LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Warmer weather leads to more motorcycles on California roadways and emphasizes the need for all motorists to share the road.
During May, recognized as Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, the California Highway Patrol and the California Office of Traffic Safety, or OTS, will work together to promote roadway safety for motorcycles through education and awareness projects.
Motorcyclist deaths occurred 28 times more frequently than fatalities in other vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, reported in a study of 2016 crash data.
“Safe riding practices and cooperation by all users will help reduce the number of fatalities and injuries on our roadways,” CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley said. “It is especially important for motorists to understand the safety challenges that motorcyclists face because they are often difficult to see.”
“We can all do our part to share the road and look out for one another,” OTS Director Rhonda Craft said. “We are all going places. By keeping our distance, watching our speed and checking blind spots before changing lanes, motorcycles and cars are able to arrive to their destinations safely.”
In 2018, California saw almost 17,000 collisions involving motorcycles, preliminary data from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System, or SWITRS, shows, with 460 victims killed.
Preliminary 2017 SWITRS data shows more than 17,000 collisions involving motorcycles, with 577 victims killed in California. The California Department of Motor Vehicles reports more than 900,000 registered motorcycles in the state and more than 1.4 million licensed riders.
One way the CHP and OTS address the safety challenge is with the Get Educated and Ride Safe, or GEARS, program, funded by a $625,000 grant from OTS through NHTSA. All eight CHP Divisions will hold outreach events to promote motorcycle safety during May under the GEARS grant.
As part of its continual motorcycle safety program, the CHP strongly encourages all riders, new and experienced, to enroll in the California Motorcyclist Safety Program, or CMSP.
The CMSP has 107 training sites throughout the state and trains approximately 55,000 motorcyclists per year. For more information or to find a training site near you, visit www.californiamotorcyclist.com.
“Driving a car and riding a motorcycle require different skills and knowledge. The training provided through CMSP makes the journey safer,” said Commissioner Stanley.
Riders can help protect themselves by always using turn signals, avoiding riding in a vehicle’s blind spot, following the rules of the road, and always riding sober.
Wearing an approved U.S. Department of Transportation compliant motorcycle safety helmet and proper protective gear can mean the difference between life and death.
Motorists can also do their part by sharing the road. The majority of multi-vehicle motorcycle collisions are caused when other drivers simply did not see the motorcyclist.
Look twice for motorcyclists and leave plenty of space between your vehicle and the rider.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Beginning on Wednesday, May 1, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, will make residential burn permits available online for residents living within the state responsibility area of Sonoma, Lake, Napa, Solano, Yolo and Colusa counties.
Cal Fire burn permits are required every year after May 1 to conduct open burning in the State Responsibility Area.
A declared Cal Fire burn suspension voids the permit until conditions are such that the burn suspension can be lifted.
The Cal Fire permit is required in addition to an air quality permit and any local fire agency permit. For more information contact your local Cal Fire station or your local fire department.
The online application provides a convenient alternative to obtaining a Cal Fire permit for residents within these counties.
Applicants will access the Web site at https://burnpermit.fire.ca.gov/ and watch the mandatory video which reviews burning requirements and safety tips, fill in the required fields, submit the form and a dooryard burn permit will be created. The applicant must then print the permit.
Permits are valid for the calendar year in which they are issued and must be reissued annually on or after January 1st of each year. Contact your local fire department or Cal Fire to determine what permit requirements or burning restrictions apply in your area and always call or check the link listed on your air quality management district permit to ensure burn day status prior to igniting a fire.
Residents must obtain all required permits from their local air quality management district. In Lake County, contact the Lake County Air Quality Management District at 707-263-3121.
For larger burn projects, a different Cal Fire burn permit is required and shall be obtained from Cal Fire. This type of burn permit is not available online and will require a Cal Fire inspection before a permit will be issued.
Residents are urged to take precautions while burning outdoors to prevent sparking a wildfire. A leading cause of wildfires this time of year is from escaped landscape debris burning.
Anyone who has an escaped debris burn and was not burning under the proper conditions can be criminally or civilly held responsible.
Ensure that piles from landscape debris are no larger than 4 feet in diameter, have a 10-foot clearance down to bare mineral soil around the burn pile and that a responsible adult is in attendance at all times with a water source and a shovel.
The California Department of Water Resources has announced draft basin prioritization for 57 groundwater basins recently affected by basin boundary changes under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA.
