Humboldt Baykeeper – NEC: Recent Episodes
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The Wiyot Tribe’s Tuluwat Village sacred site on Indian Island in Humboldt Bay during the “King Tide” of Dec. 2010. My guests are Joe Tyburczy and Aldaron Laird, coordinators of the Humboldt Bay Symposium, which will be held on April 11 and 12 at the Wharfinger Building in Eureka. The symposium will feature sessions on sea level rise, ecological restoration, ocean science, and economic development in and around Humboldt Bay. The symposium will provide the public an opportunity to engage directly with scientists, managers, and local experts and learn about the latest developments on a variety of current issues related to Humboldt Bay.
Click HERE for the full program.
The Humboldt Bay Symposium is organized by the Humboldt Bay Initiative, an informal collaboration of local stakeholders including scientists, agency staff, Tribes, non-profits, local government officials, and other professionals as well as interested community members working together to plan and carry out ecosystem-based management of Humboldt Bay.
The Humboldt Bay Symposium is co-sponsored by the Humboldt State University Sponsored Programs Foundation.
For more info, contact Joe Tyburczy, Marine ecologist, California Sea Grant Extension, at jtyburczy@ucsd.eduor 707.443.8369.
English-as-a-Second-Language students and their families after a group tour of Humboldt Bay aboard the Madaket, June 2018. Credit Jasmin Segura Humboldt Baykeeper My guest is Jasmin Segura, Baykeeper’s Bay Tours Coordinator since 2014, discussing the upcoming tour season, which will begin with an Earth Day paddle and cleanup on Indian Island with the Wiyot Tribe and Coast Seafoods Company. Most of our Humboldt Bay tours are private charter tours aboard the Madaket, and are coordinated with various partner organizations to provide opportunities for underserved groups to get out on the water at no cost, with support from the California Coastal Conservancy. Participants include English Express ESL students and their families, the City of Eureka’s Camp Cooper summer youth day camp, at-risk teens, the Humboldt County library’s Summer Reading Program, and the Studio and Canvas + Clay Gallery.
Naomi Wagner and Alicia Littletree Bales Credit Alicia Littletree Bales Today my guests are Naomi Wagner and Alicia Littletree Bales, who will be speaking on HSU campus on Thursday, February 28 in a panel discussion about Women and the Timber Wars: Feminism and the Front Line Struggle to Save the Redwoods.
Women were undeniably instrumental in the fight to protect ancient forests during the Timber Wars, yet historians and movement scholars have overlooked their contributions. Their actions, informed by a feminist intersectionalism that rejected misanthropy, machismo, patriotism and anti-labor biases, would come to be the most important examples of eco-defense in North America. This panel explores their contributions and highlights the confluence of feminism and eco-defense in past and present struggles to save the redwoods.
This event will be held at 5:30pm on Thursday, February 28 at Humboldt State University, Founders Hall 118.
Naomi Wagner is an Earth First! activist/organizer from the school of Judi Bari who lives off the grid in Mendocino and Humboldt Counties. When not on the front lines, she is a nonviolence trainer, media coordinator and writer, the author of the bi-annual Redwood Nation Earth First! Newsletter and an organic farmer. She is a founding member of PAEIA (Pacific Alliance for Environmental and Indigenous Action), SEIJ (Social Environmental and Indigenous Justice) and ACORN (Action Council for Oak and Redwood Nation!); Mendocino Environment Center Board member and part of the Veterans of Timber Wars (VTW) affinity group; helped found the Real Wood Co-op and the Institute for Sustainable Forestry. A mother, grandmother and great grandmother, Naomi is the proud holder of a long rap sheet for nonviolent direct action in defense of Mother Earth.
Alicia Littletree Bales is the current President of the Board of Directors of the Mendocino Environmental Center in Ukiah, and host of Edgewise Radio on the MEC’s Low Power FM station KMEC 105.1. She joined the direct action group Earth First! in 1991 during a campaign called “Redwood Summer II.” Organizers Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney had been car-bombed in Oakland just a year before, on the eve of the first Redwood Summer, and were determined to keep organizing for the forest even in the face of lethal violence. Judi became Alicia’s mentor; they worked together on the Albion Uprising in 1992, where Alicia was a tree-sitter, as well as coordinating the mass mobilizations and nonstop nonviolent direct action blockades of the movement to protect the ancient redwoods of Headwaters Forest. After Judi’s untimely death from breast cancer in 1997, Alicia joined the legal team of Bari vs. the FBI, and dedicated herself to winning the civil rights case against the FBI and Oakland Police for using the bombing to smear Judi, Darryl and Earth First! rather than investigate the attack. In 2002 a jury in Oakland found the defendants liable for $4.4 million for civil rights abuses, a historic ruling against the federal agents of repression in the US. Alicia is a professional voice and communication coach and is an instructor theater arts at Mendocino College.
