The Idyllwild Nature Center has recently received a grant to enlist middle school and high school students for summer paid internships. Those accepted will help design and implement the Junior Naturalist Program for ages 7 to 12. Six seventh and eighth graders and two high school students will be selected.
Once selected, the interns will meet at the Nature Center at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, June 20, to observe the first Junior Naturalist Program. This will be followed by a lunch and intern training and planning until 2 pm.
Six environmental education programs will be offered for the Junior Naturalists. The dates are the Saturdays of June 20, June 27, July 18, July 25, Aug. 1 and Aug. 8, at the Nature Center from 10 a.m. to noon.
Each session consists of an interactive lesson demonstrating the concept to be learned, followed by a craft or project, a nature walk and a snack. There will be adult mentors to assist.
High school interns must be available for three of the sessions and the middle school interns for two sessions. All interns must attend the planning meetings. Upon completion of the program, the middle school students will receive a stipend of $100 and the high school interns $200.
This is a great opportunity for the teens to learn leadership, planning skills and to teach younger children about the environment. To apply, pick up an application at the Idyllwild Library or the Nature Center, 25225 Highway 243, or call Jyoti at 951-659-3850. All applications must be completed and return to the Nature Center by Thursday, June 18.
In our previous column we mentioned that springtime is a time of preparation for the season of abundance: summer. The emergence of insects and forbs prepares the Hill for the arrival of the next generation, the cute babies.
Well that time, the cute season, has arrived at the James. We are in the height of the season. Everything is blooming: elderberry trees, scarlet penstemon, agaves, yucca. Equally, in the animal world, we see a flurry of activity everywhere around the new arrivals. Parent birds are busily rushing back and forth to the nests to feed hungry mouths. Baby bunnies, squirrels, deer and foxes can be seen everywhere following their mothers or playing together at their burrows. The young of the year are soooo cute.
A squirrel pup. Photo by John Laundre
For most animals, this is indeed the season of promise, a new generation of young to grow the population. Each year takes its toll on all animal species. Death is a fact of life and without periodic replacement of lost members, a species would soon die out.
With the burst of births at this time of the year, populations become restored, revitalized; able to face another year and subsist.
Why do most animals choose late spring early summer to have their young? Why is this annual burst of life so universally synchronized with this specific time of the year? For the herbivores, the plant-eating ones, the timing of birth coincides with the new growth of plants. From insects to deer, this is the time of year when plant parts are the most tender and succulent, perfect for nurturing strong young bodies.
For the meat-eating animals, the carnivores, it is a time when there are a lot of young delicious herbivores around. Most song birds, even the seed-eating ones, will feed their young juicy, delicious, abundant caterpillars or insects born to eat tender new leaves. Hawks will feed their young the ample offspring of rodents born to take advantage of newly sprouted grasses and forbs.
The nest box from the James Reserve’s automated cameras.
One reason so many young, plant-eating animals are born is to feed the young meat-eating ones. And so goes the cycle of nature.
But that’s the science behind it. For most of us, even hardened scientists like ourselves, it is just the cute season. It’s the time of year to see and enjoy the caricature-like faces and bodies of baby animals.
It’s the season to observe them as they grow in the nest, as you can by visiting our website (james.ucnrs.org) and clicking on the Automated Camera link on the right side. Watch them as gangly teenagers trying to keep up with their mothers and learn what to eat. Watch them as they, for the first time ever, explore the world.
A quail chick. Photo by Dr. Jennifer Gee
The key word is that we must “watch” and remember that all these wildlife babies out there, no matter how cute and potentially huggable, are, after all, wild. To maintain that wildness and their chance of surviving after they are no longer cute, they must have the least direct contact with us.
So watch, take pictures, ooh and ah, enjoy, as much as you wish but for the sake of these cute babies, look but don’t touch. Even if they might appear abandoned, you can be sure there is a worried mother just out of sight waiting for you to leave so she can collect up her young and proceed with the business of living in the wild.
Tonight, Tuesday, June 9, at 9:30 p.m. PDT, Idyllwild native Brendan Steele will host a half-hour show on the Golf Channel on the program "Inside the PGA Tour."
