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Manual and electronic readings taken on Tuesday as part of the year's final snow survey showed that California’s drier than usual mountain snowpack is steadily melting with warming spring weather.
Statewide, snowpack water content is only 40 percent of normal for the date, and was only 55 percent of normal the first of April, the time of year when it is historically at its peak.
"The fact that we just had a dry winter right after an unusually wet season last year shows that we must be prepared for all types of weather,” said California Department of Water Resources Director Mark Cowin. “Reservoir storage will mitigate the impact of dry conditions on water supply this summer, but we have to plan for the possibility of a consecutive dry year in 2013, both by practicing conservation, continuing to develop alternative local water supplies, and working toward improved water storage and conveyance.”
The Department of Water Resources will analyze Tuesday's snow survey results to forecast runoff into the state’s streams and reservoirs as the snowpack continues to melt through spring and into summer. The winter snowpack – often called California’s “frozen reservoir” – normally provides about a third of our water supply.
Snowpack runoff this year obviously will be less than normal, but above average reservoir storage due to wet conditions last winter will mitigate the impact on water supply.
With Lake Oroville in Butte County – the State Water Project’s principal storage reservoir 97 percent full (116 percent of average for the date), Department of Water Resources expects to be able to deliver 60 percent of the slightly more than 4 million acre-feet of State Water Project water requested this year.
This is not an unusually low delivery projection, or allocation. Wet conditions last year allowed the Department of Water Resources to deliver 80 percent of amounts requested by the 29 public agencies that supply State Water Project water to more than 25 million Californians and nearly a million acres of irrigated agriculture.
The final allocation was 50 percent in 2010, 40 percent in 2009, 35 percent in 2008, and 60 percent in 2007.
The last 100 percent allocation – difficult to achieve even in wet years because of pumping restrictions to protect threatened and endangered fish – was in 2006.
Tuesday's manual snow survey was the fifth and last of the year. Surveyors from the Department of Water Resources and cooperating agencies trek into the mountains on or about the first of the month from January to May to take the vital water content measurements that signal how much runoff will be available for hydropower, homes, farms, industry and other uses.
Manual snow surveys complement and check the accuracy of real-time electronic sensors placed up and down the state’s mountain ranges.
These results, combined with readings from other locations, will produce the accuracy-checked water content readings as well as forecast spring and summer runoff.
Electronic readings indicate that water content in the northern mountains is 70 percent of normal for the date. Electronic readings for the central Sierra are 35 percent of normal. The number for the southern Sierra is 20 percent. The statewide number is 40 percent.
On May 1 last year, after an unusually wet winter, water content in the statewide snowpack was 190 percent of normal. It was 217 percent or normal in the north, 180 percent in the central Sierra, and 177 percent in the southern Sierra.
Electronic snowpack readings are available on the Internet at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snow/DLYSWEQ .
Electronic reservoir level readings may be found at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action .
See DWR’s Water Conditions page at http://www.water.ca.gov/waterconditions/ .
The Center for Biological Diversity, Willits Environmental Center, Redwood Chapter of the Sierra Club and Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday challenging the approvals and environmental review for the Willits Bypass, a proposed four-lane freeway around the community of Willits in Mendocino County.
The groups allege that the project would hurt wetlands, salmon-bearing streams and endangered plants.
“Bulldozing a freeway the size of Interstate 5 through precious wetlands would be wasteful and destructive – a four-lane road is just not needed for the traffic volumes through Willits on Highway 101,” said Jeff Miller with the Center for Biological Diversity.
“This is a wake-up call for Caltrans, which should be building efficient public transit and maintaining existing roads, rather than wasting our money and resources clinging to outdated visions of new freeways,” said Ellen Drell, board member of the Willits Environmental Center. “Global climate change, threatened ecosystems and the end of cheap oil are warning signs that we need to change course. The change needs to happen in every community, including here in Willits.”
For decades, Caltrans and the Federal Highway Administration have pursued a bypass on Highway 101 around Willits to ease traffic congestion.
The groups allege that the agencies are insisting on a four-lane freeway and refuse to consider or analyze equally effective two-lane alternatives or in-town solutions.
The current project is a six-mile, four-lane freeway bypass, including several bridges over creeks and local roads, a viaduct spanning the regulatory floodway and two interchanges.
