LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Authorities are investigating the death of a man who was found down in the roadway on Highway 53 near Clearlake late Friday night.
The incident was first reported at about 11:40 p.m. on Highway 53 between Jessie Street and Dam Road, according to radio reports.
The first units on the scene reported a man down in the highway’s northbound section.
Initial reports said it appeared to be a pedestrian who had been hit by a vehicle.
Just after 11:50 p.m., it was confirmed over the air that the injured man had died.
At 11:55 p.m., at the request of one of the officers on the scene, the Clearlake Police Department issued a Nixle asking people to avoid that area of the highway due to a traffic collision, with the northbound lane temporarily blocked.
Firefighters released the scene to the California Highway Patrol just after 12:20 a.m. Saturday.
A short time later, there was a request for two personnel to assist with traffic control for less than an hour.
Additional information will be published when it becomes 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.
On April 13, 2023, the European Space Agency is scheduled to launch a rocket carrying a spacecraft destined for Jupiter. The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer – or JUICE – will spend at least three years on Jupiter’s moons after it arrives in 2031. In October 2024, NASA is also planning to launch a robotic spacecraft named Europa Clipper to the Jovian moons, highlighting an increased interest in these distant, but fascinating, places in the solar system.
There are many reasons my colleagues and I are looking forward to getting the data that JUICE and Europa Clipper will hopefully be sending back to Earth in the 2030s. But perhaps the most exciting information will have to do with water. Three of Jupiter’s moons – Europa, Ganymede and Callisto – are home to large, underground oceans of liquid water that could support life.
Meet Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto
Jupiter has dozens of moons. Four of them in particular are of interest to planetary scientists.
Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto are, like Earth’s Moon, relatively large, spherical complex worlds. Two previous NASA missions have sent spacecraft to orbit the Jupiter system and collected data on these moons. The Galileo mission orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003 and led to geological discoveries on all four large moons. The Juno mission is still orbiting Jupiter today and has provided scientists with an unprecedented view into Jupiter’s composition, structure and space environment.
These missions and other observations revealed that Io, the closest of the four to its host planet, is abuzz withgeological activity, including lava lakes, volcanic eruptions and tectonically formed mountains. But it is not home to large amounts of water.
Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, in contrast, have icy landscapes. Europa’s surface is a frozen wonderland with a young but complex history, possibly including icy analogs of plate tectonics and volcanoes. Ganymede, the largest moon in the entire solar system, is bigger than Mercury and has its own magnetic field generated internally from a liquid metal core. Callisto appears somewhat inert compared to the others, but serves as a valuable time capsule of an ancient past that is no longer accessible on the youthful surfaces of Europa and Io.
Europa, Ganymede and Callisto have chilly surfaces that are hundreds of degrees below zero. At these temperatures, ice behaves like solid rock.
But just like Earth, the deeper underground you go on these moons, the hotter it gets. Go down far enough and you eventually reach the temperature where ice melts into water. Exactly how far down this transition occurs on each of the moons is a subject of debate that scientists hope to resolve with JUICE and Europa Clipper. While the exact depths are still uncertain, scientists are confident that these oceans exist.
The best evidence of these oceans comes from Jupiter’s magnetic field. Saltwater is electrically conductive. So as these moons travel through Jupiter’s magnetic field, they generate a secondary, smaller magnetic field that signals to researchers the presence of an underground ocean. Using this technique, planetary scientists have been able to show that the three moons contain underground oceans. And these oceans are not small – Europa’s ocean alone might have more than double the water of all of Earth’s oceans combined.
An obvious and tantalizing next question is whether these oceans can support extraterrestrial life. Liquid water is an important piece of what makes for a habitable world, but far from the only requirement for life. Life also needs energy and certain chemical compounds in addition to water to flourish. Because these oceans are hidden beneath miles of solid ice, sunlight and photosynthesis are out. But it’s possible other sources could provide the needed ingredients.
On Europa, for example, the liquid water ocean overlays a rocky interior. That rocky seafloor could provide energy and chemicals through underwater volcanoes that could make Europa’s ocean habitable. But it is also possible that Europa’s ocean is a sterile, inhospitable place – scientists need more data to answer these questions.
