econews, fall 2009 ~ north coast environmental center

8/9/2019 EcoNews, Fall 2009 ~ North Coast Environmental Center

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ECONEWSThe Newsletter

of the Northcoast Environmental

Center

Inside Tis IssueCalifornia Condor....................................3 Te Yurok ribe Hopes to Bring Back the CondorKlamath Update.............................................4

Warming Waters Could Be Lethal or FishSacramento Fisheries Collapse...............4

Eureka Fishermen AfectedGeneral Plan: Preventing Sprawl............6

Smart Planning is Not New-Fangled

Railroad: oxic Legacy..............................7Buried Pesticides and Current Pollutants

Eco-Fun For Kids.....................................8 Go Play Outside, Word Search and moreActivist ool Box......................................9

Hit Corproations Where It HurtsKin o Te Earth....................................10

EPIC Uses Law and Science to Save HabitatLife Form of the Month.........................10

Cali ornia Globe MallowEco-Mania...............................................11

A Monthly Melange o Salient Sillies

Ocean Protection: Call Out The Marinesby Sarah OLeary

Hailed by conservationists as an inclusive processthat will protect Cali ornias marine li e, but reviledby shermen and even many environmentalists, theMarine Li e Protection Act (MLPA) has stirred passionsthroughout coastal Cali ornia. Now, its coming to theNorth Coast

Tink o it as protecting our underwater parks like our underwater Yosemites and Redwoods, saidSamantha Murray, Paci c Region Ecosystems Manager

or the Ocean Conservancy.Its just one o a wave o initiatives, all o which

seem to aimed at blocking of the ocean and making itunavailable or shing, said Dave Bitts, president o thePaci c Coast Federation o Fishermens Associations.

Approved by Cali ornia lawmakers in 1999, theMLPA directs the state to create and manage a networko marine protected areas (MPAs) along the coastline,as well as re-evaluate and redesign existing MPAs.

Te act de nes three types o protected areas:Marine Reserves, where no shing is permitted;Marine Conservation Areas, where some commercialand recreational shing could take place; and MarineParks, which would be open only to recreational

shing. Te Cali ornia Department o Fish & Game(CDFG) is charged with implementing the Act.

Initial attempts at implementation stalled due toCDFGs ailure to include public input and loss o

unding. But in 2004, with the help o private unders,the MLPA Initiative was introduced. Te Initiative apublic/private partnership unded by private and statemonies divided the coast into ve study regions(see map, p. 5) and provided or a ormal ask Force,Science Advisory eam and Regional StakeholdersGroups to develop and evaluate the MPAs. (See boxedin ormation, p. 5)

Te MLPA has already been implemented on theCentral Coast, is scheduled to be nalized on the North

Central Coast this August and begins the implementationprocess here on the North Coast this summer.Pros and Cons

Proponents o the MLPA argue that Cali ornia cannot

aford to wait toprotect marine

li e, especially considering amulti-billiondollar tourismindustry dependent onhealthy oceans.

Cali orniasmarine li e isgetting smallerand scarcer arecent study

ound that theaverage Paci cCoast sh isabout hal thesize it was 20

years ago, saidMurray. I wedont act now to restore thehealth o ourcoastal waters,some species may never recover.

Pat Higgins,Fi th District Commissioner or the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District, agreesthat some level o marine protection is necessary, buthe does not think the MLPA approach is appropriate orthe North Coast.

We need an exercise like this, but it should bescience-based and not capricious, he said.

Higgins has spearheaded a North Coast Local InterestMarine Protected Area Workgroup to monitor theimplementation o the MLPA. Te workgroup met twicein June, with another meeting scheduled or Monday,June 29, at 3 p.m. at HSUs Aquatic Center in Eureka.

It is the harbor districts intent to convene all o

the interests rom the whole North Coast region,said Higgins. We want to make sure that the localstrategies that are cra ted are in the interests o all thecommunities along the coast and that they are science-based and will create true sustainability.

Tis is our efort to get a air shake in the MLPAprocess, Higgins said, adding that very little scienti cdata on marine activity are available or the NorthCoast region, and that although the language o the1999 MLPA document calls or use o the best readily available science, the current process does not have ascienti c basis.

Pending Park Closures Threaten WildlifeAll 13 o Humboldt Countys State Parks are

scheduled to close i Governor S chwarzeneggersproposal to cut unding to Cali ornia State Parksgoes through.

Te Parks Service has identi ed 220 parks that wouldneed to close i they lose the $143 million in state

unding over the two-year period, including 20 parks inthe North Coast Redwoods District.

Without state unding, the parks will operate on a shoe-string staf, and close down all buildings and acilitieson park land, said Jay Harris, natural resource programmanager or the North Coast Redwoods District.

Harris said that the lack o maintenance will resultin structural damage to roads due to slides and plantovergrowth. Unmaintained culverts will ll up withsediment and tree limbs. Tis will cause them to ail, andchange the course o streams, undercutting the roads,diverting sediment to streams and harming salmon.

While some people suspect closing the parks couldgive wildli e a break rom humans, Harris said the lacko regulation will put plants and animals in worse shape.

Snowy plovers will lose ground, Harris said,explaining that the Parks Service will be unable tostop recreation vehicles rom driving on the beach,disturbing the threatened birds, and running over thenests. Non-native European beachgrass will rapidly

cover the dunes once park staf stops removing it, whichwill also displace plover nests, he added.

Te parks eforts to eradicate invasive species wouldbe set back or years, said Harris. In two years, non-native species will wreak havoc on the parks. All therestoration actions that have been done will be lost.

One aquatic invasive species, purple loosestri e,will negatively afect salmon-breeding grounds on the

South Fork o the Eel River. Te plant grows 1-2 meterstall in dense stands that make channels narrower andshallower. Since salmon spawn in deeper water, thepurple loosestri e displaces them, Harris explained.

Wildli e will also sufer rom illegal poachers who willtake advantage o the act that no one will be patrollingthe roads.

I am 100 percent con dent that poaching willincrease, said Patrick Foi, warden or Cali orniaDepartment o Fish and Game. Currently the parksystem protects species such as elk, deer, bear andwild turkeys that poachers hunt or their meat and ashunting trophies.

Some people will take advantage o the parksother resources too, Harris pointed out. Withouten orcement, people could cut down trees, take the

by Leigh Lawson

The Marine Li e Protection Act (MLPA), which establishes no-take marine reserves along the Cali ornia coast, will soon beimplemented on the North Coast. Pictured above: Camel Rock o the coast o Trinidad - an area designated as a Cali orniaCoastal National Monument Gateway by the Bureau o Land Management (BLM). The Cali ornia Coastal National Monu-ment is a part o the BLMs National Landscape Conservation System and is completely separate rom the MLPA process.

Continued on page 6

Continued on page 4

Klamath DamsTake The Stage

Tis summerDellArte i sreviving the30-year-old eco-thriller, Intrigue at Ah-Pah or the 19th Annual Mad RiverFestival.

Back in 1979,when the play debuted in BlueLakes PerigotPark, the Klamathdams, waterdiversions and thedecline o salmonpopulationswere ront pagenews. Sadly, 30 years later, theheadlines areeven more grim.

Part o the Scar issue Mystery trilogy, developedby DellArtes ounding artistic director Joan Schirle, theplays storyline still resonates today, three decades a terits writing, as continued drought has turned the thirsty eyes o Southern Cali ornia toward the waters o theNorth Coast once again.

Delivering laughs alongside a deeper understandingo the interconnectedness o all, the revamped Intrigue at Ah-Pah plays out on the banks o theKlamath River, where Eurekas only lady privatedetective takes on a murder mystery that involvesthreatened salmon runs, stolen river water, NativeAmerican ishing rights, dam removal and a host o other ripped- rom-the-headlines subjects.

hose interested in these issues wont want to miss Intrigue at Ah-Pah , playing June 25, 26, 27, 28, andJuly 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 11 and 12 at 8 p.m. in DellArtesRooney Ampitheater. ickets are $15 adults , $12seniors and $5 kids.

Photo Sam Camp / campphoto.com

P h o

t o : D e

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July 2009 ECONEWSwww.yournec.org2

Bouquet

Letters to ECONEWS Got something on your mind? Send it in! Please limit letters to 300 words or fewer and include your full name and cityof residence. We may edit for space and clarity. E-mail letters to [email protected] by the 20th of the month, or mail to1465 G Street, Arcata, CA 95521

Arcata Community Recycling CenterAllison Poklemba [email protected] Native Plant SocietyJen Kalt (Secretary) [email protected] Region Audubon SocietyC.J. Ralph [email protected] Club North Group, Redwood ChapterMelvin McKinney [email protected] BaykeeperPete Nichols (President) [email protected] of Del NorteEileen Cooper [email protected] Alternatives For Our Forest EnvironmentLarry Glass lglass@ oggy.net Environmental Protection Information Center

Scott Greacen scott@wildcali ornia.orgAt-LargeJim Clark (Vice President) [email protected] Martin Swett (Treasurer) [email protected] Bob Morris (Trinity County Representive)[email protected]

NEC Board Of Directors

Volunteer submissions are welcome! Full articles o 500 words or ewer may be submitted by the 15tho each month, pre erably by e-mail. Longer articlesshould be pitched to the editor, contact [email protected] or call 707-822-6918. Includeyour phone number and e-mail with all submissions.

