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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
CLEARLAKE – State and local officials met on Monday to begin brainstorming about ways to address the returning problem of algae mats on Clear Lake.
Over the last three weeks area residents have reported that thick algae mats similar to those that plagued the lake and the community last summer are showing up again.
That resulted in a visit from Assemblyman Wes Chesbro – who had reportedly received numerous calls from unhappy county residents. He met with county and city leaders and then took a tour of the lake Monday morning.
While the algae situation is not yet to the extent it was this time last year – county Water Resources officials said earlier this month that the numbers of troublesome blue-green algae cells per liter are far less now than they were at this point in 2009 – the problem is leading to mounting public concern.
The city of Clearlake appears to be getting hit hard due to a mere fact of nature – Water Resources reported that the county's winds blow the algae down into the southern reaches of the lake, where it tends to collect against seawalls and beaches.
That phenomenon was in evidence on Monday at the city's swim beach at Austin Park, which was socked in by several yards of thick, unpleasant-smelling green algae mats. There, Chesbro and the local officials talked with local residents and heard their complaints.
Just down the road, at Redbud Park, a city water truck was washing down one of the boat ramps, which was clogged and coated with algae.
At the same time a city staffer in the old Kelseyville Fire boat, purchased last year by the county, was running the boat's engine to try to break up the mats, which were thick enough to support birds and stray soda cans. County Supervisor Jeff Smith said the boat is on loan to the city for algae duty.
Before making their way out to Austin Park, Chesbro and his field representative Ruth Valenzuela had an hour-long, closed-door meeting with Smith, Clearlake Mayor Judy Thein, Supervisor Denise Rushing, County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox, county Water Resources Director Scott DeLeon and Greg Giusti, a UC Cooperative Extension advisor and chair of the county's Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee and Invasive Species Council.
“We talked about the condition of the algae,” said Thein.
They considered long-term and short-term solutions, such as installing floating islands like Clearlake Oaks is doing, reintroducing the Clear Lake Hitch and looking at Klamath Lake, which reportedly has algae issues, Thein said.
Clarity, light and nutrients were discussed as possible contributing factors, she explained.
“It was educational for all of us,” she said.
She added, however, that nothing was decided.
“We're just throwing ideas out there right now,” Thein said.
Thein said Chesbro told them he had received numerous calls about the problem, and pledged to look for funds to help the community.
Last year the county received a $100,000 state cleanup and abatement grant to work on algae mitigation, and $38,000 was spent on a new air boat, said Smith. The new boat was to have arrived by Monday.
Smith said he took Chesbro out for about an hour on a county air boat, showing him areas of heavy matting near Sunset Resort and places where new algae is drifting in. Along the way, they came upon a large mass out in the lake that Smith hadn't seen before.
Besides the algae, there also are weeds this year, Smith said.
“It's a real mess with the weeds and the algae,” he added.
Last Thursday Smith said he helped pull six to eight loads of the algae away from Clearlake beaches, using booms to drag it out behind the air boat, which can get into places that other boats can't. He said he took it into the middle of the lake where he and others ran over it with boats so it would sink.
Chesbro noted that it was “a real eye opener” for him, Smith said.
Smith said he doesn't see the “bubbling up” with this blue green algae that he saw with the lyngbya variety of blue green algae last year, so he doesn't believe it's the same stuff.
Neither does Dennis Krentz of the Clearlake Keys Property Owners Association, which is doing battle with blue green algae once again this year.
Krentz said it appears to be a different variety of blue green algae that's slightly easier to deal with than lyngbya, but presents a problem because there's so much of it.
He said they saw the first onslaught about three weeks ago, later than last year's problems began. This year, differing wind patterns are causing problems in different areas of the Keys.
The association is applying for county permits in order to allow for a trial testing of low impact chemicals that a company is going to try on the harder hit areas, he said.
Their spray boats are having little impact because of the mats' thickness, Krentz explained, so they're planning to run a weed harvester through the areas where the algae is most dense in an attempt to break it up and sink it.
Noting the association is a volunteer organization, Krentz said, “The volunteers are stepping up pretty good.”
They have five boats in action, but Krentz added, “We don't know how successful we are going to be given the magnitude of the problem.”
After receiving a call from Lake County News, Clear Lake expert Dr. Harry Lyons took a water sample in Jago Bay on Monday evening and was able to confirm that, at least in that area, lyngbya was the predominant algae.
He said he also found other blue greens like microcystis and gloetrichia mixed in to lesser degrees.
Lyons said he's not yet seen the caking like he saw last year, but added, “give it time.”
