Chris Finnie Debris Flows Columns Fire 

Winter Worry: Post-fire Debris Flows

According to Kent Edler, assistant director of the county public works department, the fire burned the upper soil layers, creating water-repellent soil. Steep, burned, and denuded slopes deposit rocks, soil, and trees into drainages. Water will pocket and pond in areas where tree roots burned out. Water that used to flow underground might now flow overland. Debris can alter stream… Read More
Real Estate News San Lorenzo Valley Santa Cruz Mountains Column: MC Dwyer Columns Real Estate 

Real Estate: Moving into Recovery

Market Review: 3rd Quarter 2020 By M.C. Dwyer Average home prices rose again across our region during the third quarter (July 1st to September 30th). Several communities recorded all-time highs, including Boulder Creek, Felton, and the City of Santa Cruz. There simply aren’t enough homes for sale compared to the number of people who want to buy. Fueled by historically… Read More
MC Dwyer Boulder Creek CZU Lightning Complex Fire Column: MC Dwyer Columns Fire Local News Real Estate 

An Impossible Reality

By M.C. Dwyer On August 16th, we woke up at 3:00 am and went outside to watch a bizarre dry summer lightning storm. As lightning zig zagged across the skies overhead, booming thunder quickly followed. We went back to sleep. By Tuesday afternoon, Boulder Creek was shrouded in smoke and stifling hot. The evacuation warning for our home came at 8:00… Read More
Jane Mulcaster Big Basin Redwoods State Park Columns Environment 

Why Trees (and Human Spirits) Endure

Nature builds resilience into our bark  By Jane Mulcaster Girl Scouts Meg Mulcaster, Narya Bower, and Maggie Fry from Campbell troop 62301 explore fire-scarred redwoods outside the Big Basin Visitor Center in April, 2018.  As the sun sank behind the trees at the upper campground in Big Basin State Park in early April 2018, the mercury dipped into the 40s,… Read More