Members of the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake present a check for $80,000 to the Northshore Fire Protection District. Courtesy photo. UPPER LAKE, Calif. — The Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake tribe presented an $80,000 check to support the emergency response efforts of the Northshore Fire Protection District.
The Northshore Fire District said this latest round of support will assist with emergency response efforts and staff support.
The tribe’s contribution will assist with staffing and maintaining equipment to support firefighters when on duty.
“Everyday the brave men and women of the Northshore Fire Protection District are there for our community,” said Sherry Treppa, chairwoman for the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake. “While others are running from the danger, they are running into it. The Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake appreciate the work of the Northshore Fire Protection District and are honored to continue our support of public safety investments to better meet the needs of our community,”
“The Northshore Fire Protection District is grateful for the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake’s ongoing support for our community. This latest donation will greatly aid in our emergency response efforts and ensure the tools our crews need are appropriately maintained and ready to protect the community,” said Northshore Fire Chief Mike Ciancio.
The contribution is a part of the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake’s ongoing commitment to local communities and residents in the region.
California Superintendent of the Year Dr. Giovanni H. Annous. Courtesy photo. UPPER LAKE, Calif. — Upper Lake Unified Superintendent Dr. Giovanni H. Annous has received the prestigious California Superintendent of the Year Award for 2023 from the Small School District Association, or SSDA.
California has 939 school districts of which 730 are classified as small school districts.
Dr. Annous was recognized for his achievements and leadership of the Upper Lake Unified School District, or ULUSD, at the annual SSDA conference held in Sacramento.
“To be honored by SSDA and your peers with such a prestigious award is extremely gratifying,” said Annous. “To be recognized with an award that bears Charles Binderup’s name is of high honor. I am forever grateful to the Upper Lake USD community for believing in me and for their collaborative and continued support. I am also eternally thankful to our selfless and dedicated ULUSD school board and leadership team members for their hard work and commitment through our successful journey. Leading ULUSD has been my privilege, pleasure, and the best professional gift I have ever received.”
Dr. Annous hails from a family of educators; his father and mother are retired physical education and language teachers, his sister, Dr. Jinane Annous, is a retired superintendent, and his wife, Majda, is a school psychologist.
He and his wife are the proud parents of their 15-year-old son, Sebastien.
Dr. Annous graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a degree in electrical, biomedical, and clinical engineering. He holds two Master of Science degrees in education with a focus on curriculum and instruction and educational administration.
He earned a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Laverne.
Dr. Annous’ career in education has spanned over 30 years; 26 of those years were spent in school and district leadership.
He started in the classroom teaching seventh and eighth grade science.
Annous served as a dean of students, assistant principal, middle school principal, high school principal and superintendent.
For 19 years, he served as a core adjunct professor for the University of Redlands, teaching in graduate and postgraduate programs.
In the past six years at the Upper Lake Unified School District, Dr. Annous has established and maintains positive relations with the Board of Education.
He has collaboratively passed two bond measures, solidified the unification of two districts and increased district average daily attendance.
With a strong balanced budget, he has increased employee compensation while establishing and maintaining successful relationships with labor partners. Moreover, Dr. Annous designed and developed a state-of-the-art Career Technical Education Complex, a cutting-edge health and fitness center, and phase one of the new elementary school.
In addition, Dr. Annous conceptualized and built a wellness center that serves the at-promise population of the district. Most of these accomplishments occurred against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which he kept the schools of the district open for in-person learning, with up to 78% of the students on campuses.
In 2018, Dr. Annous founded the Northshore Youth Club, a successful nonprofit organization providing academic, athletics, arts, and adventure programs serving upward of 600 children annually in and around Lake County.
From left, Upper Lake Unified School Board President Diane Plante, Dr. Giovanni Annous and Board member Joanne Breton. Courtesy photo. Dr. Annous was named 2021 Superintendent of the Year for Association of California School Administrators Region 4 which encompasses all school districts in Marin, Napa, Sonoma, Lake, Mendocino and Colusa counties.
ULUSD board members and staff community lauded Annous as a visionary leader.
“Upper Lake Unified School District is very proud to have Dr. Annous as our superintendent and we are happy his hard work has been acknowledged by the education community and his peers. Our students and staff have received the best leadership and vision. Congratulations, Dr. Giovanni Annous!,” said Diane Plante, Upper Lake Unified School District Board president.
“Dr. Annous is a brilliant visionary without boundaries, he works tirelessly to provide the best for the staff, students, as well as the community. He is a phenomenal example of servant leadership,” said Upper Lake Unified Vice President Joanne Breton.
“Dr. Annous has been a transformational leader for our district, supportive and encouraging of the individual, fostering team development, and putting our community first. We have benefited from his experience and insight as we continue to develop and be inspired by the example he sets for us all at ULUSD,” said Anna Sabalone, president of the Upper Lake Employees Association, secondary assessment coordinator, and art, AVID and humanities teacher.
“Dr. Annous' passion, dedication, and tireless energy are evidenced by his remarkable accomplishments for our district. He treats us like family and is always willing to throw on his chef's hat and cook the entire staff a delicious meal. Under his leadership, he brought a vision to life, and our district thrived. I’m so proud to work for the Upper Lake Unified School District family. Congratulations, Dr. Annous!” said Angel Hayenga, English chair and teacher.
“Dr. Annous has made Upper Lake a destination district for our community. We appreciate his inspiration and energy, which is highly contagious. Our students are his top priority,” said ULUSD Board Member Claudine Pedroncelli.
“Dr. Annous’ dedication to education extends beyond teaching students. He is passionate about developing his staff and maximizing their potential,” said district Chief Business Official Michael Kauble.
“Dr. Annous is the epitome of a supportive, loving, giving, intelligent, visionary leader. He doesn’t just send his teams out to do the work. He is part of the change from the ground up. Everyone that works with Dr. Annous knows he has a heart of gold. Through his visionary leadership, the Upper Lake Unified School district is moving forward in an upward trajectory and there are only better things on the horizon with Dr. Annous at the helm,” said Tenderly Logan, assistant superintendent of pupil personnel services.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to be part of the ULUSD team under the leadership of Dr. Annous. His direction has turned our community into a destination district and established so many opportunities for the students of the Northshore to be successful,” said Upper Lake Middle School Principal Mike Smith.
Dr. Giovanni Annous speaking at the 2023 Small School District Association conference. Courtesy photo.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday that it will not grant an emergency endangered species listing to the Clear Lake hitch, however, a listing under the agency’s regular process could still happen after a species evaluation is complete in two years’ time.
The Fish and Wildlife Service said it will continue to invest in projects that support the hitch’s recovery while moving forward with its full evaluation of the species scheduled to be completed by January 2025.
Lake County News reached out to Sarah Ryan, environmental director for the Big Valley Pomo on Tuesday, to ask for the tribe’s comment. However, as of press time, the tribe did not offer a formal response to the federal emergency listing decision.
Meg Townsend of the Center for Biological Diversity, who has been working on the organization’s efforts to save the hitch, said it’s unfortunate that Fish and Wildlife seems to believe that an emergency listing is only for extremely rare situations.
“We really believe the hitch should have qualified,” Townsend said.
The hitch, also known as the “chi” to Lake County’s Pomo tribes — for whom it’s traditionally been a primary food source — is one of Clear Lake’s native fish.
It’s been listed as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act since 2014.
In late 2020, Fish and Wildlife declined to list the fish federally, which led to a lawsuit seeking reconsideration filed in August 2021 by the Center for Biological Diversity — whose work led to the state listing.
In recent years, as the back and forth about the federal listing has taken place, tribes and other observers have reported a major decline in hitch numbers, a situation that’s largely been attributed to climate change, habitat loss, a series of drought years and poor water quality in Clear Lake and its tributaries.
In November, the California Fish and Game Commission wrote to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to request emergency listing of the hitch under the Endangered Species Act.
Tribal concerns for the hitch’s survival led them to join with the Center for Biological Diversity to advocate for that emergency listing action in December following a summit on the hitch situation.
In February, the Board of Supervisors proclaimed a local emergency for the hitch.
Then, in March, apparently bolstered by high water in Clear Lake and its tributaries, the hitch appeared by the thousands in local creeks as they began their annual spawning run.
After considering the immediacy of the threats to the species, Fish and Wildlife said its review of the hitch’s current situation of the species “does not indicate that an emergency under the Endangered Species Act exists at this time,” according to the Tuesday statement.
“The Service is committed to helping the Clear Lake hitch regardless of its federal listing status,” said Michael Fris, field supervisor of the Service’s Sacramento Fish and Wildlife Office. “We will continue to monitor the species closely and work collaboratively with partners on projects that contribute to conserving the species.”
