RB-048 The Man Who Understood

Ranger Angus McClain can't or won't control his pain and anger when his son Steve is hit by a car and killed. Angus becomes even more enraged when a judge rules Steve's death an accident. Wes Morgan, the driver of the car that hit Steve, is so sorry for Steve's death and is very understanding of Angus and his pain. Bill can neither neither comfort nor control Angus. Will a tombstone for Steve's grave be the key to Angus' mind and heart?

Knotty Pine GAZETTE- Churches Aid Pacific

The churches of Knotty Pine have begun a project to aid the victims of the disasters that have damaged homes and cities all across the Pacific this last week. In roughly a week's time, three separate natural disasters have struck. A hurricane blasted the Philippines. A tsunami damaged the islands of Sumatra. And at least two major earthquakes shook Indonesia just northwest of Indonesia's famous 1883 super-volcano Krakatoa.
Knotty Pine Church and Park Road Church had each separately decided to send donations to the Red Cross for the Philippines. The Philippine hurricane became the topic of discussion at ranger headquarters when Ranger Bill Jefferson and his crew heard about the tsunami and quakes in the Pacific. The rangers soon realized that their various churches were planning to aid the Philippines in the disaster. The rangers made some phone calls. Soon their pastors and elders were exchanging information. Representatives of each church in town met at Knotty Pine Church yesterday and finalized plans to send aid and donations to the Red Cross. The first donation will go out to the Red Cross this Monday.

RB-047 The Broken Promise

For the last couple of years, elderly Ezra Newcomb has allowed a hot rod club use the edge of his property as a drag strip for their cars. Ezra is getting too old to run his ranch. So Ezra sold his land to Todd Stone, a wealthy easterner. Ezra made Todd promise to keep the drag strip open for the hot rods. But Todd immediately broke his promise and fenced off the drag strip from the boys. Ezra will move heaven and earth to open the track for the dragsters, but he can't do it alone. So Ezra calls Ranger Bill for help. What can Bill do to make Todd keep his promise and help Ezra keep his promise to the boys?

Knotty Pine GAZETTE - SAD Strikes Big Pine Forest

Visitors and hikers to Big Pine National Forest here at Knotty Pine will find there is gold missing from the forest. No gold thief or mining operation has taken any of the precious metal out of the hills around Knotty Pine. But many of the Aspen trees in the forest are dying, which means that much of the red and gold Aspen leaves that paint those hills this time of year will not be here this year. SAD, or Sudden Aspen Death, has struck Aspen groves in Big Pine National Forest north of Knotty Pine.
Chief Ranger Bill Jefferson tells the GAZETTE: "The US Forest Service has been aware of the problem of Sudden Aspen Death along the Rockies for the last few years. my rangers and I became aware of SAD in Big Pine late last year. We didn't know how widespread the problem was until late this summer when my staff performed it's annual areal photographic survey of the forest. We use the survey to locate and analyse the extent of problems like tree disease or soil erosion."
"It appears that we have several hundred acres of Aspens suffering from SAD. We will have to find the causes of the problem and begin to cut down and replace diseased trees."
"Aspens are only a small fraction of the trees in Big Pine National Forest but a large portion of the deciduous trees that provide the forest's fall foliage. Most of our trees are evergreens which tend to grow mostly in the higher elevations. The Aspens grow in the valleys along the forest's roads and trails."
Ranger Bill goes on to say: "Our success in protecting the trees from fire and disease may have worked against us with the Aspens. Many of our Aspens are 70 to 80 years old. We have been dealing with drought or near-drought conditions in the West for the last 8 to 10 years. Drought combined with age has stressed the forest's Aspens more than other trees. This has made them susceptible to disease. Our younger Aspens are doing relatively well at this time."
Ranger Bill expects that Aspen recovery and replacement will take several years. But he also believes that a full recovery from SAD is possible.

Chinook winds and the Chinook people

Earlier this summer we aired the Ranger Bill episode Chinook (RB-033). In that story, the warm Chinook winds in the heart of winter melted huge amounts of snow. The melt was threatening Mid-Mountain Dam.
Those Chinook winds mentioned in the story are quite real and every bit as dangerous as mentioned on Ranger Bill. Chinook winds are warm, moist winter winds that blow to the east or southeast from the Pacific Ocean. These Chinooks generally blow across the states of Washington and Oregon. The winds are strong enough that they make it from the ocean to the Rockies. The Chinook winds drop moisture as they rise over the west side of the mountains. This warms the air. Then the air warms further as it travels down the east die of the Rockies from compression. These warm Chinooks can and do cause heavy melting and flooding in winter.
The Chinook winds got their name from the equally powerful Chinook Indian people. The Chinooks were the great trading people of western America. The Chinooks lived in the Washington/Oregon area. But they traded from Alaska all the way to Central and South America. The wealth of goods was legendary across America. Tribes as far away as the Great Plains traveled west to trade with the Chinooks.
The Chinooks were peaceful people, but were nearly wiped out by Europeans. They were not killed off by soldiers with guns and swords. They were killed by European hunters, trappers and traders who brought diseases from Europe that the Indians had no resistance to. The Chinooks barely survived the spread of disease. Only a small group of Chinook Indians remain today.