LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With kitten season now under way, Lake County Animal Care and Control has several young cats waiting for homes.

The following cats at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption.

Female domestic short hair

This female domestic short hair has a tortoiseshell coat and blue eyes.

She is in cat room kennel No. 7, ID No. 12281.

Brown tabby kitten

This brown tabby kitten has a short coat and green eyes.

He’s in cat room kennel No. 43a, ID No. 12332.

Brown tabby kitten

This male tabby kitten has a short brown and black coat and gold eyes.

He’s in cat room kennel No. 43b, ID No. 12333.

Gray tabby kitten

This male gray tabby kitten has a short coat and gold eyes.

He’s in kennel No. 43c, ID No. 12338.

Domestic medium hair kitten

This female kitten has a medium-length black and white coat and green eyes.

She’s in cat room kennel No. 78a, ID No. 12346.

Domestic medium hair kitten

This male kitten has a medium-length black and white coat and green eyes.

He’s in cat room kennel No. 78b, ID No. 12347.

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

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.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – For the first time since the Valley fire swept through Cobb, Middletown, and the surrounding areas in September 2015, an EcoArts Sculpture Walk is open to the public at the Middletown Trailside Nature Preserve.

After a three-year absence because of the park’s devastation by fire, the installation this year is a milestone event, and the pieces that dot the park represent the reclaiming of a space that was forever changed by wildfire.

“The plants raising their heads in optimism are synergistic with the artwork,” said Lisa Kaplan, programs director at the Middletown Art Center, who is impressed by the regrowth of flora at the park since the fire.

“The installation of the Sculpture Walk is symbolic of the community’s continuing recovery from the fire,” she added.

The walk, entitled “Locus: A Sense of Place,” opened on June 1 with an afternoon reception that included music, poetry readings, wish making and a host of red parasols for the more than 250 participants that walked meandering trails to view the art.

It’s the 14th time the annual walk has been installed in Middletown Trailside Park, made possible with support from the National Endowment of the Arts.

The works are intended to engage the observer in a dialog with nature. Some are designed to enhance the existing environment by distributing wildflower seeds or attracting beneficial fauna such as bats or bees.

“You become a different person as you go through the walk because of the questions you ask yourself, such as, ‘is this art?’” said participating artist and EcoArts founder Karen Turcotte. “One comes out with additional breadth of soul,” she added.

In 2003, Turcotte, inspired by the environmental art of British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy, worked with the Lake County Arts Council and the county of Lake to develop a local sculpture walk.

Permission to use the Trailside Nature Preserve was granted by the county in April of that year, and the first sculpture walk was installed in mid-June.

Participation by local eco-artists grew in the following years until the Valley fire destroyed or damaged every art piece installed in the 2015 Walk.

In the current exhibit, several of the installations are the collaborative creations of students at Cobb Mountain Elementary, the Lake County International Charter School and the Middletown Art Center’s homeschooled art students.

Cobb Mountain Elementary students also installed the bat houses which can be seen along the trail.

Kaplan especially appreciates projects that enhance the park’s habitat and wishes to see such positive action continue. “In doing so, we not only heal our environment, we heal ourselves,” she said.

The exhibit, which was erected in May, will remain in place at the park until Oct. 15, and the public is encouraged to view it early while wildflowers bloom, and then visit again as the seasons change.

Middletown Trailside Nature Preserve is open from dawn until dusk and is located at 21436 Dry Creek Cutoff, off Highway 175. The exhibit can be found by entering the park on the south side of the parking lot.

The Middletown Art Center, in addition to their coordination of the EcoArts Sculpture Walk, offers art and writing classes, hosts exhibitions and cultural events, and is a locus for Lake County artists.

To learn more about this valuable Lake County resource and to consider a membership, please visit their Web site at www.middletownartcenter.org .

Esther Oertel is a freelance writer and columnist for Lake County News. She lives in Middletown.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – There was a festive feel on Friday night when local cuisine, art and music were celebrated throughout the small town as part of First Fridays in Middletown.

