JULY 2015Serving Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito and San Luis Obispo Counties

Inside ...Honduras students 2

Discovering life 3

Farmworker video 4

Greenfield FFA 5

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By TODD GUILDOf the Land

WATSONVILLE — Calabasas Elementary School has long been a place where students could get their hands dirty.

At an after-school program called the Children’s Discovery Garden, students learn about science, biology and botany as they study everything from plants to pollinators and watch as the seeds they place in the soil grow to fruition.

Now the school is taking that idea a step further.

UC Santa Cruz, which runs the Children’s Discovery Garden, is now working with the school to turn a spare, sunbaked patch of earth into a community garden.

Organizers say that as early as next year the project will allow parents to grow their own food and feed their families. More importantly, it will also give them a sense of ownership in the

school and in their children’s education.“It’s a community meeting place for

the school,” Principal Todd Westfall said.

On June 2, two workers from Watsonville-based Whiskey Hill Farms used a powerful tractor to till the compacted dirt on the two-acre site, the first step in a process that included mixing in rich soil.

Organizers say that families will be able to grow food on individual plots.

Whiskey Hill Farms, which grows ginger, turmeric, cucumbers and kale on the former Kato rose farm, will help with the infrastructure arm of the community garden, said CEO Michael Wachtel.

“We want to help out and build the community,” he said.

The project was funded by a grant from the UC Santa Cruz Blum Center on Poverty, Social Enterprise & Participatory Governance.

Growing a communityGarden at Calabasas Elementary School for families

By TODD GUILDOf the Land

SALINAS — Hall District Elementary School kindergarten teacher Margalete Ezekiel told a panel of California pesticide regulators June 2 that she has two students whose severe asthma causes frequent absences.

One of these students, she said, did not show any symptoms of the disease until he moved to the area and began attending the school, which is abutted on all sides by farm fields.

Still another of her students, she said, recently died from leukemia.

“That to me is an emergency,” she said.

Ezekiel was responding to a statement by Department of Pesticide Regulation Chief Deputy Director Chris Reardon that the organization only cites pesticide users who skirt rules in dire situations.

“We have to have justification to do that,” Reardon said.

Ezekiel joined dozens of people who addressed the Department of Pesticide Regulation, which is holding a series of meetings statewide as it attempts to craft regulations that would govern dangerous chemicals used on farm fields around schools.

“This will be a statewide policy that will be enacted and enforced by the county agricultural commissioners,” Reardon said.

Reardon said the agency hopes to finish gathering public input by the end of the year, and have a policy in place by the end of 2016.

Cesar Lara, executive director of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, called the meeting a “positive step forward.”

“The DPR is here to hear input,” he said. “Pesticides have been an issue in the Pajaro Valley, and we have to tell our stories.”

The meeting at the Cesar Chavez Library in Salinas, which drew more than 100 people, was the second of five in which the DPR says it hopes to gather public input. The meetings include Sacramento, Ventura, Kern County and Coalinga.

The attendees included teachers,

Stateregulators considering newpesticide rules

By SAMANTHA BENGTSONOf the Land

KING CITY — The sixth year of the King City Farmer’s Market kicked off on May 20 bringing local residents and visitors from as far away as Vacaville to enjoy vegetables, fruits, live entertainment, tacos and more.

Fresh vegetables and fruits as well as a variety of restaurant dishes attracted not only locals but two bicyclists from Vacaville. Bob Haran and Steve Chun rode 127 miles on their bicycles to end up at San Lorenzo Park just in time for the Farmer’s Market.

“We started our journey in Morgan Hill and are headed to Paso Robles for the Great Western Bicycle Rally,” said Haran. “For the last few years I’ve been

Farmer’s Market attracts locals and visitors from all over California

The Maxwell Family picked up some flowers from Flora’s Farms.Photo by Samantha Bengtson/The Land

By BETH BOLYARDOf the Land

TEMPLETON — The scorching 99 degree heat couldn’t keep paella lovers from the 12th annual Pinot and Paella Festival, held June 7 at the Templeton Community Park, which drew more than 600 festival participants, paella chefs and wine pourers to the popular event.

The festival, which is notorious for selling out months in advance, featured over 20 wineries pouring their best paella pairing wine, mainly Pinot Noir, and 15 paella chefs, each vying for the first place spot in the People’s Choice vote.

Each participating winery and chef donated their time and products to the event and all proceeds went to benefit the Paso Robles Youth Arts Foundation in Paso Robles.

Marc Goldberg, the 25-year owner and winemaker of Windward Vineyard, started the festival at his vineyard 12 years ago, but the event became so popular they had to move to a larger location, where they invited more wineries and local chefs and began to give the proceeds to the PRYAF.

