The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has completed its 2013 waterfowl breeding population survey.

The resulting data indicate the overall number of breeding ducks has decreased by 15 percent.

“Habitat conditions are poor in both northeastern California and the Central Valley, so below-average production for all waterfowl species is not a surprise,” said CDFW waterfowl program biologist Melanie Weaver.

Mallards, the most abundant duck in the survey, decreased 23 percent, from 387,100 in 2012 to 298,600 this year.

The total number of ducks of all species decreased from 529,700 last year to 451,300 this year. This estimate is 23 percent below the long-term average.

The decline was attributed to low precipitation, especially in the spring, with some areas only receiving 34 percent of average rainfall since Jan. 1.

CDFW biologists and warden-pilots have conducted this survey using fixed-wing aircraft since 1955. The California Waterfowl Association, under contract with CDFW, assists CDFW by surveying some transects by helicopter.

The population estimates are for surveyed areas only, although those areas include the majority of California’s suitable duck nesting habitat. They include wetland and agricultural areas in northeastern California, the Central Valley from Red Bluff to Bakersfield, and the Suisun Marsh.

The majority of California’s wintering duck population originates from breeding areas in Alaska and Canada that are surveyed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

The results from these surveys should be available in July.

CDFW survey information, along with similar data from other Pacific Flyway states, is used by the USFWS and the Flyway Council when setting hunting regulations for the Pacific Flyway states, including California.

The federal regulation frameworks specify the outside dates, maximum season lengths and maximum bag limits.

Once CDFW receives the USFWS estimates and the frameworks for waterfowl hunting regulations from the USFWS, CDFW will make a recommendation to the Fish and Game Commission regarding this year’s waterfowl hunting regulations.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – An inmate who escaped from a work detail last weekend was returned to local custody on Thursday.

Brendan Scott Ferris, 42, of Kelseyville was booked into the Lake County Jail on Thursday afternoon, according to jail records.

Last Sunday afternoon, while on a work detail for Lake County Social Services in Lakeport, Ferris escaped from custody. He is believed to have slipped out a rear door of the building as part of the inmate work crew was being taken back to the jail, as Lake County News has reported.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office has not responded to inquiries from Lake County News about Ferris’ escape or his latest arrest.

Ferris – who’s serving a three-year, eight-month sentence for two felony drug possession charges – is now charged with a felony escape charge, Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff told Lake County News earlier this week.

Jail records indicate Ferris is due to appear in court on the escape charge on Monday, June 24.

Since his escape – estimated to be the fifth since April 2012 – there have reportedly been repercussions.

Lake County News has confirmed with county agencies including Lake County Animal Care and Control – which regularly uses inmate trustees at the animal shelter, located next to the jail – that they have been told the inmate worker program is on hold, with no timeline for when the inmate trustees may be available for new assignments.

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. – Organizers of Saturday’s Art & Wine in the Park festival are preparing a petition drive to redefine California’s statutes relating to amateur wine and beer making.

The event was formerly known as the Home Wine and Brew Makers Festival, but was forced to change its name and procedures following threats from the California Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Edward Bublitz, president of Clear Lake Performing Arts, the festival’s sponsor, said that the fact that there was a history of at least 75 year of similar events in California, and that the law was open to interpretation, had no effect on the ABC.

"They said if we charged a fee for tastings, it was the same thing as selling the products, and therefore what we were doing was illegal," he said. "Our only recourse at this point is to get the law rewritten or at least redefined, because if we or the many other non-profits who rely on these festivals for fund-raising, can’t charge admission, then what’s the point of holding them?"

Since commercial wineries are exempt from these restrictions Art & Wine in the Park called upon them to provide the "wine" part of the title, and they’ve responded enthusiastically.

"More than a dozen of our wineries have agreed to pour tastes of their premium wines," said Connel Murray, chair of the CLPA wine committee.

Petition forms will be available for voters to sign at the Wine Club booth. They are entitled "Hands Off Our Homemade Wine and Beer." When completed petitions will be forwarded to state Sen. Noreen Evans and Sen. Lois Wolk, who have indicated their interest in helping to solve the ABC problem.

The festival takes place at Library Park in Lakeport from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 22.

Along with wine tasting, there will be features arts and crafts people from throughout Northern California, as well as music from the Konocti Fiddle Club, and keyboard artist David Neft.

Four vendors of foods also will be on hand. The CLPA Auxiliary, the organization’s fundraising arm, will conduct a major silent auction, including numerous gift packages and a week’s stay at a luxury condo on Maui.

The festival is free to the public, but the wine-tasting fee is $25 at the gate and includes a commemorative wine glass.

Advance sale tickets are just $20 and can be obtained at the tasting rooms of Rosa d’ Oro and Wildhurst in Kelseyville, Watershed Books and Bell Hill Winery in Lakeport, Shannon Ridge Wines in Clearlake Oaks, Lower Lake Coffee Co. and Vigilance Wines in Lower Lake and Middletown Florist in Middletown.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – For skywatchers, the nights of Saturday, June 22, and Sunday, June 23, will be a good time to look up.

An extreme supermoon will light up the sky on those nights.

A supermoon, what astronomers call a perigee full moon, is a full or new moon that is at 90 percent or more of its closest perigee to Earth. Perigee is the point nearest to the center of the Earth for an Earth-orbiting object.

An extreme supermoon means a full or new moon at 100 percent greater mean perigee.

This weekend, the moon will be the closest it will get to Earth this year, according to AccuWeather.

That closeness will make the moon look larger and more impressive than usual.

Mark Paquette of AccuWeather said the term “supermoon” is attributed to astrologer Richard Nolle, who first used it to describe the phenomenon.

See the graphic below for more information about the supermoon.

The 23 June 2013 Supermoon infographic by mhars.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A sample of mosquitoes collected last week south of Kelseyville has been confirmed as the first to test positive for West Nile Virus in Lake County his year.

“This is the earliest date that we have detected WNV activity in Lake County, and it may be a warning that this will be a very active year for WNV,” said Jamesina Scott, Ph.D., district manager and research director of the Lake County Vector Control District. “Last year we saw more WNV activity in Lake County than we had since 2005, and had the first human case since 2006.”

West Nile Virus has been detected in 17 California counties so far this year, mainly in mosquitoes and dead birds. One fatal human case was reported earlier this year in Sacramento County.

Over the years, Lake County has experienced few reported cases of WNV illness, but one case was reported to Lake County Health Services in 2012, local health officials reported.

West Nile Virus causes no symptoms in approximately 80 percent of people who catch the infection, officials reported. Up to 20 percent of people experience a variety of symptoms that range from fatigue, fever, headache, body aches, rash and even nausea and vomiting. Less than 1 percent of cases suffer severe illness, including neurologic effects that may be permanent, and some instances are fatal.

There is no specific treatment for the virus, so the best approach is to avoid exposure to mosquito bites, which is the means by which the virus is transmitted.

“Avoiding West Nile Virus requires only simple precautions, but they need to be followed consistently,” said Lake County Public Health Officer Karen Tait, M.D.

Officials encourage residents to protect themselves from mosquito bites by avoiding being outside at dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active, and to wear long sleeves and use an insect repellant containing an EPA-registered active ingredient like DEET, Picaridin, Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus, or IR353.

The Lake County Vector Control District traps and tests mosquitoes throughout the county to identify the areas that have the highest risk, and targets those areas for source reduction and treatment using an integrated vector management program.

“The mosquitoes that transmit WNV develop in backyard sources of standing water,” said Dr. Scott.

Scott encouraged residents to spend a few minutes in their yards this afternoon to look for standing water where mosquitoes develop. “You can dump out small containers of water like plastic wading pools or buckets.

For ornamental ponds, out-of-service swimming pools, and other water that you cannot drain, please call the District for free mosquito-eating fish. These are simple and environmentally friendly ways to prevent mosquitoes around your home,” she said. Out-of-service swimming pools and spas can be a major source of mosquitoes.

Residents are encouraged to contact the district to report neglected pools, request service for mosquito problems, or to get mosquito fish at 707-263-4770 or to fill out a service request online at www.lcvcd.org .

“Dead birds – especially jays, crows, and ravens – and tree squirrels are good indicators of WNV, and residents should report dead birds and tree squirrels to the state’s Dead Bird Hotline,” said Dr. Scott. “Our district gets immediate access to these reports and they help us locate potential hotspots and reduce the chance of human transmission.”

Residents can report dead birds and tree squirrels by calling 877-WNV-BIRD (877-968-2473) (toll-free) or online at the district’s Web site, http://www.lcvcd.org/ , where they can click on the “Report a Dead Bird” link in the right-hand column.

Residents with questions, or who would like help with a mosquito problem should contact the Lake County Vector Control District at 707-263-4770 or visit www.lcvcd.org .

For more information about West Nile Virus, visit http://www.westnile.ca.gov/ .

State lawmakers are at odds over components included in the budget bill last week that would take the teeth out of California’s 45-year-old public records law.

Last week, SB 71 and AB 76 were put into the 2013-14 budget bill as last-minute budget riders, with little public notice, comment or hearing.

