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How many Oak Grove Cemeteries can there be in America? There's one just a mile from my home.
Here's another, with a poet, Don Thompson, to show us around.
Poetry thrives on sounds as well as sense, and the vowel sounds in line eight are especially artfully collected.
Thompson lives in California and his most recent book is A Journal of the Drought Year (Encircle Publications, 2016).
Oak Grove Cemetery
Just enough rain an hour ago
to give the wispy dry grass some hope,
turning it green instantly.
This place has been abandoned,
the old faith overgrown, confused
by brambles,
and in these hard times,
its upkeep cut from the budget.
But we walk, soaked to the knees,
making our slow pilgrimage
among gravestones, speaking
blurred names back into the world.
American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited submissions. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2016 by Don Thompson, “Oak Grove Cemetery,” from The Cortland Review, (Issue 66,2016). Poem reprinted by permission of Don Thompson and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2017 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Latinos United of Lake County in collaboration with Migrant Education and Bruno’s Shop Smart invite you to participate in the 22nd annual Cinco de Mayo Fiesta.
The celebration will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 7, at the Bruno’s parking lot, 355 Lakeport Blvd.
There will be music, dancing, food, activities for children, resource booths, raffles, giveaways and much more – fun for the entire family.
For more information or if you are interested in being a vendor please contact Ana at Healthy Start, 707-289-4110, or Shushan at Migrant Education at 707-279-4152.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Protect yourself from identity theft by safely and securely destroying documents in the “Info-Shred” truck sponsored by Umpqua Bank and Strong Financial Network as part of the “Shred Fest” event on Monday, April 24.
The service will be provided from 4 to 6 p.m. at Umpqua Bank, 805 11th St. in Lakeport.
Invite friends and family to take advantage of this free shredding service.
You may bring up to three boxes/bags of documents for destruction.
Please be sure documents are free from binders, although staples and paper clips are acceptable.
Assistance to unload your documents will be available and you are welcome to stay and watch the actual shredding of your documents.
If you are unable to attend on April 24, Umpqua Bank locations in Lakeport and Kelseyville, 4280 Main St., will have shred bins available during the month of April until they are filled. Please limit your deposit to three boxes/bags per drop off.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – With spring just around the corner and the water receding in the lake, it's time to start thinking about an annual event in Clear Lake State Park.
This year’s Wildflower Brunch will be held on Saturday, April 29, from 9 a.m. until noon.
The Clear Lake State Park Interpretive Association, or CLSPIA, has been putting on the Wildflower Brunch every April since 1998.
The event was started by Thelma Dangel to showcase the beautiful wildflowers in bloom in the park. She convinced Madelene Lyon to concoct a menu, buy the ingredients and cook the food while she did the publicity to attract people to the event.
With the help of many volunteers, the breakfast was a success; it raised funds for the ongoing projects the association had in the planning stages, and it brought people into the park to observe the peace and beauty to be found there.
Through the 19 years of the Wildflower Brunch, there have been many additional activities available for the guests, but the menu has never changed: made-to-order omelets, fresh fruit, mixed pastries, orange juice and coffee have been the standard.
Nature walks, bird walks and wildflower hikes have been led by volunteers, music has been played by the Kelseyville High School Jazz Band, nature talks and movies have been presented by volunteers in the Visitor Center.
There have been many variations throughout the years, but the sun has always shone on the event. The Visitor Center has traditionally opened on that day, too, offering many nature-related items.
In recent years there have been several “celebrity chefs” cooking perfect omelets for the steady stream of guests. Congressman Mike Thompson and his wife, Jan, have helped turn out beautiful omelets, as has Brad Onorato, deputy chief of staff for Congressman Thompson. Their interest and help is so appreciated.
The funds raised go directly to interpretation and education in the park. CLSPIA has supported many projects through the years, and there are some very interesting projects in the works for the coming years.
Tickets are $20 per person, and are available by visiting www.clearlakestatepark.org , calling 707-279-4395 or at the park the day of the event.
Clear Lake State Park is located at 5300 Soda Bay Road.
LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Anderson Marsh State Historic Park continues to hold monthly guided nature walks.
The next walk is scheduled for the morning of Saturday, April 8.
Bring binoculars, sturdy shoes, water and sun protection. Meet in front of the Ranch House at 8:15 a.m. for time to experience the early morning wildlife to be found in the Ranch House and Barn complex yard.