For more than 75 percent of these basins, the results are a confirmation of prioritizations established in 2015.
“SGMA is a pillar of the department’s integrated, holistic approach to water management and supply,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “These results allow local water agencies to determine their path forward to meet the law's sustainability goals and secure the long-term resiliency of our state's groundwater resources."
Basin prioritization is based on factors including population, irrigated acreage, and the number of wells in the basin.
Changes in prioritization generally reflect changed conditions, new information about existing conditions, changes to basin boundaries, and considerations required under SGMA.
Considerations include adverse impacts to habitat and streamflow, adjudicated areas, critically overdrafted basins and groundwater-related transfers.
SGMA requires local agencies throughout the state to sustainably manage groundwater basins. Basins prioritized as high or medium are required to develop groundwater sustainability plans, or GSPs, while basins prioritized as low or very low are not required to create plans but are encouraged to do so.
The current round of basin prioritization was released in two phases. Phase 1, released in January 2019, finalized priorities for 458 basins and identified 56 basins that are required to develop GSPs.
In that first phase, the Big Valley basin in Lake County was listed in the medium-priority category, the highest of any county water basin. Others were listed as low priority.
The draft Phase 2 decisions released Tuesday prioritized the remaining 57 basins using the new basin boundaries defined by the 2018 Basin Boundary Modifications. Phase 2 identified 38 basins that are required to develop GSPs.
In the Phase 2 draft release, two basins have been elevated in priority from the initial 2015 prioritization and will be required to create GSPs. Twelve basins have been lowered in priority and will not be required to develop GSPs.
Of those 12, eight are affected by adjudicated areas, which are not required to develop GSPs and are instead required to submit annual reports to DWR on their groundwater management and monitoring.
The results for Phase 1 and draft Phase 2 require local agencies for 94 basins to develop GSPs.
A 30-day comment period will now be held to invite further input from the public and local agencies.
DWR will accept comments on the draft basin prioritization at a public meeting at 1 p.m., Monday, May 13, at Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, 11020 Sun Center Drive, Suite 200, in Rancho Cordova. The meeting will also be webcast live.
Comments can be submitted online at any time during the public comment period, which ends May 30.
All public comments received throughout the process will be reviewed and evaluated before final basin prioritization results are announced.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – “Shakespeare on the Lake” will return to Lakeport’s Library Park in July and August, and auditions and rehearsals are set to begin in May.
The fourth annual production will present “The Taming of the Shrew.”
The play is a story about a power struggle, a battle of the sexes in which an ambitious man tames his female bride to be. But, what if it were told the other way around? What if women wield the power and the men are expected to conform?
This production of “The Taming of the Shrew” will feature what producers are calling “gender switched casting.” Female actors will be auditioning for roles traditionally cast as male. Male actors will be auditioning for roles traditionally cast as female.
Auditions will be held at the Mendocino College Lake Center, 2565 Parallel Drive in Lakeport, on Thursday, May 16, at 6 p.m. and Saturday, May 18, at 2 p.m.
Audition materials can be found at www.LCTC.us under the “Shows and Events” tab.
Exact rehearsal times are role dependent. Rehearsals begin Tuesday, May 28, and will occur at the Lake Center, the Work Right Building at Lampson Field or at Library Park, all in Lakeport, Monday through Thursday from 6 to 9:30 p.m. and four Saturdays, to be announced.
Performances are Saturday, July 27, and Sunday, July 28, at 6:30 p.m. in Lakeport and Friday, Aug. 2, Saturday, Aug. 3, and Sunday, Aug. 4, at 6:30 p.m. in Clearlake.
Please come prepared to read and with a list of any conflicts you may have.
This is a joint production between Mendocino College Lake Center and Lake County Theatre Co., in cooperation with the city of Lakeport, the city of Clearlake, the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce and the Lake County Friends of Mendocino College.
For more information, please contact Charise Reynolds at 707-278-9628.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The annual burn ban in Lake County starts on Wednesday, May 1.
The Lake County Air Quality Management District said the burn ban is meant to address concerns over both fire hazard and air quality.
The burn restriction applies to all areas in Lake County. All burn permits expire on April 30.
The burn ban includes all open waste burning, though exemptions are possible for agricultural operations, essential control burns for fire hazard reduction projects, public safety burns and others.
The annual burn ban was first implemented in 1986 in response to weather conditions that often create extreme fire danger and poor air quality.
The district said a managed approach incorporating fire and air agency concerns has been implemented and improved upon for many years.
