ECONEWS

The Newsletter
of the Northcoast
Environmental
Center

Letter from the Board President

NEC Gets Back To Grassroots
­ ear Supporter of the NEC,
D
As many of you may be aware by now, the NEC Board of Directors made some very, very
difficult decisions recently that will bring major changes to the organization. While change can
be very hard and downright frightening sometimes, change can also act as a catalyst for reflection
and return to the simple values that ultimately define either an individual, or for that matter, an
organization. That is the change I see coming to the NEC.
Although the issues that the NEC faces are troubling, I can honestly say that I, and the entire
NEC Board of Directors, are confident, excited and dedicated to the change we are about to
realize. We see this as a return to the roots of the organization; a return that is dedicated to
defending the environment of this bioregion, protecting the wild rivers, forests and coast that we
all cherish, and advocating to maintain our quality of life here on the North Coast.
In the nearly 40 years since its founding, the NEC has suffered many set backs – a devastating
Photo: © Sam Camp / campphoto.com fire, the death of its leader and difficult financial times. However, the NEC has always adapted
and evolved, and has maintained its role within the community. This organization has always
Coastal Cleanup Day: been the clearinghouse for all things environmental and conservation-related on the North Coast
and beyond; that remains especially true today, and I can assure you it will continue to be the

NEC Program Now Global

by Sarah O’Leary with Kayla Gunderson
case well into the future.
However, change is necessary at this time and the NEC board has decided to take action to
ensure the future of the organization. This month the NEC will move from its current location
This year’s annual International Coastal Cleanup will take place on G Street in Arcata to a small storefront in the Jacoby Storehouse on the Arcata Plaza. Much
Saturday, September 19. On this day thousands of volunteers of the financial strain on the organization over the past few years has been from maintaining
worldwide will get out and clean beaches. And it all started as an NEC the G Street house as our headquarters. We feel that moving on from that commitment will
program here on the North Coast back in 1978. immediately improve the financial health of the NEC.
Thirty years ago the NEC received federal funding for its Humboldt Sadly, we have also made the difficult decision to eliminate the position of administrative
Beach Beautification and Restoration project. The goal was to develop director that has been filled by Georgianna Wood. Georgianna has served the NEC incredibly
a program combining beach cleanup with community education, out well and she will be greatly missed.
of which came the NEC’s Adopt-A-Beach campaign. The focus of the NEC from this point forward is to get back to the grassroots at the core of our
The NEC organized and ran the beach cleanup effort on the North mission. One of the most essential roles of the NEC is the dissemination of information about
Coast until 1985 when the California Coastal Commission took conservation and environmental issues in the bioregion. Considering that, the NEC will continue
over the program, expanding it up and down the coast. Today the to publish ECONEWS.
program is globally recognized and more than six million people have While the NEC board and staff are entirely dedicated to ensuring that the organization
participated in cleaning up their beaches. continues to be the voice for conservation on the North Coast and beyond, we cannot do it alone.
Since its first beach cleanup in 1986, the International Coastal The NEC has been an integral part of this community for decades. It has been a place to gather, a
Cleanup has included all 50 U.S. states and 130 countries. More than place to learn and a place to take action.
97 million pounds of debris have been collected from more than As we forge ahead, back to our roots, please take some time to support the NEC. Make a
146,000 miles of shoreline. donation, become a volunteer for a few hours a week, or send ECONEWS to your friends and
Marine debris is more than just an unsightly inconvenience to those family. Remember, it is your NEC!
wishing to enjoy the beach. It is one of the world’s most pervasive For the North Coast and the NEC,
marine pollution problems. This debris affects the water quality of
aquatic habitats and can cause physical damage. Many different sea
creatures are harmed by ingesting or becoming entangled in the litter.
Monofilament lines and nets cut into the flesh of young animals Pete Nichols, Board President
as they grow, often drowning or strangling them. According to the
Marine Mammal Commission, at least 111 of the world’s 312 species
of seabirds have swallowed small pieces of floating plastic, mistaking
them for food.
Cigarette butts, fishing line, six-pack rings, bottles, cans, syringes, tires – the litany of litter is as varied as the products available in the global marketplace. It all shares a
common origin, however – 60 to 80 percent of the trash polluting our waters originates on land.
Here on the North Coast, the NEC has coordinated the cleanup of thousands of pounds of garbage from our beaches for the last three decades. Last year about 700
volunteers participated, collecting more than 24 tons of trash and recyclables, including such bizarre items as a porcelain palm tree, a plastic police baton and pink underwear.
This year, Humboldt Baykeeper and Surfrider Foundation are working with the NEC to expand the beach cleanup. Our goal
is to register 1,000 volunteers to remove debris from the mouth of the Klamath to Shelter Cove, and inland to Maple Creek and
tributaries of the Eel.
The local Coastal Cleanup program is part of the bigger picture. Volunteers record debris information using a standardized data
card that includes 42 specific debris items and groupings. Data from the cleanup provides the framework for action to limit marine
debris and to educate the public about litter and pollution prevention.
The coastal cleanup on the North Coast couldn’t happen without
the help of our sponsors. Each year a variety of local businesses, large
and small, help to make this endeavor financially possible. Additionally,
many businesses and organizations participate with a team of
Banducci Challenge:
volunteers.
The NEC is currently accepting sponsors for the 2009 Coastal
Support NEC By August 9
Cleanup effort. Sponsors can contribute at a variety of levels and in Don and Maggie Banducci, long-time sup-
return will receive publicity, free T-Shirts and more – in addition to porters of the NEC, have generously offered a
being a part of keeping our local waterways pollution-free. $5,000 challenge grant to help out the NEC
This year’s event takes place in conjunction with Arcata’s North
during these tough times. However, there is a
Country Fair, and teams will be returning their data cards to the NEC’s
Marine debris affects water quality, damages
Coastal Cleanup booth. catch and WE NEED YOUR HELP!
aquatic habitats and often causes physical harm to
sea creatures. Seabirds often swallow small pieces Get involved! Sign up now to sponsor or volunteer for the 2009 The NEC will receive the money from the
of floating plastic mistaking them for food. Cleaning Coastal Cleanup Day – September 19. Call Kayla at the NEC, Banducci Challenge Grant only if we can raise
up the coastline helps to prevent such harm. 707-822-6918, or email kayla@yournec.org $5,000 in pledges within two weeks.
The clock is ticking and we need to recieve all
Inside This Issue pledges by August 9.
Backbone Fire...........................................3 Rerouting Humboldt................................7 You will receive a free “Un-Dam The Klamath”
Has the Forest Service Learned from 2008? The Off-Highway Vehicle Debate bumper sticker with your pledge. And contribu-
Pristine Desert Lands Threatened...............4 Eco-Fun For Kids......................................8 tors who pledge $100 or more will receive a
Are There Alternatives For Solar and Wind Projects? Learn About Trees, Operation Redwood free Northcoast Environmental Center T-Shirt!
Stranded On The North Coast................5 Kin To The Earth....................................10 We can accept cash, check or credit card
Unprecedented Numbers of Marine Mammals Bill Devall, 1939-2009 for your pledge. Drop by the NEC, or mail
Forest Protections Upheld......................5 Life Form of the Month.........................10 your check to 1465 G St., Arcata, CA 95521.
Bush Era Forest Rules Overturned Green Heron Remember to note that it is for the Banducci
Mixing Up The General Plan...................6 Eco-Mania...............................................11 Challenge Grant.
Mixed Use Zoning Makes Walk-Friendly Towns A Monthly Melange of Salient Sillies Please help the NEC today!
 ECONEWS Letters to ECONEWS
is the official monthly publication of the Northcoast
Environmental Center, a non-profit organization,
1465 G Street St., Arcata, CA 95521; (707) 822-6918;
Fax (707) 822-0827. Third class postage paid in
Arcata. ISSN No. 0885-7237. ECONEWS is mailed free
to our members and distributed free throughout the
Northern California/Southern Oregon bioregion. The
subscription rate is $25 per year.
Editor: Sarah O’Leary sarah@yournec.org
Intern: Matt Hawk
Advertising: Sarah O’Leary and Damon Maguire,
ads@yournec.org
Proofreaders: Midge Brown, Sid Dominitz
Writers: Chris Rall, Sarah O’Leary, Dr. Loon, Sue
Leskiw, Jen Kalt, Carol Ralph, Matt Hawk, Sarah Mar-
nick, Pete Nichols, Scott Greacen, Donna Wildearth,
Kayla Gunderson, Clary Greacen, Pete Haggard
Artists: Mark Jacobson, Terry Torgerson
Cover Art: Sam Camp / campphoto.com
NEC Mission
To promote understanding of the rela-
tions between people and the biosphere
and to conserve, protect and celebrate
terrestrial, aquatic and marine eco-
systems of northern California and
southern Oregon.
NEC Board Of Directors
California Native Plant Society
Jen Kalt (Secretary) jkalt@asis.com
Redwood Region Audubon Society
C.J. Ralph theralphs@humboldt1.com
Sierra Club North Group, Redwood Chapter
Melvin McKinney mmckinney@humboldt1.com
Humboldt Baykeeper
Pete Nichols (President) pete@humboldtbaykeeper.org
Friends of Del Norte
Eileen Cooper upsprout@yahoo.com
Safe Alternatives For Our Forest Environment
Larry Glass lglass@foggy.net
Environmental Protection Information Center
Scott Greacen scott@wildcalifornia.org
At-Large
Jim Clark (Vice President) dancebirds@sbcglobal.net
Martin Swett (Treasurer) mswett@pacific.net
Bob Morris (Trinity County Representive)
bob.morris@wildblu.net
Volunteer submissions are welcome! Full articles of
500 words or fewer may be submitted by the 15th
of each month, preferably by e-mail. Longer articles
should be pitched to the editor, contact
sarah@yournec.org or call 707-822-6918. Include
your phone number and e-mail with all submissions.
Ideas and views expressed in ECONEWS are not
necessarily those of the NEC.
Every issue of ECONEWS is printed on recycled paper with
soy-based inks. Please Recycle.
Got something on your mind? Send it in! Please limit letters to 300 words or fewer and
include your full name and city of residence. We may edit for space and clarity. E-mail let-
ters to sarah@yournec.org by the 20th of the month, or mail to 791 Eighth Street, Arcata,
CA 95521. We welcome your thoughts and comments! Start a Dialog.
Greetings From Student Thanks
Japan
Dear ECONEWS/NEC
Thank you for sending me your
ECONEWS.
The photos of the owl were wonderful.
I had just read a novel about spotted
owls and barred owls. This story is very
complicated, not easy to solve, I was sorry.
Now you get a new president. He’s
“promising,” isn’t he?
I have been worried about black
bears in Japan. They are categorized
as critically endangered in Shimane
prefecture. A few years ago three
prefectures took up a plan to control and
protect the black bears.
The number of bears “removed”
between the years 2003-2007 was 518. In
their plan, the limit of killing was to be
52 per year in three prefectures.
Many of the killed bears were trapped
and shot.
Let me assume the bureaucrats don’t
want bears disturbing them because
they’re busy building roads.
I believe you keep on working hard for
the nature, and I thank you.
Wishing you good luck, and good luck
for all the creatures on earth.
Motoko Toduda
Shimane, JAPAN
Arts! Arcata
At The New NEC
Our monthly Arts! Arcata
celebration will be held at our NEW
digs at the Jacoby Storehouse on the
Arcata Plaza. Join us on Friday, August
14 from 6 to 9 p.m. and help us warm
up our new office.
This month we are featuring
exquisite bird drawings by Carl Meyers,
a local biologist who began drawing
birds while doing biological field work
and conducting rare plant surveys.
Hello NEC folks!
Thank you so much for lending
your watershed model to the Creek
Days education fair. This work of art
demonstrates important watershed
processes and the effects of human
activity on the land.
Although the concept of watersheds
is often challenging for many students
to fully grasp, your model provides a
concrete visual that clearly demonstrates
what can be found in a watershed,
how all its parts are connected and
the important role that personal
responsibility and stewardship play.
More than 550 students from nine
schools ranging from Arcata to Weott
participated in this event, and most of
them experienced the wonder of the
watershed model. We greatly appreciate
your willingness to share this valuable,
one-of-a-kind learning tool, and hope
to collaborate with your organization in
years to come.
Two weeks after the Creek Days event
I was reviewing with my 3rd grade class
all that we had learned about salmon
and watersheds. I asked them all for
their ideas on how to maintain a healthy
watershed. These are a few responses
that I received:
“Don’t cut trees on the edge of the creek.”
“Try to reuse and don’t litter because it
all goes into the water.”
“Put up fences so the cows don’t hurt the
sides of the creek and poop near the water!”
They are always thinking. They are
optimistic and hopefully know that
individually they can make a difference.
The watershed model gave these students
a chance to see these things on a scale
that makes sense to them. Thank you!
Dave Bloch
Mattole Restoration Council-WSP
Caryn Beiter
WSP Education Coordinator
AmeriCorps Watershed Stewards Project
NEC News
Trinity County
Represented on Board
The NEC is pleased to welcome
Weaverville resident Bob Morris
to represent Trinity County on our
Board of Directors. Bob attended
HSU in 1970-1971.
He moved to the Weaverville area
in 1973. He was a founding member
of Safe Alternatives for Our Forest
Environment (SAFE), which became
an NEC member group in 2008.
As an alternate for SAFE
representative Larry Glass, Bob has
played an integral role in handling the
9th Street property destroyed by fires
in 2001.
With Bob’s guidance and experience
gained from previous dealings with
a contaminated property, the NEC
successfully sold the uncontaminated
parcel (the former site of Marino’s)
in April and is pursuing an EPA
Brownfields grant to clean up the site
of the original NEC.
This organization will benefit
greatly from Bob’s input and on-the-
ground knowledge of forest issues
in his neck of the woods, including
the evolution of the Weaverville
Community Forest.
Bob has been working with
the Trinity County Resource
Conservation District, Citizens
for Better Forestry and the
Environmental Protection
Information Center to reach a
compromise with the Shasta-Trinity
National Forest that has transformed
the Browns Timber Sale from a
business-as-usual timber extraction
proposal to one that will reduce fuels
and improve fire resiliency and forest
health.
The NEC is extremely grateful for
Bob’s willingness to add his business
savvy and financial expertise as
the organization looks to resolve
its property issues and get back to
grassroots conservation efforts.

