The "seven species" are foods mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as being special to Israel. They include two grains and five fruits: wheat, barley, figs, dates, pomegranates, grapes, and olives. Photo by Esther Oertel. Today marks the first day of Hanukkah, and in its honor, we’re going to explore the complex food culture of Israel.
We’ll also hear from a few folks who’ve got local as well as Israeli connections to get their take on the food there.
Israeli cuisine is influenced by a plethora of factors — immigration from other countries, other Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines, various styles of Jewish cooking, the tradition of keeping kosher, food customs associated with Shabbat (the weekly seventh day of rest), year-round Jewish holidays, regionally available foods and world trends from chefs trained abroad.
Because of the great diversity present in Israeli food culture, it might be helpful to think of it as a patchwork of different cuisines, rather than a cohesive whole.
As Jews returned to Israel from the Diaspora, their scattering throughout the world, they brought with them foods and recipes from an astounding number of countries. In particular, the Mizrahi, Sephardic and Ashkenazi styles of cooking are prevalent throughout Israel.
Mizrahi Jewish cuisine has roots in the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and Arab countries. Flatbreads, lentils, chickpeas and rice are staples of this cuisine, and spices popular in the Middle East are favored, among them cumin, coriander, cinnamon, black pepper, sesame seeds and spice blends such as za’atar.
Sephardi Jews are the Jews of Spain and Portugal. When they were expelled from those countries in the 15th century, many settled in North Africa — Tunisia, Libya, Morocco and Egypt — as well as in Greece, Turkey, the Balkans, Lebanon, Syria and the Holy Land. Their cuisine has been influenced by these many countries.
It emphasizes salads, stuffed vegetables and vine leaves, olive oil, lemon, lentils, dried fruits, herbs such as cilantro and parsley, saffron, nuts, chickpeas, and a variety of spices, including cumin, turmeric, cardamom and cinnamon.
Because of similar influences, Mizrahi and Sephardim cuisine overlap and share many dishes in common.
Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine developed among Jews throughout Europe, particularly Eastern and Central Europe. The Jewish dishes that we’re familiar with in this country — things like latkes (the potato pancakes made during Hanukkah), challah (braided bread), matzo ball soup, strudel, and Jewish deli staples — are of Ashkenazi origin.
The cuisine is based on ingredients available to the historically poor Ashkenazi community of Europe. At one time they were forbidden to grow crops, so the food is less vegetable focused than Mizrahi or Sephardic cuisine.
Baked goods, potatoes, cabbage, beets, chicken, fish and less expensive cuts of beef such as brisket are featured. Due to the lack of availability of the olive oil used in traditional Jewish cooking, fat rendered from chicken skin, known as schmaltz, was used in many dishes.
Another factor adding to the diversity of Israel’s food is that the area that is modern-day Israel has been inhabited, conquered and fought over by countless peoples in its long history. It’s been a melting pot of world influence in times both ancient and modern.
Thanks to the Biblical and archaeological records that provide insight, many of Israel’s culinary traditions can be traced back to the time of the kings of ancient Israel, more than 3,000 years ago.
The ancient Israelites ate foods based on what’s known as the “seven species,” two grains and five fruits. These are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Deuteronomy 8:8) as being special products of the Land of Israel. They are wheat, barley, grapes, olives, pomegranates, dates, and figs. All retain an important place in Israeli cuisine today.
Arab foods, as well as foods from other Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries, have been adopted and adapted by Israel. While the nation doesn’t have a food that can be considered a national dish (or even a distinct national cuisine), there are some foods that can be considered Israeli staples, and such regional influence can be seen in them. Below are a favored few.
Hummus, a dish that likely originated in ancient Egypt, is a smooth, silky paste made from chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, cumin and salt. Sometimes olive oil is added. Hummus recipes vary from region to region. Jerusalem hummus, for example, is served with spicy ground beef and pine nuts.
