CLEARLAKE
Habitat for Humanity is Accepting Home Repair Applications
Leaky sinks? Holes in the floor? Unsafe deck or stairs? Outlets and lights that do not work?
Call Habitat for Humanity and apply for the Brush of Kindness Critical Repair Program.
If you are a qualifying low-income homeowner, owning both the home and the property on which the house sits, you may be eligible for critical health and safety repairs to your home or for handicap and accessibility modifications and upgrades. Whether your home requires electrical work, plumbing repairs, a wheelchair ramp or lift, deck repairs and more, Habitat for Humanity Lake County may be able to assist you. Applications are being accepted now. You can pick up an application at the office on 15312 Lakeshore Dr. Clearlake, behind Foods Etc., call 707-994-1100 x 108 to have one mailed to you, or download one from the website at http://lakehabitat.org/brush-of-kindness-home-repair-program/
Applications are being accepted now! Apply today.
—Submitted
LAKE COUNTY
Plans for Big Valley Wetlands Complex
Plans are being made and projects are underway for two of the wetland preserves that make up the Lake County Land Trust’s Big Valley Wetlands complex of almost 300 acres in Lakeport. Two viewing-educational platforms are underway at the Wright Wetland Preserve. One platform has been installed and the materials to construct the other one have been ordered. The benches have arrived and installation will be done after water recedes.
Educational signs are being created by knowledgeable local volunteers.
The Land Trust looks forward to welcoming visitors to the Wright Wetland Preserve in the near future.
Right next door at the recently purchased Keithly Wetland Preserve, the prospect of restoring Manning Creek in order to facilitate Hitch migration is being studied. The Land Trust has engaged FlowWest, a company that will help in the planning, permitting and execution of the Manning Creek Restoration project. There was a site visit with FlowWest co-founder and hydrologist, Anthony Falzone, in early January with the The Manning Creek Restoration Working Group. The Working Group consists of Lake County Land Trust board members, volunteer Rick Macedo (a retired fish biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife), County Water Resources official Angela DePalma-Dow, and Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians representatives Jeanine Pfeiffer and Ron Montez.
The restoration plan will be to optimize fish passage, according to Merry Jo Velasquez, Lake County Land Trust board member and chairperson of the Working Group. The Land Trust is also working with the Big Valley Band on a co-management plan for the preserves. It is through the efforts of many in our community that are making conservation of this important natural resource possible.
—Submitted
SACRAMENTO
California secures more than $20 million in federal funds to support salmon fisheries
Following the Newsom Administration’s request for a Federal Fishery Disaster Declaration amid dramatic declines in key salmon stocks in 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced $20.6 million to support impacted fishing communities in California, including commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen, subsistence users and charter businesses.
Activities that can be considered for the funding include fishery-related infrastructure projects, habitat restoration, job retraining and more. Some fishery-related businesses affected by the fishery disaster may also be eligible for assistance from the Small Business Administration.
To protect salmon populations amidst hotter and drier weather exacerbated by climate change, Governor Newsom last week announced the state’s multi-pronged strategy in partnership with tribal nations, federal agencies and others.
The Newsom Administration and Legislature have advanced $796.4 million in investments over the last three years to help stabilize and recover salmon populations. Recent actions include:
Largest Dam Removal in History: Restoring the Klamath River, which was once a prodigious producer of salmon, by removing four obsolete hydroelectric dams. One dam was taken down last September and the rest are slated for removal by November 2024, restoring nearly 400 miles of once-blocked river to salmon, steelhead, lamprey and other native fish species.
Bringing Fish Back to Historical Habitat: Moving endangered adult winter-run and threatened spring-run Chinook salmon to the upper reaches of Sacramento River tributaries at the height of the 2020-2022 drought, where colder water temperatures better support spawning and help salmon eggs survive. This effort returned adult winter-run to the North Fork of Battle Creek for the first time in more than 110 years.
Doing the Science: Boosting the resilience of hatchery-raised salmon with injections of thiamine (Vitamin B1) to counter a deficiency that researchers believe has depressed survival of their offspring in recent years. The deficiency has been tied to shifting ocean conditions and salmon feeding primarily on anchovies compared to a more diverse diet of forage fish, krill and other species.
Fixing the Landscape: Restoring approximately 3,000 acres of tidal wetland where the Sacramento River drains to San Francisco Bay, creating habitat beneficial to native fish and wildlife, including salmon.
Flows for Fish: In the Scott and Shasta rivers in the Klamath Basin and Mill Creek in the Sacramento Valley, beginning efforts to establish minimum instream flows while working with local partners and tribes on locally driven solutions.
Expanding Partnerships with Tribes: From signing a co-management agreement with the Winnemem Wintu Tribe to bring salmon back to the McCloud River for the first time since construction of the Shasta Dam, to investing in tribally led restoration efforts like the Oregon Gulch, Farmers’ Ditch, and post-McKinney Fire projects with the Yurok and Karuk Tribes, to beaver reintroductions and more.
Modernizing and Removing Infrastructure: Reaching agreement with local and federal partners on a framework to reopen miles of Yuba River habitat to multiple native fish species. The agreement sets the stage for the return of imperiled spring-run Chinook salmon to their native habitat in the North Yuba River for the first time in more than 100 years. And, taking the next big step with a coalition of counties, tribes, and fish conservation groups to create California’s longest free-flowing river – the Eel River – through the decommissioning of outdated infrastructure.
—Submitted
