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Recreation
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The hike is part of America’s State Parks First Day Hikes Program and each year, more than 100 people have attended the event at Anderson Marsh State Historic Park.
Members of the Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association and local State Park Rangers help lead and organize the hike each year.
According to Henry Bornstein, an AMIA Board member who is one this year’s hike leaders, “The event offers a wonderful opportunity to begin the New Year right by connecting with nature and the outdoors with friends and family on Jan. 1.”
Participants can choose between two routes this year. The McVicar walk is a leisurely walk along the McVicar Trail and back, which leads from the parking lot to the shores of Clear Lake, across from Indian Island.
The entire walk is a little over 7½ miles of mainly flat terrain and should take between three and four hours, depending on how many times they stop to admire what they see along the way.
The shorter Cache Creek, Marsh and Ridge Trail Loop is a 3½-mile loop over these three trails, passing by a vernal pool near the end. This shorter hike will take between two and two and a half hours.
According to Bornstein, “Hikers will experience grasslands, oak woodlands, willow and cottonwood riparian habitats and the tule marsh habitat of the Anderson Marsh Natural Preserve, and may encounter a variety of migrating and resident birds and other wildlife.
Participants on both hikes are welcome to walk part way and make an early return at their own pace.”
Both hikes begin at noon at the park off Highway 53, between Lower Lake and Clearlake. Children of all ages are welcome. Participants should wear sturdy shoes and a hat. Bring water, snacks, and binoculars if you have them.
No dogs are allowed on these trails, which pass through the Anderson Marsh Natural Preserve.
For further information, the public is asked to contact AMIA at 707-995-2658 or
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- Written by: California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Question: I heard somewhere that Christmas trees can be recycled to create habitat for wild animals. I don't remember the details or have any idea how to find out if this is available in my community. I hate to put my tree out to the curb after the holidays, if I could actually donate it to help the environment in some way. (Sonja)
Answer: What a great question! We appreciate your altruistic spirit.
Yes, fisheries biologists can and do recycle Christmas trees to build habitat for juvenile fish. Last summer alone, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Fish Habitat Improvement Shop in Yreka used about 200 Christmas trees and small junipers that they'd collected right after the holidays to create 22 fish habitat structures that were placed into Green Springs Reservoir in Modoc County.
Donated trees – which need to be free of tinsel, ornaments and other decorations – are tied together, weighed down with cables and placed into the water. Once submerged, the tree trunks and branches become a nursery for small warmwater fish (mainly bass and crappie).
Interestingly, the small fish attract larger, catchable fish that congregate in the area, looking for an easy meal – so the installation of the habitat structures also ultimately leads to improved fishing opportunities for anglers, too!
This winter there will be several efforts to collect trees for this purpose. All of these are in the north state (Siskiyou, Modoc and Placer counties). Drop-off locations will be located near CDFW's Alturas and Yreka offices, as well as a yet-to-be-determined location in the town of Chester.
For more information about creating fish habitat with donated Christmas trees, check out our recent Science Spotlight.
Can I keep a jumping fish?
Question: If a salmon jumps out of a river, do you need a license to collect it? (Jon)
Answer: It would not be legal to retain a salmon under these circumstances. There are two issues here – the method of take and possession.
Fishing and hunting regulations define specific, allowable "methods of take." The salmon (or any fish, for that matter) would need to be taken by a legal method such as hook and line, in legal waters, in order for you to lawfully possess it. You can't collect and keep a fish you find, as you did not take it by permissible means.
Also, if you are over the age of 15, you would need a current California fishing license to be in possession of any wild fish (unless you are pier fishing, it's a free fishing day or the fish was legally taken by a licensed angler and then gifted to you).
How can I prove that a fish is a gift?
Question: My sister and I were at the lake recently, and a friendly angler offered us a freshly caught fish to take home. We had no way of keeping it cold, so we turned down the nice offer.
Later, I wondered if it would have even been legal for us to take it, since we don't have fishing licenses. What would have happened if we'd taken the fish, and been stopped by a warden on the way home? (Shelley)
Answer: It's legal for a licensed angler to "gift" you fish. But you're correct that a wildlife officer might have questioned where the fish came from if you couldn't produce a fishing license.
To avoid a misunderstanding in such circumstances, you need to have the angler write down his or her name, contact information and fishing license number. This way an officer could easily contact the angler to verify your story and ensure you're in legal possession of the fish.
