San Diego Wildfire Now Contained

Kudos to the firefighters for containing the Cowboy Blaze and stopping it from destroying more than it already has.

Via Mercury News:

Firefighters have surrounded an 827 acre wildfire in a remote area east of San Diego.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection says the so-called Cowboy blaze, which started Thursday in dense thickets of brush, was contained at dusk Monday. The burn area between Campo and Potrero is about 50 miles east of San Diego.

No structures burned and there were no injuries.

The cause is still under investigation.

Apple Moths are Attacking San Diego!

Well… they are attacking the agriculture business in San Diego. Not very exciting, but interesting. These things are apparently pretty nasty and are probably gonna cause millions of dollars in damage. Yikes.

Via Greenhouse Magazine:

Four adult light brown apple moths (Epiphyas postvittana Walker) have been discovered in a trap set 1 mile east of San Diego’s Balboa Park. The discovery will trigger a state “interior” quarantine of 1.5 miles around the site and a subsequent federal quarantine that could cover the rest of the county.

Calif. Dept. of Food and Agriculture and USDA have placed an additional 300 traps in the 9 square miles surrounding, the find site. San Diego County Agricultural Commission Robert Atkins said the public could help by not moving any plants or produce and by allowing traps to be placed on their property. The county has had 1,000 traps in urban areas of San Diego County since April 2007.

Native to Australia, the moth, which does not have any natural enemies and is considered invasive, has been found in other parts of the state. The larvae feed on the leaves and fruit of more than 2,000 plants including ornamental plants such as rose, chrysanthemum, dahlia, and trees including oak, willow, poplar and walnut.

The county is conducting a survey of growers to determine the impact the quarantine will have on San Diego agricultural producers. An informational meeting for San Diego growers and farmers will be held on Aug. 10 in Fallbrook, Calif.

Coldest July in Almost One Hundred Years

Call me crazy, but I just didn’t feel it. Maybe I was indoors too much or out on the beach, but I really didn’t notice that it was that cold.

Via 760 KFMB AM:

It was anything but a scorching hot July in San Diego.

The National Weather Service says San Diego had the coolest month of July in nearly 100 years.

The average high temperature for July at Lindbergh Field was a little more than 69 degrees. That’s the coolest since 1916 and the fifth lowest on record.

The only break from the cool weather in July came during a mid-month heat wave that sent temperatures soaring into the 80’s downtown and 90’s for inland areas.

In Mission Beach, most people said they weren’t too thrilled by July’s cool weather.

More Bee Swarms Spotted Around San Diego

Now this is scary! I actually have a friend who was close to one of these things. I mean… what’s more terrifying than a swarm of bees flying at you!??! I certainly don’t know.

Via Southwest Riverside News Network:

Authorities continue to deal with another big swarm of bees today, following a week in which a man died from stings and two law enforcement officers were repeatedly stung, police said.

Today’s swarm was reported just before 9 a.m. in an area adjacent to Lake View Park in Scripps Ranch, San Diego police Officer Jane Jacobsen said.

Two San Diego police officers were stung by bees as they searched a Morena District canyon for an auto theft suspect on Saturday. One officer was stung 20-30 times, Officer Mack Blazok said.

Marco Tulio Lazaro, 54, was chased by thousands of bees when he accidentally disturbed their hive while working on Wed. at the Wiegand Ranch off Manchester Avenue in Encinitas. He was stung more than 500 times and was found in a portable restroom in full cardiac arrest, authorities said.

Lazaro, who was allergic to the venom from bee stings, was later pronounced dead in a hospital.

About 80 percent of the bees in San Diego County are Africanized honey bees, which defend their hives aggressively if disturbed, attacking and stinging in much greater numbers than other varieties.

However, county officials said the number of reported bee attacks is down in recent years, and the average person who is not allergic can survive a large amount of stings.

Minor Earthquake Felt in San Diego on Sunday

I was actually out of town, but lots of my friends said they definitely felt this one. Nothing was damaged as far as I can tell.

Via Sign On San Diego:

Once again, a sizable aftershock to the 7.2 Easter Sunday earthquake hits the Ocotillo area. And, once again, it is briefly and lightly felt in parts of San Diego County.

The latest seismic twitch came at 10:21 p.m. Sunday when a 4.2 quake occurred on or around the Laguna Salada fault system, 12 miles southeast of Ocotillo, just over 75 miles east-southeast of San Diego, the U.S. Geological Survey says. The quake began 6.8 miles deep (a common depth for Southern California) and occurred in roughly the same area where 4.9 and 4.8 aftershocks hit on Saturday.

Within 20 minutes of the quake, about 300 people logged into the USGS website to report that they’d felt the aftershock.

