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- Written by: Lake County News reports
NORTH COAST, Calif. — It’s as if there is something sacred about this work. No power tools. No heavy equipment. Everything is done by hand. Nothing that would create so much as a spark.
“I like to think that we’re giving the trail a makeover,” said California Conservation Corps Ukiah Corpsmember Madison Troop.
She and a crew of corpsmembers from the California Conservation Corps are undoing some of the damage the August Complex fire did a year ago to the Mendocino National Forest’s hiking trails.
“If there’s a downed log in the trail we have to move it,” said Ukiah Corpsmember Lane Hengel. “I cut a tree by hand with a hand saw the other day. It’s awesome, but it was a lot of work. It took me about ten minutes to get through a log about three feet thick.”
The flames of the August Complex fire downed and weakened trees. The series of lightning sparked fires ignited Aug. 17, 2020, and burned for four months. Many of the fire damaged trees have fallen across the trails, which is where Ukiah Center corpsmembers are putting in the most work as they remove these hazards by hand.
And it’s not just fire damage that needs undoing. The closing of these wilderness trails for the past year, allowed for brush and vegetation to become overgrown and take over.
“We’re clearing the trails 6 feet in width,” said Troop. “If there’s something hanging over the trail, we’re pulling it down. On some of the trails we’ve worked on there was so much brush you didn’t even know it was a trail.”
Troop and Hengel are among 15 corpsmembers tasked with the hands-on work. Wilderness rules and the risk of sparks requires the crew to only use hand tools. No motorized equipment is used.
Instead, teams of corpsmembers are using two-person crosscut saws to clear the way for future hikers, horses, or even vehicles.
“Trail building and maintenance, as well as wildland fire recovery, is what we do best,” said CCC Director Bruce Saito. “Our corpsmembers get hands-on experience that can lead them to careers in our forests and parks. They also get the added benefit of improving and positively impacting their local communities and state with projects like this.”
Corpsmembers from the CCC’s Ukiah Center recently concluded several weeks in the Lower Nye Valley area near Lake Pillsbury. The crew camped near the project site for eight straight days to better access the damaged trails. The scenery provided a great experience for corpsmembers as they hauled themselves and their hand tools throughout the wilderness.
“We’re hiking every day,” Hengel said. “The last trail we worked on we did about 24 miles of hiking over the week. It’s been really fun.”
The 18- to 25-year-olds, and U.S. military veterans through age 29, who enroll in the CCC embrace the motto of “Hard Work, Low Pay, Miserable Conditions, and More!”
Hengel and Troop both know that a year doing project work like this, especially in miserable conditions, can help lead to skills and careers in wildland firefighting, forestry and more.
To learn more, visit http://ccc.ca.gov or call 800-952-5627 to speak to a recruiter today.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The council will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 19, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
The meeting will be broadcast live on the city's YouTube channel or the Lake County PEGTV YouTube Channel. Community members also can participate via Zoom or can attend in person.
The agenda can be found here.
Comments and questions can be submitted in writing for City Council consideration by sending them to City Clerk Melissa Swanson at
To give the council adequate time to review your questions and comments, please submit your written comments before 4 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 19.
Each public comment emailed to the city clerk will be read aloud by the mayor or a member of staff for up to three minutes or will be displayed on a screen. Public comment emails and town hall public comment submissions that are received after the beginning of the meeting will not be included in the record.
The meeting will feature a presentation of August's adoptable dogs and a proclamation declaring Aug. 31 as International Overdose Awareness Day.
Under council business, City Manager Alan Flora will present to the council a proposal to purchase 11.28 acres of property located at 6885 and 7110 Old Highway 53 from the Burbank Housing and Development Corp. for a retail center development. The purchase price is $1 million.
The property, at the former Pearce Field airport, was home to the former Outrageous Waters water park, which closed in 2005.
“The city currently owns approximately 28 acres which comprised the former Pearce Field airport west of Highway 53. The City recently approved the sale of approximately 2.5 acres of the property for development of a Fairfield Inn and Suites and is working with various developers, business owners, retailers and investors with an interest in the overall project,” Flora wrote in his report to the council.
He said the city has been working with the firm Retail Strategies and others to attract retail interest in the retail development that has long been envisioned for the former airport site. “Interest has been quite strong and many of the pieces necessary for a successful development are starting to come together.”
Flora said it became apparent that having control over the bulk of the developable area would be helpful for a consistent and cohesive development plan. He said the 11-acre property, the location of the former water park, was part of the original airport site the city acquired from the county in 1994.
