Will Gross (center), who lost his home in a fire two years ago and found shelter and assistance at the Napa County Fairgrounds in Calistoga, returned yesterday as a volunteer. Picture by Paige St. John, Los Angeles Times

Note – A total  of 13 fairgrounds–in Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Sutter,  Marin, Sutter, Nevada Orange and Kern counties–are serving as emergency shelters during this fire emergency.  

By Paige St. John

Two years ago, during the Valley fire, the Napa County Fairgrounds in Calistoga, Calif., was the scene of a tent city of evacuees, along with massage therapists, puppet artists, drum circles and food catered by the best of Napa Valley.

On Monday, smoke from the nearby Tubbs fire left the same evacuation shelter all but deserted. But it didn’t stop determined volunteers from showing up to give what they could.

Among them was Will Gross of Cobb.

“I lost my house in the Valley fire. These guys helped me out, so I thought I’d help them,” Gross said as he scooped watermelon and cantaloupe into a fruit salad in the shelter’s kitchen.

He worked beside two professional cooks – Ed Burke, the food service director for Calistoga joint unified schools, and Andy Wild, special events director for the fabled Culinary Institute of America, which has an academy near Napa.

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Note – CDFA’s Division of Measurement Standards regulates fuel dispensing accuracy and signage at California service stations and also oversees the free air and water law.   

By James Radcliffe

Q. Mr. Honk: I am pretty sure California passed a law requiring gas stations to provide air for free. This was to reduce emissions as vehicles get better gas mileage with properly inflated tires. You might want to inform your readers of that. Thanks.

– Nick Berger, Westminster

A. Nick is banking off of a short mention by Honk last week about a nifty air dispenser for tires at some gas stations and, yes, he is correct about the law.

If you didn’t buy petrol at the station, well, start tossing coins into the ol’ machine. Otherwise, you can head inside the gas shack and say you fueled up and need some air or water – for free.

Gas stations must provide free air, water and the use of a tire gauge to those who purchased fuel under a California law passed in 1999, said Steve Lyle, a state spokesman. Legislators wanted to ensure vehicles roll along safely.

Operators can flip a switch or give you tokens or coins.

The state’s Division of Measurement Standards can cite violators with a $250 fine. To make a complaint, go to the state agency’s online site and type “air” into the search bar to find the form.

Link to “Honk.”

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), in collaboration with California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and other state entities, are hosting a Public Forum on Managed Groundwater Recharge to Support Sustainable Water Management. This all-day event will be held at the Sacramento Convention Center on November 8^th 2017 and bring together a variety of speakers to address recharge opportunities and issues.

Registration Information

Groundwater recharge is an important topic for California as the state continues to recover from an historic drought that caused increased reliance on groundwater basins – resulting in overdraft, failed private domestic wells and impacts to environmental quality.

In June 2017, the California State Board of Food and Agriculture sent a letter to CDFA Secretary Karen Ross encouraging the convening of a forum to, “inform long term state policies related to ground water recharge.” California’s farm and ranching communities are important partners in helping to implement recharge efforts, but many barriers in federal/state policy as well as infrastructure challenges limit wide scale recharge opportunities.

This forum will bring together water authorities, agricultural organizations, regulators and other stakeholders to address groundwater recharge opportunities and associated policies.

Celebrating Farm to Food Bank – from left, Mark Lowry, Director, Orange County Food Bank; CDFA Secretary Karen Ross; Sue Sigler, Executive Director, California Association of Food Banks; Nicole Suydam, Executive Director, Second Harvest of Orange County; and AG Kawamura, former CDFA Secretary and Co-owner of Orange County Produce.

California agriculture joined together in September to raise donations for the state’s annual Farm to Food Bank Month. More than 245-thousand pounds of food–in excess of 122 tons–were donated to the California Association of Food Bank’s Farm to Family Program for needy families in Southern California – from holiday turkeys to olive oil and rice; and tens of thousands of pounds of fresh produce.

CDFA secretary Karen Ross gathered last week in Orange County with leaders in the food bank sector to honor that commitment and to remind farmers and ranchers that the need is year-round, and therefore donations can be, as well.

California Ag has shown strong support for the Farm to Family Program statewide, increasing contributions to 214 million pounds–more than 100,000 tons–in 2016

However, hunger continues to be a substantial problem in California. More than two-million children in our state live in food-insecure households. All told, one in eight Californians struggles with hunger – roughly 5.4 million people. The fact that this occurs in a state with such an enormous bounty of food makes the problem even more glaring.

The generosity of California agriculture during Farm to Food Bank Month is very much appreciated, and it will be a lifeline for a number of needy Southern California families, but it’s clear there is still a great deal of work to do.

At a gathering of friends, family and colleagues, Secretary Ross expressed her appreciation for Undersecretary Jim Houston’s service.

CDFA staff members joined with colleagues from partner agencies and the agriculture community to say a fond “farewell” to Undersecretary Jim Houston on Thursday (9-28) at CDFA Headquarters. We wished him well as he and his family look forward to the opportunities and challenges that await.

Simply put, California is a better state because of his service. Jim impressed all of us from the start, with his first appointment in 2011 as deputy secretary and his early leadership of our legislative office. When I asked him to accept the position of undersecretary in 2015, it wasn’t just his problem-solving skills and his political acumen that made him the right choice; Jim’s intelligence and his gift for strategic thinking are fully matched by his love of agriculture and his enthusiasm for public service.

Jim has been a great asset to the Brown Administration, and I consider myself fortunate to have worked with him these past six and a half years. I will forever treasure his friendship.

An ongoing Mediterranean fruit fly quarantine in the Sun Valley section of Los Angeles is requiring fruit removal in the central zone of infestation, an area with more than 1,200 properties. CDFA has turned to the California Conservation Corps (CCC) for assistance with this task. Approximately 50 CCC members are going door-to-door in the search for host fruit trees and are expected to wrap-up their work this week. This video shot last year shows a similar operation as it unfolded during another Medfly eradication project in nearby Panorama City.