LAKEPORT
Soper Reese Theatre groundbreaking ceremony April 26
The next chapter in the renovation story of the Soper Reese Theatre will begin on Sat., April 26, with a program and ceremonial groundbreaking. The event is open to the public starting at 1 p.m. at the theatre, 275 S. Main St., Lakeport.
Members of the SRT management team invite donors, patrons and supporters to join them for a history of the former movie theatre built in 1947 by the Reese family and purchased in 1997 by the Lake County Arts Council to become a venue for the performing arts and other community uses. The building has been used for concerts, classic movies, plays, dances, award ceremonies, town halls, conferences and fundraising events all while undergoing continuous upgrades, repairs and maintenance.
The theatre is the home of the Lake County Symphony Association and used for performances by the Lake County Theatre Company.
The afternoon’s program will include depictions of the next phases and costs of development to provide enhanced accessibility for all users. After a brief presentation and orientation inside the theatre, the gathering will move outdoors to the Martin Street courtyard where participants will don hard hats and wield shovels to break ground to start the renovation.
The immediate construction work will include foundations for new restrooms and the loading dock at the rear of the building, creating compliance for safe entry and exit. Fundraising for the next phases of renovation is a continuing effort by volunteers.
The management team and the Lake County Arts Council appreciate the supporters from Lake County and beyond who have championed and funded the transformation of the former movie theatre into a modern-day, multi-use community venue. More information for tax-deductible contributions may be found at https://soperreesetheatre.com/donate/.
Contact Nina Marino (ninamarino@att.net) for more information about the groundbreaking event.
—Submitted
LAKE COUNTY
Prescribed fire operations in the Black Forest along Soda Bay Road in Kelseyville. Expect to see Fire Department presence and smoke.
The Bureau of Land Management Ukiah Field Office, in cooperation with CAL FIRE Lake Napa Unit, the Tribal EcoResotration Alliance (TERA), Mendocino National Forest and Lake County District 5, plans to conduct prescribed fire operations in the Black Forest along Soda Bay Road, on the northeast side of Mount Konocti in Kelseyville, Lake County. Pile burn operations are under way and may continue periodically through May 30. Burning will take place only when weather and fuel moisture allow for safe and successful burning.
The prescribed fire is part of a shaded fuel break initiated in 2008 to protect communities. The project will remove hazardous fuels that could feed fires within this wildland-urban interface, where public lands meet urban development. Approximately 36 acres of undergrowth and small trees have been hand-thinned by firefighters and piled over the last three years. The operation aims to burn approximately 500 piles covering the entire shaded fuel break.
The Black Forest, a pristine Douglas fir forest, encompasses approximately 242 acres of BLM-managed public lands and supports many plants and species as well as valuable cultural resources and an important watershed
The BLM is committed to keeping public landscapes healthy and productive. More information is available from the BLM Ukiah Field Office at 707-468-4000.
—Submitted
CALIFORNIA
Rising wages test targeted grazing sector
Sheep and goats, deployed to graze flammable vegetation in targeted areas, have become a key part of California’s efforts to reduce wildfire fuels and prevent future infernos like those that have devastated parts of the state during the past decade.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has in recent years awarded millions of dollars in wildfire prevention grants for projects involving targeted grazing. By acreage, the practice ranks third in the state’s wildfire resilience activities, trailing only mechanical fuels reduction and prescribed fire, and outpacing tree planting and timber harvest, according to the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force.
But California’s targeted grazing sector, which depends on a viable sheep and goat ranching industry, may be in jeopardy due to a steep rise in the minimum wage ranchers must pay the herders who look after their animals around the clock.
Since 2019, that wage has more than doubled. Meanwhile, from 2022 to 2024, California’s sheep inventory declined 13%, compared to a national decline of 3%, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“It’s just become untenable,” Andrée Soares, president of Star Creek Land Stewards in Merced County, said of the skyrocketing herder wages.
The rising wages are the result of a combination of state labor laws and regulations applied recently to herders.
Historically, herders were exempted from overtime laws and paid a minimum monthly wage. But in 2016, California adopted Assembly Bill 1066, entitling farmworkers to overtime pay when they work more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week. In 2019, when AB 1066 began to be phased in, state regulators determined the law—which applied to anyone employed in an agricultural profession—overrode herders’ longstanding overtime exemption.
Ranchers can still opt to pay a monthly wage set by the California Department of Industrial Relations. The formula used to compute that rate, however, is now tied to both the state’s minimum wage, which has increased yearly since 2017, and to the overtime law that was phased in from 2019 to this year.
— Caleb Hampton, Ag. Alert
