Deshawn Mills. Courtesy photo. CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The Clearlake Police Department is asking for the community’s help in locating a missing teenage boy.
Deshawn Mills, 13, was last seen on Tuesday in the area of Olympic Drive and Emerson Street.
He is described as a black male juvenile, 5 feet tall and 128 pounds.
He has brown eyes and black hair that is shaved on the sides and longer on top, sometimes worn in a man bun.
Police said he was last seen wearing a sweater and pants of unknown color and black crocs.
If you have any information regarding his whereabouts please contact the Clearlake Police Department at 707-994-8251, Extension 1.
Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, announced legislation on Monday to create the Wildfire Mitigation Planning Act to better prevent and contain wildfires.
The bill would create a framework for evaluating wildfire mitigation investments taken by state, federal and private actors and better coordinate utility wildfire mitigation efforts across California to increase the overall effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of wildfire related investments.
“With this cycle of heavy rains and prolonged droughts, we cannot take our eyes off of the risks that major wildfires present to communities across the state,” Sen. Dodd said. “Wildfires don’t respect county lines or utility service areas, so we need a coordinated and comprehensive approach to keeping California safe. We’ve made a lot of progress in recent years, but climate change continues to compound challenges and underscores the need for us to be thoughtful about how we do the most good, as quickly as possible, with our investments.”
Catastrophic wildfires impose enormous costs on the state of California and its residents.
In the aftermath of the Camp fire, Sen. Dodd co-authored AB 1054, which created a framework for electric utilities to evaluate their wildfire risk and plan for their wildfire mitigation investments and activities, overseen by the Office of Electric Infrastructure Safety within the California Natural Resources Agency.
More recently, the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, a multiagency effort to identify needs and develop strategies to better manage wildfire risk, has produced plans to better manage wildfire risk.
Current spending on utility wildfire mitigation exceeds $10 billion per year while state budget wildfire expenditures have grown to $1.3 billion over two years.
Meanwhile the U.S. Forest Service recently announced major wildfire mitigation investments in California and other western states wildfire mitigation activities that will total $930 million.
No framework exists to evaluate how these multiple activities will interact and might be coordinated to maximize their effectiveness and cost-effectiveness.
The Wildfire Mitigation Planning Act would require the Office of Electric Infrastructure Safety to prepare a Wildfire Risk Mitigation Planning Framework every three years to quantify the potential benefits of actions taken by state and private actors to reduce wildfire risk.
The bill then requires that the Office of Electric Infrastructure Safety prepare a wildfire risk baseline and forecast on statewide baseline wildfire risk and risk mitigation potential over the next one to 10 years.
It would also mandate an annual wildfire mitigation scenarios report quantifying actual risk reduction from all actors and investments within the State of California.
Finally, Dodd’s measure empowers the Office of Electric Infrastructure Safety to coordinate utility spending with this planning framework in order to maximize the effectiveness of all investments related to wildfires being made within the State of California.
"Preventing catastrophic wildfire requires strong coordination between all of our investments,” said Michael Wara, interim policy director of the Sustainability Accelerator at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and director of Climate and Energy Policy Program and Senior Research Scholar at the Woods Institute for the Environment. “Building on current efforts, this bill would create a planning structure to maximize the effectiveness of California's work to reduce the impacts of wildfire. As California spends more to prevent catastrophic wildfire, we should also make sure that these investments go as far as possible in keeping residents safe. This bill creates a planning structure that does just that and ensures that all our efforts are well coordinated."
The act, also known as Senate Bill 436, is expected to receive its first committee hearing and vote next month.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Our local parks, trails and recreation programs are a gateway to experience the natural beauty of Lake County, prioritize an active lifestyle, and enjoy time spent with family and friends.
The county of Lake invites and encourages community members to provide input on the future of our facilities and programs through a community needs survey.
County officials currently are in the process of developing a parks, recreation and trails master plan that will inventory parks, facilities and trails; develop an understanding of community priorities and needs; and create actionable strategies to meet demands.
There will be many opportunities for the public to get involved and share their unique, local experience that will help shape this master plan.
The first step is to take the community needs survey, which in addition to an inventory of existing facilities will be the baseline for the master plan.
Complete the community needs survey by March 10 at www.surveymonkey.com/r/LakeCountyPRT. It will take no more than 10 minutes and all answers will be completely anonymous.
To learn more or get involved with the parks, recreation and trails master plan process, please visit the project website, www.lakecountyprt.com.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The Clearlake City Council will hold a midyear budget review and consider an agreement to form a new county recreation agency this week.
The council will meet at 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive, for the midyear budget workshop before the regular portion of the meeting begins at 6 p.m.
Comments and questions can be submitted in writing for City Council consideration by sending them to City Clerk Melissa Swanson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
To give the council adequate time to review your questions and comments, please submit your written comments before 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16.
Each public comment emailed to the city clerk will be read aloud by the mayor or a member of staff for up to three minutes or will be displayed on a screen. Public comment emails and town hall public comment submissions that are received after the beginning of the meeting will not be included in the record.
Following the council’s midyear budget workshop at 5 p.m., it will convene for the regular meeting, during which it will hear a presentation on February's adoptable dogs, present a proclamation declaring February 2023 as Black History Month and receive the Clearlake Police Department’s annual report.
Under council business, council members will consider approving an application to the county for direct sale of various tax defaulted properties for up to $150,000.
They also will consider a resolution approving, authorizing and directing the execution of a joint exercise of powers agreement among the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport, and the county of Lake to form the Lake County Recreation Agency, with two council members to be appointed to serve on the agency’s board.
In other business, the council will consider updates to its norms and procedures and hold the first reading of an ordinance amending the municipal code relating to the method of service for property maintenance, nuisance and vehicle abatement.