“It brought everybody together, and we never looked back,” Goldberg said of the successfully harmonious food, wine and fundraiser union where over $350,000 has been raised for the Foundation since the event’s conception. “It works for the community, it works for the children, and everybody loves it.”

When asked about why Pinot and paella was chosen as a pair, Goldberg said that with Pinot’s unique quality and paella’s nearly 400 varieties, it was a “marriage made in culinary heaven.”

At the beginning of the event, each

Pinot and Paella Festival is for loversLocal annual event draws crowd from far and wide

2 The Land - July 2015

PUBLISHERJohn Bartlett

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ART AND DESIGNMike Lyon

The Land is published monthly. All rights reserved, material may not be reprinted without written consent from the publisher. The Land made every effort to maintain the accuracy of information presented in this publication, but assumes no responsibility for errors, changes or omissions. The Land is a division of the Register-Pajaronian and South County Newspapers.

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Farmers Market Continued from page 1

By SAMANTHA BENGTSONOf the Land

KING CITY — Over the past several months the Monterey County Agricultural and Rural Life Museum, the Greenfield Community Science Workshop and the Casa K’inich Children’s Museum have been working and communicating with each other about their lives and growing agriculture in the three locations.

The Common Ground Garden project has brought the children of King City and Greenfield together with the children from Honduras to work on a project were they learn how to grow crops. Several members of the Casa K’inich joined MCARLM and the Greenfield Community Science Workshop and visited several locations throughout Monterey County including the Monterey Aquarium, Will Taylor’s farm, and Mission San Antonio.

Then on May 28 the three organizations came together to have a barbecue at the DeAnza building located in San Lorenzo Park.

“Something that I learned during this project was that they (Honduras students) knew how to understand us when we talked in English because they are also learning English,” said Jennifer Cevalles, student/

participant. Tanya Perez learned about the Honduras

students who lived in the orphanage and how they go from the orphanage to school and back. During Giovanni Acevedo’s interaction with the Honduras students she learned that they listen to the same music that is popular here and they had sing-a-longs through video-chat.

“The students also talked quite a bit about the recipes that they are making,” said Jose Sanchez, program coordinator of the Greenfield Community Science Workshop. “The kids talked about books and movies. The kids from Honduras and the Community Science Workshop talked about the weather because it affects what kind of crops they are going to grow as well.”

The two groups also exchanged a suitcase filled with items selected by youth from both areas. One item was a softball because Acevedo was playing that sport. Cevalles sent drawings because she likes art. When the suitcase was returned to the Community Science Workshop and MCARLM it had the National newspaper, shirts, and letters from their Honduras pals.

Honduras is located in Central America and the city that the Museum staff hails from is Copan Ruins. It is known as the world heritage site of the Mayan ruins.

Honduras students visit Monterey County students

The Honduras Casa K’inich staff with King City Mayor Robert Cullen and the kids from the Greenfield Community Science Workshop. Photos by Samantha Bengtson/The Land

The staff from Casa K’inich Children’s Museum tell the barbecue-goers about the Museum, about the children in Honduras and return the suitcase with gifts for the Greenfield and King City youth involved with the Common Ground gardening project. Pictured, from left to right: Jesus Guerra, Donaldo Martinez, Carla Morales, Paola and Elizabeth Nutermeyer.

trying to extend my vacation because the Salinas Valley has such great scenery.”

For the first night of their journey Haran and Chun stayed in San Juan Bautista and rode the DeAnza Trail for five miles where Junipero Sierra is said to have walked as well. This 200-mile journey marks the third for Haran and the first for Chun.

“There’s something about using the earth to feed people,” said Chun. “It’s good to see the workers and the things they have now. We are both big supporters of farmers and what Cesar Chavez did for the farm workers.”

Haran and Chun traveled about 60-70 miles a day and said that they just flew down Metz Road. Both said the temperatures were also reasonable because they were expecting temperatures in the 80s and 90s.

The Farmer’s Market is open every Wednesday until fall from 4 to 7 p.m. Vendors include Rodriguez Ranch, Stackhouse Bros., Flora’s Farms, Cachuate El Charro, Champion Corn, El Taquero, Noe’s Churros, Jackie’s Frozen Strawberries, Rainbow Raspados, Ortegas Produce, and Cowgirls and Indians.

The Stackhouse Brothers returned to the Farmer’s Market with fresh peaches, nectarines, plums and more. Photos by Samantha Bengtson/The Land

Steve Chun and Bob Haran enjoyed an end to their day of riding at the King City Farmer’s Market. Photos by Samantha Bengtson/The Land

The Land - July 2015 3

Pesticide Rules Continued from page 1

A group of Pajaro Valley Unified School District employees hold signs demanding pesticide-free buffer zones around schools during a meeting in Salinas. Photo by Francisco Rodriguez

parents, farmworkers and residents, many of whom were demanding a one-mile pesticide-free buffer zone around schools and a notification of a week before any application is made around schools.

