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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Home brewers and garage wine makers throughout Northern California are invited to participate and will have a chance to win a coveted “Peoples’ Choice” award for their homemade beverages from event attendees.
There is no booth fee for these amateur participants, who have until June 4 to sign up for this year’s festival.
Amateur winemakers may also enter their creations in separate categories for professional judging and the chance to win one of the wide assortments of ribbons offered.
Several Lake County commercial wineries will be represented at the Winefest to show support for the LCSA, but prizes are restricted to amateurs.
The Lake County Symphony Wine Club sponsors this event yearly and it is the major fundraiser for the Lake County Symphony Association.
The Lake County Symphony and the LCSA Youth & Community Orchestra receive much-needed funds for operating expenses and youth music scholarships and lessons.
Interested home wine and beer makers can go online to the Lake County Home Wine and Beer Makers Festival website to make music for more details and to download an application.
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- Written by: California Department of Fish and Wildlife
For the 2022-23 hunting license year, the cost of the California Duck Validation will increase to $34.56 ($23.25 in 2021-22). The Upland Game Bird Validation will cost $21.60 ($10.54 in 2021-22).
The bird hunting validations, along with 2022-23 hunting licenses, tags and related items, will be available for purchase beginning April 15. The $10 surcharge is added to the annual price increase mandated by state law.
The legislation requiring the $10 surcharge for each validation does not apply to validations included with the Lifetime Bird Hunting Privilege Package purchased by Lifetime Hunting License holders.
AB 614 by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) was sponsored by the California Waterfowl Association (CWA) and signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last October.
The resulting $10 surcharge is expected to generate more than $2 million annually to fund the Nesting Bird Habitat Incentive Program, which will be administered by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, or CDFW, to benefit nesting mallards and other puddle ducks, wild ring-necked pheasants, pollinators and other grassland-dependent species.
All revenue generated from the validation surcharge must be dedicated to the program by law and cannot be diverted to other uses.
“I am proud that CWA sponsored this important legislation, and I am excited to see it implemented on the ground,” said CWA President John Carlson Jr. “Once again, hunters are taking the financial lead to ensure that our nesting bird populations have the habitat necessary to be successful.”
The Nesting Bird Habitat Incentive Program is designed to provide financial incentives to California landowners to cultivate or retain upland cover and other vegetation to benefit nesting wildlife. The funding can also be used to support habitat work on state wildlife areas and national wildlife refuges open to public hunting.
As a result of drought and water shortages, thousands of acres rice fields and other farmland throughout the state were fallowed last year. The Nesting Bird Habitat Incentive Program will soon be able to offer those farmers financial payments to plant their fallowed fields in cover crops and other beneficial vegetation to provide productive nesting habitat for ducks, pheasants and other wildlife.
The Nesting Bird Habitat Incentive Program was originally created by California Waterfowl-sponsored legislation signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018. The program’s funding was tied to Proposition 3, a water infrastructure and conservation bond measure ultimately rejected by voters. The program has been unfunded until the passage of AB 614 last year, which provides the funding mechanism.
California’s breeding population of ducks has experienced declines commensurate with the loss of breeding habitat. Habitat loss and changing agricultural crops and practices have eliminated upland habitat near water that mallards and other species need to nest successfully.
Upland bird hunters have been front-row witnesses to the wild pheasant decline in California. Once the source of opening-day festivities and traditions of all kinds across California’s rural farm communities, wild ring-necked pheasants are an important indicator species in addition to being a popular game bird.
Wild pheasants require the same sort of contiguous, healthy upland and grassland habitat needed by pollinators, native songbirds and nesting waterfowl. Habitat restoration to benefit wild pheasants and nesting ducks is also expected to have positive ramifications for other native species.
The California Duck Validation is required of adults hunting waterfowl in California. The Upland Game Bird Validation is required of adults hunting resident and migratory upland game birds in California. All proceeds from the validations go directly to waterfowl and upland game bird conservation, to support hunting opportunities and for education and outreach.
During the current 2021-22 hunting license year, which ends June 30, 2022, CDFW has sold 66,644 California Duck Validations and 147,574 Upland Game Bird Validations, not including validations issued to lifetime license holders.
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- Written by: Lake County Historical Society
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lake County Historical Society and Ely Stage Stop Museum will present “Anderson Marsh: The Back Story” on Saturday, April 9.
The event, for Historical Society members only, will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Ely Stage Stop Museum at 9921 Soda Bay Road, just north of Kit's Corner off Highway 29 between Lower Lake and Kelseyville.
Next year is the 40th anniversary of the acquisition of Anderson Marsh and Ranch as a new State Historic Park.
Dr. John Parker will give a talk about the six years of behind-the-scenes work it took to secure the funds to acquire the park, including nominating the area to the National Register of Historic Places, public awareness work, people getting fired, recall campaigns, fines, fraud, arrests and divine intervention.
Dr. Parker will also show the Emmy award winning documentary "A Walk Through Time" that presents the history of the Anderson Marsh State Historic Park and the people who used it.
To join the Historical Society ahead of the program, go to http://elystagestop.com/support/ and download, fill out and return the membership form and dues to the address on the form. Or come to the event and join at the door.
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- Written by: CAL FIRE
Burn permits in Lake County are no longer issued by the Cal Fire Burn Permit website and no longer available at the Cal Fire stations in Lake County.
This new Lake County burn permit system issues both the Lake County Air Quality permit and the Cal Fire permit at the same time.
Burn permits for any location in Lake County can be obtained through the South Lake County Fire Protection District website at https://www.southlakecountyfire.org./home/permits/.
For any further questions please contact your local fire department.