NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Just over two months after some of the most destructive fires in state history hit Northern California, the debris removal program has reached a major milestone.
Officials said the October wildland fires destroyed 8,900 structures and damaged thousands more.
To date, debris removal operations teams have moved more than 573,000 tons from the wildfire burn areas.
Within the quarter-million burned acres, massive amounts of debris were left behind for clean-up. These fires also left behind thousands of parcels with hazardous waste materials.
The State and Federal Consolidated Debris Removal Program has been working daily to provide survivors of the fires with a clean home site to continue their personal rebuilding plans and community-wide economic recovery.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, or USACE, and California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, CalRecycle, are part of the Consolidated Debris Removal Program established by the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Both USACE and CalRecycle continue to manage numerous teams to quickly remove fire debris in areas where homeowners have signed up for the program.
In Napa and Sonoma counties, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was chiefly responsible for the hazardous household waste removal and 99.8 percent of the parcels have been surveyed and waste collected.
The California Department of Toxic Substance Control has completed about 98 percent of hazardous household waste collection and removal field work in Mendocino, Lake, Butte, Yuba and Nevada counties.
The Debris Removal Program is voluntary and homeowners were asked to sign a right-of-entry form to participate. Homeowners who did not opt-in were required to submit a plan and remove the debris in accordance with city/county standards.
Cal OES is working with state and federal partners of the Debris Removal Program to complete debris removal operations by early 2018.
If you have more questions on the State and Federal Consolidated Debris Removal Program or other questions on the fire recovery efforts, visit the statewide public information Web site www.WildfireRecovery.org. Links to the individual county programs and services can be found on that site.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Animal Care and Control has several big dogs and a little dog ready to go to new homes in time for the holidays.
The dogs offered adoption this week include mixes of boxer, pit bull, Rottweiler, shepherd and terrier.
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”).
This small male terrier mix is in kennel No. 18, ID No. 9076. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Terrier mix
This small male terrier mix has a curly gray and black coat and floppy ears.
He’s in kennel No. 18, ID No. 9076.
“Romeo” is a male pit bull terrier in kennel No. 19, ID No. 9075. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Romeo’
“Romeo” is a male pit bull terrier.
He has a short gray and white coat.
He’s in kennel No. 19, ID No. 9075.
This male Rottweiler-shepherd mix is in kennel No. 27, ID No. 9033. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Rottweiler-shepherd mix
This male Rottweiler-shepherd mix has a short brown and black coat.
He already has been neutered.
He’s in kennel No. 27, ID No. 9033.
This male pit bull terrier is in kennel No. 29, ID No. 9003. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male pit bull terrier
This male pit bull terrier has a short brown and white coat.
He already has been neutered.
He’s in kennel No. 29, ID No. 9003.
This male shepherd mix is in kennel No. 32, ID No. 9042. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Shepherd mix
This male shepherd mix has a long black coat with white markings.
He’s in kennel No. 32, ID No. 9042.
This male boxer mix is in kennel No. 33, ID No. 9026. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male boxer mix
This male boxer mix has a short brown and white coat.
Shelter staff said he has tested positive for heartworm and needs someone willing to take him through the treatment.
He’s in kennel No. 33, ID No. 9026.
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.
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.
The Sierra Nevada range rose almost an inch during California's recent drought due to loss of water from within fractured rocks. Credits: CC-BY-2.0. Loss of water from the rocks of California's Sierra Nevada caused the mountain range to rise nearly an inch – or 24 millimeters – in height during the drought years from October 2011 to October 2015, a new NASA study finds.
In the two following years of more abundant snow and rainfall, the mountains have regained about half as much water in the rock as they had lost in the preceding drought and have fallen about half an inch, or 12 millimeters, in height.
"This suggests that the solid Earth has a greater capacity to store water than previously thought," said research scientist Donald Argus of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, who led the study. Significantly more water was lost from cracks and soil within fractured mountain rock during drought and gained during heavy precipitation than hydrology models show.
Argus is giving a talk on the new finding today at the American Geophysical Union's fall conference in New Orleans.
The research team used advanced data-processing techniques on data from 1,300 GPS stations in the mountains of California, Oregon and Washington, collected from 2006 through October 2017.
These research-quality GPS receivers were installed as part of the National Science Foundation's Plate Boundary Observatory to measure subtle tectonic motion in the region’s active faults and volcanoes. They can monitor elevation changes within less than a tenth of an inch.
The team found that the amount of water lost from within fractured mountain rock in 2011-2015 amounted to 10.8 cubic miles of water.
This water is too inaccessible to be used for human purposes, but for comparison, the amount is 45 times as much water as Los Angeles currently uses in a year.
JPL water scientist Jay Famiglietti, who collaborated on the research, said the finding solves a mystery for hydrologists.
"One of the major unknowns in mountain hydrology is what happens below the soil. How much snowmelt percolates through fractured rock straight downward into the core of the mountain? This is one of the key topics that we addressed in our study."
Earth’s surface falls locally when it is weighed down with water and rebounds when the weight disappears.
Many other factors also change the ground level, such as the movement of tectonic plates, volcanic activity, high- and low-pressure weather systems, and Earth's slow rebound from the last ice age.
The team corrected for these and other factors to estimate how much of the height increase was solely due to water loss from rock.
Before this study, scientists' leading theories for the growth of the Sierra were tectonic uplift or Earth rebounding from extensive groundwater pumping in the adjoining California Central Valley. Argus calculated that these two processes together only produced a quarter of an inch, or 7 millimeters, of growth – less than a third of the total.
Famiglietti said the techniques developed for this study will allow scientists to begin exploring other questions about mountain groundwater.
