Updates on Cotoni-Coast Dairies and Wildfire Mitigation Strategies
BLM Central Coast Field Manager Zachary Ormsby
Wednesday, November 8, 7:30 p.m.
Bureau of Land Management Central Coast Field Manager Zachary Ormsby discussed BLM’s myriad activities at Cotoni-Coast Dairies National Monument and associated fuel reduction projects as they move through the planning and implementation process of opening the property to public access. He presented conceptual renderings for potential parking lot designs and introduced us to several new members of his team.
We also heard updates from 3rd District County Supervisor, Justin Cummings.
Link to video recording here.
Bonny Doon Wildlife: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Grey Hayes
Wednesday, September 13, 7:30 p.m.
Dr. Grey Hayes’s presentation about the diversity of wildlife in Bonny Doon, highlighted with wonderful photos and videos taken by Bonny Doon residents, can help us understand the species we live alongside and how we can and why we should help those species to persist for generations to come. Dr. Hayes, a North Coast resident who has entertained and informed audiences at RBDA meetings in the past, discussed our wildlife neighbors past and present, covering the variety of animals, the changes that have taken place over time and how best to coexist with them.
We also heard updates from 3rd District County Supervisor, Justin Cummings.
Link to video recording here.
What’s Next for Cotoni-Coast Dairies and the North Coast Facilities Management Plan?
Jonathan Wittwer and Mike Eaton
Wednesday, May 24, 7:30 p.m.
Link to video recording here.
The RBDA hosted a presentation by Jonathan Wittwer and Mike Eaton, who provided a recap and an in-depth look at what’s next for both the Cotoni-Coast Dairies National Monument and Santa Cruz County’s North Coast Facilities Management Plan (NCMFP). The NCMFP is a planning effort among agencies, organizations, and the community to identify a shared vision, goals, and high priority projects for enhancing the North Coast visitor experience, manage visitor impacts, and preserve natural resources. The management of Cotoni-Coast Dairies and the greater North Coast region will have a major impact on Bonny Doon, Davenport and all neighboring areas, and is certain to affect generations to come.
Natural Disasters in Santa Cruz County: The Winters of 1982, 1983 and 2023
UCSC Professor and Author Gary Griggs
Due to a technical glitch, we were unable to record the presentation during our meeting, but Gary was kind enough to send us a link to the identical talk he had given previously.
Gary Griggs is a Professor of Earth & Planetary Sciences at the University of California Santa Cruz where he has taught for 55 years. He also served as the Director of the Institute of Marine Sciences for 26 years, where he led the development of the Coastal Sciences Campus and the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. His research, teaching and writing have been focused on geologic hazards and the coast of California, including coastal processes, hazards, and sea-level rise. The UCSC Alumni Association honored him with a Distinguished Teaching Award in 2006. In 2009 the California Coastal Commission and Sunset Magazine named him one of California’s Coastal Heroes. He has been a member of the Ocean Protection Council’s Science Advisory Team since 2008 and was appointed to the California Ocean Sciences Trust in 2016.
Justin Cummings – Our new Third District Supervisor
An Evening of Introductions, Ideas and Priorities
January 25, 7:30 p.m.
Link to video recording* here.
*sorry, we did not begin recording until the Q&A session.
See Justin’s presentation embedded below:
RBDA-meeting.pptx-1A Letter From Justin Cummings, Our New Third District Supervisor
As we enter a new year, we find ourselves in a place where there are opportunities for new beginnings. On January 2nd, 2023, I officially began my new role as the next Third District County Supervisor and I look forward to working with you all on the many issues we’re facing in the Third District. To provide you with a little bit of my background, I grew up on the South Side of Chicago and went to Eastern Illinois University where I received a bachelor’s in Spanish and Biology. I came to Santa Cruz in 2007 to pursue a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with a designated emphasis in Environmental Studies at UCSC. After graduating from UCSC in 2013, I briefly moved to Miami, FL, to conduct post-doctoral research at Florida International University, where I studied the impacts of climate change on the Everglades. Since returning to Santa Cruz in 2015 I have helped create numerous non-profits at UCSC focused on preparing early-career college students to become leaders in the field of environmental conservation and training students on the use and application of drones for good.
In 2017, I started engaging in local politics because many young professionals whom I knew, including myself, found it increasingly difficult to afford to live in Santa Cruz. Many people whose families had been here for multiple generations were being forced out of the community that they knew and loved simply because of the cost of living, which is unacceptable. As County Supervisor, I will work to create safety nets and support for working families and our essential workforce so that everyone can thrive in Santa Cruz County.