City staff contacted Burbank Housing Development, a Sonoma County-based affordable housing developer, about the property. Burbank, which was given the site and has owned it since 2017, has no plans to do any development in Lake County, Flora said.
“This purchase will give the City control of nearly 40 acres of development area along Highway 53 and will allow more strategic master planning of the entire site. The City is currently working with architecture firm Ankrom Moisan on the site master plan,” Flora said.
Upon closing of the purchase of the property, Flora said the city will begin demolition of the remaining infrastructure from the water park — such as the racetrack and batting cages — in order to prepare the site for development.
Flora said the city expects to begin construction of the road and utility infrastructure at the site in the spring of 2022.
In other business, staff will ask the council to consider a resolution approving an application for funding to the state for Community Development Block Grant Coronavirus Response funding not to exceed $1 million for improvements at the Hope Center, a transitional housing facility.
Flora’s report on the item said the city has partnered with Adventist Health, Hope Rising and other local partners to develop the center, but additional improvements are needed, including curb gutter and sidewalks, and an energy microgrid system, which are eligible for funding through the CDBG-CV Home Key program.
“The Hope Center renovation was funded in large part by the first round of Home Key funding in 2020 with the County as a sponsor. The County is not interested in sponsoring the current
application, so the City has stepped up. The City will be the applicant and will pass through the funds to the Hope Center, but will rely on Adventist Health and Hope Rising for reporting and administrative support of the grant process,” Flora said.
The council also will discuss resolutions to be taken up at the 2021 League of California Cities Annual Conference.
On the meeting's consent agenda — items that are not considered controversial and are usually adopted on a single vote — are warrants, minutes of the July 14 Lake County Vector Control District Board meeting, the second ready and adoption of Ordinance No. 256-2021, an amendment to Chapter 17 of the Clearlake Municipal Code repealing and replacing floodplain management regulations, minutes of the July 15 council meeting and authorization of an agreement for a remodel of the City Hall breakroom.
Following the meeting, the council will have a closed session for conference with legal counsel regarding a lawsuit against the county of Lake and Treasurer-Tax Collector Barbara Ringen.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The fire weather watch is in effect for Lake County from 11 p.m. Tuesday to 3 p.m. Wednesday.
The agency said a fire weather watch means that critical fire weather conditions are forecast to occur.
The forecast said there is the potential for northeast winds from 15 to 25 miles per hour, with gusts of up to 35 miles per hour possible along exposed ridges late Tuesday night through Wednesday morning. Northeast winds are expected to ease later Wednesday, but may increase again Wednesday night.
At the same time, humidity on Tuesday afternoon will be low, with poor recoveries overnight Tuesday, especially over higher slopes and ridgetops, and persisting into Thursday morning.
Those winds, combined with dry conditions, have prompted Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to plan a potential public safety power shutoff that is expected to begin Tuesday night and continue until about noon on Wednesday.
The forecast calls for daytime temperatures this week to be in the low to high 90s, dropping into the 80s over the weekend. Nighttime conditions will be warm, staying in the low 60s for much of the week before dropping into the high 50s.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
The order extends provisions implemented to expand California’s health care workforce during the pandemic, including allowing health care workers from out of state to provide services in California and enabling certain medical personnel and emergency medical technicians to continue supporting the state’s COVID-19 response.
The order also gives health care facilities the flexibility to plan and adapt their space to accommodate patients.
The order also provides more flexibility for retired teachers and school staff to return to fill short-term staffing shortages. Retired staff can assist schools impacted by the rising case rates caused by the Delta variant to stay safely and fully open.
A copy of the governor’s executive order is published below.
In addition, the California Department of Public Health on Monday issued a new public health order requiring hospitals statewide to accept transfer patients from facilities with limited ICU capacity, when clinically appropriate.
That is an important development for communities like Lake County, which transports a large number of patients to out-of-county facilities for high-level care.
State officials emphasized that vaccination against COVID-19 is the most effective means of preventing infection, transmission and outbreaks.
California has put more shots in arms than any other state — administering over 46 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine with over 78% of those eligible having received at least one dose — and implemented a first-in-the-nation requirement that workers in health care settings be fully vaccinated, as well as stricter requirements for visitors at health care facilities.
The governor has also required all school staff at both public and private schools and all state workers to either show proof of full vaccination or be tested at least once per week.
The state is encouraging local governments and other employers to adopt a similar protocol and continues its multipronged strategy to reach communities with low vaccination rates.
081621 Newsom public health orders for hospitals by LakeCoNews on Scribd