The agency’s Tuesday statement also noted, “While the species’ population numbers in Clear Lake are troubling, many of the issues affecting Clear Lake and its associated tributaries are chronic and have no immediate solution or need further investigation to determine an appropriate solution. The emergency listing provision is effective when there is a clear threat that can be addressed expeditiously by regulatory authorities and has only been used a handful of times in the history of the Endangered Species Act.”
While current data show the hitch population in Clear Lake is declining, the population in nearby Thurston Lake continues to successfully spawn and includes fish ranging in age from juvenile to adult. Hitch have also been reported in Blue Lakes, Fish and Wildlife reported.
Fish and Wildlife said it is funding several studies and working with local parties on a conservation strategy for the hitch.
To date, the agency said it has provided more than $1.2 million in grants and other funding to the U.S. Geological Service and Lake County tribes for monitoring, research and habitat restoration projects related to the Clear Lake hitch.
In April, the Service provided a $250,000 grant to USGS to support a mapping effort of streams and tributaries flowing into Clear Lake and identify where barriers to spawning hitch exist. This data will help Fish and Wildlife and other organizations prioritize efforts to remove barriers that impede the spawning activity.
Fish and Wildlife said it is committed to completing a conservation strategy for the hitch in 2023. The strategy identifies goals, objectives and actions that are needed to improve the species’ habitat. It also addresses the issues that are impacting the Clear Lake hitch and the watershed, including drought and climate change.
The agency said the strategy was developed alongside many partners, including tribes, local organizations, and state, federal and local government agencies. It views the conservation strategy as a recovery plan and intends to complete and implement the strategy while completing the formal evaluation of the species.
Asked if a listing is still possible depending on the assessment, Meghan Snow, a public affairs officer for Fish and Wildlife, told Lake County News in an email, “That is a possibility, but it's too early to determine. The Service will issue a call for data on the Clear Lake hitch this summer. The data collected through this process will be evaluated and integrated into the Service’s assessment of the species. The agency is on track to complete its evaluation of the Clear Lake hitch by January 2025. If the evaluation indicates that listing the species is warranted, the agency will propose listing at that time.”
The Center for Biological Diversity hopes Fish and Wildlife will do “the right thing” once the assessment is completed and list the hitch, Townsend said.
She added, “Listing doesn’t mean a species is saved.”
Townsend said it’s necessary to provide protections for species and habitat.
However, for the hitch, Townsend said no science-supported evidence is showing that protections are working. “We really need to see a population rebound this year.”
That could happen given the significant rainfall Lake County has experienced. Or, Townsend added, the recent developments with the hitch population could just “be a blip on the trend toward extinction.”
In the meantime, she acknowledged that governments are giving money to the effort to save the hitch, which came about because groups like hers, working with the tribes, called attention to the fish’s plight.
“It’s really all hands on deck,” she 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, Calif. — The city of Clearlake, city of Lakeport and county of Lake recently partnered to establish a new agency, the Lake County Recreation Agency, with a focus on improvements to recreational facilities/programs in Lake County.
The Lake County Recreation Agency, or LCRA, Board of Directors is composed of two county supervisors, two Clearlake council members and two Lakeport council members.
There is a seventh, “at-large,” position on the board of directors that is to be appointed by the six current members.
If you are interested in applying for the at-large position, please complete the application and submit to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or to Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
The application is available on the city of Lakeport website at this link.
To be eligible for appointment to the LCRA Board, candidates must be at least 18 years of age, a citizen of California, and a resident of and registered voter in the county of Lake.
The applicant is asked to describe education, experience, training, license or professional designation, and public service qualifications.
Candidates will describe what they consider to be the top three to five significant issues or priorities in regard to recreation in Lake County and their thoughts about addressing these concerns.
For more information, contact Assistant Lakeport City Manager/Finance Director Nicholas Walker at 707-263-5615, Extension 301.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — In the wake of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service saying it will not grant an emergency Endangered Species Act listing for the Clear Lake hitch, the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians voiced its disappointment with the decision.
On Tuesday, Fish and Wildlife announced that it wouldn’t give the listing, which the California Fish and Game Commission, Lake County’s tribes and the Center for Biological Diversity asked for the agency to do last year.
