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We just finished our first summer membership campaign at Lookout Santa Cruz, which helped provide approximately 125 backpacks filled with school supplies to local students as part of United Way Santa Cruz County’s annual Stuff the Bus school supply drive.

Lookout’s Double Giveback campaign, which ran from July 13 through Aug. 3, encouraged community members to support both independent local journalism and local students. Lookout donated 10% of new membership proceeds during the campaign to help provide school supplies to children across Santa Cruz County.

The 125 backpacks supported through Lookout’s campaign were part of a much larger community effort. On Aug. 1, over 400 volunteers gathered at Kaiser Permanente Arena for United Way’s Stuff the Bus packing event, filling an estimated 2,800 backpacks with school supplies for students from transitional kindergarten through high school.

As of Aug. 7, the Santa Cruz County Office of Education had already distributed 2,219 of those backpacks, with additional distribution days and direct pickup appointments continuing in the days ahead.

Bringing local journalism and community giving together

At Lookout, we believe being a local news organization means more than reporting on the community. It means being part of it.

That’s what inspired the Double Giveback campaign with United Way Santa Cruz County. For several weeks, our membership campaign centered on a simple idea: supporting local journalism while helping a local student start the school year with the supplies they need.

For many families, the cost of getting ready for a new school year can be a significant financial burden. Backpacks, notebooks, pencils, binders and other classroom essentials can quickly add up.

Stuff the Bus helps ease that burden by providing school supplies to students experiencing hardship, including children facing homelessness, housing insecurity and other challenges.

United Way’s goal this year was to provide 2,500 backpacks to students throughout the county. The Aug. 1 packing event surpassed that goal, with an estimated 2,800 backpacks prepared for distribution.

The scale of the effort reflects what can happen when local organizations, businesses, volunteers and community members come together around a shared need.

A community that shows up

Thank you to everyone who made the campaign possible – our new and existing members, matching donors, sponsors, United Way Santa Cruz County, the volunteers who showed up to Stuff the Bus and everyone who contributed to making sure local students have what they need to start the school year ready to learn.

We’re proud to have contributed backpacks and attention to this countywide effort, and grateful to be part of a community that continues to show up for its students.

The post Lookout + Stuff the Bus: Giving back to Santa Cruz County students appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

A UC Santa Cruz student has been identified as the victim killed early Thursday when a vehicle carrying two people crashed into the ocean off of West Cliff Drive at Steamer Lane. 

UCSC officials confirmed that university police were called to the scene to support the incident. University spokesperson Scott Hernandez-Jason said the Santa Cruz Police Department is investigating.

“We were heartbroken to learn that the victim was a UC Santa Cruz student,” he said in a statement. “Our deepest condolences go out to the student’s family and friends during this difficult time. We are providing support resources to those affected by this tragedy.”

UCSC hasn’t released the name of the victim, and the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office did not return Lookout’s request for comment by publication time. 

At around 12:50 a.m. Thursday, Santa Cruz Regional 911 received a call and units from several agencies responded, including all five units from the Santa Cruz Fire Department, SCPD and a battalion chief from the Scotts Valley Fire Department. 

The rescue crews found one victim who escaped from the car and said another victim was still inside. Four rescue swimmers extracted the second victim, the UCSC student, who was transported to a medical facility and passed away. The first victim who had escaped sustained minor injuries. 

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.

The post UC Santa Cruz student died in Thursday crash off West Cliff Drive appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

In July, Felton Fire property owners voted for an assessment expected to raise $1.7 million annually. (Amaya Edwards — Catchlight/Santa Cruz Local)

FELTON >> Property owners within the Felton Fire Protection District on July 24 voted to approve an assessment to provide stable funding to the financially troubled district. Assessments are a type of voter-approved payment made by property owners to fund a specific government benefit, like road repair or fire protection.

Felton Fire was facing an uncertain future, with trouble keeping enough local volunteer firefighters to provide service. If the assessment failed, leaders said they would have considered dissolving the district and being absorbed by another fire agency.

The assessment, approved through a Proposition 218 process, is priced based on the type of property and its location. A typical single-family home in the Felton Fire District will be assessed about $700 annually. 

Of 1,181 ballots submitted, 825 were in favor of the assessment. Votes for the assessment were weighted based on the amount each property owner would pay. After votes were weighted, the assessment had 67.9% approval, well above the 50% weighted approval it needed to pass.

Change is rapidly coming to the small district, with new hires, new oversight and a competitive election for the Felton Fire Board of Directors.

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The assessment is expected to bring in nearly $1.7 million annually, with the first installment expected in November, Interim Fire Chief Isaac Blum said. District leaders are already moving forward with new hires promised during district leaders’ campaign for the assessment. 

The assessment allocates money for a full-time chief, three full-time fire captains and six full-time firefighters to ensure that crews responding to fires have at least three members. For years, the district has relied almost entirely on volunteers paid a stipend for each 12-hour shift, and responding crews sometimes have had two members.  

