Mendocino County Research Articles

Westamerica Bancorporation

AbstractCommercial Banking (MIC: SIC: 6021 NAIC: 522110)Westamerica Bancorporation is a bank holding company. Co. provides a range of banking services to individual and corporate customers in Northern and Central California through its subsidiary bank, Westamerica Bank. The principal communities served are located in Northern and Central California, from Mendocino, Lake and Nevada Counties in the North to Kern County in the South. In addition, Co. owned 100.0% of the capital stock of Community Banker Services Corporation at Dec 31 2007, a company engaged in providing Co. and its subsidiaries data processing services and other support functions. As of Dec 31 2007, Co. had total assets of $4.56 billion and total deposits of $3.26 billion.

Notes On Early Collections and the Distribution Of the Red Alga Cumathamnion sympodophyllum

Abstract Specimens (in FH and PC) of Cumathamnion sympodophyllum M.J. Wynne and K. Daniels (Delesseriaceae, Rhodophyta) made by C. G. Pringle at Cape Mendocino, northern California in 1882 are the first known collections of this rare monospecific genus. A collection (US) made by E.Y. Dawson from Trinidad Head, Humboldt County, and reported in 1965 as a “very compact, short-bladed” form of Delesseria decipiens J. Agardh is re-determined to be C. sympodophyllum. Records of C. sympodophyllum from Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia (Canada) are based on one collection from British Columbia, which cannot be verified. This taxon is most likely restricted to very exposed lower littoral rocky outcrops of Sonoma, Mendocino, and Humboldt counties in California.

Westamerica Bancorporation

AbstractCommercial Banking (MIC: SIC: 6021 NAIC: 522110)Westamerica Bancorporation is a bank holding company. Co. provides a range of banking services to individual and corporate customers in Northern and Central California through its subsidiary bank, Westamerica Bank. The principal communities served are located in Northern and Central California, from Mendocino, Lake and Nevada Counties in the North to Kern County in the South. In addition, Co. owned 100.0% of the capital stock of Community Banker Services Corporation at Dec 31 2007, a company engaged in providing Co. and its subsidiaries data processing services and other support functions. As of Dec 31 2007, Co. had total assets of $4.56 billion and total deposits of $3.26 billion.

ENHANCING PLANT DIVERSITY FOR IMPROVED INSECT PEST MANAGEMENT IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ORGANIC VINEYARDS

ENHANCING PLANT DIVERSITY FOR IMPROVED INSECT PEST MANAGEMENT IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ORGANIC VINEYARDS

Westamerica Bancorporation

AbstractCommercial Banking (MIC: 8.1 SIC: 6021 NAIC: 522110)Westameriea Bancorporation is a bank holding company. Co. provides a range of banking services to individual and corporate customers in Northern and Central California through its subsidiary bank, Westameriea Bank. The principal communities served are located in Northern and Central California, from Mendocino, Lake and Nevada Counties in the North to Kern County in the South. In addition, Co. owned 100.0% of the capital stock of Community Banker Services Corporation at Dec 31 2007, a company engaged in providing Co. and its subsidiaries data processing services and other support functions. As of Dec 31 2007, Co. had total assets of $4.56 billion and total deposits of $3.26 billion.

Westamerica Bancorporation

AbstractCommercial Banking (MIC: 8.1 SIC: 6021 NAIC:522110)Westamerica Bancorporation is a bank holding company. Co. provides a range of banking services to individual and corporate customers in Northern and Central California through its subsidiary bank, Westamerica Bank. The principal communities served are located in Northern and Central California, from Mendocino, Lake and Nevada Counties in the North to Kern County in the South. In addition, Co. owned 100.0% of the capital stock of Community Banker Services Corporation at Dec 31 2006, a company engaged in providing Co. and its subsidiaries data processing services and other support functions. As of Dec 31 2006, Co. had total assets of $4.77 billion and total deposits of $3.52 billion.

