NEW FIRE RESTRICTIONS; a message from our Fire Department

New Fire Restrictions. Due to the extreme drought conditions Utah has mandated more strict fire restrictions. Fire Managers have implementing Advanced (Stage II) Fire Restrictions that began Wednesday, June 30, at 12:01 a.m. (We in Pine Valley are now under very tight restrictions and can have NO outside fires. Even in an approved fire ring.)

These apply to: Lands in Washington, Iron, Beaver, Kane, Garfield, Coconino, and Mojave Counties: • Unincorporated privately owned and all state administered lands. (Pine Valley town area) • Dixie National Forest (Pine Valley, Cedar City, Powell and Escalante Ranger Districts). • National Park Service (Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument, Pipe Springs National Monument, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and Rainbow Bridge National Monument). The Following acts are prohibited until further notice: 1. Igniting, building, attending, using a fire, campfire, charcoal, coal, wood stove fire, including fires in developed campgrounds and fire pits on personal property. All debris burning is strictly prohibited. No campfires are allowed in any location until restrictions are rescinded. 2. Discharging or using any kind of fireworks on unincorporated private land (always prohibited on state and federal lands). 3. Operating or using any internal or external combustion engine without a spark arresting device properly installed, maintained and in effective working order as determined by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) recommended practices J335 and J350. 4. Operating a chainsaw or other motorized equipment powered by an internal combustion engine, other than motorized vehicles between the hours of 1:00 PM and 10:00 PM. A one-hour fire watch is required after chainsaw or other motorized equipment has shutdown. 5. Detonating of explosives, incendiary or chemical devices, pyrotechnics, or exploding targets, or tracer ammunition (always prohibited on federal land). 6. Cutting, welding, or grinding of metal in areas of dry vegetation. 7. Smoking except in an enclosed vehicle or building, or a developed recreation site or areas of a minimum of three (3) feet in diameter cleared down to mineral soil. Fire conditions are extreme this year and we all need to use caution. This now restricts all usage of fire pits in campground, forest and our personal property. As we have seen in past people who disregard these rules can be cited, fined and could be held financially responsible for fire suppression and damage caused to our neighbor’s property. Please Be Careful. All our lives, forest and town could depend on a single spark. Rick Peetz Pine Valley Fire Dept

What Makes Pine Valley Pine Valley?

As property owners, we have the opportunity to work with County officials to influence future growth and preserve the characteristics of Pine Valley.  

The Pine Valley Preservation Committee would like your feedback on this brief survey.  Your answers will be used to shape discussions at town hall meetings planned for later this summer. 

April 23rd is the last day for submission.    Thank you!

Gardening Club for Pine Valley--Starting Seeds Indoors

In case you missed the post on Nextdoor, a gardening club for Pine Valley has been started. We already have seventeen members and a few more coming. If you are interested, check it out in the "groups" section of Nextdoor. For part time residents who aren't able to get Nextdoor, I thought I would post this information in case you are thinking of starting a garden this summer, here in Pine Valley or anywhere. 

We won't be putting in gardens for a while, but if we want to start some our seeds indoors, now is the time to make some decisions. First of all, there are many vegetables that do just as well planted directly in the soil, so no need to start those indoors. These include beans, beets, carrots, corn, lettuce and other greens, melons, peas, radishes, spinach, turnips. 

For warm weather vegetables, starting indoors can give us a head start with our short growing season. Directions usually say to start them 6 to 8 weeks or even more before the last frost day. Many cool weather gardeners use Mother’s Day for that last frost date, but some Pine Valley residents say Memorial Day. Neither is guaranteed. Between now and then, plan an area for indoor seed starting. Unless it is very warm, you will probably need a heat mat to warm the soil. You will also need containers, growing lights, a mild fertilizer and seed starting mix (which is different that potting mix.) You can buy seed starting mix, but there are also recipes online that usually contain things like peat moss, perlite, vermiculite or coco coir. These help keep the soil moist, but also loose for good aeration. 

There is a lot of good information available for planting seeds indoors from experts with more experience than me, so I’ll include a few below. A few things I’ve learned from experience is that window light isn’t enough to grow healthy seedlings, that a fan can help strengthen the stems and avoid leggy plants and that the seedlings need to be kept moist but not overwatered. 

Good luck! I’m going to try starting a bunch of mine indoors this year so good luck to us all!

Johnny’s Selected Seeds: Guidelines for Starting Seeds Indoors: https://www.johnnyseeds.com/on/demandware.static/-/Library-Sites-JSSSharedLibrary/default/dwe1d8d210/assets/information/7640-seed-starting-transplanting-guidelines.pdf

Burpee Seeds, Indoor Seed Starting: https://www.burpee.com/gardenadvicecenter/areas-of-interest/seed-starting/indoor-seed-starting/article10002.html

American Meadows, How to Start Vegetable Seeds Indoors: https://www.americanmeadows.com/start-seeds-indoors

Seed Savers Exchange, Starting Seeds Indoors: https://www.seedsavers.org/starting-seeds

Covid-19 Vaccination appointments open on Monday, Jan 25 at 9:00 am (over 70)

If you are over 70 and want to get a Covid-19 vaccination, you may have found that all the appointments for January are full. However, on Monday morning, January 25, starting at 9:00 am, you can sign up for appointments for February. 

Go to this website for the Southwest Utah Health Department: https://swuhealth.org/covid-vaccine/ 
Look in the Washington County section 

and choose “CLICK TO REGISTER” 

You will need to bring: 

Consent for filled out and signed (on the top of the sign up page) 

Personal ID showing you are 70 

Proof of county residency 

Wear a short sleeve shirt 

The appointments for this month were taken very quickly so if you want to get an appointment, be on the website and ready to sign up when it starts (9:00 a.m.) or even a little earlier to make sure. Good luck. We’ve had more than our share of Covid in the valley and it would be nice to get as many of us as possible vaccinated.

If you have had the first of the vaccines, I think this is also the place where you will go to sign up for your second, unless you already have an appointment time.

Light the World; Community Drive to Support Switchpoint

We invite anyone who is able to contribute to a Christmas drive to gather needed items for the Switchpoint Community Resource Center. Donations can be dropped off at Gay Gragun's home--115 S. Terry Pkwy any time until December 22. Pine Valley has always been so generous with these efforts, so let's try to continue even in a very different holiday season. Switchpoint is happy to accept any donations, but they have specified some urgent needs as follows: 

Halloween Trunk-or-Treat for Pine Valley Children

We would like to invite all Pine Valley children to the Halloween Trunk-or-Treat, Tuesday, October 27th at 6:00 PM!  

Pine Valley residents can sign up to pass out treats at this link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sUfFa820uQ3tSX5Q8eEPaOaxnR38WqhI56Nuc9K_cOc/edit?usp=sharing. 

Due to Covid-19, responsible physical distancing, masks, and wrapped treats are required. We will be following state guidelines for outdoor activities. To keep our numbers low, this activity is limited to the children of Pine Valley.

 

Fire Station Open House, Saturday, October 24 between 10 and 4

There will be an open house at the Pine Valley Fire Station on Saturday the 24th of October between 10:00 & 4:00. Please come by to visit & learn more about how we can all be fire safe. 

We also want to remind everyone in our beautiful valley to be extra careful during this fire season. We don’t need to remind anyone that we live in an extremely volatile area for wildfires. We are currently flying a red flag at the fire station to remind everyone that there is no permitted burning in the valley due to the extreme dry conditions that we are currently experiencing. You can contact any of your local firefighters to answer any specific questions you might have.