MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. — Ongoing drought and warming conditions have prompted forest officials to issue stage 1 fire-use restrictions.
The restrictions went into effect on Monday, July 25.
The prohibitions outlined in Forest Order No. 08-22-06 are designed to minimize the chances of human-caused wildland fires and are in effect through the end of the 2022 fire season.
“The decision to move into fire restrictions is based on fuel moisture levels and predicted weather conditions,” said Fire Management Officer Curtis Coots. “We want to help protect undeveloped areas of the forest and our surrounding communities.”
“At this stage, the public can still enjoy a campfire or stove fire in designated fire-safe campgrounds or in Wilderness Areas so long as they have a valid California Campfire Permit,” Coots said.
Fire restrictions prohibit the following activities:
• Building, maintaining, attending or using a fire, campfire, or stove fire. • Smoking, except within an enclosed vehicle or building, or within the designated recreation sites shown in Exhibit A of the forest order. • Operating an internal combustion engine, except on National Forest System roads or trails. • Welding, or operating an acetylene or other torch with an open flame. • Using an explosive. • Possessing, discharging or using any kind of firework or other pyrotechnic device.
Exemptions include:
• Persons with a permit from the Forest Service specifically exempting them from this order. • Persons with a valid California Campfire Permit are not exempt from the prohibitions listed in this order. However, persons with a valid California Campfire Permit may use portable stoves or lanterns using gas, jellied petroleum, or pressurized liquid fuel and may also build, maintain, attend or use a fire, campfire, or stove fire in the designated fire-safe recreation sites listed in Exhibit A, as well as in federally designated Wilderness Areas as shown on Exhibit B. • Any federal, state or local officer, or member of an organized rescue or firefighting force in the performance of an official duty. • Persons with a Special Use Permit from the Forest Service for a recreation residence on the Mendocino National Forest are exempt from prohibition numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 while they are at their recreation residence.
Similar restrictions are also in effect on neighboring public lands. Because restrictions can vary by jurisdiction, visitors should contact the area they plan to visit for specific fire restrictions and conditions.
The Mendocino National Forest consists of 913,306 acres along northern California’s coastal range. The forest is headquartered in Willows and maintains district offices in the communities of Covelo and Upper Lake. More information is available at www.fs.usda.gov/mendocino.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The 24th annual food and wine event, Taste of Lake County, will once again pair premium Lake County wines with gourmet food from local purveyors.
Taking place in Library Park on the shores of Clear Lake in Lakeport on Saturday, Aug. 20, the food, wine and artisan event runs from 5 to 8 p.m., with dancing under the stars following until 10 p.m.
Event tickets are $50 in advance, $60 at the door, and includes tasting tickets, food tickets and a souvenir wine glass. A $25 ticket is available for food tasting only.
An expected 14 wineries will offer tastes from fine wines either produced in Lake County or made from grapes grown in the county.
Approximately 10 local restaurateurs and caterers will provide tasty bites. To keep the fun going, music will play throughout the tasting. A great selection of Lake County artisans will display their crafts as well.
After 8 p.m., the party turns into a dance under the stars with music by the Funky Dozen.
Tickets are now on sale at the Lake County Chamber of Commerce, 875 Lakeport Blvd., Lakeport, telephone 707-263-5092; and the Lakeport Main Street Association’s website, www.lakeportmainstreet.com.
Proceeds from The Taste of Lakeport benefit the Lakeport Main Street Association and its work toward the continuing support of Lakeport businesses and community.
Major event sponsors include Lake County Tribal Health, Savings Bank of Mendocino County, Guerrero Brothers Auto Body Repair and Management Connections.
For more information contact Lakeport Main Street Association at 707-263-8843, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Suzanne McLeod, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Worried your kids will forget what they learned in school over the summer? Scholars have been studying the problem for over a century.
When William White, a New York state mathematics professor, set out in the early 1900s to study how much math students remembered over summer vacation, he checked to see how well they would do at the start of school on a test like the one they had taken at the end of the previous school year.
Whereas second graders on average got nine out of 70 questions wrong in June, after the summer break on average they got 25 out of 70 wrong on the same test. But after two weeks of drills, the number of answers the students got wrong dropped to 15.
White’s study – titled “Reviews Before and After Vacation” and published in 1906 – concluded that “that which is least vital is first to be lost.”
White’s study is also one of the first to identify what educators today refer to as “summer learning loss” – which is the negative effect that a long summer break has on students’ ability to remember facts and skills they had learned the previous school year.
Effects on student achievement
Studies of summer loss increased in the 1990s as Congress began to place a bigger emphasis on holding schools accountable for the achievement of all students.
