LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The National Weather Service has issued a fire weather watch for Lake County which coincides with a potential public safety power shutoff that is expected to impact parts of the community.
The fire weather watch is in effect for Lake County from 11 p.m. Tuesday to 3 p.m. Wednesday.
The agency said a fire weather watch means that critical fire weather conditions are forecast to occur.
The forecast said there is the potential for northeast winds from 15 to 25 miles per hour, with gusts of up to 35 miles per hour possible along exposed ridges late Tuesday night through Wednesday morning. Northeast winds are expected to ease later Wednesday, but may increase again Wednesday night.
At the same time, humidity on Tuesday afternoon will be low, with poor recoveries overnight Tuesday, especially over higher slopes and ridgetops, and persisting into Thursday morning.
Those winds, combined with dry conditions, have prompted Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to plan a potential public safety power shutoff that is expected to begin Tuesday night and continue until about noon on Wednesday.
The forecast calls for daytime temperatures this week to be in the low to high 90s, dropping into the 80s over the weekend. Nighttime conditions will be warm, staying in the low 60s for much of the week before dropping into the high 50s.
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. — The Board of Supervisors is set to consider an amendment to its urgency ordinance requiring masking in all county facilities as well as a resolution in support of the sale of the county’s franchise waste hauler when it meets this week.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 17, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting ID is 949 5003 7667, pass code 536399. The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at +16699006833,,94950037667#,,,,*536399#.
All interested members of the public that do not have internet access or a Mediacom cable subscription are encouraged to call 669-900-6833, and enter the Zoom meeting ID and pass code information above.
In an untimed item, the board will consider amending Urgency Ordinance No. 3108, passed Aug. 3, that requires everyone to wear facial coverings in county facilities, regardless of vaccination status.
“At that time, your Board directed staff to develop a trigger leading to rescission of the Ordinance when conditions improve,” County Administrative Officer Carol Huchingson wrote in a memo to the board.
Huchingson said that consistent with the policy of local schools, under the proposed amendment, the ordinance would remain in place as long as the COVID-19 transmission rate in Lake County is "moderate" or above.
“Moderate” transmission, as defined by the California Department of Public Health, is not more than 5.9 cases/100,000 and testing positivity not more than 4.9%, Huchingson said.
As of early Monday, Lake County’s case rate per 100,000 was 59, ranking it No. 3 in the state. Testing positivity is 15.7%.
Huchingson said the proposed amendment calls for the board to reconsider the ordinance — and possibly rescind it — once Lake County falls below the moderate level.
In another untimed item, the supervisors will consider solid waste handling and collection company change of assignment.
Public Services Director Lars Ewing said in a report to the board that the county’s contracted solid waste handling and collection company for the unincorporated county areas, Lake County Waste Solutions, informed the county on July 14 that it’s intending to sell the company to Waste Connections Inc.
“The existing agreement between the County and LCWS includes a provision that a change in control of the company’s franchise shall be dependent upon consent of the County, as expressed by resolution of the Board of Supervisors,” Ewing noted in his memo.
Ewing said staff recommends the board approve the resolution for the sale, which he said includes all operations under the control of C&S Group Holdings Inc., including Lake County Waste Solutions; Clearlake Waste Solutions, which serves the city of Clearlake; Ukiah Waste Solutions, which serves the city of Ukiah; and the Lake County Transfer Station and Recycling Center at 230 Soda Bay Road in Lakeport.
In other business, the board will consider adding special meeting dates to its annual meeting calendar for the purpose of redistricting public hearings as well as setting the redistricting public hearing schedule. That item also is untimed.
In an item timed for 9:06 a.m., the board will get a presentation on SB 1383, which calls for reducing short-lived climate pollutants in California, consider a resolution exempting the County of Lake from the organic waste collection service requirements for commercial and residential generators and provide direction to staff.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Approve letter requesting State Department of Water Resources extend deadline to use available funds granted via Agreement No. 4600012946.
5.2: Adopt a resolution approving a cooperative Agreement No. 21-0224-000-SA with the California Department of Food and Agriculture State Organic Inspection Program for the county of Lake.
5.3: Approve agreement between the county of Lake and Visit Lake County California for the provision of administrative services in the amount of $78,000 from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022, and authorize the chair to sign.
5.4: Approve amendment to the Uniform and Clothing Purchase Policy and Exhibit A, and direct the Human Resources director to conduct the meet and confer process with our labor representatives.
5.5: Adopt resolution amending Resolution No. 2021-68 and the position allocation chart for fiscal year 2021-22 establishing position allocations for fiscal year 2021-2022, Budget Unit No. 1121, Auditor-Controller/County Clerk.
5.6: Approve the continuation of a local health emergency related to the 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19) as proclaimed by the Lake County Public Health officer.
5.7: Approve the continuation of a local health emergency and order prohibiting the endangerment of the community through the unsafe removal, transport, and disposal of fire debris for the LNU Complex wildfire.
5.8: Approve the continuation of a local emergency due to the Mendocino Complex fire incident (River and Ranch fires).
5.9: Approve the continuation of a local emergency due to COVID-19.
5.10: Approve the continuation of an emergency declaration for drought conditions.
5.11: Approve the continuation of a local emergency in Lake County in Response to the LNU Lightning Complex wildfire event.
5.12: Approve the continuation of a local emergency due to the Pawnee Fire incident.
5.13: Adopt resolution approving right of way certification for Witter Springs Road at Cooper Creek Bridge — Replacement Project No. BRLO-5914(078).