On the meeting's consent agenda — items that are considered routine in nature and usually adopted on a single vote — are warrants; authorization of an amendment of design contract for the senior center project with California Engineering Co. in the amount of $10,594.61; minutes of the Jan. 11 Lake County Vector Control District Board meeting; minutes of the meetings on Dec. 1 and 8, 2022, and Jan. 5, 2023; approval of a professional services contract with SSA Landscape Architects for the Burns Valley Sports Complex Project; continuation of authorization to implement and utilize teleconference accessibility to conduct public meetings pursuant to Assembly Bill 361; authorization of job description for management analyst and placement into salary schedule; adoption of third amendment to the FY 2022-23 Budget (Resolution 2022-44) for midyear adjustments.
The council also will hold a closed session following the public portion of the meeting to discuss negotiations for a property at 14709 Palmer Ave.
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.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed an executive order to protect the state’s water supplies from the impacts of climate-driven extremes in weather.
After years of prolonged drought, recent storms resulted in the wettest three-week period on record in California.
The storms have been followed by an unseasonably dry February, however, and the state could see a return to warm and dry conditions during the remaining weeks of the wet season — just as heavy rains in fall 2021 gave way to the driest January-February-March period in over 100 years.
While recent storms have helped replenish the state’s reservoirs and boosted snowpack, drought conditions continue to have significant impacts on communities with vulnerable water supplies, agriculture, and the environment.
The latest science indicates that hotter and drier weather conditions could reduce California’s water supply by up to 10% by the year 2040.
The frequency of hydrologic extremes that is being experienced in California demonstrates the need to continually adapt to promote resiliency in a changing climate.
To protect water supply and the environment given this new reality, and until it is clear what the remainder of the wet season will hold, the executive order includes provisions to protect water reserves, and replace and replenish the greater share of rain and snowfall that will be absorbed by thirstier soils, vegetation and the atmosphere.
The order helps expand the state’s capacity to capture storm runoff in wet years by facilitating groundwater recharge projects.
It also continues conservation measures and allows the State Water Board to reevaluate requirements for reservoir releases and diversion limitations to maximize water supplies north and south of the Delta while protecting the environment.
Additionally, the order directs state agencies to review and provide recommendations on the state’s drought response actions by the end of April, including the possibility of terminating specific emergency provisions that are no longer needed, once there is greater clarity about the hydrologic conditions this year.
Leveraging the more than $8.6 billion committed by Gov. Newsom and the Legislature in the last two budget cycles to build water resilience, the state is taking aggressive action to prepare for the impacts of climate-driven extremes in weather on the state’s water supplies.
In the 2023-24 state budget, Gov. Newsom is proposing an additional $202 million for flood protection and $125 million for drought related actions.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control’s three available cats this week include two new ones that all are ready for new homes.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm for information on visiting or adopting.
The following cats at the shelter have been cleared for adoption.
“Banshee” is an 8-year-old female domestic shorthair in kennel No. 10, ID No. LCAC-A-4705. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Banshee’
“Banshee” is an 8-year-old female domestic shorthair with a calico coat.
She is in kennel No. 10, ID No. LCAC-A-4705.
“Puma” is a 4-year-old male domestic shorthair in kennel No. 73, ID No. LCAC-A-4708. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Puma’
“Puma” is a 4-year-old male domestic shorthair with a black coat.
He is in kennel No. 73, ID No. LCAC-A-4708.
“Mr. Cheeks” is a 3-year-old male domestic medium hair cat in cat room kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-4559. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Mr. Cheeks’
“Mr. Cheeks” is a 3-year-old male domestic medium hair cat with a gray coat.
He is in cat room kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-4559.
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.
LUCERNE, Calif. — While awaiting new appointments to the Lucerne Area Town Hall, a community meeting for Lucerne residents will be held this week.
The Lucerne community meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, in the multipurpose room at Lucerne Elementary School, 3351 Country Club Drive.
The meeting ID is 857 2312 7967, the passcode is 13931.
Kurt McKelvey, who has served as chair of the Lucerne Area Town Hall, will moderate the meeting.
The Board of Supervisors have yet to make new appointments to LATH. In response to questions about the delay in the appointments from both Lake County News and McKelvey, Supervisor EJ Crandell has not given a reason for why no action has been taken.
Those appointments, or the lack of them, will be an item for discussion at the Thursday meeting.
Another agenda topic will be the needed bridge repair on Foothill Drive, between Dunston Drive and Robinson Road.
They also are scheduled to discuss a petition to the Board of Supervisors regarding the Lucerne Area Town Hall’s Resolution A0004, passed in December, condemning the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians’ proposal to use the Lucerne Hotel for housing for homeless youth and young adults.
Other discussion items include the formation of a community service district for Lucerne and the larger Northshore area and additional topics community members recommend pertaining to the community of Lucerne.
Mirror case, ivory, a Lady Crowning her Lover, Paris, France, ca. 1300. Victoria and Albert Museum
For Valentine’s Day, some couples only roll their eyes at each other in mutual cynicism. The capitalisation of love in the modern world can certainly seem banal.
But Valentine’s Day gifts are hardly a contemporary invention. People have been celebrating the day and gifting love tokens for hundreds of years.
We should first turn to Geoffrey Chaucer, the 14th-century poet, civil servant and keen European traveller. Chaucer’s poem from the 1380s, The Parliament of Fowls, is held to be the first reference to February 14 as a day about love.
This day was already a feast day of several mysterious early Roman martyred Saint Valentines, but Chaucer described it as a day for people to choose their lovers. He knew that was easier said than done.
The narrator of the poem is unsuccessful in love, despairing that life is short compared with how long it takes to learn to love well. He falls asleep and dreams of a garden in which all the different birds of the world have gathered.
Nature explains to the assembled flocks that, like every year on St Valentine’s Day, they have come to pick their partners in accordance with her rules. But this process causes confusion and debate: the birds can’t agree what it means to follow her rules because they all value different things in their partners.
Like today, in Chaucer’s time gift-giving could be highly ritualised and symbolise intention and commitment. In Old and Middle English, a “wed” was any sort of token pledged to guarantee a promise. It was not until the 13th century that a “wedding” came to mean a nuptial ceremony.
The same period saw marriage transform into a Christianised and unbreakable commitment (a sacrament of the Church). New conventions of love developed in songs, stories and other types of art.
