Source: Cal Fire

April 19, 2023 (Sacramento) – CAL FIRE has launched a new Online Burn Permit application platform that offers the public a user-friendly way to request a burn permit. Burn permits that are available on this platform include the following:

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  Kupa, one of the last dozen descendants of San Diego's heritage herd, has died of a rattlesnake bite. His owner is asking the County to protect  the remaining herd descedants under the County's MultipleSpecies Conservation Plan.

April 17, 2023 (San Diego’s East County) – Kupa, one of only a dozen descendants of San Diego’s heritage herd of wild horses, has died. Kathleen Hayden made the announcement “with a breaking heart” on Facebook yesterday, stating that “during the night, our four-year-old Coyote Canyon stallion, Kupa, was bitten in his eye by a rattlesnake and died.”

Hayden is cofounder of Coyote Canyon Caballos d’Anza, a nonprofit in Santa Ysabel.  For years, she and her foundation have been fighting to gain protection for the heritage herd. The federal government has long refused to recognize horses as native species worthy of protection, believing they were brought here by European explorers.

But on March 23, 2023, Science published a report by 84 researchers who concluded that horses evolved first in North America and later crossed a land bridge over the Bering Strait to Eurasia. There are ancient fossils found in the Anza Borrego desert and Carlsbad  predating the early Spanish and English explorers to bolster that claim, as well as references to Native American horses in writings of Sir Francis Drake in 1580.

Those findings have reignited the urgent call to save wild horses and try to repopulate San Diego’s heritage herd on public lands, before it is too late.

East County News Service

April 11, 2023 (Santa Ysabel) – You’re invited to discover the night at a galaxy season star party at the Santa Ysabel Nature Center on Saturday, April 15 at 6 p.m.  In addition, a proclamation will be presented from County Supervisors to commemorate International Dark Sky Week April 15-22.

East County News Service

April 7, 2023 (Julian) -- San Diego Music Hall of Fame curator Java Joe Flammini brings the music of Berkley Hart to the iconic Julian Town Hall, a historic, intimate setting that comfortably seats 200.  The well-known musicians will perform their Americana original songs in a concert as American as Julian apple pie on April 22 at 3 p.m.

March 31, 2023 (Santa  Ysabel, CA) -- East County Magazine interns Jacob Pamus and Daniela Torres visited Julian Farm and Orchard, where a recreation of a Revolutionary War battle was held.  They interviewed participants in both the British and Colonists camps, including General George Washington.

Julian Farm and Orchard is located in Santa  Ysabel, California, just outside of Julian. The farm also celebrated Daffodil Days on March 26, when our team checked out the action.

By Miriam Raftery

March 27, 2023 (Potrero) – A 300-year-old old oak tree toppled onto the porch of the former Potrero Café, next door to the historic Potrero Store, which was built in 1883 and first operated by Joseph and Damond Thing. The store remains open.

“The restaurant’s been closed for six years,” Michael Streenan, owner of the property, told East County Magazine. The tree damaged two exterior porches and an asphalt parking lot, but fortunately the buildings on the property are intact, he said.

“No one was injured when the tree fell. “Nobody even heard it come down. We just came out and saw it,” says Ryan Streenan, Michael’s son.  Neither of the Streenans knows how old the café building is, though Ryan said it may have been a house for former owners of the store.

The most likely cause of the massive tree’s collapse is the recent heavy rainfalls that have left the ground saturated.  “I guarantee you we’ve had 10 inches here,” says Jan Hedlun, a member of the Potrero community planning group. “I’ve been stranded three times on my own driveway because the water’s been 15 inches deep.  I had one oak tree branch break and fall; another tree had a branch come down.”

East County News Service

March 21, 2021 (Julian) —Julian Farm and Orchard is going back in time for “Revolution in the Orchard,” a Revolutionary War reenactment set to coincide with Daffodil Days. On March 25 and 26, the farm will be transformed into the scene of the War of Independence. This family friendly event will feature dozens of historical interpreters representing the soldiers and civilians of the American Revolution.

The 25-acre farm will be completely taken over by the reenactment. Both the British and Patriot camps will be prominent with battle fields and activity stations open for exploration. Guests will also get an up-close look into civilian and military life during the war.

By Mimi Pollack

Photo courtesy San Diego Animal Sanctuary

March 19, 2023 (Alpine) -- An East County animal sanctuary is in trouble and needs the community’s help. Local humanitarian Agnes Barrelet heads up The San Diego Animal Sanctuary and Farm in Alpine, a nonprofit, where she and her crew tend to a varied menagerie of animals in need.

Formerly known as the Children's Nature Retreat, this rural 20-acre property in Alpine is a haven for all kinds of animals, including zebras, horses, African cows, camels, mules, donkeys, rabbits, mini horses, mini goats, mini pigs, ostriches, emus, desert tortoises, and more. They have 200 hundred animals with over 95 domesticated livestock, 29 different species and 78 breeds from around the world. There are several animal enclosures, including Barnyard Alley, Tortoise Landing, African Grasslands, and Mini and Big Farms.

Photo right courtesy San Diego Animal Sanctary

Barrelet is known for rescuing animals in need, but that is something she is not going to be able to do anymore without the community’s help.

By Miriam Raftery

March 16, 2023 (San Diego’s East County) – Joshua Spirz, 18, of Campo died Monday night after a solo vehicle crash on Old Highway 80 at Sunrise Highway. He was driving home from his job at Descanso Junction, which has started a fundraiser to help his family.

San Diego Humane Society’s Project Wildlife team in Ramona treated coyote’s damaged leg and teeth

Source: San Diego Humane Society

March 10, 2023 (Ramona) - — A coyote, caught in an illegal jaw trap on a residential property in the City of San Diego, returned to the wild this afternoon after three weeks in care with San Diego Humane Society’s Project Wildlife team. The adult female was rescued by San Diego Humane Society’s Humane Law Enforcement on Feb. 17, 2023, after she was found in the Skyline neighborhood dangling on a chain link fence from a jaw trap attached to her left front leg.

Humane Officers rushed her to San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center, where Project Wildlife’s medical team provided pain medication, took X-rays and tended to her wounds.

Hearing April 5 for County Supervisors to weigh the Regional Decarbonization Framework

Public urged to speak at meeting and submit comments by March 31 deadline at project website

By Miriam Raftery

Hear our interview with Bill Powers, Protect Our Communities Foundation, recorded four days before the nonprofit group filed a lawsuit against the County.  The interview originally aired on KNSJ radio. View video of  interview.

March 8, 2023 (San Diego) – The Protect Our Communities Foundation (POCF) has filed a lawsuit against the County of San Diego contending that the County hired a  biased utility industry consultant direct the County’s Regional Decarbonization Framework (RDF) and that the RDF’s conclusions are skewed toward utilities’ interests over consumers’ interests based on flawed data. The suit also names the University of California as a defendant, contending that UCSD concealed researcher David Victor’s financial ties to the utility industry when it won a no-bid contract from the County to prepare the report that Victor co-authored.  

In an exclusive interview with East County Magazine aired on KNSJ radio four days before the suit was filed in late February, Bill Powers, an engineer and board member on the Protect Our Communities Foundation, discussed why the organization is taking a stand against the RDF. He contends that if approved by Supervisors as written, it could result in fast-tracking industrial-scale wind and solar projects in our backcountry, even waiving environmental impact reviews, when it would be more economical to build rooftop and parking lot solar in urban areas – without harm to local communities and environmental habitats.

Caltrans, Officials Celebrate National Register of Historic Places Designation

Source: Caltrans

March 8, 2023 (San Diego) -- The Ramona Tree Trust, elected official representatives and community members joined the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to unveil a set of signs commemorating the historic eucalyptus tree colonnade that has characterized the Main Street of Ramona as well as welcomed travelers into San Diego’s rural backcountry as a physical symbol of the townspeople’s pride in their agricultural community.

The Ramona Tree Trust recently led an initiative to list Ramona’s Main Street Colonnade Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

The colonnade consists of 2 miles of over 300 eucalyptus trees, originally established in 1909 and continues to be maintained and replanted to the present day by the community of Ramona.

Teenage suspects caught on surveillance video.

Source:  San Diego Sheriff's Department

February 28, 2022 (Ramona) -- Detectives from the Ramona Sheriff's Substation and San Diego County Crime Stoppers want your help in identifying and locating those responsible for a vandalism spree in Ramona.

Story and photos by Nadin and Tom Abbott

February 27, 2023 (Julian, CA) -- We decided to go up the mountain to Julian yesterday because it’s beautiful after a snowstorm. So we woke up bright and early and packed the Jeep for an adventure in the mountains. We also wanted to introduce my service dog to snow. As always, we packed our press passes and camera equipment, the latter because we wanted to take photos of this amazing winter wonderland, and in this, we were not disappointed.