The Schatz Sustainable Speaker series stimulates interdisciplinary collaboration around issues related to energy, the environment, and society. All lectures are free and open to the public, and are sponsored by the Schatz Center, the Environment & Community graduate program, and the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences at Humboldt State.
For more info on the Schatz Sustainable Speaker series, visit https://schatzcenter.org/speakers/
Thanks to Dr. Anthony Silvaggio for organizing the panel discussion and today’s radio interview.
Sunset surfing at Camel Rock near Trinidad, CA.
Credit Jennifer Kalt / Humboldt Baykeeper
My guest is Jennifer Savage, California Policy Manager for Surfrider Foundation, an international organization that is dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s ocean, waves, and beaches through a powerful activist network. The Humboldt Surfrider Chapter is one of 20 chapters in California, where coastal access, coastal development, bluff erosion, sea level rise, and the threat of offshore oil drilling are some of the top issues.
More on some of Surfrider’s major campaigns:
· Protecting Coastal Access for all at Martin’s Beach: When Sun Microsystems’ mogul Vinod Khosla bought this coastal community near Half Moon Bay in 2008, he decided to close the road to public access. Since then, Surfrider has battled Khosla in court, resulting in a major victory for all Calfiornians when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Khosla’s appeal last October.
· Offshore Oil Drilling: Californians thought that offshore oil drilling was defeated once and for all in the 1980s. In 2016, the Trump Administration announced plans to open the Pacific, Atlantic, Gulf, and Arctic coasts to new oil and gas development, including seismic blasting that injures and kills marine mammals and other marine life.
· Surfrider Foundation’s Early Victory against Humboldt Pulp Mills: Surfrider’s first major victory in the early ‘90s was won fighting major polluters in Humboldt Bay near the popular North Jetty surf spot. Surfrider’s litigation resulted in one of the largest Clean Water Act settlements in the United States at that time, ending the toxic ocean discharge that had polluted ocean waters since the mid-1960s.
Links for more info:
ActCoastal Report Card: The annual California Coastal Commission Conservation Report Card focuses on high stakes coastal projects and concerns. See how your representative on the Coastal Commission ranks in terms of voting to protect the coast! Check back soon for the 2018 Report Card.
City of Arcata’s King Tides Photo Initiative, Jan. 20-21: The highest King Tides of this winter will occur this Sun-Mon January 20 and 21, and the City of Arcata is looking for people to help photo document water levels during these tidal events to provide a visual record of tidal impacts from year to year.
City staff are especially interested in documenting 15 locations in Arcata, through the Arcata Marsh, and extending on the Bay Trail South. These locations are identified by stakes. Our King Tide Guide shows the locations, but all photo documentation at any location are welcome. Click HERE for more info.
The Woodley Island Marina in Humboldt Bay is the center of Eureka’s commercial fishing fleet. Credit Jennifer Kalt HBK Dr. Laurie Richmond of Humboldt State University led a team of researchers who interviewed commercial and charter fishermen, fishing families, deckhands, local business owners and operators, local civic leaders, and elected officials in Eureka and Shelter Cove to develop recommendations to improve the sustainability of these ports. Recommendations range from basic infrastructure like dredging and cold storage to better organization for political engagement, market development, and habitat protection. In Shelter Cove, a new fishermen’s association has already formed and will soon begin managing the marina facilities.
Dr. Richmond will present the findings to the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on January 8.
The draft plans are available online.
Progressive candidates won resounding approval in races for Eureka City Council and Humboldt Bay Harbor District.. Tune in for a discussion/celebration of last week’s results of local, state, and national elections – and the positive changes they will bring – with a focus on environmental issues. Progressives won big on the local level, particularly in Eureka, where voters had stark choices between candidates. My guest is Tom Wheeler, Eureka resident and Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC).
For the complete breakdown of local election results, visit the Humboldt County Elections office at https://humboldtgov.org/DocumentCenter/View/69700/final-election-night-report.
Randy Klein with large sedge on the Mad River. Photo: Dana Stolzman, Salmonid Restoration Federation The ways that we manage (or fail to manage) our impacts on the land have left many rivers and creeks without enough water year-round to sustain fish and other wildlife. Randy Klein is a hydrologist who has studied North Coast streams for over 40 years. His research on flooding, erosion, and sediment dynamics in Redwood National Park helped identify the best ways to manage heavily-logged watersheds for stream health. More recently, he has focused on the solutions to low summer flows on the Mattole River in Southern Humboldt.
In many California streams, low summer flows result in high temperatures that are dangerous to salmon. Less water also concentrates pollutants and increases the risk of toxic algae blooms. And climate change is intensifying droughts and changing rainfall patterns, threatening the survival of native salmon species that people have relied on since time immemorial.
Sanctuary Forest is a non-profit organization in Whitethorn that works with residents to install water tanks funded by grants. In exchange, residents agree to stop pumping water in summer months, when low flows threaten fish that can be trapped in disconnected pools.
The Salmonid Restoration Federation in Eureka is working to expand this voluntary water conservation program to Redwood Creek, another Southern Humboldt stream that is heavily impacted by diversions.
For more info:
Salmonid Restoration Federation’s Redwood Creek Low-Flow Monitoring:
The most recent flow monitoring in Redwood Creek (Southern Humboldt) occurred on October 6. Out of the 9 sites monitored, only two sites have flows. Both of these sites are located on the mainstem Redwood Creek and have a slight increase in flows since they were last monitored (Sept 22). SRF’s field monitor noted that the few remaining alive fish are trapped in small pools.
Salmonid Restoration Federation’s Redwood Creek Water Conservation Project:
The ongoing challenge of low water flows has galvanized many concerned residents and stakeholders in Southern Humboldt County to raise a challenging question: How can we become more resilient in a time of drought, and what can we do to keep more water in the rivers, tributaries, and streams so that people and fish have enough to survive?
Sanctuary Forest’s Storage and Forbearance program is for landowners in critical reaches of the Mattole River headwaters and tributaries. This innovative, voluntary partnership helps landowners get the water storage capacity they need in order to give up pumping from the river during the critical dry season—and keeps that water flowing when the river needs it most. To date, the program has installed tanks on 30 properties (storing approximately 1.7 millions gallons of water) of willing landowners along two key stretches of the Upper Mattole main stem.
State Issues Humboldt Bay Fish Advisory using Baykeeper’s Mercury Data
On Tuesday, the State of California issued an official fish advisory for Humboldt Bay using data from Humboldt Baykeeper’s recent study of mercury in fish and shellfish.
The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) also used studies of PCBs, DDT, and other contaminants in Humboldt Bay fish dating from 1990 to 2016 to develop the guidelines.
The advisory addresses eight species of fish, some of which are safe to eat up to seven times a week. Only leopard shark is list as unsafe to consume in any amounts. Lingcod is considered safe for children and women of childbearing age to eat one serving a week. An adult serving is eight ounces uncooked (four ounces cook), while a child’s serving is half that size.
For coastal areas without site-specific guidance, OEHHA issued a guide to eating fish from the California coast in 2016.
Baykeeper sampled California halibut, clams, oysters, and other species that are not included in OEHHA’s advisory. Click HERE to download Baykeeper’s recommendations for eating fish and shellfish from Humboldt Bay.
DONATE NOW to support our work!
For the Bay and coast,
Jennifer Kalt, Director and
Jasmin Segura, Bay Tours Coordinator
Mailing address:
600 F Street, Suite 3 #810
Arcata, CA 95521
Office:
415 I Street
Arcata, CA 95521
www.humboldtbaykeeper.org
Artist rendering of proposed hotel adjacent to the Cherae Heights Casino on Scenic Drive near Trinidad. The Trinidad Rancheria is planning a 100-room, 6-story hotel adjacent to the Cherae Heights Casino on Scenic Drive near Trinidad. My guests, Richard Johnson and Dave Hankin, are co-chairs for the Humboldt Alliance for Responsible Planning, a group recently formed to foster community involvement in proposed land developments that could have significant impact on quality of life and the environment. HARP’s concerns about the hotel include water supply, wastewater, impacts to birds, light pollution, traffic, and are calling for more transparency and public involvement. They will hold a public informational meeting on Thursday, Sept. 27, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Trinidad Town Hall.
