EcoNews Report

The Smith River needs your help. Agricultural operations along the estuary are polluting the river with high levels of pesticides. This pesticide pollution is impacting coho salmon, tidewater goby and other wildlife that rely on the river, as well as the human residents that live amongst the pollution.

Greg King, executive director of the Siskiyou Land Conservancy, joins the show to discuss his organization’s new report detailing the 40 year history of pesticide pollution in the river and what needs to be done to restore it.

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“One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.” - Aldo Leopold

Do you also have a gnawing, seemingly ever-present hum in the back of your head—an intrusive thought about the immensity of the climate crisis and your own miniscule ability to do anything about it? If so, you are not alone. Some 83% of the United States thinks that climate change poses a "serious and imminent threat to the planet" and "59% of youth and young adults said they were very or extremely worried about climate change."

Doomerism is not the only option. Would you like to reduce your own eco-anxiety? This show is for you. Join Chelsea Pulliam, EcoSomatic Coach at Somatic Earth, for a discussion about how you can cultivate resilience. 

Want to hear more? Check our interview with Sarah Jaquette Ray, author of A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety.

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This week on the EcoNews Report, we discuss how fish are monitored and counted. Our host Alicia Hamann from Friends of the Eel River is joined by Dave Kajtaniak from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Samantha Kannry from TRIB Research. Tune in to learn about the hopeful returns salmon returns on the Eel and why preserving genetic diversity is so important to giving species the adaptability they need to survive our changing climate.

Click here to learn more about TRIB Research.

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The industrial legacy of the 20th Century left many contaminated sites around Humboldt Bay. Our second special episode on communities at risk from sea level rise features local residents talking about several of the most vulnerable sites, including Tuluwat Island, Butcher Slough in Arcata, and the nuclear waste storage site above King Salmon. Many thanks to Hilanea Wilkinson, Adam Canter, Jerry Rohde, Nate Faith, and to Jessie Eden, who produced this episode with funding provided by the California Coastal Commission Whale Tail Grant Program.   

For more info:

• The 44 Feet Project
•  Cal Poly Humboldt Sea Level Rise Institute
• Humboldt Bay Shoreline, North Eureka to South Arcata: A History of Cultural Influences - Jerry Rohde
• Humboldt Bay King Tide Photo Project - Humboldt Waterkeeper

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Spice up your life by checking out the spectacular dunes of Humboldt County! Just like the shifting sands of Arrakis in the iconic Dune series, these sandy landscapes are home to unique and fragile ecosystems, adapted over millennia, which were once at threat from exploitation. And who are the Fremen that protect our dunes from OHVs, invasive species, and other threats? Meet Suzie Fortner, the new executive director of Friends of the Dunes. Suzie and outgoing executive director Mike Cipra join the show to discuss the restoration and education work of the Friends and why our Dunes are worth fighting for!

Need some gear? Check out the annual Get Outside Gear Sale on April 6 (open for members starting at 11am-noon and the general public 12-6pm). Or donate your own used gear! *No Stillsuits, used helmets, weapons, skis, snowboards, moldy/rusty items, and other similar items.

Want more? Meet the original Muad'Dib of the dunes, Hortense Lanphere.

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Klamath River dam removal is underway, with drawdown of the three largest reservoirs occurring now and physical removal of these dam structures scheduled for this summer. The dams have impacted the river for over a hundred years and dam removal has its own environmental impacts. While fish biologists and water quality scientists are confident that the long-term benefits will outweigh the short-term impacts, a loud group of dam removal antagonists have glommed onto the ‘messy’ part of this massive ecosystem restoration project — temporary increases in suspended sediment and associated impacts to water quality and the recent mortality event of hatchery juvenile salmon— to continue their fight against dam removal.

Luckily, Toz Soto, Senior Fisheries Biologist with the Karuk Tribe, and Dr. Maia Singer, Senior Scientist at Stillwater Sciences, join the show to help sort fact from fiction.

For more information about Klamath Dam removal, check out:

Lower Klamath Project – Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) | California State Water Resources Control Board

Klamath Dam Removal Overview Report for the Secretary of the Interior an Assessment of Science and Technical Information, Version 1.1, March 2013 | FWS.gov

Klamath Dam Removal Studies | U.S. Geological Survey (usgs.gov)

Klamath River Renewal (klamathrenewal.org)

Klamath Basin Monitoring Program

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Mass transit along California's North Coast is difficult. The long distances between rural communities are trouble for ordinary battery-powered electric buses, which don't have the range to make there-and-back trips. Hydrogen buses, however, are able to make the long journey. And thanks to a $38.7 million grant, Humboldt Transit Authority is purchasing 11 state-of-the-art buses and building a hydrogen fueling station. Guests Peter Lehman of the Schatz Energy Research Center and Jerome Qiriazi join the show to discuss Humboldt's forthcoming fleet of hydrogen buses. 

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Join us for the first in a special series on communities at risk from sea level rise featuring local residents who share their thoughts on the challenges and potential solutions facing our region. 

Many thanks to Marnie Atkins, Jerry Rohde, Nate Faith, Troy Nicolini, Adam Canter, and to Jessie Eden, who produced this episode with funding provided by the California Coastal Commission Whale Tail Grant Program.  

For more info: 

• Cal Poly Humboldt Sea Level Rise Institute
• Communities at Risk: King Salmon, Fields Landing, Fairhaven and Finntown - Aldaron Laird
• Humboldt Bay Shoreline, North Eureka to South Arcata: A History of Cultural Influences - Jerry Rohde
• Humboldt Bay King Tide Photo Project - Humboldt Waterkeeper

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The Humboldt Bay Harbor District has been in the news a lot this year. The Harbor District has committed to a "green terminal" strategy that commits the District to a goal of a zero emission terminal capable of building offshore wind turbines. And Congressman Huffman helped to deliver $426m in federal funding for the construction of this new green terminal.

What does building a green terminal look like? Maddy Hunt and Ysabelle Yrad, fellows at the Blue Lake Rancheria, have produced a new white paper on the state of port electrification that offers insights into what a green terminal in Humboldt might look like. 

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Humboldt County's transmission infrastructure is old. Connections to the larger grid are weak and undersized, forcing Humboldt to be reliant on the fracked gas-burning Humboldt Bay Generating Station because we cannot pull enough power from our grid connections to keep the lights on. And, conversely, those same undersized powerlines mean we cannot export the power that would be generated from offshore wind. Until new grid infrastructure is operational, offshore wind can't be operational.

While offshore wind is driving grid improvements, grid improvements can also benefit Humboldt. With improved grid connections, we can shut down our greenhouse gas-spewing power plant. And improvements to the grid can improve energy resiliency for communities like Hoopa that frequently experience outages. 

Arne Jacobson of the Schatz Energy Research Lab joins the EcoNews to discuss recent research produced by Schatz on transmission infrastructure planning. 

Required reading:

Northern California and Southern Oregon Offshore Wind Transmission Study

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