The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD) has selected Stephen E. Abbors as the District’s new general manager. Mr. Abbors will replace Craig Britton, who is retiring on April 11 after 14 years as general manager and 30 years of service to the district.

Abbors began his professional career as a naturalist with the East Bay Regional Park District, and in 1984 accepted a position with the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD). Since then, he has served in various capacities at EBMUD, most recently as Manager of Watershed and Recreation. Abbors will be responsible for day-to-day operations of the District’s nearly 56,000 acres of open space.

The district received 37 applications, reviewed a short list of 13 candidates, and interviewed five.

The Coastside County Water District board is holding a retreat Tuesday, March 4 at the Comfort Inn in Half Moon Bay from 8:30am to 4pm. Agenda items include getting better acquainted, rules of engagement, roles, SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats), and priority goals for the strategic plan.

The Montara Water and Sanitary District is considering webcasting its meetings.  Two days after I appeared before the Coastside Fire Protection District to say that—regardless of whom they choose webcast their meetings—they should be certain that the public owns the copyright, I was before MWSD making virtually the same speech.

But there were two big differences. The big difference is that the MWSD board is clearly interested in keeping control of its meetings in the hands of the public. The other difference is that the meeting was captured by Scott Boyd’s camcorder, so we can bring it to you.

You can watch the entire hour and nine minutes or take your pick from the segments below.

• Review and Possible Action Concerning Alternatives for Showing Board Meetings on the Web [69 min]  | Quicktime | Flash | This same video broken into individual presentations below

• Introduction [6 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |
• Constance Malach, MCTV [8 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |
• Darin Boville, Montara Fog [9 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |
• Patrick Burns, MCTV [3 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |
• Michael Day, MCTV [7 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |
• Barry Parr, Coastsider [6 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |
• Darin Boville, correction [2 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |
• Board discussion [28 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |

• New business (click below for agenda) [30 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |

The county is beginning an effort to eradicated the Light Brown Apple Moth that will include distributing pheromone-coasted "twist-ties" this week, followed by aerial spraying in August, reports the County Times. 

Starting Monday officials with the California Department of Food and Agricultures will hang a series of red "twist ties" coated with the pheromone in trees along parts of Pescadero and Half Moon Bay where the moth has been found — 250 twist ties per acre in a 650-foot radius around each infested site.

Then, in August, the department plans to start aerial spraying of several Bay Area parks and cities where the incidence of the light brown apple moth is too high to make the twist-tie solution effective. Those locations include Daly City,
...
State officials received more than 600 reports of adverse health effects following two aerial spraying sessions that occurred late last year in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, where the light brown apple moth was endemic. Residents reported symptoms that included breathing problems, eye irritation, coughing and headaches.
...
Much of the concern around the Checkmate product does not focus on the pheromone itself — pheromones are a well-established method for fighting moth infestations — but on the inert ingredients that form the "capsule" around the chemical that allows it to take the form of a spray that falls to earth. The product manufacturer refused to disclose the inert ingredients until a judge ordered the CDFA to do so last October.

Be sure to read the original, highly-detailed story at he County Times.

There is a online petition for citizens who are concerned about the spraying and want it stopped.

Changes in the California Current are creating dead zones in the ocean off the Pacific Northwest, reports the Chronicle. The likely cause is global warming.

Video images scanned from the seafloor revealed a boneyard of crab skeletons, dead fish and other marine life smothered under a white mat of bacteria. At times, the camera’s unblinking eye revealed nothing - a barren undersea desert in waters renowned for their bounty of Dungeness crabs and fat rockfish.

"We couldn’t believe our eyes," Lubchenco said, recalling her initial impression of the carnage brought about by oxygen-starved waters. "It was so overwhelming and depressing. It appeared that everything that couldn’t swim or scuttle away had died."

Upon further study, Lubchenco and other marine ecologists at Oregon State University concluded that that the undersea plague appears to be a symptom of global warming. In a study published in the journal Science, the researchers note how these low-oxygen waters have expanded north into Washington and crept south as far as the California state line. And, they appear to be as regular as the tides, a cycle that has repeated itself every summer and fall since 2002.

"We seem to have crossed a tipping point," Lubchenco said. "Low-oxygen zones off the Northwest coast appear to be the new normal."

A powerful Pacific storm system is expected to hit the Coastside Saturday afternoon, according to the national weather service. Strong, gusty winds will persist through Sunday morning. The service is forecasting sustained winds of at least 40 mph or gusts of at least 58 mph along the coast and valleys and 70 mph in the mountains.

A many who happened to see a teenage girl nearly buried in a landslide at Esplanade beach in Pacifica dug her out with his bare hands, reports KTVU.

The landslide, reported just after 3 p.m. Saturday at Esplanade Beach, buried the girl up to her chest in dirt, according to North County Fire Authority spokeswoman Angelina Ciussi.

She was rescued by Keller, who saw it all happen from an RV park overlooking the beach. He dug the girl out from the dirt and brought her to safety before firefighters arrived.

"I ran down there and saw that she was buried from her chest down," Keller told KTVU. "I just kept digging and digging with my hands and my feet. She was breathing but she didn’t say anything…She was dazed and confused."

The beach has been closed, some RV’s have been located from the cliff, and the hillside is being monitored. Click here to see the cliffs in Pacifica at the California Coastal Records Project.

NOAA’s Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary is now recruiting volunteers for its Beach Watch shoreline monitoring program, which played a key role in the response to the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill. Orientations and training will be held beginning this spring at several San Francisco Bay Area locations.

Orientation spaces are limited, and reservations are required. Volunteers must be 18 or older and commit to monthly surveys for a one-year minimum. Approximately 80 hours of classroom and field training in marine mammal and seabird identification and data collection is provided; some wildlife identification skills are desirable. Orientation sessions will be held the following dates in March:

 

• Tuesday, March 4, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., sanctuary office, 991 Marine Drive, San Francisco Presidio

 

• Thursday, March 6, 7:00 to 8:30p.m., Point Montara Lighthouse, Montara

 

• Saturday, March 8, 10:30 a.m. to noon, sanctuary office, 991 Marine Drive, San Francisco Presidio

 

• Sunday, March 9, 10:30 a.m. to noon, Bldg. 1050, Marin Headlands, Sausalito

You’re invited to "Pilarcitos: Restoring Our Watershed," the second of three public workshops to develop an integrated watershed management plan to balance the beneficial uses of the Pilarcitos Creek watershed that protect the environment, agriculture, public health, domestic water supply, and economic interests.  Your participation is valued, as a successful watershed plan depends on broad participation and insight from all stakeholders in the watershed. Refreshments will be provided.

This second workshop will provide an opportunity for public input on the Draft Plan for the watershed.  If you wish to review the draft plan before the workshop, it will soon be posted online at www.sanmateorcd.org/pilarcitos_iwmp.html. Hard copies may be reviewed at the San Mateo County Resource Conservation District (address below) and the Half Moon Bay Library.

The final workshop, next summer, will be to release the completed plan.

Sunday, February 24th
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Harbor House Conference Center
346 Princeton Avenue, Princeton
(near Half Moon Bay Brewing Company and Mezza Luna restaurant)
RSVP and info 650.712.7765 or [email protected] by February 19, 2008