"What does the water table look like within mountain ranges? Is there a significant amount of groundwater stored within mountains? We just don’t have answers yet, and this study identities a set of new tools to help us get them."
A paper on the research, titled "Sustained water loss in California's mountain ranges during severe drought from 2012 through 2015 inferred from GPS," was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth.
Carol Rasmussen is a member of NASA's Earth Science News Team.
Volunteers distribute food to Sulphur Fire survivors in Lake County, Calif. Courtesy photo. LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – North Coast Opportunities reported this week on the payments made to fire survivors in Lake and Mendocino counties in the wake of the October wildland fires.
North Coast Opportunities Inc., or NCO, has been a collaborative partner in the local wildland fire recovery process, working with county offices, area organizations, and fire survivors to help with immediate and intermediate needs.
NCO partnered with Redwood Credit Union Community Foundation to raise and distribute funds directly to those impacted by the fires in Lake and Mendocino counties.
In Mendocino County, NCO also partnered with the Community Foundation of Mendocino County, Savings Bank of Mendocino County, and Community First Credit Union.
Anyone impacted by the fire – including those who experienced full loss, partial loss, lost wages and/or evacuation costs – was eligible to apply to the Wildfire Relief Fund, which closed on Nov. 30.
As of Friday, Dec. 8, $783,738 had been disbursed to 688 fire survivors across Lake and Mendocino counties.
NCO received 729 applications to the Fire Relief Fund, and the remaining 38 that have not been funded require additional information to be verified.
Fire survivors with full loss were sent $2,000, and other applicants received lesser amounts based on their circumstances.
“It’s worth noting that money received from a non-profit organization to help with an emergency is not taxable income,” said NCO Executive Director Patty Bruder. “This money is intended to help people get back on their feet, and will not negatively impact them when it’s time to do taxes.”
Additionally, $40,000 in gift cards was distributed at shelters, resource centers, and NCO offices. These were given out regardless of other financial aid a person might have received.
“We knew from previous fires how valuable gift cards to gas stations and grocery stores are, so we prioritized getting those out to people as quickly as possible,” said Bruder. “That gave people a little boost while we worked on processing applications.”
To date, approximately $1.1 million has been raised. Any money not distributed for immediate needs will be earmarked for intermediate and long-term needs.
NCO is already working with other agencies and organizations to determine what the needs are, and the collaborative approach will help avoid redundant efforts.
One such collaboration between NCO, the Health and Human Services Agency of Mendocino County and the Ukiah Valley Conference Center is the Redwood Fire Survivor Resource Room, providing free resources and support to anyone impacted by the fires.
People can drop in Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or call 707-621-8817 to make an appointment.
People can also call that number to sign up for the free Redwood Fire Survivor Support Group, which will meet for six weeks in January and February in Ukiah.
“Unfortunately, the work is only just beginning,” said Bruder. “It will take years to rebuild, and we hope to support our community throughout that process.”
Willy Tujays Timmons, 37, of Upper Lake, Calif., was indicted on Wednesday, December 13, 2017, for the June 2017 murder of his girlfriend Vanessa Niko. Lake County Jail photo. LAKEPORT, Calif. – This week a criminal grand jury indicted an Upper Lake man for the June murder of his girlfriend, with the defendant pleading not guilty by reason of insanity in the case.
The criminal grand jury handed down the indictment in the case of Willy Tujays Timmons, 37, on Wednesday, according to District Attorney Don Anderson.
Timmons is charged with the June 30 murder of 35-year-old Vanessa Yvette Niko, who had three children with Timmons.
A sheriff’s deputy dispatched to a call involving a physical altercation at a home on Bridge Arbor Road in Upper Lake found Timmons assaulting Niko, who died a short time later of her injuries, as Lake County News has reported.
Timmons argued with Niko, beating her to death with a rock and taking off a large portion of her scalp, Anderson said.
Since his June arrest, Timmons has remained in custody, with bail set at more than $1.1 million, according to Lake County Jail booking records.
Anderson said he brought the proceedings involving Timmons before the grand jury rather than proceed through a preliminary hearing because of potentially lengthy delays and other reasons. He was assisted in the grand jury proceedings by Deputy District Attorney Megan Lankford.
In addition to the murder charge, Anderson said the grand jury returned indictments for torture, mayhem and spousal abuse against Timmons.
On Friday Timmons appeared before Lake County Superior Court Judge Andrew Blum and was arraigned on the indictment, Anderson said.
Anderson said Timmons entered a plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.
The case is set for further proceedings on Jan. 9, Anderson reported.
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.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – When it meets next week the Lakeport City Council will consider possible changes to city rules regarding both personal marijuana cultivation and commercial marijuana uses.
The council will meet beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 19, in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
A report from city Community Development Director Kevin Ingram explained that the proposed changes would reflect state regulations associated with the recently approved Proposition 64 that legalized the personal use of marijuana, or cannabis, in California and other recent legislative changes concerning cannabis over the past couple of years.
At that meeting, the council will review proposed ordinance amendments that include, but not be limited to, the following.
Personal cannabis cultivation:
– Number of cannabis plants permitted on residential parcels. – Permitted zoning districts for personal cannabis cultivation. – Regulations for the cultivation of cannabis on residential properties.
Commercial cannabis uses:
– Potential performance standards for commercial cannabis uses including: cultivation, manufacturing, testing, retail, etc. – Appropriate zoning districts for the allowance of commercial cannabis uses. – Consideration of buffer distances for Commercial Cannabis uses (e.g., schools, parks, etc.). – Commercial cannabis operation plan requirements and application selection criteria.
The public is encouraged to attend and participate.
If you have any questions feel free to contact the Community Development Department at 707-263-5615, Extension 204, or email Kevin Ingram at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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