These conventions influenced broader cultural ideas of emotion: love letters were written, grand acts of service were celebrated, and tokens of love were given.
Rings, brooches, girdles (belts), gloves, gauntlets (sleeves), kerchiefs or other personalised textiles, combs, mirrors, purses, boxes, vessels and pictures – and even fish – are just some examples of romantic gifts recorded from the late middle ages.
Posy rings, such as this one from 1500-1530, were often given as love gifts, betrothal and wedding rings.Victoria and Albert Museum
In stories, gifts could be imbued with magical powers. In the 13th century, in a history of the world, Rudolf von Ems recorded how Moses, when obliged to return home and leave his first wife Tharbis, an Ethiopian princess, had two rings made.
The one he gave her would cause Tharbis to forget him. He always wore its pair which kept her memory forever fresh in his mind.
Illustration from a World Chronicle of Moses giving Tharbis the Forgetting Ring, c1400-1410.J. Paul Getty Museum
Outside of stories, gifts could have legal significance: wedding rings, important from the 13th century, could prove that a marriage had occurred by evidencing the intention and consent of the giver and recipient.
The art of loving
Like Chaucer, 20th-century German psychologist Erich Fromm thought people could learn the art of loving. Fromm thought love was an act of giving not just material things, but one’s joy, interest, understanding, knowledge, humour and sadness.
While these gifts might take some time and practice, there are more straightforward ideas from history. Manufactured cards have dominated since the industrial revolution, taking their place alongside other now traditional presents such as flowers, jewellery, intimate apparel and consumables (now more often chocolates than fish). All can be personalised for that intimate touch.
A Valentine’s Day card from 1836.Bequeathed by Guy Tristram Little, Victoria and Albert Museum
There have, of course, been weirder examples of love gifts, such as Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton exchanging necklaces with silver pendants smeared with each other’s blood.
Artist Dora Maar was so upset when her notoriously bad lover Pablo Picasso complained about having to trade a painting for a ruby ring she immediately threw the ring in the Seine. Picasso soon replaced it with another, this one featuring Maar’s portrait.
A good love token can long outlast the feelings that prompt its giving: a flower pressed in a book, a trinket at the bottom of a box, a fading heartfelt card or a bittersweet song that jolts you back to an earlier time. In this way, the meaning of gifts can change as they become reminders that all things pass.
The race to decarbonize passenger cars and light-duty trucks in the U.S. is accelerating. Battery electric vehicles accounted for almost 6% of all new vehicle sales in 2022, up from close to 3% in 2021, and demand is outstripping supply, even as manufacturers roll out new models and designs. The Biden administration is spending billions of dollars to build out EV charging networks and providing incentives for purchasing new and used EVs.
This shift offers big economic and environmental benefits, but they’re not spread equitably. People who bear the most burdens in our current transportation systems often receive the fewest benefits, and are least able to change their situations.
I study the future of clean transportation and energy, and my research analyzes equity considerations in the design of these systems. As my colleagues and I see it, an equitable transition will require thinking broadly about all transportation users and their needs – especially those who are currently being left behind.
Here are four issues that we believe should be front and center:
Banning gas-powered cars can have unintended consequences
Under California’s ban, 35% of new cars sold in-state by 2026 and 68% by 2030 must be zero-emissions models.
At the end of 2022, the average price of a new battery EV was around $61,500, compared with an average of $49,500 for all new cars. Less-expensive models are starting to reach the market, but EVs remain out of financial reach for many people.
Federal tax credits of up to $7,500 for new EVs or $4,000 for used ones come with manufacturer restrictions, income thresholds and vehicle price caps. For now, the policy does not offer discounts at the time of purchase, so upfront costs remain high and often prohibitive for many buyers.
These bans may affect markets for used gas-powered cars, and it’s unclear whether states will provide support for people who can’t transition immediately to EVs. Used car prices are already at unprecedented highs due to inflation and global supply chain issues affecting the new car market. Bans on new gas-powered cars could further boost prices in the used market, as long as those models are cheaper than EVs.
Supporting industries, such as repair shops, gas stations and auto dealerships, could also be affected. These businesses, which provide services and jobs in their communities, could be displaced in the shift to EVs, which require less maintenance than gas-powered cars and have different supply chains and support systems.
The Biden administration has pledged that shifting to EVs will create high-quality jobs. However, many parts of the auto industry and workforce development systems need to evolve to ensure that workers benefit from this process.
The EV shift has big implications for gas stations.
They also emit air pollutants, notably fine particulates, that can cause premature deaths and illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, asthma and other respiratory ailments. Studies show that fine particle pollution disproportionately burdens communities of color.
Gas-powered cars can remain on the road for up to 30 years. Given their harmful health effects, I believe that waiting for the U.S. auto fleet to naturally turn over to zero-emission vehicles is not acceptable.
There aren’t many mechanisms today to encourage drivers to shift away from old, dirty cars. The federal CARS program, also known as “Cash for Clunkers,” ran for a few months in 2009 and offered rebates of up to $4,500 to drivers who turned in older vehicles for more fuel-efficient new or used cars. However, this program delivered modest emission reductions relative to its cost
What’s more, older vehicles often are shipped abroad for resale. According to a United Nations report, the U.S. is one of the top three global exporters of used cars. In addition to increasing scrapping and recycling of older, high-emitting cars, I see a need for coordinated international regulations to ensure safe and sustainable trade of used vehicles, as the U.N. report recommended.
EV incentives don’t go to underserved drivers
Benefits to promote EV adoption often aren’t accessible to those who need them most. A 2020 study funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation found that low-income households in Atlanta were less likely to benefit from state and federal EV incentives than higher-income households, because the incentives were awarded as credits against income taxes owed. This is also how current federal tax credits are structured.
In a paper currently under review, colleagues and I show that to date in California, EV adoption and rebate rates are lower in zip codes whose residents are majority low-income and populations of color, as well as in formerly redlined neighborhoods.