Bouquet
Who are the eco-warriors that inspire
you? If you know of an individual or
group that deserves to be honored with
a Bouquet of the Month, send your
nominations to sarah@yournec.org
This month’s floral tributes go to:
❁ Georgianna Wood, our soon-to-be
former Administrative Director, who
has put her blood, sweat and tears into
the NEC. Georgianna will be sorely
missed and we wish her well in her
new endeavors, especially establishing
her natural burial business.
❁ Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar,
for reversing the Bush era WOPR plan
which would have nearly quadrupled
logging on public lands in Western
Oregon. (see p. 5)
❁ The eleven Greenpeace activists
who climbed Mt. Rushmore to
challenge Obama to take a strong
leadership role on global warming.
❁ Bill Chino, co-owner of the Jacoby
Storehouse, who has generously offered
two ground floor offices to the NEC
at an extremely reasonable rental rate.
This makes it possible for the NEC to
maintain an office while downsizing
and to continue to be an environmental
information resource to the public.
Come see us at our new digs in Jacoby
Storehouse after August 14.
Meyers writes in his artist’s bio:
“Along the way I discovered birds, in
all their variety and beauty. By chance
or hidden design I had stumbled upon
the perfect subject for my unfulfilled
creative efforts. Drawing birds allowed
me to better understand and appreciate
their beauty and complexity and added
a new dimension to their study.”
Meet the artist, who will have
prints and cards for sale, during Arts!
Arcata. Enjoy a sampling of local wines
provided by Libation and some sweet
and savory snacks. This is a great
chance to check out our volunteer
opportunities and other ways to
support the NEC.
We’ll see you on August 14 at our
NEW headquarters in the Jacoby
Storehouse, right behind the tuxedo shop.
NEC Wish List
Our upcoming move, along with the changes at the NEC (see page 1)
have prompted us to reach out to our members and supporters. If you
or someone you know has some expertise and time to donate, or if you
have any of these items in storage let us know. Thanks for your help!
Volunteers! We need help with the following:
• Oversee and coordinate volunteers
• Organize and coordinate our estate sale which will take
place in mid-August.
• Help with building/maintaining our web site (experience preferred).
• Distribute ECONEWS throughout the county on a monthly
basis, including at HSU and College of the Redwoods.
• Phone banking
• Tabling at events (knowledge of local environmental issues is
helpful for this one.)
• Experienced grant writer
• Arts! Arcata Coordinator
• Advertising sales representative for ECONEWS. This includes
recruiting new advertisers and assisting with ad design.
Stuff We Need
• Color copier/printer/scanner with 11 X 17 capability
• Additional memory for our ECONEWS computer
• Small refrigerator, college dorm style
• Money! Your cash donations of any size are always welcome. We
are equipped to accept credit card and online donations too.
• Your e-mail address! We would like to keep interested members and
supporters updated with Action Alerts and late-breaking environmental
news of interest. We never sell or rent our mailing list.

