In this edition of the ReCAP…

1. Next Calaveras Planning Coalition (CPC) Meeting
2. Board of Supervisors & Planning Commission meetings
3. New hotel in San Andreas clears a hurdle
4. Record Chinook salmon run on the Mokelumne River
5. Manzanita Writers Press Presents: A Gala Literary and Documentary Celebration
6. Supervisors repeal cannabis background check program, reduce cultivation tax rate
7. General Election 2024: Local tally update
8. Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office Wants The Public’s Feedback
9. County supervisor wants state to take over next Wagon Trail phase
10. Climate Advocacy Group Say They’re Read for Trump 2.0
11. Sierra Nevada Conservancy Funding Opportunities
12. Poem: Borrow

Join Us!

Get a glimpse into what CPC membership is like by attending a meeting. There is no commitment, just show up and listen in!

Next Calaveras Planning Coalition Meeting
December 2, 2024
New Members Welcome at CPC Meetings

Organizations, groups, and individuals (known as associate members) may join the Calaveras Planning Coalition (CPC). Prospective members may attend two consecutive meetings before making a final decision on membership in the Coalition. The membership form is a pledge to support and advocate for the Coalition’s twelve Land Use and Development Principles, which you will find on our website:
 www.calaverascap.com. 
There is no membership fee. However, members are encouraged to donate to the Community Action Project/Calaveras Planning Coalition.  Visitors and prospective members will, by necessity, be excluded from attorney/client privileged discussions.

If you are interested in membership, please email CPC Facilitator Tom Infusino, tomi@volcano.net, to receive a membership form, agenda, and the Zoom meeting connection.

To help prevent the spread of Covid-19 in our county, all CAP and CPC meetings will be held online via Zoom.

Local News

New hotel in San Andreas clears a hurdle

Nick Baptista / Valley Springs News / November 20, 2024

  A proposal for a 79-room hotel and restaurant in San Andreas moved a step closer to reality last week.

   The Calaveras County Planning Commission on Thursday adopted a pair of resolutions recommending the Board of Supervisors approve a zoning amendment and modified height variance for the project.

   Planning staff in its report to the Planning Commission found “the proposed Zoning Amendment to R3 consistent with the General Plan, Title 17 (Zoning Ordinance), and compatible with surrounding land uses and zoning.  The project, as proposed, will not have a significant effect on the environment and the adoption of the IS/MND and Mitigation and Monitoring Report Program.  Additionally, staff recommends that the variance be granted in part, only allowing the stair overrun parapet and mechanical equipment and screening to encroach above the 45-foot minimum height limit.  The lots meet the minimum requirements for C2 zoned parcels within public water and wastewater service areas.  There is no substantial evidence that the project, as designed and mitigated, will have a significant effect on the environment.”

   Saint Charles Hospitality LLC out of Los Gatos wants to construct the hotel and restaurant at 236 and 300 E. St. Charles St., adjacent to El Dorado Savings Bank.

   The developer is seeking to rezone a vacant 2.96-acre parcel from Multiple-Family Residential to General Commercial so it can merge that parcel with an adjacent one already zoned General Commercial.

   The applicant is also requesting a height variance to allow the hotel to encroach 8 feet, 1 inch into a 45-foot height limitation.

   Plans call for the 45,220-square-foot hotel and separate 2,527-square-foot restaurant to be constructed on the combined 4.14-acre site.

   The planning commissioner’s vote to adopt the resolutions was unanimous.  No date was given as to when the proposal will go before the Board of Supervisors for consideration.

   According to conceptual drawings submitted in the planning process, the hotel will be a Fairfield by Marriott.  Fairfield is a franchised economy to mid-scale hotel brand of Marriott International.

   The developer plans for the building’s facades to be modified to fit within the historic context of San Andreas.

   Fairfield targets quests willing to accept fewer amenities for lower prices.  Cost-saving measures included standardized building architecture and bedding, and the absence of a full-time restaurant, but a complimentary hot breakfast.

   Amenities at most properties include a pool, whirlpool, health club, same-day dry cleaning, vending machines, meeting rooms, free Wi-Fi, an ergonomic desk and chair, business center with printing capabilities, in-room television, mini-refrigerator and microwave.

   There are approximately 1,200 Fairfield by Marriott hotels worldwide.

Record Chinook salmon run on the Mokelumne River

Valley Springs News / November 22, 2024

The 2024-25 fall run of Chinook salmon under way on the Mokelumne River has set a new record for the second year in a row, according to East Bay Municipal Utility District officials.

   More than 30,000 fish have been counted to date with hundreds more arriving daily from the Pacific Ocean to spawn.  This is the largest salmon return on the Mokelumne since record keeping began in 1940, surpassing the record-setting 2023-24 total count of 28,698 Chinook with several weeks still left to go in this spawning season.

   “I’m proud of EBMUD’s decades-long dedication to sustaining the health of the Mokelumne River habitat and investing in fish hatchery operations,” said EBMUD Board President Lesa McIntosh.  “This historic salmon run is a testament to our science-driven management, cooperative relationships with neighbors on the river, and our collaboration with local, state and federal partners to enhance spawning grounds, operate our hatchery effectively, and protect vital natural resources.”

   EBMUD manages river flows, enhances habitat, and funds the Mokelumne River Hatchery, which is operated in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.  The Mokelumne contributes only about 3 percent of the freshwater flow into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, yet its salmon population makes up as much as 50 percent of the commercial catch off the California coast.

   Salmon returns are counted every year during the spawning season, which typically runs from September to January.  These Chinook return to their home waters in the Mokelumne to reproduce and die after spending two to five years maturing in the Pacific Ocean.  The pattern is a significant stage in the salmon life cycle and a strong indicator of the habitat’s ecological health and the population’s survival rate.

   On Oct. 16, 2024, EBMUD biologists recorded the passage of 3,824 migrating fish, the largest one-day salmon count in more than 30 years.  Passage is measured as salmon pass through a fish ladder at a small irrigation impoundment owned by Woodbridge Irrigation District.

   The Mokelumne River is the primary drinking water source for more than 1.4 million EBMUD customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.  The not-for-profit public agency is dedicated to balancing customer’s water needs with environmental protection and river stewardship.

   The statewide closure of California’s 2023 and 2024 commercial and recreational salmon fishing seasons to protect the Central Valley fall-run Chinook population has certainly had a positive impact on the number of fish coming back to freshwater.  The commercial and recreational salmon fishing fleet, which funds the production of ocean enhancement fish at the hatchery, forewent both seasons and contributed to this year’s success on the Mokelumne.  But similar returns have not been realized elsewhere in the Central Valley.  In fact, the Mokelumne hatchery is supporting the Coleman National Fish Hatchery by providing approximately 3 million eggs this spawning season.

