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MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST – The Mendocino National Forest's final snow survey of the season showed still more low readings during what forest officials say has been one of the driest years on record.
Forest staffers Jordan Saylor and Conroy Colman conducted the recent snow measurements at Anthony Peak, at an elevation of 6,200 feet, according to a report from Phebe Brown, the forest's spokesperson.
Forest Hydrologist Bob Faust says Anthony Peak is located in the middle of the forest, between the Sacramento and Eel River watersheds.
The measurements conducted by Saylor and Colman found snow depth and water content to be 60 percent below average for this time of year, Brown reported.
One of the samples at the snow course was bare dirt, although the other nine sites were covered, Brown said.
The average snow depth was 23 inches, or 43 percent of average, said Brown. The water content was 9.4 inches – which amounts to 41 percent of average.
A snow survey of the area conducted March 30 found the snowpack at 26 inches (40 percent of average) and 12 inches of water (43 percent of average).
“This is the lowest water content in 15 years,” said Faust.
Other recent low snow years were 1981, 1986 and 1990, he said.
The snowpack statewide has been down significantly this year.
The Department of Water Resources reported Tuesday that the state snowpack was at an average of 25 percent of normal. The more severe weather conditions can be attributed to climate change and global warming, Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow said last week.
Brown reported that the National Forest has been measuring winter snow depths and moisture
content since 1944 and the averages are calculated based on all those years. Precipitation from Anthony Peak drains down the Grindstone watershed, into Stony Creek and the Black Butte Reservoir, ending up in the Sacramento River, she added.
With the irrigation season on and with low inflow, reservoir storage dropped dramatically, Faust said.
“Anyone driving by Lake Mendocino on Highway 20 can see a lot of shoreline,” said Faust. “This lake is 82 percent of average storage."
Faust compared that to other Northern California reservoirs, including Shasta Lake, which is at 99-percent storage; Lake Oroville, 105 percent; and Black Butte Lake, 68 percent.
Besides California, the states of Arizona, Nevada and Utah are also dry, Faust said.
Good snowpack areas, he added, can be found in Colorado, Washington, Idaho and Montana.
For the most part, Lake County is not dependent on snowpack, according to Water Resources Division officials, but rather on precipitation and creek flow into the lake.
Local creeks remain at extremely low levels according to Department of Water Resources stream gages.
On Tuesday, Kelsey Creek was at 9.9 cubic feet per second (cfs), with the creek's median level at 25; the north fork of Cache Creek measured 20 cfs, with a median of 35; Cache Creek at Lower Lake was at 142 cfs, with a median of 308; and Putah Creek was at 19 cfs, with a median of 74.
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CLEAR LAKE – The Lake County Sheriff's Office reported Tuesday afternoon that they had recovered the body of a Vacaville man who went missing in the lake Saturday evening.
A report from LCSO Lt. Cecil Brown said that 44-year-old John Leon Stockton, was found at noon.
Search and Rescue members and the North Shore Dive Team had been searching for Stockton since Saturday evening, after it was reported that he fell from the back of his boat and into the water, and didn't resurface.
They were joined in the efforts by Tom Tessier of Santa Rosa-based Aqua-Tec Inc., a company that operates sophisticated sonar equipment, Brown reported.
With Tessier's help, dive team members found Stockton's body underwater, Brown said, and later positively identified him.
Brown said Stockton's family was notified of his recovery Tuesday afternoon.
LCSO has initiated a coroner's investigation into the cause of Stockton's death, Brown said. An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.
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CLEAR LAKE – On Monday sheriff's deputies and Search and Rescue teams continued to look for a missing Vacaville man who reportedly fell into the lake and disappeared Saturday evening.
John Stockton fell from the back of his boat near Buckingham Point and didn't resurface, according to a report from Lake County Sheriff's Office Lt. Gary Basor.
Rescue efforts launched Saturday evening, Basor reported Sunday.
Basor, who is supervising the rescue operations, was back on the water Monday to continue the search, according to Lt. Cecil Brown.
However, no further information was forthcoming from the sheriff's office by the end of the day Monday about the status of the search.
A co-worker of Stockton's longtime girlfriend at First Priority Financial in Fairfield said Stockton, the father of two daughters, was accompanied by his girlfriend on this recent trip to Clear Lake.
The sheriff's office has been assisted in the search by REACH, and dive teams and search dogs from agencies in Alameda, Sonoma and Sacramento County, and the California Rescue Dog Association.
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WASHINGTON – Rep. Mike Thompson joined Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Leadership outside the Capitol last week to raise awareness of the treatment barriers facing mental health patients.
According to the Government Accountability Office, 90 percent of health insurance plans impose financial limitations and treatment restrictions on mental health and addiction benefits.
In response, Thompson has co-authored the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addition Equity Act (H.R. 1424). This bill requires all insurers that offer mental health care to provide the same level of benefits as they would for any other medical condition.
"Mental illness and addiction are diseases like any other," said Thompson. "It is unconscionable that people suffering from these sometimes life-threatening diseases are discriminated against when they ask for help."
Currently, health insurers are allowed to offer mental health benefits that differ significantly from the medical and surgical benefits offered under the same plan. As a result, beneficiaries often pay more for these services and are eligible to use fewer of them.
The Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act requires any insurer choosing to provide mental health benefits to equalize the financial requirements and treatment limits in comparison to other benefits.
"There are already so many barriers for people with mental health problems, from the stigma associated with it to a nationwide shortage of providers," said Thompson. "This bill will make sure that health insurance is not one of them. It's time we leveled the playing field in the treatment of mental health. Millions of Americans are depending on it."
A majority of respondents to a National Mental Health Association survey indicated that they would support parity legislation even if it meant a $1 per month increase to their premiums. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that such legislation will increase healthcare costs less than that amount.
H.R. 1424 was introduced by Reps. Patrick Kennedy and Jim Ramstad and co-authored by Thompson on March 7.
The bill is cosponsored by a bipartisan majority of 265 Members of Congress.
For more information on Thompson's legislation, visit his Web site, http://mikethompson.house.gov/.
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