5.14: a) Approve a professional services agreement between the county of Lake and county of Sonoma for interim county surveyor functions, and b) appoint Leonard H. Gabrielson as interim county surveyor.
5.15: Accept donation of a vehicle estimated in the amount of $51,000 from the Center to Combat Human Trafficking.
5.16: Approve equitable sharing agreement and certification between the county of Lake Sheriff's Office and the US Department of Justice; and authorize the sheriff and chairman to sign.
5.17: Approve electronic submission of the FY21 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program application in the amount of $15,405, to provide funding for an extra help employee to assist with forensic processing and data collection services; and authorize the chairman to sign all grant documents.
5.18: Sitting as the Lake County Watershed Protection District, approve Amendment No. 1 to the agreement between the county of Lake and Monument Inc. for appraisal and acquisition services for the Middle Creek Flood Damage Reduction and Ecosystem Restoration Project and authorize the Chair of the Board of Directors to sign the agreement.
TIMED ITEMS
6.2, 9:06 a.m.: Presentation on SB 1383, reducing short-lived climate pollutants in California.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: Consideration of letter authorizing North Coast Opportunities to apply on behalf of Lake County Risk Reduction Authority for the 2021 California Fire Safe Council County Coordinators Grant Project and serve as the grant subrecipient.
7.3: Consideration of ordinance amending Urgency Ordinance No. 3108 requiring all persons, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status, wear face coverings in county facilities.
7.4: Consideration of (a) addition of special meeting dates to the board’s annual meeting calendar for 2021, for the purpose of redistricting public hearings (b) redistricting public hearing schedule.
7.5: Discussion and consideration of an ordinance amending Article VII of Chapter 13 of the Lake County Code relating to administrative fines and penalties.
7.6: Consideration of solid waste handling and collection company change of assignment.
CLOSED SESSION
8.1: Public employee appointment pursuant to Gov. Code Section 54957(b)(1): Appointment of Community Development director.
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.
Elderberries ripen on shrubs throughout Lake County in late summer, typically in August. Photo by Esther Oertel. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Elderberries are hiding in plain sight almost everywhere this time of year. What begins as large, lacy, cream-colored flowers in late spring culminates in compact clusters of dark purply-blue berries ripe for the picking as summer winds down.
Elderberry shrubs are native to Lake County and bloom along roadways, hillsides and fields in May and June. Once I began looking for them, I realized just how ubiquitous they are. I noticed them along major roadways, in county parks, within residential areas, on mountainsides and in lower elevations.
What we see here is the blue elderberry, a deciduous shrub endemic to an area from Oregon to Baja California and as far east as western Texas. Also known as the Mexican Elderberry or Tapiro, it sometimes grows to a height of 30 feet, making it quite tree-like when it gets that tall. Most are of shorter stature.
These plants are tough and fast growing — they can get up to 15 feet high in just three years if conditions are right. Its berries are one of the most important food sources for birds in California.
Elderberries have long had a place in human history, with evidence of their use found in Stone Age sites. They’ve been used as folk medicine for thousands of years, and no wonder — they’re full of antioxidants, fiber, and vitamins A, B and C, as well as being immune-boosting, anti-inflammatory and antiviral.
They were an important resource for indigenous peoples throughout California, including Lake County tribes, who utilized all parts of the plant for a variety of things — food, medicines, baskets, dyes, game pieces, pipes and musical instruments.
According to Sage LaPena, a Nomtipom and Wintu ethnobotanist and certified medical herbalist, “Elderberry is one of our most important traditional medicines and we’ve never stopped using it. When we look at our traditional ecological knowledge, how we use elderberry — which includes all parts of the plant: roots, wood, berry, flower — they are all harvested at specific times of year.”
In fact, the elderberry lifecycle served as some tribes’ indicator of seasonal rhythms, guiding the timing of other food harvests. For example, Coastal Pomo tracked the shellfish harvesting window by the flowering and ripening of the elderberry.
The flowers were used medicinally — as a tea for treating fevers and other ailments, or in a hot bath to induce sweating. The berries were dried and stored for winter use, when they were cooked to create a rich, sweet sauce.
Millie Simon, Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians tribal elder, recalls gathering elderberries with her mother as a child. On occasion an aunt joined them in this traditional food gathering role. They ate fresh berries as they picked them, but most were saved to process into a jelly-like sauce for use throughout the year.
Elderberries can be used in a variety of ways in cuisine — tasty syrups, jams, wines and liqueurs can all be created from the berries, and a handful can be thrown into your favorite muffin or pancake recipe with delicious results.
Dried elderflowers (from those harvested locally or ordered online) can be added to batters and baked into cakes, and wine and syrup can also be made from the flowers.
Tea is made from dried flowers or berries, sometimes mixed with other herbs.
Elderflowers appear in May and bloom throughout the early summer, giving way to clusters of berries beginning in August. Like the berries, the flowers are used medicinally and in cuisine. Photo by Esther Oertel.
Supporters of elderberry say the fruit is one of nature’s most versatile solutions for what ails you. Hippocrates, often called the father of medicine, referred to the elder tree as his “medicine chest.”
Some experts recommend elderberries to help prevent and lessen cold and flu symptoms, and they’ve also been used as a treatment for a variety of ailments from constipation to fever to epilepsy to skin conditions.
Caution should be used when consuming elderberries in their raw state. The shrubs contain cyanogenic glucosides, substances that release cyanide; however, cooking the ripe berries render them harmless.
Dr. Kenneth Lampe, author of the AMA Handbook of Poisonous Injurious Plants, says, “the flowers are probably non-toxic and limited quantities of raw fruit are generally considered to have no adverse effect. The danger comes mainly from roots, stems and leaves.”
