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8A Daily News – Friday, March 16, 2012 Let the gardening begin at Discovery Center Special to the DN At the Sacramento River Discovery Center's two-acre garden the recent rains has spurred a flurry of activity. The winter was spent remov- ing lots of plants that had not seen a pair of shears or clippers for some time. Some of them were in need of removal and oth- ers just needed to have a "haircut." The work in the garden continues to be accomplished by a group of fantastic volunteers. Spending between one and ten hours a week, they have changed the appearance of the garden and have started to do some replanting. Some of the new plants have come from stock in the garden, but working to replace some plants lost over the last few years the Center has purchased plants from California Native Plant Society members and Floral Native Nurs- ery. The maps listing loca- tions of the original plant- ings were located and now the volunteers are working to recreate our new and improved demonstration garden. The new garden will feature a variety of sec- Assemblyman Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber) reports The California Alliance to Protect Pri- vate Property Rights has honored him as '2011 Champion of Private Property Rights' recipi- ent March 7. The Alliance is a coalition of family farm- ers, community and tax- payer advocates commit- ted to exposing the dan- gers and abuses of emi- nent domain — govern- ment's taking of private tions. One will feature, only local region, drought tolerant natives, meaning that once established the plants should survive the summers using a minimal amount of water. Anoth- er section will feature native plants and grasses that will need some water during the summer months. There will be section that will feature plants that are drought tolerant and deer resis- tant, but may not be native to this section of Northern California. "The garden has pro- duced some wonderful native grasses such as feather grass, maidenhair grass and deer grass. We will have a good quantity of these for sale at the Watershed Celebration on May 14th," said Bobie Hughes, SRDC volunteer executive director. In addition to the exist- ing garden, a brand new area will be created, where some experimental gardening will be taking place. In one section veg- etables, herbs and berries will be grown. The SRDC gardeners are also going to be working with some terraced beds, to learn if things will survive on "levee soil." er sized materials" the garden will be even more beautiful and take a lot less of the gardener's time", Greer said. "I will be happy to help people learn how develop a timed system as well as to do repairs with existing system". "Throughout the gar- den we will be experi- menting with additional native plant species to see if we can get them to adapt to our unique weather patterns," said Sharon Kessey of Red Bluff Garden Club and California Native Plant Society. "With climate change a reality it is important that we work of preserve as many differ- ent native species as pos- sible. The plants original locale might be changing so we are going to see if we can help plants sur- vive in warmer and/or cooler and drier condi- tions. It will be like a large science experi- ment." The garden watering system has been declared "not worth fixing! Just start over!" said Bill property from unwilling sellers to benefit politi- cally connected develop- ers. Greer of Bill Greer's landscaping and one of the original garden work- ers. Alsco Irrigation will be helping the SRDC with some donations of the much needed materi- als. "The original system was put in with 1⁄2" tub- ing which was never ade- quate for this large an area. Using the modern SMART meter and prop- Greer has spent 25 years in the landscape business, in this area. "I will be happy to meet with anyone looking do convert to low water use landscaping," Greet said. "You can see my work in the front of the Pauline Davis pavilion at the Fairgrounds". Bill Greer Landscaping can be reached at 527-5296. The SRDC, 1000 Sale Lane, is always looking for volunteers to help with its many projects. Until June 1 the Center is offering programming for Whittenberg Country School so someone is at the Center most of the time from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. To set up school class or group visits call 527-1196 or e-mail Hughes at bhughe1@tehamaed.org. The Center is also open on 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays. Nielsen honored on private property rights Event to honor Cesar Chavez "I have devoted most of my adult life to pro- tecting property rights and we have had our suc- cesses and there are many challenges yet ahead," said Nielsen. "Property rights are one of the fundamental ele- ments of our society and we must all still fight to preserve these critical rights." Marko Mliktoin, Pres- ident of The Alliance said the following in honoring Nielsen with this award, "Your vote to abolish California rede- velopment agencies was the greatest single action a Member of the State Legislature could take to protect California prop- erty owners from emi- nent domain abuse and to end corporate welfare for private develop- ment." "At a time when few in government challenge powerful political inter- est groups in defense of their constituents, you did the right thing by protecting private prop- erty rights," said Mlik- toin. "Your vote was an act of courage that deserves greater recogni- tion." Assemblyman Nielsen represents the Second Assembly Dis- trict, which includes: Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiy- ou, Sutter, Tehama and Yolo counties. The10th Annual Cesar Chavez Latino Gradua- tion will be March 28 hosted by the Northern Hispanic Latino Coali- tion. The event will be from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Ander- son Community Center, 1887 Howard St., in Anderson. Special guest speakers will include 26-year-old Anthony Chavez, the grandson of Cesar Chavez, who will join in the 50th commemorative march in a movement his grandfather lead begin- ning in 1962. The march, which leaves at 6 p.m. sharp, also supports the Latino students of Shasta County who matriculate to higher learning. Eva Mendoza of Shasta College will also be a guest speaker. Other entertainment will include the Ballet Folklorico youth dancers and Head Start singers. "This will be an his- toric event that sustains the legacy of a great American hero and World War II veteran, Cesar Estrada Chavez," said coalition chairman Alan Ernesto Phillips. A tostada dinner and drink will be available for $2.50, Chavez era prices, with proceeds to benefit the Northern Hispanic Latino Coalition scholar- ships. The nonprofit coalition was started in 2000 by a Victory Garden Class #3 • Watering • Fertilzing • Composting Saturday, March 17th 10:00 am Red Bluff Garden Center 527-0886 766 Antelope Blvd. (Next to the Fairground) group of local people interested in building bridges between the largest local ethnic popu- lation and the general community while cele- brating Hispanic Latino cultures. Event sponsors include the City of Anderson, the Redding Police Managers Association, Shasta Com- munity Public Health, the Redding Rancheria, Shas- ta College, The Roberts Foundation and Ameri- corps. For more information, contact Marge Crandell at 241-7833, Sylvia Yza- guirre at 225-3748 or go online to www.northern- hispaniclatinocoalition.or g. Cesar Chavez Background — Courtesy of the Northern Hispanic Latino Coalition Fifty years ago, in the summer of 1962, Cesar Chavez ended the first leg of his long organizing jour- ney. He covered nearly 15,000 miles in 86 days. He picked peas, staked grapes, suckered vines and met with more than 2,000 farm workers in the fields, along dirt roads and in hundreds of little barrio houses in one impoverished rural com- munity after another. By the mid-1960s, those baby steps became the Delano Grape Strike, the longest continuing strike in farm labor history. With help from thousands who joined the grape strik- ers in La Causa, the pick- et lines moved from the vineyards to supermar- kets in cities across North America thousands of miles away where millions from all walks of life boy- cotted grapes and other products. What began back then produced many appropri- ate changes for farm workers. In the process, the farm workers inspired millions of other people who never worked on a farm to get involved in social and political activism. Fifty years ago, farm workers had the courage to dare - and believe. The question today is: What will we dare to believe and get done over the next 50 years for farm workers and all people who suffer from new human, civil and social rights abuses?