C1 Unsanitary Conditions at Lake County Jail

Additional funds are needed from all sources including grants to complete the Middle Creek Project. The Project Sponsor, Lake County Watershed Protection District, is responsible for 35% of the costs for future phases of the project the scope of which will not be determined until the design phase of the project is completed. The Lake County Water Resources Department estimates this could be between five and ten million dollars.

The Chi (Hitch) is being considered to be added to the Endangered Species Act in Lake County. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Endangered Species Program stated in their June 2011 publication: “Once we add an animal or plant to the list, protective measures apply. Those measures include…authority to purchase important habitat; and Federal aid” This could be a source of additional monies for the Middle Creek Project.

The Lake County Board of Supervisors voted, in the meeting of March 5, 2013, to send a letter to the USFWS urging it to defer consideration of the petition for at least one year to rectify inconsistencies with dates used and assumptions made by the Center for Biological Diversity in their request for the Hitch to be considered as an endangered species. However, USFWS has already rejected the LCBOS request for a delay in the process.

The Middle Creek Project is under the purview of the County of Lake and the US Army Corps of Engineers. The scope of the project is under consideration by various other agencies, departments, committees and tribes. The citizen groups and other agencies have reported that these entities have not communicated well and/or coordinated with each other.

The committee concludes that delays in the Middle Creek Project have seen algae and weed problems increase and the native fish, i.e. Hitch, numbers rapidly decline. More energy and money will need to be focused on the causes and results of these 2012-13 delays including algae, weed mitigation and native species losses.

There have been repeated feasibility studies, reports, impact statements, etc. completed on the lake’s environment; with considerable monies spent to date.