For more info, visit HARP’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1355024107965432/
Trinidad Rancheria tribe affirms transparency behind hotel project – Shomik Mukherjee, Eureka-Standard, Aug. 31, 2018
KINS Talkshop 070418 – Ryan Sundberg (discussion of the proposed hotel starts at 22:50)
Indian Island Stephen Kullmann Quote Credit U.S. EPA Today my guests are Ted Hernandez Tribal Chairman of the Wiyot Tribe; Michelle Vassel, Tribal Administrator; and Tim Nelson, Director of the Natural Resources Department. They are here to talk about the return of Indian Island to the tribe, the cleanup of the contaminated former boatyard at Tuluwat Village, and the recent revival of the tribe’s World Renewal ceremonies that were interrupted in 1860 by brutal massacres.
Indian Island is the spiritual center of the universe for the Wiyot Tribe. In 2001, the tribe purchased 1.5 acres for $106,000. In 2004, the City of Eureka returned 40 acres to the tribe, and as in the process of returning an additional 202 acres.
To read more about the long path to regaining control of the island, the cleanup of the village site, and the first U.S. EPA Site Reuse Award ever granted to a tribe, see Environmental Stewardship and Cultural Preservation on California’s Coast: The Tuluwat Village Site on Indian Island in Humboldt County, California.
August 25 is Wiyot Day! Every year, the Wiyot Tribe hosts Wiyot Day to provide an opportunity for the whole community to come together and celebrate Wiyot culture, and to honor elders and veterans. The event is held at Table Bluff Reservation in Loleta, south of Humboldt Bay. Features include dance and cultural demonstrations, a Stick Game, Card Game Tournament, live music, games for kids and vendors. For more info, visit the Wiyot Day Facebook page.
For more info on Wiyot culture, language, fisheries projects, water quality monitoring, and other ongoing work, visit the Tribe’s website at http://www.wiyot.us.
Flooding in King Salmon, CA during a “King Tide,” Dec. 2014. Credit: Humboldt Baykeeper Jen Kalt Aldaron Laird is a local environmental planner who has spent years thinking about how best to prepare the Humboldt Bay area for flooding, erosion, and higher groundwater levels that are projected in the next several decades as sea level rises. On August 7, he will lead a public workshop focusing on King Salmon and Fields Landing, which will be among the first local communities to face the effects of rising sea level.
The options include protection with seawalls, levees, or wetlands; accommodating by elevating buildings and roads; relocation of existing structures; and limiting new development in low-lying areas. We have some time to prepare, but we need to start planning now.
Humboldt County has received grant funding from the Ocean Protection Council and the California Coastal Commission to update the Humboldt Bay Area Plan, a component of the County’s Local Coastal Program. The HBAP was originally certified in 1982, and establishes policies that govern the use of approximately 21,500 acres of land in the unincorporated area around Humboldt Bay and over 20 miles of Pacific coastline.
The primary objective of the update is to build on the coordinated sea level rise and tsunami safety planning.
For more info:
· King Salmon, Fairhaven, Fields Landing ‘ground zero’ for sea level rise – Will Houston, Eureka Times-Standard
· Humboldt County Local Coastal Plan Update
· Humboldt Baykeeper’s Sea Level Rise webpage
· The Humboldt Bay Area Plan Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment
Attend upcoming public meetings:
Aug. 7 at Humboldt County Agricultural Office on Humboldt Hill – regarding the communities of King Salmon and Field’s Landing;
Aug. 14 at the Samoa Women’s Club – regarding the community of Fairhaven.
Joe Tyburczy of California Sea Grant Extension and HSU graduate student Eric LeBlanc recently deployed instruments during very low tides to measure pH levels and other environmental conditions in and near eelgrass beds in Humboldt Bay. Credit Brian Carter Joe Tyburczy is a marine ecologist with the California Sea Grant Extension who is studying the effects of eelgrass on ocean acidification. Joe and his colleagues are examining eelgrass’s role in reversing the effects of ocean acidification, which disrupts the ability to form shells in juvenile oysters and other marine life.
Eelgrass is an aquatic plant that plays a key role in the Humboldt Bay ecosystem. It appears to buffer pH levels, which are declining – meaning the water is becoming more acidic or corrosive – in many coastal areas due to rapidly increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and oceans. By monitoring pH, carbonate,y and other water chemistry in and near eelgrass beds, Tyburczy’s team hopes to better understand the role that eelgrass can play in reducing the effects of acidification on the Humboldt Bay ecosystem and its thriving oyster industry.
For more info:
State-of-the-art ocean chemistry monitoring comes to Humboldt Bay: The third “Burke-o-Lator” in California was recently installed at the Hog Island Oyster Company’s new hatchery on Humboldt Bay. The new instrument will monitor how the seawater chemistry is being altered by ocean acidification: as the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere increases, some of that CO2 dissolves into the ocean, making the seawater more acidic.
Central & Northern California Ocean Observing System (CeNCOOS): The Humboldt Bay Station will soon be streaming data from the new “Burke-o-Lator” at Hog Island Oyster Company. CeNCOOSis one of eleven regional coastal observation systems in a national framework of covering all coastal areas throughout the United States. Explore the CenCOOS Data Portalfor real-time sensor feeds, operational oceanographic and atmospheric models, satellite observations and GIS data sets that describe the biological, chemical and physical characteristics.
Marbled Godwits are one of many species of shorebirds that flock to Humboldt Bay in the spring. Artwork courtesy of Godwit Days. Godwit Days is an annual festival celebrating spring bird migration in and around Humboldt Bay, an important stop on the Pacific Flyway for thousands of shorebirds, waterfowl, hawks, owls, songbirds. My guest is Godwit Days Media Liaison, Sue Leskiw.
Events include nearly 100 field trips, workshops, lectures, boat trips, a banquet, silent auction, and events like the “Big Day,” where participants travel by bus around Humboldt County to spot around 135 bird species.
A new free event this year is a Spanish-language bird walk led by Jose Luis Sandoval of Latino Outdoors on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon.
For the full schedule, information on each event and on-line registration, visit www.godwitdays.org. Register online or by calling (707) 826-7050 or 1 (800) 908-WING.
Ross Taylor, fisheries biologist and primary consultant on the Humboldt Bay Mercury Assessment, weighs a California halibut caught for the study. Photo by Jennifer Kalt. Have you wondered whether it is safe to eat fish from Humboldt Bay? Humboldt Baykeeper has been testing mercury levels in local fish with today’s guest, fisheries consultant Ross Taylor.
For more info, visit humboldtbaykeeper.org or like us on Facebook. To receive our e-newsletter, send a message to alerts@humboldtbaykeeper.org.
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A floating offshore WindFloat (wind turbine) operating at rated capacity (2MW) located approximately 5km off Aqucadoura, Portugal.
Photo: Untrakdrover, Wikimedia CC.
Will Humboldt be the site of the West Coast’s first offshore wind energy project?
Redwood Coast Energy Authority’s Executive Director Matthew Marshall discusses the agency’s proposal for 10-15 floating wind turbines 20-30 miles west of Humboldt Bay. The project is in the early stages and will require numerous studies to examine potential impacts to whales and other marine mammals, seabirds, fish and commercial fishing, and scenic views.
Redwood Coast Energy Authority will hold two public meetings to introduce the concept, answer questions, and gather public input:
- Monday, March 5 – Samoa Social Club 4-7pm
- Tuesday, March 6 – Plaza View Room 4-7pm
For more information:
- Redwood Coast Energy Authority
- Schatz Energy Research Center at Humboldt State University
- Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s Wind Energy Commercial Leasing Process
Indian Beach. Photo: Jennifer Kalt. On January 4, the Trump Administration announced its plan to open nearly all federal waters to offshore oil exploration and drilling. It would be the largest ever proposed, with 47 leases, including 6 off the California coast. In the current draft, Northern and Central CA lease sales are scheduled for 2021 and 2023.
Jennifer Savage of Surfrider Foundation joins us to discuss resistance to this outrageous plan at the local, state, and national levels.
Part 2: Larry Glass of the Northcoast Environmental Center gives us some good news about a coalition that successfully sued to block the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s plan to spray pesticides on school grounds, private property, and even organic farms.
Take Action: Submit a comment online by March 9!
https://www.boem.gov/National-Program-Comment/
Tips for making comments from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management: Helpful comments provide specifics regarding impacts to the ocean and coasts, the plants and animals, to people, and how people use the ocean; and where and when the ocean is utilized; Are fact-based; Include links to data or research.
Online petitions make it easy to comment, but it’s very important to make personal comments when you sign online petitions (see tips for making comments above).
• Protect Our Oceans from Offshore Drilling – California Coastkeeper, Heal the Bay, and Surfrider’s petition that will be submitted to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management before the March 9 comment deadline.
• Ask Our Federal Leaders to Protect Our Coasts from New Offshore Drilling – Surfrider Foundation’s petition to federal officials and Congress.
Tune in to learn how you can take action to protect our coast! See below for links and info.