Michael Jones, the University of California Cooperative Extension forest advisor for Lake County, told the Lake County Board of Supervisors that his program "is aimed to conduct outreach, education and research on forestry-related topics" to help landowners and managers steward conifer forests and oak woodlands.

Jones said the Extension is concentrating on three core areas in Lake County: oak woodland stewardship; managing for disturbance and wildfire resilience — including fuels reduction and helping form prescribed burn associations — and broader forest-health concerns such as new invasive insects and tree mortality. "We rely a lot on the forest service to fly aerial detection surveys," Jones said. "And those programs are currently not functioning," which he said limits the county's ability to detect new mortality at landscape scale.

Jones described oak woodlands as "incredibly diverse ecosystems" in Lake County and said Extension work includes workshops, site visits and training for tree-care professionals to help landowners develop management plans, access funding and adopt practices that balance multiple values on a property. He said Extension also helps landowners plan for and respond to post-disturbance needs after wildfire or mortality events.

Supervisor John Subati asked for an update on the scale of tree mortality and whether drought conditions or state support had changed the county’s situation. Subati said earlier estimates rose from roughly "31,000 trees" to "maybe 200,000 trees." Jones said mortality has slowed somewhat after a relatively mild summer and average precipitation, but cautioned "it'll pick up as soon as it dries out again." He added that the county can use a prior statewide tree-mortality declaration to seek attention and resources, but, "as far as I'm aware, it hasn't really resulted in any additional funding coming in to the end of the region."

Subati also told the board that Sen. Maguire "did provide us a million dollars to deal with tree mortality," noting that the funding reflected local advocacy rather than a statewide funding program.

During public comment, an unidentified resident thanked Jones and asked officials to "share best practices" for balancing development with conservation, saying some permits call for "almost a clear cutting of groves, especially like blue oaks." Jones responded that Extension's role is to provide best-management information and site visits to help landowners align stewardship goals with other property objectives.

No formal motions or votes were recorded on the presentation. Jones offered his contact information for follow-up and the board closed the item after brief remarks of thanks.