   The science-driven hatchery management program by EBMUD and CDFW includes operations that support ocean fisheries and natural spawning in the river.  Long-term strategies and actions that affect the fishery include:

• Habitat enhancement to improve natural river spawning and rearing in partnership with both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Anadromous Fish Restoration Program and the CDFW, and with recent funding provided by the California Department of Water Resources under the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Program Early Implementation actions.
• Flow management, including fall pulse flows from EBMUD’s Camanche Reservoir into the river to attract returning fish; coordination with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to close the Delta Cross Channel to reduce straying; and management of the Camanche cold water pool to support spawning, incubation, and rearing.
• Hatchery management, including investyments in chillers and ultraviolet filters to improve egg survival; collaboration on the release of juvenile fish to improve survival to the ocean; amd management of the fish ladder leading into the hatchery to support both hatchery and natural spawners.

   “We are excited to have another robust salmon return that allows us to support both hatchery goals, including mitigation, enhancement and climate resilience, as well as meet our in-river spawning targets with enough fish to fill the habitat,” said EBMUD Manager of Fisheries and Wildlife Michelle Workman.  “We continue to face the challenge of climate variability with record air temperatures in July and October affecting our cold-water availability strategies.  Our investments in chillers for the hatchery enable us to support the Chinook population even when environmental conditions work against us.  This year we are fortunate to have enough returning fish to also support Coleman National Fish Hatchery with eggs to help sustain the fishery on the Sacramento River and the broader Central Valley.

Manzanita Writers Press Presents: A Gala Literary and Documentary Celebration

 You are invited to a free event:  Manzanita Writers Press Presents: A Gala Literary and Documentary Celebration on Saturday, November 23, 2024,  from 12 – 5 pm
at Ironstone Vineyards Heritage Room – Ironstone Vineyards, 1894 Six Mile Road, Murphys, CA 95247 –

Showcased will be excerpted historic video conversations, readings by writers in the Voices program from their new anthology, authors reading from their new books, and a festive fondue prepared by Judy Creighton, Cheeselady extraordinaire.  Voices writers, artists, and photographers receive their free book! Extra books are available for purchase.

A two-year-long grant from California Humanities in 2022 began the journey of capturing the voices and stories on film of elders in our county who have lived in our region at least 30-40 years, most of whom came from long-standing Calaveras historical families with roots in the Mother Lode.  These  videotaped conversations tell of a bygone past that will live on in historical records and archives, and on the new Manzanita YouTube channel. Grant partners, project partners, interviewees, poets in the new anthology, and writers and artists with the Voices program, are invited to come and be recognized and share in the festivities and celebration.

The program on Saturday showcases excerpts from these hour-long conversations. The videos in their entirety will be shown on the new Manzanita Writers Press YouTube channel, open for viewing the day of the event.  The scope of the grant included weekly classes of Voices senior writers, 50-plus, ongoing and funded 2022-2024, the program being in its eighth year, smartphone trainings and classes in 2023, training for filming and interviewing, as well as editing. It also encompassed some funding for the Gold Rush Writers Conference with Tommy Orange as a featured guest and instructor in 2022, a Poetry Festival and public reading at Calaveras Big Trees in Summer 2023, and a Poetry Festival in Murphys featuring poet laureates from multiple California counties. The grant also helped us obtain needed equipment and software for recording and filming, and editing, as well as train personnel. This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a partner of the NEH. Visit www.calhum.org.”

Calaveras Community Foundation funded the publication and production of two books – Keepers of the Words: Language and Culture of the West Point Miwuk Community, edited by Linda Toren, and Voices of the Grove, edited by Linda Toren and Monika Rose, a project of memoir by senior writers in the Voices of Wisdom free writing program for the public.

Schedule:
12 – 1 pm Gala Reception – Judy Creighton, cheese expert of the Mother Lode and beyond, presents a special fondue to taste – Manzanita and Ironstone Vineyards offer no-host wine and beverages by the glass
1-2:30 pm – Film program (interviews of elders in our county) – videography by Sarah Lunsford, Aaron Cameron, Sarah Garner, with interviews conducted by Lydia Cameron, Linda Toren, and Monika Rose, and CCTV studio assistance by Sarah Garner and volunteers. A shout out to the Creator Content Hub for resources and training ongoing.
3-5 pm – Voices senior writers read from the new anthology, Voices of the Grove, a literary and memoir collection of writing and art by our county’s seniors involved in the Voices Program

There will be writers reading from the books published, and authors who have just released their books with Manzanita Writers Press will also read from their new books. Gary Thomas, poet in Modesto, just released his book of poems, O Yes We Breathe. Brenda Cumberlege, a Calaveras County native, released her new book of prose and poetry, Steal Away. And Monika Rose showcases her new children’s book, Moths on a Limb. Linda Toren’s edited anthology, Calaveras Poets, will also be available.

The gala celebration is free to the public. Manzanita Writers Press invites community partners of Manzanita Writers Press in the 2022-2024 Gold Country Oral History grant to attend with friends and family to help us celebrate.

“This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a partner of the NEH. Visit www.calhum.org.”

Manzanita thanks the Calaveras Community Foundation, who not only funded the two historical books being released, Keepers of the Word, and Voices of the Grove,  but have granted Manzanita Writers Press funding for 2024-2025 to continue the Gold Country Oral History and video project of conversations with the elders in our county.

If people have family members who have lived in the county for at least 40 years, we encourage them to contact Manzanita Writers Press for documentary filming of family members and friends in conversations about the good old days.  Contact Monika Rose, Director of Manzanita, or Lydia Cameron, Interview Project Leader at manzanitawp@gmail.com  and website: manzapress.com

Supervisors repeal cannabis background check program, reduce cultivation tax rate

Lance Armstrong / Calaveras Enterprise / November 21, 2024

The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors voted on and approved two cannabis-related action items during their Nov. 12 regular meeting.

In the first of those agenda items, the supervisors voted 4-1 to repeal the county’s ordinance code related to the cannabis background clearance badge program.

According to a county staff report, through criminal background check screening procedures and eligibility criteria for applicants, the badge program prevents “individuals from owning or working at commercial cannabis businesses within Calaveras County who have a prior conviction or convictions which demonstrate a proclivity for violence or violent threats.”

In his presentation to the board on this item, Doug Oliver, chief building official of the county’s building department, noted that last April, the supervisors voted against a repeal of the program by a vote of 3-2.

He added that on May 14, the board directed him to bring the item back to them for another review.

“While I was preparing to bring that back, however, we, in our daily inspections of those cannabis sites, identified a handful of bad actors, and we determined approximately 20% of the cannabis industry was out of compliance on several items,” Oliver said.

He stated that in support of the “good actors” of the cannabis industry and the support of the board, that industry was encouraged to improve on its compliance to those items.

“We saw a huge turnaround in relatively short order,” Oliver said. “It took about two months, and I was able to send an email to your board Sept. 20 of this year to identify that we’ve turned that around to approximately 2% out of compliance.”

Oliver told the board that there were 1,025 current badge holders in the county, and that this number was dramatically higher than the previous month due to the coming of the harvest season.

