EcoNews Feb/Mar 2012

40 Years of Environmental News

EC

Arcata, California

Vol. 42, No. 1 February/March 2012

NEWS Published by the Northcoast Environmental Center Since 1971

Fall Chinook on the Eel | Smith Copper Contamination | 40 Years of Clean Water Humboldt Marten Review | Wolf! | Godwit Days | Local Beekeeping | Nuclear Storage Update

EC

NEWS

791 Eighth Street, Arcata, CA 95521 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, Jennifer Kalt, Sarah Marnick, Dan Sealy, Scott Greacen, Andrew Orahoske, Pete Nichols, Garrett Brinton, Greg King, Patrick Higgins, and Tierra Curry.

Artist: Terry Torgerson Cover Photo: cheesy42, Flickr Creative Commons.

NEC Programs Manager: Dan Ehresman, dan@yournec.org

NEC’s 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 - Beth Werner, beth@humboldtbaykeeper.org Redwood Region Audubon Society CJ Ralph, theralphs@humboldt1.com Sierra Club North Group, - Diane Fairchild Beck, dfbeck@northcoast.com At-Large - Tom Preble

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.

NEC Sponsored Groups

Healthy Humboldt Coalition, Green Wheels Volunteer submissions are welcome!

Full articles of about 800 words or fewer may be submitted, preferably by email.

Please pitch your idea to the editor prior to submitting a draft, to editor@yournec.org.

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 we venture into a new year, reflecting upon our past can help guide us to a better future. With that in mind, let us take a trip back three decades to Volume 12, Issue No. 1 of EcoNews, printed in January 1982.

Within the rumpled pages are many articles that are still relevant today, reminding us how difficult and slow progress can be. From articles on the ill-effects of forest mis-management, the many threats to water quality, and the dangers of nuclear power, it gives one pause to ponder if human beings can ever come into balance with nature.

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom back in ‘82. Peppered within the pages we also see reasons for hope. We see an active and committed group of individuals fighting for the health of the planet. We see the beginnings of the EcoNews Report on KHSU (now the longest-running public affairs show on KHSU) as well as the very first Kin to the Earth column (which honored Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring).

We follow in the footsteps of those who came before, those who made the path a bit more clear.

Nearly one month into the new year there is much to celebrate—even though there is much work ahead.

Two days before the New Year, Californians received word that the first known wild gray wolf in nearly 90 years had entered the state. As we go to print, Journey, the two and ½ year old male, has been hanging around the Modoc Plateau in Lassen County—giving rise to the hope that this splendid creature could again reside in the Golden State. Though the return of the wolf is not universally celebrated, things have evolved since 1982, when EcoNews described the U.S. Government’s programmatic eradication of wolves.

The New Year also brings strong support, thanks to all of our members who have contributed to the NEC— through volunteering, words of encouragement, and monetary donations. The Center would especially like to recognize several generous donors: one a bequest from a long-time supporter which will go a long ways in supporting the NEC through 2012; the other a pledge from an anonymous donor who wishes to contribute $1000 per month to see that the NEC maintains its role as a voice for conservation here on the North Coast.

These substantial gifts, in combination with the other generous

contributions we received this holiday season, will allow the NEC to direct more staff-time towards the many issues we’ve focused on over the years as well as several critical issues including the County’s General Plan Update, CalTrans’ 101 corridor project, and Klamath River dam removal.

We offer our deep gratitude to all of our supporters!

Over the next several months we are planning a number of events for our members and supporters including an Earth Day celebration and a Congressional Candidates’ Forum in conjunction with Sierra Club and others. If you are interested in helping with any of these events, please call the office at 822-6918. We are also in the midst of updating our database—so please get in touch with us to ensure we have your correct contact information.

To receive action alerts via e-mail, sign up at www.yournec.org. You can also find us on Facebook.

So far in 2012 we are reminded that our work makes a difference and that, collectively, we can achieve more sustainable ways of living and a more ecologically balanced planet. May we continue to work together and honor the memory while building on the work of those who have struggled before us.

EcoNews Digital Archive Project Has Begun!

It’s an exciting time here at EcoNews!

Forty years ago, EcoNews began as a small community newsletter for the Northcoast Environmental Center— our region’s first environmental organization. Over the years, it has evolved and expanded to become a prominent environmental news source.

With four decades of environmental reporting sitting here in yellowing newsprint on our office shelves, we’ve often dreamed about scanning and digitizing the old issues to creating an online EcoNews archive. So much history is packed within these pages! We are very pleased to announce the digitizing process has finally begun!

It will take some time to scan each issue and extract the text of each article, but we greatly look forward to the day when all of our issues are available online to browse—as full-issue pdfs, and searchable by individual topics in our database—all from a new, userfriendly EcoNews Archive website! It’s a huge undertaking, but we believe it will be a valuable community resource.

Your help in funding this project would be greatly appreciated! Please consider making a special contribution for the EcoNews Archive today!

A selection of vintage EcoNews covers from the NEC archives.

In This Issue

Humboldt Marten ESA Review...........3

Green Wheels......................................10

Amazing Eel Chinook Returns............3

EPIC.....................................................11

Smith Copper Contamination.............4

Sandpiper........................................insert

TRRP Update........................................5

CNPS/NGSC.......................................12

Godwit Days..........................................6

Nuclear Storage...................................13

Kin to the Earth.....................................7

EcoMania.............................................14

GPU Moves to Final Phase..................8

Buzz of Beekeeping ...........................16

CWA 40 Campaign...............................8

Creature Feature.................................17

Humboldt Baykeeper...........................9

Kids’ Page............................................18

Potential ESA listing review moves forward.

Fall 2011 Chinook salmon numbers high.

New report indicates copper levels of concern.

TRRP moves forward despite criticism.

17th annual bird festival, April 19-25.

Nadananda, founder of Friends of the Eel, retires.

Keeping the pressure on the Planning Commission.

Waterkeeper celebrates 40 years of clean water.

Widow White Creek internship.

Arcata is officially a bike-friendly city.

Spotted owl vs. Red Emmerson; California’s wolf.

Audubon’s newsletter.

Meetings and Events.

Tons of nuclear waste, no permanent solutions.

Melange of Salient Sillies.

Upcoming beeking classes and lectures.

Canis lupus, the gray wolf.

The life of a redwood tree.

Bouquets Many thanks to all the volunteers who helped stuff, stamp, and seal envelopes for the winter mailing. We hope your tongues have recovered from all the licking (you know who you are).

Our deep gratitude to the generous souls who donated anonymously, gifted us in their wills, and to each and every supporter who contributes to the NEC. We could not do it without you!

A big bouquet to the old-timers (Rachel, Ansel, John, and so many others) whose work has helped to light the way to a brighter future— towards healthy communities, human and wild.

A heart-felt thank you to Jennifer Kalt for your ongoing service on the Board and for taking on many of the essential but often unnoticed tasks to keep the NEC moving ahead (not to mention your ever-helpful penchant for wonk).

And a round of applause for Dan Ehresman, our new Programs Manager. You have been indispensable these last few months helping to get things organized in the office. Thank you!!

What Would John, Rachel, and Ansel Do?

Dan Sealy and Morgan Corviday

There are those who really stand out in the history of the conservation movement—those that we look to, if only in retrospect, for inspiration and reaffirmation of faith in the notion that one person really can make a difference. What would our world have become without environmental icons like John Muir, Rachel Carson, and Ansel Adams—just to name a few?

Rachel Carson was a consumate scientist, who wrote volumes about her observations of the sea before turning attention to the eerie disappearance of songbirds in her groundbreaking book Silent Spring—which ultimately led to the banning of DDT use in the U.S. Naturalist John Muir explored the majestic Sierras on foot, writing eloquent accounts that urged people to “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings” themselves. Ansel Adams captured the striking contrasts of light and form of mountains, redwoods, and other landscapes in photographs that captured the imagination and inspired people to preserve these special places.

The times, perhaps, are not as simple or straightforward now as they once were. The scale and scope of human influence covered much less of the landscape then. Today, there are a staggering seven billion people putting a strain on our global resources, and very few intact, wild places left on the planet that do not carry the scars of human activity. We face complex and sometimes overwhelming issues and challenges that may not yield observable positive results in our lifetime.

Climate change, for example, is undoubtedly the greatest challenge humans have created, yet protecting the environment is seen by many as a secondary concern during an economic recession and skyrocketing poverty refocuses public priority and discourse to “jobs, jobs, jobs!”

Equally disconcerting is Congress’s persistent chipping away at the hard-fought environmental protections that conservationists achieved in the late 1960’s and 1970’s, such as: the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection Agency entrusted to enforce these laws.

Against this backdrop, how do conservation organizations not only maintain their core of loyal supporters but engage the broader public in prolonged successful conservation struggles?

There is good news: nature still inspires. Nature inspires artists like local photographer Dave Van De Mark, and wildlife artists Brenda Johnson and Robert Bateman, just as it did Adams and others. People are hiking mountains and wilderness without John Muir to guide them. In 2010, there were over 280 million visitors to National Parks and almost 2 million campers. Over 400,000 visits were made to Redwood National & State Parks. Countless authors write engaging books and essays about the joys and challenges of wild nature.

Emma Marris—writer with Nature magazine and author of the new book “Rambunctious Garden”— thinks strategies for conservation have definitely changed over the last few decades. “Engaging the public was easier when we had a shared sense of mission; if we are putting things ‘back they way they used to be.’ “explains Marris, “But now the idea is, we have to come up with common goals” to protect ecosystems that are dynamic—not locked in a time capsule.

Dan Ehresman, NEC’s Programs Manager, adds, “Many places that were once valued for their wild-ness have been tamed by direct and indirect impacts of poor decisions. Environmental activism in the present day must confront the extremely difficult issue of how our human communities can exist in harmony with Nature.”

Arcata City Council member Alex Stillman notes that with environmental laws and regulations in place for over four decades, this generation has “…grown up under an assumption that that the environment is taken care of.” Stillman also reminds us that many important issues were won locally through “word of mouth” while now, with such an abundance of technology, we may forget to rely on those personal connections—encouraging friends to shop local, for example.

When asked about how to keep the public—local or national—engaged in the longer, more complex struggles, Marris recollected a recent realization about measuring your own impact. “I could spend seven hours researching an eco-friendly shopping hand bag, but if I spent the same amount of time engaged in the conservation opportunities of a citywide planning effort my impact would be much greater.” Commercialization of conservation makes it easy to get distracted by consumerism, but the importance of giving your time to local conservation efforts cannot be understated.

NEC boardmember Jennifer Kalt reminisced about the old style co-ops, when people worked a few hours a month for a discount. “As the cost of living (and people’s standards for Things) has increased, people have less time to be involved in civic activities including environmental issues.” This, with cable tv, internet, and the misguided idea that you have to be an “expert” to be involved, means fewer grassroots activists.

Local residents addressing local issues will always be an important means for people to engage in conservation and achieve tangible results. Actions such as altering shopping habits or caring for neighborhood parks, can inspire people to also work to protect the larger ecosystems of the earth.

Online activism also has its place, and in many cases has made a positive impact. In this day and age, with challenges of a global scale such as climate change, what is required is a dual approach—pairing the “do-able” and tangible on a small scale with the larger, more difficult and complex issues that span the globe.

Our area’s legacy of taking effective action to stop destruction continues to nurture future generations of conservationists to continue to work locally, national and internationally to conserve and protect nature’s resources. There is much work yet to be done.

The Northcoast Environmental Center has historically been a hub for such parallel work, and continues to provide a pathway for inspiration through collaboration with our many member groups who help us “climb the mountains” through nature outings and help litigate for environmental change. Healthy Humboldt and Green Wheels, projects of the NEC, help us to consider health and sustainability in our community planning and lifestyle choices. The NEC also serves an important public educational role through EcoNews, the EcoNews Report, the internet and other media.

People who are inspired by nature and walk in it will protect it. We at the NEC continue to be inspired, but as Ehresman notes, “We have a long journey ahead of us before we arrive in a place where our very existence is positively intertwined with the ecological systems of which we are a part”.

We invite you to join us in the journey to get there. Where do you find your inspiration?

What will you do?

ESA Review for Humboldt Marten

Andrew Orahoske and Tierra Curry

The Humboldt Marten—a small forest carnivore that is extremely rare and requires old-growth forests for its survival—might have a fighting chance for survival in the coming years due to a pending review for federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection.

The subspecies was actually considered extinct until researchers rediscovered martens in 1996 on the Six Rivers National Forest. The historic range of the subspecies extended from Sonoma County north into coastal Oregon. Due to extensive logging of old-growth forests in northern California and costal Oregon, as much as 95 percent of the marten’s habitat has been lost. Restoring the marten’s habitat will be very problematic because most of the range is in private timberland that is intensively clearcut.

Without repopulating new areas and developing measures that alleviate threats posed by logging, road building and disturbance, this species is unlikely to recover. Other threats to marten habitat include wildfires, and the loss of genetic diversity due to population isolation and size. Fewer than 100 of these reclusive animals are known to survive today.

In September 2010, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) filed a scientific petition requesting that

the Humboldt Marten be protected under the ESA. In response to the petition, on January 12, 2012, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that the marten should be further analyzed for ESA listing. This positive finding begins a one year process to determine whether protections are warranted. After the wildlife service

American marten, close relative of the elusive Humboldt marten. Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

completes a status review for the marten, the agency will either propose listing or determine that listing is not warranted. Based on the extremely low numbers and lack of suitable habitat, the best available science clearly points to ESA protection.

Saving the marten means protecting the small patches of habitat that remain and aggressively protecting nearby areas so that they will eventually provide martens with suitable habitat over time.

Corridors from existing and future habitat are critical to reestablishing population connectivity. Martens are secretive hunters that only move through dense shrub cover or areas with closed forest canopy, so extensive clearcutting has dramatically fragmented their range, isolating individuals and populations. Probably the biggest obstacle to recovering the Humboldt Marten will be restoring suitable habitat on private timberlands that collectively total to well over one million acres in northern California. In addition, federal and state lands, such as national forests, national parks, state forests and parks, will need to be better managed and protected from exploitation to ensure that martens will have core areas to grow their populations.

Andrew Orahoske is Conservation Director at EPIC. Tierra Curry is a Conservation Biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity.

Another Amazing Fall Eel River Chinook Run was at least 10 feet deep and 20 feet wide, which went on for at least a hundred feet. They were stacked like cordwood and separated when I passed through.”

Although the November 5-7 storm systems mostly went north, the slight rise in the lower Eel River and Van Duzen brought in another major influx of fish.

The timing of the Thanksgiving rain was perfect and hundreds of spawning Chinook salmon were seen in the mainstem downstream of the Potter Valley Project to Dos Rios and in the mainstem Van Duzen River.

