Daniel Mintz Mad River Union HUMBOLDT – Words like “huge” and “monumental” were used by county staff as the Planning Commission was briefed on the potential effects of sea level rise and the challenges of responding to it. Policy options for avoiding and dealing with the impacts were outlined as the commission held a fourth…
Fishermen sue Big Oil over closures
Daniel Mintz Mad River Union HUMBOLDT – West Coast fishermen are fighting the oil and gas industry, accusing 30 fossil fuel companies of advancing climate change and causing a series of Dungeness crab closures. Filed on Nov. 14 in California State Superior Court in San Francisco by the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, the…
Arcata braces for rising seas
Kevin L. Hoover Mad River Union ARCATA – With the Humboldt Bay and the Pacific Ocean lapping thirstily at its southern edges, Arcata’s low-lying lands are facing eventual inundation. It likely won’t happen overnight, and property in the area may still see use, and even fresh construction, for decades to come. But preparing for the…
October is Sea Level Rise Awareness Month
City of Arcata ARCATA – Do you worry that government won’t do enough to protect us from a changing climate? Wondering how your life would look if you downsized your personal carbon footprint, or if it’s even possible? In this series of six meetings, led by Patrick Carr, we consider the practical options for reducing…
Sea level rise response requires radical rethinks
Patrick Evans Mad River Union ARCATA – Arcata is almost an island in a photo taken after heavy winter rain in 1975. Water laps at the edges of U.S. Highway 101 and Samoa Boulevard and connects the Mad River to Humboldt Bay via the Arcata Bottom. The photo is a preview of the city’s future,…
King Salmon, Fields Landing & Finn Town to get studied for sea level rise
SEA LEVEL RISE On Aug. 9 the California Coastal Commission awarded a $50,000 grant to Humboldt County to develop collaborative strategies to address sea level rise for some of the county’s most vulnerable areas – King Salmon, Fields Landing and Fairhaven/Finn Town. These communities are located along Humboldt Bay and at very low elevations. They’re…
Sea level rise experts urge more science
Paul Mann Mad River Union ARCATA — Local sea rise experts have alerted the California Coastal Commission that the state’s pending update of sea level science findings overlooks two crucial studies of the North Coast’s vulnerabilities. At a commission hearing June 7 at Humboldt State University, veteran environmental planner Aldaron Laird of Trinity Associates, Arcata,…
S.O.S. report: Salmon, steelhead, trout face extinction
All things by nature are ready to get worse, lapse backward. – Virgil, The Georgics Paul Mann Mad River Union CALIFORNIA – Nearly 75 percent of California’s 31 salmon, steelhead and trout species could be wiped out within 100 years by climate change, drought and human factors if current ecological trends are not reversed, according…
Arcata will protect, accommodate and retreat from rising sea waters
As the climate changes and Arcata Bay waters rise, Arcata faces fateful choices about its future; City Council to make far-reaching, costly decisions that will affect property values, development and shape Arcata well into the future; critical facilities to be protected, then relocated; policies forming up as massive public outreach and education required Kevin L. Hoover Mad River…
‘Arcata is not going to be here’ – city to adapt, protect and retreat from sea level rise
Kevin L. Hoover Mad River Union ARCATA – “By 2050, this will be normal,” said Aldaron Laird, standing near the top of an Arcata wastewater treatment pond levee as waves broke at his feet. A small group had trekked out to the Rising Tides Bench during a nine-foot King Tide on Dec. 13 for a…