The ban allows a quick fire agency response to all fires observed from May 1 on, as they are all assumed to be uncontrolled fires unless specifically authorized by an exemption permit.
This successful program is one of the primary reasons Lake County has superior and healthful air quality, the district said.
To obtain an exemption permit to burn after May 1, first contact Air Quality at 707-263-7000 to determine need, then contact your local fire agency so that your burn site can be inspected for fire safety.
After the fire agency notifies the air district that the proposed burn site is fire safe then an exemption permit may be obtained from the air district.
Anyone responsible for open burning during the ban without an exemption permit may be subject to citation, fines, and fire agency response costs to extinguish the fire. Burn restrictions will remain in effect until Cal Fire declares an end to fire season.
The district asks that community members help reduce the danger and losses caused by uncontrolled fires, and protect the county’s clean air.
“Public cooperation is greatly appreciated and results in a safer and more healthful environment for us all,” Air Pollution Control Officer Doug Gearhart said.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The city of Clearlake said it will begin this week enforcing city rules on overgrown vegetation and other fire hazards on properties this week.
Over the past several years, wildfires have impacted the city as well as neighboring towns and communities.
The 2019 fire season has arrived and with it comes the responsibility of each property owner within our city to ensure their property is free of all overgrown vegetation and fire hazards, city officials reported.
Beginning May 1, the Clearlake Police Department Code Enforcement Bureau will begin strict enforcement of overgrown vegetation and fire hazards.
Property owners whom have failed to have their property cleared of these violations will be issued an Administrative Citation resulting in a monetary fine, as well as still being required to abate the violations.
Each and every day the violation remains to exist can result in additional fines and penalties.
All overgrown vegetation shall be cut to 4 inches height or less. Overhanging tree canopies shall have a minimum clearance of 4 feet or greater from the ground.
Cut brush, tree trimmings etc. must be removed from the property.
Firewood and all other ignition sources and combustible materials must be stored properly, 5 feet from each property line and dwelling structures. Fuels and fuel cans shall be stored out of the sun.
The Clearlake Police Department Code Enforcement Bureau asks for the cooperation of all property owners in taking the time to ensure their property is not a contributing factor to the ever increasing risk of fires in our community.
For additional information or to file a request for investigation, please contact Code Enforcement Technician Jan Brejska at 707-995-8251, Extension 309, or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Brian Richard Gard, 33, of Lakeport, Calif. Mendocino County Jail photo. NORTH COAST, Calif. – Mendocino County authorities over the weekend arrested a Lakeport man after he threatened to kill his girlfriend.
Brian Richard Gard, 33, was arrested following an incident that occurred early Sunday, according to a report from Sgt. Mike Dygert of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.
Shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday, a Mendocino County Sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to a possible domestic violence incident in the 100 block of West Lake Mendocino Drive in Ukiah, Dygert said.
Upon arriving at the scene, the deputy learned that Gard and a 42-year-old Lakeport woman were traveling in a vehicle northbound on Highway 101 near Ukiah when they became involved in an argument, Dygert said.
Dygert said the woman asked that Gard stop the vehicle and let her exit so she could have a relative pick her up.
Gard drove the vehicle to a gas station at the 100 block of West Lake Mendocino Drive and parked the car, according to Dygert.
Dygert said Gard then threatened to kill the woman if she exited the vehicle, causing her to called 911 to report the incident.
Deputies learned Gard and the adult female were in a cohabitant dating relationship and subsequently arrested Gard for criminal threats, Dygert said.
Gard was booked into the Mendocino County Jail where he was to be held in lieu of $20,000 bail, according to Dygert’s report.
As climate change continues to threaten California’s water infrastructure and reliability, Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed an executive order directing his administration to think differently and act boldly by developing a comprehensive strategy to build a climate-resilient water system.
The order seeks to broaden California’s approach on water as the state faces a range of existing challenges, including unsafe drinking water, major flood risks that threaten public safety, severely depleted groundwater aquifers, agricultural communities coping with uncertain water supplies and native fish populations threatened with extinction.
“California’s water challenges are daunting, from severely depleted groundwater basins to vulnerable infrastructure to unsafe drinking water in far too many communities. Climate change magnifies the risks,” said Gov. Newsom. “To meet these challenges, we need to harness the best in science, engineering and innovation to prepare for what’s ahead and ensure long-term water resilience and ecosystem health. We’ll need an all-of-above approach to get there.”
The order directs the secretaries of the California Natural Resources Agency, California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Department of Food and Agriculture to identify and assess a suite of complementary actions to ensure safe and resilient water supplies, flood protection and healthy waterways for the state’s communities, economy and environment.
The order directs the state to think bigger and more strategically on water by directing the agencies to inventory and assess current water supplies and the health of waterways, future demands and challenges.
The agencies will seek input over the coming weeks and months through listening sessions, information workshops and other public meetings to help inform the water resilience portfolio that will be recommended to the governor.
A copy of the order issued by Governor Newsom on Monday can be seen below.
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – An early Monday morning crash that authorities said was the result of drunk driving left two drivers with injuries and resulted in the arrest of one of them.
The California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area office said the crash occurred at 12:40 a.m. Monday on Highway 20 near Upper Lake.
Gabriela Garcia, 28, of Ukiah was driving her black 2011 Nissan Altima westbound on Highway 20, east of Scotts Valley Road, as Pedro Mendoza, 30, of Lakeport was driving his white 2006 Dodge Dakota eastbound in the same area, the CHP said.
The CHP report said that due to Garcia’s level of intoxication, she allowed her Nissan to cross over the solid double yellow lines, directly into Mendoza’s path of travel, and the two vehicles collided head-on.
As a result of the collision, Garcia was rendered unresponsive, with major injuries. She was extricated by emergency personnel from her vehicle, while Mendoza exited his vehicle on his own and related his entire body was in pain, the CHP said.
The CHP said firefighters transported both Garcia and Mendoza by ambulance to Sutter Lakeside Hospital in Lakeport. Mendoza was reported to have moderate injuries.
Garcia was transported from Sutter Lakeside to Kaiser Vacaville by air ambulance, according to the CHP.
At the hospital, Garcia was contacted by CHP from the Solano Area office at 4:45 a.m. and determined to be under the influence of alcohol. The CHP said she was then notified she was under arrest for felony DUI.
Both drivers were wearing their seat belts, the CHP said.
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 Police Department Evidence Technician Tammy Prather and Det. Dale Stoebe at the department’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day event on Saturday, April 27, 2019. Photo courtesy of the Lakeport Police Department.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport Police Department on Saturday took part in the National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, part of an ongoing effort to remove harmful drugs from the community.
The agency reported that the event was very successful.
“We had a steady stream of community members coming throughout the event and we collected over 97 pounds of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Many of these drugs were dangerous controlled substances including opioids,” reported Chief Brad Rasmussen.
When not properly disposed of, unused and expired prescription drugs have a high potential to be diverted for abuse, are dangerous to children and harmful to the environment.
Rasmussen said Saturday’s event wrapped up four months of collection by the department of more than 248 pounds of prescription drugs from the community.
At the start of January, the department began offering a safe medication disposal collection site that was donated by the Rite Aid Foundation KidCents Project, as Lake County News has reported.
Lakeport Police Staff will transport the drugs it has collected out of county to the Drug Enforcement Administration, which will properly destroy them along with those collected by other police agencies across the United States, Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen thanked Evidence Technician Tammy Prather and Det. Dale Stoebe for running the event and managing the department’s Take Back program.
He also thanked the many local organizations including news, radio and community groups that advertised Saturday’s event over the past several weeks.
“Lastly, we thank the community members who took advantage of the event. Everyone working together leads to a safer community,” Rasmussen said.
Prescription drugs collected by the Lakeport Police Department during National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, April 27, 2019. Photo courtesy of the Lakeport Police Department.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Weed Management Area is hosting its 16th annual “Invasive Weeds Tour” on Thursday, May 9.
The event is being held in May this year in hopes of avoiding the July heat and viewing the weeds while they are still green and in flower.
As always, it is free and the public is welcome and encouraged to attend.
Participants will gather in front of the Ranch House at Anderson Marsh State Historic Park, 8400 State Highway 53 between Clearlake and Lower Lake, at 9 a.m.
They will take a leisurely guided walk of about a mile to see the amazingly diverse array of invasive plants that flourish in the park and the effects of control mechanisms such as control burns, and return to the house for lunch and discussion of aquatic invasive weeds under the trees.
Although the event is completely free and all members of the public are invited, reservations are required. Please RSVP with the Lake County Agriculture Department at 707-263-0217 by May 6.
The tour is sponsored by the Lake County Department of Agriculture and the Lake County Resource Conservation District.
