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The public may notice smoke in various parts of the forest during the next few months. As cooler weather and higher humidity move in, bringing to a close the hot and dry wildfire season, there is an opportunity to bring fire into the forest in a controlled setting. Prescribed fires are used to clear the forest floor of small fuels and brush without burning or killing large trees.
During prescribed burning season, fire crews also burn piles of wood debris and fuel that are the result of fuel reduction activities in the Forest. This year the Grindstone Ranger District also plans to burn a pile at the Chico Resource Conservation Center.
Prescribed burns are conducted when there is a window of opportunity and specific conditions and criteria are met before, and will be sustained during and after the burn. These include temperature, wind conditions, relative humidity and fuel moisture levels. The forest also takes air quality into consideration.
The season traditionally runs from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31 as weather permits. The burning operations are monitored and patrolled frequently to ensure public safety.
“Prescribed burning is an important tool for the forest to use for hazardous fuels reduction and forest health improvement, including wildlife habitat,” said Grindstone Fuels Officer Matt Ellis. “The fires are intended to be slow, low-intensity creeping fires on the forest floor. Although there are only a few opportunities for prescribed burns, they produce less smoke and there aren’t the resource impacts typically created by large wildfires.”
In addition to the pile burning in Chico, there are plans to burn additional piles across the Grindstone Ranger District.
The district also plans to conduct prescribed burning activities on approximately 2,500 acres, including understory burning in Alder Springs, Oak Ridge and Little Stony, and a combination of pile burning and understory burning for vegetation type conversion maintenance.
On the other side of the forest, the Upper Lake and Covelo Ranger Districts are also entering the fall prescribed burning season.
There are plans to conduct prescribed burning activities in areas including Elk Mountain Road, Howard Mill, Deer Valley, Boardman Ridge, High Valley, Horse Mountain, Tar Flat, Howard Lake, Pine Mountain, Lake Pillsbury and the vicinity of the 2005 Hunter Fire (Buckhorn and Skidmore Ridge).
Selected campgrounds, guard stations and miscellaneous pile burning will also be included in the prescribed burning operations.
Prescribed burning announcements will be placed at local Ranger Stations prior to ignition.
For more information, please contact the Mendocino National Forest Grindstone Ranger District at 530-934-3316, the Upper Lake Ranger District at 707-275-2361 or visit www.fs.fed.us/r5/mendocino .
The 47-year-old Lower Lake resident died at the scene of the solo-vehicle collision, which occurred on Butts Canyon Road a mile and a half east of Highway 29, the California Highway Patrol reported.
The man's identity was not released Friday by the CHP or the coroner's office pending family notification.
Just a few minutes before 7 a.m. the man was driving his 2008 Ford Edge westbound on Butts Canyon Road at an unknown speed when, according to the CHP report, he allowed his vehicle to drift off the road's south edge.
When the car went off the road it overturned and hit a utility pole, the CHP said.
The driver, pronounced dead at the scene, was wearing his seat belt and the vehicle's airbag had deployed, according to the CHP report.
CHP Officer Steve Curtis is leading the crash investigation, the agency reported.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
Throughout the morning CHP officers remained on the scene of the crash, which occurred on Butts Canyon Road approximately one mile from Highway 29.
The solo-vehicle collision involved a vehicle that was reported to have been wrapped around a power pole, according to the CHP.
The collision caused the road to be shut down while Pacific Gas & Electric worked to replace the power pole, the CHP reported. Shortly after 7:30 a.m. the road was opened under one-way traffic control.
The CHP did not have additional details on the crash or its victim available during the morning.
Lake County News will update the story as more information becomes available.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
On Thursday members of the Lake County Wine Alliance Board of Directors announced the proceeds of the 10th annual Wine Auction, held on Sept. 19.
The charity event received more than $120,000 in revenue from ticket sales, sponsorships, the live and silent auctions and raffle, a special fund-a-need item, entry into the Vintage Vault, sales of fine edition posters and a winery dinner, the board reported.
Event organizers noted that expenses were reduced about 20 percent from the previous year, and overall revenues were down about 30 percent from the income received in 2008.
Attendance was close to a sell-out once again for this popular benefit that raises funds to support the arts, health and community while also promoting Lake County as a premier wine grape growing region.
Premier sponsors included Pacific Gas & Electric Co., Beckstoffer Vineyards, Kelseyville Lumber, Saw Shop Gallery Bistro, Mendo Lake Credit Union and Wildhurst Vineyards.
The Wine Alliance is a nonprofit organization of Lake County wineries, winegrape growers, related businesses and community supporters directed by an all-volunteer board of directors, under the leadership of Margaret Walker Stimmel, president; Marie Beery, vice president; and Rob Roumiguiere, treasurer.
Andy Beckstoffer, chairman and chief executive officer of Beckstoffer Vineyards, was the Wine Auction honorary committee chair for the 2009 event.
Special guest Congressman Mike Thompson attended, and offered the live auction lot that garnered the highest bid, a barbecue at his ranch in Lake County with wines made from the grapes grown in his vineyard. Thompson has participated every year, and is a strong supporter of Lake County’s wine industry.
Other highlights of the event included the auctioneering talents of Tom DiNardo, the music of the LC Diamonds, the new Vintage Vault with seven Lake County wineries pouring special wines, the addition of local actors lending fun and pizzazz, and the transformation of the National Guard Armory building into a Tuscan courtyard with draped walls and garlands of twinkle lights.
Representatives of the organizations that will receive proceeds from the Wine Auction participated by setting up, decorating and cleaning up the venue.
The beneficiary organizations will receive their respective share of the net proceeds from the Wine Alliance later this year.
Those to benefit include: the Allegro Music Scholarship Program, the fine arts programs at the five Lake County high schools, the Lake County Hunger Task Force, the Meals on Wheels programs at five senior centers, the St. Helena Hospital Clearlake mammography fund, the Stitch and Give Knitters, the Lake County Chapter of Vietnam Veterans, People Services Inc., Senior Law Project Inc. and the Ely Stage Stop and Country Museum.
Information about the 11th annual Lake County Wine Auction will be available at www.winealliance.org or by calling 1-866-279-WINE.
The Mendocino City Community Services District made emergency repairs at the sewage treatment plant located at the far west end of town from Aug. 24 through 28, the county reported. The repairs necessitated wastewater to be diverted to the plants overflow pond.
On Aug. 28, repairs were complete, the pond was pumped dry and plant flow returned to normal, according to the county's report.
At about the time the repairs were completed, a resident located immediately adjacent to and east of the plant complained of foul smelling water coming from their well. Officials said the shallow well located approximately 100 feet away from the pond.
The Division of Environmental Health (DEH) was notified on Sept. 15 of a water sample taken from the well testing positive for the presence of fecal bacteria. DEH staff visited the neighborhood on Sept. 18, to obtain information on well construction in the area and to collect additional water samples.
Well construction varied from old, poorly constructed, shallow wells to newer deep wells installed to meet sanitary requirements, officials said.
DEH staff collected water samples from five wells. Two samples collected from shallow wells tested positive for bacteria, but none of the samples were found to contain fecal bacteria. Another shallow well in the area that was tested by residents also was reported to be free of fecal contamination, the county reported.
Mendocino County DEH staff conducts inspections at food facilities in Mendocino and those establishments on private well have water samples collected. Of the most recently collected water samples from 16 food establishments, none were found to contain fecal bacteria.
Aside from the one positive sample there does not appear to be fecal contamination of water wells in the vicinity of the Mendocino sewage treatment plant, the agency reported. The source of contamination in the one well has not been determined.
DEH staff recommendation is for homeowners whose water is supplied from shallow wells to have the system inspected and repairs and upgrades made as required to minimize the risk of harmful bacteria getting into the water supply.
Rowland James Mosser, 65, of Lucerne was arrested shortly before 9:30 a.m. Thursday and booked on four felony counts, two for embezzlement and two for grand theft, according to court records.
Mosser, whose current occupation is listed as business consultant on his booking sheet, posted the $10,000 bail later in the day and was released from the Lake County Jail.
Gary Luck, the county's retired district attorney who now works as a part-time prosecutor, said he is pursuing the same charges as were previously alleged against Mosser, but which were dropped during a January preliminary hearing due to the need for more evidence, as Lake County News has reported.
“It's the same case all over again,” but with a much deeper accounting of records, Luck said.
However, the case will differ in at least one way – charges have not been refiled against Mosser's wife, Jayne, who previously had faced a single felony count of grand theft.
“We don't feel we have enough evidence to convince the jury that she participated in it,” said Luck.
Judy Conard, who has acted as Mosser's attorney, did not have a comment on the case when contacted by Lake County News on Thursday.
Mosser was the center's executive director from July 2002 to August 2005.
The senior center's financial issues were the focus of an extensive grand jury investigation that was released as part of the 2006-07 report.
The refiled case against Mosser alleges that the embezzlement and theft activities took place between Jan. 1, 2005, and Aug. 12, 2005.
After the initial case was dropped earlier this year, the District Attorney's Office had a forensic examination conducted on the center's books and bank records, said Luck.
That, he said, gave the prosecution a better understanding of what was happening to the center's finances while Mosser was the center's executive director.
Former center officials told Lake County News in previous interviews that they could not account for between $150,000 and $175,000 in center funds after Mosser left in August 2005.
However, as to the total amount Mosser is alleged to have taken from the center, Luck said he doesn't have a “firm amount” and that such a total may never be available because Mosser didn't keep accurate financial records.
“Our case is built on his poor record keeping,” said Luck.
One figure that has become clearer is that between $60,000 and $64,000 was supposed to have been in the center's vault at one point, Luck said.
“The money had to go somewhere,” said Luck.
During testimony in the January preliminary hearing, Ron Larsen, the case's investigator, said he had found evidence of the Mossers' home electricity bill being paid at one point by the center.
Larsen also had testified to reviewing the Mossers' own bank statements, noting that over the period from 2003 to 2005 the couple went through a large amount of money, more than $167,000, which had appeared to come from investments.
In 2005 when the couple closed their personal checking account, all of that money appeared to be gone, with their only income source being Rowland Mosser's salary, Luck had stated in the preliminary hearing.
“When their money disappears, that's when the Lucerne Senior Center's money disappears,” Luck stated at the time.
Mosser is tentatively scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 20, according to booking records.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
