Kindest regards … and Life, Light, Love, Luminosity & Liberation,

Sapan Rinpoche
Kunga Tenphel Ling Dharma Center
Lyons, Colorado
[TransitionTownLyons, #92 on the worldwide list
at transitiontowns.org --- CHK IT OUT!]
Welcome anytime! 303-823-6477

Lyons, Colorado
Transition Town Lyons, #92 on the transitiontowns.org list.

Personally, your blog was a really valuable connection, because we were far away in the mountains of Idaho for the Summer. Though we were far away in person, the worry and stress was not. Last summer, what was perhaps the greatest wildfire in U.S. History, the complex that burned almost all of the Salmon River watershed and the River of No Return Wilderness (2 million acres!! and raging crown fire in high ponderosas and doug firs at that too.). It threatened many local communities. It came very close to property we have here in Cascade, Idaho…which is Idaho’s version of Big Sur. The correlations between what we went through here last year in Idaho and Big Sur this year are amazing. The stories of firefighting heroism in communities like Yellow Pine, Warren, and Secesh Meadows are mirrors to the heroism that took place on Apple Pie Ridge, Tassajara, and Partington. From our perspective, Big Sur is not in a vacuum. You have “brotherhood” in Idaho. And thanks also to tireless work of the firefighters from all over the country…(including a Level-5 trained contingent from Idaho), …whose work has finally stopped the “raging monster”.

Now, is time to heal…in many ways. As an artist/teacher, I paint my watercolors of the mountains and coast, and at Pacific Valley School, where I teach, I want to airbrush a mural with the kids that will express our thanks to the firefighters. On top of that, check the seedsforbigsur.com website. They have a valuable idea. We will be facing whole new “monster” if the rains cause devastating landslides to further hit the local economy, and take away the precious top soil, from which the natural healing of the Ventana will germinate and grow. So the “Seeds” project is worth attention now.

Keep the good work alive. Keep the blog active. It is not over yet…we are just into a new phase of this heavy event.

Healing to all,
David Allan

Chief firefighter…”Dietrich answered my questions on about July 4, in public meeting, by saying there weren’t enough people, enough equipment, but there was enough money. Construction trade unions still have not been called, with hundreds of people out of work on their lists. This left, and may still leave, firefighters understaffed and overworked, on the ground, with their time stretched out far past the 14 day limit for a stint without rest…now counting at something like 21 days.

Without the principals having called for enough crew and equipment, Apple Pie heroes, Pfeiffer Ridge holdouts, and Tassajara monks were all left holding the bag. That is not tactical error; it is strategic. However, I would be reluctant to let Dietrich hang for this, just as there were far larger causes for Joe Hazelwood being an alcoholic during the wreck of the Exxon Valdez. Pressure from above — to save on staffing and equipment — is massive and longstanding. Good people endure terrifying conditions for too long, finally making some mistake somewhere. The only one who doesn’t make mistakes is the one who isn’t doing anything, as a Mississippi Riverboat Captain told me once, a phrase later collected in a work slang book called Texas Crude.

The structure of Dietrich’s worklife could have been severely constrained. It is thoroughly shameful that our communities are being threatened with the loss of lives, their environment and their properties. But it would be necessary to know much more than we do now to hang a steersman out to dry, either Incident Commander Dietrich or Captain Joe Hazelwood. The real problems are still with us, right here, right now. Meanwhile, it is time to call in the giant construction and engineering firm which is right in our back yard! for the sake of those still threatened with the immediate fire, and for the sake of those facing secondary disaster because of the vagaries of winter weather. Stop flaunting the law by not relieving the firefighters who have been held at work past the legal limits of 14 days without rest. And stop blaming ordinary community members doing their best to save lifetimes, even generations, of their efforts. Call in the engineers with the capacity to carry on the fine work already achieved by crews that have worked too long, with too little equipment. Scapegoating a skipper won’t achieve the justice we need. Right now, we still have emergencies to attend, and reconstruction plans to design. Saving lives saves paychecks!”

Salud, Saludos, Jeff