Like sea stars on a sandy beach, star anise is shown here making its home atop a bed of anise seeds. A seed pod of an Asian evergreen tree, star anise holds seeds in each of its eight arms. Though unrelated, anise and star anise share a similar licorice-like flavor. Photo by Esther Oertel.

I’m chewing on anise seeds as I write, having just tossed a pinch or two into my mouth. The taste is pleasant, a cross between licorice and fennel.

These little seeds have been used as a breath freshener since ancient Roman times, when noted Roman scholar Pliny the Elder said that anise “removed all bad odors from the mouth if chewed in the morning.” Anise extract is still used in breath-freshening products, such as toothpastes and mouthwashes that favor natural ingredients.

The Romans widely cultivated anise for its fragrance, flavor and medicinal properties, which, in their opinion, included relief from epileptic seizures, maintaining a youthful appearance and avoidance of bad dreams.

The Romans (as well as the Greeks) found other medicinal uses for anise that are still extant today, such as a remedy for coughs and improvement of the digestive system.

They mixed the seeds into a cake called “mustaceum” that was eaten as a digestive aid at the end of a meal. This spicy cake became a favorite after heavy meals, including wedding feasts, and some believe the modern tradition of the wedding cake is an outgrowth of this practice.

Anise is still recommended for improving digestion (and some say for preventing flatulence), and making tea is a simple way to achieve this. Crush the seeds and steep a teaspoon in a cup of boiled water for about 10 minutes. Strain and sip slowly. (I’m drinking a cup of it now, having moved on from chewing on seeds.)

The Romans weren’t the only ancients who valued this little seed. The Egyptians have cultivated the plant for over 4,000 years, with a reference to anise found in an Egyptian papyrus dating to 2,000 B.C.

This herb native to the Mediterranean region is used to impart a licorice-like flavor to a variety of foods and drinks around the world. Scandinavian, Greek, Moroccan and Arabic cuisines have all made good use of anise. It’s also popular in the cuisine of India, where it’s not distinguished from fennel. The same name is applied to both.

It’s popular in Spanish cookery, as well as in cuisines throughout South America, as Spanish conquistadors brought anise to the shores of the new world.

The seed may be used whole or ground, and if you grow anise in your garden, its tender, young leaves may be used in a salad or as a bouquet to flavor a stew. In its seed form, anise (also known as aniseed) will stay fresh for a couple of years. It quickly loses its savor when ground, so should be ground only as needed.

Anise is a popular flavor in cookies, cakes, and confections throughout the world, including in British aniseed balls, Australian humbugs, New Zealand aniseed wheels, Italian pizzelle, German Pfeffernusse and Springerle, Austrian Anisebögen, Netherland muisjes, Norwegian knotts, New Mexican Bizcochitos and Peruvian picarones. Many of these are popular Christmas treats.

While the flavor of anise is quite similar to that of licorice, the two plants are not related. In some cases, anise is combined with licorice in candies to impart a stronger flavor, such as in black jelly beans that are naturally flavored.

One of the most noted uses of anise is as a flavoring in various liqueurs. Equal parts of anise, fennel, and coriander seeds flavor sugared vodka to create anisette. Anesone is a similar liqueur, but stronger and sweeter.

A number of other anise liqueurs are made in countries all over the world. In addition to anisette, the French make pastis; the Spaniards, ojen; the Peruvians, anis; the Mexicans, xtabentun; the Puerto Ricans, tres castillos; the Turk, raki; the Colombians, aguardiente; the Italians, sambuca; the Dutch brokmopke; the Bulgarians, mastika; the Germans, jagermeister; the Greeks, ouzo; and in the Middle East, arak.

In addition, the infamous and once illegal alcohol from France, absinthe, is flavored with anise.

The most powerful flavor component of the essential oil of anise, anethole, is also found in an unrelated spice, star anise, which features prominently in Asian cooking. Star anise is the seed pod of an evergreen tree that is native to China and Japan. Its eight symmetrical appendages inspire its name and give a home to the tree’s seeds.

Star anise is typically added whole to flavor dishes; however, in its ground form it is a component of Chinese Five Spice, a pungent spice blend that also features fennel, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, and Sichaun pepper.

Anise and star anise have very similar licorice-like flavor profiles, though star anise is significantly stronger.

On this festive day, I offer three recipes: pears poached with star anise, biscotti flavored with anise seeds and anisette liquor, and a slushy beverage that takes advantage of the happy relationship between lemon and anise.

While it’s not necessarily the season for icy drinks, the slushy would be a wonderful use of the Meyer lemons that are in season this time of year. As well, it could be a surprising cocktail (with or without alcohol) at a New Year’s Eve party.

Before I leave, here’s a piece of anise-related trivia: humans aren’t the only species to enjoy its flavor. Reputed to be a favorite of mice, it was used as bait in medieval mouse traps.