“We had a lot of people that were employed by temporary labor companies from the Central Valley, which is kind of a shift from what we’ve seen – you know, five years ago – in order to be efficient and save money,” he said. “The temporary help is being brought in from these companies, and they are there for short duration – a week, maybe two – and they’re back down the road to some other agricultural commodity in the Central Valley.”

Oliver stressed that this seasonal work, which draws workers from outside this county, occurs for only a short time each year.

He likened the early opportunities that the cannabis industry presented in this county to a gold rush.

“Everybody wanted to come in, everyone wanted to stake their claim,” Oliver said. “There was a lot of work going on ahead of the applications being approved. Huge difference from where we are now. The cannabis badges, I think were necessary initially.”

Regarding the volume of people that the industry brings to the county and the potential for related increases in crime, Oliver mentioned that he does not believe that the removal of badges would result in any substantial impacts.

“I have talked to Sheriff (Rachelle) Whiting briefly about this (topic),” he said. “She shares our previous sheriff’s comments. They have no concerns about repealing this (program).”

Following Oliver’s presentation, Whiting told the board that she was not opposed to the repealing of the ordinance.

“It has no effect on our ability to continue to investigate the illegal operations, which we will continue to do,” she said. “Given the framework of the legal industry in our county and the regulatory authority of that industry falling under the (county’s) Division of Cannabis Control, which does fall under the (county’s) building department, they are best suited to tell us if the program is working and still needed or not.”

Whiting acknowledged Oliver’s comment that the sheriff’s office was a big proponent of the badge program when it was initially instituted.

“We were flooded with things,” she said. “We wanted to ensure that we had a way to regulate it, and that gave us that framework, and it was needed, and it was useful at the time. The county has now had several years to work through that process.”

Whiting additionally addressed opposition to the repealing of the clearance badge program.

“It’s my understanding that much of the opposition that you may hear to repealing the ordinance is out of a lot of just concern and fear that if we do reduce the scrutinization on workers, it may attract some bad actors or criminals (who might) think that they may have a better avenue to come up and become workers up here,” she said.

“So, like I said, I do share in concerns, but we can’t base everything we do on fears and on ‘what if’ scenarios with no evidence to back it up. So, if people are going to break the law, they’re going to do it regardless, and we will go after criminals that do so.”

The sheriff noted that with an approval of this repeal, the sheriff’s office would closely monitor the situation.

“If there are any negative, unanticipated causations that we bring this back before the board in six months and review it with amendments to further rectify it,” she said.

During the public comment period of this agenda item, several people expressed their opposition to the proposal to repeal the badge program.

Among those public speakers was Jennifer Stewart, who mentioned that maintaining the badge program was a matter of public safety.

“Why give it up?” she asked. “If it’s doing the job, continue it. If you don’t continue it, then the influx of bad actors will come in and things will go out. We’ll have exactly what Sheriff (Rick) DiBasilio said. There will be people with a bad element that show up. And those of us who live out in the hinterlands by ourselves, (it) is a considerable situation.”

Another public speaker also expressed his concerns pertaining to public safety.

“I think it’s a matter of public safety,” he said. “I think that we ordinary citizens would like to feel assured that we do not have any potential crime problems near where we live, work or travel due to cannabis grow sites.”

Copperopolis resident Elaine St. John, who identified herself as a real estate agent, told the board that she is worried how the elimination of the badges could affect her industry.

“I think this is going to affect my industry,” she said. “If I’m in (Copperopolis’ Square at Copper Valley) town square and there’s some people that come over from the grow that is at the entrance of the county, and they look kind of disheveled, that could be a problem for us. It could be a safety problem, but it could also hurt our economy.

“So, I really am in favor of keeping badges. The background checks is very important. We need to know who the good people are and who the bad people are. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Oliver once again addressed the board following the closure of this item’s public comment period.

“Ultimately, the concern is, how do we keep crime from happening?” he said. “Well, the badge program doesn’t prevent that, because people who have badges can still commit crime, they can still violate health and safety regulations unwittingly. Knowingly, sometimes they do.

“This industry is no different than any other industry. However, there’s one exception to that, and that is that, in your board’s wisdom, you made it very, very easy to revoke a permit for not complying with many different layers of regulation.”

Oliver additionally spoke about various enforcement tools that are currently in place.

“Everyone who knows the rules and wanted to be good actors, they’re playing by the rules,” he said. “If they don’t know the rule, we give it to them. Now, it is you have 10 days or we revoke your license, or we have a warning. They secured cannabis, here’s your code enforcement notice, here’s your revocation. You can’t grow in the county anymore.

“This is a working model. The enforcement tools we have for the rest of the ordinance are effective and they’re fast, and they have worked in taking care of some pretty bad situations.”

Supervisor Benjamin Stopper expressed his support of the proposal to repeal the county’s ordinance code related to the cannabis background clearance badge program.

“I’m in support of moving forward on this (repeal),” he said. “I have not seen the filter come up with any results that are saying that it’s needed to the extent that we’re using it in the last so many years.

“And as with anything in life, whether it’s marijuana grow, whether it’s a bus driver, whether it’s a politician, there’s good and bad everywhere and we all have to be alert and astute on those people.”

Supervisor Amanda Folendorf stated that the county needs to make it easier to keep cannabis companies operating.

“I understand that they are working with other outputs outside, bringing them in from the Central Valley, but I don’t believe they would be doing that if they did not have an easier time here to recruit those individuals and keep their workforce here locally with the current population that we have that is willing to do that job,” she said.

Chair Jack Garamendi stated that he supported the repeal of the badge program, because of Oliver’s presentation and the support of the sheriff.

He also responded to a comment by one of the public speakers.

“I’m an agriculturalist, (and if) you saw me on a Sunday in Copper(opolis’ town) square, you might find me undesirable coming into your community, because I’ve been working all day,” Garamendi said. “And so, let’s keep those comments. Those of us who work in the dirt and grow things sometimes, if you’re going into the hardware store, you should not be told you’re not welcome (in) Copper square, because I don’t think that’s actually the case.”

Unlike the other supervisors, Supervisor Gary Tofanelli spoke against the proposal to repeal the badge program.

“I think when we hear about how well it’s doing and how safe it is on these places, and hear from these other supervisors, I think that’s because of the badge system,” he said. “It’s working, (and) now you’re going to eliminate it. Come back here in a year from now, you may not hear the same thing, because it’s been eliminated.

“Anybody can come and they hire anybody they want. At least, it’s a showing that the badge system is working and at least keeps our constituents feeling safe.”

In another action item, in response to the ongoing volatility of the cannabis industry, the Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to approve an ordinance temporarily reducing the cannabis cultivation tax rates by 60% through Dec. 31, 2027.

The item required a four-fifths vote by the board. Tofanelli cast the lone dissenting vote.