Brendan promises that Idyllwilders will be enthusiastic about the way our town is portrayed.
So let's be sure to tune in and set our TVs to record the show tonight.
Shannon Houlihan Ng, branch manager of the Idyllwild Library, shows the website where summer readers can register. Photo by J. P. Crumrine
Throughout the summer, Idyllwild feasts on special events — Lemon Lilies, jazz, and art and wine tastings. Now add the Idyllwild Library to this array of sponsors. But the library’s opportunities will be available throughout the summer, almost every week rather than a single day or weekend.
These events will be focused on kids and adults, and offer rewards to the participants, such as a family four-pack of tickets to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Reward programs such as the circus originate with vendors, who offer the rewards for those reading books during the summer. Another participant is The Old Spaghetti Factory.
“Read five books and kids can receive a free meal,” said Idyllwild Librarian Shannon Ng. “It’s something we do as part of the statewide program and something special for the community.”
The organizations have their reading encouragement programs and also seek out libraries to partner with them.
Another reading program, “Rock to the Rhythm,” supports local organizations promoting music education. Idyllwild Library is working with MUSICA! and the Seahawk Modern Jazz Orchestra.
“This program is perfect for Idyllwild,” Ng said. “Marshall Hawkins will be here.”
MUSICA! will bring an instrument petting zoo, which people will be able to play, Ng said.
This program begins June 20, when Local Color will sing some of its favorite songs and use them to teach. A week later, June 27, Hawkins will present a jazz concert at the library. These performances are for the whole family.
The traditional Monday-morning children’s storytimes begin June 22 at 10:30 a.m. Sherri Domenigoni will kick off these features reading her book, “The Lemon Lily Fairy.”
Story times about songs and dances will follow with Katie Burd on June 29, and Rachel Torrey and Tony White on July 6.
Teens are the focus of three evening events in July. The first is a drum circle on July 7, followed by the “Rockin Rally Domino Run” on July 14 and “Marble Motion — Marble Boogie” a week later. This will feature a roller-coaster-style marble race, but attendees build their own track.
Summer readers may register at the library or directly on line at the library’s Great Reading Adventure page (www.rivlib.net/srp). The online option allows kids and parents to continue to participate wherever they are, even traveling, during the summer. Visitors to Idyllwild are welcome to register and then submit their books online from anywhere.
“It’s so much easier and fun, and no paperwork,” stressed Ng, who has spent the past three years at Idyllwild Library. Typically, the library enrolls between 100 and 120 kids each summer. Adult participants number about 60, according to Ng. The number of participants has increased each year.
Readers may even write a review of the books they have completed, Ng said.
Local rewards and prizes also are available. Tickets and other donations have been contributed for the Jazz in the Pines, Rustic Theatre, Red Kettle and the Idyllwild Actors Theatre. “There will be weekly drawings for adults and kids,” Ng promised.
Each of these programs also encourages and creates incentives for individuals to use the library’s resources, which is Ng’s goal.
“Our main purpose is to make information available. How we do that — books, paper or online — doesn’t matter,” she said. “We’re more interested in the story than how we get the story to you.”
A few weeks ago, the Town Crier received a letter from a resident concerned about the currently active pruning of trees.
The author wrote, “I just stopped Asplund … from further cutting my pine tree. It is the worst time of year for cutting pines and introducing pathways for bark beetles. The tree they were cutting is under stress and fighting off a bug in the needles that John Huddleston of Precision Tree Experts treated. This pruning at this time of year only harms the tree.”
While local forestry officials agree that spring harbors more dangers than fall, the issue is more than just the threat of bark-beetle infestation.
“Fire danger is just as much a problem as the bark beetle,” said Gregg Bratcher, the unit forester for the Cal Fire, Riverside Unit. “Nobody wants to potentially attract the bark beetle, but the impending fire season with the fourth year of drought is not good.”
Both Bratcher and former unit forester, Kevin Turner, agree that pruning pines in the spring can attract beetles, not just the bark beetle.