The hitch, a fish native to Clear Lake, is known as the “chi” to Lake County’s tribes, for whom it has had an important cultural role due to being a primary food source historically.
In recent years, observers have noted a marked decline in hitch population, and that information — along with advocacy from Big Valley and other local tribes — led to the Board of Supervisors declaring a Clear Lake hitch emergency in February.
Fish and Wildlife’s Tuesday statement noted, “While the species’ population numbers in Clear Lake are troubling, many of the issues affecting Clear Lake and its associated tributaries are chronic and have no immediate solution or need further investigation to determine an appropriate solution.”
“We are disappointed that not only did USFWS not reach out to inform the tribal leaders who signed the emergency listing request of the service's decision, but they also continue to insist that the causes of our chi's demise are uncertain and complex,” said Big Valley Band of Pomo Indian Chairman Philip Gomez.
“An emergency listing could require that water users time their extractions and use during the spawning season. This would result in increased water flow in the creeks during the critical spawning period, allowing newly hatched chi to make it back to the lake,” Gomez said. “Without state or federal requirements such as these, a year with normal to little rain will result again in severely reduced levels of our chi as we have seen for years. This is a step that USFWS could have required in an emergency listing.”
The hitch has been listed as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act since 2014.
In 2020, Fish and Wildlife declined to list the fish, which led to a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity.
Fish and Wildlife said Tuesday that it is still in the midst of an evaluation of the hitch, which is expected to be completed in 2025. That has the potential to lead to a federal listing under its regular process.
However, Meg Townsend of the Center for Biological Diversity told Lake County News this week that a listing doesn’t guarantee that a species can be saved, and that protections for the species and habitat are needed.
Over the past month and a half, the high water levels in Clear Lake and its tributaries — the result of this winter’s string of atmospheric river storms — has made for better spawning conditions for the hitch, which have been spotted in large numbers.
In some cases, creeks spilling over into fields in the Kelseyville area led to farmers and tribal representatives working side by side to move the fish safely back into the streams in April. That work has to be done under a special state permit.
“The multi tribal hitch observation and rescue efforts, along with the Big Valley Tribe’s ongoing review and monitoring of the ground and surface water flows in the watershed are important efforts that are providing some protection, but more is needed. We can't have our chi go extinct on our watch,” Gomez 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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lakeport City Council on Tuesday evening approved amending a contract for a study to look at Lakeport Boulevard, one of the city’s busiest and expanding commercial corridors.
Public Works Director Ron Ladd asked for, and received, the council’s unanimous approval for the first amendment to the city’s professional services agreement with WMH, hired in the fall to conduct the Lakeport Boulevard at Bevins Street project study report at a cost not to exceed $147,014.
Ladd’s written report for the meeting said the new contract will cost $157,986.
The project’s expanded scope, while being more expensive, “will provide a more comprehensive evaluation of the corridor and provide cost estimates that future development will be required to contribute to for their fair share of traffic improvements to the corridor,” Ladd explained in his written report to the council.
“This has been a challenging project, to say the least,” Ladd told the council, adding, “We have a lot going on in the Lakeport Boulevard corridor.”
When the city initially issued its request for qualifications for the study in June of 2022, Ladd said the plan had been to study the entire Lakeport Boulevard corridor, including the on- and offramps, the east and west sides of Highway 29, future development on both sides of the highway and potential impacts on Bevins and Martin streets.
At the same time, he said the city was aware that the state was moving forward on its courthouse project.
The new $73.1 million courthouse will be built at 675 Lakeport Blvd. The Judicial Council of California reported that construction is expected to begin in February 2024 and be completed by October 2025.
A state priority project list created in 2019 put Lakeport’s courthouse at No. 1 out of 80 projects statewide.
Ladd explained that the city had hoped to use the contract to assist the state in the development of the new courthouse project and so the original, broader scope to the study was scaled down.
Part of the city’s goal had been to introduce a traffic alternative to the state’s proposed plan that will impact the intersection of Lakeport Boulevard at Larrecou Lane, Ladd said.
However, the state presented the city with what Ladd said were “aggressive” timelines and the city, in turn, thought the state was being narrow-minded about some of the traffic design options and wasn’t willing to look at the city’s proposals.
In the end, Ladd said staff felt it was better to go back to the project’s original scope of assessing the entire corridor.
