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A crash on Point Lakeview at Anderson Road, between Kelseyville and Lower Lake, shortly before 1:30 p.m. Sunday involved a vehicle going into a power pole, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The incident resulted in a two- to three-hour closure of the roadway while power and utility companies were called to make repairs and the county roads department was notified, the CHP reported. Subjects involved in the crash were treated and released with minor injuries.
Shortly before 4:30 p.m. several vehicles were reportedly involved in a crash on Highway 20 at Stokes near Robinson Rancheria, according to reports from the scene.
One of the vehicles reportedly was overturned, and traffic control was implemented, the CHP reported.
While reports from the scene indicated many “walking wounded,” minor injuries resulted. The names of those involved wasn't immediately available.
Highway 20 was completely reopened at 5:42 p.m., the CHP reported.
The CHP also responded to a crash with major injuries at 26800 Reiff Road at Morgan Valley Road in Lower Lake at 8:40 p.m.
A male subject was injured and bleeding, but no further details were available.
Just before 1:30 a.m. Monday, another collision between a vehicle and a pole was reported on Mira Vista outside of Clearlake. A tree became tangled in the pole and guide wire, but only vehicle damage was reported, according to the CHP.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
The quake, which occurred at 11:51 a.m., was located three miles east northeast of The Geysers and 15 miles southwest of Clearlake at a depth of seven-tenths of a mile, according to the US Geological Survey.
Four shake reports were made from three zip codes – Middletown and Lower Lake, and San Francisco, 122 miles away, according to survey data.
Over an hour-and-a-half-long period, a number of very shallow – or “poorly constrained” – temblors followed that larger quake, ranging in size from 1.1 to 2.4 and happening both near The Geysers and Cobb, US Geological Survey records showed.
A 3.2-magnitude earthquake occurred just southwest of The Geysers last Friday morning, as Lake County News has reported.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT BLM HERD MANAGEMENT AREAS IN CALIFORNIA.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Federal officials have begun a six-week operation to gather horses from one of the state's biggest mustang herds, a roundup that's expected to be California's largest this year and the second largest in the nation.
The roundup of wild horses and burros from the 798,000-acre Twin Peaks herd management area – located 25 northeast of Susanville along the California/Nevada state line – began Aug. 11, according to Bureau of Land Management spokesperson Eric Curtis.
“Our goal is to round up as many of the horses as we can and leave about 450 of them on the range,” said Curtis.
A roundup in the area hasn't taken place since 2006, Curtis said.
The operation started the same day the federal Ninth Circuit Court denied an injunction to stop it, the BLM reported.
That injunction was filed July 15 by In Defense of Animals along with ecologist Chad Hanson, wild horse sanctuary founder Barbara Clarke, DreamCatcher Wild Horse and Burro Sanctuary and wild horse enthusiast Linda Hay.
In Defense of Animals and its fellow plaintiffs in the July federal court filing cited the deaths of 12 mustangs in a Nevada roundup in July among its criticisms of the BLM roundup operations, saying that the “mass and illegal removal” of the federally protected mustangs “serve the livestock industry and other commercial interests that exploit our public lands.”
After conducting ground and aerial assessments of the herd management area, the BLM concluded it could move forward with the roundup, originally scheduled to begin Aug. 9.
District Manager Nancy Haug said BLM crews found that the more than 2,000 wild horses and more than 200 wild burros due to be rounded up appeared in good condition and showed no visible signs of dehydration.
However, Haug stated, “The current population of wild horses and burros remains far above the number the range can handle, and this roundup is necessary to keep both horses and range in that healthy state.”
She said the BLM was taking special precautions for the heat during August and early September. Helicopter gathers aren't conducted during the foaling season, which Haug said happens between March 1 and June 30, in order to ensure foals are strong enough to be moved with their mothers.
On the roundup's first day, 119 wild horses were gathered before noon by the BLM's contractor, Utah-based Cattoor Livestock Roundups, and transported to temporary holding facilities, the BLM reported. The animals were reported to be in good condition and health, with high body condition scale ratings.
The following day, Aug. 12, another 164 horses were gathered, including 61 studs, 72 mares and 31 foals, the BLM reported.
One older mare was euthanized that day due to a pre-existing injury, and one small foal fully recovered from difficulties the night before and was reunited with its mother, officials reported.
By Friday, 370 horses had been gathered and 253 had been shipped to the Litchfield Corrals east of Susanville, the BLM reported. Reports weren't available for Saturday or Sunday.
