NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – This is the time of the year when rattlesnakes in the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument region are very active.

So, if you’re walking or hiking in the region keep an ear and an eye out for them.

There are several different species of rattlesnakes in California but the most common one in our region is the Northern Pacific Rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus oreganus).

Rattlesnakes are a kind of venomous pit viper. The two small pits on the face detect thermal radiation and act something like a pinhole camera, working in conjunction with the snake’s eyes to provide it with a kind of “thermal map” of its surroundings.

Although snakes can see easily in daylight, their pits also help them to see in darkness, detecting temperature variations of 32 degrees Fahrenheit or less and allowing them to see the heat signature of any nearby prey.

Rattlesnakes also have an excellent sense of smell. Their noses and their Jacobsen organs (located in the roof of the mouth and accessed when the snake flicks its tongue) work together to detect and identify scents.

Hearing is another issue, though. As they don’t have any external “ears,” rattlesnakes are effectively deaf and depend on vibrations in the ground to let them know if there is anything – like a human – coming at them that they cannot yet see or smell.

When alerted to intruders, the rattlesnakes will often shake their rattles as a warning that they are nearby.

The rattles are made up of a series of interlocking, hollow “buttons” at the end of the tail. Special muscles in the tail can shake the rattle up to 50 time per second.

And by the way, no, you can’t tell the snake’s age by the number of buttons on the rattle. New segments are added to the rattle each time the snake sheds its skin (which can be several times a year if it’s able to eat a lot). Other segments can be lost or damaged as the rattlesnake ages, travels over rough terrain or encounters other animal combatants.

Rattlesnakes won’t always shake their rattles either, so don’t be fooled into thinking there aren’t any around you simply because you can’t hear them.

Be vigilant when on the trail. Don’t step or put your hands into areas where you cannot see (such as long grass, rock tumbles, or dense thickets), and step up on top of logs and rocks and pause for a moment to look over them before you step over them… there might be a rattlesnake tucked in on the other side that you’ll miss if you’re not careful.

Check around stumps and logs before sitting down to rest and never grab at what looks like a “stick” in the water. Rattlesnakes are excellent swimmers, and you don’t want that “stick” to bite you.

All rattlesnakes are born with fully functioning fangs, and in fact they have three pairs of back-up fangs in their heads at any one time.

The old fangs are shed and replaced about every six weeks. When the rattlesnake bites, special muscles on the sides of its venom glands squeeze the venom out into the fangs.

Some people believe that younger snakes are unable to control their venom, and are therefore more dangerous than adults, but that’s not the case.

All rattlers, regardless of age, can regulate their venom discharge, and adults have larger venom glands than juveniles, so papa can pump out a lot more venom than junior can.

The venom is a cocktail of enzymes, lipids, amino acids and other compounds, and is designed to bring their prey down, immobilize it, and start digesting it before it ever gets to the snake’s stomach.

One tiny fun fact about the venom: adult California ground squirrels have a natural immunity to it, and scientists have recently discovered that the snake’s venom is evolving to try to overcome that immunity.

As you go hiking and walking through the region just keep in mind that these guys are out there. And remember, too, that rattlesnakes very seldom bite unless they are provoked, so if you see or hear one, just give it a wide berth – 5 to 6 feet is a good distance – so it has somewhere to retreat to and it will mostly likely leave you alone.

And if you come across a recently deceased rattlesnake remember that the “bite reflex” may still be operational, so don’t pick up or handle dead rattlers.

Tuleyome is a501(c)(3) nonprofit conservation organization based in Woodland, CA. For more information, visit www.tuleyome.org . Mary K. Hanson is a Certified California Naturalist and author of the “Cool Stuff Along the American River” series of nature guides available at www.lulu.com .

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A vehicle crash into a power pole on Sunday afternoon resulted in an extended closure of a portion of Soda Bay Road.

The crash occurred shortly before 4:30 p.m. on Soda Bay Road at Riviera Heights, according to the California Highway Patrol.

According to reports from the scene, there were three people with minor injuries, although the CHP later reported the crash was noninjury.

A brief power outage was reported in the area as a result of the crash, which caused power lines to fall across the roadway, according to the CHP.

The CHP reported that county roads personnel were called out early in the evening to help with the road closure.

Both AT&T and Pacific Gas and Electric responded to the scene to make repairs, the CHP said.

With multiple lines still down on Sunday evening, the CHP said Soda Bay Road may be closed through the night due to the ongoing repairs.

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.

Despite the well-known dangers of distracted driving, the number of California drivers who use mobile devices while they drive is on the rise.

In a study conducted by the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) in April 2016, at least 12.8 percent of California drivers were observed using a mobile device during the day, up from 9.2 percent in 2015 and eclipsing the previous high of 10.8 percent in 2013.

Due to the difficulty of observing mobile device use in a vehicle, these figures are considered minimums, with actual usage likely several points higher.

“These latest numbers are discouraging, but not totally unexpected,” said OTS Director Rhonda Craft. “The number of smartphones in the United States has gone from zero, 10 years ago, to over 200 million today. They have become so much a part of our lives that we can’t put them down, even when we know the danger.”

California and many other states observed National Distracted Driving Awareness Month in April. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) and hundreds of other law enforcement agencies conducted educational and enforcement efforts.

The CHP alone organized more than 300 educational presentations and issued 13,496 citations for distracted driving violations. The OTS conducted a social media campaign urging drivers to Silence the Distraction. 

“Distraction occurs any time drivers take their eyes off the road, their hands off the wheel, and their minds off their primary task of driving safely,” CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said. “Any non-driving activity is a potential distraction and increases the risk of a collision.”

Data from the CHP’s Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System shows that in 2013, 22,306 people were involved in collisions in which distracted driving was a factor. The number of distracted driving victims in California increased slightly in 2014, to 22,652.

From 2013 to 2015, the number of drivers killed or injured in collisions in which distracted driving was a factor increased every year, from 10,162 in 2013, to 10,548 in 2014, and to 11,090 in 2015.

Despite these number, drivers seem less concerned about the dangers of distracted driving. The OTS study found that the observed usage rates appear to confirm previous studies, which show more drivers admit to using mobile devices “sometimes” or “regularly.”

Fewer drivers believe that talking or texting on a cell phone is a major safety problem. Meanwhile, the percentage of those who say they have been hit or nearly hit by a driver using a cell phone remains steady at nearly 60 percent.

Other significant findings in the observational survey:

· Though nearly all types of usage were up, typing and posting increased by more than one third.

· The highest observed electronic device use and the fastest increase in usage is in urban areas, at 9.4 percent.

· Electronic device use during rush hours increased by 71 percent in 2016.

· The percentage of 16-24 year-olds talking on hand-held cell phones increased from less than 1 percent every year since 2012 to more than 2 percent in 2016.

· Southern California drivers hold the phone to their ear at a rate double (3.8 percent) or more that of Central California drivers (1.9 percent) and Northern California drivers (1.4 percent). 

“The study results are disturbing,” Commissioner Farrow said. “Every time someone drives distracted, they are putting themselves, their passengers and everyone on or near the roadway at risk.”

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a 2016-17 state budget that provides $10 million to help launch a statewide earthquake early-warning system.

Although California passed a mandate in 2013 to create a statewide earthquake warning system, this is the first money appropriated by the state to make it a reality.

The federal government has already provided $13.2 million to improve and test a prototype West Coast early-warning system, but this is much less than the $38 million in buildout costs and $16 million per year in operating costs needed to establish a fully functioning system serving California, Oregon and Washington.

"This is a key step toward the goal of a public earthquake early-warning system for the entire state," said Richard Allen, director of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory at UC Berkeley and one of the lead researchers on the project. "This funding will enable us to add more sensors to the seismic networks, making the warnings faster and enabling the system to reach more users."

“This is an excellent beginning,” said state Sen. Jerry Hill, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, who introduced funding legislation for the warning system earlier this year with Assemblyman Adam Gray, Merced, and state Sen. Robert Hertzberg, Van Nuys. “While we still have work to do to secure public-private partnership money to complete the build-out, this $10 million is a big boost.”

The $10 million is seed money from the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. The funds will enable scientists and emergency preparedness experts from UC Berkeley, the U.S. Geological Survey and the California Institute of Technology to expand an early-warning prototype called ShakeAlert, which would provide advance warning of seconds to a minute before ground-shaking from a nearby earthquake.

The funds will also be used for education, research, sustainable financing and other important project components.

Several pilot projects have been established around the state to beta-test ShakeAlert and the viability of the warning system, but ShakeAlert’s reach is limited by system distribution, strength and capabilities.

Including station additions in the past year, ShakeAlert has just 538 sensors around the state and is available only to partners in the prototype project, such as the Bay Area Rapid Transit system.

In contrast, the statewide earthquake early-warning system would need several thousand sensors throughout California to reliably notify the public.

“While the ShakeAlert project partners have been able to add some additional stations, this funding will enhance the buildout of the seismic networks to provide the best possible warnings for Californians,” said Allen, a professor of earth and planetary science.

Hill, Hertzberg and Gray took on the bipartisan effort after being approached by Allen and his team through UC Berkeley’s Office of Government and Community Relations, whose staff also briefed the governor’s staff about the need for a system to protect lives and property throughout the state.

The original mandate, SB 135, was authored by then-state Sen. Alex Padilla and signed into law in 2013.

Padilla’s intent was that the system would be funded by public-private partnerships, but it became apparent that public funding would be needed to supplement any such partnerships. Cal OES has since worked with partner organizations from the California Integrated Seismic Network, the private sector, utilities, the Legislature and all levels of government to implement the system.

California is second only to Alaska when it comes to earthquake activity in the country, according to the USGS. About $3.5 billion, or 66 percent, of the monetary losses suffered from earthquakes in the U.S. each year occur in California, the Federal Emergency Management Agency says.

Seismologists agree that California is due for another “Big One.” The Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast in 2015 said there is a 99.7 percent likelihood that an earthquake with a magnitude 6.7 or greater will occur in California in the next 30 years – and a 93 percent chance that an earthquake with a 7.0 magnitude or greater will occur.

“Funding programs that keep our constituents safer should be a top priority for the Legislature and the administration,” said Gray. “The earthquake early-warning system will protect property, mitigate systemic damage and above all save lives in the event of an earthquake. The $10 million that we worked so hard to get approved in the budget will certainly provide a much-needed kick-start to the program, but there is still plenty of work to be done.”

“We know it is coming -- it’s just a matter of time – and the sooner we get the early-warning system up and running, the better,” said U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, who represents Pasadena and Caltech and has led funding efforts for the warning system and earthquake preparedness at the federal level. “I hope today’s investment by California will encourage Oregon and Washington state to join the effort so we can build out the system along the entire West Coast.”

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Habitat for Humanity Lake County has once again been awarded grant funds from the Home Depot Veterans’ Repair program and is now accepting applications from local veterans.

This is the fourth year in a row that this opportunity is available to Lake County veterans thanks to the Home Depot grants.

In that time, Habitat for Humanity Lake County has received more than $500,000 from Home Depot for assisting veterans,.

Some of the kinds of repairs Habitat for Humanity carries out include new roofs, wheelchair ramps, bathroom upgrades, and replacement of heating and cooling systems.

The organization previously estimated that each project averages about $15,000.

If you are a low-income military veteran who has owned your home for at least five years, or if you are permanently reside in a home owned by other family members, you are encouraged to apply. 

Funds are limited, so interested individuals are asked to submit applications and all accompanying paperwork as quickly as possible. 

Applications can be found online at www.lakehabitat.org , at the organization's office at 16285 A Main St. in Lower Lake, or call the office at 707-994-1100 and provide your name and mailing address so that an application may be sent to you.