General Election 2024: Local tally update

Tori James / Calaveras Enterprise / November 13, 2024

With 75 countywide ballots still left to count in this year’s General Election in which there was an 80% voter turnout, it appeared only one local race is still too close to call.

According to the unofficial results from the Calaveras County Elections Office, as of Friday, Nov. 8, the only race that still appears to be in contention is for the third seat on the Angels Camp City Council.

Calaveras County Clerk-Recorder and Elections Official Rebecca Turner reported that her office is still counting ballots received through the mail and postmarked by Nov. 5 through November 12, 2024, and expected that her office would be able to certify the results by Tuesday, Dec. 3, following a manual hand tally to verify the voting machines’ results.

Incumbent Angels Camp City Council Member Michael Chimente was still at the top of Friday’s tally with 25.48% (1,169) of the votes, followed by former mayor and council member Scott Behiel at 21.93% (1,006).

However, only 15 votes separated incumbent Caroline Schirato (18.18% with 834 votes) and former city administrator Mary Kelly (17.85% at 819). Voters were instructed to vote for three of five listed candidates. The fifth, Michael Fish, was tallied on Friday with 16.56% (760) of the votes.

Both top vote getters shared brief statements with the Enterprise. Chimente simply said, “I appreciated all the support that I have received and am honored to continue serving the citizens of Angels Camp.” Behiel thanked those who supported him, stating, “I’m looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and serving on a City Council whose members I respect. I am pleased with the friendly campaign.” He added he hoped the candidates not elected this time around would find ways to continue constructively contributing to the community.

The two county supervisors’ races, covered on Election Night by Lance Armstrong, also turned out to be close. With the abovementioned 75 ballots countywide still to be counted as of last Friday, incumbent District 1 Supervisor Gary Tofanelli (52.37% with 2,277 votes) led challenger Tim Grant (47.63% at 2,071 votes) by 200 votes, a small but still decisive margin. The lead was just over a hundred votes in the race between Autumn Andahl (51% with 2,505 votes) and Trevor Wittke (49% with 2,395) to represent District 2, giving her the apparent win.

U.S. races, local numbers

Republican former President Donald J. Trump, already the declared winner of the race for President of the United States, won 62.85% (16,456) of the Calaveras County vote over Democratic Vice President Kamala D. Harris, who locally came in at 34.64% (9,071). Of the other four listed candidates (Claudia de la Cruz, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Chase Oliver and Jill Stein), only Kennedy (1.46% with 381) received 1% or more of local voters’ support.

While it is still being collected and compiled, Trump won the popular vote by somewhere north of 50%, making gains from his last run amongst various demographics. Noticeable support came particularly from among Latino men and younger voters. Other demographic groups that gave Trump a majority were both white women and men; voters making under $100,000 a year and those without college degrees.

Regarding the Electoral College vote, Trump continued to win majority support among the final battleground states. According to reportable results that came in over the past weekend, in the Nevada vote, Trump won 50.6%, versus Harris’s 47.4%. In Arizona, he led 52.6% to 47.4% with 87% of its votes counted. He narrowly lost both states in 2020. Earlier last week he had already been declared the winner of battleground states Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Georgia.

California Democratic U.S. House Member Adam Schiff, who has served in that position since 2001, beat Republican challenger and former baseball star Steve Garvey in the statewide race to claim the seat of the late long-serving U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Locally, Calaveras County voters showed slightly more for Garvey (65.69% with 16,936 votes, versus 34.31% and 8,847 votes for Schiff) than Trump.

In the race for U.S. House of Representatives District 5, long-term Republican Rep. Tom McClintock beat Democratic challenger Mike Barkley. With 75% of the votes counted last week, McClintock was declared the winner by a margin of 62.6% versus 37.4%. In Calaveras County, McClintock received 66.15% (16,889) of the votes while Barkley got 33.85% (8,644).

State races so far

Statewide, in the State Assembly District 8 race for the seat of Republican Jim Patterson, who is terming out of office, Republican David Tangipa, 28, who worked as a field representative in Fresno County government and for a real estate company, this past Friday released a statement declaring victory over former Republican George Radanovich.

In the March primary, Tangipa, who received Patterson’s endorsement, came in second behind Radanovich, which elevated the pair to the two-candidate General Election slate. The latest statewide numbers showed Tangipa leading 52.5% to 47.5%. In the local count, Radanovich came in at 55.77% (6,463) to Tangipa’s 44.23% (5,125).

Friday, Tangipa, declaring that his team was confident in declaring victory given the state tally, stated, “It is the greatest honor to serve the people of Assembly District 8. To my incredible team, family, friends, mentors, and every supporter, thank you from the depths of my heart.

“This journey has been challenging, yet every step was worth it for you,” he continued. “Today, we begin the work that will shape California’s future, and with your strength and support, there’s no limit to what we can achieve together.”

In the State Assembly District 9 race between incumbent Republican Heath Flora and conservative Christian challenger and American Independent Tami Nobriga, Flora came in 70.6% to 29.4%, statewide. Calaveras County voted in support of Flora (76.48% with 6,027 votes) over Nobriga (23.52% at 1,853) by a three-to-one margin.

State props status

On Friday, the California Secretary of State’s Office reported that it had processed 10.7 million ballots with over 5.4 million ballots to count. So far, Calaveras County voters appeared to have voted both against and with state trends.

The first proposition to be declared as passed was Prop 3 to amend the state constitution, removing the language that says marriage is between a man and a woman. In Friday’s tally, Calaveras County voters were 55.15% (13,884) against Prop 3 with 44.85% (11,289) in favor.

State voters by an overwhelming margin passed Prop 36, to increase punishments for some theft and drug possession offenses. With its passage, the state will now undo some of the key provisions from Prop 47, which voters passed in 2014, which attempted to address prison overcrowding by reclassifying some theft and drug-related offenses as misdemeanors. Calaveras County’s numbers Friday showed 77.04% (19,371) support versus 22.96% (5,772) votes in opposition.

Just ahead of the General Election, the Enterprise published a letter to the editor by Calaveras County Sheriff Rachelle Whiting, District Attorney Barbara Yook, Chief Probation Officer Kim Craddock and Angels Camp Police Chief Scott Ellis explaining their support of the measure. They said it would put a cap on repeat offenders; allow them to arrest, prosecute and treat third-time offenders more seriously than first-time ones; and provide tools to assist them in protecting the public from the impacts of thefts and hard drugs.

Prop 33, rejected by state voters, would have allowed cities and counties to control rents on any type of housing, including apartments, condos and single-family homes. Locally, Calaveras County voters as of Friday were 76.36% (18,985) against and 23.64% (5,873) in favor.

Props still to be determined

Seven propositions are still up in the air. Prop 2, which on Friday showed a lead, would authorize $10 billion to improve facilities for public schools and community colleges. Calaveras County voters on Friday were at 57.88% (14,594) against and 42.12% (10,620) in favor.

