LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A Clearlake woman died Friday evening after she was hit by a vehicle while walking along Highway 29 near Middletown.
The California Highway Patrol’s Clear Lake Area office did not release the name of the woman, which also was not available from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office on Monday.
The CHP’s report said the woman was walking southbound on Highway 29, south of Central Park Road, at approximately 6:18 p.m. Friday when the crash occurred.
Fatmah Freimund, 31, of Hidden Valley Lake was driving her 2020 Tesla Model S northbound on Highway 29, approaching the pedestrian's location, the CHP said. Conditions were wet and rainy.
For reasons still under investigation, the CHP said the female pedestrian was struck by the Tesla within the northbound lane of Highway 29.
The female pedestrian sustained major injuries as a result and was transported by South Lake County Fire Department to Adventist Health Clear Lake, according to the report.
The CHP said that, despite the efforts of medical personnel, the pedestrian was pronounced deceased due to her injuries sustained from the collision.
Freimund, who was wearing her seat belt, sustained minor injuries, and a 6-year-old male riding with her was not harmed, the CHP said.
The CHP is conducting an investigation into the incident.
Initial information indicated alcohol may be a factor for the pedestrian, the report said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors will discuss Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s initial plan to decommission the Potter Valley Project this week.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting ID is 820 5805 0224, pass code 461570. The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at +16694449171,,82058050224#,,,,*461570#.
In an item timed for 9:15 a.m., the board will consider submitting public comments in response to PG&E’s initial draft surrender application and conceptual decommissioning plan for the Potter Valley Project, which includes the Scott Dam.
A memo from supervisors Eddie Crandell and Bruno Sabatier explained that PG&E released the draft plan on Nov. 17. “This draft plan offers limited detail in many areas that are crucial to Lake County's interests.”
They are presenting a draft letter documenting their concerns. The memo noted that the letter “expresses concern decommissioning without fully accounting for Lake Pillsbury area property owners' concerns, and keeping both area residents and the County of Lake whole, sets a dangerous precedent that should be concerning to all California residents,” and that “PG&E has yet to demonstrate decommissioning (and disposal of dam materials and management of sediment) can be responsibly managed.”
In other business, at 9:45 a.m., the board will consider adopting the Lake County Hazard Mitigation Plan.
In an untimed item, the board will consider appointments to the Lakeport Fire Protection District Board of Directors.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Approve letter of support for the 2023-2024 COCO AIM grant application entitled “Lake County Fire Safe Council Capacity Building and CMAT Implementation” project (CBCI) submitted by the Lake County Resource Conservation District (LCRCD) and authorize the chair to sign.
5.2: approve public defender contract amendment No. 11 between the county of Lake and Lake Indigent Defense LLP for the purpose of removing Anakalia K. Sullivan as partner, and authorize chair to sign.
5.3: Adopt resolution approving Agreement No. 23-0413-004-SF with the California Department of Food and Agriculture for compliance with the Sudden Oak Death Quarantine program for the period July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, in the Amount of $4,341.69.
5.4: Approve resolution of the Board of Education of the Kelseyville Unified School District ordering an election to authorize the issuance of general obligation bonds, establishing specifications of the election order, and requesting consolidation with other elections occurring on March 5, 2024.
5.5: a) Approve the FY 2023 Emergency Management Performance Grant application in the amount of $138,341; and b) authorize Sheriff Rob Howe to sign the grant subaward face sheet, the authorized agent document and the subrecipient grants management assessment form; and c) authorize County Administrative Officer Susan Parker to act as the authorized agent on behalf of the county to sign the standard assurances and initial each page, the lobbying certification and the FFATA financial disclosure document and d) authorize the chairperson of the Board of Supervisors to sign the certification of the governing body resolution.
5.6: a) Adopt resolution approving the Lake County Sheriff's Office to apply for state of California, Department of Parks and Recreation Off-Highway Vehicle Grant funds and authorize the Lake County sheriff/coroner or his designee to sign the project agreement; and b) consideration of a delegation of authority to Lake County Sheriff-Coroner Rob Howe or his designee to execute the attached project agreement, No. G23-03-64-L01 and to act as the county’s agent in the negotiation, execution, and submittal of all related documents, including amendments to the project agreement and requests for payments.
