Lake County  Land Trust 

Land Trust working to purchase 31 acre wetland parcel on Clear Lake

LCLT Newsletter • PO Box 711, Lower Lake, CA 95457 • (707)262-0707 • Fall/Winter 2013-14

The Lake County Land Trust is moving forward on its cam-paign to purchase a 31 acre parcel of mixed wetland and grassland property on Clipper Lane near Kelseyville as part of the Trust’s Big Valley Wetlands preservation project. The Trust has already raised or has pledges amounting to over $50,000 towards the total $225,000 purchase price and is looking to the community to help in its efforts.

Purchase of this parcel is part of an ambitious effort to pro-tect the remaining wetlands and riparian forests between Clear Lake State Park and the southern edge of Lakeport. The Land Trust has developed a conservation plan for the area that is currently being reviewed by the State Department of Fish and Wildlife which calls for purchasing conservation easements on properties or direct fee-title purchases, depend-ing on what willing land owners wish to pursue, explained Lake County Land Trust president, Roberta Lyons. Once the plan is approved by the Department, then even more funding will be available for other parcels in the area.

The Clipper Lane parcel, owned by George Melo, includes beautiful native wetland and shoreline forest as well as upland wet meadow, pasture and oaks. The Lake County Land Trust holds an option – valid until March 2014 – to purchase the property. Contributions so far have come from The Pitzer Family Foundation in the amount of $10,000 that was part of the first option payment, and a contribution of $10,000 from the Robert Morse bequest that was given to the Lake County Land Trust several years ago after the passing of this popular local resident. Some individual board members of the Trust have each given or pledged $1,000 and an exciting recent con-tribution of $20,000 has come from John Sheridan and An-drea DuFlon of Berkeley.

John Sheridan has been a long-time supporter of the Lake County Land Trust dating back to the Trust’s first work in purchasing the Rodman Preserve. Sheridan contributed to both the Rodman Preserve project and also the successful

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A lagoon-type wetland is part of the Melo property on Clipper Lane.

Cottonwood, tule and other valuable wildlife habitat is part of the 31 acre parcel the Land Trust is working to purchase.

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some important items for our Rodman Pre-serve Nature Education Center and office. If you or anyone you know would like to donate such items, please contact Lake County Land Trust Executive Director, Catherine Koehler at 262-0707. Toaster or toaster oven for the kitchen Shelving and wall-hooks for storage

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Would you like to receive your Lake County Land Trust newslet-ter via email rather than regular mail? Or both ways? All mem-bers of the Lake County Land Trust, or those who are not mem-bers but attend fundraisers, can opt to receive the newsletter by mail, or can sign up to receive the full-color electronic version (which helps us cut costs and not trees!). Send an email to lclt@lakecountylandtrust.org and let us know your preference. Very occasionally, we will also send “email blasts” about special Land Trust events—we promise this will not amount to an exces-sive amount of emails!

Unfortunately, the economic times don’t allow us to continue mailing paper newsletters to folks interested in receiving our news but who are not supporting the organization. Such interested folks can sign up for receiving the newsletter electronically, however. If you know anyone who used to receive paper newsletters and miss-es hearing from us, encourage them to become members and/or sign up for electronic newsletters! The newsletter is also available at our website:

www.lakecountylandtrust.org

On Oct. 19, our Lake County Land Trust presi-dent, Roberta Lyons, was attending a California Audubon regional gathering at the Big Chico Creek Nature Reserve conference center operated by Chi-co State University.

At the end of the conference the group of 20 gath-ered on the deck for a photograph. The deck col-lapsed and numerous people, including Roberta, were injured.

Suffering from a serious head injury, she was heli-coptered to a hospital in Chico where she spent the night and was released the next day. The following

LEAVING A LEGACY What better legacy is there to leave than your commitment to protecting Lake County’s natural resources

for future generations? Whether you are taking those first important steps toward planning your estate or are in the process of updating your estate plan, please consider a donation to the Lake County Land Trust. To discuss how you can name the Trust in your will or estate plan call the Land Trust’s Executive Director, Cath-erine Koehler at (707) 262-0707.

day, suffering from further complications, she was helicoptered from Sutter Lakeside Emergency to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento where she spent a week including several days in ICU. Since return-ing home, Roberta has been recovering, albeit slower than she would like, and Land Trust staff and other board members are stepping in to tackle the many things Roberta is always working on.

We all wish Roberta, who is such an instrumental part of our team, a strong and swift recovery – espe-cially since we know she is chomping at the bit to get back to her good work!

Land Trust president injured in deck collapse

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Lake County Land Trust Dinner features information and fun

The Lake County Land Trust hosted over 100 people for its annual dinner on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013 at The Lodge at Blue Lakes. The event is held every year and offers Land Trust members, as well as the general pub-lic, a chance to learn about projects the Trust is in-volved with, along with enjoying great music, food, fun and a fabulous silent auction.