Hummus likely originated in ancient Egypt and is popular throughout the Middle East and the Mediterranean, including in Israel. Photo by Esther Oertel. Falafel is a popular street food and considered by some to be Israel’s unofficial national dish. Made from ground chickpeas rolled into balls and deep fried, falafel is often served in pita bread, or along with hummus or an Israeli salad.
Also a popular street food, shawarma is meat cooked on a spit and served with toppings in a pita. Toppings can include hummus, pickles, grilled hot peppers, pickled mangoes, olives, fried eggplant and even French fries.
Shakshuka is a bright and bold North African dish that’s become a quintessential part of breakfast or lunch in Israel. Eggs are cooked on a bed of tomato sauce spiced with paprika, cumin, and cayenne pepper and topped with fresh herbs when it comes out of the oven. It’s served in the pan it’s baked in.
An Israeli salad is made with finely chopped tomatoes and cucumbers and dressed in olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Diced bell peppers, grated carrots, finely shredded cabbage or lettuce, sliced radish or fennel, chives, chopped parsley, and spices like mint, za’atar or sumac can be added for variety.
And finally, an “Israeli breakfast” is a common offering in hostels and hotels, however humble, and consists of a panoply of foods eaten there at breakfast, often including omelets, an Israeli salad, cheeses, olives, breads and pastries, labneh (thick yogurt), fruit and shakshuka.
I had the privilege of speaking with several former residents of Israel to learn about the food memories they hold and their personal Israeli food favorites.
Lisa Kaplan, executive director of the Middletown Art Center, moved to Israel with her family when she was 11 and lived there for 23 years. Her mother, a Palestinian Jew from Jerusalem, is from a family which has been rooted in the region since the 1700s.
Though it was mostly American or Ashkenazi food eaten in her family, her heart beats for the traditional Middle Eastern foods in Israel. It’s the hummus, lentils, rice, fresh salads and street food from the open-air markets that she craves.
A favorite of hers is kibbeh, ground lamb inside a bulgur coating (in form a bit like a corn dog, Kaplan said), which she got from the open-air market three blocks from her home. She visited there every Friday to buy vegetables.
A Moroccan friend in Israel taught her to make mejadra, a lentil and rice dish with onions and spiced with coriander and cumin. It’s still a favorite of hers and she makes it at home.
The foods and smells of the open-air markets in Israel influence the way she cooks here. She loves the way Middle Eastern flavors like lemon, garlic, olive oil, cumin and Baharat, a spice blend, tingle the palate and energize her.
If you ever get the chance to taste the hummus that Kaplan makes, do. It’s a labor of love and, from what I hear, tastes pretty darn good!
If you’ve been to a recent farm-to-table dinner at the Peace and Plenty saffron farm in Kelseyville, you’ve tasted Chef Arnon Oren’s food.
Melinda Price of Peace and Plenty Farm tells me that it’s been fun working with Chef Oren to create menus using their saffron and seasonal produce. Saffron was used in nearly every course of their last dinner (even in the ice cream, which is hugely popular). There’ll be further collaborations for dinners next year.
Oren was born in Israel and raised in a small town near the Sea of Galilee. His mother was an agricultural instructor, so, not surprisingly, their property included an abundant garden and was full of fruit trees.
This bounty — as Oren says, the original flavors of Israel — has influenced the flavor profile of his cooking. He believes in using the best ingredients possible and letting them shine.
Scents often evoke memories, and for Chef Oren, it’s the smell of fig leaves that takes him back to Israel, where he remembers plucking fresh figs from the trees of his childhood home.
He especially enjoyed Israel during Jewish holidays, which take place throughout the year, every couple of months or so, when everything seemed more pronounced. As is customary, his mother made jelly doughnuts during Hanukkah, and Oren laughed as he recalled their irregular shapes, unlike the perfect bakery versions.
Bourekas, fried pastries filled with cheese, are his go-to street food in Israel, and cardamom is a fondly remembered spice. His culinary creations often include cardamom — he uses it in sweet and savory applications, from chocolate cake to chicken.
