There’s another prescribed burn starting today on the Shamrock Ranch. CalFire says they plan to burn about 500 acres of grasslands, chaparral, and understory vegetation on the Ranch which is east of Highway 101 and south of Laytonville. The burn is expected to take all this week from about 8am to 3pm each day. CalFire says these burns help meet the state’s fuel reduction goals directed by the California Fire Plan and the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan. Last week the state debuted its https://interagencytrackingsystem.org website where you can see all the burn and cleanup work done by several agencies to reduce wildfire risk since 2021.
If you had losses from the Hopkins Fire in 2021, there is another hearing on victim restitution on December 13 in Ukiah. The man convicted of arson for the Hopkins Fire, Devin Lamar Johnson was sentenced to 15 years in state prison last month. The Mendocino DA’s Office says all Hopkins Fire victims who submitted restitution claims through the DA’s Victim/Witness office before the September Sentencing have had restitution ordered and court orders documenting those will be delivered to you or your representatives. But if you are a Hopkins Fire victim who did not submit a claim for restitution, but would still like to, contact the Victim/Witness unit by December 2.
New opportunities for low-cost spay and neuter clinics are on the way to Lake County. Lake County News reports there’s a new consortium called “Pet Fix – Lake County” which is a partnership between the Clearlake Animal Association, SPCA of Lake County and Dogwood Animal Rescue Project of Santa Rosa. The president of Clearlake Animal Association says the three nonprofits have been working toward putting together these clinics with the organization Animal Balance which does logistics and veterinary services for low-cost spay/neuter clinics. The first clinic will be held in February 2025 and they hope to get to 200 cats and dogs. And they say they plan to hold five such clinics in 2025. To learn more you can follow Pet Fix – Lake County on Facebook. They are also said to be looking for volunteers to help with the clinics.
Some Lake County officials think a new hiking trail could be the key to boosting tourism. At last week’s Big Valley Advisory Council meeting in Kelseyville, the deputy county administrative officer for economic development told the group that federal grants could be available to encourage what’s called a “recreation economy” for rural areas as long as the county has already started developing a plan toward it. The Record Bee reports Ben Rickelman said there had been interest from the National Forest Service and the Ukiah Office of the Bureau of Land Management in various kinds of trails including for off-highway vehicles or mountain bikes. But a starter idea is a hiking trail from Clear Lake State Park to downtown Kelseyville which could also boost the retail businesses.
It’s the end of the line for the latest brewpub inside an historic building in Hopland. On Sunday night Hopland Tap closed after just six years in business citing a losing battle against fires, floods and the pandemic. The Press Democrat reports the building, which dates to the 1880’s, was home to the HopVine Saloon in the early 1900s until Prohibition but then after Prohibition reportedly opened as the first brew-pub in California, called Hopland Brewery. Later it became Mendocino Brewing which created Red Tail Ale. There is no word if any other business has plans for the space.