Lesser numbers were documented in reaches of the

upper South Fork and Middle Fork Eel upstream to the Black Butte River. ERRP fish watcher and The Van Arsdale Fish Station (VAFS) count of organizer Sal Steinberg arranged for students from Chinook salmon in the fall of 2011 was the highest Cuddeback School in Fortuna to take a field trip to on record going all the way back to 1946. A total of Swimmers Delight on the Van Duzen River. Students 2,436 Chinook salmon reached Van Arsdale Dam, 158 documented widespread Chinook salmon spawning miles up stream of the ocean, topping the previous and conducted a partial carcass survey as part of the record return of 2,315 in 2010. Also good news Save the Redwoods League Junior Scientists program. is the widespread spawning dispersed throughout A dramatic difference in distribution was noticeable the Eel River watershed documented by California from the 2010 fall Chinook run, which had the advantage Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) surveys of extraordinarily high early flows, and low spawning and eyewitness accounts from citizens involved in tributaries in 2011. The run strength in both 2010 in the newly forming Eel River Recovery Project and 2011 is thought to be well over 10,000 Chinook, (ERRP). The ERRP is a grassroots based effort to which would make it equivalent to the last period of assist citizen monitoring of Eel River water quality high returns from 1985 to 1988 or possibly even 1955 and fish runs and to share information on how to to 1958, when the last actual population estimates were protect and restore the river. conducted. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated an Waves of salmon moved upstream with midaverage of 24,000 Chinook salmon spawned annually October rains, and although the vanguard of the in those years. run reached the VAFS on October 16, two weeks The rebound of the Eel River fall Chinook salmon earlier than in 2010, most fish stopped to rest and run in 2010 and 2011 is due to naturally high spring hold in deeper pools. For example, 135 Chinook and early summer flows, good ocean productivity salmon were sighted in the convergence pool where and light fishing pressure. Successive years with the Middle Fork meets the mainstem Eel River at high spring flows seem to have cleaned spawning Dos Rios on October 30. gravels in extensive reaches of the mainstem Eel The latter half of October failed to produce and its large tributary the Middle Fork, which any major storms but fish continued to enter the increases egg survival. Young Chinook salmon also lower Eel River. Fisheries biologist Dennis Halligan, likely survived their downstream migration better who dives there annually to help monitor gravel because cold water temperatures associated with mining effects, observed a school of fish in the 12th high flows suppressed the predatory pikeminnow.

Street pool near the River Lodge larger than any he Improving conditions in the estuary due to natural has seen since he began surveys in 1996. “I observed recovery and restoration are also likely helping Cuddeback School students (left to right) Leland Justesen, Jed Cooper, easily a thousand Chinook and some coho in one Beth Noel measuring a female Chinook salmon carcass in the mainstem increase juvenile Chinook survival.

Continued on page 13 school. I literally swam through a wall of fish that Van Duzen River. Photo: Sal Steinberg.

Patrick Higgins

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February/March 2012 ECONEWS

Smith Copper Contamination a Concern

Greg King copper as low as 2 parts per billion can have a direct High levels of copper found in a stream leading to impact on the sensory systems of juvenile Coho the Smith River estuary may be the result of farming salmon. The amount of copper that Water Quality in the region, which uses a variety of pesticides on the scientists found in Delilah Creek, just above the Smith largest Easter lily crop in the United States.

River estuary, was 13.7 parts per billion. (The estuary In August 2010, at the request of the Siskiyou itself was not tested.)

Land Conservancy (SLC), the North Coast Regional In 2010, Smith River farmers applied more than Water Quality Control Board (“Water Board”) 270,000 pounds of pesticides on approximately 1,000 tested water in two creeks that feed the Smith River acres of Easter lily fields that surround the Smith River estuary. In August 2011, the Water Board released estuary and the town of Smith River. Lily farming its report, revealing copper levels in Delilah Creek remains one of the last viable resource industries in were 28 times higher than that allowed by state law.

Del Norte County, as the Smith River region supplies The findings also “demonstrate evidence of chronic 90 percent of the U.S. production of Easter lily bulbs. reproductive toxicity.”

Bulb farming is labor intensive, requiring maintenance Christopher Pincetich, Ph.D., an expert on the 12 months of the year. effects of pesticides on aquatic organisms, said of the Harry Harms, who co-owns and manages Smith state’s Smith River testing, “The chronic toxicity result is very significant; I saw almost zero reproduction. That test uses Ceriodaphnia dubia, a freshwater invertebrate, the ‘water flea.’ It is very relevant to use as it is the base of the food-web. If Cerio can not reproduce in your watershed, you can technically extrapolate this to say that salmon habitat is likely impaired as their food source (small aquatic invertebrates) is impacted.”

The report was unsettling to SLC. Representatives of state and federal resource agencies, and lily growers, some of whom are avid sport fishermen, also expressed concern.

The source of the copper has not been determined, but it is widely assumed that it leached from the annual use of approximately 30,000 pounds of copper-based fungicides in lily farming. Water Board scientist Stormer Feller took samples from Delilah Creek above and below lily fields. The water above the field showed Pesticide danger sign posted outside a lily field near the Smith River. normal levels of copper, the water below the Photo: Greg King. field was contaminated.

River Farms, Inc, one of the four remaining Easter Copper is harmful to fish. A 2007 study by lily producers in Smith River, said that for the past the National Marine Fisheries Service concluded 55 years lily farmers and the organization they fund that copper “is a neurotoxicant that directly — the Easter Lily Research Foundation — have been damages the sensory capabilities of salmonids at dedicated to finding ways of growing quality Easter low concentrations,” with “potential to limit the lilies commercially. Much of that research has focused productivity and intrinsic growth potential of wild on alternative approaches to maintain quality and salmon populations by reducing the survival and reduce pesticide applications, said Harms. lifetime reproductive success of individual salmonids.”

“As of today, growers are faced with high While Chinook salmon and steelhead populations qualitative expectations from our customers, and on the Smith are relatively stable, Coho salmon much of the work done by the foundation into numbers on the Smith are plummeting. According alternative control measures has proven to provide to a study released in a 2007 issue of the journal some measure of control,” Harms said in an email.

Environmental Science and Technology, levels of “We have worked those programs into an integrated

control program where applicable, but by themselves, they do not constitute an entire program. Even if we achieved the equivalent of an ‘organic’ approach commercially, copper, due to it’s ability to stop genetic mutation of pathogens to control measures, would likely be a cornerstone of that program, as it is for many ‘organic’ producers.”

Not all of the pesticides used along the Smith River contain copper, but several remain potentially harmful to wildlife and humans. In 2010, lily farmers applied 133,619 pounds of the fumigant metam sodium on fields adjacent to the Smith River estuary. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, metam sodium is “active against all living matter in the soil,” and may therefore be used simultaneously as a fungicide, herbicide, insecticide, and nematicide.

The Journal of Pesticide Reform reports that concentrations of less than a hundred parts per billion of MITC, the highly volatile breakdown product of metam sodium, will kill water fleas such as Ceriodaphnia dubia. However, the 2010 Water Quality study did not test for metam sodium or MITC. Lily farmers also used 110,174 pounds of 1,3-Dichloropropene in 2010. Whereas 1,3-D is thought to be less harmful to fish than metam sodium, it may be more toxic to humans. Like metam sodium, 1,3-D is carcinogenic. It has been linked to cancers of the lung, liver, and stomach, and to leukemia.

Lily growers say they remain committed to protecting the Smith’s legendary salmon and steelhead populations, but they remain wary of further regulatory requirements that could impact the viability of their farms.

Siskiyou Land Conservancy is dedicated to protecting farmland and to helping farmers remain economically viable. This year SLC has committed to beginning a collaborative process with Easter lily farmers to determine what, if any, impacts pesticides are having on aquatic and human life in the Smith River area, and to exploring farming and funding options that might allow lily farmers to transition away from harmful pesticides without losing income.

For more on the Smith River visit http://siskiyouland.wordpress.com.

Greg King is the Executive Director of the Siskiyou Land Conservancy.

Robert Berg, D.D.S.

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ECONEWS February/March 2012

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TRRP Moves Forward Despite Criticism

bigfoot rafting

Scott Greacen The Trinity River Restoration Program (TRRP) was originally envisioned, over a decade ago, as a path-breaking new model of river restoration. Where previous restoration efforts focused on engineering and site-specific projects, the TRRP would work to restore the Trinity River itself as an ecosystem, using higher flows to reconstruct a functional river ecosystem and restore fisheries. Today, however, many fishing guides and river advocates are skeptical.

The Trinity River dams, completed in 1965, allowed the diversion of more than 80% of the upper Trinity’s flow to the Central Valley and blocked access to key spawning habitat. Both the water diversion and the loss of habitat hammered Trinity River salmon and steelhead runs vital to the existence of the Hoopa and Yurok peoples. After decades of work by the tribes and local advocates, significant flows were returned to the Trinity River under the 2000 Record of Decision, the guiding document of the TRRP. Twelve years and 36 million dollars later, with about half its scheduled projects completed, longtime observers of the program say the TRRP has failed to implement the 2000 Record of Decision that was supposed to guide its work—that both the program and the management council remain beset by chronic institutional dysfunctions. This leaves the Bureau of Reclamation (BuRec) driving the program, and the agency continues to be challenged by problems identified in 2004 and 2008 reviews. One of the key issues stated by critics is the failure of the program, the Trinity Management Council, BuRec and the Department of Interior to respond effectively to the concerns of the Trinity Adaptive Management Working Group (TAMWG).

The TRRP includes nearly a dozen partner agencies, but the Bureau of Reclamation (BuRec) is

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the source of more than 85% of the project’s recent funding. The Executive Director of the TRRP staff and the Chair of the Trinity Management Council (TMC), the “board of directors� of the TRRP, are both BuRec personnel. The supermajority now required for the TMC to act has been identified as a key roadblock to reform of the TRRP.

Veteran Trinity River advocate Tom Stokely, with the California Water Impact Network (C-WIN) writes that the BuRec refuses to accept that the Trinity River’s ecological needs do in fact have legal priority over the agency’s Central Valley customers, noting that the agency still holds more water rights on the Trinity River than there is water in the river.

Substantively, Stokely and other critics have for years maintained that BuRec TRRP should be funding watershed restoration work and considering habitat for all river-related wildlife, not just focusing on engineering projects on the mainstem Trinity River.

In Spring 2011, things came to a head over fish, fishing, and holes. The TRRP’s injections of gravel into the river are meant to replace lost spawning substrates, but Trinity fishing guides say the additional gravel has filled many important holes that adult fish

relied on, and higher flows haven’t carved new ones.

In late November, they were joined by the C-WIN in requesting a moratorium on new projects until a full review of past projects has been completed. In addition, over the spring and summer, stakeholders requested the Trinity Management Council’s voting procedure be changed to allow reforms. Program managers refused both requests.

Statements by program staff at a recent program meeting, however, indicate that there will be nohigh flow addition of gravel to the Trinity in 2012.

As stated in a Trinity Journal report by Tom Stokely, implementation branch chief DJ Bandrowski said the program staff is attentive to the concerns of river guides, landowners and others. The program’s executive director, Robin Schrock, said that a bathymetric survey looking at riverbed changes needs to be completed before staff can approve more gravel injections. The possibility of a dry water year also played a part in the decision.

Two projects scheduled for early 2012 are going to go ahead with some modifications—the Upper Junction City project and half of the Lower Steiner Flat project. While concerned about some of the features, the Trinity River Guide Association tentatively supports the projects. California Trout’s Darren Mierau said, “in the short term, the program and staff have bent over backwards to address peoples’ concerns about specific projects. In the larger picture, there are still some real concerns and a real need for some structural reforms of the program.�

Still, at least some of the program’s critics remain willing to engage with it. C-WIN’s Tom Stokely has recently been appointed to the TAMWG, where he will continue to advocate for reform of the program and restoration of the whole Trinity River system.

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

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February/March 2012 ECONEWS

What’s New at Godwit Days 2012?

Come see, from April 19 to 25!

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Th

Annual

GODWIT DAYS

SP RING MIGRAT ION BIRD FEST IVAL

artwork © 2011 by Allison Reed

APRIL 19-25, 2012

This year’s may be one of the most interesting Godwit Days yet.

The website, www.godwitdays.org, has been colorfully redesigned, but there are also new events on the schedule.

Godwit Days offers 106 events to choose from: go by foot, boat, bus, car, or bike, or learn in a classroom.

Between events, don’t miss visiting the many vendor booths—see live birds of prey from Humboldt Wildlife Care Center’s education team, bid on silent auction items, buy lunch or a snack from the Godwit Café run by Audubon, and watch wooden bird carving—all at the Arcata Community Center, 321 Community Park Way. Don’t forget to purchase your festival t-shirt featuring 2012 artwork by Allison Reed, or get a hat or tote bag!

Keynote speaker Keith Woodley is coming all the way from New Zealand to share his wealth of knowledge on the Bar-tailed Godwit.

After these birds spend the summer breeding in Alaska, they fly about 7,000 miles over the open Pacific Ocean to New Zealand without stopping. Don’t miss his presentation on Saturday, April 21 at 7:30p.m. at the Arcata Community Center.

A keynote ticket is included in all paid registration packets or can be purchased for $10 by non-registrants.

You also can sign up to bird with Keith early Saturday morning.

Our Friday evening lecture will be presented by Bird Ally X, local aquatic bird experts who assisted the Humboldt Wildlife Care Center in responding to the fish-oiled pelican event last August. An interesting and entertaining slideshow will recount what happened and how the 50 pelicans and other seabirds were captured, washed, cared for, and (most of them) released.

Accompanied by live banjo music, this should not be missed—April 20 at 7:30p.m., immediately following the free Opening Reception.

Field trips are a primary reason people register for Godwit Days.

Keynote Speaker: Keith Woodley Manager of Miranda Shorebird Centre in New Zealand, author of “Godwits: Long Haul Champions”

Arcata Community Center, Arcata, California w w w. g o d w i t d a y s . o r g 800-908-WIN G or 707-826-7050 Printed by Times Printing Company

Athing Wellness Center

Chiropractic, Massage and Acupuncture James Athing, Doctor of Chiropractic 735 12th Street, Arcata

ECONEWS February/March 2012

Soft Tissue Specialist Work, Auto & Sports Injuries

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Many favorites will be back to choose from, including Big Days, Spotted Owl trips, pelagic (ocean-going) trips, and the Shorebird Spectacle at the Arcata Marsh. Take advantage of a unique experience on Friday to bird with two authors of the recently published Common Birds of the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary, David Fix and Leslie Scopes Anderson, The trip fee includes a copy of the book, which identifies the 50 most-reported species at the Marsh.

Have you ever been interested in caring for injured wildlife? Sign up for the Introduction to Wildlife Rehabilitation & Ethics seminar with Bird Ally X on Saturday.

If Dragonflies are more your thing, we’ve got you covered: an introduction to dragonflies workshop will be held on Sunday.

The Blue Lake Dog Walkers Field Trip will incorporate your furry friend with your birding experience on Sunday.

Post-festival out-of-the-area field trips are back! Two mutli-day trips, to Lava Beds/ Northeastern California (Monday/Tuesday) and Central Valley to Bay Area (Wednesday), will be led by Rob Hewitt and Chet Ogan.

