FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Julie Armstrong, Marketing Communications Director
831-625-6226 / Julie@bsim.org

Traffic Delayed On California Highway One For Big Sur International Marathon

The 28th annual Big Sur International Marathon, a major sporting event on California’s Central Coast, necessitates the temporary closure of California Highway One for a half day on Sunday, April 28. Highway One traffic from north of and throughout the Monterey Peninsula will not be affected.

Thousands of runners and walkers from all 50 states and 35 countries will be heading north on a point-to-point course along Highway One from Big Sur toward the finish line at Rio Road in Carmel. During this time, vehicular traffic will be limited to convoys that travel in CHP-escorted caravans at designated times throughout the morning hours until 1 p.m. when the highway will be re-opened to through traffic.

Southbound traffic along Highway One in Big Sur will be restricted south of the Carmel Highlands beginning at 4 a.m. and northbound traffic will be closed from Big Sur at 6:00 a.m. Highway One will reopen at 1 p.m. For Monterey Peninsula residents and tourists needing to head south, CHP-escorted convoys will leave from the Crossroads Shopping Village at 9:45 a.m. and at 11:40 a.m. For Big Sur residents and travelers from the south, all cars must be north of the Big Sur Post Office by 6:15 a.m. Additional northbound convoys will leave from Pt. Sur at 10:50 a.m. and from Palo Colorado at 12:50 p.m. All times are approximate and subject to delays due to unforeseen circumstances.

Monterey Peninsula spectators wishing to enjoy the excitement of Sunday’s Big Sur Marathon can travel from Highway One onto Carmel Valley Road and south on Carmel Rancho Blvd. to nearby public parking areas. The finish line can be best viewed from the west (ocean) side of Highway One just south of Rio Road. Runners and spectators can also gather in the “Marathon Village” finishers’ area where a variety of participant service tents offering food, massage, medical treatment, awards and more will be located.

The Big Sur Marathon’s JUST RUN! Just Kids 3K taking place on Saturday morning, April 27, will also result in minor short-term street closures and delays in the city of Pacific Grove. The JUST RUN 3K for local school children and their families will take place along Ocean View Blvd. from Lovers Point to the Hopkins Marine Station beginning at 8 a.m. The street and recreation trail will be closed from 6 to 9 a.m. to accommodate the 3,500 children and adults registered for the race. The area surrounding Lovers Point Park will remain closed to vehicle traffic until after the post race festivities conclude at 11 a.m.

For questions on access and travel delays, please contact the Big Sur International Marathon office, 831-625-6226 or info@bsim.org.

The Big Sur Chamber of Commerce maintains a 2013 Big Sur International Marathon information page which includes the Caravan Schedule, Course Map and links to the Big Sur International Marathon website here:
http://www.bigsurcalifornia.org/2013marathon.html

CALTRANS PRESS RELEASE
Today’s Date: Wednesday, April 17, 2013 at 10:30 am
District: 05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties
Contact: Susana Z Cruz (bilingual) or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3138 or 549-3189

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

** UPDATE #27 **
HIGHWAY 1/ROCKY CREEK VIADUCT PROJECT CONTINUES WITH DAYTIME ROADWORK AND INTERMITTENT OVERNIGHT CLOSURES

Daytime roadwork on Highway 1 at Rocky Creek continues next week from 7 am to 5 pm Monday, April 22 through Friday, April 26.

NOTE: The scheduled night closure for tonight, April 17 has been cancelled. There will be no more night closures for the rest of this week and also there will be no night work or overnight closures next week—from Sunday, April 21 through Thursday, April 25.

Work next week will be off the highway and consist of removing form from the bridge deck pour and building viaduct approach slabs and railing for the bridge.

Highway 1 at Rocky Creek has one-way signalized traffic control 24/7. Traffic will be stopped for 10 minutes at a time during daytime roadwork. Full overnight closures will be scheduled five nights a week Sundays through Thursdays, unless otherwise indicated. No overnight closures will occur on Friday/Saturday nights.

The project to construct a permanent viaduct about 15 miles south of Carmel near the Rocky Creek Bridge began on Sept. 4. Completion is scheduled for the end of October, weather permitting. Daily roadwork schedules are subject to change due to weather conditions and other factors so stay tuned for regular updates.

The contractor for this $11 million viaduct project is Golden State Bridge of Martinez, CA.

Caltrans reminds motorists to move over and slow down when driving through highway work zones.

