On November 25, Greg and I were fortunate to have to opportunity to deliver 20 bales of hay and five bags of pelleted feed generously donated by Arriba Vista Ranch and Lin Wool of KLA Training respectively.

Miguel Jimenez, Rafael Lozano and Gil Pedroza bigheartedly gave up some of their holiday time off to help us load the hay and grain into my truck and horse trailer on Thanksgiving Day. We set off early Sunday morning to make the three-hour trip to Oroville. When we arrived at the donation site, a large donation from a feed store dropping off pallets of pellets beat us to the line.

Several volunteers were on hand to help unload our donations, and there were others with hay donations lined up behind us! The outpouring of generosity was gratifying to see. On a side note, I was happily able to do a little education for one ‘city boy’ who was unloading feed: “grass hay is green and fluffy, oat hay is yellow and scratchy, and alfalfa is green, scratchy, and heavy.”

I’m glad to have had the opportunity not just to donate money but do some boots-on-the-ground assistance for this disaster.

In coordination with Animal Control, city, and private rescue organizations, North Valley Animal Disaster Group: NVADG (https://www.nvadg.org/) is heading the effort to locate and/or evacuate animals displaced in the Camp Fire. In addition to the work the primarily volunteer staff is doing in the field, they have also set up an extensive staging site in Oroville, CA for people to drop off donations of much-needed horse feed. There is a large warehouse and a series of sheds for storing hay and feed. The primary need is grass hay and stable mix hay pellets, which they collect and feed to evacuated and in-place livestock (horses, goats, llamas/alpacas).

The need for donations and assistance will continue for the foreseeable future.