The Barbed Wire - January 25, 2019

Forest Health Education and Outreach Campaign

On Tuesday, RCRC participated in the first Forest Health Education and Outreach Strategy campaign meeting.  Coordinated by the California Natural Resources Agency, the goal of the campaign is to develop a unified forest health campaign that communicates four key themes: threats to our forests, the benefits of healthy forests, how to achieve healthy forests, and forest and timber regulations. 

Justin Caporusso, RCRC Vice President of External Affairs, was invited to join the campaign team on behalf of RCRC.  During this initial meeting, agencies and organizations were tasked with sharing their key messaging in the forest health space, and describing their target audiences.  The information collected during this initial meeting will be organized and condensed, and then used to frame the campaign messaging.

Other organizations in attendance included the Department of Transportation, the Air Resources Board, the Department of Conservation, American Forests, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the California Forestry Association, UC Cooperative Extension, the Forest Foundation, The Watershed Center, the Department of Insurance, Sierra Pacific Industries, the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, and The Nature Conservancy.  The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for February 13, 2019.

Government Shutdown Is Impacting Rural America

Today marks Day 35 of a partial shutdown of the federal government – now the longest government shutdown of any kind in U.S. history.  The shutdown is slowing economic growth nationwide, but the pain is particularly felt in rural areas that receive funding or other forms of financial assistance from a number of federal government agencies. Rural counties participating in grant and loan guarantee services that benefit rural healthcare, housing, and broadband are on pause until the government re-opens.  

Internet service providers and local governments planning broadband infrastructure projects were expecting major investments from the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), but the RUS is unable to distribute funding and rural broadband projects are on hold.  In addition to $600 million in rural broadband funding, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue had planned significant investment in other areas of rural development through rural health care and housing programs.  USDA issued over 120,000 mortgages for rural home purchases in 2018, but all housing programs at USDA are frozen by the shutdown.  Some USDA loans to rural hospitals are also on hold as well.

Rural economies are feeling the effects of the government shutdown without important services from USDA and similar agencies.  Lawmakers face mounting political pressure to work-out a compromise to reopen the government, but have been unsuccessful thus far.

California Members Gain Influence on Infrastructure Committee

Over the past couple of weeks the House Democrat leadership has released the rosters and subcommittee chairs for legislative committees in the 116^th Congress. Most recently, Representative Peter DeFasio (D-Oregon), Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, released the final list of members elected to serve under him as chairs of the various subcommittees. 

Representative Grace Napolitano (D-Norwalk) will serve as Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment where she hopes to “promote federal investment in our water infrastructure and drought resiliency measures,” according to a statement from her office.  Representative Napolitano will also use her gavel to advocate for strict implementation of environmental laws including the Clean Water Act.

Representative Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) was as added as a new member to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and will serve as Vice Chair of the Full Committee to Chairman DeFasio.  Vice-Chairman Carbajal promised that he will work with the committee to promote new investment in American infrastructure and reform the Highway Trust Fund.

Both Vice-Chair Carbajal and Subcommittee Chairwoman Napolitano received influential seats on a committee that will play a central role in any infrastructure legislation that is developed by Congress.  Members hope infrastructure is an area for potential progress in what will otherwise promise to be a heavily divided Congress.

RCRC Releases Comprehensive Economic & Demographic Profiles for Member Counties

RCRC is pleased to announce that Economic and Demographic Profiles for each of our thirty-six member counties are now available on the RCRC website.  The individual county profiles, created by the Chico State University Center for Economic Development, include demographic, environmental, economic, social and industry data and information.  These profiles can serve as an information resource when applying for grants, preparing budgets, or when responding to inquiries.  

You will find a plethora of information on a variety of topics – all with sources listed.  Since information is updated and available at different times of the year, printed documents become obsolete very quickly.  While this will be the case for the Economic and Demographic Profiles, please note that every chart in the profile is sourced.  You can use the source information to gather updated information online, as it becomes available.

The Economic and Demographic Profiles can be accessed in the “Related Documents and Downloads” column of the RCRC Economic Development webpage.

THE RURAL RUNDOWN PODCAST

The Rural Rundown discusses the legislative and regulatory issues impacting California’s rural counties, featuring commentary and interviews from individuals committed to improving the quality of life in rural California. 

The Rural Rundown can be accessed here. 

BULLETIN BOARD

Announcements regarding hearings, grants, and public comment notices of importance to California's rural counties.

Calaveras County Seeks County Administrative Officer

Click here

California Irrigation Institute Presents 57^th Annual Conference

The California Irrigation Institute presents its 57^th annual conference February 4-5, 2019 in Sacramento.  The conference is attended by agricultural, urban and environmental interests including water districts, irrigation manufacturers, associations and government agency representatives.  The theme of this year’s event is Manage Our Land to Manage Our Water with special keynote given by Dr. Glenda Humiston, Vice President of the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources.  Dr. Humiston’s address will discuss ways for California to manage its land to manage water, including her vision for forging new partnerships between California’s working lands and urban neighbors.  She has also done research quantifying the economic value of the environmental benefits provided by California’s rural areas and open lands.

The luncheon speaker is Brad Udall, a Senior Water and Climate Research Scientist at the Colorado Water Institute at Colorado State University.  Special guest Brad Udall has an extensive background on water and climate policy issues and will share his perspective of the challenges facing the Colorado River Basin and hope for its future and for western water.  Panel topics include implementing the new Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, aerial imagery to create community-wide water budgets, how to apply data driven irrigation management strategies and a special session on the developing cannabis industry.

The Conference also offers Continuing Education Units through the Irrigation Association, Qualified Water Efficient Landscapers and Certified Crop Advisors.

Visit www.caii.org to register and for more information.