5.7: a) Waive formal bidding process pursuant to Lake County Code Section 2-38.4 Cooperative Purchase Agreement by the Huston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) and, b) approve the purchase of a Hindsight H-4 Multi-Media Recorder from Exacom and c) authorize the sheriff to sign a purchase order not to exceed $50,000.
5.8: a) Approve the FY 2023 EOC Grant Program application in the amount of $1,318,133; and b) authorize Sheriff Rob Howe to sign the grant subaward face sheet, and the subrecipient grants management assessment form; and c) Authorize County Administrative Officer Susan Parker to act as the authorized agent on behalf of the county to sign the standard assurances and initial each page, the lobbying certification and the FFATA financial disclosure document; and d) authorize the chairperson of the Board of Supervisors to sign the certification of the governing body resolution.
5.9: a) Approve the FY 2023 Homeland Security application in the amount of $126,762; and b) authorize Sheriff Rob Howe to sign the grant subaward face sheet, the authorized agent document and the subrecipient grants management assessment form; and c) authorize County Administrative Officer Susan Parker to act as the authorized agent on behalf of the county to sign the standard assurances and initial each page, the lobbying certification and the FFATA financial disclosure document and d) authorize the chairperson of the Board of Supervisors to sign the certification of the governing body resolution.
5.10: Approve delegation of investment authority to treasurer-tax collector.
TIMED ITEMS
6.2, 9:07 a.m.: Pet of the Week.
6.3, 9:08 a.m.: Consideration of county investment policy.
6.4, 9:15 a.m.: Consideration of submittal of public comments in response to PG&E’s initial draft surrender application and conceptual decommissioning plan.
6.5, 9:45 a.m.: Consideration of resolution adopting the Lake County Hazard Mitigation plan for the county of Lake.
6.6, 10 a.m.: Public hearing, continued from Nov. 28, consideration of proposed negative declaration (IS 23-03), General plan amendment (GPAP 23-01), and rezone (RZ 23-01) for Reynolds System Inc., to change the general plan designation of a portion of the parcel from rural lands to industrial, and rezone a portion of the parcel from rural lands to heavy industrial; Location: 18649 CA State Highway 175, Middletown (APN: 013-046-04).
6.7, 10:30 a.m.: Consideration of presentation for overview of grant award from the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research under the Adaptation Planning Grant Program.
6.8, 10:45 a.m.: Presentation of Revised State Water Resources Control Board’s Information Order Regulations for the Clear Lake Watershed.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: Consideration of appointments to Lakeport Fire Protection District Board of Directors.
7.3: Consideration of the following advisory board appointment: Mental Health Advisory Board.
CLOSED SESSION
8.1, 3 p.m.: Public employee appointment pursuant to Gov. Code Section 54957(b) (1): Interviews for Health Services director; appointment of Health Services director.
8.2: Public employee evaluation: Director of Child Support Services.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County Animal Care and Control has many new dogs waiting for homes as the holiday season arrives.
Dogs available for adoption this week include mixes of Akita, Chihuahua, German shepherd, hound, Labrador retriever, pit bull and shepherd.
Dogs that are adopted from Lake County Animal Care and Control are either neutered or spayed, microchipped and, if old enough, given a rabies shot and county license before being released to their new owner. License fees do not apply to residents of the cities of Lakeport or Clearlake.
Those dogs and the others shown on this page at the Lake County Animal Care and Control shelter have been cleared for adoption.
Call Lake County Animal Care and Control at 707-263-0278 or visit the shelter online for information on visiting or adopting.
The shelter is located at 4949 Helbush in Lakeport.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — A new park project in Cobb is being recommended by California State Parks for funding through the National Park Service.
On Monday, the California State Parks announced recommendations to the National Park Service, or NPS, for $35.6 million in Land and Water Conservation Fund, or LWCF, grants for 16 local park projects.
Funding would provide public agencies with the ability to acquire land and/or develop recreational amenities such as playgrounds, sports fields and courts, exercise stations, dog and skate parks.
The recommendations include the county of Lake’s proposed Cobb Community Park acquisition. If approved, the county would be awarded $207,500 to acquire approximately 12.88 acres to create the new Cobb park.
Other projects on the list include cities such as Santa Ana in Orange County that would receive funding to build a new park and construct a shaded playground, exercise area with shade, walking path, a skatepark and half basketball court, picnic area, gathering area, and lighting and landscaping throughout the park.
