“A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.” – Chinese Proverb

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – You know this bird is around before you see it, as it has quite a distinctive call.

The pileated woodpecker's strident “kuk-kuk-kuk” reverberates throughout the woods and leads you to his “lunch table.”

You can tell that he has been working industriously by the carpet of wood chips he's left below a branch.

Today Mr. Pileated Woodpecker is dining on grubs in an oak tree high above me.

His boundless banging on the branch is astounding to behold. Thunk! Thunk! Again and again until he finds a cache of beetle larvae, ants or termites beneath the bark of his chosen branch.

These birds drum not only to find food, but to claim territory as well.

They have been known to drum on chimneys, trash cans, logs and telephone poles to proclaim their place in the world. When chiseling a hole, they can peck as fast as 20 times per second.

Pileated woodpeckers have reinforced, heavy bills to use for all of the hammering they do, and they grip the tree's bark ferociously with their zygodactyl feet to give the pounding more power.

Most kinds of woodpeckers have zygodactyl feet, which are those with both front-facing and rear-pointing toes, to help them climb as well as grip the bark firmly.

Their tongues are barbed to aid in recovering slippery grubs. Some species of woodpeckers have a 4-inch-long tongue, which wraps around their skull.

There are nearly 200 species of woodpeckers in the world, and they all sport the same colors – red, white and black, with some varieties wearing an additional color, that of yellow.

The pileated woodpecker here in Lake County wears an ebony cloak, a dapper white scarf and a crimson crested beret.

These big birds are 16 to 19 inches long, with an average wingspan of 27 inches – larger than a crow.

Most often found in deciduous or deciduous-coniferous woodlands, the pileated woodpecker frequents forests with dead or decaying trees for their grubs.

Their diet also can include caterpillars, termites, blackberries, sumac berries and elderberry.

Males of the species are known for their excavating skills which are handy for nesting.

When the hole is almost the right size, around 10 to 20 inches deep, the female will generally take over and complete the nest cavity, by climbing into the oblong hole to finish chipping to the correct dimensions.

They do not waste the precious wood chips created in construction, but choose, instead to line the nest hole with them.

Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is an educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – There are a variety of big working dogs and little dogs waiting for homes at Lake County Animal Care and Control this week.

This week's dogs include mixes of border collie, cattle dog, hound, husky, mastiff pit bull and terrier.

Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

In addition to the animals featured here, all adoptable animals in Lake County can be seen here: http://bit.ly/Z6xHMb .

The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).

Terrier mix

This female terrier mix has a short black and tan mix.

She's in kennel No. 2, ID No. 2597.

Terrier mix

This female terrier mix has a short tan coat.

She's in kennel No. 4, ID No. 2598.

Border collie puppy

This male border collie puppy has a short black and white coat.

He's in kennel No. 5a, ID No. 2473.

Border collie puppy

This male border collie puppy has a short black and white coat.

He's in kennel No. 5b, ID No. 2517.

'Athena'

“Athena” is a female mastiff mix.

She has a short black coat with white markings.

She's in kennel No. 7, ID no. 2743.

Male terrier mix

This male terrier mix has a short white and brown coat.

He and his sister in kennel No. 26 were dumped, and they need socialization and extra tender loving car.

Shelter staff said he's very sweet and would be a wonderful companion for the right person.

He's in kennel No. 9, ID No. 2742.

Male cattle dog mix

This male cattle dog mix has a black and white speckled coat and a black mask.

Shelter staff said he gets along great with other dogs, cats and children, and has good behavior.

He's in kennel No. 11, ID No. 2792.

'Annie'

“Annie” is a female hound mix.

She has a short tan and white coat.

She's in kennel No. 24, ID No. 2744.

Pit bull mix

This female pit bull terrier mix has a short gray and white coat.

Shelter staff said she is very affectionate and loving.

She's in kennel No. 25, ID No. 2536.

Female terrier mix

This female terrier mix has a short white and tan coat, with brown and blue eyes.

Shelter staff said she has had a hard start in life, having been abandoned along with her brother in kennel No. 9 and other family members.

However, shelter staff said she is very sweet and lovely with people, and will be a very loyal companion for the person willing to give her a home and work with her.

She's in kennel No. 26, ID No. 2636.

Husky mix

This handsome male husky mix has a medium-length gray and white coat, with blue eyes.