Upcoming missions from ESA and NASA
JUICE and Europa Clipper are set up to give scientists game-changing information about the potential habitability of Jupiter’s moons. While both missions will gather data on multiple moons, JUICE will spend time orbiting and focusing on Ganymede, and Europa Clipper will make dozens of close flybys of Europa.
Both of the spacecraft will carry a suite of scientific instruments built specifically to investigate the oceans. Onboard radar will allow JUICE and Europa Clipper to probe into the moons’outer layers of solid ice. Radar could reveal any small pockets of liquid water in the ice, or, in the case of Europa, which has a thinner outer ice layer than Ganymede and Callisto, hopefully detect the larger ocean.
Magnetometers will also beon both missions. These tools will give scientists the opportunity to study the secondary magnetic fields produced by the interaction of conductive oceans with Jupiter’s field in great detail and will hopefully give researchers clues to salinity and volumes of the oceans.
Scientists will also observe small variations in the moons’ gravitational pulls by tracking subtle movements in both spacecrafts’ orbits, which could help determine if Europa’s seafloor has volcanoes that provide the needed energy and chemistry for the ocean to support life.
Finally, both craft will carry a host of cameras and light sensors that will provide unprecedented images of the geology and composition of the moons’ icy surfaces.
Maybe one day, a spacecraft will be able to drill through the miles of solid ice on Europa, Ganymede or Callisto and explore oceans directly. Until then, observations from spacecraft like JUICE and Europa Clipper are scientists’ best bet for learning about these ocean worlds.
When Galileo discovered these moons in 1609, they were the first objects known to directly orbit another planet. Their discovery was the final nail in the coffin of the theory that Earth – and humanity – resides at the center of the universe. Maybe these worlds have another humbling surprise in store.
Senate Majority Leader Mike McGuire’s ground-breaking legislation to expedite offshore wind development to help meet the Golden State’s long-term electricity demand and extraordinary climate goals passed Tuesday with bipartisan support in the Senate Natural Resources Committee.
“If we’re serious about bringing on desperately needed new power generation facilities and meeting the state’s nation-leading climate goals and energy needs — we must move heaven and earth to deploy new green power,” McGuire said.
“This bill will expedite the state-side offshore wind permitting process eliminating three years off of the permitting timeline all while protecting California’s coastal environment and storied fishing fleet, it will deploy resources for offshore wind infrastructure in local communities and help get folks to work through new career training programs,” McGuire added.
SB 286 — the Offshore Wind Expediting Act — will accelerate the state-side offshore wind permitting process through the State Coastal Commission and State Land Commission.
At the same time, it will ensure environmental safeguards will remain in place, California’s storied fishing fleet interests are protected, and the bill will advance resources that benefit communities and develop family-sustaining careers through workforce education programs.
In addition to desperately needed streamlining, this bill also mandates state agencies and key stakeholders come together to collaborate and develop the long-term game plan to deploy offshore wind infrastructure.
SB 286 requires the Coastal Commission to bring the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the State Lands Commission, the Ocean Protection Council, representatives from the commercial fishing industry, representatives from the offshore wind industry, federal agencies, labor, Native American tribes and other stakeholders together over the next two years.
This stakeholder group will create a statewide standard to ensure offshore wind development is expedited and will develop data-driven strategies to avoid and minimize impacts to ocean fisheries and to the maximum extent possible, mitigate for unavoidable impacts.
SB 286 was approved by a 9-0 vote in Senate Natural Resources Committee and will be heard next in the Senate Energy Committee.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — Clearlake Animal Control has a full house of great dogs waiting for their new homes.
There are 28 dogs available this week for adoption.
They include “Aoki,” a 2-year-old male Siberian husky mix with bright blue eyes, and “Data,” a 1-year-old male Labrador retriever mix.
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.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — The Yuba Community College District’s two-year process to find a new chancellor came to an end on Thursday evening with a unanimous vote of the board of trustees to select their top candidate.
During the board’s regular meeting, its members voted to appoint Dr. Shouan Pan as the district’s next chancellor, approving a three-year employment contract.
“I’m honored,” Pan, who attended the meeting via Zoom, told the board members, adding that he was humbled by their trust and confidence in him.
Pan said he’s looking forward to joining the district and creating a greater impact.
The employment contract the board approved with Pan is for a three-year period from June 2023 to June 2026, with an annual salary of $256,000.
