Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/455017
SUSANVILLE The new year is marking a fresh chapter in the life of long- time Forest Public Affairs Officer Heidi Perry-Mc- Court, who retired at the end of the year after nearly 35 years with the U.S. For- est Service. Perry-McCourt came to the Lassen National For- est in 2002. During her ten- ure on the Lassen, she es- tablished a multi-agency County Collaborative Fuels Treatment program. It was the first local memorandum of understanding (MOU) in the nation for fuels manage- ment. She also coordinated the national fire plan grant program at the regional and forest levels, working with State and local partners to put millions of dollars to work in the north state. As the Lassen County Resource Advisory Com- mittee (RAC) coordinator, Perry-McCourt supported continued research and im- plementation opportunities in resource management, ranging from native grass development for the reduc- tion of noxious weeds to fu- els treatment projects to help protect communities from fire. The last year and half of her career, Perry-McCourt led another multi-agency and partner effort. She or- ganized the "Wilderness Treasures" event to cele- brate the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act and to highlight wilderness ar- eas in northern Califor- nia, which gave local stu- dents and communities an opportunity to learn more about these primitive areas in their own backyards. Perry-McCourt left the Midwest a farmer's daugh- ter with dreams of grow- ing trees, protecting what was left of the big ones, and managing the rest. She earned a degree in forestry from Humboldt State in her first years of working for the Forest Ser- vice. She said she soon re- alized that, much like her- self, many western commu- nities live and breathe their forests. She embraced ru- ral development and pub- lic affairs with the goal of involving the community in natural resource man- agement. While on the Klamath National Forest, where she began her Forest Service ca- reer in 1980, she served as one of ten Adaptive Man- agement Area coordina- tors under the Northwest Forest Plan, helping to ex- pand community involve- ment and strategizing ways to recover after changes in the timber industry. She also planned the biomass- to-energy conference in Sis- kiyou County, which hosted presenters from across the nation who shared ideas for biomass options for fuels re- duction alternatives. Transitioning to smaller ventures, Perry-McCourt said she and husband Mike plan to put their enthusiasm for resource management to work on their own 80 acres. In retirement, she also has designs to pair natural re- sources values with the passions of local commu- nity members, such as the volunteers of Back Coun- try Horsemen of California. With all her new-found free time, Perry-McCourt would like to explore as many wil- derness areas as possible in the company of Mike and their four horses. In the spirit of com- munity involvement that Perry-McCourt embraces, you are invited to cele- brate with her. A retire- ment party is planned for Saturday, Feb. 7, at the Las- sen Ale Works in Susan- ville. The favor of an RSVP is requested. For more in- formation, call the Lassen National Forest Supervi- sor's Office at 530-257-2151. LASSEN FOREST Community liaison retires District4ofthe California Ameri- can Legion held its Oratorical Scholarship contest on Jan. 25 at the Red Bluff Veterans Memorial Hall. The winner of the contest is Hannah Huhn, who won the Red Bluff Post 167 contest earlier this month. In addi- tion to a cash award, Huhn advances to the American Legion Area 1 contest that will be held in Woodland in February. Huhn is a freshman at Red Bluff Union High School. AMERICAN LEGION SCHOLARSHIP WINNER COURTESYPHOTO Hannah Huhn is pictured with legionnaire William "Smokey" Davis, the District 4Oratorical Commissioner. No matter how inexpensive a chuck or round roast, if it turns out so tough and flavorless it's passed to the dog, that purchase was no bargain. Finally, thanks to very extensive research and experimentation by Chris- topher Kimball, as reported in Cooks Illustrated mag- azine, we can confidently purchase those cheaper cuts of beef and expect perfect results every time. These days, with beef prices hitting all-time highs, buying the cheaper cuts of beef is one way to make our food dollars stretch as far as possible. Just know that what fol- lows is for those of us with more time than money. When looking for inex- pensive cuts, keep these three words in mind: chuck, sirloin and round. The chuck is fattier and more tender, the round is lean and relatively tough. The sirloin falls some- where between the two. It was a kick to read all the endless details of Chef Kimball's testing. To be quite honest he lost me somewhere between five chuck roasts, seven sirloins, the eight rounds and the end- less descriptions of cooking methods, in- ternal temperatures, standing times and length of aging. Cu- rious as I am, I don't care about meat fibers, en- zymes and moisture con- tent. That's when I raced to the conclusion and learned exactly how to prepare a cheap cut of beef. And here it is: First and foremost, in order to achieve the best results, you'll need a meat thermometer and an oven thermometer. Exact tem- peratures are the secret to the best results. (Interestingly, varying the oven temperature, in- ternal temperatures and times even slightly, pro- duced roasts that were all the way from slightly dry to so tough they could not be eaten.) Secure loops of white cotton string around the circumference of the roast at 1 -inch intervals. Tying the roast makes it compact and evenly shaped. Place the roast inside a roasting pan, uncovered. Place he meat thermom- eter in the roast so the tip reaches the center of the thickest part. Set oven thermometer inside the oven close to the pan. Roast at exactly 250 F until the internal temper- ature of the roast reaches