California joined the union decades after 1776. LAist’s AirTalk with Larry Mantle spoke with experts on what California’s society and wildlife looked like before it became the 31st state.
Who lived in California in 1776? California was one of the most densely settled regions in the Western Hemisphere. The state was populated with over 100 different tribal nations speaking a wide range of languages, according to Steven Hackel, a history professor at UC Riverside who specializes in early America.
Did Californians know about the American Revolution? Hackel said it’s unlikely that our Founding Fathers were thinking about the West Coast in 1776, but Californians were well aware of the war effort. When Spain joined France to support the colonies against England, Californians paid a tax to fund the Spanish military’s efforts.
What did the wildlife look like? Miguel Ordeñana, a community science manager at the L.A. County Natural History Museum, said Southern California was “vibrant, lush, and thriving.” At the time, our state was home to large populations of grizzly bears, certain migratory birds, and steelhead trout.
Read on… to learn more about California before it became the 31st state.
Angelenos are getting ready to celebrate the 250th Independence Day across the city. But did you know California didn’t join the U.S. until 74 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed?
This week, Steven Hackel, a history professor at U.C. Riverside who specializes in early America, joined LAist’s AirTalk with Larry Mantle to discuss what our state was like at that time.
He said in 1776, California was one of the most densely settled regions in the Western Hemisphere. The state was populated with over 100 different tribal nations speaking a wide range of languages, according to Hackel.
“Wherever there was land — and animals and plants — people were living,” he said.
A complex economy was already common in Indigenous communities. He characterized it as a two-tiered system: communities relied on resources in their immediate area for survival, and participated in a “tremendous” exchange of goods, including spices and obsidian.
Spanish colonial influence was still “fairly light … but changes were afoot,” according to Hackel.
Most Indigenous communities remained in their ancestral villages, although missions across the state were growing. For the Indigenous people forcibly brought to the missions, the rebellions were “almost immediate,” he said.
California also wasn’t entirely cut off from the rebellion on the East Coast. When Spain joined France to support the colonies against England, California missions paid a tax to fund the Spanish military’s efforts.
Though it wasn’t yet part of the union, Hackel said that with their in-state rebellions and financial support of the colonies, our state was “integrated into this larger age of revolutions.”
The ruins of Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, which was built from 1791 to 1805. The mission is often referred to as the "Godmother of the Pueblo of Los Angeles".
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Courtesy of The Los Angeles Public Library
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The state’s biodiversity has also evolved since 1776. Miguel Ordeñana, a community science manager at the L.A. County Natural History Museum, said our region had a “vibrant, lush, thriving landscape.”
It was home to grizzly bears and other types of migratory birds and steelhead trout, according to Ordeñana
Spanish colonizers were afraid of some of those animals, he said, and paid for bounties on animals like wolves, bears, coyotes and mountain lions.
But long before the Spanish arrival, Ordeñana noted that Indigenous communities had coexisted with those animals for centuries before.
You can listen to the full conversation:
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25:04
SoCal History: What did Southern California look like 250 years ago?
A sampling plate covered with golden mussels that was removed from the Stockton Channel at the Port of Stockton last year. Detection plates are used to monitor the spread and density of golden mussels.
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Fred Greaves
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Topline:
The state of California is walking back protections meant to keep destructive golden mussels out of Lake Oroville, one of the largest and most important reservoirs in the state.
Why now: The move follows a new state-funded risk assessment that the invasive species poses a lower risk to the lake, which water managers say changes the state’s calculus on costly and difficult measures aimed at keeping the invaders at bay. No state agencies or scientists have found mussels in Oroville yet.
What's the concern? The voracious and rapidly spreading mussels can encrust surfaces so thoroughly that they choke off water supplies and damage dams and power plants.
Why it matters: Invasive species experts say the revised policy of the Department of Water Resources increases the likelihood that golden mussels will invade Lake Oroville and hitch a ride on boats to other lakes. They disagree, though, about whether preventing such an incursion is even possible.
Read on ... for more about the scourge of golden mussels in California waterways.
The state of California is walking back protections meant to keep destructive golden mussels out of Lake Oroville, one of the largest and most important reservoirs in the state.
The move follows a new state-funded risk assessment that the invasive species poses a lower risk to the lake, which water managers say changes the state’s calculus on costly and difficult measures aimed at keeping the invaders at bay.
No state agencies or scientists have found mussels in Oroville yet. But invasive species experts say the revised policy of the Department of Water Resources increases the likelihood that golden mussels will invade Lake Oroville and hitch a ride on boats to other lakes. They disagree, though, about whether preventing such an incursion is even possible.