People strolled Middletown’s streets, stopping at businesses and public spaces such as the Gibson Museum and the Middletown Art Center, where artists, crafters and a variety of food purveyors were on hand.

Live musicians were strategically located throughout town, so that participants were serenaded at each stage of the walk.

First Fridays is a collaborative community effort, and this year the “Meet Your Makers” series spotlights a different Lake County micro industry each month.

The June event recognized local culinary artists with the theme “Eat Your Art Out,” and one could satisfy a craving for pizza, tacos, Filipino lumpia, Thai spring rolls, sushi burritos, vegan cheesecake, and a variety of other delectable bites, thanks to vendors scattered throughout the walk.

At the Middletown Art Center outdoor space in the center of town, Aromas Café from the Woodland Community College Culinary Arts Program served up steak or mushroom tacos while Goddess of the Mountain made pizzas with natural ingredients in their wood-fired oven.

Local growers sold produce, Shed Horn Cellars poured wine, and the Clearlake Grocery Outlet offered an opportunity to win prizes by spinning a wheel.

Inside the Middletown Art Center, the work of local artists was on display, including that from classes for children and Woodland Community College students.

At the south end of town Star Gardens Nursery was alive with music and featured exotic food from Wholly Bowl, including sushi burritos, fruit skewers and Thai noodle salads.

Six types of lumpia (filled with such things as organic bison) could be consumed in front of the Gibson Museum, where Bing’s Kitchen Catering was set up.

Koontz Mercantile featured wine tasting by Pope Valley Winery, Buddha Thai Restaurant offered spring rolls and Thai iced tea, and the Middletown Creamery featured a raw vegan blueberry “cheesecake.”

Close to the heart of First Fridays in Middletown is the art walk that is part of each event. Those who wish to view art throughout town are given a treasure map showing the location of each artist, where their work is available for sale.

First Fridays in Middletown takes place May through October from 6 to 9 p.m.

This year’s future themes are Gems and Jewelry in July, FUNctional Art in August (with the emphasis on fun), Media and Technology in September, and Wellness in October.

I was told that attendance was down somewhat because of the graduation ceremony at Middletown High School. Even so, the event was lively, with many people who “ate their art out” as the sun went down over our little town.

To learn more about the Middletown Art Center, visit www.middletownartcenter.org.

Those interested in learning more about local history and the work of the Gibson Museum and Cultural Center may visit www.friendsofgibson.com.

Local business owners in the Middletown, Cobb, and Hidden Valley area may wish to learn more about the Middletown Area Merchants Association by visiting www.middletownareamerchants.com.

Esther Oertel is a writer and passionate home cook from a family of chefs. She grew up in a restaurant, where she began creating recipes from a young age. She’s taught culinary classes in a variety of venues in Lake County and previously wrote “The Veggie Girl” column for Lake County News. Most recently she’s taught culinary classes at Sur La Table in Santa Rosa, Calif. She lives in Middletown, Calif.

Officials said Saturday that Cal Fire Capt. Stacy Hamilton from the Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit was killed in an early morning vehicle accident in Merced County.

“On behalf of all Californians, Jennifer and I extend our condolences to Captain Stacy Hamilton’s family, friends and colleagues in this difficult time. It’s the work of brave firefighters like Stacy that keeps our communities safe and we are deeply grateful for his service,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Hamilton began his career with Cal Fire in the Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit in 2006, after previously working for the United States Forest Service.

Hamilton was assigned to the Sierra Training Center, Forestry Training Program, where he trained inmates for more than four years. He then transferred to Columbia Helitack in 2010.

In 2013, Captain Hamilton moved into the fixed wing side and was assigned to Columbia Air Attack Base as an Air Tactical Group Supervisor on AA440, where he was currently assigned.

Cal Fire said Capt. Hamilton was a competent, skilled and professional Air Tactical Group supervisor.

Capt. Hamilton, a resident of Shaver Lake, is survived by his wife, Katie, and two teenage sons, Ian and Logan.

