How to resolve AdBlock issue? 
News
- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
At Thursday night’s Clearlake City Council meeting, Clearlake Police Lt. Martin Snyder, who oversees the shelter, reported on the shelter’s statistics for the 2022 calendar year.
He said 389 dogs were taken into the shelter last year.
Of those, 303 have left the shelter. Snyder said those include 169 that went to rescues, 102 that were returned to their owners and 30 were adopted.
Snyder said there were a total of three euthanizations — two for medical reasons and one at the request of an owner.
That leaves the shelter with a 99% release rate, Snyder said.
On Thursday, shelter staff brought “Noah” for a visit to the council. He’s a 3 to 4 year old male American pit bull terrier who is a staff and shelter favorite.
They said he would do well with other dogs and probably cats and he’s neutered and up-to-date on all vaccinations.
Dogs recently adopted include “Snowball,” a male American Staffordshire terrier mix, and “Maya,” a female German shepherd.
There currently are 37 adoptable dogs at the shelter, with staff hoping to find them loving homes.
The shelter is located at 6820 Old Highway 53. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, call the shelter at 707-762-6227, email
This week’s adoptable dogs are featured below.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
- Details
- Written by: Hamish Clarke, The University of Melbourne; Anne Griebel, Western Sydney University; Matthias Boer, Western Sydney University; Rachael Helene Nolan, Western Sydney University, and Víctor Resco de Dios, Universitat de Lleida
Without strong climate action, forests on every continent will be highly flammable for at least 30 extra days per year by the end of the century – and this fire threat is far greater for some forests including the Amazon, according to our new study.
Our research in Nature Communications looked at 20 years of global satellite data to test the link between wildfires and “vapour pressure deficit” – a measure of the atmosphere’s power to suck moisture out of living and dead plants. It can also be thought of as how “thirsty” the air is.
Our results show that forest fire becomes much more likely above a certain threshold of vapour pressure deficit in many regions. This threshold depends on the type of forest.
Alarmingly, climate change is increasing the number of days the planet passes these crucial thresholds. But by urgently bringing global emissions down, we can minimise the number of extra wildfire days.
How a forest becomes flammable
Wildfire is an ancient, highly diverse phenomenon. Four key conditions for a fire are:
-
fuel: the leaves, branches, twigs and everything else that can catch alight in a forest
-
fuel moisture: whether fuel is dry enough to burn
-
ignition: the spark to set things off, such as a lightning strike
-
weather: conditions such as strong winds and high temperatures, which can aid a fire’s spread.
These four processes act as switches. All must be in the “on” position for a fire to take hold.
The drying out of fuel is particularly crucial for making a forest dangerously flammable. Indeed, many researchers are finding links between vapour pressure deficit (VPD) and fire activity.
VPD describes the difference between how much moisture is in the air and how much moisture the air can hold when it’s saturated. Once air becomes saturated, water will condense to form clouds or dew on leaves.
Importantly, warmer air can hold more water, which means VPD increases. We refer to the air being “thirsty” when the gap between full and empty air becomes bigger, meaning there’s a greater demand (thirst) for the water to come out of living and dead plant material, drying it out.
This is a serious issue as climate change leads to rising global temperatures.
Climate change and fire days
We analysed more than 30 million satellite records and a global climate dataset to find the maximum daily VPD, for each time and place a fire was detected.
We then measured the strength of the relationship between VPD and fire activity for different forest types in each continent. And we showed, for the first time, that in many forests there is a strong link between fire activity and VPD on any given day.
Our results show certain VPD thresholds beyond which forest fire becomes more likely than not.
For example, in boreal forests (predominantly northern European and American coniferous forests), this threshold is 0.7-1.4 kilopascals (a unit of pressure). In subtropical and tropical forests such as the Amazon, the threshold rises dramatically to 1.5-4.0 kilopascals. This means the air must be a lot thirstier to spark fire in the tropical forests of Borneo and Sumatra than in the spruce, pine and larch of Canada.
We looked at both low- and high-emissions scenarios and found the risks are much greater if we fail to curb emissions.
If humanity continues to release greenhouse gas emissions unabated, the planet is expected to warm by around 3.7℃ by the end of the century. Under this high-emissions scenario, our study finds there are forests on every continent that will experience at least 30 extra days per year above critical flammability thresholds.
Under a lower-emissions scenario where global warming is limited to around 1.8℃, each continent will still see at least an extra 15 days per year crossing the threshold.
Parts of tropical South America including the Amazon will see the greatest increases in both scenarios by the end of the century: at least 90 additional days in a low-emissions scenario, and at least 150 extra days in a high-emissions scenario.
What are the risks?
Increasing forest fires will have serious consequences. This includes potentially destabilising patterns of fire and regrowth and disrupting the carbon storage we rely on forests for. Indeed, research last year showed the role of the Amazon rainforest as a “carbon sink” (which absorbs more CO₂ that it releases) may already be in decline.