Over the summer, students typically lose the equivalent of about a month’s worth of learning, mostly in the areas of math facts and spelling. Research has also found that summer learning loss is more severe among students with disabilities, English language learners and students living in poverty.
But researchers’ understanding of summer loss is continually evolving. For instance, one study found that the students who experienced the biggest losses were the ones who had shown the biggest gains just before the test at the end of the school year. This raises questions about whether their gains were true gains or just the result of special preparation for the test.
A longer school year?
Some people have argued that summer loss wouldn’t occur if the U.S. had a longer school year or year-round school. For instance, they point to countries like China, where the school year is 245 days, as opposed to the traditional 180-day school year in the U.S. China is ranked first in the top 20 nations in terms of student scores in math, science and reading. The U.S. is ranked No. 25 out of 77 countries and is several points behind Australia, Switzerland, Norway and the Czech Republic, which are ranked 21 to 24, respectively.
But shorter school years don’t always result in lower test scores. For instance, students in Ireland outscore American students on math, science and reading by an average of 10 points, according to the Program for International Student Assessment, better known as PISA, yet attend school for only 167 days, or 13 days fewer than in the U.S.
How parents and caregivers can limit summer loss
Some parents take advantage of school-based programs that can help students keep up their academic skills during the summer. But there are still ways that parents and other caregivers can stave off summer loss that do not involve school. Here are six:
1. Model what you want to see: First and foremost, never forget that you are a role model. Children will do what they see the adults around them do. Summer is the perfect time for you to reduce screen time and increase time reading, writing, taking walks, playing games or having conversations.
2. Visit the library: Children love independence. One of the best ways to allow children to demonstrate independence is to have them browse the shelves of the local library and select books that they can read independently or for you to read aloud to them. Participate in story hours if your local library offers the activity. Establish a habit of visiting the library on a weekly basis or at least several times a month. These library visits will strengthen a child’s reading skills.
3. Play games during trips: When traveling by car, bus or train, there are games – both word and number – that you can engage in with your children. For instance, you can play “I Spy with My Little Eye,” estimate the number of fast-food restaurants you’ll pass or even look for all the words that begin with a certain letter. These activities not only keep children engaged but also incrementally sharpen their skills in a wide range of academic areas such as literacy, numeracy and communication.
4. Encourage your children to keep a summer journal: To get them started, suggest one journal entry of “10 Things I Want to Do Before Summer is Over.” The list can include activities like watching the sunrise, going an entire day without wearing shoes or seeing how far they can spit a watermelon seed. To make the journal more interesting, encourage children to fill it with both writing and drawing.
5. Visit landmarks: Plan visits to acquaint you and your children with local landmarks. Document the visit with a journal entry, drawings or photographs and some research on the history of the site. The excursions can become even more meaningful if you have children do a little research into the landmarks you visit.
6. Plan weekly family picnics:Vary the meals to include breakfast, lunch, dinner or even dessert. Let your children plan the menu and cook with you, as well as select the site for the picnics. Research has found that involving children in the preparation of meals by doing things such as making grocery lists can help improve their reading, writing and math skills.
I’ve studied finance and financial markets since the 1970s, and I have never seen the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy get such prominent news coverage as it has this past year.
And with good reason. What the Fed does has profound implications for companies, consumers and the U.S. economy, especially now as the U.S. central bank tries to tame the fastest jump in consumer prices in decades. In short, the Fed is jacking up interest rates in hopes that doing so slows the economy enough to bring down inflation.
The housing market is the sector most substantially influenced by interest rate changes, and as such, it’s a key indicator of whether the Fed’s plans are succeeding. To see why, I need only consider the experience of my son – or the many other Americans hunting for a new home at a time of rising interest rates.
What the Fed is doing
First, a little background.
The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates at the fastest pace in its 108-year history as part of its inflation battle. Today’s big policy steps are needed in part because the Fed and many others took awhile to understand what was causing the rise in inflation.
Unfortunately, that assumption proved wrong because it did not recognize how much government COVID-19 relief spendinghad stimulated what economists call “aggregate demand” – in other words, the total demand for goods and services produced in an economy. Put another way, consumer spending spurred by government aid created strong demand across the economy.
While the Fed can’t do much about the war or other supply-chain issues, it can address domestic aggregate demand. That’s where higher interest rates come in.
Higher borrowing costs choke off consumer demand for homes, cars and other goods and services that typically require a loan, while companies pare back their investments in factories and hiring, which should ease overall inflation.