After interviewing a round of candidates for the chief position, the Felton Fire Board of Directors reported in a board meeting Aug. 10 that their top choice, former Monterey Fire Department Division Chief Stewart Roth, turned down an offer to lead the district because of his family’s difficulty with relocation. The board voted to re-open the position to new applicants who may be attracted by the stable funding provided by the newly approved assessment. 

Blum, the interim chief, said before the assessment election that he planned to vacate the chief role at the end of the summer. At Monday’s meeting, he said he would stay on through a second round of interviews for a permanent chief. Blum has said in an interview that although he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of leading Felton Fire full time, the move would represent a large pay cut from his current position at Nasa Ames Research Center at Moffett Federal Airfield.

One fire captain was hired before the assessment passed, and two more will be hired as soon as the district can find qualified candidates, he said.

Blum said he also plans to bring on volunteer firefighters to supplement the paid positions. Fifteen county residents, including four who live within Felton Fire, have applied as potential volunteers, he said.

A final draft of the district budget for the upcoming fiscal year, including the new positions, is set to be discussed at the next board meeting Sept. 14.

District oversight

The Prop. 218 assessment calls for a citizen panel to oversee spending, but it’s still unclear what shape the committee will take. The group could be legally independent of the fire district and completely self-governing. The board could also create a formal commission, which would be bound by the legal structure and transparency rules of the Brown Act. 

Board members decided to discuss the structure of the oversight committee at the Sept. 14 board meeting.

Board election

Three positions on the board of directors are up for grabs in the Nov. 3 general election, including two full-term seats and one short-term seat. The short-term seat, which would expire in 2028, is currently held by Craig Winters, who directors appointed to the position in July 2025. Winter is not running to finish out that term. 

Instead, Winters is challenging directors Norm Crandall and Jim Anderson, who are running for reelection for a four-year seat. Bill Finlayson is also running for one of the full-term seats. The top two vote-getters between Crandall, Anderson, Winters and Finlayson would win the two seats.

Rich Alter, a major advocate in the campaign for the 218 assessment, has filed alongside John Payne for the short-term seat.

The board sets the district budget, hires the chief and helps set policies for the district.

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The post With new funds, Felton Fire looks to hire appeared first on Santa Cruz Local.

In this week’s episode, John and Juan will discuss some of the new changes and other updates for both the Pacific Coast Athletic and Santa Cruz Coast Athletic leagues.

Then they’ll take a minute to chat with Watsonville native Ruben Ibarra, who is having a blast playing minor league baseball in Tennessee.  

And finally, the guys will cap off the show with some prep football, including the first top 10 rankings of the fall season.

We’ll have all this and more on… the Cover 3 Sports Podcast.

For the first time since the Pacific Coast Athletic League was formed in 2018, Aptos High will not be a member of the Gabilan Division—the highest of the four tiers within the league.

After going winless in league play, they were relegated to the Mission North.

It’s considered one of the two “B” divisions in the PCAL, but senior defensive lineman Ben Martin knows better than to underestimate any opponent, including those the Mariners are familiar with.

“We’re gonna take it one game at a time,” he said. “We’re just gonna play our best against every team and not expect them to go down without a fight.” 

Senior halfback and defensive back River Cook said the 2026 campaign is a proving point for Aptos, which finished with a 1-9 overall record last season.

“We have a standard to live up to, so we’re definitely gonna do better things this year,” he said.

Cook, who won a Central Coast Section championship with the boys soccer team, is a three-year varsity player for the football program. He had a walk-off field goal that gave the Mariners a 23-22 win over Alvarez in 2024.

Now as members of the Mission North Division, Cook is looking forward to resurfacing some rivalries with former Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League members Monte Vista Christian, San Lorenzo Valley, Scotts Valley, St. Francis and Watsonville.

“We’ve been playing the same teams for a while,” Cook said. “So it’s going to be cool to see just the way different teams play and the different systems that they run, and see how we can adjust to those.” 

Martin, who has been nearly unblockable in practice, is very athletic for his size at 6-foot-3, 237 pounds. 

“We’ve been working all off-season a lot, and I’m just excited to be in pads right now, getting to actually hit someone. It’s really fun,” he said. 

The Mariners have a sturdy set of returning players, including senior wide receiver and defensive back Ryan Murphy. The lacrosse standout is an explosive athlete with great hands. 

Aptos head coach Zach Hewett said opponents will have a problem covering Murphy, along with some of the other senior leaders on the team.

That includes lineman Eli Frye and two-way starter Preston Carvalho, who is capable of using his speed for break-away runs as a halfback or putting pressure on the quarterback as an edge rusher. 

“The thing that I really enjoy about them is they’re a good group of guys,” Hewett said. “They get it done in the classroom, there’s a lot of multi-sport athletes, guys that are really important to other parts of our campus. They’ve been hungry for success after how rough last year was.”

