A lot has happened this past week. On Tuesday the 12th, silver 6 has officially arrived in grass valley to our new housing which is an old fire station. We only had to drive an hour to get to Grass Valley which was amazing compared to our 13 hour drive to Washington. We arrived around 9 and brought all of our gear into the two story housing and settled in for a little. While we were at home, donna, who works closely with our sponsor came to our house and then had us drive to meet Joanne (our sponsor) and have lunch at a pizza buffet. There we had delicious pizza and were able to talk to them both. Joanne and Donna are both amazing! They are very passionate in what they do and help us out in every way possible. One thing in particular that they love for us to accomplish are bucket list items. Every week they help us do something that we really want to do while in Grass Valley. So that'll be fun to do all the different activities with my team. After lunch we toured around Grass Valley and Nevada City some more. Included in the tour was a over look bridge which I and some of my other team mates were able to climb the rocks down to the water and take some pictures. After the bridge, we went to the actual fire safe council headquarters to talk about what they expect and any other concerns or questions that we had for them. Once we were done talking we went back to the house and settled in a little more. Later on at night we went out to a restaurant that was well known for their hamburgers, so obviously I had to get one and it was delicious. After that we headed back home and went to bed, looking forward to the next day.
Wednesday we didn't have to be ready until 8:30! That's when donna came to our house going over chainsaw safety. After that we went to her family's lumber shop and practiced chain sawing. I did pretty well the first day, but it was pretty different from the first time that I chain sawed. Instead of cutting up smaller pieces I had to cut into a fairly large tree that was on top of two other trees. I had some trouble because I kept getting the tip on the chainsaw into the bottom two trees. On Thursday however I was able to chainsaw again and was a lot more comfortable cutting the log on top of the other two. On Thursday we only practiced chain sawing for 1/2 the day then went to the Nevada County Airport to help dig out a moat around the facilities to drain into a different direction because every time the area gets a lot of rain the water then drains off down to the companies below and floods them out. After that we went home, had PT, made a delicious quinoa/brown rice/veggie dinner and went to bed.
Friday we went to our first house to do fuel reduction!! (If you couldn't tell I was very, very excited.) The property in which we went to was interesting to say the least. The women who owned it is 70 years old and is an artist. The first thing that we noticed when we pulled up to the house were Hawaiian skirts around some of the trees. Behind the house was a good amount of land with a lot of scotch broom (very flammable) and many other different trees. Along with the plants there were a lot of different artwork. There was a section in her yard that had little rocks stacked on top of each other with a crystals on top. In other sections she had different metal structures and in one corner had clothes lines with different colored threads of clothes. The first thing that I did was chainsaw about 6 dead trees down and had to cut them into fire wood. I got a lot more comfortable working with the chainsaw and learning how the correct and safest way to cut down a tree. After about an hour of chain sawing we had lunch and then I was on pulling up scotch broom with some other team mates. Once we had about 25 minutes left I was able to take apart the chainsaw and clean and sharpen it. We finished the day by going to Bentley springs (which is a natural spring water source) to fill up our water bottles.
Saturday was our day off with the exception of people having ISPs working with the Wild and Scenic film festival in Nevada City, Grass valley and surrounding areas. This is a little bit about what the event is.
"The Wild & Scenic Film Festival sits apart from the hundreds of festivals around the world by leaving you feeling INSPIRED and MOTIVATED to go out and make a difference in your community and the world.
As a festival by activists and for activists, Wild & Scenic is organized and produced by
SYRCL (the South Yuba River Citizens League). For over a quarter century, we’ve been building a community to protect and restore the rivers of our home watershed, from source to sea. The Wild & Scenic Film Festival puts our local work – and yours too – into the broader environmental and social context, and serves to remind us that we’re participants in a global movement for a more wild and scenic world.
At our festival, you’ll witness how individuals and communities across the globe are taking action and becoming part of the solution on issues ranging from energy, food systems, biodiversity, climate change and the protection and restoration of wild lands and wild waters. You’ll experience the adrenaline of kayaking the wildest rivers, climbing the highest peaks and trekking across the globe with adventure films from around the world. You’ll explore the issues and movements with leading environmental activists and professionals, filmmakers and celebrities. And you’ll celebrate the natural and human world in all its diversity, in 9+ venues for films and workshops, a children’s Saturday morning “cartoons” program, art shows, wine tastings, a Gala Event and awards ceremony."