Unlike the residents of the City of Santa Cruz, whom I represent but are also represented by the City Council, I am the only local representative for the people who live in the unincorporated portions of our district. This means that it will be important to maintain clear and direct lines of communication with these residents to ensure that we are hearing the concerns and meeting the needs of the Third District residents. Sandy Brown and Rachel Dann will be staffing my office along with Andrew Schiffrin, who will be helping during the first six-month transition period. If I am personally unable to reach you, someone from our staff will be in contact with you.
Moving forward there will be many challenges that we will face as we continue to help people rebuild from the CZU fires, address infrastructure issues along the coast, prepare for the opening of the Cotoni Coast Dairies National Monument, and strengthen our disaster preparedness, among many others, and I look forward to working with you all to ensure that the decisions that we are making will provide the most benefit to the residents of the Third District. If we are all in this together it means we must all work together. Have a safe and happy new year and I look forward to the progress we will make together.
Water on the Mountain:
Local Water Experts Answer Your Questions
November 16, 7:30 p.m.
Link to video recording here.
With the Monterey Bay area at D2 level Severe Drought, and with the CZU fire and the changing climate, we in Bonny Doon have concerns about our wells and the quality of our water. How will this natural resource be impacted by continued drought, fire and changing rainfall patterns? Please join the RBDA for a panel discussion about water in Bonny Doon. Three local authorities will answer your questions about well maintenance, drilling and the geology that makes it all work.
Aaron Bierman is the principal of Bierman Hydro-geo-logic. He earned his B.A. in Earth Sciences from UCSC in 1994 and became a professional licensed hydrogeologist in 2005. He is an expert in water resource management, catchment-and-basin size hydrogeologic and long-term sustainable water supply analysis, fractured hard rock structural controlled groundwater flow, and has served as an expert witness in hydrogeologic discrepancies in relation to groundwater resources, well feasibility and groundwater quantity and quality.
Aaron Lingemann is a third-generation Bonny Doon water well driller who has been drilling for 30+ years. Under Aaron’s leadership, Earth Flow Drilling became the first water well drilling company in the United States to purchase a state of the art Versa-Drill V2000, a rig capable of drilling very deep wells (500 feet and more) and has also maintained Earth Flow Drilling’s long reputation as dedicated, personable and hard-working.
Justin Robinson follows his dad’s lead as the principal of Tom’s Well Service, servicing wells in Bonny Doon since 1978. He is also a Category 1 Master’s cyclocross racer.
Ask A Forester! Update on San Vicente Redwoods
September 21, 2022
Link to video recording here.
Meet the 3rd District Supervisor Candidates
May 11, 2022
Link to video recording here.
Perspectives on Living in a Post-Fire Forest
May 12, 2021
Link to video recording here. Password: ZQ$zV2z7
Maya Khosla – Wildlife biologist, writer
Dr. Chad Hanson – Research ecologist
Maya Khosla is a wildlife biologist and writer. Field work grounds her writing: thousands of hours spent in untouched post-fire forests that grow full of life. She is currently working on a film about being fire-wise. Her books include: All the Fires of Wind and Light, poetry from Sixteen Rivers Press (2020 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award); Keel Bone, poetry from Bear Star Press (Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize); and Web of Water: Life in Redwood Creek (Golden Gate Parks Conservancy). Sonoma County Conservation Council selected Maya as one of the 2020 Environmentalists of the Year. She served as the Poet Laureate of Sonoma County (2018-2020), organizing a series of filmed readings to bring Sonoma’s communities together after the 2017 fires. Her poems have been featured in documentary films and in many journals.
Dr. Chad Hanson is a research ecologist and the director of the John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute, located in Big Bear City, California. He has a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California at Davis, with a research focus on fire ecology in conifer forest ecosystems, and he is the co-editor and co-author of the 2015 book The Ecological Importance of Mixed-Severity Fires: Nature’s Phoenix. He has published dozens of scientific studies and articles in peer-reviewed journals pertaining to forest and fire ecology, and recently finished a second book, focusing on forest protection to mitigate climate change, and the myths about wildland fire that are impeding progress. Research by Dr. Hanson covers topics such as: natural post-fire forest regrowth and carbon sequestration; historical forests, carbon flux in wildland fires; current forest fire patterns and trends; fire history; habitat selection of rare wildlife species associated with habitat created by high-intensity fire; and adverse impacts to wildlife caused by logging. He became involved in forest conservation work after hiking the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada in 1989 with his older brother, and seeing firsthand the devastation to forests caused by the commercial logging program on federal public lands.