Also showing a statewide lead towards passing was Prop 4, which would give the state permission to borrow $10 billion for safe drinking water, wildfire prevention, and protecting communities and natural lands from climate risks. Local voting currently shows 59.21% (15,033) of Calaveras County residents against and 40.59% (10,269) in favor.

Props 34 and 35 also showed leads on Friday. Prop 34 would require certain health care facilities to follow new rules on how they spend revenue they earn from a federal drug discount program while Prop 35 would provide permanent funding for Medi-Cal health care services. Calaveras voters’ latest numbers indicate a slight preference for Prop 34 at 50.97% (12,372 votes), versus 49.03% (11,900 votes). Even more prefer Prop 35, from the  local 60.07% (14,949) to 39.93% (9,936) tally.

Three still undetermined measures leaning to an opposing statewide majority are also widely opposed in Calaveras County.

Among them is Prop 5, which would allow local governments to take out bonds for affordable housing and public infrastructure with 55% voter approval instead of a two-thirds vote. Calaveras County’s Friday numbers were 72.88% (18,283) against versus 27.12% (6,804) in favor.

County residents are also trending with the statewide tendency to oppose Prop 6, which would put an end to imposing involuntary servitude as punishment on the incarcerated. Locally, voters were 71.58% (17,706) against versus 28.42% (7,029) in favor.

Similarly, local voters showed decisive disapproval for Prop 32, which seeks an increase of the state minimum wage to $18 an hour over several years. Friday’s tally indicated 71.11% (17,942) against with 28.89% (7,291) in support.

Local measures

The county’s Measure C Renew Abandoned Vehicle Program and Fee passed 72% (14,619 votes) to 28% (5,710). Measure D Copperopolis Fire Protection, reauthorizing the increase in the fire protection district’s appropriations limit, was approved 81% (2,615) to 19% (620). Also decided by a 70% (45) to 30% (19) vote was Measure E Middle River Community Services, increasing the district’s parcel tax (property tax based on property units rather than assessed value) on developed parcels from $100 to $200 per parcel per year, and increasing the parcel tax per year on undeveloped parcels from $75 to $100.

Other local races

For the Calaveras County Water District 5 race, incumbent Jeff Davidson (58% with 3,044 votes) handily won over challenger Patrick Earle Roy (42% with 2,185 votes).

The Vallecito Union Elementary School District (short term) race tally showed Jodi Sledge with a 51.06% (1,853) lead over Kathyrn Eustis at 48.94% (1,776). For Bret Harte Union High School District with three open governing board member slots, the tally was: Kellie Senn (30.99%; 5,689); Sheila Krpan (28.96%; 5,317); Jason Lewis (22.84%; 4,194); Titia Ashby (17.21%; 3,160). For Mark Twain Union Elementary School District with three open slots: Cora Broglio (23.37%; 2,397); Christy Miro (20.86%; 2,139); Jennifer Eltringham (19.90%; 2,041); Brad Michael Lehman (19.16%; 1,965); Megan “Shortie” Gutierrez (16.70%; 1,713).

In the Circle XX Community Service District with two open seats: the tally was Patsy Bourassa (27% at 75 votes); Randy Lopez (22%; 61); Merry Stubbins (20%; 55); Shelly Davis (16%; 45); Deborah Hill (14%; 40). In the Copperopolis Fire Protection District with three seats, it was: Johnny Maness (29%; 2,077); Steven James Marks (26%; 1,889); Richard “Dick” McCarty (26%; 1,846); Kathy Northington (20%; 1,426).

For San Andreas Rec & Park with two seats: Jared Devich (42%; 1,133); Sherry Clary (31%; 819); Michael Bayha (27%; 715). For Ebbetts Pass Veterans Memorial District with three seats: Michael Borean (32%; 3,187); Thomas Eising (28%; 2,819); Earl Heinlein, Jr. (20%; 2,027); Charles Vincent Palmer (19%; 1,870); in the Ebbetts Pass VMD (short term) race with two seats: Noah Glanville (39%; 2,609); Don Padou (31%; 2,076); Gary Summersett (30%; 1,979).

Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office Wants The Public’s Feedback

Tracey Peterson / MyMotherLode.com / November 20, 2024

San Andreas, CA – The Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office is turning to the public for feedback on areas of crime concerns.

The sheriff’s office is conducting a community survey to gather information regarding how the office can better serve the community. It is an anonymous survey that should take about 5-7 minutes to complete.

“The results will be used to help update our strategic plan by defining objectives and goals and allocating limited resources in line with community expectations,” stated sheriff’s officials, adding, “Your input matters.”

There are seven sections to the survey, including performance, safety, and community involvement. Calaveras County residents can take the survey by clicking here.

County supervisor wants state to take over next Wagon Trail phase

Lance Armstrong / Calaveras Enterprise / November 13, 2024

With the first phase of the Wagon Trail Highway 4 realignment project anticipated to be completed in June of next year, Calaveras County Supervisor Gary Tofanelli told the Enterprise that he hopes that the state will take over the project’s subsequent phase.

“I prefer (for the county) not to do Phase 2,” he said. “I prefer to just let Caltrans (the California Department of Transportation) do Phase 2. That’s my personal opinion.”

Tofanelli made that statement after he and Supervisor Amanda Folendorf met with two representatives of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office during their tour of different parts of Calaveras County, including the Wagon Trail site along Highway 4. Both Tofanelli and Folendorf recently spoke to this paper about that visit and other aspects of the project.

As a major east-west connector through southern Calaveras County, Highway 4 provides access from the San Joaquin Valley to the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The two-phase, 6.5-mile Wagon Trail project extends from 2.6 miles east of Copperopolis to about 1.6 miles west of the Highway 4/Highway 49 junction in Angels Camp.

This project’s 3.2-mile first phase is located from Bonanza Mine Way to Appaloosa Road, and the second phase features work from Appaloosa Road for approximately 3 miles eastward toward Angels Camp.

The project has faced significant challenges due to the discovery of 17 archeological sites, necessitating change orders and increasing projected costs from $27 million to $53 million.

Tofanelli referenced the $53 million figure, which was most recently presented to the board during its Oct. 8 regular meeting by Craig Pedro, the county’s interim public works director.

“That’s not the cost that we have expended so far, and ($53 million) is just a projection,” Tofanelli said. “Again, there’s some savings going on.”

Pedro told the supervisors on Oct. 8 that since their previous meeting, some recent project cost reductions put the county on track to “save roughly $300,000.”

This year, the supervisors have approved three change order requests for the project from Sukut Construction, with the first approval coming last March, when the board approved an estimated $855,000 change order for the removal of 90,000 cubic yards of material in the areas of a mechanically stabilized embankment wall construction project and Pool Station and Hunt roads.

The wall was planned and approved as a change order to avoid a cultural site known as Buckeye Village in the Nassau Creek area.

In the past two months, the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors approved two contract change order requests – Supplements Nos. 1 and 2 – from Sukut Construction, totaling $3.3 million for the Wagon Trail project. A third supplement for Phase 1 of the project could be requested next year.