While the cost will be higher, it will provide them with a better study for traffic improvement needs, position them in the future for funding for projects in the corridor, help the city to collect development fees and pursue partnerships with other agencies.
Ladd said he’s been involved every step of the way and the situation is still confusing to him as well.
“There are a lot of moving parts here,” said Ladd.
Mayor Stacey Mattina said Ladd was doing a great job, and that it was the courts that didn't make sense, a sentiment with which City Manager Kevin Ingram agreed.
Ingram said the change in plans allows the city to take a step back. He pointed out that the city’s previous work to complete a revitalization plan helped bring in millions of dollars for the new Lakefront Park’s development.
Similarly, he said the Lakeport Boulevard corridor study will position the city for getting the construction aspects of improvements to the area into the Lake Area Planning Council’s work plan in the future.
It will also help the city determine appropriate developers fees. “The developers want to know what their costs are up front. They don't like the surprises later,” said Ingram, adding that developers would prefer to have a study like this one so they can get that information.
Even though the study’s cost is a significant outlay to the city in the beginning, “This will be paid for through future development,” Ingram said.
There is growing development pressure along Lakeport Boulevard. Ingram said it also makes sense to have Caltrans involved in the planning process from a comprehensive standpoint.
Councilman Brandon Disney said he could think of several new projects — including a possible new pool and “The Hub” commercial development along nearby Parallel Drive — that would impact Lakeport Boulevard.
Ingram said Lake County Tribal Health also has met with the city several times to discuss its expansion plans, which also would affect the area.
“The future of this area is going to be pretty busy,” said Disney. While it’s an expensive study, “There’s a lot going on here,” he added.
Councilman Michael Froio moved to approve the amendment, which the council approved 5-0.
Also on Tuesday, the council presented a proclamation designating May 1 to 7 as Youth Week, and received presentations from Supervisor Bruno Sabatier on the Public, Educational and Governmental, or PEG, channel and the upcoming Shakespeare at the Lake event by the event’s director, John Tomlinson.
In other business, the council adopted a resolution revising the City of Lakeport Legislative Policy to include reference to the League of California Cities 2023 state and federal advocacy priorities and approved a services agreement with OpenGov for permitting, licensing and procurement software.
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.
“Tink.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control’s shelter continues to be filled with doings needing new families.
The shelter’s website lists 47 dogs waiting for adoption.
Dogs available to new families this week include “Tink,” a 2 year old Doberman Pinscher mix that shelter staff describe as a “total love bug” who wants all the attention she can get.
Another of the waiting dogs is “Bella,” a female American pit bull mix terrier with a short black and tan coat.
“Bella.” Photo courtesy of Clearlake Animal Control. A longtime shelter resident and favorite, a shepherd mix named Terry, recently was adopted.
The shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, call the shelter at 707-762-6227, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., visit Clearlake Animal Control on Facebook or on the city’s website.
This week’s adoptable dogs are featured below.
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.
Students’ artwork will be on display during the “On-Ramp” art and music celebration on Saturday, May 6, 2023, at Pomo Elementary School in Clearlake, California. Photo courtesy of the Konocti Unified School District. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — On Saturday, May 6, Konocti Unified School District students and their families will host an outdoor event to celebrate the first year of its new music and arts program: ONline Rural Arts and Music Program or “On-Ramp.”
Families and community members are encouraged to drop by Pomo Elementary School located at 3350 Acacia St. in Clearlake from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for food, live music, and interactive arts activities led by On-Ramp teachers.
The event will feature approximately 500 student self-portraits featuring a variety of artistic styles and media, all integrated with students’ personal narrative writing, as well as student musical performances led by new music specialist teacher, Brenda Gravesen.
The Lower Lake High School drumline and a local brass quintet will also perform.
Konocti Unified is able to provide this district-wide elementary music program using face-to-face instruction supported by online resources because it was chosen as one of only 27 districts nationwide to receive a four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education called the Assistance for Arts Education grant.
“Konocti Unified is thrilled for this opportunity to bring music and the arts to our elementary students,” said Konocti Unified Superintendent Becky Salato. “From solid research, we know that participation in the arts improves academic achievement, engages students and families, and builds the Social/Emotional Learning skills our students need for success in school and in life.”
Tribal leaders, law enforcement representatives and others shared concerns at an informational hearing and a news briefing today about the continuing Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis with lawmakers and shared that despite new resources to address the issue, California now has two tribes so disturbed by violence against their members that they have declared states of emergency.