Guest speaker at this year’s event was fisheries spe-cialist, Charlotte Ambrose, who works as a Salmon Re-covery coordinator for the National Oceanic and At-mospheric Administration (NOAA). Ambrose dis-cussed the federal Endangered Species Act, including its successes and failures, and talked about the alarm-ing decline in salmon over just the space of a lifetime.

Also discussed was the Lake County Land Trust’s effort to protect wetlands on the shores of Clear Lake, including its current drive to raise funds to purchase a 31 acre parcel near Kelseyville. The land features beau-tiful native wetland and shoreline forest as well as up-land wet meadow, pasture, and oaks. The Trust has been successful in raising over $50,000 to go towards the purchase price of the land, set at $225,000. The Land Trust has an option to buy the property valid un-til March 2014.

Val Nixon, a retired California state parks ranger and avid volunteer for the Land Trust was honored as the Trust’s 2013 “Supporter of the Year.” Nixon received a

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(Above, from left) The Lake County Land Trust presented its 2013 Supporter of the Year award to Val Nixon at its recent annual dinner. From left are board members: Nina Marino, Gaye Allen, John Wise, Bill Lincoln, and Jon Am-brose; Supporter of the Year, Val Nixon; and Land Trust president, Roberta Lyons.

Major donors to the Land Trust’s current drive to purchase a 31 acre wetland parcel on Clear Lake were introduced at the dinner. They in-cluded John Sheridan and Andrea DuFlon, who are pictured with guest speaker Charlotte Ambrose.

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Many Thanks to this year’s Annual

Dinner Sponsors and wine donors!

Sponsoring this year’s dinner were Homestake Mining Company of California, the Law Office of Dennis Fordham, Brad and Kathy Barnwell, John Wise and Evelyn Wachtel, and the North Coast Winegrape Brokers.

Wine was generously donated by Steele Wines, Wildhurst, Six Sigma, and Shannon Ridge. Music was provided by the Konocti Junction band featur-ing Tom Nixon, Janet Berrian and Scott Sommers.

Susan Mesick (L), Barbara LaVasseur, Karen Gilliam and Marilyn Waits visit during the social hour.

Collin Piccolo who was a volunteer for the Land Trust Din-ner is pictured with Suzette Sanchez with The Lodge at Blue Lakes.

People from all over the county attend the Land Trust dinner. Brad King, Susan Parker and Tom Malley enjoyed the evening.

The Land Trust dinner always includes a great silent auction that folks enjoy bidding on.

plaque from the Trust and a proclamation from Con-gressman Mike Thompson. She was honored for her work on creating interpretive signs at the land Trust’s Rodman Preserve near Upper Lake, as well as other volunteer work.

Sponsoring this year’s dinner were Homestake Min-ing of California, the Law Office of Dennis Fordham, Brad and Kathy Barnwell, John Wise and Evelyn Wachtel, and the North Coast Winegrape Brokers. A beautiful venue and delicious dinner was provided by Maryann and Peter Schmid with several dinner at-tendees opting to spend the night at the Lodge and enjoy a lovely morning on Blue Lakes.

Wine was generously donated by Steele Wines, Wild-hurst, Six Sigma and Shannon Ridge. Music was pro-vided by the Konocti Junction band featuring Tom Nixon, Janet Berrian and Scott Sommers.

Some popular silent auction donations came from Bernie and Lynn Butcher of the Tallman Hotel in Up-per Lake who donated a one night stay and tickets for a “Concerts and Conversations” event; the Lakeport Eng-lish Inn; one-half lamb from Six Sigma Ranch; a one hour cruise on Blue Lake for 10 including champagne donated by Peter and Maryann Schmid of The Lodge at Blue Lakes; pottery by Kathy Scavone, magnums of wine from Steele Wines, and hand-made earrings by Madelene Lyon; to name just some of the many dona-tions provided for the yearly auction.

The annual dinner is held every year on the second Saturday of October and is an important fundraising event and time of fellowship for the Land Trust and its many members.

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Land Trust dinner

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Golden Eagle: $1,000+ All of the Member Benefits listed below, plus:

Exclusive invitation-only event at unique venue & Reserved seating at our Annual Benefit Dinner

Osprey: $500-$999

All of the Member Benefits listed below, plus: Private guided hikes by reservation of Land Trust properties

Blue Heron: $200-$499

All of the Member Benefits listed below, plus: Invitational reception at the

Rodman Preserve Nature Center

White Pelican: $100-$199 The Member Benefit listed below, plus:

Invitation to our annual “State of the Land Trust” Coffee

Snowy Egret: $20-$99 Acknowledgement on Land Trust website, updated annually

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effort to preserve the Black Forest on the slopes of Mt. Konocti.