Even so, be careful. I can’t recommend consuming the berries in their raw state unless you’re a practiced forager of these goodies. Either way, be sure not to consume under ripe berries, as they can cause stomach upset.
If you’re interested in foraging for the berries, keep these things in mind:
— Know what you’re looking for. If you’re unsure what shrubs contain blue elderberries or what they look like when ripe, ask someone in the know to show you.
— Make sure to discard the leaves and stems after picking.
— Blue elderberries may look more powdery white than blue. This is from a naturally occurring yeast that coats the berries. It’s perfectly harmless.
— Don’t pick the berries individually; cut off the clusters whole. When you’re home and after they’re washed, freeze them. Once frozen, place the clusters over a bowl and run your fingers through them. The hard berries will fall off easily for use. Be sure to discard the stems.
— A good method for washing is to swirl them in a bowl of water and then rinse in a colander.
— Lastly, be sure to leave some for the birds to enjoy.
Today’s recipe is for elderberry syrup. While it can be made with dried berries, this recipe utilizes the fresh ones available now.
The syrup can be used medicinally or drizzled over pancakes, waffles, French toast and even ice cream.
Elderberry syrup
2 cups fresh elderberries 1 cinnamon stick (optional) 1 - 2 inch length of orange zest, any white pith removed (optional) 2 cups water 1 cup honey
Place the elderberries and water in a saucepan. Add the cinnamon stick and orange zest, if using, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Reduce heat to medium-low and gently simmer the mixture until it has reduced by half, about 30 minutes or so.
Place a fine mesh sieve over a bowl and strain mixture, pressing on the solids to release all liquid. Discard the solids.
Let the liquid cool for 20 minutes, then stir the honey into the still warm mixture until fully combined.
Pour the syrup into a glass jar with a lid and store in the refrigerator.
This recipe makes about one pint of syrup and should last three months if stored in glass and refrigerated.
Note: Dried elderberries can be ordered online. If using those, reduce the amount of berries to ¾ cup.
Esther Oertel is a writer and passionate home cook from a family of chefs. She grew up in a restaurant, where she began creating recipes from a young age. She’s taught culinary classes in a variety of venues in Lake County and previously wrote “The Veggie Girl” column for Lake County News. Most recently she’s taught culinary classes at Sur La Table in Santa Rosa. She lives in Middletown, California.
Elderberry shrubs are found throughout Lake County, California, like this one at Trailside Park in Middletown. The photo by Esther Oertel was taken in May 2021 when the shrubs are in bloom.
With the faster-spreading Delta variant driving an increase in new COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed an executive order to ensure the state’s health care facilities continue to have the staffing and resources needed to prevent potential strain on the state’s health care delivery system and to provide staffing flexibility for schools to ensure continuity of in-person instruction for all students.
The order extends provisions implemented to expand California’s health care workforce during the pandemic, including allowing health care workers from out of state to provide services in California and enabling certain medical personnel and emergency medical technicians to continue supporting the state’s COVID-19 response.
The order also gives health care facilities the flexibility to plan and adapt their space to accommodate patients.
The order also provides more flexibility for retired teachers and school staff to return to fill short-term staffing shortages. Retired staff can assist schools impacted by the rising case rates caused by the Delta variant to stay safely and fully open.
A copy of the governor’s executive order is published below.
In addition, the California Department of Public Health on Monday issued a new public health order requiring hospitals statewide to accept transfer patients from facilities with limited ICU capacity, when clinically appropriate.
That is an important development for communities like Lake County, which transports a large number of patients to out-of-county facilities for high-level care.
State officials emphasized that vaccination against COVID-19 is the most effective means of preventing infection, transmission and outbreaks.
California has put more shots in arms than any other state — administering over 46 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine with over 78% of those eligible having received at least one dose — and implemented a first-in-the-nation requirement that workers in health care settings be fully vaccinated, as well as stricter requirements for visitors at health care facilities.
The state is encouraging local governments and other employers to adopt a similar protocol and continues its multipronged strategy to reach communities with low vaccination rates.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lakeport City Council will consider moving forward on the process to raise water and sewer rates in the city when it meets this week.
The council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 17, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
The council chambers will be open to the public for the meeting. In accordance with updated guidelines from the state of California and revised Cal OSHA Emergency Temporary Standards, persons who are not fully vaccinated for COVID-19 are required to wear a face covering at this meeting.
If you cannot attend in person, and would like to speak on an agenda item, you can access the Zoom meeting remotely at this link or join by phone by calling toll-free 669-900-9128 or 346-248-7799.
The webinar ID is 973 6820 1787, access code is 477973; the audio pin will be shown after joining the webinar. Those phoning in without using the web link will be in “listen mode” only and will not be able to participate or comment.
Comments can be submitted by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To give the City Clerk adequate time to print out comments for consideration at the meeting, please submit written comments before 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 17.
Indicate in the email subject line "for public comment" and list the item number of the agenda item that is the topic of the comment. Comments that are read to the council will be subject to the three minute time limitation (approximately 350 words). Written comments that are only to be provided to the council and not read at the meeting will be distributed to the council before the meeting.
On Tuesday, Assistant City Manager and Finance Director Nick Walker will introduce a resolution declaring the council’s intention to adopt increased water and sewer rates, setting a public hearing for Oct. 19, and directing staff to provide notice pursuant to Proposition 218, along with a resolution establishing guidelines for the submission and tabulation of protests in connection with rate hearings conducted pursuant to the California Constitution.