The Distribution of Modified Mercalli Intensity in the 18 April 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

We analyze Boatwright and Bundock’s (2005) modified Mercalli intensity (MMI) map for the 18 April 1906 San Francisco earthquake, reviewing their interpretation of the MMI scale and testing their correlation of 1906 cemetery damage with MMI intensity. We consider in detail four areas of the intensity map where Boatwright and Bundock (2005) added significantly to the intensity descriptions compiled by Lawson (1908). We show that the distribution of off-fault damage in Sonoma County suggests that the rupture velocity approached the P -wave velocity along Tomales Bay. In contrast, the falloff of intensity with distance from the fault appears approximately constant throughout Mendocino County. The intensity in Humboldt County appears somewhat higher than the intensity in Mendocino County, suggesting that the rupture process at the northern end of the rupture was relatively energetic and that there was directivity consistent with a subsonic rupture velocity on the section of the fault south of Shelter Cove. Finally, we show that the intensity sites added in Santa Cruz County change the intensity distribution so that it decreases gradually along the southeastern section of rupture from Corralitos to San Juan Bautista and implies that the stress release on this section of rupture was relatively low.

After Eden by Valerie Miner

b o o k R e v ie w s Married to a Daughter of the Land begins by interrogating the prevailing historical viewpoint that powerless Spanish-Mexican women married powerful Euro-American men to gain mobility and power that they would not have had in a Latin society. Her first challenge to this viewpoint involves the difference between British-American common law, which severely restricted women’s rights to control property and which viewed a married woman as “a legal dependent ‘covered over’ by her husband” (14), and Spanish marriage laws, which “allowed women to maintain a separate legal identity when they mar­ ried” (15). This differing view of marriage made the role of women’s choices “broader and more dynamic than previously supposed” (15). After situating the two cultures and their views of marriage, Casas goes on to illustrate the complexity of relations between the cultures through personal stories of various women and their marriages. She looks at the role of class and status in marriage choices, as well as the ways in which kindred systems, such as the compadrazgo (godparent) relationship affected legal and economic rela­ tionships. The third chapter, “Marriage and the Myth of Romantic California,” explores the recontextualization of interethnic marriage into a romantic myth that attempted to “portray the invasion of California as largely untraumatic for the invaded peoples” (80). The last two chapters show how the changes in the legal system from Mexican to US law and the breakdown of traditions of honor and kinship caused traumatic experiences for the landholding SpanishMexican families, especially for women. Maria Raquél Casas has used the personal stories in her book to “get away from ‘romantic’ ideas about California’s past and to focus instead on the his­ tories of real lovers, families, kinship alliances and cultural exchanges” (177). This book reminds those of us interested in the past and the future of the American borderlands that history and culture are made from the lives of real people in all their complexity. After Eden. By Valerie Miner. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007. 245 pages, $24-95. Reviewed by Andrew Wingfield George Mason University, Fairfax, VA The title of Valerie Miner’s novel, After Eden, works two ways. The book’s name refers to the hard phase of life protagonist Emily enters with the sud­ den death of her long-time lover. It also gestures toward the myriad versions of paradise that energize the characters who populate this book, which is set in Mendocino County on California’s north coast. Everyone in this comer of California is after some kind of Eden. Loggers dream of unimpeded access to old-growth trees. Environmental activists fight for forest protection. Pot growers want to be left alone. Vintners plant rows of grapes that will one day, they hope, produce fine wines. Mexican pickers desire steady work and toler­ W e s t e r n A m e r ic a n l it e r a t u r e S p r in g 2 0 0 8 ance from their Anglo neighbors. Pomo Indians seek reconnection with their ancestral homeland. Religious zealots are hot to drive Darwin from the schools. The women of Beulah Ranch, a group of lesbians living lightly on a piece of collectively owned land in the coastal hills, do their best to shape and sustain a community founded on respect and reciprocity. The Beulah Ranch women are well educated, capable, and committed. Emily is an accomplished regional planner. Salerno, her deceased lover, played jazz saxophone professionally. Ruth is an artist, Virginia a biology teacher, Eve a forest ranger, and Lindsey a winemaker. In their spare time, these women tutor migrants, demonstrate against clear cuts, and play softball for the Fallen Angels. Emily’s grief-induced emotional withdrawal never really threatens to overtax this sisterhood’s capacity to nourish and heal. Miner lavishes attention upon the intricate workings of the Beulah community and the dramatic yet fragile landscape where the women dwell. Through observant Emily, we experience a year of Mendocino storms, fogs, dry spells (and fires), moon cycles, owl sightings, coyote songs, sunrises, and starry nights. Emily is trained to study how...