Ideas and views expressed in ECONEWS are notnecessarily those of the NEC.

is the offi cial monthly publication o the NorthcoastEnvironmental Center , a non-pro t organization,1465 G Street St., Arcata, CA 95521; (707) 822-6918;Fax (707) 822-0827. Third class postage paid inArcata. ISSN No. 0885-7237. ECONEWS is mailed reeto our members and distributed ree throughout theNorthern Cali ornia/Southern Oregon bioregion. Thesubscription rate is $25 per year.

ECONEWS

Editor: Sarah OLeary [email protected]: Matt Hawk Advertising: Sarah OLeary and Damon Maguire,[email protected]

Proofreaders: Sue Leskiw, Sid DominitzWriters: Jocelyn Orr, Sarah OLeary, Leigh Lawson, Al-lison Poklemba, Dr. Loon, Sue Leskiw, Jen Kalt, SydneyCarothers, Carol Ralph, Matt Hawk, Georgianna Wood,Felice Pace, Sarah Marnick, Dave Bitts, Greg KingArtists: Mark Jacobson, Terry TorgersonCover Art: Sam Camp / campphoto.com

NEC Mission To promote understanding o the rela-

tions between people and the biosphereand to conserve, protect and celebrate

terrestrial, aquatic and marine eco-systems o northern Cali ornia and

southern Oregon.

Every issue of ECONEWS is printed on recycled paper with soy-based inks. Please Recycle.

Tis months oral tributes go to:

Te dedicated activists at Defendersof Wildlife who, along with 12 otherconservation organizations, led alawsuit challenging Ken Salazarsdecision to remove protection or wolvesin the northern Rocky Mountains. Goodluck to the De enders and their allies,mobilizing relentlessly in support o anecosystem that needs the wol niche! Te California Coastal Conservancy and the local private donors whocontributed to the unding that, along witha grant rom the Wildli e ConservationBoard, will be used to build a public parkingarea and restroom acility at the HumboldtCoastal Nature Center north o Manila.Te new acilities will allow Friends o

the Dunes to run its Bay to the Duneseducational program or local schools.Private donors included WildberriesMarketplace, Humboldt Area Foundationand McLean Foundation. Te federal biologists at the U.S.Fish & Wildlife Service who determinedthat the marbled murrelet in Cali ornia,Oregon and Washington should remainprotected as a threatened species.

Who are the eco-warriors that inspire you? If you know of an individual or group that deserves to be honored witha Bouquet of the Month, send your nominations to [email protected]

Arts! Arcata At The NEC

Join us or our monthly Arts! Arcata

celebration on Friday, July 10 rom 6 to 9 p.m.Tis month we are eaturing theartwork o Louise Bacon-Ogden, ormerowner o Strictly For Te Birds, a shop inOld own, Eureka.

While owning and operating a retailshop required a certain creative air suchas displays, murals and signage Louisebecame serious about art ve years agowhen she retired.

A lover o nature and drawing sincechildhood, Bacon-Ogden signed up ora summer pencil drawing class throughHSU. It was love at rst pencil stroke.She also ound out that she was good at it.

Since then Louise has tried her handat watercolor pencil, colored pencil, dry brush oil, plein air drawing, pen andink and even a mosaics class.

Bacon-Ogdens work has been shownat various locations around Humboldt,including Ink People, Curves in Cuttenand on Broadway, the Humboldt County Fair and, o course, Strictly or the Birds.

Meet the artist during Arts! Arcataand enjoy the usual sampling o localwines provided by Libation, as wellas juices, sodas and snacks, including

reshly baked cookies thanks to RoyalCookie Capers.

Well see you here on July 10, at ourWorld Headquarters on G Street inArcata, between 14 th and 15 th Streets.

News From the Center

Constant pressure, constantly applied -thats what our ounder im McKay alwayssaid. And thats exactly what weve donewith regard to the Klamath dams. Wevebeen at this or over 10 years, and over thelast three years negotiations have becomeintense. A deal nally seems imminent.

As you read this, a hand ul o spring

chinook salmon are braving killer damsto make their journey into the upperreaches o the Klamath River. Tese early salmon runs occur only in rivers such asthe Klamath, whose headwaters begin insnow-capped mountains.

But it is only a hand ul o shbecause Klamaths wild spring chinookpopulations, like the endangeredKlamath coho salmon, are almost extinct.oday, in all o Cali ornia, wild spring

chinook salmon number ewer than1,000 individuals, and they occur only inthe Klamath and Sacramento Rivers.

In the Klamath, where theyre reducedto less than 2 percent o their originalnumbers, the salmon cant get past IronGate Dam, which, along with threeother Klamath dams, block 350 miles o spawning habitat.

Dam removal is the single mostimportant restoration measure needed

today on the Klamath River, not only toreclaim lost salmon habitat, but also toeliminate the warm, shallow reservoirsbehind the dams that inundate the riverwith toxic algae.

Te NEC has been a leader in theKlamath dam-removal efforts for morethan a decade, and intensely involved

in direct negotiations for the past three years. Our ability to stay at the table andght for the sh has been made possibleby your continued nancial support. Weneed such support now more than ever.

Te NEC has insisted on highstandards since the beginning o theKlamath dam negotiations, to ensurethat the nal agreement meets the needso wildli e as well as humans. We evencommissioned and unded a peer review o the scienti c conclusions containedin the Klamath Basin RestorationAgreement (KBRA) and a legal review o its long-term implications. We didntreject this deal without solid scienti cand legal reasons (see May ECONEWS ).

Now, as we head into the apparentconclusion o negotiations over theKBRA and the Hydro Agreement, yoursupport is vital.

Perhaps more importantly, as the

largest and most enduring conservationorganization serving the Klamath Basin,the NEC is uniquely quali ed to educatepolicy-makers in Sacramento andWashington, DC about the two deals.

In April we sent our Klamath campaigncoordinator to Washington to educateCongressional stafers about the dam

deals, and the need to en orce the ederalEndangered Species Act and Clean WaterAct in the Klamath. He told them thatthe dams slated or removal provide noirrigation water and no ood control. Tesedams are or hydropower only, and they provide Paci Corp with less than 2 percento the companys entire power output.

Visiting Washington remainsimportant because the water deal willrequire legislation to become law. Intodays economy, such legislation must be

scally lean, and yet the KBRA budget isnearly $1 billion and it contains nearly $200 million in subsidies or armers. Asuccess ul new law must avoid a massivewater guarantee or armers and insteadguarantee water or sh.

Your NEC is on the front lines, but we cant continue the work without your generous contributions. Pleasehelp today .

Constant Pressure, Constantly Applied by Georgianna Wood

Dear ECONEWS,Somehow in the editing process, the

article in the June ECONEWS aboutthe planned eradication o cordgrassin the Humboldt Bay a very complexissue made it appear that I, and theorganization I represent, Cali ornians

or Alternatives to oxics, might supportherbicide use to control this weed i eradication is easible. No. We do notaccept herbicide use even or eradicationeforts under any circumstance.

Actually, its obvious that planscurrently being ormulated are drivenby the WISH that eradication is easible,not by hard evidence that this ispossible. Tis is dangerous. Te reality is that eradication is rarely achievableand almost impossible once a planthas invaded even a raction o the landbase now covered with cordgrass inHumboldt Bay. oo bad, but biology is incharge and we can only try to cooperate.Cordgrass, sad to say, may be here tostay.

Herbicide spraying or cordgrassin San Francisco Bay and up north inWashington has been occurring annually

or many years. Yet, with no end insight, nothing even vaguely approachingeradication has been achieved despitethe application o vats o herbicideand a widespread poisoning o theenvironment. Te herbicides just pilemore burden on ecologies already undersiege by various problems, o which theinvasive weed is only a symptom.

Te article could also be interpretedto mean that herbicides rouse unruly emotions when its actually ear o alienplants that addles otherwise science-minded people. Tis ear drives many a knee-jerk reaction aimed to stampthe thing out with chemicals, eventhough scienti c study has establishedthat herbicides can exacerbate weedin estation and are rarely use ul overthe long run. And this bad news is inaddition to the harm caused by thechemicals on a wide range o organismscritical to the ecology o the place.

Herbicides:Never A Solution

At CA s, our read o availablescience indicates that stopping thespread o an invasive plant is the rst

vital step in a long process, and thiscan best be accomplished without

applying herbicides. Ten, a collectivedeep breath must be taken and reality accepted.

Rarely is an alien plant, onceestablished, going to be eradicated.Control should be the goal. Stop thespread, reduce the population, stay on top o new plants, stop the spread,reduce the population keep at it andmaybe, one day, eradication will beachieved. But herbicides, alone or aspart o an integrated program, wont getus there.

Patty Clary Californians for Alternatives to oxicsArcata, CA

Of Owls AndClear-CutsDear ECONEWS ,Tank you or the excellent article

on the Northern spotted owl andits cousin the barred owl (See June ECONEWS ). Especially impressive wasGeorgianna Woods highlighting o ethical issues involved in human efortsto avoid causing more extinctions o theplants and animals that have been our

ellow travelers on this planet.As a veteran o the campaign to

protect the ancient orests, I would liketo ofer some additional in ormation.