Outdoor California magazine
Question: My hunter education instructor showed me a copy of a magazine put out by your department. It included some really amazing wildlife photography, which I think was part of a contest. Where I can get a copy of the magazine? (Christine)
Answer: Thank you for asking, and congratulations on passing your Hunter Education course! Outdoor California has been published by CDFW since 1945. It's published six times per year and is available by subscription. The cost is $15 annually. For more information, please call 916-322-8911.
The Wildlife Photograph of the Year Contest is presented in conjunction with California Watchable Wildlife and is sponsored by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy.
Entries are accepted year-round, with winners announced in each magazine beginning in the March/April issue. A grand prize winner is selected by the CDFW director each January.
Photographs must show a California native species in its natural habitat, with special consideration given to images at California Watchable Wildlife viewing sites and in the Sierra Nevada.
You can find more information, including maps, photo guidelines and terms of use, at www.cawatchablewildlife.org/photos2018/rules.php.
If you have a question for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, email
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- Written by: Napa Valley Cricket Club
NAPA, Calif. – The Napa Valley Cricket Club wrapped up the 2018 season with expanded membership and more match days than ever.
The Napa Valley Cricket Club, or NVCC, wrapped up their seventh season with a match against local rivals the Sonoma Gullies at the Napa Valley Expo in downtown Napa.
The match, the clubs 16th of the season, ended in defeat for the NVCC, the second time that they lost to their Wine Country rivals in 2018.
The clubs record for 2018 stands at five wins and nine losses against opposition teams and the remaining match days were made up of the annual intra-club matches – the Napa Valley World Series of Cricket and the City v County matches.
The strong American and Australian team of NVCC members won back the World Series trophy convincingly in July.
Now in its second season of playing matches at the Napa Valley Expo in downtown Napa the clubs social and playing membership have grown again in 2018 and the club now boasts almost 100 members.
The 2018 season started in April with matches on the road in Davis, Bradshaw and in May matches in Los Angeles at the famed Woodley Park and against Marin CC in Larkspur.
With the club’s home fiend at the Napa Valley Expo being used for the Home and Garden Show and then BottleRock the club play their early season matches on the road.
Early season highlights saw American member Tyler Nethaway take three stunning catches in the April match against Bradshaw, south of Sacramento, in addition to a stunning direct hit run-out from the boundary rope.
A fine knock of 67 runs for Karan Grewal in the NVCC match against the Sri Lanka Lions from Davis wasn’t enough to see the team across the line as he couldn’t find support from the tail-enders.
May saw the NVCC travel to Los Angeles to play Malibu CC at the hallowed Woodley Park. Malibu set NVCC 176 to chase in 30 overs and while Grewal (31 off 34) and Jake Radloff (28 off 29) put up a strong fight NVCC ended up 44 runs short.
The first of the annual three-match series against Marin CC took place in early June and NVCC were asked to bat first at Piper Park. Only four NVCC players made it into double figures with New Zealanders Jeff Keene (13 off 45) and Bernie Peacock (10 off 12) being joined by Australians Brendan Helme (37 off 66) and Jason Beveridge (19 of 27) and NVCC posted only 106 runs on their 40 overs. Marin chased down the total with time and wickets to spare with wickets for NVCC notched up by Peacock, Harjit Singh, and Grewal.
NVCC welcomed the SF Seals to the Napa Valley Expo for their first home match of 2018. A weakened Seals team were no match for a strong NVCC team with NVCC chasing down a total of 95 runs in just 22 overs.
The second match of 2018 against Marin CC was hosted at the Napa Valley Expo and saw NVCC limit Marin to 1234 runs thanks to three wickets from Bernie Peacock and two from his fellow New Zealander Tim Mills.
With the bat NVCC were rarely under pressure in the chase thanks to 51 off 57 (retired) from Sarabjit Singh and 26 not out off 28 from John Leake winning the match in the 26th over.
NVCC’s big match of the year, their annual World Series of Cricket, saw a big crowd at the Napa Valley Expo who witnessed a convincing win by the Australia/America team of members.
Coming off the back of two consecutive defeats to the Rest of the Word team, AA captain John Leake lead from the front with a 55 ball knock of 49 runs in a team total of 188.
In the chase, the ROW team never really found any solid partnerships and despite 31 off 29 from Grewal no other ROW batsman made it past 20 runs they ended up 45 runs short.
The Sonoma Gullies paid the first of two visits to the Napa Valley Expo in mid-July and, as is their way, won a hard-fought match. 47 not out from the Gullies Sunny Patel was the foundation for a team total of 139 and despite four wickets from Brendan Helme NVCC were unable to reign in their scoring. In the chase despite numerous starts no NVCC player made it past 20 runs, and in the end NVCC ended up 33 runs short.
A massive and game-defining partnership of 98 runs by Sorabh Das (55 off 102) and Grewal (49 off 61) saw NVCC post a formidable total of 152 in their August match-up against Marin CC.
Three wickets apiece for Bernie Peacock and Grewal, in addition to two each for Adersh Maqsood and Tim Mills, saw NVCC dismiss Marin for a total of 126 runs and wrap up the annual series in NVCC’s favor.
The return match against Malibu CC at the Napa Valley Expo saw a spirited innings from the touring team get to 170 despite three wickets from NVCC’s Das and two each from Grewal and Bangladeshi Azam Khan. With the bat Das top scored with 35 off 36 but it wasn’t enough with NVCC falling just 15 runs short.
The SF Seals got revenge for their earlier loss at the Napa Valley Expo with a record-breaking chase. Set 199 to win, thanks to strong knocks by Martin Mackenzie (53 off 64) and Sukhvirsra Singh (49 off 33) the Seals scraped home with two balls to spare and were the first team to get over 200 runs in a 35 over match at the Expo.
The second day of NVCC’s intra-club matches in 2018 saw two T20 matches played as a “City” team of members who live in the city of Napa played a “County” team of members from outside of the city.
The county team took the honors on the day in both matches – 126 to 116 in the morning match and 148 to 144 in the afternoon match. With mandatory retirements at 30 runs batting duties were shared through both teams allowing greater opportunity for all. Pick of the bowlers on the day was Bernie Peacock who took four wickets in the two matches.
The Sri Lanka Lions, based in Davis, who play in the Sacramento League put almost 200 on the board when the visited and batted first in late September.
Englishman Clive Richardson, on a rare appearance in 2018, pulled off what was arguably the catch of the season to dismiss the well-set Naveen off the bowling of Abhijay Aggarwal. Strong batting by the NVCC middle order – Sorabh Das (42 off 31), Karan Grewal (49 off 46) and Harjit Singh (28 off 28) saw NVCC home with just over two overs, and four wickets, to spare.
The touring Cliff Cox XI from Vancouver visited Napa on a day when the NVCC’s big guns were firing, both with the bat and ball. Set 175 to chase in 20 overs the visiting team were all out for only 67 runs in 14.3 overs.
Autodesk finally made it to the Napa Valley Expo for a 35 over match and notched up 161 runs. The NVCC batsmen had their biggest off-day in history with the top six batters failing to get into double figures.
Harjit Singh found some support from the lower order on his way to 55 runs off 37 balls. In particular Irishman Andrew Healy was the perfect foil to Singh with the pair putting on 38 runs for the final wicket with lots of blocking and hard running from the Irishman.
The 2018 season for the NVCC wrapped up on Oct. 27 with the second visit of Wine Country rivals, the Sonoma Gullies. The Gullies batted first and racked up 155 runs despite three wickets each for Bernie Peacock and Moe Maqsood. In the chase NVCC never got out of the blocks and fall well short of the target, not even making 100, with a total of 89 runs.
The Napa Valley Cricket Club wishes to acknowledge the assistance of the following sponsors: Clos du Val, Anchor Brewing, Bill Wagner Realtor, Balanced Business Group, Caliber Home Loans, Compadres Rio Grille, Crown Hill Stone Supply, John Fearless, St. Helena Optometry, Seguin Moreau, TRICOR Braun WinePak, ZAM Apps, 19 Crimes Wine, AZMERA Consulting, Blue Jean Black Design, Left Coast Wine Packaging, Napa Gourmet Foods and 3 rock marketing.
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- Written by: California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Anglers planning trout fishing outings over the winter holidays should check CDFW’s Fish Planting Schedule to see the latest waters planted with trout.