“DPR officials seemed to be making a sincere effort but had no idea what is going on,” said local author Mary Flodin of the meeting. “Hopefully their perception shifted somewhat last night, and they were reminded who they are charged to protect.”

Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers President Francisco Rodriguez, who came on a school bus with more than 30 people from the district, said he hopes the new regulations will include using less harmful chemicals.

“We know that growers depend on these chemicals, but it’s time to begin to move to safer alternatives,” he said.

Still others said the state would be better served by phasing out dangerous chemicals altogether.

“If we could create a state where we have nothing to regulate, that would be the best,” said Sylvia Shih of Seaside.

•••The need for statewide regulationsCurrently, county agricultural

commissioners can establish rules for dangerous pesticides in their counties. Both the DPR and people opposing pesticide use around schools agree that this results in a patchwork of rules that can vary drastically.

Ventura County, for example, requires a quarter-mile buffer zone around schools, while Monterey County has the “practice” of keeping a 500-foot buffer zone, Lara said.

At issue are short- and long-term health complications caused by agricultural chemicals, including cancer and neurologic effects such as headaches, dizziness, fainting, weakness, confusion, speech impairment, numbness, twitching and tremors.

The National Center for Biotechnology Information has published studies linking pesticide use to asthma, and other studies have tied pesticide exposure to increased autism risk.

•••Current rules

According to DPR Enforcement Chief George Farnsworth, all pesticides sold in California must be registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and with the DPR.

Pesticide manufacturers must prove the safety of their products, and county

agricultural commissioners can place further restrictions on more dangerous pesticides. There are 37 pesticides that fall into that category, which require farmers to justify their need and to be certified in their use.

Pajaro Valley Unified School District Director of Purchasing and Safety Rich Buse said that he receives notification of pesticide application from the Santa Cruz County Agricultural Commission five to seven days in advance.

Buse then notifies the principals of the affected schools, who are charged with posting notices at their school. Those notices must stay up 72 hours after the application.

Santa Cruz County Agricultural Commissioner Mary Lou Nicoletti said a five-day notification is required if a school is located within a quarter-mile of the field.

Restricted materials, including fumigants such as 1,3-D, methyl bromide and chloropicrin can’t be used within 200 feet of a school during school hours.

Finally, the county urges growers to notify schools about all the chemicals they use, regardless of whether they are dangerous.

In Monterey County, all pesticides have a 500-foot buffer zone around schools during school hours, said Agricultural Commissioner Eric Lauritzen.

Dangerous fumigants require at least 2-hour notice notification.

“Anything we can do to increase transparency and uniformity statewide is obviously a good thing,” Lauritzen said.

Hall District Elementary School Principal Guillermo Ramos said he gets the notifications via email, and then forwards them to staff. He said he has gotten one such notification this year.

Ohlone Elementary School Principal Brett Knupfer said the school receives notification about a pesticide application every few months.

“Every notification I’ve every gotten has been for a Saturday morning when the students are not in session, so I haven’t needed to send notification home with the students,” he said.

Jyl Lutes, who has taught in North Salinas for 13 years, said she has never received a notification.

But that was precisely the intent of the meeting, said Farnsworth.

“Some pesticides don’t require it,” he said. “We’re here because we want to come up with a statewide standard for notification.”

By TODD GUILDOf the Land

MONTEREY BAY — Some 80 miles off the Monterey Bay coast is a world so teeming with life that it surprised the scientists tasked with studying it.

The Davidson Seamount is a massive underwater mountain, 26 miles long and eight miles wide. Measuring 7,480 feet from base to top, it still lies more than 4,000 feet below the water’s surface.

Researchers considered the seamount so important that they convinced federal officials in 2009 to add it to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

Scientists have been to the seamount several times since its discovery, but during a nine-day trip starting May 4 they brought drones and other state-of-the-art technology to take a look at the mid-water fish that congregate there.

“We knew the seamount was a special place, but we wanted to know if the water above it was special, too,” said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Research Coordinator Andrew DeVogelaere.

Seamounts have long been known to host a menagerie of animals, plants and other life, and the Davidson Seamount is

no exception, with forests of giant coral, enormous sponges and a plethora of invertebrates calling it home.

Scientists believe that there are still untold numbers of specie that are still undiscovered.

“The sanctuary is a special place,” DeVogelaere said.

And so when they sent down a remotely operated vehicle and specialized microphones, and tested the deep water for signs of fish, they found that it was richer with life than previously thought.