In another study, we examined an equity mobility program in California that was designed to help low-income households purchase zero-emission vehicles. We found that the program didn’t fully work as intended, because the application process was complex, imposed challenging timelines and offered applicants limited support.
California has enacted new legislation that will expand this program statewide, and we look forward to seeing updates and improvements.
Rural areas face unique transportation challenges
Almost one-fifth of Americans live in rural areas, where they typically drive more than city dwellers, have sparse access to public transit and often rely on private vehicles. Members of our research group have interviewed rural residents who don’t own cars and rely on one bus a day to get to the nearest doctor’s office or grocery store.
So far, policies intended to promote the EV transition have not focused on rural areas, although the Department of Transportation has launched an initiative focusing on these communities’ needs. Rural residents are concerned about availability of charging infrastructure, economic development and EVs that fit rural residents’ needs, and in my view, they deserve targeted support.
In a car-centric society, who does the EV transition serve?
The U.S. is a car-centric society where most people need access to an automobile to live their lives effectively. Many years of policies and investments have produced a system that focuses on helping drivers reach their destinations as quickly as possible, rather than other objectives like clean air or reliable public transit.
By doing so, the system values the time of drivers more than that of people who rely on other modes of transit. Americans with access to cars have more freedom and more choice about where and how to pursue an education, work and spend time with loved ones.
In my view, the EV transition should be part of a broader shift to clean mobility that invests in public transit, walking and biking, as well as systems like EV charging that support private car use. New clean mobility systems should be designed so that all Americans have safe and reliable options for getting to their destinations.
From left, Rick Mayo, Lake County NAACP branch president and co-founder; Ida Johnson, Cal-Hawaii NAACP State Conference assistant secretary; David D. Smith, the Cal-Hawaii NAACP State Conference Area director; a Lamont Kucer and Andrew Pierson of Foods, Etc.; and Lynette Kirkwood, branch executive member in Clearlake, California, at a Silver Life membership plaque to the store on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. Photo by Elizabeth Larson/Lake County News.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — On Thursday, the Lake County NAACP branch bestowed a unique honor on a local business.
NAACP Board members, led by Rick Mayo, the branch president and co-founder, presented Lamont Kucer and Andrew Pierson of Foods, Etc. in Clearlake with a Silver Life membership plaque.
Mayo was joined by Bessie Bell, branch treasurer and Legal Redress Chair; Lynette Kirkwood, branch executive member; Aqeela Markowski, life member and past president; David D. Smith, the Cal-Hawaii NAACP State Conference Area director; Ida Johnson, Cal-Hawaii NAACP State Conference assistant secretary; James Black, NAACP member; Greta Zeit, NAACP Lake County Branch secretary; and Andrew Kucer, Lamont Kucer’s father.
Not in attendance was Dennis Darling, Foods, Etc.’s founder, who was out of town.
The NAACP credited Foods, Etc.’s record of embracing diversity in its hiring and community practices.
Mayo said Foods, Etc. is the NAACP branch’s only life membership business organization, but they have other businesses that are members, including Lakeview Market in Lucerne and the Red and White Market in Clearlake Oaks.
He said there also are 29 total life members of the branch.
From left, Rick Mayo, Lake County NAACP branch president and co-founder; Ida Johnson, Cal-Hawaii NAACP State Conference assistant secretary; David D. Smith, the Cal-Hawaii NAACP State Conference Area director; Aqeela Markowski, life member and past president (kneeling); Andrew Pierson of Foods, Etc.; Lamont Kucer of Foods, Etc.; Andrew Kucer, Lamont Kucer’s father; Lynette Kirkwood, branch executive member; and James Black, NAACP member at a Silver Life membership plaque to the store on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. Photo by Elizabeth Larson/Lake County News. Bell, who said she’s been shopping at the store since 1979, pointed out how the store hires young people who are still in school, giving them an opportunity to have a job. And she pointed to their welcoming of people of all ethnic backgrounds.
“They don’t care who you are,” she said, and they treat people kindly and are responsible.
She said they are grateful for the business’ service. “This is a good store.”
“We’re happy to help and to be part of it for the next 30 years,” Lamont Kucer said.
Johnson, whose father, Gilbert P. Gray, worked with Mayo to found the local branch in 1982 as well as the branch in Santa Rosa, where he was a respected community member, said the work of the NAACP takes place at the local level, noting the local members are the “worker bees” and inviting people to take part.
“The work starts here,” she said.
The event took place just days ahead of the NAACP’s anniversary on Sunday.
The organization was founded on Feb. 12, 1909, the 100th anniversary of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln.
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.
NAACP branch members Bessie Bell (left) and Greta Zeit, who also serves as branch secretary, also were on hand to honor Foods, Etc., at a Silver Life membership plaque to the store on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. Photo by Elizabeth Larson/Lake County News.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors is set to discuss the county’s indigent defense services and consider ways to improve them in order to ensure the constitutional rights of individuals facing criminal cases in the Lake County Superior Court.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting ID is 982 4526 2136, pass code 099773. The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at +16694449171,,98245262136#,,,,*099773#.
All interested members of the public that do not have internet access or a Mediacom cable subscription are encouraged to call 669-900-6833, and enter the Zoom meeting ID and pass code information above.
In an untimed item, the board will discuss the organizational analysis of indigent services report entitled “The Right to Counsel in Lake County, California,” completed by Sixth Amendment Center, or 6AC. The organization completed the analysis after the board approved an agreement with it in August 2021.
The report for the meeting explains that 6AC “observed approximately 170 court proceedings, involving indigent representation attorneys in the Lake County Superior Court in all critical stages of an adult trial level criminal case. In addition, 6AC also interviewed stakeholders in the judiciary, indigent defense, prosecution, and law enforcement.”
The result is that 6AC found an overall lack of accountability and oversight in Lake County’s provision of public defender services and funding.
It recommends the county advocate the state to study and make recommendations about how best to fulfill the state’s Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment responsibilities to ensure that each indigent defendant receives effective assistance of counsel; that he supervisors should establish a nonpartisan independent commission to oversee all aspects of indigent representation services and should fund the operations of the commission and the implementation of the methods and standards it adopts; and that an office of indigent representation services be established immediately.