Funding for Chico Area Recreation and Park District in Butte County would help them build a new aquatic park that includes a new competition pool, wading pool with water slides and play equipment, permanent cabanas, shade sails and a parking lot.
State Parks evaluated more than $154 million in LWCF funding requests, for the available $35.6 million in this application cycle.
Monday’s recommended applicants will proceed with post-selection federal requirements prior to the projects being forwarded to NPS for review and federal funding approval.
Following NPS approval, grantees will participate in a mandatory grant administration workshop, receive grant contracts from State Parks, and begin work to complete their projects.
Since 1965, this grant program has provided funding to cities, counties, eligible districts and state agencies to create outdoor recreational resources.
Four of every 10 Californians have no access to open space within walking distance of their home, and six of every 10 Californians live in park-poor neighborhoods.
Programs such as the LWCF help advance the “Outdoor Access for All” initiative championed by Governor Gavin Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and the Natural Resources Agency’s “Outdoors for All” initiative.
This effort expands outdoor access to all Californians through focused investments in open space infrastructure, outdoor programming, and improvements to permit applications, with a priority to expanding access in underserved communities.
State Parks develops grant programs to provide funding for local, state and nonprofit organization projects.
Since 1964, more than 8,000 local parks throughout California have been created or improved from grant funding. Since 2000, the department has administered approximately $3 billion in grant funding throughout California. For more information, please visit http://parks.ca.gov/grants.
The full list of recommended projects (listed by the county and city where projects are located) are listed below.
Alameda County
Hayward: Hayward Area Recreation and Park District, D & Clay Streets Neighborhood Park: $1,306,580 to create a new park that will include an approximate 800-foot segment of the paved Foothill Trail, natural play area, open lawn area for sports and games, picnic areas, a bridge, walking paths, resting areas, benches and preservation of Sulphur Creek.
Butte County
Chico: Chico Area Recreation Park District, Chico Aquatic Park: $6 million to create a new competition pool, wading pool with water slides and play equipment, pool decks, cabanas, shade sails, parking, fencing, landscaping and lighting throughout the park. Humboldt County
Eureka: City of Eureka, Grace Marton Memorial Park: $619,989 to create a new playground, game area, picnic areas, drinking fountains, signage, landscaping, extend and renovate the trail and amphitheater.
Kern County
Shafter: Shafter Recreation and Park District, Shafter Community Park: $904,135 to create a new dog park, community garden, fitness course, tennis/pickleball courts, outdoor gym, picnic area, parking lot, restroom, landscaping and lighting throughout the park.
Lake County
Cobb: County of Lake, Cobb Community Park acquisition: $207,500 to acquire approximately 12.88 acres to create the new Cobb Community Park in the town of Cobb.
Los Angeles County
Santa Clarita: City of Santa Clarita, Via Princessa Park: $6 million to create a new park including four full-sized multipurpose fields, pickleball courts, shaded plaza/gathering area with seating, shaded nature-themed playground, natural play area with wooden bridges, shaded picnic shelters, monument signs, walking pathways, signage, bike racks, and lighting and landscaping throughout the park.
Pico Rivera: City of Pico Rivera, Smith Park Aquatic Center: $6 million to construct a new pool deck, competitive pool lanes, diving board, racing platforms, fixed interactive water features, bleachers with shade structures, turf seating, scoreboard and clock, perimeter fencing, storage and chemical room, and lighting.
Los Angeles: Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, Children’s Park Development Project: $1,450,000 to create a new park with play areas with seating, a junior basketball court, stepped seating feature, open space lawn area, tyke track, walkways, lighting and landscaping throughout the park.