Shelter staff said he would be good in a home with no cats or small animals. He has no food aggression and does fine with other dogs.

He is a great boy that would do well in an active home and with children ages 7 years and above.

He's in kennel No. 28, ID No. 2595.

Pit bull terrier mix

This female pit bull terrier mix has a short brown and white coat.

Shelter staff said she has no food aggression and is OK with cats. She does well with other dogs, both male and female.

She is a sweet girl that just needs someone to love her. She is bright, and has great potential.

She's in kennel No. 29, ID No. 2701.

To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Clear Lake Area office of the California Highway Patrol will offer a free “Start Smart” traffic safety class for soon-to-be-licensed, newly licensed and teenage drivers and their parents or guardians.

The class will be offered from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 19, at the Clear Lake Area CHP office, located at 5700 Live Oak Drive in Kelseyville.

The leading cause of death for Americans 15 to 20 years old is motor vehicle collisions, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the CHP's goal is to reduce the death rate among young drivers as the result of these collisions. 

The CHP’s “Start Smart” program is aimed at helping newly licensed and future licensed teenage drivers understand the critical responsibilities of driving and to understand that accidents happen, but collisions are 100-percent preventable. 

“The CHP is committed to mitigating traffic collisions involving young, inexperienced drivers, because they are preventable,” said Lt. Hector Paredes, commander of the CHP's Clear Lake Area office. “'Start Smart' is an excellent program that promotes safe driving for young new drivers.”

The program is designed to provide an interactive safe driving awareness class which will illustrate how poor choices behind the wheel of a car can affect the lives of numerous people.

“Start Smart” also focuses on responsibilities of newly licensed drivers, responsibilities of parents or guardians and collision avoidance techniques. 

Space is limited for this class.

For more information or reservations, call Officer Kory Reynolds at the CHP office at 707-279-0103.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – As firefighters have continued to increase the containment on a large blaze in Napa and Solano counties, another large fire erupted in Nevada County on Saturday.

Cal Fire said containment on the 6,900-acre Wragg fire near Lake Berryessa increased to 55 percent by Saturday night.

The fire began Wednesday in steep, rugged terrain off Highway 128. So far, it has destroyed an outbuilding and a tent trailer, and damaged another structure.

On Saturday all evacuation orders and road closures were lifted in relation to the fire, with residents returning to their homes, Cal Fire said.

Cal Fire said Lake Solano campground remains closed due to fire equipment access. 

Resources committed to the incident late Saturday included 1,729 personnel, 133 fire engines, 43 fire crews, 13 helicopters, 24 dozers, 13 water tenders and an incident management team, according to Cal Fire.

Several counties away, shortly after 2:30 p.m. Saturday, a large wildland fire broke out in Nevada County.

Within hours the Lowell fire had ballooned to 4,000 acres, with no containment, Cal Fire reported.

The cause is under investigation, with authorities asking for the public’s help in looking for a vehicle of interest that was in the area when the fire started.

The vehicle is a lifted four-wheel-drive white Jeep Wrangler without a top, a black roll bar and no front doors that was in the Gold Run/Dutch Flat. Anyone with information should contact the Placer or Nevada County Sheriff’s Department. 

Mandatory evacuations are in place in the You Bet, Red Dog, and Chaulk Bluff areas, with an evacuation advisory in place for the northeastern portion of Cascade Shores is also under evacuation order. An evacuation center has been opened at the Nevada Union High School in Grass Valley. 

Approximately 600 fire personnel, 55 fire engines, 13 fire crews, nine air tankers, nine helicopters and six dozers were assigned to the fire Saturday, Cal Fire said.

Elsewhere around Northern California, firefighters have been working on the Queen fire, which began early Saturday morning five miles southeast of Pecwan, in Humboldt County, that has so far burned 200 acres and is 20-percent contained, according to Cal Fire.

Firefighters also are nearing full containment on the 3-11 fire in Modoc County, which began northeast of Bieber on Thursday. It has burned 116 acres and is 90-percent contained, Cal Fire said.
 
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Library, along with the Lake County Office of Education’s Literacy Task Force, will present the Lake County Big Read during the program month of October 2015.

The Big Read is a community-wide reading program that promotes literature and brings people together through reading and discussing a common book.

Harper Lee’s classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” has been selected and community book discussions will be held around the county all month long.

