“I love [basket weaving]. You create something that is alive. You put your heart and spirit into it, and it's alive. Whatever's in you, you put into the basket.”– Rochelle Marie O'Rourke, Tolowa/Yurok/Achumawi, from the book edited by Malcolm Margolin, “The Way We Lived”

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The jobs that American Indians held for hundreds and thousands of years varied.

There were specialists in each group who were hunters, arrowhead makers, gatherers, fishermen, shamans and more.

Another vital job was that of basket weaver. As the renowned Pomo basketmaker, Elsie Allen (Sept. 22, 1899 – Dec. 31, 1990) said, it was “the supreme art.”

California and Lake County Indian basket weavers constructed containers for innumerable uses for hundreds and thousands of years.

There were ceremonial baskets, fish traps, food storage baskets, baskets for cooking acorn meal, winnowing baskets, burden baskets and many more.

One basket was unique among all others – the cradle basket for carrying babies.

The California Indian Museum and Cultural Center in Santa Rosa recently held an exhibit of cradle baskets and childbirth traditions called “Precious Cargo.” There was a variety of shapes, decorations and materials used in cradle construction.

Like a car baby seat of today, the Indian cradle basket was vital in the hunter-gatherer times, for keeping babies safe.

Through the use of the cradle, the Indian women had their hands available for working at gathering food and a variety of other jobs.

Each region of our county and state, as we now know them, used a different type, however, the babies were always fastened into a cradle which had them lying on their back or seated straight up.

To build a basket, first the Indian women needed to spend time gathering the proper materials. This involved traversing down a creek or hillside to find willow.

The willow, white to gray tone was selected most often in the spring season, or sometimes during fall. Then, twigs were cut in accordance to the size of basket being made.

Now came the difficult job of preparing each switch for use, by cleaning, stripping and drying.

After the bark was removed the size or thickness was made uniform with a knife, since the willow is wider at the end.

Another necessary tool for basketry was the awl. In the early days it was a sharp tool made of bone, and later, a steel tip. The awl was used to ensure spaces between basketry pieces for ease of weaving.

Then, as now, having a baby was a big event in a family's life. Mortality rates were high then, so many cultural customs were followed.

Many times conceiving was difficult, so a “baby rock” was incorporated into a ritual using the special rock's dust.

The rock dust was taken from incising marks or grooves into the stone and sometimes layered onto the skin of the mother-to-be.

It was necessary for a mother of a newborn to keep from consuming salt or meat. The father of a newborn needed to refrain from hunting. Instead, he was encouraged to perform character-building feats like games or races.

When a Pomo Indian baby was born gifts were traded between the group's families. The Indian girls of various tribes learned vital mothering skills through the use of their own, “toy”-sized baby baskets.

Today, many vital components of native culture – including baby basket weaving skills – are passed on from the older generation to the younger members.

Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She also writes for NASA and JPL as one of their “Solar System Ambassadors.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A pilot and his passenger were injured on Saturday when the seaplane they were flying in crashed into Clear Lake.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office said the incident occurred late Saturday morning during the annual Clear Lake Seaplane Splash In, which is taking place this weekend at the old Natural High School property on N. Main St.

Lt. Corey Paulich said the aircraft involved was a Grumman Widgeon seaplane that was reported to have crashed offshore from Via Del Lago.

Lakeport Fire Chief Doug Hutchison said he saw the crash from his house, while he was out in his yard Saturday morning playing fetch with his dog.

Hutchison said he saw the plane come in for a landing on the lake, then there was a rooster tail of water and the sound of the impact.

He said he immediately called Central Dispatch to report the incident, and responded to the scene himself a short time later.

The Sheriff’s Marine Patrol responded to the area, locating the seaplane Seaplane in the water approximately 500 yards offshore, Paulich said.

Getting to the scene just ahead of the Marine Patrol were two Air Force pilots who were attending the event and driving a rented boat, along with Damon Trimble, a local pilot who in years past has been an event organizer and this year was driving a safety boat.

First Lt. Chris Dempsey and his friend Capt. Jared Wahleithner from Travis Air Force Base had flown to the event in Dempsey's plane on Friday and were in a boat nearby helping people to shore from a larger seaplane when the Grumman seaplane crashed.

