Forde Shorts

Water, water – Brite Lake, also known as the Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District Jacobsen Reservoir, is full to bursting. Shown above, the fishing dock (normally resting partially on land) floats beyond access. In planning for an extended drought, the district ran four wells into the reservoir earlier this year to supplement the imported water supply and began importing water in April as usual. “Then the rains came,” district General Manager John Martin said. While increasing the inflow to the lake, he said, the rain, hail and cold caused the farmers to shut off irrigation and use less water than anticipated. The lake started this year at a low of 750 acre feet and is now at an all-time high of almost 1,800 acre feet.

“Modern day Kitty Hawk” – Stuart Witt, CEO and general manager of the Mojave Air and Space Port, speaking to the East Kern Economic Alliance at the Air and Space Port on May 14, said the atmosphere of entrepreneurship and invention “crackles” at the site, the home of 70 young, vigorous companies taking the lead in the race into space. Witt said the “talented, innovative people [at Mojave] are still fifth graders in a lot of ways. They don’t know what they can’t do.” The projects under development – where they are designed, built and tested -- include an aircraft with the world’s largest wingspan, Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch Systems (you can see the huge hangar built for the aircraft from the freeway). “There’s something in the air,” Witt said. “There’s something in the human spirit that wants to be something bigger than themselves.” He warned against complacency, citing a recent trip as a consultant to Sweden, where in one generation, industries like Volvo and Saab have disappeared. “The enemy of innovation is intolerance for risk,” said Witt, musing on a stool in the board room. “There will be days that hurt,” he said. “I get a lot of criticism for creating an environment where people can take risks, but I wouldn’t change it.” Witt compared the Air and Space Port to the sands of Kitty Hawk, where the Wright brothers first flew an aircraft. He said he is passionate about history and Mojave’s place in it. “There are 78 launches waiting for a launch service,” he said. “There is an enormous demand for products to go to space.” Witt, 63, has been at the helm of the facility for 13 years and is retiring.