KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Last week, not far from where she fell from the sky, injured and burned, a year and a half ago, a young red-tailed hawk returned to her wild home, her wholeness credited to the efforts of a devoted group of raptor rehabilitation specialists.

“Sparkie,” as she became known to those who nursed her back to health, was ready to go by the time she was carried out into a field near Steele Wines in Kelseyville last Thursday afternoon.

Wearing long thick leather gloves, Brad Marsh – raptor rehabilitation and release coordinator for The Bird Rescue Center, based in Santa Rosa – gently held Sparkie against his chest as he prepared to release her back to her wild life.

Sparkie, as the volunteers would point out, would never lose her spirit or essential wildness – which she’ll need to survive and thrive – and that was evident as she struggled in Marsh’s arms.

“She’s as ready as she’s ever going to be,” Marsh said.

Then it was time to remove the hood and let her set out on her way.

Marsh set her down and let her take off. She headed for some nearby pine trees, where she perched for a time.

Then she left the tree and flew in a wide circle over the little group that watched her from the ground before she settled into a tree once more.

Marsh and fellow volunteers Eric Ballinger and Amy McLintock made sure she was settled before it was time to go back to Santa Rosa.

Marsh said Sparkie was the longest rehabilitation case the center has had, at 17 months. He called the work “a labor of love” and Sparkie herself “truly a miracle bird.”

Torn from the sky

In March 2011, Sparkie was found injured after hitting an electrical pole near Kelseyville.

She was taken to The Bird Rescue Center, where injured raptors and larger birds from Lake County and other parts of the North Coast go for care.

The group, which Marsh said has been in existence for more than 30 years, specializes in rehabilitating and releasing native wild birds like Sparkie, and also works to educate the public about the birds.

Marsh said the center takes in between 2,500 and 3,000 wild birds annually. The center reported that it sees an estimated 125 different species each year.

Marsh said Sparkie was in bad shape when she arrived.

“There was no feathering left on the entire right wing,” he said.

Sparkie, then just 1 year old, didn’t yet have the notable red tail of her species. However, the tail she did have was left looking like straw stubble, Marsh said.

The volunteers at The Bird Rescue Center got down to the business of getting Sparkie back on the wing.

It was a long journey from the early stages of acute care to working out Sparkie’s muscles in preparation for being released.

The electrocution left her with extensive tissue damage to her right wing, right inner thigh and right leg.

Sparkie would lose some of that tissue – in the case of her right leg, at one point her bone was exposed – and required surgeries and daily treatment to keep the wounds from becoming infected.

Her burned leg eventually healed, although she now lacks the characteristic hawk leg scales, Marsh said.

In July and August 2011 Sparkie had her first molt since being electrocuted. Her feathers began to come in, and the rich red tail feathers appeared.

But she was still missing feathers, and when she molted again last November it was clear she had suffered follicle damage from the electrocution, with her right wing showing gaps between the feathers.

By this past July, her right wing looked almost complete – except for a small cap in her secondary feathers. While center staff reported she would always have problems with those feathers, Sparkie had enough wing feathers to successfully return to the wild.

Then it was time to focus on rehabilitation.

In order to give her the workouts needed to return her to full health, Marsh said they put her on a 130-foot line and took her for short practice flights.

She took her first flight since being electrocuted on Monday, Aug. 6, when she flew more than 100 feet.

At one point she was doing up to 30 of the short flights daily. Marsh likened it to circuit training for a bird.

New birds, new challenges

Sparky is the 112th bird the center has released or transferred to further care this year, Marsh said.

Not all of the birds the center tries to help have Sparkie’s good result.

Marsh said the center has received three electrocuted birds from Lake County this year – a great horned owl, red-shouldered hawk and red-tailed hawk. All of them died.

He said they’re already tending to a new raptor that was brought to the center the day before Sparkie’s release.

That new rescue is a bald eagle, he said. The eagle, which appears to be suffering from neurological issues, was found near Walker Ridge, the scene of a large wildland fire that burned earlier this month.

It’s not yet clear what happened to the eagle, but it was found in an area bounded on both sides by the fire’s burn area.

To learn more about The Bird Rescue Center, its work and mission, or to donate, visit www.thebirdrescuecenter.org .

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

I’m not sure what I like most about bell peppers; there’s so much about them to love.

Their immensely satisfying crunch is definitely a contender, the sound of which (and feel on my teeth) can be considered one of life’s simple pleasures.

Related to this – the cause of the crunch, so to speak – is the crisp texture and water content that makes them such a refreshing treat.

Their mild taste – with its bit of subtle sweetness – makes them a companionable component for many a recipe, whether raw or cooked.