In addition, it’s often referred to as catnip for dogs. While it doesn’t have the “crazy-making” affects of the feline favorite, it’s beloved enough by our canine friends to be the scent used on the “rabbit” that racing greyhounds chase around the track.

If you’re celebrating Christmas today, I hope your holiday is a joyous one.

Enjoy!

Cinnamon-anise poached pears

2 pears, peeled, halved, and cored

2 cups water

2/3 cup sugar

2 cinnamon sticks

2 star anise pods

½ cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon sugar

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, and star anise pods in a medium saucepan. Add pear halves.

Bring liquid to a boil; turn heat down so liquid remains at a steady simmer. Simmer pears until tender and water is reduced to a somewhat syrupy consistency.

Meanwhile, whip cream with sugar and cinnamon until soft peaks form.

When pears are tender, remove from pan, reserving liquid.

Serve pears with a drizzle of the poaching syrup and the whipped cream. This recipe makes four servings.

Anise biscotti

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

¼ cup anisette or sambuca

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup pine nuts, lightly toasted

1 tablespoon anise seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 1 large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, beating after the addition of each. Add the dry ingredients, alternating with the anisette. Add the vanilla and mix well. Fold in the nuts and anise seeds.

Divide the dough into two equal pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll each under your palms to make a log about twelve inches in length and two inches in diameter. Place logs on baking sheet about two inches apart. Bake until golden brown and firm, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on the sheet.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

Transfer the cooled cookie logs to a large cutting board and with a heavy knife cut into slices about ¾ inches thick. Spread the cookies on the baking sheet. Bake until firm and crisp, about 30 minutes, turning over halfway through the cooking. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cook.

This recipe by Emeril Lagasse yields about three dozen biscotti cookies and is courtesy of www.FoodNetwork.com. Chef Lagasse recommends serving these biscotti with lemon ice cream, but they’re also wonderful dunked in coffee.

Esther’s note: Chopped local walnuts may be added in place of the pine nuts.

Lemon anise slush

½ cup fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste

1/3 cup sugar or honey, plus more to taste

¾ teaspoon anise seeds

1 cup water (or vodka for an adult version)

Ice cubes to fill blender

Blend lemon juice, sugar or honey, and anise seeds in a blender until the seeds break up, at least 30 seconds, but longer, if needed.

Add the water (or vodka) and enough ice to fill the blender. Blend until smooth.

If necessary, add more water, a little at a time, for desired consistency.

Adjust for sweetness and lemon as you go.

Serve immediately. This recipe makes four to six servings.

This recipe is courtesy of www.101cookbooks.com.

Esther Oertel, a freelance writer, cooking teacher, and speaker, is passionate about local produce and all foods in the vegetable kingdom. She welcomes your questions and comments and may be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Atmospheric deposition is the predominant pathway for mercury to reach sensitive ecosystems, where it can accumulate in fish and harm wildlife and humans, the US Geological Survey reported.

Coal-fired power plants and industries are among the primary sources of mercury emissions. Mercury emissions can travel far in the atmosphere, and the relative importance of local, regional, or international mercury emissions to natural waters is generally unknown.

This is the first study to quantify the relation between mercury fallout and distance from major urban centers.

The study included lakes nearby, and remote from Boston, Mass.; Albany, N.Y.; Montreal, Canada; New Haven, Conn.; Tampa and Orlando, Fla.; Chicago, Ill.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Denver, Colo.; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Portland, Ore.

To better understand geographic patterns of mercury deposition, the USGS analyzed sediment cores from 12 lakes with undeveloped watersheds near to – less than 30 miles – and remote from – more than 90 miles – several major urban areas in the United States.

Mercury deposition in the near-urban lakes greatly exceeds amounts found in remote lakes. The full report can be found in the journal Environmental Pollution.

"With all of the environmental issues requiring attention, this study is an excellent example of how science can help target our attention and actions to geographic areas where mercury's toxic impacts are likely to be the greatest in the near term on both ecosystems and humans," said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. "This study also helps scale the distance over which atmospheric deposition of mercury is most severe, although no region escapes mercury contamination."

Mercury emissions were previously known to contribute to global air pollution, but the importance of deposition near sources was less certain.

Mercury deposition to South Reservoir, a protected water supply lake six miles north of downtown Boston, was five-times greater than mercury deposition to Crocker Pond, 130 miles to the north in western Maine. This pattern was repeated in near-urban and remote lakes in other parts of the country.

"This finding could have important implications for management of mercury emissions to reduce the risks mercury poses to humans and wildlife,” said USGS scientist Peter Van Metre, author of the study. “The results illustrate the importance of reducing mercury emissions in the U.S. and not focusing only on emissions globally."

The study is part of the USGS National Water Quality Assessment Program, which has been using age-dated lake sediment cores from across the United States to evaluate contaminant trends.

Other lake coring studies have found elevated mercury levels in urban areas. However, many urban lakes are affected by urbanization in the watershed, which makes it difficult to distinguish atmospheric mercury deposition from other sources of mercury pollution.