exactly 130 F. Remove the pan from the oven and allow the meat to rest for exactly 20 minutes. At that moment, the roast will be succulent, ten- der, juicy and more flavorful than when prepared using any other cooking method. While the preceding method was found to be successful with the chuck, sirloin and round cuts, rounds (the cheapest, lean- est and toughest cut of the three) were improved when they were browned on top of the stove in a Dutch oven and then transferred to a heated oven to complete the pro- cess as described. Wouldyouliketosendatip to Mary? You can email her at mary@everydaycheap- skate.com, or write to Eve- ryday Cheapskate, P.O. Box 2099, Cypress, CA 90630. EVERYDAY CHEAPSKATE How to roast a cheap cut of beef Mary Hunt By Diana Marszalek The Associated Press As a guy who built heat- ing systems for spacesuits, Mark Aramli found it per- plexing that there was no good way to get the tem- perature right for his mom when she was laid up dur- ing a recent Rhode Island winter. "I kept astronauts warm in space, and this was just a bed," the former NASA engineer says. "Everything was too hot or too cold." So Aramli put his engi- neering prowess to work creating BedJet, an ap- paratus that heats up — and cools off — your bed by blowing temperature- controlled air between the sheets. Add the compa- ny's air-filled comforter to the mix ($149 on top of the main unit's $499 price tag), and you get dual-zone tem- perature control to boot — luxuries that Aramli says are overdue. "You can buy heated and cooled seats for your Mer- cedes-Benz and Ford and GM cars, which are won- derfully comfortable for a 30-minute ride to work," he says. "But there has re- ally been nothing that can give you that same level of heating and climate control in bed, and that's where we spend 30 percent of our lives." BedJet is among the lat- est developments in the age-old quest to take the bite out of getting into a cold bed. Electric blankets, mat- tress pads and throws still rule (the Electric Blanket Institute says 4.5 million of those products are sold in the U.S. every year). But the new generation of bed warmers harnesses alter- native means — notably air and water — to make things toasty. The Aqua Bed Warmer, for instance, uses hot wa- ter to take the cold edge off. It includes a water heater, which sits away from the bed and pumps warm wa- ter through a mattress pad. The product costs be- tween $249-$449 depend- ing on the size of the bed and whether you want dual- zone heat. Like the BedJet, Aqua Bed Warmer can be pro- grammed to turn off once you're warm and cozy. Mary Helen Uusimaki, spokeswoman for the In- ternational Sleep Products Association, says the mar- ketplace is replete with products targeting tem- perature-sensitive sleepers. "Many of today's beds use a combination of materials to encourage comfort and sup- port and temperature con- trol," she says. "Certain materials are known to 'sleep hotter' than others, but a lot of that can be very subjec- tive," she says. "The top-of- bed segment is huge, and boasts every type of offer- ing from cooling to toppers for aches and pains, ath- letes and top performance to allergy control." Still, there are purists who snub such gadgetry, saying that warming up a bed doesn't have to be rocket science. Glenn Bowman, owner of Vermont Soapstone, still sells the same bed warmer — a stone slab that sits be- tween the sheets after be- ing heated in an oven, over a fire or on a windowsill — that his company has made since the 1850s. "In my opinion, if you want to be able to easily control your temperature, blankets, pajamas and socks are the easiest solu- tion," she says. HOME Ways to warm up your feet in bed Perry-McCourt came to the Lassen National Forest in 2002. During her tenure on the Lassen, she established a multi-agency County Collaborative Fuels Treatment program. It was the first local memorandum of understanding (MOU) in the nation for fuels management. Red Bluff Community Resource Guide N EWS D AILY REDBLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 PublishDate:Thursday,February26,2015 2015 20,000 + readership! Full color, gloss magazine Ad space reservations deadline: Thur., Feb. 5, 2015 ReserveyourSpaceToday! Gayla Eckels: (530) 737-5044 geckels@redbluffdailynews.com Suzy Noble: (530) 737-5056 snoble@redbluffdailynews.com • OnlineversionofthisspecialpublicationispostedonRedBluffDailyNews.com,all year long, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! This highly viewed online edition reached over 15,000 unique visitors during 2014…don't miss the opportunity to reach prospective residents and visitors in 2015. • Digital technology allows viewers to "turn pages" and even click from your ad to your website! Red Bluff and Tehama County Chambers, Tehama County and City of Red Bluff post this special edition on their websites. A Daily News publication Community Resource Guide Red Bluff 2015 • 7,000 in full-run distribution of The Daily News . • 3,000 additional distribution throughout 2015: Red Bluff Chamber of Commerce office/Visitor Center, Hotels at Rolling Hills Casino and Red Bluff area. Advertisers receive copies for countertop distribution. RUNNINGS ROOFING SheetMetalRoofing ResidentialCommercial • Composition • Shingle • Single Ply Membrane Ownerisonsiteoneveryjob ServingTehamaCounty 530-527-5789 530-209-5367 No Money Down! "NoJobTooSteep" " No Job Too Flat" FREE ESTIMATES CA. LIC#829089 STOVEJUNCTION The TheNorthState'spremiersupplierofstoves 22825 Antelope Blvd., Red Bluff 530-528-2221 • Fax 530-528-2229 www.thestovejunction.com Over 25 years of experience Tues-Sat9am-5pm• ClosedSun&Mon Now Carrying! GreenMountainGrills & Accessories Serving Butte, Glenn & Tehama Counties StromerRealty 590 Antelope Blvd RedBluff (530) 527-3100 Specializingin Residential to Ranches LIFESTYLES » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, January 30, 2015 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B4