Westamerica Bancorporation

AbstractCommercial Banking (MIC: 8.1 SIC: 6021 NAIC:522110)Westamerica Bancorporation is a bank holding company. Co. provides a range of banking services to individual and corporate customers in Northern and Central California through its subsidiary bank, Westamerica Bank. The principal communities served are located in Northern and Central California, from Mendocino, Lake and Nevada Counties in the North to Kern County in the South. In addition, Co. owned 100.0% of the capital stock of Community Banker Services Corporation at Dec 31 2006, a company engaged in providing Co. and its subsidiaries data processing services and other support functions. As of Dec 31 2006, Co. had total assets of $4.77 billion and total deposits of $3.52 billion.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND GRASSLAND RESTORATION IN CALIFORNIA: LESSONS FROM SIX YEARS OF RAINFALL MANIPULATION IN A NORTH COAST GRASSLAND

Native perennial bunchgrasses have undergone steep declines across much of California but persist in sizable populations along the northern coast. The longer rainy season and less severe summer drought in this region are thought to facilitate bunchgrass persistence in the face of extensive invasion by exotic annual species. Changes in the seasonality and intensity of precipitation that accompany global climate change could critically influence efforts to conserve and restore these plants in California grasslands. We established a large-scale manipulation of rainfall in a protected Mendocino County grassland to investigate how predicted shifts in precipitation affect the performance of three native perennial bunchgrass species in exotic-dominated stands. We added seeds, plugs, and mature tussocks of Danthonia californica, Elymus glaucus, and Elymus multisetus into replicate plots of exotic annual grassland and subjected the plots to one of three experimental precipitation regimes: increased winter rainfall, increased spring rainfall, and ambient rainfall. Responses to rainfall addition varied widely by age class and species and depended heavily on seasonal timing of the increase. Establishment from seed was rare for all three species and showed little response to water addition, likely due to concomitant changes in the surrounding communities. Production of exotic annual grasses rose markedly following repeated extensions of the rainy season, and while established bunchgrasses benefited despite this change, new plants could not establish into thickening stands of exotic vegetation. In contrast, survival was high for transplanted plugs and tussocks of all three species across all three rainfall treatments, suggesting that plugs and tussocks can survive a wide range of climatic conditions and high local densities of exotic annual grasses. Restoration approaches focused on these life stages may be most robust to changing climate. Transplanted individuals can provide a continual source of propagules to surrounding areas that then recruit during years in which conditions in the physical and biological environment are amenable to seedling establishment.

Coast Redwood Regeneration Survival and Growth in Mendocino County, California

Abstract Three stands of second-growth redwood forest were clearcut, and the logging slash in two of the units was broadcast burned following logging. Three types of redwood seedlings (plug, plug-one, and 2-year bareroot) were planted following logging and burning. Seedling survival rates were high, and there were no significant differences between survival and growth of stock types after 9 years. The native redwood sprouts were substantially larger than the planted seedlings, in both height and diameter, which could affect future growth of some seedlings. The status and dimensions of seedlings and native regeneration were periodically checked. The burned units were fully occupied by a dense, tall growth of brush within a few years, and the brush became re-established after a successful initial herbicide treatment.

Westamerica Bancorporation

AbstractCommercial Banking (MIC: 8.1 SIC: 6021 NAIC:522110)Westamerica Bancorporation is a bank holding company. Co. provides a range of banking services to individual and corporate customers in Northern and Central California through its subsidiary bank, Westamerica Bank. The principal communities served are located in Northern and Central California, from Mendocino, Lake and Nevada Counties in the North to Kern County in the South. In addition, Co. owned 100.0% of the capital stock of Community Banker Services Corporation at Dec 31 2006, a company engaged in providing Co. and its subsidiaries data processing services and other support functions. As of Dec 31 2006, Co. had total assets of $4.77 billion and total deposits of $3.52 billion.

Patterns of leaf area and growing space efficiency in young even-aged and multiaged coast redwood stands

Projected leaf area estimates were used to predict volume increment and basal area of second-growth coast redwood ( Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.) trees on Jackson Demonstration State Forest, Mendocino County, California. Sample plots were established within even-aged and multiaged mixed-species stands. Redwood tree basal area growth was more strongly related to sapwood area than to tree size and differed significantly between canopy strata and overstory stratum crown classes. Projected leaf area was predicted from sapwood area for each tree, and summarized to the stand level, giving a maximum stand leaf area index (LAI) estimate of 14.9 m2/m2. Redwood tree growing space efficiency (GSE; the ratio of stem volume increment to leaf area) was greatest on average among emergent overstory trees, followed by dominant and codominant overstory trees. There was no evidence of declining overstory tree GSE with increasing leaf area over the range of data collected. A nonlinear model predicted increasing understory tree GSE with increasing leaf area. Models that predict basal area and LAI were developed to permit implementation of GSE models from basic inventory data.

