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John M
climber
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May 10, 2015 - 09:31am PT
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http://www.kvml.com/2015/03/pine-tree-die-off-worsens-as-beetles-thrive-in-drought
between the drought and the beetles the number of dead trees between Oakhurst and Wawona is pretty bad. I was gone for 9 months last year and got back here in Wawona at the end of March. It didn't seem too bad, but in the last month I have noticed more and more. In 50 plus years of going to the park and 24 years of living there I have not seen it this bad. In Wawona they are cutting them down left and right, so you don't notice it as much, but if you have looked in the woodyard lately then you know just how much the park has been cutting. And its not must pines. Firs and cedars are dying too.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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May 11, 2015 - 08:32am PT
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Are you conserving water? Doing your part? Pitching in?
If so, you're working on behalf of the big developers.
From the article "DROUGHT: Why does California keep building houses?" found in The Riverside Tattler:
“Part of smart water management is reducing that per capita use so you can stretch available supplies to support development.”
http://www.pe.com/articles/water-766792-year-homes.html
I don't feel like supporting development - if there's no money in it for me.
I doubt there's a person anywhere who's against conserving water because we're almost out. But if there's enough water for Lewis Homes and KB Homes to buy low, sell high, and move on after exacerbating the problems of overcrowding, road congestion, and resource depletion, then why is anyone being asked - no forced, to the tune of $10,000/day fines for non-compliance - to change their behavior?
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BBA
Social climber
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May 12, 2015 - 06:44am PT
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Drought depends on which part of the state. Sonoma and Marin Counties are looking good, no problem this water year. The prior year was bad, and if we had another like it this year, things would be getting scary.
The big high pressure area has been in control for most of the winter. It only broke down twice and we got a lot of rain in those periods. The scenario for climate and its related weather seems to be following the path suggested by the scientists, warming and drying here with occasional violent storms.
The scenario for uncontrolled population growth is also playing out as we might expect.
Here's our water situation:
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nita
Social climber
chica de chico, I don't claim to be a daisy.
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May 12, 2015 - 10:27am PT
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*
Every little bit helps..Looks like we are getting precip this week in Yosemite & Lassen and many parts of the State.
Snowing today in Lassen.
@ Manzanita Lake
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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May 12, 2015 - 12:02pm PT
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hey there say, nita... wow, thanks for the snow update pics...
and sure hope that helps... my mom and i were just talking about that, the other night...
though, we both, do not know how much would help the most, etc, or all the more tech stuff,as to where the run-offs best benefit, but at least we can share and be happy, for it, too...
right now, in san jose, it's been cool and overcast, and a bit cold, so she is happy things are not 'burning hot' as to the fields, etc...
and as everyone, would love some rain...
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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May 12, 2015 - 12:06pm PT
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Lake Mead last week at its all time low point.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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May 21, 2015 - 02:17pm PT
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Good news, people! The nutcase next door told us yesterday that she had a
dream the other night in which Jesus told her that it was gonna rain like hell
(OK, I'm paraphrasing here, she might have said God) really soon and that
we don't need to feel guilty about watering our lawns.
REMEMBER - YOU HEARD IT HERE, FIRST!
[Also remember that you can't make this sh!t up! Well, I can't]
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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May 21, 2015 - 02:22pm PT
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is that before or after the rapture?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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May 21, 2015 - 02:24pm PT
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Dood, if you've gotta ask yer not invited.
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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May 22, 2015 - 05:34pm PT
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The nice sustainable yard pictures Dingus posts has two upsides. The first is the one that tends to be marketed: low water usage.
But there is another, perhaps even more important: The ability to absorb water onsite. Rain as it comes down is pretty pure. It is only after it flows off the property that it gets really dirty.....plus, it adds up. A typical suburban street produces 1 million gallons of runoff into the street, with a 1-in rainstorm.
As it runs off, there is an enormous tendency for evaporation (around 40%), which means that if you can capture it onsite, you basically double the available water for beneficial reuse.
Rain barrels are a way to do this, but have very limited capacity compared to the rainwater available. Creating an absorptive-friendly yard can magnify this tremendously.
Or, there is even a simpler, cheaper way: liberal use of organic mulch. Many cities provide it to residents FREE, you just have to pick it up.
Mulch acts like a sponge, it absorbs water and slowly releases it. One lb of mulch can absorb as much as 32# of water (4 gal). So 14# of mulch holds as much water as a 56-gal barrel.
Most of us who live in houses, have a significant amount of bare ground, under trees, bushes, etc. Cover that with 4 in of mulch, and you can cut watering to less than every 2 weeks, and probably use less each time. It breaks down into a natural fertilizer. Excess water ends up in the water table.
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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May 22, 2015 - 06:42pm PT
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Mammoth is open this weekend, barely. They are even running the gondola.
Some late snow really helped them out.
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couchmaster
climber
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May 23, 2015 - 08:52am PT
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I don't know anything about it. I've watered my lawn 3 times in the last 20 years. I go to bed at night negotiating with the wife to move into a condo and wake up in the morning praying the grass will just f**ing die. My old neighbor Pete, he of coke bottle glasses, once misread the label on a bag. He thought it said "Weed and Feed", but it actually said "Corozon Crystals". I would have loved to have my lawn start spring looking like his did...we'll, except for the 1" wide green Mohawk down the middle of a sea of brown where his spreader missed. Except I hate poisons like that even more, and even in his situation the next year the @@##ing sh#t all came back all green.
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Risk
Mountain climber
Olympia, WA
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May 27, 2015 - 08:58pm PT
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How bad is it, really? I checked out http://www.cnrfc.noaa.gov/monthly_precip.php and it didn't look as dire as everyone says. I'm all ears if these numbers are wrong, but about 70 percent of normal isn't a disaster yet, or worthy of food prices skyrocketing! Are politicians and the media playing with us just to jack up prices even more under exaggerated pretenses? If it's in fact bone-dry, then yes; but, if the numbers I see on the charts are right California had a dry, but not a disastrous, water year. Totally open to being educated and corrected if I'm off base..
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east side underground
climber
paul linaweaver hilton crk ca
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May 27, 2015 - 09:33pm PT
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hey jesse, you should talk to john dittli, about how bad the winter was , when snow surveyors are walking and riding their bikes to do snow surveys I'd call it disasterious. non exsisting snow packs at lower elevations this season were pretty extreme imo......
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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May 27, 2015 - 10:11pm PT
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Jesse, you are missing the big picture---you are looking at RAINFALL, but the big picture is in SNOW, up in the high sierra, that slowly melts and gradually enters the reservoirs.
Three main sources of water sustain California – mountain snowpack, water stored in reservoirs and water pumped from underground aquifers. All are connected, and when the Governor declared a drought emergency on January 17, 2014, all three had been depleted by an extended dry period. The Sierra Nevada snowpack stood at 14 percent of normal for the date. The state's two biggest reservoirs held less than 40 percent of their capacity, and aquifer levels from Siskiyou County to San Diego County were in decline.
April 1---SACRAMENTO – The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) found no snow
whatsoever today during its manual survey for the media at 6,800 feet in the Sierra Nevada. This
was the first time in 75 years of early-April measurements at the Phillips snow course that no snow
was found there.
Today’s readings are historically significant, since the snowpack traditionally is at its peak by early
April before it begins to melt. Electronic readings today found that the statewide snowpack holds
only 1.4 inches of water content, just 5 percent of the historical average of 28.3 inches for April 1.
The previous low for the date was 25 percent in 2014 and 1977.
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