Town of Portola Valley

Portola Valley Weekly Update for June 10th http://ow.ly/Mdb550F7QPo In this week’s Message:... Town Council Summary for June 9th Update on Easing of COVID-19 Restrictions for Town Government Facilities Earthquake Early Warnings: Days instead of Seconds? Emergency Communications and Radio Day Sustainability Survey Wildfire Preparedness Committee Tips Shady Trail maintenance work starting Monday San Mateo County Supervisors Provide Local Business Relief from Annual Permitting Fees Vaccine Incentive Program Scams Free County Fair Admission with On-Site Vaccination Message from Roberta Zarea, Superintendent of the Portola Valley School District See more

The Town Nature and Science Committee is sponsoring a Zoom talk on tonight at 7:30 PM. about a new type of earthquake early warning system based on monitoring Ultra-Low (ULF) magnetic fields. http://ow.ly/Xkfm50F7FBy

A summary of the most recent meeting held on June 9th is now available. http://ow.ly/xKW650F7ByG The Town Council appointed nine members to the newly created Equity Committee and held their first of two meetings on the FY 2021-22 Proposed Budget.

Earthquake Early Warnings: Days instead of Seconds? http://ow.ly/YdCW50F63lo The Town Nature and Science Committee is sponsoring a Zoom talk on June 10 at 7:30 PM. about a new type of earthquake early warning system based on monitoring Ultra-Low (ULF) magnetic fields. The speaker will be Tom Bleier, a longtime Portola Valley resident who, along with his research team, has developed a physics-based system for monitoring the earthquake process, and installed extensive ULF sensor networks in California and 5 other countries over the last 20 years.

You have perhaps seen photos of nature on PV Forum. The beautiful pictures of flowers, birds, scenery, and animals were likely photographed by Dan Quinn, a longtime Portola Valley resident. The Nature and Science Committee will host the May event where Dan Quinn will show pictures of flowers in bloom that month and give you some information about each flower, such as usage for food or medicinal purposes, unique characteristics, and how they contribute to the ecosystem. The six part series will happen once a month online. It will begin at 7:30 p.m. with a presentation and will be followed by a short question and answer period. Save the date for the whole series. April 26, May 27, June 24, July 29, and August 26 https://bit.ly/PVwildflowers

Please join us at the Farmers' Market this Thurs, Nov. 19th from 2-5pm! Don't forget to pre-order some of your favorite holiday foods from the vendors we all love so much. The Farmers' Market will be moved to Wed, Nov. 25th because of the Thanksgiving holiday on Thurs, Nov. 26

BREAKING: San Mateo County falls back to the more restrictive red Tier 2 effective Tuesday, Nov. 17, on state’s COVID-19 reopening plan. The setback affects a w...ide sector of businesses and adds to the urgency to follow health guidelines and not mix households indoors. More: https://www.smcgov.org//state-limits-activities-curtails-i See more

JOIN THE HENSUS - Flap your wings and be counted! We all cherish our town’s rustic charm and natural landscape, but do we know how rural Portola Valley really is? In the mid 1800s, the immigrants who settled here raised horses and cattle, grew hay, barley, wine grapes and loads of produce including strawberries. Too, there were egg farms, a large one located near what is now the Portola Valley Garage. While we have lost much of our agricultural past, one part that harkens b...ack to the egg farm days still remainsthe raising of backyard chickens. So, how many chickens do we have in the Valley right now? And how many eggs do they produce? To find out the answers to these henticing questions, we invite all of you who are currently raising hens and collecting their eggs to please join our first ever PORTOLA VALLEY HENSUS. We have developed an online poll to gather information as to the number of hens in town, the number of eggs produced per week, and also, the types of breeds being raised. Take the survey today - http://ow.ly/HWoq50CbTps While the 2020 National Census just ended, we are just getting started. Don’t you feel clucky to live in Portola Valley?

PV Conservation Committee - What are our Singing frogs doing now? Our Pacific Tree Frogs are still out there during the dry fall weather, waiting for the rains. They remain dispersed into areas in the neighborhood around the Frog Pond. As the temperatures fall, you are more likely to hear them making dry land calls their Fall Awakening Calls. They are coming out of their summer slumber estivation. ... These calls are very different from the calls they make in the ponds. Below is a link to a web page with all the calls made by the Pacific Chorus Frog, the land call is about half way down the page. When the rains begin to fall and the pond and streams fill again, all the other calls will be heard. Let’s hope that is soon. http://www.californiaherps.com//pages/p.regilla.sounds.html

The state of California today announced the easing of certain restrictions on businesses, indoor and outdoor gatherings and other activities in San Mateo County. The changes take effect at 12:01 on Wednesday morning. With the risk from coronavirus now officially declared moderate, the county moves into the less-restrictive orange Tier 3 in the state’s four-tier, color-coded plan for reducing COVID-19 with criteria for loosening and tightening restrictions on activities. The move allows indoor family entertainment centers, bars and breweries not serving food, indoor climbing walls and certain other businesses and activities to open with capacity restrictions. Dine-in restaurants, movie theaters, places of worship and additional businesses can boost their indoor capacities as well.