Supplements Nos. 1 and 2 were approved after Pedro reported to the board in August that cost overruns of the original change order were discovered by the construction management team, “because the billings were not coming forth by the contractor.”

Prior to the supervisors’ Oct. 8 approval of the Supplement No. 2 request, Pedro told the board that the initial change order was “woefully underfunded.”

During his recent interview with the Enterprise about the Wagon Trai project, Tofanelli was asked whether he would have preferred that the county never became involved with financing the Wagon Trail project.

“That (decision was made) on a previous board,” he said. “We can do 100% hindsight. That’s just fantastic. (In that case), you have clear vision there, moving into the thing. We had no idea what was going to happen cultural-wise, in being one of the largest cultural sites in the state(’s) history. We had no idea that was going to happen. No one did.

“So, in hindsight, sure you can say whatever you want, but that doesn’t work. We’re beyond that. We’re here now, and we have to deal with what’s going on now. And again, without finishing the project, just shutting it down and walking away, I don’t think that’s the way to go.”

Tofanelli, who was a state licensed contractor for 31 years, stressed the need for the county to move forward with the project’s first phase, which commenced in January 2022.

“We’re at the point we have to go and finish the job,” he said. “We have a contract with Caltrans to do so, and as a contractor, I understand having a contract.

“We have to finish or suffer the consequences if you don’t. And so, I’m all in favor of finishing this portion of it, this Phase 1 of the contract we have with Caltrans. And I don’t believe it would be beneficial for the county in any way, shape or form to not do that.”

Regarding the governor’s office representatives who toured Calaveras County on Sept. 17, Tofanelli mentioned that the purpose of the visit was to discuss county issues with the state.

“They were interested if they could help us on any end, so we just took a tour,” he said.

The tour began in Copperopolis and then went through the Wagon Trail project before making its way to Angels Camp. It continued at Ironstone Vineyards in Murphys and concluded at the county government center in San Andreas.

Tofanelli spoke about the state representatives’ visit to the Wagon Trail project.

“We got out, we had a tour of what was going on with Wagon Trail, and they saw it,” he said. “They were interested in helping us, but they haven’t got back to us yet. But sometimes it takes a while. It doesn’t happen overnight.”

He added that there were no specifics provided about what areas of the Wagon Trail project the governor’s office would be reviewing for potential assistance.

“We gave them a general number of concerns, and that was finishing the project and funding (it),” Tofanelli said. “We were most interested in funding from the state to finish the project.

“We are supposed to go in front of the California Transportation Commission later this month to ask for (an) extension on some of the funding, because the cultural part of it has taken some time. And so, we’ll be doing that, and then we may be going in front of the CTC in either December or January, asking for more funds. And, hopefully, we (will) hear back from the state representatives between now and December or January.”

Tofanelli additionally spoke about his general support of the Wagon Trail project.

“I think it’s important for a couple reasons,” he said. “One is the safety of our constituents, and school buses drive that route from Copper(opolis) to Angels (Camp) two times a day, in the morning, in the afternoon, and sometimes more, depending on what’s going on, if they’re taking kids to football games or (wherever) they travel. That’s very dangerous, especially on a bus.

“It’s also safety-wise, with fire seasons the way they are now extending and more potent (fires), that the fire departments have a safe route and fast route to get to wherever they’re going. I think that’s important. And it’s very important for the safety of visitors coming to our county, heading upcountry, be(ing) able to have a safe route.

“(The project is) very important. That’s why I’ve been behind it as long as I have. I think it’s viable to the county in a lot of different ways, especially to our constituents of the county that travel that (highway) and the children that are on buses that travel that section.”

Folendorf shares her own thoughts about Wagon Trail project

Folendorf, whose supervisorial district includes the Wagon Trail site, referred to this project as Calaveras County’s only regional transportation project.

She stressed that while the project lies in her district, it is a countywide project.

“The county gets to work through to see what regional transportation projects they want to prioritize and investment in,” Folendorf said. “And going way back then – like I said, it’s been over a decade – the county committed to this section of Highway 4, and it just happens to be in my district.

“But this is countywide, and so, when the county committed to that, it means that’s how they’re going to commit their funding and their projects. And that’s what the county told the public when they adopted the resolution of all of the projects they wanted to complete, and this was the last project on that list.”

Referencing the project’s delays related to cultural findings, Folendorf stated that this project is unique among those priority projects.

“None of the other priorities that the county completed got to this type of highlight, because nothing like this came up,” she said.

“Any project you do and you invest in at this scale is always going to be a risk factor, and it’s going to be something that comes up or happens, and that just happened to be the risk on this project, unfortunately.”

Folendorf told the Enterprise that while the project presented unforeseen challenges, the county has been working through those challenges to ensure that the project is completed.

“We’re committed, and we’ve got to make those hard decisions – and they’re not easy, they’re not popular – to ensure that this project is completed, so we don’t run that number up, delaying it or stopping it,” she said. “And, you know, and then reevaluate how the county makes those decisions in the future.”

Folendorf was asked to share her thoughts about the potential of the state taking over the project’s second phase.

“That has not been presented to the Board of Supervisors to make that decision, but I do believe that there should be discussions on what that looks like, as a team,” she said. “All the partners – the city (of Angels Camp), the county, the regional transportation agency, and Caltrans – we all just need to (know) what does that look like, and strategize better in the future.

“But until it formally comes in front of the Board of Supervisors, I don’t want to make a (statement), because there’s also contracts. There’s a lot of legalities behind that, and those are part of those discussions that need to be happening if the board decides that publicly.”

Folendorf added that there would be a lot of questions asked in such a discussion, including “What would be the legality the county would pay, given the contract?”

Recalling the visit by the governor’s office representatives last September, Folendorf mentioned that the Wagon Trail project was included in the tour as one of the priority projects of the county.

“We gave them a tour of the project and (explained) the importance of the corridor to the county, not just from everyday use, but from a tourism and economic (approach) with freight and transport to bring in visitors up to Copperopolis, and also (for) the safety of our local residents who use it every day,” she said.

“We discussed in detail how the project started, where it has been, and where we are now.”

Folendorf identified some of the other county representatives on the tour as Pedro, Robert Pachinger, the county’s former director of public works; County Executive Officer Teresa Hitchcock; and Erik Holt, director of the county’s Office of Emergency Services.

There were also project team members and local tribal representatives present at the Wagon Trail portion of the tour, she noted.

Folendorf stated that the governor’s office representatives were informed about partnerships with this project and the county’s efforts to obtain associated grant funding.

“We did get into those specifics and we reminded them that the delay in this project is not because of construction,” she said. “It is not because there was those issues with that. It is we’ve had to go through the mitigation of the cultural findings and just the enrichment of just not Calaveras (County), but the entire foothills of that history, and ensuring that we’re working collaboratively with the tribe to get through those mitigations.”

Folendorf also noted that timelines for the mechanically stabilized embankment wall construction project were discussed during the tour.