Lancaster: City of Lancaster, Avenue J Neighborhood Park: $2,460,097 to create a new drought-tolerant demonstration garden, shaded playground, pedestrian/bike trail with lighting and benches, shaded plaza/picnic area, fitness course with exercise stations, shaded open space area, monument signs, perimeter fencing and landscaping. Glendora: City of Glendora, South Hills Bike Park Project: $1 million to create a new pump track with jump lines, multiuse trails, downhill bike-only trails, shaded picnic area, bike fix-it stand, trailhead kiosk, signage, restroom and parking lot. Renovate existing access road Orange County
Santa Ana: City of Santa Ana, 10th and Flower Street New Neighborhood Park: $2,250,000 to create a new park including a playground with shade, exercise area with shade, walking path, skatepark with lighting, half basketball court with lighting, picnic area, gathering area, fencing with landscaping and lighting throughout the park. Riverside County
Wildomar: City of Wildomar, 27-Acre Park Phase I: $2,837,500 to create a new 1.1-mile hiking trail, bike park, bike plaza, playground, synthetic turf field, shade structure, windmill, fencing, three decomposed granite parking lots with landscaping throughout the park. Sacramento County
Galt: City of Galt, Walker Park Phase II: $2,650,000 to expand the park by creating three new lighted baseball/softball fields, restrooms, storage building, bleachers, pedestrian connection path, landscaping and parking. San Bernardino County
Colton: City of Colton, Chavez Park Improvement Project: $1,015,200 to create a shade structure over the playground, new ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) walkways/trails and sidewalk for connectivity, landscaping, trees, lighting throughout the park, and six hydration stations. Renovate two tennis courts into a futsal court, playground, and an outdoor fitness circuit with lighting.
San Luis Obispo County
Cambria: Cambria Community Services District, Cambria Skatepark: $600,000 to create a new skatepark facility with a seating section with shade structure, landscaping, parking lot and restroom stall.
Santa Clara County
Milpitas: City of Milpitas, Delano Manongs Dog Park: $301,516 to create a new dog park for large dogs by installing asphalt and decomposed granite, concrete paving, fencing, signage, site furnishings, landscaping and irrigation throughout the park.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The East Region Town Hall, or ERTH, will meet on Wednesday, Dec. 6.
The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. at the Moose Lodge, located at 15900 Moose Lodge Lane in Clearlake Oaks.
It will be available via Zoom. The meeting ID is 986 3245 2684, pass code is 666827.
On Wednesday, ERTH will host as its guest speaker newly appointed Lake County Chief Public Defender Raymond Buenaventura.
Standing agenda items include updates on John T. Klaus Park and commercial cannabis, Northshore Fire Protection District, Spring Valley, the Shoreline Area Plan and the supervisor’s report.
ERTH’s next meeting will take place on Jan. 3.
ERTH’s members are Denise Loustalot, Jim Burton, Tony Morris and Pamela Kicenski.
For more information visit the group’s Facebook page.
Most birds that flit through dense, leafy forests have a strategy for maneuvering through tight windows in the vegetation — they bend their wings at the wrist or elbow and barrel through.
But hummingbirds can't bend their wing bones during flight, so how do they transit the gaps between leaves and tangled branches?
A study published today in the Journal of Experimental Biology shows that hummingbirds have evolved their own unique strategies — two of them, in fact. These strategies have not been reported before, likely because hummers maneuver too quickly for the human eye to see.
For slit-like gaps too narrow to accommodate their wingspan, they scooch sideways through the slit, flapping their wings continually so as not to lose height.
For smaller holes — or if the birds are already familiar with what awaits them on the other side — they tuck their wings and coast through, resuming flapping once clear.
"For us, going into the experiments, the tuck and glide would have been the default. How else could they get through?" said Robert Dudley, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and senior author of the paper. "This concept of sideways motion with a total mix-up of the wing kinematics is quite amazing — it's a novel and unexpected method of aperture transit. They're changing the amplitude of the wing beats so that they're not dropping vertically when they do the sideways scooch."
Using the slower sideways scooch technique may allow birds to better assess upcoming obstacles and voids, thereby reducing the likelihood of collisions.
"Learning more about how animals negotiate obstacles and other 'building-blocks' of the environment, such as wind gusts or turbulent regions, can improve our overall understanding of animal locomotion in complex environments," noted first author Marc Badger, who obtained his Ph..D from UC Berkeley in 2016. "We still don't know very much about how flight through clutter might be limited by geometric, aerodynamic, sensory, metabolic or structural processes. Even behavioral limitations could arise from longer-term effects, such as wear and tear on the body, as hinted at by the shift in aperture negotiation technique we observed in our study."
Understanding the strategies that birds use to maneuver through a cluttered environment may eventually help engineers design drones that better navigate complex environments, he noted.
