4-19-11

Today began in the Safeway parking lot waiting for Rich to pick me up. On days where it is going to be field visits all day and they are in the Santa Cruz area, Rich will usually pick me up rather than have me back track by driving to the office. Our first stop was in Davenport where we picked up our geologist, the most impressive and sharp minded 80 year old I have ever met, Roberta. Once in Davenport we met with a resident to discuss the issues of land movement they have been having. I say land movement over land slide because of how far the land moved. The neighborhood is situated at the base of a slight slope where there is land that was irrigated 10 years ago but now is just open pasture. Last year, there was a movement of soil covering about 100 yards before reaching the streets which from there it moved down the street before hitting the side of the 1. There was another less severe occurrence of this at the end of March which spurred our visit. From what we could see, there was a gully forming among the small hillsides that led to the neighborhood. Despite attempts to divert it, it moved over the open space and then went for the lowest points which was the streets. This was being considered for the Emergency Watershed Protection program but since that requires danger to life and property and this was more of a nuisance, it was unlikely it would receive funding. However, it definitely required follow up because it was not normal expectations for the land type.

The next location was in Bonny Doon as a first meet with a new client. The property owner had a large parcel of mostly forest land but was interested in what NRCS had to offer. I don't think I had been on a first visit with Rich since the first month of my internship and it was fun to hear the great things NRCS has to offer. The client just continued to look at Rich with awe while exclaiming you are a gift from heaven. There was also another girl there, a graduate of UCSC interested in helping to create pastured areas on the property. Overall we discussed the different land types we addressed and decided that a follow up visit to walk the entire property or at least the problem areas would be necessary to get a better understanding of what we had to offer.

The last visit took me far, far into the Santa Cruz mountains on more back roads than I ever imagined and places I never expected to see. We drove East from Bonny Doon on winding roads to end up closer to Felton and in Boulder Creek. We were greeted by a large assortment of dogs to assist with erosion problems on a horse facility. The property was not very big and tucked away in the hills. The "sacrifice area" was clearly eroding since the paddocks were approximately 5 inches higher leaving an area of concrete as the horses had to step down. There was also a long pasture that was sloping downwards the entire way with plateaus filled with water. Apparently they had used the area as a wedding location a few months ago and had cut into the sides to make plateaus for tables. Unfortunately with the rainfall we had and cutting into the clay level, they have hit the water table leading to a lot of unwanted water. The things I noticed on this visit was that horse people forget there are non horse people in the world. I love horses and would say I have medium experience around them, but if I was uncomfortable around them, I definitely would not want to immediately walk into a pasture and be nudged repeatedly for carrots by two large animals. Fortunately, I know to just push them away. Overall this meeting felt more like a social call than a regular field visit, with the horses showing off and being offered a ride on the worlds highest tree swing (130 feet). But I think that no matter the feeling of the visit, if the solution to their land problem is understood and resolved, then the meeting is a success.