The bills contain provisions that would make it optional for local agencies, cities and counties to abide by the tenets of the California Public Records Act.

Lawmakers in the Democratic supermajority have justified the the action as a cost-saving one, based on the state’s need to reimburse local agencies for fulfilling public records act requests.

The changes would allow agencies to bypass a number of requirements when responding to public records act requests.

Those requirements, according to Californians Aware, include:

• Responding to a request within 10 days regarding whether or not records will be released;
• Providing a notice within 10 days of a request that an additional 14 days is needed, with the justification for that extension;
• Providing electronic documents in the format of the requester’s choice;
• Specifying a reason or legal justification for denying a request;
• Assisting the requester in more effectively framing their requests.

Agencies would be encouraged to follow the California Public Records Act as “best practices,” but wouldn’t be legally required to do so.

Since the last-minute budget amendments came to light, open government groups, publications and citizens across the state have spoken out about the damage to transparency that the provisions could bring.

Californians Aware, the First Amendment Coalition, the Sunlight Foundation and the California Newspaper Publishers Association have led efforts to lobby legislators to throw out SB 71’s provisions that damage the CPRA.

The effort appeared to have succeeded on Wednesday, as Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) said that SB 71 is being amended to include all of the components of the general government trailer bill contained in AB 76, except for the changes regarding the CPRA and Local Agency Ethics Mandates.

Those changes, according to Pérez, return that part of the budget document to what was originally included in the Assembly’s version.

“To be clear, this means that the California Public Records Act will remain intact without any changes as part of the budget – consistent with the Assembly’s original action,” Speaker Pérez said.

Perez said SB 71 will be taken up on the Assembly Floor Thursday morning.

However, within hours Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D -Sacramento) and Sen. Mark Leno (D -San Francisco) – chair of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee – said a constitutional amendment will be introduced in the state Senate on Thursday.

The proposed amendment will require permanent restoration of all California Public Records Act mandates in the state budget, and require that all local government entities pay for those services of providing public access to local government records, they said.

“The democratic principle of transparency deserves more than a temporary fix. It deserves a permanent solution; a constitutional solution,” Steinberg and Leno said in a joint statement. “The question is whether or not state taxpayers should foot the bill for what local governments should be doing as a matter of course. The conditions of local government transparency should not require a state subsidy.”

“Rather than row back, we should step forward. Senate Democrats will present a Constitutional Amendment for the Legislature’s consideration, with a view to putting the issue before the voters on the June 2014 statewide ballot,” the statement added.

They also indicated they won’t follow the course Pérez had suggested earlier in the day.

“In the interim, the State Senate will not revisit the issues in Assembly Bill 76, unless there is evidence that locally-elected officials aren’t complying with the statutes that they were elected and expected to uphold,” the statement concluded.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Jerry Brown issued a statement that signaled support for the Democrats’ plan to put the matter before voters.

“We all agree that Californians have a right to know and should continue to have prompt access to public records and I support enshrining these protections in California's constitution,” Brown said.

The California Public Records Act was signed in 1968 by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan.

Reagan’s signing of the legislation culminated “a 15-year-long effort to create a general records law for California, according to a California Attorney General’s summary of the law written in 2004.

As the summary points out, the California Public Records Act’s fundamental precept “is that governmental records shall be disclosed to the  public, upon request, unless there is a specific reason not to do so,” but allows specific exemptions to disclosure and provides a general balancing test allowing agencies to withhold records from disclosure if they can prove “that the public interest in nondisclosure clearly outweighs  the public interest in disclosure.”

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. – A fire that began on Mount Konocti on Thursday afternoon is expected to be fully contained on Friday morning.

The fire, reported shortly before 2:30 p.m. Thursday, burned 25 acres and was 80-percent contained shortly after 9 p.m., according to Cal Fire.

Cal Fire said its resources stayed on scene into the night.

Kelseyville Fire, Cal Fire, Lakeport Fire, Northshore Fire, Lake County Fire and US Forest Service were among the agencies responding to the blaze, which quickly moved through dry vegetation on the mountainside.

The air and ground resources that aggressively worked the fire helped keep the fire from growing larger.

Firefighters’ work also protected Judy Cardinale’s home, which was in the fire’s path.

Cardinale credited firefighters for saving the house and other nearby structures.

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. – Firefighters on Thursday afternoon were fighting a fire on Mount Konocti.

The “Mount Fire,” as the incident was dubbed, was burning in the 5400 block of Konocti Road at Oak Hills Lane, near Mount Konocti County Park, east of Kelseyville.

