Council has Full Fall Schedule


 

As the year 2001 begins to wane, the California Biodiversity Council has planned a full calendar of fall and winter meetings. In this edition, you will find information highlighting upcoming events featuring community fire protection in Mariposa County, a celebration in Yosemite Valley, a discussion of the challenges facing our agricultural community, and helicopter rides in the Santa Ana River Basin.

CBC 10th ANNIVERSARY
While Council member agencies face many challenges in each of California’s bioregions in the complex and continually fascinating world of natural resource management, the CBC will momentarily stop to celebrate a decade of diversity in Yosemite Valley. On October 9, both past and present friends of the Council will gather to commemorate the 1991 signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for the CBC.

While a portion of this event will celebrate the accomplishments of the past decade, there will also be time for sculpting the potential of future successes for the Council. These thoughtful discussions will be accentuated with a retrospective video, special awards ceremony, and keynote speech at the remarkable Ahwahnee Hotel. Find out more on page 12 and take a moment to peruse the special Decade of Diversity publication inserted into this edition.

RCRC MEETING
The following day, October 10, Council members will convene with the Regional Council of Rural Counties (RCRC) for a joint meeting. RCRC is a cooperative giving 29 rural counties a political voice on policy issues including water, energy, management of natural resources, and health care. This fourth annual combined meeting will be held at the Tenaya Lodge in Fish Camp along with the remainder of the 2001 RCRC Annual Meeting.

These two councils have prepared a program brimming with topics of mutual interest. Panel presentations followed by audience discussion will feature the recent undertakings in community fire protection at all levels—Federal, State, local, and private. Further discussion will revolve around biomass and other energy issues. This edition of the newsletter provides additional information for each of the panel topics slated for this joint meeting. Page 7 gives a detailed introduction into the world of biomass, first defining the term and then discussing alternatives for forest–based biomass reduction and the potential for using biomass in energy production. Pages 8 and 9 compare the plans for wildland fire protection in California and in the nation overall. Following that comparison, on page 10, we have provided a description of the California Fire Alliance and the California Fire Safe Council. Through different avenues, these two entities aim to provide better fire protection and management to citizens in California.

While the Biodiversity Council will share the program on Wednesday, October 10, the RCRC Annual Meeting continues through Friday, October 12. The full agenda is available on both the CBC and RCRC websites.

MODESTO
On the heels of these activities the Council will meet in Modesto on November 14 and 15, 2001. The focus is Conserving Agricultural Lands Amid Growth and Economic Pressures—an area that the Council has not visited since the 1997 Regional Meeting in Visalia. A field trip including local restoration projects will conclude with a tour and dinner at the Mapes Ranch just outside the city of Modesto. Read pages 14–17 to find out more.

SANTA ANA
The Santa Ana Watershed Group has arranged a special and unique tour for Council members in January 2002. More details are available on page 6.





California Biodiversity News: Volume 8, Number 2
Fall/Winter 2001
For more information on the California Biodiversity Council, please contact:
Erin Klaesius, Communications Coordinator
CA Biodiversity Council
1416 Ninth Street, Suite 1311
Sacramento, CA 95814

Email:erin_klaesius@fire.ca.gov