CLERC

05/29/2026

🌿 FEATURED FLORA FRIDAY 🌿

Western Redbud Cercis occidentalis

Every February, something magical happens across Lake County's foothill slopes and canyon edges. Bare branches erupt in clusters of brilliant magenta blooms before a single leaf has opened, painting the hillsides in color when the landscape is still waking up from winter. That is Western Redbud, and once you know it, you will spot it everywhere.

This native deciduous shrub is one of the most ecologically generous plants in the region. Its early blooms arrive precisely when native bees and hummingbirds need nectar most. Leafcutter bees harvest its heart-shaped leaves to line their nests. Birds feed on its seed pods and shelter in its branching structure throughout the year. It is not just a pretty face. It is a full-service habitat in a single plant.

Western Redbud is also a four-season spectacle. Magenta blooms in late winter, bright heart-shaped leaves through summer, brilliant gold and red fall color, and then maroon seed pods that persist on the bare branches all winter long, giving the plant something to show off in every single month of the year.

Indigenous Californians have long recognized this plant's value too. The twigs of Western Redbud have been used for generations to weave baskets, and California Native peoples practiced careful pruning to encourage the straight new growth needed for that craft, a form of land stewardship that kept these plants healthy and productive.

Look for it on dry foothill slopes, canyon edges, and oak woodland openings across Lake County, often growing in shrubby clumps alongside manzanita, ceanothus, and California buckeye.

Have you spotted Western Redbud blooming this season? Share your sightings with us in the comments below! 👇

05/27/2026

🐟 Wildlife Wednesday: Clear Lake Tule Perch

Meet one of Clear Lake's most unique and underappreciated native fish. The Tule Perch is the only freshwater species in the entire surfperch family -- a group of 23 fish that otherwise live in the Pacific Ocean. And Clear Lake is home to its own distinct subspecies, the Clear Lake Tule Perch (Hysterocarpus traskii lagunae), which is endemic to Clear Lake and the Blue Lakes here in Lake County.

What makes these small, deep-bodied fish truly unusual is that they give birth to live young, making them the only viviparous native freshwater fish in California. Males transfer s***m to females using a modified a**l fin spine as early as late summer, but the eggs aren't actually fertilized until January. By May or June, females give birth to anywhere from 10 to 60 fully formed fry. The genus name Hysterocarpus literally translates to "womb-fruit."
In 1854, the Tule Perch became the very first freshwater fish species formally described from California, and its description was published not in a scientific journal but in a San Francisco newspaper.

Tule Perch were once abundant in Clear Lake and held cultural significance for the Pomo people. Today, their populations have declined due to habitat loss, water quality changes, and competition from introduced species. The subspecies is currently listed as a species of High Concern by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Protecting shoreline habitat, tule beds, and water quality in Clear Lake directly supports the survival of this one-of-a-kind fish.

🔬 Hysterocarpus traskii lagunae 📍 Clear Lake & Blue Lakes, Lake County, CA

05/25/2026

The countdown is on, less than one month until the Lakeport Summer Concert Series kicks off at Library Park 🎶

We’re proud to sponsor opening day on June 12 with The Fargo Brothers.

Come find the CLERC booth, say hi, learn how you can help build a more fire-safe Lake County, and enter to win some fun merch.

Good music, good company, and a chance to connect with the work happening right here at home.

05/22/2026

🌿 FEATURED FLORA FRIDAY 🌿

Henderson's Shooting Star (Primula hendersonii)

If there is one wildflower that stops hikers in their tracks every spring in Lake County, it is this one. Henderson's Shooting Star sends up clusters of magenta to lavender blooms with petals swept dramatically backwards, trailing behind each flower like tiny comet tails streaking across the sky. Once you see one, you never forget it.

Also known as Mosquito Bills and Sailor Caps, this beloved perennial wildflower grows in shaded woodland floors and chaparral edges throughout the region. Look under oaks and along partial-shade slopes where the soil stays moist through spring. It tends to appear in small colonies, so where you find one you will often find many.

Shooting Star has a fascinating relationship with its pollinators. It requires something called buzz pollination. Bumblebees vibrate their flight muscles at specific frequencies to blast pollen loose from the flower's tightly held anthers. It is basically a tiny bee concert happening inside every bloom, and honeybees simply cannot do it. This makes native bumblebees absolutely essential to the plant's reproduction.

That early-season partnership matters enormously. Shooting Star provides critical nectar for bumblebees just as they emerge from winter dormancy, when almost nothing else is available. It is one of those relationships that reminds us just how interconnected everything in a healthy ecosystem really is.

Here is one more thing worth knowing. After flowering, Shooting Star disappears completely. It dies back to the ground once the rains stop, leaving no trace until next spring. Catch it while you can!

Have you spotted Henderson's Shooting Star on your hikes this season? Share your sightings with us in the comments below! 👇

05/20/2026

This spring, crews from CLERC, the U.S. Forest Service, and PROPS planted nearly 71,000 native trees in the Mendocino National Forest as part of ongoing recovery efforts after the Ranch Fire.

It’s inspiring to see these landscapes slowly coming back to life through collaboration, hard work, and a shared commitment to the future of our forests and communities.

Read more about the project and the people behind it below.

In early April, crews from CLERC, the U.S. Forest Service, and Patriot Restoration Ops (PROPS) returned to the hills above Clear Lake with a shared goal: helping the forest recover from the devastating 2018 Ranch Fire.

05/20/2026

🦗 Wildlife Wednesday: Cicadas

If you've ever sat outside on a warm Lake County evening and heard that unmistakable buzzing, clicking hum rolling through the oaks and madrones, you've been listening to cicadas. According to "The Cicadas of California" published by UC Press, Lake County has at least eight documented cicada species, primarily from the genera Okanagana and Platypedia.

These insects spend the vast majority of their lives underground as nymphs, feeding on tree roots for two to five years before tunneling to the surface. Once they emerge, they climb a tree trunk or fence post, shed their exoskeleton (those hollow shells you find clinging to bark), and live just a few weeks as winged adults. Their entire above-ground mission: find a mate.

The males do the calling, vibrating paired drum-like structures called tymbals to produce species-specific songs. Females respond with wing clicks. After mating, females lay eggs in small slits cut into twigs of trees like willows, oaks, and madrones, you can spot the distinctive diagonal scars they leave behind on branches.

California's cicadas are not the same as the massive periodical broods that make national news in the eastern U.S. Our species emerge in smaller numbers each year, though population booms can happen unpredictably based on factors like rainfall and underground conditions. They don't sting, don't bite, and play an important role in nutrient cycling when their bodies return to the soil. Next time you hear that summer hum, take a closer look!

📍 Lake County, CA

05/15/2026

Cobb Mountain Lupine Lupinus sericatus

Some wildflowers grow across continents. This one grows only here. Cobb Mountain Lupine is a perennial plant endemic to a small cluster of North Coast Range counties, including Lake, Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino.

Named directly after Cobb Mountain, the tallest peak in the Mayacamas Range right here in Lake County, this lupine is as local as it gets. It forms a striking low mound of silvery gray palmate leaves, and for several weeks each spring it sends up multiple bold spires of deep violet-purple flowers. The contrast between that silver foliage and those purple blooms is genuinely one of the most beautiful sights in the spring woodland.

Like all lupines, Cobb Mountain Lupine is a nitrogen fixer, meaning it hosts symbiotic bacteria in its roots that pull nitrogen directly from the air and convert it into a form the surrounding soil and plants can use. It functions as a natural fertilizer source, quietly enriching the woodland ecosystem around it while its blooms feed native bees and butterflies throughout spring.

While considered a sensitive species with a limited range, observations from recent fire-affected areas show Cobb Mountain Lupine thriving in full sun conditions. This suggests a strong tolerance for disturbance and indicates that its seeds can persist in the soil, responding to changes in light and habitat conditions. As a result, this is a species that may benefit from forest thinning and fuels reduction projects that increase sunlight reaching the forest floor.

Look for it on open, sunny woodland slopes and chaparral throughout Lake County, in well-draining soils with full sun. It thrives in the same rugged terrain that defines this region, adaptable from forest edge to open chaparral, and surprisingly drought tolerant once established.

Have you spotted Cobb Mountain Lupine on your hikes this season? Share your sightings with us in the comments below! 👇

05/07/2026

Last Friday, CLERC had the honor of joining Senator Mike McGuire and Lake County fire district leaders at the Lakeport Fire Department for a press conference announcing $2 million in new state funding for Lake County Fire, Lakeport Fire, and South Lake County Fire protection districts. This investment means new water tenders and critical equipment upgrades for agencies that protect our communities every day.

CLERC Operations Director, Laura McAndrews Sammel, spoke on our fire mitigation and resiliency work, and the partnerships we share with Lake County's Fire Protection Districts to make our communities safer. In 2024, three different fires ignited in CLERC's project areas, and thanks to the vegetation management work that had been done, all three were quickly contained by the fire crews — real-life examples of how mitigation and response work hand in hand.

We're grateful to Senator McGuire for the invitation to be part of this event and for his continued commitment to Lake County's fire safety. Since 2023, the state has directed $6 million in fire investments to our county.

Fire season doesn't wait. Neither do we.

05/06/2026

This Wildlife Wednesday we’re highlighting a bird many Lake County residents have seen gliding across the water: the American coot.

With their dark bodies, bright white bills, and red eyes, these birds are easy to recognize on lakes, ponds, and wetlands. Even though they’re often mistaken for ducks, they’re actually part of the rail family and have their own unique adaptations for life on the water.

American coots spend much of their time swimming, diving, and foraging for aquatic plants, insects, and small animals in shallow water. Their unusual lobed feet help them paddle efficiently while also letting them walk comfortably along muddy shorelines and floating vegetation.

Around Lake County, they can often be spotted in large groups on open water or along the edges of wetlands and marshy shoreline habitat.

Next time you’re near the lake or a local wetland, take a closer look at the waterbirds around you. That “duck” with the white bill might actually be an American coot.

Have you seen them gathering on the lake lately?