And – oh! – last, but definitely not least, their vivid rainbow colors are a delight to behold! Feasting my eyes on heaps of peppers in bright hues of red, orange, yellow, green and purple is such a treat, one that may tip the scales in favor of this quality.

If you’re wondering, other less available colors include ivory, maroon, chocolate brown and even black.

Add to that some solid nutritional content and you’ve got yourself a pretty lovable vegetable! (Or fruit, if speaking botanically.)

These members of the capsicum family are native to the Americas – Mexico and points south – and have been cultivated for more than 9,000 years.

The term “pepper” is a misnomer, one given by Christopher Columbus upon bringing the plant back to Europe.

At that time, unrelated peppercorns imported from India were an immensely popular spice, and Europeans extended the word “pepper” to mean any piquant food.

However, as we know, our topic today is far from spicy, being one of the few plants in the capsicum genus void of capsaicin, the chemical in hot peppers that produces a burning sensation on mucous membranes.

This is due to a recessive gene that eliminates capsaicin and its resulting hot taste.

Bells are part of a group of mild peppers known collectively as “sweet peppers” and include such cousins as pimentos and banana peppers.

The name “bell” refers to its somewhat square, bell-like shape.

There are those who don’t like bell peppers, and this may be due to the peppers bred to be picked green and immature. These peppers can have – in the words of organic foods enthusiast and writer Jeff Cox - a “bitter, vegetative, almost metallic edge” to their taste.

In contrast, colorful peppers (red, yellow, orange, and the like) are sweetly flavored.

Peppers of every color are used in a variety of recipes.

Green peppers are favored in the cooking of the American south, particularly in such Cajun and Louisiana Creole dishes as etouffe, gumbo and jambalaya.

They’re one of the three components of the “holy trinity” of this style of cooking, a variant on French mirepoix, with the other two being onions and celery. (Mirepoix includes carrots in place of bell peppers.)

The French county dish ratatouille includes red bell peppers along with eggplant and other summer vegetables.

In Spain, bell peppers are featured in gazpacho, a refreshing cold summer soup, and some versions of paella, a dish featuring rice and meats or seafood.

In the Basque region of Spain, rice and pepper soup is popular.

Peppers are wonderful as a component of marinara sauce and other tomato-based dishes, and go especially well with sausages, either as a sauté or in a soup (such as an especially delicious-sounding one with white beans).

You can skewer them for the grill, stuff and bake them, roast and puree them for a soup, sauté all colors together (to use in fajitas, for example), or add them to pasta or bean salads.

Velvety textured roasted red peppers have a rich, soft, but intense flavor, and are a tasty addition to sandwiches or pasta salads. Thankfully, they’re easily made at home in the oven or outdoors on the grill.

One method is to place them on a broiler rack or pan and broil 2 to 3 inches from the heat. Rotate them until the skins are evenly blackened.

Using tongs, transfer the peppers to a brown paper bag (or to a covered bowl or enclose them in aluminum foil) and let them sweat for 15 to 20 minutes.

This makes the skins easy to peel away, and the peppers will be soft and yielding.

Peel, stem, and seed them, and place them in an airtight container until ready to use. They’ll keep, refrigerated, for a week.

Paprika is made from dried and ground sweet red peppers, often of the bell variety, though other members of the capsicum family are also used.

It’s available in sweet, smoked, moderately hot, and hot. It was popularized by Hungarians (who make the best, by the way) and is a main flavor component of many of their dishes, including goulash, a Hungarian stew.

To make a delicious red pepper paste, cook them along with onions and garlic on low heat for a few hours until ultra soft and caramelized. The resulting product may be spread on toasted baguette slices or to add intense flavor to soups, sauces, or other dishes.

When purchasing bell peppers, choose those with glossy, tight skins. They should be firm to the touch, with no soft spots.

If you’re buying peppers to roast and peel, look for those with the smoothest sides.

To store, refrigerate whole, unwashed peppers in the crisper drawer of your fridge for up to a week. Wrap any cut pieces in plastic and use them as soon as possible.

Since peppers colored other than green are riper, they won’t keep as long as the green ones.

A quick and easy way to clean bell peppers is to slice off the top and bottom and cut it lengthwise along one side.

Open the pepper flat and run a knife sideways along the inside of the pepper to remove ribs and seeds.

At this point rinse the pepper and proceed with your recipe or cut for eating raw. The flat oblong shape is wonderful for roasting on the grill.

Peppers become more nutritious as they ripen, and beta-carotene is responsible for their bright hues. Red peppers provide more than 1½ times our daily need for vitamin C in just a half cup.

Peppers have a significant amount of vitamin A, and also contain folate and vitamin B6.