For more information, please visit: http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist05/paffairs/ or contact the Hwy. 1 Cambria to Carmel Toll-Free Hotline at 888-836-0866.

Susana Z. Cruz
Public Information Officer/
Portavoz de Relaciones Públicas
805. 549.3138
805.549.3326—fax

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Buy tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com and at 800-838-3006

Big Sur Fiddle Camp Concert
6th annual concert of the legendary Big Sur Fiddle Camp, in the beautiful Chappellet Studios…

DIRECTIONS:

From the North:

Take hwy 1 south from Carmel
Go aprox 26 miles
Pass the River Inn
Pass Fernwood
Pass the Big Sur Pfeiffer State Park
Look for the Big Sur Station sign
Pass the Big Sur Station and go .5 mile up a grade
Go over a concrete bridge
The first right after bridge is Rancho Rico. Look for Balloons!!!!!
There will be a small mossy sign
If you go too far you will reach the Post Office and Big Sur Bakery
TURN AROUND!
From the South:

Take hwy 1 North from Lucia
Go aprox 20 miles
Pass the Post Office and Big Sur Bakery
Look for the first left before a bridge that is Rancho Rico
(follow remaining directions above)
Once on the ranch DO NOT EXCEED IO MPH

Follow signs.
Stay on the main road, about 1 mile, until you reach a three way fork
Stay right at fork
At the top of the ridge when you see the ocean follow road right, around the corral
Continue down a long hill
You will see signs Welcome!

Today’s Date: Friday, April 12, 2013
District: 05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties
Contact: Susana Z Cruz (bilingual) or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3138 or 549-3189
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HIGHWAY 1 EMERGENCY CULVERT REPLACEMENT BEGINS NEAR BIG SUR

MONTEREY COUNTY – An emergency culvert replacement on Hwy. 1 near Big Sur (postmile 50.36), just north of Captain Cooper School begins next Monday, April 15, Caltrans officials announced today.

Roadwork consists of one-way traffic control from 6 am to 3 pm Mondays through Fridays. Up to 10-minute delays can be anticipated. Work is expected to complete by the end of April.
The purpose of this emergency roadwork is to replace a failed culvert that has caused a large sinkhole.

The contractor for this $40,000 project is Robert J. Frank Construction of Redding.

Caltrans reminds motorists to move over and slow down when driving through highway work zones.

For traffic updates on other state highways in Monterey County, motorists can call Caltrans District 5 Public Affairs at (805) 549-3318 or visit the District 5 website at:

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist05/paffairs/release.htm#mon

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Today’s Date: Friday, April 12, 2013
District: 05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties
Contact: Susana Z. Cruz or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3138 or (805) 549-3189

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HWY. 68 OVERLAY IN MONTEREY BEGINS

MONTEREY – A three-mile overlay project on Hwy. 68 (Holman Hwy.) starting from Presidio Blvd. to just south of the entrance to the Community Hospital of Monterey Peninsula (CHOMP) will begin next Monday, April 15,Caltrans officials have announced.

Roadwork hours are Monday through Friday from 9 am to 1 pm. Work consists of one-way reversing traffic control. Up to 10-minute delays can be anticipated. Work is expected to be completed by Friday, April 26.

Roadwork is being done by Caltrans maintenance crews to overlay the area due to deteriorated asphalt pavement. Work will not impact the hospital entrance/operations.

Caltrans reminds motorists to move over and slow down when driving through highway construction zones.

For more information on this project and for traffic updates on other Caltrans projects in Monterey County, residents can call the District 5 toll freenumber at 1-877-448-6771 or can visit our website at: http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist05/paffairs/release.htm#mon

# # #

Susana Z. Cruz
Public Information Officer/
Portavoz de Relaciones Públicas
805. 549.3138
805.549.3326–fax

Hello Big Sur!

Kerry Frangioso of the Big Sur, Sudden Oak Death Project from the University of California Davis has sent us an research update on Sudden Oak Death.

Here it is in text and in PDF format (attached)

BERKELEY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS ● DAVIS ● IRVINE ● LOS ANGELES ● MERCED ● RIVERSIDE ● SAN DIEGO ● SAN FRANCISCO ● SANTA BARBARA ● SANTA CRUZ

Big Sur Sudden Oak Death Update 2013 University of California, Davis

The Big Sur Sudden Oak Death (SOD) network of forest monitoring plots remains a major research priority of the Rizzo Lab (UC Davis, Plant Pathology Department), and we thank you for your continued collaboration in this project. We did not collect field data in Big Sur in 2012 while we studied SOD spread in other parts of northern California. The break from field collections in Big Sur allowed us an opportunity to analyze data already collected and work on publishing papers. With this year’s update we would like to give you a summary of recent findings that have come out of this project.