The fire was first dispatched at 2:24 p.m., according to radio reports, with the first units on scene finding about five acres of grassy woodland involved, with a moderate rate of spread.

Just before 4:30 p.m., Cal Fire said the fire was 25 acres and 40-percent contained.

Kelseyville Fire, Cal Fire, US Forest Service, Lake County Fire, Northshore Fire and Lakeport Fire were among the agencies that were reported to have sent resources to the scene.

Cal Fire air resources – including helicopters, air attacks and tankers – were hitting the fire with retardant and water drops, while dozers, hand crews, water tenders and numerous engines from around the county were working the incident on the ground.

One house was reported to have been in the path of the fire, which was moving uphill, but radio reports indicated that firefighters were protecting the structure.

Firefighters were dealing with winds and also rocks that were reported coming downhill in the area. At one point a spot fire was reported on the main fire’s left flank.

Additional details will be posted as they become available.

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.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – County officials reported this week that millions of dollars will be spent on road, bridge and drainage projects this year.

This Lake County Department of Public Works said it will put $6.1 million to use on such projects throughout the county.

Approximately $5.2 million of work will be completed by contract and include the following projects:

• Lucerne Victoria Channelization Improvements;
• Riviera Heights Road Benefit Zone;
• Chippewa South Road Benefit Zone;
• Gaddy Lane Improvements (from Gunn Street to State Street);
• Soda Bay Road Improvements (from Mission Rancheria Road to Gaddy Lane);
• Butts Canyon Road Improvements (from the Napa County Line to Oat Hill Road);
• Nice-Lucerne Cutoff Improvements (from Highway 29 to approximately 1,000 feet East of the Rodman Slough Bridge);
• Lakeshore Blvd Improvements (from approximately 1,000 feet North of Park Way to Miramonte Ave).

Approximately $900,000 of work will be completed by county road crews and include the following projects:

• Point Lakeview chip seal (from Highway 281 to Highway 29);
• Sulphur Bank Drive chip seal (from Highway 20 to city of Clearlake);
• North Drive chip seal (from Sulphur Bank to end);
• Crestview Drive chip seal (from North Drive to end);
• Castle Drive chip seal (from Highway 20 to Country Club);
• Melody Lane fog seal;
• Main Street, Upper Lake fog seal (from Highway 20 to Elk Mountain Road);
• Elk Mountain Road fog seal (from Mendenhall to Middle Creek);
• Mendenhall Drive fog seal (from Highway 20 to Elk Mountain Road);
• Hendricks Road Bridge over Hendricks Creek;
• Clark Drive Bridge over Cole Creek.

Funding for the projects comes from a variety of sources at the federal, state and local level, Public Works reported.

Funding sources include the Federal Emergency Management Agency Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, the California Transportation Commission State Transportation Improvement Program, California Proposition 1B bond revenues, Robinson Rancheria, CalRecycle Rubberized Pavement Grant, county of Lake construction mitigation funds and local road benefit zone funds.

For more information call the Lake County Department of Public Works at 707-263-2341.

In last-minute developments on Thursday, state lawmakers withdrew their plans to uphold damaging, last-minute riders included in the state budget last week that open government proponents said would have made the California Public Records Act unenforceable.

State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) released a joint statement Thursday in which they said they agreed “there needs to be both an immediate fix to ensure local entities comply with the California Public Records Act and a long term solution so the California Public Records Act is not considered a reimbursable mandate.”

Budget amendments added last week to SB 71 and AB 76 would have removed requirements for local agencies to comply with California Public Records Act requirements when responding to requests from the public and the media, as Lake County News has reported.

The riders would have ended requirements to respond within 10 days to public records act requests, assist requesters with framing their requests more effectively, providing documents in the requester’s preferred format, or even providing a reason or legal justification for denying requests, according to Californians Aware, one of the groups that fought the proposals.

The amendments would, in turn, have encouraged local agencies to follow the public records act’s provisions as best practices, and require any local agency to announce if it does not follow these best practices at its next regularly scheduled meeting and annually thereafter.

Stripping the requirements was proposed as a cost-saving measure, but legislators gave no specific figures about how much might be saved.

According to voting records, Assemblymember Mariko Yamada, who represents Lake County in the Assembly, voted for the final version of AB 76 with the Senate budget’s amendments – including the public records act provisions – last Friday, June 14.

On the same day in the state Senate, Sen. Noreen Evans – whose district includes Lake County – voted against SB 71, which she called “extremely problematic,” because she said the provisions included in it would make the California Public Records Act unenforceable.

“I do think that the public policy with respect to the California Public Records Act is an extremely important one and it affects not only the transparency of the operations of government but also the enforceability and ultimately the accountability of certain public agencies,” Evans said.