In a followup item, the board will consider initial steps in the county’s ongoing review of the provision of legal services for indigent criminal defendants presented by County Counsel Anita Grant and Deputy County Counsel Carlos Torrez.
Grant and Torrez’s recommendations including reconstitute the Public Defender Advisory Committee; initiating and developing a community-based approach to criminal defense services, utilizing the services of Lake County Behavioral Health, Lake County Social Services and numerous service-based groups in the County; retain the services of a former public defender to assist the county in ensuring the comprehensive provision of indigent defense services; and continue to pursue grant funding to initiate any desired improvements to the indigent defense system.
In timed items on Tuesday, at 9:10 a.m. the supervisors will present aproclamation designating the month of February 2023 as Black History Month and celebrating Martin Luther King's Birthday, and at 9:20 a.m. they will hold a Brown Act “refresher” and related changes in the law effective in 2023.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Approve letter of support for Assembly Bill 297 – “Wildfires: Local Assistance Grant Program: Advance Payments,” and authorize the chair to sign.
5.2: (a) Approve revisions of Personnel Rule 1801, Holidays: Adding Juneteenth as a county paid holiday; (b) approve a side letter to Lake County Correctional Officers Association Oct. 21, 2021, to June 30, 2025 MOU; (c) approve a side letter to Lake County Deputy District Attorney’s Association Oct. 21, 2021, to June 30, 2025 MOU; (d) approve a side letter to Lake County Deputy Sheriff’s Association Oct. 21, 2021, to June 30, 2025 MOU; (e) approve a side letter to Lake County Employees Association Units #3, #4, #5 Oct. 21, 2021, to June 30, 2025 MOU; (f) approve a side letter to Lake County Safety Employees Association Oct. 21, 2021, to June 30, 2025 MOU; (g) approve a side letter to Lake County Sheriff’s Management Association Nov. 1, 2021, to June 30, 2025 MOU; (h) adopt resolution amending Resolution No. 2021-122 establishing salaries and benefits for employees assigned to the Confidential Unit, Section A, for Oct. 21, 2021, to June 30, 2025; (i) adopt resolution amending Resolution No. 2021-123 establishing salaries and benefits for employees assigned to the Confidential Unit, Section B, for Oct. 21, 2021, to June 30, 2025; adopt resolution amending Resolution No.2021-124 establishing salaries and benefits for management employees for the period from Nov. 1, 2021, to June 30, 2025.
5.3: Approve long distance travel for Auditor Controller/Clerk Jenavive Herrington to attend GFOA Advanced Governmental Accounting training in Chicago, Illinois, from March 21 to 23, 2023.
5.4: Adopt proclamation designating the month of February 2023 as Black History Month and celebrating Martin Luther King's Birthday.
5.5: Approve first amendment of agreement between the county of Lake and TruePoint Solutions for as-needed permitting software services for and increase of $19,965.00, and authorize the chair to sign.
5.6: Approve agreement between the county of Lake and Liebert Cassidy Whitmore for training and consultation regarding employee-related matters and authorize the chair to sign.
5.7: Approve late travel claim for Health Services staff Carol Morgan in the amount of $339.87.
5.8: Approve Amendment No. 3 to the agreement between the county of Lake and Management Connections for temporary clerical personnel in the County of Lake Human Resources Office to amend the minimum hourly rate of compensation and authorize chair to sign.
5.9: Approve amendment one to agreement between the county of Lake and Track Group to provide electronic monitoring and associated services for an amount not to exceed $75,000, and authorize the chair to sign.
5.10: Approve purchase orders for the purchase of two vehicles for the Central Garage Fleet at revised prices, and authorize the Public Works director/assistant purchasing agent to sign the purchase orders.
5.11: Approve allocation agreement for the Medi-Cal Health Enrollment Navigators Project between county of Lake, Department of Social Services, and state of California, Department of Health Care Services in the amount of $126,000 for the term of Oct. 1, 2022, through June 30, 2026, and authorize the chair to sign.
5.12: Approve contract between county of Lake and the Regents of the University of California for training services, in the amount of $339,915 from Jan. 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, and authorize the chair to sign.
TIMED ITEMS
6.2, 9:10 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation designating the month of February 2023 as Black History Month and celebrating Martin Luther King's Birthday.
6.3, 9:20 a.m.: Presentation of a Brown Act “refresher” and related changes in the law effective in 2023.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: 2022-23 Mid-Year Budget: (a) Consideration of resolution amending Resolution No. 2022-118 to amend the FY 2022-23 Adopted Budget by adjusting reserves, fund balance carry over, revenues, and appropriations; (b) consideration of resolution amending Resolution 2022-119 to amend the position allocations for FY 2022-23 to conform to the mid-year budget adjustments; and (c) consideration of resolution amending adopted budget for FY 2022-23 to establish Fund 74-John T. Klaus Park, Budget Unit 7074-John T. Klaus Park.
7.3: Overview and discussion of the organizational analysis of indigent services report entitled “The Right to Counsel in Lake County, California.”
7.4: Presentation of initial steps in the county’s ongoing review of the provision of legal services for indigent criminal defendants.
7.5. Consideration of the following Advisory Board Appointments: Animal Care and Control Advisory Board, Child Care Planning and Development Council, Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee and Scotts Valley Community Advisory Council.
7.6: Presentation of update on planning services contract between the county of Lake and LACO Associates for processing cannabis-related use permit applications.
7.7: Consideration of the following resolutions to correct benefit language as required by CalPERS: a) resolution amending Resolution 2020-149 and Resolution 2021-122 establishing salary and benefits for Confidential Unit, Section A, for the periods of Oct. 21, 2020, to Oct. 20, 2021, and Oct. 21, 2021, to June 30, 2025; b) resolution amending Resolution 2020-150 and Resolution 2021-123 establishing salary and benefits for Confidential Unit, Section B, for the periods of Oct. 21, 2020, to Oct. 20, 2021, and Oct. 21, 2021, to June 30, 2025; c) resolution amending Resolution 2020-151 and Resolution 2021-124 establishing salary and benefits for management employees for the periods of Nov. 1, 2020, to Oct. 31, 2021, and Nov. 1, 2021, to June 30, 2025; d) resolution amending the memorandum of understanding by and between the Lake County Sheriff’s Management Association and the county of Lake for the periods of Nov. 1, 2020, to Oct. 31, 2021, and Nov. 1, 2021, to June 30, 2025.