A few team mates and I decided to go to one of the midday events that was more focused on the issues of farming and their methods. A few of the documentary's that I watched were, AINA: That which feeds us (my favorite), digital food, Farmers speak: A call for the next generation (another good one) and Soil Carbon Cowboys. They all had to do with the importance of farms needing to start growing organically and that it would be a win/win situation because it is a lot more cost efficient for farmers and its healthier for not only humans but the earth. After the movie we picked up some team mates and went back home.
Sunday I had an ISP at the film festival in Nevada City. I arrived there earlier than expected so pat and I went to a small café in town to get some coffee. After that I went back to the venue and met up with the lady in charge. The role that I had was one of the simplest ones a person could have. I had to turn on and off the light, turn them on dim when a speaker was talking and being an usher. The best part was I was able to watch 2 different sessions of movies which totals out to be about 8 films. The first session was called turning into nature which was basically about how people have lost touch with nature and how important it is for kids to go out and explore. Studies have shown that kids are beginning to have new disorders such as Nature Deficit Disorder (NDD) because of parental fears, restricted access to natural areas, and the lure of the screen. One video that really effected me was called "Sonic Sea". The movie was about how there are so many noises in the ocean that don't effect humans but effect all of the wild life below especially whales and dolphins. This is because hearing for whales is the same as sight for humans. I learned that sound travels in water just as fast and far as light travels. So the many giant ships that are in the ocean are effecting the marine life in many ways. One of the ways is from the ships propellers cutting into the water causing millions of air bubbles to explode thus causing a lot of loud, frequent sound for whales/dolphins to have to hear. And if you were to hear a high pitched or long annoying noise people could easily put on headphones, or figure out the problem and turn it off. Well these animals cant do that and it makes them go into flight mode causing them to go up to the surface and become a beached.
The second session was about people needing to leave nature as it is. The main movie was called Voyagers without a trace and the film maker (Ian McCluskey) went on the same kayaking rout through the Grand Canyon as three French friends had done in 1938. The three French adventurers came to the American West to make the first kayak descent of the Colorado and shoot the first adventure film in color. Ian wanted to get in tune with nature and feel what the French trio saw and explored. The movie was amazing and I hope that Ian found exactly what he was looking for. After the ISPs I walked around Nevada City visiting unique little shops and even bought a cute headband that is from Indonesia. I went home with my team later that night and went to bed.
Today (Monday) I woke up around 7:30 and we had PT at 8. We ran and then did different exercises. We then had a little time to change and eat breakfast before we had to go. Today we had a few hours of training on fire safety and fuel reduction. The First half seemed to fly by and we were fed an amazing Thai food that was made by our sponsors sister in law. And then sat through the second training that seemed to go on A LOT longer. After the training we went home and I worked on my application for the True North Program, then had a very tasty vegan dinner and now am at the office finishing up my blog that obviously is very long. Which I'm sorry about but I don't have wifi at my housing so time on the computer is limited!
Tomorrow we will be taking what we learned into action and will be going around to houses to see if they have the correct fire defensible space. The rest of the week I should be going around to houses to do fuel reduction and checking to see if they have a safe defensible space. And then Friday we do have off because we didn't have today off. So I will hopefully make it to grass valley/ Nevada City a little more.
~Savannah
Saw this quote and thought it fit well with my post this week.
Only after the Last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then you will find that money can not be eaten.
My 2nd floor room! I am actually in the right corner but you can get an idea of what I'm living in.
The overlook bridge we went to on the first day.
Hiking down to the water.
Under the bridge.
Looking down to my team mate Morgan.
The sunrise one of the morning.
Bentley Springs! (and no those aren't our water jugs)
Chain sawing!
One of the (I believe Methodist) churches in Nevada City that was in a hallmark movie called
"The Christmas Card".