“Please keep Capt. Stacy Hamilton, his family and his colleagues in your thoughts,” Cal Fire said in a Saturday statement.

In honor of Capt. Hamilton, State Capitol flags will be flown at half-staff, Newsom’s office said.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control’s kennels are filled this week with a wide variety of adoptable dogs.

Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of beagle, border collie, boxer, Chihuahua, German Shepherd, Great Pyrenees, Labrador Retriever, Lhasa Apso, pit bull, poodle, shepherd, treeing walker coonhound and wirehaired terrier.

Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).

Female wirehaired terrier

This female wirehaired terrier has a coarse brown coat.

She is in kennel No. 1, ID No. 12080.

‘Buddy’

“Buddy” is a male beagle with a short brown and white coat.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 5, ID No. 11906.

Female shepherd

This female shepherd has a short black and brown coat.

Shelter staff said she smiles.

She’s in kennel No. 6, ID No. 12343.

Dachshund-Chihuahua mix

This male dachshund-Chihuahua mix has a short brown and white coat.

He is in kennel No. 7, ID No. 12344.

‘Maui’

“Maui” is a female Great Pyrenees with a long white coat.

She is in kennel No. 9, ID NO. 12323.

‘Scooby’

“Scooby” is a male poodle mix with a medium-length white and tan coat.

Shelter staff said he previously was an outside-only dog in a family with 5- and 12-year-old children. His owner described him as very friendly and smart.

He is in kennel No. 11, ID No. 12312.

‘Scubi’

“Scubi” is a male pit bull with a short tan and white coat.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 12, ID No. 12290.

‘Beau’

“Beau” is a male shepherd with a medium-length black coat.

He has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 14, ID No. 6745.

‘Luke’

“Luke” is a male treeing walker coonhound with a short tricolor coat.

Shelter staff said he is dominant with other dogs and would prefer not to play but just soak up human affection. He can live with others but prefers to not have them in his space. Luke is good with children ages 6 and above.

He has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 18, ID No. 11771.

Female boxer

This female boxer has a short brown and white coat.

She already has been spayed.

She is in kennel No. 19, ID No. 12326.

Female German Shepherd

This female German Shepherd has a medium-length black and tan coat.

She is in kennel No. 21, ID No. 12273.

Pit bull-border collie mix

This female pit bull-border collie mix has a short tricolor coat.

She is in kennel No. 23, ID No. 12274.

‘Charlie’

“Charlie” is a male Labrador Retriever with a black coat and white markings.

He’s in kennel No. 25, ID No. 12262.

Female Lhasa Apso

This female Lhasa Apso has a curly black and white coat.

She already has been spayed.

She’s in kennel No. 26, ID No. 12328.

‘Moana’

“Moana” is a female Great Pyrenees with a fluffy white coat.

She’s in kennel No. 27, ID No. 12324.

Chihuahua-terrier mix

This male Chihuahua-terrier mix has a short black coat.

He’s in kennel No. 29a, ID No. 12112.

Male German Shepherd

This male German Shepherd has a short black and tan coat.

He’s in kennel No. 30, ID No. 12314.

‘Duke’

“Duke” is a male Labrador Retriever with a short black coat with white markings.

He already has been neutered.

He’s in kennel No. 34, ID No. 11022.

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm.

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

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.

NASA's Curiosity rover has confirmed that the region on Mars it's exploring, called the "clay-bearing unit," is well deserving of its name.

Two samples the rover recently drilled at rock targets called "Aberlady" and "Kilmarie" have revealed the highest amounts of clay minerals ever found during the mission.

Both drill targets appear in a new selfie taken by the rover on May 12, 2019, the 2,405th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

This clay-enriched region, located on the side of lower Mount Sharp, stood out to NASA orbiters before Curiosity landed in 2012.

Clay often forms in water, which is essential for life; Curiosity is exploring Mount Sharp to see if it had the conditions to support life billions of years ago.

The rover's mineralogy instrument, called CheMin (Chemistry and Mineralogy), provided the first analyses of rock samples drilled in the clay-bearing unit. CheMin also found very little hematite, an iron oxide mineral that was abundant just to the north, on Vera Rubin Ridge.

Other than proof that there was a significant amount of water once in Gale Crater, what these new findings mean for the region is still up for debate. It's likely that the rocks in the area formed as layers of mud in ancient lakes – something Curiosity also found lower on Mount Sharp. Water interacted with sediment over time, leaving an abundance of clay in the rocks there.

Amid this new drilling and analyzing, Curiosity took a break to watch some clouds – all in the name of science. The rover used its black-and-white Navigation Cameras (Navcams) to snap images of drifting clouds on May 7 and May 12, 2019, sols 2400 and 2405. They're likely water-ice clouds about 19 miles (31 kilometers) above the surface.

The mission's team has been trying to coordinate cloud observations with NASA's InSight lander, located about 373 miles (600 kilometers) away, which recently took its own cloud images. Capturing the same clouds from two vantage points can help scientists calculate their altitude.

More information about Curiosity is at https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/ .

More information about Mars is at https://mars.nasa.gov/ .

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Firefighters are battling a vegetation fire in Yolo County that has led to evacuations and a highway closure.

The Sand fire began at about 2:50 p.m. Saturday in the Capay Valley area near the town of Guinda, according to Cal Fire.

By 8:30 p.m., Cal Fire said the fire was reported to have reached 1,700 acres, with no containment.

So far, no structures have been damaged or destroyed, Cal Fire said.

However, evacuations have been ordered for all residents on County Road 41. Cal Fire said an evacuation center has been set up at the Boy Scout Camp in Esparto.

Highway 16 is closed from Highway 20 to the town of Brooks, officials said.

Cal Fire said the fire was moving at a rapid rate of spread and is on steep, brush-covered slopes.

Conditions in the area are reported to be hot and dry, with wind out of the northeast at around 20 miles per hour.

Numerous firefighting air tankers from throughout the state have been flying fire suppression missions on the Sand Fire as conditions allow, Cal Fire said.

Cal Fire said the assigned resources include 38 engines, five water tenders, four helicopters – one of them Copter 104 from Boggs Mountain in Lake County – along with four hand crews, five dozers and a total of 500 firefighting personnel.

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.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Friday, community members and city officials gathered to celebrate the city of Lakeport’s latest accomplishment – the acquisition of a new community center.

On March 29, the city officially acquired the former Bank of America building, located at 500 N. Main St., as a donation from the company, as Lake County News has reported.

During the Friday celebration, local, state and federal leaders hailed Bank of America’s donation of the building to the city as the result of a unique partnership, and an important development that will have big benefits for the community.

“This is a very exciting day for the city of Lakeport,” said City Manager Margaret Silveira.

Lakeport Mayor Tim Barnes said the building – reported to be 6,400 square feet – is now the largest meeting space in the city.

He thanked other city leaders and offered special recognition to Silveira, who when she saw the building go vacant, wondered about the possibilities of a new community center, made numerous calls, filled out paperwork and made contact with company officials including Jason Foster, who was on hand for Friday’s celebration.

“Not only did you ask the right question, but we came up with the right answer,” Foster said.

He said they’re aware of the challenges Lakeport has faced, and he’s glad about how the donation will improve the community. Foster said he’s looking forward to seeing what the city does with the building.

“This is an incredible opportunity for this community,” State Sen. Mike McGuire said.

He added, “This is an innovative partnership between the bank and the city of Lakeport,” and one that transitions the building into the long-awaited community center.

Laura Beltran of Assemblywoman Cecilia Aguiar-Curry’s office also lauded the donation as evidence of a unique partnership, and in a video shown at the ceremony, Congressman Mike Thompson congratulated the city on an “exciting milestone” that’s part of its revitalization.

Bank of America closed the branch – its last in Lake County – in November 2017.

The bank had a branch in Lakeport since 1930. The city reported that A.P. Giannini’s Bank of Italy opened in Lakeport at the southwest corner of N. Main Street and Second Street in February 1927, becoming Bank of America three years later.

