4-Her Haydn Evans with one of his sheep. Courtesy photo.

LOWER LAKE – My name is Hadyn Evans and I am a first year member of Anderson Marsh 4-H Club in Lower Lake. I have been working hard to get my projects ready for the Lake County Fair. The fair will be held Aug. 28-31 in Lakeport.

The best part of the summer for 4-Hers and Future Farmers of America members is the Junior Livestock Auction held Saturday, Aug. 30 at the Baldwin Livestock Pavilion at 1 p.m. Raising livestock is a huge commitment of time and money for us kids. I am planning on showing a market pig, market lamb, breeding sheep and chickens.

In March, I visited a pig farm and choose two pigs for my pig project. I am going to sell one pig and keep one pig for my family’s freezer.

I feed my pigs twice each day. I check them often throughout the day, especially when it gets really hot, to make sure they are comfortable. My pigs enjoy an afternoon shower to cool off. I let my pigs out for an evening stroll every night.

Pigs grow really fast. When I first picked my pig, he was about 10 pounds and I could carry him. At fair time, “Scrumptious” will be close to 300 pounds.

I joined 4-H in October, but have had sheep since last July. I bought three breeding ewes and a registered Suffolk ram. In February, my favorite ewe, Tank, had triplets! I will be showing all three lambs at this year’s fair. Two lambs will be kept as future breeding ewes and will be shown this year and next year. The wether lamb, “Charlie” will be my market lamb.

I feed my sheep two times a day. I exercise Charlie every day by riding my bike and leading Charlie. I’m hoping Charlie will be lean by end of summer!

I will also be showing my chickens. I have been raising chickens for five years. My favorite part of raising chickens is cooking myself a farm fresh fried egg sandwich!

In January, I went to Stockton to show my Black Old English Bantam chickens and compete in showmanship at the annual Pacific Poultry Breeder Show. I was happy to bring home a second place ribbon in Novice Showmanship.

I love learning about all the different breeds of poultry and hatching chicks. I will be showing chicks I hatched in an incubator last year.

I have had fun this year in 4-H. My 4-H club, Anderson Marsh, is also in its first year. The club meets the third Monday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at the Clearlake Callyomi Masonic Lodge in Clearlake. I’m the sergeant-at-arms and help the president in maintaining order and setting up the meeting hall. My other projects are shooting and outdoor adventure.

I’m looking forward to showing at the Ukiah Fair, Aug. 7-10, and the Boonville Fair, Sept. 12-14.

Taking care of my animals has helped me learn responsibility, record keeping and many new things.

With the money from selling my market animals, I plan to buy breeding sheep and chickens, a kennel for my new hunting dog, and maybe a gas power RC car. I enjoy fishing and hunting with my family. When I grow up I want to be a state trapper.

4-H Youth Development is a program of the University of California Cooperative Extension. For more information on the 4-H program contact U.C. Cooperative Extension, 883 Lakeport Blvd., Lakeport, 263-6838.

Haydn also enjoys raising chickens. Courtesy photo.

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The two-hour trail ride – from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. – will offer views of beautiful Clear Lake and the surrounding mountain ranges. A delicious Mexican dinner, silent auction and live music will follow.

You don't have to ride to join in the fun and support Lake County's therapeutic riding program – bring your family and enjoy a delicious dinner and have a chance to win some great prizes with our silent auction. The atmosphere at Shannon Ridge will provide a wonderful opportunity to relax with good friends, listen to live music and enjoy a summer evening in the vineyards.

All proceeds from these rides will go toward sponsoring special education children in Lake County so that they can attend the center's therapy program free of charge.

The center is currently looking for sponsors for their event T-shirts. The cost is $100 to have your name listed on back of the T-shirt; the funds are 100-percent tax-deductible. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please contact Jill or Carol at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Wiloth Equine Therapy and Riding Center was named one of the beneficiary organizations of the ninth annual Lake County Wine Auction, which takes place Sept. 20.

For more information, contact Wiloth Equine Therapy and Riding Center at 994-5887 or 355-1280, or visit the center online at www.wilothenterprises.com.

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Former Lake County Deputy Agricultural Commissioner Chuck Morse discusses invasive weeds during last year's Invasive Weeds Awareness Week tour. Photo by Greg Dills.

LAKE COUNTY – The Lake County Weed Management Area is hosting an “invasive weed tour” Thursday, July 24. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend this tour.

The third week of July is California’s annual “Invasive Weed Awareness Week.” This statewide program is designed to educate citizens of the undesirable effects and impacts of non-native invasive weeds.

The self-driving tour is a fun and informative event where participants will view and learn about several species of invasive weeds.

The tour will begin in Lakeport proceeding to Nice, Rodman Slough, Main Street Bridge in Kelseyville, ending in Lakeside Park as our final “weed” stop that includes a lunch for the tour attendees.

This year’s tour is focused on revisiting the same sites as last year to observe the progress that has been made to control the invasive weeds and, in some cases to see the spread where invasive weeds have been left unattended.

We will see a demonstration area where goats have been used to control French Broom; we’ll visit two aquatic weed locations; and we will stop to view one of the Weed Management Area’s multiple control sites for Arundo donax, a significant invader of our riparian areas. We’ll visit an area with an abundance of terrestrial invasive weed diversity and we’ll try our luck at seeing some Yellow Star Thistle biocontrol agents at work.

Passenger vans with limited seating will be available on a first come first serve basis. All other participants will need to provide their own transportation and carpooling is encouraged. Registration begins at 8:15 a.m. at Lake County Department of Agriculture’s parking lot (883 Lakeport Blvd.).

The tour will leave from the parking lot at 8:45 a.m. and end by 12 p.m. at Lakeside Park. Please RSVP with Kristi at 263-0217 by July 22 if you plan on attending and indicate if you would like a seat on one of the vans.