His recipe for sweetened labneh with cardamom is offered for us today. Labneh is a Lebanese cream cheese that can be used as an accompaniment to sweet or savory foods.
Jivan Dicovsky, a Lake County life coach, was born in Israel and raised in Tel Aviv, one of its most populous cities. His family’s roots are in Western Europe and their style of eating reflected that; however, he grew to love Israeli food with Middle Eastern roots.
He began cooking after his divorce, including Israeli foods like hummus, falafel, and various soups and stews. He cooks almost exclusively Middle Eastern foods, though his favorite cold weather food to make is traditional Jewish chicken soup.
I also had the chance to chat with my youngest son, Billy Oertel, who visited Israel while he was in college. He found the mix of foods interesting, from Middle Eastern fare to Eastern European blintzes or pierogies.
He found it surprisingly easy to eat as a vegetarian there; there was always something meat-free on offer. The falafel was his favorite dish. He said it was the best he’s eaten, and though he’s been trying, he hasn’t found anything to match it here.
I especially wish to thank these folks for sharing their memories and thoughts with me.
Chef Arnon’s Sweetened Cardamom Labneh with Fresh Fruit
1 quart whole milk yogurt 10 pods of green cardamom or 1 teaspoon cardamom powder Zest from 1 lemon 2-4 tablespoons sugar Fruit of your choice
Over a strainer that is over a bowl, pour the yogurt into a clean cloth towel.
Tie the cloth and hang it over a bowl in a sink at room temperature overnight. (Do not refrigerate.) You can also leave it in the strainer, although it is best to hang.
The next day, place the strained yogurt into a clean bowl. This is your Labneh. Save the liquid from the yogurt.
Grind the cardamom if you are using pods and sift it into the labneh. Otherwise, add the cardamom powder.
Add the sugar, lemon zest and mix well. You can add back some of the liquid if the labneh is too thick.
Serve with fruit of your choice and enjoy!
Recipe by Arnon Oren.
Esther Oertel is a writer and passionate home cook from a family of chefs. She grew up in a restaurant, where she began creating recipes from a young age. She’s taught culinary classes in a variety of venues in Lake County and previously wrote “The Veggie Girl” column for Lake County News. Most recently she’s taught culinary classes at Sur La Table in Santa Rosa. She lives in Middletown, California.
Boys Head No. 199 by Grace Hudson, 1901, oil on canvas. Courtesy image. NORTH COAST, Calif. — A prized collection of artist Grace Hudson’s paintings are returning home to Mendocino County in a unique agreement reached with the Palm Springs Art Museum in Southern California.
The pact provides for the direct gift of 16 Hudson artworks to the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah, and a long-term loan of two other oil paintings.
Hudson was known for her work focusing on the region’s Pomo Indians, completing several hundred portraits of them.
The Palm Springs collection includes two oil paintings Hudson did in 1901 during a transformative sojourn in Hawaii. Her work from that period is rare.
Also in the gifted collection are five sepia portraits (bitumen on canvas) of local Pomo elders in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and oil paintings that depict a sweat lodge, hop fields and an Ukiah Valley landscape with the subtle presence of a figure carrying wood in a Pomo burden basket.
There are two unfinished portraits, “Indian Girl” and “Head of Indian Girl,” that Grace Hudson Museum staff believes will be useful for research purposes. Lastly, there are two small landscapes of historic Todd Grove, and the old Fish Hatchery that once existed along Gibson Creek on Ukiah’s west side.
Costs associated with the transfer of the paintings were underwritten by a grant from the Miner Anderson Family Foundation in San Francisco.
Author/filmmaker Robert Mailer Anderson has deep ties to Mendocino County, where he graduated from Anderson Valley High School. An uncle, Bruce Anderson, is editor/publisher of the Anderson Valley Advertiser.
