A group of hikers experience beauty, peace and healthy outdoor activity on a BLM trail near Cache Creek. Courtesy photo.

LAKE COUNTY – Looking for local hiking opportunities? Have some special destination spots you wish to share? Interested in some healthy outdoor activity?

The public has the unique opportunity to provide input on the future shape of a county-wide, non-motorized Konocti Regional Trail System. Alta Planning and Design, a Benicia-based trails consulting firm, in conjunction with Lake County’s Community Development Department, will be hosting an upcoming forum on June 18 to gather public input. All ideas will be evaluated for inclusion into a Trails Master Plan.

For the past year, a stakeholder’s group under the direction of Kim Clymire, Director of Lake County’s Department of Public Services, has been developing the concept of the Konocti Regional Trails system in conjunction with a technical assistance grant from the National Park Service Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance (NPS RTCA) program.

To date, a series of seven Clear Lake water trails have been developed, comprising 50 miles of paddling routes in areas such as Rodman Slough, Anderson Marsh and Cache Creek. Six of the water trails utilize existing public parks as launching spots.

The next step is to develop a Master Trails Plan which will link water and land-based trails, as well as link sections of trails to each other. To do this, the county and consulting firm is asking for public participation.

The first meeting will be held on Thursday, June 18, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Board of Supervisor’s Chambers in Lakeport.

The two-hour meeting will be an interactive session.

Alta Planning and Design will present an overview of the trails goals, objectives and planning to-date, then the public will be encouraged to discuss their needs and concerns. The results will be used to develop a Konocti Regional Trails Master Plan.

Carrie Wallace, Alta Planning and Design’s Project Coordinator, explained, “The upcoming public session – a first of three meetings – is designed to get people involved as well as provide an opportunity to link up with other local volunteers and groups to create community trail plans.”

“There are many opportunities for the public to get involved, from helping to plan community routes to actual ground-proofing. We want people to eventually don their hiking boots, get out their digital cameras and GPS, and actually walk and assess potential public trail routes for suitability. Trail routes on private property will only be considered with complete and full cooperation from the property owners. Eminent domain is not a consideration of the regional trails plan,” Wallace explained.

Feedback from the public session will help in the development of localized plans – from walkable community pathways to safe-routes-to-school – which can ultimately be linked up to other areas throughout the county in a master plan. Wherever possible, plans are to use low-impact existing trails, utility easements, fire roads or fire breaks located on public lands, or on private lands of voluntary property owners; eminent domain is not a consideration.

Kim Clymire, Lake County’s Director of Public Services, is working closely with the consultants to develop the plan in conjunction with the Community Development department, which will provide staff and mapping services. Clymire feels this is a great opportunity for both the tourist-based economic development of Lake County, and the residents.

“We are very excited to be working with Alta and the community on this project,” Clymire said. “Lake County is so rich in recreational potential – it just needs to be focused. There are so many benefits to a trails system, from eco-tourism to healthy outdoor activity.”

The county – under the direction of Clymire – has already begun a series of public meetings to develop a recreational plan for Mt. Konocti, which is expected to close escrow this fall and be open to the public in early 2010.

This regional plan will become a part of the county-wide trails master plan. There are two more scheduled meetings for public input on the Mt. Konocti Plan, which will take place at the Lower Lake Historical Schoolhouse Museum on June 10 and 24 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

For more information on both the Konocti Regional Trails Master Plan and meetings, or the Mt. Konocti Master Plan meetings, contact county project manager Rebecca Dierssen, Lake County Department of Public Services at 707-262-1618, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

More information and links to all current trails/maps in Lake County are available at www.KonoctiTrails.com and information on the Mt. Konocti acquisition is available at www.PreserveKonocti.org .

Organizers have secured permission to use county-owned land on the lakeshore at the end of 13^th Avenue (The Strand).

In addition to enthusiastic volunteers, the garden needs large water tanks, a water pump, materials for the watering system (tubing, connectors, sprayers, drippers), 2 x 12 boards for raised beds, chicken wire, seeds, bedding plants, fertilizer, mulch, and tools including shovels and rakes.

An organizational meeting will be held at the location of the proposed garden at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 20.

Anyone wanting more information or hoping to make a donation to the effort should call Tricia Vandenberghe at 707-274-8510 or e-mail her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The public forum will be held at a regularly scheduled commission meeting beginning at 12:15 p.m. in the third floor conference room C in the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.

The Lake County Juvenile Justice Commission was established through the provisions of section No. 225 of the California State Welfare and Institutions Code.

The Lake County Board of Supervisors adopted County Ordinance 1103 in September of 1979, designating the Commission for the County of Lake.

Details of the commission's bylaws describe one of the commission’s roles as to “inquire into the administration of the juvenile court law in Lake County” and to coordinate the work of the community agencies engaged in delinquency prevention programs and to initiate such programs to fill any unmet needs.

Additionally the commission may inspect all publicly administered juvenile facilities, including the juvenile hall as well as any county jail that has been reported to have held a minor for more than 24 hours in the previous year.

The commission is also directed to inspect at their discretion, group homes and other related juvenile facilities.

There are currently six vacancies on the 15-person board that the commission would like to fill.

Youths between the ages of 14 and 21 are encouraged to attend and inquire as to a commission position. The commission is also looking to fill four vacant adult seats.

It will be presented by Dr. Erin K. Espeland, USDA ARS, Northern Plains Agricultural Laboratory, Pest Management Research Unit of Sidney, Mont.

Evolution through natural selection is constantly occurring all around us. Historically people have thought of biological evolution as occurring along time lines of hundreds of thousands of years, but examples such as the accumulation of herbicide resistance in weed species have taught us to think about evolution on human time scales.

The intimacy with which plants respond to their environment, and how populations evolve as a result of this response, is a fascinating way to examine evolutionary processes over short periods of time. Plants tend to occur near other plants, either of the same species or of different species.

Interactions between plants have traditionally been thought of as competitive, with each plant preventing others’ access to water, nutrients, and light. However, it also turns out that plants can actually help one another survive. This positive interaction in survivorship is not only a force of natural selection, but it can also streamline the process of adaptation in a more general way.

Not all plant populations are equal in their ability to adapt, and plant populations have very different evolutionary challenges compared to animal populations.

In a conservation and restoration context, we see that many plant populations will need to undergo adaptive evolution in order to persist when faced with new pest invasions and with climate change.

Dr. Espeland's research at McLaughlin reserve helps us understand that some environmental factors are more important than others in driving evolution in plant populations, and these factors can affect both the direction and the rate of adaptation.

For more information call 707-995-9005, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit

http://nrs.ucdavis.edu/mcl/index.html .

UC Davis - McLaughlin Reserve is located at 26775 Morgan Valley Road, Lower Lake.