LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The tragedies of the record-breaking 2015 fire season in Lake County generated a great deal of community support, collaboration and teamwork.

Countless individuals, organizations, friends, strangers and neighbors came together in response to these disasters.

One such group was a conglomerate of Rotary International organizations based right here in Lake County.

The Lake Area Rotary Club Association, or LARCA, was formed to distribute donations that had been gathered from the various Rotary clubs based in Lake County.

On Friday, Jan. 15, LARCA Treasurer Russ Cremer presented Lake County Sheriff and Emergency Services Director Brian Martin and Lake County Fire Protection District Chief Willie Sapeta with a check for $3,000 for the Lake County Office of Emergency Services.

This money is earmarked to pay for Lake County Office of Emergency Services’ contract with an approved commercial software provider to access the Integrated Public Alert Warning System, or IPAWS.

During an emergency alert and warning, officials need to provide the public with life-saving information quickly.

IPAWS is a modernization and integration of the nation’s alert and warning infrastructure and will save time when time matters most, protecting life and property.

Federal, state, territorial, tribal and local alerting authorities can use IPAWS and integrate local systems that use Common Alerting Protocol standards with the IPAWS infrastructure.

IPAWS provides public safety officials with an effective way to alert and warn the public about serious emergencies using the Emergency Alert System, Wireless Emergency Alerts, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Weather Radio, and other public alerting systems from a single interface.

This service will complement the existing NIXLE and City Watch reverse 911 system used by the sheriff's office and the Lake County Office of Emergency Services and will allow the agencies to quickly notify people in the event of an emergency.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Office of Emergency Services expects to have the system ready for use by March. Key personnel have already completed the Federal Emergency Management Agency required training to participate in this program.

“I am grateful for this generous contribution from members of our community,” said Martin. “It will allow us to improve the level of service provided by first responders to residents and visitors in Lake County during times of emergency. My deepest gratitude goes out to the Lake Area Rotary Club Association for making this possible. On behalf of a grateful community I thank them.”

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, Calif. – The Rural County Representatives of California, or RCRC, has awarded Sen. Mike McGuire with the annual “Patti Mattingly Award” for 2015.

The Patti Mattingly Award is given to a policymaker who has demonstrated leadership on rural issues, and exhibited an understanding of the unique challenges that rural communities face.
 
“California’s rural counties face unique challenges and obstacles when dealing with state and federal policies, and it can often be difficult to effectively communicate these challenges to Sacramento,” said RCRC Second Vice Chair Rex Bohn, Humboldt County supervisor. “We truly appreciate Sen. McGuire’s open and collaborative approach to decision making, and look forward to continuing to work with him and his office in the coming years.”
 
RCRC’s Patti Mattingly Award was established in memory of former Siskiyou County Supervisor Patti Mattingly, who exhibited tremendous courage, commitment and ability to promote constructive solutions surrounding rural issues.

The recipients are selected annually by the RCRC Board of Directors.
 
“I’m so grateful for this honor and I can’t thank the dedicated team at RCRC enough for their partnership all throughout this first year in the Senate,” said Sen. McGuire (D-Healdsburg), who represents Lake County in the State Senate. “It’s an incredible privilege to work on behalf of the rural counties and small communities that make Northern California the best place to live in America. Together, we’re going to continue to fight to ensure the hard working residents of rural California have the resources they need to thrive into the future.”
 
In addition to his understanding of rural issues, examples of important rural related actions by Sen. McGuire in the State Legislature include:
 
• Leading the charge on wildfire recovery efforts in Lake County;
• Authoring medical marijuana legislation that helped formulate a regulatory framework;
• Authoring a measure regarding the collection of applicable local transient occupancy taxes; and,
• Bringing California into compliance with federal law as it relates to jet fuel sales revenues.
 
Supervisor Bohn presented the Patti Mattingly Award to Sen. McGuire during RCRC’s annual installation of officers reception on Wednesday.
 
RCRC is a 35 member county strong service organization that champions policies on behalf of California’s rural counties. To learn more about RCRC, visit www.rcrcnet.org and follow @RuralCounties on Twitter.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Clear Lake Area 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 on Wednesday, Jan. 27.

The class will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Clear Lake Area CHP office, located at 5700 Live Oak Drive in Kelseyville.