What they saw included several fish species, sperm whales, fin whales and white-sided dolphins. Life in the water also draws birds such as Cook’s petrels and albatrosses.

DeVogelaere said that researching the life surrounding the seamount will give scientists a picture of how it is changing over time, which in turn will help federal officials make management decisions. It also shows them how human impacts — such as rising oceanic acidity and underwater trash — might be lessened.

“It’s a visceral feeling to know you’re the first human eyes to ever look at this stuff,” DeVogelaere said. “You don’t know what you’re going to get and you always get a surprise.”

Discovering lifeMarine researchers study Monterey Bay seamount

Researchers climbed aboard Bell M. Shamada, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel, to explore an underwater volcano, the Davidson Seamount, about 80 miles off the coast of Moss Landing. Photo by Andrew DeVogelaere

Researchers prepare to deploy a hydrophone to record sounds emitted by marine mammals. Photo by Chad King

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Research Coordinator Andrew DeVogelaere talks about what was learned while exploring the Davidson Seamount. Photo by Tarmo Hannula/The Land

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4 The Land - July 2015

Calabasas Garden Continued from page 1

By TODD GUILDOf the Land

WATSONVILLE — With backbreaking work, low pay, no benefits to speak of and exposure to numerous pesticides, the life of many farmworkers is no laughing matter.

But that doesn’t mean a group of local techies can’t make a game out of it.

If plans by a university professor and a computer programmer come to fruition, young people will soon be able to play an agriculture-based, multilingual video game that helps tell the story from the farmworkers’ viewpoint.

“Game Over: Game Design for Farmworker and Environmental Health” is a project that meshes sociology with technology into a format accessible to generations of computer-savvy young people.

But how the game will look, who the characters will be and what they might be tasked with have yet to be decided. That will be up to the team of young people who will help design it.

The as-yet untitled game will be designed by freelance programmer and UC Santa Cruz graduate Kevin Cameron, who will also teach a game design class through Watsonville-based Digital Nest. That organization also offers dozens of other after-school technical classes.

During the two-week class, Cameron will teach the students about game mechanics, or the way in which the players interact with the game’s environment.

They will then design a paper prototype for the game. After that, Cameron will have five months to create the game. For that he will have help from the students, who will give input and perform “play-testing” functions.

“I don’t want to do this completely on my own,” he said. “Hopefully I will be getting a lot of feedback to make the game really shine.”

If that wasn’t enough of a challenge, Cameron is the only trained programmer tackling the project. Successful games typically take a year’s work from a team of 12 experienced programmers, he said.

That will be coupled with the game’s political theme: showing players what it means to be a farm worker in Watsonville.

“We want it to be fun, or at least engaging,” Cameron said. “But this is a very heavy topic.”

Cameron said that the game’s organizers hope to capitalize on the success of such agriculture-themed games as Farmville, but with a more realistic premise.

“It is kind of mind-blowing just how much is going to go into this class,” he said. “We’re hopefully packing a lot of content into a small amount of time.”

Dr. Dvera Saxton, who launched the project, is an anthropology professor at Fresno State University who did her doctoral dissertation on Pajaro Valley strawberry workers.

Even as she pores over the weighty tomes of her field of study and encourages her students to do the same, she also wanted a

way to bring the stories of farmworkers to the general public.

“One goal of anthropology is to make our work more socially accessible,” she said.

The video game, she said, will offer a “research translation” that will bring the social and environmental problems faced by agricultural workers — serious subjects to be sure — to a level young people can grasp.

“That’s the beauty of it,” she said. “Games have political power. They tell stories. They provide hope in a way that other mediums don’t allow.”

•••Game Over: Game Design for

Farmworker and Environmental Health is still accepting applicants for the video

game design class, which has space for approximately eight students.

The class runs July 13-24 from 1:30-4:30 p.m. at Digital Nest, 17 Aspen Way in Watsonville.

$50 stipends are available to help defray transportation costs, and healthy snacks will be served each day. There are eight slots available for bi- and multi-lingual high school students in PVUSD.

To apply, students should send a short application letter to Dvera Saxton at dsaxton@csufresno.edu.

The letter should include a life story statement, a description of their future goals and aspirations and an explanation of why they want to participate and what they plan to accomplish.

Too often, the people who work Pajaro Valley’s agriculture fields cannot afford to purchase the same food they harvest, said UCSC Environmental Studies professor Flora Lu.

Allowing the parents to have a say in how the garden is run will help them use their farming skills to feed themselves, and will assure that the garden will last well into the future, Lu said.

“If the parents have a sense of ownership in the garden, it will be socially sustainable,” she said.

