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"The fees will help us with the rising costs of operating and maintaining some highly used sites and allow us to repair or replace facilities that have become worn out," said Mendocino National Forest Supervisor Tom Contreras.
Last year the Forest completed the analysis for a proposed five-year program of work for the 64 developed recreation sites on the forest.
The resulting Recreation Facility Analysis guides the forest in eliminating the backlog of deferred maintenance at recreation sites through a variety of management changes at the developed recreation sites.
These changes include increasing fees at 13 campgrounds and one lookout on the forest. Later this year the forest will begin charging a nominal fee at 16 sites which had not previously been managed as fee sites.
The fee changes were reviewed and recommended by the California Recreation Resource Advisory Committee, a federal advisory body for the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management in California, and approved by the Regional Forester. Fee increases will be implemented on May 1.
Most of the fees collected now stay on forest for use at these sites under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act. Eighty percent of the campground fees will go to the operation and maintenance of those campgrounds. Fifteen percent of the fees will go to the collection and enforcement of the fees at those campgrounds.
The remaining 5 percent goes into a fund that the Forest Service can apply for in grants to improve the resources in or adjacent to those campgrounds, such as trails around a lake, interpretive signing, or dealing with soil erosion at recreation sites.
Fees increases will occur beginning May 1 at the following locations:
Upper Lake Ranger District: Middle Creek Campground, $8.
Covelo Ranger District: Eel River Campground, $8; and Hammerhorn Campground, $8.
Grindstone Ranger District (total fee): Main Letts Campground, $12; Mill Valley Campground, $10; Plaskett Campground, $10; Saddle Camp Campground, $12; Spillway Campground, $12; Stirrup Campground, $12; Sycamore Grove Campground, $16; Camp Discovery Group Campground, $175; Gray Pine Group Campground, $75; and Masterson Group Campground, $75.
Later this summer, the Mendocino National Forest also will add other recreation sites to the fee system. These include sites at the following locations:
Upper Lake Ranger District: Deer Valley Campground, $6; Penny Pines Campground, $6; and Pillsbury Pines Boat Launch, $6.
Covelo Ranger District: Howard Lake Campground, $6; Howard Meadows Campground, $6; and Little Doe Campground, $6.
Grindstone Ranger District (total fee): Davis Flat Campground, $5; Dixie Glade Horse Campground, $5; Fouts Campground, $5; Little Stony Campground, $5; Mill Creek Campground, $5; North Fork Campground, $5; South Fork Campground, $5; Lake Red Bluff Boat Launch, $6; and Sacramento River Boat Launch, $6.
For further information on forest recreation sites please contact Forest Recreation Officer Tricia Christofferson at 530-934-3316.
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THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE HAS BEEN UPDATED.
** A word of warning, although the last name is the Danish spelling, the writer is mostly Norwegian!
The Sons of Norway has a monthly dinner so I thought it would be interesting to show off some of the dishes of dem dehr scandihoovians.
Scandinavian countries include Norway, Sweden, Denmark and, to a lesser part Finland, Iceland, and the indigenous Sami people who inhabit the far northern regions (sometimes called “Laplanders”).
Now, to give you a little background, my family gathers every Christmas and celebrates with large amounts of Norwegian food, Krumkake (a rolled cookie, similar to a long thin ice cream cone), Fattigman (a deep fried cookie), Kjottkaker (the Norwegian version of Swedish meatballs) and lefsa.
Go back with me 20 years: When my new (Italian) wife saw the table covered in food her first comment was, “Don’t Norwegians have any food that isn’t white?” But when my aunt comforted her with the comment that she had brought lasagna in her honor, her spirits lifted a little.
Then my aunt listed the ingredients: lasagna noodles, ground beef, cottage cheese and a store-brand spaghetti sauce. My aunt said to season it she had used some (plain black) pepper, and so she hoped it wasn’t too spicy! My wife was very gracious to my aunt, but boy, did I get an earful later! No Italian sausage! No ricotta or mozzarella cheese! No peppers (that’s with an “s”, meaning bell peppers), no fresh tomato sauce with fresh herbs! What kind of culinary wasteland had she entered?).
Just a quick note ... there is no word for “spicy” in Norwegian.
Now let’s return to the Sons of Norway dinners. There’s lefsa (where there’s Norwegians there’s always lefsa) which is basically a potato crepe that is typically spread with butter and then sprinkled with sugar (plain, white, sugar) then rolled up and eaten with the hands. There are many different types of Smorbrod, an open faced sandwich (literally “open sandwich”), covered in gravlax (literally “salmon from the grave” since originally it was buried; gravlax is a salt-, sugar- and dill-cured salmon, a basic recipe follows) and usually topped with a mild mustard and dill. Other smorbrod will be topped with shrimp, smoked salmon, Jarlsberg cheese (Jarlsberg is a Norwegian cheese similar to Swiss but with a pronounced “nutty” flavor).
Gravlax
One salmon filet
5 tablespoons salt
5 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 bunch dill
Some people choose to scale their salmon first, but I don’t bother. Cut the tail off of the salmon so that you roughly have a long rectangle. Then cut it in half so you have two squares. Put both squares on a long sheet of plastic wrap, skin side down. Mix the salt, sugar, and pepper and sprinkle all over both pieces of fish, flesh side only, and pat the spice mixture lightly so it sticks to the fish. Lay the dill on top of one of the squares of fish and flip the other square of salmon on top of the dill. You should now have an odd looking dill sandwich with the salmon as the bread.
Wrap the whole package tightly in the plastic wrap and then using another length of plastic wrap do it again at a ninety degree angle, the tighter the better. Place this bundle into a dish with high sides (there may be some leakage so you need the sides there). I like to use the kind of pan that you make brownies in. Now place another dish of some sort on top of the salmon. I like to use a bread loaf pan for this one.
Place some weights in the pan to help compress the salmon down; a few cans of soup work well here. Place this teetering tower into the refrigerator out of the way. In twenty four hours flip the salmon over and replace the pan and weights and put back into the fridge again. In another twenty four hours your salmon is now officially gravlax, but it still needs a little more time to fully develop the flavor that you want to achieve. A couple more days of pressing and flipping won’t hurt. I typically like to do three days total for the best flavor and texture.
However long you decide to do it, when you take it out of the torture chamber that it’s been sitting in remove the now spent dill and rinse the filets in cold water, washing off as much of the left over spice mixture as you can.
Slice the gravlax at a 45-degree angle as thinly as possible, but don’t cut through the skin. Traditionally gravlax is served on rye bread with a little mustard and a sprig of dill.
Once I’ve cut all of the gravlax from the skin I particularly like to fry the skin until crisp and eat it like bacon. Again, there’s no need to scale the skin before frying, they just dissolve during the cooking process. OK, I don’t exactly know what happens to the scales, just trust me, they disappear.
It is possible to increase the amounts of this recipe and use two whole salmon filets, but the whole compression torture chamber just ends up dominating the refrigerator.
Ross A. Christensen is an award-winning gardener and gourmet cook. He is the author of "Sushi A to Z, The Ultimate Guide" and is currently working on a new book. He has been a public speaker for many years and enjoys being involved in the community.
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The US government Web site says, “Earth Day is a time to celebrate gains we have made and create new visions to accelerate environmental progress. Earth Day is a time to unite around new actions. Earth Day and every day is a time to act to protect our planet.”
The Earth Day event at the Clear Lake Campus will be held during the college hour from 11:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m.
At noon there will be a special earth blessing guided by Pomo elders. Community groups, students and classes will have booths, entertainment and resources to educate and inform the community on environmental, ecological and educational issues related to Earth Day.
Live music will be performed during the event by professor Dr. Harry Lyons, instructors Doug and Sissa Harris, instructor Barbara Christwitz, Michael Heintz, student Becky Martin and friends.
The award winning Culinary Program will sell lunch and have information available on the “green restaurant” and their recent steps toward a green culinary program.
Activities involving baking with solar ovens, transportation with electric cars and flower planting will also take place.
Some of the groups presenting information in booths are Lake County Sierra Club, Lake County Adubon, Lake County Land Trust, Akeena Solar, David’s Construction, Clearlake Co-op, Discovery Museum, and Shannon Gunier’s business class.
Any other group interested in displaying information should contact Pamela Bordisso at 995-7914. The community is invited to attend this on campus event.
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THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH NEW INFORMATION ON COURT APPEARANCES.
LUCERNE – A Lucerne couple turned themselves in at the Lake County Jail on Friday after warrants were issued for their arrests this week in connection with a case of missing funds at the Lucerne Senior Center.
Rowland Mosser, the senior center's former executive director, and his wife, Jayne, were booked into the Lake County Jail shortly before 10 a.m. on Friday, according to jail booking records.
The District Attorney's Office is charging Rowland Mosser, 63, with four felony counts – embezzlement, grand theft by an employee, grand theft and keeping a false record of government funds. Mosser reportedly is working as a business consultant.
Jayne Mosser, whose occupation was listed in booking records as an In-Home Supportive Services worker, is facing a single felony count of committing grand theft. She had worked with her husband at the center.
Their attorneys had arranged for them to turn themselves after the Lake County District Attorney's Office filed charges against them on Tuesday, as Lake County News has reported.
By early afternoon Friday both of the Mossers has posted bail – which was set at $10,000 each – and been released from jail.
Center officials have estimated that more than $200,000 in center funds were unaccounted for after Mosser left the center of August of 2005, although District Attorney Jon Hopkins did not give an amount in connection with the case.
The District Attorney's Office complaint alleges the Mossers committed the acts between Jan. 1 and Aug. 12, 2005. Mosser served as executive director from July 2002 to August 2005.
Mosser also had had failed to pay the center's taxes, which caused the center serious problems with the Internal Revenue Services, and resulted in penalties and interest, as Lake County News has reported.
Rowland Mosser is due to appear in court on June 13, according to the Superior Court, while Jayne Mosser is scheduled to appear June 13.
The news of the arrests was still rippling through Lucerne on Friday.
Lee Tyree, who took over as Lucerne Senior Center's executive director in January, said people at the center were happy that the case is moving forward.
Tyree said she has not heard about possible restitution if the Mossers are convicted.
However, the county has helped the center put itself back on track, said Tyree. The Lake County Redevelopment Agency also paid to have the center reroofed – at a cost of about $30,000. Tyree said the new roof is now on the building.
People are coming back to the center and the attitude is much more upbeat, said Tyree.
“Everybody's got their whole heart in this place,” she said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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The body of Silvino Eufracio-Navarro, 48, was found submerged in an irrigation pond at Clover Valley Vineyards Wednesday morning, according to Chief Deputy James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Bauman reported that sheriff's deputies and rescue personnel responded to Clover Valley Vineyards at 10 a.m. Wednesday to investigate an accidental death.
Arriving at the scene, first responders were led to an irrigation pond where they found Eufracio-Navarro's body, according to Bauman.
The vineyard foreman who was at the scene told officials that Eufracio-Navarro had last been heard from the previous night at around midnight when he was checking the operation of the irrigation pump station at one of the vineyard ponds, Bauman reported.
Eufracio-Navarro had called the foreman to report the irrigation pump was in good working order and he had planned to return home, said Bauman. When morning came and Eufracio-Navarro’s wife had not heard from her husband, she called the foreman and the two of them went to the Clover Valley site, where they found Eufracio-Navarro submerged in the pond below the pump station.
Bauman reported that the diesel-driven pump Eufracio-Navarro was working on the previous night was located on a wooden pier extending over the irrigation pond.
Evidence at the scene revealed that while he was working on or around the pump station, his clothing apparently became caught in the driveshaft and he was abruptly pulled through the mechanics of the system, Bauman noted. Eufracio-Navarro sustained multiple injuries as a result and ultimately fell into the pond, presumably already unconscious.
Officials performed an autopsy on Eufracio-Navarro on Thursday, said Bauman.
The official cause of death is still pending, however Bauman reported that it is believed that Eufracio-Navarro died very suddenly due to multiple traumatic injuries as a result of this tragic industrial accident.
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LAKE COUNTY – In pursuit of its goal to provide more housing to county residents who need it, Habitat to Humanity of Lake County has received another grant.
The organization recently received a $2,000 grant from State Farm Insurance, Habitat for Humanity reported Friday.
The State Farm funds will go directly to purchasing building materials for new, single-family homes.
“The condition of available housing and commercial services greatly affects the quality of life for residents and the stability of a community,” State Farm officials noted.
Habitat reported that the funds already are being put to use on its next housing project, the Clearlake Housing Project III. The money was utilized in pouring the foundation for the 11th house Habitat has built locally.
Homeowners only pay the cost to build the home – around $70,000 – with no interest charged, according to a Friday Habitat for Humanity statement.
State Farm's grant brings the total donated to Habitat from State Farm's Strong Neighborhood Community Development Grant Program to $17,000.
The local habitat chapter reported that, little by little, through such funding, the quality of housing is being improved in Lake County.
For information on State Farm and its charitable giving program, visit www.statefarm.com or speak with a local representative in Lakeport (263-7142) or Clearlake (994-7122).
For more information on how to be involved with Habitat for Humanity, please visit www.local.habitat.org/hfhlakeca or call 994-1100.
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