LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Starting this year, the State of California has made it easier for those filing income taxes to support Habitat for Humanity in the mission to provide, safe, decent, accessible and affordable housing.

For the first time ever, Habitat for Humanity is included among the list of potential donor sites to select when filing a California state income tax return.

By checking box 428 on their return, tax filers are able to donate the amount of their choosing to Habitat for Humanity.

Funds collected will used to improve housing conditions in our community and provide a better quality of life for families in need.

There is significant need within Lake County for decent, affordable housing. Lake County has traditionally had higher unemployment than the state average and one of the lowest income levels in the state.

Particularly in Clearlake, where the housing stock is older and consists of a high number of mobile homes, the cost of available rental housing is disproportionate to the income levels of many local families.

According to the most recent housing element report, 22 percent of Clearlake’s housing stock is older than 50 years, with an additional 44 percent being older than 30 years.

In the latest housing condition survey, it was revealed that 74 percent of the city’s housing is in need of rehabilitation.

Many families are forced to forgo basic needs in order to have any shelter at all. Of those who do own their homes, Lake County has a significant number of seniors, veterans, disabled individuals and low income families who are physically or financially unable to manage the upkeep of their homes.

This is where Habitat for Humanity Lake County comes in.

Habitat for Humanity Lake County has been building homes since 2001.

Starting in 2010, Habitat for Humanity Lake County also has undertaken the mission of providing repair services to low income residents who have owned their homes.

Funding for these projects comes from a variety of sources, from grants, gifts and donations from corporations and private citizens.

By contributing to Habitat for Humanity through this new state tax return donation option, California filers can help other state residents have safe, adequate housing.

REDDING, Calif. – Healthy forest ecosystems need dead wood to provide important habitat for birds and mammals, but there can be too much of a good thing when dead wood fuels severe wildfires.

A scientist with the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW) compared historic and recent data from a forest in California’s central Sierra Nevada region to determine how logging and fire exclusion have changed the amounts and sizes of dead wood over time.

Results were recently published in Forest Ecology and Management.

PSW Research Ecologist Eric Knapp and a field crew visited three research plots initially established in 1929 in old-growth, mixed conifer stands on the Stanislaus National Forest.

The stands had not burned since 1889 and were logged with a variety of methods later in 1929, shortly after the first survey of the plots.

In this study, Knapp and a research crew first used digitized maps to locate and re-measure all live and dead trees in the plots.

They later used old plot maps to reconstruct the number and size of downed logs in the 1929 plots and also surveyed logs in the present-day plots.

The research crew compared their present-day data with those from 1929 and documented a more than nine-fold increase in the density of standing dead trees (snags) coupled with a decrease in the average diameter of the snags.

Additionally, they observed nearly three times as many logs on the ground (coarse woody debris), but found a substantial decrease in the size of these logs. The majority of downed logs in the present-day re-measurement were highly decayed.

“Because larger-sized dead wood is preferred by many wildlife species, the current condition of more, smaller, and more decayed woody pieces may have a lower ratio of habitat value relative to potential fire hazard,” said Knapp. Long-term dead wood changes in these forests pose a challenge for forest managers who must balance concerns for wildlife habitat with reducing the chance for damaging wildfires.

But dead trees, like live trees, can be managed. “To restore dead wood to conditions more like those found historically will require growing larger trees and reducing the addition of dead wood from small and intermediate-sized trees,” said Knapp. “Forest thinning, through mechanical means and/or fire has been shown to slow the mortality rate of the remaining trees. In addition, using prescribed fire and low-intensity wildfire, which preferentially consume smaller and more decayed wood, would shift the balance to larger and less decayed pieces of dead wood, and help reduce fuels that contribute to uncharacteristically severe wildfires.”

To read the paper, visit: http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/47344 .

Headquartered in Albany, Calif., the Pacific Southwest Research Station develops and communicates science needed to sustain forest ecosystems and other benefits to society. It has research facilities in California, Hawaii and the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands. For more information, visit www.fs.fed.us/psw/ .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lake County Law Library Board of Trustees will meet on Thursday, Feb. 19.

The group will meet at noon at the the library, located at 175 Third St. in Lakeport, across from the courthouse.

Agenda items include the proposal to hire extra help employees to back up the law librarian.

Board members also will receive the January financial report, approve and ratify the Jan. 15 meeting minutes, and get updates on patron logs and vendor usage.

The board is next set to meet on Thursday, March 19.

The library board includes President Mike Ewing, Secretary Dennis Fordham, Judge Andrew Blum, Judge Michael Lunas, Deputy County Counsel Shanda Harry and attorney Mary Heare Amodio.

For more information, contact the law librarian at 707-263-2205.

Visit the library online at www.lakecountyca.gov/law .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The UC Master Gardeners of Lake County are pleased to present a care and maintenance of garden tools workshop with instructor Jim Harrell.

The workshop will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, at the Agricultural Center, 883 Lakeport Blvd., Lakeport.

Harrell is a veteran UC Master Gardener who has been writing and lecturing on tool care for his fellow Master Gardeners for many years.

He will share his considerable expertise on the subject.

You will save money by keeping your tools in good working order longer and you will promote the health of your plants by using well-maintained cutting tools.

Advance RSVP is requested. A $5 donation is suggested to cover the cost of handouts.

For additional information or directions and to RSVP, please call 707-263-6838.

LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The eighth annual Six Sigma Pruning and Pastries event will be held on Saturday, March 7, at Six Sigma Ranch from 10 a.m. to noon. 

The event will kick off with a team of professional pruners vying for prizes in a race for speed and accuracy. Professional judges will determine the winners.

Bring friends and family, watch the pros compete then join a hands-on demo of winter pruning techniques.

Just for fun, give the not-so-serious amateur pruning competition a try.

Prizes will be awarded.

The event fee of $25 per person includes breakfast catered by Yuba College.

Meet under the oak trees just inside the ranch gate at 13372 Spruce Grove Road in Lower Lake. 

Dress for the weather, sturdy shoes or boots recommended. 

To reserve your spot call 707-994-4068 or visit www.sixsigmaranch.com/events . Rain cancels the event.

Six Sigma Ranch & Winery is located outside of Lower Lake at 13372 Spruce Grove Road and is open every day from 11 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., telephone 707-994-4068.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Friends of Middletown Library group is starting a book club.

The first meeting will be from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 11, in the community room at the Middletown Library.

Subsequent meetings will be the second Wednesday of April, May and June.

The Middletown Library is located at 21256 Washington St.