The meeting took place Friday morning in the Board of Supervisors chambers in the Lake County Courthouse in Lakeport.
Those sitting around the table included Congressman Mike Thompson and his district representative Brad Onorato, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Program Chief Brandon Muncy and Col. Bill Leady, County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox, Supervisors Denise Rushing and Jeff Smith, county Water Resources Director Scott De Leon and his water engineer Tom Smythe, Lake County Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Officer Melissa Fulton, Dr. Greg Giusti of the University of California Cooperative Extension, Dr. Harry Lyons of Yuba College, Lakeport City Council member Suzanne Lyons, Lakeport City Manager Margaret Silveira, local businesswoman Kathy Fowler and Clearlake Keys resident Dennis Locke.
Cox told the group that the increase in algae issues in recent years – and the accompanying bad press about it – has had devastating effects on the county's economy.
Dr. Harry Lyons noted that the lake has now gone into its “winter regime” due to changes in nutrients, sunlight and weather.
“The system is nonlinear,” he said.
He added, “That should leave us optimistic because the more we do the more, in essence, the algae can respond to it.”
Lyons said that longtime county residents he's spoken to reported that they've never witnessed the kinds of algae issues that have been seen during the last two years. “The lake is not naturally that prolific.”
Giusti said there is information to give perspective to what is happening. “There is 100 years of record of what is going on in the lake,” he said.
He shared with the group a Clear Lake fact sheet that explained that, among other things, the lake has been subject to multiple stresses – both natural and manmade – and has lost 85 percent of its original natural wetlands habitat.
Recently and historically, blue green algaes have exploded at the end of drought cycles when the water is exceptionally clear, as it was this summer, Giusti said.
He said the lake's regime changes are responses to the resources that are available to it.
“I want to caution people about trying to fix something that may not necessarily be broken,” he said.
The scientists at the table noted that something has changed in the last few years to allow blue green cyanobacteria like lyngbya to come to the forefront.
Lyons said lyngbya's unique anatomy – including a thick sheath and the ability to form spaghetti-like mats – makes it formidable.
It still is rare, said Lyons. “It's like the Cubs winning the pennant.”
“I don't know that it's that rare,” said Giusti.
They were asked if there has been an effort to find out why lyngbya has become more common. Giusti said it may take several years to find that answer.
Smith told the federal officials that the county needs assistance removing a sandbar which has caused flooding problems in Burns Valley, suggesting a retention basin is needed in that watershed. The county also hasn't tackled the blockage at the Grigsby Riffle, the rock ledge that controls Clear Lake's outflow.
Smith said the riffle's blockage needs to e cleared about every 10 years. “That's where the Army Corps can help us.”
Rushing said her wish list included getting help to control the sediment flowing into the lake.
Leady said the U.S. Army Corps is involved in ecosystems around the country, including the Lake Tahoe area. When he was in the Detroit area he dealt with Lake Saint Clair, a shallow lake that he explained is not as diverse as Clear Lake, although it, too, is surrounded by agriculture.
Lake Saint Clair, Leady said, has a management plan in place. He said that some management-related projects require money, but they can talk to the Bureau of Land Management and other agencies about collaborating on approaches to Clear Lake's management.
Muncy explained that if there is a desire to fix the lake's problems, the federal agencies will need authorization from Congress. Thompson said if they had a plan that brought in all the federal partners, it would be easier to develop an appropriations request.
Muncy said that in 1997 President Bill Clinton signed an executive order directing all federal agencies to work together on Lake Tahoe. He told the group, “Success at Tahoe is going to be different from success here.”
The Army Corps was authorized to do planning design and construction assistance for Lake Tahoe's environmental infrastructure and resource protection. Muncy said they were looking at restoring Incline Creek at Incline Village.
Once upon a time they straightened rivers, Muncy said. “Back in the old days we thought that was the best way for flood control,” but they've now realized it's not.
Thompson asked if they could bring in the Bureau of Indian Affairs on such efforts. Muncy said yes. “The Corps does bring in a lot leadership.”
Thompson asked when they could start writing budget language to support the effort, and Muncy said the Army Corps can help get started now, but they have to hurry, as the president's 2012 budget is almost finalized. He suggested they might be able to get language for Clear Lake in an energy and water appropriations bill for 2012.
The Army Corps can work with communities to design and construct projects, complete them and then invoice the Army Corps, with the agency paying up to 70 percent of the cost, Muncy said, adding that local bureaucracy is much simpler than the Army Corps'.
Muncy said U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is on the appropriations committee and is very successful at getting money for projects. The project manager for Lake Tahoe has retired and now does work as a consultant, and he could come and meet with Lake County officials, Muncy suggested.
Cox said the county wanted to take up the Army Corps on its offer of help to get agencies and stakeholders together. “I really appreciate that. I think that's what we're missing and what we really need.”
With the area having powerful senators – Feinstein and Barbara Boxer – plus Thompson, “I think there is opportunity to get these things done,” said Muncy, adding that Lake Tahoe has been a success.
De Leon gave a presentation on algae and weed growth, which he said is a function of water clarity. In the 1990s Clear Lake became remarkably clearer. “We're seeing just a lot more weeds as the result of clearer waters.”
He showed aerial photographs of the lake, including spots in Soda Bay and the Clear Lake Keys, where algae and weeds have been particularly prevalent recently. De Leon said Water Resources had given people recommendations for dealing with the issues over the summer but those suggestions weren't followed, and then they got angry phone calls.
A number of firms have come to look at using the weeds and algae as biofuel, and have ended by proposing the county purchase their equipment.
De Leon said they're now reviewing the results of a microbes test in the Keys, and also trying to approach the firm started by actor Kevin Costner, who is marketing a device to separate water and oil. The device may be able to be used to take algae and weeds out of the water.
The issue of dredging also came up. Leady said he hasn't done any dredging in the Sacramento Army Corps district, but he did a lot of it in the Detroit area.
Thompson thanked the group and said he looked forward to getting started.
“We committed to three things today,” said Leady – working with Thompson and local officials, working with the BIA to move the Middle Creek Restoration Project forward and helping the community address dredging permits.
Giusti said local watershed groups have worked hard since the 1990s on lake issues. “A lot of groundwork has been done,” he said.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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