2 www.yournec.org August 2009 ECONEWS

 Backbone Fire: Lessons Learned From 2008?
The Backbone fire, the first major fire of 2009 in
northwestern California, burned more than 6,000 acres
of national forest land, most within the Trinity Alps
Wilderness Area.
The Forest Service has nearly surrounded
(“contained”) the Backbone fire, and remaining fire
crews are doing suppression repair work.
The tragic death of firefighter Thomas (TJ)
Moarovich, who in July fell 200 feet from a helicopter
during a training exercise, and the helicopter crash
which wrecked a Sikorsky chopper, both illuminated
one of the the risks inherent in the Forest Service’s
highly mechanized forest-suppression program – the
danger to firefighters.
During the 2008 fires, a Sikorsky helicopter crashed in
the Trinity Alps Wilderness, killing nine firefighters in one
of the Forest Service’s worst fire-related incidents ever.
The agency’s handling of the Backbone fire shows
both some promising signs of lessons learned from the
2008 fires, and some troubling indications of a reversion
to failed policies.
For the last half of the 20th century, the Forest Service
implemented a policy of fire suppression familiar to
everyone who has ever heard of Smokey Bear: fires
are bad, put them out. While the policy made sense
from a narrow perspective of forestry – the kind that
focuses on the potential economic value of wood to the
exclusion of other forest values – it ultimately proved
both destructive and self-defeating.
Fire Benefits Forest Ecosystems
Scientists have come to understand that fire,
including high-intensity fire, is a fundamental ecological
process essential to the long-term health of our forest
ecosystems. Additionally, concerns have arisen about
the environmental effects of standard fire-fighting
practices, including the use of fire retardant that has
damaged streams and fish.
Backbone actually re-burned much of the landscape
of the 1999 Megram fire. Ironically, as the Backbone
fire was growing, a crew of botanists visited the
A Sikorsky chopper that crashed Backbone fire suppression. Pilots walked away from the
wreckage. Photo: USFS
State Court Overturns Fish-Killing Rules
In good news for salmon, a San Francisco Superior
Court last month upheld a challenge to a set of rules
that streamline the killing of endangered coho salmon.
The rules were adopted in 2007 by the California
Department of Fish and Game (DFG). A coalition
of environmental and fishery groups, including the
Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC),
Sierra Club and California Trout, issued the legal challenge. that the Board of Forestry did not have the authority
Coho salmon are federally listed as threatened, and
the state of California has listed coho from the Oregon
border to the San Francisco Bay as threatened or
endangered since 2004.
A National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
report issued last year stated that, across the range
of coho salmon on the coast of California, there was
a 73 percent decline in returning adults in 2007-08
compared to the same cohort in 2004-05. NMFS says
that the coho is at critical risk of extinction.
“Salmon populations are plummeting all along the
West Coast. Logging practices that degrade salmon
habitat are clearly a major factor for these declines,” said
Brian Stranko, California Trout’s chief executive officer.
“The situation is urgent and preserving the regulatory
status quo for the commercial logging industry is
misplaced and totally unacceptable.”
The court ruled that DFG approved incidental
take permit guidelines for timber regulations that
violate CESA, the California Fish and Game Code, the
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the
ECONEWS August 2009
by Scott Greacen
Megram fire area, looking
for populations of the
California globemallow
(Illiamna latibracteata),
a rare and beautiful plant
that follows fire across
the landscape, and seems
to be the only host for an
even rarer native bee. (See
June ECONEWS.)
The relationship
between the rare plant,
its pollinator and fire
itself highlights one
of the key reasons
that environmental
groups oppose post-
fire ‘salvage’ logging in
most circumstances: it
tends to disrupt critically
important ecological
processes of succession.
Whole communities of
insect, plant and animal The Backbone Fire burning in early June. The fire was declared 90 percent contained on July 24. A National
life actually depend on the Incident Management Organization (NIMO) will continue to monitor heat in the interior of the fire, as well as
presence of fire, including conduct suppression repair activities around the perimeter. Photo: USFS
high-severity fire that
actually kills stands of trees. Forest ecologists now The practice of fighting wildfires with ‘burnouts’ –
describe unlogged, post-fire forests as one of the rarest deliberate, very hot fires in advance of wildfire’s path
and most important type of forest across the Pacific – harmed private lands and property, damaged public
Northwest, and emphasize both the productivity and resources and appears to have contributed to heavy
diversity of these ‘black forests.’ smoke, which became a key focus of complaints from the
One thread of this research focuses on the Northern population of the remote Klamath basin communities.
spotted owl. In proposing to ‘salvage’ log burned areas, All of these issues, and others, were dissected in
the Forest Service suggests that fires “destroy” owl a February summit convened by EPIC, the Klamath
habitat, ignoring a series of recent studies which show Forest Alliance, and the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands
that owls may move in response to fire, but continue to Center to review the 2008 experiences. One result
use burned habitat, and may actually benefit from the of the discussions was to recommend that the Forest
explosion of small furry prey in post-fire forests. Service implement a management structure that would
Harsh lessons provide reliable relationships with tribal resource
officers and community representatives, and offer
An unusual early-season lightning
storm in June, 2008, ignited literally consistent guidance to firefighters throughout a given
thousands of fires across northwest fire incident, rather than rotating command crews
California. The Forest Service every few weeks.
responded with an enormous, and Improved Management?
incredibly expensive, mobilization The Forest Service’s approach to the Backbone fire
of fire-fighting equipment and does seem to hint at significant changes in the agency’s
personnel. In the rush to fight approach. Inside the Trinity Alps Wilderness, the
so many large fires, a number of agency deployed a suite of practices called MIST, for
serious missteps occurred including Minimum Impact Suppression Techniques, which
the disastrous Sikorsky crash and should both reduce the impacts of suppression and
additional firefighter deaths. allow some of the benefits of fire to be realized within
Key tribal cultural resources, the wilderness.
community-protection projects (like Perhaps the most noteworthy change is that the
shaded fuelbreaks), old-growth trees Backbone fire has been managed by a new kind of
and wilderness areas were damaged team – a NIMO, or national incident management
or destroyed by unnecessary fire- organization – which will remain in place ‘for the
suppression practices. In the Hayfork duration.’ The NIMO model seems more likely to
Divide area, hundreds of miles of provide the continuity necessary for more effective
‘dozer line now scar the ridges from communication and coordination with tribal and
streamside to mountaintop. community representatives, but it’s not clear if
these results were actually realized in the case of the
by Scott Greacen
Backbone fire.
Although the agency is showing increased
responsiveness to community concerns, that doesn’t
always result in clear benefits from a resource-protection
Administrative Procedures Act. ‘Incidental take’ refers to point of view. Among the loudest, best-organized group
the accidental killing of one or more coho salmon in the of local voices are retired Forest Service firefighters,
course of logging or another otherwise lawful activity. who, together with some very pro-timber industry
The court also struck down related rules created county commissioners, have been pressing the agency to
by the California Board of Forestry – which regulates return to full-tilt fire suppression.
forestry operations on more than 20 million acres of If the Forest Service responds to calls to return
private industrial timberlands in California – holding to full suppression, it risks perpetuating practices
that now consume nearly half of the agency’s overall
to make determinations about what constitutes full budget, while also exacerbating the ecological impacts
mitigation under CESA. of fire exclusion.
“The basic problem with these rules is that they focus
on making it easier to kill endangered salmon, rather Why Suppress Wilderness Fires?
than on protecting the fish and recovering their habitat,” The fact that the Backbone fire burned mostly within
said Natalynne DeLapp of EPIC. “We need to restore the Trinity Alps wilderness area throws questions of fire
salmon habitat, not streamline the killing of the few suppression into sharp relief.
remaining wild coho salmon.” While it is true that fire managers should
DeLapp noted that the fishing and environmental be concerned with the potential risk to human
coalition sought to settle the suit, and asked the Board communities, including Denny on the south, the
of Forestry to update its rules in August of 2008, a Hoopa reservation on the west, and the Salmon River
request the Board refused by a wide margin. communities, the attempt to extinguish a fundamentally
“It’s natural fire in a wilderness area is sharply at odds
clearly with the Forest Service’s mandate to protect natural
going communities’ processes in these last outposts of
to take relatively intact public forest.
more than
business
as usual
to restore Scott Greacen is the executive director of the
our salmon,” DeLapp said. Environmental Protection Information Center.
www.yournec.org 3
 Renewable Energy Projects May Threaten Sensitive Habitats
It’s a 21 century environmental
st
conundrum: we need to reduce our use of
polluting fossil fuels and develop renewable
energy sources immediately. However, many
renewable energy projects threaten pristine
lands and the creatures who live there.
Such is the case with an array of wind
and solar projects proposed for Southern
California deserts and remote public lands in
the West.
President Obama has ordered that 10
percent of the nation’s power come from
renewable sources by 2010, and 25 percent by
2025. As a result, more than 80 solar projects
covering 1,000 square miles have been
proposed in California deserts alone. Many
of these are in roadless areas, mostly in areas
under Bureau of Land Management control.
Federal agencies are right now processing
more than 400 applications for new wind
and solar projects on federal land. If
approved, these projects would cover 2.3
million acres in seven Western states.
Stimulus funds have been allotted for
these projects, and the Department of
Interior announced in June that it will use the funding
to do just a single environmental review for the best 24
solar sites on western public lands.
Applications to build projects in the 24 solar study
areas will be fast-tracked to meet Obama’s energy goals.
The government will assist companies by pre-qualifying
huge swaths of federal land for development.
Although environmental groups such as Sierra Club
and Center for Biological Diversity have recommended
only 85,000 acres in the Mojave Desert, the priority
areas cover a whopping 338,000 acres.
Government streamlining is intended to mitigate the
difficulty of the permitting process for such projects,
which previously involved a patchwork of federal, state,
and local regulations. Companies complained that
obtaining approval to build solar and wind power was a
long and hassle-ridden process.
Protections Overridden
The good news is that streamlining these projects
would clear the way for more than 100 gigawatts of solar up environmental progress on a larger and more
capacity – enough to power 30 percent of U.S. homes.
The not-so-good news: the “streamlined” permit
processing exempts dozens of rare plant species that are
usually protected under the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA).
“About 150 rare plant species could be impacted,”
said Jim Andre of Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert
Research Center in the Eastern Mojave Desert.
Additionally, the projects would severely impact
critical habitat for the endangered desert tortoise, the
Mojave ground squirrel and other imperiled species.
Critics have also charged that the projects would
use up precious water resources in these arid areas,
requiring massive groundwater pumping to cool and
clean solar arrays. And miles of new transmission lines
would need to be constructed in the recently established
Mojave National Preserve and other sensitive lands.
Senator Dianne Feinstein has emerged as an ally to
A solar array shades the parking lot at Sierra Nevada Brewery, Chico, CA.
The 442-KW elevated solar array installed in 2007 generates a significant
amount of electricity to power brewery operations, as well as providing
the added benefit of shaded parking. Photo: Jen Kalt.
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4 www.yournec.org
by Sarah O’Leary
The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System project would cover more than 5 square miles of pristine
desert near the California-Nevada border and produce enough electricity to power nearly 200,000 homes.
According to CNPS, it would significantly impact 13 rare plant species, including 80 percent of the known
occurrences of the Mohave milkweed (Aslepias nyctaginifolia), a rare plant that is protected under state law.
Ivanpah Valley, San Bernardino County. Photo © Jim André
conservationists on this issue, actively supporting the
protection of unspoiled desert lands from solar energy
projects. She sponsored the 1994 California Desert
Protection Act, which protected more than 7 million
acres of pristine California desert and established the
Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks and the
East Mojave Natural Preserve.
These areas are now threatened by the proposed
solar energy projects, and Feinstein intends to push
legislation that would turn the land into a national
monument. This would allow for existing uses to
continue while preventing future development.
Governor Schwarzenegger, however, sees little
value in protecting the desert. He was quoted in a Yale
University speech last year as saying, “If we cannot
put solar power plants in the Mojave Desert, I don’t
know where the hell we can put it.” The governor
exemplified the perceived opposition between the two
environmental causes in this speech by saying “So a
squirrel that may not exist (at that location) is holding
pressing fight against global warming.”
Are There Alternatives?
Renewable energy development is essential but
the current proposals are far from green. Although
Schwarzenegger sees it as an either/or issue, others
have pointed out that renewable energy projects can
be successfully developed in the West without further
imperiling sensitive habitats.
“In identifying the solar energy zones, the Bureau
[of Land Management] should start with areas that are
already disturbed or immediately adjacent to degraded
private lands, or near existing infrastructure and
wastewater sources,” said Ileene Anderson, biologist and
public lands deserts director at the Center for Biological
Diversity. “[This would] avoid impacts to threatened and
endangered species, sensitive environmental areas and
the water that sustains them.”
In a letter to Senator Feinstein, the California Native
Plant Society (CNPS) outlined a series of ideas that
would allow renewable energy development to proceed
while protecting natural resources. The use of already
degraded or disturbed lands was at the top of their list.
Such lands require less intensive environmental review,
allowing for quicker project approval.
Other suggestions included locating projects near
existing transmission lines, directing solar development
projects to sites within already developed areas, and
increasing the focus on energy conservation.
“During the Enron electricity ‘crisis,’ Californians
were able to cut back by 10 percent simply by actively
reducing electricity usage,” said Jen Kalt of the Northcoast
Chapter of CNPS. “An important part of conservation is
using fewer resources, and using less electricity should
be part of our overall approach to reducing greenhouse
gas emissions, especially when the alternative is the
destruction of thousands of acres of desert habitat.”
Save the Dolphin More information at
Aldaron Laird
Blue Dolphin Alliance
www.bluedolphin.org
Save Yourself 888-694-2537
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Parking lots and rooftops of large
buildings such as malls and office
complexes offer ideal siting for solar
arrays. Some businesses have already
successfully undertaken such projects,
such as the Sierra Nevada Brewing
Company in Chico, California.
Last year the brewery completed
construction on “one of the largest
private solar arrays in the United
States.” According to the company web
site, the solar panels covering their
parking lot produce more than 1.4
megawatts of air conditioning power for
the brewery. The panels, along with a
fuel cell plant, provide for the majority
of the brewery’s electrical energy needs.
Surplus energy is even available to
supply the overloaded California power
grid during peak power usage periods.
Existing highways also offer
alternative sites for solar panel projects.
In March the Oregon Department of
Transportation unveiled the nation’s
first solar panel project on a major U.S.
highway. At the interchange of Interstate
5 and Interstate 205 near Tualatin stands a row of solar
panels about five feetwww.riverplanner.co
wide and two football fields long.
The 8,000 square feet of solar panels produce about
112,000 kilowatt hours per year, about 28 percent of the
amount used to light the highway interchange.
One can only imagine the energy savings that would
result if more of the nation’s highways installed similar
solar projects, especially in the West.
Other appropriate sites for solar and wind projects
include degraded agricultural lands that are no longer
productive, abandoned mine sites and contaminated
lands known as “brownfields.”
Few would argue with the fact that renewable energy
development is a top priority in our efforts to limit our
dependence on fossil fuels and our carbon emissions.
However, it is possible to conduct this development in
an environmentally sensitive manner.
“It is clear that lands both public and private are
available to help move the nation to a fundamentally
different energy pathway as soon as possible,” said
Anderson. “Protection of imperiled species and
the ecosystems upon which wildlife and human
communities both depend is essential as the inevitable
effects of ongoing climate change emerge.”
Jennifer Kalt contributed to this article
Take Action!
The BLM will release an environmental impact
statement this fall that will gauge the effects
of proposed solar power development on six
Western states. Visit http://solareis.anl.gov/
Let the BLM know your thoughts and opinions
on the proposed projects. Send comments
on the proposed withdrawal of land for Solar
Energy Study Areas to the BLM Director, 1849 C
Street NW. (WO350), Washington, DC, 20240.
The 90-day public comment period opened on
June 30. Submit all commits before the dead-
line of September 30.
Note: A ridiculously short comment period
involving all the Solar Energy Study Areas them-
selves was only 30 days long, ending July 30.
This addressed the wildlife: bighorn sheep,
tortoises, lizards, birds, as well as rare plants,
cultural resources, archaeology, visual impacts
– everything that will be impacted by energy
projects on desert lands.
Many individuals and organizations submitted let-
ters requesting that the comment period be extend-
ed. Check the NEC website, www.yournec.org for
updates on whether an extension was granted.
www.riverplanner.com
(707) 825-8770
Environmental Planner
Satisfy Your Soul
And So Much More
August 2009 ECONEWS
 Stranded On The North Coast
It is not supposed to happen that often, so it seems
special when it does. You’re walking along the beach
when you notice a black blur on the distant horizon.
You move closer with each anticipatory step, strides
getting larger, legs moving faster until the blur morphs
into a visible shape – a stranded baby Californian sea
lion, also known as a yearling.
Although this might have once been a rare chance
to catch a glimpse of a marine mammal close up, it has
recently become a common occurrence. The number
of marine mammals showing up stranded on California
shores has multiplied substantially in the last few months.
“We’ve received hundreds of calls to rescue animals
since May,” said Monica Hiner, director of the North
Coast Marine Mammal Center in Crescent City. “We
are still bringing in two or three animals a day.”
The Center rescues animals from Shelter Cove to the
Oregon border – a 200-mile stretch.
Since June, the center has received some 63
mammals, mostly emaciated Californian sea lion
yearlings from areas such as Trinidad, Clam Beach,
Manila and Samoa. Sometimes more rare species, such
as the stellar sea lion from farther north, make their way
to the center
Hiner said the center is overwhelmed and a little
alarmed by the high numbers. “In a normal year we get 30
to 50 animals total,” she said. “We have so many mammals
now that some pens have five animals in them.”
Bigger Picture
The situation is the same at the Marine Mammal
Center in Sausalito, which covers 600 miles of coastline.
Rescuers there have been bringing in up to 20 young
Californian sea lions a day. The center has received
thousands of calls and rescued more than 300 animals.
So what is causing this disarray? Why are there so
many marine mammals stranded? Why now?
Goodbye WOPR
Activists celebrated an Obama administration
decision last month that canceled the Western
Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR), a Bush era plan that
would have radically increased logging on 2.6 million
acres of public lands in western Oregon.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the Bush plan illegally
ignored requirements to protect endangered species living
in the forests and could not be defended in court.
Stating that “we have a duty to ensure that the law
and sound science are at the foundation of the way
we do business,” Salazar also confirmed that the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service will withdraw the 2008
redesignation of critical habitat for the Northern
spotted owl, one of many species decisions tainted
by former Interior Department deputy secretary Julie
MacDonald’s manipulations of science.
The announcement came in response to a lawsuit
filed by 13 conservation and fisheries protection
organizations challenging the Bush logging plan.
“This announcement basically restores the
southern half of the Northwest Forest Plan,” said
Kimberly Baker, public lands advocate for EPIC.
The WOPR plan – dubbed “whopper” by its critics
– would have cut up to 502 million board feet of
timber from the region annually. This is about double
the amount allowed under the 1994 Northwest Forest
Plan, adopted by the Clinton administration.
Environmentalists argued in court that the Bureau
of Land Management, which oversees the Oregon
forests in question, had failed to consult with Fish
and Wildlife about the possible impacts to imperiled
species as required.
The decision to overturn the Bush era move to
increase logging was a delicate one since Oregon’s
Douglas County, site of the forestlands, has an
unemployment rate of about 17 percent.
However, some economists believe that Oregon’s
timber economy has been hurt more by the
housing downturn and overseas competition than
by logging restrictions.
ECONEWS August 2009
by Matt Hawk
The North Coast and Sausalito
centers are part of a coast-wide
stranding network coordinated by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) that is trying
to find the link. The network includes
rescue and research centers such as
Humboldt State University.
Dawn Goley is an HSU associate
professor of zoology and coordinator of
the school’s marine mammal research
program. She is one of many scientists
in the stranding network who believe
the increase in beached mammals
signals an upcoming El Niño season.
Goley said that in mid-May a Steller sea lions, and endangered species from the north, sometimes wash up on North Coast
collapse in upwelling – a process that shores. “Stella” rests in a pool at the North Coast Marine Mammal Center, which has received
hundreds of calls to rescue washed-up marine mammals just in the last few months. Photo:
moves colder, nutrient-rich water to courtesy of Monica Hiner and the North Coast Marine Mammal Center.
the surface of the ocean – warmed
the ocean by 0.5 degrees. In an El Niño season the
tradewinds that normally produce cold waters shift and
bring in warmer waters.
Minute variations in temperature cause a majority of
the fish that make up the sea lions’ food source to go in
search of colder, more-nutrient rich waters.
Joe Cordero, a wildlife biologist who manages the
state’s stranding network for NOAA, agreed. “The fish
they eat have to follow food to colder waters,” he said.
He believes that a bumper crop of sea lions born last
year – 59,000 pups – combined with the upwelling
collapse is the cause of the strandings.
Cordero is hesitant to confirm that all of this means
an upcoming El Niño season. “It is still too early to make
any link between El Niño and this,” he said. “Sometimes
it is hard to put your finger on one cause.”
It May Get Worse
Although it may be too soon to tell if waters will
continue to warm in an El Niño season, Cordero feels
the numbers of strandings and inevitable marine
mammal deaths will continue to rise.
“Usually it takes three to five months before
California sees the full effects of an El Niño season,”
explained Cordero. “If it continues to develop, what
we’re seeing right now could be the tip of the iceberg. It
could go on for six months.”
An El Niño season is cyclical and happens
approximately every five to seven years. The last El Niño
season was in 1998. That year, Humboldt experienced
extreme weather conditions, and more than 3,000
National Forest Protections Upheld - Again
A Federal District Court ruled in late June that
the U.S. Forest Service failed to uphold important
environmental laws in its attempt to rewrite the
regulations that govern actions on national forests.
The coalition of small environmental groups that
has challenged the rule revisions since 2000 welcomed
the victory. But they expressed a mixture of doubt and
concern about how the Forest Service and the Obama
administration will respond.
The rules, which implement the National Forest
Management Act (NFMA), control how the Forest
Service creates individual projects as well as the forest
plans that guide forest management for multiple decades.
Judge Claudia Wilken ruled that the 2008 Forest
Service revisions to the NFMA regulations violated
both the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
and the Endangered Species Act (ESA); she had
previously overturned rules rewritten under the Clinton
administration in 2000 and the Bush administration’s
first attempt to rewrite the rules in 2005.
Lead plaintiffs in the nationally significant suit
were Trinity County’s Citizens for Better Forestry, a
grassroots group led by veteran national forest defender
Joseph Bower, and the Environmental Protection
Information Center (EPIC).
Scott Greacen of EPIC said that, while the ruling
is critically important, it still leaves a lot of questions
unanswered.
www.yournec.org
marine mammals were taken to rescue centers. During
a normal year that number is about 1,500. Cordero said
numbers could be even greater this year if the waters
continue to warm.
Compounding the problem, Hiner at the Crescent
City center is starting to see older sea lions that appear
to have a disease known as leptos spirosis. The disease
causes organ damage and kidney failure. It is a highly
contagious bacterial disease spread through the
mammals’ urine.
Goley said the disease is also a cyclical event, which
occurs about every four years. “That would be bad
timing, ” she added.
Resist The Urge To Help
The number of strandings in the coming months will
better illustrate what is happening out in the ocean.
For the time being, Hiner said, if you are walking on
the beach and get that rare opportunity to see one of
Mother Nature’s sea creatures, stay away.
Although seeing a marine mammal stranded on the
beach often causes people to try to come to its aid, it is
important to leave it alone.
“They are very cute and our first reaction it to want to
help,” Hiner said. “But interacting with the animal can
cause habituation, making it harder for the animal to
survive in the wild.”
Matt Hawk is an HSU senior studying journalism. He
graduates in May of 2010. He is an intern for ECONEWS.
“One of the most important things about this
decision is that it turns back yet another attempt by the
Forest Service to do away with the viability rule,” said
Greacen. “That rule says that our public forests must be
managed not just to prevent extinction of wildlife, but
as functional habitat that supports viable populations
of native wildlife. That’s a much stronger standard than
the Endangered Species Act.”
On the other hand, Greacen said, the ruling leaves
it up to the Forest Service to decide what rules it will
work under now, and seems likely to result in yet
another round of rule-making intended to weaken
critical environmental standards and mechanisms for
public participation in forest planning.
A coalition of environmental groups has written to
the Obama administration in response to the ruling,
expressing concerns that “this approach is likely to
exacerbate confusion in forest planning and lead to poor
project implementation and erratic decision-making.”
“For example,” the letter continued, “for projects
implementing existing forest plans, the 2000
transition provision as interpreted by the Bush
Administration requires only the consideration of the
best available science and the existing forest plan... This
interpretation … offers insufficient protection for forest
resources, insufficient guidance for forest managers,
and little promise of setting forest planning on to a
productive track.”
5
 Mixing It Up Would Benefit The General Plan
A friend was shopping at a McKinleyville shoe store
the other day, when a sales clerk advised her that a
particular pair of shoes were comfortable enough to
walk to work in, even though they looked more stylish
than comfortable. My friend asked, and sure enough,
the sales person lived in Eureka. Very few people are
able to walk to work in McKinleyville.
Where you live can have a profound effect on your
daily routine. What is it about some places that compel
people to walk more and drive less?
Perhaps the most important aspect is proximity –
how far is it to your job, the grocery store, the park? If
the places you need to go are within a half-mile of your
home, walking often makes more sense than driving.
Downtown Eureka has a mix of residential and retail
combined with higher densities, which means people
are more likely to walk from one place to the next.
McKinleyville, on the other hand, has no residential
Mixed-Use Development
Includes a variety of uses, typically residential,
retail and office space. This is how neighborhoods
were developed before single-use zoning sepa-
rated residential development from commercial.
by Chris Rall
development in its commercial areas,
and the commercial zone is one long
corridor—so few people have the
opportunity to do their errands on foot.
Proximity also benefits people
at each end of the age spectrum.
Kids can gain independence more
quickly if they don’t have to rely on
their parents to chauffer them to
all their activities. The elderly, who
typically spend the last 10 years of
their lives unable to drive, can retain
independence longer if there are
places to walk to near their home.
And when people drive, at least they
don’t have to drive as far if everything
they need is close by.
So how do we guide future
development to give more people the
opportunity to walk more often to
work, school, and shopping?
One way is through mixed-
use zoning. When residential and
commercial uses are zoned separately, Neighborhoods such as this one in Portland, Oregon, demonstrate the benefits of mixed use
people can’t live near work and zoning where residences and businesses can share the same space. Submitted photo.