Now both John and his wife, Andrea DuFlon have stepped up to support this project. They dedicated their donation to Andrea’s parents Bita and Alton DuFlon, and John’s former in-laws Ron and Dorathy Grew. The Grews moved to Lake County in 1975 and were the parents of John’s late first wife. At one time, Sheridan owned property in Lake County and has often said that he has a real “soft spot,” for the Lake County Land Trust. “John Sheridan has been one of our most loyal and helpful supporters for almost 20 years and with this recent donation has helped to advance the mission of the Lake County Land Trust in an extremely significant way,” noted Land Trust president Lyons.

John is a furniture maker and woodworking teacher at the San Francisco WoodShop. Andrea is a licensed family therapist and fiber artist.

As a fiber artist, Andrea has a strong appreciation of the skill and artistry of the baskets made by the early Pomo people of Lake County. “When I visit the area, I like to imagine life as it was – small villages along the lake; people making boats of tule; baskets of willow, redbud, bear grass and other plants; foraging for food and medicines and hunting. That the Lake County

Land Trust exists to pre-serve the integrity of the lake and surrounding area with its abundance of plants and wildlife is a huge blessing for us and generations to come, and a way to honor those who came before us,” DuFlon says.

Other donors to this im-portant project include Charlotte Griswold of Clearlake who has contrib-uted $2,500, and John and Sasha Reynolds, Roberta and Harry Lyons, Michael Friel, Val and Tom Nixon, Bill and Carol Lincoln, Kristine Groff, and anonymous donors have all contributed or pledged at the $1,000 level.

The Case for Support, with information about the property and contribution levels can be found on the Land Trust’s website: www.lakecountylandtrust.org, or you can call Roberta Lyons at (707) 994-2024 for more information.

John Sheridan and Andrea DuFlon are among the major do-nors to the effort to purchase a 31 acre wetland parcel on the west shore of Clear Lake.

(Continued from page 1) Land Trust working to purchase wetland parcel

http://www.lakecountylandtrust.org�

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In 2011, the Lake County Land Trust (LCLT) entered into a two year agreement to co-manage the Boggs Lake Preserve with The Nature Conservancy (TNC). The Preserve is about 200 acres in size and the first 101 acres were acquired by TNC in 1973 from the Fibre-board Corporation. Acquisition of the Preserve was one of TNC’s earliest projects in California. The acqui-sition by TNC resulted from concerns raised by the California Native Plant Society and botanists from UC California over a proposed large campground-subdivision adjacent to the Lake and potential impacts to the plant habitats at Boggs. Boggs Lake is an unusu-al example of an upland vernal pool that occurs on vol-canic substrates and may be the largest vernal pool in California, providing a unique environment for many unique plant species. Vernal pools are temporary pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals, and most are typically much small-er in size than Boggs Lake.

As is typical of vernal pools, Boggs Lake is not fed by streams or springs, but rather acts as a catch basin for rainfall during the wet season, then gradually dries through the summer. As with many unusual geo-morphic features, the natural community supports unique plant species adapted to this environment in-cluding hedge-hyssop, the many-flowered navarretia, eryngium, and Cuscuta howelliana. Boggs Lake also provides habitat for a variety of waterfowl and marsh birds (including a robust breeding contingent of red-winged blackbirds) as well as a population of Western pond turtles. Access to the Preserve is from Harring-ton Flat Road off of Bottle Rock Road near Mount Hannah.

Pete McGee, former president of the LCLT, reached out to TNC in 2008 and inquired if they would consid-er having the LCLT take over as managers of the Pre-serve. He believed, due to our proximity to the Pre-serve and connections to the local community, that the Land Trust could detect and respond to issues of con-cern in a more timely fashion than could TNC staff who

Taking care of Boggs Lake

Preserve By Jon Ambrose, Secretary of Lake County Land Trust’s board of directors and Chair of Boggs Lake Preserve committee

Attendees of the August 2013 event at the Moore Family Winery enjoyed learning about vernal pool ecology from vernal pool specialist Carol Witham.

A short field trip to Boggs Lake was offered to those attending the 2013 fundraiser event.

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are located in San Francisco. After a few years of con-versation, TNC agreed to a two year trial period where TNC would provide some operational funding and the LCLT would commit to accomplishing a number of management tasks including fund raising, community outreach, infrastructure upgrades, updating brochures, fence repairs, trail maintenance, etc. During the two year trial period we formed a Boggs Lake Committee comprised of local neighbors and Board members who met to determine goals over the two year trial period. By reaching out to the neighbors of Boggs we were hopeful that they could help keep watch over the Pre-serve and report any issues or concerns that might arise. In August 2013, the trial period ended and year-ly reports were submitted to TNC for their review. We are waiting on a final decision from TNC.

The two year trial period has been an exciting and informative period for the Land Trust. The neighbors of Boggs Lake have welcomed us and have been excep-tional partners in management of the Preserve. Our community workdays were consistently well attended by the local residents, despite the often hot days of clearing brush and trails. We held two informational events at the Moore Family Winery to raise awareness of the unique ecology of the area and LCLT’s involve-ment, and which featured presentations on Western pond turtles and California’s vernal pools. At these events, additional funds were raised for management of the Preserve. The future of the Boggs Lake Preserve and the Lake County Land Trust is bright, and we en-courage you to visit this unique and beautiful spot in Lake County. The best time of year to visit the Pre-serve is in the early spring, when the flowers at the fringe of the lake begin their bloom as the waters re-cede, and the red-winged blackbirds start establishing their territories in the Lake’s tules. It is well worth the visit to one of the most unique habitats in California.

Enthusiastic volunteers at the spring 2013 Boggs Lake Preserve work-party. Pictured, clockwise from far left: Roberta Lyons, Tom Smythe, Gail Marshall, Jon Ambrose, Sandy Leggitt, Andrew Belchner, Cathy Koehler, and James Ambrose.

The emerald-green shoreline of Boggs Lake in the winter bursts into sprays of white, gold, and blue in the spring as the drying shoreline provides the perfect conditions needed for tiny vernal pool flowers to bloom.

Management of the Boggs Lake Preserve in-cludes tasks like mending of perimeter fencing, to discourage social trails that can damage the sensitive plant habitats along the lake’s shore.

Boggs Lake is an unusual example of an

upland vernal pool that occurs on volcanic

substrates and may be the largest vernal pool in

California, providing a unique environment

for many unique plant species.

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November 2013 Fall/Winter

Upcoming Events The Lake County Land Trust shares a common goal with

many other organizations in the County, the State, and the Coun-try: that of preserving and enhancing our environment and edu-cating the public about the wonders of nature. Through our newsletter we are able to publicize events, both locally and some out-of-county that we believe will interest our members. The public is cordially invited to all of the events listed here.

Every Saturday – Walks at Rodman Preserve – The Lake Coun-ty Land Trust holds Saturday morning walks at the Rodman Pre-serve. Walks start at 8 a.m. June through August, and start at 9 a.m. September through May. Participants are asked to meet at the Rodman Preserve Nature Education Center at 6350 Westlake Road (the corner of Westlake and the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff). No dogs please, and moderate to heavy rain will cancel. Call Gaye Allen at (707) 928-4590 or Roberta Lyons at (707) 994-2024 for information.

November 20, 2013: update on Konocti Regional Trails, pre-sented by the Sierra Club Lake Group. Lower Lake Methodist church, 7 pm. For more information, please contact Ed Robey at (707) 994 8304, or edrobey@wildblue.net

November 24, 2013: – Boggs Lake Preserve hike, presented by the Sierra Club Lake Group. 9 am. Contact Pete McGee to sign up (707) 942 1373. January 8, 2014 (Wednesday): – “How did here get here?”, a lecture on California geology presented by Dr. Harry Lyons. 6:30 pm at the Lake County Land Trust’s Rodman Preserve. To sign up contact us at LCLT@lakecountylandtrust.org or (707) 262 0707.

Address Service Requested

Lake County Land Trust PO Box 711, Lower Lake, CA 95457 ~ Phone (707)262-0707

Non-Profit U.S. Postage

PAID Lower Lake, CA

Permit #711

The Lake County Land Trust is a local, 501 (c) (3) charitable nonprofit organization directly involved in protecting important land resources. These include: wetlands, wildlife habitats, parks, forests, watersheds, riparian stream corridors, lakeside areas, and trails. The Trust is also concerned with property that has unique scenic, cultural, agricultural, educational, or historical value.

A sponsor member of the

LAND TRUST ALLIANCE

Officers: President Roberta Lyons Vice-President Bill Lincoln

Treasurer Nina Marino Secretary Jon Ambrose

Board Members: Roberta Lyons, Bill Lincoln, Jon Ambrose, Tom Smythe, Michael Friel,

Nina Marino, Gaye Allen, Kristine Groff, and John Wise

Executive Director: Cathy Koehler

For info contact: Lake County Land Trust,

POB 711, Lower Lake, CA 95457 • (707)262-0707

(email) lclt@lakecountylandtrust.org

www.lakecountylandtrust.org

Tax I.D. No. 68-0332712

Lake County Land Trust

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LEAVING A LEGACYBlue Heron: $200-$499White Pelican: $100-$199Snowy Egret: $20-$99Membership Benefits include:Become a member ofThe Lake County Land Trust

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