Page 41 - Sonoma County Gazette April 2019

The Flood/Sonoma County Faux Pas: The February flood was huge. It devastated our area. No one really anticipated it being as big as it was.
It has come to my attention (through a well-written letter to the editor) that there are those among you, the readership, who have a pet peeve about columnists starting their column with a pithy, yet penchant observation about how the weather was two weeks ago. It seems that weather commentary does not age well. That’s a fair point, I will have to admit, even if I am a regular offender of that rule. I think it serves as a metaphorical “clearing of the throat” for the columnist, a folksy way of saying hello while we organize our thoughts. And like the clearing of one’s throat, unobjectionable in small to moderate doses, but a right pain once it gains habitual status, a literary tic. Plus, we
We always hear of Mill St. and the Armstrong Woods area flooding, but this one was certainly a shocker. What I find most interesting is that the County alerted residents in Guerneville to evacuate but did not alert residents of Rio Nido to evacuate. For some inexplicable reason we were not EVEN on the list. I wonder how this happened? BIG, BIG mistake.
Rio Nido Lodge: The RN Lodge is still standing. However, it did take
in quite a bit of water. We are temporarily closed for cleaning and repairs.
Our resident Innkeeper is still residing on the premises, we have workers weaving their magic and before you know it we will be open for business once again! Stay tuned for more exciting news. We are looking forward to all the wonderful improvements being made to this historical building.
need to leave the weather bandwidth free for those columnists whose content is legitimately weather-related, such as our soggy brothers and sisters in Guerneville.
Canoeing in Rio Nido after the River crested: Well, I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would be canoeing in Rio Nido.
Instead, I’d like to talk some more about mountain lions. It turns out that I am rather late to the party when it comes to mountain lion knowledge. It turns out there is a bona fide world-class large cat expert studying mountain lions here in Sonoma and Napa counties. I’m talking about Dr. Quinton Martins, founder of Living With Lions, has been tracking mountain lion activity in the wine country since July of 2016. Previously, he co-founded the Cape Leopard Trust in South Africa as part of a twenty year career in researching leopards and other big cats.
The Rio Nido Lodge had quite a few beautiful paintings adorning the main lobby of the Lodge. With so much going on, the artist and I realized we needed to somehow get to the Lodge and save the paintings. Both of us canoed over
to the Lodge from Canyon 7. It was a bit scary especially with power poles in the water and propane tanks floating around. We made is safely to the Lodge, made it inside to chest deep water, took down the paintings, placed them in the canoe and paddled back without tipping the canoe through the mucky water. What a story!
There as here, Dr. Martins’ work involves humanely trapping, tagging (with GPS collar) and releasing these large apex predators back into the wild. Since 2016, fifteen mountain lions have been tracked in Napa and Sonoma counties. The work started in the Mayacamas Mountains between Napa and Sonoma counties, but in January 2019, lion P14 was captured and tagged in the Willow Creek watershed, just over the hill from us. This lion, P14, attacked and
Debris: It’s hard to believe there is so much debris after the flood. People have so much stuff. Well, on one hand its called Spring cleaning. Dilapidated properties with trash will now be cleaned up and business will be back to usual. As a society, we place so much value on stuff. I say, less is more.
UPDATES:
1) Anyone notice the nice, modern bus stop on River Road? Looks great and
2) The Friends of Rio Nido (FRN) are still working on getting our RN
post office back. So much bureaucracy. They are still investigating legal proceedings. Appropriate notice was not given to the public about the closure.
3) The historic Rio Nido Fountain is going to be restored. All the improvements are currently in the works. Pumps, LED lighting, materials, etc will be needed. It’s going to be a beautiful sight when entering Rio Nido. Be patient. We will need volunteers and donations. A fund raiser is imminent. Stay tuned for more info....
Rio Nido Pet of the Month: This months
POM is Lollipop Lolita. Lolly is a fawn chihuahua. She is a rescue and came from Jessica’s Haven and Rescue in San Rafael, CA. My good friend, Laura Cottingham, owner of the rescue alerted me of her arrival. Lolly is two years old and is the sweetest, loving little soul. Lolly adores her fur brothers and sisters and is in charge. Tiny as she is, she is the Boss of this family. Lolly loves cuddling, has a very large appetite for such a tiny little girl and is quite the social butterfly. She is always excited to meet new people. If you’re lucky you may catch a glimpse of this darling little chihuahua on walks in RN with her proud mommy.
killed two llamas on Willow Creek Ranch, owners Paul Mathews and Maria Cardamone chose not to apply for a depredation permit to hunt the lion, a right given to them under state law. Six such permits were issued to Sonoma County residents last year after experiencing lion attacks on their wildlife. Mathews and Cardamone, longtime conservationists both, chose instead to contact Dr. Martins and Living With Lions. Using one of the llama victims as bait, lion P14 was captured, tagged, and released in January.
shields pedestrians from the rain.
I’m sure you are wondering now, as I am: could that be our Monty? Monty the Mountain Lion, as I dubbed the big cat spotted near the water tank on Morelli Lane on multiple occasions. I would think that is entirely plausible. As stated before, male mountain lions tend to patrol territories up
to fifty square miles, which would certainly encompass the distance between Willow Creek and Morelli Lane. As it turns out, my opinion is far from expert: the first week of tracking data showed young Master P14 roamed between Duncans Mills and Freestone, but stayed entirely west of Bohemian Highway. That means that Monty still roams free – yet hardly safe. A large carnivore’s life amongst mankind is precarious. Even though deer are relatively plentiful, there are plenty of dangers, including ranchers and landowners determined to protect their livestock. There are also the dangers from motor cars (of course) and pesticides ingested by their prey animals. No, not motor cars ingested by their prey animals. That would be a pretty darn big prey animal.
Dr. Martins spends a good deal of time in community outreach, including a March 22 appearance at the Sebastopol Rotary Club. Unfortunately (just like that weather commentary) that event is still in the future as I write this, but will be in your past by the time you read this. However, you can still catch Dr. Martin on April 11, 7-8:30 pm at the Laguna Environmental Center’s Heron Hall, 900 Sanford Road. If you are interested in better learning how to both protect your pets and livestock as well as coexist with this magnificent animal, that might be time well spent.
Make yourself feel good while helping others...donate time and money ... shop & eat at local businesses...attend benefits... it’s ALL GOOD!
4/19 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 41