An important factor in this study was finding and sampling lakes in undeveloped, protected watersheds in and near major cities.

The findings of this study support previous conclusions from models that indicate increased mercury deposition near major cities.

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This chart compares artist's concept images of the first Earth-size planets found around a sun-like star to planets in our own solar system, Earth and Venus. Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech.

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system.

The planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are too close to their star to be in the so-called habitable zone where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface, but they are the smallest exoplanets ever confirmed around a star like our sun.

The discovery marks the next important milestone in the ultimate search for planets like Earth.

The new planets are thought to be rocky. Kepler-20e is slightly smaller than Venus, measuring 0.87 times the radius of Earth. Kepler-20f is a bit larger than Earth, measuring 1.03 times its radius.

Both planets reside in a five-planet system called Kepler-20, approximately 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Lyra.

Kepler-20e orbits its parent star every 6.1 days and Kepler-20f every 19.6 days. These short orbital periods mean very hot, inhospitable worlds.

Kepler-20f, at 800 degrees Fahrenheit, is similar to an average day on the planet Mercury. The surface temperature of Kepler-20e, at more than 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit, would melt glass.

“The primary goal of the Kepler mission is to find Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone," said Francois Fressin of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., lead author of a new study published in the journal Nature. "This discovery demonstrates for the first time that Earth-size planets exist around other stars, and that we are able to detect them.”

The Kepler-20 system includes three other planets that are larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune.

Kepler-20b, the closest planet, Kepler-20c, the third planet, and Kepler-20d, the fifth planet, orbit their star every 3.7, 10.9 and 77.6 days.

All five planets have orbits lying roughly within Mercury's orbit in our solar system. The host star belongs to the same G-type class as our sun, although it is slightly smaller and cooler.

The system has an unexpected arrangement. In our solar system, small, rocky worlds orbit close to the sun and large, gaseous worlds orbit farther out. In comparison, the planets of Kepler-20 are organized in alternating size: large, small, large, small and large.

"The Kepler data are showing us some planetary systems have arrangements of planets very different from that seen in our solar system," said Jack Lissauer, planetary scientist and Kepler science team member at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "The analysis of Kepler data continue to reveal new insights about the diversity of planets and planetary systems within our galaxy."

Scientists are not certain how the system evolved but they do not think the planets formed in their existing locations.

They theorize the planets formed farther from their star and then migrated inward, likely through interactions with the disk of material from which they originated. This allowed the worlds to maintain their regular spacing despite alternating sizes.

The Kepler space telescope detects planets and planet candidates by measuring dips in the brightness of more than 150,000 stars to search for planets crossing in front, or transiting, their stars.

The Kepler science team requires at least three transits to verify a signal as a planet.

On Dec. 5 the team announced the discovery of Kepler-22b in the habitable zone of its parent star. It is likely to be too large to have a rocky surface.

While Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f are Earth-size, they are too close to their parent star to have liquid water on the surface.

"In the cosmic game of hide and seek, finding planets with just the right size and just the right temperature seems only a matter of time," said Natalie Batalha, Kepler deputy science team lead and professor of astronomy and physics at San Jose State University. "We are on the edge of our seats knowing that Kepler's most anticipated discoveries are still to come."

Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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A Delta smelt. Photo by US Fish and Wildlife Pacific Southwest Region.

There is some good news about one of the state’s endangered fish populations.

The California Department of Fish and Game reported that Delta smelt abundance in 2011 is greater than it has been since 2001 but remains a small fraction of historical abundance.

State biologists believe the improvement in the Delta smelt’s population is likely due in large part to higher than usual Delta outflow, which resulted in more and better habitat.

Because it is exceptionally difficult to determine the actual number of Delta smelt, Department of Fish and Game biologists use survey data to develop “indices” of the species’ abundance.

An index is a number that is likely to vary in direct proportion to abundance, the state said. For example, if a hypothetical index were to double from 4 to 8 then abundance would also have doubled (e.g., from 200,000 to 400,000).

The Fall Midwater Trawl Survey index of Delta smelt abundance – which has been developed almost yearly since 1967 and is named after the season and type of net used to collect fish for the index – was 343 this year while the index in 2010 was 29 and its record high was 1673 in 1970, the Department of Fish and Game reported.

After a decade of record or near-record low annual abundance, the increased number of Delta smelt in 2011 is encouraging, biologists said.

To help protect and recover Delta smelt, the Department of Fish and Game monitors the geographic distribution and trends in the abundance of Delta smelt during each of its life stages.

In January, the agency will begin monitoring the spawning migration of adult Delta smelt and resulting larval Delta smelt.

Delta smelt occur only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, into which waters from Clear Lake and Cache Creek flow.

The finger-sized fish was historically one of the most abundant in the Delta, but the species declined substantially and was listed as threatened under the California and Federal Endangered Species acts in 1993.

After a further decline, the species was designated as endangered in 2010 under the California Endangered Species Act.