The Big Read will kick off with the Lake County Lit-Fest on Oct. 3 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Mendocino College Lake Center, 2565 Parallel Drive in Lakeport.

The Lake County Lit-Fest is a reading festival featuring local authors, artists and organizations gathered in celebration of reading and literature.

Lit-Fest attendees will be able to receive a copy of this year’s Big Read novel selection while supplies last.

There will be space available for local authors to meet the public and sell their books.

Booths also will be available to organizations interested in promoting literacy and celebrating the written word.

During Lit-Fest local authors will have the opportunity to read their own short works based on themes from “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

High school students will read essays they have submitted for the Lake County Big Read Essay Contest and the contest winners will be recognized at the Lit-Fest kickoff.

An exhibit of local art works inspired by “To Kill a Mockingbird” will be on display. Local author Alethea Eason will conduct free writing workshops.

For more information about the Lake County Big Read and Lit-Fest or to sign up to participate as an author or organization call the Lake County Library at 707-263-8817.

The Lake County Big Read is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LakeCountyBigRead .

Jan Cook works for the Lake County Library.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Firefighters on Thursday increased the containment on a wildland fire burning near Lake Berryessa.

The size estimate on the Wragg fire reached 6,900 acres by Thursday evening, and containment grew from 5 to 15 percent during the course of the day, according to Cal Fire.

The fire broke out just before 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 700 block of Highway 128 at
Wragg Canyon Road in Napa and Solano counties.

The cause – initially reported as a vehicle crash – remains under investigation, Cal Fire said.

Officials lifted the evacuations order on Thursday for the Golden Bear Estates area and for residents on County Road 87, but residents of the Quail Ridge and Canyon Creek areas remained under a mandatory evacuation order. The Red Cross is offering temporary shelters for people and animals in Winters.

So far the fire has destroyed one outbuilding and one tent trailer, with one other structure damaged by the fire, according to Cal Fire.

Cal Fire said portions of Highway 128 from Wragg Canyon to Pleasant Valley and at County Road 89 remain closed.

Resources assigned on Thursday evening included 1,372 firefighting personnel, 150 overhead or command personnel, 118 engine/truck companies, 10 volunteer companies, 14 water tenders, 41 fire crews, 13 helicopters, 24 bulldozers and four air tankers, Cal Fire said.

Cooperating agencies include Cal Fire, Napa County Fire, Winters Fire Protection District, Vacaville Fire, Vacaville City Fire, Napa County Sheriff, Solano County Sheriff, Yolo County Sheriff, California Highway Patrol, Red Cross, Napa County Roads, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, North Bay Incident Management Team and Cal Fire Incident Management Team 6.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The 74th quilt block on the Lake County Quilt Trail is “Dove in the Window.”

Its design is inspired by the collaboration and cooperation of two congregations – the United Methodist Church and Unitarian Universalist Community of Lake County who share this place of worship at 3810 Main St., Kelseyville.

This design is a variation of a traditional quilt block called “friendship fan,” which appropriately represents the friendship of these two groups.

The dove represents peace, and the rainbow colors represent inclusiveness of both congregations.

The Kelseyville United Methodists have met on the location of First and Main since 1854. The current sanctuary is the third church structure on this site and was constructed in 1948.

The United Methodist Church, led by Pastor Voris Brumfield, meets at 9 a.m. on Sundays. The church's slogan is “Open Minds, Open Hearts, and Open Doors.”

The Unitarian Universalist Community of Lake County, which is lay led and has visiting ministers and speakers, meets on Sunday at 11 a.m. Its slogan is “A religious home where all faiths are welcome, and spiritual growth is encouraged.”

These congregations collaborated to sponsor the 4-foot by 4-foot “Dove in the Window” quilt block.

They also work together on community projects such as the Kelseyville Food Pantry, along with the Presbyterian Church of Kelseyville.

Many thanks to Glenn Mueller and Peter Trucks for installing “Dove in the Window.”

The Lake County Quilt Trail is an agricultural and tourism project designed to promote community pride.

The quilt block was drawn and painted by the Lake County Quilt Trail team, a group of dedicated quilters, graphic artists, painters, writers, carpenters and a videographer.

For more information about the Lake County Quilt Trail visit www.lakecountyquilttrail.com or check out the group's Facebook page.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Firefighters on Friday continued to gain ground on a wildland fire sparked near Lake Berryessa earlier this week.

