Upper White River Migration Study Update

I talked to project manager Angela Angove and she informed me that the new website for this project will be active in the next 1-3 weeks. I will receive and provide the link to all CVHA river front homeowners and any other interested parties. She is also sending CVHA some brochures that have some basic information that I will distribute.
Not much has changed on the timeline, field work to start in June or July of this year and results not expected until years end or early in 2020.
The website will have contact information whereby homeowners can directly contact Pierce County for questions or concerns.

Mail Theft

Person or persons unknown rifled through the mailboxes in CV1. This occurred between 4 p.m and about 7 a.m. the next day, the only mail that could have been taken is from those who did not pick up their mail the previous day. This is a reminder to stay vigilant of unknown cars and people around the mailboxes and to make sure to pick up our mail each day.

G.Castellane for the CVHA BOD

Elk is OK

A homeowner found the damaged cage on their property. The elk was able to remove the cage and will be ok. The story is rather interesting, having to do with a rabbit in a cage, a carrot and a hungry elk. The only down side is the rabbit suffered a leg injury during the encounter.
g.castellane

Elk Needs Assistance

Today, October 10th between 9 and 10 a.m. a cow elk was seen at the east cul-de-sac of Crystal Village 1, Crystal Dr. E. This elk had a galvanized metal trap of some kind completely over her head. I called Washington State Fish and Wildlife and they will come out and assist her but they need the location. The elk appeared distressed and was moving towards the Forest Service compound or up the power line road. Unless she can remove this trap or have it removed she will likely perish from lack of water. A cursory search was made at the FS compound road and up the power line road with no results. If you see this elk note the time, place, location, direction of movement and the elks condition. You can either call my cell phone 253-736-4657 or fish and wildlife direct at 360-249-4628. Thanks to Gail Sowers for noticing and reporting this situation.

g.castellane

Mail Theft in CRR

A theft of mail occurred in Crystal River Ranch. The vehicle description is a black BMW hatchback, if you notice this vehicle around the mailboxes or cruising through the area, try to get a license number and description of occupants. Call 911 or Jake in the Ranch at 253-797-3145. This vehicle was seen near the mailboxes in CV1 sometime during the week of August 20-25th.
In addition to the above a break in occurred in CVHA with the theft of some tools and the FS summer home tracts have seen some thefts also.
This is a reminder to all CVHA homeowners to be vigilant and to report any suspicious activity to 911.

PSE and Wrong Creek Fire

The PSE project is progressing on a haphazard basis. The crew installing the poles are on call for emergencies along with our pole installation. They were called off our project to go to Kent for a transformer issue last week. With the heat and air conditioning use the grid is having problems, which is impacting the project. They also have a schedule of which poles to work on..when they returned they went to the Ranch to work. Anyway we expect them to complete our portion as soon as they can, I watched the Vac truck work and talked to the operator who assured me that there is little chance of them damaging our water main, which is good news. They removed the cottonwood tree in the commons when they placed the new poles there….

Wrong Creek Fire (initially Jim Creek Fire). Located on the 74 road across the washed out bridge on the West Fork of the White River. While returning from Enumclaw Saturday this fire put up an active smoke plume that was visible from Mud Mountain Flats. This was about 11:00 AM, at 2:30 PM I viewed the fire from the Lonesome Lake Road (Rd 7130). I met with the Field Observer who was monitoring the fire and gathered what information I could about probable cause, start date, strategies employed to date with results and the current status (Full Suppression). The fire will take boots on the ground for full suppression and most resources are committed to other fires, all the type 1 Hotshot crews are committed as of today. However, a type 3 Incident Management Team arrived today (Sunday) and are stationed at the Greenwater Fire Station. They will begin to gather necessary resources for putting the fire out. I am sure they will have an Information Board on site where fire status information will be available. The fire poses no threat to CVHA and there is no weather or other information that would change this for seven days. As always our Fire Chief Paul Sowers will be looking out for our best interests.

GCastellane for the CVHA Board of Directors.

PSE Project

PSE has decided to start the Power Pole project in CVHA. The latest timetable has Potelco preparing poles for removal and installation this week, with the actual removal/installation to begin next Monday the 23rd.
The only reason water service may be interrupted is if a break occurs during this phase of the project.
Since we must have the main charged to identify any problems we will have personnel on standby in case an issue develops. If a break occurs we will coordinate with Potelco and PSE to get the water service restored as soon as possible and inform affected homeowners of an estimated restore time.
There may also be some intermittent power outages as transformers and etc. are moved from the old to the new poles, these should be of short duration.
Most of these possible outages should be limited to CV1.

GCastellane for the CVHA Board of Directors.

Tree Down in Commons between CV1 and CV2

A large cottonwood fell across the maintenance road in this commons area, the tree is actually suspended in the air above the road. For safety do not walk under the tree, please use the temporary walking path that has been brushed around the tree. The tree will be removed from the road between the 17th and 19th of next week.

G.Castellane for the CVHA Board of Directors

DNR and Pierce County Fire Restrictions In Place

DNR PROTECTED LANDS: Effective July 6, 2018 at 12:01 A.M. The fire danger rating for Pierce County is a Moderate. Fire restrictions are enacted on all DNR protected lands within the county. All debris burning is suspended. Campfires are allowed on DNR protected lands, however you must have the landowners permission. Fires can be no larger that 3 feet in diameter and 2 feet in height. Incendiary devices such as fireworks, exploding targets, sky lanterns, or tracer ammunition are illegal on all DNR lands. Check with your local fire district and the county website for any further restrictions. These restrictions will remain in effect until further notice.

PIERCE COUNTY: A countywide burn ban is in effective Thursday, July 12 at 8 a.m., until further notice.
The burn ban applies to all land clearing and yard debris outdoor burning. The ban does not apply to small recreational fires in established fire pits at approved campgrounds or on private property with the owners permission. The use of gas and propane self-contained stoves and barbecues are allowed under the ban.

Recreational fires must: Be built-in a metal or concrete fire pit and not be used for garbage disposal. Grow no larger than 3 feet in diameter. Be located in a clear spot free from any vegetation for at least 10 feet in a horizontal direction, including at least 25 feet away from any structure and allow for 20-foot vertical clearance from overhanging branches. Be attended at all times by an alert individual and equipment capable of extinguishing the fire, such as hand tools and a charged garden hose or not less than two 5-gallon buckets of water. No burning when winds exceed 5 miles per hour.

The above is taken from the official fire restriction documents from DNR and Pierce County.

Posted for the CVHA Board of Directors by Gary Castellane.

Greeenwater WA