WILLOWS, Calif. – The Mendocino National Forest is asking for the community’s input on an application seeking state grant funds to help manage the forest’s off-highway vehicle program.

“The Mendocino National Forest offers over 200 miles of designated OHV trails providing exciting riding opportunities for a wide range of ability levels and vehicle types. In addition, over 1,300 miles of roughly graded roads are available for use by Off-Highway Vehicle enthusiasts,” said Mendocino National Forest Recreation Officer Tricia Christofferson.

The state of California Department of Parks and Recreation and the Mendocino National Forest have maintained a successful partnership for nearly 30 years.

This partnership has provided funding assistance for the management of OHV recreation on National Forest system lands through the California State OHV Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program.  

Current regulations mandated by the state of California require annual public participation in this fund allocation process.

Officials are soliciting public input specific to the Mendocino National Forest’s upcoming grant application for the state’s 2012-13 grant cycle.

The grants will support on-going OHV management activities, with categories including ground operations – trail maintenance and facility operation and maintenance – and law enforcement.  

In order to view and comment on the Mendocino National Forest’s Preliminary grant application, visit the state of California Web site at www.ohv.parks.ca.gov , then click the grants tab. The site offers instructions for providing comments.

Additionally, a link to the state’s Web site may be found on the Mendocino National Forest Web site at www.fs.usda.gov/mendocino .

Comments may be provided between March 5 and April 1, 2013.

“We appreciate your support and comments on our grant request,” said Christofferson. “Your comments will help the state determine the level of funding to provide the Mendocino National Forest for on-going trail maintenance, facility maintenance and law enforcement.”

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – An early Wednesday morning fire burned a garage in close proximity to several other buildings in a Clearlake neighborhood.

The fire, located at 32nd and Boyles avenues, was first reported shortly after 12:15 a.m. Wednesday, according to reports from the scene.

A caller from 32nd Avenue called in the fire, which also was spotted by a REACH air ambulance pilot who was coming into the city for a landing for a separate call, radio traffic indicated.

The pilot could see the structure was fully involved, and that's what firefighters reported finding when they arrived at the scene minutes later.

Firefighters reported over the radio that there were structures on three sides of the burning garage, and a vehicle also was involved.

No power lines were said to have been affected, but firefighters stated on the radio that they had received reports of a gas leak.

Additional details were not immediately available.

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

NORTH COAST, Calif. – State Sen. Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) has introduced two proposals for the 2013 legislative session that she said will improve and strengthen the California Environmental Quality Act, also known as CEQA.

The bills, SB 617 and SB 754, seek to preserve and protect some of the nation’s leading community and environmental protection laws.

“California has a proud history of supporting the public’s right to know what developments are taking place in their communities and enacting protections to preserve their quality of life and the environment around them,” said Evans. “When private profits infringe on public well-being, we rely on CEQA for the ability to defend our homes and our health.”

The introduction of the bills comes at a time when a number of legislators have reportedly been considering introducing CEQA reform legislation.

Signed into law 43 years ago by then Republican Gov. Ronald Reagan, the California Environmental Quality Act has long been lauded for the process it provides to reveal potential health and environmental impacts large development projects will have on the local community and environment.

At times, it is the public’s last defense to ensure that large construction project proponents mitigate or reduce a project’s negative impact on its surroundings.

The law has been particularly important for individuals who do not have the means to hire a team of lawyers to monitor and influence large projects planned in communities.

“Whatever changes are made to the California Environmental Quality Act this legislative session, it is essential that its core democratic protections of meaningful public participation and community enforcement are maintained or strengthened,” said Bruce Reznik, executive director of the Planning and Conservation League. “This legislation brought forward by Sen. Evans will go a long way toward improving any shortcomings in the environmental review process without endangering these core provisions.”

SB 617 will ensure that new information technologies are employed to make CEQA document filing and access easier. Key components of the bill include:

• Mandates that notices during the environmental review process be posted concurrently online and at the county recorder’s office in the affected county;
• Clarifies that project reviews must examine the impacts of the physical environment on the project, fixing the unwise court decision in Ballona Wetlands Trust;
• Provides that electronic records of proceedings be posted concurrently with their preparation;
• Removes several mooted provisions from CEQA.

The second bill, SB 754, provides a framework to further strengthen CEQA’s public participation process and improve the environmental protections of the law.

Key provisions of this framework strengthening legislation include:

• Mandates translation of initial notices and executive summaries where there is a significant limited English proficient population;
• Ensures that illegal actions undertaken to change the land prior to an environmental review do not get to reset the baseline of review;
• Implements controls on administrative record costs;
• Prohibits a developer from directly contracting for and overseeing the preparation of the environmental review, thus ensuring an unbiased and transparent environmental review;
• Limits the “shelf-life” of environmental impact reports (EIRs) that may be used in assessing a project to seven years;
• Reinforces archaeological resource protections by raising the ceiling on mitigation, and;
• Provides enforcement for mitigation measures.

“Sen. Evans’ proposals will enhance transparency and improve the integrity of the environmental review process. These are the right kinds of CEQA changes for the legislature to consider,” said Sierra Club California Director Kathryn Phillips. “While it is a great relief to see Senator Steinberg and others turning away from proposals that would have essentially gutted this landmark environmental law, we do not plan to let our guard down now. Sierra Club and other leading conservation groups will continue to fight any radical changes to dismantle CEQA.”

“CEQA is and always has been a review process,” said Evans. “CEQA works and these bills will make the process work even better. They’ll do that without changing any of the law's essential protections while preserving community voices and California's environment.”

Evans represents the Second Senatorial District, including all or portions of Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Marin, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.

Great white sharks off California’s coast will receive additional protection beginning March 1, the date it becomes a candidate species under the California Endangered Species Act.

In February, the California Fish and Game Commission determined that listing white shark as threatened or endangered may be warranted and designated the species as a candidate pursuant to the California Endangered Species Act, or CESA, as Lake County News has reported.

The commission received a petition to list the Northeast Pacific population of white shark as either threatened or endangered in August 2012.

As a candidate species, white sharks will be entitled to the full legal protection afforded to a listed species once notice of the commission’s action is published in the California Regulatory Notice Register, which is scheduled to occur on March 1.

Now that the species is a candidate, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will conduct an in-depth status review to provide the commission with information to aid in its decision on whether or not to list the species.

The status review is slated for completion by early next year.

CESA prohibits the take of listed or candidate species, even if that take is incidental to otherwise lawful activity, unless authorized by permit.

As defined in state law, take means “hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill or attempt to hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill.”

Anyone who takes a white shark without a permit may be cited for violations of CESA and subject to criminal prosecution.

“While targeted sport and commercial fishing for white shark has been banned in waters off California since the mid-1990s, there were some exceptions that allowed for incidental take and take associated with research activities,” said Marci Yaremko, program manager for state and federal marine fisheries at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“The department now will consider exceptions only on a case-by-case basis, and will authorize take only under permits issued pursuant to CESA,” Yaremko added.

Under CESA, research permits may be issued for bona fide scientific research relating to white sharks.

An incidental take permit may also be obtained by commercial fishing operations or others whose non-research activities may result in take.

Information regarding CESA permitting is available on the department’s Web site, http://www.dfg.ca.gov/habcon/cesa/ .

More information on white shark and CESA candidacy is available on the department’s white shark information page, www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/whiteshark.asp .

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – With February set aside as a time to commemorate American Heart Month, a new county cardiologist will host a Wednesday evening discussion on how women can have healthier hearts.

Dr. Monica Divakaruni will give the free lecture on basic lifestyle changes that can prevent disease and improve quality of life and health for women from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake's Live Well Clinic, 15230 Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake.

Divakaruni, a leading interventional cardiologist trained at Stanford University, recently joined St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake's staff, as Lake County News has reported.

She's a member of the Adventist Heart Institute, which is composed of experienced cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons who serve patients in Lake, Napa and Mendocino counties.

Cardiovascular health is a particular health concern in Lake County, according to available health data.

Statistics from California's Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development show that Lake County has a 12.4 percent unadjusted rate for diagnosed heart disease, the highest in the state. Similarly the county has the highest rate of hypertension in the state at 37.3 percent, with Clearlake alone reported to have a rate of hospitalizations due to heart attack that is five times the state average.

The state's most recent county health status rankings place Lake near the bottom – at No. 51 – out of California's 58 counties for its death rate for coronary heart disease, a problem that county health officials have attributed, in part, to the high local smoking rates.

There is increasing impetus on raising awareness not just of heart disease but of its impact on women, many of whom don't think of it as a serious potential health risk.

The American Heart Association said only one in five American women believe that heart disease is her greatest health threat, yet it's the No. 1 killer of women, causing one in three deaths annually – making it deadlier for women than all causes of cancer combined.

Dr. Divakaruni, who has a particular passion for women’s cardiovascular health, said that from 1988 to 2004 the rates of heart attacks in women increased.

The study that reported that increase suggested that the rise in female heart attack cases was related to better risk factor control in men than women. As a result, she said heart disease in women should be getting more notice.

There also has been a steady rise in heart disease rates in younger women – in the 35 to 45 age group – over the last decade, she said.

Women in certain ethnic groups are hit especially hard by heart disease.

Health data from the American Heart Association shows that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for African American women, with 46.9 percent of African American women age 20 and older suffering from it.

Hispanic women similarly are at higher risk, with the disease also being their No. 1 cause of death, and a condition they're likely to develop a decade earlier than Caucasian women, the American Heart Association reported.

However, studies have shown that Hispanic women are more likely to take preventive actions for their family when it comes to heart health.

An American Heart Association report released last week showed that women’s heart disease awareness is increasing.

The number of women who know that heart disease is their leading cause of death has nearly doubled in the last 15 years, the report showed. However, there is still more to be done.

Understanding causes; taking simple steps

Finding a root cause for heart disease is a complicated issue.

Divakaruni said that among the “usual suspects” –  smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol – there is no one particular risk factor that makes women more unhealthy. Rather, it's the conglomerate of them all.

“In my experience, the biggest obstacle is that women, as mothers, heads of their households, workers, and in many other roles, have more difficulty taking time for themselves than others. In a broad general sweep, women are busy caring for others, and more and more, their own health suffers,” she said.

There also probably is still an unconscious bias amongst health care providers, some of whom still look at women as having a lower risk for heart disease, she suggested.

Social class also is believed to have an impact, with factors related to low socioeconomic status – which doctors don't completely understand – probably adding to overall heart disease risk, she said.

At her Wednesday talk, Divakaruni plans to offer guidance on simple lifestyle changes that can prevent heart disease and improve overall cardiovascular health for women.

Some of the basic steps include taking proactive control by knowing your numbers – including blood pressure and cholesterol – and asking your doctor if the numbers are within range.

Then there is the matter of nutrition. She said your mother was right – it's important to eat fruits and vegetables.

“The heart is the most important muscle in the body. But the most important part of your heart is probably what you put on your plate,” she said.

Next, get moving. Divakaruni suggested that 30 minutes a day of physical activity is best, but it doesn't need to be continuous.

“Park farther from the store. Take the stairs. Walk the dog one extra lap around the neighborhood. Little bits add up,” she said.

And just how resilient is the human heart?

“More than you might think,” said Divakaruni.

She said doctors don't yet know how to completely reverse all forms of heart disease, “but even if you've lived the most unhealthy lifestyle, your heart is resilient enough to keep you healthy if you change your habits.”

To RSVP for Divakaruni's lecture or to request a consultation call 707-995-3764.

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. – With the potential for damaging cuts looming due to the threat of sequestration, Lake County's superintendent of schools is urging members of Congress to take immediate action.

On Tuesday Lake County Superintendent of Schools Wally Holbrook, contacted Congressman Mike Thompson and Congressman John Garamendi, urging them to immediately act to stop federal sequestration.

Holbrook's office said sequestration would wield another blow to education, adding to the more than $18 billion in cuts that education has suffered over the last four years.

If Congress does not take action, this Friday the across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration are scheduled to take effect, Holbrook's office reported. Young children and families across the nation have much to lose if the fiscal cliff isn't resolved by March 1.

According to the California Association for the Education of Young children, some of the impacts to young children include:

• 70,000 young children would lose Head Start/Early Head Start early learning services;
• 30,000 children and families could lose child care;
• 600,000 low-income, nutritionally at risk, pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children would lose WIC nutrition assistance;
• 125,000 low income families would lose rental housing vouchers, increasing housing instability that is detrimental to young children's development.

Young children aren't the only ones who will be impacted; Lake County school districts have much to lose as well.

Michelle Buell, Lake County Office of Education's senior director of business services, listed the following funding reductions Lake County school districts will be faced with if the 5.3 percent sequestration cuts are allowed to occur:

• Kelseyville: $51,369;
• Konocti: $205,796;
• Lakeport: $51,583;
• Middletown: $40,017;
• Lucerne: $10,676;
• Upper Lake Elementary: $22,636;
• Upper Lake High School: $9,578;
• LCOE: $86, 535;
• Total reduction to Lake County education funding: $478,190.

According to Holbrook, this represents a reduction in per pupil funding of $52.27, and he urged Thompson and Garamendi to do all they can to protect the most vulnerable students from losing critical support needed, particularly students with disabilities, students in poverty and English learners.

According to a White House brief released Tuesday, if sequestration were to take effect, the impacts on California in this year alone are:

– Teachers and schools: California will lose approximately $87.6 million in funding for primary and secondary education, putting around 1,210 teacher and aide jobs at risk. In addition about 187,000 fewer students would be served and approximately 320 fewer schools would receive funding.

– Education for children with disabilities: In addition, California will lose approximately $62.9 million in funds for about 760 teachers, aides, and staff who help children with disabilities.

– Work-study jobs: Around 9,600 fewer low income students in California would receive aid to help them finance the costs of college and around 3,690 fewer students will get work-study jobs that help them pay for college.

– Head Start: Head Start and Early Head Start services would be eliminated for approximately 8,200 children in California, reducing access to critical early education.

Superintendent Holbrook urged community members to contact their representatives and urge them to act to prevent sequestration in the interest of protecting communities.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Authorities on Wednesday evening continued to search for a male suspect who allegedly robbed a Middletown bank earlier in the day.

The robbery at Westamerica Bank, located at 21058 Calistoga Road, occurred at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to reports from the scene.

A male suspect – who claimed that he had a gun – allegedly robbed the bank and then fled on foot, with deputies searching the surrounding area, including the vicinity of nearby businesses and Twin Pine Casino, radio reports indicated.

The suspect was described as a white male adult with a scruffy beard, in his late 20s, with his height estimated at between 5 feet 8 inches tall and 5 feet 10 inches tall.

He was said to be wearing all black clothing, including a hoodie, a bulky jacket and a black hat.

There were reports that the suspect may have been at the Tri-Counties Bank – a short distance away, at 21097 Calistoga Road – about an hour previous to the Westamerica robbery, although Tri-Counties was not hit.

The suspect also was spotted going into Hardester’s Market, located next door to Westamerica Bank, shortly before the alleged robbery.

A group of third grade Girl Scouts from HVL Troop No. 10649 was selling cookies at a table in front of Hardester's Market not more than 60 feet from the entrance to the Westamerica Bank when the robbery occurred, according to Scout Leader Melissa Clark.

Clark said that 15 minutes before the suspect allegedly robbed the bank, one of the girls in the troop tried to sell him cookies when he came out of Hardester’s.

“We saw him hanging around Hardester's and at some point he left Hardester's and went in the bank. We didn't see him go in the bank because we had our backs to him at that point,” she said.

She added, “When we found out he had robbed the bank we grabbed our girls and had them near us.”

Lake County Sheriff’s officials had Westamerica Bank cordoned off with crime scene tape and were continuing the robbery investigation early Wednesday evening.

Lake County News will continue to post updates as they become available.

John Lindblom contributed to this report.

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 state of California is replacing the current In-Home Supportive Services payroll system with an updated system that will be designed to meet new state and federal requirements for the IHSS Program, county officials reported this week.
 
The IHSS payroll system will be using a new timesheet format and timesheets will no longer be entered at our Lower Lake location, according to the Lake County Department of Social Services.

The new timesheets will be mailed to a timesheet processing facility in Chico, Calif., county officials said.

Effective March 16, timesheets must be mailed to the address located on the timesheet. Providers and recipients will no longer be able to drop off timesheets at the Lake County IHSS/Public Authority, Adult Services, Social Services or Child Welfare Services facilities.

For additional information, please call 707-995-4680.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – Mendocino County's sheriff said Tuesday that one man has been taken into custody and a second is still being sought for attempting to kill a deputy.

Sheriff Tom Allman said Christopher Skaggs, 30, of Redwood Valley was arrested Tuesday morning but his associate, 42-year-old Walter Kristopher Miller, a transient from Ukiah, was still being sought for shooting at a deputy Monday night.

Allman and Lt. Greg Van Patten held a teleconference with reporters Tuesday afternoon to offer an update on the developing situation.

The shooting occurred shortly before 10 p.m. in the 900 block of Highway 253 in Ukiah, sheriff's officials reported.

A Mendocino County Sheriff's deputy – whose name has not been released – conducted a traffic stop of a sedan displaying an expired registration in the 1200 block of South State Street in Ukiah, according to a written report Van Patten issued earlier in the day.

Once the sedan stopped the deputy approached the driver’s window to contact the driver, but Van Patten said that when the deputy reached the window the vehicle quickly accelerated southbound on South State Street.

The deputy pursued the sedan, which reached speeds of approximately 80 to 90 miles an hour, van Patten said.

The sedan turned westbound on Highway 253 and slowed to speeds of approximately 50 to 60 miles an hour before swerving into the opposing traffic lane several times, even in the presence of blind curves in the roadway, according to Van Patten.

In the 900 block of Highway 253 the front passenger of the sedan – who Allman said detectives believed was Miller – partially exited the open passenger window and shot five to six times at the deputy's patrol vehicle with a handgun from a distance of about 35 yards.

One of the bullets struck the patrol vehicle's radiator, leaving the patrol vehicle inoperable, Allman said.

Mendocino County Sheriff's deputies from across the county converged on the area in an attempt to locate the sedan, which was last seen traveling westbound of Highway 253, officials reported.

Allman said the California Highway Patrol, Ukiah Police Department, Cloverdale Police Department, Mendocino County District Attorney's Office, Santa Rosa Police Department and Sonoma County Sheriff's Office – which sent nine deputies – assisted in the search.

At around 11 p.m. Monday a deputy located the sedan, abandoned in a driveway leading to a residence located in the 6000 block of Highway 253. Allman said the home's residents were not aware of the vehicle's presence.

He said a reverse 911 call was initiated to residents in the surrounding area.

During a search of the driveway near the sedan deputies found a number of items that Allman and Van Patten said showed the suspects' path of escape, which was on foot.

Among the findings were items that Allman said had been reported as stolen from a residence on Van Arsdale Road in Potter Valley earlier in the evening, Van Patten said.

Allman said that five firearms – including three handguns, a rifle and shotgun – were taken in the burglary.

One of the handguns, which had a 30-round magazine, matched the description of the weapon  Miller allegedly used to shoot at the deputy, he said.

None of those guns were found in the sedan, Allman said.

What they did find was “a considerable amount of ammunition” all over the car, he added.

Allman said the California Department of Justice is assisting with processing the vehicles.

He said sheriff's detectives worked the case through the night and are continuing to follow up leads.

At about 9 a.m. Tuesday detectives were tipped about Skaggs' location, and he was apprehended following a brief foot chase not far from where the vehicle was abandoned. He was not armed at the time of his arrest, Allman said.

Allman said they intend to charge the men with attempted murder of a peace officer, and are working side by side with Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster on forming the case.

He said Skaggs also was being sought on an unrelated burglary and robbery incident that occurred Feb. 19, and that he had been due in court on Tuesday in connection with a vehicle pursuit that occurred last year.

Allman called Skaggs a “109er,” a person released from state prison due to AB 109, the state's correctional realignment legislation.

“He is the kind of criminal that belongs in state prison and not county jail,” said Allman.

Miller, who is still at large and believed to be armed, was arrested for parole violations three times last year in Sonoma County, with the latest arrest taking place in December, Allman said.

“He extremely dangerous,” Allman said of Miller, who is believed to still be in the Ukiah area.

Anyone with information on the current whereabouts of Miller is urged to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Dispatch Center at 707-463-4086 or the Sheriff's Office Tip-Line at 707-234-2100.

Area residents wanting to receive reverse 911 alerts from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office on their cell phone can visit https://alerts.deltalert.com/optin/start.xhtml?clientId=172425218 .

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 STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – A Middletown bank was reported to be the target of a Wednesday afternoon armed robbery.

Westamerica Bank, located at 21058 Calistoga Road, was reported to have been robbed by a lone male assailant at around 3:30 p.m., according to radio reports.

The suspect was armed, according to reports from the scene.

A be on the lookout described the suspect as a white male adult with pale skin and scruffy facial hair, between 5 feet 8 inches tall and 5 feet 10 inches tall, wearing an all black hoodie, a bulky black jacket and a black hat.

The male suspect was reported to have left the scene on foot, with no vehicle descriptions given, based on reports from the scene.

Radio reports indicated the suspect was seen running down Wardlaw Street toward St. Helena Creek, behind Store 24, with four deputies searching the area.

Parents reported that nearby Middletown High School was placed on lockdown. Lake County News was unable to reach school and district officials to get an update on the situation at the school.

Additional information will be posted as it becomes available.

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

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – This week the city council will get updates on its waste stream compliance order from the state and also hear about new efforts to address suicide rates in the county.

The council will meet for a closed session to discuss a potential property acquisition at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive, before the open session begins at 6 p.m.

On the consent agenda – items usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are items including the Feb. 14 meeting minutes, the disbursement check list, consideration of an application for participation in the state and federal surplus property program, receipt of North Coast Opportunities' Head Start Child Development Program’s 2011-2012 Annual Report, and consideration of a contract amendment with Robert Galusha for engineering special projects through Dec. 31, 2013.

At the beginning of the meeting the council will present proclamations recognizing March as March for Meals Month and Suicide Awareness Month.

Among the agenda's business items, the council will receive a presentation by the Family Service Agency on the North Bay Suicide Prevention Project.

The council also will receive an annual report from Clearlake Waste Solutions and get an update on the cancellation of the compliance order placed on the city by the California Department of Resources and Recycling, or CalRecycle.

A Feb. 20 letter notified city officials that CalRecycle met this month and decided the city had met the terms of the compliance order and was no longer subject to administrative penalties.

CalRecycle issued the compliance order against the city on Feb. 24, 2009, “based on the City’s failure to adequately implement its diversion programs,” according to a background report for the Feb. 19 meeting at which CalRecycle finally lifted the order.

The city received time extensions to meet the requirements and, in addition, updated its franchise agreement with Clearlake Waste Solutions in August 2011. The CalRecycle report noted, “The agreement enhanced the services provided by the hauler, and increased overall effectiveness of all waste diversion programs.”

The report to the city from Clearlake Waste Solutions noted that tons of trash from the city have dropped from 5,569 tons in 2009 to 4,469 tons last year, with recycling tonnage rising from 1,328 in 2009 to 1,465 in 2013.

In that three-year period green waste recycling increased from 1,062 tons to 1,341 tons, and overall recovery increased from 30 percent o 39 percent of the waste stream, the report showed.

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

NORTH COAST, Calif. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld on Tuesday recognized nonprofit GRID Alternatives as a Climate Change Champion.

The EPA Pacific Southwest Region’s Environmental Award was presented at a ceremony hosted by the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians in Hopland.

“EPA applauds GRID Alternatives for championing clean technologies to offset the climate change impacts of greenhouse gas emissions,” said Blumenfeld. “This organization is a role model for how business can promote solar energy while equipping Californians with the skills they need to sustain this industry.”

“The Hopland Band of Pomo Indians has been pleased to have Grid Alternatives Work with our qualifying tribal members to install the latest solar technology on their homes,” said Shawn Padi, chairman of the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians. “This green technology not only helps the environment but also makes our qualifying Tribal members’ monthly energy bills much more affordable.”

GRID Alternatives has developed a solar affordable housing program to train and lead teams of community volunteers and job trainees to install solar electric systems for low-income homeowners, generating financial benefits for families, job training opportunities for local workers, and environmental benefits through the reduction of greenhouse gases.

As of February 2013, GRID Alternatives has installed over 3,000 solar electric systems in homes, trained 11,700 community volunteers and job trainees on the theory and practice of installing solar systems, and has prevented over 250,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions through PV installations.  

Beneficiaries of these systems have included seniors on fixed incomes, veterans, and homeowners struggling with unemployed and underemployment, as well as low-income residents of more than 14 tribal communities throughout California.

More information about GRID Alternatives, headquartered in Oakland, Calif., may be found at:  www.gridalternatives.org .

The EPA Pacific Southwest Region’s Environmental Awards program acknowledges commitments and significant contributions to protecting the environment in California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, Pacific Islands and tribal lands.

Groups and individuals were selected from nominees received this year from businesses, government officials, tribes, media, academia, environmental organizations and community activists.   

For more information on the other 2012 award winners visit http://epa.gov/region9/awards .