The quakes represent a normal aftershock sequence and could occur, on-and-off, for months.

Permanent Barrier for Seals Considered by City Council

This sounds like a good idea to me. What kind of people taunt baby seals? Buncha jerks!

Via Mercury News:

The San Diego City Council must decide if a part-time barrier separating people from harbor seals at Children’s Pool in La Jolla should be maintained year-round.

Council members will consider the proposal Monday night in La Jolla. The proposal, which includes hiring a full-time park ranger for the cove, has been endorsed by a council committee and would require California Coastal Commission permits if approved.

The barrier is in place during pupping season from Dec. 15 to May 15. When the rope was removed over the weekend, some people were seen taunting the seals.

It is the latest in a decades-long struggle over use of the beach. The cove, created by a seawall in 1931 and donated to the state, was used as a children’s pool until the seals moved in during the 1990s.

82 Healthy Sea Turtles Hatched at SeaWorld

Wittle babies!

Aw! Little baby sea turtles!

I don’t think people realize that SeaWorld actually helps animals in addition to using them for entertainment. Kudos to SeaWorld for this. Yippie!

Via SignOnSanDiego:

The population of endangered green sea turtles at SeaWorld in San Diego grew by 82 in October when the eggs hatched on Shipwreck Beach without human help.

There hasn’t been such happy turtle news at SeaWorld since 2003, when 21 sea turtles got an assist from park staff, said Tim Downing, assistant curator of fishes.

This time, the park let nature take its course and didn’t incubate the eggs. The babies started poking through their ping pong-sized eggs on Oct. 5. Since then, they have been getting a diet of squid, krill, shrimp and special pellets.

The birth of the baby turtles was announced Monday. Downing said they are in excellent health and should go on display at the park before the end of the year.

It will be up to the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine whether the new turtles stay at SeaWorld and whether they will allow the turtles to mate again next year, he said.

Marine Protection Plan Will Harm Local Jobs

Let there be fish!

Not sure if I like this or not. On one hand, I’m a bleeding-heart, environmentalist liberal… and on the other, I like supporting local businesses. I don’t really have a say in it though, soo… yeah. Check this out. Let me know what you think:

Via SignOnSanDiego:

Local fishermen and boat captains are on the hook to lose much of their financial catch because of a program to help protect more marine life along the coast.

No matter which of the three proposals state wildlife officials select, San Diego’s passenger fishing fleet and commercial fishermen will suffer disproportionately. Closures of near-shore angling areas could slash profits for passenger boats in the city by up to 40 percent — roughly twice the Southern California average, according to a state-sponsored report.

Commercial fishermen in Oceanside, the county’s other main harbor town, could see profits plunge by more than 28 percent. That’s worse than the drop for San Diego and any other Southern California city listed in the report, which was prepared by the nonprofit environmental analysis group Ecotrust.

The large local toll is because many of the most ecologically important zones along the county’s coastline are heavily used by anglers. The main proposed closures are off Del Mar, Encinitas, La Jolla and Sunset Cliffs.

Advocates for marine protected areas said the projected fiscal fallout is overblown. They’re confident that fishermen will quickly find new spots and that expanded no-harvest zones will boost ocean productivity, including more fish — and revenue — for anglers.

End of Summer Beach Report Card

Nice and clean!

Well how about that! Our wonderful San Diego beaches are really clean! It’s true. The Heal the Bay organization just released it’s End of Summer Beach Report Card, and 78 of the 79 beaches in San Diego received an A or B grade for water quality. Hell yeah! I’ve always thought our beaches were special… now I have proof! I’ve got a friend who always rags on me for going to the “shitty San Diego beaches” all the time, but now I have something to shove right in his smug face! Ha!

Via SignOnSanDiego.Com:

All but one of San Diego County’s 79 monitored beaches had excellent water quality during the summer months, according to a report released today by the environmental group Heal the Bay.

According to Heal the Bay’s 2009 “End of Summer Beach Report Card,” 78 of the 79 beaches in San Diego County monitored between Memorial Day and Labor Day received an A or B grade for water quality.

The only dark spot this summer was Pacific Beach Point, which received an F grade, according to Heal the Bay.

Heal the Bay attributed a five-year trend of improved beach water quality to local efforts to divert storm drain runoff into sewage treatment systems during the busy summer months.

There were two known sewage spills in San Diego County that led to beach closures this summer, one at Dog Beach in Ocean Beach and the other at the Oceanside Pier, according to Heal the Bay.

Statewide, beachgoers in California experienced a third consecutive summer of excellent water quality, according to Heal the Bay.

KPBS – San Diego Beaches Get Top Marks In Beach Report Card.

Heal the Bay – 2009 End of Summer Beach Report Card