As noted, the Clinton admi-nistrations plan or the Northernspotted owl included the NorthwestForest Plan. Tis plan ailed to endgovernment clear-cutting it justgave the practice a diferent name:regeneration cutting.

Te approach on private orestlandswas much worse. Not only was clear-cutting allowed, the Clintonistas agreedto accommodate the owl on public

orests and only required private orestowners to provide dispersal habitat.

Tis - and related HabitatConservation Plans that Bruce Babbitts

Letters continue on page 14


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ECONEWS July 2009 www.yournec.org3

The California Condor: Once Again in Humboldt Skies?by Matt Hawk

On an overcast summer day in Humboldt, wildli ebiologists Chris West and iana Williams trudge acrossSamoa Beach in search o a sea lion carcass. As they

ollow GPS navigation provided by the Coast Guard,they come up over the dunes and see their prize a600-pound dead marine mammal.

he stench o the sea lion is not noticeable uponapproach, but as West kneels down next to theanimal it is hard to miss the odor o rotting leshmixed with seawater.

West, however, is not a marine mammal biologist.His job is to nd out i the Cali ornia condor can makea comeback to Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. Heis employed by the Yurok ribe, which is hoping tobring back the condor as part o its restoration plan orYurok ancestral territory.

Te Cali ornia condor, which eeds on carrion,is important to the Yuroks history and customs. Its

eathers are still used in tribal ceremonies. Animalslike the condor have mysterious and mystical qualities,said West, And they have been honored in spiritualand religious ceremonies since be ore anyone canremember. Te public can connect with them and as aresult become interested in the environment.

Tere is also a huge birding industry that encouragespeople to travel rom all over the world to see theCali ornia condor. Condors are the number oneindividual species or birders to travel to see in NorthAmerica, West said.

A ter working with these birds or more than 10

years, West knows the obstacles that lie ahead or thecondor in Northern Cali ornia space, nesting, andsa e, reliable ood sources.

He takes a kni e rom his red toolbox andcuts a square o blubber rom the animal. Tesample will be tested to nd out the levels o DDE a chemical byproduct o the pesticideDD stored in the animals at cells. Tis willestablish whether or not dead marine mammalswill be a good ood source or reintroduced

Cali ornia condors. DDE contamination leads to thethinning o eggshells, and has resulted in recent highegg mortality in the reintroduced Big Sur population.Tis is a major problem or condor pairs, which only lay one egg every other year.

Species Once PlentifulMore than 100 years ago, a hunters paradise

welcomed settlers who moved to the northwesternUnited States. Mammals such as bison, elk, and grizzlieswere relatively common in the region.

In the air, the Cali ornia condor was king. Flyingmajestically overhead, its 9-and-a-hal - oot-wingspancast a shadow on the ground as it searched or carrion.

But, by the late 1800s the overhunted bisonno longer roamed the prairies, the grizzlies wereall but gone and only a small number o condorssoared the skies.

How did such a magni cent creature come so close tothe brink o extinction? Tere are lots o theories, butnot much was documented about the birds past in the

Paci c Northwest, West said.It is likely that sea lions have always

been a ood source or condors, but in the1970s the mammals became contaminated

rom the production o DD in SouthernCali ornia. By the 1980s, the total numbero condors had dwindled to 22, with only nine ree-ying in the wild. As the once-mighty bird inched closer to extinction,these remaining wild condors werecaptured and a captive breeding programbegan in Southern Cali ornia.

he program was success ul, andtoday the population numbers over 300.

Although about 150 birds remain incaptivity or breeding purposes, another180 o them are now ree to roam theskies in Southern Cali ornia, Arizona,

and Baja Cali ornia. hese protected birdsare all individually numbered and carry tracking transmitters.

Back to the North Coast?Bringing back the Cali ornia condor is a daunting

task, albeit a respectable one. Te U.S. Fish and Wildli eService (USFWS) bestowed a $200,000 grant to the

Yurok ribe to help und studies that will determinethe easibility o restoring the condor population

to the North Coast.John Hunter, a biologist rom the

Arcata offi ce o USFWS,is working with

the ribe. He said that Northern Cali ornia is very di erent rom the southern condor range. Its realopen country [down there] with rocky outcrops orthe birds to nest in, said Hunter. Up here it is likeMonterey. here the birds are nesting in Redwoods .One o the concerns we have is, Is it suitable?

Te ribe is working with many organizations todetermine this. Te Oregon Zoo provided $5000 toexamine contaminants in the blubber samples. TeVentana Wilderness Society, who runs the Big Surcondor reintroduction site, helped with the trainingnecessary or drawing blood rom turkey vultures, areasonable surrogate or studying contaminant levels incondors on the North Coast.

Among all the people working to restore the condorpopulation, one group probably plays the largest role inreintroduction hunters

West said condors adults and juveniles can eatabout two and a hal pounds per eeding every two orthree days. Food contamination is the biggest hurdlein condor reintroduction. In addition to the problemo marine mammal contamination, lead contamination

rom spent ammunition in carrion le t by hunters cankill condors in a matter o days.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law aban on hunting with lead ammunition or SouthernCali ornia in 2007. Tis measure was taken a ter itwas shown that ammunition le t in carcasses or gut-piles rom eld dressed game were a leading sourceo mortality in condors reintroduced there. Te banrequires hunters to use non-lead alternatives instead.

West doesnt think that orcing hunters to make theswitch would be a good plan or Humboldt or Del NorteCounties. Hunting is not bad or condors, he said. Itcan be a good thing as long as gut piles and carcassesarent le t in the eld with lead in them. Condors needtop predators to make kills and create carcasses acrossthe landscape. We see hunters as a major component toour restoration eforts.

Williams added that the ribe hopes to start aneducation campaign to show the bene ts o copper andother ammunitions over lead.

Tese eforts have just begun or the Yurok ribe, soonly research and time will tell i the condor can makeits way back to its old northern range. Even i we say no

more lead, there is still going to be lead, said West.Its not about regulation, its about education. Even i more condors are lost, it doesnt mean we shouldnt try to restore wild populations. I dont think we should justwrite the animal of. We need to adapt as much as themto be able to live in concert with nature.

Green living is in, and each month publishers send ECONEWS review copies o some o the latest bookson environmental issues. Tese books make their way into the NEC library, where they are available or publicperusal and borrowing.

We welcome and encourage readers to drop by theNEC any time to take a look at our library and at someo our newest arrivals. You are welcome to borrow the review copies to read and submit a review to bepublished in ECONEWS .

Here is a sampling o some o the books that havearrived in our mailbox during the past ew months:

Wildebeest in a Rainstorm :Proles of Our Most Intriguing Adventurers, Conservationists,Shagbags and Wanderers , by JonBowermaster. A series o eco-travelstories and interviews written withand about a wide cross-sectiono the worlds most interestingconservationists, explorers andpro essional wanderers. Includespro les o such enviro luminaries

as Wangari Maathai, WinonaLaduke and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Home: A Hymn to the Planet and Humanity , by

Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Jaw-dropping photos depictingenvironmental destruction as well as the Earths beauty accompany in ormative text. Te book is a companionto the documentary lm o the same name. Photos by Arthus-Bertrand and text by the team at GoodPlanet,a nonpro t dedicated to promoting sustainabledevelopment.

Ecoholic (when youre addicted to the planet) :Your Guide to the Most Environmentally Friendly Information, Products & Services , by Adria Vasil.An eye-opening guide to decoding the green rom thegreenwashed. Written in a un and quirky style, this is agreat guide to making well-in ormed eco-choices.

Sewing Green : 25 ProjectsMade with Repurposed &Organic Materials , by BetzWhite. For the ecologically minded cra ter, this bookincludes diagrams, photos and

tips and resources or earth-riendly stitching.

e Atlas of Endangered Species , by Richard Mackay.With 20 percent o the earths

species acing extinction by 2030, this atlas presents up-to-date data on those that have been lost already, thosethat are threatened and those that are surviving today.With ull-color maps and detailed graphics, this bookcatalogs the inhabitants o a wide variety o ecosystems,including orests, mangroves and coral ree s.

Evolutions Edge : Te Coming Collapse and theransformation of Our World , by Graeme aylor.

Explains not only why the collapse o our violent anddestructive global system is inevitable, but also why a new type o sustainable civilization has begun toemerge, and how we can accelerate this process throughuniting around ethical, constructive views and values.

Animal Migration : Remarkable Journeys in the Wild , by Ben Hoare.

Lavishly illustrated withphotos and maps, thisbook highlights speci cconservation issues whiletracing the routes o almosta hundred diferent animalspecies. Includes detaileddescriptions o navigation,reproduction and eedingstrategies.