The leading cause of death for Americans 15 to 19 years old is motor vehicle collisions, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The CHP's goal is to reduce the death rate among young drivers as the result of these collisions.

“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 “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 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 707-279-0103.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The assessed values of almost 1,000 properties damaged in the Rocky, Jerusalem and Valley fires have been adjusted by the Lake County Assessor’s Office.

Corrected property tax bills have been sent by the Lake County Treasurer-Tax Collector's Office to the mailing address on file for that property.

“When any tax bill is returned from the post office as undeliverable, we do all we can to find the new mailing address, and will resend the bill,” said Lake County Treasurer-Tax Collector Barbara Ringen.

“We’ve used various means to identify properties that have been damaged by the fire,” Lake County Assessor-Recorder Richard Ford reported. “On a fire of this magnitude with such catastrophic damage, this has been challenging. There is a small possibility that some properties that were damaged or destroyed have not yet been officially documented.”

Ford said that there are also some fire-damaged properties that are still being analyzed for the proper tax corrections and those bills have not yet been sent.

Any property owner whose structure was damaged or destroyed by the fires, and do not receive a corrected property tax bill by Feb. 15 should call the Lake County Assessor’s Office at 707-263-2302.

If you have questions regarding the post-fire valuation on your property, please call the Lake County Assessor’s Office.

If you have questions regarding payment of your property tax bill, please call the Lake County Treasurer-Tax Collector at 707-263-2234.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – FoodCorps, a nationwide team of AmeriCorps leaders who connect children to locally grown food and help them grow up healthy, is seeking to recruit a local service member.

The individual will work in partnership with North Coast Opportunities Inc. in Clearlake, the service site for FoodCorps in Lake County for the 2016-17 school year.

Applications to apply for FoodCorps service are due by March 31, 2016.

The person selected will dedicate one year of full-time public service in school food systems – expanding hands-on nutrition education programs, building and tending school gardens, and bringing high quality local foods into school cafeterias.

“What we feed our children in school – and what we teach them about food there – shapes their health and success over a lifetime. By joining FoodCorps, you will have a chance to do something incredibly important: connect children to healthy food, and give them the opportunity to grow, learn and thrive,” said Curt Ellis, FoodCorps co-founder and Chief Executive Officer.

Current Lake County FoodCorps Service Member Ben Feldman agrees. “I love serving with FoodCorps because I believe in the value of this organization,” said Feldman. “It is a joy seeing how excited my students become to eat freshly harvested produce. Cultivating an appreciation of good food, in my opinion, is a crucial component of any effort to improve our food systems.”

For a year of full-time FoodCorps service, service members are eligible to receive a $17,500 living allowance, $5,775 AmeriCorps Segal Education Award, student loan forbearance, health insurance, partial childcare reimbursements, training and mentorship, alumni network and the experience of a lifetime.

Service members must be 18 years or older by the start of service (September 1, 2016), be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or lawful permanent resident of the United States and hold a high school diploma, GED or equivalent.

Successful FoodCorps service members are passionate about building a healthier future for school children, are motivated to serve full-time in a limited resource community, have experience working in or studying food systems, agriculture, public health, education, community organizing, or public service.

Ideally, the new Lake County FoodCorps service member already has roots planted in this community, is seeking an opportunity to gain hands-on experience for their career, and is committed to working hard in order to make a difference.

Since 1980, the percentage of American children who are overweight or obese has doubled. With one in four U.S. children struggling with hunger and one in three obese or overweight, FoodCorps addresses the root cause of both: access to healthy food.

Each year since its inception 2009, FoodCorps has expanded its reach and grown its ranks to now include Lake County, thanks to their partnership with North Coast Opportunities Inc., or NCO, the service site for the program in Clearlake.

“Our current FoodCorps service member is such an inspiration to the students at Lower Lake and East Lake elementary schools,” said Terre Logsdon, the Lake County Farm to School coordinator for NCO. “By preparing food and offering taste tests, he is introducing students to fruits and vegetables that they hadn’t tried before – and find they like – which in turn helps these students to consume vegetables that previously they would not have eaten. My hope is that for the next service year, we can recruit someone to serve that is from right here in Lake County.”

The FoodCorps service member will work with NCO’s Lake County Farm to School program, which is working to increase the number and prosperity of local farmers by bringing more local produce to school lunch menus.