This type of development creates opportunities for
living close to work and shopping, which reduces
traffic and impacts on the environment by facili-
tating healthy transportation choices.
What’s A General Plan Update?
The General Plan provides long-term direction
for the growth and development of the
unincorporated areas of the county, and state
law requires that it be reviewed and revised
about every 20 years.
The current General Plan Update will shape the
future of Humboldt County for years to come.
Three different options are currently under
consideration:
Alternative A is identified as the
environmentally superior option, and its
consideration is required by the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). This
option emphasizes resource land protections
by meeting housing needs through infill
development in existing communities.
Alternative B is the county’s current preferred
alternative and, among other things, is designed
to allow some residential development through
focused development in currently served areas
and some urbanization expansion.
Alternative C would allow residential expansion
in resource lands and would recognize existing
large lot entitlements.
For more detailed information, visit http://
co.humboldt.ca.us/gpu/overview.aspx
shopping. Mixed-use zoning allows for
residential and commercial development adjacent to
each other or even sharing a zone.
In many cases, buildings themselves can be mixed
use, with storefronts on the ground floor, and offices
and residential apartments upstairs. This is a pattern
you typically see in downtown Eureka, Arcata and
Fortuna, but not in the downtown of an unincorporated
towns like McKinleyville — not yet anyway.
What A Combination
The most recent draft of the Humboldt County General towns around Humboldt Bay. Healthy Humboldt
Plan Update (GPU) proposes to designate mixed-use
areas in town centers of most unincorporated towns.
The GPU could go further by adding residential zoning
to existing commercial areas, and identifying places for
small-scale commercial development to serve existing
car-dependent residential communities.
Large swaths of residential development in
McKinleyville, Humboldt Hill and Cutten produce
substantial traffic because residents need to drive a long
way from these neighborhoods, even to pick up a quart
of milk. Identifying neighborhood commercial zones
would provide some shopping and job opportunities
closer to where people live, and effectively mix the uses.
Some existing commercial zones could also mix uses
to provide more housing opportunities and create more
vibrant commercial centers. How many people do you
see walking on Central Avenue in McKinleyville where
there is only commercial development? Policies that
encourage mixed-use in commercial zones could spur
healthy housing choices, benefit local businesses, and
reduce traffic by giving people more transportation
options.
The Bayshore Mall, whose owner General Growth
Properties recently filed for bankruptcy, is another
example of the shortcomings of having single-use retail
development completely isolated from residential. One
way to rethink the Bayshore Mall would be to apply the
concept of mixed-use.
Malls throughout the country are adding office
and residential space as a way to support the retail
businesses, get steady residential rental income and
diversify to weather shifts in the economy. This strategy
also results in less driving and more walking for the
folks live and work there.
Many people love Humboldt for its open space and
rural qualities—farms, forests, rivers, and the ocean.
But the majority of the population lives in cities and
Coalition advocates for planning policies that will make
our towns better places to live. Coming soon to our
website (www.healthyhumbolt.org): recommendations
on rural planning policies.
Chris Rall is policy director of the Healthy Humboldt
Coalition and executive director of Green Wheels.
Learn More:
Visit www.planupdate.org to view General Plan
Update documents and the schedule of upcom-
ing hearings. To learn about policies under dis-
cussion for Urban and Rural Lands, look under
“What’s New” for the “Plan Alternatives - Key
Issues and Comparison Charts,” and download
the charts for the Urban Lands and Rural Lands
sections of the Land Use Element.
Visit www.healthyhumboldt.org to learn how
to get involved with working for a general
plan that creates healthy transportation and
housing choices while protecting resource
lands and watersheds by focusing future
growth in existing communities.

Arkley Land Plan Rejected By County
The Humboldt County Planning Commission held
a special hearing last month on five appeals from
corporations owned by local billionaire Rob Arkley
and rejected one of them.
The appeals claimed that some of Arkley’s holdings
– including hundreds of acres in Loleta, Samoa and
Weitchpec – are exempt from environmental review
because they are actually multiple separate parcels that
predate state subdivision laws.
The first appeal concerned a section of the former
Perrott Ranch in Loleta (see Arkley v. Humboldt,
North Coast Journal, Nov. 26, 2008). After poring
over historical deeds and maps, the Planning
Commission determined that only five separate legal
parcels are entitled to Certificates of Compliance.
These certificates are issued when a parcel is
determined to be in compliance with the state law
that governs subdivisions.
Existing Humboldt County law allows building a
house on every legal parcel without “discretionary
review,” meaning the developer is not required comply
with the California Enviropnmental Quality Act
(CEQA), or with current zoning laws.
Arkley’s attorney, James Corn of Sacramento,
claims that ten of the Arkley parcels are entitled to
Certificates of Compliance.
Corn’s argument hinges on the claim that an easement
through a parcel automatically creates two separate legal
6 www.yournec.org
Solutions
parcels. The County’s determination, however, is based
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on the principle of ‘unity of use’: if the original parcel Real Needs since 1990 707-822-6972
could be used as a single parcel after the easement was
granted, then it remains a single parcel.
Commissioner Scott Kelly pointed out that “there
are hundreds if not thousands of easements for right-
of-way in Humboldt County. Are you suggesting that
every parcel bisected created new parcels?”  Corn
replied, “Yes, if the easement was created before 1964”
[when a county ordinance governing subdivision went
into effect]. The Commission was not swayed and
upheld staff ’s original determination.
According to a county report on resource land
conversion, the Planning Commission received
Certificate of Compliance applications affecting more
than 53,000 acres of agricultural and timberlands from
2001 to June 2005, primarily involving the breakup of
old family ranches.
Developers have used certificates of compliance to
effectively subdivide large parcels without review for
environmental impacts and general plan consistency.
Across the state, the result has been the breakup
of productive agricultural parcels on which future
economic stability depends.
The four remaining appeals were continued to
August 11. For more information, visit the County’s
webpage at http://co.humboldt.ca.us/planning/
commission/default.asp?pg=notice.htm. 707-923-3606
August 2009 ECONEWS
 Rerouting Humboldt: The Off-Road Debate
You’re riding through the forest on a remote trail in
your 4x4. The fresh air riffles through your hair as the
car’s tires chew up dirt and rock. As you bounce up and
down, you round a bend to a magnificent sight – a large
deer, antlers and all, sips from a crystal clear lake set
against the backdrop of an endless mountain range.
This is off-road driving at its best. Taking to the trails
on two or four wheels and kicking up some dirt is one of
the pleasures of living the rural lifestyle for many.
But you can have too much of a good thing. So the
U.S. Forest Service discovered when it surveyed the
damage caused by off-highway vehicle (OHV) use
in national forests: erosion, water pollution, noise
disturbances, and habitat destruction to sensitive or
endangered species.
As OHV use increases, new trails are being carved
into the nation’s landscape. In 2003, the Forest Service
estimated that more than 14,000 miles of user-created
trails existed in our National Forest System.
Most OHV enthusiasts and environmentalists agree
the route designation process is a necessary one to ensure
the resources of the future, but the decision of how much
to add and to take away remains a difficult compromise.
Road Warriors
In 2005, the agency decided to update its travel
management plan in regards to off-road routes. The
new goals: catalogue OHV routes throughout the U.S.,
authorized or unauthorized, close some roads while
designating others, protect certain areas from use and
create a map for off-road enthusiasts to travel by.
Dale Bosworth, then USFS chief, introduced
the department’s plan. In a speech to OHV users,
Bosworth acknowledged the importance of recreation
in the U.S. and OHV use as an essential component.
He cited recreation as a major contributor to rural
economies as people travel from different locales to
ride on public lands.
But at the same time he cautioned against the
unbridled use of public lands.
“We believe that off-highway vehicles are a
legitimate use in the right place,” said Bosworth. “But
it’s a use that’s got to be managed if we want to keep
it. And if we want to sustain that use, then we’ve got
to work together.”
Today, many OHV route maps are finished, but in
Humboldt County the process continues in its final steps.
The Six Rivers National Forest found about 255 miles
of unauthorized trails in the Six Rivers/Mad River region.
Many off-road vehicle enthusiasts enjoy riding on remote forest
trails. However, the activity can impact water quality and cause
habitat destruction. The U.S. Forest Service is updating its travel
management plans in regard to off-road routes.
ECONEWS August 2009
by Matt Hawk
Of those miles, 57 don’t pose resource issues or the issues
could be mitigated. The remaining trail miles will be
closed as they have the potential to damage resources.
Hitting The Roads
A Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR)
submitted by Six Rivers shows an exhaustive analysis of
watershed risk and cumulative watershed effects, plant
rarity rankings, and noxious weed ratings. Leslie Burkhart,
travel management team leader for Six Rivers National
Forest, said that efforts were made to avoid introducing
new routes that might have environmental impacts and
add ones that created a good circuit for riders.
Six Rivers has proposed to authorize 57 miles of trail
and add 25 miles of mixed-use roads to the regular
highway system pending a separate analysis. Mixed-use
refers to sections of highway where ATVs (all-terrain
vehicles) are allowed to ride with passenger vehicles.
The proposed plan also closes vehicle access to the
North Fork
Wilderness, a
Congressionally
designated
wilderness area. Top: a 4 x 4 kicks up dust; Left: OHV debris litters
a stream. Photos: Matt Hawk
In response
to public input, “The Forest Service needs to take
Six Rivers these into consideration,” said Baker. “I
came up with don’t think they have.”
four route Once Six Rivers decides on which
alternatives, alternative it will pursue, the question
including each remains how will the Forest Service
of them into the manage unauthorized roads?
DEIR published Burkhart admits that it will not
in June. (See be an easy task. Signage and printed
chart) routes will help OHV users stay off of
With August 4 the deadline for public comment, unauthorized trails, but compliance with the rules will
Burkhart said the Forest Service hopes to make a be up to riders.
decision and publish a map of routes by December. She “I’m not sure how this is going to play out,” said
said Alternative 2, preferred by the agency, would give Burkhart. “It’s going to have to go back to folks being
riders a total of 117 miles of trail, including the 25 miles responsible.”
of mixed-use roads. Amy Granat is an avid OHV user and the natural
resources consultant for the California Association of
The Roads Not Taken
4WD Clubs. She believes OHV users in California have
Although Six Rivers did their best to include all riders
in the process, there are some who feel left out. become intimately involved with the trails they ride on,
and will act responsibly. She said that Six Rivers has
Carl Brandt, president of the Lost Coast 4x4 Club,
has lived in Humboldt all his life. His grandmother worked pretty well with the community.
“I think the vast majority of folks have the same
owned a boarding house in Eureka in the late 1800s. He
is saddened to see some of the trails he has ridden on goals,” she said, “to design a trail system that fits the
needs of the community and mitigates harm to the
for more than 50 years being closed .
Brandt said the process is removing too many environment. All users of the forest need to be aware of
existing trails. “Many of these trails and roads are shown their footprint.”
on old maps of the area, and have been used for many
years.” Brandt said he also feels ignored by Six Rivers. Matt Hawk is an HSU senior studying journalism. He
He requested a few trails to remain open, but they are graduates in May of 2010. He is an intern for ECONEWS.
closed on updated maps.
“This is very frustrating, and makes one not want to
go to the meetings, as your voice isn’t heard anyway,” Off-Road Route Alternatives for
said Brandt.
Those who advocate for road closures in order to
Six Rivers National Forest
preserve resources are also unhappy with the process. Alternate 1: Do nothing. Roads stay as they
Kim Baker, a public land advocate for the are. North Fork Wilderness is not closed.
Environmental Protection Information Center, is Alternate 2 (Proposed Action): Authorizes
troubled by the routes that may remain in designated 57 miles and adds 25 miles of mixed-use.
“late successional reserves” – areas of the forest
designed to maintain and restore old growth. She said
Closes North Fork Wilderness.
these areas host many endangered and sensitive species Alternate 3: Adds another 7 miles of roads
of plants and wildlife. to the 57 miles; 64 miles added total. It
Burkhart acknowledged that there are several routes also adds the 25 miles of mixed-use. Closes
deemed by the Forest Service to be out of the scope North Fork Wilderness. This alternative is
of their project. These roads will remain as is, not added to address concerns about taking
mitigated for resource concerns and not closed.
away recreation use.
Baker said she is mainly concerned about the smaller
extension roads leading from campsites. She said a lot of Alternate 4: No roads added. Unauthorized
the roads being added are spur routes to campgrounds, roads closed. Closes North Fork Wilderness.
and that many of the routes off of them need to be closed.
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Chiropractic, Massage and Acupuncture
James Athing, Doctor of Chiropractic
Soft Tissue Specialist
Work, Auto & Sports Injuries 1580 Nursery Way, McKinleyville, in Miller Business Park
735 12th Street, Arcata (707)822-7419 www.athingchiropractic.com Tu-Sat 10-5:30 Sun 12-4 707-840-0776
www.yournec.org 7
 Eco-Kids Page:
Learn About TreesActivities by Sarah Marnick
Sawdust Playdough
Recipe
• 2 cups sawdust
• 3 cups flour
• 1 cup salt
Mix all ingredients together
Tree Match Game and add water as needed
to make pliable.
MATCH THE WORD
WITH THE LEAF OR Did you know
that the tallest tree in the
NEEDLE world is here in Humboldt
County and it is more than
twice the height of the Statue
of Liberty at 379 feet!
It lives in Redwood National and
A.  
State Parks.
MAPLE The oldest individual tree lives
OAK in South Africa, the Baobab, and
is around 6,000 years old! The
ALDER B.   oldest tree in North America is
HEMLOCK the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine
WILLOW in California and is about 4,700
E. years old.
Some trees share a common
root system called a clonal colony
and those root systems can get to
be very old, one aspen colony is
D. estimated to be 80,000 to a million
C. years old! The oldest individual
  tree that comes from one of
these types of root systems is
a Norway Spruce in Sweden
Book Review: and is 9,550 years old!