The suit alleges that construction would damage wildlife habitat and biological resources in Little Lake Valley, including nearly 100 acres of wetlands, and would require the largest wetlands fill permit in Northern California in the past 50 years.
It's also alleged that the project would affect stream and riparian habitat for Chinook and coho salmon and steelhead trout in three streams converging into Outlet Creek, harm state-protected endangered plants – such as Baker’s meadowfoam – and destroy oak woodlands.
“In a time of devastating budget cuts to health, education, social services and the state park system, Caltrans proposes to spend nearly $200 million on an unnecessary project that will seriously degrade the headwaters of the Eel River,” said Gary Graham Hughes, executive director at EPIC. “This project is completely out of touch with the needs of the natural and human communities on the North Coast.”
“For three decades the Sierra Cub has promoted responsible transportation planning in Mendocino County, but requests to consider a two-lane alternative have been ignored by Caltrans,” said Mary Walsh with the Redwood Chapter of the Sierra Club. “We’re proud to challenge this wasteful and destructive highway project.”
The lawsuit is against Caltrans, the Federal Highway Administration and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for violations of the National Environmental Policy Act and Clean Water Act.
It seeks a court order requiring the agencies to prepare a supplemental “environmental impact statement” that considers two-lane alternatives and addresses substantial design changes and new information about traffic volumes and environmental impacts.
For more than half a century, Caltrans has promoted turning Highway 101 into a four-lane freeway from San Diego to the Oregon border, with a four-lane freeway bypass around Willits.
Caltrans first discussed potential bypass designs and routes through Willits in 1988, but by 1995 had unilaterally discarded all non-freeway or two-lane alternatives. An environmental review for a four-lane freeway was finalized in 2006.
The California Transportation Commission, the state funding authority, has repeatedly refused to fund a four-lane freeway, so Caltrans proposes to proceed in “phases,” grading for four lanes and constructing two lanes with available funds, then allegedly constructing two additional lanes when additional funding becomes available, a dubious prospect.
Caltrans and the Federal Highway Administration did not draft a supplemental “environmental impact statement” to look at impacts of this changed design or consider two-lane alternatives.
A 1998 Caltrans study found that 70 percent to 80 percent of traffic causing congestion in downtown Willits was local, and Caltrans internally conceded that the volume of traffic projected to use the bypass was not enough to warrant a four-lane freeway. Agency data showed the volume of traffic that would use the bypass did not increase from 1992 to 2005.
New information shows actual traffic volumes are below what the agencies projected when they determined only a four-lane freeway will provide the desired level of service, and that a two-lane bypass will provide a better level of service than projected.
Phase I of the project will discharge fill into more than 86 acres of wetlands and federal jurisdiction waters.
Caltrans purchased approximately 2,000 acres of ranchland in Little Lake Valley to “mitigate” for loss of wetlands, but the properties already had established existing wetlands, with no ability for Caltrans to “create” new wetlands.
To obtain the required wetlands fill permit under the Clean Water Act, the state and federal agencies submitted a significantly deficient “mitigation and monitoring plan” to the Army Corps to “enhance” wetlands.
This plan itself alters existing wetlands and causes significant new impacts to wetlands, endangered species and grazing lands, and makes design changes that were not analyzed or disclosed in the 2006 environmental review. The Corps improperly issued the permit in February 2012.
LOCH LOMOND, Calif. – Early on Tuesday afternoon firefighters were continuing to work on cleaning up a small wildland fire that began early in the morning as the result of a downed tree and fallen power lines.
The Ridge Incident was first reported at 1:55 a.m. at 12200 Shen Road in Loch Lomond, according to a report from South Lake County Fire Protection District.
“A pine uprooted and took out the power lines out there and started a fire,” said South Lake County Fire Chief Scott Upton.
The fire burned approximately five acres. It was under control by 6:23 a.m., South Lake Fire reported.
The fire district said 36 firefighters, three engine companies, a water tender, two crews and a chief officer responded.
Pacific Gas & Electric reported that a small power outage remained in effect Tuesday afternoon as repairs were being made to the lines and pole.
Upton said area residents need to be aware of the increasing fire danger with this time of year.
“The season is upon us,” he said. “It's going to get nothing but drier.”
He urged community members to clear space around their homes in order to protect their property and to aid firefighters if they need to respond to an incident.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Nurses at Sutter Lakeside Hospital are moving forward with a strike on Tuesday after they failed to come to an agreement on a new contract with hospital management last week.
The strike is set to take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, with a rally planned at 3 p.m. Picketers will gather across the street from the hospital, located at 5176 Hill Road East.
California Nurses Association members at Sutter Lakeside and several other Bay Area hospitals are planning to take part in the one-day walkout to protest what they allege are unreasonable concessions being sought at Sutter-managed hospitals.
Benjamin Elliott, CNA’s labor representative for the registered nurses at Sutter Lakeside and the lead negotiator during the contract campaign, told Lake County News that the strike was moving forward after a final bargaining session was held last Thursday, April 26.
Sutter Lakeside Chief Administrative Officer Siri Nelson, also confirmed to Lake County News that the walkout was taking place.
“The community can rest assured that quality patient care will continue as we have contracted for temporary, qualified registered nurses to cover for nurses who choose to strike,” she said in a Monday email message.
Elliott said Sutter Lakeside refused to withdraw its concessions, and maintained its last, best and final offer at the bargaining session last week.
On March 27, Sutter Lakeside had made a final offer that included ratification bonuses, step increases, professional development awards, no-premium health benefit options for registered nurses and their families, employer contributions to a fully funded employee pension plan, between 19 minimum and 48 maximum paid days off and an increase in the retiree health care spending account to $30,000.
Elliott said the offer also included “strictly economic” concessions that Sutter Lakeside management was seeking, such as a 30-percent reduction in standby pay, elimination of afternoon shift differential and a major reduction in night shift differential, reductions in health care coverage, a change in protections regarding pensions and retiree health care, and reductions in protections for nurses receiving meals and rest periods.
“Management is asking for deep cuts in our current contract that are unprecedented,” he said.
Elliott said a vote was taken on the offer and 96 percent of those taking part in the vote rejected it.
He said the union delivered a verbal counter offer at the April 26 bargaining session.
Nelson didn’t interpret what took place as having included a counter offer.
“We met last Thursday under the guise they were willing to compromise and would be bringing proposals,” Nelson said. “But, they brought nothing. Instead, the union reiterated its stance that it would ‘begin’ to negotiate if the hospital dropped our current proposal. We have been negotiating for nearly a year. During this time the union never came to the table with a single written economic proposal.”
She continued, “Our final proposal reflects our commitment to continue providing competitive wages and benefits to our nurses while also providing some long-term economic stability for the hospital. As a reminder, the average full-time RN at Sutter Lakeside makes over $120,000 with a very generous benefit package. And for part-time RNs the average annual compensation is just over $90,000 a year with the same rich benefits.”
Nelson had told Lake County News last week that she believed the negotiations were at impasse. Elliott said Sutter Lakeside attempted to declare impasse, but the union thinks there is still “room to move.”
“The hospital is really campaigning with misinformation and intimidating nurses about the strike and a potential lockout,” he said.
No new bargaining sessions have been scheduled, and Elliott said the nurses are not willing to meet while any of them are locked out in favor of replacement nurses the hospital plans to bring in.
“As soon as all nurses return to work we’re determined to do whatever it takes to reach a settlement,” he said.
In the mean time, Nelson said striking won’t do anything to bring closure to the contract negotiations. “It will just divert already scarce resources.”
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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The attorneys for two Clearlake Oaks men on trial for a June 2011 shooting that killed a child and wounded five others filed mistrial motions on Monday.
Doug Rhoades, representing 22-year-old Paul William Braden, and Stephen Carter, who is the attorney for 24-year-old Orlando Joseph Lopez, filed the motions by the deadline visiting Yolo County Judge Doris Shockley set for them last week.
Anderson's motion is response is expected to be filed on Tuesday in preparation for a hearing at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Braden and Lopez are on trial for the shooting last June 18 that claimed the life of 4-year-old Skyler Rapp and left five of his family members and their friends wounded.
Testimony in the mens' trial – which began in late February – was called to a halt last Thursday after Rhoades raised objections to District Attorney Don Anderson's questioning of Sgt. Tim Celli of the Clearlake Police Department, as Lake County News has reported.
Anderson asked Celli about statements Lopez made to him during the investigation in which Lopez had allegedly incriminated Braden.
In response to a question about what Lopez said regarding his involvement, Celli said that Lopez told him he was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Kevin Stone – a previous codefendant who has since reached a plea agreement on lesser charges – with Braden seated behind him.
At that point Rhoades objected citing the 1965 court case People v. Aranda.
According to Rhoades' motion, such questioning in front of Braden's jury raises issues under case law established by People v. Aranda as well as another 1960s-era case, Bruton v. United States.
Rhoades’ motion explains, “Up to this point in the trial, not a single witness had placed Paul Braden at the scene or directly connected him with the shootings in any way.”
He said in subsequent discussions among counsel, “it was clear that the protections afforded by Aranda/Bruton had been violated.”
Aranda/Bruton establish that testimony of a defendant against his or her codefendant “produces a prejudice that cannot be cured with an admonition or instruction,” Rhoades wrote.
He said Celli's testimony was inadmissible under Aranda/Bruton, and further raises the issue of prosecutorial misconduct.
The complications from Aranda/Bruton were why two juries were impaneled, according to Rhoades, and agreements were reached between the prosecution and defense about the limits of evidence.
Rhoades' motion argues that Anderson, who took office as district attorney at the start of 2011, had not conducted a single prosecution in his career prior to the Braden and Lopez case, doing mostly family law, personal injury and some criminal defense.
“Yet for whatever reason, he decided to cut his prosecutorial teeth on a case involving two defendants charged with murder and multiple other counts, involving complex legal issues and not one, but two juries,” Rhoades explained.
According to Rhoades' take on the California Rules of Professional Conduct, Anderson is in violation of rules requiring “sufficient learning and skill” and suggests that such a violation “when observed by a judicial officer, must be reported to the State Bar.”
Rhoades said a curative instruction or admonition about the statement is futile. “Fourteen weeks of court proceedings, jurors’ lives, witness testimony and counsel time have been rendered useless by the carelessness of the prosecutor. Mistrial is the only available remedy as to defendant Paul Braden.”
In his motion, Carter also seeks a mistrial, with his arguments based on his client’s very different concerns, particularly, that joining the two mens’ trials was in error from the start and that it’s resulted in prejudice to both defendants.
“Two juries, and all the expense and time associated with two juries, have not solved the Aranda/Bruton problem,” he said.
Carter added, “A case with multiple defendants, numerous statements and defendants who are accusing each other of the crimes at issue is not an ideal joinder situation, not even when a county with limited departments and resources would like to combine the cases for cost-savings measures or other reasons relating to judicial economy.”
Further, Carter raised concerns about his client being forced to move forward as a single defendant in the middle of the trial. “There is a great ‘unknown’ as to what will be going through the minds of the people on the Lopez jury when Defendant Braden, his attorney and his jury are no longer in Court.”
A curative instruction to the jury won’t solve the problem, and he said it’s unknown what impact that a drastic change to the tactics and tone of the trial will have on his client’s jury.
Carter also takes aim at Anderson, suggesting the district attorney is guilty of misconduct for asking questions about statements that he knew “were not properly the subject of direct examination of this witness at this point in the jury trial and under no circumstances should such testimony have been elicited with both juries present in the courtroom.”
If Lopez’s case is to continue, Carter argued that the jury should be made aware that the prosecution erred and that Braden’s absence resulted from that error. As such, he’s seeking a finding of prosecutorial misconduct and a curative statement by the judge to the jury.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. – Firefighters responded to a trailer fire at Big Valley Rancheria early Tuesday morning.
The fire, reported at about 12:30 a.m., was located on Mission Rancheria Road across from Mission Way, according to radio reports.
Firefighters arriving on scene reported finding a fully involved singlewide travel trailer.
Lakeport Fire Chief Ken Wells said the travel trailer, located near the lake, was a 40-foot by 8-foot 1963 model, with stairs and a loft. He said three quarters of it was burned, with only the front quarter left standing.
“No one's been seen there for two weeks,” Wells said, adding that the trailer did have electricity.
Lakeport Fire sent one engine and seven personnel, and Kelseyville Fire sent one engine and three firefighters, he said.
Wells said the fire took about 30 minutes to extinguish.
Email Elizabeth Larson at