The branch later moved to the N. Main Street location in 1969, the year it was built.

When the new branch opened, the key of the old Bank of Italy building was presented to branch Manager Bill Bergem in October 1969.

Bill Bergem died in July 2011 at age 89. His son, Rick Bergem, chief of the Lakeport Fire Protection District, found that gold key in his father’s belongings.

On Friday, Rick Bergem brought the key, framed, to present to a delighted Mayor Barnes.

Rick Bergem said his father worked for Bank of America for 42 years, and had passed up promotions that would have required he move his family to the Bay Area because he wanted to raise his children in Lakeport.

Bill Bergem served as manager of the local Bank of America branch for 22 years. Rick Bergem pointed to a back corner of the building where his father’s desk sat.

As part of the ceremony, the city unveiled a bronze plaque to mark the building’s donation, which recognizes Bank of American and includes the formal date of acquisition and the names of elected city, county, state and congressional representatives.

Silveira said the city has been busy taking out the bank’s counters and doing some cleaning. However, there is more work to be done and she said it will be awhile before it’s ready to be open to the public for events.

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.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – On Friday evening Pacific Gas and Electric said it will begin proactively turning off power for safety as part of a public safety power shutoff, or PSPS, in portions of several North Bay communities – not including Lake County – early Saturday morning and the power will be out through at least Saturday afternoon.

The company plans to turn off power to approximately 1,600 customers total in these areas of extreme fire risk:

– Napa County: Portions of unincorporated Napa County and Lake Berryessa;
– Solano County: Portions of Suisun City, and unincorporated areas near Vacaville and Winters;
– Yolo County: Unincorporated areas near Davis and Winters.

In a video released on his Facebook page on Friday afternoon, Sheriff Brian Martin said that he so far had not received any notifications of a potential shutoff for Lake County. The sheriff ensured county residents they would hear from him if conditions changed.

Through its Wildfire Safety Operations Center, PG&E is continuing to monitor weather conditions in parts of the Sierra foothills.

Peak fire risk in these areas is forecasted to begin at around 9 p.m. Saturday and last through roughly noon on Sunday.

A potential PSPS in the Sierra foothills may affect approximately 30,000 customers total in the following areas:

– Butte County: Portions of Paradise, Oroville, Bangor, Forest Ranch, Chico, Berry Creek, Palermo;
– Yuba County: Portions of Browns Valley, Oregon House, Marysville, Wheatland, Rackerby;
– Nevada County: Portions of Auburn, Grass Valley, Smartville, Rough and Ready, Penn Valley;
– El Dorado County: Portions of Pilot Hill, Greenwood, Georgetown, Cool.
– Placer County: Portions of Lincoln.

PG&E said it is working directly with Cal Fire, the California Office of Emergency Services, and other state and local agencies to prepare for these safety events.

On Friday morning, the National Weather Service issued Red Flag Warnings for the Central Valley and the North Bay hills, starting Friday evening or Saturday morning and lasting until Sunday afternoon.

In addition, weather forecasts from PG&E's Wildfire Safety Operations Center showed strong and intensifying winds in the Sacramento Valley and North Bay beginning Friday night into Saturday, with sustained winds between 15 and 30 miles per hour, and local gusts of at least 40 miles per hour. At the same time, northeasterly winds will develop over the Sierra.

After a forecasted Saturday lull, winds are expected to pick back up again beginning Saturday night through Sunday morning along the slopes and foothills of the northern and central Sierra.

After the extreme weather has passed and it is safe to do so, PG&E crews will work to visually inspect each mile of the impacted power lines to ensure they are free from damage and safe to energize.

Inspections will take place during daylight hours and, in most cases, PG&E expects to be able to restore power within 24 to 48 hours after extreme weather has passed.

However, depending on weather conditions or if any repairs are needed, outages – weather event plus restoration time – could last longer than 48 hours. For planning purposes, PG&E suggests customers prepare for multiple-day outages.