Trimble and his safety boat also were helping offload the passengers when the incident occurred.

“It happened right behind us,” said Trimble.

Dempsey and Wahleithner said the entire episode happened very fast, with the seaplane looking and sounding normal beforehand.

“He was coming in and it just appeared that his gear was down,” Dempsey said, explaining that a pilot's biggest fear in a seaplane is accidentally leaving down the wheels. “It looked like a normal landing until his wheels touched the water.”

Trimble said the pilot, who was from out of the area, had just fueled up at Lampson Field. When he took off, he inadvertently left the wheels down, a situation that Trimble said the pilot would have noticed if he had been traveling any distance, since it would have slowed him down considerably.

However, with the airfield a short distance from the lake, “He didn't particularly notice any difference in performance,” said Trimble.

The plane has two wheels in the front and one in the back, which Trimble said pilots affectionately call “tail draggers.”

Just before the plane's hull touched the water, the wheels touched first, which abruptly stopped the plane's forward motion, causing it to flip over. The plane – which had been heading south – ended up facing to the north, Trimble said.

Dempsey said the plane came to rest with the nose down into the water, the tail in the air and the engine cutting off.

Trimble said his boat and the boat driven by Dempsey and Wahleithner arrived at the plane at about the same time.

Dempsey and Wahleithner threw a buoy to the pilot, who was just coming up out of the wreck. He had contusions to his face and appeared to be “pretty cut up,” said Dempsey.

When the passenger surfaced they helped him to the swim deck of their boat. He couldn't swim on his own due to his leg injuries, which they said included one broken leg, deep cuts and a possible fracture to the second leg, Dempsey said.

Trimble said the Marine Patrol boat had been down at the Fifth Street boat ramp and arrived at the scene just behind his boat and the one driven by the two Air Force pilots.

Trimble said the Sheriff's Marine Patrol deputies got the pilot – who had a big gash on his head – into their boat, while Dempsey said he and Wahleithner took the passenger to shore, using a life jacket to stabilize the man's broken leg.

Another man – whose name Trimble didn't know but who had been on the safety boat with him – also assisted in the rescue, getting into the water to help pull the injured men from the plane.

Trimble said a sheriff's deputy called Lakeport Fire – which Hutchison said had one engine standing by during the event – on the radio and had an ambulance meet them at the Fifth Street Boat Ramp.

Dempsey said both crash victims were coherent and had no spinal or breathing problems. “I just imagine the one guy will need some pins and some surgery,” Dempsey said of the passenger.

Hutchison said the man with the injured leg was taken to the REACH air ambulance base at Lampson Field, and from there flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

The pilot refused to be transported by ambulance and was taken by private vehicle to Sutter Lakeside Hospital, Hutchison said. “He needed some stitches.”

As for the plane, “It was in rough shape,” said Dempsey, noting it was a beautiful aircraft.

Trimble said the plane was in about 8 feet of water, with the nose on the bottom. They had attached ropes to it during the initial rescue, and he didn't think it completely submerged, although the cabin filled up with water.

About an hour after the crash, Trimble went back to the crash area but didn't see any signs of the plane. He wasn't sure if by then it had been removed.

Both of the Air Force pilots have had training in CPR and first aid, which Dempsey said helped a lot in the Saturday incident.

Dempsey and Wahleithner are in the same flying squadron at Travis Air Force Base. They fly KC-10 air refueling tankers, which refuel fighter and bomber aircraft in flight to extend their range.

“It's not as exciting as it sounds,” Dempsey said.

Dempsey had attended last year's Splash In, driving up to Lake County because he was concerned about the flight conditions due to the area's wildland fires.

This year he wanted to fly up, arriving on Friday in his Lake Buccaneer seaplane with Wahleithner.

Paulich said the sheriff’s office is coordinating with Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board, which will be taking over the crash investigation.

Trimble attributed the incident to simple human error.

This is not the first plane crash on the lake to coincide with the Splash In.

In September 1990, a World War II-era Lockheed P2V Harpoon doing a series of low passes and maneuvers nose dived into the lake, killing all seven aboard.

