Valerie Cassity-Special to the Sun

Kern River Valley Revitalization (KRVR) held their monthly Steering Committee meeting last Wednesday, Mar. 7, at Cerro Coso College in Lake Isabella to discuss local current events and topics. KRVR is a collaboration of local agencies, business owners, and concerned citizens working to facilitate the social, natural, and financial health of the KRV for this and future generations. Everyone in the Kern Valley is invited to come share their ideas at the Steering Committee meetings, as everyone who lives here is a stakeholder in our community's future.

Boosting the Kern Economy Richard Chapman from the Kern Economic Development Corporation (Kern EDC) gave a presentation about “Preparing for the economic tidal wave” that is expected in Kern County in the next 10-20 years. Kern EDC is a public-private corporation that recruits and retains high value jobs, markets the county and its opportunity sites, and provides financing, permitting, siting, and workforce development assistance to businesses. They focus on bringing in smaller businesses to the area and helping them grow, rather than encouraging large corporations to relocate here. According to Chapman, the four “I”s of economic development are Innovation, Inventory, Infrastructure, and Image. He said that the Kern River Valley's image is nature recreation, and they are focusing on the “fun” aspect of this area in their Kern County marketing campaigns. “Kern County is on the edge. It is becoming more urbanized but it has a lot of challenges,” said Chapman.

Rick Davis of the Kern County Board of Trade (BOT) then gave a presentation outlining the county's current economic outlook and the BOT's goals for 2007, which include attracting out-of-area visitors, increasing visitors' length of stay, and retaining local travel dollars. He said that the three biggest contributors to Kern County's economy last year were oil production at $9.3 billion, agriculture at $3.5 billion, and tourism and travel at $1.02 billion; last year was the first time that tourism had broken the $1 billion mark in this county.

Davis was excited to announce that the BOT is launching interactive kiosks this year at key locations throughout Kern County, including two in the Kern River Valley thanks to the generosity of Supervisor Jon McQuiston. Davis explained that they are the first to do outside interactive kiosks, although they have been in use at indoor locations throughout the country for a few years.

Kern County's slogan for 2007 is Kern County-Where the action's so hot - it's cool. The BOT will be focusing its efforts this year on modern marketing techniques, internet presence, and TV specials and PSAs. “We're working on the image of all 8,200 square miles of Kern County,” said Davis.

Local OHV Group Leader Proposes Ban on New Wilderness in California

Chris Horgan, Executive Director of Stewards of the Sequoia, gave a presentation developed by Advocates for Access to Public Lands (AAPL) in opposition to new wilderness areas proposed by Senator Barbara Boxer in her bill S493. Horgan said that of the 192 million acres of National Forests in America, 107 million acres is already designated as wilderness and that the latest proposal would increase that amount by 21 percent. Horgan, along with AALP, propose that instead of increasing wilderness in California, that a new concept called a semi-primitive backcountry recreation designation be adopted, so that the areas will remain open to OHV use, logging, grazing, and other uses. Local tribal representative Ron Wermuth, who helped Senator Boxer identify land in Sequoia National Forest to be included in the Wilderness proposal, feels that wilderness designation is necessary, in some cases, to protect sensitive lands. “There is no respect by some off-roaders for cattle owners, and I believe OHV use needs to be policed. These wilderness proposals won't keep off-roaders out, but it will keep them from making their own trails,” Wermuth said.

Presidential Trail of 100 Giants

Local resident Bernie Allen proposed that the popular Trail of 100 Giants be renamed the Presidential Trail of 100 Giants, with each tree named after each of the Presidents of the United States. Allen came up with the idea with his good friend Dave Freeland because he noticed that, “When people come here, they always want to see the named trees, like General Sherman and the President Bush tree,” he said. Allen's concept includes unobtrusive signs next to each tree naming each for a different President, in order of office, and a map showing the location of each President's tree.

USFS Comment Period for Campground Closures Extended

Thanks to the input from KRVR and other Kern Valley residents, the comment period for Sequoia National Forest's Recreations Site Facility Master Plan (RSFMP) five-year work plan has been extended from March 1 to April 15. Margie Clack, Acting District Ranger, said that the RSFMP is in step five of seven, and so far they have inventoried all of the campgrounds in the forest and looked at the maintenance backlog vs. the amount of money they have available for recreation, as well as evaluating which campgrounds get the most use to decide how to proceed with recreation management. “We need to come together to work through this issue,” said Clack, “We want to know what campgrounds are important to the community.”

Joe Ciriello informed the group that there will be a meeting held by the Recreation Complex Committee on Saturda., Mar. 17, at the Senior Center in Lake Isabella at 9 a.m. to work on a solution to the possible closure of campgrounds around the lake.

Kern Valley Spring Nature Festival is coming

Bob Barnes announced that Audubon California's Kern Valley Spring Nature Festival, formerly known as the Bioregions Festival, will take place this year Apr. 27-30 at locations all around the valley. He said that there has been an incredible response and several tours are already sold out, and that people are coming from across the nation and even Canada to enjoy the natural wonders that the Kern Valley has to offer. Audubon is still seeking volunteers to help out with the event; everything from additional presenters and trip leaders to food servers and clean up. If you are interested in helping this amazing annual event be a smashing success, call Alison at the Kern River Preserve at 378-2531. To learn more about the festival, go to http://kern.audubon.org/bioregion.htm.

KRVR meets the first Wednesday of every month, and the public is welcome and encouraged to attend. The next meeting will be held on April 4, at 9 a.m. at Cerro Coso Community College.