Like a winter storm outage, during a public safety power shutoff, outage information, including maps showing which areas may by impacted, will be available on www.pge.com .

To stage their invasion of Nazi-held France, Allied forces created floating harbors in the English Channel where ships could safely dock to send soldiers and supplies ashore. Royal Air Force

When Allied troops stormed the beaches at Normandy, France on June 6, 1944 – a bold invasion of Nazi-held territory that helped tip the balance of World War II – they were using a remarkable and entirely untested technology: artificial ports.

To stage what was then the largest seaborne assault in history, the American, British and Canadian armies needed to get at least 150,000 soldiers, military personnel and all their equipment ashore on day one of the invasion.

Reclaiming France’s coastline was just the first challenge. After that, Allied troops planned to fight their way across the fields of France to liberate Paris and, finally, onto Berlin, where they would converge with the Soviet army to defeat Hitler.

When Gen. Dwight Eisenhower and his advisers pressed for this ambitious invasion of Nazi-occupied France, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was dubious.

Could it be done?

Such an operation would require more than a million soldiers – all equipped with weapons, ammunition, food and clothing – plus hundreds of thousands of vehicles, tents and medical personnel.

Getting so many people and materials from ship to shore while battling waves, tides and currents presented an enormous logistical challenge.

Churchill, recalling the failed marine campaign to capture Gallipoli during World War I, feared that Allied troops would get trapped on the beaches and be sitting ducks for the German soldiers awaiting atop Normandy’s cliffs.

So Churchill demanded that a team of engineers, scientists and military officers design a marine staging area that could actually support a successful operation.

The team’s solution was ingenious: two easy-to-assemble artificial ports where Allied ships could safely anchor to stage the massive operation.

As I write in my 2016 book on what became known as the “Mulberry Harbours,” each of these artificial ports consisted of artificial breakwaters – barriers against waves made up of sunken ships and huge concrete chambers.

Behind the circular breakwaters was a sophisticated system of floating piers anchored to the seabed.

All of these parts were towed 30 miles across the English Channel on D-Day from southern England, then sunk into place, about a mile off France’s northwest shore, the same day.

German planes doing air reconnaissance did spot the concrete chambers, which had been filled with air to make them float before they were sunk. But, according to my archival research, they had no idea what they were seeing or how these giant containers would be used.

A floating solution

Once complete, each Mulberry Harbour – a code name that has no deeper meaning – gave Allied troops about 1 square mile of quiet, wave-free ocean from which to stage the invasion.

Nearly 200 military ships and landing crafts anchored at Mulberry Harbours in their first week, sending 12 military divisions, or about 180,000 men, straight into enemy territory.

Ten thousand of them were killed or injured on the first day, blown up by landmines and picked off by camouflaged German machine gun nests and blasted by artillery in concrete bunkers.

On June 19, 1944, a storm permanently disabled the Mulberry Harbour used by the American armed forces.

But Britain’s Mulberry Harbour continued to serve Allied forces for another 10 months as they freed all French ports from German control.

War games in the bath

Churchill became convinced of the merit of the Mulberry Harbours design while in a bath tub on the Queen Mary, as he traveled to Washington to discuss war strategy with President Franklin Roosevelt in 1943.

Churchill’s scientific adviser, Professor John Bernal, floated paper boats in the prime minister’s bathtub, agitating the water to simulate waves, then used a loofah, or sponge, to demonstrate the pacifying effect of breakwaters.

Churchill, who often worked while bathing, saw in that Queen Mary bathtub the answer to the challenge he had issued in the 1942 memo commissioning portable harbors for D-Day.

“They must float up and down with the tide. The anchor problem must be mastered. Let me have the best solution worked out,” Churchill wrote. “Don’t argue the matter. The difficulties will argue for themselves.”

After D-Day, some Mulberry Harbours engineers were sent to the South Pacific with the idea that similar portable ports would be needed for the invasion of Japan. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki made that unnecessary.