Ongoing efforts to protect and recover the Delta smelt population include research on threats to the species, active management to minimize loss at water diversions under federal Endangered Species Act biological opinions and a state Endangered Species Act authorization, development of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, improved water quality, habitat restoration and conservation of genetic diversity through special hatchery-rearing techniques.

Longfin smelt abundance is also indexed using Fall Midwater Trawl Survey data, the state said. Abundance of the species in 2011 is greater than it has been since 2006 but remains a small fraction of historical abundance.

The species declined substantially and was listed as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act in 2010.

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Fernando Gabriel Parra, 29, of Kelseyville, Calif., was arrested on Wednesday, December 21, 2011, on drug charges and for probation violations. Lake County Jail photo.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A probation search this week by the Lake County Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force and the Lake County Probation Department resulted in one arrest and the seizure of 14.7 grams of methamphetamine.

On Wednesday at approximately 8:30 am, narcotics detectives and probation officers conducted a probation search where 29-year-old Fernando Gabriel Parra of Kelseyville – who is on felony probation – was residing, according to Sgt. Steve Brooks.

When narcotics detectives entered the home, Parra was located and detained without incident, Brooks said.

A sheriff’s narcotics detection K9 alerted on a nightstand dresser drawer in one of the bedrooms. Brooks said narcotics detectives conducted a search of dresser drawer and located approximately 14.7 grams of methamphetamine, which was packaged in 24 plastic baggies.

Parra was arrested for possession of a controlled substance for sales, violation of a court order preventing domestic violence and probation violation, Brooks said.

Parra was transported to the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility and booked. Jail records indicated he remained in custody on Saturday on a no-bail probation hold.

The Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force can be contacted through its anonymous tip line at 707-263-3663.

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The Lake County Sheriff

NASA's Dawn spacecraft spent the last four years voyaging to asteroid Vesta – and may have found a planet.

Vesta was discovered over two hundred years ago but, until Dawn, has been seen only as an indistinct blur and considered little more than a large, rocky body. Now the spacecraft's instruments are revealing the true complexity of this ancient world.

"We're seeing enormous mountains, valleys, hills, cliffs, troughs, ridges, craters of all sizes and plains," said Chris Russell, Dawn principal investigator from UCLA. "Vesta is not a simple ball of rock. This is a world with a rich geochemical history. It has quite a story to tell!"

In fact, the asteroid is so complex that Russell and members of his team are calling it the "smallest terrestrial planet."

Vesta has an iron core, notes Russell, and its surface features indicate that the asteroid is "differentiated" like the terrestrial planets Earth, Mercury, Mars and Venus.

Differentiation is what happens when the interior of an active planet gets hot enough to melt, separating its materials into layers.

The light material floats to the top while the heavy elements, such as iron and nickel, sink to the center of the planet.

Researchers believe this process also happened to Vesta.

The story begins about 4.57 billion years ago, when the planets of the Solar System started forming from the primordial solar nebula.

As Jupiter gathered itself together, its powerful gravity stirred up the material in the asteroid belt so objects there could no longer coalesce.

Vesta was in the process of growing into a full-fledged planet when Jupiter interrupted the process.

Although Vesta’s growth was stunted, it is still differentiated like a true planet.

"We believe that the Solar System received an extra slug of radioactive aluminum and iron from a nearby supernova explosion at the time Vesta was forming," explained Russell. "These materials decay and give off heat. As the asteroid was gathering material up into a big ball of rock, it was also trapping the heat inside itself."

As Vesta’s core melted, lighter materials rose to the surface, forming volcanoes and mountains and lava flows.

"We think Vesta had volcanoes and flowing lava at one time, although we've not yet found any ancient volcanoes there," said Russell. "We're still looking. Vesta's plains seem similar to Hawaii's surface, which is basaltic lava solidified after flowing onto the surface.”

Vesta has so much in common with the terrestrial planets, should it be formally reclassified from "asteroid" to "dwarf planet"?

"That's up to the International Astronomical Union, but at least on the inside, Vesta is doing all the things a planet does,” Russell said.

If anyone asks Russell, he knows how he would vote.

Dauna Coulter works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

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Community members gathered in Middletown, Calif., on Friday, December 23, 2011, to show support for Jordan Armstrong and Kevin Hart, burned in a fire on Tuesday, December 20, 2011, in Hidden Valley Lake, Calif. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Holton.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – A Friday evening prayer vigil in Middletown focused on bringing healing and help to two young men badly burned in a house fire on Tuesday.

Jordan Armstrong and friend Kevin Hart are being treated at UC Davis Medical Center in the wake of the fire, which destroyed Armstrong’s home at 18390 North Shore Drive in Hidden Valley Lake.

Several hours before the vigil on Friday, Hart emerged from a surgery in which doctors grafted skin onto his entire back and part of his head, according to the “Kevin’s Blood Drive” Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kevins-Blood-Drive/303291886377820, which his family set up to offer updates on his condition.