As he had noted in a presentation on the lake earlier this month, Lyons urged people to think about global solutions, and to approach the algae problem from a strategic point of view.
However, he warned, taking the strategic approach won't be quick, but likely will be a 40-year process with lots of bumps – with each bump being a regime change.
“That's what I fear we're witnessing” – a regime change, said Lyons, with lyngbya becoming the dominant regime.
He said he's unwilling to offer predictions, noting, “The lake is very unpredictable.”
Strategy is slow, and tactics are limited by funds, which he noted is frustrating “because our efforts are puny and the lake is so big.”
He added, “This is not something that lends itself to a quick solution. It's a big, long, difficult problem.”
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She and other employees of the Lakeport store were informed that they needed to show up to work on Monday morning, and that there was a meeting they were to attend.
When they arrived Monday morning, the employees were told that the facility was being sold to Mendo Mill and Lumber, and that they were laid off as of the end of work on Tuesday.
“It was a hard meeting to be at,” Spillman said later on Monday.
The morning meeting was both short and somber, Spillman said. She said Piedmont's owner, Bill Myer, was there.
“He was very emotional. Extremely emotional. It really hit him hard,” said Spillman.
“I know he tried everything he could to really save it and keep us working,” she added.
There was the immediate opportunity to work on getting hired with the new company, so Spillman said they all filled out applications.
Later, employees returned for an afternoon meeting with Mike Mayfield, Mendo Mill's president and chief executive officer.
Spillman said the situation was new to everyone – employees and new owners – but she said of Mendo Mill, “They seem very concerned and very genuine.”
She added, “We just want to get the store back going and open, which is good for the community.”
Piedmont Lumber has been a longtime fixture in the business community. Spillman has worked for Piedmont Lumber for more than 10 years, and is the head of the nursery department.
She said her sons have worked at the store as summer employees, just like other employees' children have. “It is a family,” she said.
Her husband, Marc, worked for the company's Calpella truss plant for close to 20 years before the facility abruptly closed this past March 31. He's now working for Kelseyville Lumber's truss plant.
Spillman said she's enjoyed working with Piedmont, and the core group of employees, many of them having been with the company for more than a decade.
She also enjoyed getting to know the customers, and concern for them, she said, is another hard part of the uncertainty.
Spillman can trace the problems for the company back about two to three years, and said the situation developed slowly, but recently events started to move faster.
Orders were fewer or smaller. In recent months closeout sales became more common, and a few weeks ago “Victoria's Corner,” the part of the store that had been devoted to expensive decorations and housewares, was priced down and items sold off for a closeout.
“That really wasn't a shocker,” Spillman said. “You kind of knew that was coming.”
When the management was asked about the company's situation, “They just said they were working on keeping the store and that's basically all we had to go by.”
Still, the sale announcement and the actions on Monday hit employees like Spillman hard.
Now, she's in a waiting period, like other Lakeport Piedmont employees. She took part in a short interview with Mendo Mill on Monday, and said the company was trying to get the transition rolling as quickly as possible.
“They don't know how long the transition period will be,” she said.
Uncertainty for customers
Speculation about the future of the company had been growing amongst Lakeport Piedmont customers like John Moorhead for months.
The Lakeport resident said he found there was a diminishing supply of materials and inventory on the store's shelves.
A trip to the store earlier in July revealed no semi-gloss paint – no quarts, gallons or five-gallon containers. He said the staffers didn't know anything about it but tried to be helpful, and were apologetic.
He said he had a yard tag for $100 worth of plywood and construction lumber that store employees told him was out of stock but would be supplied in two weeks. He said he had been told that by the store over and over again for three months.
When he tried recently to find out the status of materials he'd ordered, he became aggravated when he was put off by customer service, which told him to call the following week.
When he called on Monday he got the phone message that “Piedmont is closed,” with the further announcement that the store was set to reopen under the new ownership in August.
He said he dialed “0” and spoke with a woman who said the staff found out that day that the business was closed, that he might get a call back if a manager came in, and then the phone either disconnected or she hung up on him.
“I was nothing less than civil, and told her that she had my sympathies, but that it was also a lousy way for Piedmont's management to treat their customers and their employees,” he said.
He said it became tough to go into the store, where he had done business for many years, comparing it to “watching an old friend who is very sick.”
Still, he said he wanted to spend his money with Piedmont, and didn't want to travel out of the community or the county to get his supplies.
Moorhead pointed out that Piedmont has done a great deal for countless groups over their decades in Lakeport. He also has known several of the staffers there over the years, and appreciated having someone who knew what they were talking about on the floor.
One of his concerns now is who will honor the credits and yard tags “small guys” like him still have, or if they'll get dismissed in a bankruptcy proceeding.