”California is under an epidemic of golden mussels,” said Anthony Ricciardi, a professor of biology and the director of the Bieler School of Environment at McGill University. “Like in any epidemic, you got to control the key hubs — or else the war is lost.”
Reopening Lake Oroville
California water managers first discovered golden mussels invading California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in October 2024 — marking their first detection in North America.
The voracious and rapidly spreading mussels can encrust surfaces so thoroughly that they choke off water supplies and damage dams and power plants.
They are now invading critical infrastructure in the Delta. And the very pumps, canals and aqueducts that keep water flowing to much of the state are funneling the larvae to irrigation districts and water suppliers downstream.
San Joaquin and Kern Counties have declared states of emergency, and state officials are updating key facilities along the state’s nature-defying water delivery system to reduce mussel damage.
With summer weather coming in hot, state water managers said that they are ending a program to prevent mussels and their larvae from stowing away on boats to invade Lake Oroville, one of California’s largest reservoirs.
The department now no longer requires inspections and decontamination for boats launching at Lake Oroville and nearby reservoirs — the Thermalito Forebay and the Thermalito Afterbay.
The Department of Water Resources says lakes and launches upstream in the Feather River watershed didn’t take similar precautions, raising the risk that golden mussel larvae would wash into the reservoir on river flows regardless of the boat inspections.
The cost of the inspection program for the lake was also around $7.5 million to start it up, and $6.5 million per year to continue it. Installing UV treatment to prevent mussels from settling in the pipes at powerplants downstream from Oroville, by contrast, would cost an estimated $1 million.
“We severely impacted recreation at that lake,” said Tanya Veldhuizen, special projects section manager in the California Department of Water Resources’ environmental assessment branch. “We also evaluated the risk to our infrastructure and what it would take to mitigate mussels — and that was much lower than expected.”
Cold water, fewer mussels?
The decision reflects the findings from a new risk analysis the department commissioned for these reservoirs and related hydropower and fishery hatchery facilities, as well as for the Upper Feather River Lakes.
Conducted by a Canada-based consulting firm specializing in aquatic invasive species, the assessment reports that, while surface temperatures are warm enough for the mussels to survive in shallower water at Lake Oroville, they’re too cold lower down for the mussels to reproduce at depths greater than 60 feet below the surface.
Unlike the Delta, the waters at Lake Oroville are also low in nutrients, Veldhuizen said. Between the scarce food, cold temperatures, and water levels that drop enough to dry out mussels on the shoreline, Veldhuizen said she doesn’t expect the mussels to reach nuisance levels.
The department also expects cold water released from the reservoir will slow the growth of any larvae that reach the Feather River Fish Hatchery and the Oroville-Thermalito Complex powerplants downstream.
But Oroville’s shoreline, boats and docks remain at risk — and that’s what worries Ricciardi.
“That's where the action is. The boats will be moving them,” Ricciardi said — because boats and aquatic weeds clinging to vessels and their trailers can ferry mussels from one lake to another.
Fish and Game Warden Mark Rose and Allee, a Belgian Malinois, who was trained to sniff golden mussels at Thermalito Forebay, in Oroville in June 2025. The dog sniffs watercraft in an attempt at detecting the golden mussel and preventing its spread into California lakes.
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Miguel Gutierrez Jr.
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CalMatters
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And adult mussels can actually survive even in very cold water, says Demetrio Boltovskoy, a retired researcher formerly at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council. One study in China found they can live for weeks at near-freezing temperatures.
Still, Boltovskoy said that while he isn’t specifically familiar with Lake Oroville, reducing precautions may be reasonable.
“No matter what precautionary measures you take, sooner or later it will spread,” he said. “I don't think that stopping their range expansion is actually feasible at all.”
But invasive species experts are sharply divided on the subject. That’s true especially in California.
Last year, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife told CalMatters that invasions delayed translated to money saved. This year, the wildlife department directed inquiries about the new Oroville strategy to the Department of Water Resources.
“There’s so much to protect yet,” Martha Volkoff, environmental program manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Invasive Species Program, said last summer. “Yes, it’s a lot of work, but the long-term savings — to the environment and to all the other ways that it costs us — is investment well spent, even if we just delay new introductions.”
Relying on boaters: Clean, drain, dry
The responsibility now rests more heavily with boaters to ensure their boats are clean, drained and dry — especially when leaving an infested body of water, like the Delta.
If state water managers detect mussels at Lake Oroville, she said, the department will begin inspecting boats as they leave the lake.
It's a strategy already in use at other infested lakes, including Castaic and Pyramid.