CDFW stocking of hatchery trout in central and Southern California waters has been hampered by ongoing infrastructure upgrades at four of CDFW’s 13 trout hatcheries. However, CDFW has been working diligently to ensure that trout stocking will continue in these and other parts of the state.
“Our Moccasin Creek Hatchery flooded, and supersaturated well water impacted the Fillmore, Fish Springs and Mojave hatcheries” said Dr. Mark Clifford, an environmental program manager for CDFW’s hatcheries. “Seventy-eight-year-old infrastructure and acts of nature are problematic. Our dedicated staff, including engineers, are consistently addressing issues as they arise.
“Overall, state trout production has increased incrementally since 2015 when the drought severely impacted our operations,” Dr. Clifford said. “This year was projected to be the best year in the last five. We have experienced setbacks but will continue to strive to meet our production goals.”
The spring flooding of CDFW’s Moccasin Creek Hatchery in Tuolumne County required evacuation of both staff and fish. The hatchery suffered $3.2 million in damages. Repairs are ongoing, and the hatchery is expected to come back online in the spring of 2019 and then return to full production by 2020.
Historically, Moccasin Creek Hatchery produced more than 200,000 pounds of fish per year and was a major supplier of trout for the 12 counties in CDFW’s Central Region – Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Stanislaus, Tulare and Tuolumne.
To mitigate the loss of trout production at the Moccasin Creek Hatchery, CDFW’s San Joaquin Hatchery in Fresno County has maximized production and is currently raising and stocking trout for waters in these counties.
To maximize angling opportunities with limited resources, Central Region fisheries biologists have prioritized stocking waters adjacent to major highway corridors such as State Routes 108/120 in Tuolumne County, State Route 168 in Fresno County and State Route 178 in Kern County. The region will also prioritize children’s fishing events.
In Southern California, the 78-year-old Fillmore Trout Hatchery in eastern Ventura County is closed for maintenance, upgrades and modernization. Prior to its closure, Fillmore Trout Hatchery fish were moved to the Mojave River Hatchery in San Bernardino County, which underwent renovations in 2017, and has been raising trout for much of Southern California.
CDFW is maximizing Mojave River Hatchery production with existing inventories along with trout brought in from other hatcheries and expects an improved Fillmore Trout Hatchery back online in coming months. Trout stocking in Southern California will be focused at urban parks, fishing derbies and Fishing in the City events.
The following list offers a county-by-county breakdown of stocking locations throughout the state that will receive winter holiday trout plants between now and Jan. 4, 2019:
Alameda County
Lakeshore Park Pond
Contra Costa County
Heather Farms Pond
Butte County
Desabla Reservoir
El Dorado County
Folsom Lake
Jenkinson Lake
Fresno County
Fresno City Woodward Park Lake
Kings River Below Pine Flat Dam
Inyo County
Diaz Lake
Owens River (Bishop to Big Pine)
Pleasant Valley Reservoir
Orbit Pond
Kern County
Ming Lake
Kern River (Powerhouse #3 to Riverside Park in Kernville)
Lake County
Blue Lake Upper
Los Angeles County
Reseda Park Lake
Kenneth Hahn Lake
El Dorado Park Lake
Castaic Lake
Madera County
Bass Lake
Marin County
Bon Tempe Lake
Mendocino County
Mill Creek Lake
Nevada County
Rollins Reservoir
Scotts Flat Reservoir
Orange County
Centennial Lake
Huntington Park Lake
Eisenhower Park Lake
Placer County
Halsey Forebay
Folsom Lake
Rollins Reservoir
Auburn Regional Park Pond
Plumas County
Lake Almanor
Riverside County
Little Lake
Rancho Jurupa Park Pond
Sacramento County
Elk Grove Park Pond
Hagen Park Pond
Folsom Lake (Granite Bay boat ramp)
Howe Community Park Pond
North Natomas Park Pond
Granite Park Pond
Rancho Seco Lake
Mather Lake
San Bernardino County
Glen Helen Park Lake
Prado Regional Park Lake
San Diego County
Cuyamaca Lake
Murray Lake
Shasta County
Baum Lake
Clover Creek Pond (weather and road conditions dependent)
Kapusta Pond (weather and road conditions dependent)
Stanislaus County
Woodward Reservoir
Tulare County
Mooney Grove Park Pond
Del Lago Park Lake
Ventura County
Rancho Simi Park Lake
Yuba County
Collins Lake