Identifying the Species of Bats Roosting in Redwood Basal Hollows using Genetic Methods

Bats frequently use basal hollows in trees to gain access to interior roost sites but it has been challenging to verify which species do so because it is difficult to capture bats or identify bats using acoustic methods at these locations. We employed noninvasive genetic sampling of guano to identify the species of bats that use basal hollows in redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) trees in coastal northern California. Guano was collected using screen traps suspended within the hollows of trees in the northern and central range of the redwood, in Del Norte and Mendocino County, California, respectively. A representative sample of 231 guano pellets from 104 trees was selected for analysis; 149 pellets from 63 trees amplified sufficiently for genetic sequencing. Species identification is possible for 8 of the 11 species that were assumed to occur in the study area, based on previous studies using two 190 bp regions of the 16S ribosomal subunit gene. Seven distinct species, subspecies or species groups were identified; all 7 were represented from samples in the northern study area whereas only 5 of these occurred within the central study area. The long-legged bat (Myotis volans) was the most frequent taxa identified. Genetic sampling to identify the species using roosts will be an important contribution to the conservation of bats. This method is noninvasive and appears more efficient than other methods, such as following radio-marked bats to basal hollows or attempting to capture bats as they enter or leave a hollow. New laboratory developments in this field, such as microarrays, when combined with sequencing, will open up domains of research on individual species and species composition at various temporal and geographic scales.

Westamerica Bancorporation

AbstractCommercial Banking (MIC: 8.1 SIC: 6021 NAIC:522110)Westamerica Bancorporation is a bank holding company. Co. provides a full range of banking services to individual and corporate customers in Northern and Central California through its subsidiary bank, Westamerica Bank. The principal communities served are located in Northern and Central California, from Mendocino, Lake and Nevada Counties in the North to Kern County in the South. In addition, Co. also owns 100.0% of the capital stock of Community Banker Services Corporation, a company engaged in providing Co. and its subsidiaries data processing services and other support functions. As of Dec 31 2006, Co. had total assets of $4.76 billion and total deposits of $3.51 billion.

Watershed Sediment Reduction

Unpaved roads are a significant source of sediments that degrade aquatic habitats. During the 1990s, counties in northwestern California faced road maintenance challenges as they were required to reduce sediment produced by their facilities and operations in order to comply with new regulations implementing provisions of the U.S. Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act. In 1997, five counties in the region joined forces to address this problem, particularly with respect to anadromous fish. Together they obtained grant funding to study the effect of their activities on salmonid populations, develop mitigations, and undertake improvements. This paper reviews the sediment reduction treatments and implementation strategies employed by Mendocino County at two case study sites. Both are on resource roads 14 to 20 ft wide experiencing typical summer volumes of fewer than 50 vehicles per day and annual rainfall exceeding 40 in. An erosion inventory identified these road sections as being significant sediment contributors within their respective watersheds. The sediment reduction projects were completed between August and October 2002 with the use of low-impact-to-hydrology designs modified to comply with AASHTO guidelines. Where these features could not be accommodated, standard best management practices for gravel roads were employed. Compared with adjacent, untreated sections of road, both project sites performed well during exceptionally wet winters. Maintenance requirements have been significantly reduced, and sediment delivery is estimated to be down 84% at one site. Grant funding made these projects cost-effective for the county, but more economical alternatives are suggested for locally funded projects.

The Coyote Lure Operative Device revisited: A fresh look at an old idea

We field-tested the Coyote Lure Operative Device (CLOD), a bait delivery system for coyotes originally conceived by UC Davis researchers in the 1980s. Our objectives were to determine whether free-ranging coyotes would activate CLODs repeatedly when exposed to them over a 12-month period, and whether CLOD activations varied by season. We placed CLODs in pastures with a history of chronic sheep depredation at the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center in Mendocino County. Free-ranging coyotes activated the CLODs repeatedly, but more CLODs were activated during the winter months than at other times of the year. Our study suggests that the CLOD has the potential to become an important tool for managing coyote predation on livestock when used to deliver contraceptive or predacide baits.