Managers of other Northern California lakes told CalMatters they will continue their inspection programs, including at lakes Folsom, Tahoe and Berryessa.
Drew Gantner, manager of water resources at Solano County Water Agency, which oversees the mussel program at Lake Berryessa, called the Oroville decision concerning.
“If Lake Oroville does surrender its program and becomes infested with golden mussels it creates an increased risk for all waterbodies,” Gantner said. “At that point, any watercraft travelling to Berryessa (or anywhere else) from Lake Oroville would essentially be no different than watercraft coming from the Delta.”
Ricciardi agreed that the stakes extend well past Oroville’s dam and downstream facilities.
“There is another thing about invasions. They often surprise you,” Ricciardi said. “Sometimes invaders don't act the way they're supposed to act.”
Suzanne Levy
is a senior editor on the Explore LA team, where she oversees food, LA Explained and other feature stories.
Published July 3, 2026 5:00 AM
The fireworks display in Washington, D.C.
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Mehmet Eser/Middle East Images
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Getty Images
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Topline:
This Fourth of July, LAist Senior Editor Suzanne Levy, who grew up in the U.K., recalls her surprise the day in Philadelphia she learned that the British army had surrendered at Yorktown.
Why it was so surprising: Levy remembers learning at school in Britain that the American colonies had declared their Independence. But the idea that Britain had actually fought to keep those colonies — and lost — well, that was news to her. Instead she grew up with the idea that Britain never surrendered, as asserted defiantly by Winston Churchill.
What it reveals: What you choose to teach your children is the way a country passes on its narrative, mythology and values.
Some years ago, we were living in South Jersey, outside of Philadelphia. We had friends visiting, so we decided to take them to Independence Hall, where, as all Americans know, the Declaration of Independence was signed. As a Brit, I was excited to see the actual origins of American democracy.
We’d joined a tour, and I was admiring a particularly lovely wooden molding on the wall when I heard the guide say, “And that was when the British surrendered.”
I stopped in my tracks. Excuse me? You see, we, the British, do not surrender. You may have heard that, via our publicist Winston Churchill. We do not surrender on beaches. Or fields, or streets or hills, or any manner of geographic landmark.
I turned to my American husband. "What’s this place he’s talking about, Yorktown?" He stared at me in faint disbelief. “Um, you’ve heard of it, right? It’s where the British lost their final battle?” I shook my head. Nothing. Why did I not know this?
I mean, I had a pretty good British education. I remember learning that the American colonies had declared their Independence, but I thought that was because of the cost of tea or something — and not wanting to be judged for how posh your accent was. But the idea that Britain actually fought to keep those damn colonies — and LOST — well, that was a shock to my system.
From what I remember in the school text books, it was “America declared independence, never mind, we still ruled a lot of the world, let's move on.”
American As a Second Language LAist senior editor Suzanne Levy, who grew up in the UK, regularly writes about her experiences living in the U.S. in her series American As a Second Language.
Yet as my American daughter went through school over here, U.S. history was a constant theme. The colonies, George Washington, the Civil War. What you choose to teach your children, that’s the way a country passes on its values.
What I learned in England was a lot about kings, like an Alfred who burnt the cakes, or a Henry who kept on marrying women.
Which makes me realize how much myth-making all countries do. And as an immigrant, to move from one mythology to another rattles all the marbles in your brain. How could this thing, that is so important to millions of your new co-patriots, be reduced to nothing in your childhood textbooks?
But the longer you live here, the more it shifts. And as you absorb more American history and go through Fourth of July holidays, the more you appreciate what was sacrificed to bring the nation into existence.
If I ever get to go back to Independence Hall, I hope I'll have a very different reaction. I’ll be much more aware of the import of what happened and the bravery and determination behind it.
And for that, as a comparatively new American, I am truly grateful.
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The Thai Taco: shrimp, diced mango, guacamole, pickled jalapenos
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Erick Galindo
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The LA Local
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Top line:
USC's student body is roughly one-quarter international students. That, and the neighborhood’s many longtime residents, means creative, culinary twist on Mexican staples are easily found.
Why it matters: The area around USC is truly global, where cultures and backgrounds happily rub shoulders.
How it happened: Cafe 23's owner said 20 years ago they were making pastrami sandwiches and burgers. But then Indian students kept asking for Indian food. And the rest is history.
Ask anyone in Los Angeles and they’ll swear that their favorite burrito spot is the best. While I can’t guarantee mine is the best, I can confidently say it’s unlike anything you’ve ever had. Enter: The chicken tikka burrito.
