Digital 395

[Cruzer]

^^^ Right on ^^^

[Sierra Lady]

They probably forgot to pay the web hosting bill.

OOOPPPPPPS

^ Their website is back up as the California Broadband Coopertive. I guess they were revamping the site.

Last week's article in The Sheet:

Digital 395 turns its attention to Inyo County

Digital 395 is coming one county closer to completion, Praxis Associates CEO Michael Ort reported at Tuesday’s Inyo County Board of Supervisors meeting. Construction headed by Praxis began late last year in Mono County and Nevada, and is now continuing into Inyo County during what Ort described as an exceptionally cold, early winter. Ort related a recent story about rescuing a cable-laying crew from the Virginia Lakes area in Mono County using snowmobiles when a big snowstorm hit. “It reminded me of the Donner Party,” he said wryly. “Only they got a better meal at the end.”

[windyscotty]

I got a good look at how these construction outfits rip up the land and lay waste to the environment to put the fiber optic line in.

They made a mess of the Casa Diablo road and left hundreds of large rocks that werent there before on the shoulder. They ripped up and crushed and important historical site where wagon ruts used to be for the old Casa Diablo Road. I used to stop and show people that spot, and it lies beneath rubble now.

Obviously, BLM did not have an inspector on that job or an archaeologist.

Once again, some big construction outfit can come in, literally rip us off, lay waste to our land and leave.

Thanks BLM for the real slick job to get better communications in.

All they had to do was go down one lane of the wide dirt road and leave the shoulder alone. But no, they made them rip up all new land to install the cable.

I don't even remember BLM talking about this project for public comment. Bad deal!

[SkierBob]

^ Proof the BLM is worthless

[windyscotty]

I will not go so far as to say that they are "worthless." Here is their side of the story from Ms. Lovato.

"I appreciate your email regarding the fiber optic line installation and related ground disturbance. We became aware of the situation in early December and as soon as it came to our attention, we asked them to stop construction immediately to avoid any further damage. We have conducted an initial investigation and are working through the the process to correct the problem.


We will be developing restoration standards that will be implemented to deal with the large rocks. The restoration will likely be completed by the contractor in the next few months.


Additionally, if you can provide information related to the historic wagon rut to my staff archaeologist, Greg Haverstock, that would be appreciated. Photo's would be most helpful. Please contact Greg directly at 760-872-5030.


I appreciate your concern and hope you understand that we are working through our administrative process to correct the damage that occurred. Please let me know if you have any further questions."


Bernadette Lovato

This can often happen where somebody pulls a fast one. Still, when I was in the forest circus, we kept a real close eye on the contractors. If that meant that I had to go out there and watch them every minute of the day, I gladly did it. I was not about to let them rip off our land. We made a point of staying on top of it.

In this case the wagon got stuck in the rut.

[windyscotty]

I got a call from the archaeologist. He is upset about what happened out there and described how the county told the construction people to keep moving over out of the road onto the shoulder. They did not like them blocking traffic.

Eventually, the excavator got over so far it was outside of where BLM told them to lay the line. That is when they entered into virgin territory.

So now the contractor is in a lot of trouble. The wagon rut was so obscure that nobody knew about it. I would have had to show them exactly where it was at. The archaeologists did survey the entire line, and it is really long. I can understand how they could miss this little goodie.

I am bummed I wasn't on top of it to see those guys out there and let BLM know before they got to the wagon rut.

That is the story of my life. I am always coming in after the damage is done.

I couldn't save the rut.

[windyscotty]

It is a shame that because the contractor did not take the time to clean up as they went along, it will delay the project.

It is not often the govt. steps in to shut down a project.

I will say in their defense that when they got to the flat, sandy spots along the road, they did a good job. It is not noticeable. So, once they clean things up, everything will be hunky dory, and they can get that sucker completed.

Once they reach Casa Diablo, I have no idea where they are going. They will have to cross the Owens River at some point to get to Mammoth.

I have not been all the way up the road, so I do not know what is up there.

[SkierBob]

I will not go so far as to say that they are "worthless."

Sorry about that. It was the dirtbike rider in me that made me say it.

The fiber crosses the Owens at the Dam then follows Owen's Gorge Road back out to 395, Dave pointed it out to me last week.

[windyscotty]

That's what I thought. I do not know how far they got up the road. I stopped a couple of miles before where the road starts to climb up to Casa Diablo. They easily made it past there.

Up the hill they are going to encounter a lot more rock and tree roots.

I would also say in defense of the contractor that the county should not have pressured them to go off the road into the shoulder to dig their trench. They should have been allowed to stay on the edge of the road all the way. So what if one lane got blocked off! There isn't that much traffic out there except the rock climbers. There would have been enough room to get by. They could have put their waste dirt and rock out toward the shoulder and pulled it back in to cover the trench.

There are two sides to this story.

[SkierBob]

They're somewhere between Casa Diablo and the dam. The gorge rd is marked but they haven't trenched anything yet.

[windyscotty]

I hope they can get this thing resolved, pronto, so they can get over the dam and out onto the straightaway. They blew it, because they could be up there right now going for it.

Can you imagine what the contractor must have thought when he got the cease and desist order? I'll bet his hard hat exploded!

[windyscotty]

Heading north on the Casa Diablo Rd, we can see where the line was laid along the shoulder of the road. The old wagon road crossed here and the rut that was left in the solid Tuff rock is now that crushed debris. The large boulders were not there two months ago, and most of the road looks like a mess.

[SkierBob]

^^^ all in the name of progress

[Sierra Lady]

Lots of D395 work going on up and down 395 in the area yesterday. They are obviously taking advantage of the this dry weather to get more brush cleared and line into the ground.

[windyscotty]

The line is sticking out of the ground and disconnected at the Chalk Bluffs, and until they complete their cleanup, it is a no go.