From Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, this is the KZYX News for Friday, Sept. 3. I’m Sonia Waraich.

Eric Hillesland and his wife Elaine own two inns in the town of Mendocino – the Raku House Inn and Alegria Oceanfront Inn and Cottages. They’re across the street from each other and have an amazing view of the ocean.

In the two decades that they’ve owned the place, Hillesland said they’ve usually had to buy water for the inn, but it’s never been at the magnitude it is right now.

Hillesland has had to pay more to haul that water, too. He was paying $300 per truckload at the start of the year when water was available from Fort Bragg and was paying $600 per truckload last month when it was coming from Irish Beach.

Demand has been high. Summer is Mendocino’s busy season and people have been flocking to the coast more this year than in years past. 

Hillesland and other coastal business owners say they’re not worried. They feel confident that the local government is going to handle the situation. Especially since Tuesday when the county supervisors unanimously decided to cover most of the cost of long-hauling the water to the coast for businesses. So far that’s only for the first four or five weeks of countys new water hauling program.

Josh Metz has been hired by the county to coordinate its drought response. He describes the program.

Earlier this summer, the City of Ukiah agreed to send some of its water supply to the coast, but how to deliver the water in an efficient and cost-effective is still a question. The county was initially considering using the Skunk Train to get the water to Fort Bragg, but that plan fell apart. For the past few weeks, the county has set its sights on trucking the water to the coast, but it’s still searching for a way to pay for it.

Despite that,at the virtual meeting on Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors said it would subsidize 100% of the long-hauling cost for residents and 80% of the cost for businesses. Residents and businesses would still have to pay the water and local delivery costs.

Last month, the supervisors decided to start the program with just under $1 million from the county’s $22 million PG&E disaster settlement fund. Supervisors expressed the desire to replenish the PG&E funds quickly through other funding sources like tax revenue generated by tourists or state grant money. That’s because the settlement money has become a bit of a sore spot.The board almost approved a list of projects to fund with the PG&E money last month until it got negative feedback about how it was planning on using the money.

The county already submitted a couple of grant applications to the state to cover the cost of the program. 

The county’s drought coordinator Josh Metz says that none of the funding is guaranteed and it’s not certain whether the state would cover the entire cost of the subsidy. Depending on how things go with the grant process, the state may pick up either a percentage or all of the tab.

The county’s deputy CEO Janelle Rausays finding an affordable water hauler in the area has also been an issue. So far only one qualified business has expressed interest and it’s from out of the area. That means the company’s drivers would likely need a per diem. Rausays it’s also unclear how many gallons per day the company would be able to transport. The county needs to transport about 75,000 gallons per day at 27 cents per gallon.

Back in Mendocino, Hillesland says he has enough water for the time being and he can find ways to navigate around the drought, like cutting back on reservations or passing on higher water costs to customers. Residents can’t do that.

For the KZYX News. I’m Sonia Waraich, a Report For America corps member. For all our local stories, with photos and more, visit KZYX.org. You can also subscribe to the KZYX News podcast where you get your podcasts.

August 31, 2021-- Good news! The performing arts are back. Over the weekend. Mendocino college students, alumni and guest artists returned to the outdoor stage at the Ukiah campus to showcase dance, drama and music before a live audience. 

The celebratory performance, called “Live in the Oaks,” was inspired and produced by Mendocino college dance director, Eryn Schon-Brunner. “It's been quiet, or “dark,” at the college for the last 18 months,” she said. “We haven't done any live performances. And while we won't be inside the big theater, we decided that it was okay to bring people outdoors and celebrate the work that artists do, and let people know that we're still doing it. We're still working. Dancers are still dancing. Theater majors are still coming out and performing and acting. Singers are still singing. And that we can share it safely, from a distance, in person.”

Reid Edelman, professor and drama director at the college, remembers back to march of 2020, when COVID hit our community. “Everything just stopped dead in its tracks. So as you know, we were four days away from opening Midsummer Night's Dream the day of our tech rehearsal where we pulled the plug on that realized it wasn't going to happen.” All college drama, dance and music performances were canceled. And faculty and students had to pivot to online instruction. “All of us in all that not just theater and arts but all of the faculty in high school and elementary school and college faculty, we all had to pivot with no notice or no preparation. I didn't even know what zoom was when this happened. I mean people that go you can teach on zoom and I was like, well, what's zoom?”

The Performing Arts faculty not only adapted to provide continued online education, but also created new opportunities for students to hone various artistic skills. Stephen Decker, technical director at the college, developed a one year career in technical theater program, which trained students to work behind the scenes on stagecraft, sound, and lighting. Edelman created an online Repertory Company for artists. “In the fall of 2020, we started what we called the Online Repertory Theater, and those are still up on the website,” Edelman explained. “So we created performance pieces that were on video, and then we've shared them on the website. So we did keep doing work through the shutdown. And the Online Repertory Theater went on for two semesters, 2020 and 2021. Now we're back at the college with in person classes but still the majority of the classes are online.”

Mendocino College performing arts students also showed resilience during COVID. Two recent graduates, Rickie Emilie Farah and Schuyler Marcier continued with their online education during the lockdown. Both graduated with associate degrees in performing arts and went on to UC programs. 

Rickie earned her BA from UC San Diego and is excited to be back on stage: “This is my first in person show after a year and a half I want to say. And well, I just graduated from UC San Diego this summer. And I transferred there in the fall of 2019. But then, I've done the last year and a half online doing this in productions.”

Schuyler, who will soon finish his acting program at UC Santa Barbara, feels COVID’s impact on his art: “It's a huge impact. I guess I can't really tell yet and performance-wise what it's done. But I do feel like I need to start from scratch. I feel like I need to take a beginning acting class and get back into it. I did a few things over zoom, but it wasn't the same. It's just yeah, it's like you take a year and a half off anything and it really is gonna set you back.”

Rickie noticed too, that zoom affected her acting. “I just kind of don't know what to do with my hands. Because, you know, in front of the computer, it's your face that people are seeing. And, you know, even when I was working with Reid last week on my monologues, I wasn't really moving, and I was just kind of staying still. And it's nice because I feel like before it was harder for me to stay grounded and you know, you just kind of like lean on one leg, but it's so it's nice but then to have achieved that grounded state. But then I also now want to go back and play with movement.” 

Art mirrors life, and these humble confessions from young talented artists remind us that we are all, actors and audience alike, a little rusty and unpracticed right now. “Live in the Oaks” was the first step in slowly, safely finding our way back to being together. Set under a grove of oaks with the music teacher Janice Tim ready at the piano, and a masked, socially distanced audience filled with friends and family, the performers of Live in the Oaks took to the stage for over an hour, delighting with dance, drama and song and transporting everyone out of plague and pestilence to a place of collective joy. 

Eryn Schon-Brunner reminds us why live performance matters: “We are people who connect with each other and live performance gives connection,” she says. “It allows for empathy to come through and allows for emotions to be seen, felt in a very visceral way that you can't find on a screen.”

From Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, this is the KZYX News for Friday, Aug. 27. I’m Sonia Waraich.

The drought situation on the coast is getting worse. Elk, Irish Beach, Mendocino Unified School District and Westport said they will no longer sell water to haulers supplying homes and businesses in Mendocino, which rely on that water. 

On Tuesday, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors held a special meeting to talk about how to get water flowing from inland to the coast as soon as possible. The supervisors ended up voting to fund a water hauling program with just under $1 million of the PG&E disaster settlement funds. 

That program will cover the cost of hauling water from Ukiah to the coast and it’s estimated to only cost residents 3 cents per gallon for the water and 24 cents per gallon for local hauling. In total, the program is expected to cost $3.84 million for four months.

County staff is seeking grant funding and other assistance from the state, which is expected to cover the cost of hauling the water long distance from Ukiah to the coast.

But that program only applies to water being bought for home use. So far, it seems like businesses are out of luck. They’d have to pay almost $1,000 more per truckload to cover the cost to haul the water from Ukiah.

1st District Supervisor Glenn McGourty abstained from the vote and said he didn’t feel comfortable using the PG&E money to fund the program. 

“I’m very supportive of helping everybody on the coast. I just kind of feel like we could do this with a little bit more time. Maybe we don’t have a little bit more time, but that’s what my reluctance is. It just feels like we’re moving awful quick and unless everybody signs their agreement for PG&E money in blood, we want to make damn sure it gets paid back.”

At a meeting earlier this month, the supervisors held off on approving a list of projects to be funded by the disaster settlement. That’s because Potter and Redwood valley residents were upset that not enough money was going toward their community, which experienced the fire that led to the settlement funds.

At the start of the meeting, 5th District Supervisor Ted Williams suggested using the county’s transient occupancy tax revenue to jump start the program. The transient occupancy tax, also called the TOT, is collected anytime visitors stay overnight at hotels and other lodging in the county. The TOT is expected to bring in over $5 million this year, and 75% of that is generated on the coast. 

And the coast is suffering the worst consequences of the drought right now. Ryan Rhoades, superintendent of Mendocino’s water district, said 25 wells went dry in the district last month, the highest number on record for any given month. And that’s out of 420 wells total.

“As you all know it’s a dire situation, but we’re teetering on catastrophic. Right now there is virtually no bulk water for sale on the coast. Residents and businesses are scared.”

County CEO Carmel Angelo said using the PG&E funds would be more expedient than using the TOT funds. 

“Since 2017, I can tell you, that we diverted many, many resources, county resources, from other areas so that we could support Redwood Valley, Potter Valley and the fire region. And we would do that again and again and again, and most likely we will. This is a time when the town of Mendocino is in such a crisis – and the whole coast – and we do know that 75% of TOT comes from the coast. And so I respectfully request that this board really look at the item at hand in front of you. And I know you don’t want to use PG&E but the quickest way to get water to the town of Mendocino is with the item in front of you. That we would use PG&E money and that we would absolutely replace it – whether it’s grant dollars or TOT dollars.”

That seemed to convince most of the supervisors to change their positions. Supervisor Williams said the board needed to do whatever it could to get water to the coast right away.

“I mean seriously water needs to be flowing tomorrow or the next day, not a month out. We’re in bad shape today, but if you look at where the drought will be a month from now, we’re going to be in dire straits.” 

But he said he was still concerned about how businesses would fare with no access to any kind of assistance from the government.

“It’s my understanding that we’re going to address the life safety, residential water concern and pass along the actual cost for commercial users. And it sounds like the actual cost may be $945 per truckload, which business has told us likely will not work. They will likely close their doors. Does the board see the need to have any sort of follow up or next steps on that item, how to save our local economy from what this sticker price will cost, or are we done?”

Supervisor McGourty suggested businesses take a look at some market-based solutions, like adding a water surcharge to their customers’ bills. 

2nd District Supervisor Maureen Mulheren said businesses were coming out of a pandemic and doing the best they could to conserve in the face of the drought.

“I would like to see an opportunity, just as we had with COVID relief funds, to not only – COVID relief funds went to support tenants that were behind on their rent and they went to support landlords that also could not receive funds from their tenants. So for me, having some kind of opportunity for businesses to be reimbursed or grants based on occupancy, whatever that might look like, I think that is important.”

Mulheren added that it was just a matter of time before other parts of the county needed similar assistance.

For the KZYX News. I’m Sonia Waraich, a Report For America corps member. For all our local stories, with photos and more, visit KZYX.org. You can also subscribe to the KZYX News podcast where you get your podcasts.

From Mendocino County Public Broadcasting, this is the KZYX News for Tuesday, Aug. 24. I’m Sonia Waraich.

Caspar Cove is a beach just south of Fort Bragg. Early Sunday morning, about a dozen people were kayaking, hanging out with their families, playing fetch with their dogs and doing everything else you can imagine people doing at the beach on a weekend. 

Nobody seemed to be paying any attention to the new fixtures at the center of the cove. A couple hundred yards off shore, you can spot what looks like an orange balloon and a yellow-and-black object, about the size of a basketball, floating in the middle of the cove.

That object is a solar-powered buoy known as the Spotter and it’s connected to a floating balloon and smart mooring system that can collect data on ocean temperature, wind speeds and more. There are about 50 other buoys just like it floating off the coast of places as close as Washington and as far as Fiji.

This nonprofit called Aqualink has been donating the buoys to conservation groups around the world. The nonprofit is building a network of buoys that are monitoring and collecting data in sensitive environments like coral reefs, kelp forests, eel grass beds and local estuaries. 

That has implications that are both large and small. Researchers can use the data for studies on, for example, sensitive species. Beachgoers can also use the data to get a better idea of what local ocean conditions will be like. Data that relies on regional monitors is often unreliable.

Aqualink still has about a hundred more buoys that are supposed to go out. It bought the buoys from a company called Sofar Ocean Technology.

Zack Johnson works there.

Johnson says it’s not clear yet what kind of research the buoys can help support, but the data can come in handy for a wide variety of uses.

Caspar Cove is an important part of the network Aqualink is building because it’s an important site for kelp. Kelp do a lot. They’re powerhouses for storing carbon, they provide habitat for other species and they serve a lot of economic functions, too.

But a few years ago, kelp forests like the ones on the North Coast were decimated. So was a lot of other marine life. 

For kelp, the trouble started in 2013. First, a virus wiped out the sunflower star, a sea star that preys on purple sea urchin. Purple sea urchin eat kelp.

Then a marine heatwave that started in 2014 made the ocean so hot and inhospitable that kelp weren’t able to survive. That heatwave ended in 2019.

With no kelp in sight, the purple sea urchin transformed into grazers and moved into shallower waters, grazing on all the kelp they found there.

Tristin McHugh has been working on kelp restoration since moving to the area in 2018. In January McHugh started working on kelp restoration with The Nature Conservancy, which received the donated buoy and put it out in Caspar Cove last month.

Beyond research and conservation, McHugh says the buoy has other benefits.

Johnson, the engineer at Sofar Ocean, encourages people to check out that data and put it to good use by going to aqualink.org.

The data’s also on display in the Noyo Center for Marine Science at 338 N Main St. in Fort Bragg.

For the KZYX News. I’m Sonia Waraich, a Report for America corps member. For all our local stories, with photos and more, visit KZYX.org. You can also subscribe to the KZYX News podcast where you get your podcasts.