LOWER LAKE – Lower Lake resident Victoria Brandon has been named to the California Invasive Species Advisory Committee (CISAC).

State Secretary of Agriculture AG Kawamura, who also chairs the committee, notified Brandon on Tuesday of her selection.

“As a result of the high caliber and qualifications of all the nominees, I can say with certainty that California will be well served by your expertise and diversity,” Kawamura wrote Brandon in her notification letter.

Kawamura explained that the committee was created to assist the Invasive Species Council of California in addressing the threat invasive species pose to the environment, food systems, human health and the state's economy.

Brandon and the rest of the committee members will make recommendations to the Invasive Species Council on the best way to address invasive species' threats.

“Both aquatic and terrestrial invasive species pose enormous threats to the environment and economy of Lake County, and to all of California,” Brandon said.

She noted that she's become very much aware of both the breadth and the severity of these hazards not only through work with the Sierra Club – she's chair of the Sierra Club Lake Group – but in service to the Cache Creek Watershed Forum, Chi Council for the Clear Lake Hitch, and Lake County Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee.

Brandon said when Sierra Club California needed a representative to the newly formed committee, “the opportunity to bring this accumulated knowledge to bear was too tempting to resist.”

She added, “The breadth of experience and diverse viewpoints of CISAC members give the group the necessary tools to devise management strategies and educational outreach techniques required to cope with the dangers we face, and I look forward to playing a proactive, collaborative role in this process – and also to making sure that Lake County's particular concerns, such as exotic mollusks, are properly addressed.”

Brandon said she anticipates the committee's meetings will include discussion of the quagga mussel, which has started spreading in California, and which local officials and residents are working to keep out of Lake County's water bodies.

The committee is expected to meet for the first time at some point between mid-August and mid-September, according to Kawamura.

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