"Current remote control quadrotors can outperform most birds in open space across most metrics of performance. So is there any reason to continue learning from nature?" said Badger. "Yes. I think it's in how animals interact with complex environments. If we put a bird's brain inside a quadrotor, would the cyborg bird or a normal bird be better at flying through a dense forest in the wind? There may be many sensory and physical advantages to flapping wings in turbulent or cluttered environments."
Obstacle course
To discover how hummingbirds — in this case, four local Anna’s hummingbirds (Calypte anna) — slip through tiny openings, despite being unable to fold their wings, Badger and Dudley teamed up with UC Berkeley students Kathryn McClain, Ashley Smiley and Jessica Ye.
"We set up a two-sided flight arena and wondered how to train birds to fly through a 16-square- centimeter gap in the partition separating the two sides," Badger said, noting that the hummingbirds have a wingspan of about 12 centimeters (4 3/4 inches). "Then, Kathryn had the amazing idea to use alternating rewards."
That is, the team placed flower-shaped feeders containing a sip of sugar solution on both sides of the partition, but only remotely refilled the feeders after the bird had visited the opposite feeder. This encouraged the birds to continually flit between the two feeders through the aperture.
The researchers then varied the shape of the aperture, from oval to circular, ranging in height, width and diameter, from 12 cm to 6 cm, and filmed the birds’ maneuvers with high-speed cameras. Badger wrote a computer program to track the position of each bird’s bill and wing tips as it approached and passed through the aperture.
They discovered that as the birds approached the aperture, they often hovered briefly to assess it before traveling through sideways, reaching forward with one wing while sweeping the second wing back, fluttering their wings to support their weight as they passed through the aperture. They then swiveled their wings forward to continue on their way.
"The thing is, they have to still maintain weight support, which is derived from both wings, and then control the horizontal thrust, which is pushing it forward. And they're doing this with the right and left wing doing very peculiar things," Dudley said. "Once again, this is just one more example of how, when pushed in some experimental situation, we can elicit control features that we don't see in just a standard hovering hummingbird."
Alternatively, the birds swept their wings back and pinned them to their bodies, shooting through — beak first, like a bullet — before sweeping the wings forward and resuming flapping once safely through.
"They seem to do the faster method, the ballistic buzz-through, when they get more acquainted with the system," Dudley said.
Only when approaching the smallest apertures, which were half a wingspan wide, would the birds automatically resort to the tuck and glide, even though they were unfamiliar with the setup.
The team pointed out that only about 8% of the birds clipped their wings as they passed through the partition, although one experienced a major collision. Even then, the bird recovered quickly before successfully reattempting the maneuver and going on its way.
"The ability to pick among several obstacle negotiation strategies can allow animals to reliably squeeze through tight gaps and recover from mistakes," Badger noted.
Dudley hopes to conduct further experiments, perhaps with a sequence of different apertures, to determine how birds navigate multiple obstacles.
The work was funded primarily by a CiBER-IGERT grant from the National Science Foundation (DGE-0903711).
Robert Sanders writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Voters have the chance to submit arguments for or against a proposed bond measure for the Kelseyville Unified School District.
The Lake County Registrar of Voters Office said the deadline to submit arguments for and against Kelseyville Unified School District’s Bond Measure “Q” is Tuesday, Dec. 12, at 5 p.m.
If passed by a 55% majority vote, the bond would result in the sale of up to $35.5 million in bonds to pay for facility upgrades and improvements.
Interested registered voters of the Kelseyville Unified School District are advised to contact the Registrar of Voters Office at 707-263-2372 before the deadline for information on the requirements for filing an argument.
The Registrar of Voters office is open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., excluding county holidays.
The declaration is thin on concrete actions to adapt to climate change and reduce emissions, but it draws attention to a crucial issue.
The global food supply is increasingly facing disruptions from extreme heat and storms. It is also a major contributor to climate change, responsible for one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. This tension is why agriculture innovation is increasingly being elevated in international climate discussions.
At present, agriculture provides enough food for the world’s 8 billion people, although many do not have adequate access. But to feed a global population of 10 billion in 2050, croplands would need to expand by 660,000 to 1.2 million square miles (171 million to 301 million hectare) relative to 2010. That would lead to more deforestation, which contributes to climate change. Further, some practices widely relied on to produce sufficient food, such as using synthetic fertilizers, also contribute to climate change.
Simply eliminating deforestation and these practices without alternative solutions would decrease the world’s food supply and farmers’ incomes. Fortunately, innovations are emerging that can help.
I’m an agriculture economist and executive director for the commission. Three innovations in particular stand out for their ability to scale up quickly and pay off economically.
Accurate, accessible weather forecasts
With extreme weather leaving crops increasingly vulnerable and farmers struggling to adapt, accurate weather forecasts are crucial. Farmers need to know what to expect, both in the days ahead and farther out, to make strategic decisions about planting, irrigating, fertilizing and harvesting.
Yet access to accurate, detailed forecasts is rare for farmers in many low- and middle-income countries.
Our assessment shows that investing in technology to collect data and make forecasts widely available – such as by radio, text message or WhatsApp – can pay off many times over for economies.
For example, accurate state-level forecasts of seasonal monsoon rainfall totals would help Indian farmers optimize sowing and planting times, providing an estimated US$3 billion in benefits over five years – at a cost of around $5 million.
If farmers in Benin received accurate forecasts by text message, we estimate that they could save each farmer $110 to $356 per year, a large amount in that country.
More sharing of information among neighboring countries, using platforms like the World Meteorological Organization’s Climate Services Information System, could also improve forecasts.
Soybean farmers in Brazil have been using a rhizobia-based microbial fertilizer for decades to improve their yields and cut synthetic fertilizer costs. But this technique is not as widely known elsewhere. Scaling it up will require funding to expand testing to more countries, but it has great potential payoff for farmers, soil health and the climate.
Reducing methane from livestock
A third innovation priority is livestock, the source of roughly two-thirds of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions. With demand for beef projected to rise 80% by 2050 as low- and middle-income countries grow wealthier, reducing those emissions is essential.
Several innovative methods for reducing livestock methane emissions target enteric fermentation, which leads to methane belches.
Adding algae, seaweed, lipids, tannins or certain synthetic compounds to cattle feed can change the chemical reactions that generate methane during digestion. Studies have found some techniques have the potential to reduce methane emissions by a quarter to nearly 100 percent. When cattle produce less methane, they also waste less energy, which can go into growth and milk production, providing a boost for farmers.
The method is still expensive, but further development and private investment could help scale it up and lower the cost.
Helping farmers and communities implement better rainwater harvesting.
Lowering the cost of digital agriculture that can help farmers use irrigation, fertilizer and pesticides most efficiently.
Encouraging production of alternative proteins to reduce demand for livestock.
Providing insurance and other social protections to help farmers recover from extreme weather events.
While promising agricultural innovations exist, commercial incentives to develop and scale them up have fallen short, leading to underinvestment, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
However, innovation funding has a track record of generating very high social rates of return. This creates an opportunity for public and philanthropic investment in developing and deploying innovations at a scale to reach hundreds of millions of people. Of course, to be effective, any potential innovation must be consistent with – and driven by – national strategies and planned in conjunction with the government, the private sector and civil society.
Two decades ago, global leaders, frustrated that lifesaving vaccines were not reaching hundreds of millions of people who needed them, created Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance. They invested billions of dollars to scale up these innovations, helped to immunize over 1 billion children and halved child mortality in 78 lower-income countries.
This year, officials at COP28 are aiming for a similar global response to climate change, food security and agriculture.
Building a space station on the Moon might seem like something out of a science fiction movie, but each new lunar mission is bringing that idea closer to reality. Scientists are homing in on potential lunar ice reservoirs in permanently shadowed regions, or PSRs. These are key to setting up any sort of sustainable lunar infrastructure.
In late August 2023, India’s Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down on the lunar surface in the south polar region, which scientists suspect may harbor ice. This landing marked a significant milestone not only for India but for the scientific community at large.
For planetary scientists like me, measurements from instruments onboard Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander and its small, six-wheeled rover Pragyan provide a tantalizing up-close glimpse of the parts of the Moon most likely to contain ice. Earlier observations have shown ice is present in some permanently shadowed regions, but estimates vary widely regarding the amount, form and distribution of these ice deposits.
Each of these events leaves behind a distinctive chemical fingerprint, so if we can see those fingerprints, we might be able to trace them to the source of water. For example, sulfur is expected in higher amounts in lunar ice deposits if volcanic activity rather than comets created the ice.
Like water, sulfur is a “volatile” element on the Moon, because on the lunar surface it’s not very stable. It’s easily vaporized and lost to space. Given its temperamental nature, sulfur is expected to accumulate only in the colder parts of the Moon.
While the Vikram lander didn’t land in a permanently shadowed region, it measured the temperature at a high southern latitude of 69.37°S and was able to identify sulfur in soil grains on the lunar surface. The sulfur measurement is intriguing because sulfur may point toward the source of the Moon’s water.
So, scientists can use temperature as a way of finding where volatiles like these may end up. Temperature measurements from Chandrayaan-3 could allow scientists to test models of volatile stability and figure out how recently the sulfur may have accumulated at the landing site.
Tools for discovery
Vikram and Pragyan are the newest in a series of spacecraft that have helped scientists study water on the Moon. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter launched in 2009 and has spent the past several years observing the Moon from orbit. I’m a co-investigator on LRO, and I use its data to study the distribution, form and abundance of water on the lunar poles.
Both India’s Chandrayaan-1 orbiter and LRO have allowed my colleagues and me to use ultraviolet and near-infrared observations to identify ice in the permanently shadowed regions by measuring the chemical fingerprints of water. We’ve definitively detected water ice in some of these regions inside the coldest shadows at the lunar poles, but we’re still not sure why the ice isn’t more widespread.
On Mercury, by contrast, the permanently shadowed regions are practically overflowing with ice. For several years, scientists have recognized the need to get down on the surface and make more detailed measurements of lunar volatiles. With its sulfur detections, the Vikram lander has now taken the first tentative steps as part of a larger exploration program.
Future lunar missions
NASA has its sights set on the lunar south pole. Leading up to the Artemis III mission to deploy astronauts to investigate ice on the surface, the Commercial Lunar Payloads Services program will send multiple landers and rovers to search for ice starting later in 2023.
While uncertainty surrounds the timeline of Artemis launches, the first crewed mission, Artemis II, is on track for a late 2024 or early 2025 launch, with a looping trajectory passing behind the Moon’s far side and back to Earth.
The Lunar Compact Infrared Imaging System, of which I’m the principal investigator, is an infrared camera that will take temperature measurements and study the surface composition of the Moon.
Dubbed L-CIRiS, this camera recently underwent its final review before delivery to NASA, and the completed flight instrument will be prepared to launch on a commercial lander in late 2026.
Prior to L-CIRiS, the VIPER rover mission is planned to launch in late 2024 to the lunar south polar region, where it will carry instruments to search for ice in micro-cold traps. These tiny shadows, some no larger than a penny, are hypothesized to contain a significant amount of water and are more accessible than the larger PSRs.
One long-term goal of L-CIRiS and NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program is to find a suitable place for a long-term, sustainable lunar station. Astronauts could stay at this station, potentially similar to the one at McMurdo station in Antarctica, but it would need to be somewhat self-sufficient to be economically viable. Water is extremely expensive to ship to the Moon, hence locating the station near ice reservoirs is a must.
During the Artemis III mission, NASA astronauts will use the information gathered by the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program and other missions, including Chandrayaan-3, to assess the best locations to collect samples. Chandrayaan-3 and L-CIRiS’s measurements of temperature and composition are like those that will be needed for Artemis to succeed. Cooperation among space agencies young and old is thus becoming a key feature of a long-term, sustainable human presence on the Moon.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The Lakeport City Council this week is scheduled to hold a nuisance abatement hearing on the Vista Point Shopping Center and consider awarding a contract for improvements at the Carnegie Library.
The council will meet Tuesday, Dec. 5, at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
The council chambers will be open to the public for the meeting. Masks are highly encouraged where 6-foot distancing cannot be maintained.
If you cannot attend in person, and would like to speak on an agenda item, you can access the Zoom meeting remotely at this link or join by phone by calling toll-free 669-900-9128 or 346-248-7799.
The webinar ID is 973 6820 1787, access code is 477973; the audio pin will be shown after joining the webinar. Those phoning in without using the web link will be in “listen mode” only and will not be able to participate or comment.
Comments can be submitted by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To give the city clerk adequate time to print out comments for consideration at the meeting, please submit written comments before 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 5.