The tour is sponsored by Lake County Department of Agriculture, the Lake County Department of Public Works, and the East Lake and West Lake Resource Conservation Districts.

While the end-of-tour lunch is free of charge, a donation to offset the costs of the lunch and refreshments would be appreciated.

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Screenings are planned for 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. July 26.

July’s main film is “Call of the Hummingbird” by Alice Klein.

In the gorgeous setting of central Brazil, a rag tag group of 1,000 permaculture experts, Rastafarians, alternative health practitioners, 13 Moon Calendar followers and nongovernmental organization executives work toward a do-it-yourself action plan to make the world a better place in 13 days! But who is going to deal with the garbage?

Welcome to “Survivor” for social change addicts where consensus is the only way to make decisions. Anyone can speak, for as long as they like about whatever they want, and they do!

The film’s fascinating characters take us on a journey that covers terrain from the practices of permaculture and consensus facilitation all the way to the meaning of the Mayan calendar, which mysteriously ends in 2012 – just a few short years away. In the process we are introduced to new ideas about politics, nature and even time itself.

There will also be a short film and animation. The program runs approximately 90 minutes.

Parental discretion is advised (nudity, language). Cost at door is $10 for adults, $5 for 16 and under. Doors open half hour before screening. Coyote Popcorn and refreshments will be for sale.

Hey, why not take time for lunch or dinner at any of the restaurants in and around Middletown as well as picnicking at the benches and tables on the Calpine grounds?

The rest of this year’s fest will be an exciting lineup which will be announced soon.

In September Coyote Film Festival is screening “Sherman’s Way,” a romantic comedy partly shot in Lake County and winning independent festival awards. Director Craig Saavedra will be on hand and we working out all the details.

The Calpine Geothermal Visitor's Center is located at 15500 Central Park Road, off of Highway 29, in Middletown.

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Adventurous wine enthusiasts will have an opportunity to discover “wine with altitude” and taste the reason why Lake County – with a grape-growing history that extends back to the mid-19th century – is now fast becoming known for its award-winning wines, ultra-premium winegrapes, and resort-style wineries.

Throughout the weekend, “wine adventurers” will taste wines from Lake County’s five distinct viticulture areas (AVAs) as they visit participating wineries, including: Ceago Vinegarden and Tulip Hill Winery in Nice; Brassfield Estate Winery in High Valley; Shannon Ridge Winery, High Valley Estate Vineyards, and Noggle Vineyards & Winery in Clearlake Oaks; Gregory Graham, Ployez Winery, Terrill Cellars, and Six Sigma Winery & Vineyards in Lower Lake; Langtry Estate Vineyards & Winery in Middletown; Moore Family Winery in Cobb; Cougar’s Leap, Dusinberre Cellars, EdenCrest Vineyards, Mt. Konocti Growers Winery, Red Lava Wine Tasting, Rosa d’Oro Vineyards, Steele Winery, Snows Lake, Sol Rouge, and Wildhurst Vineyards in Kelseyville. Bell Hill and Zoom Wines will be offered at LCWS, a wine tasting studio located in the town of Upper Lake.

Adventure Tickets are $25 each and may be purchased online at www.lakecountywineries.org, or at any of the participating wineries. Each ticket entitles the holder to wine tasting and hors d’oeuvres at each winery, as well as a logo wine glass and winery map. Several of the wineries also will offer barrel tastings, winery tours, and entertainment. Event-goers may leave their Adventure Tickets with the last winery they visit to be entered into a raffle for several prizes.

Event organizers promote responsible hospitality and encourage all participants to designate a driver. For more information, call 707-279-2927 or online to go www.lakecountywineries.org.

Lake County is part of the North Coast AVA, which also encompasses Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino counties. Within Lake County, five other AVAs exist – Clear Lake AVA, Benmore Valley AVA, Guenoc AVA, and the recently approved Red Hills AVA and High Valley AVA.

For visitor information, contact the Lake County Visitor Information Center at (800) 525-3743 or www.lakecounty.com.

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A conservation easement is a voluntary transfer of usage rights creating a legally enforceable land preservation agreement between the landowner and the entity holding the easement. The purpose of a conservation easement is to protect land and resources by separating the right to subdivide and build on the property from other rights of ownership.

The easement might also limit commercial and industrial uses and certain other activities on a property to a mutually agreed upon level. The landowner voluntarily agrees to contribute to the public good by preserving the conservation values on the property, and the easement holder has responsibility for monitoring future uses of the land to ensure compliance with the terms of the easement.

“As the population of our state continues to grow, and urban growth expands into previously undeveloped areas, additional pressures are being placed on the resources of the state parks system,” Wiggins said.

“DPR is authorized to purchase land for the purpose of protecting parks from development and other impending threats, but this solution is not always economically feasible,” Wiggins added. “An easement is a good tool for the department to use to preserve the state park system; it costs less, and also allows the land to remain in the hands of the private land owner. Further, it defends the land from incompatible use issues, and it relieves the department from incurring maintenance costs."

SB 1431 clarifies that DPR is allowed to acquire a conservation easement if the department determines that it is necessary to protect a unit of the state park system from an incompatible use or to preserve and enhance the natural resource, cultural, or historic value of a state park unit.

The bill also enables DPR to make grants to a state or local government agency, or a nonprofit, to purchase and hold a conservation easement with funds that have been appropriated to the department for land acquisitions. Grant recipients would be required to monitor and enforce the easement and agree to restrict the use of the land in perpetuity.

Assemblymember Patty Berg (D-Eureka) is a co-author of the Wiggins bill.

Wiggins represents California’s Second Senate District, which includes parts or all of six counties: Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Solano and Sonoma. Visit her Web site at http://dist02.casen.govoffice.com.

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