EcoNews Report

Hear that howl of joy? It's because gray wolves are coming home to California. Once extirpated from the state, with the last wolf killed in Lassen County in 1924, wolves have been making a quick recovery in the Golden State. Now, only 13 years since the first wolf came back to our state, the California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) reports that 5 out of the 7 gray wolf families in the state have reproduced this year.

Gray wolves are recovering thanks to protections under the Endangered Species Act, but with constant threats to the law and to the listing of wolves under the Act, protections for gray wolves are iffy. 

Amaroq Weiss, Senior Wolf Advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, joins the EcoNews Report to celebrate the good news and to talk about the long political history to secure protections for gray wolves. 

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In late August, Russian Riverkeeper and the California Coastkeeper Alliance got what looks like a very significant ruling in their challenge to Sonoma County’s well permitting ordinance. The groups say that by allowing excessive and unmonitored groundwater extraction, the County is failing to protect surface flows in creeks and rivers that fish, wildlife, and recreation need. The court agreed, holding that under the Public Trust doctrine, Sonoma County has an affirmative duty to take the public trust into account in the planning and allocation of water resources, and to protect public trust uses whenever feasible,” but that the County failed to do so, overlooking impacts on the public trust, including cumulative effects.

In this episode of the EcoNews Report, Friends of the Eel River Conservation Director Scott Greacen and EPIC Executive Director Tom Wheeler talk to three people deeply involved in these questions.

• Rue Furch, former Sonoma County planning commissioner and veteran Russian River advocate.
• Don McEnhill, the Executive Director of Russian Riverkeeper.
• Drev Hunt, Legal Director for California Coastkeeper, and one of the attorneys
on the case, with Jaime Neary of Russian Riverkeeper, Daniel Cooper of Sycamore
Law, and Amy Minteer and Michelle Black of Carstens, Black and Minteer LLP.

Further reading:
• A Landmark Victory for California Waters - California Coastkeeper Alliance
• Why You Should Care About the Public Trust Doctrine - Russian Riverkeeper 

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Climate change promises to wreak havoc on Humboldt County. And Humboldt County is responding to this threat … slowly. 

A draft of the long-delayed Regional Climate Action Plan is here. Colin Fiske, executive director of the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities, and Matt Simmons, climate attorney at the Environmental Protection Information Center, join the show to review the draft and offer suggestions for how it can be improved.

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Eureka voters will be asked to decide on Measure F, the pro-parking ballot measure that opponents warn would thwart ongoing plans to build affordable housing downtown. If it passes, what are the consequences. The California Housing Defense Fund, a non-profit that ensures California's housing laws are follows, recently sent a letter to the City of Eureka warning that should Measure F pass, it could "wreak legal and financial havoc."

On this week's show, Dylan Casey and James Lloyd of the California Housing Defense Fund join the show to discuss California housing law and elaborate on their letter to the city. 

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It's easy to spiral when thinking about all that dooms our planet: forever chemicals, climate change, species extinction, and so on. Feeling overwhelmed by overwhelmed by eco-distress is normal. And there are ways to lessen that anxiety. Eco-chaplain Hanna Nielsen joins the show to discuss how to become a more resilient (and more impactful) person.

Hanna, together with the Good Grief Network, is also hosting a 10-week program this fall on building community and personal resilience. Sessions run weekly, each Sunday starting September 15, from 2-4pm. And thanks to our friends at Queer Humboldt, the series is free! Space is limited. If you are interested, please email [email protected].

Other listening:

An Existential Toolkit for the Climate Generation

Coping with Climate Anxiety 

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Wildfires are burning across many parts of California, including in Humboldt County. Fires are complicated. Fire is somewhat paradoxical. It is both a natural phenomenon and necessary for forest health, yet some large fires are unnatural. The way to reduce big bad fires may be more, smaller fires. 

Complicated things are difficult to understand and even harder to discuss well in public. Luckily, the EcoNews Report has Lenya Quinn-Davidson, Director of the University of California Agricultural and Natural Resource's Fire Network, who is both thoughtful and a good communicator about fire. Listen in and up your fire knowledge!

Are you a property owner and interested in returning fire to your land? Find out about local networks at the California Prescribed Burn Association or check out the Fire Network to learn more about preparing your home, fire-wise landscaping, evacuation planning, and more.

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Should we borrow money to pay for urgent environmental priorities? That's the question before voters this fall. Proposition 4 asks for the state to issue $10 billion in new bonds to pay for drinking water improvements, forest restoration work, land conservation, kelp forest reestablishment, and climate action. The bond measure would direct that 40% of funding be explicitly directed towards under-resourced communities or are impacted by natural disasters. Josefina Barrantes and Kim Delfino join the show to discuss the bond measure and how the North Coast stands to benefit from an investment in environmental protection. 

Required Reading:

• CalMatters has helpful info on Prop. 4 and other California ballot measures.

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The Northwest Forest Plan turns 30 this year. The Plan, which governs federal forest management within the range of the northern spotted owl, was a first of its kind: a landscape level ecosystem management plan. While the Plan has been a success on many fronts, it is also showing its age. Climate change and tribal sovereignty were issues that were never well-addressed in the original plan. Now, the Forest Service is moving forward on amendments to the plan to update it to better reflect modern issues and modern needs on public forests.

To help direct that amendment, the Forest Service has convened a “federal advisory committee” of concerned citizens to provide recommendations. This week’s guest, Susan Jane Brown of Silvix Resources, is one of the co-chairs of the advisory committee. She shares her perspective on the Plan and potential amendments on this week’s episode.

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Your favorite enviro do-gooders, Jen Kalt of Humboldt Waterkeeper and Tom Wheeler and Matt Simmons of EPIC, recently went on a fact-finding mission to Norway to investigate offshore wind of the Norwegian coast. Join them and other guests in an exploration of this technology in action. 

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Northcoastoffshorewind.org is a new website designed to provide objective answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about offshore wind with links to primary sources.

On this week's show, Matt Simmons of EPIC and Jen Kalt of Humboldt Waterkeeper answer the top 10 most frequent questions that we get about offshore wind. Want to learn about whales, birds, fish and more? Listen in or go to https://www.northcoastoffshorewind.org/.

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