Organizers of the 1990 Splash In said that the plane involved in the crash was not a part of the event but had intruded, according to media reports at the time.

Trimble said besides the 1990 incident, he doesn't remember any other crashes having taken place during the Splash In, which has been held in Lakeport since 1979.

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.

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CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Police Department arrested three people on Wednesday as part of a probation sweep at a city residence.

Sgt. Tim Hobbs said police officers responded to a residence in the 3500 block of Maple Street at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday to conduct a probation search and arrest warrant service on numerous occupants who live at the residence.

Hobbs said this was part of an ongoing community oriented policing project to address numerous issues brought forward from the public concerning the residence.

As a result of this probation search, Hobbs said the following people were arrested:

• Jayson Scott Tate, 47, was arrested and booked into the Lake County Jail for resisting arrest.

• William Lynn Rankin, 40, was arrested and booked into the Lake County Jail for possession of a controlled substance.

• Jennifer Marie Morse, 32, was arrested and booked into the Lake County Jail for being under the influence of a controlled substance.

Six vehicles that were unlawfully parked on Maple Street blocking the roadway and or had expired registration were towed.

Additionally, the residence was found to have numerous building code violations and determined to be unsafe to inhabit. Clearlake Code Enforcement officers responded to the location and red tagged the residence, Hobbs said.

Hobbs said anyone with ongoing problems in their neighborhood can contact the officers assigned to the community oriented policy beat in which they live. The Clearlake Police Department can be reached at 707-994-8251.

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – On Saturday, the Lower Lake Historic Schoolhouse Museum will open its popular annual Quilt and Fiber Arts Show, a celebration of weaving, quilting, spinning and other forms of textile artwork.

The 24th annual show opens Saturday, with an artist' reception from noon to 2 p.m.

The reception will include demonstrations by some of the artists whose work is on display.

On Friday, Sheila O’Hara, who has organized the weaving component of the show for the last 12 years and now oversees the entire production, was busy putting the finishing touches on the displays, which once again are located in the museum's second-story auditorium.

“What we have is a bigger diversity of techniques,” said O'Hara, who has been a weaver for 40 years.

This year's show highlights textile artwork including weaving, quilts, batik, painted fabric and hand-done silkscreened textiles, needlepoint, clothing and basketry from around the world.

The museum narrowly escaped the ravages of the Clayton fire, which burned up to the edges of the building last month.

O'Hara said large air filters were run in the building following the fire, with a crew with vacuum backpacks also cleaning the building to make sure any smoke and soot from the fire was removed from the facility.

As a result, the museum, originally built in 1877 as the community's schoolhouse, was ready to once again host the quilt show.

In January, O'Hara joined the staff of the museum.

Her efforts on this year's show have gotten the stamp of approval from Lake County Museum Curator Tony Pierucci.

“I think it's the best we've ever had,” Pierucci said Friday of the show.

He added, “I just give her free rein.”

O'Hara has used that license to assemble an exhibit that moves from more traditional textile forms such as quilts to painted fabrics.

She previously led a guild in the Bay Area, where she learned techniques for setting up an exhibit from the Oakland Museum exhibit designer.

“We've kind of mixed it up a little bit more rather than just keeping the weaving all in one spot,” O'Hara said.

There are vignettes that feature the textile artwork with items from the museum collection, such as a quilt paired with a mannequin wearing a vintage blue silk ball gown from 1880; a mix of artwork and functional items, from tablecloths to sewn bags plus hats by Kelseyville hatmaker Tess McGuire; and items grouped in color that leads one around the room.

Some of the featured quilters include Laura Lee Fritz, Jane Alameda, JoAnn Andresen and Marj Sweeney.

The show also features clothing, such as Janis Eckert's woven shawl which won best of show for amateur weaving at this year's Lake County Fair, and the “Pagan Santa” vest, with deer and other motifs sewn on red velvet, by Christalene Loren.

On the auditorium's stage is a collection of basketry by local artist Sherry Harris and her students, including Stephanie Rodriguez.

On a wall near the stage are several framed pieces of needlepoint by Mara Bosnar.

Among the weaving displays is O'Hara's own work and that of her students.

One particularly eye-catching piece is the woven wall hanging titled “Egyptian Magic,” inspired by a trip O'Hara took to Egypt 10 years ago as part of a weaving-related job.

The show runs through Oct. 15.

The Lower Lake Historic Schoolhouse Museum is located at 16435 Main St.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday.

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. – Lake County Animal Care and Control once again has a wide variety of dogs needing new homes.

The available dogs this week include mixes of border collie, Chihuahua, Great Dane, hound, husky, Labrador Retriever, Rottweiler and pit bull.

There also are several strays picked up from the Clayton fire area that are being held for 30 days in order to reunite them with their families.

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.

If you're looking for a new companion, visit the shelter. There are many great pets hoping you'll choose them.

The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control Web site not listed are still “on hold”).

Chihuahua mix

This female Chihuahua mix has a short white coat with tan ears.

She's in kennel No. 4, ID No. 6095.

Senior Labrador Retriever

This senior male Labrador Retriever mix is looking for a home where he can spend the rest of his days with love and comfort.

He's a very friendly fellow with a a short chocolate coat and some white markings.

He's in kennel No. 11, ID No. 6051.

Border collie mix

This female border collie mix puppy has a short black and white coat.

She's in kennel No. 14b, ID No. 6105.

Rottweiler mix

This female Rottweiler mix has a black coat with some brindle markings.

Shelter staff said she need some training and is manageable on a leash. They said she is a very nice dog and knows not to jump when excited. After proper introductions, she has gotten along with other dogs she has met, including off-leash play. She would do best in a home with no cats.

She's in kennel No. 25, ID No. 5947.

'Dakota'

“Dakota” is a female pit bull terrier mix with a short blue and white coat.

She's in kennel No. 27, ID No. 6142.

'Lucky'

“Lucky” is a male hound and Great Dane mix with a short black and white coat.

He's in kennel No. 30, ID No. 6026.

'Flor'

“Flor” is a female Labrador Retriever mix with a short black and white coat.

She already has been spayed, which should lower her adoption cost.

She is in kennel No. 30b, ID No. 6041.

Husky mix

This female husky mix has a medium-length all-white coat and brown eyes.

She already has been spayed, which should lower her adoption cost.

She's in kennel No. 31, ID No. 6058.

To fill out an adoption application online visit http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control/Adopt/Dog___Cat_Adoption_Application.htm .

Lake County Animal Care and Control is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport, next to the Hill Road Correctional Facility.

Office hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. The shelter is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Visit the shelter online at http://www.co.lake.ca.us/Government/Directory/Animal_Care_And_Control.htm .

For more information call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278.

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 – Mercury is an odd element: it is liquid under normal conditions, it forms amalgams with many other metals such as gold and silver, and it is over 13 times denser than water.

In natural waters, mercury is a concern because of the potential toxic effects of one form, methylmercury, to humans and wildlife.

Methylmercury forms as a byproduct of certain bacteria metabolizing mercury under conditions such as those found in wetlands.

Its toxicity is difficult to comprehend – one standard thermometer’s volume worth of methylmercury is enough to pollute over 3,000 Olympic-size swimming pools worth of water.

Exposure to methylmercury comes largely from eating fish that have accumulated it through their diet. Methylmercury is linked to developmental problems in fetuses and children, and effects the nervous system in adults. Similar affects are observed in wildlife.
 
Today, mercury is the most common cause of contaminated water bodies in the Cache Creek and Putah Creek watersheds, which drain from the Inner Coast Range eastward from Colusa, Lake and Napa counties into Yolo and Solano counties.

The state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has issued several fish consumption warnings ( www.oehha.ca.gov/node/412 ). A recent US Geological Survey study of mercury concentrations in grebes (a common fish-eating bird) at 25 lakes statewide found the highest levels at Lake Berryessa.
 
The Inner Coast Range is a complex mixture of rock types: sedimentary, volcanic and the delicate green- and black-flecked serpentine, the California state rock.

Areas rich in serpentine tend to contain relatively high concentrations of mercury. These bare surface soils naturally erode into local creeks, and mineral springs discharge waters rich in mercury.