Leading the way in the junior class are Ivan Cortes, Joshua Gonzalez, JJ Martinez and Jared Verdia, who was named the new starting quarterback.

Hewett said Verdia has a strong arm that can get the ball downfield, and he makes good decisions while running the Delaware Wing-T offense well.

It’s an offense that former Aptos head coach Randy Blankenship perfected, brought it with him and won four CCS titles in 2013, ‘14, ‘15 and ‘18. 

Hewett continues to use the Wing-T because he feels it’s good for their personnel. He said it can include anywhere from five to eight carriers per game, making Aptos a hard opponent to prepare for in this era of shotgun offenses.

“We carry a heavy playbook, and there’s a lot of stuff that takes a lot of time and reps to work on,” Hewett said. “But the advantage to it is that there’s not a lot of people doing it the way that we’re doing it.” 

Cook added their entire offense is based around setting defensive players up to bite on the fake in order to open up something else.

“We have different plays that we’ll bait a defensive player to bite on,” he said. “And once we see that hole open up, hit that hole, and it could be a 50-yard gain, big play.”

Martin said the Wing-T offense is designed to be so fast-paced that by the time they hike the ball it can catch the defense off guard at times.

“It’s a lot of run blocking, so you get really good at that, and maybe get a little more pancakes,” Martin said.

Cortes is one of the hardest workers on the team who could potentially be a two-way starter as an offensive guard or linebacker. Gonzalez is wreaking havoc in the trenches as one of several athletic defensive lineman Hewett is excited to have.

Martinez is proving why he’s an instinctual, playmaking safety and a tough runner in the halfback position by getting tons of reps during practice, and sophomore Xander Gonzalez continues to turn heads as a hardworking explosive athlete with game-breaking speed.

Aptos will again line up in a 4-2-5 defense that will be bolstered by the defensive line, which should be athletic and powerful with good depth behind them. 

“I think having a really good front four is really important because not only will they get the tackles, but it really sets up if they’re doing their job for the linebackers to get their tackles,” Martin said. “Having that front four can overpower a whole team.”

There’s tons of athleticism in the linebacker and secondary units, as well. Cook said the defensive backs have been focusing a lot more on pass coverage as they prepare for teams that are pass-heavy.

“As the DB [defensive back], you’re the widest man out. So you’re really focused on deciding whether you take the second receiver out or if you take the number one deep,” Cook said. “You just got to be smart on who you take and make sure you always have a backup person to take the other man.” 

Aptos kicks off the season with a trio of home games starting with The King’s Academy on Aug. 28, followed by former Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League foe Soquel on Sept. 4. Both games are slated to begin at 7:30pm.

The Mariners will host Soledad on Sept. 11, then set sail to King City on Sept. 18, followed by one more home game against Alvarez on Sept. 25 to cap off the non-league portion of their schedule.

“We’re consistently getting better,” Hewett said. “Some days are really good days. Some days it’s like, okay, we got a little bit better today, but we’re consistently getting better.”

Aptos High football 2026 schedule

Aug. 28: The King’s Academy, 7:30pm

Sept. 4: Soquel, 7:30pm

Sept. 11: Soledad, 7:30pm

Sept. 18: at King City, 7:30pm

Sept. 25: Alvarez, 7:30pm

Oct. 3: at Monte Vista Christian*, 7:30pm

Oct. 8: Watsonville*, 7pm

Oct. 24: at St. Francis*, 1:30pm

Oct. 30: vs. Scotts Valley* at Harbor High, 7pm

Nov. 6: San Lorenzo Valley*, 7pm

*PCAL Mission North Division game

#tdi_1 .td-doubleSlider-2 .td-item1 { background: url(https://pajaronian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/PAJ2633-Aptos-football-2026-preview-WEB-2-80x60.jpg) 0 0 no-repeat; } #tdi_1 .td-doubleSlider-2 .td-item2 { background: url(https://pajaronian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/PAJ2633-Aptos-football-2026-preview-WEB-3-80x60.jpg) 0 0 no-repeat; } #tdi_1 .td-doubleSlider-2 .td-item3 { background: url(https://pajaronian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/PAJ2633-Aptos-football-2026-preview-WEB-5-80x60.jpg) 0 0 no-repeat; } #tdi_1 .td-doubleSlider-2 .td-item4 { background: url(https://pajaronian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/PAJ2633-Aptos-football-2026-preview-WEB-4-80x60.jpg) 0 0 no-repeat; } #tdi_1 .td-doubleSlider-2 .td-item5 { background: url(https://pajaronian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/PAJ2633-Aptos-football-2026-preview-WEB-6-80x60.jpg) 0 0 no-repeat; } #tdi_1 .td-doubleSlider-2 .td-item6 { background: url(https://pajaronian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/PAJ2633-Aptos-football-2026-preview-WEB-1-80x60.jpg) 0 0 no-repeat; } 1 of 6 The Aptos High football team partakes in blocking drills during practice as they prepare for the upcoming 2026 fall campaign. (Juan Reyes/The Pajaronian) Aptos High football head coach Zach Hewett is entering his third year with the program. (Juan Reyes/The Pajaronian) The Aptos High football team is expected to run the Wing-T offense during the 2026 fall season. (Juan Reyes/The Pajaronian) The Aptos High football team hits the practice field to prepare for the upcoming 2026 fall campaign. (Juan Reyes/The Pajaronian) Former Aptos High football head coach Bill Garrison paid a visit to watch the Mariner football team practice on Aug. 12. In 2003, Garrison led Aptos to its first Central Coast Section title in the program's history. (Juan Reyes/The Pajaronian) Aptos High junior Jared Verdia was named the starting quarterback for the Mariner football team for the upcoming 2026 fall campaign. (Juan Reyes/The Pajaronian)