Pan holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Hefei Polytechnic University in China, where he was born and raised.
He came to the United States in 1985, earning a Master of Education degree from Colorado State University and a Doctor of Philosophy in higher education from Iowa State University.
Pan has held leadership positions in colleges across the country, including Broward College-South Campus in Florida, Florida State College at Jacksonville, Community College of Philadelphia, Northern Arizona University, Mesa Community College in Arizona and, most recently, Seattle Colleges in Washington, where he left his post as chancellor in August.
He and three other chancellor candidate finalists — Dr. Beatriz Espinoza, Dr. Eugene Giovannini and Dr. Wei Zhou — were introduced to the college community during forums in Marysville and Woodland earlier this month.
Board members thanked staff, the screening committee and the search firm hired to lead the recruitment.
Trustee Richard Teagarden said it had taken almost two years to get to that point, with hundreds of hours of work.
The Yuba Community College District crosses eight counties and serves an estimated 13,000 students.
The district includes both Yuba College and Woodland Community College, with the Clearlake campus a part of the latter. In addition to Clearlake, there are campuses in Marysville and Woodland, and Colusa and Sutter counties.
Pan will take over from Dr. James L.J. Houpis, who has served as interim chancellor since July 1, 2021, following the departure of Chancellor Dr. Douglas B. Houston, who left the college last year.
Originally, Houpis — selected after a nationwide search — was supposed to serve until June 30, 2022.
On Thursday evening, Houpis congratulated Pan, and said he will be blessed to work with an outstanding staff.
Board President Juan Delgado thanked everyone for their work in the chancellor selection process.
Delgado said it took time, but patience is a virtue, and waiting two years to make the hire was the right thing to do.
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.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Caltrans District 1 has announced free Large Item Dump Day events on Saturday, April 22, to celebrate Earth Day.
These dump day events are made possible through Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Clean California initiative, a sweeping $1.1 billion, multiyear clean-up effort led by Caltrans to keep roads and waterways free of litter, create thousands of jobs and transform state and local public spaces through beautification efforts.
Large Item Dump Day events will take place at the following locations in Lake County April 22:
C & S Waste Transfer Station: Accepting mattresses and furniture only at 230 Soda Bay Road, Lakeport, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or until capacity is reached. Sponsored by Clean California, County of Lake, South Lake Refuse & Recycling and Lake County Waste Solutions.
South Lake Refuse & Recycling: Accepting mattresses and furniture only, 16015 Davis St., Clearlake, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or until capacity is reached. Sponsored by Clean California, County of Lake, South Lake Refuse & Recycling and Lake County Waste Solutions.
Eastlake Landfill: Accepting mattresses and furniture only, 16015 Davis Ave., Clearlake, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or until capacity is reached. Sponsored by Clean California, County of Lake, South Lake Refuse & Recycling and Lake County Waste Solutions.
Free Dump Day collection is limited to the household items listed above. No construction materials, business waste, hazardous waste, electronic waste, treated wood waste or asbestos of any type will be accepted.
Caltrans reminds motorists to properly secure and tarp all cargo loads prior to driving. Transporting unsecured loads is unsafe, illegal, and pollutes California's roads and waterways. Loads that are not tied down, enclosed, or secured by tarps or other means will not be accepted.
Tips for securing your load:
• Completely cover loads with tarps or cargo nets. Debris can escape from gaps. • Remove loose material and trash before driving. • Don't overload — keep materials level with your truck bed. • Put light items lower, tie large items to the vehicle for traffic safety.
About the campaign
Since 2021, the Clean California initiative has removed 1.4 million cubic yards of trash, created 3,500 jobs, and awarded $300 million in local grants.
Visit CleanCA.com to learn more about how Clean California is transforming communities and educating the public.
In February, Gov. Newsom announced a new funding round for $100 million in grants for local Clean California projects. There are also a variety of career and job opportunities through Clean California. For more information on this, please visit the jobs section at tinyurl.com/CleanCAHiring.
Caltrans is also in the process of developing the Clean California Community program, in which communities from across the state can seek to earn a designation by meeting criteria centered around preventing and cleaning up litter, promoting recycling, and otherwise greening or beautifying their communities. Incentives will also be offered to encourage communities to earn this designation.
