Foothills Sentry February 2021

Foothills Sentry Page 8 February 2021 Wattles, swales, jute, berms & bales No, not the name of a local law firm. Instead, a few words canyon residents have added to their everyday post-fire pre- “debris flow” lexicon, with our first rains threatening parts of Silverado and Modjeska Canyons, and perhaps Santiago Canyon Road. Community activists and volunteers leapt --- dug, raked, shoveled --- into action, with stand-out efforts from elected or unanimously acclaimed local heroes who filled sandbags and the administrative breach. Both official entities and governmental, community outfits have done their respective parts, some requiring coaxing. More acronyms ICL and SMRPD you know. How about the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the USDA? Inter-Canyon League and Silverado-Modjeska Recre- ation & Parks District agree that a bigger organization, with resourc- es, staff, experience and expertise should be invited, encouraged to write grant proposals. They’ve asked Irvine Ranch Water Dis- trict (IRWD). Somebody still has to chip in 25% matching funds. Helpful is that our local parks district can push the boundaries of its mission in emergency cir- cumstances, significant because, indeed, those emergency pow- ers gave volunteers working in the purview of our governmental entity coverage under its liabil- ity insurance. Those volunteers included members of faith-based communities and Team Rubi- con. Canyon Regrowth is, punily enough, a grassroots autonomous organization led by Bret (no kid- ding) Green, Silverado resident via Nextdoor Neighbor. Coor- dinated by SMRPD President Isabell Kerins, hundreds stacked sandbags, cleaned out culverts, nailed plywood and constructed walls over multiple December and January weekends. Brett, Jes- se and Shaun Peterson estimate they built 300 cubic feet of river rock wall. WERT the wait You can read the detailed CAL Fire Watershed Emergency Response Team (WERT) survey yourself, which identifies more than 60 vulnerable Bond Fire sites. ICL president Geoff Sarkissian offers a down-and- muddy synopsis: “If you look outside your front window and see steep, burned slopes, be concerned. If you see the same from your rear window, be more concerned. If there’s burn and streambed surrounding you, be extremely concerned.” The WERT report --- formerly U.S. Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Responses (BAER) report --- is a risk analysis, street- by-street, sometimes house-by- house assessment only, not about mitigation or direction. For that, the appropriate agencies would respond to individual possible flood, run-off, erosion, property, and life-endangering circumstances. Good news ICL plans distribution of $100,000 in aid to fire victims starting this month. Residents should apply for individual awards of between $1 and $5K at the ICL website. Generous donor Rick Schultz contributed half that, with many more mod- est contributions helping fund this project and restoration of the burned-out emergency radio net- work. Food donations were coor- dinated by SMRPD, which made the Community Center available. Emergency Preparedness Com- mittee Chair Joanne Hubble se- cured 5,000 sandbags with help from Supervisor Don Wagner, who moved summer concert monies around to purchase wheat (not hay, straw or rice, thank you) bales. Hey, honey, it’s Ed! So Cal Edison has, in the past month, responded to resident de- mands for warnings of outages. Answering the age-old riddle, “If a phone rings in a forest fire, does it make a sound?” hundreds got multiple (three in one night) two and four-hour warnings. Many know the message by heart and sing along: “Due to forecast fire weather conditions, Southern California Edison continues to explore a po- tential Public Safety Power Shut- off of electrical lines in your area. These conditions may result in SCE turning off your power. SCE anticipates that this may occur on … though it may occur earlier or later, depending on actual weath- er conditions. We encourage you to prepare by having an outage plan and emergency kit. SCE will send daily updates until condi- tions improve.” De-energized Supervisor Wagner’s recent on- line Canyon Town Hall address- ing telecom concerns featured SCE and AT&T community, gov- ernment relations and public af- fairs reps, many seeming not to know where the canyons were or understanding the nature of the Zen koan above. Cox, T-Mobile and Sprint were no-shows. Community members asked how utilities monitor weather and wind conditions, and how wireless carriers will meet state PUC (Public Utilities Commis- sion) requirements for emergency back-up, including maintaining 72-hour backup power to pre- serve 911 calls and texts, with some wiggle room for providers unable to do so, due to safety risk. Ironic or not, this failure requires mitigation. Meanwhile, temporary Verizon towers are at the ready. I hope somebody calls first to let us know. R.I.P. Leslie Leslie Paskus, 25-year can- yon resident, activist and friend is our first canyon’s COVID- related loss. Wife to Ed Amador and mother to Robert, Leslie is celebrated for her instrumental organizing of 2010 ICL flood relief efforts, as well as running our Country Fair. Fondly remem- bered as a “fierce phone pres- ence” by her pal Fran Williams, she also charmed, persuaded, and led by example as a volunteer for Canyonlands Conservation and Tree Huggers Ball. It’s Girl Scout cookie time! The annual cookie delicious- ness has arrived, and Girl Scouts have adapted, using contactless sales and delivery this year in lieu of booth sales and door-to-door. Sisters Presley Saxon, 8, on the left, a Brownie in Troop 7253, and Addison Saxon, 11, a Junior Girl Scout in Troop 5171, are still enthusiastic about the annual tradition, where they learn to make sales, track inventory, fulfill orders and handle customer service. To have cookies delivered locally or shipped, reach out to a registered Girl Scout (The Saxon Scouts are at melsaxon777@ gmail.com .); see girlscoutsoc. org, find cookies; or email customercare@girlscoutsoc.org . Businesses may also support a troop by doing a “buyout” cookie booth, e.g., purchasing a Cookie Sampler package of 50 packages for $250. Cookies will be available through March 7, but place the order for your favorites – and the new French-toast-inspired cookie, Toast-Yay -- early, before they run out. Joanne Hubble