Archive
March 27th, 2013
According to Mono County Supervisor Larry Johnston, Mammoth Dog Teams will be in a movie.
Johnston, speaking Tuesday to the county supervisors, gave an update on the Dog Teams saga, noting that owner Jim Ouimet finally had a key to a place he could use on the property after a decade of wrangling over the issue.
“After I talked to him, he sent me a picture of a bunch of his dogs and an overturned dog sled and it looked to me like all the dogs were dead,” he said. “Then he told me it was for a movie shoot.”
Several residents living at the little modular home settlement of McGee Creek (between Mammoth Lakes and Crowley Lake) got a rude awakening this month when the Bishop Bureau of Land Management informed them that they would have to remove all of their “backyard” activities that were illegally on BLM land.
According to the area’s county supervisor, Fred Stump, it was unclear why the residents were being asked at this time to remove evidence of their use of public lands, including in one case, a petting zoo.
Tioga Pass could open as soon as Memorial Day this year, according to county officials.
“We are hearing Memorial Day is a real definite possibility,” said Mono County Supervisor Byng Hunt. He said the low snow year, so far, will make the early opening more likely.
Another change could be that officials plowing the road will start later, but double down on the number of people on the road, thereby taking advantage of the melting snow.
A five percent cut to the federal Department of Agriculture, which oversees all national forests including the local Inyo National Forest, could affect the Inyo Forest, according to county officials.
The cut is due to the sequester enacted under Congress and means visitor safety, employee hiring, snowplowing campgrounds and other services could be affected, officials said Tuesday.
The office of Mono County Assessor has been vacant since mid-last year, when elected assessor Jody Henning resigned, along with her assistant assessor.
On Tuesday, the Mono County Board of Supervisors agreed to begin searching for a new assessor, but at a lower salary than Henning was at. Henning was making about $9,500 a month; the job will now be offered at between $8,500 and $9,000 a month, depending on the candidate’s experience and background.
Broadband service promised to Crowley Lake and Swall Meadows under an agreement with Verizon has been delayed again, according to county officials.
The service, first promised at the end of January as a mitigation for Verizon violating a Scenic Highway law several years ago, was promised to some residents this week, but Mono County IT director Nate Greenberg said Tuesday the service will not be available as initially planned.
March 26th
If you think growing a garden at 8,000 feet elevation is impossible, think again.
If you think you need to start seedlings indoors in April and plant them outside in late June in Mammoth and fence off the yard from deer and bears and it’s all just too much work so you might as well go to Vons, think again.
If you think you need a green thumb to grow your own produce in Mammoth, Crowley Lake, Walker, or Paradise, think again.
The Mammoth Community Water District Wastewater Treatment Plant is located on the edge of Jeffery pine forest and sagebrush scrub, a setting that provides the numerous wildlife in the area a banquet of alluring smells and a steady supply of fats and grease in the wastewater tanks. It is thus a it a popular spot for local animals, particularly bears and ravens.
These conditions present a unique and consistent challenge for district employee Rob Motley, plant maintenance and instrumentation supervisor at the district.
March 25th
Riffel, Montforte win in skicross
Mammoth athletes were just about everywhere this past week, from British Columbia to the Czech Republic, from Italy to Germany, from Sugar Bowl to right here at home.
Leading the charge were Madeline Riffel and Nicolo Montforte, who came away with NOR-AM Cup gold medals in skicross at Panorama, B.C., last weekend, March 16-17.
Vintage races follow dual giant slalom
It was Retro Day on Mammoth Mountain Tuesday, when racers in the Village Championships held their fifth annual “Vintage Races.”
Officials prepare to embark on 20-year planning process to update forest plan
The Inyo National Forest is embarking on a massive review of every aspect of how the two million acre forest that comprises much of the Eastern Sierra is managed.
Do the trailheads work? Are they over crowded?
Are the campgrounds in good shape, or do they need work?
Community struggles to find economically viable solution
Arsenic has been declared a hazard to human health, even at extremely low levels, and discovering arsenic in drinking water is a problem no water district wants to have.
According to the state of California, Bridgeport residents are drinking water from a municipal water system that is deemed to have arsenic at higher levels than the state allows.
By
George Shirk, Times Managing Editor
Mammoth beats national trends
Mammoth’s economic rebound from last season is running well ahead of other comparable mountain resorts, new tourism figures show.
According to the Mountain Travel Research Program (MTRiP), of which Mammoth is a member, the industry as a whole was up 14.2 percent in actual bookings in February.
March 22nd
The heavy smoke in the air today is due to a prescribed burn by the Inyo National Forest near Sunny Slopes. The burn will continue throughout the day.
Source: Inyo National Forest
March 21st
Mono County is pleased to announce that a conditional offer of employment has been extended to Leslie L. Chapman for the position of Director of Finance.