Wildli e biologist Christ West takes a blubber sample rom a dead sea lion while TiannaWilliams looks on. The Yurok Tribe is hopiong to restore the Cali ornia condor to theNorth Coast but rst mus t determine i there would be an adequate ood source or thecarrion- eeding bird. Photo: Matt Mais.Above right: Two wild Cali ornia condors in fight. Photo: Chris West

Write A Review! New Books At The NEC

Condor Fast Facts Wingspan: Nine-and-a-hal eetHabitat: Rocky outcrops, redwoods and wide-openterritory to scan or oodDiet: Animal carcasses (carrion) such as deer andsea mammalsMaturity: A ter a chick hatches it spends severalmonths with its parents in or around the nest. A terabout a year, young birds y with their parents toexplore their territory and eeding sites. Ten, thebirds nd their own circle o riends and a mate by the time they reach 6 to 8 years o age.Breeding: Condors pair up in the winter and becomepartners or li e. Tey lay eggs in redwoods or rocky outcrops in the spring, about once every other year.

Matt Hawk is an HSU senior studying journalism. He graduates in May of 2010. He is spending the summer helping out the NEC as an intern for ECONEWS.


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September 23 - November 188 Wednesday Evenings - 7:00-9:30 p.m.at Moonrise Herbs on the Plaza, Arcata

707-442-8157 www.dandelionherb.comDandelion Herbal Center

janeb @ arcatanet.com PO Box 4440, Arcata, CA 95518

with Jane Bothwell

BEGINNING WITHHERBS

First Aid Medicine Making Plant IDPlus 2 Herb Walks

Another Fish Kill Looming?Now acing a third consecutive dry year, rinity Lake

is warming, which could have lethal implications or shin both the rinity and Klamath rivers.

he popular rinity Lake campground has closedits marina or the 2009 season due to low water in thelake. he impact is most noticeable to humans looking

to camp and launch their boats onto a body o waterthat covers what was once one o the inest alpine

valleys in Cali ornia.Another dry year means that we might run out o

cold water in the reservoir, said om Stokely, waterpolicy coordinator or the Cali ornia Water Impact

Network.Once you run out o

cold water in the rinity then theres nothing le t [to

cool the lower Klamath,]added Stokely, who recently retired a ter 23 years asthe principal planner orthe rinity County WaterResources Division.

Stokely said that coldwater ows rom the

rinity River can lowerthe mainstem Klamathtemperatures by ve degreesFahrenheit, a distinction thatcan mean li e or death or

sh. He raised the alarm thata lack o cold water rom the

rinity this year, combinedwith low ows overall inthe Klamath and a larger-than- normal run o allChinook salmon, could leadto another sh kill.

By mid-June rinity Lake, which provides

irrigation water to Central Valley armers, was only hal ull and dropping ast. Last year at this time the lake was

68 percent ull.In other Klamath news, Hoopa ribal Chairman Lyle

Marshall lost his election bid to continue as Chairmano the ribe. In the June election, Leonard MastenJr., a longtime member o the Hoopa ribal Council,de eated Marshall by a vote o 489 to 419. Te changein leadership is not expected to alter the Hoopa ribalCouncils opposition to the Klamath Basin Restoration

Agreement (KBRA).KBRA negotiators have yet to release to the publica nal version o the water deal, which would grantirrigators a guaranteed allotment o Klamath Riverwater as well as a 50-year license to arm 22,000 acreson the Klamath National Wildli e Re uge.

Te delay in nalizing the KBRA is linked to asimilar delay in completing an associated dam removalagreement with the energy company Paci Corp.

Tat deal, the Klamath Hydroelectric SettlementAgreement, was expected to be nalized by the end o June but has been held up by intense negotiations overthe timing and means o dam removal.

Meanwhile, massive summer blooms o toxic blue-green algae in the reservoirs behind Paci CorpsKlamath dams have prompted state and ederalagencies, and the Yurok and Karuk tribes, to issue

warnings against so much as touching the water.Tis is a situation that anyone who comes into contactwith water at Copco or Iron Gate should be aware o .Vacationers and the public should adjust their activitiesaccordingly, said Catherine Kuhlman, executive offi cer orthe North Coast Regional Water Board.

Klamath Update by Greg King

The Trinity River wends through the Hoopa Valley. Warming temperatures in Trinity Lake could mean thatthe Klamath River will not get its usual cooling fows rom the Trinity, with a deadly e ect on sh.

A new Biological Opinion released by the NationalMarine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has con rmed theworst ears o shermen and salmon lovers. Unlessthere is a signi cant reduction in water diversions romthe Sacramento Delta, all Sacramento River stocks o salmon will become extinct.

For about 50 years Sacramento River all-runchinook salmon have been the bread and butter o ocean salmon sheries, sport and commercial, of Oregon and Cali ornia.

Until about 1980, Eureka had the highest salmonlandings o any single port in Cali ornia. Ten, two

actors concern or the health o the Klamathall run and allocation issues between the in-river

tribal sheries and ocean sheries caused severerestrictions in salmon shing along the North Coast.During the 90s, shing or coho salmon was restricted,then closed. Chinook shing was also constrained dueto the risk o coho encounter and mortality and thelisting o coastal all chinook as threatened

Troughout this time, the Sacramento run stayedstrong and steady, and shermen and sheries managerslearned how to avoid the constraining stocks whilemaintaining the best access possible to that Sacramentorun. Te eet o Eureka-based trollers dwindled romhundreds around 1980, to about a hundred by 1990, to,lately, the couple o dozen o us who are willing to travelthat ar, living on our boats through the summer, inorder to ollow the passion that we are too stubborn ordumb to give up.

But when the Sacramento run crashed as it has orthe past two years, Eurekas salmon shermen (and allthe rest o Cali ornias trollers) had nowhere to go. Mosto us agree that we were right not to sh last year and,i the stock projections are accurate, we should avoidcatching Sacramento sh this year.

So what happened to the Sacramento River? How didit all rom producing about 800,000 sh rom 1995-2005, to 66,000 last year and a projected 122,000 this year?

Most o the beauti ul, robust, delicious andabundant Sacramento all run sh have been comingrom hatcheries or decades. Frank Fisher, a retired

Department o Fish & Game (DFG) biologist, said longago that most o the Sacramento run spawns in gravelbut came rom a hatchery. He meant that sh spawnedin Sacramento River gravel instead o on concrete havea very poor rate o survival to adulthood.

But it gets worse: to help hatchery sh get past allthe unscreened diversions, and especially past the hugeDelta pumps, sh rom the three state hatcheries havebeen trucked to tidewater or more than 20 years. oprevent those sh released into tidewater rom beingeaten, theyve been released into net pens, held untiltheyre a little bit acclimated, then released. ruckingand acclimation can each double or triple the survivalrate compared to releasing sh at the hatchery.

So the Sacramento River, its tributaries and theDelta are so messed up that it takes three stages o human intervention to get little salmon to the oceanin decent numbers.

Te just-released NMFS Biological Opinion (BiOp)on Delta operations concludes that continuing thestatus quo in the Delta will lead to extinction o all listedanadromous stocks in the Central Valley. Te documentwas prepared in response to a ederal courts rejectiono an earlier BiOp (2004), whose nal version said no

jeopardy, thus paving the way or a 20 percent increasein water exports rom the Delta to agriculture. Tisincrease correlates pretty well with the stock collapse.

Te new BiOp shows the train o mortality within theDelta in great detail. It says that ocean-bound salmonthat leave the Sacramento River or the Delta survive toadulthood at one-third the rate o sh that stay in theSacramento.

Te BiOp also says that sh un ortunate enough toollow the current to Cli ton Court Forebay, just ahead

o the Delta pumps, sufer 60 to 99 percent mortality rom predation. Subsequently, hal o the survivors are

salvaged by the screens at the pumps themselves.Te BiOp will require at least ve actions to change

conditions in the Central Valley in avor o salmon.ogether, they are likely to add up to a 6 percent

reduction in Delta water exports (enough to end theworld as we know it, according to our Governor). Tismay come on top o the 20 percent reduction ordered

What Happened To The Sacramento Salmon?by Dave Bitts

More information at

Blue Dolphin Alliance www.bluedolphin.org

888-694-2537

Save the Dolphin

Save Yourself

Dave Bitts has been shing commercially for salmonand crabs for over 30 years. He represented Californiacommercial salmon shermen on the Klamath Fisheries Management Council and Klamath River Task Force for more than 10 years and is currently President of the PacicCoast Federation of Fishermens Associations (PCFFA). Helives in McKinleyville and is a life member of NEC.

Photo: Greg King

The collapse o the Sacramento River sheries o the past two yearsimpacts shermen throughout the state. A newly released reportwarns that unless water diversions rom the Sacramento Delta aresigni cantly reduced, all stocks o salmon in the Sacramento River willbecome extinct.

by a ederal judge to protect Delta smelt and wouldreduce water exports to levels common in the 90s.

Meanwhile, we salmon ishermen (and salmoneaters!) in Eureka and throughout the state haveour ingers crossed or next year. Over 20 millionsalmon were acclimated in the new net pens last

year, and anecdotal reports rom ocean travelersgive reason to hope.

We also hope there will be enough sh of Eurekato be worth chasing during our micro ten-day sport

shing season around Labor Day, the only directedchinook ocean shery south o Cape Falcon this year.

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Proponents disagree. Te MLPA is absolutely ascience-driven process , said Murray.

