Sunday, September 26, 2010

Manton Apple Festival - Family Fun for Free

Good food, good fun, good cause... it's a great time to visit Manton, California for the annual Apple Festival, all day this coming Saturday, October 2nd, 2010 at the Manton School. Bring your hat and sunscreen. This local celebration takes place outside on the grassy athletic field. If you attend, what can you expect? FREE admission. FREE parking. FREE live music. If you want to eat, well that will cost you a modest sum, but much of the proceeds go to the scholarship fund for Manton School students. This is a wonderful way to support a brighter future for rural school children and enjoy some fabulous homemade apple pie a la mode at the same time. How can you beat that?

Many local artisans with their handmade wares will be exhibiting reasonably priced and useful items for sale under a myriad of those familiar white pop-up tents. There will be pottery and jewelry, woodworking and clothing. No commercial items are permitted, only authentic crafts from local artists. And what about apples? There will boxes and boxes of just-picked local apples, including some older hard-to-find varieties. It's been a good year for local orchards. Come and sample for yourself. Additionally there will be a variety of homemade jams and jellies, apple butter, applesauce, possibly some of Sue Young's wild blackberry jam if she hasn't already sold out. You will surely find something special to enjoy.

It's a family affair with wagon rides for kids, pie contests for all ages, and lots of good music under the big tent. Walking around looking at all those interesting booths can make a person hungry. No problem. There will be a number of food booths too, offering an assortment of savory items prepared fresh while you wait. Just a tip: you might want to get in line early. For those who have already discovered the local wineries, most tasting rooms will be open for business, affording the opportunity to take home some award-winning Petite Sirah, Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon. There are a few excellent whites available as well, for your late summer sipping pleasure. I know it's Fall, but it just doesn't quite feel like it yet.

Come on up the hill and enjoy this marvelous Manton tradition. You'll be glad you did. And did I mention, it's FREE!

Tom Knight, Broker
MANTON REALTY
www.mantonproperty.com

Friday, September 3, 2010

BIG FISH... Worth the Wait!

In our instant gratification digitalized consumer culture there are still a few good things worth the wait. After ten years of countless meetings, negotiations, frustrations, wrangling and horse-trading, work on the Battle Creek Salmon and Steelhead Restoration Project has finally begun.
Talk about a triumph over institutionalized bureaucratic inertia, i.e. "excuse me, this is my turf," just imagine getting agreement between federal, state, and local governments, then add to the mix the largest private trout hatchery in California, corporate P. G. & E., more than a few crusty old ranchers and a small rural community which hasn't seen much change in a hundred years... it makes watching cement dry look positively thrilling. Now that's an accomplishment worth celebrating, and indeed, the celebration is happening soon, September 15th to be exact.

Cows still graze the oak-studded pastures, but suddenly there are enormous cranes piercing the horizon leaning out over the sheer black basalt canyon walls, helicopters buzzing all day like angry potters wasps, and strange bright yellow work trucks all bellied up to the bar at Julia's Diner for Blue Ridge Burgers at lunch time. What in the world is going on in Manton, and by the way, where the heck is it? Never heard of it. Is it in California?

Yes, Manton is in California. It straddles Shasta and Tehama Counties in the foothills of Lassen Volcanic National Park, close to 35 miles east of Red Bluff and about 45 miles east of Redding. Manton is smack dab in the middle of the Battle Creek watershed, famed for its cold water springs and hence, the prime ancient breeding ground for chinook salmon and steelhead trout.
This was the home to native americans who feasted on deer, fish, rabbits, blackberries, and who always had an ample supply of acorns and cold clear spring water. Water is the key and Manton has this precious resource in abundance. That is why it was chosen for the Restoration Project.

When Shasta Dam was completed in 1944, this second largest dam in the United States was a magnificent achievement for flood control, power generation and water management for agriculture, but it meant the end for an equally magnificent fishery. The historic spawning grounds in the fabulous Upper Sacramento, Pitt and McCloud Rivers were lost forever, resulting in a precipitous decline in chinook salmon populations. In response, the federal government created the Coleman National Fish Hatchery near the mouth of Battle Creek. The State of California also noticed the terrific potential in the Battle Creek watershed and built Darrah Springs Fish Hatchery to supply numerous lakes in northern California. Mt. Lassen Trout Farm, a private enterprise, has more than twenty facilities, many situated on cold water springs. It is the largest private trout farm in the state. You can frequently see their semi-trucks heading down I-5 with thousands of rainbow trout destined for southern California.

The old-timers, and sadly their numbers are dwindling these days, tell tall tales of chinook salmon swimming up the rocky canyons of north and south Battle Creek, forty and fifty pound fish driven to return to their ancestral spawning grounds just below Angel Falls or Whispering Waters, sheer rock barriers beyond which they could not pass. Perhaps it's just a bit of nostalgic hyperbole, but these old ranchers say you could hear them coming upstream a quarter mile away and once they arrived in spectacular fashion you could practically walk across the creek on the backs of these giant fish. Could those legendary times ever return to Battle Creek? Perhaps they will, or at least, those are the hopes and dreams of all the many hard-working folks who have labored over the past ten years to make it happen.

P. G. & E. has agreed to remove five dams and take a reduction in hydro-electric power generation revenue. Hatcheries have made extensive and expensive adjustments to their operations. New and better-designed fish ladders are being installed where dams remain. Ranchers and private landowners have agreed to allow water channels to be routed through their lands. A very complex system has been designed to greatly increase water flows in Battle Creek and restore habitat to resemble more closely what it used to be long ago. Will the big fish return to Manton? Many believe they will.

To celebrate the beginning of this awesome project which will take years to complete, a private groundbreaking ceremony is planned for Wednesday, September 15th, followed by a public gathering at the Manton School with an excellent free dinner provided to all. It is the annual meeting of the Battle Creek Watershed Conservancy, beginning at 5 p.m. Dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m., followed by brief presentations on the dramatic events taking place right now on Battle Creek. The public is welcome. And one last comment: Welcome back BIG FISH!

Tom Knight, Broker
MANTON REALTY
www.mantonproperty.com