The Child Who Would Be Caged

Children, Youth and Environments 17(4), 2007 The Child Who Would Be Caged Peter H. Kahn, Jr. University of Washington Citation: Kahn, Peter H., Jr. (2007). “The Child Who Would Be Caged.” Children, Youth and Environments 17(4): 255-266. On the road in and out of the local town it’s hard for me to pass up hitchhikers. One night, leaving town toward my cabin, I’m about four miles out the dirt road in a winter rain storm and my headlights shine on a guy walking the road with no bundle and barely a jacket and he turns around and sticks out his thumb, which got me nervous but what could I do. Another car might not be on this road all night. I pick him up. He says he’s heading to Oregon. It would take me six hours to drive to Oregon. I keep conversation calm as can be. An hour later I drop him off near an empty barn, and tell him he can find shelter from the rain there. I give him some food. I live a mile away but I don’t tell him that. I found out a week later that a murder had been committed in town that evening and that they hadn’t found the murderer. Perhaps I had. I picked up two people last week. One person was Thomas. He hopped in right outside his trailer three miles from town, heading into the gas station to get a new battery for his Volkswagen Bug. Lived in the valley all his life. Indian. I mentioned I came to the area when I was 16, and he asked where I lived and I told him, and he smiled and said he knew it well, that his ancestors had lived in that area. My cabin is on what had been Indian land. How could it not be? That’s the entire country. The U.S. Army came in the 1800s, a big battalion, and camped on our land’s main meadow, about 40 acres, and used it as their base as they rounded up Indians from tens of miles around to put them on a reservation. White homesteaders settled. Thomas talked with a bit of a slur. Seemed like he had been drinking that morning. He talked about the “Green Rush” around these here parts. I wasn’t quite sure I was hearing right. He said he spent the last ten years in jail. I heard that right. I tensed a bit but tried not to show it. Had something to do with the Green Rush, he said, and big money to be had, and then I figured that had something to do with plants that could be sold and smoked. We drove past a new building on their reservation: a casino. There’s money to be had there, too, but I guess one’s legal and one’s not, though I’d have a hard time explaining why that’s the case. I asked Thomas how long he’d been out of jail. He said a couple of years. His face came alive, eyes sparkling. He said he loved his freedom. The other person I picked up was a young fellow hitchhiking down from Olympia, The Child Who Would Be Caged 256 Washington and heading to a spot on the river that he had been to once before. He wanted to get into photo journalism, said “how hard could it be, man, to take pictures; it would be great to get paid for that.” He talked about how free he felt here in Mendocino County. Wants to sit by the river and smoke a few. Said, “People are cool here; they let you be free; I’d even light up a joint in the Jack-inthe -Box.” I dropped him off at his spot on the river. He said, “Thanks Brother. Smoke one for me, you hear?” Freedom means different things to different people. It meant something else to the Jews in the story of Exodus. According to Rachel Remen (2000)—actually, according to her grandfather who was explaining the story to Rachel when she was a child—Moses sought to...

Westamerica Bancorporation

AbstractCommercial Banking (MIC: 8.1 SIC: 6021 NAIC:522110)Westamerica Bancorporation is a bank holding company. Co. provides a full range of banking services to individual and corporate customers in Northern and Central California through its subsidiary bank, Westamerica Bank. The principal communities served are located in Northern and Central California, from Mendocino, Lake and Nevada Counties in the North to Kern County in the South. In addition, Co. also owns 100.0% of the capital stock of Community Banker Services Corporation, a company engaged in providing Co. and its subsidiaries data processing services and other support functions. As of Dec 31 2005, Co. had total assets of $5.15 billion.

“The Real Work is What They Do Together”*: Peer Support and Birth Parent Change

This article examines a peer support intervention with birth parents in the child welfare system. Literature on the emotional change process for child welfare-involved parents, peer-support intervention-outcome studies in child welfare, and findings on peer support in related fields is reviewed. The Mendocino County Family Services Center (MCFSC) model is described, and findings from an exploratory study are presented and discussed. This model engages parents in a sequence of services based on developmental stages. The study used focus groups, interviews, and observation to understand the key components of the MCFSC peer support intervention, and the experience of birth-parent participants with respect to their personal change process. Further research into this model and other interventions that promote birth-parent change in child welfare is warranted.