Our meeting on May 1st, 2017 at Turtle Rock Park was attended by 16 members of the public and agencies.
Dr. Emanuele Ziaco of the DendroLab at the University of Nevada, Reno gave a fascinating presentation on his research on tree rings, and how they can be used to measure climate in the past with a precision down to a couple of weeks. They can also measure tree growth on an hourly basis. All of our previous presentations on forest health have focused on the macro picture, and to see how looking at individual cell characteristics can reveal previously unknown important information was fascinating.
The process of moving to a 501(c)(3) corporation advanced with approval of the draft bylaws. Initial directors are Mary Rawson, Michael Barton, Annie Dean, Irvin Jim, Don Hittenmiller and David Griffith.
Participant updates included the following. Matt Driscoll of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy reported that he was the new East-Subregion Area Representative and that he looked forward to attending more ABC meetings. Gavin Feiger reported he was leaving the Alpine Watershed Group (AWG) to take a position with the League to Save Lake Tahoe. The next meeting of the AWG will be May 8th at 5:30 pm at the Mad Dog Café. Mark Schwarz reported that the Markleeville Enhancement Committee was meeting on May 5th to clean up the empty lot at Montgomery Street and Hwy. 89. He also reported that the community consensus was to refurbish rather than replace the welcome signs at the entrances to Markleeville. They hope to complete refurbishing the signs by July 4th. Tim Roide, BLM, reported there will be 200 acres of maintenance treatment in the fall of 2019 at Turtle Rock Park, Poor Boy Ridge and Indian Creek Campground. Ron Hames reported that the Alpine Fire Safe Council will be holding public meetings to review the Community Wildfire Protection Plan at 6:00 pm on May 17th at the Markleeville Fire Station and at 6:00 pm on May 29th at the Woodfords Fire Station. He also reported that the Board of Supervisors had had a discussion of the upcoming Adjacent Lot Ordinance and that the first public hearing would be held at the June 19th Board meeting. David Griffith reported that the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and the California Natural Resources Agency were beginning discussions on a Good Neighbor Authority agreement.
The next meeting is set for Tuesday June 5th at 6:00 pm at Turtle Rock Park. At the moment we are still seeking a speaker for this meeting. Dr. Hugh Safford, Senior Vegetation Ecologist for the USDA-Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region, is scheduled for July. Ali Ursa, a PhD candidate at the University of Nevada, Reno will be addressing us in August. Dr. Wesley Kilasten of the US Geologic Survey will be presenting his research on meadow restoration and water supply in the Carson River basin in September.
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Alpine Biomass Collaborative 