The Fed began its most recent tightening policy in March 2022 with a 0.25 percentage point increase in its target interest rate, which acts as a benchmark for other borrowing costs in the U.S. and around the world. Since then, the central bank has raised its target rate twice more – by 0.5 percentage point in May and 0.75 percentage point in June.
The trick to reducing inflation is to choke off enough aggregate demand to tame inflation without driving the economy into recession. One of the main ways to see whether this is happening is to look at housing, which has always been particularly sensitive to rate changes and constitutes more than one-quarter of total U.S. wealth.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage hit 5.81% in June, the highest level since 2008 and up from less than 3% throughout most of 2021. The rate currently stands at 5.54%. On a $200,000 mortgage, a 5.54% rate translates into over $400 in extra interest costs every month compared with 3%.
Confronted with such an increase, some house hunters – like my son – have stepped back and reconsidered whether now is the right time to buy.
Housing starting to stall
In other words, higher mortgage rates lead individuals to invest less in housing. And the effect of falling demand doesn’t stop with the house. When people buy a new house, they also tend to purchase new furniture, lawn equipment, televisions and so on. And buying a used home often requires hiring contractors and others to remodel the kitchen or build a new closet in the kids’ room.
So if people are buying fewer homes, they also are purchasing less furniture, electronics and lawnmowers and have less need for electricians and plumbers.
The drop in demand for all these goods and services should take a meaningful bite out of inflation. While it’s still too early to say if this part of the Fed plan is working, we can already see the effects of rising mortgage rates in recent housing data.
At the same time, consumers and investors are beginning to anticipate less inflationary pressure in the next year or so.
What it means for homebuyers
So as the Fed prepares to hike benchmark rates again, what does all this mean for U.S. consumers, and especially my son and other people looking for a new home?
For one thing, don’t expect long-term interest rates, including for mortgages, to rise much, and certainly not by the same amount of the Fed’s interest rate hike.
Investors tend to factor expected Fed policy changes into its market rates. So unless there is a surprise from the Fed, like a full 1-point hike, long-term rates are unlikely to change much. And they may even begin to fall soon, either because inflation is subdued or the U.S. slips into recession.
And while it would be nice to know how tighter monetary policy – that is, higher interest rates – will affect today’s stratospheric house prices, this is hard to predict. The withdrawal of some buyers from the market should depress house prices by reducing demand, but sellers may also simply decide to delay selling rather than accept a lower price.
The challenge for would-be homebuyers like my son and his family is to find a seller who cannot hold their house off the market and to offer a lower price than the house would have attracted a few months ago to offset its higher financing cost. The more that happens, the more the Fed will know its rate hikes are working.
The zebra mussel has been a poster child for invasive species ever since it unleashed economic and ecological havoc on the Great Lakes in the late 1980s. Yet despite intensive efforts to control it and its relative, the quagga mussel, these fingernail-sized mollusks are spreading through U.S. rivers, lakes and bays, clogging water supply pipes and altering food webs.
Now, the mussels threaten to reach the country’s last major uninfested freshwater zones to the west and north: the Columbia River Basin in Washington and Oregon, and the waterways of Alaska.
As an environmental historian, I study how people’s attitudes toward nonindigenousspecies have changed over time. Like many other aquatic aliens, zebra and quagga mussels spread to new bodies of water when people move them, either accidentally or deliberately. Human-built structures, such as canals, and debris can also help invaders bypass natural barriers.
In my view, reducing the damage from these outbreaks – and preventing them if possible – requires understanding that human activities are the root cause of costly biological invasions.
Past transoceanic invasions
European exploration of the Americas between the late 1400s and 1700s led to massive transfers of organisms, a process known as the Columbian exchange, named for Christopher Columbus. Many investors grew rich through shipping livestock and plantation crops across the oceans. Transatlantic travel also introduced microbes that caused infectious diseases, such as smallpox and measles, that killed millions of Native Americans who lacked immunity.
During the 19th century, European and North American colonizers established acclimatization societies to import desired species of foreign animals and plants to use for food, sport hunting or beautifying their environments. Many such efforts failed when the introduced species could not adapt to their new conditions and died off.
Others triggered legendary ecological disasters. For example, after the Victorian Acclimatisation Society released European rabbits in Australia in 1859, they multiplied rapidly. Feral rabbits and other introduced species like cats have destroyed millions of Australia’s native plants and animals.
Shipping has also accidentally spread alien species. Human-built canals made it easier to transport goods, but also provided new pathways for aquatic pests.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, for example, Canada expanded the Welland Canal between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie to allow large ships to bypass Niagara Falls. By 1921, these technological improvements enabled the sea lamprey, a parasitic fish, to move from Lake Ontario into the upper Great Lakes, where it is still a serious threat to commercial fisheries.
