Across Lake County

Wildfire Mitigation Is Continuing Across Lake County

The momentum on the ground keeps building, and every one of these projects means real protection for the people who live here. Over the past month our crews wrapped up 7 completed fire mitigation projects, brought 13 newly awarded contracts to the starting line, and kept dozens more moving through planning as we release fresh requests for proposals (RFPs) to our pre-qualified contractors every week.

Behind each number is a safer neighborhood. This work builds buffers of thinned, fire-resilient land in the wildland areas that border our communities, clears roadsides so evacuation routes stay open when every minute counts, and keeps the way in clear for the fire crews and emergency responders who protect us. Piece by piece, it adds up to a more fire-resilient Lake County, built before the next fire starts.

Research & Preservation

The Clear Lake Cores Story, Part 3: Preserving the Collection for Future Research

Buried in the mud beneath Clear Lake is a record of thousands of years of history: ancient climates, past droughts and floods, volcanic eruptions, and the rise and fall of the plants and animals that have called this place home. In the 1970s, USGS scientists drilled sediment cores to read that record. Decades later, CLERC has taken on the job of making sure it is not lost.

Right now we are cleaning, sorting, and documenting the cores along with more than 180 boxes of notes, maps, samples, and research records, and working to capture the firsthand knowledge that ties it all together before it disappears. It is a small project with big potential, and it is only just getting started.

Read the full story of how the collection came to CLERC, what these layers of mud might still reveal, and where the project goes from here.

Downtown Lakeport

A Journey From the Lakebed to the Sky: Our Discovery Center Concept Plan Is Complete!

Big news from downtown Lakeport. The concept plan for the CLERC Discovery Center is finished, and we are excited to share where this project is headed.

The story it will tell is of Lake County itself, with Clear Lake at its heart, told as a journey from the very bottom of the lake all the way up to where the land meets the sky.

Visitors will start below the surface, in the Invisible Lake, where microscopic life too small to see holds the whole ecosystem together. From there they will rise up into the water, meeting the fish, birds, and native species that make Clear Lake so remarkable, then reach the shoreline, where water meets land in the wetlands, nature's own water filter. The ground will climb through oak woodlands, across rare serpentine soils, and into fire-shaped chaparral, before rising into the high country, where mountain forests feed the streams that flow back down to the lake. Finally they will reach the open sky and the Pacific Flyway, the great migratory highway that brings pelicans, herons, and songbirds to rest here each year. Beneath it all, the geology exhibit will tell the deep story of the volcanoes and faults that built this landscape in the first place.

Housed in the historic 1918 Carnegie Library, the Discovery Center will bring all of this to life with hands-on exhibits and interactive displays for visitors of every age.

Finishing the concept plan is a big milestone, and it is really just the next step in our journey. Up next, we will work to secure the funding to build these exhibits and partner with the Lake County Office of Education to develop lesson plans that connect the Discovery Center to K-12 classrooms and beyond.

Stay tuned. The best part is still ahead!

Year in Review

2025 Was Our Most Impactful Year Yet. See It All in One Place.

What a year. In 2025, CLERC invested nearly $7 million in restoration and resilience work across Lake County and beyond, planted 23,000 trees, launched the Carbonizer Project to turn wildfire fuel into biochar, and earned a Congressional Climate Crisis Champion Award. We also opened the doors of the historic Carnegie Library to the community for the first time as the future home of our Discovery Center.

Our 2025 Impact Report brings the whole year together: the forest health work, the community chipping events, the fight against the Mediterranean Oak Borer, the story of Clear Lake's remarkable sediment cores, and the people who made it all happen. It is a quick, visual read, and a great reference to keep on hand.

Take a few minutes to page through it and see what your support made possible this year.