Round Valley Indian Tribes declared a State of Emergency in April, after two members were found murdered, the latest victims in Northern California of Missing or Murdered Indigenous People, or MMIP.
The tribal action was preceded In December of 2021 by the Yurok Tribe in Humboldt County.
The Yurok Tribe action followed seven women reported being approached by possible traffickers and the still unsolved case of Emmilee Risling, reported missing in October 2021.
The Yurok Tribe has been at the forefront in confronting the crisis and called for a summit of California tribes and others held last year to address the issue.
Summit participants called for implementation of a public notification alert when Native Americans go missing — the 2022 “Feather Alert” law, similar to the Amber Alert, authored by Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-San Bernardino).
“The July 2021 Year 2 Progress Report about Missing and Murdered people reported that more than 150 cases were documented throughout the state, which places California among the top five states with the highest number of cases,” Ramos said.
He added, “The National Crime Information Center reported 5,712 missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls in the U.S. with only 116 of cases logged by the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. We can’t stop the violence with that lack of scrutiny and awareness.”
Yurok Tribe Chairman Joe James, who testified at the hearing, stated at a Day of Action to raise awareness on the MMIP issue, “We got some work to do and again, that’s why we’re here today. It’s us and we are moving this forward as tribes, as a state, as advocates, as organizations coming together, ringing that bell.”
Hearing participants included tribal chairpersons from around the state including James and Randall Britton, Rhonda Pope Flores of the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians, and others as well as Catalina Chacon Commissioner on the California Commission of the Status of Women and Girls, Yurok Tribe Chief Judge Abby Abinanti and Dorothy Alther, legal director, California Indian Legal Services.
Ramos said this year’s commemoration of MMIP Day included historic observations such as the Capitol Dome illuminated in red from May 2 to May 5 and the first ever Candlelight Vigil scheduled for May 3 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on the Capitol’s West Steps.
“We can’t stop pressing for solutions to this crisis. Too many lives have already been lost,” he said.
Daniel Merino, The Conversation and Nehal El-Hadi, The Conversation
When an unexpected rainstorm leaves you soaking wet, it is an annoyance. When a drought leads to fires, crop failures and water shortages, the significance of weather becomes vitally important.
If you could control the weather, would you?
Small amounts of rain can mean the difference between struggle and success. For nearly 80 years, an approach called cloud seeding has, in theory, given people the ability to get more rain and snow from storms and make hailstorms less severe. But only recently have scientists been able to peer into clouds and begin to understand how effective cloud seeding really is.
In this episode of “The Conversation Weekly,” we speak with three researchers about the simple yet murky science of cloud seeding, the economic effects it can have on agriculture, and research that may allow governments to use cloud seeding in more places.
Katja Friedrich, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder in the U.S., is a leading researcher on cloud seeding. “When we do cloud seeding, we are looking for clouds that have tiny super-cooled liquid droplets,” she explains. Silver iodide is very similar in structure to an ice crystal. When the droplets touch a particle of silver iodide, “they freeze, then they can start merging with other ice crystals, become snowflakes and fall out of the cloud.”
While the process is fairly straightforward, measuring how effective it is in the real world is not, according to Friedrich. “The problem is that once we modify a cloud, it’s really difficult to say what would’ve happened if you hadn’t cloud-seeded.” It’s hard enough to predict weather without messing with it artificially.
Cloud seeding is usually done by planes equipped with devices – like the one attached to the wing of this plane – that spray silver iodide into the atmosphere.Zuckerle/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
In 2017, Friedrich’s research group had a breakthrough in measuring the effect of cloud seeding. “We flew some aircraft, released silver iodide and generated these clouds that were like these six exact lines that were downstream of where the aircraft were seeding,” she says. They then had a second aircraft fly through the clouds. “We could actually quantify how much snow we could produce by two hours of cloud seeding.” That effect, according to research on cloud seeding, is an increase in precipitation of somewhere around 5% to 20% or 30%, depending on conditions.
Measuring the effect on precipitation – whether rain or snow – directly may have taken complex science and a bit of luck, but in places that have been using cloud seeding for long periods of time, the economic benefits are shockingly clear.
