Hear ye! Hear ye! The Santa Barbara County grand jury has spoken! And ye wee peasants need to listen.
A county ordinance enacted in 2003 is declared a success. A success, I tell you! Deciduous oak trees have been saved in Santa Barbara County. Saved, I tell you! After this clown of a vintner cut a bunch of ancient oaks down in 1997, only to have his land washed away and reshaped by winter storms, the county decided enough was enough.
Since that fateful winter (yes, I’m being dramatic), the County Agricultural Commissioner and the Planning and Development Department have joined hands to oversee the regrowth of newly planted and distributed deciduous oak trees in the thousands. The thousands! I wonder how many we cut down before 2003 to make way for grazing, farming, and wine? Thousands, you think?
“In addition, much of the protection of large and stately oaks is provided by citizens who send in complaints when oaks are threatened,” the report says. Hey citizens, the government does listen to you—it just takes years and years! Now that you know that, you better register to vote before November. If you want marijuana legalized in California, this may be your only chance.
But, hey, local governments will probably find a way to ban it because they don’t want to “legalize” that filthy tax revenue. They only want the property and sales tax that comes out of good, honest, not-associated-with-pot citizens.
But let’s talk more about the county Agricultural Commissioner and this pesky little pesticide known as imidacloprid. Don’t care? Well, you should.
In 2013, Santa Barbara County used it alongside another pesticide to treat citrus trees in Santa Maria and other areas where a tiny speck of destruction known as the Asian citrus psyllid was found. The psyllid could decimate California’s citrus industry, after all, so with Ag Commissioner and California Department of Food and Agriculture collusion, they hit those bugs with their best shot.
The controlling combo was applied to the roots or the soil at the base of citrus trees so it could be absorbed over time. Then, the psyllids would eat the leaves, absorb the pesticide, and eventually die off.
Well, die off is a strong word. Maybe we’ve stemmed the tide. Maybe.
Since then, the psyllid has continued spreading fear into the trees of orchards farmers on the Central Coast and has made appearances in more and more locations within Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties as well as farther and farther north in California. What are we going to do? Control nature?
Let’s hit them with some more imidacloprid. That’ll show those suckers. Wait! The Environmental Protection Agency—the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s boss—just linked that pesticide with causing problems for bees, an accusation that local beekeepers made in 2013. At the time, Santa Maria Valley Beekeepers Association President Ronald Gromak told the Sun, “Our bees will be affected by this forever. It comes out in everything. … It comes out in the pollen; it comes out in the fruit.”
The Harvard University School of Public Health released data in March 2012 that pointed to imidacloprid as a culprit behind colony collapse disorder in the study of 16 hives dosed with varying levels of the insecticide for 13 weeks.
And although the EPA finally admits there’s a link between the chemical and bee problems, it doesn’t call it out as the culprit behind colony collapse disorder. I say chicken!
So while many European countries have banned use of the chemical, we in the good ol’ U.S. of A. have to wait for public process to ensue before any steps can be taken—actually, the public has to approve the EPA’s findings as well.
Basically, my little pollinating friends don’t have much hope to hang on to for a little while. But, imidacloprid is just one of four chemicals that the EPA is looking into as having potentially negative effects on pollinators like the beneficial buzzing bee. Imidacloprid is the first of those four to be “re-evaluated” by the agency.
See! Beekeepers and environmentalists, the EPA is finally hearing your cries of foul play. They just won’t admit that the connection is a home run. It’s more of a base hitter. But first base means home is just two rounded corners away.
You’re on better footing than the Save the Valley LLC (that’s Long Lost Curmudgeons), is on. That organization can’t even get out of the batting cage. The efforts they’ve undertaken to quash development at the Chumash Casino Resort have been squished again!
Save the Valley’s attorney Matthew Clark claims the land that the Santa Ynez Valley Band of Chumash Indians is building on isn’t even officially reservation land. Strange. I wonder then: Why is it called the Santa Ynez Reservation? And I also wonder: Why does the federal government seem to acknowledge that it’s a reservation?
Boy, I’m confused. Basically Clark cited a 1906 judgment by the Catholic Church—I didn’t realize we still recognized the church as a governing body—restricting the tribe to only occupying the land, not owning it. Save the Valley says, therefore, the courts should intervene with the tribe’s expansions at the casino.
Of all the racist, bigoted, insensitive things to cite in a court case. A judgment by the Catholic Church? Luckily for everyone on this planet, U.S. District Judge John F. Walter is a clear thinker. He denied the motion.
I’m still shaking my little head trying to wrap my bird brain around the sense behind the motion, as well as the fact that the Catholic Church was ever considered a land owner in the first place. It stole that land from the tribe to begin with!
In July 2015, a U.S. District Court judge dismissed a different motion filed by Save the Valley for a permanent injunction on the Casino project. Hello! Sovereign immunity.
I guess grasping at straws is the only way to go when you don’t have any control over something you don’t like, but have no rights over. Save the Valley: What the Chumash do on their reservation is none of your stinkin’ business. Just like what you numbskulls do on your property is none of their business.
The canary thinks that what everyone does is her business. Send suggestions to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 14-21, 2016.