Modeled after NCO’s successful Farm2Fork program in Mendocino County, the Lake County Farm to School project aims to increase the capacity of both local farmers and food service professionals to get local, fresh, and healthy food from the field to the plate.

Funded by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) through 2017, NCO will continue to seek funding to continue expanding farm to plate programs throughout Lake County.

The FoodCorps service member will carry out a variety of activities to further encourage changes in school food cultures by building student interest in and enjoyment of the healthier local foods that their school cafeterias are offering.

These activities will range from classroom- and garden-based nutrition education lessons to cafeteria taste testing. As the schools build and develop their capacity to use local produce, they will serve as replicable models for schools throughout the community and the county.

“The demand for FoodCorps across the country is a signal that communities are ready to address childhood health through the transformation of the school food environment,” said Cecily Upton, FoodCorps co-founder and vice president of programs. “We are excited to continue our growth into new communities, with the assistance of strong host organizations there.”

Applications are due March 31, 2016.

Emerging local leaders interested in serving as a FoodCorps service member should visit the NCO Web site at www.ncoinc.org/programs/farm-to-school-lake-county/lake-county-foodcorps .

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA– The Oakville Crossroad bridge, over the Napa River between Highway 29 and Silverado Trail in Napa County, will reopen 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 21.

The bridge was closed May 22, 2015, as a result of damage from a 4.1-magnitude earthquake.

At that time – the west abutment, the base that held up the west end of the bridge – sank 4 inches, pulling apart existing cracks on the then-nearly 100-year-old bridge, and exposing structural steel. It was closed to vehicles, bicycles and foot traffic.

The bridge was demolished, and a new one stands in its place.

The project cost is about $7 million, which was primarily funded by the Federal Highway Administration.

The new reinforced concrete box-girder bridge is 33-feet-wide by 120-feet-long. The structure will carry two lanes of traffic and passes over the Napa River at a higher elevation (about 3 feet higher) to meet current hydraulic design standards.

The road approaches were widened and raised to meet the new bridge elevation and width. The channel was re-graded to a roughened channel bottom to accommodate fish passage and rock slope protection was planted on both channel slopes to protect the bridge abutments from scour and erosion.

The project also includes onsite and offsite riparian planting and construction of habitat structures for California Freshwater Shrimp.

Other items include modification to existing culverts and driveways and traffic safety features, such as bridge rails and guardrails.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The National Weather Service's Sacramento office has issued a wind advisory for Lake County, warning of the a winter storm that's predicted to bring gusty winds late Friday and into Saturday.

The wind advisory is in effect from 7 p.m. Friday to 10 a.m. Saturday.

The National Weather Service said the next in a series of storm systems is expected to move through Northern California Friday and Saturday, bringing with it south winds of between 20 and 30 miles per hour, with gusts of 50 miles per hour – or higher – possible.

Forecasters warn area residents to be prepared for the possibility of downed trees and power outages.

Drivers are urged to use particular caution, as such winds can make driving difficult, especially for high profile vehicles.

More significant rain also is forecast for Friday through Saturday in Lake County.

The National Weather Service is estimating that the southern portion of the county could receive between 1 and 2 inches, with the potential for between 2 and 3 inches mountainous northern part of the county and a small portion of the county bordering Sonoma County.

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.

The California Department of Water Resources has identified 21 groundwater basins and subbasins in which excessive groundwater pumping has resulted in significant overdraft.

The basins are located in the Central Valley and Southern California.

Overdraft impacts can include seawater intrusion and land subsidence, in addition to chronically lowered groundwater levels.

As a result, those basins and subbasins fall under the earliest deadlines required by the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA.

Under the package of historic groundwater management laws enacted by Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. in September 2014, the basins identified by DWR as significantly overdrafted must have groundwater sustainability plans in place by Jan. 31, 2020.

The SGMA requires all basins designated as high- or medium-priority and subject to critical conditions of overdraft to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability  plans two years earlier than the other high- and medium-priority basins.

This is not the first time DWR has identified basins in critical overdraft. Working with local agencies, DWR identified such basins in 1980 and 2003, as described in Bulletin 118 reports issued those years. 

Bulletin 118 is a comprehensive report on California groundwater resources that is periodically updated by DWR.

The latest list of basins subject to critical conditions of overdraft will be published in the next update of Bulletin 118, expected in late 2016.
 