The Wragg fire has been burning since Wednesday afternoon off of Highway 128 near Greaves Road in Napa and Solano counties.

On Friday firefighters continued to hold the blaze to 6,900 acres, increasing containment to 30 percent, according to Cal Fire.

Officials said that 140 structures remain threatened, with one outbuilding and one tent trailer destroyed so far, and one additional structure damaged.

The Canyon Creek area has been repopulated but mandatory evacuations remain in effect for the Quail Canyon and Sackett Lane areas, Cal Fire said.

The Red Cross reported that it has closed its evacuation center in Winters, but a large animal evacuation center remains open in that community.

Highway 128 remains open, but Pleasant Valley Road from Mix Canyon to Highway 128 is still closed. A soft road closure is in effect for residents at Road 87, according to Cal Fire.

Approximately 1,936 firefighting personnel remained on scene late Friday, along with 160 fire engines, 46 fire crews, 13 helicopters, 35 dozers, 20 water tenders, 10 volunteer companies, 115 overhead/command personnel and an incident management team, Cal Fire said.

This week the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, authorized the use of federal funds to assist the state of California combat the Wragg fire.

On Thursday, the state of California submitted a request for a fire management assistance declaration for the Wragg Fire and FEMA approved the state’s request the same day.

The authorization makes FEMA funding available to reimburse up to 75 percent of the eligible firefighting costs under an approved grant for managing, mitigating and controlling the fire.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Planning Commission on Tuesday granted a use permit and variance for a Verizon cell phone tower facility in the Burns Valley area.

Commissioners Cheryl Hutchinson, Dirk Slooten and Chairman Carl Webb voted in favor of the project while Commissioner Nathalie Antus voted against the proposal. Commissioner Bill Perkins was not in attendance.

The cell tower's proposed location is a 40-foot by 40-foot parcel at 14549 Burns Valley Road, within a walnut grove, which commission clerk Julie Burrows said is lined with oak and pine trees. The tower is a “monopine” tower, designed to resemble a pine tree.

Complete Wireless Communications, who submitted the project application on behalf of Verizon, requested a variation to height limitations in the Burns Valley zone.

The company proposed developing a wireless telecommunications facility that includes the 70-foot-tall tower, which is twice the allowable height within the zone.

The surrounding land uses include residential to the north and vacant to the south, east and west.

Commissioners Slooten and Antus questioned the fall-zone of the proposed tower.

Jenny Blocker, Complete Wireless Communications' senior site acquisition and planning manager, said she did not have information related to the fall-zone; however, she said the tower is structurally engineered to prevent it from falling.

She said she is unaware of any report of a fallen tower. She also said there is no report of a one combusting, in response to a question by Antus. 

Blocker said developers worked with city staff to select a site that satisfied the city's desires for development and Verizon's goal to improve telecommunication services, including that which supports public safety. Burrows said 10 sites had been reviewed.

Patrick McMahon, a board member for Calvary Church of Clearlake – which owns property on two sides of the proposed development area – spoke against granting the variance.

McMahon said the monopine would be 20 feet higher than other trees in the area and the shrubbery that is there currently differs from that of the proposed design.

He also expressed the church's concern for a possible decrease in property valley as a result of being near a cell tower, reiterating the concern of resident Laurie Frazier related to emission and potential health risks.

Cell towers “may not be as safe as they say they are,” McMahon said.

McMahon implied such safety concerns also have the potential to affect future development of the church's property next to the tower.

In addition to the monopine, the project proposal consists of a 30 kilowatt diesel emergency backup generator with a self-contained 132 gallon fuel tank, prefabricated equipment shelter with nine antenna sectors and two microwave dishes and outdoor equipment cabinets.

The facility is to be enclosed by a 6-foot tall fence with colored slats and a 12-foot wide access gate and will include underground power and telecommunication utilities.

According to Burrows, an acoustic study was completed in March and submitted to the city, confirming the equipment will not exceed acceptable noise levels.

An initial study, she said, was prepared pursuant to California Environmental Quality Act and a mitigated negative declaration was being proposed.

Burrows said mitigation measures to reduce potential impacts to less than significant levels have been incorporated into the project, which is consistent with the city's general plan.

Ultimately, the mitigated negative declaration was accepted with amendments and changes suggested by Slooten, including a requirement for certification and survey of the leased area for flood zone requirements prior to construction.