Today’s recipe is wonderful as a bright spread on little toasts for an hors d’oeuvre or as a filling for quiches or small little tarts. It’s nice, too, as a vegetable side dish, served either warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy!

Peppers Provencal

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups thinly sliced yellow onions

2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and cut into very thin strips

½ teaspoon herbs de Provence

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

½ cup finely shredded fresh basil leaves

Heat the oil and butter in a heavy skillet or saucepan over medium heat under the butter is melted.

Add the onions and peppers; season with herbs de Provence and salt and pepper.

Simmer, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are limp, tender, and slightly brown, about 45 minutes. The peppers should have a marmalade-like appearance.

Add the garlic and basil and cook for another five minutes.

Remove the vegetables from the skillet and let cool to room temperature. Drain any excess oil. The peppers are now ready to use.

This recipe makes about two cups and is courtesy of “The Silver Palate Cookbook” by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins.

Note: Herbs de Provence is an herb blend that is sold under a variety of brand labels and is available in most supermarkets. The blend is reminiscent of the herbs used in the Provence region of France, typically including such herbs as savory, thyme, marjoram, and lavender. Blends from different companies vary in their combination of herbs.

Esther Oertel, a freelance writer, cooking teacher, and speaker, is passionate about local produce and all foods in the vegetable kingdom. She welcomes your questions and comments and may be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

NORTH COAST, Calif. – A lightning-caused wildland fire complex burning in northern Mendocino County destroyed several more structures and damaged a fire truck on Saturday.

The North Pass Fires – which began a week ago 10 miles northeast of Covelo in the Williams Valley – have so far burned 24,214 acres and are 32 percent contained, according to a report from Cal Fire and the US Forest Service, which have unified command on the incident.

US Forest Service spokesperson Tamara Schmidt reported late Saturday night that a fire engine was severely damaged by the fires, with preliminary reports indicating that no injuries to the four person crew were sustained.

The engine crew is being assessed by incident personnel and the incident is being reviewed, she said.

Since Friday, the fires have destroyed a residence and three additional outbuildings, bringing the number of destroyed structures to a total of six, officials reported.

Approximately 1,287 firefighting personnel were assigned to the fire on Saturday. Resources dedicated to the incident included 111 engines, 26 fire crews, two airtankers, 10 helicopters, 32 bulldozers and 23 water tenders.

Evacuations east of Covelo that were ordered due to the fires remained in effect on Saturday, with dozens of structures still threatened, according to the unified command report.

The fire area includes part of the Mendocino National Forest.

The Saturday night report from Cal Fire and the US Forest Service said the fires are continuing to spread east to Forest Road M2, south toward Anthony’s Ridge, north to Cedar Springs Ridge and northeast towards Pothole Creek and Steel Bench. The fires are projected to have limited movement north toward Castle Peak and Red Rock over the next 48 hours.

The Mendocino County Air Quality Management District issued an air quality alert for smoke concentrations leading to “hazardous” air quality conditions for the Covelo and Round Valley areas through Monday.

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

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Fair – which begins Aug. 30 – is partnering with Lake County CAN to feed the county’s hungry.

As part of an inaugural food drive, the fair will offer community members free entrance to the fair on Friday, Aug. 31, in exchange for four cans or four items of nonperishable food brought the fair between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. that day.

Suggested donations are tuna, beef stew, fruit, soup, spaghetti sauce, macaroni and cheese, dried beans and rice mix.

Lake County CAN distributes donations to seven food pantries throughout Lake County at Methodist Churches in Clearlake, Clearlake Oaks, Kelseyville, Lakeport, Lower Lake, Middletown and Upper Lake.

These food pantries are available to anyone in need, regardless of their beliefs.

For more information phone 707-987-3379 or 707-263-6181.

It’s summer, 2012. The slap, slap, slap of Cache Creek drums on the bottom of my boat as I paddle down the North Fork.

Bobbing, weaving, head down. Branches have grown since last summer. The North Fork is the first couple miles of the Wilderness run and the vegetation makes for more difficult obstacles than further down on the main stem of the creek.

Flows are high this year, despite the drought. It’s an artifact of human water management. With less water in Clear Lake this year after a meager winter, Indian Valley reservoir is releasing more to make up the difference for the thirsty farms in Yolo County.

I have to thank the farms for this experience. If people hadn’t changed the water regime, this creek would be mostly dry in the summer. Makes me reflect on what it means for things to be truly “wild.” But, that thought is cut short by my scanning an Arundo on the shoreline.

A quick turn, paddle in deep, pulling off on the left bank. Arundo, giant reed, false bamboo, cutter of hands and eroder of streambanks. Another human artifact.