This post is updated throughout the day to reflect the latest incidents. It was last updated at 6:31 a.m..

Here’s what’s happening on the roads this morning…

▼︎ new incidents

Road incidents as of 6:30 a.m. on August 14

• A traffic crash happened at Sr129 and Lakeview Rd in Watsonville / Pajaro at 5:37 a.m. today. A car went off the road and landed on its roof in a ditch about 5 feet from the road. The westbound lane was blocked by fire crews. It’s not known how badly anyone was hurt, but emergency medical services were on the way.
   
• Defective traffic signals were reported at the intersection of Crg12 and Railroad Ave. in Watsonville / Pajaro at 2:18 a.m. today. Multiple agencies were contacted about repairs, but liability issues have delayed fixing the problem. There is no estimated time for when it will be resolved.
   
• A traffic hazard was reported in the westbound lane at 21426 Bear Creek Rd in San Lorenzo Valley today. CAL FIRE was on the way to the scene.
   
• There is one-way traffic on Highway 9 at Cascade Avenue in San Lorenzo Valley because of ongoing work. This closure will last until August 31 at 7:01 a.m.
   
• Alternating lanes are closed on Highway 9 at Riverdale Park in San Lorenzo Valley because of bridge work. The closure is expected to last until 6:59 a.m. on April 30, 2027.
   

Disclosure: Traffic incidents are partially generated by artificial intelligence. We are constantly working to improve the accuracy and quality of our AI-generated content. However, there may still be errors or inaccuracies. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.

The post Friday morning traffic: Crash blocks SR129 westbound lane; signals out at CRG12/Railroad appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Social media is buzzing with neighborhood coyote sightings, but local wildlife experts say it’s just business as usual. Here’s a quick, expert-backed guide on how to coexist with our four-legged neighbors this summer and beyond.

Summer theater might be winding down, but the curtain isn’t closing anytime soon. Santa Cruz County’s stages are packed with comedies, dramas, musicals, opera, holiday favorites and a few surprises, giving audiences more reasons than ever to head to the theater.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for its newsletters.

Lawmakers on Thursday killed a controversial plan that could have allowed grizzly bears to one day return to California.

The Assembly Appropriations Committee spiked Inglewood Democratic Sen. Laura Richardson’s Senate Bill 1305. The measure would have tasked the California Department of Fish and Wildlife with creating a “roadmap that evaluates whether, and under what conditions, reintroduction of the grizzly bear is feasible and advisable.” 

As is typical with the Legislature’s appropriations committees, lawmakers didn’t discuss the bill, nor did they take public testimony before the committee’s chairperson, Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, announced the decision.

Grizzlies once lived across most of California. As many as 10,000 might have roamed before the Gold Rush. They were so prevalent that when California settlers tried to form their own nation, they called it the Bear Flag Republic. A grizzly bear is memorialized on California’s flag. 

Settlers systematically exterminated the animals. They were gone by the 1920s, leaving the smaller black bear as California’s only surviving native bear species.

Two Native American tribes consponsored the bill, and several animal welfare and environmental groups supported it. They argued that bringing the second largest land predator back to America’s most populated state would right an ecological wrong and help restore California’s degraded ecosystem.

Opponents included ranchers, hunting associations and rural communities. They argued California is far too populated with people to sustain another apex predator. Rural communities are already overwhelmed with conflicts with mountain lions, black bears and wolves that attack livestock and wander into their towns, opponents said.

The measure set aside no funding for the study, but it allowed for a future Legislature or an outside group to do so.

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.