We can also expect increasing harms to human health from wildfire smoke. It is estimated that around the world, more than 330,000 people die each year from smoke inhalation. This number could increase notably by the turn of the century, particularly in the most populated areas of South Asia and East Africa.
Our next research project will explore the links between fire, VPD and climate change in more detail in Australia, our home country. We’re also interested in the forests and regions where VPD doesn’t seem to be the main driver of fire, such as in Japan and Scandinavia.
Our discovery of reliable links between atmospheric dryness and forest fire risk in many regions means we can now develop better fire predictions, at both seasonal and near-term scales. This could bring significant benefits to those on the frontlines of fighting, managing and coexisting with wildfire.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Shiva Khanal from Western Sydney University to this article.
Hamish Clarke, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne; Anne Griebel, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Western Sydney University; Matthias Boer, Professor, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University; Rachael Helene Nolan, Senior research fellow, Western Sydney University, and Víctor Resco de Dios, Profesor de ingeniería forestal y cambio global, Universitat de Lleida
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
- Details
- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
CLEARLAKE, Calif. — The city of Clearlake’s new recreation center complex received a major show of support and funding on Wednesday.
Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-04) on Wednesday presented a check for $2 million to the city of Clearlake for the Clearlake Burns Valley Sports Complex and Recreation Center project.
This funding was secured in the Fiscal Year 2023 government funding bill.
“The construction of the Burns Valley Sports Complex and Recreation Center will encourage healthier living and stimulate our local economy through youth sports, jobs, increased visitors, and additional hotel room stays,” said Thompson. “I was proud to work with Lake County officials to identify the need for this funding. This project is going to modernize our community, encourage a healthier lifestyle, and boost economic growth for our region.”
“This is a project that will have dramatic and long lasting impacts on our community. Encouraging a healthy lifestyle, safe activities for your youth, and providing a draw for visitors from outside our region are just a few of the benefits of this impact project. We are so grateful for the support of Congressman Thompson and the various agencies that will make this project a reality,” said Mayor Russ Perdock.
The full property will include a small amount of retail space, a new public works corporation yard — which will also serve as the city’s new hub for disaster and emergency response — as well as an 80-unit affordable housing project, and the sports complex and recreation center.
The sports complex will include a new Little League/softball/baseball complex, soccer fields and an approximately 20,000 square foot recreation center.
Thompson represents California’s Fourth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo counties.
- Details
- Written by: LAKE COUNTY NEWS REPORTS
LAKEPORT, Calif. — Federal funds are helping ensure that the Lake County Sheriff’s Office will have a new headquarters in north Lakeport.
On Wednesday, Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-04) presented a check for $988,600 to the county of Lake for the Lakeport Armory Facility Repurposing Project.
This funding was secured in the Fiscal Year 2023 government funding bill.
A year ago, the county completed a transaction in which it traded a vacant 15.5-acre property at 15837 18th Ave. in Clearlake to the state in exchange for the Lakeport Armory property, located on seven acres at 1431 Hoyt Ave. in north Lakeport next to the Lake County Jail.
The property on 18th Avenue in Clearlake is now being developed for affordable housing.
“Lake County has been significantly impacted by natural disasters and having an efficient and robust response is essential to the safety and well-being of our community,” said Thompson. “I was proud to work with Lake County officials to identify the need for this funding to repurpose the Lakeport Armory as an Emergency Operations Center and help serve the people of the county. This project will help mitigate the risk in Lake County and strengthen our response to wildfires, floods, landslides, and other natural disasters.”
The project began under the tenure of recently retired Sheriff Brian Martin, who aimed to trade the aging sheriff’s office headquarters at 1220 Martin St. for the armory location, where all of the agency’s divisions can be located on the same campus.
Martin was on hand for the Wednesday check presentation, along with his successor, Sheriff Rob Howe.
“I acknowledge that the majority of this project, to date, has been accomplished under recently retired Sheriff Martin. However, as the current sheriff and for those current and future department employees, I would like to express my sincere appreciation for Congressman Thompson’s support of this project. I look forward to continuing the relationship with the Congressman, our Board of Supervisors, County Administration, and all other stakeholders,” said Sheriff Howe. “The idea of a unified sheriff’s department campus that will improve efficiency, response, team cohesiveness, and, ultimately, public safety is very exciting.”
Within the first year, facility rehabilitation improvements may include energy efficiency upgrades — replacement of the HVAC system; roof replacement with solar; weatherization measures — and accessibility alterations.
The planning tasks and initial improvements will assist in repurposing the Lakeport Armory for permanent use by most, if not all, Lake County Sheriff’s Office Divisions and the Emergency Operations Center.
In addition to providing Emergency Operation Services, the repurposed facility will also serve as a Regional Training Center for multiple jurisdictions and public safety disciplines.
As a result, officials said emergency response operations throughout the region will be more resilient, mitigating risks to Lake County and surrounding communities.