Hart, whose family reported that he suffered burns over 80 percent of his body, had undergone surgery previously on Wednesday, in which skin grafts were performed on his hands, forearms, feet and a portion of his chest.

Armstrong suffered burns over 30 percent of his body, according to the “Please PRAY for Jordan Armstrong” Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/events/239085382830595/.

UC Davis officials reported Armstrong as being in “fair” condition on Thursday.

Both he and Hart are reported to be facing months of hospitalization and rehabilitation.

Hart, who has the O Positive blood type, is in need of blood transfusions, and his family is heading up a blood drive to make sure he has the supply he needs as he faces more surgeries in the months ahead.

The blood drive is through Blood Source, located at 3505 Industrial Drive, Santa Rosa, telephone 916-456-1500, www.bloodsource.org.

An effort is under way to bring a Blood Source mobile unit to the county to collect donations, friends said Friday.

A relief fund has been set up for Hart, Armstrong and their families at Silverado Credit Union, 1407 Main St., Suite 100, St Helena, CA 94574. Write “Account 509404” in the check’s memo area.

The Hidden Valley Community Church also is taking donations for Armstrong; checks can be sent to the Hidden Valley Community Church, P.O. Box 1049, Middletown, CA 95461, with “Jordan Armstrong” in the subject line.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Google+, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .

So when does it make sense to amend, restate or revoke a trust and start over? Let us examine these alternatives.

A trust is amended when the settlor wishes to make revisions to particular terms within a trust. Each amendment is an overlay to each preceding one and to the original trust itself.

Naturally the more numerous amendments the more cumbersome reading and understanding the trust becomes.

Reasons to amend a trust include changing who becomes successor trustee or the distribution scheme.

Sometimes entirely restating the trust is desirable. A restatement is an amendment that completely rewrites the whole trust. It preserves the trust’s existence but with entirely new terms.

A restatement is desirable when a trust might have numerous inadequacies that require substantial corrections. Also, amending a trust with many prior overlapping amendments may require a restatement.

An advantage of the restatement is that trust assets do not have to be retitled in the name of a new trust. When many trust assets are involved a restatement can save time and money.

But sometimes it is necessary to revoke a trust and to transfer the assets into a new trust. Let us now see why.

Four reasons come to mind why a settlor might want a new trust rather than a restatement.

First, the settlor may not wish for the trust beneficiaries to receive copies of the prior amendments to the trust.

As a matter of law, when a settlor dies, the beneficiaries and heirs of the deceased settlor are all entitled to a copy of the original trust together with all amendments. This may be disagreeable to any settlor who prefers to keep the earlier amendments secret.

Second, the settlor may not wish to leave open the possibility that the most recent amendment (which might even be a complete restatement) could be destroyed by a dissatisfied beneficiary.

That is, someone might wish to discard the most current amendment in order to proceed under an earlier version of the trust. Titling assets over into a new trust with a new name and creation date cuts-off that possibility.

Third, with a joint trust (i.e., one settled by a married couple) the surviving spouse might decide to transfer her share into a new trust in the survivor’s name alone.

Although the surviving spouse can typically use a power of appointment to change who inherits what assets, the surviving spouse may or may not be able to make amendments to the provisions of the trust after the first spouse dies.

In the case of a blended family, the surviving spouse may wish to remove her assets from a joint trust into a new trust for the benefit of her own children to the exclusion of the step children.

Fourth, when the community property and separate property rights of one spouse in a joint trust assets are transmuted (changed) into the other spouse’s sole and separate property the trust is terminated and assets transferred into a single settlor trust.

This happens when assets are transferred between spouses in order to allow one spouse to qualify to receive Medi-Cal at a skilled nursing facility.

Amending or restating the original joint trust in that case is not a solution.

As discussed, the revocable living trust is flexible. Options to amend, restate or revoke are available.

Reviewing one’s estate plan every five years, sometimes sooner if circumstances necessitate, with a qualified attorney is a generally advisable.

Dennis A. Fordham, attorney (LL.M. tax studies), is a State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law. His office is at 55 First St., Lakeport, California. Dennis can be reached by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 707-263-3235. Visit his Web site at www.dennisfordhamlaw.com.

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The Deepwater Horizon site. Photo courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The amount of air pollutants in the atmospheric plume generated by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was similar to a large city according to a new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-led study published in a new special issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers from the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) and NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) in Boulder, Colo., along with university colleagues, focused on ozone and particulate matter – two pollutants with human health effects.

About eight percent, or about one of every 13 barrels of the Deepwater Horizon-spilled oil that reached the ocean surface, eventually made its way into airborne organic particles small enough to be inhaled into human lungs, and some of those particles likely reached the Gulf coast when the winds were blowing toward the shore, according to the study.

"We could see the sooty black clouds from the burning oil, but there’s more to this than meets the eye. Our instruments detected a much more massive atmospheric plume of almost invisible small organic particles and pollutant gases downwind of the oil spill site," said Ann M. Middlebrook, scientist at NOAA ESRL’s Chemical Sciences Division (CSD) and lead author of the study.