Norma Person, a Sonoma County philanthropist and widow of former newspaper publisher Evert Person, pledged her support if needed for the transfer agreement with the Palm Springs Museum in addition to making a generous contribution to help ease pandemic related financial losses at the Hudson.
The Persons to date are the single largest financial contributors to the Grace Hudson Museum.
“We are happy to help return this special collection to Mendocino County,” said Robert Mailer Anderson. Palm Springs Art Museum staff contacted the Grace Hudson Museum about the possibility of gifting the collection last May.
Rather than sell the individual Hudson art works to collectors on the open market, senior staff at the Palm Springs museum decided that gifting the artwork to the Grace Hudson Museum would be the best outcome for the public, scholars, and art historians.
“Love’s Labor” by Grace Hudson. Courtesy image. “Palm Springs believed that by keeping the paintings in the public trust rather than selling them to private collectors was the right thing to do,” said Grace Hudson Museum Director David Burton.
The Miner Anderson Family Foundation awarded a $40,000 grant to the Grace Hudson Museum to cover the expected transfer costs of the Palm Springs collection. Sotheby’s estimated the collection could bring up to $200,000 if auctioned.
The Palm Springs Art Museum is shifting emphasis to modern and contemporary art, leading to its decision to gift the Hudson work. The museum in the early 2000s decided to move away from an art mission first defined in the 1930s. For decades the Palm Springs museum focused on natural history, the surrounding Cahuilla Indian culture, and later fine art.
Senior Palm Springs staff realized as the museum’s new direction evolves that the important Hudson collection would mostly likely remain in storage, and out of view of the public.
During the discussion between the two museums, Palm Springs staff asked the Grace Hudson Museum to pay all transfer-related costs associated with the gift of the paintings.
Director Burton said he, current curator Alyssa Boge, retired museum director Sherrie Smith-Ferri, and former curator Karen Holmes reviewed the collection, and evaluated its potential importance.
Burton traveled to Palm Springs to personally view the paintings and he found them to be in “good or excellent condition.”
“We concluded the Palm Springs collection would significantly expand and enhance what we do here,” said Burton.
The Ukiah museum is the single largest repository of artist Hudson’s work and is known nationally for the breadth of its collection of Hudson paintings and Pomo artifacts collected by the artist and her husband, Dr. John Hudson, a noted ethnologist.
How the Palm Springs collection of Hudson paintings was assembled is a study in art history. Eleven Hudson paintings were donated to Palm Springs by C. Frederick Faude, a wealthy fine arts and antiques dealer who had showrooms in San Francisco and Sausalito.
At the time, Faude’s collection of Hudson paintings was considered one of the country’s largest. Faude also was a benefactor of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, where a gallery is named in his honor.
Faude and his partner, San Francisco restaurateur Louis Foerster, lived in San Anselmo in Marin County where they donated fourteen acres of land for a public park that is named in his honor.
Three of the Hudson paintings coming to Ukiah were gifted to the Palm Springs museum by a trust established by the late actor and artist George Montgomery. Another Hudson painting was given by a trust of actor William Holden.
The newly acquired paintings from Palm Springs are to arrive at the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah in early January. Museum Director Burton said they will be the centerpieces of a new exhibit highlighting recent acquisitions, scheduled to open in February.
Mike Geniella is an endowment board member of the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has a kennel full of dogs waiting to be added to new homes this holiday season.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of American bulldog, American Staffordshire terrier, border collie, Doberman, German shepherd, Great Pyrenees, hound, Labrador retriever, mastiff and pit bull.
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.
The following dogs at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption (additional dogs on the animal control website not listed are still “on hold”).
“George” is a 1-year-old male American bulldog mix in kennel No. 10, ID No. LCAC-A-1430. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘George’
“George” is a 1-year-old male American bulldog mix with a short gray coat.
He is in kennel No. 10, ID No. LCAC-A-1430.