Even more broadly, reactive mercury in global emissions of oil and coal contaminate even pristine watersheds worldwide.
 
There have been three eras of mercury mining in these watersheds: the Gold Rush (second half of the 19th century), two world wars (first half of the 20th century), and the Industrial Revolution (1950s to early 1970s).

Mercury mining activity fluctuated with economic demand due to developments in gold mining in the Sierra Nevada and Nevada Comstock Lode, medicine, explosives, gasoline additives and atomic energy research.

We are now left with the legacy of about 80 abandoned mercury mines in the upper Cache Creek and Putah Creek watersheds, and many thousands of other abandoned mines statewide.

 
The vast majority of this mining predated two important developments: major water projects damming and diverting large proportions of the runoff from the two watersheds, and modern environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act.

Consequently, enterprising miners simply dumped their contaminated waste downhill to be swept away in the next storm, and that contaminated material still blankets floodplains and the San Francisco Bay-Delta.
 
A key challenge to cleaning up mine sites is often, ironically, environmental laws.

Common concerns for any organization interested in improving a site include: (1) “Touch it and you own it” meaning you are liable for ongoing contamination from a site even if all you did there was try to fix the problem; and (2) “Perfect is the enemy of good” meaning the law doesn’t easily allow only inexpensive improvements if standards are still being exceeded.

It can take years (and too much budget) to complete an adequate environmental assessment and obtain the necessary federal, state, and local permits for cleaning up a mine site. Nonetheless, several organizations are taking on the challenge.
 
The Delta Tributaries Mercury Council ( www.sacriver.org/aboutwatershed/mercury/dtmc ), which morphed from a Cache Creek stakeholders group in 1995, is guided by its 2002 Strategic Plan to reduce the risk of mercury within the larger Sacramento River watershed. The council hosts quarterly meetings which are announced to its nearly 500 members.
 
The federal Brownfields program provides liability protection, funds, and technical assistance (not enforcement) to assess and clean up contaminated sites (including “mine-scarred” lands).

Water managers representing four of the counties encompassing the Cache and Putah creeks watersheds recently formed a coalition to assess the mercury mines in the region as brownfields in order to improve them ( www.westsideirwmbrownfields.org ).
 
Stephen McCord is president of McCord Environmental, based in Davis, Calif. As a registered professional engineer, he has more than 25 years of consulting, research and teaching experience in the environmental engineering field throughout the US and internationally. The local nonprofit Tuleyome is a regional leader in cleaning up abandoned mercury mine sites ( www.tuleyome.org/projects/mercury-mine-remediation-program ). Tuleyome is currently implementing a three-year, $2.4 million grant from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Ecosystem Restoration Program to clean up the Corona and Twin Peaks mercury mines in northwest Napa County, which drain into Lake Berryessa.

After more than 12 years studying Saturn, its rings and moons, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has entered the final year of its epic voyage.

The conclusion of the historic scientific odyssey is planned for September 2017, but not before the spacecraft completes a daring two-part endgame.

Beginning on Nov. 30, Cassini's orbit will send the spacecraft just past the outer edge of the main rings. These orbits, a series of 20, are called the F-ring orbits. During these weekly orbits, Cassini will approach to within 4,850 miles of the center of the narrow F ring, with its peculiar kinked and braided structure.

“During the F-ring orbits we expect to see the rings, along with the small moons and other structures embedded in them, as never before,” said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. “The last time we got this close to the rings was during arrival at Saturn in 2004, and we saw only their backlit side. Now we have dozens of opportunities to examine their structure at extremely high resolution on both sides.”

The last act: A grand finale

Cassini's final phase – called the Grand Finale – begins in earnest in April 2017.

A close flyby of Saturn's giant moon Titan will reshape the spacecraft's orbit so that it passes through the gap between Saturn and the rings – an unexplored space only about 1,500 miles wide.

The spacecraft is expected to make 22 plunges through this gap, beginning with its first dive on April 27.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft stared at Saturn for nearly 44 hours in April 2016 to obtain this movie showing four Saturn days.