According to the study, over the course of the spill, the total mass of organic particles formed from evaporating surface oil was about ten times bigger than the mass of soot from all the controlled burns.

Controlled burns are used to reduce the size of surface oil slicks and minimize impacts of oil on sensitive shoreline ecosystems and marine life.

The organic particles formed in the atmosphere from hydrocarbons that were released as surface oil evaporated, and they got bigger as they traveled in the plume. The atmospheric plume was about 30 kilometers wide – about 18.5 miles – when it reached the coast.

Some of the hydrocarbons from the evaporating oil reacted with nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere to create ozone pollution, but this other atmospheric plume was only 3 to 4 kilometers (2 to 3 miles) wide at the coast.

“The levels of ozone were similar to what occurs in large urban areas. During the oil spill, it was like having a large city’s worth of pollution appear out in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico,” said Daniel M. Murphy, NOAA scientist at ESRL/CSD and a co-author of the study.

The relatively small amounts of nitrogen oxides in the vicinity of the oil spill (which included nitrogen oxides emitted by the spill cleanup and recovery efforts) limited the amount of polluting ozone that was formed offshore. When the excess hydrocarbons reached the coast, they could have reacted with on-shore sources of nitrogen oxides, such as cars and power plants, to form additional ozone.

The researchers gathered data in June 2010 on two flights of NOAA’s WP-3D research aircraft that was outfitted to be a “flying chemical laboratory.” They also analyzed data gathered on ships in the vicinity and at two monitoring sites in Mississippi downwind of the oil spill.

They used a regional air quality model to project the path of the particle pollution, and found that time periods when the pollution plume was predicted to have reached the coast matched up well with a few short periods of high readings at the monitoring sites.

In addition to the organic particles that formed from the evaporating oil, soot particles were lofted into the atmosphere from the oil that was burned on the surface.

The authors note that their findings could help air quality managers anticipate the effects of future oil spills.

The depth of the Deepwater Horizon spill, about a mile beneath the surface, limited the effects on air quality because some hydrocarbons, such as benzene, largely dissolved in the water.

“It was fortunate that the effects on air quality of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill were limited in scope,” said Middlebrook. “Our findings show that an oil spill closer to populated areas, or in shallower waters, could have a larger effect.”

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ENS Joe Carrier preparing an air sample for shipping. Photo courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Caribou in late winter, Denali National Park, Alaska. Photo courtesy of US Geological Survey.

Caribou, North America’s wild reindeer, have lives apart from their famous role on Christmas Eve.

USGS caribou (and large mammal) expert Layne Adams, Ph.D., has studied caribou in Alaska for 30 years, helping land managers understand the best way to manage this important species. He has continuously studied caribou population dynamics and predator-caribou relationships in Denali National Park since 1986.

He offered the following details about the lives of caribou for those other 364 days of the year.

Why are reindeer sometimes called caribou and caribou sometimes called reindeer?

“Reindeer” and “caribou” are two common names for the same species (Rangifer tarandus), which occurs throughout the circumpolar North.

“Reindeer” is the common name for Rangifer in Europe and Asia, whereas “caribou” is the North American name.

The name “caribou” is a French derivative of a Native American word that means snow shoveler, which is a reference to the fact that caribou are often pawing through the snow to find food underneath.

Where do reindeer come from?

There are domestic reindeer in Alaska and Canada, but they actually are descendants of domestic Eurasian reindeer that were brought to Alaska in the late 1800s.

Caribou and reindeer are part of the deer family – related to deer, moose, and elk. But caribou are the only species where males and females both grow antlers. Females and young males have antlers that are similar in size, but older males (more than 2 or 3 years old) have antlers that are much larger.

Caribou and reindeer have been around for over a half-million years, originating in the early Pleistocene. Their ancestors lived at the same time as now-extinct woolly mammoths and saber-toothed cats.

What do you mean by “domestic reindeer”?

Reindeer were domesticated in northern Europe and Asia several thousand years ago and are the basis of herding cultures in those regions.

In Alaska, herding of reindeer started a little more than a century ago when 1,300 reindeer were imported from Siberia. At the time, caribou were scarce along the northwest coast of Alaska, and reindeer were brought over in an attempt to establish a herding economy among the Native people of western Alaska.

Reindeer herding expanded widely across the west and north coasts of Alaska, as well as into northern Canada, such that around 600,000 domestic reindeer occurred throughout Alaska by the 1930s.

During the Great Depression, the reindeer industry in Alaska collapsed and retracted to the Seward Peninsula of northwest Alaska where it continues today.

What do they eat?

Caribou forage on a variety of plants throughout the year. During winter, lichens make up the majority of their diet in most areas, with shrubs and grass or sedges making up the rest.