The post California lawmakers kill grizzly bear reintroduction bill appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Hashimoto family did not oppose school named in his honor

As the only surviving member of the Mas Hashimoto family, I need to clarify what was written in the Aug. 7-13, 2026 issue of the Pajaronian article titled “Cesar Chavez Middle School To Be Renamed.”  The following sentence concerns me: “Support for that name (Tagami, Hashimoto Middle School) was greatly diminished after the board discussed that the Hashimoto family was not interested in having a school named after him.” I never personally made that statement to the PVUSD School Board, Committee of Community Members or the Pajaronian because I was not contacted by these groups. When I was out of town, I received an email from School Board member Gabe Medina a day before the Board would take a final vote on renaming the school. He asked how I felt about renaming the Middle School that would include Mas’s name. This was my response sent on Thursday, Aug 6: “I have been out of town since Tuesday morning, and I just read your email now. It is too late for my response. I was wondering why no one contacted me about this.  I found out about this agenda item from reading our local newspaper. I do not know what the final vote was but I assume a decision has been made.”  

Throughout our combined 70 years of teaching students of Watsonville and Pajaro, and throughout our retirement years, Mas and I continued our concern, support, and interest in the PVUSD.  I do appreciate the positive comments about Mas expressed by Daniel Dodge Jr. and Gabe Medina published in our local newspapers. A few friends and I have discussed that if this PVUSD agenda item did not have controversial circumstances, financial concerns, and the possibility that this Middle School might be closed in future years, the renaming of the School would have been a celebrated honor.  

Marcia Hashimoto 

Watsonville

•••

Taxes are not the answer

Santa Cruz County is already one of the most expensive places to live in America. Families struggle with high housing costs, expensive groceries, rising utility bills, and the highest gas prices in the nation. Yet local Democratic leaders continue to propose higher taxes instead of finding ways to make life more affordable.

Now voters may be asked to approve two separate half-cent sales tax increases, one for county government and another for Santa Cruz METRO. If both pass, shoppers could face one of the highest local sales tax rates in California.

Sales taxes fall hardest on working families, seniors on fixed incomes, and small businesses. Every trip to the grocery store, every school supply purchase, and every household necessity becomes more expensive.

Before asking taxpayers for more money, county leaders should prove they are spending existing tax dollars wisely. The government should focus on core services, eliminate waste, and live within its means—just as families must do every day.

Enough is enough. Santa Cruz residents need tax relief, not another bill at the checkout counter.

Mike Lelieur

Pleasure Point

•••

Rail plans incomplete

Letters to the Sentinel attest that no one knows what the rail plan is. At this week’s RTC meeting it was pointed out the RTC program calls for Zero Emission Passenger rail. They have requested that Caltrans replace the two Aptos bridges with heavy freight-bearing ones. The Capitola Bridge will require extensive upgrades just to do passenger rail service.

The RTC and the county board own this one. What is it: heavy freight, passenger rail, or banking the rails? Make it clear what the plan is. Are they afraid the county will have to return state and federal money?

The RTC is attempting to take parking spaces in Aptos. Their estimate of 100 passengers in Aptos will not be met with a handful of existing parking spots. A garage is needed. Garages are also needed in La Selva and Capitola. Plans for garages were left out of the original plan. The added expense would have killed this program.

The RTC and the County Supervisors have some explaining to do.

Bill Beecher

Aptos

A woman died early Thursday morning after the car in which she was a passenger plunged off of West Cliff Dive and landed upside down in the sea. 

According to Santa Cruz Police, the car, with a male driver and the victim as a passenger, shot off of the pavement at 12:50am just east of the Abbott Memorial Lighthouse at Steamers Lane. 

Witnesses told emergency dispatchers that the car was fully submerged. 

Eventually a man emerged from the wreckage and crashing waves. while the woman remained trapped in the car.

Santa Cruz Police and Fire rushed to the scene and closed off a large swath of West Cliff Drive to allow rescuers a clear path to the scene.

Four rescue swimmers from Santa Cruz Fire entered the ocean and removed the second victim from the submerged vehicle.  The man was taken to a local hospital.

The woman pulled from the vehicle was taken to a trauma center, where she was later pronounced dead. The male driver who self-extracted suffered minor injuries.

The incident is still under investigation. Santa Cruz Police did not release the victim’s name.

Police officers from UC Santa Cruz were called to the scene of the crash because the victim was a student, university spokesman Scott Hernandez-Jason said.

“We were heartbroken to learn that the victim was a UC Santa Cruz student,” he stated in an email. “Our deepest condolences go out to the student’s family and friends during this difficult time. We are providing support resources to those affected by this tragedy.”

The Timber fire tearing through Big Sur continued to grow on Thursday, as state parks have been closed and hundreds have been forced to leave zones under evacuation orders.

The fire, first reported on Sunday morning, had spread to 4,245 acres as of 1:31 p.m. Thursday. Containment has reached 7%, up from 5% Wednesday, as a thick marine layer provides cooler, moister conditions.

A California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection incident management team, a specialized group of emergency personnel that provides leadership and coordination during complicated incidents, has assumed control of the fire. Local fire crews are joining the fight as well, with the Central Fire District of Santa Cruz County sending a team that includes a battalion chief, fire captain and three firefighters.

Five zones were under evacuation orders, and another five were under evacuation warnings. Monterey County spokesperson Nicholas Pasculli said that within the zones under evacuation orders, 503 people were evacuated, according to Cal Fire. Of those evacuated, about 225 were people who would be sleeping in the zones.

A map showing areas of Big Sur under evacuation orders and warnings amid the Timber fire. Credit: Cal Fire

Numerous state parks within the Big Sur area are closed. Those include Point Sur State Historic Park, Andrew Molera State Park, Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. A section of Highway 1 between Point Sur and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is closed as well, aside from local residents and employees. Pasculli told Lookout that the Henry Miller Memorial Library is also closed, as well as private campgrounds within the area.

Pasculli added that no county-specific recreational events are canceled at this time, including Monterey Car Week, which is running through Sunday. However, Car Week’s finale, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, considered the most prestigious car show in the world, will be rerouted, but is still occurring.

National Weather Service meteorologist Roger Gass told Lookout that winds are likely to stay mild into the weekend, and the marine layer is poised to stick around through the weekend as well. That means favorable firefighting conditions could hold in the coming days.

“The marine layer deepened overnight to around 2,200 feet. We’re forecasting it to deepen even more to about 2,500 feet tonight and continue through the weekend,” he said. “You may struggle to see clearing outside of the Santa Clara Valley.”

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.

The post Timber fire update: Big Sur blaze grows to 4,245 acres; now 7% contained appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Following the resignation of a longtime district board member, Santa Cruz City Schools is asking the public for interested candidates to fill the open seat.

A crew from Auto Care Towing of Watsonville hooks up a large motorboat to a flatbed truck Aug. 9 in Moss Landing after the rig washed ashore. The boat owner said he ran out of gas about a mile and a half from Moss Landing Harbor. That’s when the ocean tides took over and washed his boat, called Sea Captain, onto the beach. It had to be dragged along the sand over a mile before being housed onto the flatbed. No injuries were reported.

A man died Aug. 6 after his car veered off of San Juan Road and struck a tree.

The California Highway Patrol said officers responded to a traffic crash on San Juan Road, east of Tarpey Road just after 10pm.

Preliminary investigation indicates a 25-year-old male from Royal Oaks was driving a Lexus sedan westbound on San Juan Road east of Tarpey Road at a high speed. For reasons still under investigation, the Lexus shot off the roadway and crashed into a tree.

The driver, who was driving alone, was pronounced dead at the scene. No name has been released.

It is unknown if alcohol or drugs were a factor.

Anyone with information about this crash is asked to call the CHP at 831.770.8000.

Limpa means loaf in Swedish, so this recipe is basically a  loaf of Swedish rye bread. As far as baking bread goes, it’s a pretty easy recipe. With orange rind and molasses added, it yields a nicely flavored bread that is good with butter, sandwiches and toast. In Sweden it is commonly made around the winter holidays.

The recipe is from a soft-covered cookbook from 1982, “How to Cook With Herbs, Spices & Flavorings” by Doris Townsend. It is one of my favorites as evidenced by the fact that it is falling apart. I have modified the recipe slightly by refrigerating the dough for 24 hours. 

If you like baking bread, you know the importance of having a ceramic bowl that is dedicated to yeast breads. For some reason, the dough rises easier. 

Salt is important in bringing out the flavors of spices and herbs, but don’t overdo it. You can buy bulk rye flour, as well as all-purpose flour, in bulk at Staff of Life. 

Recipe

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

2 cups warm water

1/4–1/3 cup brown sugar

1 to 2 tablespoons molasses

1/4 cup melted butter or vegetable oil

3 teaspoons freshly grated orange peel

1 tablespoon salt

2 1/4 cups medium rye flour

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a 1 cup measure, stir yeast into ½ cup warm water. Add 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Stir until yeast is dissolved and let sit about 10 minutes until bubbly.

In a large bread bowl combine remaining 1 1/2 cups of warm water, brown sugar, molasses, and orange peel. Stir in yeast mixture and rye flour. Beat well. Add 1 cup of the all-purpose flour and mix well. Cover and let sit in a warm place for a few hours.

Stir in salt and melted butter/vegetable oil, and mix well. 

Start adding the rest of the all-purpose flour and knead for about 8 minutes until you have a soft mass that hardly sticks to the surface. The dough should bounce back when you stick your finger in it. Put into a butter–or oiled–bread bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. The dough will have doubled in size by then. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the dough on a floured counter and divide into two. Shape into oblong loaves and place both onto a cookie tin. Make half-inch deep slashes every 1 1/2 inches.

When oven reaches 350 degrees, bake the bread for about 50 minutes. You will know it is done when it sounds hollow when tapped.

The Timber Fire in Big Sur has now charred 4,245 acres and has led to evacuations and the closure of Highway 1 in the area.