“Because engraver beetles like ips and bark beetles are attracted by terpenes exuding from fresh cuts in live tissue and the beetle population is so high right now, I believe it would be best to defer pruning until later in the year for live branches,” Turner said in response to the question. “Dead branches could be pruned if done correctly.”
And Bratcher stressed that if the whole tree is being cut down, the danger is nonexistent.
“If you just examine the physiology of the tree,” Bratcher said, “the best time is in the fall. Beetle activity is less then. But if the pruning is done to standards, the wound will heal up nicely.”
Another concern about delaying the work until fall is the availability of workers and the weather, Bratcher added. Edison has a fixed number of contractors cutting and trimming trees in a huge area, including the San Bernardino Mountains. The fall tends to be wetter, therefore reducing the opportunity to complete the tree work.
By 12:15 p.m. Saturday, June 6, Lake Hemet Campground officials estimated more than 1,500 people were on site, many of them headed to the new water park. Here people relax on the beach, swimmers enter the water and young enthusiasts play on the water-park structures. Photo by Marshall Smith
The day could not have been more beautiful. A few clouds danced through an otherwise brilliant sky, a light wind ruffled the lake surface, several kites flew nearby and people clustered around picnic tables as an expectant crowd of mostly young swimmers waited to be the first to swim in the lake.
Top brass of The California Parks Company, managers of Lake Hemet Campground and Market, handed out life vests to a long line of intrepid swimmers not discouraged by lake temperatures estimated to be in the high 50 to low 60 degree range.
Before the first swimmers were admitted into the water in 20-minute shifts, several hundred people waited in line. Photo by Marshall Smith
Adults, toes in water, did not evince the same enthusiasm as the kids for charging into the lake, inasmuch as swimming out to deeper water is how one gets to the floating inflatables that make up the new recreational attraction. But all waited expectantly eyeing the floating water park structures as the countdown to the ribbon cutting began just before 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 6.
Kelly Lam, California Parks Marketing Director, estimated 250 to 300 waited for the signal to be first in the water. He explained that 30 swimmers can be in the water for 20 minute shifts and are then rotated out so that a new group can be admitted. Two lifeguards were stationed in raised chairs to monitor the cordoned off area of the lake that hosts the water park and to regulate the number of swimmers.
First-time Hill visitors Joseph Leslie (center) and sons Anthony Duran (left) and Alex Duran, of Yucaipa, wait for the signal to enter the newly opened water park. Photo by Marshall Smith
Promptly at 11 a.m. California Parks’ officials cut the ribbon formally opening Lake Hemet Water Park. The first group of 30 eager swimmers charged into the water. Soon they were occupying the water park attractions that include a floating trampoline, a climbing “mountain” and a water slide. The park will remain in place until Labor Day as a new recreational venue at the popular campground. It joins an expanding list of park recreational opportunities including camping, bike, boat and kayak rentals, fishing, horseshoes, outdoor summer movies, tetherball and bocce ball.
Shuttles ran from the market parking lot to the water park located north of the campground’s main entrance. By 12:15 p.m. Campground Site Manager Jonathan Patterson estimated over 1500 were in the campground, with many headed to the water park and swimming area.
Marshall Pike, California Parks senior vice president for business development said his company would maintain a water testing regimen, and submit results to the Lake Hemet Municipal Water District, owners of the lake and campground complex. Pike said water testing will continue until Labor Day to determine if the water park adversely affects lake water quality. Pike said his company would also monitor how the water park and its user traffic impact lake campers and long term renters over the summer. Pike indicated subsequent water park seasons would depend upon the results of these studies.
On the opening day of the Lake Hemet Water Park, a lifeguard races for his post as intrepid swimmers, unafraid of the cold water, race for the park’s floating play structures. Photo by Marshall Smith
After festivities at the water park, California Parks officers and LHMWD board members gathered on the deck of the Lake Hemet Market for a celebratory lunch, cake and champagne toast to the campground’s newest attraction. California Parks CEO and President John Koeberer said he was pleased with the deck on the front of the market, facing Highway 74. He noted that hot food service would begin soon. Equipment has been purchased and is awaiting county approval for startup. “Motorists will see people dining on the new deck and the market will become a pleasant place to stop for a meal,” he said. Inside, market operations manager Sylvia Atondo showed where hot food would be available once the county issues its approval.
California Parks currently provides a variety of services for parks and campgrounds in California and Oregon. Those in Southern California include Lake Gregory, Lake Hemet, Diamond Lake and Vail Lake near Temecula.
For more information about the water park see www.lakehemetrecreation.com.
During the month of June, after 20 years of hard work, winnings and windfalls, Soboba Casino of San Jacinto is celebrating its anniversary out of this world. Literally.
On June 14, Soboba Casino, with the help of JP Aerospace, will be the first casino in history to launch a slot machine into space. Nicknamed “Icarus,” the slot machine also will carry with it a special payload of commemorative 20th anniversary Club Soboba cards and a time capsule created by the casino’s team members.
Friends, family and the casino’s valued guests will have a chance to join in the celebration on June 27 at Soboba Casino for its Out of This World Party, to see the worldwide release of the online trailer “Soboba’s Mission to Space.” The entire adventure will be documented on film with production and editing done by Inman Productions of Riverside.
“Our guests have come to expect stellar service, out of this world experiences and supernova-sized jackpots,” remarked Soboba Casino’s Director of Marketing Michael J. Broderick. “What a better way to celebrate our birthday and 20 years of existence by sharing the magic and wonder of space travel with our customers. We will go to the ends of the Earth, literally, to provide a fun and unique gaming experience like no other.”
On Saturday, June 27, at the Out of This World Party, 10 lucky winners, as well as some of Soboba’s VIPs, will receive one of the 120 commemorative club cards that will be launched 20 miles above the Earth’s surface. These cards, produced by Ablecard of Azusa, will feature a hologram seal with a certificate of authenticity verifying the card’s incredible voyage to space. Also that day, Club Soboba guests can ask for and receive a similar, yet non-flight, commemorative card, too, while supplies last.
Executing this historic trek is JP Aerospace, a non-profit, independent space program and research organization founded by John Powell. For the past 31 years it has flown low-cost aerospace systems designed, soldered, tested and assembled by volunteers.
Having created some of the most innovative hardware in aerospace today, their two active projects include the PongSat and Airship to Orbi. Both have foundation-shaking impact on human’s reach into space. PongSat has already put real missions into the hands of thousands of elementary and high school age students across the world.
The “Flight” team and “Mission Control” team will consist of key casino team members including General Manager Scott Sirois, who will be on hand to view the 4 a.m. liftoff from the launch site in Lovelock, Nevada. Upon its ascent into space, the slot machine will experience the edge of outer space, zero O2 atmosphere, extreme cold, and low to zero gravity before beginning its rapid descent back home with its payload. Once the time capsule slot machine is recovered, it will be on public display at the casino and kept closed until another 20 successful years passes.
On Soboba’s 40th Anniversary, team members will open it and be able to read their predecessor’s goodwill “Messages to Space, Messages to the World.”
Residents of Riverside County’s unincorporated areas, including Idyllwild, are being asked to approve a special assessment in order to maintain the county’s pest control program, e.g., mosquitoes and rodents.
Ballots must be returned and received on or before July 7.
If you would like to know more about this issue and its consequences, visit https://idyllwildtowncrier.com/2015/06/01/mosquito-vector-ballot-questions/.
Why do you even waste space to print scary letters based on junk science (well, likely no science at all)?
This sort of thing has no place in a responsible newspaper.
Your asking for responsive letters is a bit of a dereliction of your editorial duty. This seems like a violation of your ban on publishing form letters.
The nomination period for candidates to the Pine Cove Water District was extended to 5 p.m., Wednesday, June 3 and no new candidates filed papers for the August mail election.
The three candidates for two seats on the PCWD board are incumbent Diana Eskew, Sharon Kaffen, a retired teacher, known locally as Sharon Cassen, and Timothy Lange, a retired school psychologist.
The decision of current PCWD Board President Mike Esnard to not file papers for re-election was the reason for extending the deadline.