One publication titled, “An emergent disease causes directional changes in forest species composition in coastal California” examined forest composition across the entire network of 280 plots, which was established in 2006 & 2007. We found differences in infested and uninfested plots due to both historical differences and disease impacts. Forests containing more and larger stems of tanoak and bay trees were significantly more likely to become infested with the pathogen responsible for SOD1. Both tanoak and bay are the pre-dominant spreaders of the pathogen, so canopies dominated by these trees made it easier for pathogen spores dispersed across the landscape in large rainstorms to be intercepted and establish infection sites. Infested locations show large changes in species composition over just a short time period, most notably due to the loss of dominant, overstory tanoak1.

A second publication tracked what happened to the pathogen during and following the fires of 2008. Data collected post fire during the summers of 2009 & 2010 showed that the fires suppressed the pathogen but did not eradicate it. In 2009, we recovered the pathogen in ~20% of the plots that had previously been infested, and this percentage increased over time (40% in 2010). Recovery success was linked with both pre- and post-fire bay density, the predominant driving mechanism in the spread of SOD3. An interesting aspect of this project was that we found other species of Phytophthora (P. nemorosa and P. pseudosyringae) in burned plots where we had never found them before (although they were known to exist in the Big Sur area). These other species are also thought to be non-native introduced pathogens; however they do not seem to cause as much damage as P.ramorum. A new PhD candidate in our lab intends to start exploring this phenomenon in the summer of 2013 by looking at how these pathogens might be able to survive fires or spread to post-disturbance landscapes, and how these various species of Phytophthora interact and are affected by climate change.

A third paper that is undergoing review for publication examines how the potential interactions between SOD and fire affect the composition of redwood forests. Intermediate-sized redwood trees experienced significantly higher mortality when fire burned through diseased stands, even though redwood is typically fire resistant and not susceptible to SOD. This was not due to direct effects of the disease on redwoods, but rather the ways SOD changes fuel structure as the disease progresses, which affects flame heights and fire behavior in a way that increased redwood mortality relative to burned areas that are not infested with the disease. For some size classes, mortality increased four-fold.

There are on-going analyses looking at litter and soil nutrient composition and cycling. Interestingly, we have found that a large proportion of the carbon and nitrogen were burned off during the 2008 fires which is different than better-studied but low intensity fires. Changes in soil properties by fire in the Santa Lucia Mountains is not very well studied and our further analysis aims to understand if these changes are typical of how fire in Big Sur affects soil nutrients. Our future surveys aim to measure the rate that litter and soil recover over time.

The Big Sur plot network is not only valuable for SOD research at UC Davis but is also helping the USFS map vegetation types across the county, and is the basis for a UC Berkeley project to study fungi that exist on the central coast. The fungi project is specifically looking at mushrooms associated with the roots of tanoak trees that facilitate nutrient uptake for all species in the forest.

As we continue to expand the breadth of knowledge about the forests in Big Sur we look to the 2013 field season to develop our understanding on how SOD and fire interact to shape forest community composition and function as it relates to the spread of the pathogen. We turn our attention to looking at the seedlings and the re-sprouts of all species within the burned area as regeneration in general and post fire, has never been documented in these forests before. All citations are available through Kerri Frangioso (kfrangioso@ucdavis.edu), on our website at http://ucanr.edu/sites/rizzolab/, or at the Big Sur library.

2Meentemeyer, R.K., N.E. Rank, B.L. Anacker, D.M. Rizzo, and J.H. Cushman. 2008. Influence of landcover change on the spread of an invasive forest pathogen. Ecological Applications 18:159-171

3Maia M. Beh, Margaret R. Metz, Kerri M. Frangioso and David M. Rizzo. 2012. The key host for an invasive forest pathogen also facilitates the pathogen’s survival of wildfire in California forests. New Phytologist (2012) doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2012.04352.x

4Metz, Margaret R., J. Morgan Varner, Kerri M. Frangioso, Ross K. Meentemeyer, and David M. Rizzo. 2013. Unexpected mortality in California’s coast redwood from synergies between wildfire and an emerging infectious disease. (in press).