DWR released a draft list of basins in critical overdraft last August, holding a public meeting in the Central Valley, a statewide Webcast, and 30-day public comment period in which local agencies had the opportunity to ask questions and offer guidance.

DWR evaluated the comments and additional data supplied before releasing the final list.
 
For more information regarding California’s groundwater please visit http://www.water.ca.gov/groundwater/index.cfm .

California water basins in critical overdraft

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Since wildfires swept Lake and Calaveras counties, federal and state agencies have provided more than $127.8 million in disaster assistance and grants to assist survivors, cities and the counties to recover.

The fires burned nearly 147,000 acres between Sept. 9 and Oct. 30, 2015.

As of Wednesday, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) have approved more than $34.3 million in federal disaster assistance for California survivors to help rebuild their lives.

In addition, FEMA and Cal OES provided affected counties with nearly $3.7 million in grants for hazard mitigation projects within the designated counties.

Public Assistance grants total $89.9 million for approved disaster-related emergency protective measures, debris removal and repair or restoration of public infrastructure.

Cal OES provided $1 million (100 grants) for survivors through the State Supplemental Grant Program. The program is for survivors who have received the maximum FEMA grant amounts and still have remaining unmet needs.

Here is a snapshot of the disaster-recovery effort as of Jan. 18:

• More than 3,760 Californians have registered for assistance with FEMA and nearly $11.6 million has been approved.

• More than $7.5 million has been approved for 1,189 households in housing assistance.
– More than $1.3 million in rental assistance was approved for 883 Lake County and Calaveras County survivor households to pay for a rental resource.
– “Manufactured Housing Units” provide temporary housing for 42 households, while 36 households await units.
– “Other Needs Assistance” approved more than $4 million for 1,023 households to meet other disaster-related needs not covered by insurance or other sources.

For those who registered, FEMA’s Helpline, 800-621-3362 or (TTY) 800-462-7585, remains available to those with questions or needing to update their registration information.

FEMA’s mission is to support citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from and mitigate all hazards.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Habitat for Humanity has received a $25,000 donation from Sutter Lakeside Hospital for the rebuilding of Valley fire survivors’ homes.

The fire burned more than 76,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,300 homes.

Twelve percent of families who lost everything in the Valley fire had no insurance to cover their losses.

In the aftermath of the destruction, Habitat for Humanity is offering long-term housing solutions for fire survivors.

Habitat for Humanity, an international organization that advocates for accessibility to affordable housing around the world, has had a strong presence in Lake County since 2001.

Partner families purchase a house from the organization for an affordable monthly mortgage. To date, Habitat for Humanity has built 20 houses in Lake County.

While the organization carries out housing initiatives throughout the year, the nonprofit also mobilizes disaster relief in times of need.

“Right now we’re doing front-end planning such as interviewing families and finding lots,” said Richard Birk, director of Lake County Habitat for Humanity.

“We plan to build 20 plus homes in the area; by this time next year, we hope to see at least five homes under construction,” Birk said. “From the time we approve a family for a home to the end of construction can take less than a year. Because of the immense need, we expect the building cycle to be continuous and smooth.”

He added, “We’re very grateful for Sutter Lakeside Hospital’s support both over the years and now. Sutter Lakeside Hospital does a lot for the community, and we’re very appreciative of that.”

“We understand that the need for relief was immediate, but that long-term rebuilding will take sustained time and effort,” said Sutter Lakeside Hospital Chief Administrative Officer Siri Nelson. “We’re honored to support an organization that has such a direct impact on the well-being of local Valley fire survivors.”

For more information about how to get involved with Lake County Habitat for Humanity through donating or volunteering, contact the organization at 707-994-1100.

LUCERNE, Calif. – Starting in February, a series of programs on the natural environment of Lake County will be presented at the Marymount California University Lakeside campus in Lucerne.

The first program, featuring Dr. Harry Lyons, will be on Thursday, Feb. 4, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

The programs are co-sponsored by the Friends of Marymount California University Lakeside and the Lake County Land Trust and will be the first in a “Distinguished Speakers Series,” offered by the Friends of MCU and other Lake County organizations in order to help introduce our local four-year university to the community.

Starting at 5 p.m. short, informal tours of the Marymount California University building, also known as “The Castle,” will be presented, along with refreshments.

A $5 donation will benefit a scholarship fund for students attending the Lakeside campus.

As the first topic in the series, Dr. Harry Lyons, Yuba College biology professor, will present a program titled, “Lessons from Green Water,” in which he weaves the stories of two nutrient-rich aquatic ecosystems, the Hudson River and Clear Lake, in addressing the problems and promises of such rich biological communities.

Although differing in their geological and hydrologic histories, the two systems face similar problems with over-enrichment and mercury contamination.

Most feel the biological condition of the Hudson has improved; some feel the biological condition of Clear Lake has not.

Can the political action taken on behalf of the Hudson River serve as a model for pushing improvement of water quality in Clear Lake? How is the chance of success through political action dependent on the type of pollution and its causes?

Dr. Lyons grew up swimming and fishing in the Hudson. His lifelong interest in water led him to pursue his Ph.D. in oceanography from the Scripps Institution of the University of California after academic work at Rutgers and Stanford.

He has lived by, sampled from, and swum in Clear Lake for more than 35 years. His talks are always peppered with the spirit of relevant songs.

The next scheduled speaker will be Dr. John Parker on March 3, who will use artifacts and a PowerPoint presentation to take you through the cultural, environmental, and technological changes that occurred in Lake County during the past 20,000 years and introduce you to the relationship between Lake County’s American Indian inhabitants and their environment in his program titled, “Cultural and Environmental changes over 20,000 years.”

The series will conclude on April 7 and will feature Catherine Koehler, an ecologist with a special interest in native grasslands of our region, who will present a program titled, “Native Grasslands of Lake County.”

She is director of the University of California’s McLaughlin Reserve in eastern Lake County and the executive director for the Lake County Land Trust.

She has a broad background in the biological sciences, with a bachelors in zoology, a master’s in ecology, and has worked in a range of projects in wildlife biology and plant ecology.

The public is warmly invited to these presentations and encouraged to learn more about Lake County’s new four-year university.

The Friends of MCU Lakeside is a recently formed group that developed out of the Marymount California University Lakeside Campus Advisory Council.

Many original advisory council members have continued on with the MCU Friends group in order to provide scholarship support for students at MCU.

The MCU Lakeside campus is located at 3700 Country Club Drive, Lucerne.

For more information, call 888-991-5253 or 707-262-0707, leave a message and someone will return your call.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Forecasters are predicting a midweek break in the rain, with more storms expected later in the week and into the weekend.

The National Weather Service said the break from Wednesday through Thursday afternoon will be followed by another wet, windy storm beginning on Thursday, with stormy conditions expected to continue through Saturday.

Lake County has been getting the kind of consistent winter rain that it hasn't seen for several years.

The National Weather Service reported the following 24-hour rainfall totals, in inches, from 1 a.m. Tuesday through 1 a.m. Wednesday:

– Bartlett Springs: 1.40;
– Bear Canyon (near Middletown): 1.85;
– Cobb: 1.26;
– Colusa/Lake County line: 0.49;
– High Glade Lookout (above Upper Lake): 1.15;
– Kelseyville: 0.77;
– Lakeport: 0.54;
– Lower Lake: 0.78;
– Lyons Valley: 0.58;
– Middletown: 1.15;
– Upper Lake: 0.90.

The rain has continued to improve the depth of Clear Lake.

The US Geological Survey reported early Wednesday that the lake was at 3.38 feet Rumsey, the special measurement for Clear Lake. A full lake is 7.56 feet Rumsey.

For comparison, Clear Lake's depth measurements were as follows on Jan. 20 during the past several years: 2015, 2.87 feet Rumsey; 2014, 0.57 feet Rumsey; 2013, 5.77 feet Rumsey; 2012, 2.38 feet Rumsey; 2011, 5.61 feet Rumsey; and 2010, 2.05 feet Rumsey.

Snowpack levels also are on the rise.

In the Mendocino National Forest, on Anthony Peak in the Covelo Ranger District, the snowpack is at 27 percent, up from the 21 percent reported in January 2015, according to California Department of Water Resources data.

Across the Sierras, the main location of the state's snowpack, as of Tuesday the state Department of Water Resources reported that the snowpack was at 111 percent of normal for this time of year, compared to the 32 percent reported on Jan. 19 of last year.

In the northern Sierra, snowpack is at 121 percent, 115 percent in the central Sierra and 91 percent in the southern Sierra, based on the agency's readings.

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.