Governor proclaims drought emergency from the bottom of the lake

April 21, 2021 — A day after the board of supervisors declared a state of emergency due to drought, Governor Gavin Newsom stood at the bottom of Lake Mendocino and signed a proclamation declaring a drought emergency in Mendocino and Sonoma counties. There was very little moisture in the basin of the lake this afternoon, a few hundred feet from the south boat ramp where dignitaries suffered in dark clothes and black shoes and a few dispirited geese nibbled on the parched grass. At one point, the breeze picked up a cloud of dust that swirled in front of the governor. Newsom said his administration has been preparing for the drought for months. None of the strategies involve water mandates, though Wade Crowfoot, Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, said water rights could be curtailed.