7.8: Consideration of conceptual approval for the purchase of real property for a Cobb area community park and appoint a negotiating team.
7.9: Consideration of Lake County Social Services CalFresh & Medi-Cal Program Update.
CLOSED SESSION
8.1: Conference with legal counsel: Existing litigation pursuant to Gov. Code sec. 54956.9(d)(1), Citizens for Environmental Protection and Responsible Planning, et al. v. County of Lake, et al.
8.2: Public employee evaluation: Social Services Director Crystal Markytan.
8.3: Public Employee Evaluation: Air Pollution Control Officer Douglas Gearhart.
8.4: Public Employee Evaluation: Agricultural Commissioner Katherine Vanderwall.
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.
Clear Lake. Photo by Angela DePalma-Dow. Dear Lady of the Lake,
I wrote to you before and asked about the current state of the Hitch. Thank you for writing a column about them. Now my question is, what does it mean if the fish becomes “listed” or not? What does a federal listing do anyway? Thanks,
- Hans asking (again) about the Hitch
HI Hans,
Thanks for that great question. I will actually divide up the response to this question, since the answer is very large, complicated, and deserves more than one column.
So, today we will focus on the Endangered Species Act (ESA), implemented and enforced by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and what it means for a species to be “listed”, and the economic costs for a species to be listed, and I will end with a case study from my time working in a stream with a listed species.
As you mentioned Hans, I previously wrote about the hitch (or chi) in my column, "How about the Hitch," from Jan. 16, 2022.
Today I will not go into description, life history, or research on the hitch, as those can all be found in my previous column.
You can also view the Water Quality Wednesday How About the Hitch video, from Jan. 16, 2022 here.
Secondly, current status of the hitch, and other hitch populations, can be accessed in this video of the Board of Supervisors meeting from Feb. 7, where federal agencies studying the hitch, provided current data and condition information. This video is also available on the County of Lake YouTube Channel.
Lastly, the emergency proclamation for the hitch text can be found in this Lake County News article from Feb. 8. Basically, the proclamation outlines background precedents for why a declaration is needed, and that the hitch is important to lake county pomo culture and practice, and that various agencies increase efforts on protecting hitch lake and stream habitats, stream flows, and conservation measures to protect habitat and prevent further species loss.
The emergency proclamation was approved unanimously by the Board on Feb. 7.
What is the ESA?
When a species becomes “listed,” it means they are placed on a list that is applicable to the Federal US Fish and Wildlife Endangered Species Act, or ESA.
The ESA was enacted in 1973 by the 108th Congress, and is housed under the Department of Interior, and it’s the responsibility of the USFWS to implement and manage.
The first line in the ESA declares that plants, fish, and wildlife have become extinct because “economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation.”
Therefore, it's clear, based on the ESA, that any efforts to reduce extinctions and habitat loss, for target species, is to implement smarter economic development and account for species impacts, and protect “critical habitat” or areas, or range, that are necessary to sustain the target species numbers.
The ESA lists species classified as either threatened and endangered species, with the definitions being that “Threatened” identifies a species as likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future and “Endangered” identifies a species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.
Some species that have been listed as endangered, ended up existing in a wider area than previously monitored prior to listing, and then were moved down the list from endangered to threatened. Others, who were thought to be extinct, were discovered in large populations and put back on the endangered list, such as the Iowa Pleistocene Snail, found in only north-facing slopes in certain regions of Iowa and Illinois.
Likewise, species can be removed from the list, or delisted, when they are declared extinct, such as the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, last seen in the Tensas River, LA in 1944, the Scioto madtom, freshwater fish last observed in Ohio in 1957, and about 21 other fish and wildlife species since 2021.
The best result is when species become fully “delisted” when their numbers and habitats fully rebound and are deemed to no longer need the protection of the ESA. Examples of this are the Steller Sea Lion, listed in 1990, delisted in 2003, and the Eastern Northern Pacific Grey Whale was listed in 1970 and considered recovered, and delisted in 1994.
What does the ESA do, exactly?
The purpose, as listed on page one of the ESA, states that, “The purposes of this Act are to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved, to provide a program for the conservation of such endangered species and threatened species”.
ESA, as defined on the FWS website, “The Endangered Species Act establishes protections for fish, wildlife, and plants that are listed as threatened or endangered; provides for adding species to and removing them from the list of threatened and endangered species, and for preparing and implementing plans for their recovery; provides for interagency cooperation to avoid take of listed species and for issuing permits for otherwise prohibited activities…”
This means that to comply with ESA, the target species has to have habitat necessary to live and sustain a population. In other words, a species has to be able to live in their “natural habitat” and not just inside a zoo, wildlife park, fish farm, hatchery, or other type of facility that is sustaining their livelihood.
Population supplementation (like fish hatcheries) can be used to maintain populations that live in their wild habitat, but the habitat has to be maintained to support the natural and supplemented populations. This would also imply that the habitat must support the species reproduction and recruitment within the remaining population. So, the ESA is really about preserving enough habitat and wildlands that can support healthy, sustaining populations of fish, plants, and animals and that nothing is causing death or “harm” to the individuals of those populations.
Some species can even be declared extinct in the wild, but then be reclassified to critically endangered, if repopulation efforts are successful. This scenario applies to the California Condor, which now has several wild established populations in several western states, but at one time there were only a few individuals in parks.
Since about 1850, more than 100 years prior to the ESA, there were several acts that protected wildlife and implemented federal conservation laws. The Lacey Act of 1900 prevented commercial hunting and interstate trade of certain plants and animals. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 made it illegal to pursue, take, hunt, capture, kill, or sell birds migrating between the United States and Canada and the The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act of 1940 prohibited the taking of a bald or golden eagle.
