The Placer County Sheriff's Coroner's Office has identified the man found in the American River Tuesday morning as Peter Matthew Wynters, 30, from Newport Oregon.
The Truckee Donner Public Utility District (TDPUD), Northstar Community Services District (NSCSD) and Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) continue its partnership in developing a groundwater management plan and groundwater model for the Martis Valley basin. This effort recently gained further technical resources with the addition of a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) study of climate change impacts to recharge and groundwater quality in the Martis Valley.
The Mountain Messenger | Nevada City: Water here is costing more
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:37:44 PST
Today the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) delivered a formal notice of intent to sue letter to the billionaire Archie Aldis "Red" Emmerson and his company, Sierra Pacific Industries, Inc., for harming Northern Spotted Owls in violation of the Endangered Species Act. By clearcut logging within known spotted owl territories, the company is engaged in openly hostile actions against individual spotted owls and their young, seemingly designed to eliminate the owl from its lands. The notice letter is required under the law and begins a process that allows EPIC to file a lawsuit after a period of 60 days.
Yosemite Area Businesses Offer Discounts for Valentine's Day Travelers
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:08:43 PST
Many Yosemite area businesses are offering various discounts and packages for travelers looking to take a romantic trip around Valentine's Day according to the Yosemite Sierra Visitors Bureau.
USDA Selects Local Forest Restoration Proposal
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:04:37 PST
Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced a second round of Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program projects designed to expand the number of forested acres to be treated to reduce fire threat, help local economies and accomplish critical forest restoration objectives. The Amador-Calaveras Consensus Group Cornerstone Project will receive $730,000 in funding to begin work on Stanislaus and Eldorado National Forests restoration projects this year.
Lake Tahoe Athletes Medal at 2012 Winter X Games
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:00:54 PST
Lake Tahoe competitors did the region proud with a dozen of the Sierra Nevada's best taking part in the 2012 Winter X Games held at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colorado January 26-29.
U.S. Counties with Thriving Small Businesses Have Healthier Residents
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:15:38 PST
Counties and parishes with a greater concentration of small, locally-owned businesses have healthier populations -- with lower rates of mortality, obesity and diabetes -- than do those that rely on large companies with "absentee" owners, according to a national study by sociologists at LSU and Baylor University.
Don Baumgart: Is this what Susan Komen would have wanted?
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:37:08 PST
Two forest restoration collaborative organizations in the Sierra Nevada were awarded federal grants totaling $1.3 million, the first award of a 10-year cycle of funding for ongoing forest management and watershed improvement projects. The grants were announced today by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in Washington, D.C.
Avoid the 5: Don't Let Alcohol Force You Out of the Game
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:51:48 PST
The Avoid the 5 County DUI Campaign is reminding football fans watching this year's Super Bowl game with friends and family to make the right decision before kickoff and game plan in a designated sober driver. Law Enforcement joins with the national "Fans Don't Let Fans Drive Drunk" message from the National Football League (NFL), the California office of Traffic Safety (OTS), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and Techniques for Effective Alcohol Management (TEAM) Coalition.
Nevada County Set To Deliver 10,000 Signatures To Governor Brown
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:43:22 PST
A delegation of local parks supporters will hand-deliver over 10,000 letters and petition signatures to Governor Brown on February 8th in an effort to convince him and State Parks officials to remove the South Yuba River and Malakoff Diggins State Parks from the list of 70 State Parks slated to close in July 2012.
Nevada County: Top-Two Open Primary Act Explanation
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:41:14 PST
The California Fish and Game Commission voted unanimously today to designate two species of native frogs inhabiting high-elevation lakes in the Sierra Nevada and Southern California mountain ranges as threatened and endangered species under the state's Endangered Species Act. More than 75 percent of the state's high-elevation frog populations have disappeared because of introductions of nonnative trout, disease and pesticides. Sierra mountain yellow-legged frogs are now protected as threatened species and Southern mountain yellow-legged frogs are designated as endangered.
Victoria LaFont | Food Rules by Michael Pollan
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:19:27 PST
Michael Pollan gives food advice. He offers us some dietary guidelines in his book Food Rules, released January 2010. He's just re-released this book with great illustrations, in order to reach a wider audience and spread his messages to folks who don't normally read his work. Mr. Pollan is a journalism professor at UC Berkeley, and he has used his mantle as professor to write books concerning ag techniques, our relationship to the earth, and nutrition. He brought Joel Salatin's incredible farming techniques to light in The Omnivore's Dilemma, as well as tastefully and judiciously exposing more information about big food corps such as McDonald's.
Sierra Storytelling Festival: 27 years of Stories on Columbia Hill
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:49:24 PST
They come year after year, driving up to Columbia Hill for something rare: a full weekend of absorbing stories. This year, those who make the trek to the North Columbia Schoolhouse Cultural Center will have the chance to tell their own stories; on Friday evening the pub-style Story Slam winds up the festival and on Sunday morning the gentler Open Telling session occurs in the lovely outdoor amphitheater.
Prescribed fire operations begin near Emerald Bay
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:50:34 PST
Extreme snow sports legend and Transformers film wingsuit stuntman JT Holmes has finished shooting promotional TV spots for the Tahoe Fund's Plate for Powder program, which gives purchasers of California and Nevada Lake Tahoe license plates two free ski lift or Nordic tickets to the resort of their choice when they order plates throughTahoeplates.com. Holmes, a Lake Tahoe resident, and TahoeTV of Squaw Valley donated time and equipment to produce the spots atop Squaw Valley last Friday.
BLM Announces Jennifer Mata as New Field Manager for Redding
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:00:49 PST
The Obama administration on Tuesday announced that it would not increase the $1.35 monthly fee charged for each cow and calf the livestock industry grazes on western public land. The fee remains at its lowest legal limit for the sixth year in a row -- far below what federal agencies spend to administer grazing permits, far below market rates, and far below what's needed to address the severe ecological damage to public lands that is caused by livestock grazing.
University of Nevada, Reno Seismological Lab reports 3.5 quake in Wells, Nev.
Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:25:13 PST
The Nevada Seismological Laboratory is reporting that a magnitude (M) 3.5 earthquake occurred at 6:40 a.m., 15 miles southwest of Wells, Nev. at the base of the Ruby Mountains. There have been no reports of damage, although the tremor was felt in nearby Wells. Residents in Elko, 25 miles from the epicenter, also reported feeling the earthquake, which was initially reported as M 4.2 and refined to M 3.5.
Second 2012 Snow Survey Shows Continuing Dry Conditions: 37% of Normal
Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:31:18 PST
Snow surveyors today confirmed that water content in California's mountain snowpack is far below normal for this time of year.
Manual and electronic readings record the snowpack's statewide water content at only 37 percent of normal for the date. That is just 23 percent of the average April 1 reading, when the snowpack normally is at its peak before the spring melt.
CPUC Enhances Broadband Deployment Grant Program
Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:53:40 PST
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is launching a pilot program to help rural borrowers refinance their mortgages to reduce their monthly payments. This initiative is part of the Administration's ongoing efforts to help middle class families, create jobs, and strengthen the economy. The Single Family Housing Guaranteed Rural Refinance Pilot Program will operate in 19 states for homeowners who have loans that were made or guaranteed by USDA Rural Development. These states are among those hardest hit by the downturn in the housing market.
Lopsided Campaign Finance Reports in Beason/McGuire Race
Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:59:06 PST
The campaign finance reports filed by candidates for Nevada County's District 1 supervisorial seat show a large gap between incumbent Nate Beason and his challenger Sue McGuire.