Lassen Park is still closed due to extreme fire danger. Mr. Standish and I feel a little lost, no longer having our favorite spot that we visit every week. Are there other places to hike? Sure. Whiskeytown is nice, but there is still a lot of damage from the Carr fire six years ago. McCloud and Mt. Shasta have numerous trails, but a two-hour drive in any direction makes it a long day trip. Open, open, open.

I have a correction to last week’s article about Gate-Gate. I was misinformed when I wrote that the dirt road connecting Farquhar Road on the north and south sides of Cottonwood Creek had been abandoned by Tehama County. That is not the case.

The county still owns it, it’s just not maintained anymore. And in case you read it wrong, elected county commissioner Rob Burroughs didn’t touch the gate. He helped remove the logs and wire from the road. I wrote that, but at least one person thought he was involved in the actual removal of the gate. No, but still – such a rebel, right?

The county needs to do something about this. Apparently the neighbors have used heavy equipment to make the creek bed impassable for vehicles and block access. The creek is considered the official headwater of the Sacramento River, so it is illegal to rip up the banks. The Army Corps of Engineers has no problem issuing $30,000 fines for this kind of thing.

I can’t blame people for wanting to stop ne’er-do-wells from racing around in ATVs and partying behind their houses. That in itself is a fire hazard. I don’t know what the solution is, but this removing, reinstalling, removing and reinstalling gates thing isn’t helping anyone. Is there a way to get the parties together to discuss this? You know, like neighbors?

There was no meeting of the Board of Supervisors on this Tuesday due to the “No Monday Holiday Rule.” Meetings that would normally fall on the Tuesday after a holiday – such as Memorial Day – were canceled. In every month without a holiday on Monday, the meeting on the second Tuesday is canceled. It’s not that easy to remember – not.

Fortunately, there was a Groundwater Commission meeting on Wednesday that I listened to. The GC now has access to the same video streaming platform as the Supes, but this week it was down. No video online means no audio online either, so the only way to participate in the meeting remotely was by phone, which is what I prefer anyway. There is a significant delay in the video stream, and a point can end before a remote participant hears the beginning of it, depriving that person of the opportunity to comment on it should they wish to do so.

For his part, Bart Fleharty, District 1 Commissioner and water advocate for the rich and notorious, called for an investigation into all reported dry domestic wells. We’ve heard this at almost every meeting from various commissioners and members of the public. Apparently these people suspect that the wells aren’t actually going dry — just pumps that have failed or pipes that have collapsed, or people are lying to make them look bad — an area where they don’t need help.

This time, Deputy Director Justin Jenson reminded Fleharty that many dry wells have recovered thanks to rainfall over the past two winters. Broken pumps don’t repair themselves, and the Casing Elves weren’t busy resealing them while owners slept. Stop blaming the victims of your greed, gentlemen. How about focusing on pumping less water?

There was a long discussion about the ad hoc and working group on demand management.

Apparently it’s difficult to find volunteers for these committees. Consider this my official public announcement that I am available to serve on future GC committees. Insert hand gesture emoji here.

Eddy Teasdale, Luhdorff’s groundwater expert, and Scalmanini, our $15 million contractor, gave a presentation on updates to our groundwater sustainability plans. None of the five plans have been adopted yet, but it might help our cause if it appears that we are at least trying to achieve sustainability. Some small steps have been taken in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go.

Many criteria that would lead to remedial action are now easier to meet, meaning fewer people will suffer before anything is done. A year ago, groundwater levels had to fall and stay below arbitrarily set and extremely low minimum thresholds for two years continuously before action was taken. That means if your domestic well has seasonal fluctuations, as most do, it would have to be below the lowest level continuously for two years before anyone would lift a finger. Now levels would have to fall ONLY in the fall measurement two years in a row. If they rise again in the winter, that still counts. So that’s progress.

There were many meaningful conversations and insightful arguments. Most commissioners seem to be increasingly accepting that we cannot just drill new production wells, and according to my friend and colleague Shanna Long, producers don’t even want to drill these days.

The nut bubble has burst, leaving behind an oversupply of nuts and falling prices. So why are they still hissing the word “moratorium” through clenched teeth? We will almost certainly see de facto moratoriums in the areas with the greatest decline in groundwater levels due to the new GSP criteria. That could stop big farming from elsewhere from sucking our local farmers dry.

If you hate the word “moratorium,” wait until you hear the word “allocation.” With the current number of irrigation wells and the current rate of withdrawal, we cannot maintain our water table. We must do better, and we will. Let’s just make sure we do it ourselves, not Gavin Newsom.