In 1966, the Endangered Species Preservation Act was passed by Congress, which created a federal list of endangered animals and prohibited the take of listed animal species on all national wildlife refuges. This law was later modified in 1969 to prohibit the selling or importing of animals from around the world that were facing extinction.
Then in 1972, Congress passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which prohibits the take of all marine mammals, including whales, dolphins, sea lions, sea otters, and polar bears, within waters of the US. This last law was implemented by US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and remained responsible for marine mammal protection after the 1973 ESA enaction.
You can see there is a long history of federal fish and wildlife protection, as ESA deems it necessary “to better safeguard, for the benefit of all citizens, the Nation’s heritage in fish, wildlife, and plants.”[1]
Believe it or not, the ESA was signed into law by then president Richard Nixon, and one of the law’s authors was the first head of the White House’s Office of Environmental Quality, Russel Train (and would later become the second administrator of the US EPA), and the law passed the house 320-12, and the senate with a vote of 92-0, a large margin in favor. This act was highly popular with everyone.
The ESA has been amended several times, in 1978, 1982, 1988, and lastly in 2004. A push to remove the ESA completely, with a clear sunset clause to end the act by 2015, was proposed in 2005 but never made it to the house floor.
The last item of note, especially as it related to a potential ESA listing of the hitch, the ESA as stated in its second purpose, “ It is further declared to be the policy of Congress that Federal agencies shall cooperate with State and local agencies to resolve water resource issues in concert with conservation of endangered species.”
Limiting or eliminating take
Throughout the above section, and when reading any ESA legislation, website, account, or listing description, the phrase “take of the species” [prohibited Acts, page 25] is commonly occurring. This is really the meat and potatoes of the ESA when it comes to the boots-on-the-ground protections of a species.
In the ESA list of definitions [page 3], The term “take” means to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct. The “harm” clause is the most important here, as any negative impact to ecosystems or habitat, could consequently, harm the target species.
Therefore, any activity by any person that might cause, or lead to, “take/harm” of the listed species, is considered in violation of the ESA, and against the law.
It’s worthy to note, that in the ESA definitions [page 3], the term “persons” applies to means an “individual, corporation, partnership, trust, association, or any other private entity; or any officer, employee, agent, department, or instrumentality of the Federal Government, of any State, municipality, or political subdivision of a State, or of any foreign government; any State, municipality, or political subdivision of a State; or any other entity subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.”
To put it bluntly, any activity or action that an individual or a city, county, state, conducts that might lead to take/harm of an ESA species, is in violation of the law and has to be responsible for the protection of that species through that activity or action.
Failure to comply with ESA can lead to citizen suits, and civil and criminal penalties. Civil violations of major provisions can result in $12,000 - $25,000 fines. Some criminal violations can lead to imprisonment and a fine up to $50,000.
The cost of the ESA
When a species is declared endangered or threatened, there are associated costs, specifically to file the paperwork, assign staff, and to initiate a turn of events that start the process of protection, conservation, monitoring, and reporting, and collaborative and cooperative efforts by federal, trial,state, local, private, and commercial persons or entities. There are also costs that trickle down to state, local, and private partners, that ensure protection of critical habitat and prevention of take of the species.
Listed species, and likewise their habitats, are leveraged to access ESA funds for protection measures such as habitat acquisitions and restoration projects. But some costs, like mitigation, have to be borne by private parties or local or regional agencies. Costs to implement ESA requirements are notoriously expensive.
One of the tasks that are required when a species is listed, is for the USFWS to estimate the cost for a recovery of that species. For example, described in a 414-page plan to recover California Clapper rail bird, the salt marsh harvest mouse, and three plants, which all share a similar niche habitat of Salt marshes of the San Francisco bay Delta, is a total estimate recovery cost of $1,242,501,640 (you read that right, it’s $1.2 billion). This plan describes recovery costs through 2063 and also adds a caveat that “additional costs that could not be estimated at this time” of which, footnotes indicate these additional costs include obvious items such as the cost to “acquire / protect currently unprotected habitat”.
Some listed species, like the loggerhead turtle, do not have a total cost estimate for recovery, but within their recovery plan, indications that the cost would exceed $1 billion is obscurely suggested, but is also probably the best case scenario, especially considering the turtle's habitat and international complications.
However, there is a local cost that must be borne to ensure the recovery of an ESA-listed species. The concept that previous protection was missing, and actions were allowed without consideration of take or harm to a species, is the cause of the species needing to be listed in the first place. There is a reason the species is being listed, and of course it will cost a lot to recover it, and there really is no way around that conclusion.
Revisiting the first line of the ESA, unfettered economic development, without consideration of take of a species, or impact to the habitat that species relies on, is the cause of that species potentially going extinct.
In addition, USFWS uses a broadly interpreted term for “harm”, to include activities that can modify a species’ habitat in a matter that somehow harms the species.
Local or private party costs are those that come in the form of regulatory costs imposed upon those operating in, managing, or conducting activities in the habitats and ecosystems that house the listed species. The regulatory mechanisms through the ESA that operate here are the prohibition against “take/harm” and the requirements for consultation (section 7).
For Lake County, if the Clear Lake hitch becomes listed, this would mean that any project that occurs in, on, or near hitch habitat, would require both consultation to ensure the project won’t damage or negatively impact hitch habitat, and requirements to prevent or eliminate possibility of take or harm, such at mitigation or alternative designs, both of which could cost more on the ground and take longer to implement, but would in fact protect the species more effectively then the status quo.
Therefore, it’s expected that the local economic burden when a species becomes listed will not be small and in fact can be significant, and drastically change the way many types of projects are planned and completed.
For example, the Lucerne Harbor dredging project has undergone significant state and tribal consultation, but if the hitch was listed now, then additional federal consultations and review would also be required, adding another complicated step to the planning process before a single scoop of dirt can be dredged. The same additional steps would apply to any bridge project that covers a stream identified as historic hitch spawning ground, which in Clear Lake, includes all of them. But these actions could go a long way in protecting the species habitat and providing recovery.