State Parks Docent Henry Bornstein will lead the guided walk. Many of the trees are beginning to leaf and flower.
The recent rains will have encouraged wildflowers and the birds and bees are becoming active.
The April 8 walk will explore the Ridge, Marsh and Anderson Flats trails. It should last about two hours.
There will be no tour of the historic Ranch House afterwards.
There is no charge and parking is free for those attending this event.
Anderson Marsh State Historic Park is located on Highway 53, between Lower Lake and Clearlake.
For more information about the walks, email
When wildfires spread and scorch the earth, people like Penny Luehring have to act fast. Secondary impacts such as debris flows can be devastating to nearby communities.
As program leader for the National Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) Team for the U.S. Forest Service, it’s her job – along with her team – to manage and assess the effects of fires, including what can happen right after a fire and what damage can occur long afterward.
“We have an important role as stewards of the land,” said Luehring. “National forest lands, national parks, wildlife refuges, tribal lands: that’s our responsibility, to protect those tribal and public lands from [aftereffects] triggered by the fire.”
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, in the last decade, wildfires burned over 80 million acres of lands across the United States.
In 2016, massive wildfires have affected sections of the Nation. For example, the Range 12 Fire in Washington burned over 176,000 acres and the Hot Pot Fire in Nevada burned over 122,000 acres.
Wildfires can brutalize vegetation. “Natural, unburned vegetation protects the soil from erosion,” said Luehring. But high-severity fires make soils water-repellent, “so [the soil] no longer acts like a sponge during rainfall events, and water runs off rapidly, taking the soil with it.”
This loss of absorption means that when the rains come, more water stays on the surface, causing fast-moving slurries of soil, rocks, boulders, vegetation and water, called debris flows, along with flooding.
Danger of debris flows
A debris flow can destroy any object in its path; they strip vegetation, block drainage, and damage homes, forests, parks, and community water resources such as dams and reservoirs. They also endanger human lives.
Debris flows are particularly dangerous because they can be triggered by rainfall that would not otherwise cause problems. But after a fire has left vegetation-denuded slopes, water can wreak havoc: the rain comes, the ground fails.
“What we do is time-sensitive,” Luehring said. “Many times the damaging events are right around the corner.”
Her team typically provides an assessment seven days after a fire is contained. The team starts the BAER assessment when fires are between 60 percent and 80 percent contained.
“What we do is postfire risk management,” she said. “We don’t provide rehabilitation for the damages caused by fires or repair what was burned, but we try to predict and manage what might happen after the fire.”
A critical component of managing the effect of debris flow is to know when and where it may happen next. That’s where the U.S. Geological Survey, or USGS, involvement begins.
Faster and better predictions
The USGS uses predictive models to estimate the probability and size of debris flows that may occur in response to a storm.
“There was a time when it took us almost a month to get assessments out to our customers,” said Dennis Staley, a research physical scientist at the USGS.
That timetable has since changed. “Now we’re able to turn around results in just a few days,” Staley said.
Staley and his team produce maps based on models derived from data, such as burn severity, collected from recent wildfires. These models take into account the combined effects of storm rainfall conditions, terrain and soil properties, and the area recently burned.
For Luehring, the USGS is a valuable resource that can accommodate BAER’s short timeframe.
“Whether it’s the State emergency agencies, Homeland Security, or other emergency response entities like FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] who’re in charge of public protection, the USGS provides information that helps them do their job fast,” said Luehring.
To gather all the necessary data, the USGS works alongside agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Resource Conservation Service, the National Weather Service, U.S. Department of Interior land management agencies, and many other public and private groups.
In 2015, the USGS completed 35 hazard assessments, fulfilling all BAER Team requests for major fires that year.
“We’re helping out groups that need it, and we’re doing this as a public service,” said Staley. “We took a pretty clunky process and turned it into something efficient.”
Case study: Collaboration at work
In 2014, a fire broke out in the Silverado Canyons of the Cleveland National Forest in Southern California.
The fire burned about 1,600 acres of land. Evacuations affected about 217 homes, according to news reports.
At the request of the U.S. Forest Service, the USGS developed a debris flow hazard map that helped Forest Service geologists identify at least five homes in the Silverado Canyon, and an unnamed watershed, that were in danger of debris flow.
Emergency response agencies were alerted and advised to conduct additional evaluations and warn communities in the at-risk area of potential flood and debris flows.
Linda Thrasybule writes for the United States Geological Survey.