Another amendment offered, and ultimately accepted by the commission, required a change in location for the placement of the cell tower on the leased property.

The amendment required the tower and facility by relocated 20 feet west of its currently proposed location.

That relocation would move the tower a total of 70 feet from the property line shared with Calvary Church.

Email reporter Denise Rockenstein at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Flowing ice and a surprising extended haze are among the newest discoveries from NASA’s New Horizons mission, which reveal distant Pluto to be an icy world of wonders.

“We knew that a mission to Pluto would bring some surprises, and now – 10 days after closest approach – we can say that our expectation has been more than surpassed,” said John Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate. “With flowing ices, exotic surface chemistry, mountain ranges, and vast haze, Pluto is showing a diversity of planetary geology that is truly thrilling."

Just seven hours after closest approach, New Horizons aimed its Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) back at Pluto, capturing sunlight streaming through the atmosphere and revealing hazes as high as 80 miles above Pluto’s surface.

A preliminary analysis of the image shows two distinct layers of haze – one about 50 miles above the surface and the other at an altitude of about 30 miles.

“My jaw was on the ground when I saw this first image of an alien atmosphere in the Kuiper Belt,” said Alan Stern, principal investigator for New Horizons at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado. “It reminds us that exploration brings us more than just incredible discoveries – it brings incredible beauty.”

Studying Pluto’s atmosphere provides clues as to what’s happening below.

“The hazes detected in this image are a key element in creating the complex hydrocarbon compounds that give Pluto’s surface its reddish hue,” said Michael Summers, New Horizons co-investigator at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

Models suggest the hazes form when ultraviolet sunlight breaks up methane gas particles -- a simple hydrocarbon in Pluto’s atmosphere.

The breakdown of methane triggers the buildup of more complex hydrocarbon gases, such as ethylene and acetylene, which also were discovered in Pluto’s atmosphere by New Horizons.

As these hydrocarbons fall to the lower, colder parts of the atmosphere, they condense into ice particles that create the hazes.

Ultraviolent sunlight chemically converts hazes into tholins, the dark hydrocarbons that color Pluto’s surface.

Scientists previously had calculated temperatures would be too warm for hazes to form at altitudes higher than 20 miles above Pluto’s surface.

“We’re going to need some new ideas to figure out what’s going on,” said Summers.

The New Horizons mission also found in LORRI images evidence of exotic ices flowing across Pluto’s surface and revealing signs of recent geologic activity, something scientists hoped to find but didn’t expect.  

The new images show fascinating details within the Texas-sized plain, informally named Sputnik Planum, which lies within the western half of Pluto’s heart-shaped feature, known as Tombaugh Regio.

There, a sheet of ice clearly appears to have flowed – and may still be flowing – in a manner similar to glaciers on Earth.

“We’ve only seen surfaces like this on active worlds like Earth and Mars,” said mission co-investigator John Spencer of SwRI. “I'm really smiling.”

Additionally, new compositional data from New Horizons’ Ralph instrument indicate the center of Sputnik Planum is rich in nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane ices.

“At Pluto’s temperatures of minus-390 degrees Fahrenheit, these ices can flow like a glacier,” said Bill McKinnon, deputy leader of the New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging team at Washington University in St. Louis. “In the southernmost region of the heart, adjacent to the dark equatorial region, it appears that ancient, heavily-cratered terrain has been invaded by much newer icy deposits.”

View a simulated flyover using New Horizons’ close-approach images of Sputnik Planum and Pluto’s newly-discovered mountain range, informally named Hillary Montes, in the video below.

The New Horizons mission will continue to send data stored in its onboard recorders back to Earth through late 2016.

The spacecraft currently is 7.6 million miles beyond Pluto, healthy and flying deeper into the Kuiper Belt.

For more information on the New Horizons mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/newhorizons .

NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet in the “habitable zone” around a sun-like star.

This discovery and the introduction of 11 other new small habitable zone candidate planets mark another milestone in the journey to finding another “Earth.”

The newly discovered Kepler-452b is the smallest planet to date discovered orbiting in the habitable zone – the area around a star where liquid water could pool on the surface of an orbiting planet – of a G2-type star, like our sun.

The confirmation of Kepler-452b brings the total number of confirmed planets to 1,030.

“On the 20th anniversary year of the discovery that proved other suns host planets, the Kepler exoplanet explorer has discovered a planet and star which most closely resemble the Earth and our Sun,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “This exciting result brings us one step closer to finding an Earth 2.0.”

Kepler-452b is 60 percent larger in diameter than Earth and is considered a super-Earth-size planet. While its mass and composition are not yet determined, previous research suggests that planets the size of Kepler-452b have a good chance of being rocky.

While Kepler-452b is larger than Earth, its 385-day orbit is only 5 percent longer. The planet is 5 percent farther from its parent star Kepler-452 than Earth is from the Sun.

Kepler-452 is 6 billion years old, 1.5 billion years older than our sun, has the same temperature, and is 20 percent brighter and has a diameter 10 percent larger.

“We can think of Kepler-452b as an older, bigger cousin to Earth, providing an opportunity to understand and reflect upon Earth’s evolving environment,” said Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, who led the team that discovered Kepler-452b. “It’s awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star; longer than Earth. That’s substantial opportunity for life to arise, should all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet.”

To help confirm the finding and better determine the properties of the Kepler-452 system, the team conducted ground-based observations at the University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory, the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins, Arizona, and the W. M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. These measurements were key for the researchers to confirm the planetary nature of Kepler-452b, to refine the size and brightness of its host star and to better pin down the size of the planet and its orbit.

The Kepler-452 system is located 1,400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus. The research paper reporting this finding has been accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal.

In addition to confirming Kepler-452b, the Kepler team has increased the number of new exoplanet candidates by 521 from their analysis of observations conducted from May 2009 to May 2013, raising the number of planet candidates detected by the Kepler mission to 4,696. Candidates require follow-up observations and analysis to verify they are actual planets.

Twelve of the new planet candidates have diameters between one to two times that of Earth, and orbit in their star's habitable zone. Of these, nine orbit stars that are similar to our sun in size and temperature.

“We've been able to fully automate our process of identifying planet candidates, which means we can finally assess every transit signal in the entire Kepler dataset quickly and uniformly,” said Jeff Coughlin, Kepler scientist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, who led the analysis of a new candidate catalog. “This gives astronomers a statistically sound population of planet candidates to accurately determine the number of small, possibly rocky planets like Earth in our Milky Way galaxy.”

These findings, presented in the seventh Kepler Candidate Catalog, will be submitted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. These findings are derived from data publicly available on the NASA Exoplanet Archive.

Scientists now are producing the last catalog based on the original Kepler mission’s four-year data set. The final analysis will be conducted using sophisticated software that is increasingly sensitive to the tiny telltale signatures of Earth-size planets.

For more information about the Kepler mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/kepler .

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – A wildland fire sparked near Lake Berryessa on Wednesday afternoon ballooned in size later that night, with additional evacuations resulting.

The Wragg fire was first reported just before 2:30 p.m., burning in the 7700 block of Highway 128 near Greaves Road in Napa and Solano counties, Cal Fire reported.

Initially, officials said it was caused by a vehicle crash, but later on Wednesday said the cause is under investigation.

At 12:15 a.m. Thursday, Cal Fire said the fire had grown to 5,000 acres, with 5 percent containment.

Cal Fire said the fire is threatening 200 structures in the Quail Ridge community. Mandatory evacuations are under way there as well as in nearby Golden Bear.

No structures have been damaged or destroyed so far, Cal Fire said.
 
Hikers and campers in the Canyon Creek and Lake Solano campgrounds also were evacuated, Cal Fire said.

The Red Cross opened an evacuation center at the Winters Community Center, 201 Railroad Ave., plus a large animal evacuation center has been opened at 29775 County Road 31, also in Winters.

Cal Fire said Highway 128 at Wragg Canyon is closed.

On Wednesday night, Cal Fire said resources on scene included 525 personnel, 73 truck/engine companies, 16 fire crews, 11 dozers, 10 volunteer companies, nine water tenders, and 50 overhead or command personnel, with additional resources on order.

Firefighters are expected to continue working the fire aggressively through the night, providing structure defense and improving containment lines, according to Cal Fire's Wednesday night report.

The agency said the fire has continued to consistently travel at a rapid rate of spread through the steep, brush-covered terrain, fanned by erratic winds.

Those same winds have helped carry the smoke around the region, with smoky conditions and falling ash reported in Yolo County and the Sacramento area.

Satellite photos posted by the National Weather Service showed the fire's traveling to the east.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.