Operation Redwood Match Game Answers

by S. Terell French
E) Oak

WORD SEARCH
C) Maple D) Willow
Reviewed by Clary Greacen, Age 8 A) Alder B) Hemlock

Operation Redwood is a story S O F T W O O D O W T F O S Find these tree words on the puzzle at left
about a fight to save old growth
redwoods. O A L S M R O W O M S H W D
TREE TERMS:
Julian’s mother is in China, so V W P D Z H H G R A D E C R
CHLOROPHYLL HEARTWOOD
he is staying with his uncle Sibley E J T A C E N N A P Q M A A
Carter at the Carter’s mansion. DECIDUOUS OXYGEN
I A E S V A J T T L W L S H DENDROLOGY PERENNIAL
Julian opens up an e-mail addressed
to his uncle from Robin Elder. Robin N M C B B R Y S R E R O D N EVERGREEN RESOURCE
lives next to the grove of redwoods T W N H R T E Y O C U C F E FOLIAGE SAP
that Julian’s uncle’s company plans to H H E E L W W G P U Y K G E HARDWOOD SOFTWOOD
cut down. G A D R D O O O M R P I W R
Julians uncle treats him horridly, NATIVE TREES:
so he runs away to Robin’s house. He pretends to be an A R R E T O R L I P O Y A G
exchange student on Huckleberry Ranch. Together, Julian, L D E C I D U O U S N E R R ALDER
his friend Danny, Robin, her friend Ariel, and Molly, Robin’s A W N R A R S R P X E K E E CEDAR
little sister persuade Sibley Carter to give up on cutting I O I U E W M D L H G N G V HEMLOCK
down the old growth redwoods.
Hiding out in a rickety old tree house during a N O A O B O A N I K Y O A E MAPLE
lightning storm can be very scary, but to them saving N D L S E L W E O E X L I S REDWOOD
the redwood grove is worth it. With hesitant help from E O D E O L G D S M O M L E SPRUCE
Robin’s parents, and enthusiastic help from Julian’s R W E R Z I A M E Z W T O E WILLOW
long-lost relative, they win the battle.
The two main characters are Julian and Robin, E P R E D W O O D V R O F B
who both share a love of the ancient trees. I’ve really P E R R E N N I I A L A R T
enjoyed this book because along with the story there
are facts about the magnificent redwoods.

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8 www.yournec.org August 2009 ECONEWS

 Native Plants: Solution to Restoring Biodiversity
By Donna Wildearth
Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain
Wildlife in Our Gardens, by Douglas W. Tallamy, 288
pages, Timber Press, Portland, Oregon, 2007, $17.95
If I ruled the world,
this book would be
required reading for all
gardeners, birders and
native plant aficionados.
Douglas Tallamy,
a professor and
department chair of
Entomology and Wildlife
Ecology at the University
of Delaware, has written
a passionate, carefully
argued book explaining
that gardening with
native plants is more
than just a nice idea; it
is crucially important to
the survival of many animal species.
“All plants are not created equal, particularly in their
ability to support wildlife,” Tallamy writes. “Most of our
native plant-eaters are not able to eat alien plants, and
we are replacing native plants with alien species at an
alarming rate, especially in the suburban gardens on
which our wildlife increasingly depends. My central
message is that unless we restore native plants to our
suburban ecosystems, the future of biodiversity in the
United States is dim.”
Tallamy explains the important role insects play in
transferring energy from plants to animals. He notes
that insects are especially important to birds – in fact, 97
percent of terrestrial bird species in North America rely
on insects and other arthropods (typically spiders that
eat insects) to feed their young.
As a general rule, Insects can’t eat alien plants due to
the fact that plants protect themselves from predation
by producing an array of physical and chemical
defenses. In the majority of cases, only insects that
have co-evolved with a specific plant for thousands of
generations are able to overcome these defenses and use
the plant for nourishment.
Tallamy’s research found that native plants supported
three times as many herbivore species as non-natives.
Additionally, he notes, “When I compared natives
and aliens in terms of their production of Lepidoptera
and sawfly caterpillars—the largest diet components
of insectivorous birds—I found that the native plants
in the study supported a whopping 35 times more
caterpillar biomass than the aliens. “
Since most bird populations are limited by the
amount of food they can find, this means that in
habitats comprised primarily of non-native plants, there
is 35 times less food available for birds leading to a
significant reduction in bird population.
Tallamy discusses the problem of exotic invasive
plants and debunks the conventional gardening wisdom
that a garden devoid of insects is a desirable goal. He
contends that, on the contrary, only a garden with a
dynamic population of insects is healthy and capable of
sustaining itself.
As a landscape designer, I have advocated the use of
native plants for many years, but after reading this book
I feel a new sense of urgency about this issue. The good
news is that, as gardeners, we can make a difference.
As Tallamy concludes: “Because food for all animals
starts with the energy harnessed by plants, the plants we
grow in our gardens have the critical role of sustaining,
directly or indirectly, all of the animals with which we
share our living spaces. . . . Which animals will make it
and which will not? We help make this decision every
time we plant or remove something from our yards.”
Donna Wildearth is the owner of Garden Visions
Landscape Design in Eureka, and teaches landscape design
and plant identification at College of the Redwoods.
A version of this book review appeared in the
Spring 2009 issue of Darlingtonia, The Newsletter
of the North Coast Chapter of the California Native
Plant Society
10 BEST NATIVE PLANTS FOR COASTAL
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA WILDLIFE
Red Alder (Alnus rubra) Provide food for leaf- and
root-feeding insects and mammals, as well as food
and homes for cavity-nesting wildlife, including
woodpeckers, sapsuckers, owls, and flying squirrels.
Willows (Salix spp.) Provide most of the same ben-
efits as red alders but there is a larger selection of
species from which to choose.
Manzanita (Arctostaphylos spp.)
One of the first plants to flower in winter to early
spring and as such it is extremely important to native
bees and hummingbirds.
Ceanothus (Ceanothus spp.)
Produce flowers in abundance for beauty, and the pollen,
nectar and leaves are relished by insects and mammals.
Twinberry (Lonicera involucrata)
Blooms early and continues through most of the
summer if kept watered. Flowers provide nectar for
hummingbirds and long-tongued insects. Berries are
sought after by fruit-eating birds.
California Wax Myrtle (Myrica californica)
Fruits provide winter food for local and migrating
birds when other foods are scarce.
Currant & Gooseberry (Ribes spp.)
Flowers, fruit, and leaves provide food for bees,
birds, and butterfly larvae.
Aster (Aster spp.)
Blooms mid-summer to fall when other flowers are becom-
ing scarce, and the leaves are larval food for butterflies.
Clarkia (Clarkia spp.)
Produces huge numbers of flowers when many na-
tive bees are active.
Wild Buckwheat (Eriogonum spp.)
Flowers and foliage are food for native bees and butterflies.
Compiled by Peter Haggard, Garden Chair CNPS-NCC
and co-author of “Insects of the Pacific Northwest”

The (“Least”)
Redwood Region Audubon Society
S andpiper AUGUST
2009
Trinidad 6:30 a.m., HSU 6:50 a.m., Eureka 7:05 a.m.,
Look for the September Sandpiper Online at Fortuna 7:25 a.m.
X
www.rras.org Sunday, September 6: Coastal Crescent City. RRAS
and the North Coast Redwood Interpretive Association
As noted elsewhere in this issue, the ECONEWS will not be published in September as it has gone to bimonthly
publication for awhile. However, RRAS has elected to continue monthly (September through May) publication, and invite all bird and nature lovers to join wildlife biologist
the September issue of The Sandpiper will be posted on the RRAS Web site (www.rras.org). It’s important that we Craig Strong for a morning of coastal birding and marine
continue to inform our members about weekly birding field trips, especially during the start of fall migration. Other mammal viewing. The 3-hour trip starts at 9:00 a.m. in the
important information, such as the Field Notes, welcome to new members, and the monthly members’ program, Crescent City Harbor behind the Chartroom Restaurant,
will also be available. where participants can expect to see seals and sea lions as
Other ways to receive announcements about recently added field trips, reminders about upcoming well as a variety of coastal birds such as pelicans, loons,
programs, meetings, public hearings, and the like of interest to members is to sign up for the RRAS listserv or to grebes, cormorants, buffleheads, and surf scoters. Strong
send your e-mail address to Lew Norton, RRAS Membership, P.O. Box 1054, Eureka, CA 95502. Currently only will share some of his research and the life histories of
about 22% of RRAS members have provided their e-mail address, and during this time of uncertainty and flux for these ocean-dependent creatures. The group will carpool
the NEC, we need all available tools for notifying our members of events and activities. to different locations along the coast to observe marine
To sign up for the listserv, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rras or send e-mail to rras- mammals and scope near-shore birds, possibly even
subscribe@yahoogroups.com. All posts should give complete information on the event, sponsor (limited to sighting the rare Marbled Murrelet.
nonprofit groups and governmental agencies), location, date, time, and contact. This site is not for reporting bird Take Hwy 101 north to the Crescent City
sightings; other venues exist for that purpose. Harbor. Turn west on Anchor Way to reach the Chartroom
It is our hope that this is just a temporary bump in the road and that The Sandpiper will again appear in Restaurant. For more information, call (707) 465-6191.
your mailbox as part of a monthly ECONEWS.
Sunday, August 9: Humboldt Bay National Wildlife SEPTEMBER PROGRAM
FIELD TRIPS Refuge. This is a wonderful, 2- to 3- hour trip for people
Carpooling to and on RRAS field trips is strongly wanting to learn the birds of the Humboldt Bay area. Vagrants and Teenagers
encouraged. It’s economical, it’s fun, and it’s the right It takes a leisurely pace with emphasis on enjoying the Lost and Found
thing to do! Impromptu carpools to trips meet in the birds! Beginners are more than welcome. Meet at the
Refuge Visitor Center at 9:00 a.m. Call Jude Power
in the Klamath Knot
following parking lots at the times indicated in the trip
announcements: Trinidad (Park & Ride, Main Street exit, or David Fix ([707] 822-3613) for more information. Join us as noted wildlife biologist, RRAS
Carpools: Trinidad 8:10 a.m., HSU 8:25 a.m., Eureka board member, and founder of several
X
west side of Hwy 101), HSU (northwest corner of Harpst
and Rossow streets, opposite Student Services), Eureka 8:45 a.m., Fortuna 8:45 a.m. California bird observatories C.J. Ralph
(Park & Ride, Herrick Avenue exit), and Fortuna (Park describes the migration and routes of landbirds
& Ride, Kenmar Road exit). Be there a few minutes early Sunday, August 16: Southern Humboldt Community as they travel from Alaska and Canada toward
and see if anyone else is there for ridesharing. If you Park. Jay Sooter ([707] 444-8001) and Robert Sutherland the Neotropics. Many birds get lost along the
would like to prearrange a carpool, try using the RRAS lead this monthly walk. All ages and experience levels way, and C.J. will tell their story.
are encouraged to participate and revel in the beauty of
listserv. Please offer your driver some gas money.
the park and its avian inhabitants on this easy 2- to 3-
This program will be held on
hour walk. Binoculars are not provided, and dogs are Friday, September 11, 2009,
Every Saturday: Arcata Marsh and Wildlife starting at 7:30 p.m.,
Sanctuary. These are our famous, rain-or-shine field not allowed. Steady rain cancels. Meet at 8:00 a.m. in
trips at the marsh; take your binocular(s) and have a great the parking lot just off Kimtu Road in Garberville. Take at the Humboldt County Office of Education
morning birding! Meet in the Klopp Lake parking lot, Sprowel Creek Road west, and immediately before the near the Burre Center at Myrtle and West
south end of I Street, at 8:30 a.m. Call Kerry Ross ([707] bridge over the south fork of the Eel, turn left onto Kimtu in Eureka. Bring a mug and enjoy shade-
839-4365) for more information. Carpools: Trinidad 8:10 Road. Proceed down Kimtu for about 1/2 mile, and grown coffee. Please help us ensure that our
a.m., Eureka 8:05 a.m., Fortuna 7:45 a.m. X turn left into the parking lot by the lone oak. Carpools: meetings are fragrance-free.

ECONEWS August 2009 www.yournec.org 9

Kin to the Earth
Bill Devall: Advocate For The Wild, 1939-2009
The environmental movement has lost a great
crusader, a well-loved teacher, an irascible and
fearless proponent of the wild. Bill Devall, who
died on June 26, stirred up a range of emotions in
those who knew him, but no one questions his love
of nature and his unswerving commitment to the
preservation of the wilderness.
“He was a radical individual who shook us out of our
complacency,” said Joanne Rand, a friend and fellow activist.he started his graduate studies.” Even
Devall was a founding member of the NEC, helping
to write the bylaws and give early direction to the
organization that would spearhead so many important
environmental campaigns in this region. “He didn’t just
sit around, he talked and he wrote,” said Lucille Vinyard,
another NEC co-founder and founder of the North
Group Chapter of the Sierra Club.
Widely known and respected for his writing and
teaching on the subject of Deep Ecology, Devall co-
authored the book of the same title with George
Sessions in 1985. A prolific author, he published dozens
of articles, book reviews and commentaries in addition
to his full-length books. Many of his pieces appeared in
early issues of ECONEWS.
Devall was inspired by the works of Gary Snyder
and Arne Naess (who coined the term “Deep Ecology.”)
The philosophy of Deep Ecology seeks a holistic
understanding of the environment and advances
the idea that all different elements of the ecosystem,
including humans, function as a whole. Devall eschewed
anthropocentric versions of environmentalism, and
he advocated for a reclaiming of the movement at the
grassroots level.
“He argues that environmentalism in America is
alive and well but at the grassroots,” said Sing Chew,
senior research scientist at the Helmholtz Center for
Environmental Research and a close friend of Devall.
“He believed, as I do, that the only thing left in this frontvery important, was Living Richly in an Age of Limits, a
of resistance is the local groups. They are the only ones
with a true understanding of what is needed because
they are intimately linked to the land and landscapes.”
Chew and Devall both have written extensively about
these issues, arguing against the current “buzzword”
version of environmental sustainability. “It’s time
Books by Bill Devall
Deep Ecology (with George Sessions)
Simple in Means and Rich in Ends
Living Richly in an Age of Limits
The Ecology of Wisdom 2008 clear-cutting. The campaign included the
Life Form of the Month
Green Heron: Small Bird, Big Brain
The multi-colored bird stands at the edge of a marsh
on petite yellow legs. It drops a piece of bread into the
water and waits. After a few minutes it plunges its long
beak into the water and gobbles down a small fish or
perhaps a frog.
The green heron (Butorides virescens), a small North
American bird, is one of the few animals that uses
tools to catch its prey. It collects bait such as small
breadcrumbs, feathers, bugs or twigs. The heron drops
these items into the water then eats the prey attracted
to the lure.
It typically dines on fish, insects, frogs, invertebrates,
and other small animals. Favorite hunting spots are near
swamps, along creeks, streams, marshes and the edges
of large bodies of water.
A nocturnal bird, the green heron is hardest to spot
during the dusk and dawn. Like other birds that live
near the shore, it adapts to the rising and falling of the
tides and adjusts its feeding patterns accordingly. These
birds feed alone and do not tolerate feeding with groups
of other herons.
The green heron is closely related to two other
Robert Berg, D.D.S.
212 J Street Eureka, CA 95501 707-445-0784
10
by Sarah O’Leary
to talk about a different type of
environmentalism,” Chew said. “Because
it’s been co-opted.”
Devall’s brother, Jim Devall,
said that although his brother was
always a nature lover, “his interest in
environmentalism accelerated when
at that early stage Bill questioned
the rules and status quo. Jim Devall
still has a copy of his brother’s thesis
entitled, “What is the Governing of a
Voluntary Organization: Oligarchy and
Democracy in the Sierra Club.”
Devall earned his masters in 1962 at
the University of Hawaii where he was
a teaching fellow. He did a brief stint
as assistant professor at University of
Alberta before becoming an assistant
professor of Sociology at HSU in 1968.
Humboldt County became his home, and it is where
he inspired and motivated scores of students to take a
stand for the environment. His writings and teachings
continually demonstrated his unshakeable belief in the
necessity for a shift from an anthropocentric view of
nature to one that is ecocentric.
“By showing that there is more at stake than just the
interests of human beings, Bill played a crucial role in
setting the stage for no-compromise environmentalism,”
said Bobcat Robert Brothers, a friend and colleague.
“It is especially important that this be revived and
strengthened in these times of political compromise.”
In many of his writings, Devall critiqued the idea
that we could buy ourselves out of environmental
crisis. “The last book he wrote, which I thought was
manifesto for the American middle class,” Chew said.
“And, although it is 15 years old, it has now come home
to roost in a sense.”
In addition to writing about the environment, Devall
was a dedicated activist. Along with co-founding the
NEC, he worked to establish legal protections for
forestlands and endangered species. He was a
prominent participant in Redwood Summer of
1990 – when hundreds of activists demonstrated
1985 and blocked access to Northern California ancient
1988 forests to protect them from logging.
Redwood Summer led to a national
1993 campaign to protect old-growth forests from
Sierra Club publication of Clear Cut: The
By Kayla Gunderson
herons, the striated heron and the Galapagos heron.
Some biologists consider these three birds as one
species known as the green-backed heron.
The heron breeds during winter, mostly in swampy
areas along the coast and prefers to build nests in
www.yournec.org
Tragedy of Industrial Forestry in 1995, a pictorial
book edited by Devall.
“He had a huge following not just here, but overseas
too,” said Chew, adding that Devall was invited to be
the keynote speaker at a Deep Ecology conference in
Greece a few years ago.
Devall was also a practicing Buddhist, finding a
resonance between this path of spirituality and his own
reverence for Nature.
“Bill was a very seminal member of the Arcata Zen
Group and made some significant contributions to the
evolution of Buddhist thought in America,” said Emelia
Berol, another friend. “He spent a lot of time thinking
and writing about how Buddhist principles harmonize
with living with respect for Nature, and how Buddhism
relates to environmentalism.”
Everyone is welcome to attend a
Memorial Service for Bill Devall on
October 10, 11 a.m., at the Unitarian
Universalist Fellowship in Bayside.
A buffet lunch will follow.
The NEC invites you to share your memories
or tributes to Bill. We will publish all
submissions on our web site. Stories and
tributes of any size are welcome, as are photos.
E-mail sarah@yournec.org
trees rather then bushes. It hatches four to six chicks
from eggs that are light blue or green in color. The
offspring can usually fend for themselves after about
30 to 35 days. Around late May, following the breeding
season, some herons wander off to find better weather -
sometimes venturing as far as Europe.
Its birdcall sounds much like a squeaky dog toy. It is a
high-pitched, raspy “kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk” sound. The
green heron only stands about 22 inches tall as an adult
and the neck is generally pulled tight against the body.
Although its head and back are a glossy green, it has
reddish coloring on its neck and the wings are grey. The
bird has a long beak that comes to a sharp point at the
end, which makes it easier to grab prey out of the water.
Herons are seasonally monogamous after the male
proves himself worthy of courtship with intriguing
displays of neck puffing and loud squawking. The male
also chooses the nesting site.
The green heron population appears to be stable.
Migration patterns have not been affected by global
warming. It is hard to estimate how many are in the
wild because of their secretive nature.
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August 2009 ECONEWS
 Eco-Mania FALSE FLIPPERS:  A 20-year-old loggerhead sea turtle
that lost its front flippers to a shark has been fitted
A monthly melange of with fake limbs by Japanese surgeons, a first in animal
prosthetics.
salient sillies.... If the turtle, named Yu-Chan, takes to the artificial
limbs, it will be released back to the wild. Without them,
the disabled turtle can only move at about half-speed,
PLAYBOY BUNNIES RESCUED: An endangered rabbit making Yu-Chan vulnerable to more shark attacks.
named after Playboy Magazine founder Hugh Hefner is
getting help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. ❂
The rabbit, Sylvilagus palustris hefneri, native to TWIGGERS: That’s the term – combining “tweakers”
the marshes of the Lower Florida Keys, was declared and “diggers” – for the methamphetamine users who
endangered 20 years ago because of habitat destruction have been looting Native American artifacts, according
– and today fewer than 300 remain. Hefner donated to the National Park Service.
money to support fieldwork, and now the agency plans Their twitchy energy, authorities say, allows them to
to found a new population in a habitat where they are wander sites and dig holes for hours, scan the ground
ANCIENT MUSIC: The origins of music have been closely and compulsively seek more and more.
less likely to be disturbed.
pushed back 5,000 years after the discovery of a nine-
inch-long flute made from a bone of a griffin vulture.
The Stone Age flute, displaying five holes for the
fingers, was found in a cave in southern Germany.

❂
IT’S NOT FANTASY ISLAND: While the “experts”
bicker about global warming, two island nations are
preparing to be inundated.
In the Maldives, in the Indian Ocean, legislators are
considering a national trust fund to help buy a new
homeland if future generations have to evacuate. In the
Pacific, the leader of Kiribati has asked nearby Australia
and New Zealand to help train natives in skilled
professions so they can find jobs – abroad. 

❂
STARVATION: Seventeen people die of hunger every
GULP: Plastics – mainly bottles and bags – make up 80
minute – in a world where obesity is a significant health
percent of the garbage in the world’s oceans, according
problem for many.
to a major survey by the United Nations Environment
The number of people dying of hunger around the LOADED: The tiny kangaroos known as wallabies are
Program.
globe had been going down until two years ago, when it being blamed for creating crop circles because they eat
You can help reduce this litter by participating in
started rising again. Meanwhile, a new study in the U.S. opium poppies, get high and hop around on the island
the NEC-inspired annual California Coastal Cleanup
shows obesity is ubiquitous, with the lowest number of Tasmania.
on Saturday, September 19 – or just go clean the beach
of fatties in Colorado (19 percent) and the highest in Authorities on the island, the world’s largest producer
any day.
Mississippi (32 percent). of legally grown opium for the pharmaceutical market,
❂ say wildlife and livestock are known to “act weird” after
WOOL ISN’T SHRINKPROOF:  Climate change ❂ eating the poppies.
is causing a breed of wild sheep on a Scottish island
HOT HIVES: Thousands of radioactive wasp nests
to shrink, according to researchers. Scientists began
have been found at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation
❂
studying Soay sheep on the island of Hirta 25 years ago
in Washington, home of the first full-scale plutonium HERO DOG CLONED: Five puppies have been cloned
and say they’ve decreased in size by 5 percent. 
production reactor and dubbed “the dirtiest place on from the German shepherd named Trakr that found
Their legs also are getting shorter and their body
Earth” because of the 53 million gallons of high-level the last human survivor rescued from the rubble of the
weight is decreasing – probably because milder weather
“hot” waste that remains there. World Trade Center.
is helping smaller sheep to survive
The nests being dug up are contaminated with Trakr, who recently died, was the winner of the
❂ radioactive isotopes of cesium and cobalt, but officials
say they do not pose a threat to workers. Plans call for
Golden Clone Giveaway, a competition to find the
GAIA AND OTHERS: About 84 percent of people in world’s most “cloneworthy” dog. His owner said that
the nests to be buried in a landfill elsewhere on the one of the puppies is an exact replica of Trakr. 
the world believe in a supernatural force of some kind.
Hanford site

                                                   

The Development is Approved!

Each lot is next to a 17-acre private forest preserve and
within walking and biking distance to HSU and the Plaza
Just 5 lots available in this green and connected neighborhood
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Consultations  Labor Pool Referrals
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Corner of 6th & H Streets Arcata
2 blks from the Plaza • Free Parking

Gently used clothing,

furniture, books and
household items.
Open 10am-5pm
Monday to Saturday 826-2545
Sunday, August 30th • 10:30-7:30
Halvorsen Park, Foot of “L” St, Eureka
$12 Adv/ $15 Gate/$3 Kids

Ramone’s Bakery
OPEN
&Cafe
Espresso & Freshly Roasted Coffee • Pastries
TOFU SHOP • Fresh • Locally-Made •
The Del McCoury Band • Tanya Stephens
Peter Alsop • LoCura • Lila Nelson
DAILY Breads • Desserts • Catering
• Certified Organic • Mike McGrath, keynote
Wedding & Specialty Cakes
Soup, Salad & Lunch Entrees • Waste-Reduction Award Winner• $1,000 Grocery Price • Free Kids’ Village
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Look for Tofu Shop products in fine World’s Lgst Organic Salad • Arcata Shuttlebus
IN EUREKA: Organic Gardening Workshops
2223 Harrison Ave. • 442-1336
markets, delis, and restaurants.
At Wildberries, Arcata • 826-1088 209 E St., • 445-2923
In McKinleyville • 839-3383 At Pierson’s • 476-0401 www.organicplanetfestival.org
www.TofuShop.com
ECONEWS August 2009 www.yournec.org 11
 CNPS HAPPENINGS
News and Events from the North Coast Chapter of the California Native Plant Society
Bash that English ivy!
August 9, Sunday. Introduction to Ivy Removal
10 a.m.-12 noon at Patricks Point State Park
Help the environment, help our state parks and get
free park admission and lunch. CNPS is excited to be
helping State Parks educate volunteers in ivy removal
and set them up to be able to work on their own
schedules in Patrick’s Point State Park and Trinidad
State Beach. Alone or with a group of your choosing,
you could save a patch of native vegetation – trilliums,
inside-out-flower, candyflower, etc – from the tide
of English ivy engulfing our forests and scenic coast.
Contact Michelle Forys at 707-677-3109. If you are
interested and cannot attend the August 9 introduction,
please call her to arrange another time.
Visit Plants In Their Habitat
Summer is a great time to go out walking and get
to know your local plants. Here are some of our
favorite local walks, from south to north: Russ Park,
A Monthly List of Events & Conservation Updates From the North Group Redwood Chapter Sierra Club
Group Picnic – August 9
North Group members and friends are asked to gather
at Patrick’s Point State Park in Trinidad at noon. Bring
food to share and a place setting to eat on; we will provide
drinks. Inform the gate attendant that you are attending
the Sierra Club picnic at the Bishop Pine Group Area.
A nature hike will kick off the celebration, followed by
lunch. Info: Sue, 707-442-5444.
Keep Up to Date with North Group Listserve
When this went to press, the continued monthly
publication of ECONEWS was under discussion. There
will be no September issue, and ECONEWS may become
a bimonthly publication beginning in October. Thus,
to keep our members informed about hikes, meetings,
conservation issues, and other events, it is important that
we have an e-mail address for you. Rest assured that you
will not be deluged with messages (about one per month),
recipients’ names do not appear, and all messages
emanate from the list serve manager. To join, send an
e-mail to sueleskiw@suddenlink.net. Also, North Group
News and other information about our group is posted
at the website www.redwood.sierraclub.org/north.
Would YOU Like to Run for ExCom?
Sierra Club Group elections are coming up soon. If you
are interested in serving as a member of the North Group
Executive Committee, which meets every second Tuesday
evening of the month, contact Diane at 707-444‑2690.
Why not attend an upcoming meeting (see schedule
below) to see for yourself how the NG operates? A short
candidate statement must be turned in no later than
October 1 to be included on the ballot for a two-year
term that begins in January.
Recognizing Bill Devall
Former NG Executive Committee and Conservation
Chair Bill Devall passed away on June 26 after a long
illness. Long-time friend Lucille Vinyard notes that Bill
was an avid hiker and active advocate for wilderness
protection. As a professor at HSU, Devall “sent a lot of
students out into the world looking a little more ‘green’
than when they came in,” said Lucille. A memorial service
will be held October 10 at the Unitarian Universalist
Fellowship in Bayside. See page 10 for more on Bill.
Open 7 Days a Week
Wine Bar!
Friday & Saturday, 3-9 p.m.
Live Jazz 6-9 pm - no cover!
Special Tastings:
Newsom-Harlow, Calaveras County
August 11
Husch Vineyards, Mendocino County
August 20
Lolonis Winery, Mendocino County,
August 26
All Tastings 5pm – 7pm, $5/person
8th Street on the Plaza, Arcata 825-7596
12
Ferndale; Rohner Park, Fortuna; Elk River Trail in
Headwaters Forest, about 7 miles out Elk River Rd.;
Sequoia Park, Eureka, at the foot of T Street; Arcata
Community Forest, 700 block Fickle Hill Rd. entrance;
Mad River Beach County Park dunes; Azalea Reserve,
McKinleyville, on Azalea Dr. just off North Bank Rd.;
Hammond Trail, McKinleyville, Hiller Rd. to Widow
White Creek; Trinidad Head; Elk Head in Trinidad State
Beach; Patrick’s Point State Park, Ceremonial Rock, Rim
Trail, Wedding Rock. A slightly longer drive gets you to
Prairie Creek State Park, where every trail is wonderful.
Friends of the Dunes offers walks every weekend to get
to know our dunes.
Turn Your Yard Into Habitat.
While you are out in the wild, look for inspiration for
your garden. What native plants grow together? Which
can be grouped particularly artfully? Which are growing
in similar soil and conditions as your yard? Which
plants seem to attract butterflies, bees and birds? Please
leave wild plants in the wild. In most circumstances it
NORTH GROUP NEWS
Outings & Meetings
Saturday, August 8 – Headwaters Forest Reserve.
This 11-mile hike is level for first four miles, passing
through scenic second-growth redwood along Elk
River. The last mile is a steep climb through old growth.
Carpools meet at Herrick/101 Park and Ride at 9 a.m. or
at trailhead, end of Elk River Road at 9:30 am. No dogs.
Register in advance with leader Xandra, 707-441-0702.
Sunday, August 9 – Picnic at Patrick’s Point State
Park [see above].
Tuesday, August 11 —Meeting & Public Discussion
Join us for a discussion of local conservation issues
between 8 and 9 p.m., following the ExCom business
meeting starting at 6:45 p.m. Meet at Adorni Center on
Eureka Waterfront. Info: Gregg, 707-826-3740.
Wednesday, August 19 – Cathedral Trees-
Rhododendron-Cal Barrel-Foothill
Trail Loop, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. This
medium difficulty, 5-mile hike ascends from prairie and
creekside into old growth redwood featuring “goose pens”
and cathedral groves. Mostly shaded. Bring liquids, food,
camera; wear layers and suitable footwear. Carpools from
south meet at Arcata Safeway (7 and F streets) at 9:30 am,
all meet at Visitor Center at 10:15 am. Must register in
advance with leader Melinda, 707-668-4275.
Saturday, August 22 -- Table Bluff/Mouth of Eel
River Loop, Eel River Wildlife Area. This 8-mile
hike begins on beach below Table Bluff, follows beach
south 4.5 miles between ocean and sloughs, estuaries,
and marshlands of Eel River. View abundant flora,
occasional birds and wildlife. Return may be along
dunes, McNulty Slough, and North Bay. Carpools meet
at Herrick/101 Park and Ride at 9 a.m. or beach below
Table Bluff lighthouse at 9:30 am. Must register in
advance with leader Xandra, 707-441-0702.
Saturday, August 29 -- Fay Slough Wildlife Area
Parent & Child Walk, Eureka. Bring your child(ren) to
walk on state Fish & Game wetland only 2 miles outside
Eureka. This 1.5-mile walk is wonderful for beginners
or those with small children; stroller friendly. Meet at
Wildlife Area trailhead to left of Harper Ford at 10:30
am. Call leader Allison for more info, 707-268-8767.
www.yournec.org
is illegal to collect them, and most species !
will not survive their capture. Acquire native plants for
your yard from experienced nurseries and from our
chapter. If you would like to know which plants in your
yard are native, which are invasive, and what native
species might grow well in your yard, arrange a native
plant onsultation with a team of our chapter gardeners
by calling Bev at 677-9391.
Coming Soon:
Fall Native Plant Sale
Saturday, September 19, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Arcata Marsh Interpretive Center parking lot
569 South G St in Arcata
(5 blocks south of Samoa Blvd.)
Look for information and watch for additions on our
web site www.northcoastcnps.org. Sign up for e-mail
announcements at NorthCoast_CNPS-subscribe@
yahoogroups.com, Join a native plant gardening group at
NorthCoast_CNPS_Gardening-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Sierra Club hike in Prairie Creek. Photo: Sue Leskiw
Tuesday, September 8 —Meeting & Public
Discussion. Join us for a discussion of local
conservation issues between 8 and 9 p.m., following the
ExCom business meeting starting at 6:45 p.m. Meet at
Adorni Center on Eureka Waterfront.
Info: Gregg, 707-826-3740.
Saturday, September 12 – Dolason Prairie Trail,
Redwood National Park. Start this 8-mile, medium-
difficulty hike in a high-country prairie, descend 2,250 feet
to Redwood Creek. Hike downstream following gravel
bars. Bring footwear for ankle-deep stream crossings.
Leave creek at Tall Trees Grove and hike uphill to cars.
Must register with leader Al, 707-482-0520.
Saturday, September 12 – Centerville Beach/Eel
River Loop. This 11-mile hike begins at Centerville
Beach County Park and follows the beach north
between dunes and tideline. View high dunes, meadows,
marshlands, and Eel River. Abundant wild flora and
occasional wildlife. Return along Salt River. Carpools
meet at Herrick/101 Park and Ride lot at 9 a.m. or
Centerville Beach at 9:45 a.m. Must register in advance
with leader Xandra, 707-441-0702.
Saturday, September 26 – Headwaters Forest Reserve
[see August 8 hike above for details].
August 2009 ECONEWS
 Purple Loosestrife
Pesticides Panned
Californians for
Alternatives to Toxics
(CATs) won a long
battle last month when
a state appellate court
ruled that California
State Park’s efforts to
spray herbicide to kill
off invasive purple
loosestrife along the
Eel River is a project
significant enough to
warrant environmental
review.
CATs sued the
Humboldt County
Department of
Agriculture and State
Parks last year over the
use of herbicides to fight the invasive plant.
Loosestrife is a noxious weed that spreads quickly
in streams and wetlands, and has invaded the Eel
River. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, along with
other organizations, is concerned the plant will choke
out important fish habitat.
The state argued that the project is a minor
alteration and therefore exempt from the California
Environmental Quality Act, which requires
environmental review of any major project.
But the appellate judges saw it differently. “By no
stretch of the imagination can the project in this case
be considered a minor alteration to land, water or
vegetation,” the judges wrote.
The global financial meltdown isn’t quite global.
Entire societies remain outside the crisis—because they
don’t have money. Yet they’re not poor.
An anthropologist at Australia’s University of Sydney,
Kirk Huffman, recently pointed out that some South Pacific
cultures have more sustainable ways of doing business.
The Melanesian archipelago includes a quarter of all
the world’s languages, spoken by ancient, sophisticated
cultures that also use highly complex financial,
economic, and trading systems. The Melanesians say
they are born with culture and white people are born
with money.
The islands of Vanuatu became independent of
French-British colonial rule in 1980 and quickly reverted
to traditional ways. Huffman points out that all native
Vanuatuans are given access to land, and the land is
fertile. “There are few major problems except malaria, a
bit of tuberculosis, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and
cyclones. Generally it’s a good and rich life.”
But during the 1990s global money became dominant
in Vanuatu’s capital and its use spread into the
countryside. Following the Southeast Asian economic
collapse, people experienced poverty for the first time.
An alarmed government intervened to restore the
traditional economic systems that had enhanced local
Jade River Lodge
On the South Fork Smith River
Jade River Lodge
Joe & Sally Gillespie
jaderiverlodge.com (707)954-1641
ECONEWS August 2009
Activists Pressure Obama On Global Warming
Eleven Greenpeace activists were
arrested last month after climbing
Mount Rushmore to unfurl a 2,275
square foot banner challenging President
Obama to show stronger leadership on
the climate crisis.
The banner was emblazoned with
a picture of Obama and the words,
“America honors leaders, not politicians:
Stop Global Warming.”
The demonstration coincided with
Obama’s meeting with G8 leaders in Italy
to discuss the global warming crisis.
Greenpeace representatives stated that
the banner was hung in an effort to press
the president to be a leader in establishing science-based global warming policy, not just in the U.S., but also
internationally at the U.N. climate change discussions scheduled to be held in Copenhagen this December.
Greenpeace is one of several environmental organizations that has come out in opposition the American Clean
Energy and Security Act (ACES), the climate change bill that recently passed the House and is now before the Senate.
Greenpeace opposes the bill because it sets targets far below those mandated by science.
To view the list of Greenpeace demands, a live streaming video, pictures and footage of the protest visit:
Greenpeace.org/rushmore
Tailpipe Pollution Victory
After years of requests, the EPA has finally approved Act as it’s been used for the last 40 years,” said EPA
California’s request to raise vehicle emission standards. Administrator Lisa Jackson.
The state will begin enforcing tougher greenhouse gas California’s guidelines are in line with President
emissions standards for motor vehicles this year. Obama’s announcement of the first-ever national policy
The Bush administration denied California’s request aimed at increasing fuel economy and reducing greenhouse
to implement more stringent standards for more than gas pollution for all new vehicles sold in the U.S.
three years. Now that the Washington DC political California said it would allow automakers that
climate has shifted, the EPA has changed its tune. show compliance with the national program, which
The agency said the decision puts the law and science takes effect in 2012, to be “deemed in compliance
first. “This waiver is consistent with the Clean Air with state requirements.”
Eco-nomics with Dr. Loon
Money: It Takes
All Kinds
identity, land rights and culture. Most rural people (80 bottle tops, and glass marbles of many kinds. Within
percent of the population) returned to the old ways, each of these categories, the principle was the same:
convinced this would protect them from the financial rarity and beauty increased value. The rate of exchange
instability of the outside world. was set by the children themselves, though a good deal
Huffman describes the economy of Vanuatu’s of haggling took place.”
northern islands, where “male tusker pigs have The first white settlers in our region noticed that
monetary, sacred and ritual value, depending on the Native people used a shell currency in both daily and
curvature of their tusks. Such pigs can be invested in, ceremonial life. They thought it was money and quickly
and lent out at rates of interest and compound interest. worked out its equivalents in gold coin, ignoring its
There is never a dull day on the pig sharemarket, but cultural value and attaching our future to the dollar.
without the pigs, the culture would disappear.” But that attachment is loosening, and we could find
Government programs subsidize the raising of tusker ourselves as far outside the mainstream as Vanuatu.
pigs, and other forms of currency are also encouraged. We might have a lot to learn from “child-like” and
Shell strings and woven and dyed “money mats” “primitive” economics
circulate alongside the tusks, allowing for multiple and When Huffman, who is honorary curator at the
complex transactions. Vanuatu Cultural Centre, gave a long talk in Bislama
This seems confusing at first, but that’s only because (pidgin English) about the financial crisis and its causes,
we’ve been trained to be economic simpletons by our most of his audience had not known it was happening.
two-party, one-dollar monocultural social life. Margaret Afterward one of the chiefs said: “We are very, very
Atwood’s Payback recalls how even as children we are sorry to hear about all of the problems the white man
capable of much more sophisticated transactions: is having now and our heart goes out to them. Some of
“I understood that these pennies could be traded us have tried to warn them before. When you go back
for goods such as ice cream cones, but I did not think overseas, you can tell them that if they want to learn
them superior to the other units of currency used by my how to live a good [sustainable] life, they can come and
fellow children: cigarette-package airplane cards, milk- stay with us and we will be glad to teach them.”
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www.yournec.org 13
 Organic Planet Festival Returns
The fifth annual Organic Planet Festival returns
to the Eureka waterfront on Sunday August 30,
with a keynote talk from organic gardening guru
Mike McGrath, live music, workshops, scores of
exhibitors showcasing practical solutions to everyday
environmental challenges and scrumptious snacks.
Sponsored by Californians For Alternatives to
Toxics (CATS), the festival includes a full schedule of
home gardening workshops that focus on its mission
to return to a natural, non-toxic and sustainable world.
Local farmers will discuss subjects such as new
garden space development, fall cover cropping, and
incorporating medicinal herbs into a home garden.
Along with great music from the Del McCoury
Band, Tanya Stephens, Lila Nelson and others, the
Community Alliance with Family Farmers will also
host a food drive benefiting local Food for People
pantries. Bring ten healthful, non-perishable food items
Redwood Symposium Coming
Save the date! On October 3, Humboldt State
University Library is celebrating the upcoming
National Geographic articles on redwoods with a
Redwood Symposium.
Speakers Steven Sillett, Michael Fay and Michael
Nichols, each had a role in creating the articles in
the issue. Expect a dynamic afternoon and evening.
A Taste of Humboldt
This September
marks the 3rd Annual
Local Food Month.
Established by the
Humboldt Chapter of
the Community Alliance
with Family Farmers
(CAFF), this is a
county-wide celebration
intended to raise
awareness of agriculture Redwood Roots Farm
and healthy food systems
in Humboldt County.
The month provides opportunities to enjoy and
learn about local foods and the people who produce
them. To kick it all off will be the Taste of Place
Garden Soiree at Redwood Roots Farm on Sunday,
Sept. 13, The Soiree featuring local hors d’oeuvres,
wine, beer and music, along with a garden tour.
Other events include The Taste of Willow Creek
on Sept. 20, Redwood Roots Fall Farm Tour on Sept.
27, and a plethora of other tastings, workshops and
celebrations.
For a full schedule visit the CAFF web site at www.
caff.org/humboldt or call CAFF at 444-3255.
and receive a limited edition
poster by Matt Beard.
The fun starts at 11:30
a.m at Halvorsen Park at the
foot of L Street in Eureka,
and the music wraps up at
7:30 p.m. Tickets are $12
in advance (available at
The Works in Eureka and
Arcata), $15 at the gate, and
$3 for kids.
Attendees are urged to
ride bikes and utilize the Mike McGrath is the keynote
Greenwheels bike valet,
speaker at Organic Planet
take the festival shuttle bus from Arcata or carpool
with friends and family. For music line up, schedule
and more info visit www.organicplanetfestival.org
Ivy Bash
If you’ve been alarmed at the quantity of English
ivy in Patricks Point State Park and Trinidad State
Beach, here’s an opportunity to do something
about it.
The Park Service is starting a project that will
enable volunteers to remove ivy, and it kicks off on
Sunday August 9 from 10 a.m. to 12 noon at Patrick’s
Point State Park. During his introductory day,
volunteers will learn removal methods, the places
to work, special park considerations, and the all-
important paper work.
Those who attend get a free lunch and free park
admission. The entrance kiosk staff will tell you
where to go.
For information contact Michelle Forys at 707-
677-3109. If you are interested but can not attend the
August 9 introduction, call to arrange another time.
Watery Time Change
In an effort to become more accessible to the
public, the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District
has changed the start time of its regular meeting
from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
The board hopes the change will to better
accommodate members of the public who are
interested in attending, but may not be able to due
to work conflicts, and is giving the new meeting
schedule a four-month trial period.
The Water Board meets the second Thursday of
each month at 828 7th Street, Eureka. During this trial
period, meetings will start at 1:30 p.m. and extend
into the early evening. Meeting agendas may be
Stay in touch with the NEC!
We are updating our database and we need your e-mail
address! We promise that we NEVER share our list, but we’d
like to stay in touch once a month or so with Action Alerts and
NEC updates. Send your into to us at nec@yournec.org
Slow-Speed Marsh Tour
Friends of the Arcata Marsh (FOAM) has
organized a special tour geared to people with
limited mobility.
FOAM historian Bob Rasmussen and long-
time marsh tour leader Art Barab – both seniors
themselves – are teaming up to lead a tour on
Thursday, September 3 starting at 2 p.m.
Both men know lots about the history, ecology and
birds of the marsh and will be happy to answer all
your questions.
No advance registration is required for this free
tour. Just show up at the Arcata Marsh Interpretive
Center on South G Street by 2 p.m.
The length of the tour will depend on the desires of
participants, but is expected to take 60 to 90 minutes.
The paths at the marsh are surfaced and level in the
areas to be covered during the tour. Loaner binoculars
can be checked out by providing an ID.
If you have questions, call 707-826-2359.
A SAFE Benefit
The NEC member group, Safe Alternatives for
our Forest Environment (SAFE) presents a Summer
Celebration Benefit on Sunday, August 16, from 1-5
p.m. at the One Maple Winery in Lewiston.
Blues by the Nicoll Brothers Band and light
summer fare are featured. Entrance fee is $15 per
person, children under 12 are free. Cool shade and
sprinklers for the kids will be provided. Please bring
your own chair and do not bring alcohol or dogs.
Call 707-778-3953 for information or go to safealt.org.
obtained on the District web site, www.HBMWD.com
or by calling 443-5018.
“This is a crucial time for the water district,
with the closure of the industrial pulp mill and
the looming threat of invasive
species,” said Board Director
Tera Prucha. “In these times
of rapid change, statewide
water shortages, and economic
uncertainty, it’s even more
important for everyone to have
the opportunity to attend policy-
setting meetings.”

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New book, On This Day In Arcata,

honors and makes Arcata newspaper history
Since 1886, Arcata’s weekly newspapers have captured the town’s colorful history ą the
wonders and woes, celebrations, calamities, milestones and always-interesting people,
places and things that make Arcata the most intriguing city in Humboldt County. Now, in an
unprecedented collaboration, Arcadia Publishing presents On This Day In Arcata, featuring
stories from the archives of the Arcata Union and Arcata Eye newspapers. Using images
from several local collections, On This Day In Arcata offers insights into Arcata’s history
sometimes familar, often surprising but always as fascinating as the town itself.
In On This Day In Arcata, you’ll read all about the installation of the statue of William
McKinley and the Arcata Women’s Christian Temperance Union fountain, the opening
of the Hotel Arcata, Minor Theatre and Humboldt State University’s Founder’s Hall
and Behavioral and Social Sciences Building, the creation of the iconic Humboldt
Honey and the fires that have changed Arcata through the years, plus the scandalous
deliberations of Arcata’s Spinsters’ Matrimonial Club, and more!
Compiled by Arcata Eye editor Kevin Hoover, author of The Police Log: True
Crime and More in Arcata, California, and The Police Log II: The Nimrod Imbroglios,
On This Day In Arcata connects Arcata’s past and present, bringing history to life
as never before. Available at stores locally.

14 www.yournec.org August 2009 ECONEWS


Sunday
Upcoming Events In September
• Sept. 3 - Arcata Marsh Slow Speed Tour, Friends of the Arcata Marsh presents: a special tour geared to people with limited mobility.
Meet at the Arcata Marsh Interpretive Center, 2 p.m. Info: 826-2359
• Sept. 11 - Arts! Arcata Come down to the NEC’s new digs at the Jacoby Storehouse on the Arcata Plaza and check out some art, 6 to 9 p.m.
• Sept. 12 - Two North Group Sierra Club Hikes, in Redwood National Park and Centerville Loop, see page 12 for details
• Sept. 19 - Coastal Cleanup, Volunteer to help clean up beaches. Bring the whole family. . Info: 822-6918
• Sept. 19 & 20 - North Country Fair, Party down in the Arcata Plaza. Bring your children and enjoy the festivities.
• Sept. 26 - North Group Sierra Club Hike, in Headwaters Forest Reserve, see page 12 for details.
2 3
9 10
• FOD Property Tour, Meet at 220
Stamps Lane in Manila, 2 to 3:30 p.m.
Info: 444-1397
•Ivy Bash, Patricks Point State Park,
10 a.m. - noon, see p. 14
16
• Safe Alternatives for Our Forest
Environment Summer Celebration
Event, 4271 Lewiston Road, Lewiston,
1 to 5 p.m. Info: 778-3953 or visit
safealt.org
23
30
• Lake Earl Bird and Plant
Expedition, Meet at Tolowa Dunes
State Park, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Info: 465-6191
Monday
HSU Natural History Museum Marsh and Dunes Explorers, 1 to 4 p.m. Come find out what is so special about our marshes and dunes when you spend the week exploring these two
wonderfully unique ecosystems. On daily hikes find tracks and traces of the many animals that make their homes at the marsh and dunes. By the end of the week you’ll be an accomplished
explorer and a marsh and dune specialist. Ages 7-9. INFO: 826-4480
HSU Classes Resume
•Fifth Annual Organic Planet
Festival on Sunday, August 30,
11:30-7:30. See p. 14
Tuesday
• North Group Sierra Club
Executive Committee Meeting and
Public Discussion, Meet at Adorni
Center Conference Room,
5:30 ExCom Meeting
8 p.m. Public Discussion
Info: Gregg 826-3740
17
24
31
15
DAILY CALENDAR
• Redwood National and State Parks call 464-6101 for road, trail and campground info.
Centers open daily in Crescent City 465-7306. Prairie Creek, Jedediah Smith, and Kuchel.
Call for times.
• Every Saturday Friends of Arcata Marsh tours of Arcata Marsh or Wastewater
Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Treatment Plant at 2 p.m. Info: 826-2359
• Every Saturday Redwood Audubon Society’s free field trips of the Arcata Marsh and
· HSU Natural History 1 Wildlife Sanctuary at 8:30 a.m. at Klopp Lake Parking Lot.
Museum’s Annual Plant Sale, • Arcata Community Recycling Center open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
Info: 822-4542
10 a.m. Info: 826-4480
EcoNews Report, • Friends of the Dunes (FOD) • Eureka Community Recycling Center open 9 a.m. daily. Info: 442-2541,
1:30 p.m. Eureka Dunes Restoration, For more recycling options visit www.humboldtrecycling.org
9:30 a.m. Info: 444-1397
KHSU FM 90.5 • Arcata Marsh Interpretive Center, 569 South G St. Hours: Tues.-Sun. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
• FOD Lanphere Dunes Guided
Walk, Pacific Union School at 10 a.m. Mon. 1 to 5 p.m. Info: 826-2359
Info: 444-1397 • Every Tuesday “The Environmental Show,” KMUD-FM, 91.1(88.3 FM Arcata) at 7 p.m.
• County Hazardous Waste facility open every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
4 5 EcoNews Report, 6 7 • North Group Sierra Club
Headwaters Forest Hike,
8
• Community Play: Jason in
1:30 p.m.
KHSU FM 90.5
Eureka, Aug. 6 to 8 at the Blue Ox
Millworks & Historic Park, 8:30 p.m.
Meet at Herrick Hwy 101 Park
for carpool, 9 a.m. Must register w/
Xandra, 441-0702
Speak Up and Speak Out
A Eureka-specific retelling of Jason & • FOD Humboldt Coastal Nature
• Community Play: Jason in Eureka
the Argonauts. Center Restoration, Meet at 220
See Aug 7 for details President Barack Obama Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger North Coast Regional Water
Stamps Lane in Manila, 9:30 a.m. Quality Control Board
The White House State Capitol Building
Info: 444-1397
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Sacramento, CA, 95814 5550 Skylane Blvd. Suite A
www.yournec.org
•Community Play: Jason in Eureka Washington, D.C. 20500 Phone: 916-445-2841 Santa Rosa, CA, 95403-1072
Comments: 202-456-1111 gov.ca.gov/interact#email 707-576-2220 or 707-523-0135
11 12 13 14 15 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 www.swrcb.ca.gov/northcoast/
www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/ Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro about_us/contact_us.shtml
Arts! Arcata • FOD Manila Dunes Restoration, State Capitol
EcoNews Report, And the Grand Opening for 9:30 a.m. Info: 444-1397 Senator Barbara Boxer P.O. Box 942849 Sacramento, CA Secretary of Agriculture
NEC’s New Office • FOD Manila Dunes Guided Walk, Washington, D.C. 94249-0001 U.S. Department of Agriculture
1:30 p.m. 10 a.m. Info: 444-1397 1400 Independence Ave., SW
Jacoby Storehouse, 6 to 9 p.m. 112 Hart Senate Office Building Tel: 916-319-2001
KHSU FM 90.5 Washington, DC 20250
Info: 822-6918 Washington, D.C. 20510 710 E Street, Suite 150
202-224-3553 or 415-403-0100 Eureka, CA 95501 AgSec@usda.gov
boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/ Tel: 445-7014
index.cfm legplcms01.lc.ca.gov/PublicLCMS/ Environmental Protection
ContactPopup.aspx?district=AD01& Agency
18 19 20 21 22 Senator Dianne Feinstein www.epa.gov/epahome/hotline.
• North Group Sierra Club Eel United States Senate Humboldt County Board of htm
• North Group Sierra Club Prairie 331 Hart Senate Office Building Supervisors
River Hike, Meet at Herrick Hwy 101
Creek Foothill Loop Hike, Meet at EcoNews Report, Washington, D.C. 20510 825 Fifth Street, Room 111 Air Pollution Hotline
Park for carpool, 9 a.m. Must register 1-800-952-5588
Prairie Creek Visitor Center at 10:15 1:30 p.m. Phone: 202-224-3841 or Eureka, CA 95501
w/ Xandra, 441-0702 415-393-0707 (707) 476-2384
a.m. Must register w/ Melinda, KHSU FM 90.5 •FOD Lanphere Dunes feinstein.senate.gov/public/index. co.humboldt.ca.us/board/ Humboldt Bay Municipal Water
668-4275 Restoration, Pacific Union School, cfm?FuseAction=ContactUS. District
9:30 a.m. Info: 444-1397 EmailMe California Department of 828 Seventh Street/P.O. Box 95
Forestry Eureka, CA 95502
25 26 27 28 29 Congressman Mike
Thompson
Humboldt-Del Norte Unit HQ
725-4413
Phone: 443-5018
www.hbmwd.com/contact_us
• North Group Sierra Club 231 Cannon Office Building 118 S. Fortuna Blvd, Fortuna,
ECONEWS August 2009
Washington, D.C. 20515 95540-2796 California Coastal Commission
Parent & Child Fay Slough Walk,
Phone: 202-225-3311 Mailing Address: PO Box 944246, 45 Fremont Street Suite 2000
EcoNews Report, Meet at Wildlife Area trail head to
317 3rd Street, Suite 1 Sacramento, CA, 94244-2460 San Francisco, CA 94105-2219
left of Harper Ford, 10:30 a.m.
1:30 p.m.
Info: Allison at 268-8767
Eureka, CA 95501
Phone: 269-9595
Physical Address: 1416 Ninth Street,
Sacramento, CA, 94244-2460
415-904-5200
710 E Street, Suite 200
KHSU FM 90.5
mikethompson.house.gov/ Eureka, CA 95501
contact/e-mail.shtml 445-7833 or 445-7834
www.coastal.ca.gov
Northcoast Environmental Center NON-PROFIT ORG. Arcata,California
Arcata, California Vol.39,
Vol. 39,No.
No.VIVII I August2009
August 2009
1465 G Street Arcata, CA 95521 U.S. POSTAGE
ECONEWS
PAID
Arcata, CA
PERMIT NO. 3
Informing The North Coast On Environmental Issues Since 1971
If you’re offended by references to body parts, then this appeal for
funds is not for you.
Join the NEC and support
Two items this month underscored how we feel about constantly our conservation work.
imploring you for financial help – while money is lavished on what In our fast-paced lives, the indispensable life
seems to be more frivolous undertakings. supports like air, water and wild nature are often
One was about a Welsh artist who has been given almost $29,000 overlooked. Your tax-deductible membership
from British lottery receipts to “explore cultural attitudes about female donation will get ECONEWS delivered into your
buttocks.” Sue Williams, 53, will create plaster cast molds of women’s mailbox every month – and allow us to continue
behinds to try to understand their place in contemporary culture. to educate and inform the pubic about crucial
As if that hadn’t already hit environmental issues that affect this region and
bottom, Chinese media reported our entire planet.
that the country’s equivalent of Mail in this membership form, or join
eBay has banned an online trader online at www.yournec.org.
from selling the saliva of pretty Membership Levels:
teenage girls. The seller claimed
$15 Student/Retired $25 Regular
their spittle, collected while they
were sleeping, was a ‘tonic.’ He was $40 Family $50 Overseas
asking the equivalent of almost $500 Lifetime
three dollars a small bottle, but  My check is enclosed
admitted he’d had no takers.
 Please bill my credit card:
Here at the NEC, where
we drool over the public’s VISA MasterCard
contributions to our campaigns, Or sign up for a monthly pledge and enjoy the
we’re being victimized – as most comfort of knowing that you are continually
of us are – by the economic supporting our efforts to protect this region.
NEC Changes:
downturn. Yet we stay open five Monthly Pledge Amount $__________
days a week, do not charge for any  Bill my credit card
services and manage to pay the
 Send me a pack of envelopes
bills largely due to your generosity.
So please don’t make us put

Credit Card #

Exp. Date
Crisis & Opportunity
the excretions of endangered
species on eBay or write a grant
Name See Page One
to study the cultural attitudes of Address
the people who study the cultural City State
attitudes about human body
parts. Zip Phone
Your donations will help us instead to keep doing the work we’ve been E-mail
doing since 1971. No ifs, ands or butts.
California Coastal Cleanup Day
Is Just Around The Corner Also:
September 19, 2009 Bill Devall
Last year nearly 700 volunteers cleaned up Humboldt County beaches WOPR Overturned
This year you can help us make it to 1,000
Forest Fire Lessons
To sign up call Kayla at the NEC, 707-822-6918 Photo: ©Sam Camp / campphoto.com