It’s also important to note that the ESA is relatively benign on requirements for Indian Trust lands, because the ESA applies to lands of the US, and tribal trust lands are sovereign and tribes are sovereign governments, with their own conservation laws and practices.
To consolidate compliance with ESA however, there is a Secretarial Order 3206 (SO 3206), entitled “American Indian Tribal Rights, Federal-Tribal Trust Responsibilities, and the Endangered Species Act.” SO 3206 was established to help harmonize the government-to-government relations as they pertain to ESA in creating critical habitat and species conservation plans.
The Department of Interior Indian Affairs Endangered Species Program does provide funding to encourage tribes to comply with the consultation provisions under ESA section 7, or for species recognized as tribally-significant on tribal lands, even if the species is not yet listed.
Tribes in Lake County could currently be applying for and receiving ESA funds for hitch protection projects, as this species qualifies as tribally-significant.
External cost of ESA Listing: Red Legged Frog Case Study
However, there are other unforeseen, or external, costs to the ESA, especially for natural resource managers, that sometimes are not considered until well after a species is listed, and in this I have personal experience which I want to share.
About six years ago, I worked in the Los Virgenes stream system in Southern California, in the Santa Monica Mountains, with a nonprofit environmental trust organization. We conducted invasive red swamp crayfish management and control in streams. Specifically we trapped half a million crayfish a year from these streams, just to maintain stream habitat conditions so native and sensitive species such as Pacific Tree Frog and Arroyo Chub could sustain their populations, as fish and amphibians are key prey to invasive crayfish.
One particular stream section we heavily managed was designated locally extirpated habitat of the Federally Listed as threatened California Red Legged Frog (Rana draytonii), meaning historically red legged frogs had lived there, but were considered locally extinct due to crayfish predation and habitat modification from urban development.
However, in 2016, because we had been so successful in trapping and managing the invasive red swamp populations, we had discovered California Red Legged Frogs, eggs, and tadpoles, in this particular reach of stream. What a great success for an invasive species manager! Species recovery realized in our own stream!
However, once USWFW, and state agencies, learned that the stream was now home (again) to red legged frogs, we had to stop using our traps because the chance of “incidental take” of the frogs getting stuck in the traps, was too high for the USFWS to risk.
So, let’s review. The act of trapping and removing invasive frogs from a stream allowed the listed frog species to return to the reach, repopulate, and even reproduce. But, according to ESA regulations, the act of trapping was deemed too risky, and could cause “harm” to the red legged frogs, who had only recently returned. Additionally, there was a risk of “take,” if a few individual frogs or tadpoles got stuck in a trap.
But, termination of a trapping program would lead to increases in crayfish in the reach, which would prey upon the frogs, and cause local extirpation, again.
We proposed to alter soak times and modify traps, to still catch crayfish effectively, but limit the bycatch, but because there was no previous research existing that modified traps wouldn’t cause take, the USFWS wouldn’t accept that as a solution.
So we were stuck, with a special species on the brink and an extremely invasive species out of control. Our solution was to conduct some experiments with modified traps, in a similarly structured, nearby stream, to demonstrate effective trapping with minimal to no bycatch.
Then, we even refined our study to focus on even more specific type of traps and designs. We also published that study, again as open access, in the Journal of Freshwater Science, 2021 Volume 40, Issue 3.
Now, USFWS can use the information gathered during these field experiments to allow managers to expand their tool box for both effectively managing invasives while protecting native, sensitive, and listed species.
What this means for the hitch
If we want to determine what can or can not cause harm or cause the Hitch, more research is needed, although we probably don’t have time or resources to conduct and publish many experimental studies, especially with so few members of the population left.
However, all research, even if it doesn’t directly provide answers for the issues currently plaguing the hitch now, can indicate information useful for future management of the hitch or other species, or their habitat, whether the fish becomes listed or not.
Based on what I have provided you today, and my personal experience working in aquatic systems with ESA-listed species, I think that the emergency proclamation passed by the Board of Supervisors is a really, really good thing. This commitment and communication to conservation indicates that local governments, elected by the local community, are serious about saving and protecting the hitch.
This is key when it comes to a listing decision, as local support for species preservation indicates that the local community is invested in prioritizing conservation and willing to enact and participate in measures that will conserve the species, even before being enforced by the federal government. Even a local declaration can provide funding opportunities and advantages that might otherwise not be accessible.
Contrast this action with a community that takes no action, or does nothing in the face of an extinction, the USFWS might deem it more prudent to step in and make conservation a priority on behalf of the species.
Again, thank you for the continued question and interest, Hans! While this is only part 1, I will continue to cover the hitch conservation and ESA listing topic over the next few years, especially with a listing decision pending and probably decided in early 2025.
Additionally, and this is only my opinion on this issue, while I think listing has a place, I think the ultimate goal is to not have a listed species in Clear Lake. Ideally, we would want to see a recovery of the species without having to be listed. Clear Lake doesn’t need another negative label, we are already stamped with 303(d) listed impaired waterbody and have a Superfund site (Sulfur Bank Mercury Mine) located on our shores.
We all want to see a swift and sustainable recovery of the hitch before the species can be listed. This goal, although high, is not unattainable but will require significant and major work by all parties interested in seeing this species recover - and also those who could care less, because the impacts of complying with ESA are far reaching, expensive, and long-lasting, and will no doubt impact on everyone in the County on some level.
Remember some species take 50 years to be delisted due to recovery, but this has only happened a handful of times in the last 30 years. To prevent a federal hand down of conservation, let’s all work together, from the bottom up, to improve conditions now, so that we can see this species survive.
Sincerely,
Lady of the Lake
Angela De Palma-Dow is a limnologist (limnology = study of fresh inland waters) who lives and works in Lake County. Born in Northern California, she has a Master of Science from Michigan State University. She is a Certified Lake Manager from the North American Lake Management Society, or NALMS, and she is the current president/chair of the California chapter of the Society for Freshwater Science. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
