Tickets are on sale now for the Ventura Hillsides Conservancy’s (VHC) 8th annual Wild and Scenic Film Festival (WSFF). Held high on the hill at Ventura’s Poinsettia Pavilion, 3451 Foothill Rd., on Friday and Saturday, March 3 and 4, the WSFF offers audiences the chance to enjoy a series of award-winning short films that celebrate the beauty and bounty of our natural world.

This very popular annual event brings a national tour of award-winning independent short films to Ventura for two nights only. Highlights of this year’s film lineup, which differs each night, include: river rafting with President Jimmy Carter, swimming upstream with a wild salmon, scaling the Seven Summits with a female Bangladeshi adventurer and the hiking 60 miles in Utah’s back country with Genghis Khan, an articulate “desert dawg” and his owner.

In addition to viewing films, attendees also enjoy live music, special guests, popcorn, home baked cookies, food, beer, wine and the chance to win high-end raffle items that include original artwork, outdoor gear, dining-out certificates and more.

“The Wild and Scenic Film Festival helps connect the Conservancy’s work to the greater global environmental movement,” said Derek Poultney, VHC Executive Director. “The films are beautiful, educational, inspirational and just plain fun.”

Ticket prices are $20 for General Admission or $35 for “Silver Circle” seats. “Silver Circle” tickets include reserved seating plus one drink ticket for a glass of beer or wine. The festival also serves as a membership drive for VHC. For $50, purchasers receive a one-year VHC membership plus two General Admission tickets or for $100, they receive a one-year VHC membership plus two “Silver Circle” tickets.

The WSFF is supported by donations from several local businesses and community organizations. To purchase tickets, visit www.venturahillsides.org/events. For more information or to become an event sponsor, call VHC at  643-8044.

Scientists have begun their research and preservation of the mammoth skull that was excavated in September on Santa Rosa Island.

The public is invited to attend, and will also have opportunities to observe researchers who will be working on the mammoth skull every Saturday and Monday afternoon, from 1:00 to 5:00 pm, throughout the month of February, at the at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

“The museum is excited to share this intriguing discovery. This mammoth find is of high scientific importance as it appears to have been on the Channel Islands at nearly the same time as humans,” stated Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History President and CEO Luke Swetland.

U.S. Geological Survey geologists have dated charcoal samples adjacent to the specimen to approximately 13,000 years. The dating is significant, since it coincides with the age of Arlington Man, the oldest human skeletal remains in North America. Similar soil samples will also be analyzed to give researchers more information.

The National Park Service, The Mammoth Site, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History are working in close partnership to protect and preserve the mammoth specimen and conduct a multidisciplinary research process, which is expected to occur over the next few years.

Channel Islands National Park Superintendent Russell Galipeau said, “The National Park Service is very grateful to be working in partnership with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and the Mammoth Site to conduct research on this rare mammoth skull, in an effort to uncover some mysteries associated with mammoth migration, the downsizing to a pygmy form, and the eventual disappearance of mammoths from the Channel Islands.”

Mammoths roamed the continent of North America beginning approximately two million years ago, with Columbian mammoths appearing a million years later. It is believed that the Columbian mammoths migrated to the Channel Islands during the past two ice ages when sea levels were lower and the island land mass was closer to the mainland coast.

by Randal Beeman

On Wednesday, February 1st the Ventura County Museum hosted the first installment of its “Speaking of Ventura County” series, an 8 week program featuring local scholars discussing matters related to the county’s past. Among the future lectures are presentations on agricultural water use, travel writing, Ventura County’s Mexican-American community in the 1920s, and a talk on the Ventura School for Girls.

The series commenced with a session entitled “The Real Thing: The Value of Primary Resource Material in Research Today,” Charles Johnson, the Research Library Director at the Ventura County Museum, Michael Redmon, Director of Research at the Santa Barbara County Museum, and Frank Barajas, Chair of the History Department at CSU-Channel Islands, took turns addressing their own careers, the importance of primary source materials, and some of the challenges they have encountered in preserving history in Ventura County.

Johnson noted that without primary source research the public would rarely get new insights into the past as historians would simply repeat other authors instead of delving into new sources or new interpretations of historical events. Johnson and Redmon also lamented that aspiring scholars and even accomplished researchers have become accustomed to conducting all of their research on the internet. In fact, much of the historical record has yet to be digitized due to the immense cost of digitizing materials and the time involved in converting records into new formats,

Barajas spoke of how his passion for primary source research helped connect him to Alice McGrath, a communist civil rights activist who fought for the rights of Mexican-American youth during the infamous Sleepy Lagoon Trial during World War II. Redmon talked about a collection he acquired and processed from an early 20th century diabetes researcher who did some of the initial work using insulin to treat the disease. His clinic eventually evolved into the world renowned Samsung clinic.

All of the scholars agreed that capturing and maintaining digital documents and resources will be a challenge for future archivists, and the lack of space and resources are always problems in the public history business. The librarians continued with a discussion of some of the frustrations they encounter with individual researchers, with a common theme being that the public and scholars themselves are often unaware of the service librarians provide.

Members of the public can be indirect and vague when asking about what they are seeking in the collection. The panel, moderated by Ventura County Museum Education Director Megan Gately, encouraged the audience to appreciate the value of primary source material in providing fresh interpretations of the past. Approximately 50 people attended the event.

Mental Health First Aid is a public education program that can help individuals across the community understand mental illnesses, support timely intervention and save lives. Whilst many people already go to physical-based first aid courses, this is hoped to bridge the gap and address the other side of health that is less discussed. The two part 8-hour course, hosted by the Ventura Police Department and Ventura County Behavioral Health, will be held March 7 & 8 from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Ventura Police Department located at 1425 Dowell Drive in Ventura.

Participants will learn about common mental health and substance use disorders, warning signs and symptoms of mental health problems, potential risk factors, local resources and support. The course also introduces participants to risk factors and warning signs of mental health concerns, builds understanding of their impact, and overviews common treatments. The course uses role-playing and simulations to demonstrate how to assess a mental health crisis, select interventions and provide initial help. It also provides information on how to connect persons to professional, peer and social supports as well as self-help resources. Remember it’s always important to connect a struggling person to the correct professional instead of leaving it to yourself or another untrained individual, which is why it’s important to get in touch with a mental health therapist.

Mental Health First Aid allows for early detection and intervention by teaching participants about the signs and symptoms of specific illnesses like anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and addiction. The program offers concrete tools and answers key questions like “What can I do?” and “Where can someone find help?” Participants are introduced to local mental health resources, national organizations, support groups, and online tools for mental health and addictions treatment and support.

There is no cost for the course. Funding comes through Ventura County Behavioral Health. To register please email Mary Ellen Collins, Certified Trainer: [email protected] or call 657-4408. To learn more about Mental Health First Aid visit: www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org .

The Ventura Shellfish Enterprise (VSE), a collaborative group seeking to grow sustainably-cultivated mussels in the Santa Barbara Channel  will hold the first of a series of public information workshops at 7 p.m. on February 16. The workshop, in coordination with the Ventura Port District, will provide an introduction to the benefits of shellfish aquaculture; how this crop is grown worldwide; and the specifics of this exciting new project proposed for Ventura.

The workshop is free and open to the public. No RSVP is required. It will be held at the Channel Islands National Park Visitors Center, 1901 Spinnaker Drive, in the Ventura Harbor. Attendees may sign up at venturashellfishenterprise.com (click on the “Get Involved” link) or email [email protected] to be added to the mailing list or register for a workshop.

Supported by a $300,000 grant to the Ventura Port District from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through the National Sea Grant College Program, it is anticipated that the Ventura Port District, as a member of VSE, will obtain all the permits and entitlements needed to cultivate mussels on leases that will be farmed by commercial fisherman and landed at existing fish off-loading facilities in the Ventura Harbor.

The project has generated considerable interest in the harbor community. “The aquaculture effort will bolster commercial fishing activity in the harbor and stimulate the local economy,” said Ventura Port District General Manager Oscar Peña.

After over-coming drug addiction and a near death accident that left him a paraplegic, Gabriel Cordell, a Palestinian, became the first person to travel across the United States using a manual wheelchair.  “Roll with Me”, a new documentary film, recounts Gabriel’s 99-day journey across America. The public is invited to attend a special screening and meet Gabriel on February 16 at the first of Congregation Am HaYam’s 2017 lecture series, “Empowering, Provocative, Thoughtful.”

The series also includes a lecture on March 22nd by Rebecca D. Costa, socio-biologist, recipient of the E.O Wilson Biodiversity Technology Award and author of “The Watchman’s Rattle”.  On April 30, Ronni Sanlo, LGBTQ activist, educator and author of “The Soldier, The Avatar and the Holocaust” will speak about her new young adult book based on her parents’ correspondence during the liberation of Dachau.

Tickets are available at www.amhayam.com/events for $15-18 each or $36 for all three lectures, and on www.eventbrite.com. 4839 Market Street Unit C

by Debra Reeves

I am a volunteer with Buddy Nation, a registered non-profit organization in Ventura whose mission is to work with the county’s homeless people and their pets. Our goal is to give practical help to those who need it – both 2 and 4 footed. We provide pet food and bedding, spaying/neutering, vaccinations and licenses, microchipping, veterinary services – both routine and emergency and specialized.

To accomplish this we collaborate with S.P.A.N. (Spay/Neuter Animal Network), the Ventura County Animal Services, C.A.R.L. (Canine Animal Rescue League), The Humane Society, S.P.A.R.C. (Santa Paula Animal Rescue Center), Ventura Avenue Luxury Boarding and our local veterinarians.

We work with churches and hospitals and hospice to help get people back on their feet and back into regular lives. We have had wonderful success stories: a young woman was hospitalized for 9 days with a serious illness. While she was in the hospital, the kennel kept her Pit Bull safe and loved – at no expense. The woman and her beloved dog are now re-united in another state with her family and doing well. All she needed was someone to help her back on her feet. We did that, with the help of our aforementioned friends.

Our experience from being on the streets, at the river bottom, at cars, vans, trucks is that most of the homeless people are folks who are down on their luck and trying to get back on their feet. They are middle class, middle aged, are not crazy, drunks or junkies. They have lost jobs, fallen behind on house payments, had catastrophic medical bills that have wiped them out. They don’t want to be living on the streets, in their cars or vans but ended up there.

Sure, there are the people who drink or use drugs. Sure, there are the wild and crazy ones … but that is not the face of homelessness here. The people we work with want to get back to normal lives – they want housing, food on the table, safety and security. They want to be warm at night, and they want their beloved pets with them.

We have had people die and we do what we can to help make this final transition easier – even if it means pulling someone out of the river bottom and booking him into a high-end motel until his hospice bed became available. The person I’m referring to did pass away, but he knew that people cared for him at the end, and that his little dog is in a loving home (mine) .

Buddy Nation does what we do to give dignity back to people who have been reduced to none.

We all must remember that any of us could become homeless, given the right circumstances. Think about this the next time you see a homeless person – and smile and say hello – and be , it’s not you.