On Tuesday, city staff will ask the council to hold a nuisance abatement hearing and adopt a resolution declaring the primary structure of the Vista Point Shopping Center, located at 872 to 896a Lakeport Blvd., a public nuisance, order the property owner to abate all identified nuisance conditions within 30 days and empowering staff with authority to abate the nuisances.
The council also will consider awarding a $128,538.59 contract to Skiles & Associates for the Carnegie Library Improvements Project.
Public Works Director Ron Ladd said the project involves various interior renovations of the Carnegie Library.
Those include repairing and painting walls, insulating and installing a new ceiling, replacing damaged floorboards, new floor finishing, new recessed lights and battery powered emergency lights, and installation of a new chandelier and ceiling fan.
Ladd said work is expected to start in February and be completed by June.
On the consent agenda — items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote — are ordinances; minutes of the City Council’s special and regular meetings on Nov. 21; and direction to the city clerk to prepare the 2024 Maddy Act Appointments List and post at City Hall and the Lakeport Public Library.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The National Weather Service is forecasting that the first full week of December will be a rainy one.
As a new storm front moves in, Lake County is coming off of several days of mild rainfall.
Based on National Weather Service observation stations, rainfall totals in inches for the 72-hour period ending at 11:30 p.m. Saturday are as follows:
— High Glade Lookout (Upper Lake): 1.02. — Indian Valley Reservoir: 0.10. — Kelseyville: 0.22. — Lake Pillsbury: 0.80. — Lower Lake: 0.07. — Lyons Valley: 0.54. — Middletown: 0.05. — Nice: 0.36. — Whispering Pines: 0.48.
The forecast for the new week expects rain every day, with temperatures ranging from the mid-50s during the day to the high 30s at night.
In Lake County, rainfall totals are expected to reach as much as an inch for Saturday and Sunday combined.
The storm front bringing the rain to Lake County is bringing far heavier amounts to Humboldt and Del Norte counties, where urban and small stream flooding advisories were issued for Saturday evening.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — Lake County’s emergency homeless shelter is under new management.
On Friday, Redwood Community Services began operating the shelter, located in the former juvenile hall facility at 1111 Whalen Way in north Lakeport.
Unlike how it’s been run in the past, the shelter will now operate around the clock, seven days a week, and won’t require clients to leave during the day.
It will provide up to 35 guests with stable shelter, breakfast, dinner, showers, laundry and support services.
At its Nov. 14 meeting, the Board of Supervisors approved a new $2,417,489.64, three-year shelter contract between the Lake County Behavioral Health Services Department — acting as the lead administrative entity for the Lake County Continuum of Care — and Redwood Community Services to run the shelter, as Lake County News has reported.
Under the new contract, Redwood Community Services will run the shelter through June 30, 2026.
The organization also runs the Building Bridges Homeless Resource Center in Ukiah.
Redwood Community Services staff unanimously approved a new name to mark this new start: Xamitin Haven.
Xamitin (pronounced hahm-i-tin, with a soft “a” as in “father”) is a Northern Pomo word meaning “lake” or “water lying.”
Redwood Community Services will initially work with the 35 current shelter guests. Further information on the intake process and availability will be released very soon.
“We want to support [shelter guests] with getting stable,” said notes Redwood Community Services’ Integrated Health Director Sage Wolf, MSW. “To assist us with that process, we will not be taking in new guests for at least the next week. Staff are making a point to connect with new people who present to the shelter, and encourage them to come back the week of Dec. 11 to get further information.”
Wolf added, “We are also working toward having space in the shelter to accommodate families with children. We expect it may be roughly a month before we are able to accept a full family.”
“The county of Lake would like to thank all who have supported the emergency shelter since it first opened to help unhoused individuals navigate the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Elise Jones, Lake County’s Behavioral Health Services director, in a written statement. “Blue Horizons staff and local lodging operators were critical partners over the past month’s time of transition. Thank you all!”
Wolf said Redwood Community Services is excited to build on the work of previous operators. “We are grateful for the opportunity to serve our unhoused neighbors,” Wolf said. “Further official information will be made available as soon as possible.”
Questions can be directed to Sage Wolf of RCS by email, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Redwood Community Services can also be reached at 707-467-2010.