In 1959, the U.S. and Canada opened the St. Lawrence Seaway, a maritime network that connects the Atlantic with the Great Lakes. Ocean-going ships using the seaway brought along stowaway species in ballast water – tanks full of water, used to keep the ships stable at sea.
When ships reached their destinations and flushed out their ballast tanks, they released alien plants, crustaceans, worms, bacteria and other organisms into local waters. In a milestone 1985 study, Williams College biologist Jim Carlton described how ballast water discharges provided a powerful vehicle for biological invasions.
The Great Lakes mussel invasion
Zebra mussels are native to the Black and Caspian Seas. They are thought to have entered North America in the early 1980s and were formally identified in the Great Lakes in 1988, followed by quagga mussels in 1989.
Soon the striped bivalves were blanketing hard surfaces throughout the lakes and washing up on shorelines, cutting beachgoers’ feet. Zebra mussels clogged intake pipes at drinking water treatment plants, power stations, fire hydrants and nuclear reactors, dangerously reducing water pressure and requiring expensive remedies.
Mollusks are filter feeders that typically make water clearer. But zebra and quagga mussels filtered so much plankton from the water that they starved native mussels and fostered harmful algal blooms. The invaders also passed deadly type E botulism to fish-eating birds.
By the early 1990s, 139 alien species had become established in the Great Lakes, with almost one-third arriving after the St. Lawrence Seaway opened. Ship-related introductions, along with other pathways, such as aquaculture and aquarium and bait fish releases, transformed the Great Lakes into one of the world’s most invaded freshwater ecosystems.
Early policy responses
The U.S. began regulating ballast water management in 1990 but had trouble closing loopholes. For instance, vessels declaring that they had no pumpable ballast water on board did not have to empty and refill their ballast tanks in the middle of a voyage with clean ocean water. As a result, live freshwater organisms lurking in tank sediments could still be released in vulnerable ports.
Finally, after comprehensive studies, the U.S. and Canada in 2006 required ships to flush tanks containing residual sediment with seawater. A 2019 assessment found that only three new species became established in the Great Lakes from 2006-2018, none of them via ship ballast.
Now, however, other human activities are increasingly contributing to harmful freshwater introductions – and with shipping regulated, the main culprits are thousands of private boaters and anglers.
Stemming the westward spread
Zebra and quagga mussels are moving west and south from the Great Lakes, attached to private boats or carried in bilge water and bait buckets. They have been found in Nevada, Arizona, California, Utah, Colorado and Montana.
If the mussels reach the Columbia River ecosystem, they will threaten native wildlife and irrigation pipelines and dams that are vital for agriculture and hydropower. Government officials, wildlife managers and scientists are working hard to prevent that from happening.
Public outreach is critical. Travelers who transport their boats without decontaminating them can transfer zebra and quagga mussels to inland rivers and lakes. The mussels can survive out of water in hot places for weeks, so it’s important for boaters and anglers to clean, drain and dry boating equipment and fishing gear.
Aquarium keepers can help stem the tide by disinfecting tanks and accessories in order to prevent accidental releases of live organisms into public waterways, and by being vigilant about their purchases. In 2021, zebra mussels were detected in imported moss balls sold as aquarium plants across the U.S. and Canada.
The U.S. Geological Survey maintains a website where people can report sightings of nonindigenous aquatic species, potentially spotting new infestations during the critical early phase before they become established.
Maintaining public support
Some of these efforts have shown encouraging results. Since 2008, Colorado has operated a rigorous boat inspection program that has kept zebra and quagga mussels out of state waters.
But prevention isn’t always popular. Officials closed the San Justo Reservoir in central California to the public in 2008 after zebra mussels were found there; residents argue that the closure has harmed the community and are lobbying the federal government to eradicate the mussels in order to reopen it for fishing.
Mitigating the destructive effects of invasive species is a complex mission that may not have an obvious endpoint. It requires scientific, technological and historical knowledge, political will and skill to persuade the public that everyone is part of the solution.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has more young dogs waiting for homes this week.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Belgian malinois, border collie, bull terrier, Great Pyrenees, Labrador retriever, pit bull, shar pei, shepherd, terrier and treeing walker coonhound.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting.
‘Hoss’
“Hoss” is an 8-year-old male Chinese Shar-Pei with a short tan coat.
He is in kenne lNo. 18, ID No. LCAC-A-3638.
Shar Pei-pit bull mix
This 9-year-old female shar pei-pit bull mix has a short black and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 19, ID No. LCAC-A-3622.
‘Missy’
“Missy” is a 3-year-old female pit bull terrier with a black and white coat.
She is in kennel No. 20, ID No. LCAC-A-3524.
Female shepherd mix
This 1-year-old female shepherd mix has a short black and tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 22, ID No. LCAC-A-3705.
‘Autumn’
“Autumn” is a 6-year-old female treeing walker coonhound with a tricolor coat.
She is in kennel No. 24, ID No. LCAC-A-1776.
Male Belgian malinois
This 1-year-old male Belgian malinois has a short black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 27, ID No. LCAC-A-3694.
Pit bull-bull terrier mix
This 1-year-old male pit bull-bull terrier has a short white coat.
He is in kennel No. 28, ID No. LCAC-A-3644.
Female Great Pyrenees
This 3-year-old female Great Pyrenees has a white coat.
She is in kennel No. 29, ID No. LCAC-A-3669.
Border collie-Labrador retriever mix
This young male border collie-Labrador retriever mix has a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 30, ID No. LCAC-A-3646.
Female German shepherd
This 1-year-old female German shepherd has a tan and black coat.
She is in kennel No. 34, ID No. LCAC-A-3685.
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. — Health and tribal officials are reporting that, due to persistent drought and heat, they are finding unprecedented levels of cyanotoxins in some areas of Clear Lake.
For Lake County residents with individual water systems that draw water directly from the lake using a private intake, drinking water may become unsafe when high levels of toxins are present, Lake County Health Services reported.
Of particular concern are those with individual water systems who live around the Sulphur Bank Mine, and along the shore of Clear Lake’s Lower and Oaks Arms.
Similar to last year, potentially harmful concentrations of cyanotoxins have been identified in these areas of the lake.
Public health and water quality experts are concerned there may be impacts to the health of those using individual water systems, if they are not effectively filtering out these toxins.
There is no easy fix if you are getting your water in this way —boiling or putting chemicals in the lake or tap water does not eliminate the toxins.
Public water systems are able to effectively remove toxins, and will continue to provide tap water which has gone through a multifaceted treatment process. Even public water systems which draw water from Clear Lake as their raw water source continue to provide water that is safe for consumption, and continually monitored to maintain compliance with state water quality requirements.
Officials urge residents to contact their public water system if they would like more information.
Last year, in collaboration with local officials and the State Water Resources Control Board, Golden State Water Co. and Mt. Konocti Mutual Water Co. established filling stations to provide safe, drinkable water to affected community members.
This water continues to be available to meet very basic household needs such as drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, preparing food, mixing baby formula, making ice and giving water to pets. Those who choose to utilize these generously provided resources are asked to please limit consumption to 25 gallons per week per household.
Affected residents should bring their own clean containers that are meant for beverage storage to whichever location is most convenient:
• 10680 Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake: provided by Golden State Water Co., 1-800-999-4033; • 4980 Hawaina Way, Kelseyville: provided by Mt. Konocti Mutual Water Co., 707-277-7466.
If you live outside of the areas specified, and you have an individual water system with a private intake that draws water directly from Clear Lake, it is important to maintain awareness of current water quality conditions and assess your risk. Recent monitoring data is available here: www.bvrancheria.com/clearlakecyanotoxins.
Big Valley EPA’s robust Cyanotoxin Monitoring Program collects samples from testing sites around Clear Lake at biweekly intervals during the summer months. They sampled 19 testing sites along Clear Lake’s shoreline on July 11 and received three samples from the lake’s interior testing sites, which were sampled by the Lake County Water Resources Department on July 6.
Microscopy conducted on these samples determined the dominant genus of cyanobacteria present was Microcystis sp. The chart below lists cyanotoxins and the cyanobacteria that produce them, along with potential health effects from exposure to the toxins.
At some levels of cyanotoxin concentration, it is safe to use water to wash hands and shower; at higher levels (>0.3 µg/L), these activities may be harmful to the health of vulnerable individuals.
Please be cautious when bathing infants and young children, as they may swallow water. Do not drink or use water from any appliance connected to your water supply lines. This includes the water and ice dispensers in your refrigerator, freezer and dishwasher.
For households getting their tap water from individual water systems with private intakes from Clear Lake (and who have not previously participated), testing for contaminants such as cyanotoxins, nitrates, coliform bacteria, and herbicides is available through Big Valley EPA’s Cal-WATCH program detailed here: www.cal-watch.org.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A small wildland fire in Clearlake on Saturday afternoon temporarily displaced some nearby residents.
The Park fire was first dispatched just before 1:15 p.m. Saturday in the area of 18th Avenue and Old Highway 53, across from Adventist Health Clear Lake.
Firefighters from Lake County Fire Protection District and Cal Fire arrived on scene quickly and within about 20 minutes evacuations started in the Clear Lake Village area.
Cal Fire dispatched air attack and tankers which began to work in the area, where power lines also were reported to be down.
Air attack began to release the tankers from the scene at 2 p.m. and minutes later forward progress was reported to have been stopped. The estimated size was about five acres.
There were no reports of damaged structures.
Evacuations remained in place until just after 4 p.m., while a road closure on Old Highway 53 between Airport Road and Lakeview Way remained in effect, according to the Clearlake Police Department.
While residents were required to stay out of their homes, officials opened the city’s senior and community center on Bowers Avenue to provide them with services and a place to wait.
Information on a cause was not immediately available.
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.
Virginia T. Norwood, known as the person who could solve impossible problems, played a crucial role in the development of the first space-based multispectral scanner instrument that flew on Landsat 1 and made the mission a success. Working together with NASA, USGS, university researchers, and her team at Hughes, Norwood successfully yoked the pioneering technology that made regular digital imagery of Earth from space possible. Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
On a warm July day in 1972, NASA launched a new Earth-imaging satellite called the Earth Resources Technology Satellite.
“ERTS” was the first satellite of what later became NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Landsat Program, an ambitious effort with a vision of documenting the entirety of Earth from space.
The first Landsat was so successful it led to a series of satellites that have created the longest contiguous record of Earth’s surface from a space-eye view – that continues growing to this day, 50 years later.
“The early Landsats revolutionized the way we observed the Earth from space,” said Jim Irons, director emeritus of the Earth Sciences Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Since its debut, Landsat has amassed over 10 million images. These images, also called scenes, show current snapshots of land and coasts, but pair with images of years past and they also reveal changes through time — glaciers slowly disappearing, or urban spaces sprawling across the landscape.
These scenes and time series have myriad applications around the globe: Hydrologists use them to track how rivers change; ecologists use them to determine the extent of deforestation; farmers and agricultural organizations use them to analyze crop health.
During Landsat’s five decades, eight different Landsat satellites have circled the planet. Currently, three continue to collect global observations from space: Landsats 7, 8, and 9. (Landsat 6 was lost shortly after launch.) Landsat 9, the newest of the bunch, entered orbit in fall of 2021. While Landsat 9 shares similarities with its predecessors, the Landsat satellite design has evolved immensely since the program’s emergence.
Early days
The first two Landsats could see in four spectral bands, or wavelengths of light: visible light in red and green, and two near-infrared bands. The near-infrared allowed the satellites to distinguish vegetation from other land cover and assess plant health, while the visible wavelengths differentiated bright surfaces, like snow, deserts and clouds, from dark surfaces like water. Each scene encompassed a roughly square area of around 115 miles to a side.
The first Landsats’ data transmitted to Earth were recorded on magnetic tapes, the same basic tech as music cassettes – but much bigger: The bulky wideband video tape recorders that flew on the first three Landsats each had 1,800 feet of tape and weighed in at 76 pounds apiece.
From this data, scientists generated and printed out photographic images. These photos gave a general space-eye view of an area, but the real power of the data came after computer algorithms helped scientists and resource managers to more efficiently identify the categories of land cover they represented.
Printers spat out paper maps with letter, number, and symbol combinations, where each character represented a land cover category, such as cropland or forest.
“You’d get out colored pencils or magic markers and you’d color the different characters, each with its own color,” Irons said. “That would give you an early version of a color-coded land cover map.”
Goddard was NASA’s home for Landsat going back to the program’s inception. Irons served as the deputy project scientist on Landsat 7 and project scientist on Landsat 8, helping to further shape the program and playing a pivotal role in the satellites’ development. In his 43 years working with Landsat, he’s watched the satellites grow into what they are today.
Landsat data in the ’80s and ’90s were critical to many projects, such as understanding the extent of tree loss in rainforests, Irons said. Likewise, Chris Neigh, Landsat 9’s project scientist at Goddard, uses time series to watch the slow northward creep of boreal forests, as the trees progressively inch toward the pole in response to global warming.
The long pedigree of Landsat data is essential for this kind of research, Neigh added: there are few other records to reference, and none as comprehensive.
2000s: Free access to the Landsat archive
After a failed launch of Landsat 6, Landsat 7 embarked successfully in 1999, equipped with improved instruments and roughly double the resolution of its predecessors. NASA deliberated for seven years between the launches of Landsat 7 and Landsat 8, trying to decide how to move forward with the program before beginning another seven-year process of building and launching the next satellite.
In that time, image management returned from commercial providers to USGS, which made the entire Landsat archives freely available in 2008. Image requests skyrocketed. Landsat all-time downloads topped 100 million scenes in 2020, and the number continues to rise.
As Landsat continues to transform, the people and projects that use it grow too: The United States Department of Agriculture relies on Landsat to guide farmers in watering practices and land management; climate scientists watch glaciers retreat as temperatures rise; in the drought-stricken West, water managers monitor reservoir levels.
Landsat’s next adventure
With a data user community that keeps growing, scientists and engineers are already looking forward to the next mission. NASA and USGS are developing options for the next iteration of Landsat, currently called Landsat Next.
Landsat’s eyes in space have granted new opportunities for understanding our changing planet, but the simple awe of seeing Earth is sometimes forgotten, Irons said.
“We can’t all be astronauts,” Irons said. “But if we look at Landsat images, we can understand what the Earth would look like if we were orbiting the Earth in space.”
Jude Coleman works for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors will present a proclamation to a departing colleague and discuss early activation cannabis permits when it meets this week.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, July 26, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting ID is 940 3067 3213, pass code 307902. The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at +16699006833,,94030673213#,,,,*307902#.
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.
At 10 a.m., the board will present a proclamation commending Supervisor Tina Scott, who is stepping down from the board effective July 31 to work as the food service and hospitality teacher at Clear Lake High School.
At 11 a.m., the board will discuss an interim urgency ordinance implementing a temporary moratorium on the issuance of early activation permits for commercial cannabis as well as a resolution of intention to initiate an amendment to the zoning ordinance relating to early activation.
On the board’s consent agenda, the supervisors will be asked to approve the extended use of the county juvenile hall facility for a temporary homeless support shelter through Sept. 30, 2022.
Behavioral Health Services Director Todd Metcalf said the current operator, Elijah House, expects to run the shelter through Sept. 30 but operations may cease before then.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Adopt a proclamation commending Supervisor Tina Scott.
5.2: Adopt a proclamation commending Sherri Vannest for her commitment to public safety and the residents she serves with over 30 years of service.
5.3: Adopt resolution amending Resolution No. 2022-69 establishing position allocations for fiscal year 2022-2023, Budget Unit No. 1012, Administrative Office.
5.4: Sitting as the Lake County Air Quality Management District Board of Directors, approve memorandum of understanding by and between the county of Mendocino and the Lake County Air Quality Management District for air pollution control officer duties, effective Aug. 1, 2022.
5.5: Approve the extended use of county juvenile hall facility for a temporary support shelter targeting Lake County's chronically homeless population through Sept. 30, 2022.
5.6: Approve Board of Supervisors minutes for July 12, 2022.
5.7: Approve amendment two to agreement between the county of Lake and Quincy Engineering Inc. for engineering services for Hill Road MP 7.75 landslide repair project, in Lake County in the amount not to exceed $125,000, for a revised total contract amount of $420,805.07 and authorize the chair to sign.
5.8: Approve amendment two to agreement between the county of Lake and Drake Haglan/ Dewberry Inc. for the Upper Wolf Creek Bridge at Wolf Creek Bridge Replacement Project in Lake County for an increase of $63,987 and an overall contract amount of $513,892 and authorize the chair to sign.
5.9: (a) Approve the master agreement between the county of Lake and Armstrong Consultants for consulting services related to Lampson Airfield, and (b) approve supplemental services agreement No. 1 and authorize the chair to sign the agreement.
5.10: a) Approve purchase of mandated client services described as after care services with Evolve Youth Services and authorize the director of Social Services or her designee to issue a purchase order in an amount not to exceed $34,000.
5.11: Second reading of ordinance adding Article XXIX To Chapter 2 of the Lake County Code establishing a military equipment use policy.
5.12: Sitting as the Board of Directors, Lake County Watershed Protection District, adopt resolution authorizing the Lake County Watershed Protection District to accept a California State Parks Division of Boating and Waterways Quagga and Zebra Mussel Infestation Prevention FY 2022/2023 grant for $399,780.00 and approve Water Resources director as signature authorization to execute agreement.
TIMED ITEMS
6.3, 9:15 a.m.: Public hearing regarding consideration/discussion of naming a certain existing unnamed road, Snow Road in Lower Lake.
6.4, 9:45 a.m.: Presentation, CDBG Grant Project and Program activities update.
6.5, 10 a.m.: Presentation of proclamation commending Supervisor Tina Scott.
6.6, 10:10 a.m.: Presentation of resolution by the Board of Trustees of the Lake County Law Library.
6.7, 10:15 a.m.: CivicSpark Fellow presentation: The Clear Lake Shoreline Inventory Project and Shoreline Stewardship Program Development for the Lake County Water Resources Department.
6.8, 11 a.m.: Discussion and consideration of: a) an interim urgency ordinance implementing a temporary moratorium on the issuance of early activation permits for commercial cannabis; and b) a resolution of intention of the Lake County Board of Supervisors to initiate an amendment to the zoning ordinance relating to early activation.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: Consideration of Middle Creek Project Committee appointment.
7.3: Consideration of Letter to CPUC Re: CPUC Fast Trip Regulations.
7.4: Consideration of the following Advisory Board Appointments: Resource Conservation District.
7.5: Consideration of review of planning services contract between the county of Lake and LACO.
7.6: ADDENDUM — Consideration of support letter for the California Water Service) Advanced Metering Infrastructure Installation. Northern California Project for the WaterSmart water Energy Efficiency Grant Application FY23cycle.
CLOSED SESSION
8.1: Conference with legal counsel: Existing litigation pursuant to Gov. Code sec. 549.56.9(d)(1) — Citizens for Environmental Protection and Responsible Planning, et al. v. County of Lake, et al.
8.2: Conference with legal counsel pursuant to Gov. Code sec. 54956.9 (d)(2), (e)(3) — Claim of Hayes.
8.3: Conference with legal counsel pursuant to Gov. Code sec. 54956.9(1) — City of Clearlake v. County of Lake. Et al.
8.4: Conference with legal counsel: Significant exposure to litigation pursuant to Gov. Code sec. 54956.9 (d)(2), (e)(5): One potential case.
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. — After a four-day-long closure, the Sutter Lakeside Birth Center has reopened.
“As of 4:30 p.m. Saturday, the obstetric bypass period ended and Sutter Lakeside Hospital is again able to provide obstetric services,” Sutter Health spokeswoman Monique Binkley Smith told Lake County News.
The hospital closed the birth center on Tuesday afternoon and went on “diversion” due to lack of an obstetrician, as Lake County News has reported.
While on diversion, Sutter Lakeside referred patients to Adventist Health Clear Lake — the only other facility in Lake County where babies can be delivered — as well as hospitals in Mendocino, Napa and Sonoma counties.
Hospital officials originally expected to reopen on the morning of Wednesday, July 27, at the latest.
The California Nurses Association criticized Sutter Lakeside for having relied on just two obstetric providers.
The hospital has so far not responded to requests from Lake County News to elaborate on what led to the lack of providers last week.
The birth center reportedly delivers around 300 babies a year, about half of all the babies born in Lake County on an annual basis.
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 Board of Supervisors this week gave its support to a plan for recruiting a new Community Development Department director.
The current director, Mary Darby, gave the board her resignation after a closed session evaluation on Tuesday, July 12. It’s effective Nov. 4.
Human Resources Director Pam Samac laid out the plan for the recruitment to find the seventh director for Community Development since 2016.
She said they opened the recruitment on July 14. If they don’t get a decent pool of qualified candidates, they want to put it out to 10 recruiters to find one to lead the process.
After reviewing the candidates, if it’s warranted, Samac wants to schedule interviews with the board.
Supervisor Bruno Sabatier said he wanted the county to use professional recruitment firms to find department director jobs.
Samac said it’s possible the county could get a number of good candidates as they did recently for the assistant county administrative officer without using a recruiter. She added that during the last six months ago the county has started getting better candidates for senior positions.
She advocated for the county starting the recruitment on its own and waiting three weeks before paying $25,000 to $30,000 for a recruiter.
At the same time, she said they could put out a bid request to recruiters so that it can be underway while the county is taking initial applications.
The county is now conducting another recruitment for a Public Health officer. Samac said the recruitment agencies her recruiter network uses are very busy, and have been saying they are too busy to even give quotes for services. However, that could have changed and she said they could ask for bids again.
Samac said she would have the first review of applications on Aug. 9. At that point, she said they already had one qualified applicant.
She said that they could make an assessment on Aug. 9 about what applicants they have. “I don’t believe that you have to have four or five to compare and contrast if you have one great candidate.”
At the suggestion of County Administrative Officer Susan Parker, the board agreed to have a standing item on its closed session agenda to discuss the recruitment.
Darby suggested to the board that they also advertise the job with the American Planning Association, as she said that’s where all the certified planners are and the county can get some great candidates there.
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.