No similar wartime engineering feat has been tried since.

Colin Flint, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Utah State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Reports of wayward black bears are keeping the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's biologists, wildlife officers and other public safety personnel busy across the state this month.

Numerous bears have recently been spotted in urban areas, occasionally requiring human intervention to return them back to wild habitat.

In Lakeport over Memorial Day weekend, police officers worked with wardens to track and tranquilize a bear that later was moved to South Cow Mountain, as Lake County News has reported.

Since then, a bear was safely removed from the University of California, Davis, campus and from a tree in downtown Napa, with a bear also reported in Rohnert Park.

Below are some of the most common questions CDFW has received from the public and members of the media regarding these incidents.

Has there been an increase in the number of bears entering residential areas?

There is a definite uptick in bear activity, which occurs every year around this time, all across the state. In most instances, we're witnessing the dispersal of young male black bears. Young bears typically spend about two years with their mother, after which the mother chases off her young male offspring in the spring to fend for themselves. The behavior itself is not unusual for the time of year.

Nature provides these youngsters with the best chance of survival as they are turned out on their own at a time of year when food and water resources on the landscape are the most available and plentiful.

Black bears typically prefer remote, mountainous areas far away from people. Still, these young, dispersing male bears are learning to survive on their own for the first time and are out seeking new territory to call their own. They sometimes take a wrong turn or end up somewhere they are not supposed to be - in a residential neighborhood or in the middle of town, for instance - at which point CDFW and emergency responders will help return these animals to wild habitat if they can't make it out on their own.

The bear removed from a tree in downtown Napa last week was an adult weighing more than 200 pounds. What was that bear doing?

California's black bears of all ages are waking up hungry from their winter downtime and are out actively searching for food. Adult bears may also be out searching for mates. There is more bear activity across the state this time of year and sometimes the adults end up in the wrong place, too.

The Napa bear stuck up a tree in the middle of the city was there because it was where it felt safest after being scared by his surroundings. The bear might have waited out the day and left undetected at night on his own except that it had been spotted and a large crowd had gathered under the tree. Fortunately, CDFW with help from the local fire department was able to tranquilize the bear, safely remove it from the tree, provide a quick health check, and release it to wild habitat once the tranquilizer drugs had worn off.

Even when bears are spotted in populated and residential communities, the bears will typically and happily find their way back to wild habitat on their own without any kind of assistance. Only when a bear becomes stuck in a situation where it can't escape or is in danger of harming itself or others will CDFW typically intervene to remove the bear and safely return it to wild habitat.

I saw on the news reports about bears in Vacaville and Rohnert Park. Are there really bears in the San Francisco Bay Area?

There are hundreds of thousands of acres of wild habitat in nearby Lake, Solano, Colusa, Sonoma and Napa counties where bears are present. The Knoxville Wildlife Area in Napa County, the lands around Lake Berryessa and the Cache Creek area provide wild habitat for bears and other wildlife. These rugged areas, however, are not that far form population centers in the greater Bay Area where dispersing and foraging bears could accidentally end up.

In some unfortunate cases throughout the state, black bears are being struck and hit by vehicles on the roadways. Drivers need to be particularly alert this time of year as wildlife of all kinds - bears, bobcats, deer, coyotes, foxes, among them - are on the move, out and about, and more active and visible than usual.

Are these bears a public safety threat or a threat to my pets?

Black bears very rarely pose any kind of public safety threat and are not often a threat to domestic dogs and cats. For the most part, they do their very best to stay as far away from people as possible.

What kind of bears are these?

California is home only to one species of bear – the black bear. Black bears, however, come in a variety of colors, including black, brown, blond and cinnamon.

How can I help the bears?

Bears have a highly specialized sense of smell. The public can help bears stay out of human settlements and stick to their natural diet by properly disposing of leftover food and garbage and securing other attractants such as pet food so these dispersing bears don't become acclimated to urban environments. CDFW's Keep Me Wild: Black Bear webpage offers a number of other useful tips to keep the bears wild and safe.