Cassini will begin a series of dives between the planet and its rings in April 2017, building toward a dramatic end of mission – a final plunge into the planet, six months later.

During the Grand Finale, Cassini will make the closest-ever observations of Saturn, mapping the planet's magnetic and gravity fields with exquisite precision and returning ultra-close views of the atmosphere.

Scientists also hope to gain new insights into Saturn's interior structure, the precise length of a Saturn day, and the total mass of the rings – which may finally help settle the question of their age.

The spacecraft will also directly analyze dust-sized particles in the main rings and sample the outer reaches of Saturn's atmosphere – both first-time measurements for the mission.

“It's like getting a whole new mission,” said Spilker. “The scientific value of the F ring and Grand Finale orbits is so compelling that you could imagine a whole mission to Saturn designed around what we're about to do.”

Getting into Saturn, literally

Since the beginning of 2016, mission engineers have been tweaking Cassini's orbital path around Saturn to position the spacecraft for the mission's final phase.

They have sent the spacecraft on a series of flybys past Titan that are progressively raising the tilt of Cassini's orbit with respect to Saturn's equator and rings. This particular orientation enables the spacecraft to leap over the rings with a single (and final) Titan flyby in April, to begin the Grand Finale.

“We've used Titan's gravity throughout the mission to sling Cassini around the Saturn system,” said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager at JPL. “Now Titan is coming through for us once again, providing a way for Cassini to get into these completely unexplored regions so close to the planet.”

The grand finale will come to a dramatic end on Sept. 15, 2017, as Cassini dives into Saturn's atmosphere, returning data about the planet's chemical composition until its signal is lost.

Friction with the atmosphere will cause the spacecraft to burn up like a meteor soon afterward.

To celebrate the beginning of the final year and the adventure ahead, the Cassini team is releasing a new movie of the rotating planet, along with a color mosaic, both taken from high above Saturn's northern hemisphere. The movie covers 44 hours, or just over four Saturn rotations.

‘A truly thrilling ride’

“This is the sort of view Cassini will have as the spacecraft repeatedly climbs high above Saturn's northern latitudes before plunging past the outer – and later the inner – edges of the rings,” said Spilker.

And so, although the mission's end is approaching – with a “Cassini Final Plunge” clock already counting down in JPL mission control – an extremely important phase of the mission is still to come.

“We may be counting down, but no one should count Cassini out yet,” said Curt Niebur, Cassini program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The journey ahead is going to be a truly thrilling ride.”

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter.

For more information about Cassini visit http://www.nasa.gov/cassini .

Caltrans and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) remind motorists to remain alert for wildlife on roadways during Watch Out for Wildlife Week, which runs Sept. 18 to 24.

“We urge motorists to remain alert and be cautious when traveling through wildlife areas, so our roadways will remain as safe as possible,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “Drivers can really make a difference in avoiding wildlife collisions, simply by being aware while driving and watching for wildlife crossing signs.”

According to Defenders of Wildlife, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting native species and their natural communities, there are 725,000 to 1.5 million wildlife-vehicle collisions in the U.S. every year, resulting in more than 200 human fatalities.

In California, between eight and 10 drivers and as many as 20,000 deer die in wildlife-vehicle collisions each year.

“Between now and December, deer and other wildlife are highly susceptible to vehicle collisions,” said Marc Kenyon, CDFW’s Human-Wildlife Conflict Program Manager. “Deer will soon start their annual migrations to winter range, bucks will be preoccupied competing for mates, and bears will be searching for food in preparation for hibernation. Such natural behaviors can lead these animals into the way of unsuspecting drivers. Drivers can prevent collisions with animals by being careful and paying attention.”

The Watch Out for Wildlife campaign is supported by Caltrans, CDFW, Defenders of Wildlife and the Road Ecology Center at the University of California, Davis.

Wildlife experts from these organizations offer the following tips for motorists:

• Be especially alert when driving in areas frequented by wildlife, and reduce your speed so you can react safely.
• Pay particular attention when driving during the morning and evening, as wildlife are most active during these times.
• If you see an animal cross the road, know that another may be following.
• Don’t litter. The odors may entice animals to venture near roadways.