This 7-year-old female American Staffordshire terrier is in kennel No. 11, ID No. LCAC-A-1890. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female American Staffordshire terrier
This 7-year-old female American Staffordshire terrier has a short gray coat and white markings.
She is in kennel No. 11, ID No. LCAC-A-1890.
This 1-year-old male German shepherd is in kennel No. 12, ID No. LCAC-A-1892. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control.Male German shepherd
This 1-year-old male German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 12, ID No. LCAC-A-1892.
This 5-year-old female chocolate Labrador retriever-pit bull mix is in kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-1769. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Labrador-pit bull mix
This 5-year-old female chocolate Labrador retriever-pit bull mix has a short chocolate-colored coat.
She is in kennel No. 13, ID No. LCAC-A-1769.
This 3-year-old female mastiff is in kennel No. 15, ID No. LCAC-A-1868. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female mastiff
This 3-year-old female mastiff has a short brindle coat.
She is in kennel No. 15, ID No. LCAC-A-1868.
This male German shepherd mix puppy is in kennel No. 17b, ID No. LCAC-A-1849. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. German shepherd mix pup
This male German shepherd mix puppy has a short tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 17b, ID No. LCAC-A-1849.
“Cynthia” is a 1-year-old female Doberman pinscher-hound mix in kennel No. 18, ID No. LCAC-A-1891. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Cynthia’
“Cynthia” is a 1-year-old female Doberman pinscher-hound mix.
She is in kennel No. 18, ID No. LCAC-A-1891.
“Luna” is a 3-year-old female German shepherd-Great Pyrenees mix in kennel No. 21, ID No. LCAC-A-1906. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. ‘Luna’
“Luna” is a 3-year-old female German shepherd-Great Pyrenees mix with a white coat.
She is in kennel No. 21, ID No. LCAC-A-1906.
This 3-year-old female American Staffordshire mix is in kennel No. 23, ID No. LCAC-A-1727. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female American Staffordshire mix
This 3-year-old female American Staffordshire mix has a short black coat with white markings.
She is in kennel No. 23, ID No. LCAC-A-1727.
This 1-year-old female German shepherd is in kennel No. 25, ID No. LCAC-A-2155. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female German shepherd
This 1-year-old female German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
She is in kennel No. 25, ID No. LCAC-A-2155.
This 2-year-old male German shepherd is in kennel No. 26, ID No. LCAC-A-1903. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male German shepherd
This 2-year-old male German shepherd has a black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 26, ID No. LCAC-A-1903.
This 2-year-old male mastiff in kennel No. 27, ID No. LCAC-A-1869. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male mastiff
This 2-year-old male mastiff has a short tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 27, ID No. LCAC-A-1869.
This 2-year-old male shepherd mix is in kennel No. 28, ID No. LCAC-A-1743. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male shepherd mix
This 2-year-old male shepherd mix has a short black and tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 28, ID No. LCAC-A-1743.
This 12-year-old male Labrador retriever-border collie mix is in kennel No. 30, ID No. LCAC-A-2101. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Labrador-border collie mix
This 12-year-old male Labrador retriever-border collie mix has a short black and white coat.
He is in kennel No. 30, ID No. LCAC-A-2101.
This female German shepherd is in kennel No. 33, ID No. LCAC-A-2169. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Female German shepherd
This female German shepherd has a black coat.
She is in kennel No. 33, ID No. LCAC-A-2169.
This 3-year-old male pit bull mix is in kennel No. 34, ID No. LCAC-A-2119. Photo courtesy of Lake County Animal Care and Control. Male pit bull mix
This 3-year-old male pit bull mix has a short tan coat.
He is in kennel No. 34, ID No. LCAC-A-2119.
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 International Space Station is a great example of how space has, for the most part, been a peaceful and collaborative international arena. NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center/Flickr, CC BY-NC
On Nov. 15, 2021, Russia destroyed one of its own old satellites using a missile launched from the surface of the Earth, creating a massive debris cloud that threatens many space assets, including astronauts onboard the International Space Station. This happened only two weeks after the United Nations General Assembly First Committee formally recognized the vital role that space and space assets play in international efforts to better the human experience – and the risks military activities in space pose to those goals.
The U.N. First Committee deals with disarmament, global challenges and threats to peace that affect the international community. On Nov. 1, it approved a resolution that creates an open-ended working group. The goals of the group are to assess current and future threats to space operations, determine when behavior may be considered irresponsible, “make recommendations on possible norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviors,” and “contribute to the negotiation of legally binding instruments” – including a treaty to prevent “an arms race in space.”
We are two space policy experts with specialties in space law and the business of commercial space. We are also the president and vice president at the National Space Society, a nonprofit space advocacy group. It is refreshing to see the U.N. acknowledge the harsh reality that peace in space remains uncomfortably tenuous. This timely resolution has been approved as activities in space become ever more important and – as shown by the Russian test – tensions continue to rise.
Current actions in space are governed by the 1967 Outer Space Treaty that was developed within the United Nations, seen here.Basil D Soufi/WikimediaCommons, CC BY-SA
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty
Outer space is far from a lawless vacuum.
Activities in space are governed by the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which is currently ratified by 111 nations. The treaty was negotiated in the shadow of the Cold War when only two nations – the Soviet Union and the U.S. – had spacefaring capabilities.
While the Outer Space Treaty offers broad principles to guide the activities of nations, it does not offer detailed “rules of the road.” Essentially, the treaty assures freedom of exploration and use of space to all humankind. There are just two caveats to this, and multiple gaps immediately present themselves.
The first caveat states that the Moon and other celestial bodies must be used exclusively for peaceful purposes. It omits the rest of space in this blanket prohibition. The only guidance offered in this respect is found in the treaty’s preamble, which recognizes a “common interest” in the “progress of the exploration and use of space for peaceful purposes.” The second caveat says that those conducting activities in space must do so with “due regard to the corresponding interests of all other States Parties to the Treaty.”
A major problem arises from the fact that the treaty does not offer clear definitions for either “peaceful purposes” or “due regard.”
While the Outer Space Treaty does specifically prohibit placing nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction anywhere in space, it does not prohibit the use of conventional weapons in space or the use of ground-based weapons against assets in space. Finally, it is also unclear if some weapons – like China’s new nuclear capable partial-orbit hypersonic missile – should fall under the treaty’s ban.
The vague military limitations built into the treaty leave more than enough room for interpretation to result in conflict.
With increasing commercialization, the lines between military and civilian uses of space are less blurry. Most people are able to identify terrestrial benefits of satellites like weather forecasts, climate monitoring and internet connectivity but are unaware that they also increase agricultural yields and monitor human rights violations. The rush to develop a new space economy based on activities in and around Earth and the Moon suggests that humanity’s economic dependence on space will only increase.
However, satellites that provide terrestrial benefits could or already do serve military functions as well. We are forced to conclude that the lines between military and civilian uses remain sufficiently indistinct to make a potential conflict more likely than not. Growing commercial operations will also provide opportunities for disputes over operational zones to provoke governmental military responses.
Military testing
While there has not yet been any direct military conflict in space, there has been an escalation of efforts by nations to prove their military prowess in and around space. Russia’s test is only the most recent example. In 2007, China tested an anti-satellite weapon and created an enormous debris cloud that is still causing problems. The International Space Station had to dodge a piece from that Chinese test as recently as Nov. 10, 2021.
The new U.N. resolution is important because it sets in motion the development of new norms, rules and principles of responsible behavior. Properly executed, this could go a long way toward providing the guardrails needed to prevent conflict in space.
However, the remit of the 95-member committee is to promote international cooperation and study legal problems arising from the exploration of outer space. It lacks any ability to enforce the principles and guidelines set forth in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty or even to compel actors into negotiations.
The U.N. resolution from November 2021 requires the newly created working group to meet two times a year in both 2022 and 2023. While this pace of activity is glacial compared with the speed of commercial space development, it is a major step in global space policy.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A new intervention specialist who will work with the Lakeport Police Department on de-escalating crisis situations and working with homeless community members has been selected.
Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen and Lake Family Resource Center Executive Director Lisa Morrow introduced Alicia Adams at the Lakeport City Council meeting on Nov. 16.
Adams began her new position as community crisis response specialist at the start of this month, Rasmussen said.
She is part of a program created by a partnership between Lakeport Police and the Lake Family Resource Center.
The Lakeport City Council approved the program in October and the memorandum of agreement was finalized in the weeks since then.
Although hired and trained by Lake Family Resource Center, Adams will be based at the Lakeport Police station at 2025 S. Main St.
She will be teamed primarily with Lakeport Police’s homeless liaison officer to do outreach to homeless individuals and respond to other calls — including those that involve domestic violence and sexual assault — when a crisis response is needed.
Adams has been both a volunteer and a staffer for Lake Family Resource Center since 2015, and was part of the California HOPE program the organization initiated to support Lake County residents affected by the Mendocino Complex fires.
Morrow thanked the city council for the opportunity to work with the police department on the program.
She said it was relatively smooth putting the memorandum of understanding together.
Morrow said Adams is well qualified for the position.
“I am so happy to be a part of this project,” said Adams, adding that she’s looking forward to getting to work.
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.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — As the deadline for California wildfires survivors to enroll in the state's Consolidated Debris Removal Program approaches, state contractors continue to make progress removing eligible debris from properties whose owners already have enrolled in the program.
To date, crews have removed burned metal, concrete ash and contaminated soil from 458 properties.
That includes properties in Lake County impacted by the August Cache fire, which occurred in Clearlake.
The state reported that 64 site assessments and 64 asbestos assessments have been completed in Lake County, with 40 asbestos abatements completed. Debris removal has been completed on 60 properties.
The 458 cleared properties represent 30% of the 1,477 properties in 10 counties participating in the full debris removal program, the state reported.
Another 212 properties are participating in the hazardous trees only element of the program.
Under the program, administered by the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, or Cal OES, and the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, or CalRecycle, in collaboration with county officials, participating property owners incur no direct costs.
Property owners opt into the program by submitting a right-of-entry form, or ROE, to their county, which allows the state to begin work on their property and incur no direct costs for the removal of burned metal, concrete, ash and contaminated soil from their properties.
Interested homeowners in Alpine, El Dorado, Lake, Lassen, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Siskiyou, Tehama and Trinity counties can still sign up for the program by Nov. 30.
Find more information about the state’s Consolidated Debris Removal Program, including contacts and county-specific ROE forms here.
The program is also now available to property owners with losses from the Hopkins fire in Mendocino County, the Washington fire in Tuolumne County, the Windy fire in Tulare County, and the French fire in Kern County. The deadline for submitting ROEs for these counties will be announced shortly. Property owners should speak with their county government to learn more about the program.
Property owners cannot start rebuilding until fire debris is removed from their properties and soil samples taken from the property meet state environmental health and safety standards.”
Officials said property owners also can do the work themselves or hire a private contractor, but the work must meet the same state standards as the State Program. If work is started by the property owner or contractor, they become ineligible for the State Program.
Steps left to complete
Before homeowners can begin rebuilding, cleared properties need additional work including:
• Separate contractors collect soil samples for verification at a laboratory that they meet state environmental health and safety standards.
• Contractors next may install erosion control measures.
• Certified arborists or professional foresters assess wildfire-damaged trees in danger of falling on the public or public infrastructure for removal by separate contractors.
• Finally, state officials inspect the property to verify all completed work meets state standards. Debris officials submit a final inspection report to local officials to approve the property for reconstruction.
Property owners can track progress on the Debris Operations Dashboard for the 2021 statewide wildfires. The dashboard is updated every hour and provides users with the ability to search by county or address.
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