Who should I call to report a bear?

A black bear spotted while out hiking, camping or recreating in wild habitat is not necessarily a cause for alarm. Bears spotted in residential, suburban or urban areas should be reported to the nearest CDFW regional office during normal business hours. After-hours or weekend sightings should be reported first to local police or sheriff officers, who often can respond and secure a scene quickly and then contact CDFW as needed. In any kind of emergency situation, please call 911.

More than a trillion new measurements of Earth’s height – blanketing everything from glaciers in Greenland, to mangrove forests in Florida, to sea ice surrounding Antarctica – are now available to the public.

With millions more observations added each day, data from NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 is providing a precise global portrait of elevation and will allow scientists to track even the slightest changes in the planet’s polar regions.

“The data from ICESat-2 are really blowing our minds, and I’m really excited to see what people with different perspectives will do with it,” said Lori Magruder, a senior research scientist at the University of Texas, Austin, and the ICESat-2 science team lead.

The long-awaited ICESat-2 mission, launched in September 2018, continues the record of polar height data begun with the first ICESat satellite, which operated from 2003 to 2009. NASA’s airborne Operation IceBridge project bridged the data gap between the two satellites.

The new satellite provides far more measurements than its predecessor. ICESat took approximately 2 billion measurements in its lifetime, a figure ICESat-2 surpassed within its first week.

When ICESat orbited over a rift in Antarctica’s Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in October 2008, for example, it recorded a handful of data points indicating a crevasse in the ice. When ICESat-2 passed over 10 years later, it collected hundreds of measurements tracing the sheer walls and jagged floor of the growing rift.

ICESat-2 is taking these measurements in a dense grid across the Arctic as well as Antarctica, recording each spot every season to track both seasonal and annual changes in ice.

ICESat-2’s ability to measure heights beyond the poles is also impressing scientists – Magruder pointed to coastal areas, where in clear waters the satellite can detect the seafloor up to 100 feet (30 m) below the surface. Over forests, the satellite not only detects the top of the canopy, but the forest floor below – which will allow researchers to calculate the mass of vegetation in a given area.

All this is being done with six laser beams from a satellite 310 miles (500 kilometers) in space, noted Tom Neumann, ICESat-2 project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

“Getting the exact latitude, longitude, and elevation of where a photon bounced off Earth is hard – lots of things have to happen and go really, really well,” he said. To make sure everything is working, the science team conducts a series of checks using data from airborne surveys, ground-based campaigns, even the satellite itself.

That includes scientists travelling to Antarctica, where they drove modified snow-groomers along an arc of the 88-degree-south latitude line, taking highly accurate elevation measurements to compare with the data collected by ICESat-2 in space. Magruder compared measurements taken in White Sands, New Mexico, with what the satellite was tracking.

In its most recent Antarctic and Arctic campaigns, NASA’s airborne Operation IceBridge flew specific routes designed to take measurements over the same ice, at close to or exactly the same time the satellite flew overhead.

ICESat-2 is designed to precisely measure the height of ice and track how it changes over time. Earth’s melting glaciers cause sea levels to rise globally, and shrinking sea ice can change weather and climate patterns far from the planet’s poles.

Small changes across vast areas like the Greenland ice sheet can have large consequences. ICESat-2 will be able to measure the shift in annual elevation across the ice sheet to within a fraction of an inch. To do this, the satellite uses a laser altimeter – an instrument that times how long it takes light to travel to Earth’s surface and back.

With that time – along with the knowledge of where in space ICESat-2 is, and where on Earth the laser is pointing – computer programs create a height data point. The data is originally processed at NASA Goddard, then turned into advanced data products that researchers will be able to use to study elevations across the globe.

ICESat-2 data products are now available for free from the National Snow and Ice Data Center at https://nsidc.org/data/icesat-2 .

For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/icesat-2 or https://icesat-2.gsfc.nasa.gov/ . For more information on the data products, visit https://earthdata.nasa.gov/icesat-2-data .

Kate Ramsayer works for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland.