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C a l i f o r n i a ’ s O l d e s t N e w s pa p e r – E s t. 18 51
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Monday, December 21, 2020
Volume 169 • Issue 148 | 75¢
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County of El Dora
do Health and Hu
Adult Protective man Services Agency Services
Moratorium imposed on industrial hemp farms Dawn Hodson Staff writer
Photo courtesy of Barton Health
Members of Barton’s Supply Chain and Pharmacy departments received 500 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine the morning of Dec. 17. For information about how the vaccine will be distributed in El Dorado County visit edcgov.us/Government/hhsa/ edccovid-19-vaccine.
County warns against COVID-19 vaccine scams Thomas Frey Staff writer
2. No one can pay to put their name higher on the vaccination list. 3. No one can pay to get early access to the vaccine. 4. No one from Medicare or the health department will contact anyone. 5. No one from a vaccine site, health care provider or private insurance company will call to ask for a Social Security number, credit card number or bank account information. To report any such scams in the area call the El Dorado County Sheriff ’s Office at (530) 621-5655.
El Dorado County has released an alert warning, educating residents about emerging COVID-19 vaccine scams. “Scammers take advantage of every opportunity. They’re sly, believable and prey on fears,” the release said. The warning states: 1. Nobody will need to pay anything out of pocket to get the vaccine.
Despite some reservation, the El Dorado County supervisors unanimously approved an urgency ordinance establishing a temporary moratorium on the cultivation of industrial hemp. The moratorium, OK’d at the Dec. 15 board meeting, covers 45 days, pending a study and development of regulations by the county’s Hemp Ad Hoc Committee. Agricultural Commissioner Charlene Carveth said the ordinance would not affect the existing ordinances governing medicinal or recreational marijuana. It would only apply to industrial hemp farms in the county’s unincorporated areas while the committee works on developing the regulations. El Dorado County is not alone in reexamining the regulations governing the industrial growing of cannabis as other counties are doing likewise as issues of smell, the debris left after a hemp harvest and the use of pesticides have arisen, Carveth noted. Topics the Hemp Ad Hoc Committee will tackle during the moratorium include issues of zoning, parcel size, setbacks, registration limits, crop size limits, maximum acreage within the county, signage, track and trace harvested crops and other restrictions. The committee will also develop recommendations on new ordinances or update existing ordinances, address industrial hemp cultivation, industrial hemp plant breeders, industrial hemp nurseries and processing/ manufacturing as well a develop recommendations
Trailblazers
n
See Hemp, page A3
New recreational trails open in Pilot Hill Kevin Christensen Staff writer
system. Dillon Brooks, the stewardship manager at ecreational trail the ARC, said the new enthusiasts in El trail system is referred to Dorado County as the Salmon Falls Ranch recently got a brand-new Connector Trail and it, addition. along with other trails A connecting built off it, are great for recreational trail for the community. hikers and bikers opened “This new stretch Dec. 1 from the Acorn provides a safe connection Creek Trailhead to the from the South Fork Darrington Trail in Pilot American River Trail to Hill. Folsom State Recreation The new connecting trail Area,” said Brooks. “It stretches approximately eases congestion and 1.5 miles and features parking concerns at two additional, 1-mile the Skunk Hollow and supplemental trails (out Darrington parking lots. and back for the time Jennifer Claassen and her son Logan prepare This connection bypasses being). In total, roughly 4 to work on new trails in Pilot Hill with rakes. a dangerous section of the miles of hiking and biking Darrington Trail, making trails were opened at the Salmon Falls Ranch location. it safe and more family friendly to users. The main trail also connects the 1-mile “Our biggest challenge in creating new trails Acorn Creek trail and 7-mile Darrington trail, is always fundraising because other agencies which both connect to the 7-mile long South like the U.S. Forest Service, State Parks or Fork American River Trail that ends at Cronan Bureau of Land Management don’t always Ranch. have the resources to provide the labor,” he American River Conservancy officials closely continued. collaborated with the Mother Lode Trail The new Pilot Hill trails, though connecting Stewardship program, Folsom/Auburn Trail to public lands managed by California State Riders Action Coalition and volunteers at Parks through a contract with the Bureau of REI in Folsom on the project. More than 75 Land Management, were built on Salmon volunteers from all the organizations worked n See Trails, page A3 together this past year to complete the trail
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Courtesy photos
Mike Bean from Coloma (front right) joins Bill Holmes of Rescue (back left), Tom King from El Dorado Hills (back center) and American River Conservancy President Scott Vail from Placerville with rakes to help build the new recreational trail between Acorn Creek Trailhead to the Salmon Falls Darrington Trail in Pilot Hill.
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