“The permit only went to the end of October, although I believe we did get an extension to go into November, because it has not rained yet,” she said. “I don’t know what the rain will look like in the next couple weeks, but we can get an extension to go past the end of October. But that is why everyone is working, getting that done because we’ve got permit timelines that we’ve got to honor.”

Stating the general importance of the Wagon Trail project, Folendorf recognized many benefits.

“The project is important,” she said. “It’s safety for the everyday resident that’s driving up and down. We’ve got kids on those roads, the bus routes on that road. You know, the number of accidents, the number of deaths on that road, and it’s over the years. It’s always been a priority to ensure that constituents are safe.

“Also, it’s the gateway into the upper Highway 4 corridor, the gateway to hit the bane of the (Highway) 49 corridor, to head west towards Amador County, as well. It’s just ensuring that line is safe for everyone to drive, also getting emergency personnel. We’ve seen just recently the fire that happened down in Copper(opolis), getting emergency equipment down there.

“There’s those who have to take up the entire lane, and there’s no room for them to get there fast. And so, from a safety and evacuation (standpoint), getting people out and getting equipment in, it’s important, and (for) transportation of commerce in and out of the county, and safety from there, as well. And it’s just all of those things.”

Regional News

Climate Advocacy Groups Say They’re Ready for Trump 2.0

Georgina Gustin / Inside Climate News / November 10, 2024

Donald Trump has promised to demolish the country’s domestic and international climate policies at a crucial moment, when climate scientists say the window is closing on the world’s ability to avoid the most dangerous impacts of global warming.

But in the eight years since Trump’s shocking 2016 win, environmental groups have built more organized, collaborative coalitions and say they won’t be caught off guard by Trump’s second term in the White House.

“This is much less of a surprise than it was the last time,” said Jonathan Pershing, the former special envoy for climate under the Obama administration, who helped oversee the transition to the first Trump administration. “It’s not been a question of the kind of shock that the system collectively saw when it was expected that Hillary Clinton would win.”

“The consequence of that,” Pershing added, is that there’s been “a great deal of planning, a great deal of scenario work, a great deal of thinking on how to reflect on the last time this happened.”

Despite the challenges posed by a clearly anti-climate-action administration, the groups have some momentum behind them and say they plan to strategically capitalize on it. The world’s seemingly inexorable transition away from fossil fuels will continue with or without a Trump White House, they say. The Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, the biggest-ever investment in climate action, has already disbursed billions in tax credits and subsidies to clean energy programs, cities and states, the majority of them led by Republicans who could be skittish about rescinding any funds. Finally, and perhaps most crucially, the country will see a swell of young voters in coming elections who, regardless of party affiliation, have felt the impacts of climate change-fueled disasters and understand the realities of global warming.

“We know the climate crisis under the Trump administration could be accelerated,” said Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, president of NextGen America, a youth advocacy group founded by billionaire Tom Steyer. “We are determined to do everything possible to stop that from happening, to make sure that the incredible gains under the Inflation Reduction Act will be defended. … We’re not going to let progress be rolled back without an absolute fight.”

This week, many of the country’s major environmental and climate advocacy groups held calls with reporters, voicing their resolve, outlining specific plans and, perhaps, giving themselves a public-facing pep talk.

“We’re ready. We have a plan to fight against any and all efforts to harm public health, climate action and the environment,” said Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a call with reporters Thursday. “We’re going to use every lever we have to defend people and nature.”

Less publicly, they’ve been meeting for months to strategize. Staff have been told to expect longer hours and more work ahead.

“Let’s be honest, we can’t sugarcoat it, we’re deeply disappointed in the results,” said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters. “It’s very clear that the big polluters have friends at the White House again.”

One analysis, by the group Carbon Brief, found that Trump’s plans to roll back Biden climate policies could wipe out the greenhouse-gas reductions of the last five years of clean energy growth worldwide—twice over. Thursday morning, in a quarterly earnings call, the chief financial officer of Duke Energy said the Trump administration’s plans are prompting the utility to consider burning more coal.

“The fossil fuel industry is already at it,” said Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club. “This is the enemy that we’re fighting.”

The groups acknowledge that a second Trump administration is also going to be better organized and will have learned from its mistakes, particularly in its legal challenges of climate and environmental laws, the majority of which were overturned in the courts because of administrative missteps.

Trump appointed three of the sitting U.S. Supreme Court justices, making that body more hostile to upholding environmental protections or laws that undergird climate regulations.

“We’re going to play defense at the federal level,” Karpinski said. “We’re going to have to do it better this time.”

The Uncertain Fate of the Inflation Reduction Act 

When President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law in 2022, the bill directed $369 billion in spending on climate action and programs over a decade. Tens of billions of that have been distributed, but in the months before the new Trump administration takes office, advocacy groups say they’re going to push to get as much of the remaining funds distributed as they can.

“Between now and the end of the year, it’s important to get all that money, obligated and under contract, disbursed,” said Jillian Blanchard, director of the climate change and environmental justice program at Lawyers for Good Government, a coalition of legal experts that formed after Trump was elected in 2016. “The main concern is that you can’t rely on this administration following the norms.”

Blanchard said the coalition and other groups are focusing on “making sure there are no unfounded claims of non-compliance and illegal attempts to take the money back.”

Though every Republican in Congress opposed the IRA, many Republican districts have become its beneficiaries. As they’ve attended groundbreaking ceremonies and heard from constituents who support the law, some of the Republicans lawmakers who voted against it have since pressed back against talk of a total repeal.

Karpinski and others said this week that they regret the IRA wasn’t passed sooner. If it had been, more voters would have experienced its impacts.

“The price and cost impact is just beginning,” Karpinski said. “People will see it over time, but they haven’t seen enough yet.”

“The main concern is that you can’t rely on this administration following the norms.”

— Jillian Blanchard, Lawyers for Good Government

So, advocates said, another job in the coming weeks and months is to ensure that voters connect the IRA and the transition to cleaner energy with jobs and their own economic gains—something the Biden administration and the Harris campaign failed to do.

“The clean energy boom is just getting started,” said Lori Lodes, executive director of Climate Power. “If Republicans come after the Inflation Reduction Act, it’s not going to be about some abstract law or acronym. It’s going to be about whether they’re going to destroy thousands of jobs in their own districts.”

A Sharp Right Turn on International Policy

Trump pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement in his first administration and has vowed to do the same again. He has suggested he might also pull out of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change—the underpinning of the entire Paris process. His election came just as world leaders are preparing to meet next week in Azerbaijan at the annual UN gathering on climate change, known as the Conference of the Parties, or COP, casting an anxious shadow over the proceedings.

“The mood music changes after a U.S. election,” Pershing said.

All of this, potentially, throws global progress toward limiting emissions into turmoil. Still, many environmental and climate advocacy groups believe it’s beyond this administration’s power to appreciably slow the world’s acceleration toward a green energy economy.