Mendo Mill takes on a new challenge
Mayfield said his negotiations with Piedmont Lumber for the Lakeport store began in the spring.
Around March or April Mendo Mill began helping Piedmont with inventory that it wasn't able to procure, and then the talks progressed into discussions about efforts to keep the store open, Mayfield said.
Sometime around May, the Myer family, which owns Piedmont, indicated that they wished to market the store, and the sales discussion moved from there, Mayfield said.
Mayfield said he had to deal with his own bank, but that negotiations took place directly between him and Bill Myer.
He said he did not deal directly with Umpqua Bank, which filed judicial foreclosure actions against Myer and Piedmont Lumber in March for millions in loans, as Lake County News has reported.
Mayfield said that a requirement of the deal is that the terms and conditions of the Lakeport sale aren't to be disclosed.
Regarding concerns like Moorhead's about honoring credits, Mayfield said Piedmont will take care of any orders or returns that are outstanding.
The Lakeport facility is about 38,000 square feet, larger than Mendo Mill's Clearlake store, which Mayfield said is close to 30,000 square feet. That store underwent an expansion that was completed in 2007.
Mayfield said there are some improvements on the Lakeport store that will need to be finished, but at this point he didn't go into detail.
The yards of Mendo Mill's Clearlake and new Lakeport stores are similar in size, said Mayfield. Tom Fay, Myer's son-in-law, will run the Piedmont rock yard as a separate business, and will use the existing rock yard showroom on the property Mendo Mill has purchased.
He said the purchase is a big move for Mendo Mill, which in addition to a Clearlake store has stores in Willits, Ukiah and Fort Bragg.
“Given the economic climate, expansion is certainly something you don't undertake lightly,” he said.
He continued, “Strategically, we've always felt Lakeport was a logical extension of our market area.”
Lakeport also is an area that Mendo Mill has served out of its Ukiah and Clearlake stores for many years, he said. “It's a place that we've always done business,” just not with a storefront, he explained.
Mayfield said the store is a critical home improvement resource for Lakeport residents.
He said he had an hour-long meeting with Piedmont staff Monday afternoon. At that time they gave out applications and human resources will meet with staff over the next few days as they start the process of background checks and physicals.
A list of employees shows about 47 people were still in Piedmont's employ, he said.
“My goal is to keep the staffing as intact as possible,” he said, with plans to work on a detailed path back to work for the staff.
He said the employees shared with him a letter they wrote about how they felt about Myer, which they all signed. “It was very heartfelt and was a wonderful letter.”
“Mr. Myer is larger than life, he's an icon,” Mayfield said.
Piedmont's Lakeport employees, said Spillman, have a lot to offer Mendo Mill.
“Not only do we know the store, we know the customer base,” she said.
On Monday evening she said, “I will be there tomorrow morning watering the plants.”
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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Since Saturday, more than 4,000 lightning strikes across several counties northeast California sparked 33 fires in Cal Fire's jurisdiction, with more than 250 acres burned, the agency said Monday afternoon.
The US Forest Service reported another 78 lightning-sparked fires have burned 115 acres in its jurisdiction.
In Bureau of Land Management jurisdiction, there was the Constantia Fire, located in Lassen County under BLM's Carson City District, which had burned 1,700 acres and was 10 percent contained Monday, with one home and several outbuildings destroyed, the agency's Susanville Interagency Fire Center reported.
The Potato Fire in Mono County, also under BLM jurisdiction, had burned 610 acres and was 60-percent contained, with full containment expected Tuesday, the BLM said.
Most of the fire activity was taking place in Lassen, Shasta and Siskiyou counties, Cal fire reported. Lassen had 27 fires and 250 acres burned, Shasta had two fires totaling less than an acre of burned land and four fires had burned an additional two acres in Siskiyou.
The largest blaze, the Russell Fire, is located in Lassen County, east of Straylor Lake in the Bieber area, where 14 other lightning-caused fires were reported, according to Cal Fire. It was burning in timber, juniper and brush.
By Monday evening the Russell Fire had burned 250 acres with 30-percent containment. Cal Fire was leading the effort along with the US Forest Service, BLM and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Nearly 200 firefighters were on scene, along with 13 engines, eight hand crews, one helicopter, six bulldozers and seven water tenders.
Lakeport Fire Protection Chief Ken Wells, the county's operations area coordinator on fire incidents, said Monday afternoon that local jurisdictions like Lake County's fire districts haven't yet received a call to send resources.
Cal Fire urged residents around the state to be particularly cautious now as crews are busy working on the lightning fires.
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