Mid-April has arrived. And along with the spring sunshine, that means the often dreaded civic duty of finishing off one’s taxes.
It’s an arduous time for many, characterized by navigating increasingly confusing rules to arrive at the best refund possible. For some, it means writing a check to the federal government. Not fun.
On a brighter note, the tax deadline has been pushed back to April 18 this year, giving those leaving it to the last minute a few extra days. Usually, the day falls on April 15.
But why is Tax Day in April anyway? Well, it hasn’t always been.
The tradition of filing tax returns in early spring has historically been a practical one. Since individual tax returns encompass a calendar year, Congress sought to allow time for individuals to fully account for all of their income, deductions and credits.
The original due date for individual income tax returns was March 1, just over a year following the adoption of the 16th Amendment on Feb. 3, 1913.
Back then, not many taxpayers needed to file a tax return, since the filing requirement applied only to single filers with income over US$3,000 and married filers with income over $4,000 – about $90,000 and $120,000 in today’s dollars, respectively.
In 1914, this threshold represented approximately the top 4% of earners, so filing a tax return was a burden reserved for the wealthy.
Quickly realizing that many taxpayers needed more time to complete their returns, Congress pushed the tax deadline back to March 15, effective in 1919.
And on that date Tax Day stood for over 30 years.
But with more taxpayers needing to file returns as the filing threshold declined and the tax laws grew in complexity, Americans needed even more time to correctly complete their returns.
So in 1954, Congress overhauled the tax system and adopted a major revision to the Internal Revenue Code.
This change also came with another extension of the tax deadline for individuals, pushing the due date back again to the familiar April 15.
The intent of giving taxpayers an extra month to prepare their returns was to allow more people the ability to file on time – and often get refunds more quickly. Not only did this change assist taxpayers, but it also allowed the Internal Revenue Service more time to spread out its workload.
The April 15 deadline proved to be a more reasonable deadline, and it has stuck with U.S. taxpayers for almost 70 years.
Since 1955, the IRS has established earlier due dates for many information returns that provide numbers feeding into Form 1040, such as Forms 1099 and W-2, both of which are due Jan. 31, to ensure that most taxpayers are able to file by Tax Day.
The mid-April date seems to work for the majority of taxpayers – in most years, anyhow. According to the IRS, about 90% of taxpayers were able to file their returns by the deadline in 2021, with the other 10% requesting a six-month extension to file.
But for the tax year 2022, about 19 million taxpayers extended their returns, a significant increase from prior years due to the increased complexity of the tax code brought on by temporary provisions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
So why is Tax Day this year April 18 instead of April 15?
Any time a deadline falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the IRS pushes the due date to the following Monday, which would be April 17, 2023. However, any federal holiday also pushes the date back by a day. Since Emancipation Day, which usually falls on April 16, is observed in Washington, D.C., on April 17 this year, Tax Day was pushed back an additional day to Tuesday, April 18, 2023.
While having a tax deadline of April 18 happens only about every six years, the IRS occasionally pushes back the filing deadline for emergency situations like natural disasters, although these are often local. For example, the IRS extended the original due date of individual tax returns in disaster areas in Alabama, California and Georgia until Oct. 16, 2023. Similarly, the IRS pushed the national deadline back to July 15, 2020, in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
So use your extra days of tax preparation time wisely in 2023 and be sure to file your individual income tax return, or request an extension to file by April 18.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lakeport Fire Protection District Board has approved a contract for repairs to Station 52, damaged by a vehicle crash in the fall.
During a special Tuesday evening meeting, the board voted to authorize Chief Patrick Reitz to enter into a contract with Fort Bragg Electric for repairs to the station, located at 3600 Hill Road East.
Fort Bragg Electric submitted the lowest bid, $203,046. The other qualified bidder was Bridges Construction, which bid the job at $260,000.
The third bidder, which was disqualified because it didn’t include prevailing wage, was Crane of Ukiah, whose proposal said it built Station 52 in 1990.
In recent years, the district has not had enough personnel to staff Station 52.
Shortly after 9 p.m. Nov. 12, a driver traveling at high speed was unable to properly negotiate the Hill Road exit off Highway 29.