After Evans spoke in the Senate, Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) responded to concerns about the public records act changes, maintaining that the budget measures were meant to save the state “millions of dollars” in having to reimburse local jurisdictions from fulfilling such requests. He said the measures in the budget bill didn’t make such records unavailable.

However, journalists and open government activists across the state rallied against the proposed changes, arguing that trusting that government would simply do the right thing wasn’t a way to guarantee transparency, and that the 45-year-old law has been critical in keeping the operations of government open at all levels.

Pérez said Wednesday that the Assembly would take up the budget again and remove the provisions damaging to the California Public Records Act.

However, the same day Steinberg and Leno said the state Senate wouldn’t revisit the budget “unless there is evidence that locally-elected officials aren’t complying with the statutes that they were elected and expected to uphold,” they said in a statement.

They also planned to introduce a constitutional amendment to go before voters next June making changes to the California Public Records Act.

Gov. Jerry Brown signaled his support for the amendment plan in a separate statement.

On Thursday, Steinberg indicated that constitutional amendment was still on track, but said the Senate would take up the amended SB 71 passed by the Assembly earlier in the day that removed changes in the budget regarding the California Public Records Act.

The joint statement from Steinberg and Pérez said that as the Senate advances its proposed constitutional amendment, the Assembly will work with them throughout the process “to give voters the chance to make clear that good government shouldn’t come with an extra price tag.”

The updated version of the budget bill passed the Assembly on Thursday by a 54-25 vote, with Yamada supporting the new version of the bill.

The Senate is reportedly scheduled to take up the amended version of the budget bill next week.

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.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – An Upper Lake man has been identified as the victim of a homicide reported earlier this week near Laytonville that may have been motivated by marijuana.

The body of Hugo Olea-Lopez, 23, was found on Monday morning in a remote location near Spyrock Road in Laytonville, according to a report from Lt. Greg Van Patten of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.

Earlier that day, Mendocino County Sheriff’s officials had received an anonymous report from a relative of Olea-Lopez that he had been murdered, Van Patten said.

Deputies and detectives who responded to the scene found the body of Olea-Lopez, who had suffered an apparent gunshot wound, Van Patten said.

Van Patten said that during the processing of the crime scene sheriff's detectives noticed the presence of approximately 300 budding marijuana plants that had been recently cut as if to be harvested. The plants had been growing in an outdoor setting and inside of at least two temporary greenhouse structures.

He said sheriff's detectives learned Olea-Lopez had been camping at the location while tending to the growing marijuana plants. Olea-Lopez’s body was found in his camp in close proximity to the cut marijuana plants.

Van Patten said Olea-Lopez was not positively identified until Wednesday, the same day as his autopsy. The forensic exam’s preliminary findings showed Olea-Lopez appeared to have died as the result of a single gunshot wound to the torso.

Mendocino County Sheriff’s detectives are continuing their investigation and have yet to determine a motive or identity of any suspect in connection with the homicide, Van Patten said.

The California Highway Patrol, California Department of Fish & Wildlife, Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force, County of Mendocino Marijuana Eradication Team, Mendocino County District Attorney's Office and Ukiah Police Department have assisted in the investigation, Van Patten said.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is urged to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Tip-Line by calling 707-234-2100.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Warmer temperatures are forecast to be on the way to Lake County.

Thursday’s weather is expected to rebound closer to the normal range after several days of below-average temperatures that included lows in the upper-30s in some areas.

As the low pressure system that has brought cool to cold temperatures with gusty winds to Lake County throughout the beginning of the week subsides, the forecasters with Western Weather Group Lake County expect daytime highs to edge back to the upper-70s and low-80s Thursday and slightly higher on Friday.

For the weekend, highs are predicted to reach into the upper-80s and low-90s while overnight lows drop to the 40s and 50s throughout the county.

By Sunday, the National Weather Service in Sacramento is calling for a slight chance of rain and temperatures to cool off as an extremely moist air mass begins to stream into Northern California, including Lake County.

With this increased moisture comes the potential for significant rainfall after summer officially begins on the Summer Solstice – when the sun reaches its farthest point north of the equator – at 10:04 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time Thursday.

As the extremely moist air mass begins to stream into the region early next week, it brings the potential for significant summertime rainfall, although at this point there is no discussion by forecasters of thunderstorms.

Record rainfall amounts are generally low this time of year, so some rainfall records may topple forecasters said.

Chances for the unusual summer showers remain possible through Tuesday with daytime highs early next week again in the mid-70s with overnight lows in the 50s.

Email Terre Logsdon at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .