# Where the manzanita I collect comes from



## plantbrain (29 Mar 2011)

I thought I'd show you all where the manzy comes from and why they only get 1 meter tall:

http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather- ... 2011-03-23

We have had over 17 meters of snow this year. These pics are from 2 days ago and we got another 30cm.

Be a bit till this melts.
Maybe June?

So it depends on WHERE in CA you are thinking we have all sunshine and nice weather. 
These pics are about 60 miles from my home.


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## Steve Smith (29 Mar 2011)

That's an impressive amount of snow!


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## gmartins (29 Mar 2011)

I suppose you guys wont be short of water this summer 

GM


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## ghostsword (29 Mar 2011)

Wow, that is trully a large amount of snow.  

You must have sent me whole trees then, as some of the pieces I got are 1 meter tall.


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## Bobtastic (29 Mar 2011)

That's my idea of heaven! I'm into my snowsports, so to live somewhere where is snows in the winter (properly) and is sunny in the summer would be right up my street!


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## plantbrain (29 Mar 2011)

Well, the place is more than knee deep in snow.

It can snow at 2500 meters anytime of the year, this was a big year. We might have a few more storms, maybe 1-2 in April and maybe 1-2 in May if we are lucky.

Some roads go to about 3200 meters, HYW 120 over Yosemite national park for example does not open till May 25th most years, and sometimes not till June. The higher up you go, the longer the snow persist.

At 1600-2200 meters, is where most of the snow and water drops. Above this, the snow sticks around a lot longer. 
You can see why 10,000-20,000 years ago this place was a glacial ice cap. Drop the tempo 5-10C and add 2x more snow.  

Yes, it's a good place to snow board, ski, snowmachine, snow shoe, wreck your car and get stuck, have to put chains on the tires in -15C with 80km wind and sleet. And of course get stuck in massive traffic when everyone else heads up to the mountains all at the same time.

Pure joy there  

But it all melts and the summer up there is awesome, lots cooler, great hiking and mountain climbing. The entire place looks a lot like Merry Old England during this time of year, green everywhere .....but the hills will be brown in about 8-12 weeks and will remain so for the rest of the hot dry summer, and fall. The forest stay nice and green all year though.

Even the LA region down south has a lot of snow in their mountain ranges this year, nothing like us, but they can ski a fairly long season there. Crater Lake in Oregon averages about 14-15 meters of snow every year. I think they got about 20 meters so far this year. Cool place to visit too. Not much manzy there though.

Here's a pic about 10 km from where I collect the wood:





About 300-400 meters worth of waterfalls. Real nice spot. This is where my tap water comes from.


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## plantbrain (29 Mar 2011)

gmartins said:
			
		

> I suppose you guys wont be short of water this summer
> 
> GM



No, that's not how it works, for all the snow, there's a lot of desert that the large corporations (whether they are family owned or not, they are still large companies) bought up prior to the Central Valley Water authority was established. But the land is worthless and was bought for cheap.

But....once you add water, now this land is worth FAR more. 
So they get the water for perhaps 1-2 cents to the 1.00 vs the real market cost.

When there's a water shortage during long droughts, these same companies cry..........and demand more damns and political and legal fights drag on for decades. Water grabs from the north to the south ensue. As the cities have grown, they are more willing to pay top $ for the water, so they have more clout than the Agribusiness. This places them in conflict with these massive companies. Water rights is a huge issue here.

But like any business, oil, gold etc.....they buy cheap and then sell high.
 It is no different. Water is a commodity here and extremely contentious.  

The snow pack determines the amount of water allocated to each user, it also supplies hydroelectric power, but these damns have destroyed the wetlands and helped farming obviously.......and destroyed the Salmon fisheries.
Rice farming curiously uses a lot of water but they put it closer to where the water is. the water used is to prevent weeds and keep the soil carbon retained. But...it also acts as a pseudo wetland for many species of water fowl who eat the left over rice grains.

This place is a complex mess


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## Morgan Freeman (10 Jun 2011)

Read some of the comments on that link and now want to smash myself in the face with a house.


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## hotweldfire (11 Jun 2011)

Morgan Freeman said:
			
		

> Read some of the comments on that link and now want to smash myself in the face with a house.


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## plantbrain (14 Jun 2011)

I know you have stupid people in the UK, but man oh man..........they are just fed this horse manure via the corporation machine here. Fear and misinformation is how they do it and dumb down everyone that is obsequious enough to fall for it. 

Sad, the comments make me want to beat people  
Imprisoned by their own stupidity and quite happy about it.


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