Lichens are a combination of fungus and algae that grow together. On alpine and arctic tundra ranges, caribou primarily feed on terrestrial lichens, sometimes called reindeer moss, that occur within the low-growing grasses and shrubs that make up the tundra vegetation.

In southern or boreal forest ranges, arboreal lichens that grow on trees are the predominant caribou forage.

During summer, caribou shift to eating a wide variety of green plants including grasses or sedges, growing shrubs, and a variety of small forbs or flowering plants. In some regions, mushrooms that are abundant in late summer are an important food for caribou.

Where can you find them in North America?

The species Rangifer tarandus occurs throughout the circumpolar North.

Caribou are widely distributed across northern North America ranging from the Canadian High Arctic islands to the mountains and boreal forests of the Canadian southern provinces.

A small, endangered population in northern Idaho and adjacent northeastern Washington are the southernmost group in North America.

How do they thrive in such cold temperatures?

Caribou are well adapted to living in cold regions and thrive in areas where winter temperatures can reach 70 or 80 degrees below zero.

Caribou have a very dense haircoat, made up of woolly underfur and hollow guardhair, over their entire body (except the very tip of their nose) that provides superior insulation.

They have relatively large, wide hooves for walking and digging through snow.

How many caribou species are there?

All caribou, as well as Eurasian reindeer, are the same species: Rangifer tarandus. In North America there are currently four subspecies of caribou recognized, although recent genetic analyses have blurred the distinction between these groups.

Functionally, there are essentially three “ecotypes” of caribou. The most numerous are those in the large migratory populations that occur from Alaska throughout much of northern Canada.

The small Arctic island caribou that occur in the Canadian High Arctic are the second ecotype.

And the third are the woodland caribou that occur in low numbers in scattered populations through mountains and boreal forests of the southern Canadian provinces, dipping in the United States in northern Idaho and Washington.

So caribou migrate – like birds?

Some larger caribou herds migrate long distances, 300 to 400 miles, between winter ranges in the northern fringes of boreal forest to their calving and summer ranges on the Arctic tundra and nearby northern mountain ranges.

At the other extreme, small boreal forest populations are sedentary throughout the year.

Many caribou populations behave in an intermediate manner between these two extremes.

Do reindeer really pull sleighs?

Reindeer were domesticated in Europe and Asia a few thousand years ago, but not caribou in North America.

Domestic reindeer are still common in Scandinavia and northern Russia. Domestic reindeer were brought to Alaska in the late 1800s and a small industry still exists on the Seward Peninsula and a few offshore islands.

While the main goal for domestic reindeer is providing meat and hides to local people, reindeer have been trained to pull sleds as a mode of transportation.

How many herds are in Alaska?

There are 31 caribou herds recognized in Alaska, with seven large migratory populations numbering 30,000 to 350,000 animals. These herds currently total about 750,000 animals and account for about 97 percent of the caribou in the state.

The remaining 24 herds are much smaller ranging from about 30 to 3000 animals each. Overall, Alaska’s caribou population was relatively low in the mid 1970s, numbering around 250,000 statewide.

Since then, caribou numbers have increased markedly to around 800,000 today. Such wide fluctuations in caribou numbers over the time scale of decades are not unusual.

How big are adult caribou?

In Denali National Park, where Adams currently studies caribou, mature adult males average about 500 pounds but can range from 400 to nearly 600 pounds.

Adult females are about half as big, averaging about 240 pounds (225- to 320-pound range).

In the large, migratory herds, caribou are generally smaller with adult males and females averaging about 400 pounds for males and 200 pounds for females.

A herd of caribou standing on a hillside of snow. Photo courtesy of US Geological Survey.

How big are calves?

Scientists have weighed quite a few newborn calves in Denali and on average they weigh about 17 pounds.

Calves are born in May and early June throughout Alaska, with most calves being born in any herd within about a 10-day period.

Caribou cows produce one calf each year and generally begin producing calves when they are 2 to 4 years old depending on the nutritional status of a given population.

In small herds, such as the Denali Caribou Herd, calves are subject to intense predation primarily by wolves and grizzly bears – fewer than half survive beyond 2 weeks of age.

In the large, migratory populations, early calf survival is markedly higher because the huge number of calves born over a brief interval can greatly swamp the ability of local predators to kill them.

What do caribou do in the summer?

After the females calve, caribou gather together in large groups to help them better avoid predators and to escape incredibly bothersome mosquitoes and parasitic flies.

The different herds of caribou stay together in the high mountains and along the Alaskan seacoasts where the winds and cooler temperatures help protect them from summer heat and those pesky insects.

After the number of insects decline in late July, the caribou herds scatter into smaller groups.

This is an important time for caribou – they use the time before winter arrives to feed as much as possible on remaining green grasses and sedges, willow leaves, and even mushrooms to regain their body weight.

What do they do in the fall and winter?

In the fall, caribou start migrating – when they migrate is dictated by cues in changing day length in combination with the onset of snowfall as the long winter begins. Fall is also the breeding season when mature bulls compete with each other for opportunities to breed with females as the females become receptive.