Lu said the families have been coming to a series of planning meetings despite the

fact their busy work schedules.Lidia Tropeano, a UCSC graduate who

works with both Calabasas Elementary School’s gardens, said that a new grant by the Blum Center could also allow organizers to build a kitchen, where the families could prepare and preserve the food they grow.

“There is a lot that can be done with that space,” she said.

“It’s really important that this community has the opportunity to grow and cultivate their own food and have a space to be with their families,” she added.

festival participant was given a custom, souvenir wine glass, tasting plate and a single, coveted, red ticket, which they would use to cast their vote for best paella of the afternoon.

Festival participants sampled wine for the various wineries and were served portions of paella from participating chefs, straight from the skillet to the plate, before casting their vote.

Most festival-goers were content to sip their wine, nibble on their paella and relax in the shade of the Templeton park while listening to the cool jams of Incendio, a popular guitar-led, world fusion band, but a last call for ticket entries cajoled many out of their seats to proclaim their favorite dish of the day.

Runners up for the first place prize were Paso Terra’s Chef Andre Averseng in fourth place, Paso Catering Company’s Chef Trish Jacobs in third place and Thomas Hill Organics’ Chef Christopher Manning in second.

The first place prize went to the 2014 defending champion, Jeffry’s Catering’s Chef Jeff Wiesinger, who shared a story about he and his wife’s first date and engagement taking place at previous Pinot and Paella festivals.

“This is one of our favorite events of the entire year. This is always a special event

to my wife and I,” Wiesinger said. “Our first date was Pinot and Paella six years ago. We got engaged at Pinot and Paella three years ago. This will be our two-year anniversary coming up.”

Pinot and Paella Festival is quickly becoming the perfect proposal spot and an Orange County couple that got engaged in front of the crowd by the band-hosting gazebo would agree.

Mike Bozarth of Naples has been attending the Pinot and Paella Festival for four years with his girlfriend Jeanette Lawson of Orange County, who has been a faithful, 10-year attendant of the festival and Bozarth decided the festival would be the perfect place to propose to Lawson since the event already held so much meaning to the couple.

“It was my idea to do it here because this whole thing means so much to us,” Bozarth said. “I thought doing it in public like this was going to be even more meaningful, and sharing it with 500 of our closest friends.”

Lawson, who was adorned for the early summer event in a bright orange, 1940s-style floral skirt with an oversized orange sun hat, was called to the front of the stage by Windward Vineyards owner Marc Goldberg, who told her she had won an award for best dressed.

Goldberg told the crowd of Lawson’s

faithful event participation and then began to question her about her boyfriend before calling Bozarth to the stage.

Bozarth then got on one knee and proposed, a complete surprise to Lawson who said, “yes” before Bozarth could finish his proposal.

“I’m elated, absolutely shocked and thrilled,” Lawson said. “I love this event.

I’ve been coming for 10 years. This event is just wonderful so this just made it that much better.”

Tickets for the 13th annual Pinot and Paella Festival, to be held June 5, 2016, go on sale Aug. 1 and more information for the upcoming event can be found at www.pinotandpaella.com.

Festival Continued from page 1

Participants at the 12th annual Pinot and Paella Festival, held June 7 at Templeton Community Park, sit in the shade to avoid the afternoon’s nearly 100-degree weather. The festival was sold out to 500 participants and proceeds benefited the Paso Robles Youth Arts Foundation. Photo by Beth Bolyard/The Land

Getting with the programVideo game to tell the story of farmworkers

Programmer Kevin Cameron works on a prototype for an agriculture-based video game. Photo by Bek Phillips/The Land

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The Land - July 2015 5

Continued from page 1

By SAMANTHA BENGTSONOf the Land

KING CITY — Lake San Antonio will officially be closing on July 1, said Mark Mariscal, director of Parks and Recreation for the Monterey County Parks.

“It is not a pleasant thing to come up here and we had to lay six full-time employees off,” said Mariscal. “We moved seven other employees from the Lake San Antonio up to North County meaning San Lorenzo and all the parks north.”

Mariscal said that Monterey County Parks was able to cut the layoffs down to

two people.“It is not an easy thing to do, to lay

people off,” said Mariscal. “Any of you that are in business know that if you don’t have money coming in to expend and offer what your services are, you just cannot operate that kind of operation.”

The Board of Supervisors for the Monterey County Parks do believe that the campgrounds need to be reopened, but are not reopening after Father’s Day this year.

“One of the unfortunate but fortunate sides for MCARLM is that we are actually going to have a third full-time person because one of those positions is going to be transferred there,” said Mariscal.

Mariscal said that right now, Lake San Antonio has a technical closure at San Antonio North which still allows groups to go into the area, however, with a hard closure the Monterey County Park staff would not allow any vehicles in, or water craft because of the inspections and the staff would not be available.

“We are going to put up some barricades and some fencing so that the only people going in and out of the north and south shores will be authorized people,” said Mariscal.

The Monterey County Parks staff will be working with owners of houseboats

and make some arrangements with them so that the owners can go in August and September. Because the owners will not have regular access on a weekly basis there will be a credit.

The general public will not be let in to Lake San Antonio after Father’s Day. The reason for the closure is because of the drought and the funds that would be budgeted for the lake could be better used elsewhere. Mariscal said that if there is another bad winter with scarce rainfall the park staff will have to look at a longer term closure.

By SAMANTHA BENGTSONOf the Land

GREENFIELD — Residents of Greenfield may have received a shock when they saw their utility bill with a new surcharge for water consumption.

The State of California and the City of Greenfield are continuing to face a serious water shortage due to a drought that is in its fourth year of existence. In April, Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order that required water consumption to be reduced 25 percent statewide. The order also encouraged urban water suppliers to develop a water consumption rate structure that maximizes water conservation. In response to the executive order, the City of Greenfield developed a water consumptions surcharge.

“You will see the impact of this surcharge on your next utility bill,” said Susan Stanton, city manager. “The greatest impact will be felt by those who use the most amount of water, those who needlessly waste water and those who are not making an effort to conserve water and protect this precious natural resource.”

The city will be developing and participating in a variety of programs that will assist homeowners, renters, and businesses in achieving significant reductions in the amount of water consumed

each and every day. These programs will be offered through product manufacturers and some by the State of California. The city will also discuss developing its own programs that supplement those rebates to provide even greater benefit to local residents who get rid of their old fixtures, appliances, and wasteful practices that use large amounts of water and replace them with new products and practices that are high efficiency and have low water use.

The city provided programs include 500 water conservation kits that will soon be available to residential water customers, assistance installing the kits will also be available, as well as water audits for residential, business and commercial.

Residents will also be able to participate in consumer rebate programs and installation of high efficiency low water use dishwashers, clothes washers, kitchen and bathroom faucets, showerheads, and toilets.

The rebate programs will also include lawn/turf removal and replacement with drought tolerant landscaping.

The water surcharge included in every resident’s utility bill will be used to pay for these programs.

By SAMANTHA BENGTSONOf the Land

GREENFIELD — Over the past year, FFA students at Greenfield High School have participated in a variety of activities and were honored for their achievements on May 21.

“I really enjoy being in FFA and supporting the program and being there with my friends having fun,” said Leonel Delgado, president. “FFA has given me the privilege and the opportunity to go far beyond my imagination. I would like to thank my officer team and especially my advisors and Ms. Villasenor. I would really like to thank Mr. V. for starting it all because without him I don’t know where I’d be.”

The Greenfield High School FFA program is run through advisors which includes Daniel Villasenor, Michelle Cote, and Ms. Villasenor. The advisors accompany FFA students on field trips, speaking competitions, vegetable and floral judging, picking out their animals for

the Salinas Valley Fair and the Monterey County Fair, if not others.

Several students were recognized for the opening and closing competition for speaking which ranged from freshman to seniors and officer team members.

This year the FFA had a change over the summer as members of the FFA wanted to be part of the Monterey County Fair so they formed a group called the Greenfield High School Livestock Team. A total of 16 members of the Greenfield FFA took part in the group and had success at the Monterey Fair with a weight champion and reserve weight champion for goats. The team also participated in the Sheep Showmanship and placed in the Novice category. Rachel Garcia received a reserve weight champion for her lamb project as well.

Garcia also was selected to the 20-member state choir that sings in front of 5,000 FFA members.

“To me being a part of FFA means being a leader and demonstrating to everybody what I can do for my community and

school,” said Norvella Mendoza, vice president.

For the first time, Greenfield High

School FFA had a member elected to Sectional Office. Maritza Trujillo served as the Monterey Bay Section reporter.

City adds water consumption surcharge to provide water conservation programs

Lake San Antonio is closing after Father’s Day

Greenfield FFA celebrates another successful school year

The officer team was also recognized for their participation in opening and closing day. Photos by Samantha Bengtson/The Land

6 The Land - July 2015

Staff report

SACRAMENTO — Assembly Bill 300, California’s Safe Water and Wildlife Protection Act of 2015, passed the Assembly Floor with a bipartisan vote of 77 to 0. Authored by Assemblyman Luis Alejo (D-Salinas), the Safe Water and Wildlife Protection Act of 2015 will create a multi-agency task force to find solutions to prevent or mitigate toxic algal blooms in rivers, lakes and estuaries across the state.

AB 300 is sponsored by the City of Watsonville to improve the water quality in the Pinto Lake recreational area.

“Toxic algal blooms threaten human health, endangered wildlife, fishing, and recreational activities at lakes and rivers throughout California,” Alejo said. “Preventing the poisoning of lakes and rivers requires a multi-agency response to develop successful strategies to prevent algal blooms in the future.”

Toxic blue-green algal blooms pollute many of the state’s ponds, lakes, reservoirs,

rivers and estuaries. These blooms have sickened people and are responsible for the death of wildlife, livestock and pets from Southern California to the Oregon Border.

In 2012, a blue green algal bloom at Pinto Lake, just four miles from the Monterey Bay, resulted in the death of many waterfowl.

Toxin producing algae threaten the state’s massive water supply system. Monitoring in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta by University of California researchers has

found the toxin concentrations exceeding the state health limit of 0.8 parts per billion. This includes samples taken close to pump stations that send water to at least two thirds of the people in California.

California does not have a coordinated system for dealing with toxic algal blooms. The Safe Water and Wildlife Protection Act of 2015 will provide a coordinated system by creating a multi-agency State Algal Bloom Task Force to prioritize actions to prevent and mitigate toxic algal blooms across the state.

Assembly passes ‘Safe Water’ act

Staff report

WATSONVILLE — A new $1,000 annual scholarship from the Freedom Lions Club was awarded recently to help a graduate of the Watsonville Wetlands Watch’s Wetland Stewards program pursue higher education.

Scholarship winner Marcos Perez of Pajaro Valley High School expressed gratitude for the award and the many benefits he gained through the Wetland Stewards program.

“I loved learning facts about mitigation and other environmental aspects, but what I loved even more was how Stewards allowed me to grow both as a student and as an individual in life,” he said.

The new scholarship is the second such gift benefiting students in the nonprofit group’s Wetland Stewards program. Since 2010, supporter Laura Hofmeister has

presented a $1,000 educational scholarship to assist a program graduate in pursuing higher education.

Gabriela Davidson, the 2015 Hofmeister Wetland Stewards Scholarship winner, said, “Before Wetland Stewards I didn’t really give the wetlands much thought or attention. This year, I’ve spent a lot more time walking in the sloughs near my house, and I’ve gotten a deeper understanding of how everything in the environment is connected. This program also gave me a sense of pride I’d never felt before about living in a town surrounded by wetlands.”

The Wetlands Watch provides environmental education to more than 2,000 students throughout the Pajaro Valley each year, using curriculum developed by the organization’s professional teaching staff.

The Wetland Stewards program provides environmental leadership training through a competitive application

process to nine students attending Pajaro Valley High School. Many have gone on to pursue higher education and careers in environmental fields.

Throughout the school year, the Wetland Steward interns are trained in indoor and outdoor classrooms by the Watch’s education staff, visiting scientists and other experts. The Stewards help mentor visiting elementary and middle school groups with outdoor inquiry-based activities. The Stewards develop leadership skills and serve as positive role models to the younger students as they explore the wetlands right outside the Watch’s home, the Fitz Wetlands Environmental Research Center.

The program activities include bird watching, water-quality testing, plant scavenger hunts, soil and compost discoveries, aquatic invertebrate observations, nature water coloring, and journaling. Throughout the school year the

Wetland Steward mentors help elementary school and middle-school students become familiar with the Watsonville wetlands and participate in wetlands biodiversity monitoring. The middle school students collect population data on aquatic invertebrates in the sloughs and develop a project that helps them understand how research on aquatic invertebrate populations can be used to assess wetland health.

High school mentors and adult docents guide the process and keep students focused and engaged. High school mentors also receive additional training and enrichment opportunities such as field trips and career talks every Tuesday.

For information about the Watsonville Wetlands Watch, its environmental mission and the variety of free tours, lectures, and education programs it offers to youth and community, visit www.watsonvillewetlandswatch.org.

Wetlands Stewards graduates receive scholarships

Staff report

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY – The California Department of Public Health is advising consumers not to eat recreationally harvested mussels and clams, commercially or recreationally caught anchovy and sardines, or the internal organs of commercially or recreationally caught crab taken from Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.

CDPH is working with commercial fisherman in the area to ensure that recently harvested anchovy and sardines were not distributed into the human food supply, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

Some species of the marine diatom, Pseudo-nitzschia, can produce domoic acid, a naturally occurring but rare amino acid that is toxic to marine mammals and seabirds, as well as to humans.

Dangerous levels of domoic acid have been detected in some species of sea life and are also likely to be present in other species. Molluscan bivalve shellfish, anchovy and sardines are especially of concern because the toxin resides in their digestive tract and these seafood products are normally not eviscerated prior to consumption.