Dean Bangsund is a researcher at the University of North Dakota who studies the economics of agriculture. “We have a high amount of hail damage in North Dakota,” said Bangsund. For decades, the state government has been using cloud seeding to reduce hail damage, as cloud seeding leads to the formation of more pieces of smaller hail compared to fewer pieces of larger hail. “It doesn’t 100% eliminate hail; it’s designed to soften the impact.”
Every 10 years, the state of North Dakota does an analysis on the economic impacts of the cloud seeding program, measuring both reduction in hail damage and benefits from increased rain. Bangsund led the last report and says that for every dollar spent on the cloud seeding program, “we are looking at something that is anywhere from $8 or $9 in benefit on the really lowest scale, up to probably $20 of impact per acre.” With millions of acres of agricultural fields in the cloud seeding area, that is a massive economic benefit.
Both Freidrich and Bangsund emphasized that cloud seeding, while effective in some cases, cannot be used everywhere. There is also a lot of uncertainty in how much of an effect it has. One way to improve the effectiveness and applicability of cloud seeding is by improving the seed. Linda Zou is a professor of civil infrastructure and environmental engineering at Khalifa University in the United Arab Emirates.
Her work has focused on developing a replacement for silver iodide, and her lab has developed what she calls a nanopowder. “I start with table salt, which is sodium chloride,” says Zou. “This desirable-sized crystal is then coated with a thin nanomaterial layer of titanium dioxide.” When salt gets wet, it melts and forms a droplet that can efficiently merge with other droplets and fall from a cloud. Titanium dioxide attracts water. Put the two together and you get a very effective cloud-seeding material.
From indoor experiments, Zou found that “with the nanopowders, there are 2.9 times the formation of larger-size water droplets.” These nanopowders can also form ice crystals at warmer temperatures and less humidity than silver iodide.
As Zou says, “if the material you are releasing is more reactive and can work in a much wider range of conditions, that means no matter when you decide to use it, the chance of success will be greater.”
This episode was written and produced by Katie Flood. Mend Mariwany is the executive producer of The Conversation Weekly. Eloise Stevens does our sound design, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.
You can find us on Twitter @TC_Audio, on Instagram at theconversationdotcom or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s free daily email here.
Listen to “The Conversation Weekly” via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here.
Most small businesses rely on loans to finance at least some of their operations. Westend61/Getty Images
Small businesses – the heartbeat of the U.S. economy – are beginning to feel the pinch of tighter credit conditions as the Federal Reserve continues to increase borrowing costs.
That’s in large part brought on by the actions of the Federal Reserve, which has been raising borrowing costs for companies and consumers for over a year in an effort to tame inflation and lifted rates by another quarter point on May 3, 2023. Concerns about the availability of credit have also risen as a result of a spate of bank failures, including that of First Republic on May 1.
A decline in the availability of loans and other financing poses problems for all types of companies. But this can be particularly detrimental to small businesses, which have limited resources to sustain their growth and rely heavily on regional bank financing, currently the most stressed pocket of lending.
Small but mighty
Despite their size, small businesses – typically defined as companies with under 500 employees – are a very important part of the U.S. economy.
Small businesses don’t borrow a lot of money, with the average size of their debt just US$195,000. Altogether, though, it really adds up. At the end of 2022, small businesses owed nearly $18 trillion in debt.
While large companies have a range of financing options at their disposal, such as raising capital by selling stock or issuing convertible bonds, small businesses generally rely on bank loans for over 90% of their financing.
Consequently, if bank lending becomes harder to come by, they may need to cut spending or seek alternative sources of more expensive capital to continue investing and expanding. This could have implications for employment and commercial real estate, leading to further slowdowns in growth.
The last time small businesses faced similar financing challenges was during the 2008 financial crisis, when 1.8 million small businesses failed.
Signs of credit tightening
Whether or not the current banking turmoil is creating a serious credit crunch for small businesses remains an open question.
But the money supply was already very elevated, commercial bank lending has recovered somewhat since March, and this is the first time in decades that credit has tightened as a result of rate increases, which is different from other recent recessions. In those cases, credit tightening may very well have been the consequence of the downturn, as opposed to the cause.
In addition, a monthly survey on small business economic trends conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business, a lobbying group, found that overall optimism remained high in March, the latest data available.
Yet the survey did find that more business owners reported that it was harder to get a loan than in the past. Banks continue to tighten their lending standards to levels approaching those seen during the pandemic as policymakers consider stricter regulations to prevent the bank crisis from spreading.
This tightening of credit could lead to decreased capital expenditures and slower payroll growth in the future. These challenges for small businesses may ultimately end up causing the economy to decelerate further after a sluggish first quarter.
When companies have limited cash during a potential downturn, bankruptcy and company failures can occur, which is almost what happened in March, when Silicon Valley Bank was on the brink of causing many companies to lose the deposits they needed to make payroll.
Room for optimism
On the bright side, companies have been bracing for reduced access to credit since at least March 2022, when the Fed began raising rates.
What’s more, they’ve been anticipating that higher rates could drive the U.S. into recession. That means they should have had plenty of time to prepare to weather most potential storms.
But with a fourth bank failing and lingering uncertainty as to whether the quarter-point hike on May 3 will be the Fed’s last, we believe small businesses – and the U.S. economy – aren’t out of the woods quite yet.
Still, with the number of new business applications growing, we anticipate more businesses next year than the U.S. has today, and that may be welcome news for an economy trudging through a challenging environment.
This article was updated to include details of Fed rate hike.
I’m a member of a team of economists studying the social safety net and work. Because the rationale for work requirements is that they encourage adults who are able to work to earn more money and become more economically self-sufficient, we wanted to determine whether this policy boosts employment and earnings. We also looked into whether SNAP work requirements lead low-income adults to lose their benefits.
We found that the policy doesn’t make people more likely to find a job or make more money, but it does make Americans who could use help buying groceries less likely to get it.
Tracing a similar case study
Adults with SNAP benefits who are subject to work requirements must document at least 80 hours per month of paid work, job training or volunteering. Otherwise, they can get the benefits for only three months within a three-year period.
Before the pandemic, these rules applied to most so-called “able-bodied” adults without children who were under 50, and that policy will again apply in July. There are some exceptions, such as if the person with benefits is caring for kids younger than 6, has disabilities incompatible with holding a steady job or is in a drug or alcohol rehabilitation program.
To determine this policy’s impact, we studied SNAP, employment and earnings data in Virginia from both the period of the state’s previous suspension of work requirements and afterward.
Virginia, like many other states, suspended work requirements for several years beginning in the Great Recession. During this period, adults could enroll in the program and continue to receive benefits regardless of their employment status.
In October 2013, however, Virginia reinstated work requirements, and they remained in effect in most counties for several years. In those areas, adults under the age of 50 without dependents who were considered able to work needed to either satisfy work requirements or receive an individual exemption to keep their SNAP benefits, while similar adults over the age of 50 did not.
We followed both age groups over time, comparing whether they worked and were getting SNAP benefits both before and after work requirements returned.
No employment boost
By comparing older and younger adults previously getting SNAP benefits, we found that work requirements did not increase employment or earnings 18 months after their reinstatement.
We also detected nearly identical patterns of employment before and after work requirements were reinstated for people in both age groups.
Adults without dependents, whether or not they lost their SNAP benefits to the resumption of work requirements, were earning at most an additional US$28 per month.
Many lost their benefits
But we did find that work requirements dramatically reduced the number of people enrolled in SNAP. Among the adults subject to work requirements once they were restored in 2013, over half lost their benefits because of the policy.
We also found that work requirements disproportionately led people who had faced great economic hardships, such as those without housing or earned income, to lose benefits.
Only 44% of the currently or formerly homeless people getting benefits remained enrolled in SNAP 18 months after work requirements were reinstated, compared with 64% of everyone else, our estimates suggest. Similarly, only 59% of those with no earned income remained enrolled, relative to 73% of those with prior earnings.
Because they are likely to qualify for an individual exemption to work requirements, adults with a history of a disability were more likely to retain benefits compared with others.
Adults kicked out of SNAP because of work requirements typically stood to lose $189 in benefits per month – the most a single person could obtain at the time. It also amounted to about two-thirds of their gross income.
We studied work requirements in Virginia because of the availability of detailed data on both earnings and SNAP benefits.
Although work requirements enforcement varies across states, we believe that our results are likely to be representative of the impacts of this policy, since SNAP recipients in Virginia look similar to nationwide averages on most demographic characteristics except race.
Our findings do suggest that work requirements restrain federal spending by reducing the number of people getting SNAP benefits.
But our work also indicates that in today’s context, these savings would be at the expense of already vulnerable people facing additional economic hardship at a time when a new recession could be around the corner.
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