Planted as an ornamental and for erosion control, escaped to the “wild” and invades ecosystems. Our hubris about “fixing” nature has broken it.

Ironically, I’m here doing the same thing. Tuleyome’s been battling this weed within the Cache Creek wilderness for the last seven years, and have the infestation down to less than a handful of plants.

This one escaped my detection until now. A quick herbicide spray, and we’re back on the river.

Where there used to be almost 100 of these giant weeds here in the wilderness, we’ve reduced to a handful. Soon there will be none.

The system is broken, though, and hidden upstream sources will continue to fertilize our shores with little plants. We’re in this for the long haul.

The native willows and cottonwoods sway in the slight breeze. Rushes and sedges line the banks, forming a ribbon of green contrasting the bright yellow of my kayak.

There’s a rumble up ahead, warning of a rapid. I’ve run this so many times in the last dozen years, my reaction is automatic. Back paddle, pick my line, hit it straight, dig hard and avoid the tree branch.

A great blue heron unfolds his wings and heads downstream. He’ll be our traveling companion for the rest of the trip, always staying ahead of the interlopers.

Turtles on streamside rocks give us a sideways glance. Some are stacked on each other. King of the mountain gets the sunlight. Some slip into the water as we get closer. They’ll emerge downstream on the next rock that is to their liking.

We pull off at Trout Creek. Even though it’s summer, there’s a steady flow coming out of the side canyon. We know the spring-fed creek will be flowing late into the summer.

We also know what’s up the canyon. Scrambling up the rocks and ducking under the willows, we pick our way toward the sound of falling water. I’ve been here before, and many times.

A large stream of water shoots off a rock ledge, falling vertically into a perfectly round pool. Behind the pool is a grotto. Water droplets drip from rocks onto ferns. This oasis is largely unknown, save for a few boaters that follow the bear path up the canyon. No roads, no trails. Wild.

Back on the water, the breeze picks up. We’re floating downstream, but getting pushed backwards.

Time for the arms to start working again. The drumming of the water gets an accompaniment with the swoosh of paddle strokes.

The rhythm is broken by the crunch of branches. Mother bear and her cub run up the hillside, their bronze fur rippling with each stride.

The exhilaration of seeing such a creature is replaced by the analytical mind. Bear, check. Turtles, river otter, bald eagle, osprey, green heron, blue heron, garter snake, deer … all, check.

Later, as we drag the boats up to the car, I reflect on the human infrastructure that was required to allow me to enjoy this wilderness. Cars, gas, rubbers, plastics, and a sinuous serpentine asphalt ribbon. It’s paradoxical, and uniquely human.

The artificial gets me closer to the natural. It’s a paradox, but also a balance. Preserving wild areas provides that balance.

Andrew Fulks is the president of Tuleyome, a regional conservation nonprofit, and is presently the Putah Creek Riparian Reserve Manager for UC Davis, managing six miles of stream and several hundred acres. His interest is in open space preservation and public access.

CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – Amidst the charred acreage left behind by a wildland fire complex that burned east of Clearlake Oaks earlier this month is a freestanding rock archway.

It’s what’s left of the spired house on a hill overlooking Clear Lake that the Thorburn family built more than two decades ago.

The family’s dream home came to its end in a nightmarish scenario, with Patsy Thorburn barely escaping from her hilltop residence before it was consumed by flames on Sunday, Aug. 12, when the Wye Fire tore through the hills along Highway 20.

By the time it was fully contained on Saturday, Aug. 18, the Wye Fire – which included two fires, the Wye and Walker –  burned a total of 7,934 acres, destroyed three structures and damaged two others, and led to the evacuations of the Spring Valley and Wilbur Hot Springs areas. The causes of both fires remain under investigation.

Thorburn would lose her home, all of her possessions – including family photos and mementos – as well as her beloved cats, Muffin and Sylvester, and was within mere feet of the flames as she escaped her burning property.

Despite that experience, Thorburn and her family are moving forward, trying to recover from what her daughters said is a tragedy for their entire family.

The home now is a burned ruin, with just the rock arch that framed the front door and a portion of wall still standing.

Yet, the family said the 90-acre property where the home sat remains beautiful despite its new scars.

“It has an aura of peace up there,” said Thorburn.

Her daughter, Cathy Wilson, agreed. “The fire can’t take that essence.”

A family effort

The home, sitting on a cliff above Clearlake Oaks, with a vast view of Clear Lake, was a family gathering place. It hosted Christmases and other holidays. A family member proposed to his wife there. Wilson’s wedding reception took place at the home and the Thorburns’ other daughter, Melody, held the ceremony there for her wedding to Scott De Leon.

