News

A call to action

4/11/14 

The North Coast regional water board has sounded the alarm. After examining nine years of data gathered by Humboldt Baykeeper, a nonprofit environmental watchdog group, the board is moving to ask California for help.

The problem? Six local waterways -- Little River, Widow White Creek, Martin Slough, Elk River, Jolly Giant Creek and Campbell Creek -- have alarming levels of fecal bacteria. At least one, Jolly Giant, has recent samples showing over 600 times the acceptable level under state regulations. The source? Unknown. Suspects include septic failures, leaky pipes, ag runoff, pets and transient camps.

Six local Humboldt County waterways under attack: Over 600 times healthy bacteria level detected in creek

4/10/14  

With the North Coast regional water board recommending that six local waterways containing high levels of fecal bacteria be added to state list of impaired waters, the next task is finding the original source of these microbes.

  “In some cases, it’s just a mystery,” Humboldt Baykeeper Policy Director Jennifer Kalt said. “We are trying to raise money to do a study to see where it is coming from so we can develop a strategy to reduce this type of pollution.”

Board continues General Plan review   

Planning Commission to focus on Housing Element

3/11/14

  After the Humboldt County Planning Commission’s controversial, two-month review of the General Plan’s Conservation and Open Space Elements, the board of supervisors unanimously decided it was time to carry on.

  Fifth District Supervisor Ryan Sundberg said with the commission failing to get through the 13 policy short list as had been instructed by board, the choice was clear.

Company to court: Nix billboard removal plans

  Coastal Commission expects Caltrans to eliminate signs as part of its Highway 101 safety project

3/4/14

The next round in the battle of the bay billboards may take place not along the 6-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 101 between Arcata and Eureka, but in Humboldt County Superior Court.

  CBS Outdoor Incorporated, which in a document filed by its attorneys claims to be the owner of about 20 billboards along the, is asking the court to rule against the California Coastal Commission, which in November of 2013 made the removal of all corridor billboards one condition of its approval of Caltrans’ Eureka-Arcata Route 101 Corridor Improvement Project.

County Denies Halvorsen Quarry Appeal

1/7/14

It’s become a familiar experience for Mark Lovelace — being on the short end of 4-1 votes — and in the first Board of Supervisors meeting of 2014 the 3rd district supervisor was again the lone dissenter on two contentious decisions...

The Halvorsen Quarry appeal issue has been convoluted, full of acronym-laden discussions of state agencies, permits, mining law and the like. In a nutshell, the deal is this: The owner of the roughly 70-year-old quarry, Ryan Schneider (who’s usually represented by his father, Dave), has been trying to renew the reclamation plan for the site — that is, the rules governing what must be done once the mine is shut down (in 2025 or later). The application was approved by the county Planning Commission last year, but local environmental groups Humboldt Baykeeper and California Trout objected, arguing that the plan has insufficient protections for coho in the neighboring Rocky Creek as well as osprey, peregrine falcons, bald eagles (the Humboldt Bay Eagle Cam nest is nearby) and other wildlife.