The driver lost control of the vehicle, which crossed Park Way, went over a curb and through a grassy area, crashed through a Caltrans highway fence and traveled across Hill Road before hitting Station 52. The driver was uninjured.
Officials at the time said the crash caused significant damage to the structure’s steel framework and bay doors, as Lake County News has reported.
Fort Bragg Electric’s scope of work includes installing new metal columns, doors, water lines, irrigation equipment, lighting and siding.
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 Lake Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO, has an opening for a commissioner and is seeking applicants interested in serving.
LAFCO is a distinct agency created by state legislation to ensure that changes in governmental organization occur in a manner which provides efficient, quality services and preserves open space and agricultural land resources.
The commission is charged with applying the policies and provisions of the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 in its decisions regarding annexations, incorporations, reorganizations, and other changes of local government. The LAFCO website is www.lakelafco.org.
LAFCO meets on the third Wednesday of every other month at Lakeport City Hall or at Clearlake City Hall. Commissioners receive a $100 monthly meeting stipend.
The appointment is for a public member who resides anywhere within Lake County, including the territory in the city limits of Lakeport and Clearlake, to sit as a public member or alternate on the commission to complete a four-year term ending in May 2027.
A public member must be able and available to regularly attend commission meetings and/or hearings or otherwise will be removed after absence of three consecutive meetings.
No officer or employee of the county or any city or special district within Lake County is allowed to sit as a public member on the commission.
A public commission member, as are all other commissioners, is required to file an annual statement of economic interest.
If you are interested, send a letter describing your background and reasons for wanting to become the selected public member to serve on the Lake Local Agency Formation Commission no later than Friday, May 5.
For more information, contact LAFCO Executive Officer John Benoit at 707-592-7528 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Please send your letter of interest describing your background to Lake LAFCO, P.O. Box 2694 Granite Bay, CA 95746 or email a letter of interest to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
All applicants will be invited to the LAFCO meeting on Wednesday, May 17, for an interview with the commission.
Special considerations arise when making gifts to charities. Let us discuss.
First, what is the proper legal name and address of the charity?
For example, naming the “Mendocino Humane Society” as a beneficiary would cause problems. There are at least three different “not for profit” organizations in Mendocino which each use the words “Mendocino” and “Humane Society” as part of their name.
If the bequest is large enough, this can result in litigation amongst the charities over who receives the bequest.
Fortunately, this problem is easily avoided by contacting the charity to obtain their legal name and legal street address.
Second, is the bequest intended to be used in a specific geographic location (e.g., Northern California)?
For example, a gift to Shriner’s Children (formerly known as, “Shriners Hospital for Children”) is a gift to an international organization and is not limited to use in any one specific area. A gift intended for use in the Northern California hospital would need to be made to, “Shriner’s Children Northern California.”
Ask the intended charity for the exact wording needed to designate a specific member of a national organization as the sole beneficiary.
Moreover, it may be prudent also to say that the funds may not be shared with the nationwide organization.
In BREATHE SO. CAL. V. AM. LUNG ASS’N (Case cite: A160785), California First District Court of Appeal, examined the plain language of three separate bequests and decided that the donors had intended to restrict the gift to use by a particular affiliate of the American Lung Association.
The appellate court honored the donors’ intentions even though specific language excluding sharing with the national organization was not used.
Third, is the bequest intended to be used for a specific purpose?
An outright gift to a charity is typically absorbed into the charity’s general fund where it may be used, amongst other things, to pay for the charity’s administrative expenses, i.e., overhead.
If the gift is intended, for example, to be used only for research into cures for cancer then a specifically worded endowment fund is needed. The wording will include both the name of the endowment and the limitation, “for research into cancer cures.”
Fourth, when an ongoing endowment is involved, i.e., it lasts beyond one year, consideration should be given to how much of the endowment’s income and principal may be spent each year.
If the endowment’s wording is silent on how much income and principal may be used each year, then expenditures are governed by California’s Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMI) (codified as Section 18501 to 18510 of the Probate Code).
Under section 18504(a), “… an institution may appropriate for expenditure or accumulate so much of an endowment fund as the institution determines is prudent for the uses, benefits, purposes, and duration for which the endowment fund is established.”
Fifth, when a charitable gift is intended to qualify for an estate tax or an income tax deduction, consideration needs to be given to eligibility to receive the tax deduction based on both the purpose of the gift and the tax status of the organization.
That is, the tax deduction depends on both the use of the gift and the tax-exempt status of the beneficiary.
The gift should say it is qualified on the condition that the beneficiary is still a qualified tax exempt organization eligible to receive a tax-deductible gift, either for estate tax or income tax (as is relevant), at the time the gift is made.
The foregoing is a brief discussion of some issues that may need to be considered when making a significant charitable gift. For legal guidance consult a qualified attorney.
Dennis A. Fordham, attorney, is a State Bar-Certified Specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law. His office is at 870 S. Main St., Lakeport, Calif. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and 707-263-3235.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Lake County Symphony Association Wine Club is taking applications for home brewers, winemakers and food and craft vendors for the 2023 Home Wine and Beer Makers’ Festival coming to Library Park on June 10.
Please sign up early to ensure a spot.
Home brewers and winemakers throughout Northern California are invited to participate and supply samples of their product to the public.
They also have a chance to win a coveted “Peoples’ Choice” award for their homemade beverages, voted on by event attendees.
Home winemakers also have the chance to enter their creations for judging by experts the evening before the Winefest.
There is no booth fee for amateur wine and beer makers.
Vendors selling food, arts and crafts, agricultural products, clothing, and other products are a welcome addition to the Winefest and help make it more enjoyable for everyone. Vendor booth fees are $35. Vendors may bring their own canopies or rent one for $25 to provide shade.
Home winemakers, beer makers and vendors wishing to participate should go to https://www.lakecountywinefest.com to download applications for the 2023 Winefest.
For more information, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Representatives Jared Huffman (CA-02), Doris Matsui (CA-07), and John Sarbanes (MD-03) HAVE led a group of 28 lawmakers in sending a letter to Secretaries Tom Vilsack and Deb Haaland, urging the Department of Agriculture and Department of the Interior to undertake a formal rulemaking to protect mature and old-growth forests.
“Mature and old-growth trees play an outsized role in carbon sequestration and storage and provide a host of related benefits, including water quality, recreation, and overall ecosystem integrity,” wrote the lawmakers.
In April 2022, President Biden issued Executive Order 14072, recognizing mature and old-growth forests as vital to the health, prosperity, and resilience of communities across the nation.
Mature and old-growth trees absorb and store more greenhouse gases than younger trees and are home to greater biodiversity, making them essential to our climate and conservation goals.
In light of this, Executive Order 14072 directed USDA and DOI to define, identify, and complete an inventory of mature and old-growth forests on federal lands by April 22, 2023.
However, the executive order did not direct USDA and the Department of the Interior to initiate a formal rulemaking to provide durable protections.
“We strongly urge you to initiate a formal rulemaking to ensure these crucial actions are not easily overturned in the future.” the lawmakers continued. “And while your agencies work to implement E.O. 14072 and finalize the rulemaking process, we ask that you issue interim guidance as soon as possible to protect against the further loss of existing mature and old-growth forests. These actions are key to accomplishing the Administration’s commitments to protecting our climate and biodiversity and to position the U.S. as an international leader in nature-based solutions.”
The letter has the support of environmental leaders and stakeholders.
“Ecologically intact older forests have a myriad of benefits, with one being increased resilience to climate stressors like wildfire and drought,” said Josh Hicks, senior campaign manager, National Forests Campaign, The Wilderness Society. “Therefore, a policy that retains, restores, and recruits increased old-growth forests is one of the best ways to fight against the increased, uncharacteristic wildfires we’ve seen over the past several years. We are so appreciative of Representatives Matsui, Huffman and Sarbanes for elevating this important issue.”
“From coast to coast, a diverse coalition of stakeholders is calling on the federal government to protect mature and old growths forests from the myriad threats they face, including wildfires, climate change, and reckless logging,” said Blaine Miller-McFeeley, senior legislative representative, Earthjustice. “Protecting and restoring these ecosystems is one of the best nature-based solutions we have for fighting climate change and should be a cornerstone of U.S. climate policy. We thank Reps. Matsui, Huffman, Sarbanes, and dozens of other Congressional members whose districts include forests across the country for recognizing this important issue and leading efforts to urge the federal government to protect our climate forests.”