Residents along the Highway 1 corridor from Partington Creek to Pheneger Creek and to the east remain under evacuation orders.

Flames surged early Wednesday around Partington Ridge and Coast Ridge Road on the southern flank of the fire, the U.S. Forest Service said. 

According to CAL FIRE 503 structures are threatened but no structures have been reported damaged and no injuries have been reported. As of Wednesday morning the fire, which started Aug. 9, was 7% contained.
More than 900 personnel are fighting the blaze that includes 36 engines, 26 hand crews, six water tenders, seven dozers and six helicopters. 

Highway 1 is closed from mile post marker 45.1 (just south of the Big Sur Bakery) at the north end and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park Vista Point (mile post marker 31) at the south end. There is no re-entry into zones that are under evacuation orders. 

“Big Sur and its residents are no stranger to fire,” said Matt Harris, Fire Chief.  “Over the past several weeks, the Pacific Northwest has been facing massive impacts due to wildfire and drawing down Federal and even our own State resources to help. We must remain patient with each other and the process and plan ahead as best as possible for evacuations both north and south of the fire.”

With forecasts pointing toward a potentially wetter-than-average winter, local flood officials are moving ahead with nearly $740,000 in contracts and additional spending to clear vegetation, remove sediment and strengthen portions of the Pajaro River levee system.

The Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency board unanimously approved the preparations Wednesday as officials cautioned that an emerging El Niño could bring significant rainfall this winter. 

While the weather pattern does not guarantee heavy rains on the Central Coast, Executive Director Mark Strudley said forecasts have become reliable enough that the agency should spend money now to reduce flood risks before storms arrive.

“We’re going to hope for the best, but we need to be prepared for the worst,” Strudley said.

The work includes additional vegetation removal along several miles of the Pajaro River, sediment removal from Salsipuedes Creek and engineering for new seepage blankets and berms along vulnerable portions of the Monterey County side of the levee system.

The largest expenditure is a $586,393 increase to the agency’s ongoing contract with Atlas Tree Service. Of that, $335,059 is for baseline vegetation work, while another $251,294 is optional. The amendment brings the total value of the existing contract to no more than $915,593.

Strudley said crews plan a “pretty comprehensive clearing out of material,” particularly younger, dense vegetation that can impede floodwaters. Work generally avoids the low-flow channel and large heritage trees, he said.

“It’s really going to be limited by money more than anything else,” Strudley said.

The agency is also moving toward removing sediment that has accumulated in Salsipuedes Creek near Highway 152. Vegetation has grown atop deposits in the channel, and Strudley said the area periodically needs to be cleared.

PRFMA has authorized a contract of up to $63,000 with Environmental Science Associates, roughly half of which will pay for emergency permitting for that work. The remainder will be held in reserve in case additional emergency permitting is necessary during the winter.

The board also accepted an $88,650 contract with Sacramento-based engineering company Wood Rodgers to analyze where additional fortification should be constructed along the Pajaro River levee.

That could include seepage blankets, which place additional material along the outside of the levee, and seepage berms, which add weight to help stabilize it while allowing water to seep through without carrying away soil that could weaken the structure.

PRFMA completed similar work in 2024, spending about $1.6 million to rebuild slopes and restore the original design height along roughly 3,000 feet of levee on the Monterey County side, including near the site of the March 2023 breach. The agency now wants to continue that work downstream.

Strudley said Wood Rodgers’ analysis will help determine where seepage berms should go. Previous breach locations appear to correlate with places where the historic river channel crossed the levee, he said, making those areas possible candidates for additional fortification.

The preparations come amid growing attention to El Niño conditions in the Pacific Ocean.

Strudley cautioned that El Niño is a measure of unusually warm surface water in the equatorial Pacific, not a prediction of rainfall itself. The Central Coast also sits between areas where El Niño’s effects are more statistically predictable, making local forecasts particularly uncertain.

That uncertainty was evident during the winter of 2022-23, when a series of atmospheric rivers battered the region and the Pajaro River levee breached despite La Niña conditions at the time.

Still, Strudley said modeling is trending toward a strong El Niño and a wetter-than-average winter, potentially including the Central Coast.

Board member Luis Alejo said the possibility warrants aggressive preparation. He also called for PRFMA and its member agencies to ask Gov. Gavin Newsom for an emergency declaration and executive order that could ease some state environmental restrictions on work in rivers and streams.

Alejo said similar action following the 2023 floods helped agencies perform vegetation removal while complying with protections for sensitive habitat and species. He also urged the state to provide financial assistance to communities preparing for possible flooding.

Strudley said PRFMA would coordinate on such a letter, while noting that federal permitting requirements would remain.

The agency currently has about $4.5 million in capital reserves. Strudley said some of that money could pay for additional levee fortification and the optional vegetation work, but cautioned against spending too much before winter.

“We do want to have a reserve available” for emergency flood fighting, Strudley said, adding that he is uncertain how much assistance could be available from FEMA or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“I do think it’s worth digging into that to invest on the front end of this year ahead of what could be a potentially wet winter,” he said.

Anglers crowd the deck of SS Palo Alto concrete ship at Seacliff State Beach on May 31, 1954.

Santa Cruz County will test steam as an alternative to chemical soil fumigation on about 25 acres of Pajaro Valley farmland under a $175,000 state-funded pilot project set to begin this fall.

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation is funding the project, which will be led by the Santa Cruz County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office. 

Agricultural Commissioner Dave Sanford said the county is working with about five growers, although participation is still being finalized.

At least two of the likely sites are near schools, including fields near McQuiddy Elementary School, and another ranch is near Holohan Road and the Pajaro Valley Unified School District offices. Sanford said selecting fields near schools and other sensitive sites was an intentional part of the project.

“That was sort of the goal of this as well, to highlight those sensitive sites and the ag-urban interface that we have in Watsonville,” Sanford said.

The on-the-ground steam treatments are expected to begin in September and could extend into early October, roughly the same period when conventional berry growers typically fumigate fields before planting.

Steam treatment involves injecting high-temperature steam into soil before crops are planted. The heat is intended to suppress soil-borne pathogens and could offer an alternative to chemical fumigants.

But Sanford cautioned that the technology is still being studied and is not ready to be considered a proven replacement for fumigation.

“There’s just a ton of work that has to be … done on this technology,” Sanford said. “It needs more investment, but it also needs trials like this” to demonstrate whether it is effective.

The project grew out of discussions between the Agricultural Commissioner’s Office and community groups seeking alternatives to fumigants near schools and other community-serving locations.

“The Pajaro Valley has some of the most concentrated use of fumigants in the state, including near schools and homes,” Kathleen Kilpatrick, a member of Safe Ag Safe Schools and a retired school nurse, said in a statement. “SASS members support exploring non-chemical alternatives on fields near schools. We hope these pilot projects will provide tools for pesticide reduction and expansion of organic buffers.”

SASS and the county Agricultural Commissioner’s Office brought the proposal to the Department of Pesticide Regulation for funding consideration.

Sanford said he had been participating in a working group studying steam technology and approached state pesticide regulators about funding a local sustainable pest-management pilot. DPR ultimately contributed roughly $175,000 award to include both research and community engagement.

The community component will include public outreach meetings and opportunities for residents to learn about the technology. Sanford said residents could potentially have opportunities to see the steam equipment operating in fields.

One of the questions researchers will examine is what happens to the soil itself when it is heated.

Sanford said newer steam equipment offers substantially greater temperature control than earlier versions, allowing operators to better target unwanted soil pathogens while limiting impacts on other parts of the soil microbiome.

Earlier steam systems lacked that precision. Sanford said older machines essentially heated sections of soil from above, sometimes overheating it. 

Newer equipment uses shanks that can reach roughly 10 to 12 inches into the soil — about the depth used for conventional fumigant applications — and inject steam underground.
The tradeoffs are not limited to whether steam can control the same pathogens as fumigants.

Steam production requires substantial amounts of water, Sanford said, although he did not have estimates for how much water would be required per acre. Unlike conventional fumigation, however, the steam treatment itself does not use a chemical fumigant or pesticide.

Sanford said advances in equipment design could eventually make steam practical on a modest commercial scale, particularly in agricultural areas bordering neighborhoods, schools and other sensitive sites.

“These are hard spots,” Sanford said. “People aren’t too crazy about fumigants and pesticides and ag-urban interfaces. And if we can find some innovative technology that helps mitigate that, then I think it’s a win overall.”

The pilot comes as state regulators continue examining whether alternatives to chemical soil fumigants can work at a commercial scale.

The Department of Pesticide Regulation released findings in July from an independent state-funded study that concluded no existing alternative can currently serve as a direct replacement for chemical fumigants on a wide scale. 

The study called for additional research into the soil and climate conditions under which alternatives could be effective.

The Santa Cruz County project will build on existing steam research. Sanford said UCSC researchers are leading the research component, and have previously studied steam treatments on farms in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties with support from a separate California Department of Food and Agriculture Biologically Integrated Farming Systems grant. Sanford described results from that earlier work as promising.

Researchers will take soil samples before the steam treatment and again about 30 to 40 days afterward. Additional measurements are planned in spring 2027, when researchers will also begin evaluating how berry crops perform in the treated areas.

That means the county will not have a definitive answer immediately after the steam equipment leaves the fields. Research is expected to continue into 2027.

The Agricultural Commissioner’s Office also plans to hold community meetings throughout the project for residents to ask questions and provide feedback.

The first meeting is scheduled for 5:30pm Aug. 18 in the Greg Caput Community Room at the South County Government Center, 500 Westridge Drive in Watsonville.