Boost your festival species list by visiting several different habitats in just 3 days!

Several events— all free of charge (but preregistration is required)—are just for kids and their families: owl pellet dissection, birding at the Arcata Marsh, and a bird drawing workshop.

All entries in the 9th annual student bird art contest, sponsored by Friends of the Arcata Marsh and Redwood Region Audubon Society, will be displayed in the lobby and hallways of the Community Center—with awards given out Saturday morning. Drop in to FOAM’s family nature crafts on Saturday between 12:30 and 3:30 p.m.

For details on all the events and how to register, visit www. godwitdays.org or call (707) 826-7050.

Register now, as the most-popular events fill up early!

Save the Dolphin Save Yourself

More information at

Blue Dolphin Alliance

www.bluedolphin.org 888-694-2537

6

Kin to the Earth NADANANDA

Founder of Friends of the Eel River Retires Scott Greacen After nearly two decades of leading the fight to restore the Eel River’s natural flows, Nadananda has retired as Executive Director of Friends of the Eel River. Nadananda was one of the founders of the organization in 1995, as it grew out of a study group organized around a desk and phone in the Garberville office of the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), and concerns over the health of California’s third-largest watershed.

In the years since, Nadananda and the Friends of the Eel River have advocated tirelessly for increases in the flows released from the two dams on the upper mainstem Eel. The Scott and Cape Horn Dams, together with a mile-long diversion tunnel into the upper Russian River, make up the key components of the Potter Valley Project. Owned by the huge utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as a hydropower project, the Potter Valley Project is nonetheless operated largely as a source of low-cost irrigation water for lucrative Russian River basin agriculture, particularly the wine grape industry.

Under Nadananda’s leadership, Friends of the Eel River has seen increased flows returned to the Eel River under a series of partial victories in actions before FERC, the California State Water Resources Control Board, and other venues. Dramatically increased chinook returns to the Eel have helped fuel hopes that with increased flows and steady recovery from the heavy impacts of the twentieth century, the river that was once California’s second-greatest producer of salmon and steelhead can and will recover to a state of real abundance.

“When I started advocating for the recovery of the Eel River in 1994 I never imagined we would have progressed so far, and yet there is still much work to

Save the Dolphin Save Yourself

be done,” said Nadananda, founder of Friends of the Eel River. “I first spent time by the Eel River in the early 1990s, and at the time California Department of Fish and Game officials declared the river dead. I did not accept that assessment then, and I don’t accept it now. The progress we have made over the past 17 years is proof that with more water, the river and its fisheries can and will recover.”

Undaunted, and encouraged by these gains, Nadananda has remained steady in her vision of an Eel River freed of its dams and the diversion to the Russian. She has also found the energy to lead a long struggle with the North Coast Rail Authority (NCRA) and its operator, the Northwest Pacific Railroad Company (NWP Co.), over the future of the long-defunct rail line that follows the Eel River’s flow from Outlet Creek at Longvale in Mendocino County, through the famously unstable Eel River Canyon all the way to Fernbridge before it turns north to Humboldt Bay and its terminus on the Samoa Peninsula.

Two of Nadananda’s lifelong passions, art and spiritual work, came together in her work for the Eel River, particularly in the magazine she founded and edited, the Eel River Reporter, and in her work with the traditional dancers and spiritual leaders of the many Native American people who are maintaining and reviving traditional cultural relationships with the river and the fish and wildlife it supports.

Nadananda was for many years known as Patricia Hamilton, taking the single name as part of her long spiritual work with the yogi and doctor Ramamurti S. Mishra, M.D. She has led a storied and fascinating life, from her early childhood in Mexico, to her time as a young mother of two boys in post-colonial Tanzania in the 1960s, where her then-husband was serving in the Peace Corps, to decades of work with theater companies, artists’ cooperatives, and food collectives on the North Coast. Today, she is grandmother to seven and great-grandmother to one.

Scott Greacen, who joined Friends of the Eel in the spring of 2011, will take up the reins as Executive Director for Friends of the Eel River. “It is my great honor to accept the baton from Nadananda and continue advocating for the full recovery of the Eel River,” said Mr. Greacen.

More information at

Blue Dolphin Alliance

www.bluedolphin.org 888-694-2537

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February/March 2012 ECONEWS

General Plan Update Moves Into Final Phase Dan Ehresman

On Thursday, January 26, the Humboldt County Planning Commission nearly completed its review of the draft policy alternatives for the General Plan Update (GPU). After more than two years of deliberations at the Planning Commission, Humboldt County’s GPU is one step closer towards completion despite the many attempts by property rights proponents to stop it.

With a final meeting planned to wrap up loose ends on the land-use mapping section on February 9, the Planning Commission intends to unveil the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the GPU at a workshop on February 16. As we move into this next critical stage of the Update process, it would be wise to take stock of the substantial progress our community has made towards laying out a long-term blueprint for sustainable development in Humboldt County, as well as determining where there could be improvement.

Since the first of the GPU meetings over 12 years ago, hundreds of community members have spoken out in favor of safe, livable communities, sustainable farms and forests, and healthy watersheds that our economy and our general welfare rely on.

In response to this input, the Planning Commission, as a whole, has recommended changes to the existing General Plan that are necessary to bring the County into compliance with state law and encourage

well-designed communities. They developed what could become the first Telecommunications Element in California, setting the course for rural schools and communities to have better access to the internet.

They have put forward recommendations to protect farms, ranches, and timberlands, along with rural livelihoods that depend on them. They have voted in support of policies that promote safer roads, trails, and bike lanes while specifically advocating for safer routes to schools.

Most recently, the Commission completed their review of the Governance Section—incorporating positive input from various community members, including the League of Women Voters and the ad hoc Public Participation Working Group, in hopes of improving public involvement in the realm of landuse decision-making.

In their review of one of the most important chapters in the entire Plan, the Water Resources Element, the Commission unanimously put forward a suite of recommendations that, if approved by the Board of Supervisors, will aid in the restoration and protection of rivers, salmon, and sustainable water supplies in rural areas. All of these advances are at risk if the recommendations are not adopted by the Board.

Throughout the Update process, special interest groups such as Humboldt Association of Realtors (HAR) and Humboldt Coalition for Property Rights (HumCPR) have worked to undermine important

Celebrating 40 Years of Clean Water and Healthy Communities

Pete Nichols Nearly 40 years ago, Congress signed into law a historic piece of legislation that would turn the tide of our polluted waterways and hold big polluters accountable for their actions and attacks on the health of our communities—the Clean Water Act (CWA). This bold legislation returned control of our nation’s waterways to the citizens of the United States as part of the public trust. However, today the concept of the public trust, the commons, is being quickly eroded by corporate polluters and their cronies in Congress who are determined to return to the era of using out nation’s waterways as open sewers, toxic dumps and landfills.

Despite the fact that CWA has been responsible for providing millions of Americans with opportunities to swim, drink and fish in clean water, every branch of our federal government—the legislative, executive and judicial—has taken aim at the Act. The courts have worked to narrow the definition of “waters of the United States,” and Congress has made efforts to continually chip away at the Act. Now, as we celebrate 40 years of clean water protections, our Congress is launching the most aggressive, nefarious attacks on our right to clean water in history. If their efforts succeed, they will cripple contemporary American democracy and undermine the most extraordinary body of environmental law in the world. We, as the voices of clean water, cannot allow that to happen.

ECONEWS February/March 2012

Seeking to strip the federal government’s authority to regulate water quality standards, and weaken U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s power to enforce the law when states fail to protect waterways, will start a race to the bottom as shortsighted and selfinterested state politicians dismantle their clean water laws as payback to their supporters, including the nation’s worst polluters. These anti-environment bills, amendments and budget riders propose to gut the CWA and jeopardize the environmental health of our waterways and the lifeblood of our communities across the country, all without public debate.

In 2012 and beyond, Waterkeeper Alliance, River Network and our partners will work to remind Americans, and the world, that we have indeed come a long way, but there is still a long way to go to protect all of our waterways and attain Congress’ 1972 goal to have eliminated all discharges of pollutants into navigable waters by 1985, a goal that clearly has not been achieved.

Campaign Goals On the 39th Anniversary of the CWA, the Waterkeeper Alliance officially launched its Clean Water Act (CWA) 40 Campaign. The goal of CWA 40 is to bolster the imperiled Act through implementing a strategic series of coordinated efforts to celebrate, activate and advocate around the central tenets of the Act: swimmable, drinkable, fishable waters for all.

Continued on page 16

www.yournec.org

protections for forests, watersheds, and wildlife.

At the January 19 hearing that trend continued, with numerous representatives from HAR and HumCPR lobbying strongly for increasing the development of Humboldt’s resource lands. The intent behind this seems clear. As Will Rogers so aptly pointed out, “Buy land. They ain’t making any more of the stuff.” Given the world’s burgeoning population, such a recommendation could make a lot of sense— especially for certain interest groups.

Unfortunately, such a perspective fails to consider how much of our landscape is already impacted by poor land management practices, including ill-conceived residential development and road construction. Increasing residential development on resource lands without first addressing the existing problems is a recipe for further mismanagement.

As we move into the final round of the public workshops in the Update process, it is crucial that the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors hear from you. The pressure is on from those with a principally economic bottom line, and many of the important decisions could go either way at the Board of Supervisors. Hopefully, the approved General Plan will move this region in the direction of ecological balance rather than bending to the will of private interests. To sign up for action alerts, visit www. healthyhumboldt.org.

Dan Ehresman is Healthy Humboldt’s Policy Analyst.

Missaiya’s

New World Water “Community not Corporations”

NEW WORLD WATER

778 18th Street, Arcata

707-822-7066

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8

Widow White Creek Internship Finishes its 3rd Year

Jennifer Kalt In 2009, Humboldt Baykeeper initiated an internship program in conjunction with Dr. Alison Purcell O’Dowd, Assistant Professor and Environmental Science Program Coordinator at Humboldt State University.

Interns are students enrolled in Applied Ecological Restoration (ENVS 450) who study riparian and instream conditions in Widow White Creek, a tributary of the Lower Mad River in McKinleyville. Humboldt Baykeeper provides sampling equipment and guidance, along with watershed scientists and restorationists at Pacific Watershed Associates, Redwood Community Action Agency, and Humboldt Widow White Creek confluence at mouth of Mad River. Photo: Jen Kalt.

Fish Action Council.

Why Widow White Creek?

Most of the Widow White Creek watershed lies within the unincorporated community of McKinleyville. The watershed has lost 33% of its timber and meadow areas compared to historic conditions. The creek is known to have supported coho salmon, steelhead trout, and cutthroat trout, and thus is an important target for restoration.

Widow White Creek has been impacted by urbanization in the lower watershed, and by logging and low-density residential development in the upper watershed. By 2001, 25% of the watershed was classified as “dense urban” in an assessment by Randy Klein and Jeff Anderson In their analysis of the effects of urbanization on flood frequency estimates for lower Widow White Creek, they found that the 2-year flood flow has increased 229% over pre-development conditions.

As McKinleyville’s agricultural lands and forests were converted to residential developments, less surface area was available for infiltration, and as a result, more runoff from pavement and rooftops caused higher peak flows during storm events. This increase in stormwater runoff resulted in erosion, bank destabilization, and sedimentation in lower Widow White Creek as the channel expanded to accommodate the increased flow, damaging riparian and aquatic habitat conditions.

Stream bank erosion degrades rearing and spawning habitat for salmonids and other aquatic species. Spawning habitat is negatively impacted as spaces within gravels are filled with fine sediment from eroding banks, depriving incubating eggs of oxygenated water while making it physically impossible for emerging fry to swim out of the gravel and into the water column.

In addition to these concerns, Humboldt Baykeeper’s Citizen “First Flush” monitoring over

9

several years found extremely high levels of fecal coliform in the creek, particularly at monitoring sites near residential and commercial areas. The sources of coliform bacteria in the creek are currently unknown.

Three study sites were selected along Widow White Creek. Site 1 is in the lower reach, where Redwood Community Action Agency has completed a variety of restoration projects, including a 2008 bank stabilization project to reduce erosion and restore fish habitat. Site 2 is between the Widow White Creek RV Park and a gas station on Murray Road near Highway 101. Site 3 is south of McKinleyville High School, between the school athletic field and a residential neighborhood. These sites were chosen to represent different habitat conditions and land use, as well as accessibility.

Instream conditions were assessed by measuring turbidity, pebble counts, embeddedness, and benthic macroinvertebrates, such as mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, and other critters indicative of water quality. The riparian conditions evaluated were bank stability and canopy cover.

In general, the students found that the middle reaches where the creek flows through residential and commercial areas were more impacted than the lower reach, where restoration work has stabilized the streambanks and restored the riparian area. The two study sites in the middle reaches have narrower riparian areas, more erosion, and are in close proximity to a high density of impervious surfaces.

With three years of data, it is increasingly clear that the restoration activities undertaken by Redwood Community Action Agency in the lower reach of the creek have had a positive effect on instream conditions, pointing to the need for such restoration work further upstream, where aquatic habitat conditions are poor.

For more info on the Widow White Creek Internship Program, visit our website at http://humboldtbaykeeper.org.

Thanks to Dr. O’Dowd and the 2009-2011 interns, Tucker Hoog, Jaclyn Inkster, Neill O’Brien, Ryan Kalinowski, Sarah Yancey, Rachael Iverson, Amy Teeters, and Justin Villapando, for their work, and to all the local watershed scientists and restorationists whose expertise has help guide these research projects.

Jennifer Kalt is Policy Analyst for Humboldt Baykeeper.

Humboldt Baykeeper’s mission is to safeguard our coastal resources for the health, enjoyment and economic strength of the Humboldt Bay community through education, scientific research, and enforcement of laws to fight pollution.

For more info, visit our website at www.humboldtbaykeeper.org, or call us at 268-8897.

A Day Without (Disposable) Bags!

On December 15, 2011 Humboldt Baykeeper and Humboldt Surfrider celebrated A Day Without a (disposable) Bag by creating reusable grocery bags and circulating a petition in support of a County-wide ban on single-use plastic bags.

Twenty ocean-loving volunteers donated their time and talents to transform old t-shirts into handy cloth bags with a custom silk-screen “Ban the Bag, Humboldt” logo.

A special thank you to Rays Arcata, Rays Mckinleyville, Eureka Natural Foods and Wildberries Market Place for hosting the event. In support of A Day Without a (disposable) Bag, Wildberries Market Place is now plastic free at the check out counter!

www.yournec.org

Volunteers help make silkscreened reuseable bags.

February/March 2012 ECONEWS

S

The

andpiper

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012

Redwood Region Audubon Society www.rras.org FIELD TRIPS Every Saturday: Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary. Our famous rain-or-shine, docent-led field trips take place at the marsh; bring your binocular(s) and have a great morning birding! Meet in the parking lot at the south end of I Street in Arcata at 8:30 a.m.

Saturday, February 11: eBird Site Survey—Shay Park. This monthly trip sounds more formal than it really is! Join Rob Fowler (707-839-3493; migratoriusfwlr@ gmail.com) as we survey the extent of Shay Park in Arcata for 1 to 3 hours and count every species present.

For more info, visit this link at ebird.org: http://ebird. org/content/ebird/about/eBird_Site_Survey. Meet at 8:00 a.m. at Shay Park parking lot, eastern end of Foster Avenue.

Sunday, February 12: Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. This is a leisurely 2- to 3-hour trip for those wanting to learn the birds of the Humboldt Bay area. Meet at 9:00 a.m. at the Refuge Visitor Center off Hookton Road exit. Call Jude Power (707-822-3613) for more info.

Sunday, February 19: Southern Humboldt Community Park. Jay Sooter (707-444-8001) and/ or John Gaffin will lead this monthly walk. All ages/ experience levels are encouraged to participate in this easy, 2- to 3-hour walk. No dogs, please; steady rain cancels. Meet at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot on Kimtu Road in Garberville.

Sunday, March 4: Eureka (aka PALCO) Marsh. Join Jude Power (707-822-3613) and Pat Bitton for some great birding in downtown Eureka. Spend 1 to 2 hours on a flat loop through a variety of habitats, from bay and mudflat to riparian and marshland. Meet at 8:30 a.m. in the parking lot at the foot of West Del Norte Street.

Sunday, March 11: Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. See February 12.

Sunday, March 18: Southern Humboldt Community Park. See February 19.

Saturday, March 17: eBird Site Survey—Shay Park.

See February 11.

Annual Banquet On Saturday, February 18, Redwood Region Audubon Society is holding its Annual Banquet & Auction at the Six Rivers Masonic Lodge in Arcata.

Dr. Matt Johnson, the featured speaker, will talk on:

March Program

Dr. Johnson, a professor in the Humboldt State University wildlife department, specializes in ecology and conservation of migratory songbirds, tropical wildlife, and wildlife-habitat relationships and selection.

“Birds for Hire! How Birds Provide Ecosystem Services.”

The banquet will feature a buffet dinner, silent auction, and award presentations.

A no-host social hour starting at 5:30 p.m. will be followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m. and the speaker at 7:30 p.m.

Purchase Banquet Tickets by February 11

Tickets must be purchased in advance, with checks received at the RRAS post office box no later than February 11. Tickets are on a sliding scale from $35 to $50. You must purchase a banquet ticket to attend the lecture. Checks should be made payable to RRAS, with “Banquet” in the notation line, and mailed to PO Box 1054, Eureka 95502. Printed tickets will not be mailed; names will be placed on a check-in list.

The Masonic Lodge is located at 251 Bayside Road in Arcata. If you have questions, call Chet Ogan at (707) 442-9353.

last ferocious BEAST of the forest Poet and novelist Jeffrey Greene will share the fascination he has developed with the golden-bristled wild boar after he purchased a home in Burgundy, France and was presented with a side of the animal by a neighbor. He will take us on an international journey in which he met hunters, chefs (who shared their recipes), museum curators, scientists, and European countryfolk who for generations have shared their forests with these creatures. His talk and visual presentation on the wild boar includes tales about the feral hog of the West Coast. Besides The Golden-Bristled Boar, Professor Greene has penned the nature book Water from Stone and several collections of poetry.

This program will be held

Friday, March 9

starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Humboldt County Office of Education at Myrtle and West Avenues in Eureka.

Please come fragrance free.

CHAPTER LEADERS OFFICERS President— Jim Clark …...........................… 445-8311 Vice President — Chet Ogan …................… 442-9353 Secretary—Adam Brown.....abrown@epicislands.org Treasurer—Susan Calla..................................465-6191 DIRECTORS AT LARGE Jan Andersen...................................................616-3888 Rob Fowler ………………..............……….. 839-3493 Lew & Judie Norton.......................................445-1791 Syn-dee Noel …...............................................442-8862 Chet Ogan ………………..............………… 442-9353 C.J. Ralph .......................................................822-2015 Josée Rousseau................................................839-5763 OTHER CHAPTER LEADERS Conservation — Chet Ogan ...........................442-9353 Education — Syn-dee Noel …........................442-8862 eBird Liaison — Rob Fowler …………..….. 839-3493 Field Notes — Daryl Coldren..................916-384-8089 Field Trips— Rob Fowler ………......…..….. 839-3493 Historian — John Hewston ............................822-5288 Membership — Lew & Judie Norton.............445-1791 NEC Representative — C.J. Ralph.................822-2015 Nominating – Vacant Programs — C.J. Ralph...................................822-2015 Publications --- Vacant Publicity — Sue Leskiw....................................442-5444 Sandpiper (editorial) — Tom & Sue Leskiw......442-5444 —Jan Andersen ………616-3888 Sandpiper (layout) — Gary Bloomfield..........822-0210 Volunteer Coordinator — Josée Rousseau.....839-5763 Website Gatekeeper — Sue Leskiw ...............442-5444 Lake Earl Branch — Sue Calla.......................465-6191 RRAS Web Page......................................www.rras.org Arcata Bird Alert .....................822-LOON (822-5666) The Sandpiper is published six times each year by Redwood Region Audubon Society P.O. Box 1054, Eureka, CA 95502.

New Members

Redwood Region Audubon Society welcomes the following new members and subscribers: Arcata – John Barstow, Paul Carothers, Sandy Harper, Alicia Krueger, Elisabeth Petterson Blocksburg – L. Sherby Crescent City – Annamarie Padilla, April Quigley Eureka – Ken Clague, Pamela Coen, Harriet Hill, Barbara Howe, Lorien Kelly, Rhonda Lee, Jan Ramsey, Bill Shaw, Bear Winkle Fortuna – Leslie R. Fergusen, Elissa Mulholland Garberville – M.S. Klein Gasquet – Camille Garcia Hoopa – Barbara McNeil Hydesville – Eric T. Nelson Los Angeles – Barbara Rapoport McKinleyville – Patty Diaz, Margo Moorhouse Miranda – Harry Vaughn Myers Flat – J. Fenske Redway – Nelly Millard Scotia – Sadie Ekenberg Smith River – Teresa Burris Trinidad – Richard Eisner Whitethorn – Estrella Quiroga We look forward to seeing you on field trips and at our monthly programs.

President’s Column: Audubon Citizen Science: More Than Ornithology

By Jim Clark At a recent open house to discuss the Parcel 4 feasibility science and the real science within liberal arts. This goes study, some who provided input to the study seemed beyond planning and design to dealing with many levels unaware of easement restrictions and wanted to of government, other nonprofits, and the general public. accommodate a wide range of activities for diverse Our chapter is rarely without some kind of groups. Chet Ogan and I voiced concerns about wildlife project to promote or implement bird conservation. One disturbance and user conflicts that some activities would project that is never ceasing is the chapter itself. While pose (see Conservation Committee report and article helping with chapter administration may not add to your below). Because both informed citizens and professionals life list or save habitat directly, it could add to our capacity in their fields were commenting, discussion and conflict to do more to save bird habitat. Who knows? Your lifer resolution will be required at a professional level but also might show up in that saved habitat. relate to and invite broad public participation.

If you have a skill, professional experience, A team of practical professionals is needed to or specific interest in just about any discipline, you carry research results forward from ornithology and could provide a valuable service to help run our chapter wildlife science to implementation of projects that or implement a bird conservation project. If you are contribute to bird conservation and human quality of interested, contact any board member. life. In other words, we need to recognize the art within

Student Nature Writing Contest Deadline March 19

For the 7th year, RRAS is sponsoring a student nature writing contest. Up to 3 cash prizes will be awarded for the best essay(s) or poem(s) by a Humboldt or Del Norte county student in grades 4-12 on the topic, “What nature means to me.” Winning entries will appear on the RRAS website, and awards will be presented at Godwit Days in April. Visit www.rras.org to view a flyer with complete submission rules.

RRAS Supports County Science Fair For the 10th year, RRAS is underwriting an award for the best project related to birds or their habitat at the Humboldt County Science Fair. A prize of $50 will be given at the event, to be held at Humboldt State University the week of March 12.

March 23 Deadline for Student Bird Art Contest Entries

For the 9th consecutive year, RRAS and Friends of the Arcata Marsh are cosponsoring a Student Bird Art Contest. Over $500 will be awarded to Humboldt County K-12 students. All entries will be displayed at the Arcata Community Center during Godwit Days in April. Visit www.rras.org to view a flyer with complete submission rules.

Parcel 4 Feasibility Study Released

The City of Eureka and Redwood Community Action Agency held an open house on 1/12 to discuss the 107-page feasibility study (posted at http://naturalresourcesservices. org/assets/files/Documents/EurekaParcel4/EurekaP4_ CompleteDraftDoc_Final_web.pdf). The study looked at opportunities to restore and enhance natural features for wildlife and to attract people to view wildlife. Some of the suggestions would conflict with the conditions of our easement that limit development to enhancement for wildlife and public viewing of wildlife. The feasibility study is the first step in developing and refining the actual development plan. Before funding can be made available, a brownfields assessment and possible mitigation and rezoning needs to occur.

Find an injured or abandoned bird or wild animal?

Call the

Humboldt Wildlife Care Center

at 707-822-8839

www.humwild.org Thinking of Joining the National Audubon Society?

If so, please use the coupon below. By sending in your membership on this form, rather than replying to solicitations from National Audubon, $20 is sent directly to RRAS. This is how NAS rewards local chapters for recruiting national members. (Otherwise, the RRAS dues share per new member is only a couple of dollars.) Thank you.

Chapter Membership Application

Yes, I’d like to join.

Please enroll me as a member of the National Audubon Society and of my local chapter. Please send AUDUBON magazine and my membership card to the address below.

My check for $20 is enclosed. (Introductory offer)

NAME_______________________________ ADDRESS___________________________ CITY ______________________________ STATE____________ZIP______________ email ______________________________ Local Chapter Code: C2ZC240Z Please make checks to the National Audubon Society.

Send this application and your check to:

National Audubon Society P.O. Box 422250 Palm Coast, FL 32142-2250

--------------LOCAL CHAPTER-------------

REDWOOD REGION AUDUBON SOCIETY P.O. BOX 1054 EUREKA, CA 95502

The Case of the Missing Peanut

It was a dark and stormy night. The Humboldt winter rain, buffeted by gale-force winds, pelted sideways, and the tarp covering our canoe had slipped its moorings, flailing and rustling like a spastic specter. Sue and I were hunkered down, watching “The Maltese Falcon,” a cinema classic with Humphrey Bogart playing the part of detective Sam Spade.

I tried to concentrate on the story line involving a femme fatale but, instead, found myself perusing my Humboldt County checklist. One by one, I wryly greeted the holes in the list—my “wish-to-see” species. Little Gull, Scarlet Tanager, Pygmy Nuthatch. “Ah… PYNU, my sweet Peanut. Why hast thou forsaken me?” Pygmy Nuthatch’s absence in Humboldt was frustrating beyond measure.

Although I already knew the grim stats by heart, I pulled out “the Bible”—Doc Harris’s The Birds of Northwestern California. Peanut had occurred but twice in Humboldt: on August 1987 at King Salmon and on September 1977 near Orleans. Both records were of a single individual. “Just two birds and no seasonal pattern,” I ruminated. Suddenly my head felt heavy, and I settled back into deep recline in my chair. Dilladidit, Dilladidit: Wayne and Gar do the wavy hand thing, indicating that a dream sequence follows.

There was a knock at the door. “Who’s there?”

I inquired. “Excuse me,” responded a female voice. “My name’s Alex Wilson. I… I need to speak to you about a missing… well, … could we talk now?” “Certainly.”

I got up and opened the door. “Are you Micky Lohm, the detective?” she inquired. “Yes. Please, take a seat.

Now, what’s your problem?” It’s about a missing… well, technically it’s not really a missing b-b-…” “Boyfriend?”

I offered. “No, that’s just it. I came to you because, as a birder, I think you can… Well, feel my pain, so to speak.”

“Precisely what would that pain be?” Alex pulled a bottle of the latest trendy water from her handbag, took a sip, and continued. “Here’s my problem. I’m an avid

birder, a hard-core lister. I’ve seen Pygmy Nuthatch in every county north of Butte in northern California except for Humboldt. I’d like you to help me find one here.”

In my line of work, people come to me to help them relocate all kind of things: errant spouses and dogs, stolen jewelry. I’d found plenty of birds in my time—lost and otherwise—but this was the first time someone was offering to pay me. Alex cut short my reverie. “I know what you’re thinking. Money’s no object. Grandfather’s taken good care of us all.”

“So you want me to locate a Pygmy Nuthatch within the borders of Humboldt County and get you onto it? Is that right?” “Yes, that’s the deal. I took the liberty of setting up a bank account for our project. Simply keep track of your hours and withdraw money at whatever intervals you deem appropriate.” For the first time, Alex smiled. “You see, I’ve done some sleuthing of my own.

Everyone I’ve talked to says your enthusiasm for birds is matched only by your honesty.” “OK, I’ll take the case, but I must warn you: it’s a total long shot.” “I know,” she sighed. “That’s why I’ve come to you.”

Talk about mixing business with pleasure! I too, had been seeking Peanut in Humboldt, compiling information on likely spots—stands of pine trees—where they might be seen. I reviewed my notes: sugar pines on Packsaddle Ridge east of Hoopa, the Gasquet-Orleans Road out of Orleans, and road 3N06, just west of Blake Mountain. Plantations of forester-induced Frankensteinian Monterey pine x knobcone pine hybrids on FS Rt. 6, aka the Salyer-Mad River Road. And knobcone pines atop Chemise Mountain in the King Range. The latter site held the most promise, as it was a mere 30 miles north of PYNU’s known nesting habitat in Mendocino County.

I loaded up some grub and camping supplies and, one-by-one, visited these spots… and more. Nothing.

Zippo. Defeat left a bitter taste in my mouth, one I didn’t care for in the slightest. Out of desperation, I called the Arcata Bird Box. I fast-forwarded through some chaff

Conservation News

By Chet Ogan, Chair In December the RRAS Conservation Committee Mar 2010 EcoNews; Aug/Sep 2010 Sandpiper). After submitted comments on the DEIR/DEIS on Klamath slightly changing some MLPA-managed area boundaries, Facilities (dam) Removal (see Oct/Nov 2011 Sandpiper). Cal Fish & Game accepted the plan. It was a difficult We did not support coupling dam removal with compromise among fishermen, tribes, and conservation acceptance of KBRA and KHSA. KBRA and KHSA were organizations, coupled with a scientific advisory panel, not conducted under CEQA or NEPA guidelines: public to agree on protected areas. A DEIR/DEIS is expected input was not used to formulate these agreements. The within 2 months. agreements, coupled with dam removal, did not provide Jim Clark and I attended a Parcel 4 feasibility adequate clean water in wildlife refuges in low-water meeting on 1/12. RCAA presented results of its consulting years. Future benefits of dam removal should improve with City of Eureka about implementing the RRAS open the economy of communities along the river and coastal space easement on this property behind Bayshore Mall. cities from Ft Bragg to Brookings.

RRAS has emphasized that the area should be used as a Jennifer Savage of Ocean Conservancy wildlife sanctuary rather than recreation. RCAA scoping updated us on 1/19 about the MLPA initiative (see Feb/ sessions had elicited ideas such as dog walking trails, disc golf courses, jogging trails, climbing walls, personal watercraft launches, and playgrounds. We would like Great Backyard Bird Count Feb 17-20 to see the coastal trail pass through the east side of this Spend as little as 15 minutes as a citizen-scientist to help parcel, with interpretive signs and wildlife viewing create a population snapshot for more than 600 bird species. platforms.

This 15th annual event—hosted by Audubon, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Bird Studies Canada—is perfect CEQA = California Environmental Quality Act, DEIR for beginning birders who don’t want to spend hours in = Draft Environmental Impact Report, DEIS = Draft the field on a Christmas count. The event is free, and no Environmental Impact Statement, KBRA = Klamath Basin registration is required. Simply watch and count birds for Restoration Agreement, KHSA = Klamath Hydrologic Settlement Agreement, MLPA = Marine Life Protective at least 15 minutes on any day of the 4-day period, then Act, NEPA = National Environmental Policy Act, RCAA = enter your results at www.birdcount.org.

Redwood Community Action Agency.

before pausing at “This is Alan Barron. I’ve just had 3 Pygmy Nuthatches near the end of the G-O Road on the Del Norte County side.” Slackjawed, I reached for my DeLorme atlas. The birds were about 6 miles from Humboldt airspace, but it was still a red-hot lead. So I blasted my way toward Orleans, headed up the sinuous G-O Road, stopped, and listened. Nothing. I broadcast Peanut calls from my boom box. Still nothing. That night, I camped alongside the road, to no avail.

When I got back to Arcata, I called Alex. “Still nothing, but I’m workin’ on it. Say, I’m leading a field trip this Saturday to the Lost Coast Headlands near Centerville south of Centerville Beach. There’s some Monterey pines at the old naval station. Of course, I’d be amazed if our target bird was there, but I think the break from molargrinding listing would do both of us some good.” “Sure, count me in,” replied Alex.

Early Saturday morning, lightning—in the form of disembodied Peanut calls—struck. We tracked the wispy calls around and around, until, finally… Alex and I had two Pygmy Nuthatches in view at once. I couldn’t believe it. The case of the missing Peanut: Solved.

Writer’s Note: on 9/16/01, I led an RRAS field trip to the Lost Coast Headlands. Jan Andersen—the lone participant—and I heard a scant 4 call notes of what we independently identified as PYNU. We never saw the bird(s). Because it would have been my 400th Humboldt species, more convincing evidence was needed. I returned the next day. No luck. On the 18th,, I returned with John Hunter, where, not far from the initial audio detection, we spotted 3 PYNU. Doc Harris soon arrived for his county tick. Finding my 400th Humboldt species with John, and then sharing with Doc, was sweet—even sweeter than if Alex had paid me for my time.

Tom Leskiw March 2, 2011

Tip # 6

Species Entry Easy with the “Jump to Species” Feature

By Rob Fowler I’ve been eBirding since 2005 and had not used the “jump to species” search engine on the top right corner of the checklist entry page until recently.

Ken Burton told me he used the 4-letter alpha codes for species to enter a checklist, and it worked well. I found it much easier and faster to enter my lists!

Next time you enter an eBird list, try this feature, which works for full species names, 6-letter codes, and 4-letter alpha codes. If, like me, you keep your lists in a notebook and note

species as you see them, this feature makes it much quicker to enter your lists! Try it out and…..go eBirding!

The Sandpiper eBird tip is a column that hopes to inspire increased eBird use in northwestern California. If you have suggestions for an eBird tip or other eBird-related questions contact RRAS eBird liaison Rob Fowler at migratoriusfwlr@ gmail.com. Rob reviews eBird records for Humboldt, Trinity, and Siskiyou counties and openly admits to his eBird addiction.

Field Notes

By Daryl Coldren

S U M M A RY O F N O R T H W E S T E R N C A L I F O R N I A B I R D R E P O R T S

November 12, 2011 to January 17, 2012 Field Notes is a compilation of bird sighting reports for Del Norte, Humboldt, northern Mendocino, Trinity, and western Siskiyou counties. Sources include the RRAS bird alert (707822-LOON), the online northwestern California birding and information exchange (nwcalbird@yahoogroups.com), the Mendocino County birders’ listserv (mendobirds@yahoogroups. com), eBird (http://ebird.org/content/klamathsiskiyou), and reports submitted directly to the compiler. Reports may be submitted to any of the sources mentioned above or to Daryl Coldren: (916) 384-8089; QuiAvisPetit@aol.com.

HBBO = Humboldt Bay Bird Observatory; HBNWR = Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge; HO = holdover from previous period; MOb = many observers; NC = not confirmed/ documented; Oxi = Oxidation Snow Goose: 1, Arcata, 12 Nov-8 Dec (TK, JO, MOb); 1, Crescent City Harbor, 5 Dec- 6 Jan (AB); 1-3, Humboldt Hill, 10-15 Dec (DC, LT, MOb); 1-6, HBNWR, 27 Dec- 2 Jan (MOb) • Ross’s Goose: 1, Arcata, 12 Nov (TK, JO); 1, Crescent City Harbor, 5 Dec-6 Jan (AB) 2, Arcata Marsh, 8 Jan (RF, MOb); • Eurasian Wigeon: 25, S. Humboldt Bay, 25 Dec (MW, DC) • Tufted Duck: 1, Klamath River Estuary, 7 Dec (KS) • COMMON EIDER (2nd state record!): 1, Crescent City Harbor, 20-29 Nov (AB, MOb) • Harlequin Duck: 2, King Salmon, 3 Dec (MW) • Long-tailed Duck: 1, Mad River, 16 Nov (KI); 2, King Salmon, 3 Dec (MW) • Barrow’s Goldeneye: 3, Smith River, 27 Nov-6 Jan (AB, MOb) • Smew (NC): 1, Smith River, 18 Nov (MR) • Cattle Egret: 1, Smith River, 4 Dec (JO); 1, Smith River, 4 Jan (AB) • Northern Goshawk: 1, Hoopa, 23 Dec (DF, JP, DC) • Broad-winged Hawk: 1, Alexandre Dairy, 3 Jan (LB) • Harlan’s Hawk: 1, Jacoby Creek, 14-27 Nov (RF, TK, MOb); 1, Arcata, 29 Nov (RF); 1, Loleta Bottoms, 2 Dec (DC, LT, MB) • Ferruginous Hawk: 1, Ferndale Bottoms, 13 Nov (TK); 1, Smith River, 14 Nov (TK); 2, McKinleyville, 12 Dec (GL) • Rough-legged Hawk: 1, Bear River Ridge, 4 Dec (RH, MS) • Golden Eagle: 1, HBNWR, 12 Nov-8 Jan (GC, MOb); 1, Showers Pass Rd, 18 Nov (RH); 2, Bear River Ridge, 4 Dec (RH, MS) • Crested Caracara: 1 (HO), Smith River, Jul 2008-6 Jan (MOb) • Prairie Falcon: 1, V St Loop, 20-26 Nov (RF, KS, MOb); 1, Bear River Ridge, 4 Dec (RH, MS); 1, Arcata Bottoms, 17 Dec (GB) • Pacific Golden-Plover: 7, Crab Park, 11 Nov (DC, MW); 8, Ferndale Bottoms, 21 Nov (RF, MW); 2, Lower Eel River, (GB) • Rock Sandpiper: 2-6, North Jetty, 5-17 Dec (TK, DC, MMa, MOb) • Franklin’s Gull: 1, Fernbridge, 13-17 Jan (TE, MMa, DC, TK, JS) • Glaucous Gull: 3, Fernbridge, 13-14 Jan (TE, TK, JO) • Burrowing Owl: 2, South Spit, 13 Nov-Jan 8 (DC, MOb); 1, Eureka, 1 Jan (GL); 1, S. Clam Beach, 2 Jan (GL, LL) • Short-eared Owl: 1, Arcata Bottoms, 14 Dec (MOb); 2, Arcata Marsh, 1 Jan (GZ) • Lewis’s Woodpecker: 4, High Divide, 18 Dec (GL) • Yellow-bellied

Black and White Warbler , © Matt Brady, Loleta Bottoms, Humboldt County

Sapsucker: 1, McKinleyville, 30 Nov-9 Jan (GL, LL, MOb); 1-2, Ferndale, 1-4 Jan (GL, MOb) • Red-naped Sapsucker: 1, Smith River, 27 Nov-14 Dec (AB); 1, Orick, 3 Dec (KR); 1, Redwood House Rd, 8 Dec (MJM); 1, Trinidad, 27 Dec (SD) • Eastern Phoebe: 1, Lake Earl, 14 Nov (fide AB) • Say’s Phoebe: 1, Centerville Beach, 1 Jan (SM) • Tropical Kingbird: 1, Lake Earl, 16 Nov (AB); 1, Loleta Bottoms, 5 Dec (GC, KB); 1, Arcata Bottoms, 17 Dec (AB, CW); 1, Loleta, 3-15 Jan (LD, KB, MOb) • Loggerhead Shrike: 1, Eureka, 17-19 Dec (RF, LT, JO, MOb) • Northern Shrike: 1, Pacific Shores, 30 Nov (DC, LT, MB); 1, Kellogg Rd, 30 Nov-11 Dec (DC, MB, LT, MOb), 1, Lanphere Dunes , 17 Dec (LT) 1, Centerville Rd, 8 Jan (CB) • Cassin’s Vireo: 1, Fortuna, 5 Dec (KB); 2, Arcata, 10-17 Dec (RF, GB); 2, Eureka, 17 Dec (RF), Ferndale Bottoms, (GL) • Blue-headed Vireo: 1, Elk River, 8 Dec (KB) • Horned Lark: 1, V St Loop, 12 Nov (TK, JO) • Blue-gray Gnatcatcher:1, Salt River, 1, Jan (GL) • Northern Mockingbird: 1, Crab Park, 11 Nov (DC, MW); 1, Arcata, 1-17 Dec (CM, RB, DC, MOb); 1, Arcata Airport, 14 Dec (GL); 1, Eureka, 2 Jan (GC) • Red-throated Pipit: 1, V St Loop, 13 Nov (KI) • Nashville Warbler: 2, Salt River, 21 Nov-13 Jan (OH, DC, RF, MW, MOb); 1 (Eastern), Salt River, 2 Dec (MB, LT); 3, Eureka, 17 Dec (RF, PB, MOb); 1, Eureka, 8 Jan (JW); 1, Fernbridge, 13 Jan (TE) • Yellow Warbler: 2, Loleta Bottoms, 2 Dec (MB, LT, DC); 1, Arcata Oxi Ponds, 5 Dec (RH); 1, Eureka, 27 Dec (EE) • Black-throated Gray Warbler: 1, Lake Tolowa, 11 Dec (MMa); 1, Arcata, 11 Dec (MMa); 1, Arcata, 17 Dec (GB); 1, Arcata Marsh, 8 Jan (GZ) • Hermit Warbler:1, Centerville Beach Road, 31 Dec- 1 Jan (SM,GL) • Palm Warbler: numerous reports of 1-2, Arcata Marsh, McKinleyville, Los Bagels, Eureka, Salt River, V St Loop, 11 Nov-16 Jan (MOb) • Black-and-white Warbler: 1, Loleta Bottoms, 2 Dec (MB, LT, DC); 1, Fernbridge, 13 Jan (TE) • Northern Waterthrush: 1, Arcata Marsh, 16-27 Dec (PL, GZ, CB, MOb); 1, Eureka, 17 Dec (RF) • MacGillivray’s Warbler: 1, Arcata Marsh, 16-21 Dec (PL, GZ, RF, EE) • Wilson’s Warbler: 1, McKinleyville, 13 Jan (CW) • Western Tanager: 1, Crescent City, 5 Dec (SL);

1, McKinleyville, 7-17 Dec Jan (GL); 1, Hoopa, 23 Dec (DC) • Clay-colored Sparrow: 1, V St Loop, 12-20 Nov (TK, JO, RF, MOb); 1, Lanphere Rd, 13 Nov (RF); 1, Ft Dick, 18 Dec (CO, JO); 1, Willow Creek, 23 Dec (DF, JP, DC); 1, Ferndale, 30 Dec8 Jan (OH, MOb) • Lark Sparrow: 1, Camp Weott, 10 Dec (DI, SF) • Vesper Sparrow: 1, V St Loop, 12 Nov (TK, JO) • Lark Bunting: 1, Lanphere Rd, 16-17 Jan (JO, MOb) • Grasshopper Sparrow: 1, HBNWR, 11 Dec (RF, MOb) • Swamp Sparrow: numerous reports of 1-3, Arcata Marsh, Indian Island, Arcata Oxi Ponds, Lake Earl, 11 Nov-15 Jan (MOb) • White-throated Sparrow: flock of 10!, Willow Creek, 23 Dec (DF, JP, DC) • Lapland Longspur: 1, King Salmon, 10 Nov (DC); 5, V St Loop, 12 Nov (TK, JO); 1, Indian Island, 20 Nov (RF); 1, V St Loop, 26 Nov (KS) • Snow Bunting: 1, Bald Jesse Peak, 15 Nov (MJM); 1, Sand Island (Hum Bay), 30 Nov (JSm, TP); 2, S. of Table Bluff, 1 Jan (GC, KB); 1, Kellogg Rd, 16 Jan (TK); 3, Bald Jesse Peak, 17 Jan (KR, RS, SM) • Tricolored Blackbird: 3, Arcata Bottoms 17 Dec (AB, GB, DC, CW) • Great-tailed Grackle: 1, Coffee Creek, 1 Jan (CO) • Orchard Oriole: 1, McKinleyville, 27-29 Nov (KS; 3rd year in a row for KS’s yard!) • Bullock’s Oriole: 2, McKinleyville, 8 Dec (RF); 1, Smith River, 27 Dec (AB), 1 ad male, Ferndale, 1 Jan (LL, GL) • Evening Grosbeak: 10, McKinleyville, 14 Dec (GL).

Snow Bunting, © MJ Mazurek

Thanks to all who have submitted sightings! Alan Barron, Pat Bitton, Gary Bloomfield, Matt Brady, Lucas Brug, Camden Bruner, Ralph Bucher, Ken Burton, Greg Chapman, Daryl Coldren, Linda Doerflinger, Susan Donahou, Todd Easterla, Elias Elias, Shawneen Finnegan, David Fix, Rob Fowler, Owen Head, Rob Hewitt, David Irons, Ken Irwin, Tony Kurz, Will Lawton, Gary Lester, Lauren Lester, Paul Lohse, Sky Lloyd, Mark Magnuson, Sean McAllister, Cindy Moyer, MJ Mazurek, Chet Ogan, John Oliver, Todd Pearl, Jude Power, M. Renaud, Kerry Ross, Jesse Sargent (JS), Keith Slauson, Jimmy Smith (JSm), Rachel Smith, Megan Still, Leslie Tucci, Matt Wachs, Joan Walls, Carol Wilson, George Ziminsky.

Christmas Bird Count (CBC) Highlights Arcata, Dec. 17, Daryl Coldren, compiler Total species count was 181. Most unusual find: Loggerhead Shrike (2nd record for CBC) at Humboldt Community Park in Eureka by Rob Fowler. Other highlights include Northern Shrike, Tropical Kingbird, Northern Mockingbird (2), Northern Waterthrush (2), Black-throated Gray Warbler, MacGillivray's Warbler, Cassin's Vireo (several), Western Tanager, Tricolored Blackbird (3), and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

Del Norte, Dec. 18, Alan Barron, compiler A great crew of Humboldt birders helped so much in good weather. Total species count was 156. Highlights were Crested Caracara, Common Yellowthroat, Ross’s, Snow, and Greater White-fronted Goose, Osprey, Lewis’s Woodpecker (4; new for this CBC), White-breasted Nuthatch, Evening Grosbeak, Claycolored Sparrow, Barrow’s Goldeneye (5), and Hooded (2) and Bullock’s (2) Oriole.

Willow Creek, Dec. 23, Gary Lester, compiler Fifteen birders participated in this “little count that can.” It was conducted under mostly clear, sparkling conditions, with frost well into the afternoon, but little snow at Horse Mountain. Total species number was 87 (all-time high = 92). Highlights were Western Tanager, Northern Goshawk, Clay-colored Sparrow, red-race Fox Sparrow, and Orange-crowned Warbler (2). A Bewick's Wren was added to the total species list a day later with the submission of excellent photographs. Bigfoot Golf Course provided an impressive array of geese: White-fronted, Cackler, Aleutian, and Western Canada..

Centerville, Jan. 1, Gary Lester, compiler A total of 182 species were reported by 45 participants.

Highlights were Snow Bunting (2), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (2), Say’s Phoebe, Golden Eagle, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher,

Cassin’s Vireo, Hermit Warbler, Bullock’s Oriole, and Claycolored Sparrow. Tantalizing reports for Long-eared Owl (same location as last year’s Salt River roost), Great-tailed Grackle, and Pectoral and Curlew Sandpiper were unconfirmed despite significant efforts to relocate them.

Tall Trees, Jan. 4, Ken Burton, compiler and originator Twenty-two people conducted the inaugural Tall Trees CBC, which incorporates the Humboldt Lagoons, Orick, most of southern Redwood National Park, a great deal of Green Diamond land, and some ocean. The weather was great, though swells were too large for a boat to get out. A total of 121 species and 25,914 birds were tallied, with highlights being 12 Ruffed Grouse (undoubtedly a new state CBC record), Black-legged Kittiwake (143), Marbled Murrelet (24), Northern Pygmy-Owl (6), and Gray Jays (30). Most numerous were American Coot (10,686), Ruddy Duck (2,918), Bufflehead (2,350), European Starling (1,376), and Canvasback (1,007).

Community Wheel A PUBLICATION OF

green wheels

Humboldt’s Advocate for Transportation Choices

Arcata - Bike Friendly City 2012!

Anna Schwarzbach The City of Arcata has been recognized as a Bike Friendly City through the League of American Bicyclists since 2008. The Bicycle Friendly City program focuses on encouraging and providing incentives to cities across America to promote bicycle commuting as well as improving the well being of the city. A bronze level city, Arcata continues to provide safe and accessible streets for bicyclists as well as access to various resources, organizations and businesses that cater to the community (for more information see: http://www.bikeleague.org/ programs/bicyclefriendlyamerica/communities/bfc_ arcata.php). Currently, the City of Arcata is working with several members from both the Transportation Safety Committee and Green Wheels to update Arcata’s standing as a Bicycle Friendly City. An application is currently in process and is on schedule to be submitted in late February 2012.

The recognition that each city receives as being a member of Bike Friendly cities comes through education, encouragement, enforcement, engineering, evaluation and planning. Meant to be a self-assessment tool, the Bike Friendly City process has an emphasis on motivating both the city and

Green Wheels Gathering:

Feb. 22nd - 5pm Pints for Non-Profits at

Enjoy beer? Enjoy biking? Want to help christen a newly added bicycle rack in the Arcata community? Now’s your chance! Come join Green Wheels at Redwood Curtain on February 22nd at 5pm for Pints-for-Nonprofits night! Come support Green Wheels and Redwood Curtain Brewing Company and hang out with our awesome crew, as a portion of all sales benefits Green Wheels. Green Wheels will be there from 5-10pm and we hope you come by to ask questions, volunteer, and see what events Green Wheels will be having in the future!

(Night Bike Ride anyone?!).

For more information about the event, contact Anna Schwarzbach (aaschwarzbach@gmail.com) or check out www.green-wheels.org!

ECONEWS February/March 2012

community members to acknowledge existing bicycle infrastructure and plan for future ways for the city to support recreational and commuter bicyclists.

The Bicycle Friendly City is known for working towards many community and accessibility

Local cyclists welcome their city’s recognition as a Bike Friendly Community in 2008.

Join the team and

Volunteer!

Ask not what your community organization can do for you, but what you can do for your community organization.

Green Wheels is looking for hard working, caring individuals to make a difference in our community. Green Wheels needs graphic artists, grant writers, event planners, financial wizards, and any one with a talent. Do you like to bike, walk, or ride the bus? Do you want to see you community move towards a more sustainable and resilient transportation system? If you care about your alternative transportation options and want to help an organization that is actively working to accomplish these goals, please contact us (info@ green-wheels.org). We can’t wait to hear from you.

strategies by promoting local economies, reducing automobile congestion, improving community health by reducing barriers to physical activity, and reducing environmental pollution often caused by automobile use, to name a few. These strategies vary from city to city, and accommodate a variety of community members, depending on their needs. Arcata is proud to continue being a part of this network of Bicycle Friendly communities, and strives to improve the streets for bicycling and other alternate commuting methods!

By maintaining the Bicycle Friendly City status, Arcata also moves towards helping the City achieve their goal of 50% mode share by bike in 2020 (50% of all trips in the City to be done by bike). Additionally, the Bicycle Friendly designation helps the City in grant applications to continue expanding the bicycle facility network in Arcata, such as the upcoming Arcata Rail with Trail Connectivity Project. Last but not least, the Bicycle Friendly City also allows Arcata to be a model for other communities in Humboldt County in hopes that they will follow in Arcata’s footsteps soon. The City of Eureka has focused on expanding their trail network and bicycle connectivity through town, a step in the right direction!

SUPPORT green wheels Members receive 10% off bike accessories at Revolution Bikes and Adventure’s Edge in Arcata. Your membership contribution is tax deductable.

$15 $25 $50

Membership Level:

Low-Income Individual Family

$100 Business $500 Sponser Other: $ _____

Name Address Email Make checks payable to Green Wheels and mail to Green Wheels c/o NEC 791 8th Street, P.O. Box 4259 Arcata, CA 95518

Or join online at: www.green-wheels.org

Incredibly outstanding Green Wheels volunteers having fun at the Green Wheels Gears Up! fundraiser...This could be you!!

www.yournec.org

Thanks!

10

Not all who Wonder are Lost, Some are Returning Home.

Upcoming EPIC Events: Pisces Party: March 9 @Beginnings in Briceland to benefit the work of Richard Gienger.

Join the Wolf Pack

EPIC Gala: April 14 @Arcata Community Center with the Vagabond Opera and Fishtank Ensemble

www.WildCalifornia.org

145 G Street, Suite A, Arcata, CA 95521

The Environmental Protection Information Center

www.wildcalifornia.org

(707) 822.7711

EPIC Defends Spotted Owl from Billionaire Timber Baron

By EPIC Staff

Northern Spotted Owls found within the interior forests of Northern California have a typical home range of 3500 acres; however the most critical habitat is within the 500 acres surrounding their nest site.

Photo: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

By EPIC Staff For the first time since 1924, a wild wolf is roaming the State of California. On December 29, 2011, a wolf crossed into a remote area of Siskiyou County north of Mt. Shasta. The young male wolf, named “Journey” by his supporters, was born in the Hells Canyon area of the Snake River in northeastern Oregon in 2009. Biologists outfitted the wolf with a GPS tracking device in February 2011 and have been receiving location information ever since.

Many people are asking: Can wolves live in California? Most people think of Yellowstone National Park, Idaho or Montana when they think of wolf habitat. While it may seem a little strange at first, California has extensive areas of suitable habitat for wolves. In particular, large wilderness areas such as the Marble Mountains, Trinity Alps and backcountry areas around Lassen and Mt. Shasta have high potential to support wolves. Furthermore, once re-established

11

EPIC has launched a new campaign to defend the Northern Spotted Owl from rampant clearcut logging of its habitat by the multibillionaire Archie Aldis “Red” Emmerson. EPIC recently delivered a formal notice of intent to sue Red Emmerson’s company, Sierra Pacific Industries, for harming Northern Spotted Owls in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act. The notice letter is required under the law and begins a process that allows EPIC to file a lawsuit within 60 days. By clearcut logging within known spotted owl territories, the company is engaged in openly hostile actions against individual spotted owls and their young, seemingly designed to eliminate the owl from its lands. Forbes lists timber baron Emmerson as having a net worth of at least two and half billion dollars. Sierra Pacific is California’s largest private landowner, with nearly two million acres of forestlands, of which 200,000 acres is within the range of the Northern Spotted Owl. Sierra Pacific’s clearcut logging directly harms

spotted owls by destroying or degrading their habitat. Between 2009 and 2011 alone, Sierra Pacific’s timber harvest plans threaten to destroy approximately 5,000 acres of suitable habitat within known spotted owl territories. Sierra Pacific is currently operating without an approved “take” permit that is required under the law.

Instead, Sierra Pacific is operating outside of the law and engaging in the systematic liquidation of spotted owl habitat. EPIC intends to haul Sierra Pacific to court to stop these atrocious acts.

However, the imminent lawsuit is entirely avoidable if Sierra Pacific plays by the same rules as do the many responsible forest landowners throughout our region.

Numerous logging companies and smaller landowners have approved owl conservation plans that secure protections for spotted owls and other species, while still allowing for the sustainable harvest of timber. Why does a billionaire need to kill spotted owls? It simply makes no sense. At EPIC, we believe that as California’s largest landowner, billionaire Emmerson owes it to everyone to protect the spotted owl.

Return of the Wolf in northern California, wolves could feasibly repopulate the Sierra Nevada, which contains a large amount of suitable habitat in its own right.

Researchers modeling the suitability of habitat for wolf recovery determined that the southern Oregon Cascades and vast areas of northern California’s wild areas would support hundreds of wolves. EPIC is developing a strategy intended to roll out the welcome for more wolves as they enter California in the future. First and foremost on this agenda is educating the public about wolves in order to dispel common myths and fears.

At EPIC, we intend to advocate for wolves as strongly as we advocate for all native biological diversity in northern California. Because of the work and the tireless efforts of many individuals to defend and restore our wild landscapes, we can offer something to this wild wandering wolf.

Whether he remains in our region is anyone’s guess, but we hope that he likes what he finds and is joined by more wolves in the near future.

www.yournec.org

Wolves play an important role in managing deer and elk herds, and in turn, the forests they live in. Photo: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

February/March 2012 ECONEWS

NORTH GROUP NEWS

Events & Conservation Updates From the North Group Redwood Chapter Sierra Club Pizza Party Scheduled for March 13 Members and supporters are welcome to attend a pizza party at the Adorni Center on the Eureka Waterfront. Speakers on climate change and possibly wilderness grazing are expected. Starts at 6 p.m. The regular ExCom business meeting and discussion of conservation issues will follow between 7 and 8:45 p.m. Info: Gregg, 707-826-3740.

introduced in Congress; 3) SC believes the DEIS/DEIR offers insufficient alternatives (does not consider dam removal without KBRA implementation). The letter concludes by encouraging BuRec and the Interior secretary to “expeditiously make a determination that dam removal will advance restoration of salmonid fisheries in the Basin and is in the public interest.”

Sunday, Feb. 26. Clam Beach to Mouth of Mad River, McKinleyville. Medium difficulty, 6 miles.

Walk south along beach to mouth of Mad; return along Hammond Trail. Bring water, snacks; leashed dogs OK. Two shallow stream crossings. Heavy rain cancels. Meet 12:30 p.m. southern unpaved Clam Beach lot. Leader Bill 707-839-5971.

Events & Conservation Updates From the North Group Redwood Chapter Sierra Club

Election Results Ned Forsyth, Gregg Gold, Felice Pace, and Nick Vogel were elected to 2-year terms on the North Group Executive Committee. Richard Kreis has been appointed to serve as NG representative on the Northcoast Environmental Center board of directors.

Comments Submitted on Klamath National Sierra Club (SC) submitted comments to the Bureau of Reclamation on December 30 on the Klamath Hydroelectric Project Facilities Removal DEIS/DEIR. The comments were the work of three Chapters—Redwood, Mother Lode, and Oregon—and National staff. Highlights of the comments: 1) SC supports dam removal and strongly favors full decommissioning of the lower four dams; 2) SC does not believe that dam removal should necessarily be tied to implementation of the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA) and current legislation (HR3398, S1851) that have been

Great Year for Outings Outings Chair Bill Knight reports that during 2011, 26 outings were completed, involving 150 participants.

Four volunteers led hikes: Xandra Manns, Melinda Groom, Allison Bronkall, and Bill Knight. Special thanks to Xandra, who led 11 hikes, and Allison, who led the largest outing (14 participants on a parent/ child visit to Trillium Falls in Redwood National Park).

There is always a need for more leaders, so if you would like to help people explore our beautiful North Coast, contact Bill at bill.knight.email@gmail.com.

North Group to Sponsor Science Fair Award For the sixth year, NG will be sponsoring an award at the annual Humboldt County Science Fair held in midMarch at Humboldt State. Fifty dollars will be given to the best project dealing with environmental issues.

OUTINGS AND MEETINGS There will be no NG Executive Committee meeting on Valentine’s Day (Tuesday, Feb. 14).

Tuesday, March 13. NG ExCom Meeting. [See Pizza Party above.]

Sunday, March 18. Hidden Beach Section, Coastal Trail, Redwood NP. Medium difficulty, 8 miles.

Follow wooded bluffs from Lagoon Creek to Klamath Overlook; return same route. Bring liquids, lunch; no dogs. Rain cancels. Carpools meet 9 a.m. SW corner Valley West Shopping Center or 10:15 a.m. at Lagoon Creek Picnic Area trailhead off Hwy 101. Leader Melinda 707-668-4275 or mgroomster@gmail.com.

Saturday, March 24. Ma-le’l Dunes Parent & Child Walk, Arcata. Easy, 1.5 miles. Bring your kids to experience diverse dune community (Ledik Trail to Du’k Loop Trail). Wear sturdy shoes; bring liquids and lunch. No strollers. Heavy rain cancels. Meet 10 a.m. Ma-le’l Dunes South parking area. From Samoa Blvd (Hwy 255), turn onto Young Lane, follow sign left to parking. Leader Allison 707-268-8767.

CNPS HAPPENINGS

News and Events from the North Coast Chapter of the California Native Plant Society 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.

March 14, Wednesday. “Touting TrilliumWoodland and Shade Garden Essentials.” Russell and Yvonne Graham will cover lore, myths, terminology, propagation, culture, companions, and more. They have grown trilliums and other specialty woodland perennials, both native and exotic, since moving to their property in 1972.

They operated a mail order nursery emphasizing native perennials for 25 years from their location near Salem, in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

April 11, Wednesday. A Native Plant Garden Story. Eureka residents, Vickie and John Patton will share the inspiring story of their growing passion for native plants and the transformation of a weed filled wasteland into a lush garden retreat.

ECONEWS February/March 2012

FIELD TRIPS AND PLANT WALKS Outings are open to everyone, not just members. All levels of expertise, from beginners to experienced botanizers, are welcome. Address questions about physical ability requirements to the leader.

February 26, Sunday. Patrick’s Point Day Hike.

Mosses and ferns are thriving in February. We will see 9 species of fern, a spikemoss (Selaginella), and various mosses. We will analyze the coastal bluff vegetation, much of it evergreen, as a planting plan for bank stabilization. We will see Bishop pine, two species of angelica, three of plantain, and look for an early bloom of milkmaid, skunk cabbage, or black trailing currant.

We will walk 2-4 miles on the level, beautiful trails in this state park, being sure to pass through the native plant garden. Bring lunch and water; dress for a day outside.

Meet at 9:00 a.m. at Pacific Union School (3001 Janes Rd., Arcata) or 9:30 at the visitor center in Patrick’s Point State Park. Information: Carol Ralph 822-2015.

March 24, Saturday. Willows at the Blue Lake Fish Hatchery, Day Trip. Besides fish and birds, the hatchery has wonderful thickets of deciduous shrubbery, including willows! We will study them, cottonwoods, other shrubs, and anything else that catches our fancy through this riparian habitat along the Mad River. If we have time, we may walk along

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the riverside dike from the bridge or look at willows at the Pump Station Park on Warren Creek Rd. Bring lunch and water; dress for the weather. Meet at 9 a.m. at Pacific Union School (3001 Janes Rd., Arcata) or 9:20 at the hatchery in Blue Lake. Information: Carol Ralph 707-822-2015.

April 22, Sunday. E-Ne-Nuk and Bluff Creek Day Hike. The summer flowers last year at E-NeNuk Campground, on Highway 96 near Orleans, suggested that spring could be fun too, and the Bluff Creek Trail was enticing. Rock faces and jumbles, a grove of oaks and conifers, a grassy old stream bed, and gravelly, serpentine slopes all offer possibilities, including fawn lilies. The trail begins by winding up a steep hill. Dramatic geology is all around, where in recent history Bluff Creek burst through a ridge to reach the Klamath River more directly. Bring lunch and water; dress for a day outside. Meet at 8:30 a.m. at Pacific Union School (3001 Janes Rd., Arcata) or arrange another place. Information: Carol Ralph 707-822-2015.

WILDFLOWER SHOW AND NATIVE PLANT SALE May 4, 5, 6, Fri.-Sun. Spring Wildflower Show; May 5, 6, Sat., Sun. Native Plant Sale. Manilla Community Center, 1611 Peninsula Drive.

Save the dates!

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Chinook

Continued from page 3 The Eel River fall Chinook resurgence is somewhat of a paradox because summer base flows and water quality conditions on the main lower Eel River, Van Duzen and the South Fork Eel rivers have deteriorated to the point where these reaches harbor toxic algae. The ERRP believes these problems can be reversed through implementing water conservation measures and reducing nutrient pollution voluntarily throughout the watershed, thereby improving conditions for recreation and for the salmon. ERRP is organizing a Water Day at the Mateel Community Center in Redway on Sunday May 6 to share information with the public and to promote community dialog. Also mark your calendars for April 14 when Friends of Eel River (FOER) is holding a symposium at the River Lodge in Fortuna. Call Scott Greacen, FOER’s new North Coast Director, at 707-822-3342 for more information. See www. eelriverrecovery.org for a full 2011 fall Chinook recap or www.pathiggins.org to access the 2010 Eel River fall Chinook report.

Patrick Higgins is a consulting fisheries biologist and watershed scientist based in Arcata.

Nuclear Waste an Ongoing Storage Concern

Morgan Corviday One year ago, on March 11, 2011, a 9.0 earthquake and 26 foot tsunami struck the eastern coast of Japan, resulting in an unparalled nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Three nuclear reactors suffered complete core meltdowns due to a loss of power and crippled cooling systems, making Fukushima the worst nuclear disaster in history.

Also of concern during the crisis were the spent fuel pools, located on the upper levels of the reactor buildings. The pools, like the reactors, require a constant flow of water to prevent overheating and potential criticality. Without operational cooling pumps, the water in the pools boiled away—resulting in hydrogen explosions (caused by the exposed zirconium rod casings reacting with air and steam) that released large amounts of radiation.

Fukushima showed the world how easily a natural event can disrupt nuclear power, not only reawakening the world to the potential dangers of nuclear energy— causing some countries to reevaluate their use of nuclear power altogether—but also underscoring the need for greater attention to the storage of nuclear waste.

Spent nuclear fuel is one of the biggest problems in the nuclear energy industry. In the early years of nuclear energy, there was a general assumption that advances in technology would allow for the reprocessing of fuel rods—which has not come to pass. Spent fuel pools were intended for temporary storage only until the rods were cool enough to be moved to permanent storage locations (usually about 5-10 years). Unfortunately, due to ongoing political debate and fierce public opposition, permanent storage locations have still not yet been determined.

Yucca Mountain—a sacred site to the Western Shoshone located on federal land adjacent to the Nevada Test Site—was for decades the primary site under consideration for permanent nuclear waste storage until President Obama ended funding and withdrew the license for site construction last year.

However, even if completed, it would have only had Helping Buyers and Sellers make “Green” Decisions about Humboldt County Real Estate.

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Aerial view of the six dry cask storage containers onsite at PG&E’s Humboldt Bay Power Plant. Photo: GeoEye/GoogleMaps.

a maximum capacity of 70,000 tons of commercial waste—less than we already currently have—unless designs were modified and expanded.

As a result, the U.S. has nearly 72,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel—enough to fill a football field more than 15 feet deep—and continues to produce about 2,200 tons annually, stored “temporarily” at 75 sites around the country. This amount is expected to more than double to over 168,000 tons by about 2055. About three quarters of this fuel is still in its original pools at reactor sites, many of which are nearing or have exceeded capacity. To help alleviate this problem, regulations have been changed to allow for re-racking the rods in the pools, placing them closer together than orginially intended. While this does increase storage capacity, it cuts back the safety margin and could increase the likelihood of overheating in a catastrophic event.

The remaining quarter of the spent fuel in the U.S. has been transferred to dry cask storage in Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installations (ISFSI). While still not considered permanent, the steel and concrete dry cask storage containers are claimed to be designed to resist floods, tornadoes, projectiles, temperature extremes, and earthquakes, and have an estimated lifespan of about 100 years. The transfer of spent fuel from PG&E’s Humboldt Bay nuclear reactor to dry cask storage was completed in 2008. PG&E states the facility was built to withstand an 8.8 magnitude Cascadia subduction zone earthquake and a tsunami surge between 28 to 43 feet above sea level.

The first in nuclear reactor in California, and one of the first in the nation, the Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant was operated by PG&E from August 1963 to July 1976, when it was shut down for refueling. A citizen lawsuit, spurred by the discovery of major faults under and near the plant, resulted in the plant remaining idle. In 1983, PG&E announced the plant would be be decommissioned.

Continued on page 15

February/March 2012 ECONEWS

Eco-Mania A Melange of Salient Sillies...

RUE THE SHREW: Alaskan authorities will file plans any day now for the country’s first hydroelectric mega-dam in 40 years, a plan revived by then-Governor Sarah Palin, which opponents say is a $4.5 billion boondoggle that will affect wildlife.

The icon for protest against the dam may turn out to be the country’s most secretive and smallest shrew. Weighing in at just 1.5 grams and only seven centimeters long, Sorex yukonicus lives on a bank six miles downstream. Only 38 specimens of the shrew have been found.

DUBIOUS DISTINCTION: For the first time, China’s consumers are responsible for more carbon dioxide emissions than their U.S. counterparts.

Ironically, that’s because the U.S. shut down its own factories and imported goods from China or other emerging economies. In 2008, one-third of China’s domestic emissions came from the manufacture of goods for export.

That’s not the full story, however. China’s high emissions are largely a product of its huge population, and consumption per person is still far lower than in the U.S.

HIGH HARMONY: In the absence of a global agreement, four of the seven countries bordering the Himalayas—all relying on melt water from the glaciers there—have agreed to work together to deal with the harmful effects of climate change.

India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan agreed at the Climate Summit for a Living Himalayas on food and water security. To have a lasting impact, though, the group will need to include China, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

FAT TAX: Denmark in October introduced a tax on foods containing at least 2.3 per cent saturated fat, a category that includes margarine, salad and cooking oils, animal fats and dairy products.

The Danes want their health to be better. The stated goal of the tax policies is to increase life expectancy as well as to reduce the burden and cost of illness from diet-related diseases. The taxes will add 12 cents to a bag of potato chips and 40 cents to the price of a burger.

CAN YOUR RECEIPT KILL YOU? Almost all cash register receipts have bisphenol A (BPA), a substance that may have harmful health effects.

While BPA was in paper products such as tickets, newspapers and flyers, the levels paled in comparison to receipts, which the study said are responsible for more than 98 percent of consumer exposure to BPA. Researchers estimate that receipts contribute about 33.5 tons of BPA to the environment every year in the U.S. and Canada.

HOT HEART HEALTH: People with chronic heart failure who took saunas five times a week for three weeks improved their heart function and the amount of exercise they could do.

Volunteers with heart failure increased the heart’s ability to pump blood and boosted the distance they could walk almost 20 percent after taking the saunas.

PLAYING FOR PACHYDERMS: A British man dragged a piano up a mountain in Thailand in order to play Beethoven outdoors—for an audience of blind elephants.

Paul Barton achieved a long-held ambition as he sat behind his piano, just feet away from the elephants, as a fund-raiser and “as a 50th birthday present to myself.”

ECONEWS February/March 2012

PERRY’S EDITS: Officials at the Texas state environmental agency have altered a scientific report they commissioned on Galveston bay by deleting mentions of human-induced climate change and rising sea levels.

John Anderson, an oceanographer at Rice University in Houston who wrote the chapter, told the British Guardian newspaper that the cuts reflected what he called “denial” about the effects of global warming.

The agency is headed by Bryan Shaw, known for saying that scientific arguments that human activities are changing the climate are a hoax. He was appointed by Texas governor Rick Perry.

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BEARLY DRIVING: A black bear got trapped in a Toyota Prius at Lake Tahoe but he somehow slipped it into neutral, whereupon the car rolled backwards, jumped a low stone fence and crashed into a neighbor’s house.

The door sprang open and the bear, unidentified, fled the scene of the accident.

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Riders in the Storm

The dust has not yet settled on the specifics of the 2011 legislative year, but many pundits in Washington and across the nation were surprised to see greater bipartisan work to get the 2012 budget completed in order to avoid a government shut-down.

Congress attached riders to the 2012 budget (Appropriations) bill to push through anti-environment legislation that otherwise could not have survived the routine legislative process. As expected, some issues of interest to conservationists were buried deep in the bill, while the public focused on more mainstream topics—like retaining payroll tax cuts for the middle class.

A rider of interest to the North Coast, Section 429, was added to the funding of the Environmetal Protection Agency (EPA), to exempt run-off and sediment from logging roads from Clean Water Act (CWA) enforcement. Essentially, this delays an important legal victory by the Northwest Law Center, which sued to force Oregon to include run-off when logging and considering silviculture permits. The Supreme Court has chosen for hearing this year two related cases, Decker vs. Northwest Environmental Defense Center and Georgia-Pacific West vs. Northwest Environmental Defense Center.

There were significant funding cuts for all agencies that play a roll in conservation and environmental protection, as would be expected with the current economic downturn, but the budget hit directed at the EPA was intentionally punitive.

The Natural Resources Defense Council warns that industry interests are waging a fullscale attack on the EPA and Clean Water Act. Not only was the EPA budget restricted, but the Agency was also prohibited from using environmental laws to cover some areas of concern like wetlands, and how we define the waters they have jurisdiction over.

So what will we see in 2012? Because it is an election year, we should probably not expect a lot of progress on specific legislation or concerns, but the issues will define the positions of both parties in the upcoming congressional and presidential elections. The House has already announced particular interest in negating parts of the Endangered Species Act, and only time will tell what else turns up on the chopping block It should be an interesting year.

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

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Nuclear

Continued from page 13

There are six casks onsite in PG&E’s Humboldt ISFSI— five are filled with 390 spent fuel assemblies.

The 10 foot tall, eight foot diameter casks are buried underground in huge vaults, with only the lids visible on the surface. Inside the casks, the fuel rods are surrounded by boron, which limits the ability of the fuel rods to interact with each other. The sixth cask will be used to store radioactive parts from the interior of the reactor upon final dismantling.

“In this particular case we’re fine with [the waste] staying here,” states Michael Welch, of Redwood Alliance—key players in the fight to ensure the plant would be decommissioned, and participants in the ongoing community advisory board on the project, made up of politicians, activists and residents near the plant. “I don’t think it could be stored more securely anywhere else. Even with the earthquake that’s going to happen here within a few hundred years, which is going to be huge, we feel confident that it’s better to leave it here in storage than to try to move it to some other community.”

In the decades since the battle to shut down the plant began, Redwood Alliance has gone from being enemies with PG&E to being thankful for their efforts to deal with the situation appropriately. “We’re pretty pleased,” he said, regarding PG&E’s commitment to getting public opinion about the dismantling process.

“They’ve been very open and forthcoming with us... and seem to want to do the right thing, which is really different from how it used to be with them.”

Dismantling of the nuclear reactor is expected to begin within a few months, and the decommissioning process is anticipated to be complete by 2015.

Dry cask storage, however, is not a permanent solution to our nation’s nuclear fuel storage problem.

The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, initiated by President Obama, issued a report in late January on managing the growing inventory of nuclear waste, after studying the issue closely for two years. The report states clearly that something needs to be done: “(T)his generation has a fundamental, ethical obligation to avoid burdening future generations with the entire task of finding a safe, permanent solution for managing hazardous nuclear materials they had no part in creating,” and concludes “The United States has traveled nearly 25 years down the current path only to come to a point where continuing to rely on the same approach seems destined to bring further controversy, litigation, and protracted delay.”

One of the committee’s key recommendations is the creation of a new organization—independent of the Department of Energy—tasked with implementing a nuclear waste management program. Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman, commented on the report: “Our current policy with respect to nuclear waste storage is unsustainable and must be addressed.

I believe the commission’s recommendation to use a consent-based approach to selecting waste storage facilities—which has worked in other countries—is our best chance to finally solve the challenge of longterm waste storage”.

For more information on the decommissioning of the Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant, contact the Redwood Alliance at http://www.redwoodalliance.org/, or by phone at 707-822-7884.

Morgan Corviday is the editor of EcoNews.

February/March 2012 ECONEWS

Get Your Buzz on with Beekeeping Garret Brinton Even in the midst of winter, honeybee colonies are already busily making preparations for the coming spring. In cold weather, the bees cluster quietly in the hive, relying on the honey and pollen they stored the previous season to sustain them. Deep within the cluster, the queen lays thousands of eggs, the beginning of a massive population boom that will peak in the late spring and early summer, when the sweet flower nectars are plentiful. Long before humans began hosting colonies in man-made hives, propagating and caring for them, relying on them to pollinate our crops, and harvesting their surplus honey, bee colonies evolved to collect enough nectar—stored as honey—to feed their home colony through the following winter.

Preparations for the season ahead are also already underway for local beekeeping enthusiasts. With interest in honeybees and beekeeping on the rise, Humboldt’s beekeeping community will be buzzing with activity this spring. And that’s a good thing, because as anyone who has been following the news over the past few years knows, honeybees are facing many challenges these days, including new diseases and parasites that have arrived on our shores due to increased global trade, new “systemic” insecticides, industrial-scale agriculture/ monocropping, and changes in climate and land use.

Some communities even have highly restrictive anti-beekeeping ordinances that treat honeybees as if they were nothing but an unwanted pest. The good news is that here in Humboldt, at the request of the local beekeeping community, both the City of Arcata and the City of Eureka are now in the process of re-examining their rules for beekeeping, with local beekeepers urging the cities to update their ordinances to allow more backyard beekeeping within city limits.

Over the next few months, there are a number of upcoming beekeeping events and resources for local beekeepers, aspiring beekeepers, and bee fans here in Humboldt County.

For those who are interested in learning more about honeybees and beekeeping, or starting their own hives, HSU Extended Education is once again offering Practical Beekeeping classes, beginning Feb. 8 in Arcata, or Feb. 9 in SoHum. For those with some beekeeping experience, an Advanced Practical Beekeeping course is also offered, beginning Feb. 4 in Arcata or Feb. 11 in SoHum. Beekeepers, aspiring beekeepers, and bee-lovers of all ages are also welcome at the monthly meetings of the Humboldt County Beekeepers’ Association, and are invited to participate in an active online beekeeping forum! See right for more details.

Garret Brinton is a local beekeeper and instructor.

Practical Beekeeping

Begins Feb. 8 in Arcata, or Feb. 9 in SoHum. Classes are once a week, on Wed. evenings in Arcata and Thurs. evenings in SoHum, and continue through mid-May. The course also includes several Saturday afternoon field trips to local beeyards.

Advanced Practical Beekeeping

Begins Feb. 4 in Arcata or Feb. 11 in SoHum. The Advanced Classes are held at local beeyards, alternate Saturdays, continuing through mid-May. For more details on Practical Beekeeping classes, go to http://www.humboldt.edu/ extended/special/beekeeping/ or contact the instructor, Garrett Brinton (707-499-5312 or email: garrettbrinton@ hotmail.com). To sign up for the classes, you can register online through the HSU website, or by calling HSU Extended Ed at 707-826-3731.

Humboldt County Beekeepers’ Association Monthly meeting is held 6:30pm - 8:30pm on the first Thursday of the month, from Feb. through Oct., at the Humboldt County Agriculture Department (5630 South Broadway, Eureka, CA). Most meetings feature a guest speaker, and these meetings are also a great place to connect with other local beekeepers and bee-lovers in the area, share stories, and learn from one another. For more info, call Kathy Lee at 707-822-6169.

Dr. Marla Spivak lecture

Dr. Marla Spivak, from the University of Minnesota, will be speaking to local beekeepers and bee-lovers on the evening of April 19 at the Humboldt County Agriculture Center in Eureka. Dr. Spivak, who attended HSU as an undergraduate, was one of the winners of the 2010 MacArthur Fellowship (aka the MacArthur Genius Award) for her groundbreaking work in breeding bees that are better able to resist diseases and rid themselves of parasites on their own, without the use of antibiotics or chemical treatments. More details on that event will be coming soon.

CWA 40

Continued from page 8 To make the most of this opportunity, the campaign will not only educate the public about the importance of the Act, but also activate and empower our coalition to influence national leaders from a policy and enforcement perspective. We will not stand for any attacks on our communities that undermine the clean water protections that our streams, rivers, lakes and estuaries have been afforded over the past 40 years.

Strategies & Tactics The three central components of the initiative will employ a variety of strategies and tactics that seek to attract diverse participation from clean water advocates across the country.

1. Celebrate: A series of Swimmable, Drinkable and Fishable Water Action Days, high profile events around the nation and “virtual marches” on Washington, culminating in a major “Swim, Drink, Fish Rally” on the National Mall in October 2012, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the signing of the CWA. 2. Activate: Waterkeeper will activate a national alliance of environmental groups that work to protect clean water, a network of “Waterkeeper Clubs” on college campuses to engage young people in this effort, and work simultaneously with communities across the country. Waterkeeper Alliance and River Network are joining forces to hold the largest gathering of water advocates to date: River Rally 2012.

More than 600 people will join together in Portland, Oregon to enhance their water-related technical skills, learn how to build the capacity of their organizations, share best practices for watershed protection and receive training on advocating for the CWA in their watersheds.

3. Advocate: Strategic regional and communitybased advocacy is the most effective tool to turn back the rising tide against the CWA. Waterkeeper, and our partners, will organize and provide the tools for our coalition to push back against rollbacks to the CWA, while highlighting the critical need for continued and expanded protections within the Act, the most effective tool we have against water pollution.

While advocating for clean water and healthy communities has been the primary mission of Waterkeeper Alliance since its inception, the Clean Water Act’s 40th Anniversary provides a unique opportunity for Waterkeeper Alliance and partners to focus on the success of the Act thus far, develop and deploy strategies for strengthening the Act and ensure the Act endures for another 40 years and beyond.

Please join us in this effort. Visit Waterkeeper Alliance’s website and follow us on Twitter to learn more, or contact Pete Nichols, Western Regional Director of Waterkeeper Alliance at pnichols@waterkeeper.org.

Originally posted on EcoWatch.org. To read the full article, visit http://ecowatch.org/2012/join-thewaterkeeper-alliances-campaign/.

ECONEWS February/March 2012

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Creature Feature GRAY WOLF Canis lupus

allow the pack to communicate, and advertise their the only breeding members), the entire pack works Dan Ehresman territories to neighboring packs. cooperatively in caring for young and hunting. Lone Throughout recorded history, the wolf has carried As keystone predators, wolves play an integral wolves, without the help of a pack, have a much lower a mixed reputation. In folk tales and myth, the wolf part in healthy functioning ecosystems. As many case chance for successful hunting and survival. has been feared, admired, loathed and loved. It has studies have determined, the wolf’s removal from been represented both as a symbol of strength an ecosystem can result in a cascade of effects and loyalty, but also as a symbol of evil. that alter the balance of the system. For example, Unsurprisingly, in many hunter-gatherer societies extirpation of wolves from certain areas has been the wolf is treated with respect, whereas in more associated with an increase in elk populations, and agrarian societies, the wolf has been castigated a decline in vegetation eaten by the elk. Removal and subjugated to slaughter. Childhood tales like of wolves from a system has also been associated Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs with an increase in coyote populations which has play have played an important role in encouraging led to a decrease in small prey and an associated the fear of wolves from a young age. decrease in raptors who generally subsist Once the world's most widely distributed on small prey. The successful reintroduction terrestrial mammal—found throughout much of of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in the the Northern Hemisphere—the gray wolf has 1990’s provided important opportunities to study been extirpated from a large percentage of its these dynamics. historic range due to systematic eradication and Reintroduction of wolves can bring habitat loss. In the continental United States, it ecosystems back into balance and increase the is estimated that the gray wolf population once overall fitness of prey species by culling the sick numbered over 200,000, but by the mid-20th and weak (this is in stark contrast to sport hunting century bounties and predator control programs sport where the biggest and most healthy animals brought wolves to near extinction. are targeted). Since federal protection in the midGray wolves are the largest wild members 1970’s, and thanks to successful reintroduction of the Canidae (dog) family and include several Male wolf from Wenaha pack in Oregon, 2010. Photo: Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. programs like Yellowstone, there are now several subspecies in North America. In fact, recent stable wolf populations in US. Gray wolves are apex predators throughout most studies have indicated that all domestic dog breeds are However, many people, particularly in the ranching of their range, meaning they are at the top of the food genetically descended from gray wolves. Unlike dogs, community, continue to oppose wolf reintroduction due chain. They feed primarily on large, hoofed animals however, wolves are instinctively shy, wary of humans, to fears of livestock predation. Innovative methods of (ungulates) such as deer and elk but also feeding and are very elusive in the wild. wolf deterrents, combined with compensation programs, on smaller prey such as rabbit, beaver, and squirrel.

Wolves are highly social animals and live in packs can help ease these concerns, but we may yet have a Traveling over large areas to hunt, covering as much as of two to 30 members, with an average pack size of long way to go before the wolf can reclaim more of 30 miles in a day, a pack’s territory can range from 20 six to eight. Although pack structure is hierarchical, its historical range in the U.S. to 400 square miles. Wolf howls and other vocalizations led by an alpha breeding pair (which are typically

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Something got your goat?

If there’s a story you would like to see covered in EcoNews, contact us and let us know!

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February/March 2012 ECONEWS

the Kids’ Page MEET A REDWOOD TREE! Hi! I am a coast redwood tree.

Coast redwoods are found along the California coast from central California near Santa Cruz to just 14 miles over the Oregon border. We like the cooler temperatures along the coast and we love the fog. One of the reasons we grow so big is because we drink fog right out of the sky! The water condenses on our leaves and drips to the ground, where it can be soaked up by our roots. Redwood trees can use up to 500 gallons of water a day!

We are the tallest trees in the world—taller than a 30 story building!—and we live to be pretty old too. I’m 212 years old, but I’m just a kid. My mom lived to be 1,147 years old! Redwoods like me have really small cones for how big we are, and long, shallow roots. Our roots interconnect with neighbor redwoods, like holdings hands underground! This helps us to stand tall and not fall down when the wind blows.

Redwoods are a type of conifer, or “evergreen” tree, which means we don’t lose our leaves in the fall. We have skinny needles instead of flat leaves that stay green all year long. I live in a coniferous forest with other types of trees and plants. Some of my neighbors are Sitka spruce and Douglas fir trees. Bigleaf maple, grand fir, cedars, western hemlock, madrone and tanoaks can also be found in redwood forests. The ground is covered in ferns, huckleberry, thimbleberry, salmonberry, redwood sorrel, trillium, and fungi.

I really like the lichens that grow on some trees in the forest, and make beautiful patterns on the trunk. Lichens don’t like to grow on me because I have tannin in my bark. Tannin helps me avoid disease and pests, but the lichens don’t like it.

There are many animal friends that live in the Redwood forest

ECONEWS February/March 2012

with us, and a lot of birds that visit our branches—like the endangered spotted owl and marbled murrelet.

Jays, wrens, woodpeckers, and many small songbirds also live here.

Mammals live in the redwood forest too. My favorite animal to watch is the northern flying squirrel. It’s really cute when it pokes its head out of the dead tree it lives in. I see it bringing long strands of lichens home to eat.

When it leaves, it spreads its arms and legs and uses the skin flaps between them to glide down. Bats also live in cavities in the trees.

A wandering salamander lives high up my trunk under pieces of bark, eating small invertebrates. I think it is a beautiful, interesting animal, with green-gold flecks all over its body, square-tipped toes and a prehensile tail that helps it grip the bark.

Large mammals live here too, like black bears that eat the berries in the forest, and mountain lions that roam over wide areas looking for small animals to eat.

The decomposers do most of the clean up on the forest floor.

Some of our decomposers are banana slugs, redwood snails, and fungi. They feed on fallen leaves, downed trees and other dead litter on the floor, and help return nutrients back to the earth so more things can grow in our forest.

Over the last few hundred years, most of the coast redwood forests have been cut down. Today only a small amount of old growth redwoods are left in the forest. Two places you can see magnificent old growth redwoods are Humboldt Redwoods State Park and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.

Visit a redwood forest with your family, and see how beautiful they are for yourself!

Visit the redwoods! http://humboldtredwoods.org/ Go for a hike! http://www.redwoodhikes.com/ Humboldt/Humboldt.html.

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An Austrian inventor has won a $750,000 government grant to create a museum of failed inventions.

Fritz Gall has opened the Museum of Nonsense in Herrnbaumgarten, Austria, devoted to utterly useless creations like pencils for cautious civil servants with no lead, portable holes, a fully transportable hat stand or a bristleless toothbrush for people with no teeth.

“We held our first fair for rubbish inventions and thought we’d get 20 or 30 visitors, but more than 5,000 came and so we knew we were obviously onto something,” Gall explained.

Here at the NEC, we sometimes feel like those failed inventors— except our creations aren’t useless. Like the first rural recycling center in the country, now failed because of some bureaucratic bumbling.

Or the tearing-down of needless Klamath dams, now held up for years, with environmental groups on all sides of the issue.

Or the still-to-be-invented answer to the question of what should we do with Humboldt County’s “excess” river water because of the state’s use it or lose it policy.

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Until there’s a successful response, send a contribution to those sawing away on these knotty questions. That’s the NEC, POB 4259, Arcata, CA 95518. Or join in on the deliberations by becoming a member at www.yournec.org.

Thank you, non-failures.

17th Annual

G O DW I T D A Y S S PRI N G M I G RA T I O N B I RD F EST I VA L

April 19-25, 2012

• More than 100 events to choose from: field trips, lectures, workshops, boat and kayak excursions, and a banquet.

artwork © 2011 by Allison Reed

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NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID Arcata, CA PERMIT NO. 3

791 Eighth St., P.O. Box 4259 Arcata, CA 95521

• Humboldt “Big Day” - see over 100 bird species on a single day.

• Keynote Speaker Keith Woodley, Manager of Miranda Shorebird Centre in New Zealand, author of Godwits: Long Haul Champions

• 235+ cumulative bird species recorded during past festivals.

•Free community activities: vendors and exhibit booths, optics, art show, live birds of prey, student art competition, family nature activities.•

1-800-908-WING or 707-826-7050

www.godwitdays.org