In addition to Litchfield, horses also will be transported to the Palomino Valley Center, which is located in Nevada not far from the herd management area, Curtis said. The goal is to minimize the time the animals spend in trucks.
The Twin Peaks herd traces its ancestry to a variety of sources, according to the BLM. While some of the original horses in the area came from Spanish stock, many of the horses are descended from US Army Cavalry horses prior to and during World War I, as well as draft and light breed ranching stock.
Curtis said some of the herds in the region exhibit heavier draft horse characteristics and therefore tend to be larger than the usual mustang.
“They are just beautiful,” she said, adding, “They're quite healthy.”
The herds don't show signs of dumped domestic horses. Although domestic horses are turning up in some herd areas in the nation because their owners can't afford to keep them, the animals don't have an easy time of it, said Curtis.
“The wild herds don't take kindly to those horses,” which Curtis said “often get pretty beat up” and don't know how to forage or survive on the range.
She said the Twin Peaks horses are mostly brown and bay in color, they're good-sized – 14 to 16 hands and 900 to 1,100 pounds – and are good for endurance.
The BLM said the animals live in a high desert environment, with limited grass resources on a rugged landscape.
The Twin Peaks horses are expected to be popular at adoption events the BLM is planning to hold around the state, Curtis said.
The adoption events also come to the North Coast; the last one in Lakeport took place June 5, as Lake County News has reported.
Those who adopt the horses are required to provide information to BLM of where and how the horses are being kept, said Curtis.
“We have folks who follow up with them over the course of a year,” she said.
The measures are intended to prevent neglect and stop the horses from being picked up for slaughter, she said.
It's only after the horses have been kept satisfactorily for a year that ownership is handed over, said Curtis.
If the horses aren't being properly cared for by their new owners, Curtis said the BLM takes them back.
If the horses aren't adopted after a certain period of time, most will be taken to the Midwest to longterm pastures, Curtis said.
Others will go to programs in Colorado and Nevada where prison inmates train the horses, Curtis said.
The BLM sends some of the horses there, and still others go into the “extreme mustang makeover program,” where she said teams of trainers compete to gentle the animals.
One such competition was just held in Colorado six weeks ago. More about that competition can be found at http://extrememustangmakeover.com/.
The Twin Peaks Herd Management Area is one of 22 in California, according to the BLM. Of the public land the federal agency administers in California, the wild horse and burro population covers 7.1 million acres plus an additional 2.3 millions acres of private land.
Mustangs being scapegoated, supporters say
In a January opinion piece on wild horses published in the Los Angeles Times, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar wrote, “We need a comprehensive and balanced approach built on new partnerships, new thinking and new courage to tackle an issue that, unfortunately, has no easy solution.”
He suggested fertility control, eco-tourism related to signature herds and public-private partnerships to establish new sanctuaries in the Midwest and East.
Advocates for the horses say that the current methods and policies used by the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management aren't working and aren't humane, and instead of roundups they support on-the-range management of the wild horses and burros as a means to maintain healthy herds and healthy range lands.
In Defense of Animals and other plaintiffs in the federal injunction filed last month alleged that the planned roundup at Twin Peaks violated the Wild and Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act and the National Environmental Policy Act in a “manner that is both arbitrary and capricious,” and accused the BLM of “crafting a solution and then searching for a problem.”
While wild horses are blamed for range damage by livestock grazing, the plaintiffs said that mustangs comprise only a small fraction of grazing animals on public lands, and are outnumbered by other livestock 50 to one. Meanwhile, the BLM has reportedly increased cattle grazing allotments in areas where the horses are being rounded up.
Of the 245 million acres managed by the BLM, cattle grazing is allowed on 160 million acres, and wild horses are on 26.6 million acres shared with cattle, wild horse proponents reported.
The groups also alleged that the Obama administration has accelerated wild horse and burro removal, with 36,000 wild horses warehoused in government holding facilities – which they called “zoo-like” – and only 33,000 wild horses free on the range.
Environmental attorney Rachel Fazio, who was involved with the July injunction, said the Department of Interior “has a policy of removing mass numbers of wild horses from the range without supporting its conclusion that such drastic measures are ecologically necessary.”
In addition, she alleged that the agency won't provide to the public the data to support the removals – which she said violates the legal requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act – and that it disregards the damage done by livestock.
The groups said the BLM authorizes up to four times more cattle than wild horses, and nearly seven times more sheep than burros in the Twin Peaks area, and that the agency has the legal authority to limit livestock grazing in order to make more forage available for wild horses and burros.
The BLM says it's done just that. The agency said it's worked with ranchers who run cattle on BLM-managed land to reduce livestock numbers by 50 percent compared to 30 years ago in response to available resources.
Daily updates on the Twin Peaks roundup can be found at www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/eaglelake/wild_horse_and_burro/twinpeaksgather/gatreports.html.
See a video about the roundup here: www.blm.gov/ca/media/video/twinpeaksgather-2010/index.html.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
Whether you call it a melongene, brinjal, garden egg, patlican, aubergine or eggplant, it’s one of the world’s most versatile vegetables and is featured in the cuisine of countries on almost every continent.
From the Caribbean to Thailand, from Ethiopia to the American South, and from Italy to India, eggplant provides the basis for dishes with an amazing diversity of flavors.
With the edible, soft seeds contained in its center, botanically the eggplant is considered a berry. As a member of the nightshade family, it’s related to tomatoes, sweet peppers and potatoes.
There’s a surprise surrounding its family tree. The eggplant is closely related to tobacco, and the bitter taste of its seeds comes from nicotinoid alkaloids. An addiction to eggplant, however, must be blamed on its flavor, color or preparation, as the amount of nicotine contained within is negligible.
They’re a favorite of vegetarians, as the flesh is rich, with a meat-like texture. I often pull eggplant out of my “bag of tricks” when I prepare vegetarian cuisine as it’s a great meat substitute for a hearty meal.
They’re a fantastic brain food due to the presence of the powerful antioxidant nasunin, which has been shown to protect the fats in brain cell membranes. Other antioxidant compounds abound that have been shown to promote cardiovascular health and even lower cholesterol.
Eggplants are a great source of fiber, and contain minerals such as potassium, manganese and copper, as well as important B vitamins.
They’re native to India and the surrounding countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
They were first cultivated in China in the 5th century B.C., were brought into Africa before the Middle Ages, and were introduced to Italy in the 14th century. Thomas Jefferson, an avid experimental gardener, is credited for introducing them to the U.S.
Cultivated varieties range in size from the golf ball-sized Thai eggplant to a two pound variety grown near the Ganges River in India. Wild eggplants have been known to grow on stalks as tall as 7 feet.
The eggplant with which we’re most familiar is called the American, or globe, eggplant, with its characteristic glossy deep purple skin and rotund shape. European eggplants, such as the Italian and Holland varieties, are more elongated, and those from Asia, such as Japanese, Filipino and Chinese eggplants, are long and quite thin. Hawaiian eggplants are the thinnest I’ve seen, with a shape similar to a zucchini.
Each of the varieties mentioned above, save the Chinese eggplant, which is deep lavender, are dark purple; however, other varieties come in a broad range of colors, such as the apple green or green goddess eggplants and the white eggplant, which has a delicate flavor and tough skin.
Small, globelike Indian eggplants are deep red, and early European cultivars were yellow or white, resembling chicken eggs, thus spawning the term “eggplant.”
The flesh of the eggplant is spongy and somewhat bitter in its raw state, though more recent cultivated varieties are not quite as bitter as their ancient counterparts. When cooked, it has a subtle and complex flavor.
Like chicken or tofu, eggplant provides a platform for a plethora of flavors, changing like a chameleon when paired with different sauces and spice combinations. Eggplant is as delicious in a rich Italian tomato sauce as it is in a Thai coconut curry or a spicy African salad.
If an eggplant is young, its skin can be delicate enough to leave on for cooking; otherwise it should be peeled. An interesting preparation is to peel it partially for a striped pattern of skin and flesh. This allows the skin (and its nutrients) to flavor the dish.
The quake occurred at 1:47 a.m. Saturday five miles north northeast of Ukiah and 35 miles northwest of Clearlake at a depth of 4.3 miles, according to the US Geological Survey.
The survey received 23 shake reports from five zip codes – Ukiah, Redwood Valley, Potter Valley, Willits, Potter Valley and Sylmar.
At 2:04 a.m. a smaller quake, measuring 1.8 in magnitude, was recorded at a depth of 4.8 miles seven miles north northeast of Ukiah, seven miles north of Talmage and 14 miles west northwest of Upper Lake, the US Geological Survey reported.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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