in 1983 as the Hopland Brewery in Hopland, California, and its brewery is now currently located 20 minutes north in Ukiah.

The formation of the Mendocino Brewing Company in March 1983 marked the entry of one of the first competitors in the modern craft industry. When the brewpub opened in August 1983, it represented the first new brewpub in California and the second such business to open since the repeal of Probition. The companys pioneering stat, occuring before any substantial numbers of consumers had developed the taste for or the knowledge of handcrafted, traditional-style ales, made its early success that much more remarkable. Mendocino Brewing Company, however, was founded and operated with far more zeal than capital, a common characteristic of the craft brewers that would follow in the company’s wake. Craft brewers, particularly during the latter part of the 1990’s, were committed to expansion but lacked the financial resources to support the expansion necessary for survival. Despite its financial weakness, the company enjoyed rousing success during its formative years. The problems occurred later, when the popularity of craft brewing reached unprecedented proportions.

At first, Mendocino Brewing Company restricted its activities to the confines of Hopland. A signal moment in the company’s development occurred in December 1983, when it bottled its first beer at a production facility with a capacity of 400 barrels per year. Red Tail Ale, an  amber ale, became the company’s flagship brand, contributing substantially to the company’s financial health for years to come.

For many craft brewers, the 1990’s offered challenges that stemmed from the industrys own success. The idea of making specialty beers had become widely popular to many entrepreneurs, giving Mendocino Brewing Company a horde of new competition. When it was formed, Mendocino Brewing Company had existed virtually alone in the industry, but the number of craft brewers later proliferated. By 1997, there were nearly 800 brewpubs in operation throughout the country and more than 1,200 microbreweries. Mendocino Brewing Company found itself facing its own financial problems during the decade, as its need to expand outstripped its access to new capital and precititated profound change at the Hopland based company.

Please visit there website for all of there great beers they offer. Mendocino Brewing Company

 

The North Coast Brewing Company is a pioneer in the craft beer movement, opened in 1988 as a local brewpub in the historic town of Fort Bragg, located on California’s Mendocino Coast.

Under the leadership of brew master Mark Ruedrich, the brewery has developed a strong reputation for quality having won more the 70 awards in national and international competitions.

 The North Coast Brewing Company has received from the World Beer Championships “One of the ten best breweries in the world” from the Beverage Tasting Institute. These exceptional beers are available in 36 states now and also are exported to Europe and the Pacific Rim.

 

The North Coast Brewing Company occupies both the east and west side of Main Street, Fort Bragg. On the west side is the brewing and bottling operation. They offer free tours of the brewing facilities on Saturdays at noon. No reservations are required. There is also a gift shop located on the breweries facilities.

The Tap Room & Grill located on the east side of Main Street, Fort Bragg, across the brewing facilities is a local favorite. It is open every day starting at noon. Check out there website The North Coast Brewing Company 

 

Anderson Valley Now Brewing Solar Powered Beer.

(February 6, 2006 - Boonville CA) After a final inspection by PG&E, we were at last able to put the finishing touch on our $860,000 state-of-the-art photovoltaic project  -  Throwing the switch and making our own juice (the electric kind). Yep! We’re finally up and running, and those 768 beautiful solar panels (almost 12,160 square feet of them) are creating enough juice to cut the brewery’s entire electrical bill almost in half! Now whenever you savor a Boonville Beer, you can savor the fact that you’re drinking a solar powered beer and helping protect the environment.

The system includes state-of-the-art photovoltaic panels, with a life expectancy of forty to fifty years, paired with new-generation inverters, in a self-contained system. The $860,000 project will include two arrays; a 175′ by 53′ array on the roof of the brewery’s cellar and packaging facility, and an auxiliary 120′ by 24′ ground-based freestanding array. When completed in June of this year, the combined array will contain seven hundred-sixty eight 40″ by 57″ panels, each generating 187 watts per panel, for a combined output of 125,000 watts per hour at 480 volts AC, during the day’s five peak solar hours.
Located in Boonville, California, in scenic, Mendocino County, Anderson Valley Brewing Company (AVBC) opened the doors to its brew pub in late 1987. Since then, we’ve grown a bit, built a new facility, and now brew our world-class ales in copper vessels salvaged from two defunct German brewereries.

We carefully craft our world-class ales using only the finest ingredients; premium malted and roasted grains, hops, yeast, and pristine Boonville water straight from our own unique aquifer, and we never heat pasteurize or sterile filter our beers. Our tradition of carefully crafting inspired, flavorful, ales of the highest caliber has earned numerous awards, a loyal following, and our two-time placement among the World Beer Championships® Top Ten Breweries of the Year. Check out there website Anderson Valley Brewing Company

 

   

First Certified Organic Brewpub in the Country. Owned and operated bt the Cooperrider family since 1999, The Ukiah Brewing Company & Restaurant is the nations’s first all-organic brewpub and restaurant. At the brewpub, all ingredients used in the restaurant and brewery must be grown and produced on certified organic farms without the use of artificial or toxic chemicals. A long list of pesticides, food additives and artificial preservatives is prohibited.

  Ukiah Brewing & Restaurant officially released Pilsner Ukiah in cans January 21, 2006 at the restaurant. Pilsner Ukiah is an organic lager and will be packaged in six-packs of 12 ounce cans. ”It makes sense to put our beer in the world’s most popular, portable, environmentally friendly package, ” says brewmaster Bret Cooperrider. “also unlike bottles, cans eliminate light damage and oxidation to our beer.” Pilsner Ukiah is an unfiltered, deep gold lager with bold malt and hop flavor packing a 5.4 percent alcohol content by volume. Check out there website at Ukiah Brewing Company.