-February 3,2020-
Tulare Basin rainfall index falls to 55% of average
A dry January has hurt rain totals in the Tulare Basin area turning an average year at the start of the month to just 55% as of Feb 1 2020, 71% snowpack statewide. However forecasts for mid-February look promising with several storms moving in after the 10th.
Tourism climbs in Tulare County
A report by the county says tourism for the current fiscal year, the dollar amount of the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) collected was $2.6 million, an increase of 12.0% in comparison with the prior fiscal year. This increase in TOT is attributable to the growing number of people who visit the County each year to experience its National Parks, historic downtowns, agricultural-based events, and much more. Sequoia National Park attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world every day. In fiscal year 2019, nearly 1.2 million people visited the Sequoia National Park.
Report: Drought/beetles killing off Sequoias
A report in the Guardian newspaper says “Giant sequoia trees, the largest living organisms on the planet – some more than three millennia old – have started dying from beetle attacks linked to the climate emergency, the preliminary findings of a new study have revealed.
The deaths of the trees, some of which lived through the rise and fall of hundreds of empires, caliphates and kingdoms – not to mention the inauguration of every US president – have shocked researchers in their speed and novelty.
In Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks in the Sierra Nevada, California, 28 giant sequoias have died from a seemingly deadly interaction between bark beetles, drought and fire damage since 2014, according to a joint National Park Service and US Geological Survey study that will be published later this year.
Beetle attacks appear to have killed the trees in previously unseen ways, claiming mature standing giant sequoia trees known as monarchs. In addition to the beetle attacks, high-severity fires strengthened by drought and decades of natural wildfire suppression have killed 12 giant sequoias since 2015 in the national parks.”
UPS earnings disappoint – Company to buy more electric vans
UPS, who is building a new 425,000sf sorting hub in Visalia announced disappointing earnings for the latest quarter last week in part based on th e need to invest in faster services. They also said “UPS experienced growth from a number of large and [small and medium business] customers, with the growth led by UPS’s largest customer, Amazon,” the company stated in its fourth-quarter earnings report.
UPS also announced that they are investing in UK-based EV startup Arrival and ordering 10,000 electric delivery vans from UK based Arrival . Arrival says the delivery trucks are made with“revolutionary ultra-lightweight composite materials that significantly reduce the weight of the vehicle, and by combining this technology with Arrival’s custom-built hardware, including power electronics and motors, the cost of operating has been reduced by more than 50%.”
The trucks are said to have “a battery range of more than 150 miles (240 kilometers).”
Visalia plans to widen Shirk north of 198
The City proposes to widen Shirk Road from two to four lanes between a point approximately 750 feet north of the intersection of Shirk Road and State Route 198 and the North Mill Creek culvert, north of School Avenue. The Project is intended to improve traffic flow and safety and to accommodate existing development and future growth in the area
Tulare adopting Farmland Mitigation ordinance
Tulare is expected to adopt a Farmland Mitigation Ordinance this week while Visalia is considering one.
The City of Tulare General Plan 2035 requires the City of Tulare to create and adopt a mitigation program to address the conversion of Prime Farmland and Farmland of Statewide Importance within the City’s urban development boundary (UDB), and outside the city limits, to non-agricultural uses.
The preservation of farmland against the increasing pressures of urban development was a key issue of concern during preparation of the Tulare General Plan 2035, and a factor in establishing the City’s UDB for growth of development beyond the City limits.
Biogas pipeline extension planned east of 99
Calgren Renewable Fuels in Pixley wants to extend their biogas pipeline to connect to more dairies from their base at 11704 Road 120, on the east side of Road 120, approximately 1,300 feet south of Avenue 120. They plan to expand an existing biogas pipeline approximately 1.85 miles further to the northeast in order to connect an additional dairy digester to the existing infrastructure, in the M-1 (Light Manufacturing) Zone.
Significantly, the extension will reach lands on the east side of Highway 99 allowing more dairies to hook up in the future says county planner Mike Washam.
Dairies south of Tulare on west side of 99
Capturing methane from dairy lagoons is helping to spearhead its use as transportation fuel and helping to clear valley skies. The pipeline is expected to take waste gas from over 75,000 cows.