CDPH is continuing to collect a variety of molluscan bivalve shellfish, finfish and crab samples from the area to monitor the level of domoic acid.

This warning does not apply to commercially sold clams, mussels, scallops or oysters from approved sources. State law permits only state-certified commercial shellfish harvesters or dealers to sell these products. Shellfish sold by certified harvesters and dealers are subject

to frequent mandatory testing to monitor for toxins.

Symptoms of domoic acid poisoning can occur within 30 minutes to 24 hours after eating toxic seafood. In mild cases, symptoms may include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, headache and dizziness. These symptoms disappear within several days. In severe cases, the victim may experience trouble breathing, confusion, disorientation, cardiovascular instability, seizures, excessive bronchial secretions, permanent loss of short-term memory (a condition known as Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning), coma or death. There have been no reported illnesses associated with this event.

Scott Kathey, Federal Regulatory Coordinator of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, said shifting spring winds have been shoving warmer surface water out to sea, thus drawing colder water up from the lower depths, replacing shifting surface water. Kathey described the colder water as a “nutrient rich soup” that pushes up to the surface thus creating an explosion of algae.

“The problem with domoic acid in high concentrations is that it becomes a nerve agent,” Kathey said. “There are a lot of animals that are extremely sick and dying.”

Kathey said he describes the large presence of domoic acid as the most severe event in 10 years.

To receive updated information about shellfish poisoning and quarantines, call CDPH’s toll-free “Shellfish Information Line” at (800) 553-4133. For information, visit CDPH’s Natural Marine Toxins: PSP and Domoic Acid website at www.cdph.ca.gov.

Toxic bloom affecting seafood, healthdepartment warns

Greenfield High School FFA members were recognized for being part of the advanced team at opening and closing day. Pictured, from left to right: Tonya Osorio and Leslie Cabrales. Photo by Samantha Bengtson/The Land

The Land - July 2015 7

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By BETH BOLYARDOf the Land

PASO ROBLES — The Ravine Waterpark in Paso Robles opened its doors for the first time this summer over Memorial Day weekend. A new water slide attraction and the new mural painted on the fence surrounding the slide was unveiled Friday, May 29, at the park to area residents and students involved in the project.

The mural, a Paso Robles Youth Arts Foundation project, was created to give the fence surrounding the new slide more of a splash of color and depicts young people enjoying the summer in a variety of ways, including riding down a water slide along with summer inspired quotes.

Ashley Smith, the Artistic Collaboration Team group leader and high school senior, said the team works on several projects throughout the year and that the group worked on the waterpark project in lieu of class at the foundation.

“Instead of going to the youth arts foundation, we came here,” Smith said of the three-month project, which was a collaborative effort that encompassed the students’ different ideas.

The efforts were a combination of planning and spontaneous inspiration. Many of the students didn’t know exactly how the mural would look until it was finished.

“One day we came and chalked it all out and then started painting,” Smith said

of the spontaneity of parts of the project. “We looked online for quotes and came up with a few of our own.”

The adult coordinator of the project, Joe Thomas, was impressed by the group’s quick adoption to the street art techniques used in the mural, stating many of the youth had never used high-grade spray paint or acrylic markers, but that they had done well with the medium.

“They’ve never encountered it before, but they took to it so quickly and it gave them a lot of freedom,” Thomas said. “The colors are really vibrant, and it was great to see organic process.”

Thomas was also impressed by the student’s ability to harness the power of street style art in a positive way.

Mindy Sisemore, the executive director of the PRYAF, was glad to have a place outside the foundation’s facility that would provide a safe environment for the children to work and learn.

“We’re really fortunate to have people like this in our area who will allow us to do something like this and to give so much to create a nurturing safe environment outside of our walls,” Sisemore said. “We’re very fortunate for that.”

The PRYAF’s mission is to “enrich the lives of area youth with free classes in the visual and performing arts in a safe nurturing environment,” Sisemore said. The foundation offers over 50 classes to close to 400 students in visual and performing arts and has been serving the Paso Robles area for nearly 15 years.

John Pehl, co-owner of Ravine Water Park, was happy with the mural’s vibrant addition to the park and said he would happily give the PRYAF more projects in the future.

“It’s beautiful,” Pehl said about the new mural. “They (the students) have been working on it for months.”

For more information on the PRYAF, visit www.pryaf.org.

PRYAF students paint mural for Ravine Waterpark’s new slide attraction gets artistic welcome

The Paso Robles Youth Arts Foundation mural sits completed at the Ravine Waterpark in Paso Robles. The mural depicts young people enjoying the summer in a variety of ways, including riding down a water slide along with summer inspired quotes. Photo by Beth Bolyard/The Land

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