Two years ago, the County of Lake/Redevelopment Agency, purchased Clarks Island in downtown Clearlake Oaks. The island is located between the Tower Mart and the Clearlake Oaks Boat Launch, off Hwy 20. Since that time, the County has relocated the dozen mobile home residents, removed debris, and rezoned it to open space.

Since January 2010, a group of Clearlake Oaks volunteers have been meeting under the direction of Supervisor Denise Rushing, to develop a concept plan for Clarks Island. The focus is on environment and sustainability, with potential aspects of natural earth building, native and Native American plantings, kayak stopping spot, demonstration trail and interpretive signage.

NATURAL BUILDING
What is Natural Building? As stated in Wikipedia, "A natural building involves a range of building systems and materials that place major emphasis on sustainability; they lessen the environmental impact of buildings and other supporting systems, without sacrificing comfort, health or aesthetics Natural building uses primarily abundantly available, renewable, reused or recycled materials. The use of rapidly renewable materials is increasingly a focus. In addition to relying on natural building materials, the emphasis on the architectural design is heightened. The orientation of a building, the utilization of local climate and site conditions, the emphasis on natural ventilation through design, fundamentally lessen operational costs and positively impact the environmental.

An example of Natural Building - including a covered bench and curved wall - can be seen on Hwy 20 in Lucerne, by Morrison Creek. Built by roughly 60 local volunteers under direction of Natural Builder Massey Burke, the project won one of the prestigious Green California Leadership Awards in 2010. Watch a video of the Lucerne project!

The current concept for a natural building project on Clarks Island includes a tiered approach; first phase would be a gateway/wall with arches/Island signage at the bridge on Hwy 20.

The philosophy behind this was multi - it would be highly visible to the public; it would be an initial “easy” project which would use volunteer labor but not cost much in materials; it would draw attention to the Island and the floating island project; it would be used to involve local school children and teens as an educational tool.

Future projects would include a covered shade structure, display bases, low walls and benches.

The committee requested the BOS approve the initial costs of $6000 for the gateway/entryway. By a vote of 4-1, the BOS (acting as the Board of the Redevelopment Agency) agreed to bring the concept back for discussion if the community could fundraise 25% of the costs - or $1500.

There are two ways to make a tax-deductible donation:

• Make a check payable to County of Lake. Put Natural Building in the memo field and mail to Lake County Administrative Office, 255 No. Forbes St, Lakeport, CA 95453
•   online at http://www.KonoctiTrails.com/clarks-island via Paypal using your MC, Visa, Discover or American Express credit cards.

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FLOATING ISLANDS

One of the conceptual elements of the proposed project includes a demonstration area of "biohaven floating islands," with the intent of looking at algae reduction and creating wildlife habitat.

For those unfamiliar with this term, a BioHaven floating island mimics natural floating wetland systems. BioHavens can do the following:


1. Remove pollutants from a waterway, including nitrates, phosphates, ammonia and heavy metals
2. Provide critical riparian edge habitat - in fact, new land mass for use by all kinds of creatures, from microbes to humans
3. Mine nutrient loads from any waterway and reduce algae blooms
4. Sequester carbon and other greenhouse gases
5. Provide wave mitigation and erosion control
6. Beautify a waterscape and can be used as floating flower or produce gardens.

The islands range in size, are low-cost ($750 to $7500 plus plants) and fairly easy to install (4-5 people 3-5 hours).

The opportunity also exists to provide additional revenue streams for businesses as well as local job opportunities. The work would include dock retrofits and pier structures, local plant cultivation, floating island assembly and installation, and solar panel and pump installations. 


More information can be found at http://www.floatingislandinternational.com

Inspired by the simplicity and relatively low costs, various county agencies, property and resort owners are now ready to develop a pilot project to test out the theory. With the loss of 80% of wetlands on Clear Lake over the past century, this is the means for individuals who enjoy nature and the waterfront, to make a difference.

Plans are underway to develop a pilot program, which we anticipate would include a small island in Clearlake, one in Clearlake Oaks, and a dock retrofit. The test program would also include criteria for evaluating the success of the islands in improving water quality and habitat.

While several organizations are actively pursuing grants, this takes time. The Clarks Island Sustainability Initiative (CISI) group is looking for alternate funding sources and participants. To date, we have raised $5497 towards the project, which has been approved by the Lake County Board of Supervisors. They have additionally approved funding of a small kayak dock/launch which will demonstrate a dock-retrofit.

Want to get involved? Sign up to donate, to participate, or to keep informed!

For more information, feel free to contact:

Holly Harris/Chuck Lamb - rtnc@sonic.net - 998-0135
Denise Rushing - deniser@co.lake.ca.us - 263-2368