Big Sur_SOD Update 2013.pdf

CALTRANS PRESS RELEASE
Today’s Date: Wednesday, April 10, 2013 at 3:15 pm
District: 05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties
Contact: Susana Z Cruz (bilingual) or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3138 or 549-3189

Spanish Translation Attached

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

** UPDATE #26 **
HIGHWAY 1/ROCKY CREEK VIADUCT PROJECT CONTINUES WITH DAYTIME ROADWORK AND INTERMITTENT OVERNIGHT CLOSURES

Daytime roadwork on Highway 1 at Rocky Creek continues next week from 7 am to 5 pm Monday, April 15 through Friday, April 19.

Night work will be as follows:
* Tuesday, April 16 from 7 pm to 9 pm—temporary closures with up to 10-minute delays;

Night work being done consists of pouring concrete on the bridge deck off the highway.

Overnight work will be as follows:
* Tuesday, April 16 from 9 pm to 7 am (Wednesday)–full closure in place;
* Wednesday, April 17 from 11 pm to 7 am (Thursday)—full closure in place;

Overnight work being done consists of pouring concrete on the bridge deck on the highway and requires a full closure of the work zone. An update will be provided should the closure schedule change.

NOTE: No overnight closures Sunday, April 14, Monday, April 15, or Thursday, April 18.

Highway 1 at Rocky Creek has one-way signalized traffic control 24/7. Traffic will be stopped for 10 minutes at a time during daytime roadwork. Full overnight closures will be scheduled five nights a week Sundays through Thursdays, unless otherwise indicated. No overnight closures will occur on Friday/Saturday nights.

The project to construct a permanent viaduct about 15 miles south of Carmel near the Rocky Creek Bridge began on Sept. 4. Completion is scheduled by Labor Day, weather permitting. Daily roadwork schedules are subject to change due to weather conditions and other factors so stay tuned for regular updates.

The contractor for this $11 million viaduct project is Golden State Bridge of Martinez, CA.

Caltrans reminds motorists to move over and slow down when driving through highway work zones.

For more information, please visit: http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist05/paffairs/ or contact the Hwy. 1 Cambria to Carmel Toll-Free Hotline at 888-836-0866.

Susana Z. Cruz
Public Information Officer/
Portavoz de Relaciones Públicas
805. 549.3138
805.549.3326—fax

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sp_rockycreek_update26_4.10.13.doc

Hello Big Sur!

A community service announcement:

The Big Sur CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) is working on scheduling training for new team members, and is asking Big Sur employers to pass the word to all staff who might be interested in joining our local CERT. CERT members assist local first responders and law enforcement during natural disasters and other emergencies, as well as participating in a variety of community activities. Individuals can contact bigsurcert@gmail.com for more information about training schedules, and what it takes to become a team member.

Caltrans AND Supervisor Dave Potter
Invite you to ATTEND a
PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETING

For The

Rocky Creek Viaduct

DATE/TIME: FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2013 AT 10:00 AM

LOCATION: PFEIFFER CONFERENCE ROOM AT THE BIG SUR LODGE

MEETING AGENDA

I. Welcome and Introductions
II. Project Status Update
III. Schedule
a. Compare Actual to Anticipated Progress
b. Discuss Schedule Moving Forward
i. Anticipated Completion Date for Stage 1 Construction
1. Anticipated Start Date for Stage 2 Construction
ii. Anticipated Project Completion Date
IV. Public Comments/Questions

CONTACTS:
Ken Dostalek Jayne Mohammadi
Caltrans, District 5 Aide to Supervisor Potter
Division of Project Management County of Monterey, Board of Supervisors
Ph: (805) 549-3133 Ph: (831) 647-7708
E-mail: ken.dostalek@dot.ca.gov E-mail: MohammadiJF@co.monterey.ca.us

rockycreekmeetingagenda04122013.docx

Remembering Paula Walling

SATURDAY, APRIL 13
2:00-5:00
at the Henry Miller Memorial Library

Come gather under the persimmon tree to celebrate Paula’s amazing life.
Share your remembrances of her with stories, photos,
mementos, laughter and love.

To help with the Potluck contact: Laverne McLeod
at Lavernemcleod@ymail.com.

For Poetry and Remembrances contact: Jean Widaman
at jean.widaman@gmail.com
or Pam Peck at pspeck@sonic.net.

Please Carpool if at all possible.