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Red-legged Frogs - State Amphibian

3/1/2018

Young Red-legged frog at my home pond

Mature Red-legged frog at my home pond, 2011. The red-legged frogs have been breeding and living here for at least eight years.

On June 28, 2014, the CA Red-legged Frog became the official State Amphibian. This came about through the persistent efforts of Save the Frogs! organization and Assemblymember Pérez and his staff; the students, teachers and administrators of Sea View Elementary School in Salton City; all the legislators who voted in support of this bill; and SAVE THE FROGS! supporters who sent in letters of support on behalf of the California Red-Legged Frog!
(Click on the green text to learn much more about their multi-year efforts to make this happen.)

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Crosspollination

12/8/2017

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Monterey County Arts Council Executive Director, Paulette Lynch interviewed me for the Access Monterey Peninsula Your Town program. The focus was Passion for Place and the importance of bringing the arts and sciences together. The more we can cultivate this in our lives, the more creative we can become in our lives. Watershed Arts is all about supporting the cross-pollination of the arts with ecology and vice versa. The images in the video are all aspects of my work from various explorations along the river. You can watch the interview here.

Explore your watershed wherever you live, develop your sense of place and protect what you can!

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Swimming with the Steelhead!

11/5/2017

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I have been exploring the river by walking upstream in the river...and sometimes swimming with the steelhead! With the recent heat waves, it made it an inviting proposition to fully immerse myself in the river. When I did, with goggles on, I found young-of-the-year Carmel River Steelhead there! So invigorating to capture the images and feel refreshed in the cool water.

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Painting at former dam site

8/9/2017

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This was a very complicated painting to execute with all the rocks and wanting to be as accurate as possible and the changing morning light... The river was rearranged quite a bit by the immense flows of water from the winter's rains. Really amazing to see the power of water!

Painted on June 28, 29 and July 3, 2017

Former San Clemente Dam site June 2017 photo © Paola Berthoin

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Thinking Like a Watershed

6/17/2017

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Patrice Vecchione, noted writer and author of Step into Nature, and I took a walk in the Carmel River about a month ago...and from that outing she has written a beautiful article...you can read it here. How can you live your life thinking like a watershed?

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Carmel River at Former Dam site

4/8/2017

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It's been a long while since I have been up at the former dam site. After all the rain we have had, the river has certainly rearranged the boulders that were so carefully engineered in place last year! The intense flow of water during the heavy rains in February washed a lot of soil away to expose the base rock. The flow, at its height, was 7,000 cubic feet per second! In other words, visualize 7000 basketballs passing by at a certain point in one second!! and then another 7000 the next second etc...

I plan to get out and paint there soon!

In May, I will be part of a team of docents for the Carmel River Watershed Conservancy that will take the public to the restoration site to learn about the project and see how the restoration is progressing. The tours will be listed in the MPRPD Let's Go Outdoors program guide coming out soon.

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Another Victory for Fort Ord Wildlands

1/16/2017

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The proposed Eastside Parkway was being planned to go through this land (painting above) and cut down approximately 11,000 oaks and associated habitat. Thanks to Keep Fort Ord Wild/Michael Salerno and Molly Erickson, lawyer, a decision by Judge Lydia Villarreal has determined that "FORA and the county lent "political and financial assistance" to a specific route for a proposed roadway in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). " (excerpt from Monterey County Weekly) You can read the whole article here.

Hopefully the County will see that this decision is correct and that this habitat will be preserved forever.

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January 8th, 2017

1/8/2017

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Carmel River raging...
Check this link out for the San Clemento Rancho facebook page showing videos of the Carmel River raging through the restoration site of where the San Clemente Dam used to be. Time will tell how all the restoration of step pools and native plantings are holding up under such an intense flow...

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Fundraising for Historic Sculpture

1/4/2017

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History has been made for the Carmel River and California now that the San Clemente Dam
is gone.

The image above is a steelhead trout made by Richard Schrader, master blacksmith, and Paola Berthoin from the rebar that was sealed away in dam for ninety-four years. Never has such a sculpture been made like this!

When the dam was coming down, the idea to collect rebar from it to make a commemorative sculpture came to me. With the help of Granite Construction employees, we collected three truck loads of rebar. The metal awaits in my driveway to be forged into an art piece to then be installed at a Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District
parkland in the Carmel River watershed. Through this commemorative sculpture, the public can come to learn about this multi-faceted, monumental project—the largest dam removal in the state of California.

In order for this large sculpture to come into being, I am raising $12,000 for the labor, additional materials as necessary, and an educational sign to accompany the sculpture. The small sculpture above took thirty plus hours of our time alone.