The end-of-tour lunch is free but donations to help offset the cost of refreshments will be greatly appreciated and cheerfully accepted.
Courtney Schultz, Colorado State University; Cassandra Moseley, University of Oregon, and Heidi Huber-Stearns, University of Oregon
As spring settles in across the United States, western states are already preparing for summer and wildfire season. And although it may seem counter-intuitive, some of the most urgent conversations are about getting more fire onto the landscape.
Winter and spring, before conditions become too hot and dry, are common times for conducting planned and controlled burns designed to reduce wildfire hazard. Fire managers intentionally ignite fires within a predetermined area to burn brush, smaller trees and other plant matter.
Fire managers conduct prescribed burns to improve forest conditions and reduce the threat of future wildfires.
Forests need ‘good fire’
Forests across much of North America need fire to maintain healthy structures and watershed conditions and support biodiversity. For centuries, Native Americans deliberately set fires to facilitate hunting, protect communities and foster plants needed for food and fiber.
But starting around the turn of the 20th century, European Americans began trying to suppress most fires and stopped prescribed burning. The exception was the Southeast, where forest managers and private landowners have consistently used prescribed burns to clear underbrush and improve wildlife habitat.
Suppressing wildfires allows dead and living plant matter to accumulate. This harms forests by reducing nutrient recycling and overall plant diversity. It also creates more uniform landscapes with higher fuel loads, making forests prone to larger and more severe fires.
Today many forested landscapes in western states have a “fire debt.” Humans have prevented normal levels of fire from occurring, and the bill has come due. Increasingly severe weather conditions and longer fire seasons due to climate change are making fire management problems more pressing today than they were just a few decades ago. And the problem will only get worse.
Fire science researchers have made a clear case for more burning, particularly in lower elevations and drier forests where fuels have built up. Studies show that reintroducing fire to the landscape, sometimes after thinning (removing some trees), often reduces fire risks more effectively than thinning alone. It also can be the most cost-effective way to maintain desired conditions over time.
This winter in Colorado, for example, the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest conducted a prescribed burn while snow still covered much of the ground. This was part of a broader strategy to increase prescribed fire use and create areas of burned ground that will make future wildland fires less extreme and more feasible to manage.
A prescribed burn in the Arapahoe and Roosevelt National Forests, February 2019.USFS
State and local action heats up
From Oregon’s municipal watersheds to the Ponderosa pine forests of the Southwest, community-based partners and state and local agencies have been working with the federal government to remove accumulated fuel and reintroduce fire on interconnected public and private forest lands.
Oregon is in its first spring burning season with a newly revised smoke management plan designed to provide more flexibility for prescribed burning. In Washington, the legislature passed a bill in 2016 creating a Forest Resiliency Burning Pilot Project, which just published a report identifying ways to expand or continue use of prescribed fire.
Briefing before a prescribed fire training exercise for women in northern California.USFS/Sarah McCaffrey
Barriers to conducting prescribed fire
In our research on forest restoration efforts, we have found that some national policies are supporting larger-scale restoration planning and project work, such as tree thinning. But even where federal land managers and community partners are getting thinning accomplished and agree that burning is a priority, it has been hard to get more “good fire” on the ground.
The conventional wisdom is that air quality regulations, other environmental policies and public resistance are the main barriers to prescribed fire. But when we interviewed some 60 experts, including land managers, air regulators, state agency partners and representatives from non-government organizations, we found that other factors were more significant obstacles.
As one land manager told us, “The law doesn’t necessarily impede prescribed burning so much as some of the more practical realities on the ground. You don’t have enough money, you don’t have enough people, or there’s too much fire danger” to pull off the burning.
In particular, fire managers said they needed adequate funding, strong government leadership and more people with expertise to conduct these operations. A major challenge is that qualified personnel are increasingly in demand for longer and more severe fire seasons, making them unavailable to help with planned burns when opportunities arise. Going forward, it will be particularly important to provide support for locations where partners and land managers have built agreement about the need for prescribed fire.
Humans have inextricably altered U.S. forests over the last century through fire exclusion, land use change, and now climate change. We cannot undo what has been done or suppress all fires - they are part of the landscape. The question now is where to invest in restoring forest conditions and promoting more resilient landscapes, while reducing risks to communities, ecosystems, wildlife, water and other precious resources. As part of a broader community of scientists and practitioners working on forest and fire management, we see prescribed fire as a valuable tool in that effort.
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