Patsy Thorburn and husband, Max, raised their daughters in a home not far from the nearby quarry. Later, they purchased the property overlooking the lake, where they didn’t initially plan to build a home.

However, Melody De Leon recalled how her father first confided in her that he wanted to build a home on the hilltop site.

Patsy Thorburn remembered only asking that the house have a bigger pantry. She got that as part of the 4,200-square-foot home that she and Max built in 1990.

The look of the house was unique inside and out. On the roof were several cones or spires, which Patsy Thorburn said had a habit of multiplying when she told her husband she didn’t like them.

Inside was wood paneling, tile and ornate woodwork. Max Thorburn was born in Scotland, and the Scottish national symbol – the thistle – appeared in touches around the home, including stair railing details and a tile mosaic at the front entrance.

Daughter Melody would come home on summer weekends from her real estate job in the Bay Area to do masonry work on the home project, including the rock wall that extended out along the front of the property.

While working on the house she met a young engineer, Scott De Leon, who was working for her father. She and De Leon later married. Today he serves as Lake County’s director of Public Works.

The land has a big pine tree that Max Thorburn liked to climb. His wife recalled coming home at times to find the tree swaying, with her husband perched at the top. His daughters said he liked to yell out and startle them from the treetop while they were hanging out by the pool.

Max Thorburn would enjoy the home and land until his death in August 1997.

“It was his grand finale,” said daughter Melody.

Trying to escape

On the afternoon of Aug. 12, Patsy Thorburn was home alone. Her partner, Hank Everett, was out; he was expected back later in the day from Ukiah.

She heard sirens going up Highway 20. Shortly before 4 p.m., firefighters had been dispatched to the Walker Fire, near Walker Ridge Road east of Clearlake Oaks. She said she turned on her scanner to find out what was going on.

Just minutes after 4 p.m., the Wye Fire, at the intersection of Highway 20 and 53 – visible from Thorburn’s house – began. Thorburn said she watched it begin to burn, and then jump the highway.

From there, it moved rapidly up the hill, toward Thorburn’s home.

She went to get her front gate open, tried to gather some belongings and called her cats – Muffin, a small female Siamese, and Sylvester, a big female tuxedo cat. The cats didn’t appear.

Thorburn went to back her car out of the garage to load things up, and by the time she got the car out, the driveway was on fire.

“It was so quick,” she said.

The roof to the patio was on fire and she couldn’t go back to the house, which she said the flames descended on rapidly.

“I saw the house just explode,” she said.

She couldn’t get down the driveway, which was blocked by flames.

Thorburn said she didn’t know at that point that Lake County Fire Chief Willie Sapeta had tried to come up her driveway to find her but the flames blocked him.

He and Cal Fire officials recounted at a Monday community meeting how they had been unable to reach her, and had diverted air resources to the area of the home to try to give her a way out.

Sapeta said that hearing the reports of Thorburn being trapped and beyond the reach of firefighters nearby brought he and other personnel on scene to tears.

On the other side of the flames, Thorburn wasn’t giving up.

Her late husband had cleared an area for a golf driving range, and she drove around on that, dodging the flames, looking for a way out.

The car was filled with smoke and covered by ash. “I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t see,” she said.

While Thorburn had left the house without her purse or the rest of her belongings, she did have her cell phone.

She managed to get 13-year-old grandson, Max De Leon, on the phone.

Her grandson showed amazing calm, comforting his grandmother. “Be safe,” he told her.

When they hung up, Max called his mother. Melody De Leon then called 911, with dispatch reporting that they had just spoken to her mother.

When Thorburn could see through the smoke, she got down the driveway and out onto the highway, heading west toward Clearlake Oaks. After she got out, trees fell across her driveway.

On the highway, Thorburn met up with firefighters, who asked where she had come from, since the road was blocked off. Another fire truck came up and told the firefighters with Thorburn to get her out of the area.

She drove down to the Highway 20 and Highway 53 intersection, meeting a family member there. Her daughters met her at the nearby shopping center before taking her to stay with them. Wilson said it was good to be together.

Within hours, Cal FIre reported that the fire had scorched thousands of acres. Hundreds of people in the Spring Valley area were evacuated from its path.

The family said they were upset to see pictures of the burned home broadcast on Bay Area television; the video had clearly been shot from the property, which news teams were allowed to access before the family was allowed back.

Nearby, the Hue De Laroque family’s farm was hit by the fire, with damage to the farm’s garden, orchard and vineyard.

A fire break helped save their home, but the family’s farming business was devastated. The solar equipment used to power the farm and home also were destroyed.

A Web site to help the Hue De Laroques has been set up at www.giveforward.com/huedelaroque .

Returning home

On the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 14 – two days after the fire erupted – Thorburn and her family went back to the property for the first time once cleared to do so by fire officials.

“The first few days, you treat it with reverence,” Wilson said.

The remains of the house were still smoldering; they were so hot Wilson’s shoes and gloves melted.

The burned ruin of the house yielded few treasures beyond a cast iron dutch oven that had belonged to Thorburn’s mother, found by son-in-law Steve Wilson. Her other son-in-law, Scott De Leon, was able to dig one of the spires out of the rubble.

“It’s just ash,” Thorburn said of her home.

An American flag on the flagpole near the swimming pool, the goldfish in a little pond and Max Thorburn’s favorite climbing tree escaped unscathed.

The family found no sign of Muffin and Sylvester, Patsy Thorburn’s cats. “There was no place for them to go,” she said.

There were, however, signs of wildlife, including a coyote with burned paws and a burned tail spotted by Cathy Wilson.

Thorburn said she doesn’t know if she’ll rebuild. She said he’s renting a home in Glenhaven for the short-term.

She and her family are grateful for the unbelievable outpouring of love and support they’ve received from the community.

“You have no idea how many friends you have until your house burn down,” said Melody De Leon.

Thorburn is saddest about the loss of her cats and pictures, but as for the rest, “Things you can replace.”

Her home’s destruction was the worst thing that Thorburn said has ever happened to her, and her family said it’s a tragedy for all of them.

Just weeks after she narrowly escaped with her own life, Thorburn concluded, “I guess I’m meant to be here for some reason.”

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

NORTH COAST, Calif. – The wildland fire complex burning 10 miles northeast of Covelo continued to grow on Sunday.

The North Pass Fires reached 27,153 acres by Sunday night, with 34 percent containment, according to the unified command of Cal Fire and the US Forest Service.

The lightning-caused fires have been burning since Saturday, Aug. 18.

The fires have burned six structures to date, and destroyed a fire truck on Saturday. The crew was not injured, according to Mendocino National Forest spokesperson Tamara Schmidt.

Evacuations east of Covelo remain in place, officials reported.

There were 1,678 fire personnel on scene Sunday, with 121 engines, 26 fire crews, two airtankers, 15 helicopters, 33 bulldozers and 25 water tenders, according to the unified command’s report.

The Sunday evening report said the fires are continuing to spread to the east toward Forest Road M2, south towards Anthony’s Ridge, north to Cedar Springs Ridge and northeast towards Pothole Creek and Steel Bench.

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

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Heelers, shepherds, a Chihuahua and a great big mastiff are up for adoption at Lake County Animal Care and Control.

Two McNab-blue heeler mix pups join a number of adult dogs waiting for new homes.

Thanks to Lake County Animal Care and Control’s new veterinary clinic, many of the animals offered for adoption already are spayed or neutered and ready to go home with their new families.

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.

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”).

Female lab mix

This female Labrador Retriever mix is 2 years old.

She weighs 51 pounds and has a short brown brindle coat.

Find her in kennel No. 9, ID No. 33985.

Female mastiff mix

This female mastiff mix is 4 years old.

She’s a big girl, at 102 pounds. She has a short tan coat and has been spayed.

Meet her in kennel No. 10, ID No. 34050.

Male Chihuahua mix

This is a male Chihuahua mix of undetermined age.

He has a short tan coat, weighs just over 15 pounds and has not been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 11, ID No. 34054.

‘Willie’

“Willie” is a 7-year-old male border collie mix.

He is not yet altered, weighs about 40 pounds and has a short black and white coat.

Find him in kennel No. 13, ID No. 33930.

Male McNab-blue heeler

This male McNab-blue heeler is 10 weeks old.

He has brown eyes, a short black and white coat, and has not yet been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 18e, ID No. 33939.

Male McNab-blue heeler

This male McNab-blue heeler is 10 weeks old like his litter mate.

He’s got a short black and white coat, brown eyes and has not yet been altered.

Find him in kennel No. 18d, ID No. 33938.

Male shepherd mix

This male shepherd mix is 1 year old.

He has a short tricolor coat weighs just over 62 pounds and is not yet neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 20, ID No. 34097.

Female Labrador Retriever mix

This female Labrador Retriever mix is 1 year old.

She has a short black coat, weighs just over 41 pounds and has not yet been spayed.

Find her in kennel No. 21, ID No. 34098.

‘Fergie’

“Fergie” is a 1-year-old female German Shepherd mix.

She has a short black and tan coat and has not yet been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 24, ID No. 34030.

Adoptable dogs also can be seen at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dogs_and_Puppies.htm or at www.petfinder.com .

Please note: Dogs listed at the shelter's Web page that are said to be “on hold” are not yet cleared for adoption.

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, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 1 p.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. .

The California Assembly is scheduled to vote on a bill next week coauthored by Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast) to repeal the $150 State Responsibility Area (SRA) fire fee, which Chesbro has long maintained is unfair to property owners throughout his district.

“The only solution to fix the injustice of this SRA fee is to completely repeal it,” said Chesbro, who is a coauthor of the repeal legislation, SB 1040. “Assessing it as a flat fee of $150 and charging someone who lives in a mobile home or cabin on the foggy, rainy North Coast the same amount as someone who owns a multimillion dollar estate in the tinder try hills of Southern California is egregiously inequitable. The SRA fee has been rendered unworkable and the only solution is to get rid of it.”

Chesbro has been working with a bipartisan coalition of legislators this year in an effort to make the SRA fee more equitable.

As part of this effort, earlier in this legislative session Chesbro authored a bill to address the fee’s inequities. But AB 2474 died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Chesbro also supported an earlier attempt to repeal the fee, a bill by Assemblymember Kevin Jeffries (R-Lake Elsinore), AB 1506, which also died in committee.

SB 1040, authored by state Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-Chino), would repeal the SRA fee. This provision was added to the bill on Friday during the Assembly’s floor session.

SB 1040 is an urgency bill, written to take effect immediately if signed by the governor, and will require approval of two-thirds of the Assembly, 54 votes.

If it passes the Assembly, the bill will be immediately transmitted to the Senate for consideration.

“Repealing this fee would also remove a financial threat to local fire districts, which face an uphill battle persuading property owners to fund their agencies if they are forced to pay a $150 fee to the state,” Chesbro added. “It is these local fire agencies that are the first responders to structure fires in most rural communities.”

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The body of a young local soldier killed earlier this month in Afghanistan will return home this week, with a procession planned through the streets of Kelseyville and Lakeport on Tuesday and a separate public memorial service to take place next weekend.

Sgt. Richard Allen Essex, 23, of Kelseyville died on Thursday, Aug. 16, in a Black Hawk helicopter crash in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, as Lake County News has reported.

Essex's body will be returned to Lake County on Tuesday, according to a statement issued by Operation Tango Mike on behalf of Essex's family.

Essex, a door gunner on the helicopter, was serving in the U.S. Army, and was assigned to A Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, based at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

Along with Essex, the crash killed 10 others, including six other members of the US military. Officials have said the cause of the crash is still under investigation.

Essex was a 2008 graduate of Kelseyville High School, a poet, musician, artist and athlete.

Based on Essex's wishes, a procession will travel through Kelseyville, past Kelseyville High School, and then through Lakeport.

Community members are asked to pay their respects and honor Essex by lining Main Street in Kelseyville at 12 p.m. and Main Street in Lakeport at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday.

On Saturday, a special public memorial service for Essex will be held at Kelseyville High School, 5480 Main St.

Essex's family invites the community to honor and celebrate his life at the service, which will begin at 11 a.m. on the school's football field.

The gates will open at 8 a.m. to fire, law enforcement and military personnel for vehicle staging. At 10 a.m. the gates open to the public.

Additional details of the procession and services 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. .

This past June more than 170 all-time US heat records were tied or broken – many of them originally set in the historically hotter months of July and August.

And with a drought plaguing much of the country, the ground is as dry and crispy as a saltine cracker.

By early July, 56 percent of the contiguous U.S. was experiencing drought. That’s the largest percentage in the 12-year record of the U.S. Drought Monitor. Fires scorched over 1.3 million acres across the US in June, reducing hundreds of homes to ashes in the West.

Just imagining prospects for the rest of the summer is enough to bring sweat to your brow. And last winter is partly to blame.

“Seven hundred and ninety-nine daytime heat records were broken in the first five days of January in the US,” said Jake Crouch, a climate scientist from the NOAA National Climatic Data Center. “Last year’s was the fourth warmest winter since 1895. And it was dry, with a dearth of snowfall in many places. During most of this past winter and spring, a positive North Atlantic Oscillation pressure pattern kept the jet stream further north and the US warmer and drier than normal.”

With little moisture in the soil to evaporate and dissipate some of the sun’s energy, more solar radiation is converted to sensible heat, he says.

Of course global warming is on the tips of many tongues.

“CO2 is up from 280 parts per million in the 19th century atmosphere to 400 parts per million now – a 43 percent increase,” said NASA climatologist Bill Patzert. “We’re emitting six times more carbon from fossil fuel use now than we did 50 years ago. Atmospheric CO2 hasn’t been this high in 400,000 years.”

Greenhouse gases like CO2 and methane have higher heat capacities than many other gasses, causing the atmosphere to retain more heat.

“The atmosphere becomes a heat source itself, radiating heat back onto the Earth. Eighty-five to 90 percent of that heat is absorbed by the oceans, because water has a high heat capacity. So the oceans expand and rise. Global sea levels have risen 8 inches over the past 130 years, and the average surface temperature of the entire earth (land surface temperatures plus ocean temperatures) has increased 1.6 °F. These facts,” he asserted, “are unequivocal proof of global warming.”

But is the record-setting summer 2012 evidence of climate change?

“Not necessarily,” said Patzert. “We’ve always had extreme weather. US history is written in great natural calamities – tornadoes, hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, floods. Global warming is happening, but it would be irresponsible to say that this heat wave and all these broken records are due to global warming from human causes. It’s just not that simple.”

John Christy, a scientist from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, agrees. “Heat waves are a natural part of the climate system, and while the recent heat wave was remarkable, it was not as intense as others in the past.”

He offers a few examples of past heat waves and droughts.

“The central US suffered several heat waves in the 1930s – the dust bowl years – when more statewide, all-time record high temperatures were set than in any other decade,” said Christy. “And the western US experienced decades-long droughts in the 12th century. So dry were mountain areas that we can still see near-hundred-year-old trees standing upright in the bottom of alpine lakes where they grew on dry ground 900 years ago.1 This shows that in the 12th century it was so dry and hot that the lakes dried up and allowed trees to grow over a significant period before moisture finally returned.”

Patzert and Christy are on opposite sides of the global warming debate.

Patzert firmly believes that Earth is warming up and humans are the main reason why. Christy, on the other hand, argues that natural climate variations are almost solely to blame.

Yet they both agree that the summer 2012 weather might be just that – weather. They also both believe that improvement is needed in models indicating effects of human and other factors on weather and climate.

“Today’s climate models are extremely sophisticated, constantly improving, and will be crucial to charting our future – but they aren’t perfect,” said Patzert.

One component that needs improvement: clouds.

“Clouds play a key role in climate because they affect the amount of sunlight reflected and absorbed,” said Christy. “We need higher resolution models to portray them more accurately. The distance between grid measurement points in current models is too great to capture meter to meter variations in clouds, land cover, and other variables that affect climate.”

One more point of agreement: the summer of 2012 is too hot to handle.

Dauna Coulter writes for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The service of a search warrant by the Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force Tuesday morning resulted in five arrests, the seizure of 198 marijuana plants as well as approximately 20 pounds of processed marijuana, three firearms, illegal fireworks and $53,096 for asset forfeiture.

Sgt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said the warrant service resulted in the arrests of 53-year-old Ronald Joseph Whitney of Middletown; Aaron Daniel Alexander, 25, of Lancaster, Penn.; Austin David Alexander, 30, of Maui, Hawaii; and Middletown residents Aaron Whitney, 25, and Ernest Eldridge Cosse, 38, of Middletown.

On Monday narcotics detectives secured a search warrant for Whitney’s person as well as his home, located in the 24,000 block of Highway 29 in Middletown, and served it the following day at approximately 7 a.m., Brooks said.

When narcotics detectives approached the property, two subjects ran from the marijuana grow attempting to get away. Brooks said detectives entered the residence and detained five individuals without incident.  

He said the subjects detained were Ronald Whitney, Aaron Alexander, Austin Alexander, Aaron Whitney and Cosse.

During a search of the home, detectives located approximately 20 pounds of processed marijuana, nine ounces of concentrated cannabis, 37 growing marijuana plants inside the garage and three firearms, Brooks said.

Brooks said they also seized a total of $53,096 in cash, which was located in three different safes inside the residence.  

In addition, detectives located a digital scale, packaging materials and illegal fireworks, and outside the residence found 95 marijuana plants inside three light deprivation greenhouses and 66 marijuana plants growing in various areas outside, Brooks said.

Brooks said Ronald Whitney told detectives that he was growing the marijuana for a dispensary called “Mary Jane,” which is located in the Los Angeles area.

Whitney also said he was diverting water from the creek to water his plants, believing the water in the creek belonged to him because the creek runs through his property, Brooks said.

Brooks said Whitney was arrested for cultivating marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale, being armed while in the commission of a felony and possession of illegal fireworks.

He reported that Aaron Alexander was arrested for cultivating marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale; Austin Alexander was arrested for cultivating marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale; Aaron Whitney was arrested for cultivating marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale; and Ernest Cosse was arrested for cultivating marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and being armed while in the commission of a felony.  

All of the subjects were transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked, Brooks said.    

The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be contacted through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.