Four years ago, when I was accepted to USC, I immediately started looking online for food around the area. I bookmarked a tweet from 2018 that said if there was one place I had to eat at in my four years there it was 23rd Street Cafe — now Cafe 23.
The first time I had a bite, I knew I had to sing its praises to everyone I knew.
Cafe 23 is a perfect amalgamation of what makes University Park such a special place: how global it truly is. With USC — a school whose student body is roughly one-quarter international students — and the neighborhood’s many longtime residents, there’s something for everyone.
And for those who don’t know it, South L.A. is a hotbed of food culture. With the historic 27th Street Bakery and the anticipated reopening of Chef Marilyn’s restaurant, there’s plenty to eat. For those hankering to try something new, however, these three restaurants offer a culinary twist on Mexican staples.
Thai Corner Food Express offers three Thai Taco varieties every Tuesday: from left, the spicy shrimp with mango and guacamole; chicken with coconut and mango; and beef with shredded coconut and mango.
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Erick Galindo
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The LA Local
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Located in the back corner of Mercado La Paloma is Thai Corner Food Express, owned by Aritsa Elliot, who has served Thai food in the Figueroa corridor for nearly 20 years.
But, in April, the restaurant started offering the “Thai Taco.” Elliot said the idea came from a desire to satisfy her own curiosity.
“I wanted to try Mexican masa with Thai spicy sauce or the herbs in a taco,” Elliot told The LA Local.
Every Tuesday, Thai Corner offers choices such as a coconut beef taco, a spicy shrimp taco or a drunken noodle chicken taco served on homemade blue-corn tortillas made with masa from Komal, another popular Mercado La Paloma restaurant.
Developing the flavors was no easy feat and was the result of experimentation and collaboration. The owner of Komal suggested to Elliot that she should incorporate shaved coconut into the beef taco to really represent Thai flavors.
The blending of these two cuisines allows for flavors and spices that are typically muted by rice or noodles to be the main attractions.
As a side dish, you can order the Thai guacamole. It’s a creamy, sweet take on the classic dish, topped with diced mango. It doesn’t taste like any other guacamole I’ve tried, but it kind of works — especially with the tacos. Each taco is served with a dollop of it and sliced Thai chili peppers.
3655 S Grand Ave. C-4, Los Angeles
Taqueria Vista Hermosa
The Al Pastor Cheeseburger from Taqueria Vista Hermosa is one of their best-selling items
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Erick Galindo
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The LA Local
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Right next to Thai Corner is Taqueria Vista Hermosa. For 25 years, owner Raul Morales has been using his family’s al pastor adobo — which goes back three generations to his ancestral home in Vista Hermosa, Michoacán — to feed customers of Mercado La Paloma.
Now, he’s using that adobo to make a brand new al pastor cheeseburger. The taqueria began selling the burger two months ago because nowhere else in Mercado La Paloma offered one, and the restaurant wanted to fill that niche.
“At first, I was like that sounds weird. I’ve never heard of that,” Sarah Morales said. She’s the owner’s daughter and an employee of Taqueria Vista Hermosa.
“We had all the employees here taste it,” Sarah added. “Everybody kept saying it’s the best burger they’ve ever had. It’s been one of our most popular selling items.”
The behemoth burger comes with a ground beef patty slathered in adobo, a giant pineapple ring, grilled red onions, oozing provolone cheese and a generous helping of their superb avocado aioli. Make it a combo and it will come with a bucket of fries perfect for dipping the house-made aioli. Just trust me. Dipping in that aioli is worth the extra carbs.
Raul said he prides himself on the fact that the burger doesn’t come with many typical burger staples. His inspiration: burgers from Michoacán. This choice has been met with some pushback from customers who expect a more traditional burger.
“People say ‘Oh I want a classic, you don’t have a classic? … You don’t have lettuce?’ No. I have it, but I don’t want [to add it],” Raul said. “This isn’t a burger place … I make my own unique burger.”
In the future, the taqueria may expand its cross-cultural menu to include a pizza or a flatbread, Sarah added.
“When you have a bite, you remember the flavor,” Raul said. “I want that, I want a memory. I want a ‘Disneyland.’ When you go to Disneyland you have memories, same thing with food.”
3655 S Grand Ave. C-5, Los Angeles
Cafe 23
A paneer tikka quesadilla at Cafe 23 comes stuffed with spiced paneer and melted jack cheese, served on a metal tray alongside the restaurant’s signature red and green salsas.
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Nick Ducassi
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The LA Local
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Just a mile away from Mercado La Paloma, at the end of a residential block on 23rd St. you will find a cafe that’s been serving Indian-influenced Mexican food for more than a decade. Cafe 23 proudly serves Indian street food and has given some classic menu items a Mexican twist.
They have things like burritos and quesadillas but you can get them loaded with chicken tikka, lamb or paneer tikka.
The burritos come with whatever Indian protein you like, plus rice, beans and onions. The quesadillas come with jack cheese and are served with the restaurant’s signature red salsa and green salsa.
For a little extra, you can turn your burrito into a breakfast burrito by adding eggs and hash browns. Their breakfast burritos have even gotten attention from Eater and, yes, LAist.
In an interview with LA Weekly, the owner at the time Hari Singh, said that the restaurant opened in 2006 and originally had a completely different menu. Back then, they were serving things like burgers and pastrami sandwiches.
“There were a lot of Indians in this neighborhood — mainly students at USC — and they kept asking me, ‘Why don’t you make Indian food?’ So we started with a few Indian dishes,” Singh said. “Then we came up with this idea to start mixing Indian with Mexican. And people loved it.”
Makenna Cramer
leads LAist’s unofficial Big Bear bald eagle beat and has been covering Jackie and Shadow for several seasons.
Published July 3, 2026 5:00 AM
Jackie and Shadow's fledglings, Sandy and Luna, visiting the nest less than a week after they flew away for the first time.
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Friends of Big Bear Valley
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YouTube
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Topline:
The skies of Big Bear will light up with Fourth of July fireworks Saturday, reigniting concerns about how the colorful explosions could affect the famous bald eagle family who live nearby.
Why it matters: The main risk is that the bald eagles could try to flee the flashes and noises at night when they can’t see well, according to Jenny Voisard, the nonprofit’s media manager.
What's next: Visit Big Bear said the decision to move forward with the show was not made lightly, but it’s an “important economic driver” and long-standing tradition for the community’s businesses, restaurants and workers.
The skies of Big Bear will light up with Fourth of July fireworks Saturday, reigniting concerns about how the colorful explosions could affect the famous bald eagle family who live nearby.
The main risk is that the bald eagles could try to flee the flashes and noises at night when they can’t see well, according to Jenny Voisard, the nonprofit’s media manager. Flying at night could cause collision-related injuries.
“It's not knowing what [Sandy and Luna are] supposed to be doing outside of the nest, knowing where they are, knowing where they're going, if they get separated from their parents or each other it could cause an issue,” Voisard told LAist. “There's a road right there. So, there's just lots of dangers.”
Visit Big Bear said the decision to move forward with the show was not made lightly, but it’s an “important economic driver” and long-standing tradition for the community’s businesses, restaurants and workers.
“That context is especially important this year after another low-to-no snow winter, which directly impacted many of our neighbors, employees, and small businesses,” Visit Big Bear said in a statement. “Big Bear’s tourism ecosystem is fragile too, and the Fourth of July holiday is part of the broader effort to help our community recover heading into the summer season.”
Peter Sharpe, a wildlife biologist with the Institute for Wildlife Studies and Sharpe Wildlife Consulting, told LAist previously that bald eagles are primarily scavengers for their first year. The biggest issues for the young birds include getting hit by a car while they’re feeding on roadkill, flying into power lines, or lead poisoning from eating something with bullet fragments.
For example, two of the Big Bear nest’s previous eaglets, Stormy and Simba, were found dead in different parts of California about a year after fledging. They were identified based on the numbers they were banded with as chicks, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley records.
Voisard said “it's very difficult to become an adult bald eagle,” and the risks are amplified with fireworks.
Sandy and Luna are also still “100% dependent on their parents” at this stage, Voisard said. Jackie and Shadow weren’t seen or heard in the area for three days after the 2023 fireworks and six days in 2022, according to the nonprofit.
More than 43,000 people have signed a petition urging Big Bear to relocate the fireworks and consider other celebrations like drone shows (the petition is not from Friends of Big Bear Valley). Similar displays have been canceled this year in other parts of the country following concerns for nearby bald eagle nests, including in Madison, Wisconsin and Long Island, New York.
What are organizers saying?
Visit Big Bear said it recognizes the deep passion people have for the bald eagles that have become an important part of the community’s identity.
“The Big Bear community has coexisted with its wildlife, including bald eagles, for generations,” the organization said in a statement. “That responsibility is not new. It is part of daily life here, and it is a responsibility we take seriously.”
According to Visit Big Bear, the barge the fireworks are launched from is about 2 miles away from Jackie and Shadow’s nesting area and the show is scheduled to finish in under half an hour.
The organization said it’s also working to “reduce the loudest booms where possible” and that clean up efforts will take place when it’s over.