Staff will present a report discussing the proposed new rates.
In May, Willdan Financial Services presented an initial study on the potential rate increase, with the council approving completion of the final report at that time.
Also on Tuesday, the council will receive a proclamation designating Aug. 31 as International Overdose Awareness Day, followed by a presentation by the Lake County Public Health Department and one from the Lake Area Planning Council on the Regional Transportation Plan.
The meeting will include a public hearing on a proposed travel expense ordinance and approval of a travel expense authorization and reimbursement policy for officers and employees.
Police Chief Brad Rasmussen will present the 2021 police after action report on the Independence Day fireworks operations.
Community Development Director Jenni Byers will present the draft resolution authorizing the city manager to sign the statement of assurances and submit an application for the State Community Development Block Grant Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Rounds 2 and 3, for improvements to the Silveira Community Center, as well as the resolution approving an amendment to a 2017 resolution to include the use of program income for the Forbes Creek Neighborhood Study in the City of Lakeport’s 2017 CDBG Application.
In other business, the council will consider a draft resolution to declare as surplus several city-owned properties, including the former police station, the Dutch Harbor property and a small portion of vacant land not included in the Lakefront Park Project, and direct staff to distribute a notice of availability to the California Department of Housing and Community Development, agencies and interested entities.
City Manager Kevin Ingram will ask for authorization to sign the third amendment to the joint powers agreement joining the Lake County Community Risk Reduction Authority and designate a city representative on the authority.
Public Works Director Doug Grider will take to the council a $577,106 construction contract with Argonaut Constructors for the North Main Street Paving Project.
On the consent agenda — items usually accepted as a slate on one vote — are ordinances; warrants; minutes of the regular council meeting on Aug. 10; and approval of event application 2021-019, with staff recommendations, for the 2021 Konocti Challenge on Oct. 2, 2021.
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. — Cal Fire said Saturday evening that the Coyote fire burning near Hidden Valley Lake is nearly fully contained.
On Saturday evening, Cal Fire said the Coyote fire was 127 acres and 95% contained.
The fire began shortly after 5 p.m. on Friday, the reported result of a vehicle fire on Highway 29 near the Coyote Grade, north of Hidden Valley Lake.
It resulted in an evacuation order for parts of Hidden Valley Lake that later was downgraded to an evacuation warning.
A few small outbuildings on a property near Hidden Valley Lake were reported to have been destroyed, but there have so far been no reports of damaged homes.
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. — Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said it is continuing to anticipate the need to go forward with a public safety power shutoff on Tuesday evening, reporting that the number of customers has increased by several thousand accounts and two more counties.
An offshore dry windstorm that’s expected to start on Tuesday evening is driving the plans for the public safety power shutoff, or PSPS, the company said.
PG&E said its meteorologists are tracking a weather system that could bring sustained winds of up to 40 miles per hour, gusting higher in foothills and mountains.
The National Weather Service issued fire weather watches in the potential shutoff areas Tuesday through Wednesday based on forecasts for dry, northerly winds and low relative humidity.
Lake County is among the areas included in the fire weather watch, in effect from 8 p.m. Tuesday to 8 p.m. Wednesday.
The Northern California Geographic Area Coordination Center’s North Operations Predictive Services also issued a high-risk fire warning Tuesday through Wednesday due to “an unusually gusty early-season” windstorm.
PG&E first began notifying customers of the potential PSPS on Sunday night, at which time it was expecting 16 counties — including portions of Lake — and 39,000 customers in the Sierra Nevada foothills, the North Coast, the North Valley and the North Bay mountains would be impacted.
On Monday evening, the number of customers in the potential outage area was up to 48,000, with Colusa and Nevada now joining a coverage area that includes Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Napa, Plumas, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo and Yuba counties.
PG&E said most of the affected customers — approximately 31,000 — are in Butte and Shasta counties.
PG&E said the outage, if it goes forward, would begin on Tuesday evening and continue through Wednesday afternoon.
In Lake County, the number of customers that would be affected has dropped from more than 2,700 to approximately 2,083 customers, including 136 Medical Baseline customers, PG&E reported.
PG&E mapping showed that the projected outage in Lake County included Cobb, areas east and north of Clearlake Oaks, areas east of Lower Lake and Middletown. Portions of Hidden Valley Lake have been added to the outage area.
The estimated time of the shutoff for Lake County is between 9 and 10 p.m. Tuesday, with estimated restoration around noon on Wednesday, PG&E reported.
In addition to Lake County, impacted counties and the estimated numbers of customers are as follows:
Butte County: 11,114 customers, 1,027 Medical Baseline customers. Colusa County: 509 customers, 33 Medical Baseline customers. Glenn County: 207 customers, 10 Medical Baseline customers. Humboldt County: 681 customers, 16 Medical Baseline customers. Lassen County: 65 customers, 7 Medical Baseline customers. Mendocino County: 669 customers, 30 Medical Baseline customers. Napa County: 2,041 customers, 99 Medical Baseline customers. Nevada County: 133 customers, 3 Medical Baseline customers. Plumas County: 660 customers, 24 Medical Baseline customers. Shasta County: 19,999 customers, 1,713 Medical Baseline customers. Sierra County: 1,036 customers, 30 Medical Baseline customers. Solano County: 44 customers, 0 Medical Baseline customers. Sonoma County: 240 customers, 9 Medical Baseline customers. Tehama County: 7,473 customers, 671 Medical Baseline customers. Trinity County: 428 customers, 21 Medical Baseline customers. Yolo County: 11 customers, 0 Medical Baseline customers. Yuba County: 487 customers, 47 Medical Baseline customers.
PG&E customers can look up their addresses to find out if their location is being monitored for the potential safety shutoff at www.pge.com/pspsupdates.
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.
This female domestic short hair kitten is in cat room kennel No. 11d, ID No. LCAC-A-1145. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female domestic shorthair kitten
This female domestic short hair kitten has a black coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 11d, ID No. LCAC-A-1145.
This 3-year-old female domestic medium hair cat is in cat room kennel No. 58, ID No. LCAC-A-1029. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Domestic medium hair cat
This 3-year-old female domestic medium hair cat has a brown tabby coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 58, ID No. LCAC-A-1029.
This male domestic shorthair is in cat room kennel No. 120, ID No. LCAC-A-874. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male domestic shorthair
This male domestic shorthair has a gray and white coat.
He is 1-year-old and weighs nearly 6 pounds.
He is in cat room kennel No. 120, ID No. LCAC-A-874.
This 2-year-old female domestic shorthair cat is in cat room kennel No. C123, ID No. LCAC-A-1152. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female domestic shorthair
This 2-year-old female domestic shorthair cat has a white coat and blue eyes.
She is in cat room kennel No. C123, ID No. LCAC-A-1152.
This 1-year-old female domestic shorthair cat is in cat room kennel No. 135, ID No. LCAC-A-1133. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female domestic shorthair
This 1-year-old female domestic shorthair cat has a black coat.
She is in cat room kennel No. 135, ID No. LCAC-A-1133.
Two of these kittens in this litter remain available for adoption. They are both males, No. 125B and ID No. LCAC-A-1139, and a No. 125C and ID No. LCAC-A-1140. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Domestic shorthair kittens
Two of the kittens in this litter remain available for adoption.
They are both males, No. 125B and ID No. LCAC-A-1139, and a No. 125C and ID No. LCAC-A-1140.
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.
In Yosemite’s Illilouette Creek basin, a stand of young Sierra lodgepole pine grow in a forest clearing that was created by wildfire 20 years prior. Mt. Starr King appears in the background. UC Berkeley photo by Scott Stephens. For nearly half a century, lightning-sparked blazes in Yosemite’s Illilouette Creek Basin have rippled across the landscape — closely monitored, but largely unchecked.
Their flames might explode into plumes of heat that burn whole hillsides at once, or sit smoldering in the underbrush for months.
The result is approximately 60 square miles of forest that look remarkably different from other parts of the Sierra Nevada: Instead of dense, wall-to-wall tree cover — the outcome of more than a century of fire suppression — the landscape is broken up by patches of grassland, shrubland and wet meadows filled with wildflowers more abundant than in other parts of the forest.
These gaps in the canopy are often punctuated by the blackened husks of burned trunks or the fresh green of young pines.
“It really is a glimpse into what the Sierra Nevada was like 200 years ago,” said Scott Stephens, a professor of environmental science, policy and management at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-director of Berkeley Forests.
Stephens is the senior author of a new study that gathers together decades of research documenting how the return of wildfire has shaped the ecology of Yosemite National Park’s Illilouette Creek Basin and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks’ Sugarloaf Creek Basin since the parks adopted policies for the basins — at Illilouette Creek in 1972 and Sugarloaf Creek in 1968 — to allow lightning-ignited fires to burn.
While the prospect of smoke over iconic Half Dome has worried politicians and tourists alike, the work of Stephens and his colleagues demonstrates that allowing frequent fires to burn in these basins has brought undeniable ecological benefits, including boosting plant and pollinator biodiversity, limiting the severity of wildfires and increasing the amount of water available during periods of drought. All these benefits are also likely to make the forest more resilient to the warmer, drier conditions brought by climate change, the research suggests.
“In many ways, fire has successfully been restored to Illilouette, and it has made for a complex mosaic of vegetation with cascading effects on things like water,” said study co-author Brandon Collins, who holds a joint appointment as a research scientist with Berkeley Forests and with the U.S. Forest Service.“In Illilouette, you can have patches of young, regenerating trees from a fire 15 years ago, or areas where a classic understory burn has resulted in big, old, widely-spaced trees. You can even have areas where fire has missed because there’s more moisture, such as adjacent to a creek or on the edge of a meadow. All this complexity can happen in a really short amount of space.”
The study findings arrive in the middle of a critical fire season, when drought conditions throughout the western U.S. have already sparked numerous large wildfires, including the Dixie Fire, which, as of Aug. 8, was the second largest wildfire in California history. While climate change has played a role in increasing the severity of these fires, Stephens said, Illilouette Creek Basin serves as an example of how current forest conditions in the Sierra — largely shaped by decades of fire suppression — are also driving these massive blazes.
“I think climate change is no more than 20 to 25% responsible for our current fire problems in the state, and most of it is due to the way our forests are,” Stephens said. “Illilouette Basin is one of the few places in the state that actually provides that information, because there is no evidence of changes in fire size or in the severity of fires that burn in the area. So, even though the ecosystem is being impacted by climate change, its feedbacks are so profound that it's not changing the fire regime at all.”
Returning fire to Yosemite
For millennia, wildfires sparked by lightning, or lit by Native American tribes, regularly shaped the landscape of the western U.S., not only causing destruction, but also triggering necessary cycles of rebirth and regeneration.
However, the arrival of European colonists in the late 1800s, followed by formation of the U.S. Forest Service in 1905, ushered in an era in which fire was viewed as the enemy of humans and forests alike, and the vast majority of wildfires were quickly extinguished.
By the 1940s and 1950s, a number of forest managers and ecologists had begun to question the wisdom of fire suppression, noting that the practice was eliminating valuable wildlife habitat and increasing the severity of fires by allowing decades of fuel buildup.
These fire proponents included A. Starker Leopold, an acclaimed conservationist and professor of zoology and forestry at UC Berkeley, as well as Harold Biswell, a professor at UC Berkeley’s School of Forestry.
In response to a foundational 1963 report led by Leopold, the U.S. National Park Service changed its policy in 1968 to allow lightning fires to burn within special fire management zones — usually remote regions at high elevations — where danger to human settlements was low. Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks established the first fire management zone in 1968, followed by Yosemite National Park in 1972.
“I think it was finally recognized that fire is an integral piece of these ecosystems, and there were a few key people who were willing to take the risk of letting these fires happen,” Collins said.
‘It isn't always clean, and it's not always nice’
Between 1973 and 2016, Illilouette Creek Basin experienced 21 fires larger than 40 hectares — approximately equal to 75 football fields — while Sugarloaf experienced 10 fires of that size. In Illilouette, the result today is a forest that may look a bit messy to the untrained eye, but it holds a lot of resilience.
“When some people visit Illilouette, they say, ‘Look at all these dead trees!’” Stephens said. “I think we have this idea that forests need to be green all the time and made up with only big trees. But it turns out that no forest can do that. It has to be able to grow young trees and regenerate. Illilouette is doing that, but it isn't always clean, and it's not always nice.”
In Illilouette, wildfire has created a more diverse array of habitats for animals like bees and bats, while allowing a variety of plant life to flourish. The detailed history of wildfires in Illilouette has also provided foresters with valuable information on how the impact of one wildfire on landscape and vegetation can influence the trajectory of the next wildfire.
“Since fires are generally allowed to burn freely in Illilouette, we could look at what happens when two fires have burned close to each other: When does the second fire burn into the area that was burned by the first fire, and when does it stop at the previous perimeter?” Collins said. “We found that it really depended on the amount of time that had passed since the first fire. If it had been nine years or under, fires almost never burned into a previous fire perimeter.”
Collins said that Illilouette has also given forest managers a unique opportunity to study how wildfire behaves under a variety of conditions, rather than only at its most dire.
“One of the things that's kind of perverse about the fire suppression policy is that we actually constrain fires to only burn under the worst conditions. If the fire is mellow, that's a good time to put it out, and, as a result, they only burn when we can't put them out,” Collins said. “But by letting these fires burn [in Illilouette], they're able to experience the full range of weather conditions. On bad days, some of these fires have really put up a pretty good plume. But on the flip side, they also get to burn under more moderate conditions, too, and it makes for really varied effects.”
Returning fire to Illilouette has also had the somewhat counterintuitive impact of increasing the availability of water in the basin, a key finding as California weathers yet another year of extreme drought.
Study co-author Gabrielle Boisramé, an assistant research professor at the Desert Research Institute in Nevada, began studying water in Illilouette as a Ph.D. student in environmental engineering at UC Berkeley. Her simulations and measurements indicate that small gaps in the tree canopy created by wildfires have allowed more water from snow and rainfall to reach the ground, while also reducing the number of trees competing for water resources. As a result, soil moisture in some locations in Illilouette increased as much as 30% between 1969 and 2012, which likely contributed to very low tree mortality in the basin during the drought years of 2014 and 2015.
Measurements also indicate that streamflow out of Illilouette Creek Basin has increased slightly since the managed wildfire program began, while streamflow out of other similar watersheds in the Sierras have all decreased. Boosting the amount of water that flows downstream is likely to benefit both the humans and the aquatic ecosystems that depend on this precious resource.
“There's more and more work being done that examines the effects of fire on hydrology, but most of the other research is looking at the effects of catastrophic fires that burned up an entire forest,” Boisramé said. “As far as we know, we're the only ones in the western U.S. studying a restored fire regime, where we’re not just looking at one individual fire, but a number of fires of mixed severity that have occurred over natural intervals of time. There just aren’t that many places to study the long-term effects of these repeated wildfires because Sugarloaf and Illilouette were the first areas in California — really the first western mountain watersheds — where they started allowing fires to burn most of the time.”
Fighting for fire
Most U.S. national parks now practice some form of fire use, rather than full fire suppression, and in 1974, the National Forest Service also changed its policy to also allow some fires to burn on its lands, although areas of fire use are rare in this agency. However, these federal fire use policies have struggled to gain a foothold, largely because of the inherent risks involved in managing wildfire.
Even in Sugarloaf Creek Basin, where many fires have been allowed to burn, there has also been significantly more fire suppression than in Illilouette, the study found. As a result, the ecological benefits in Sugarloaf are not as pronounced as those in Illilouette.
“I think one of the key things to recognize is that the landscape in Illilouette was already somewhat unique, partly because it is at slightly higher elevation than a lot of the forests we manage,” Collins said. “As a result, it already had a mix of vegetation with patches of meadows and rock, and I think maybe that gave managers a little more ease in letting fire happen there. It doesn't have the potential to really push off a giant megafire because it lacks the continuity that some of these other areas have.”
While both naturally-sparked fires and prescribed burns could help large swathes of the Sierra forest become more resilient to both drought and high severity fire, opposition to national “let it burn” policies in California remains strong, with state and local fire agencies often favoring the safety of fire suppression.
Collins and Stephens both acknowledge that the current fuel density in much of the Sierra, mixed with the hotter, drier conditions already triggered by climate change, has made managing wildfire even riskier than it was when forest managers started allowing fires to burn in Yosemite in 1972. However, they argue, fire suppression will never succeed in the long term, because the longer that forest fuel sources are allowed to build up, the more likely it becomes that wildfires will turn catastrophic when they are finally sparked.
“In order to actually allow this to happen, political and public institutions need to be willing to accommodate risk, because there will be some unpredictability. There are going to be fires that get larger, and more severe burning in places that have had very little fire for a century or more,” Stephens said. “We can't guarantee that Illilouette is going to be the new outcome, because it started when climate change was not nearly as severe. So, political institutions will have to accommodate that, or the first fire that doesn't do exactly what we hope will shut down the whole program.”
Collins and Stephens also advocate for more aggressive prescribed burning and restoration thinning throughout the Sierra to help get the forests to a place where lightning-sparked fires can be allowed to burn more safely.
Stephens credits strong, early leadership at Yosemite — including that of study co-author Jan W. van Wagtendok, who received a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 1972 and went on to serve as a research scientist at Yosemite for most of his career — for taking the huge risk of launching the program and allowing early fires to burn in the park.
“It's been 50 years now, but I think what we've learned helps us understand what is possible,” Stephens said. “We have 10 to 20 years to actually change the trajectory of the forest ecosystems in our state, and if we don't change them in 10 or 20 years, the forest ecosystems are going to change right in front of our eyes, and we're just going to be passengers. That's why it's so important to continue this work.”
Previous funding from the U.S. Joint Fire Science Program, UC ANR Competitive Grants Program, and the National Science Foundation’s Critical Zone Collaborate Network (award number 2011346) supported the research in this paper.
Study co-authors also include Sally Thompson of the University of Western Australia; Lauren C. Ponisio of the University of Oregon, Eugene; Ekaterina Rakhmatulina, Jens Stevens and Zachary L. Steel of UC Berkeley; and Kate Wilkin of San Jose State University.
Kara Manke writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.
A Pacific Gas and Electric map shows areas of Lake County, California, where a public safety power shutoff could take place beginning on Tuesday, August 17, 2021. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Pacific Gas and Electric said Sunday night that high winds forecast over parts of Northern California on Tuesday could lead to a public safety power shutoff for 39,000 customers in Lake and 15 other counties.
The company, which opened its emergency operations center on Sunday, said its meteorologists and operations professionals are monitoring a potential dry offshore windstorm forecast to start Tuesday evening.
Due to concerns about the combination of this windstorm, the drought and dry vegetation, PG&E began sending out 48-hour advance notifications to customers on Sunday in targeted areas where the power shutoff may take place to reduce the risk of wildfire from energized power lines.
PG&E said the shutoff could impact 39,000 customers in small portions of 16 counties in the Sierra Nevada foothills, the North Coast, the North Valley and the North Bay mountains.
The majority of customers — about 27,000 — are in Butte and Shasta counties, however, PG&E said it is also notifying customers who may experience safety shutoffs in portions of 14 other counties: Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Napa, Plumas, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo and Yuba.
In Lake County, 2,727 customers — of those, 184 in the Medical Baseline program — are expected to be impacted if the outage takes place, PG&E said.
A PG&E map of the potential outage area shows the impacted Lake County customers would be in the Clearlake Oaks, Cobb, Lower Lake and Middletown areas.
Other counties and their numbers of customers included in the proposed outage area are:
— Butte County: 13,841 customers, 1,366 Medical Baseline customers. — Glenn County: 17 customers, 2 Medical Baseline customers. — Humboldt County: 643 customers, 13 Medical Baseline customers, — Lassen County: 65 customers, 7 Medical Baseline customers. — Mendocino County: 239 customers, 15 Medical Baseline customers. — Napa County: 1,804 customers, 87 Medical Baseline customers. — Plumas County: 778 customers, 27 Medical Baseline customers. — Shasta County: 14,027 customers, 1,239 Medical Baseline customers. — Sierra County: 1,035 customers, 30 Medical Baseline customers. — Solano County: 71 customers, 3 Medical Baseline customers. — Sonoma County: 106 customers, 1 Medical Baseline customer. — Tehama County: 2,856 customers, 219 Medical Baseline customers. — Trinity County: 426 customers, 21 Medical Baseline customers. — Yolo County: 100 customers, 4 Medical Baseline customers. — Yuba County: 531 customers, 49 Medical Baseline customers.
PG&E customers can look up their addresses to find out if their location is being monitored for the potential safety shutoff at www.pge.com/pspsupdates.
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 world watched in July 2021 as extreme rainfall became floods that washed away centuries-old homes in Europe, triggered landslides in Asia and inundated subways in China. More than 900 people died in the destruction. In North America, the West was battling fires amid an intense drought that is affecting water and power supplies.
In a new international climate assessment published Aug. 9, 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that the water cycle has been intensifying and will continue to intensify as the planet warms.
The report, which I worked on as a lead author, documents an increase in both wet extremes, including more intense rainfall over most regions, and dry extremes, including drying in the Mediterranean, southwestern Australia, southwestern South America, South Africa and western North America. It also shows that both wet and dry extremes will continue to increase with future warming.
Why is the water cycle intensifying?
Water cycles through the environment, moving between the atmosphere, ocean, land and reservoirs of frozen water. It might fall as rain or snow, seep into the ground, run into a waterway, join the ocean, freeze or evaporate back into the atmosphere. Plants also take up water from the ground and release it through transpiration from their leaves. In recent decades, there has been an overall increase in the rates of precipitation and evaporation.
A number of factors are intensifying the water cycle, but one of the most important is that warming temperatures raise the upper limit on the amount of moisture in the air. That increases the potential for more rain.
This aspect of climate change is confirmed across all of our lines of evidence: It is expected from basic physics, projected by computer models, and it already shows up in the observational data as a general increase of rainfall intensity with warming temperatures.
Understanding this and other changes in the water cycle is important for more than preparing for disasters. Water is an essential resource for all ecosystems and human societies, and particularly agriculture.
An intensifying water cycle means that both wet and dry extremes and the general variability of the water cycle will increase, although not uniformly around the globe.
Rainfall intensity is expected to increase for most land areas, but the largest increases in dryness are expected in the Mediterranean, southwestern South America and western North America.
Annual average precipitation is projected to increase in many areas as the planet warms, particularly in the higher latitudes.IPCC Sixth Assessment Report
Globally, daily extreme precipitation events will likely intensify by about 7% for every 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) that global temperatures rise.
Many other important aspects of the water cycle will also change in addition to extremes as global temperatures increase, the report shows, including reductions in mountain glaciers, decreasing duration of seasonal snow cover, earlier snowmelt and contrasting changes in monsoon rains across different regions, which will impact the water resources of billions of people.
The IPCC does not make policy recommendations. Instead, it provides the scientific information needed to carefully evaluate policy choices. The results show what the implications of different choices are likely to be.
One thing the scientific evidence in the report clearly tells world leaders is that limiting global warming to the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 C (2.7 F) will require immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Regardless of any specific target, it is clear that the severity of climate change impacts are closely linked to greenhouse gas emissions: Reducing emissions will reduce impacts. Every fraction of a degree matters.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A litter of puppies has joined the canines available for adoption at Lake County Animal Care and Control.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of husky, Labrador retriever, pit bull, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Rottweiler and shepherd.
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.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control website not listed are still “on hold”).
This female pit bull puppy is in kennel No. 4a, ID No. LCAC-A-1324. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female pit bull puppy
This female pit bull puppy has a tan and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 4a, ID No. LCAC-A-1324.
This female pit bull puppy is in kennel No. 4b, ID No. LCAC-A-1325. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female pit bull puppy
This female pit bull puppy has a white coat.
She is in kennel No. 4b, ID No. LCAC-A-1325.
This female pit bull puppy is in kennel No. 4c, ID No. LCAC-A-1328. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female pit bull puppy
This female pit bull puppy has a tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 4c, ID No. LCAC-A-1328.
This male pit bull puppy is in kennel No. 5a, ID No. LCAC-A-1323. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male pit bull puppy
This male pit bull puppy has a tan and white coat, and blue eyes.
He is in kennel No. 5a, ID No. LCAC-A-1323.
This male pit bull puppy is in kennel No. 5b, ID No. LCAC-A-1326. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male pit bull puppy
This male pit bull puppy has a tan coat and blue eyes.
He is in kennel No. 5b, ID No. LCAC-A-1326.
This male pit bull puppy is in kennel No. 5c, ID No. LCAC-A-1327. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male pit bull puppy
This male pit bull puppy has a brown and white coat, and blue eyes.
He is in kennel No. 5c, ID No. LCAC-A-1327.
This 2-year-old male Labrador retriever is in kennel No. 19, ID No. LCAC-A-1349. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male Labrador retriever
This 2-year-old male Labrador retriever has a short black coat with white markings.
He is in kennel No. 19, ID No. LCAC-A-1349.
“Dusty” is a 2-year-old female pit bull terrier mix in kennel No. 22, ID No. LCAC-A-611. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Dusty’
“Dusty” is a 2-year-old female pit bull terrier mix with a short gray coat.
She is in kennel No. 22, ID No. LCAC-A-611.
“Jim” is a 2-year-old pit bull terrier mix in kennel No. 23, ID No. LCAC-A-810. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Jim’
“Jim” is a 2-year-old pit bull terrier mix with a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 23, ID No. LCAC-A-810.
“Rosco” is 3-year-old a male Rhodesian Ridgeback-Shepherd mix in kennel No. 25, ID No. LCAC-A-1205. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Rosco’
“Rosco” is 3-year-old a male Rhodesian Ridgeback-Shepherd mix with a short tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 25, ID No. LCAC-A-1205.
This female Rottweiler-pit bull mix is in kennel No. 27, ID No. LCAC-A-731. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Rottweiler-pit bull mix
This 1-year-old female Rottweiler-pit bull mix has a short black coat.
She has been spayed.
She is in kennel No. 27, ID No. LCAC-A-731.
This 4-year-old female pit bull terrier mix is in kennel No. 29, ID No. LCAC-A-812. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female pit bull terrier
This 4-year-old female pit bull terrier mix has a short white coat.
She is in kennel No. 29, ID No. LCAC-A-812.
“Bubba” is a male pit bull terrier mix in kennel No. 30, ID No. LCAC-A-1306. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Bubba’
“Bubba” is a male pit bull terrier mix with a short black coat.
He is in kennel No. 30, ID No. LCAC-A-1306.
This 2-year-old male husky is in kennel No. 32, ID No. LCAC-A-1024. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male husky
This 2-year-old male husky has a red and cream coat.
He is in kennel No. 32, ID No. LCAC-A-1024.
“Ghost” is a 2-year-old female husky in kennel No. 34, ID No. LCAC-A-1167. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Ghost’
“Ghost” is a 2-year-old female husky with an all-white coat and blue eyes.
She is in kennel No. 34, ID No. LCAC-A-1167.
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.