“Even with the shock, not a single other country followed the United States in withdrawing from the agreement,” Pershing said. “No one followed suit, and I don’t think anyone else will follow suit at this point, either.”

Pershing and others noted that China, the world’s second-largest economy after the U.S., currently derives 40 percent of its economic growth from green technology.

“The most consequential thing for the climate going forward really comes down to how quickly China peaks its emissions,” said Dan Lashof, director of World Resources Institute. “Eliminating the role of the U.S. [in] encouraging China to articulate and commit to more rapid emissions reductions over the next 10 years could have major consequences. … It creates an imperative for the rest of the world to keep pressure on China.”

In other words, if the U.S. leaves the Paris agreement, it will be up to other countries to take up the slack. But either way, the move toward lower emissions technologies will likely happen anyway, so advocacy groups say they will try to make that case to the new administration.

“The United States matters,” Pershing said. “But countries are basically saying: You can’t get in our way, and we won’t stop just because you guys at the moment have decided not to play.”

Domestic Policy: There’s Still Time Left

“There are still some important steps that can be taken during the lame duck,” said Bapna, of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

In addition to fast-tracked IRA funds and tax credits, advocacy groups say they’re going to be pushing for the Biden administration to finalize tax credits for “tech-neutral” electricity generation, to ensure that grants under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and environmental justice programs are awarded and to issue its “national determined contribution” plan under the Paris climate agreement.

“Biden has a number of environmental protections in development, has several incomplete proposals to increase environmental protections that he’s been working on for some years,” said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “We certainly want him to finalize those as is his right as president.”

Suckling said these include designating several new national monuments and finalizing rules to protect old growth forest and revamp how the Bureau of Land Management handles its conservation programs.

Going into the next administration, environmental groups say they’re already poised to ensure the new government’s moves are clear to the public.

“We have a massive FOIA operation underway now,” said Jealous, of the Sierra Club.

They’re also sharpening their legal strategies, some groups say, noting that environmental groups won the vast majority of legal cases they brought against the Trump administration.

“We brought 163 cases against Trump,” Bapna said. “We won 90 percent.”

The groups say they will watchdog actions in the quietest corners of government agencies, particularly the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where the Trump administration not only gave top positions to chemical and oil industry executives, but also stacked scientific advisory panels with industry loyalists, not independent scientists.

“These are newer coalitions, but we’re not starting from Day One,” said Michelle Roos, executive director of the Environmental Protection Network. “From a national policy standpoint, we’re going to follow what’s happening—what’s on the regulatory agenda of EPA. We’ll follow the science and what’s coming out of the science advisory committees.”

“We’ve built deep coalitions and we understand each others’ strengths now,” Roos added. “We can lean into them.”

State and Local Efforts

In the days following Harris’ defeat, many advocacy groups said they had failed to convince voters that clean energy generation and technology would benefit them personally. They said they are reexamining their strategies.

The Biden administration’s green economic policies resulted in a “dramatic shift to build our economy that was hugely successful,” said Gina McCarthy, a former EPA chief. “But clearly people didn’t feel it on the ground.”

Or, amid a surge in jobs the spending has already triggered, voters simply didn’t make the connection.

The Sierra Club, Jealous said, is now training its outreach staff to focus on how lower-emission energy generation or clean energy manufacturing can benefit voters. “We need to meet people where they are and take them where we need them to go,” he said. “We need to convince them that removing a coal-fired plant will reduce asthma and heart attacks. … Four years from now, you’ll see a green movement that is more clear.”

The continuing shift to a green economy, though, will put additional pressure on Indigenous lands that are being targeted for lithium and other precious metals used in clean energy technologies.

“When it comes to the election for us as Indigenous peoples, we were always going to be facing this existential threat,” said Taylor Gunhammer, a local organizer for Protect He Sapa, a campaign under NDN Collective, a South Dakota-based tribal rights advocacy group. “We were always going to have to confront this fear and dread about our homelands and sacred lands being destroyed.”

Gunhammer added, “The substance of what is happening, which is to continue the process of extracting from and profiting from Indigenous lands—that would have occurred either way. And so, in many respects, we’re doing the same work we were doing.”

As advocacy groups brace for the return of the Trump administration, they say they also plan to work more strategically at the local, state and regional levels.

“State work is going to be incredibly important,” said David Kieve, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, “especially in states with clean energy policies and goals.”

Lodes, of Climate Power, points to some new advantages for advocacy groups at the state level. “In January 2025 there will be 23 Democratic state governors, compared to just 16 in 2017,” Lodes said. “In January 2025 there will be 15 Democratic state government trifectas compared to just six in 2017.”

“We were always going to have to confront this fear and dread about our homelands and sacred lands being destroyed.”

— Taylor Gunhammer, Protect He Sapa

Lodes also noted that 23 states will have a Democratic attorney general.

For some states, though, federal action is uniquely important.

“So much of Nevada is public lands and therefore managed by the federal government, which means who is in office really dictates the state’s environmental future,” said Olivia Tanager, director of the Sierra Club’s Toiyabe (Nevada) Chapter, noting that public lands account for about 80 percent of the state.

“Our ground game has to be really good,” Tanager said. “We have no other option if we’re going to do anything to [solve] the climate crisis and extreme heat and the threat to our public lands.”

Elsewhere, though, the local and state levels offer a chance of forward momentum—the only chance, in some cases.

“One of the most effective ways that we can counteract the lack of action on climate that we’re going to see from the federal government for the next four years, and not even the lack of action, but the actively attacking the transition that we’re likely to see from the administration … is to push blue state allies in state and city governments to go further than they would have otherwise,” said Alec Connon, director of Stop the Money Pipeline.

“It’s a f—ing disaster, and I don’t think there’s anything to be gained by not being real clear-eyed in that,” Connon said, referring to the election result. “The climate fight has certainly gotten a lot harder.”

Inside Climate News’ Dylan Baddour, Bob Berwyn, Keerti Gopal, Lee Hedgepeth, Wyatt Myskow and Noel Lyn Smith contributed to this story.

Borrow

By Sarah McCartt-Jackson

We borrow from the land what we can but cannot
return to it: bluestem, coneflower, boneset, broomcorn,
a ring-necked pheasant tied to a pole, a flat stretch of land
we strip and tar and pave, a creek that gets deeper
as it downrivers, its edges spoiled with runoff.
We collect seeds from the sunflowers and sow them
like quilt pieces, a little scrap of prairie rose here,
scrap of meadowlark feather there. Tamp down
the soil with plodding hooves, steel-toed boots.
Listen as the tallgrass rattles its dry stems,
cottonwood leaves quake as they remember mountain
lakes. Listen to the grain trucks rumble the highway.
We startle at the deer who startle at our footsteps.
A tree frog croaks from its harddark hole in
the otherwise empty change slot of a vending machine.

Copyright © 2024 by Sarah McCartt-Jackson. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on May 5, 2024, by the
Academy of American Poets.