LAKEPORT, Calif. – The county has received new funding to help establish a park on Mt. Konocti.

Lake County Public Services Director Kim Clymire reported that the Office of Grants and Local Services has completed its application review process for the very competitive Habitat Conservation Grant Fund Program.

He said the application submitted by Lake County staff for improvements to the more than 1,500 acres recently acquired on Mt. Konocti has been selected for funding in the amount of $80,000.

The funds will be used to purchase and install benches, signs, trash and recycling receptacles, tables, and restrooms, Clymire said. Funding should become available in the fall of this year and improvements will be made over the winter and spring months.

Mt. Konocti County Park is tentatively scheduled to officially open to hikers only in October of 2010 as a day use park only after initial, pre-opening, work is completed, Public Services reported.

A committee is working on the master management plan to determine what other types of uses will be allowed and may include, licensed dogs on leash under the owners control, non-motorized mountain bikes and horse back riding. Clymire said those types of uses will continue to be studied, with public input, and the master management plan should be adopted by the spring of 2011 for implementation at that time.

In addition, being brought back by popular demand, a beacon will be reinstalled in the next month or two, on the Buckingham Peak communication tower, that will operate from dusk to dawn, Clymire reported.

The beacon will not be designed for aeronautical purposes, and therefore will be exempt from Federal Aviation Administration rules, but is instead being installed for nostalgia reasons, he said.

The old beacon was on the tower for years for aeronautical purposes and also used by the Sheriff’s Marine Patrol Division to determine when water skiing was to stop for the day.

Clymire thanked everyone who has been so supportive of what he called a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to acquire a major portion of the mountain for current and future generations' use and enjoyment as open space park property.

For more information about the park project contact the Public Services Department at 707-262-1618.

Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf .