EcoNews Apr/May 2013

Over 40 Years of Environmental News



Arcata, California

Vol. 43, No. 2 Apr/May 2013

 R Endangered Species Act Published by the Northcoast Environmental Center Since 1971

The

40

turns

April 20 - Earth Day Cleanups and Hoedown!

Obama’s Keystone Legacy | Dr. Seuss and Climate Change | Plan Your Spring Garden 18th Annual Godwit Days | Remembering Sandra Corcoran | Native Plant Sale

EC

NEWS

1385 8th Street - Suite 215, Arcata, CA 95521 PO Box 4259, Arcata, CA 95518 707- 822-6918, Fax 707-822-6980 www.yournec.org EcoNews is the official bi-monthly publication of the Northcoast Environmental Center, a non-profit organization. Third class postage paid in Arcata. ISSN No. 0885-7237. EcoNews is mailed to our members and distributed free throughout the Northern California/ Southern Oregon bioregion. The subscription rate is $35 per year.

Editor/Layout: Morgan Corviday, morgan@yournec.org Advertising: ads@yournec.org Proofreaders: Karen Schatz, Midge Brown Writers: Sid Dominitz, Morgan Corviday, Dan Ehresman, Sarah Marnick, Dan Sealy, Jennifer Kalt, Brandon Drucker, Scott Greacen, Hezekiah Allen, Dan Equinoss, Richard Kreis.

Artist: Terry Torgerson Cover Photos: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The Northcoast Environmental Center: Our Mission

To promote understanding of the relations between people and the biosphere and to conserve, protect and celebrate terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecosystems of northern California and southern Oregon.

NEC Board Of Directors

Safe Alternatives for our Forest EnvironmentLarry Glass, President, larryglass71@gmail.com At-Large, Trinity County Rep. - Bob Morris, Vice-President, bob.morris@wildblue.net At-Large - Chris Jenican Beresford, Treasurer, thegang7@pacbell.net California Native Plant Society Jennifer Kalt, Secretary, jenkalt@gmail.com Humboldt Baykeeper - Jessica Hall, jessica@humboldtbaykeeper.org Redwood Region Audubon Society CJ Ralph, theralphs@humboldt1.com Sierra Club North Group, - Richard Kreis, rgkreis@gmail.com At-Large - Scott Greacen, scott@eelriver.org At-Large - Dan Sealy, rangerdans@msn.com

NEC Executive Director: Dan Ehresman, dan@yournec.org

Member Groups

North Group/Redwood Chapter of the Sierra Club, Redwood Region Audubon Society, North Coast Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, Humboldt Baykeeper, Safe Alternatives for Our Forest Environment.

Affiliate Groups

Environmental Protection Information Center, Friends of Del Norte, Mattole Restoration Council

NEC Sponsored Groups

Healthy Humboldt Coalition, Green Wheels

The 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!

News From the Center

As the blossoms begin to take hold here on the North Coast, and we bask in the beauty of this time of year, we cannot avoid the fact that many places throughout the region are falling short of the rainfall needed for healthy watersheds and the critters that depend on them.

The lack of rainfall poses even more of a problem considering the likelihood of a long, hot summer and our region’s mismanaged, fire-prone forests. Adding insult to injury, the federal government’s sequestration is resulting in the removal of seasonal U.S. Forest Service employees— including those who work to fight potentially catastrophic fires here in the Klamath-Siskiyou Bioregion.

While we at the NEC fully support returning fire to the landscape, we recognize that it is prudent to do so with caution and intention, since state and federal forestand fire-management practices have left a landscape more prone to catastrophic fire events— largely due to the substantial amount of fuels that have built up over the past century. Clearcut logging has also diminished the forest’s resilience by converting fire-resistant ancient forests to young, even-aged stands.

Contrary to the low-intensity burns of our region’s historically

Do you have comments, suggestions, concerns or other feedback for the NEC or EcoNews?

We want to hear from you!

Send letters to editor@yournec.org, or PO Box 4259, Arcata 95521

Dan Ehresman, Executive Director

fire-adapted landscape that leave mature trees alive, when the fires of today hit dense fuels on the forest floor it is game-over for all who are in the path—including the large trees that provide habitat structure and carbon storage.

Fortunately, there are those in the region working to change this fire-challenged paradigm.

Many thanks to all who made it out to the March 27 showing of “Catching Fire” and the great panel discussion that followed. We tip our hats to the Orleans/Somes Bar Fire Safe Council, Karuk Tribe, Mid-Klamath Watershed Council, the Hayfork Watershed Research and Training Center, and the many others who are working to restore the balance of fire on the landscape. A huge thanks to Will Harling, Jenny Staats, Jeff Kane, Bill Tripp, Lenya Quinn-Davidson, and Michael Kauffmann for all that you do to raise awareness and ensure that these stories of ecological import get told.

As our climate becomes more unpredictable and weather extremes become more intense (compounding the many other factors affecting our environment) it calls for more urgent action towards a culture of stewardship that is not only about getting by in the present day, but

building a more adaptable, resilient future for those who follow. It was with this thought in mind that on a beautiful weekend in March, the NEC Board and staff gathered together to strategize about the role the NEC will play in the years ahead.

As part of our discussions on strategy, we celebrated the NEC’s long-standing history of commitment to environmental education and advocacy. We reaffirmed our focus on sustainable communities, clean oceans and healthy rivers, forests, and family farms. One of the most important outcomes we came away with was an increased understanding of the diverse views NEC and its member organizations represent, and a renewed sense of teamwork.

We recognize climate change as both a threat and an opportunity that is connected to all of our work. We see it as imperative to end our reliance on fossil fuels by engaging in energy conservation and supporting wellplanned renewable energy sources.

We will continue to play a leading role in keeping our ocean, beaches, and coastal waterways clean through the annual Coastal Cleanup Day, our new Tsunami Debris Monitoring and Beach Cleanup project, and through reinvigorating our Adopt-a-Beach program.

Leave a North Coast Legacy Give a gift that will endure beyond your lifetime.

Leave a lasting legacy by naming the Northcoast Environmental Center as a beneficiary of your will, trust, or other estate plans.

Your bequest will help us advocate for and educate about the North Coast and the KlamathSiskiyou bioregion for future generations.

To learn more, call us at 707-822-6918.

The NEC is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, EIN 23-7122386.

Catch the NEC’s EcoNews Report

Every Thursday, 1:30pm on KHSU - 90.5FM Each show features interviews with experts on a variety of important environmental topics!

Past shows are also archived on our website for listening online anytime!

www.yournec.org/econews-report

Our commitment to improve land use planning will help ensure that the desires of a few will not trump the needs of the many— whether human or wild. For over five months now, the NEC has been playing an active role as part of an ad hoc working group—consisting of numerous stakeholders with diverse views—in an effort to promote a Humboldt County General Plan Update that is less polarized and has a broad base of support. While it has been a time-consuming process, and while it has not been easy, we are happy to report that it is bringing NEC Board and Staff : Top row - Dan Ehresman, Dan Sealy, Jessica Hall, Keytra Myer. Middle row - CJ about a more constructive Ralph, Morgan Corviday, Chris Beresford, Larry Glass, Jennifer Kalt, Richard Kreis. Bottom row - Violet. dialogue that we are hopeful (Not pictured: Scott Greacen, Bob Morris, Brandon Drucker, Alanna Cottrell). will have a positive impact on the direction of future land use decisions in the region.

We also renew our commitment to safe, active • April 20, 1-3 p.m. The NEC will be heading out transportation throughout the North Coast and to Samoa Beach for our 2nd Tsunami Debris will continue to advocate for a multi-modal trail Monitoring Event and Beach Cleanup of 2013. connecting the major population centers in the • April 20, 3-7 p.m. Right after the cleanup we Humboldt Bay Area. will mosey down to the Humboldt Coastal We will continue to advocate for Klamath Nature Center for an Olde Time Earth Day dam removal, maintain an eye on state and federal Hoedown with Friends of the Dunes, Mad River legislation, and continue to stand with and support Alliance, Humboldt Baykeeper, Humboldt the many amazing organizations and individuals on Surfrider, EPIC, and Ocean Conservancy. the North Coast who work daily to take care of our planet and its inhabitants.

• Throughout May we will be biking around with And as a way to shake off the meeting Green Wheels in celebration of Bike Month. doldrums, the NEC will continue to offer musicVisit www.green-wheels.org for a complete infused events. Many thanks to former NECschedule of events! staffer and caller extraordinaire, Tara Stetz, who • May 10, 7-9 p.m. We will be back at the came out from her Yosemite home to lead a barn Arcata Playhouse for our fourth Eco-Film dance to the tunes of Striped Pig Stringband. We night, featuring a showing of “Green Fire: were also very pleased to have had Jim Page back Aldo Leopold and a land ethic for our time”. with us in Humboldt for an evening of music and We will also be joined by naturalist author art at the Arcata Playhouse. A special shout out to extraordinaire David Rains Wallace who will the Humboldt Folklife Society and the Ink People introduce the film.

Center for the Arts for co-sponsoring these events.

• May 18. If all our other events weren’t enough, we are also taking part in Hands Across the Sand on May 18th—coming to a beach near you!

Looking Ahead:

  3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

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Green Fire Obama’s Legacy—Keystone XL Carbon, Climate and Dr. Suess 18th Annual Godwit Days Planning Your Spring Garden Attacks on CA’s Environmental Law Kin to the Earth: Sandra Corcoran Eye on Washington Endangered Species Act Anniversary Earth Day Cleanups and Hoedown Humboldt Baykeeper Friends of the Eel River EPIC Mattole Restoration Council Sierra Club, North Group California Plant Native Society Redwood Region Audubon Eco-Mania Creature Feature: Aleutian Goose Kids’ Page: Northern Flying Squirrel

Bouquets A beauteous bouquet to Carol Whitehurst for your generous support through the years—we wish you healing thoughts.

A team-building bouquet to Keytra Meyer for being such an amazing and gracious guide through a very productive strategy session.

A wildflower bouquet in a bike cart to Emily Sinkhorn for all of the amazing energy you have put into safe transportation options for all with Green Wheels and beyond—we wish you a Happy Birthday as well!

A bouquet of music to Jim Page for gracing our ears with your music once again, and a bouquet of color to Patricia Sennott for displaying your gorgeous paintings at the show!

Interested in our regional environmental history? Get involved with our EcoNews Archive project! Contact us at 822-6918 or write nec@yournec.org!

EcoNews

Apr/May 2013

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2

An Evening With

David Rains Wallace David Rains Wallace has published seventeen books, and his work has appeared in many anthologies and periodicals. He received the 1984 John Burroughs Medal for Nature Writing for his third book, The Klamath Knot: Explorations in Myth and Evolution, which also won a 1984 California Book Award. His most recent book is Chuckwalla Land: The Riddle of California’s Desert (2011) received a gold medal from the California Book Awards.

David Rains Wallace will introduce the film about Aldo Leopold, who is generally considered the major American conservationist of the twentieth century. Our ideas of wilderness preservation, biodiversity conservation, and ecological integrity essentially come from him. Leopold’s book, A Sand County Almanac, develops these ideas as well as his concept of the land ethic, which proposes extending to land and its non-human life the "right to life" traditionally reserved for human beings. Wallace has written about Leopold in Sierra magazine, the New York Times Book Review. and the Los Angeles Times Book Review.

Green Fire describes the formation of Leopold’s idea, exploring how it changed one man and later permeated through all arenas of conservation. The film draws on Leopold’s life and experiences to provide context and validity, then explores the deep impact of his thinking on conservation projects around the world today. Through these examples, the film challenges viewers to contemplate their own relationships with the land community.

Celebrate Humboldt Bike Month May is National Bike Month, so gear up and roll on out for a series of community events throughout the Humboldt Bay area. Bike to Work Day is the flagship event for Bike Month and will be celebrated on May 9th in Arcata and May 16th in Eureka. As in past years, there will be noontime rallies—at the Plaza in Arcata and the Old Town Gazebo in Eureka.

Here is a sampling of some of the many upcoming events!

May 3: Humboldt Bike Film Shorts, Sewell Gallery, 423 F Street Eureka, 6-8pm, www.humbike.org May 5: Green Wheels’ Farm Tour Social Ride, southeast corner of the Arcata Plaza, 1-3pm, 267-6874 May 9: Arcata Bike to Work Day, 7-9am energizer station at the Arcata Co-op, noon rally on the Plaza

Admission:

$10 Beverages and other treats will be served

Friday, May 10 th 7:00-9:30pm at the Arcata Playhouse

May 16: Eureka Bike to Work Day, 7-9am energizer station at Eureka North Coast Co-op, noon rally Old Town Gazebo with

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For more information and a full calendar of Humboldt Bike Month events visit www.green-wheels.org.

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Apr/May 2013

EcoNews

Keystone XL Pipeline Could Define Obama’s Presidency—and our Future

disobedience back to the people and invigorated Dan Sealy A new era of environmental activism “Let’s be the generation that finally frees a brand new group of environmentalists.

America from the tyranny of oil. Let’s “The August 2011 protest was one of and civil disobedience is attempting to tackle the largest civil disobedience actions in perhaps its greatest opponents—Big Oil and be the generation that makes future history. People are fired up on this issue”, Climate Change. To many, the proposed Keystone XL pipeline is the prominent generations proud of what we did here.” stated Dan Kessler, spokesperson for - Barack Obama, the day he announced his candidency for President, February 10, 2007.

350.org—the world’s leading climate change symbol of this fight. organization. On February 17, 2013, more In addition to protests large and small than 40,000 people gathered in Washington, around the country, activists, public figures, D.C. to tell President Obama to move celebrities, and everyday citizens have twice Forward on Climate, again. gathered for the largest protests of their kind Many of those participating in the White at the White House against the Keystone House protests worked actively for President XL—which would transport tar sands crude Obama’s election—and re-election—but have from Northern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico become frustrated by an apparent lack of action for refining and export. Twice, thousands of toward climate goals.

Americans have been arrested for taking a When Kessler was asked if he thought stand against the tyranny of oil the pipeline there were signs of a lasting commitment by symbolizes, and the threat it poses for our today’s activists to halt climate change, he collective futures on this planet. The decision replied: “Absolutely—there seems to be a longon whether the project will move forward— term commitment to turning climate change or not—rests solely on President Obama’s around. People have a growing concern that shoulders, and may prove to be a defining climate change is here, and they are not going decision of his presidency. take it lying down. We lack only the political To some, these events are a reminder will. Voices against climate change will of a generation of environmental activism increase as the climate continues to change.” spawned by the First Earth Day in 1970 with Some members of Congress, state oil spills and toxic air as a backdrop. Today, leadership, and the public want the pipeline catastrophic oil spills still occur, but we are A protester smiles proudly while being arrested at a Keystone protest at to be approved. Senators led by Sens. John also faced with changes to our climate that the White House, August 2011. Photo: Dan Sealy.

Hoeven (R-ND) and Max Baucus (D-MT) affect the entire globe. introduced legislation in early March that would There is hope that the Keystone protests will force approval of the controversial Keystone XL spark a national watershed of environmental • The tar sands extraction processes uses vast pipeline. However, in a subsequent meeting activism much like the first Earth Day did. Began amounts of energy and water, destroys and with Republicans, Obama reminded them that as a “teach in” to educate Americans about fragments sensitive boreal forests, causes the pipeline would benefit Canada more than environmental concerns regarding clean water, significant air and water pollution, and causes three times the global warming pollution of the United States, as the pipeline’s purpose is to clean air, and vanishing species, Earth Day was conventional crude production. Tar sands crude deliver oil for export rather than US domestic use. also a day of simple action with people marching is also significantly more toxic than traditional President Obama frequently invokes the in New York City, children planting trees, and crude—the “dirtiest” of dirty oil. importance of the conservation legacy of communities cleaning soiled beaches. No one • In contrast to supporters’ claims, the Keystone XL President Teddy Roosevelt. Climate change (and could have foreseen the extent to which Earth Day project will not lessen U.S. dependence on foreign freedom from the tyranny of oil) may well be would have motivated environmental activism for oil, but will transport Canadian oil to American the environmental legacy of President Obama. decades to come. refineries for export to overseas markets.

A decision will be coming soon. It remains to be There is a perception, however, that Earth Day • By draining Midwestern refineries of cheap seen which side of history he will be on. has become just another feel-good holiday, and Canadian crude into export-oriented refineries activism considered appropriate only for extremists. in the Gulf Coast, Keystone XL could actually Dan Sealy is the NEC’s Legislative Analyst, based increase the cost of gas for Americans.

Now, though, the larger message behind the Keystone in Washington, D.C. protests—climate change—has brought civil

Why Oppose Keystone?

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Apr/May 2013

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Carbon, Climate Change and Dr. Seuss?

A Tale of Two Seusses

Richard Kreis Once upon a time, Dr. Seuss and Dr. Seuss lived in the tiny village of La Jolla. Dr. Seuss was known to many children around the world for having written “Bartholomew and the Five Hundred Hats” and other stories, while Dr. Seuss was known to many scientists around the world for developing radio carbon dating and other scientific breakthroughs. Dr. Seuss complained, in a good-natured way, about always getting mail addressed to Dr. Seuss.

Dr. Seuss was a founding professor at UC San Diego and an important scientist at Scripps Institute, while Dr. Seuss was having his books made in to cartoon specials for TV. Dr. Seuss created stories that parents liked to read to their children, while Dr. Seuss was discovering everything there was to know about radioactive carbon. You probably already know a lot about Dr. Seuss, but you may not know much about Dr. Seuss. There are some interesting things to discover.

Dr. Seuss was interested in carbon, one of the building blocks of life. Mostly, he was interested in the carbon in carbon dioxide, an odorless, tasteless gas that makes up a tiny part of the air we breathe (0.039 percent by volume). It seems that as carbon dioxide (CO2) bounces around in the upper atmosphere, energy from the sun encourages some carbon (about 1.1 percent) to pick up an extra neutron. Added to the twelve neutrons carbon already has, it becomes a stable isotope called carbon-13 (or 13C to scientists).

Some carbon (about 0.0000000001 percent, or one part per trillion) really gets sunburnt and picks up two extra neutrons. Carbon-14 (or 14C) isn’t too happy in this state and wants to throw off that extra neutron. It is an unstable isotope, which decays over time: Over 5,730 years (±40 years), about half the 14C decays. Over the next 5,730 years, half the remaining 14C is decayed, and so on until no 14C remains, after about 60,000 years.

Dr. Seuss (with some help from his friends and graduate students) figured out how to measure these tiny amounts of 14C contained in plant material and calculate the age of a sample based on the rate of 14C radioactive decay.

As part of his research, Dr. Seuss noticed that

the amount of 14C in samples of organic materials that were growing recently was declining rapidly (right). At about the same time, Charles Keeling, an associate of Dr. Seuss at Scripps Institute, had just developed instruments to measure atmospheric CO2 very accurately. His measurements showed that the total amount of CO2 in the atmosphere was increasing every year (currently 390 ppm, up 100 ppm over the last 150 years, according to glacial ice core samples).

Scientists puzzled over the information in the “Keeling Curve” (below), showing ever greater amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere while at the same time observations made by Dr. Seuss (called the Seuss Effect) showed 14C was being

suppressed. They concluded that the source of the extra CO2 in the atmosphere must not have seen the light of day in over 60,000 years, because it contained no sunburned isotopes.

There are not many sources of ancient CO2. Volcanoes might be a source. Or Asteroids. It could be from mammoth burps of methane released from the frozen depths of the ocean or from melting tundra. But, there haven’t been that many volcanoes over the last couple of centuries, and no asteroid strikes or reports of belching oceans. The burning of fossil fuels is the remaining likely culprit.

This lead scientists to conclude “with a very high level of certainty,” according to the late climatologist Stephan Schneider, that the coal and oil burned to power our cities and industries is the source of the rising concentration of carbon dioxide that is causing the climate to warm.

Richard Kreis is a member of the NEC Board, representing the North Group of the Sierra Club.

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Graph from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mauna_Loa_ Carbon_Dioxide-en.svg

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EcoNews

Creative Reuse Center Now Open!

It’s Not Too Late to Plan Your Spring Garden

Dan Equinoss

Humboldt County’s first creative reuse center SCRAP Humboldt, opened their doors on April 3, and will celebrate during Arts! Arcata on Friday April 12. From 6 to 8 p.m., the public is invited to explore the exciting treasure trove of creative materials and super reuse inspiration. SCRAP is chock full of fabric, notions, yarn, paints, architectural samples and a huge variety of creative supplies—all at about one quarter of retail prices.

The School Community Reuse Action Project (SCRAP) Director Tibora Girczyc-Blum reported, “We make unique materials available to teachers, artists, parents, crafters and everyone who loves creative projects. And the prices are so low, a family of four can get enough art supplies for an afternoon of crafting for less than $5.”

At SCRAP, being creative means being kind to the environment. SCRAP diverts usable materials from the waste stream, educates people about creative reuse and provides inexpensive art, craft and office supplies to the community. The new space on South H Street in Arcata is large enough to accept donations, offer retail of those materials, and host creative reuse focused classes and workshops. SCRAP will bring back the fabulous Re:Boutique – a unique collection of jewelry and gift items created from a minimum of 75% reused material. The Grand Opening will feature the repurposed artwork of Karen Kintz, a Humboldt State University alumnus.

SCRAP is located at 101 South H Street, Suite D in Arcata. Regular hours begin Wednesday, April 3. Open hours will be Wednesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

SCRAP Humboldt also can be found online at www.scraphumboldt.org or find them on Facebook: www.facebook.com/SCRAPHumboldt.

My grandmother’s garden just outside her kitchen was my favorite place to play when I was young. I remember the smell.

It was pleasant and warm. The sounds were a mix of buzzing and clanking and humming. I didn’t know it then, but I know it now: my grandma was ‘permy’.

Permaculture has become quite the trend in the home DIY world; however, it’s not a new phenomenon. An herb garden, for example, set in close proximity to the kitchen on the warm south side of the house with a variety of plants just makes sense. It’s permaculture in action.

Permaculture is a thoughtful and intentional design process that takes some planning, but it’s not too late to design, or redesign, your spring garden!

The design process begins Preparing terraces for a new garden area. Photo courtesty High Tide Permaculture. with a site assessment. It’s easier it be pests, watering, weeding or the wrong variety than it sounds, and it ensures that the site will of plants, the labors of garden maintenance can support the goals you establish. The assessment result in inadequate maintenance—the number should include a simple basemap that includes one killer of gardens. existing structures, sources of water, slope, shade It’s also important to establish a timeline. and sun sectors (the areas and path throughout Installing a garden or making major changes to an the day), and differentiated areas of use. (The latter existing one doesn’t happen in a weekend. That ensures that your garden isn’t placed in your kid’s only leaves you exhausted come Monday, and the favorite hole digging spot or where the dog relieves site neglected until you’ve fully rested your body himself ). Make many copies of your completed and mind. A timeline ensures three things: 1. You basemap to create a multitude of design concepts. don’t lose momentum, 2. You stick to the design Location is everything in good garden design. plan, and 3. You reduce your costs.

The next step in the design process is to create The last step is implementation of your design a design plan. A good design plan is a very detailed plans.

For a descriptive example of the design and step-by-step list that is focused on your goals set by implementation process start to finish, please view your site assessment and guided by Permaculture the full version of this article on our website: www. design principles (www.permacultureprinciples. yournec.org/permaculture/planning-springcom/principles.php). garden. Read all articles in our continuing series on There is an inverse relationship between a permaculture at www.yournec.org/permaculture. design plan and a maintenance plan—the longer and more detailed the design plan, the simpler and Dan Equinoss is owner of High Tide Permaculture. less complicated the maintenance plan. Whether

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Tell Caltrans: Move the 101 Corridor Hearing to Eureka!

Caltrans proposes to turn the 101 Safety Corridor between Arcata and Eureka into a freeway—closing all but two of the crossings— with an overpass at Indianola Cutoff. In May, their permit application for the project will go before the Coastal Commission at a meeting in Marin County. The Coastal Commission rotates its meeting locations, and will be in Humboldt County in September. On March 21, Humboldt Baykeeper asked Caltrans to move the hearing date to September, but they refused.

We believe that this hearing should take place at a location where community members can be heard. This project has been in the works since 2001 and has been very controversial for a number of reasons.

Holding this hearing over 250 miles away would eliminate most residents’ ability to participate. Postponing this hearing just a few months would allow the affected community to participate in a hearing in Eureka.

After 12 years, what’s four more months?

Take action! Sign Humboldt Baykeeper’s petition to Caltrans online. They will also share petition results with the Coastal Commission.

Comments Needed by April 9!

To sign the petition, visit: www.tinyurl.com/caltrans-101petition

Developers Still Pushing to Weaken California’s Environmental Laws

Senator Evans Leading Effort to Strengthen Environmental Protection

The 1970 California Environmental Quality Act is an “environmental bill of rights” for all Californians, designed to ensure that people in every California community can understand how land use decisions will impact their communities and health, and can hold public agencies accountable to local and state environmental and land use laws.

Business interests are pushing hard in Sacramento to weaken California citizens’ ability to hold agencies and corporations accountable and prevent unnecessary harm to communities and the environment.

At last count, 28 CEQA-related bills have been introduced this legislative session. The Planning and Conservation League (PCL) is supporting 10 and opposing 11.

A wide coalition of more than 150 environmental, labor, and community groups has come together under the banner of the CEQA Works campaign to preserve and improve California’s landmark community and environmental protection laws, and prevent radical reforms that would limit public input on land use planning, threaten public health, and weaken environmental protections.

California State Senator Noreen Evans, who represents most of the North Coast in Sacramento, has stepped forward to lead the campaign in the State House, introducing two bills, SB 617 and 754, that will strengthen CEQA’s public participation,

improve environmental protections, and smooth the process of public review.

“California has a proud history of supporting the public’s right to know what developments are taking place in their communities and enacting protections to preserve their quality of life and the environment around them,” said Evans. “When private profits infringe on public well-being, we rely on CEQA for the ability to defend our homes and our health.”

“Senator E v a n s ’ proposals will enhance transparenc y and improve the integrity of the environmental review process. These are the right kinds of CEQA changes for the legislature to consider,” said Sierra Club California Director Kathryn Phillips. “While it is a great relief to see Senator Steinberg and others turning away from proposals that would have essentially gutted this landmark environmental law, we do not plan to let our guard down now. Sierra Club and other leading conservation groups will continue to fight any radical changes to dismantle CEQA.” You can help keep California’s environmental protection laws strong by sending a letter to your State Senator and Assembly Member urging him or her to stand up against efforts to weaken California’s landmark environmental laws.

Visit CEQAWorks at www.ceqaworks.org for more information and to take action!

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Apr/May 2013

EcoNews

Two years ago, Humboldt Waste Management Authority (HWMA) caught many Humboldt residents by surprise when they decided to ship locally collected recyclable materials to Willits— resulting in the loss of 35 local jobs.

Following this unpopular decision, the HWMA recognized the need to establish policy guidance with active public participation, and embarked on an inclusive and thoughtful strategic planning process. HWMA established a public advisory group, Planning Advisory Committee, and new board members were appointed.

So far, the process has been successful in addressing the need for HWMA to transition from being a waste disposing (garbage) agency to a waste diversion agency.

Applying a community development approach to urban and rural integrated waste planning and management requires a significant investment of staff and elected leaders' time. However, agencies that actively engage residents in their planning, decision-making, and programs—instead of pressing for the fastest and cheapest way to get things done—tend to fare better in the long run.

Zero Waste Humboldt (ZWH), with other concerned community groups and individuals, has urged HWMA to improve its transparency, to prepare its Board for informed decision-making, and to commit to a strategic planning process that involves the public. We applaud the progress and direction of this process to-date; however, there is still cause for concern.

The recently released Preliminary Draft Plan (available for viewing on the HWMA Strategic Planning webpage) lacks a crucial implementation section. Without a blueprint for turning the strategic plans’ goals and policies into action, the plan could become just another shelf document.

ZWH publishes Action Alerts and quarterly bulletins to inform citizens of opportunities to share their views with local elected officials on policy proposals and actions affecting community waste prevention, reuse, recycling, and composting practices, and provide news about local zero waste initiatives. To subscribe, email contact@zerowastehumboldt.org.

April 18-24 at the Arcata Community Center Godwit Days is a spring migration bird Godwit Days offers free field trips for ALL festival celebrating the Marbled Godwit and all ages to Patricks Point, Arcata Marsh, Headwaters birds of coastal redwoods, bays, marshes, and Forest, Humboldt Bay Refuge, Lanphere Dunes, 18 A nnu al mudflats. The Arcata Community Center serves as Shay Park, South Spit, and Stone Lagoon GODWIT DAYS departure point for nearly all fieldtrips and houses (preregistration required).

S P RI N G M I G RAT I O N B I RD F ES T I VA L our Bird Fair. Choose Live Birds of Prey from over 100 field trips, Experience a close lectures, workshops, and encounter with owls, hawks, boat excursions. Pre- and and other raptors. post- festival trips can Humboldt Wildlife Care extend your experience Center will be on hand from April 18-24.

Friday (5-6:15 p.m.), Advance registration is Saturday (10 a.m.-5 p.m.), strongly recommended! and Sunday (10 a.m.-3 p.m.).

Something for Keynote & Everyone Opening Night Trips range north Lectures to Del Norte, south Saturday’s keynote to Shelter Cove, and speaker, Dr. Gary inland to Willow Creek/ Langham, is Audubon’s Hoopa. Boat trips on chief scientist. While rivers, lagoons, bays, and at Audubon California, ocean range from 1-hour he helped develop a tours of Humboldt Bay, predictive GIS-based to half-day kayaking or model that identifies rafting trips, to all-day habitats and species at ocean excursions. New risk from climate change.

Keynote Speaker: for 2013: Shelter Cove, Lagoons/Davidson Gary Langham,Road Audubon Free Chief Scientist lectures on owls and California condors will in Redwood National Park, wildlife-friendly Friday’s opening Arcata Community Center, follow Arcata, Califor nia reception.

Blue Lake organic farm, bird photography, and Godwit Buy or Bid! w w w. g o d w i t d a y s . o rGoodies: g backyard wildlife.

Bid on silent auction items displayed in main or 707-826-7050 Just for Kids (& 800-908-WIN Other Free Events)G hall or purchase T-shirts featuring 2013 poster The Festival offers many free activities for art by Patricia Sennott, baseball caps, visors, and children, including: knitted beanies.

• Live birds of prey from Humboldt Wildlife Registration & Important Information Care Center On-site registration: Friday, April 19, 3-7 p.m.; • Displayed entries from the 10th Annual Student Bird Art Contest (sponsored by Friends of Arcata Saturday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m.-noon.

Marsh and Redwood Region Audubon) Our website describes every field trip, • Family nature craft activities Saturday 12:30workshop, and lecture. Registration plans range 3:30 p.m. (sponsored by FOAM) from an $80 Value Package to a one-day $22 • A Bird Fair with commercial vendors and Basic registration (student registration half Basic nonprofit/government information booths. rate, some events excluded). Drop in registration Children are the focus of no-cost field trips/ Saturday night to sign up for unfilled fieldtrips at workshops (preregistration required): cost of trip only.

• Owl Pellet Dissection Workshop, Friday, 4-5 p.m.

T h

artwork © 2012 by Patricia Sennott

Margaret Gainer

18th Annual Godwit Days

APRIL 18-24, 2013

Waste Management Needs Participation

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• Birding Field Trips, Sat. & Sun., 9:30-11:30 a.m.

• Art Workshop, Saturday, noon-1 p.m.

www.godwitdays.org or (707)826-7050

Robert Berg, D.D.S.

212 J Street Eureka, CA 95501 707-445-0784

EcoNews

Apr/May 2013

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Kin to the Earth:

Sandra Corcoran

Dan Ehresman In this issue of EcoNews we wish to honor Sandra Corcoran, a long-standing community advocate and friend of the NEC. Sandra passed away on August 18, 2011. She was 73 years old.

In preparing to write this piece about a person who I am so grateful for, but who I did not personally know, I wanted to be sure to bring in stories from those who knew and loved her. It was a profound experience talking with many of Sandra’s friends and colleagues.

Everyone I spoke with mentioned the breadth of Sandra’s interests and her devotion to building a better community.

Along with her interests in history, architecture, and politics, Sandra had a deep connection and devotion to the North Coast.

Sandra deeply cared about open space and community planning as a means to create a better environment for all. She contributed significantly to the well-being of our region and touched the lives of many. In Sandra’s own words, the perfect day would find her “sitting in my garden, trees gently blowing in the wind, a cat in my lap, a dog at my feet, a book in my hand, laughter and good friends around me.”

In reflecting on the life of her long-time friend, Liz Murguia spoke of Sandra’s many passions and gifts. Sandra was absolutely committed to the North Coast’s extraordinary landscape. Like many refugees from southern California, when Sandra moved here in the early 1970’s, she soon fell under the spell of the beauty around us. She cared about this community and believed in taking action to positively influence the world around her.

Sandra had political savvy and used it: from the early battles over the McKinleyville Community Plan and making sure that Central Avenue had meandering landscaped pathways; to supporting open space, parks, and trails. While she was still active, she was likely at every ribbon-cutting of another completed section of the Hammond Trail and believed the trails completed by Redwood Community Action Agency just simply made this

a better place to live.

Sandra also embraced the work of the California Conservation Corps and its mission with intensity. Liz commented on how much Sandra loved the opportunity it provided for young people and the opportunity to do some planting—she was always potting up red alders and any rampantly producing perennial in her garden to take it out to the CCC’s to plant.

Former California State Assembly member Dan Hauser voiced his gracious respect for Sandra and spoke of her being a great friend and ally for 14 years. Dan admired Sandra’s particular passion

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for seniors and the poor. He applauded Sandra’s key role in the development of Eureka’s Multiple Assistance Center.

During her tenure as staffer for Hauser’s office, Sandra was a key player in the fight to have the billboards removed along Highway 101 between Eureka and Arcata – she photographed each one, helped identify ownerships and quietly persisted over a number of years to have the most egregious removed. Dan reflected that the billboard issue went back to his tenure on the Arcata City Council and that, with the support of the North Coast Railroad Authority, Sandra instigated the removal of over ten billboards in the railroad right-of-way. Sandra also supported efforts to get the railroad up and running again and was passionate about cleaning up areas of chemical contamination along the neglected railroad in the Eel River canyon.

Former Arcata Mayor and NEC staffer Connie Stewart reflected upon the significant role Sandra played in her personal life and in local politics. Telling the story through laughter, Connie mused that Sandra was the first person who tried to teach her how to drive. Connie voiced how much she appreciated Sandra as a mentor and that she took to calling her just to get her take on current events around the state.

Sandra was so embedded in Democratic Party events that Connie still expects to find her near the door greeting people as they arrive. Connie said Sandra was “always at the right place, at the right time, and always in good cheer! She was such a loving soul and I miss her dearly every day!”

Along with these gifts to the community, and many others not spoken here, she also gave generously to the NEC—a gift for which we will be forever grateful. Sandra’s efforts make uncompromisingly clear that each one of us can make a big difference in our world and this difference can outlive us many times over. Sandra is one of those remarkable souls who leave a legacy that lives on in projects completed in her time and, subsequently, through the work of others. She is a great spirit who will definitely be remembered and missed.

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Apr/May 2013

EcoNews

Eye on

1. Fruit Basket Upset

Along with more high-profile and controversial cabinet vacancies and appointments (such as for Secretaries of State and Defense), President Obama must also tackle several key cabinet positions and agency heads that oversee conservation law and land management policy. The nominees to head governmental agencies will be the advisors and deciders of most federal environmental issues that affect residents of the Northcoast through the remainder of President Obama’s term, but some appointments are being held up over issues of local interest to particular legislators.

Department of the Interior

The Department of the Interior is the lead federal agency for conservation and federal land management in the United States. It includes agencies such U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and programs such as most of the Endangered Species Program, and surface and ocean mining. Interior manages just less than 500 million acres. REI Chief Executive Officer, Sally Jewell, was nominated by President Obama and recently confirmed by the Senate to replace outgoing Sec. Salazar. Jewell’s background includes a wide range of experience—from engineering and banking related to petroleum production (she mentioned during her Senate confirmation hearing, she has actually “fracked”), but also sits on the board for the National Parks and Conservation Association, a non-profit friends group of the National Park Service, and has a history of supporting wilderness and traditional conservation policy.

Department of Commerce

The Department of Commerce includes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that monitors weather and climate data, regulates the marine environment, oil spill clean-ups, tsunami debris recovery and oversees protection of marine mammals, fisheries and endangered marine and migratory species such as sea turtles, salmon, and sturgeon. Acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank, the third during the Obama administration, announced she is stepping down. At the time of printing, no nominee had yet been announced.

Washington Department of Energy

President Obama has nominated Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) physics professor Ernie Moniz to head the Energy Department. On one hand, Mr. Moniz has been a strong supporter of funding research to reduce carbon in the atmosphere to slow climate change. However, there is a level of uncertainty regarding his position on fracking and MIT research that has been funded by large oil companies that would benefit from favorable results. As Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune stated “We would stress to Mr. Moniz that an ‘all of the above’ energy policy only means ‘more of the same,’ and we urge him to leave dangerous nuclear energy and toxic fracking behind while focusing on safe, clean energy sources like wind and solar.”

Environmental Protection Agency

Gina McCarthy has been nominated to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

McCarthy has an educational and administrative background in environmental public health, and is currently chief of air resources for EPA. She is known for her pragmatic views, honest talk and reliance on science and data to drive decisions, and has been a strong proponent of understanding and tackling problems of climate change.

Some have speculated her nomination signals Obama’s determination to make good on his inaugural speech commitment to addressing climate change. But the Senate’s “climate-change denier in chief,” James Inhofe (R-OK), who sits on the committee that has to confirm her, has said he cannot accept her nomination. “Anyone who is nominated by this president is not going to be acceptable to anyone in this room, including me,” he said. In addition, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) indicated he is delaying her nomination over EPA’s missed deadline for a draft environmental impact statement for flood projects in his home state.

11. Budget Conundrum

Prospects are not looking good for those seeking summer employment at Redwood National Park, or any National Park. Each park must determine their own course, but Steve Prokop, the new superintendent of Redwood National Park, is required to cut $441,000 from the park budget for the remainder of the year.

Lassen Volcanic National Park’s superintendent Darlene Koontz will need to find a way to cut $263,000 and Superintendent Jim Milestone at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area will lose $216,000 from his budget, both of which are much smaller to begin with. An additional 1% cut is recommended by conservation-friendly Senate Appropriations. Parks, their visitors, and programs that parks use to protect vulnerable habitats and species—such as monitoring—are again getting the short end of the budget stick.

The Department of Agriculture’s budget cuts are even deeper—a proposed 2.5% additional cut on top of the 5% required by the sequester’s automatic budget cuts. This will not be the year to see additional staff to handle requests by the public for forest management or public input. The House of Representatives has, however, suggested the wildland fire management budget be retained at higher levels, for now—along with the Department of Defense.

These cuts are on top of prior recent budget cuts and the increased cost of just doing business, such as utility costs or fuel expenses that hit business as hard as individuals. In addition, federal employee salaries have been frozen for years now—not unlike many of our own personal salaries.

We will continue to hear calls for cutting the budget of federal conservation programs and calls for increased revenue, but let’s face it—under all the politics this is really the result of the tanking that began years ago, as we realized the housing market and loans were unsustainable, and the fact that we are stuck in an ongoing war. We need only to go back and look at sudden reductions in our incomes and investments in 2007 to see what created this budget mess. Congress, however, has the discretion to determine who takes the most cuts, and right now, enforcing environmental regulations and protecting our public lands are taking a greater share of budget cuts.

Dan Sealy is the NEC’s Legislative Analyst—our eyes (and ears) in Washington, D.C.

Humboldt’s Advocate for Transportation Choices

www.green-wheels.org EcoNews

Apr/May 2013

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In the early years

of American history, our country was blessed with a great abundance of fish, wildlife and other creatures that both sustained our growing population, and filled us with a sense of wonder. Lewis and Clark reported to our young Eastern country about the diverse and abundant wildlife in the west, and nearly everyone thought it was inexhaustible. As the years rolled by, however, we found that our excesses, in both hunting and development, resulted in depletion of the vast numbers of buffalo, salmon, waterfowl, and many other species we took for granted—to the point where we began to drive species toward extinction. The bald eagle, our national symbol, is a prime example.

In 1973 two Congressmen, Pete McCloskey (R-California) and John Dingell (D-Michigan) introduced legislation, the Endangered Species

to live. Beautiful art, life saving medicines, vibrant color schemes, new visions in architecture, and hundreds of new creations have origins traceable to nature and her creatures. The vibrant color in the hummingbird, the colorful spots in the California tiger salamander, the majestic flight of the bald eagle—all are part of this wonderful place we call home. America. California.

As President Nixon acknowledged when signing the Endangered Species Act into law, “Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed. It is a manyfaceted treasure, of value to scholars, scientists, and nature lovers alike, and it forms a vital part of the heritage we all share as Americans. I congratulate the 93rd Congress for taking this important step toward protecting a heritage which we hold in trust to countless future generations of

Celebrating 40 years of A Great AmericaN Law Act (ESA), which created a multi-faceted our fellow citizens. Their lives will be richer, "Nothing is more priceless and more approach to preventing American wildlife and America will be more beautiful in the worthy of preservation than the rich years ahead, thanks to the measure that I from going extinct—first by identification have the pleasure of signing into law today.” of species at risk (listing). Additionally, we array of animal life with which our This is a time to reflect on our love for must take action to recover them to self our region’s vibrant and diverse wildlife, and Richard Nixon country has been blessed". sustaining levels (recovery). Lastly, a part of the open spaces they live in. We should be the law designates land needed for survival 2013 is the 40th anniversary of the Endangered proud of the Endangered Species Act, and the (critical habitat)—a place they can call home.

Species Act. Here in California we have the second protections it provides, so we can pass this wildlife This was the first time in world history that a heritage on to our children and grandchildren. longest list of threatened and endangered species in conscious decision to protect wildlife would be Let’s celebrate our collective wisdom for having a the U.S. Our state has many success stories since backed by a federal law. After near unanimous law that protects all Nature’s creatures, and helps 1973—the California gray whale, southern sea otter, support in Congress, President Richard Nixon to preserve a living environment that sustains us bald eagle, California condor, least tern, peninsula signed the Endangered Species Act into law. all. Happy Birthday to the Endangered Species Act! desert bighorn sheep, Aleutian goose, and many Dr. Mark Rockwell, D.C. is the California organizer and others. At times, protecting our wildlife heritage can coordinator for the Endangered Species Coalition. be costly and/or inconvenient, but the Endangered Species Act makes us think before we act. Could the impacts of our actions result in extinction? If the answer is yes, we have to find other ways of acting.

It is considered an American value to respect and protect our outdoor heritage, and its inhabitants. Most citizens are willing to “go the extra mile” to make sure all creatures have a place

visit www.fws.gov/endangered/ESA40/

May 17 is Endangered Species Day!

Top - Bald eagle, California tiger salamander. Above - Black-footed ferret, steelhead, San Joaquin kit fox, California condor. Photos: US Fish & Wildlife Service, except steelhead by Mark Rockwell.

CEQA:

A Local Example Jessica Hall The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is under attack. Developers, polluters, and property-rights advocates want to weaken the public’s ability to weigh in on projects that impact California’s environmental health, habitat, visual quality, and overall quality of life. Public oversight is the heart of the CEQA process—through CEQA review, government agencies publicly share their assessment of proposed projects, and open the discussion for public comment. Statewide, as well as locally, public comment plays a critical role in improving the quality of projects.

Here on Humboldt Bay, aquatic habitat is becoming cleaner thanks to CEQA. Readers probably know that the Bay is contaminated with dioxins, furans, and PCBs, all highly carcinogenic substances that bind to the Bay’s sediments. Wildlife and people are vulnerable to significant health risks through the consumption of bottom feeders and plants in areas with these toxins – and anyone eating this wildlife, including shellfish, could also be impacted. So when the Harbor District released its Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration—part of the CEQA process—for cleaning up the former G&R Metals site along the Eureka waterfront, we were able to successfully engage through the public comment process to make sure that testing and cleanup of dioxin in Bay sediments within the property was included in the plan.

Because the known uses of the property hadn’t included the usual suspects for dioxin contamination, agencies hadn’t required dioxin sampling. We shared data from previous testing at the site that showed dioxin detections in Bay sediments there, demonstrating the potential hazard to wildlife and consumers of wildlife. The Harbor District agreed and required mitigation measures to include this new information. You may see the cleanup in action—the G&R Metals site is located along 1st Street between F and I Streets.

The upland areas have been remediated; the Bay sediments will likely be remediated this summer.

When the site is redeveloped – be it for industrial, commercial, mixed-use, or open space—it will be a healthier place for all.

It’s not always so smooth a process. The Harbor District’s staff understands environmental

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issues and public processes; their professional sophistication led to a straightforward process and conclusion. Business interests who frequently object to CEQA are often inadequately educated about the process and its requirements, or simply have objectives that conflict with community goals.

And this is when public input is most needed.

So when you hear that CEQA’s the problem, consider the source. What they are really saying is they want to limit your right and ability to weigh in on the projects that will affect your community and quality of life. And if they succeed in weakening CEQA, we’re the ones who lose.

Join us for

Coastal Currents every Wednesday at noon on KHUM, 104.3 and 104.7

Explore the Bay with Humboldt Baykeeper

Starting in early May, Humboldt Baykeeper offers free, natural history tours of the North Humboldt Bay most weekends through October.

These tours provide an excellent opportunity for small groups to see seals, points of historic interest, birds and much more. The Baykeeper, a 25-foot Boston Whaler, fits five participants for hourlong adventures and children age two or older are welcome. Call (707) 268-8897 for reservations and information. Tours fill up quickly so call ahead to make your reservation.

Thank you to Humboldt Area Foundation’s Humboldt Bay Recreation Enhancement and Water Quality Fund and Archie Bernardi Memorial Fund for financial support of this community boat tour program.

www.yournec.org

National Marine Sanctuary for the North Coast Jennifer Kalt

The Obama Administration proposes expansion of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary to Pt. Arena, and Humboldt Baykeeper and others are calling for the Sanctuary to be extended to the Oregon border. We support the expansion to Pt. Arena, but believe it should be further expanded to encompass the coastal waters of Humboldt, Mendocino, and Del Norte Counties.

National Marine Sanctuary status is all good with nothing bad—it would ban offshore oil drilling and would not change fishing regulations.

Since the 27-year Congressional moratorium on oil and gas drilling off the coast expired in 2008, our coast is vulnerable.

Our four submarine canyons—Trinity, Eel, Mendocino, and Gorda—are areas of consistent upwelling that result in extraordinarily high productivity, supporting a tremendous diversity of marine species, including endangered salmon and steelhead, sturgeon, gray whales, great white sharks, orcas, and leatherback turtles, to name a few.

California’s coastal waters are interconnected and interdependent. Marine mammals, fishes, and seabirds migrate along the California coast and beyond. Plankton and invertebrates, upon which all marine life depends, are similarly not confined to small regions. And pollution in waters north of the existing sanctuaries is carried south by the prevailing surface currents.

Threats to ocean health include chronic pollution from multiple sources, sedimentation, releases of farmed salmon, and loss of coastal wetlands. Anadromous species are further impacted by dams, logging, agriculture, urbanization, and polluted runoff. A permanent ban on offshore oil drilling and exploration would eliminate one of the many threats to our oceans.

For more information, visit http:// farallones.noaa.gov/manage/northern_area. html or go to our “Advocacy in Action” page at www.humboldtbaykeeper.org.

Stay tuned for the Sanctuary expansion Draft Environmental Impact Statement in Nov. 2013. To receive updates, email us at volunteer@ humboldtbaykeeper.org.

Apr/May 2013

EcoNews

The North Coast Railroad Authority Goes Rogue Scott Greacen

Will the NCRA bail out entirely on environmental accountability?

more than $3 million in California taxpayer Our last column discussed the funds to address the potentially significant series of maneuvers the North Coast environmental impacts of rebuilding the rail Railroad Authority (NCRA) has used line, the NCRA and NWP Co. argued the to avoid trial over its failure to comply EIR cannot be reviewed by California courts. with the California Environmental In defending its failure to look at impacts Quality Act (CEQA). (CEQA Key to on the Eel River and its fisheries, the NCRA Holding Railroad Authority Accountable, has suggested it has no plans to enter the Feb/Mar 2013 EcoNews). Unfortunately, unstable canyon.

But the NCRA and NWP NCRA’s maneuvering to escape Co.’s repeated statements and actions show environmental accountability does not the opposite is true. Both the agency and the appear to be ending anytime soon. company remain committed to the vision of In July of 2011, Californians rebuilding the entire rail line from Humboldt for Alternatives to Toxics (CATs) Bay through the Eel River canyon, down and Friends of the Eel River through Willits and Ukiah to Windsor, the (FOER) brought legal challenges in northernmost portion of the line that has California state court against the NCRA, after been made operable to date. their Environmental Impact Report (EIR) Recent examples that indicate this intent failed to identify and mitigate the significant are particularly telling. In February, NWP environmental harms that could be Co. President John Williams demanded caused by rebuilding the failed rail line on the NCRA board reject a fish passage the cheap—particularly in the beautiful but restoration project at Woodman Creek until unstable Eel River Canyon.

CalTrout—the project’s sponsor—not only But over the last couple of months, figures out how to restore steelhead access the NCRA and their codefendant, the that the railroad blocked a century ago, but Northwestern Pacific Co. (NWP Co.), have also comes up with $7-10 million for a new come up with two more gambits to avoid bridge for the NWP Co. trial in the case.

The mouth of Woodman Creek is about First, NWP Co. brought another fi ve miles north of Dos Rios in the Eel River ‘extraordinary appeal’ (so called because they are taken out of normal sequence). The The tunnel immediately south of the Woodman Creek crossing has Canyon, and is immediately downstream collapsed and been partially filled by one of many landslides exacerbated from one of many failed tunnels on the line.

Court of Appeals’ summary denial of NWP by the defunct rail line in the Eel River canyon. Photo: Scott Greacen.

This requested new bridge would be a bridge Co.’s appeal suggests the higher court takes to and from nowhere—unless the NCRA and letter from NWP Co. general counsel and seriously the district court’s concern that the NWP Co. are in fact planning to rebuild the rail investor Doug Bosco demanding NCRA rescind NCRA and NWP Co. have tried to play “fast and line through the canyon. The board duly refused its project approval and certification of the EIR, loose with the courts.” The First District Court of to support the project, which may well have cost claiming “NCRA was under no legal obligation to Appeals wrote “(u)nder the unique circumstances CalTrout its chance at funding—despite having prepare an EIR.” of this case, the court declines to intervene,” been informed that this is the Department of Fish Now one of the publishers of the Santa rejecting the NWP Co.’s claim it and the NCRA and Wildlife’s highest priority fish passage project Rosa Press Democrat, Bosco is a Democratic are preempted from being held to their promises in the region.

Party kingmaker who helped fund Jerry Brown’s to comply with CEQA. The move to dump the EIR supports our theory successful campaign to return to the Governor’s The second move, announced in a hearing on that the NCRA does intend to reopen the Eel River office. A former Democratic Congressman, Bosco March 21, by NCRA counsel, Ukiah attorney Chris Canyon using the cheapest methods possible. was defeated in 1990 by Republican Frank Riggs.

Neary, underscores how desperate the NCRA and NCRA Executive Director Stogner offered further NCRA Executive Director Mitch Stogner served NWP Co. are to avoid trial. Neary announced confirmation in an interview published March as Bosco’s chief of staff in Washington, D.C. “that on April 10, 2013, the NCRA will consider 15 in the Pacific Sun. “As soon as funds are and in the California Assembly. whether to rescind the approval that is challenged available and we can make the requisite repairs, The NCRA awarded NWP Co. a lease that in this action. If the Board votes to rescind the we will do so.” could give the company control of the line for more approval, NCRA will move to dismiss this action than a century without paying a cent to the public. as moot.”

Scott Greacen is Executive Director of Friends of the Eel River.

After the NCRA—with Bosco’s help—obtained Neary’s filings point to a March 13, 2013

EcoNews

Apr/May 2013

www.yournec.org

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The Environmental Protection Information Center 145 G Street, Suite A, Arcata, CA 95521

www.wildcalifornia.org

(707) 822.7711

EPIC Spring Gala featuring Petunia and the Vipers

Natalynne Delapp

Our second annual Spring Gala event on April 15 promises to please, with two great knee-slapping dance bands, gourmet comfort-food dinner, silent art auction, specialty cocktails, the ever-delightful Humboldt Fire Girls serving it all up, along with special guest dance performers Circus of The Elements, and more. The Arcata Community Center is where all the fun and magic will take place and is once again being transformed, this time taking you back to the good-ole days of the classic Americana Era. Petunia and the Vipers is Americana roots music at its best, blending sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rock and roll and bluegrass! Sour Mash Hug Band is a modern day

Jug band with a twist, an irresistible mix of oldtime, gypsy, bluegrass, jazz, Irish, and ragtime.

Doors open for the concert at 8pm, with beer, wine & specialty cocktails being served by the Humboldt Fire Girls as well as special guest dance performers.

Dinner, a New Orleans style feast, with a delicious andouille sausage & shrimp jambalaya, braised collard greens, corn bread muffins, organic salad, and delicious hors d’oeuvres served from 6-8 p.m. Dinner tickets are $40.00 and includes dinner, a drink, and the concert.

All proceeds from the evening benefit the Environmental Protection Information CenterEPIC. EPIC works to restore and protect ancient forests, watersheds, coastal estuaries, and endangered species in Northwest California.

Music tickets are $15 in advance for general admission, $20 at the door.

Tickets may be purchased at Wildberries Marketplace, Redway Liquor, the EPIC Office (145 G Street, Arcata), and online at www.WildCalifornia.org.

Or scan the Quick Read code here: This event is sponsored by Circus of The Elements and the Ink People Center for the Arts.

Give Two Hoots for Northern Spotted Owls Andrew Orahoske

Sp

se

As we move into spring and celebrate the blossoming of flowers and return of vibrant life in our region, Northern Spotted Owl pairs are beginning their yearly nesting endeavors. This year, owls have some things to be happy about as two major initiatives advance in EPIC’s Spotted Owl Self-defense Campaign.

Owl Self-De First, the EPIC d fe te n ot petition to list the Northern Spotted Owl under the California Endangered Species Act that was filed last September received a positive evaluation from the California E PIC Department of Fish and Wildlife in February, recommending candidate listing and full status review.

The listing petition will now be heard by the California Fish and Game Commission on April 17th, and EPIC will be there to advocate on behalf of the owl.

It is now time for the State of California to recognize its duties, and based on the ww org w.Wi ldCalifornia.

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overwhelming evidence, act swiftly to protect the Northern Spotted Owl. Another major initiative in EPIC’s Spotted Owl Self-defense Campaign is reforming antiquated rules at the California Board of Forestry. On February 6, 2013, EPIC filed a rulemaking petition before the Board of Forestry to remove regulations that have resulted in harm to owls and significant loss of owl habitat. Existing state regulations have allowed intensive logging of spotted owl habitat within known owl territories resulting in the abandonment and loss of hundreds of historic nesting sites.

Updating state regulations to reflect the most current scientific and regulatory guidance is necessary to conserve and recover owls and their habitat.

In addition, changing existing state regulations will also serve to streamline review and approval of timber harvest plans, and save valuable public resources. Thanks to positive public comments and the participation of EPIC membership, on March 6 the Board voted to accept EPIC’s rulemaking petition and initiate a formal rulemaking process. Now we need the support of EPIC members and the public to ensure that the Board finalizes the rulemaking. www.yournec.org

Hoot One

Contact the California Fish and Game Commission and let them know that you support EPIC’s petition to list the Northern Spotted Owl under the California Endangered Species Act. Scan the Quick Read code here or visit www.WildCalifornia.org

Hoot Two Contact the Board of Forestry and let them know that you support EPIC’s petition to remove outdated and harmful regulations that damage Northern Spotted Owl habitat.

Scan the Quick Read code here or visit www.WildCalifornia.org

Apr/May 2013

EcoNews

The objectives and purpose of the Mattole Restoration Council are the protection and restoration of natural systems in the Mattole River Watershed and their maintenance at sustainable levels of health and productivity, especially in regards to forests, fisheries, soil, and other native plant and animal communities.

www.mattole.org

707-629-3514 mrc@mattole.org

Living on the Land in a Changing Climate

Homestead climate change adaptation strategies Hezekiah Allen

The Mattole watershed in Humboldt County is projected to be one of the places in the world least affected by the direct forces of climate change, according to current models. However, we too are experiencing shifts in patterns such as more intense storms in the winter, and a longer, drier summer season. Both are conditions that climate models predict will get worse in coming years.

These changes, combined with the Mattole’s inherent sensitivities, inspire questions about the sustainability of our rural communities.

Intense storms on areas of unstable geology have compounded existing issues with the maintainance of our road system. Longer dry seasons and altered fuel loads are leading to skyrocketing costs for fire suppression—particularly in and around homesteads and communities. The loss of our access roads to larger population centers and the promise of more intense wildfire are both real threats to rural communities. These threats might push us, however, to be better stewards of the land and to achieve greater sustainability on a very local level.

In much of the Mattole, the most effective climate adaptation strategies are stewardship projects completed by residents themselves.

These homestead scale solutions will complement and enhance strategies being employed by local organizations described in detail in our March/ April issue of Forest and River News.

The most basic strategy local residents can pursue is to prepare for natural disasters. Road closure from intense winter rains will become more frequent and longer lasting. Residents should ensure adequate supplies are stored to survive the isolation that will result from heavy rainfall and intense floods.

In the Mattole—and in fact all communities— climate adaptation should include increasing local food production. Food storage strategies are good, but are invariably temporary solutions.

A focus on increasing food production capacity is better for long-term adaptation. Residents can

EcoNews

Apr/May 2013

Landslide near a road in Honeydew. Photo: Mattole Restoration Council.

help achieve this goal by growing food or—equally as important—by supporting those who do by choosing local food options whenever possible.

Additionally, an emphasis on local food capacity will help to reduce the carbon footprint of living in rural communities.

Much of our local food comes from farms that depend on water. As the dry season gets longer and more intense, water will become scarcer. In some parts of the Mattole, creeks already dry out in the summer—stranding and killing fish and negatively impacting all water users.

In order to ensure that crops are secure and streams are healthy, it is imperative that communities focus significant attention to increasing water storage. Meeting the water storage needs for a dry season will be challenging, but implementing water conservation projects can help ensure every drop is used effectively, as can techniques such as dry farming and applying permaculture principles.

Well-built and maintained roads (along with properly sized culverts) are more resilient to floods and intense rain, protect aquatic habitat and improve access. Large road projects require planning and heavy equipment, but a lot can be achieved with simple hand tools and regular www.yournec.org

maintenance. Where appropriate, check dams can be used to slow run-off and—coupled with swales—help to increase groundwater infiltration.

All landowners and residents must take responsibility for making their homes fire safe. Fuel reduction, water storage, and safe access to and from your home are critical to survival in longer, hotter dry seasons. A century of fire suppression and decades of clear-cut logging have led to dense forests with a very high risk of catastrophic wildfire. A hotter and longer dry season will only exacerbate these conditions.

Thinning and limbing trees around homesteads and along roads can make forests and homes less vulnerable to severe wildfire. The best tool to prevent catastrophic, high intensity fires and restoring forest health is frequent, low intensity fires.

While we can (and should!) take strides to prepare for disasters, be more self reliant, store water, maintain our infrastructure, and reduce fire danger, ultimately we must be prepared for the unexpected. Climate change modeling is an uncertain science. The overarching strategy for helping our communities adapt to climate change is strengthening our relationships with our friends and neighbors.

16

North

Events and Updates ~ North Group, Redwood Chapter

Outings and Meetings The regular meeting of the North Group takes place on the second Tuesday of each month at Eureka’s Adorni Center beginning at 7 p.m.

Check our website for our upcoming events!

Visit www.redwood.sierraclub.org/north.

Special Report: A Bad Spring for the Klamath Refuges

challenges to cuts in Klamath River flows or to the dewatering of Klamath Wildlife Refuges. But the latest outrage to two of the nation’s most important wildlife refuges has prompted the Sierra Club to join with a host of other organizations in a letter to California and Oregon Senators and selected members of the US House of Representatives concerning the plight of the refuges.

The letter focuses on refuge dewatering but also condemns decisions by the US Fish & Wildlife Service to remove protection for two species of ESA endangered sucker fish (Kuptu and Tsuam, aka Lost River and Shortnose suckers). Removal of protection for these fish in the Lost River Basin is

North Group Report Executive Committee Member Ned Forsyth At its annual planning retreat February 3rd, North Group ExCom reviewed progress on its 2012 goals, bringing most of them forward to 2013, and adding the following new goals: evaluate the Repower Humboldt energy framework, with particular attention to biomass fuels; continue efforts to evaluate/remove billboards around Humboldt Bay; develop future North Group leadership; begin planning for the 2014 North Group 50th anniversary; sponsor a climate change/energy symposium; co-host a summer picnic with Redwood Region Audubon Society. Your comments are welcome.

Green Diamond Resource Company recently received certification from the Forest Stewardship Council for its California redwoods operations. FSC most recently revised its Principles and Criteria in March 2013. North Group Forestry Chair Andrew Orahoske is working with EPIC and national Sierra Club’s Forest Certification Team to appeal FSC’s action and to seek further improvement in Green Diamond’s practices.

The North Group needs a few good volunteers. Please make plans to attend a North Group Executive Committee meeting on the second Tuesday of each month, 6:45 p.m. at the Adorni Center in Eureka. Call Ned at 826-2417 for details.

North Group Water Chair Felice Pace In over two plus years since the costly and controversial Klamath Dam and Water Deals—the KHSA and KBRA—were signed, federal agencies responsible for managing Klamath River water, salmon and wildlife refuges have implemented many aspects of the complex KBRA Water Deal which do not require Congressional approval.

First, NMFS adopted Klamath flows for Coho Salmon that were lower most of the year as compared to flows which federal courts found were insufficient to protect Coho under the Endangered Species Act. This was followed by the Bureau of Reclamation’s Variable Base Flow system to manage Klamath Water. Under that management scheme, Lower Klamath and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges have been dewatered at key times of the year and flows in the Klamath River have been cut even below those established by NMFS. This February Reclamation went a step further by showing USFWS plans to let two ESA-listed sucker species go extinct in requiring draining of refuge marshes in order Map the Lost River Basin. Image courtesy of Resighini Rancheria. to maximize the amount of water available for delivery to private irrigators this coming summer. consistent with the KBRA Water Deal which calls Because they have split over the KBRA, neither for lifting the ESA’s “regulatory burden” from those Klamath River Basin tribes nor the environmental There are no Sierra Club Outings scheduled irrigation interests receiving subsidized irrigation community has been able so far to mount legal during the next two months. In fact, the North water via the Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath group is seeking avid hikers who are willing to Irrigation Project. receive training and lead official Sierra Club Oregon Senator Ron Wyden chairs a key Senate outings.

If you would like to help people explore Committee; promoters of the KHSA and KBRA our beautiful North Coast, contact Bill at want Wyden to carry a bill that would mandate and bill.knight.email@gmail.com. fund the KHSA and KBRA. Those concerned about the refuges hope Senator Wyden will not sponsor legislation that would further embolden the Bureau of Reclamation to dewater Lower Klamath and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges.

To learn more about the issues affecting the complex of six Klamath National Wildlife Refuges and to take action in support of water for the refuges see Oregon Wild’s Klamath refuge web page at http://www.oregonwild.org/waters/ Dewatered Marsh, Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge klamath/refuges.

Get out with the Sierra Club in 2013

Get Plugged In

17

www.yournec.org

Apr/May 2013

EcoNews

HAPPENINGS News and Events from the North Coast Chapter Please watch for later additions on our Web site (www.northcoastcnps.org) or sign up for e-mail announcements (Northcoast_CNPS-subscribe@yahoogroups.com) Beginners and experts, non-members and members are all welcome at our programs and on our outings. Almost all of our events are free. All of our events are made possible by volunteer effort.

Evening Programs Second Wednesday evening, September through May. Refreshments at 7 p.m.; program at 7:30 p.m. at the Six Rivers Masonic Lodge, 251 Bayside Road, near 7th and Union, Arcata.

Botanical FAQ’s: At 7:15 p.m. Pete Haggard (or another presenter) shares a brief, hands-on demonstration and discussion of a botanical topic.

April 10, Wednesday. “Lichens and bryophytes— enigmatic, charismatic cryptogams.” Marie Antoine, HSU lecturer, shares fun facts to further your own discovery of lichens and bryophytes.

May 8, Wednesday. 7:30 p.m. ”Patterns of Plant Discovery in California—You Too Can Discover a New Species.” Field botanist Dr. Dean Wm.Taylor will share the thrill of discovery on his quests in all corners of California.

Field Trips and Hikes Note: Unless stated otherwise, for further information and to reserve a spot, call Carol Ralph 822-2015.

...the North Coast celebration of wild California plants

Wildflower Show & Native Our 31st year!

Friday

Plant Sale

MAY 3-4-5, 2013

7:00 pm- Art Night free drawing workshop with Rick Tolley and friends, live music by “Mon Petit Chou”

Fri.1-5 Sat.10-5 Sun.10-4 (plant sale Sat. & Sun.10-4) free - everyone welcome

Saturday

hundreds of plant species

11 am- Walk in the Dunes Friends of the Dunes docent 11 am-5 pm- “Ask an Expert” to identify your wild plant sample 1 pm- Fire and Vegetation: the Yurok perspective Skip and Sandra Lowry 3 pm- Conifer Country Michael Kauffmann

Sunday

9 am- Beauty in the Dunes art walk, Rick Tolley (12 only, details on website) 11 am- Wildflowers of the Dunes walk Laurel Goldsmith 2 pm- How to Photograph Flowers Bill Wood 3 pm- Wild Medicinal Plants Christa Sinadinos

Andrea Pickart, Rhododendron occidentale

Manila Community Center

1611 Peninsula Drive, Manila www.northcoastcnps.org • 707-826- 0259 ...a community event coordinated by the North Coast Chapter of the California Native Plant Society EcoNews

Apr/May 2013

April 20 Saturday. 8:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Native Plants in Yards and Forest. Round-trip walk with Carol Ralph, from Community Center to Arcata Community Forest. See and discuss native plants in landscapes and redwood forest. About 3 miles on sidewalks and good paths. Free trip sponsored

by California Native Plant Society at Godwit Days: Register at 826-7050, or www.godwitdays.org.

April 27, Saturday. 10:00 a.m.- 12:00 noon. Ferns in the Dunes. Study eight species of ferns with Carol Ralph. Easy walk. Bring hand lens. Meet: Pacific Union School, (See April 7). Carpool to site.

Co-sponsored by CNPS and Friends of the Dunes.

Register: 444-1397 or: info@friendsofthedunes.org

April 7, Sunday.

Four Creeks and Three Fawn Lilies All Day Tour.

Redwood Creek, East Fork Willow Creek, Supply Creek, and Skunk Creek. Bring lunch and water. Meet 9:00 a.m., Pacific Union School (3001 Janes Rd., Arcata) or arrange another place.

Return mid-afternoon.

April 28, Sunday. 1-3 p.m. Wildflowers in a Hydesville Forest. From 101 at the south end of Fortuna take the Highway 36 exit, go about 3 miles up to Hydesville, turn left at the church onto Rohnerville Rd., go about 1 mile, turn right onto Puddin Lane at bottom of a gulch, follow signs and balloons to Shapeero. 768-3287 or 822-2015.

April 13, Saturday. 10:00 a.m.-12:00 noon. Getting to Know the Plants on Elk River Trail in Headwaters Forest. With BLM botanist Jennifer Wheeler, study native wildflowers, and some wild medicinal plants. From 101, exit onto Elk River Rd. After 1.5 miles take the right fork; after 4.5 more miles at the bridge take the right fork; go 1 mile more to the trailhead parking lot.

May 3, 4, and 5: CNPS SPRING WILDFLOWER SHOW AND NATIVE PLANT SALE, Manilla Community Center. Visit www.northcoastcnps.org for more details and a list of plants available for sale.

April 14, Sunday. 1:003:00 p.m. “Conifers on Campus.”

Dr. Dennis Walker has brought conifers from all corners of the world for a remarkable collection on HSU Campus.

Meet at green front doors of the dome greenhouse, between the biology and engineering buildings, east of B St. Campus weekend parking is free.

www.yournec.org

May 4, Saturday. Dune walk at Manila Community Center, 10 a.m.-noon and May 5, Sun. 10 a.m.-12 noon at the CNPS Spring Wildflower Show.

May 11, Saturday. 12:30-4:30 p.m. Stony Creek Half-Day Hike. 2-mile roundtrip hike to confluence of Stony Creek and North Fork Smith River with Carol Ralph. Meet at 12:30 p.m. at the Ruby Van Deventer Wildflower Show at the Del Norte County Fairgrounds in Crescent City.

May 19, Sunday. Craig’s Creek Trail Day Hike.

Moderately difficult trail above South Fork Smith River. Trailhead just off Highway 199 east of Crescent City. Bring lunch and water. Meet at 8:30 a.m. at Pacific Union School (see April 7th). Return late afternoon.

May 26, Sunday. 1:00-3:00 p.m. Azaleas! at the Azalea State Reserve, with Pete Haggard. Exit onto North Bank Rd. off 101 just north of the Mad River; after about one mile turn left on Azalea Dr., and shortly after that, left into the parking lot. 839-0307.

Sign up for e-mail announcements:

Northcoast_CNPS-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

18

S andpiper

Redwood Region Audubon Society w w w. r r a s . o r g

The

APRIL / MAY 2013

Welcome to Redwood Region Audubon Society’s “Least Sandpiper.”

Its purpose is to highlight some of the articles that appear in our Sandpiper newsletter, which is now published exclusively online at www.rras.org. Publishing the Sandpiper online allows us to offer more content, more photos, and easy-to-read type! Visit our website for complete information on the items below and more!

Highlights of the April/May 2013 Sandpiper (posted at http://rras.org/docs/sandpiper/2013-AprilMay.pdf or reached by clicking on “News” from the home page and selecting “The Sandpiper” by date):

7 7

Learn about the landscapes and wildlife of Ethiopia during an April 12 presentation by Jude Power and Ken Burton.

Join us on May 10 when HSU graduate student Dawn Blake relates the cultural signi�icance and biology of the Pileated Woodpecker in the Hoopa Valley.

celebrate four decades of the Patricks 7 Come Point Native Plant Garden on June 1. your involvement with RRAS by 7 Increase volunteering at Godwit Days or by �illing vacant committee and other positions.

year’s Humboldt County Science Fair 7 This had so many great bird-related projects

that the judges gave three awards! Research results are summarized in this month’s issue.

about results of our 2013 chapter 7 Read election.

Evening Grosbeaks, Arcata © Gary Bloom�ield

out local highlights from February’s 7 Find Great Backyard Bird Count.

the skinny on upcoming �ield trips, plus 7 Get �ield notes and Jim Clark’s president column. receive updates on events and 7 To announcements of interest to

RRAS members, visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ RedwoodRegionAudubonSociety or send an e-mail to sueleskiw@suddenlink.net asking to join the RRAS listserv.

Go to www.rras.org to view these—and other—articles in their entirety.

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www.yournec.org

Apr/May 2013

EcoNews

Eco-Mania

PODS AGAINST POISON: Carob, an evergreen tree whose pods are a substitute for chocolate, also inhibits the growth of Listeria which caused food poisoning in a dozen states and killed at least three people last year, according to the American Chemical Society.

The increase in such Superbugs as Listeria has prompted the search for natural substances to preserve food.

A merry melange: salient or silly.

DOWN, WAY DOWN, WITH TV: Young men who watched more than 20 hours of TV per week had just half the sperm count of those who didn’t watch any TV, according to the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Men who exercised for 15 hours a week had sperm counts that were 73 percent higher than those who stayed on the couch.

GOOD GUSTS: Thanks to better design, new wind farms are cheaper than building new coal or gas power stations, according to Bloomberg Finance.

In Australia, new wind farms generate electricity for between $80 and $113 per megawatt hour—a lot less than coal plants, even without the country’s new carbon tax. Better designs, including longer blades and taller turbines, have all boosted efficiency.

According to the Global Wind Energy Council in Belgium, the amount of wind capacity installed worldwide rose 19 percent last year. Wind is seen as a safer investment than fossil fuels as countries try to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

AVOID THE RIVER: As many as 10,000 crocodiles escaped from a farm during floods and were washed into the Limpopo River, one of southern Africa’s biggest waterways.

Luckily, thousands of the reptiles—most of them less than 80 inches long—were quickly trapped.

The flood gates at the Rakwena Crocodile Farm, close to the Botswana and Zimbabwe borders, were opened because it was feared that rising flood waters would crush the crocodiles.

A KISS IS JUST A KISS: Not true—it’s also a way of imparting a man’s genetic code—for at least an hour.

That’s the finding at Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, where researchers collected saliva samples of the Y chromosome from couples kissing—and detected a man’s DNA from the woman kissed by him.

“We’ve shown this could be useful in crime investigation to pinpoint the possible perpetrator among suspects or exclude those who are innocent,” said a researcher.

COYOTES ARE LOYAL: Coyotes never cheat— at least in the Chicago area.

A six-year study by Ohio State found that, despite plenty of food and high population density (two conditions which drive other canine species to stray), coyotes were loyal to mates and both helped raise their pups.

FALSE CHOPPERS: Cells destined to become teeth were taken from mouse embryos by Japanese scientists and implanted into an adult mouse, near the kidneys. Two months later, the cells had developed into a molar complete with a periodontal ligament.

The tooth was extracted and implanted into the jawbone of yet another mouse. Within 30 days, blood vessels and nerves surrounded the transplant, which functioned as if it were a native tooth. The next big advance will come when the budding tooth cells can be cultivated outside the body.

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE...: Coffee is the world’s most popular drink, involves 26 million farmers worldwide, and is the source of the planet’s favorite recreational drug—caffeine. But it also is at risk of falling victim to climate change.

Coffee yields are already at a 35-year low, and worst-case projection is that all of the sites where beans grow well will be unsuitable by 2080.

Maybe it’s time to wake up to global warming.

NEW SPECIES: To those who say we’ve found everything, we say “Greater Mekong Delta.” Since 1997, a total of 1,710 new species were discovered in the region.

In just 2011, searchers in the Southeast Asia region—which includes Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, southwestern China and Myanmar— have discovered 82 plants, 13 fish, 21 reptiles, 5 amphibians and 5 mammals.

EcoNews

Apr/May 2013

NOT MUCH OF A HOOT: A European eagleowl, the world’s most ferocious owl, has attacked two men in the center of Inverness, Scotland.

Police have warned the public to keep clear of the massive bird of prey, which has a six-foot wingspan, although bird watchers were trying to catch a glimpse of the species—rare in the United Kingdom. www.yournec.org

BUT IS THE MONEY REAL?: Since no maple tree is native to all of Canada, designers of new money chose a “stylized” leaf to adorn currency to avoid regional bias. However, now the bills look like the Norway maple, a European native that is so invasive that some U.S. states banned it.

The leaf shown on new bills has five major lobes, not three, which is unlike any maple tree that is native to Canada.

20

Aleutian Cackling Goose Branta hutchinsii leucopareia

A local endangered species success story

Brandon Drucker Today, the Aleutian cackling goose is common on the North Coast, but 70 years ago it was nearly extinct. The goose is hailed as among the Federal Endangered Species Act’s greatest success stories, along with species such as the bald eagle, American alligator, and whooping crane. Almost indistinguishable from the familiar Canada goose, the cackling goose was declared a separate species by the American Ornithologists’ Union in 2004.

There are four separate subspecies: Richardson’s cackling goose, Taverner’s cackling goose, small cackling goose, and the Aleutian. Cackling geese tend to be about two thirds the size of their larger Canada cousins, and can also be identified by their shorter necks, rounder heads, shorter bills, and more rapid “cackling” call.

The Aleutian goose spends the warmer months feeding and breeding on the chain of Alaskan islands that are its namesake. Spread across hundreds of miles of the Bering Sea west of mainland Alaska, geese had a natural abundance of food and safety in isolation on these islands, until humans drastically altered the native ecology.

At the turn of the 18th century, Russian fur farmers and traders introduced Arctic and red foxes to several of the islands. Over time, these non-native predators took their toll and decimated goose populations until they were effectively extinct by 1940.

In 1962, however, 56 Aleutian cackling geese were discovered by bird researchers on Buldir Island, near the western end of the Aleutian island chain. Buldir had remained fox-free and, therefore, rich in biodiversity.

Following this discovery, researchers began an intensive breeding program with a few goslings removed from the Buldir nests. At the same time, biologists worked to remove the invasive fox species from An Aleutian cackling goose featuring a numbered neck band for research identification. Photo: © Rob Fowler. other Aleutian islands, re-establishing a predatorgeese now prefer Humboldt to Del Norte that the free environment. Additionally, in 1967, the Aleutian Goose Festival, formerly held in Crescent geese received the support of the U.S. Federal City, was canceled in 2011. Large numbers of geese Government. The Aleutian cackling goose was in the Humboldt Bay Area have inspired an annual declared one of the first species protected under Aleutian Goose Fly-Off event at the Humboldt the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, Bay Wildlife Refuge, just south of Eureka. predecessor to the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Some are not appreciative of the geese, Human-reared geese were introduced to islands however—primarily farmers and ranchers who where foxes had been successfully removed. With prefer their green pastures be utilized by cattle persistence and perseverance, biologists managed over birds. For this reason, shooting of geese is now to re-establish strong reproductive groups of geese allowed on designated private lands with a permit. on multiple islands. As their populations grew, Today, management of Aleutian cackling geese so did the plants that thrive on their droppings, is collaborative. The Aleutian Goose Working resulting in a rebound of the entire ecosystem. By Group was formed in an effort to discuss how best 2001, the Aleutian cackling goose numbered in to balance the goose-related needs of farmers, the tens of thousands, warranting removal of the ranchers, conservationists, government agencies, species from the Endangered Species List—one of and concerned citizens alike. The group emphasizes a the very few animals to make a full recovery from “push-pull” management strategy in which involved the brink of extinction. parties attempt to push the geese off private lands Today the total population of Aleutian cackling through hazing efforts and limited hunting programs, geese is well over 100,000. The vast majority and pull them onto public lands by the planting of of these birds spend the months of January to particularly tasty grasses and other forage.

March in Del Norte and Humboldt County, with The Aleutian cackling goose is living testament some further south in the San Joaquin Valley. to the value of the Endangered Species Act, as well Recent trends indicate the geese are choosing as to the idea that humans have the potential to the bottomlands and pastures of Humboldt in restore environmental damage with the right kind greater numbers than ever before. In fact, so many of dedicated solution.

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Apr/May 2013

EcoNews

the Kids’ Page:

Northern Flying Squirrel

Did you know that flying squirrels don’t really fly, but actually glide instead? The Northern flying squirrel lives in our area, but you probably have never seen one because they are nocturnal (active at night) and are mostly arboreal (live in trees).

Flying squirrels look like small squirrels, but have larger eyes well-adapted to see at night, and fur covered membranes (thin skin) that reach from their wrists to their ankles, which evolved to help them glide.

They glide from tree to tree anywhere from 3-55 feet above the ground. They do this by stretching out their fore limbs (arms) and hind limbs (legs), kind of like how kids spread their arms and legs to do a cartwheel. The membrane acts like a parachute and lets them glide up to 164 feet! That’s the length of 4 ½ school buses!

They also have a long, fur covered, flat, oar-like tail that helps them steer. They can change direction when gliding by changing the angle of their tail! Flying squirrels grow up to 1013 inches long and their tail is a little less than half that length.

So, if a flying squirrel were 10 inches long, the body would be about 6 inches and the tail would be about 4 inches long.

They have babies usually once a year, sometimes twice a year in Canada, and have 2-4 babies at a time. They are classified as a rodent, like a chipmunk.

Flying squirrels use their sense of smell to find underground fungi, called truffles, on which to feed. Their scat (poop!) helps the forest grow by putting nutrients (food) into the soil to help plants grow. The spores from the fungi they eat mix with the bacteria in their digestive systems and enrich the soil. Spotted owls, Canada lynx, great horned owl, American marten, and domesticated (tamed) cats are some animals that feed on northern flying squirrels.

The range of northern flying squirrels covers most of Canada and some of the northern U.S., including our local area. Some mountain populations in the southeastern U.S. have grown smaller from habitat loss, pollution, and invasive species, and are listed as an Endangered Species.

by Sarah Marnick

See the flying squirrel’s big eyes? Larger eyes allow nocturnal animals to see better at night. Photos: Top - Anders B. (Flickr.com CC). Above - USFWS.

EcoNews

Apr/May 2013

Word Search M E M B R A N E H D H S Q U H Q Z I N

I F M B T R O K W A A R E M W R L B E

N P C A N A C S C T P R Q Y A P X E H

L I R C Q N X I R S P X T G N S S K C

M S L F S B M I L E R O F L A P M A L B B M I O L Y P A C T J H N Y D E M N G L P E R R Q T E R I A D X I Y N R Z U B F W R U N G I I L L O U F D P H G E T G X L F F B D F F E J R I A C S L G S R Q L N G B O J X F O Q X A A N E X R I R V D O Q N U F I X S B B R L H O A Y Z U I Z F F C C X E M M N O Y B I R T H D A Y Z O E O E P N C X R Y P R L Y S S E X J L X Y S E L D M R O T K A F D H C D K L U W V Q I V L E O R X W D L Q J I F C M S E W F C J N O Y S K E A P R D L M R A Q C L Y V U T D K B I X I A A X Z A V X E M G P Z G C O T M H I L T D H P J S Q D G S U H A

ARBOREAL BACTERIA DOMESTICATED FLYING SQUIRREL FORE LIMBS

www.yournec.org

FUNGI GLIDE HIND LIMBS LICHEN

MEMBRANE NOCTURNAL RANGE SCAT TRUFFLES

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The tsunami that hit Japan two years ago has some survivors believing they are seeing ghosts, and they are seeking help from exorcists.

One man who escaped the waves that destroyed his home said strange things began to happen. His two children suddenly got sick, an inexplicable chill seemed to follow the family and “a couple of times when I was lying in bed, I felt something walking across me, stepping across my chest.”

So he turned to an exorcist, who explained: “There are headless ghosts, and some missing hands or legs. Others are completely cut in half.

People were killed in so many different ways and they were left in limbo.”

The survivor now says life has improved since he put two Buddhist statues in a shrine and prayed.

Here at the NEC, the only thing left in limbo is our budget. We believe that a tsunami of donations will eliminate the specter of the death of our organization. You can help: consult an exorcist, pray—or put a donation in the hat.

You can even do all three, and you may avoid the headless ghosts when the wave comes ashore in our coastal community.

Thank you.

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