Econews Report

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.

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 .

If everything goes according to plan, Scotia residents may see wind turbines on Monument and Bear River Ridges by 2020. Kevin Martin of Terra Gen, the project's proponents, joins Tom Wheeler in the studio to talk about how the company hopes to avoid environmental impacts.

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.

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. Read more about Surfrider’s efforts to protect our beloved coast below.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

Are you a beaver believer? You May become one after listening to this EcoNews Report! Beavers are nature's engineers, helping to turn unproductive streams into great salmon habitat by reconnecting old floodplains, providing pools for salmon to rest, and by increasing the quantity and quality of summer waters. In short, they are amazing. But California faces a problem: we don't have enough beavers. Guests Kate Lundquist, Director of the WATER Institute at that Occidental Arts and Ecology Center and Eli Asarian, principal scientist at Riverbend Sciences join the EcoNews Report will make you a beaver believer.

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.

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.

What does it mean to design a public space for people over cars? Colin Fiske of the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities discusses the key principles of transportation planning and how the Arcata Plaza could be redesigned to encourage safe and fun use. For more on this subject and to read the Coalition's proposal for the plaza, visit transportationpriorities.org

Pete Nichols talks to Waterkeeper Alliance Senior Organizer Lesley Adams about a fracked gas pipeline that would trample farms, ranches, and tribal lands to reach a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Coos Bay, Oregon. The proposed 229-mile pipeline would impact more than 400 waterways, including the Rogue, Umpqua, and Klamath Rivers. The LNG terminal would be one of the largest climate polluters in the state.

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.

"The reason we count murrelets at sea is, of course, because in the forest they are flying around at really high speeds in the dawn or dusk and while you can see them and hear them there is no way you can get a handle on their populations", says Craig Strong of Crescent Coastal Research. Ken Burton, wildlife biologist, vice president of the Redwood Region Audubon Society, Friends of the Arcata Marsh docent, and author, interviews Strong on the status of Marbled Murrelets on the north coast and his murrelet monitoring program.

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.

Close your eyes and think of an "environmentalist." What do you see? If its an old white guy (probably with a beard and a walking stick), you are not alone! Environmentalism has a diversity problem. It's not that people of color don't care about the environment—polls show that they do, and at levels that surpass white people—but the environmental movement has not made space for their inclusion.

Will Humboldt be the site of the West Coast’s first offshore wind energy project?