Melissa Miller-Henson, program manager or theMLPA Initiative, said there is a slew o scienti cguidelines and criteria used in developing the MPAs.Te guidelines are developed by a Science Advisory eam (SA ) unique to each region and include

scientists who have served or other regions as well aslocal science pro essionals and educators.

Each new SA looks at the science guidelines andre nes or adds to them as we gain a better idea o marine activity in the area, said Miller-Henson.

Local Delay SoughtTe harbor district workgroup has composed a letter

to Cali ornia Natural Resources Secretary MichaelChrisman expressing its concerns with the impendingNorth Coast MLPA process and requesting a delay untilmore data can be gathered.

Te Humboldt County Board o Supervisors hasalready signed on to the letter, as has the Eureka City Council. Higgins expects that all North Coast cities,counties and harbor districts will sign on by July 15, inaddition to some Indian tribes.

Pete Nichols, executive director o HumboldtBaykeeper, is hoping that North Coast stakeholderswill be able to reach some orm o compromise onthis issue. Although I can appreciate the desire o the[harbor] district to want to send that letter, we need tobe moving orward to get ready or the process to come

here and its coming. Its unded legislation, Nicholssaid.Bitts, however, doubts that compromise will be

achieved easily. I do not see a meeting o the minds as alikely outcome. Te people driving this process have tobring a large chunk o denial into it, he said, adding thatthose in opposition are also bringing in their own ormo denial.

Im not aware o any area north o Point Arena inneed o a reserve, said Bitts. It seems to be a solutionin search o a problem.

Nichols agreed that the North Coast is unique comparedto other study regions, but emphasized that all stakeholdersneed to be part o the decision-making process. I havesome questions about the [MLPA] process, but my goalis to help make it as inclusive as possible, he said. Andthat means involving the shermen, the tribes all o the

groups that could be impacted.Partipation EncouragedNorth Coast Coordinator Jenni er Savage, recently

hired by the Ocean Conservancy to help acilitatethe process on the North Coast, concurs. Im really concerned that the people most dependent on theoutcome will shun the process, she said. Te nalresults depend on the input o the stakeholders. Temore involvement, the better the end product.

She pointed to the three North Central Coast mapssubmitted to the Blue Ribbon ask Force by the RegionalStakeholders Group one idealizing the conservationists version, one put orth by a team o shermen and one amiddle-ground version. Anyone who looks at the mapscan see that unanimity was reached in some areas andcompromise in others, she said. (Te maps can be viewedat CDFGs web site, www.cdfg.ca.gov)

In addition, Savage said, economic analysts romthe Ecotrust group, an independent entity hired by theMLPA Initiative, will meet with commercial shermen tocomplete an analysis o each individual MPA rom a socio-economic perspective. On the North Central Coast, datagathered rom Ecotrust were used to scale down economicimpact on commercial shing to about six percent.

Te ideal would be to avoid impacting anyone,

Savage said,but given whatwere taskedwith, the goalis to minimizethat impactas much aspossible.Te way inwhich theNorth CentralCoast planincorporatedEcotrustsin ormationreally helpedreduce theeconomicblow. Again,participation iskey.

Point Arena Controversy One reason that local shermen and others see red

ags around the MLPA process is the controversy theresults have generated on the North Central Coast.

Tey shut both north and south o Point Arenaeven a ter locals protested, Higgins said. Were talkingabout the economic vitality o an entire community o 15,000 with 25 percent unemployment.

Higgins said that the Blue Ribbon ask Forceendorsed an alternative that was not consistent withstakeholder recommendations.

Tat is absolutely untrue, Murray said. I sat on thestakeholder group or that region. She explained that theMLPA process calls or alternatives rom the stakeholders.O the three proposals, most o the stakeholders workedon this middle ground alternative, she said.

Te task orce took the middle-ground proposal andused that as their base, she continued. Tey gave acouple o bites o the apple to the conservationists, anda couple o bites to shermens groups.

But some in the Point Arena area did not welcomethe compromise, and they regard the proposed no-takereserves as a serious threat.

Craig Bell, Mendocino County Fish & Game Advisory Commissioner, said that this issue has united grassroots

environmental activists, shermen, community members and harbor districts. Tey are steamrollingthis closure, Bell said. Tey have built a box aroundPoint Arena Harbor.

Since the marine reserves prohibit the harvesting o any ood including seaweed, the proposed Point Arenareserve will seriously impact the decades-old seaweedharvesting business operated by John Lewallen, anenvironmental leader in the Mendocino area who wasunable to participate in the Regional Stakeholder Group.

Lewallen organized a Sustainable Fisheries Reality our of Point Arena in mid-June. Te event was open

to everyone and was attended mostly by grassrootsactivists, shermen, Fish & Game staf and politicalrepresentatives, said Bell.

Bell added that he does not believe the MLPAprocess was truly inclusive. I understand the diference

between being in a process and being processed, hesaid. And we have been processed.Underserved Reserves?

Another worry shared by opponents and ence-sittersis how the new MPAs will be managed and monitored.Although the MLPA Initiative itsel has substantial

unding rom oundations, there is no guarantee that they will continue to und the maintenance o the reserves.

The MLPA Initiative divided the Cali ornia coast into ve separatestudy regions:South Coast study region extends rom the Cali ornia/Mexico border

to Point Conception. Planning process is currently underway.Central Coast study region extends rom Point Conception to PigeonPoint. MLPA process implemented between 2004 and 2007.San Francisco Bay study region is the waters within San FranciscoBay. Implementation will begin in 2010.North Central Coast study region extends rom Pigeon Point to AlderCreek near Point Arena. Implementation between 2007 and 2009 andregulatory process is underway.North Coast study region extends rom Alder Creek near Point Arenato the Cali ornia/Oregon border. Implementation process scheduled

or 2009-2010.

Who Designates The Marine Protected Areas ?Four separate groups are involved in the MLPA planning process: California Department of Fish & Game (CDFG) , the agency responsible for implementingthe MLPA and for making the nal decision on Marine Protected Areas. Blue Ribbon Task Force is composed of ve to eight public leaders selected by the secretaryof the California Natural Resources Agency, Michael Chrisman. This group remains mostlystable from study region to study region, though some new appointments are made with eachstudy region. The Task Force evaluates the alternatives presented by the Stakeholder Group andmakes recommendations to CDFG. Science Advisory Team According to CDFG, the charge to the Science Team is to provide thescientic knowledge and judgment necessary to assist the Blue Ribbon Task Force with meetingthe objectives of the Initiative. The team is required to include staff from the Department of Fishand Game, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the State Water Resources Control Board,and ve to seven scientists, one of whom may have expertise in economics and culture of Califor-nia coastal communities. Scientists who live in the study region are always part of this team. Regional Stakeholder Group, includes individuals from all the interests that have a stakein the regional MLPA process, including shermen, tribal representatives, preservationists,diving groups and harbormasters. Members are selected through an open nomination pro-cess, but the group is chosen by the director of CDFG and the chair of the Blue Ribbon TaskForce, who evaluate the nominations and jointly make appointments.

Te question is where is the $25-40 million per yearneeded to manage the preserves is going to come rom,said Higgins.

Its a signi cant issue, said Nichols. Without areally efective monitoring program, theres no way toevaluate the success o the program.

Murray said that MPA monitoring will be overseenby the Monitoring Enterprise, a program o the OceanScience rust. Four million dollars are already in placeto und baseline monitoring or the North Coast study region, she said, adding that each study region has $4million slated or collection and analysis o baseline data.

Te CDFG website states, Te adaptive managementapproach recommends that the MPAs be re-assessedapproximately every ve years and during thatassessment the MPA designation can change.

Nichols hopes that these recommendations will beollowed. We want to see a more organic approach to

the management and not just locking up areas oreveras preserves, he said.

Marine Protection (continued from page 1)

Get InvolvedThe MLPA Initiative is organizing a seriesof Open Houses on the North Coast toinform the public about the process. EachOpen House takes place from 5:30 to 8:30p.m. and people can come and go at theirleisure, said Miller-Henson. Separate in-formation stations will be set up to provideinformation about different aspects of theprocess.The Open Houses are scheduled as follows:

July 20 Eureka Wharnger Building July 21 Fort Bragg TBA

Mendocino Sea Vegetable Company has been sustainably harvesting wild sea palm o Point Arena lighthouse point or30 years. The proposed Marine Reserve o Point Arena will close the area to shing and seaweed collecting.

Photo: Barbara Lewallen


6/16


The countys current General Plan was written in1984, and since it was developed to promote suburban-type growth, it lacks criteria or planning growth inrural and urban areas.

Te Healthy Humboldt Coalition works toward theadoption o a General Plan Update (GPU) that includesa range o policies that are appropriate to the diferentcommunities and ecosystems within the County.Policies appropriate to the Humboldt Bay area, wheredevelopment pressures are greatest, are not necessarily appropriate or more rural areas o the county.

Better Rural Planning Like the Alternative Owner-Builder ordinance (AOB)

that was adopted in 1984 to create a set o buildingcodes designed or of-the-grid homes, an efectiveGPU will incorporate policies appropriate or uturedevelopment in ruralareas o the County.

Watershed-basedplanning would addressproblems o instreamow and impairmentthat are impacting thesurvival o salmonidpopulations. Insalmonid-bearingwatersheds that aretemperature impaired,new residentialconstruction couldincorporate waterconservation methodssuch as rainwaterharvest and seasonalwater storage tanks.

Alternative sewagedisposal systems such as composting(waterless) toilets and

graywater could be encouraged on owner-builderproperties. In rural areas, particularly in sediment-impaired watersheds, county and private roadsmanagement policies would ideally ollow guidelines thatprevent urther degradation o streams rom road runof and erosion. In the Eel River and other watersheds, runof and erosion has been ound to be the cause o more than50 percent o stream sedimentation.

Better Urban Planning Te 1984 Framework Plan was never intended to

guide the development o a town, but the area thatwas once several distinct communities separated by armland has morphed into McKinleyville, the astest

growing community in the county, although it is stillunincorporated and lacks any planning mechanism.

Communities that lack good urban planning, such asmixed use development andconnectivity in rastructure,also lack jobs.Tis results inlonger commutes, increasedair pollution and traffi ccongestion. Better urbanplanning would includepolicies that promotewalkable, bikable communitiesand appropriate in lldevelopment that puts housingcloser to jobs, schools, parks,health care and other services.

Reducing limitations onsecondary dwelling units andparking requirements areexamples o urban policiesthat can help create thriving,

vibrant communities. Policiesthat incorporate smart growthprinciples (see box) wouldimprove the quality o li e inexisting communities.

Smart Planning Suppresses Unsightly Sprawl by Jen Kalt

Smart Growth Guidelines1. Mix land uses (i.e., single family houses,apartments, businesses and public spaces).2. Take advantage of compact building design.3. Create housing opportunities and choices for arange of household types, family sizes, and incomes.4. Create walkable neighborhoods.5. Foster distinctive, attractive communitieswith a strong sense of place.6. Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty,historic buildings and critical environmental areas.7. Reinvest in and strengthen communities andachieve more balanced regional development.8. Provide a variety of transportation choices.9. Make development decisions predictable,fair and cost-effective.10. Encourage citizen and stakeholder partici-pation in development decisions.Learn more: www.smartgrowth.org

State Park Closures (continued from page 1)

Take ActionWrite a letter now to the Legislative BudgetConference Committee and tell them to saveCalifornia State Parks! Submit letters online at:http://ga3.org/campaign/budget_june09Sign the petition in support of the State ParksAccess Pass, which will allow Californians topay a $15 annual fee with their vehicle reg-istration to create a dedicated funding sourceto keep California State Parks open. Go to theweb page for California State Parks Founda-tion, http://ga3.org/campaign/budget_spap09

Lagoon at Fern Canyon in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. This is just one o 20 parks in the NorthCoast Redwoods District that Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed to close or two years in orderto balance the state budget.

Jennifer Kalt is a member of the Healthy Humboldt Coalition Steering Committee and Conservation Chair for the California Native Plant Society.

Leigh Lawson is a recent graduate from HSU, where she discovered a love of journalism. She is currently anintern at Te Community Wheel , Arcatas alternative

transportation newsletter.

Preventing SprawlWhat is sprawl? Sprawl is poorly planned, low-

density land use that is automobile dependent, energy and land consumptive and requires a high ratio o roadsur ace to development served.

Low-density rural residential development (1-10acres per dwelling) is now the astest-growing typeo land use in the United States, and land that was

ormerly managed or orestry or ranching is now beingconverted to homesites. In Sonoma County, rural-residential development accounts or more than 80percent o the total land area developed or residentialuse, although it houses less than 20 percent o the totalpopulation in the area.

How can the GPU prevent sprawl? Many cities andtowns across the U.S. have established urban growthboundaries and greenbelts to keep existing communitiesdistinct. Adopting resource land protections cankeep agricultural lands valued or agricultural use,which prevents land values rom skyrocketing beyondthe reach o armers. Incentives that promote in lldevelopment can be adopted to promote smart growthin place o sprawling rural residential development onthe outskirts o existing communities.

Te term smart growth may sound new or trendy,but in many ways it is a more traditional approach todeveloping communities. Be ore World War II, landuses in most communities were mixed together. Smalland large houses, apartments and rooming house atsco-existed in the same neighborhoods with commercialand retail businesses. Almost all stores had residencesupstairs or in the back. Daytime parking became night-time parking or residents, i needed. Tey didnt call itsmart growth; it just came about because it made sense.Downtown Fortuna and Old own Eureka are goodexamples o this kind o smart growth.

wood, steal cultural arti acts and

remove old-growth redwoodburls.Low staffi ng levels have

always been directly linked toan increase in violations o statepark rules and regulations, saidMaury Morningstar, ranger atPatricks Point State Park. In thelast ten years the ranger staf inour area has been cut in hal . Tistranslates into more incidents o crime in our park that we cantalways take care o , he said.

Marijuana growers will likely increase their use o unmannedparkland, creating an additionalenvironmental hazard, said

Harris. Some growers are care ulabout how they treat the orestsand use organic ertilizers andclean up their trash, he said.But others use herbicides andpesticides, and dump them and diesel oil into streams,he added.

Minimal park staf will not be able to keep up withre-prevention work. We pre er to restore our orests

to old growth or late seral conditions, which reducetheir susceptibility to re, said Harris. Te parks now conduct prescribed burns and build and maintain uelbreaks.

One good re could wipe out all the [states parkclosure] savings, Harris said.

I the parks close, they will also lose all current andpending grant money, said Harris. Te parks stand tolose grants intended or stream and road restoration atMill Creek, dunes restoration and mitigation o an oilspill, among others.

Harris said that i these grants are turned away, it willbe diffi cult to get them in the uture.

A plan to prevent state park closures has been putorward by ormer representative John Laird o Santa

Cruz who proposed adding $10-15 onto Cali ornia vehicle registration ees. Te money would go directly to the state parks, allowing them to operate without themoney rom the state general und. Under this plan, all vehicles with a Cali ornia license plate would get reeday use inside the parks.

Te new tax would raise about $300 million annually and would replace all state money or parks. Vehicleswith Cali ornia plates would be allowed to access parks

without paying user ees. However, Schwarzeneggeropposes the plan, saying he will not support a taxincrease to solve the budget.

A two-year closure as currently proposed, would bedevastating or the Parks Service, said Harris. It wouldtake 5-10 years and twice as much money to get theparks rolling again. State parks as we know them willnever exist again. When we think about the magnitudeit would take to open up the state parks again, its nextto impossible.

Photo: Sam Camp / campphoto.com

North Coast Parks Scheduled To CloseAdmiral William Standley State Recreation AreaAzalea State National ReserveBenbow Lake State Recreation AreaDel Norte Coast Redwoods State ParkFort Humboldt State Historic ParkGrizzly Creek Redwoods State ParkHarry A. Merlo State Recreation AreaHumboldt Lagoons State ParkHumboldt Redwoods State Park

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park John B. Dewitt Redwoods State National Re-serveLittle River State BeachPatricks Point State ParkPelican State BeachPrairie Creek Redwoods State ParkReynolds Wayside CampgroundRichardson Grove State ParkSmithe Redwoods State National ReserveStandish-Hickey State Recreation AreaTolowa Dunes State Park


7/16


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Del Norte Dispatch An Environmental Report

Te Friends o Del Norte (FDN) group has beenexamining a proposed expansion o the Crescent City Airport that could impact coastal wetlands.

Te airport serves both Del Norte County andCurry County in Oregon. Since the Cali ornia CoastalCommission will review and approve the nal plan,FDN is con dent the wetlands can and will bepreserved.

Te group plans to continue participating as theprocess moves toward conclusion. FDN volunteersmonitor all development in Del Norte County toassure that environmental laws are ollowed andenvironmental values preserved.

Concerned Del Norte County residents havepatrolled portions o the Lake Earl Wildli e Area and

olowa Dunes State Park at night or many years inorder to prevent illegal breaching o the coastal lagoon.Because normal unctioning o the lagoon submergesportions o their property, some locals have usedbulldozers to breach the lagoon.

Te same people who patrol the lagoon have lednumerous restoration days in the area. In March,locals joined with the U.S. Fish and Wildli e Serviceand Cali ornia Department o Fish & Game to plant1,000 Viola adunca plants. Tis native violet servesas the host plant or the caterpillar that turns into theOregon silverspot buttery a species listed as ederally threatened.

Remember the big storms that dumped rain on the

North Coast or consecutive days in mid-March? Testorm muddied creeks up and down the North Coast.But one Del Norte resident noticed unnaturally

chocolate brown waters owing into the KlamathRiver and Paci c Ocean out o Wilson, erwar andHunter Creeks in Southern Del Norte and led awater pollution complaint with the North Coast WaterQuality Control Board.

Te state is duty bound to investigate citizencomplaints o water pollution. In this case theinvestigation revealed that roads owned and operatedby Green Diamond Resources ( ormerly Simpson

imber) had ailed and were delivering sedimentdirectly into the creeks.

Te timber company has agreed to x the problems.Te inspection also ound problems on state park landsthat will now also be xed.

Research has determined that dirt and gravel roadsare the number one cause o sediment degradation inNorth Coast streams. Since the Water Board does notrequire road inspection and repair a ter big storms,citizen complaints are critical to get road-relatedsediment problems xed.