With your generosity, we look forward to creating this historic sculpture to be unveiled in the Fall of 2017! Also, you can make your suggestions of what the rebar can be turned into by making a suggestion when sending in your donation. See suggestions below. Donors will be recognized on the sign that accompanies the sculpture.

Your donation can be made to the Carmel Valley Forum. Please return it to Paola Berthoin, 25440 Telaraña Way, Carmel, CA 93923. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at 624-9467 or through this website contact page.

The Carmel Valley Forum is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization EIN # EIN # 01-0696867. They are acting as the fiscal sponsor for the project.

Art is not alone for the 'talented', nor is it a luxury for humanity." Pedros J. de Lemos

It would be inspirational and educational to see this rebar from the San Clemente Dam turned into....

☐ A fish
☐ A bird with fish
☐ A mobile of different animals of the watershed
☐ A bench in the form of a fish

☐ Or something else?
_______________________

Donations at whatever level works for you!
☐ $50.
☐ $75.
☐ $150.
☐ $250.
☐ $500.
☐ $1000.
☐ Other ____________

Thank you!

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This is Oak Community

11/1/2016

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UPDATE to this post
The Monterey Downs project is dead. The developer could not follow through when it came to indemnify the city of Seaside. The developer was not willing to put any more money towards the proposal.

The land could still be developed and a parkway road is planned for part of the land which would take down 11,000 oaks and associated habitat. That decision has yet to be finalized by the Fort Ord Reuse Authority. Landwatch Monterey County is involved in future steps regarding this land. Go to their website to learn more.

This photo montage received an Honorable Mention in the Seaside City Hall/ Avery Gallery art show. This land is the land in question regarding the Monterey Downs Development. It would all be bulldozed. This is an historic landscape of over 500 acres that we cannot lose! The Seaside City Council will be taking the vote on November 10 on whether or not to take the next step to approve this monstrous and devastating project.

Here is the long poem that is on the banner:

This is Oak Community

Ant to bobcat
Fairy shrimp to mountain lion
Manzanita to many-limbed oak,
twisting to the sky, turning to sun,
stretching with the wind.
Mule deer browsing, lichen swaying,
enriching gentle coastal land.
This is Oak Community.

Infinite network,
flitting, singing, calling birds.
Yellow, gold, red,
Iridescent blue.
Fuchsia, white and black.
Towhee, sparrow, warbler, vireo,
Common poorwill.
Coyote, badger, co-operative hunters
Ground squirrel, Western fence lizard,
Coast horned lizard.
Pacific tree frog, California legless lizard.
Blending with their surroundings,
many residing in the cool earth.
Monterey dusky-footed woodrat,
home and village creator extraordinaire.
Monterey ornate shrew, 1200 heart beats a minute--
Big-eared Townsend’s bat, pallid bat,
dining on multitudes of insects in the night sky.
Relationships, delicate as
the spider webs bushtits use
to build their nests.
This is Oak Community.

Sweetness of manzanita, nectar of honeysuckle,
hummingbird zipping.
Lupin and ceanothus, perfumed pungency.
West coast lady, fiery skipper, red admiral and monarch.
Honey bee, bumble bee, native bee, swallowtail.
Shooting star, buttercup, tidy tip,
poppies and pollen dust.
Scent of black sage, Eastwood’s golden fleece.
Lingering autumn, garnet red leaves of three.
Winter rains, decomposing plant matter,
Mychorrhizal partnership, Kingdom Fungi!
This is Oak Community.

Tender toes traversing
spiky leaves and soft soil.
Acorns setting roots, red shoots pushing through.
California Tiger salamander, now reaching vernal pond,
one purpose.
Eggs like pearls, cycle of life,
Forever circling,
As the red-shouldered hawk and white-tailed kite
spirals around you,
This --
is Oak Community.

Paola Berthoin, 2016

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Author
Paola Berthoin is the designer/creator/publisher of Passion for Place: Community Reflections on the Carmel River Watershed. Her focus is inspiring and educating people about the natural world through the arts. She is available to design your book, create (illustrate and write) interpretive materials for your watershed community, consult for healthy gardens, paint a commissioned painting of your favorite place in the Carmel River Watershed and beyond!

When we allow wildness, our own spirit, to flourish within, we can also respect and allow nature’s spirit, the wild outside, to exist.
- Paola Fiorelle Berthoin

Blog photographs, land art, and text © Paola Berthoin, unless otherwise noted.
All Rights Reserved.

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