Well, it’s already February, but happy wet and wild New Year.

Paul Madeira and Julie Jo Ayers Williams plant flats with onion seeds Wednesday in a greenhouse on their farm. Del Norte Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

What a stretch! But all good things must come to an end, and it is apparent that the rainy weather has come. Now, what we wait for is enough of a break in the weather to get out in the dirt and work the soil. A week without rain is usually all we need.

As we wait for the soil to dry up, we wanted to mention the growing resurgence in small-scale farming, home gardening and eating more vegetables and its connection with our health.

Congress must decide if it will reauthorize act

Millions of dollars in federal aid to Del Norte schools and roads are tied up in politics, again.

The recently expired Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act provided relatively stable, if dwindling, payments to counties with tax-exempt federal lands, regardless of revenues from logging and other commercial activities.

The 2001 law has been on the chopping block before and was narrowly reauthorized by Congress in 2008.

Meeting on options tonight in Brookings

Ever since coho salmon became listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1997, a plan has been afoot to restore its population.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) will hold a public meeting tonight in Brookings to discuss the recently released Draft Recovery Plan for Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast Coho Salmon.

The plan states that restoration of the Smith River estuary is imperative to recover coho populations, including reducing the amount of agricultural run-off in the estuary.

Winter isn’t done with us yet, but hold on — before you know it the Del Norte County Fair will bring back the summer fun with bucking bulls, glittering rides and car crashes you can actually feel good about.

The Fair Board is seeking a  theme for this year’s festivities, scheduled Aug. 2–5.

 The theme will be used on the official poster and in all advertising for the fair. It also provides the inspiration for decorations, said fair manager Randy Hatfield.

Last seen at Rogue River campground

GOLD BEACH, Ore. — The search continued Wednesday for three people reported as being overdue mushroom hunters in the Saunders Creek drainage area near the Rogue River.

The three are husband and wife Daniel Conne, 47, and Belinda Conne, 47, and their 25-year-old son Michael Conne. They were reported as last seen on Sunday around noon at their campsite in Huntley Park on the Rogue River, and were thought to be going into the Saunders Creek area to pick mushrooms.

Volunteers can help restore habitats to area

Volunteers pick out trees from the nursery in the Mill Creek Addition to be planted as part of restoration efforts in the addition last year. Submitted

The public is invited to help plant trees in the Mill Creek Addition of Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park at 10 a.m., meeting at the gate on Hamilton Road. Taking a break from tree-planting to look at spawning fish is encouraged.

Mill Creek is premier spawning habitat for salmon and steelhead, said Rachel McCain, superintendent’s secretary of Redwood National and State Parks. Spawning chinook salmon, coho salmon and steelhead trout were all seen Monday on Mill Creek by McCain, who will be one of the facilitators this weekend.

Here are excerpts from the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office call logs for Jan. 25–31.

Wednesday, Jan. 25

• At 12:19 p.m. a report of an older male with long gray hair checking houses on Blackwell Lane.

• At 5:10 p.m. a person reported losing a black iPhone 4s which has a picture of sand dunes on the screen near Macken Avenue and Pebble Beach Drive.

• At 6:53 p.m. a vehicle hit a light pole on the 1300 block of El Dorado Street.

Tsunami All-Starz members perform Saturday at a Wild Rivers Community Foundation fundraiser. See A2 for more on that event. Del Norte Triplicate/Rick Postal

Despite competing against bigger teams from larger metro areas, the group came away with the Sportsmanship Award at the American Masterpiece Cheer and Dance competition in San Jose on Jan. 21 and 22.

That’s out of 119 cheer teams at the event.

“It’s a big honor,” said Nicole Wanner, Tsunami All-Starz senior team head coach. “It was totally awesome when we found out. We were all crying. We all got a little choked up ... The kids were like “Oh my gosh, we won that.”