Any Cali ornia citizen can le a complaint with theCali ornia Environmental Protection Agency aboutwater pollution. Heres the link to the on-line complaint

orm:www.dtsc.ca.gov/database/CalEPA_Complaint/ index.cfm

I more citizens led water pollution complaints,water quality in our waterbodies would likely improvedramatically.

Toxic Trains Coming To Humboldt?Te Northcoast Railroad Authority (NCRA) has

temporarily withdrawn its Dra t Environmental ImpactReport on the proposed reopening o the line, but it isdoubt ul that the revised version will address their legalobligation ignored or more than a decade to cleanup the toxic chemicals that permeate the rail bed.

Te line extends rom Arcata to Napa and is ri ewith toxic chemicals such as diesel uel, hydraulic uidand a variety o petrochemicals and pesticides many o which are actively leaking into the Eel and Russian

rivers as well as Humboldt Bay.Grease and uel and all kinds o stuf was dumpedon the tracks or decades, said Patty Clary, executivedirector o Cali ornians or Alternatives to oxics(CA s). When they went to repair the lines they justburied old railroad ties.

Tese ties were saturated with creosote, a very toxicsubstance, said Clary, adding that more than 100 tieswere ound buried in the ground right near HumboldtBay. We dont know whats been buried in the moreremote areas, she said.

In 1997 three state agencies led a lawsuit againstthe NCRA. o settle the suit, the NCRA entered into aconsent decree in 1999, in which it pledged to clean upand restore these sites.

Still PoisonousHowever, 10 years later, little has been done to

address the issue, and the NCRA has ailed to completeany underground cleanup.

Teir excuse all along has been that they need toget the line up and running to get the money to cleanthat up, said Dave Hope, executive director o Friendso the Eel River. He added that he believes once the line

is running, the railroad will actually lose money andthere ore the toxics mess will never be addressed.According to the NCRA web site, it has spent more

than a million dollars to develop an assessment plan andcomplete a sur ace cleanup o the Hopland Station andeight abandoned railyards north o Willits.

Collection o the remaining debris along the linewill be addressed a ter rail service is restored, theweb site states. No mention is made o undergroundtoxic clean-up.

NCRA has let this whole thing go, said KevinBundy, an attorney who represents Friends o the Eel

River in connection with railroad issues. hey haveconsistently put their money toward other projectsand other goals. he consent decree goes on theback burner.

Even More oxicsIn addition to the toxic legacy o pesticides and heavy

metals created by almost a century o neglect, moretoxins will be used in the process o reopening andmaintaining the railroad, Clary said.

Not only will there be diesel and exhaust emissions,but herbicides will be used to maintain the tracks,new creosote-soaked wood will be needed, and new painting o bridges will require removal o lead-basedpaint, she added.

Tey not only have re used to clean up the legacy,they will introduce a load o new toxins, Clary said.

Bundy added, En orcement [o the consent decree]is up to the Attorney Generals offi ce. So ar they havent attempted to orce compliance, but I have tothink thats coming.

In February, Deputy Attorney General Rose Fuawrote a letter to NCRA threatening urther court action

or ailing to clean up the pollution. Te letter expressedthat the state had serious concerns about NCRAs

commitment since they paid $1.3 million tothe city o Novato last

year to settle a law suit,despite their claims thatthey could not afordthe cleanup required by the consent decree.

However, no urtheraction has been taken by the Attorney Generalsoffi ce.

Meanwhile,in late June, theNCRA temporarily withdrew its Dra tEnvironmental ImpactReport (DEIR) whichhad received a torrento criticism or various

reasons includingits ailure to addresspast and uture toxicpollution.

Hope said that theprimary reason theDEIR was withdrawnwas because the NCRAwants to add in a trails

element something that had been completely le to the original.

I dont think theyll talk about the toxics issue [in thenew dra t], Hope said, adding that the Authority may throw in a little bit more speci c in ormation on theBest Management Practice it intends to use to addresspollution control. Te original DEIR merely says itwill address the situation through Best Management

Practices without speci ying just what those practiceswould be, Hope said.Te NCRA has not announced when the revised

DEIR will be reissued, but another 30-day commentperiod will ollow its release. Clary said that the rstset o comments will likely be thrown out, so it will beimportant to submit comments once the revised DEIRis released.

Te NEC Activism Station will include all necessary materials or submitting commentd. Stop by the offi ceat 1465 G Street when the new DEIR is released.

by Sarah OLeary

by Felice Pace

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Diesel, hydraulic uel, pesticides and creosote-soaked railroad ties are just some o the toxic substances buriedunderground along the NCRA railroad line. Although legally obligated to clean up the pollutants or 10 years,the Authority has yet to do so.


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Eco-nomics with Dr. Loon

Everyones seen the picture: society as a pyramid,with the masses at its base and the ew on top. Its amodel thats been with us since the dawn o empire.But to see the real distribution o power and wealth, wehave to turn the pyramid upside down. All the moneysat the top, the whole thing supported by those with lessand less until, at its tiny point, it rests on the poorestperson in the world. But she cant sustain it any more

because down there, beneath the underdog, theres ali e even poorer than hers. Nature. Te last mother inthe wel are line.

Looking up at this top-heavy monument to privateinterest, we see its another Ponzi scheme, sustainingthe illusion o pro t by leveraging natural wealth, alongwith our mortgages, into instruments o credit. Forestsand rivers, mountains and oceans, all they containcollateral on the inverted pyramid o debt. Once again,the investorsall o us down here with a stake in theplanetwere lied to. Someone ailed to add in the realcost, say, o converting a orest to a housing tract, or abay into an industrial sink. All o these schemes rest onthe poorest, most vulnerable creatures. A lichen way upin the canopy. A ribbon o eel grass at the bottom o thebay. A amily living behind the mall.

Instead o adding more capital at the top, we haveto put the wealth back where it was taken rom. Bailout the poor. Bail out nature. Understand that we mustdo both, or the other will ail. High-tech restorationprojects wont help us i we dont also nourish thenature in human nature. And social programs wont beo much use i we cant breathe the air. Tat lichen istrying to tell us something. So is the veteran begging onthe corner. At the bottom all things converge.

Planting trees in clear-cut watersheds, repairing thesocial sa ety net, were paying or a party thats already over. Well need stimulus checks, bail-outs, investmentsin basic services and kinds o money that havent beeninvented yet. Te poor have much to teach us aboutliving without it, and the best way to spend what wehave. Te lower down we invest our money, the greaterthe multiplier. Give a poor guy a dollar and by theend o the day, unless the governor has sold him alottery ticket, its passed through a dozen hands and isenriching the economy.

Natures economy is even more effi cientgiveher anything, the lowliest cast-of detritus, and intwo minutes shes got a crew o organisms workingon it. So consider the doubled returns i we invest at

Too Small To Failthe same time in both our social networks and ourrestoration groups and watershed councils. We havehugely overdrawn our account in every currency romriver banks as much as savings banksand they allhave to be acknowledged. Somehow we have to pay ourselves to pay it back, using borrowed money that ourgrandchildrens children will owe.

But i we invest at the roots, whatever we spend now will also be there or them. Anyone whos worked witha CCC crew, watched kids whove been short-changedrestoring a bankrupt creek, has seen how quickly thereturns come in. We have many new graduates ready

or work, and the work is shovel-ready. Many o therural residents o our watersheds are also eligible orassistance, and living on the job site. And more thancoincidentally, many o the urban poor are already sleeping in places sorely in need o restoration.

Tere is a principle here, and an ancient lesson: Noone is too poor to give to someone poorer, and nothingis more enriching.

When it comes to challenging corporate practices, itis o ten a story o David vs. Goliath. One way the Davidso this world can cause direct change is by hittingcorporations in their money-pouch. Boycotts anddivestment campaigns have success ully orced banksand other corporations to improve their practices.

A recent success ulcampaign spearheadedby Rain orest ActionNetwork (RAN) orcedBank o America toagree to phase outthe nancing o coalcompanies responsible ormountaintop removal.

Bank o Americasdecision is a giant leap

orward in the ghtagainst mountaintopremoval coal mining,which has devastatedAppalachian communitiesand the mountains andstreams they depend on,said Rebecca arbotton,director o RANs Global Finance Campaign.

Te relative success o RANs year-long campaignto pressure Bank o America to alter its coal policy shows that the actions o individuals can and do afectcorporate practices.

Recently Umpqua Bank has come under re becauseo its ties to big timber. Allyn Ford, chairman o theboard or Umpqua Bank, is also the CEO and sole ownero Roseburg Forest Products (aka Roseburg Resources).

Roseburg Forest Products is one o the mostpower ul timber companies in the nation, said JoshSchlossberg a grassroots organizer based in Eugene,Oregon. And their practices are backwards. Tey clear cut the orest and then spray herbicides romhelicopters.

Over the past decadeFord has ignored requeststo adopt responsible

orestry practices,Schlossberg added.

Schlossberg is co-directoro Eco-Advocates,an all-volunteergrassroots advocacy non-pro t under the Leagueo Wilderness De endersand advocates or theCascadia Ecosystem.

Roseburg ForestProducts owns and logsland in both Oregon andCali ornia.

ogether with a smallband o activists in Eugene

and Portland, Schlossberg launched the (St)UmpquaCampaign last March.

Te campaign urges individuals and businesseswho currently bank at Umpqua to send a message toFord by taking their business elsewhere. An additionalrecommendation is to bank with local credit unions.

o get involved or or more in ormation visit:www.stumpquabank.com

Dr. Loon was born during the Great Depression and looks forward to the one thats coming.

Tools For Activists:Hit Corporate Banks Where It Hurts

By Jocelyn Orr

Roseburg Forest Products clearcut in Oregons Elliot State Forest, 2006. P h o

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Volunteers and staf at the Environmental ProtectionIn ormation Center (EPIC) have worked or more thanthree decades to protect orests, watersheds and nativespecies in Northern Cali ornia.

Originally based in Southern Humboldt, the non-pro t now has an offi ce in Redway and a program offi cein Arcata. Having an offi ce in Northern Humboldt hasbeen a big move or EPIC, said Kerul Dyer, outreachcoordinator or the organization, Its

gotten us closer to a lot o the public landswork were doing, but its also made itpossible to bring younger staf on, to thepoint where we now have a really neatbalance o experience and energy.

Although stafed with just six people,with the help o an active board and anetwork o volunteers, EPIC has ledapproximately 70 lawsuits on behal o imperiled species and habitat.

Saving the regions remaining old-growth orests is theme that echoesthrough EPICs work to the present day.In 1983, EPIC spearheaded a lawsuit tohalt the logging o a remnant coastal old-growth grove, now known as the Sally Bell grove. Te grove is now secure, atthe heart o the Sinkyone WildernessState Park and the Sinkyone IntertribalWilderness.

Te Sally Bell case remains notablebecause the courts made it clear that underCali ornia law, state agencies must addressthe cumulative efects o proposed actions.

Up until that point, the Department o Forestry andthe timber industry took or granted that they didnthave to look at cumulative efects, said Sharon Duggan,EPICs staf attorney and co-author o the Guide to theCalifornia Forest Practice Act and Related Laws . Tecourt decided in our avor and made it a precedent-setting case.

Although the court ruled on that case in 1985, itwasnt until 1991 that the Board o Forestry nally adopted rules to address some o the cumulative efectso logging operations.

Were still trying to get state agencies to deal withthe cumulative efects o many projects, said ScottGreacen, EPICs executive director. Weve developed

the capability to analyze and disclose impacts, but theagencies still lack the political will to actually preventthem.

EPIC also played a central role during the 1990s inthe long campaign to protect the Headwaters Forest,culminating in the ederal-state Headwaters Deal,which preserved three o the six ancient groves. EPICchallenged the deal, and then set about showing that thestate and ederal governments were not en orcing eventhe awed terms theyd agreed to.

More than a decade later, the Cali ornia SupremeCourt upheld EPICs challenge to key state permitsissued under the deal.

Just last month, EPIC staf members were back incourt or yet another Headwaters hearing becauseCalFIRE and the Department o Forestry still had not

yet complied with the judges orders.I it wasnt or EPIC the Headwaters law would not

be en orced, said Duggan.

oday, EPIC is monitoring speci cprojects, like timber harvest plans onprivate lands, timber sales on northwestCali ornias our national orests and theproposal to widen Highway 101 throughRichardson Grove State Park on theHumboldt-Mendocino county line. Itsalso engaged in shaping policy at the state,regional and national levels, all in an efortto protect and restore what Greacen callsthe wildest corner o the West Coast.

Were pressing the state or betterrules to protect salmon and owls, pushing

or recognition o the plight o the wildspring-run Klamath chinook salmon,and working to encourage Forest Serviceprojects that actually help communities,

Greacen said.We work as a team to engage in every aspect o public process that is possibleto help protect endangered ecosystems,

said Dyer. We study depths o policy andproject proposals and share that in ormation with otherenvironmental groups that dont have the time or staf to do such in-depth analysis .

Its what must be done i were to have a uture, saidDuggan.

EPIC is conducting a summer membership driveright now. o learn more or to join EPIC, visit theweb site at www.wildcalifornia.org , or call the o ice at(707) 822-7711 and ask or Kerul.

Te rare Cali ornia globe mallow ( Iliamnalatibracteata) , also known as the Cali ornia wildhollyhock, is a shrubby member o the hollyhock

amily ( Malvaceae ). It has large, showy pink owersand is known as a re- ollower, meaning that it tendsto be ound in recently burned areas. It has a patchy distribution within white r and Douglas- r orests

rom northwestern Cali ornia to southwestern Oregon.Most known discoveries o this rare plant have been

within a ew years o orest res, populations will thenpersist or a number o years until re-sprouting shrubsand trees crowd in and shade them out. Tought to havelong-lived seeds, as do many members o the hollyhock

amily, the Cali ornia globe mallow may be capable o surviving in the soil seed bank or decades.

his plant is known romHumboldt and rinity Counties andis ranked by the Cali ornia NativePlant Society as rare, threatenedor endangered throughoutCali ornia and elsewhere. As such,it is protected under the Cali orniaEnvironmental Quality Act. It is alsoconsidered a rare species in Oregon.

Tough the species was rstormally described rom Prairie

Creek near Orick in 1951, currently known populations are usually seen

at much higher elevations (3,000-5,000 eet above sea level). Mostcurrently existing populations are

ound on public lands managedby the U.S. Forest Service andBureau o Land Management, withscattered populations on the HoopaValley Reservation and on privatetimberlands.

Primary threats to this rare species include resuppression, grazing by livestock, post- re timberharvest and non-native species. Experimental burningand thinning to reduce competition rom shrubs andtree saplings could increase the longevity o populationsbut at this point, not enough is known about the speciesto devise management plans that will ensure its long-term survival.

Pollinators include Diadasia diminuta (a solitary bee specializing on the Malvaceae), several species o bumblebee (including the yellow- aced bumblebee,

Bombus vosnesenksii), and occasionally honey bees( Apis mellifera ), other solitary bees and small-headedies ( Eulonchus spp).

Te Humboldt- rinity County res o 2008 qui telikely stimulated seed germination in areas where theplant has not been recorded, so keep your eyes peeled

or this showy and rare plant this summer! It owers inJuly and produces seed in August. I you nd this plant,please send speci c location in ormation to Sydney Carothers, [email protected] and Jen Kalt , [email protected].

EPIC Emerges In Epic Battles On North Coast by Sarah OLeary

A section o the Headwaters Forest.

Closeup o a Cali ornia globe mallow fower (Iliamna latibracteata)

California globe mallow seedlings in the ashes of a burn pile,Pepper Camp, Oregon.

Rare Flower May Sprout In New Locationsby Jennifer Kalt and Sydney Carothers

)Photo: Jen Kalt

Photo: EPIC

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FUELISHNESS: With the proposed nuclearwaste dump at Nevadas Yucca Mountain onhold, scientists meeting in Boston unanimously agreed that its per ectly sa e to store the hot stuf in dry casks like those at the shuttered PG&Enuke plant on Humboldt Bay south o Eureka

or 60 to 70 years.

CRIME PAYS: Crimes against the environment earnedItalian EcoMa a gangs more than $30 billion last

year, up 12 percent over 2008, according to the Italianenvironmental group Legambiente.

Export o illegal waste topped the list o money-earners.

GLOW PHONE: Nokia has led a patent on a new kindo cellphone thats capable o light messaging, whichlets you choose a color that represents your mood when

you send a text to a similarly equipped phone.

CURE FOR SKEE ERS? A Georgia State University scientist is using mosquitoes love o ower nectar toeradicate them.

He has designed a ower-shaped plastic trap in amosquitos avorite colors blue, green, red and black that has a pad soaked in sweet liquid and laced withthe insecticde Bt. A screen keeps out other insects butallows a mosquitos proboscis through. Te trap is being

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BIRDSONG SILENCED: British ans o a radio stationthat played nothing but birdsong are outraged thatthe 18-hour-a-day broadcasts have been replaced withmore commercial rock, jazz and indie music.

Birdsong Radio, which attracted an estimated 500,000listeners durings its 18 months on the air, played a20-minute recording o birds singing in a Wiltshiregarden on a continuous loop until midnight.

BAD WOOD, NO CIVILIZA ION: Builders o Mayantemples in ikal, Guatemala, switched to in erior wood

just decades be ore they abandoned the city in the 9thcentury urther evidence that the ancient civilizationcollapsed because it ran out o resources.

A U.S. study showed that later temples were builto gnarly wood, adding to evidence that de orestationand soil erosion were increasing as the Mayan cultureneared collapse. Scientists cited the ndings as

urther proo o what happens because o ecologicalexploitation.

PENGUINS FROM SPACE: Scientists have locatedemperor breeding colonies in Antarctica by spotting thegiant stains o their poops rom space.

Researchers were able to locate every one o the 38breeding colonies on the continent or the rst timewhen satellite images picked up huge red-brown stainson the white sea ice. Until now it was hard to estimatethe number o emperor penguins betwe

econews, fall 2009 ~ north coast environmental center

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