In winter, Arctic caribou generally migrate south into the northern fringe of the boreal forest or onto tundra winter ranges where terrestrial lichens are abundant.

Smaller mountain populations migrate out of the higher mountains onto the tundra and forest ranges adjacent to their mountainous summer ranges. Once on their winter range, caribou remain there throughout the winter, from about early October to late April.

What predators eat caribou?

Predation is an important force affecting the number of caribou, particularly in the smaller, more sedentary populations.

The large, migratory herds are able to reduce the effects of predation to some degree just due to their sheer numbers; the tradeoff is that they are more likely to be affected by the nutritional limitations of their ranges compounded by competition with their herd mates.

In general, the primary predators of caribou in Alaska are grizzly bears and wolves. Humans also are important predators of caribou.

Caribou are a mainstay of local subsistence in Bush Alaska, and a sought-after quarry for other Alaskan residents, as well as sport hunters from all over the world. On average, people harvest about 22,000 caribou a year in Alaska.

Grizzly bears are very effective at killing young caribou calves less than a couple weeks old, although they also kill older caribou on occasion.

Wolves are important predators of both young calves and older caribou. Other predators on caribou include black bears, golden eagles, wolverine, and coyotes.

A main goal of Adams’ research has been to understand the interrelationships of caribou and wolves in Denali National Park.

For caribou, an important factor that affects how many are killed by wolves is the amount of snow.

In years with less snow, caribou have large expanses of wind-blown, snow-free land to seek their food, and they have a much better chance of making it through the winter in good shape. They can also more easily evade wolves because they can run unimpeded.

During such times, wolves are able to primarily hunt those caribou that are old, injured, not in good shape or just plain unlucky. Adams has found that when it is harder for wolves to catch caribou, the wolf packs tend to be smaller.

But the wind shifts in favor of wolves when there is a lot of snow.

Caribou then have a harder time finding enough to eat because they have to dig through deep or crusted snow or must seek food on high mountain ridges where there is little snow, but also little food.

The caribou also have a harder time escaping from wolves in deep snow. In fact, wolves will sometimes chase caribou into areas with deep snow where the caribou are very vulnerable, even if they are in good shape.

In those years, wolf packs tend to be bigger and some packs produce more pups. In contrast, research shows that after severe winters, not only is a cow less likely to breed, but calves that are born are lighter, grow more slowly, and are more likely to be killed by predators in the weeks after they are born.

Is climate change affecting caribou?

Scientists know from their studies that weather may be the most important factor affecting the yearly cycles of large hoofed mammals (such as caribou, moose, and muskox) and their predators.

However, the longer-term effects of climate change are much more complex.

Unlike polar bears, which are highly dependent on sea ice that is declining due to warming temperatures, caribou are likely influenced by a wide variety of factors that will be affected by a warming climate, and some effects will be positive and some negative.

For example, with a warming climate, it’s expected that the growing season will be longer and provide caribou with green, nutritious forage earlier for a longer period of time for a positive effect.

However, research indicates that with increasing temperatures there are more fires on boreal forest winter ranges for caribou that will likely result in reduced availability of lichen, their primary winter forage, which tends to not grow back for about 70 to 80 years after a fire.

The overall effect of a warming climate on Alaska’s caribou will be dependent on how these and many other climate-related effects interact and that is very difficult to predict.

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The fire at 18390 North Shore Drive Tuesday destroyed the home and injured resident Jordan Armstrong and his friend, Kevin Hart, according to the “Please PRAY for Jordan Armstrong” Facebook page.

South Lake County Fire Battalion Chief Scott Upton said investigators ruled the fire’s cause “accidental but undetermined.”

Armstrong and Hart both were flown to out-of-county hospitals with serious burns, as Lake County News has reported.

On Thursday, UC Davis Medical Center spokesperson Phyllis Brown said Armstrong was in “fair” condition.

His Facebook page reported that he suffered burns over 30 percent of his body.

Officials originally reported that Hart had been was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. However, his family said on a Facebook page for him, titled “Kevin’s Blood Drive,” that he also was at the UC Davis Medical Center Burn Center, where he was undergoing skin graft surgeries.

The Facebook page in his honor said he has suffered burns over 80 percent of his body, along with a broken nose and swollen face. He has a tracheotomy to help his breathing.

Hart’s family and friends are requesting community members participate in a blood drive for Hart through Blood Source, 3505 Industrial Drive, Santa Rosa, telephone 916-456-1500, www.bloodsource.org. His blood type is O+ but his family is asking for all blood types to donate.

Both young men are reportedly facing months of hospitalization and numerous reconstructive surgeries, according to the two Facebook pages.

The Hidden Valley Community Church is taking donations for Armstrong. Checks can be sent to the Hidden Valley Community Church, P.O. Box 1049, Middletown, CA 95461, with “Jordan Armstrong” in the subject line. For more information the church can be contacted at 707-987-3510.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Google+, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews .