49 Years of Environmental News Arcata, California Vol. 50, No. 3 June 2020

ECEC NNPublished by the Northcoast EWS EWS Environmental Center Since 1971

Now Monthly!

Rodenticide is never the solution

Pottery Valley Project Progresses| Raptors are the solution | Trash-a-thon | Billboard Stays down Responsible Outdoor Recreation | Kin to the Earth: Sammy Gensaw | Field Guide to Climate Anxiety News From the Center Larry Glass, Executive Director and missed a step. Here is what each of us and Journalist has been working Carrie Tully, Admin & Dev. Director has been working on: to provide more digital news content. One challenge of only As environmentally conscious • NEC’s Administrative Assistant, publishing every other month people grapple with the spread of Outreach Coordinator, and EcoNews has been keeping news stories COVID-19, we must point out the Graphic Designer, Chelsea Pulliam pertinent and timely.  ough obvious: that the same science-denial has been working hard to bring you we maintained distribution of which has led us to the climate crisis EcoNews. Chelsea has been making the paper during April and May, is leading this country down a path sure to keep you informed with the the shelter-in-place order gave of death and destruction. When latest news on social media and the us the opportunity to put more we think about all of the social and NEC website. Additionally, she is energy into our digital presence environmental disasters that our the creative mind behind our new in preparation for transitioning generation alone has experienced, it event, Trash-A-Thon: a creative, to monthly publication. is impossible to ignore how they are direct-action activism and fundraising all connected. It is the goal of the event during social distancing. • Our HSU Work Study Office NEC to show our community how Support Staff, Brittany vital it is to not only understand these • Coastal Programs at the NEC have Kleinschnitz, was unable to do Work pandemic. She has been working connections, but to work towards kicked into high gear with the help Study, but opted to continue to support hard to learn the ins and outs of improving them as well. Our goal is of our year-round part time Coastal the NEC as a volunteer throughout the the office from a distance. She is to educate the public so that we can Programs Coordinator, Casey Summer. She had to shelter-in-place in enhancing connection with our already all make science-based decisions Cruikshank. We facilitate year-round Berkeley in the beginning while working enthusiastic staff by encouraging about our lives and the world. Despite debris data collection around Humboldt on sta projects as well as producing collaboration, while supporting their having to be sheltered at home, we and use the data to guide us toward our weekly Mindful Mondays on initiatives to continue to create new have continued to function as the solution-based projects regarding social media - nature based wellness content, projects, and events. It is a NEC remotely.  ough our lives have local marine debris. The Coastal tips and connections to supportive great symbiotic relationship as she all changed signi cantly over the last Programs Advisory Committee brings resources during COVID-19. inspires them, and they inspire her. few months, here at the Center we heads together from debris focused are working harder, smarter, and safer groups around Humboldt County • I would like to report what a great • We continue to work along with national than ever before! creating a collaborative and productive job our new Administrative and and regional conservation groups Our sta and board members environment for tackling these issues. Development Director, Carrie Tully, to support Congressman Hu man are still hard at work and practicing has done despite starting work at the and Senator Kamala Harris’s bills to “spacious solidarity” and they haven’t • Caroline Gri th, EcoNews Coordinator NEC in the middle of an unprecedented protect Public Lands in California. Continued

NEC Member Groups EcoNews Coordinator: Caroline Gri th EcoNews Graphic Layout: Chelsea Pulliam NEC Board Of Directors Humboldt Baykeeper EC N EWS www.humboldtbaykeeper.org Proofreaders: Terra Friedman To contact NEC Board Members, please write to [email protected] Sierra Club, North Group, 415 I Street, Arcata, CA 95521 Authors: Larry Glass, Carrie Tully, Johanna Redwood Chapter PO Box 4259, Arcata, CA 95518 Rivera, Jen Kalt, Caroline Gri th, Dan Sealy, Colin President: Larry Glass, Safe Alternatives www.redwood.sierraclub.org/north/ 707- 822-6918 Fiske, Tom Wheeler, Maggie Gainer, Gi ord Hall, for our Forest Environment California Native Plant Society www.yournec.org Rhiannon Lewis-Stephenson, Amber Jamieson, Vice-President: Margaret Gainer, At-Large North Coast Chapter Alicia Hamann, Carolyn Hawkins, Felice Pace, www.northcoastcnps.org Secretary: Jennifer Kalt, Humboldt Carol Ralph, Jamie Carlino, Martha Walden, Baykeeper Redwood Region Audubon EcoNews is the official bi-monthly David Cobb, Casey Cruikshank, Ellen E. Taylor. Society Treasurer: Chris Jenican Beresford, www.rras.org publication of the Northcoast Cover: Non-native brown rat. Rodenticides At-Large Environmental Center (NEC), a killl more than just rats. Photo credit: Leslie Friends of the Eel River Scopes Anderson Joan Tippets, Calfornia Native Plant Society www.eelriver.org non-profit organization. Third class CJ Ralph, Redwood Region Audubon Society Safe Alternatives for our Forest postage paid in Arcata. ISSN No. Richard Kreis, Sierra Club, North Group Environment (SAFE) 0885-7237. EcoNews is mailed to NEC Staff Alicia Hamann, Friends of the Eel River www.safealt.org our members and distributed free Environmental Protection throughout the Northern California Executive Director: Tom Wheeler, Environmental Protection Information Center Information Center (EPIC) and Southern Oregon bioregion. The Larry Glass, [email protected] www.wildcalifornia.org Dan Sealy, At-Large subscription rate is $50 per year. Administrative & Development Director: Carrie Tully, [email protected] Aisha Cissna, At-Large EcoNews Coordinator/Journalist: NEC Affiliate Members The ideas and views expressed Caroline Gri th, [email protected] Humboldt Baykeeper Friends of Del Norte in EcoNews are not necessarily www.fodn.org Coastal Programs Coordinator: Fiscally sponsored by the NEC those of the NEC. Casey Cruischank , [email protected] Zero Waste Humboldt Director: www.zerowastehumboldt.org Admin. Assistant & Outreach Coordinator: Jennifer Kalt, [email protected] Chelsea Pulliam, [email protected] Californians for Alternatives to Toxics Bay Tours Coordinator: www.alt2tox.org Bookkeeping Assistant: Jasmin Segura, [email protected] Coalition for Responsible Transportation Anita Gilbride-Read, volunteer Priorities www.transportationpriorities.org News from the Center Continued from prior page Letters to EcoNews We want to hear from you! Write us a In This Issue letter 300 words or less that’s relevant to • ... e bill has been expanded to include two other EcoNews and we’ll consider publishing it! Letters may be edited and shortened for 3 Getting Out with Latino Outdoors Public Lands bills in Central and Southern California, space. The NEC reserves the right to reject making them one uni ed bill called  e Public any submitted material for any reason. Don’t 4 Pottery Valley Project Progresses Lands Act.  is Act encompasses all of the areas forget to include your contact information when submitting! 5 Outlaw Cannabis Continues on Public Land that we set out to protect in Congressman Hu man’s Send to [email protected] 6 Rodent Problem, Raptor Solution original Mountains and Rivers Bill as well as lands in Central and Southern California. Recently, with 7 Humboldt Baykeeper: Coastal Diversity the help of Councilman Brett Watson and our Microscope Donations 8 County Denies Billboard Permit encouragement, the Arcata City Council sent a unanimous letter of support directly to Senator Harris. We are donating 3 compound 8 Broadway Corridor Plan microscopes to local schools. 9 NEXUS: ‘Planet of the Humans’ Review • We are still monitoring the Six Rivers National If you would like to be Forest Fuels and Fire Project and are awaiting the considered for donation 10 A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety Review release of the draft Environmental Assessment please write a letter expressing 11 Kin to the Earth: Sammy Gensaw (EA). So far we are supportive of their attempts at how this would bene t your using  re as a management tool, and we hope to classroom. Submit to 12 California Native Plant Society see their implementation plan. I recently attended a [email protected] 12 Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorties demonstration of a new tool at their disposal called an Air Curtain which will allow them to burn slash and 13 Creature Feature: Mud Dauber Wasp brush at times of the year that they normally would 14 Monarch Butter y in Trouble not be able to. It does this without any visible smoke! 15 Environmental Protection Information Center • We are at the beginning stages of organizing around 16 Sierra Club Redwood Chapter North Group the Forest Planning Process in Region Five (CA) of the U.S. Forest Service after they announced that 17 Zero Waste Humboldt: COVID-19 & Plastics they will begin some form of scoping process for 17 Jobs Available in Environmental Health their Land and Resource Management Plans in four Northwest California forests later this year. 18 Casey’s Coastal Column: Trash-a-thon 19 NEC Legislative Interns 20 Eye on Washington The NEC is looking for help with some 21 Get on Board for the Climate projects! We Need: 22 Shorts: Bits of Positivity 1 - An Outdoor Newspaper Rack for EcoNews 22 EcoNews Report Report 2 - a display case made for our cigarette salmon 22 Rage of the Barred Owl Poem Interested in helping? Email [email protected] Bouquets SINCERE GRATITUDE TO: • HSU Professor Sarah Jaquette Ray for taking part in a special webinar interview about her new book, “A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming Planet.” Thank you for teaching the climate generation how become more resilient and more e ective activists. • North Coast Co-op shoppers for donating to the the NEC ‘s Coastal Programs through the Seeds of Change Round-Up Program. These funds will be used to help increase our marine debris removal education and prevention program from a one-day-a-year event to year-round programs. • Cooperation Humboldt for the incredible work they are doing in Humboldt County amidst COVID-19 Shelter In Place. Thank you for meeting community member needs by coordinating volunteers and resources.

EcoNews June 2020 www.yournec.org 2 getting out with latino outdoors

Johanna Rivera, surfacing this inequity now more than ever, more so Latino Outdoors Outings Leader for folks who live in urban areas. Sometimes, people do not have the privilege of “staying local” when  e Humboldt County Department of Public Health visiting some outdoor places.  is is a public health has recognized the importance of outdoor recreation issue since spending time in nature is beneficial, as an essential activity during the shelter in place order. therapeutic and healing to our mental and physical People have been encouraged to walk, bike and run wellbeing. In an e ort to overcome this inequity while while wearing facial coverings and remaining 6 feet sheltering in place, it’s time to expand the de nition away from others not living in the same household. of the “outdoors”. Nature is not only national and During these times when some of us are experiencing state parks, preserves, beaches and trails. If we slow an increase in stress, it is crucial we create time to down to observe the birds right outside our window, nurture our mental and physical health.  ere is a we will see it is currently nesting season and our little plethora of research that describes how getting outdoors friends out there are busy  ying back and forth picking and in tune with nature bene ts our wellbeing. yummy worms and bugs to feed their nestlings! How Physically, the outdoors is a natural gym, a space about downloading the iNaturalist app (see page 7) and to exercise while enjoying some immune boosting identifying some of the creatures we see in our yards? vitamin D from the sun! Mentally, being outdoors gifts Currently, all Latino Outdoors events have been us moments of living in the present, becoming mindful canceled nationally and we have started experimenting as we observe and engage with the sounds, sights and with online programming. Locally, we have used our sensations of nature.  is mindful connection helps social media platforms to inform familias of nature- reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and increases our based citizen science programs that can be done creativity and problem-solving abilities. Bird watchers right outside their home or in a neighborhood park, know the sense of self-con dence they feel when they acknowledging some familias do not have yards. recognize and identify bird species! To keep our followers engaged in the outdoors, we ¡Pero esperen! Before anyone takes a break from have also asked them to post photographs of local their home, let’s go over ethical ways to enjoy the wild owers they see during their daily neighborhood outdoors safely during these times of shelter in place: stress relief walks. We have many ideas in the works coming soon, such as live streaming of reading kids • Check local tribal updates: Please respect the Trinidad State Beach Rocks tide pooling, beach geology & beach nature books and virtual tours of the redwood forest current tribal orders, people and land!  e Yurok safety. August 2019. Photo Credit: Johanna Rivera. ecosystem. Stay connected online for updates on our Tribe implemented closure on tribal lands, parks, programming,  nd us on Facebook as Latino Outdoors preserves, beaches and boat launches, which includes I would like to note that I am writing this article Humboldt, Instagram (lohumboldt) and our national no overnight camping to non-residents in hopes as a Latino Outdoors Outings Leader based in the website www.latinooutdoors.org. of eliminating exposure of COVID-19 to tribal rural Humboldt County of Northern California where You can reach me at [email protected]. members. we have plenty of access to nearby natural space. • Prepare before leaving your home: Look up Latino Outdoors is updates on closures to the place you wish to visit. a national non-pro t California State Parks have currently closed their organization, with parking lots. We can still access trails by foot or chapters in various bicycle. Pack facial coverings, water, snacks and states and cities. appropriate clothing for the weather in a small Latino Outdoors was backpack.  is backpack can then be used to carry created to support your trash home, since park visitor centers and Latinx familias in bathrooms are closed.  erefore, use the restroom being represented before you leave the house. Also, try not to visit in the outdoors certain places during peak hours to avoid crowding and guiding the • Be respectful of others: If you are sick, please do next generation not leave your home. Practice physical distancing of environmental and cover your face as needed. Stay local if possible leaders. Jose (we’ll touch base on this later…). Gonzalez founded • Read signs: Many parking lots and trail heads have Latino Outdoors posted COVID-19 guidelines. Please read signs partly to address before enjoying the space. the equity issue that • While outdoors: “Abre tus ojos, mira many people can hacia arriba, disfruta las cosas buenas que not access natural tiene la vida.” This great advice comes from spaces, especially Colombian cumbia band ‘La Sonora Dinamita’ people of color. COVID-19 is Intro to Birding & Wildlife at Freshwater Farms. October 2019. Photo Credit: Johanna Rivera.

3 www.yournec.org June 2020 EcoNews 3 Two-Basin Solution Progresses, But Questions Remain About Dam Removal

Caroline Gri th, of funding, the project could potentially EcoNews Journalist revert back to license surrender and FERC could start the decommissioning  e Scott Dam is one step closer process. If this happens, PG&E may be to coming down, allowing Eel River mandated to remove the facility, which salmon passage to upstream habitat for would be considered a capital cost, and it the  rst time in a century.  e dam is could then apply to the California Public part of the Potter Valley Project (PVP), Utilities Commission to recover those a hydroelectric project on the Eel River costs from ratepayers. So, the challenge that was  rst licensed in 1908. Consisting now is to negotiate with PG&E to ensure of two dams, a mile-long water diversion that it pays for part of the dam removal, tunnel and a hydroelectric plant with rather than just handing the burden o a 9.4mw capacity, the PVP has been to someone else. controversial for years. Not only does “Nobody wants to pay to keep Scott the Scott Dam block river access for Dam,” Hamann noted. “PG&E must be federally listed salmon species, but the held accountable for the damage its dams project also stores winter run-o from the and reservoirs have done to the Eel River Eel River basin and diverts an average of over the last century; they must pay their 65,000 acre-feet of water to the Russian fair share.  e plan suggests a potentially River basin. enormous price tag. Getting part way to Scott Dam at Lake Pillsbury. Photo Credit: Rob Badger, Friends of the Eel River Current owner, PG&E, announced dam removal won’t do any good for Eel in January 2019 that it would not seek River salmon and steelhead.” from Lake Mendocino Reservoir to the Potter Valley relicensing from the Federal Energy Regulatory As it said in a statement, “Friends of Irrigation District. Commission (FERC), citing economic concerns. the Eel River must consider the plan outlined today Prior to deciding not to go for relicensing, PG&E Now, a coalition of  ve stakeholders from Eel River not as the only hope of Eel River dam removal, but as attempted to auction o the Potter Valley Project, and Russian River communities has  led a Feasibility one possible path to that goal.  e question is whether but no quali ed buyers came forward. According to Report with FERC outlining a proposal to take over it o ers Eel River  sheries a better, faster and more Hamann, one of the reasons is that the project is not the PVP and remove the Scott Dam. Because of the equitable resolution than FERC’s decommissioning pro table; it is estimated that it loses $30 for every fact that the fate of this project a ects both the Eel process would.” $1 that it makes and it accounts for 0.1% of PG&E’s River and Russian River basins, an ad hoc committee  at said, the sta of FOER are still excited to energy production. It is also an environmental and brought together by Congressman Hu man in 2017 see the Scott Dam come down. “ is is essentially the safety liability, as it is not in compliance with modern has been working towards a “Two Basin Solution,” with reason that Friends of the Eel River was founded,” said environmental mandates to not cause harm to ESA aspects that will restore volitional  sh passage while Hamann. “And we are honored to be able to witness listed species and is, like many dams, located near a protecting water supply for the Russian River Valley. this. Because of the habitat here, we have potential to faultline.  e Two Basin Solution is guided by two  e coalition that submitted the report to FERC is do some really good things for salmon on the north "co-equal goals" of providing volitional  sh passage called the Two-Basin Partnership and came out of coast.” and avoiding adverse impacts to Russian River water Hu man’s ad hoc committee. supply. A  sh ladder could cost up to $100 million  e report lists key elements that must be in place dollars, and is likely to be ine ective. Taking down for the Two-Basin Solution to come to fruition.  ese the Scott Dam is the only technically feasible and the Have You Seen a River O er? include a new regional entity with the authority to own most economical way to avoid these liabilities and River o ers are important top predators in the North and operate the project; removal of Scott Dam and come into compliance with the Two-Basin Solution. Coast aquatic food chain. You can help track ecosystem modi cations to Cape Horn Dam; a  sheries restoration Another controversial aspect to the project is the health by reporting sightings of river o ers in Humboldt, plan for threatened and endangered species on the fact that, for decades, Potter Valley residents have been Eel River; modi cation of facilities to ensure reliable Del Norte, and adjacent counties for an ongoing study. paying signi cantly less than neighboring communities water supply to the Russian River Valley and maintain Record date, time, map location, # of o ers, and submit for water.  e main reasoning for diverting the water power generation capacity; and new infrastructure to your observations to: is for power generation, so the water that Potter provide a reliable water source to ranchers and farmers o [email protected] or 707-826-3439 Valley residents receive is considered a by-product. in the Potter Valley. As Hamann says, “In a state where water is gold, it’s Conservation groups, including NEC member- like they are getting the gold for free.” group Friends of the Eel River (FOER), have been “While the Eel River’s salmon and steelhead have working towards this end for decades, but that doesn’t paid a devastating price, going from a million  sh a year mean they are all in for this particular project. For to the brink of extinction, Potter Valley has had the Alicia Hamann, Executive Director of FOER, many bene ts of nearly free water for the last century,” said questions still remain, including questions of who FOER’s Conservation Director, Scott Greacen. “ ose would be included in the regional entity with authority who bene t from water diverted from the Eel River to run the project, and who will be paying for aspects in the future will have to cover the associated costs.” of the project that don’t fall under FERC jurisdiction, If the proposal by the Two-Basin Partnership doesn’t including a proposed pipeline that would pump water get approval from FERC, or partners drop out for lack

EcoNews June 2020 www.yournec.org 4 4 Outlaw Cannabis Operations Continue Growing on Public Lands

Caroline Gri th Before all of our attention got EcoNews Journalist refocused on the Coronavirus, California Congressman Jared While the shelter-in-place Huffman and Doug LaMalfa order is keeping much of were working through the House California safely at home, there Interior, Environment, and is one group of people who are Related Agencies Appropriations taking advantage of the empty Committee to secure funding roads and lack of prying eyes: for the CROP Project. Rep. black-market cannabis growers. Huffman’s recently passed  e National Forests and other Wilderness Bill has provisions to public lands of Northern “restore public lands a ected by California have long been home illegal trespass marijuana grows to environmentally disastrous by establishing a partnership of illegal grow operations, and federal, state, and local entities anecdotal reports out of Trinity to facilitate the recovery of land County indicate an increase in and waters damaged by illegal activity this spring. Many of marijuana growing sites.” these grow sites get abandoned If funding is alloted through at the end of the season or left the Appropriations Committee, in need of remediation after in addition to paying for raids by law enforcement.  ese remediation, a portion would sites often contain copious be used for reconnaissance to amounts of trash and remnants find grow sites hidden deep of incredibly toxic pesticides, in the forest. Another chunk herbicides and rodenticides. Polyline (irrigation tubing) removed from a trespass grow in the Shasta-Trinity National would go to increasing the law Another e ect of these grows Forest, which was illegally diverting streams. Photo by Jackee Riccio enforcement presence on public which may not be as readily lands in an e ort to deter illegal malathion, Brodifacoum/Bromadiolone, Carbofuran, visible as a pile of plastic, is the e ect on wildlife and activity in the  rst place. According to Morrill, right Methamidophos, and Cholecalciferol. Carbofuran is downstream communities when water is diverted for now law enforcement o cers on public lands cover the most toxic, EPA-banned pesticide that is regularly irrigation, or worse, contaminated with chemicals. about 250,000 acres per o cer. “ is is di cult in the found on grow sites. In addition to being a danger  ough this problem is largely hidden from the general best of times,” he added. When there are fewer o cers to those working at or cleaning up the sites, these public because of the secrecy inherent to a black patrolling, such as now when we are in a public health chemicals are devastating to wildlife.  e danger isn’t market operation, the CROP (Cannabis Removal on crisis, this can lead to an uptick in illegal activity. just for the animal that initially ingests the chemicals. Public Lands) Project is working to bring it out of “Trespass growers are opportunistic,” says Morrill. When scavengers and predators feast on animals killed the shadows. “ ey will grow where it’s easy to grow.  ere will be by rodenticides or pesticides, they can then be killed. A joint venture between the California Wilderness more opportunities with less enforcement.” More law If those animals are in turn eaten, the toxins work their Coalition (CalWild) and Community Governance enforcement o cers can be a deterrent, as can more way up the food chain. Rodenticides are now found Partnership, the CROP Project’s primary goals are to activity by people. in 95% of mountain lions statewide, 85% of  shers secure and increase state and federal resources for “Increase in outlaw grows is de nitely a concern are exposed to one or more toxicants, and California trespass grow reclamation; increase Forest Service law for law enforcement and conservation interests,” says spotted owls (ESA listed) have a 70% exposure rate. enforcement and overall presence in National Forests; Morrill. “In general there is a lack of enforcement and Jackee Riccio, CROP Project Regional Field Director, and increase criminal penalties for those bringing we are assuming there is going to be even less this year.” says that she has heard horrific stories of animal toxicants on to public lands. By some estimates there Riccio says that one way citizens can help out is poisonings from colleagues. One told the story of a are at least 1500 illicit grows in California, though by contacting their lawmakers and asking them to Black Bear sow and her cub found drinking from a nobody really knows the actual number, says Chris prioritize this issue. More pressure on lawmakers contaminated water source.  is colleague watched, Morrill, Executive Director of CalWild. What he does can lead to more funding, which is what it takes to helpless, as  rst the mother died and then her cub. know, is that it takes approximately $40,000 to reclaim prevent and clean-up after outlaw cannabis grows. Riccio has seen the horror herself, as well. She has each abandoned grow site. CROP also knows that only  e devastation wrought by illegal growing happens seen endangered  shers  ghting for their lives and 60-70% of illicit grow sites are ever discovered, making largely out of sight, so it’s important to spread the word ultimately losing. She has seen the piles of trash, funding and detection two of their big challenges, about what is happening on our public lands. “Share it environmental damage and clues as to the working along with disposing of the toxic substances that are on social media,” Riccio says. “Tell your friends.” And, conditions of those who are growing at the sites. She often found on illicit grow sites. it might go without saying, but buying cannabis from says that one site sticks in her mind because of the According to the CROP Project, 90% of sites legal farmers is another way to hinder illegal grows. discovery of baby clothes and toys among the other reclaimed in 2018 contained lethal, controlled But, until cannabis is legalized nationwide, there will discarded items. “ ere may have been children at or banned pesticides, including Sarin-based always be a black-market somewhere. these sites, with no safety precautions,” she says.

5 www.yournec.org June 2020 EcoNews When Rodents Are a Problem, Raptors Are The Solution

Jaime Carlino, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) do not leave pet food or bird seed outside, cover Raptors Are  e Solution as well as to analyze substantial new science about potential entry points (mice can squeeze through these impacts, also required under CEQA. CDPR holes the size of a dime), trim trees so rodents can’t Raptors Are  e Solution (RATS) is a non-pro t has agreed to re-evaluate second-generation ARs but jump onto roofs, and cover exposed pipes/ducts on organization working with a coalition of NGOs, is resisting re-evaluating  rst-generation. Both  rst roofs. To deter rodents from damaging crops (when agencies, scientists, municipalities, and individuals to and second generation ARs are frequently detected they seek water from the plants), try placing a pan of work toward eliminating toxic rodenticides from the in mammalian rodent predators throughout the state water in the area. Nest boxes and raptor perches can food web.  rough its Owl Wise Leader Program, be installed to encourage raptors to help control RATS incentivizes businesses, municipalities, rodents. If you have an established rodent issue, and communities to stop using poison and there are alternative methods to poison such switch to non-toxic methods of rodent control. as electrocution traps and snap traps.  ese Two Berkeley residents, Lisa Owens-Viani and products should only be placed where they Allen Fish, founded RATS in 2011 in response cannot be accessed by wildlife, pets, or children. to hawks dying in Lisa’s neighborhood. Lisa Humboldt Raptors Are  e Solution (HUM- suspected rodenticides were to blame, which RATS) was hatched in 2019 by Jaime Carlino, was later con rmed in necropsies of the birds. a Humboldt State University student studying Rodenticides are often split into two groups: wildlife. Jaime recognizes the importance of anticoagulant (AR) rodenticides and non- poison-free ecosystems to the diverse array of anticoagulant rodenticides. Non-ARs include wildlife species that occur in Humboldt County Bromethalin, Cholecalciferol, Zinc phosphide, and throughout the year. HUM-RATS’ mission is Strychnine. ARs are further split into two groups: to educate Humboldt County residents about first-generation anticoagulant rodenticides the harmful e ects of widespread use of toxic (Warfarin, Chlorophacinone, and Diphacinone) rodenticides and the ecological role of rodent- and second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides consuming wildlife species such as raptors. (Brodifacoum, Bromadiolone, and Difethialone). HUM-RATS has been working diligently Second-generation ARs are more dangerous to on its goal of assisting cities, local businesses, non-target species since just a single feeding farmers, and community members in transitioning can kill a rodent.  e state of California banned away from rodenticides. Prior to shelter in place consumer use of second-generation ARs in 2014. orders, this involved visiting local stores thought However, in a giant loophole, licensed pest control to sell rodenticides and collecting data on which companies are still permitted to administer products they carried. We also collect data on these toxicants, and so the problem continues. locations of commercial bait stations. HUM- Consumers can still use  rst generation ARs, RATS contacts these places in hopes of working which also poison wildlife, just more slowly. with them to limit the use/sale of rodenticides. ARs have both direct and cumulative e ects As part of this effort, HUM-RATS elicited on non-target species of wildlife, pets, and help from the community to report when and children. Direct e ects occur when an animal where people see bait boxes. A member of the consumes the bait. Scavenging animals often community informed them of 14+ bait boxes eat the bait directly. Cumulative e ects occur containing a harmful second-generation AR when an animal consumes a poisoned rodent surrounding the perimeter of a city building and is “secondarily” poisoned. After ingesting rat meters away from Humboldt Bay in Eureka. poisons, rodents become sick and disoriented, After informing the city about the toxic e ects of making them easy prey for hawks, owls, mountain Rat poisons (rodenticide) & the food chain: rat poision kills more than just rats. second-generation ARs and their close proximity lions, bobcats, coyotes, and foxes, all of which Photo Credit: National Park Service, Santa Monica to Humboldt Bay, the City of Eureka announced depend on rodents for food. Scavengers like Mountains National Recreation Area they would be removing the bait boxes from this skunks, raccoons and opossums as well as pet building.  e city also stated they would look dogs and cats are also at risk for secondary into e ective alternative measures if their rodent poisoning should they consume a poisoned rodent (96% of mountain lions, 90% of bobcats, and 86% issue recurred. HUM-RATS has o ered to assist them or an animal that has ingested a poisoned rodent. of coyotes in the Santa Monica Mountains).  ese to ensure no more poisons are placed on the landscape. In 2018, RATS  led a lawsuit against the California toxicants can weaken their immune systems, making HUM-RATS hopes it can use this positive experience Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR), a division them more susceptible to disease, and also a ect their with the City of Eureka in their e ort to remove all of the California Environmental Protection Agency, behavior and survivability. remaining bait boxes surrounding city buildings and which would require CDPR to re-evaluate second and RATS and its regional chapters encourage people work towards the same goal with the City of Arcata. If  rst-generation ARs due to their e ects on non-target to be proactive in reducing rat problems without the you’d like to receive updates from HUM-RATS, search species. RATS wants CDPR to fully analyze direct use of poison. Try raising chicken coops one and a ‘Humboldt Raptors Are  e Solution’ on Facebook or and cumulative e ects on non-target species under half feet above the ground, use a spinning composter, ‘humrats’ on Instagram.

EcoNews June 2020 www.yournec.org 6 Baykeeper Launches Humboldt Coastal Biodiversity Project Jennifer Kalt, Director Making observations and collecting information is easy – just take photos and upload them straight from a smartphone. Using this powerful citizen science tool, you can help document the biodiversity of Humboldt Bay’s rich ecosystems. Using iNaturalist is a great way to learn about plant and animal species. You can use the app to review possible identi cations by comparing images and location information. These identifications are then verified by experts from all over the world. And who knows – you could even discover a new species or a major range extension!

ere are two ways you can get involved: 1. Take photos and upload your observations: • Log in or sign up at www.inaturalist.org • Download the iNaturalist app to your smartphone The Humboldt Bay Trail follows a former rail right-of-way between (or learn how to upload photos from your the bay and Highway 101. The area is dominated by sweeping camera). vistas with abundant shorebirds, waterfowl, and salt marshes. The trail begins at the Arcata Marsh & Wildlife Sanctuary and ends at Do you love walking along the Eureka Waterfront • Take photos showing multiple features the City of Arcata’s southern boundary at Bracut. It will eventually Trail and the Humboldt Bay Trail in Arcata? Have you (e.g. owers, leaves, etc.). You can add multiple photos to the same observation by clicking the link to the Eureka Waterfront Trail to the south. Once completed, often admired a wild ower, bird, or insect, and wished the Humboldt Bay Trail will connect segments of the California you knew its name? Do you enjoy photographing nature? “+” icon. Coastal Trail stretching from Clam Beach in McKinleyville to the If so, you might enjoy our new Humboldt Coastal • Upload your observations to iNaturalist – you can south end of Eureka! Biodiversity Project. It is a great way to contribute to do this on the spot or save them for uploading citizen science – even if you don’t know the names later in batches. of the  ora and fauna! All you need is a smartphone 2. Identify plants and animals from the observations with the iNaturalist app. Although we originally people have uploaded: COVID-19 Safety for Outdoor Recreation • Log in and go to the Humboldt Coastal iNaturalist envisioned starting this project with group walks, this • Keep six feet or more between is an outdoor activity you can safely enjoy during the Project. • Look for observations that need identi cation. yourself and others. COVID-19 pandemic. • Bring a face mask or bandanna Observations are considered “research grade” iNaturalist is an app developed by the California in case you need to use it. when two people agree on the identi cation. Academy of Sciences and National Geographic • Be courteous and step off trails Society. People use it to upload observations of plants, Whether you are an expert in local birds, insects, to allow others to pass. animals, or fungi they’ve seen in the wild to a large plants, or fungi, we need you! • Follow signage – in some areas, trails are online database, where scientists and amateur nature designated one-way to maintain distance. enthusiasts from around the world log in to identify For more info about the Humboldt Coastal • Wash your hands before you go, carry these observations. Biodiversity Project, visit our website or go to www. hand sanitizer, cover your mouth and inaturalist.org/projects/humboldt-coastal-biodiversity- nose when coughing or sneezing, project. and avoid high-touch surfaces. Sign up for action alerts and other  anks to the California Coastal Conservancy for • Leave no trace. Take everything bay-related issues by emailing us at funding this project, along with our summer bay tours out with you to protect other [email protected]. (which have been postponed due to the pandemic). visitors and park workers. You can also like us on Facebook, follow us on • If you have cold or flu symptoms, or if you are 65 or older or medically Instagram (humboldt_baykeeper) and on Twitter vulnerable, please follow the public (@HumBaykeeper), and visit our website at health directives to stay home. humboldtbaykeeper.org.

7 www.yournec.org June 2020 EcoNews 7 Planning Commission Denies Billboard Permit

Jennifer Kalt, Humboldt Baykeeper of a billboard after it has been destroyed.” In 2011, Humboldt Baykeeper launched a In a  rst for Humboldt County, the Planning campaign to rid Highway 101 of billboards, with Commission voted 4-2 on May 7 to deny a permit a focus on the area between Eureka and Arcata to "reconstruct" a billboard that collapsed along where nearly two dozen billboards stood blocking Highway 101 south of Eureka last winter. views of Humboldt Bay. Since then, 18 billboards Although the billboard will need new footings have been removed, most recently the Chevron and uprights, County planners had recommended sign that was destroyed by wind last November. approval under the guise of "customary Too many people to mention have had a maintenance," since a new billboard would never hand in this e ort: Keep Eureka Beautiful, the be allowed under local or state regulations in this Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge, North location (coastal wetlands along the Elk River). Coast Rail Authority, the Humboldt Bay Harbor  e billboard was  rst built in the District, former Arcata mayor Dave Meserve, 1940s, before permitting and zoning existed, Elk River Wetlands fallen billboard. an anonymous person with a Sawzall, and even but has been completely replaced in the Photo submitted by Jennifer Kalt. a driver who fell asleep at the wheel. But none decades since.  e sign that toppled is also played as large a role as the California Coastal much larger than the original structure. “re-erect” damaged billboards, and in 2001, the Commission, which voted in 2013 to require People across the U.S. have worked for the new ordinance was tested when four billboards CalTrans to eliminate these billboards to mitigate past century to rid their roadways of billboards. were destroyed in a windstorm. Viacom sued the visual impacts of the future Indianola overpass. Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, and Vermont banned them and won in local court, but in 2006, the City  is may not be the last we hear of the Elk entirely. In California, the CalTrans Department of of Arcata won its appeal, setting an important River billboard, since the sign owner can appeal Outdoor Advertising is responsible for regulating legal precedent that state law does not preempt the decision to the Board of Supervisors. But billboards along highways. Unfortunately, municipal ordinances that regulate the rebuilding for now, we are celebrating and we would like to CalTrans does little more than rubber-stamp of Projectbillboards timeline that credit: were Cal destroyed Trans, Lastchancegrade.com by natural thank everyone who wrote emails in opposition annual permit renewals on a spreadsheet in forces (Viacom Outdoor, Inc. v. City of Arcata). to this permit – it really made a di erence! Sacramento for the paltry fee of $100 per sign.  e Court found that the state regulation To sign up for opportunities to comment on Eliminating billboards that pre-date local governing “customary maintenance” of future billboard decisions, email us at alerts@ permitting has been time-consuming and legally billboards does not preempt the City’s ordinance humboldtbaykeeper.org. For more on the long challenging. In 1999, the City of Arcata adopted because it applies to “routine upkeep or history of our  ght against on Humboldt Bay, go an ordinance requiring permits to repair or modest improvements, not to the rebuilding to humboldtbaykeeper.org/billboards-on-the-bay. Solutions to the Pedestrian Safety Crisis on Broadway

Caroline Gri th, EcoNews Journalist on alleviating the pedestrian safety crisis and interval for increased safety; reducing vehicle miles travelled.  e letter urges • Providing pedestrian refuges;  e City of Eureka, along with Humboldt decision makers “to take quick action to improve • Improving signage, lighting, and visibility of County Association of Governments and conditions for pedestrians and bicyclists within the crosswalks; CalTrans, are developing a plan to address existing Broadway right-of-way, and to utilize all • Adding additional safe crossing opportunities safety and multimodal transportation along the available funding sources to do so.  e situation for pedestrians between intersections, especially Broadway Corridor of Sounty Eureka.  e goal is too grave to wait for other possible long- at locations where mid-block street crossings of the plan is to reduce congestion and enhance term changes to the corridor to materialize.” are already common, and at bus stops. safety by encouraging a variety of di erent In order to alleviate this crisis, the groups transportation options along the corridor.  ose suggest “dramatically improving pedestrian and According to its website, the plan will take who pay attention to transportation planning bicyclist facilities, particularly opportunities for approximately 18 months to complete. It began will know that there have been numerous studies safe crossings of Broadway; encouraging more in June 2019 and is scheduled to be completed by and plans throughout the years to improve this people to use non-vehicular transportation in the November 2020.  ose who have an interest in particular stretch of roadway.  e agencies corridor (safety in numbers) by improving transit transportation and bicycle and pedestrian safety involved say that this plan is di erent in that it performance, and improving access to and from the can visit www.eurekabroadwaycorridorplan.com/ widens the scope of land that is being looked corridor for active transportation. to submit comments and share ideas using the at for potential improvements.  e area under Broadway 101 Corridor interactive mapping tool. consideration stretches from slightly east of Speci c suggestions include: Broadway all the way to the Bay, meaning that • Prioritizing pedestrians and bicyclists at existing some wetland areas are included in the study area. intersections; Under the leadership of CRTP, NEC, Humboldt • Increasing the length of time available for crossing Baykeeper and EPIC submitted comments to the streets; City of Eureka, HCAOG and CalTrans focused • Providing a leading pedestrian and bike signal

EcoNews June 2020 www.yournec.org 8 Project timeline credit: Cal Trans, Lastchancegrade.com 8 Where human rights, the environment, social justice, NEXUS and the economy intersect. Planet of the Humans Documentary: A Review

Daivd Cobb, smaller than those of coal and natural gas. Further, the Cooperation Humboldt energy produced during the operation of a solar panel and wind turbine is 26 and 44 times greater than the Planet of the Humans debuted on the 50th energy needed to build and install them, respectively. anniversary of Earth Day, and has provoked widespread But the most egregious problem with this praise and criticism. Almost everyone in my circles film is it’s tacit support of ecofascism, a merger either loves it or hates it, and I can see why. of environmentalism with nationalism and white  e core premise of the movie is that our civilization supremacy.  e  lm erroneously concludes that the is on the brink of collapse (if not actual extinction), and only solution is to “get rid of enough people.” While that “Big Green” mainstream environmental groups it is true that the human population is in overshoot, have been hijacked by corporate interests and are the cavalier manner that Moore and Gibbs approach duping the general public into believing that we can the subject is grossly negligent. It’s no wonder that solve this crisis using renewable energy. right wing mouthpiece Brietbart is praising the  lm. On the one hand, I am deeply appreciative that I am not arguing that Moore and Gibbs are racist  lmmakers Michael Moore and Je Gibbs are willing white nationalists. I am arguing that both what they to state the obvious -- infinite growth on a finite say (and what they don’t say) feeds into a disturbing planet is suicide.  ey confront the severity of the narrative of some of the most disgusting beliefs of the ecological collapse, and expose the reality that allowing last 200 years, and they should know better. the billionaire class to “solve” this existential crisis It is too bad they missed the opportunity to share simply won't work. It’s too bad they are unwilling to the good news that the simple solution to human be equally courageous and state that capitalism itself overpopulation is to empower women and to promote is unsustainable, and that we must transition to a Planet of the Human lm poster. family planning. Studies show that women with access Photo source: POTH website media kit. solidarity economy framework in order to survive. to reproductive health services break out of poverty,  e  lm also highlights the Sierra Club’s “Beyond the atmosphere than the coal plants it replaced. and those who work are more likely to use birth Coal” campaign, which has helped shut down over But the  lm also has a lot of negatives. And I do control. Further, education about contraception has 300 coal plants across the country.  at seems great, mean a LOT. a huge impact. but in short order we learn that the program’s biggest One huge problem is that the  lm argues that solar Most disappointing of all is that they failed to donor is billionaire Mike Bloomberg, who has helped and wind power are as problematic as biomass, and interview any of the leaders of Just Transition, a vision- to ensure that natural gas plants have replaced most that is objectively, demonstrably false. For example, led movement that builds economic and political power of those shuttered coal plants. Bloomberg is making they claim that solar panels take more energy to to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative hundreds of millions of dollars on natural gas, arguing produce than they generate over their lifetime.  is economy. If you are interested in learning how you that it is a “bridge fuel.”  at is absolutely false, and claim (which originated by climate crisis deniers) has can be part of this growing movement, contact us at virtually every environmentalist and climate scientist been frequently and thoroughly disproven. Cooperation Humboldt. acknowledges that inconvenient truth. In another scene co-producer Ozzie Zehner falsely David Cobb is a co-founder of Cooperation  e  lm also exposes the ecological destruction asserts, "You use more fossil fuels [manufacturing Humboldt and edits the Nexus column. If you are and social violence being perpetrated across the global renewables infrastructure] than you're getting bene t interested in learning more, or contributing to a future south associated with the production and distribution from. You would have been better o burning the fossil Nexus column, contact him at [email protected]. of lithium, and serves as a much-needed take down of fuels in the  rst place instead of playing pretend." For a full list of sources used in this article visit biomass, pointing out that use of this so-called “green Studies have proven that the lifetime carbon www.yournec.org/planetofthehumans alternative” usually spews more carbon dioxide into footprints of solar and wind power are about 20 times

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9 www.yournec.org June 2020 EcoNews 9 Learn to Sustain Your Climate Activism, Read A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety

Alicia Hamann, with  nding their place in the e A ective Arc of Environmental Studies Curricula Friends of the Eel River Executive Director climate movement. Striking the right balance between remaining informed of our impending doom and engaging in meaningful action to inspiring engagement and action. As Sarah points is di cult for all of us – but particularly so out, the idea that there is an “information de cit” is a for those in what Sarah dubs the “climate myth, and we should “bring to the job the tools that generation”. This generation, which I like it requires, and stop pretending the issue is merely a to extend a bit beyond GenZ (those born battle between facts and alternative facts.” between the early 1990s and early 2000s) to So how do we cultivate the kind of emotional include many millennials as well, is as Sarah intelligence needed to meaningfully engage without puts it “uniquely a ected by global warming su ering from guilt and nihilism? Sarah suggests we [and] poised to organize and bring about laugh more. Find the joy and love in what we are real change.” Sarah’s book is relevant to every working to protect. I found her graphic " e A ective generation, but especially geared toward those Arc of Environmental Studies Curricula," very helpful in this generation who are faced with the in understanding how to move past the hump of guilt longest road ahead dealing with societal ills and nihilism. they did not help create or support. Sarah references author adrienne maree brown’s Sarah’s book is divided into eight chapters writing about “misery resistance” practiced in Black that each stand alone as helpful guides to communities, and how expressing joy and love are things like cultivating and wielding emotional used as forms of resisting oppression. While clearly a intelligence; understanding the stages and di erent magnitude, I think an appropriate comparison forms of eco-grief; scaling our actions; using in the environmental movement is, as Sarah put it, to compassion and social justice to bridge the “practice green consumerism because it feels right – political divide in climate justice efforts; because you wish to – not because you’ll feel guilty avoiding the trope of meaningless hope; if you don’t.” resisting burnout and nihilism; and envisioning Finally, to end with hope. As an environmental the future we desire. I want to touch on a few leader I have previously considered it necessary to topics I found most enlightening to my work end doom-ridden messages with a note of hope – we as an environmental leader. saw X species on our game cam, or we  led a lawsuit Understanding the role of emotions is which is likely to result in some form of statutory incredibly important to inspiring e ective protection years down the road, or it  nally rained action. While emotions like fear and anger and rivers are  owing. However, Sarah points out, as play an important role in motivating us, Greta  unberg has famously done, that hope on its neuroscience has taught us that they do not own is not our end goal. Hope will come when we have help us engage in rational thought. Rather, earned it – when we have made meaningful progress they make us more susceptible to impulsive toward a future we can feel hopeful about. Until then, Sarah Jaquette Ray’s A Field Guide to Climate behavior and manipulation.  is is why tactics like let’s not be distracted by hope, but rather inspired Anxiety: How to Keep Your Cool on a Warming “infowhelming” – inundating audiences with facts about by this incredible planet and what it provides for us. Planet is an excellent resource for all who struggle our increasingly dire reality – are actually not helpful

EcoNews June 2020 www.yournec.org 10 Kin to the Earth: Sammy Gensaw he would be at harvest foods locally but also by protecting ecosystems the mouth of the that make up our local foodsheds. Klamath,  shing.  e natural world continues to change around As a teen, he was us. Historically, the brutal colonization of Northern asked to share and California lands and the unacknowledged genocide of its teach others about original people have created long lasting circumstances the “old school for modern families who are utilizing traditional rules” of being harvesting methods.  ese families have developed on the river and systems of interdependence and reciprocity with salmon how to “think right and other species for thousands of years, but now that when we fish”. their main food sources are on the brink of extinction,  is response to they need to adapt. Ancestral Guard is putting e orts the community’s into building a small-scale community food garden need for youth and mobile commercial kitchen and food processing activities driven trailer that can help preserve and supplement the by cultural values traditional food diet.  e organic garden plot is in and traditional the lower Yurok reservation, and will be delivering knowledge fresh produce baskets to the homes of new mothers developed into and elders by this fall. Sammy calls this project the what has now “Victorious Gardens Initiative,” a plan that was hatched become the last fall, before “Victory Gardens” were a thing. “Ancestral Guard”. Sammy’s visionary leadership has always attracted Soon, they needed the attention of a crowd, and when you hear him speak, a non-profit, so your eyes well up with hope and a vision for the future. Sammy became a His speeches will galvanize a community and even Sammy in redwood dugout canoe on Stone Lagoon. Credit Jake Reed of the Ancestral Guard founding member bring foes together in solidarity to acknowledge that of Nature Rights what is needed is a restorative revolution, because in Amber Jamieson Council, a 501(c3) the end we all depend on the clean water and healthy Born in the struggle and raised in the resistance, non-pro t organization, which now houses the Ancestral ecosystems to survive. Samuel Gensaw III is a natural born leader who was Guard as a program. To learn more and support Sammy’s work, visit molded into a community advocate by his many mentors, Ancestral Guard is the  rst and longest lasting naturerightscouncil.org. including members of the Klamath Justice Coalition, indigenous youth group in Del Norte County and Christopher Peters of Seventh Generation Fund and undertakes almost every challenge that comes along. A his great grandmother Lena Nicholson. Sammy will long-term vision has never forget the smell of thousands of adult salmon been to combat the Sammy Gensaw in Oregon at an anti-LNG pipeline rally in Southern Oregon. Credit Stormy Staats that washed up on the banks of the Klamath River, nor food desert narrative will he forget that the 2002  sh kill was preventable by improving and happened as a result of politics. food security and Sammy is a traditional Yurok  sherman and his access to healthy family has subsisted on Klamath River  sheries since food on the lower time immemorial, so the 2002  sh kill was a huge Yurok reservation blow to their food security, way of life, and cultural where there are no identity. In his early teens, Sammy became involved in grocery stores.  e the Klamath Justice Coalition, which was instrumental circumstances for in protesting the Klamath dams that are now slated people who have for removal. At the age of 15 Sammy and his friends been living on this would hold bake sales and fundraisers to travel and land for thousands of speak at dam removal hearings and protests across years have changed. the country.  ese e orts contributed to what is now No longer can the largest dam removal and river restoration project they  nd the same in world history. abundance that once Once the Klamath dam removal agreement was in graced the land. place, Sammy, along with a delegation of indigenous Sammy has strived youth, went to Brazil and Borneo to share their story to improve access and help other indigenous people  ght newly proposed to traditional foods dams in the Amazon and Borneo rainforests, bringing for impressionable hope and strategy to their movements. When he was youth by not only not being mentored by river activists on the front lines, increasing the opportunities to

11 www.yournec.org June 2020 EcoNews The Sandpiper 17th Annual Children's Issue JUNE 2020 Redwood Region Audubon Society

In response to the State of California and In this Issue: Children's Art and Writing! Virtual Programs See page 3. Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines Though RRAS programs are usually on summer that protect against the spread of COVID-19, hiatus, while we remain largely at home in this we are cancelling or postponing all events unusual pandemic year we would like to plan some until further notice. This includes field trips. virtual programs (i.e., over the internet). Please Visit rras.org for updates and virtual birding contact Harriet Hill at [email protected] if you opportunities. can suggest a speaker. To help bring some joy during this uncertain In May, we hosted our first virtual monthly time, please visit: program. The event was a great success, attracting audubon.org/joy-of-birds. over 45 participants via Zoom, the online meeting And if you are birding in small groups, please platform. Jaime Carlino, founder of the Humboldt be sure to follow some basic safety precautions: chapter of Raptors Are The Solution (HUM- • Do not carpool RATS), presented a talk entitled "The Ecological • Maintain at least a 6’ distance between Role of Raptors and the Impacts of Rat Poisons." A individuals link to the recorded presentation is available at • Please do not share optics rras.org. Please stay tuned for upcoming RRAS • Please eat and drink only your own food and programs at our website, our Facebook page or beverages as to not share germs Instagram feed, or our online calendar at When you spot those birds that get you all groups.io/g/rras. excited, air high-five each other and exclaim Rodenticide use is pervasive world-wide and the “huzzah!!” After all, just because we can’t costs to rodent-consuming wildlife species such as celebrate with physical contact, we can still get raptors, as well as pets and children, are high. excited about being outdoors with other Raptors Are The Solution (RATS) is a non-profit awesome people while looking for those organization working with a coalition of non- amazing, flighty creatures that get us giddy. governmental organizations, government agencies, Thank you all for your understanding during scientists, municipalities, and individuals to this time. If you have any questions don't eliminate toxic rodenticides from the food web. hesitate to contact me. And feel free to share Pileated Woodpecker by Lena Vassel, Grade 9, Academy of the Redwoods. RATS and its regional chapters encourage people to your fun birding stories or photos during this be proactive in managing rodent issues without the time so that we can help each other keep up use of poisons. As a regional chapter of RATS, morale. HUM-RATS' mission is to educate Humboldt County residents about the harmful effects ofwidespread use Yours, of toxic rodenticides, and the critical role played by Melissa Dougherty rodent-consuming wildlife species such as raptors. RRAS Field Trip Chair HUM-RATS founder Jaime Carlino gave a brief overview of rodenticides and their effects on a variety of non-target species, described what RATS and HUM-RATS are doing to address this issue, and provided information on how to manage rodent issues without using poisons. Jaime Carlino is a long-time bird lover who studies wildlife management at Humboldt State University. She investigated Barn Owl nestbox selection in California's Central Valley agricultural ecosystems for her undergraduate degree. Her master’s degree work will focus on Barn Owls in Napa Valley’s agricultural ecosystems. Jaime hatched HUM-RATS in 2019 because she recognized the importance of Struggling to stay far enough away? Put an poison-free ecosystems to the diverse array of imaginary Turkey Vulture between you and wildlife that occurs in Humboldt County. everyone else. Image credit to Wings and Talons. Great Horned Owl. Photo by Joe Galkowski. CHAPTER LEADERS President's Column got Barn Swallows galore, as usual. OFFICERS By Gail Kenny As ofthis writing, Redwood Region Audubon President — Gail Kenny...... 707-601-1582 Society field trips are still canceled for the time Birders are usually very active in spring, traveling Vice President — Vacant being due to the pandemic. However, our board is locally and further afield to enjoy the beauty of still meeting monthly via teleconferencing. Our Secretary — Andrew [email protected] birds. With the pandemic we’ve had to set travel Treasurer — Gary Friedrichsen...... 707-822-6543 Bird Safety Around Cats Committee and our Con- aside and be content with the birds coming to us. Past President — Hal Genger...... 707-499-0887 servation Committee are also meeting via telecon- I’m appreciating spending more time in my ference. The Conservation Committee meeting is yard and neighborhood DIRECTORS-AT-LARGE open to the public. It is observing local birds. Ralph Bucher...... 707-443-6944 publicized on our The pair of Brewer’s Pia Gabriel...... 707-382-2101 homepage (rras.org) as Blackbirds that have Harriet Hill...... 707-267-4055 well as on the online nested in a bush next to Chet Ogan...... 707-442-9353 calendar at groups.io/g/ our house for years are C.J. Ralph...... 707-822-2015 rras. I encourage you to back and very busy. Denise Seeger...... 707-444-2399 sign up by emailing House Sparrows are [email protected] in order OTHER CHAPTER LEADERS hanging about and to receive automated Conservation — Jim Clark ...... …... 707-445-8311 might be nesting near email notifications of our Eductn/Schlrshps — Denise Seeger ...... 707-444-2399 my potato patch. A activities. eBird Liaison — Rob Fowler ……...... 707-839-3493 wintering White- We also had a success- Facebook — Cindy Moyer……...…… ...707-822-1886 crowned Sparrow has ful Zoom general meet- — Rob Fowler ……………..…. ...707-839-3493 stuck around. I rescued ing program on May 15, Field Trips — Melissa Dougherty …...... 530-859-1874 a Violet-green Swallow 2020, where Jaime Membership — Ralph Bucher.…...... 707-443-6944 from the wood stove in Carlino spoke about the NEC Representative — C.J. Ralph...... 707-822-2015 our cottage. It must ecological role of raptors Nominations — Hal Genger...... 707-499-0887 have been looking for a and the impacts of rat — C.J. Ralph...... 707-822-2015 cavity to nest in and Barn Swallow. Photo by Gail Kenny. poison. The video of this Programs Chair — Harriet Hill...... 707-267-4055 fell down the stove presentation is posted on Publications — C.J. Ralph...... 707-822-2015 pipe. We now have chicken wire around the open- our website. As we move into Fall 2020, we will Publicity — Denise Seeger...... 707-444-2399 ing to prevent this from happening again. I’m be hosting our general (public) meeting through Sandpiper (Editors) — right on the coast and though we don’t often get videoconferencing until ifis safe to meet in person Gisele Albertine...... [email protected] Bullocks Orioles or Black-headed Grosbeaks again. Andrew Orahoske...... [email protected] sticking around, I note them passing through for a In the meantime, good birding and be safe out Volunteer Coordinator — Vacant day or two each spring including this year. We’ve there! Website — Susan Penn...... 707-273-5200 RRAS Web Page...... …...... …..... www.rras.org Clockwise from top left: Red- BirdAlert (Bird Box)...... discontinued breasted Nuthatch by Hayden RRAS Listserve...... groups.io/g/rras Stinebaugh, Morris Elementary; Board ofDirectors...... [email protected] Cedar Waxwing by Cadence The Sandpiper is published six times each year by Fitzmaurice, Grade 3, Jacoby Redwood Region Audubon Society Creek Elementary; and American P.O. Box 1054, Eureka, CA95502. Robin by Annabelle Pastori, Grade 9, Academy of the Redwoods. Thinking of Joining the National Audubon Society? Ifso, 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 our chapter. This is how National rewards local chapters for recruiting. (Otherwise, the share of membership dues that RRAS receives is only a couple No County Science Fair in 2020 of dollars.) Thanks! For the past 15 years, Redwood Region Audubon Society has been ------sponsoring awards for the best project(s) related to birds or their Yes, I'd like to join. Please enroll me as a memberof habitat. The judges have awarded up to three prizes a year at the the National Audubon Society and of my local chapter, Humboldt County event held in mid-March, with the results relayed in and send AUDUBON magazine and my membership the annual Children’s Issue of the Sandpiper. However, this year, the card to the address below. My check for $20 is Fair was cancelled on Friday, March 13, due to Covid-19. enclosed (introductory offer). Some ofour winners in past years have gone on to compete at a NAME statewide event. Recent topics ofresearch included tool use by Steller’s ADDRESS Jays, invasive cordgrass and bird abundance, common birds ofdifferent EMAIL habitats, migration periods of local birds, and birds and cats. We Local Chapter Code: C24. Please make checks to the encourage continuous scientific exploration among young people in National Audubon Society, and send with this coupon whatever format they are able to pursue, and we're looking forward to to Box 97194, Washington, DC 20090-7194. next year's Science Fair entries. Results of17th Annual Student Bird Art Contest By Sue Leskiw, Contest Coordinator day! She has been struggling this last week. Really and Nadine McCullough, Forks of Salmon Element- missing her friends. Your simple and profound offer- ary, Bald Eagle; Third Place: Keira Dodds, Morris In this year of the coronavirus pandemic, 160 home- ing ofgiving her motivation to finish her art piece is Elementary, Marsh Wren; and Tenley Weeks, Morris from-school kids pulled out paints, pencils, pastels, such a gift. Thank you!... Oh my! My daughter is so Elementary, Anna’s Hummingbirds; Honorable or paste to enter the 17th Annual Student Bird Art thrilled!!!! Thanks so much!!!…Thank you for all Mentions: Mehgan Blake, Morris Elementary, Wood Contest. Cosponsors were Friends of the Arcata your work.”] Duck; Addison Bailey, Morris Elementary, American Marsh and Redwood Region Audubon Society. Avocet; Talon Turner, Morris Elementary, American The contest usually is held in association with Goldfinch; Becker Rine, Morris Elementary, Acorn mid-April’s Godwit Days Spring Migration Bird Woodpecker. Festival in Arcata. Although that event has been post- poned until a yet-to-be-determined date this fall, as Grade 5 contest coordinator, I decided to go ahead with the art First Place: Valentino Markham, Coastal Grove contest, viewing it as a project for housebound K-12 Charter, Marbled Godwit; Second Place: Rathlin students to tackle. Although the number of entries Hemmingsen-Moon, Mistwood Educational Center, was way down from last year’s 910, there still were American Goldfinch; Third Place: Violet Cook, high-quality entries deserving ofawards. Freshwater Elementary, Belted Kingfisher. Grades 6 through 8 First Place: Meguire Bartosz (Grade 8), Alder Grove Charter, Northern Flicker; Second Place: Bizou Massias (Grade 6), Mistwood Educational Center, Tufted Puffin; Third Place: Shekina McCullough Marbled Godwit by Valentino Markham, Grade (Grade 7), Forks ofSalmon Elementary, Spotted Owl 5, Coastal Grove Charter. Honorable Mention: Madison Finen (Grade 7), Mist- Copies of all winners listed below are slated to wood Educational Center, Red-tailed Hawk. be hung at the Arcata Marsh Interpretive Center in Grades 9 through 12 September and October, coupled with a public recep- First Place: Lena Vassel (Grade 9), Academy of the tion to honor the artists, contingent on the status of Redwoods, Pileated Woodpecker; Second Place: Covid-19 restrictions. A downloadable booklet con- Finn Murphy (Grade 10), Arcata High, Great Horned taining the artwork will be posted by early May at Owl; Third Place: Annabelle Pastori (Grade 9), Anna’s Hummingbird (L) by Alya Nickell, Grade www.rras.org and www.arcatamarshfriends.org. Academy of the Redwoods, American Robin; Hon- 2, Northern United Charter; Peregrine Falcon by Some $380 was awarded in 24 monetary prizes, orable Mentions: Chaya Passler (Grade 9), Academy Bony McKnight, Grade 3, Coastal Grove Charter. plus 9 submissions received honorable mentions. De- of the Redwoods, Osprey; Trinity Fleming (Grade [NOTE: I was doubly glad that I opted to contin- pending on the number of entries per grade, some 10), Academy of the Redwoods, Common Yellow- ue the 2020 contest after reading these comments levels were combined and oth- throat. from teachers and parents of entrants: “We were ers received more than one set Best Depiction of a Bird in Its Habitat Awards really grateful that the art contest went forward even of awards, to even out the Cadence Fitzmaurice (Grade 3), Jacoby Creek Ele- without Godwit Days, though it's very sad to miss chances ofwinning. mentary, Cedar Waxwing; Lily Bazemore (Grade 6), seeing the community center atrium overflowing The winners are: Northcoast Preparatory Academy, Snowy Plovers; with bird drawings. This contest is a valuable part of Kindergarten through Grade 3 Saanvi Virnave (Grade 7), Sunnybrae Middle School, our art (and science) curriculum each spring and First Place: Alya Nickell Belted Kingfisher. we're so grateful to all ofyou who make it happen… (Grade 2), Northern United Thanks again for keeping this contest going despite Charter, Anna’s Hummingbird; the festival being cancelled. I know that my students and Bony McKnight (Grade 3), appreciated having something creative to work Coastal Grove Charter, Pereg- on…Thanks for keeping the contest going this year… rine Falcon; Second Place: Fern Dodge (Grade 2), Coastal Thank you for having such a great local contest… California Quail Thank you so much! This will make my daughter's Grove Charter, Whimbrel; and Alysse Gildea (Grade 3), Jac- by Eliska Crowell, oby Creek Elementary, Amer- Grade 4, Morris ican Avocet; Third Place: Elementary. Winnie Bettencourt (Grade 1), Coastal Grove Charter, American Robin; and Tadeus Furaha (Grade 2), Coastal Grove Charter, Bald Eagle; Honorable Mentions: Teresa Russell (Grade 1), Northern United Charter, Bald Eagle; Ivan Rikwalt (Grade 3), Orleans Elementary, Wood Duck; Annabelle Woodcock Wood Duck by Ivan Rikwalt, Grade 3, Orleans (Kindergarten), Greenpoint Elementary, Great Blue Elementary. Heron; Bailey Wiley (Grade 2), Greenpoint Element- Get Published! ary, Spotted Owl; We want to publish your photos, bird art, and bird Grade 4 articles! Maybe you had a good birding day or a Northern Flicker (L) by Meguire Bartosz, Grade First Place: Eliska Crowell, Morris Elementary, great bird at your feeder. Please contact Gisele or 8, Alder Grove Charter.; Common Yellowthroat California Quail; and Hayden Stinebaugh, Morris Andrew at [email protected] or by Trinity Fleming, Grade 10, Academy of the Elementary, Red-breasted Nuthatch; Second Place: [email protected]. Redwoods. Zander Garlick, Fieldbrook Elementary, Barn Owl; Results of15th Annual Student Nature Writing Contest By Sue Leskiw, Contest Coordinator Sitting up against the long trunk ofthe redwood that Nature is the sweet rose, stood so close, The sour lemon, In this time of Covid-19, it wasn’t easy to Feeling the roots that fed and fulfilled its hunger The rough sand. promote the contest to homebound students. today. Although the number of entries was down (23), Nature is the sharp thorn, the quality of their work persevered. Therefore, it I relish in the feeling ofpeace that filled my heart, But it is also you. was decided again to give awards in two Due to the surround sound ofnature and the landscape You are a part ofit, divisions: Junior (grades 5-8) and Senior (grades I dreamed to be a part of. As it is a part ofyou. 9-12). Our particular thanks go to teachers Pete Nature has an offering ofsupport to sustain us and Harrison of Beginnings, Inc. (Briceland) and give us what we need to survive and be our full Nature is the harsh winter, Angeline Holtski of Academy of the Redwoods potential. The sweet spring, for encouraging so many of their students to Offhome we go to join the sun and the birds fall The endless summer, enter. under the slumber ofthe glowing moon. And the beautiful autumn. Junior Division Winners First Place: Livity Salus, Grade 6, Beginnings, Nature is everywhere. Inc. (Briceland) It's the crisp apple, Second Place: Kieran Lambert, Grade 6, The juicy plum, Beginning, Inc. (Briceland) It’s the food you just ate. Third Place: Coral Contreras, Grade 6, Beginnings, Inc. (Briceland) Nature is the rapid river, Honorable Mention: Lachlan Watts-Tobin, The huge ocean, Grade 8, Mistwood Educational Center Butyet, itis also a Senior Division Winners Sweet, small, calm pond, First Place: Jessica Lamas, Grade 9, Academy of Rippling slowly. the Redwoods Second Place: Natalee Swift, Grade 9, Academy Nature is the gross green, red, yellow of the Redwoods Algae, floating. Third Place: Lylian Lopez, Grade 9, Academy of But remember, the Redwoods Nature is also a little fox, Honorable Mentions: Mina Morris, Grade 9, So cute, so delicate. Academy of the Redwoods; Yasmin Amador, Grade 9, Academy ofthe Redwoods Nature is often misunderstood. The work of both first-place winners follows. The huge, mean, furious bear, A booklet containing the work of all nature Is just trying to protect herself, writing winners is available for download at and her young. rras.org. All creatures are sweet, gentle things, What Nature Means to Me But only ifyou treat them right. Treat everything with care and respect, By Jessica Lamas And it will do the same for you. First Place Winners Jessica Lamas, Senior Division Lying in the grass, (top), and Livity Salus, Junior Division, in the Student This is how I see nature, I feel the ground cold on my back. Nature Writing Contest. and I hope now it's the same for you. It drives me to get up, but I stay still. Take a break from all the stress, It’s relaxing to feel so close to something so far. Give Nature a Chance By Livity Salus And relax in the nature around you. I turn to lay on my side, taking in the view Tiny windmills called flowers flood the land that Nature, so pure, so rich, my eyes can see Nature is the reason we are all alive. The background, stalks ofgreen. It is every breath you take, The sun presses closer to the Earth to save its Every path you walk. warmth. I look at the feet oftrees that have soaked in the Nature is the sun on your face, sun all day, The rain dripping offyour window. Prospering from the energy and life it brings to us. Nature is the soft, cold snow, Falling like petals in the spring. Birds chirp, Home from their long day offlying. Nature is your life, Beautiful colors reflecting as the sun itselfsettles Ifyou did not know that, for sleep. I hope you do now. Home at last they agree. Perhaps take a moment, I roll to my back one more time, And smell, feel, breathe, be mindful Whimbrel by Fern Dodge, Grade 2, Coastal Grove to take in the last drops ofthe sun that it can offer. Ofall the nature around you. Charter. NORTHCOAST CHAPTER

Evening Programs topics. Some of the work in this show is absolutely We have presented 5 evening programs as Zoom stunning. Take some time to browse and to return.  e Stay Updated: webinars. You can nd the recorded versions linked  owers will never wilt. www.northcoastcnps.org on our website under the Education tab. No evening facebook.com/NorthCoastCNPS programs are scheduled for June-August. We are selling native plants! Join Yahoo! Noti cation Group by emailing 1. “Conifers of the Klamath Mountains: 2019 Update Nurseries are speci cally mentioned as “essential [email protected] from the Field” with Michael Kau mann business” in the county’s declaration. Our volunteer- 2. “California’s Iconic Flora” with Matt Ritter run nursery has carried on! We developed from The California Native Plant Society is an organization 3. “Restoring Nature with Pollinator Gardens” with scratch a social-distance-compliant, order-and-pick- that brings together science, education, conservation, Bill Rodstrom up procedure so that while sheltering at home people and gardening to save native plants and their 4. “Botanizing the BLM Lands of the North Coast” can buy native plants and carry on with healing the ecosystems. No botanical expertise is required to join. with Jennifer Wheeler planet, one garden at a time.  at pick-up period Beginners and experts, members and non-members, was in May. If small gatherings are deemed safe by all are welcome at our programs and on our outings. 5. “Capturing California’s Flowers” with Jenn Yost Our events are free, organized and presented by an and Katie Pearson June, we hope to have an on-site sale in some form. Please stay tuned! Check the website or Facebook. amazing corps of volunteers. The North Coast Chapter of CNPS is meeting the challenge of helping our citizens Spring Wild ower Show Meanwhile, a  ne selection of our plants is available enjoy native plants while sheltering at home and social For the  rst time in its 38-year history the Spring every day 12 - 6 PM at the Kneeland Glen Farm Stand distancing. Wild ower Show is being presented virtually, on our at Freshwater Farms Reserve, 5851 Myrtle Ave. If website. Galleries of photos take you to di erent places and you don’t see what you want there, you can ask if we Field trips through di erent groups of plants. Posters, documents, have it by contacting us at [email protected]. Field trips are canceled for now (as of May 6), and slideshows illustrate the topics of invasive plants, but we have a Facebook group for sharing wild ower dune plants, Wiyot plants, wild ower art, and  ower photos and asking and answering questions about them: photography. Bill Rodstrom’s talk on pollinators was www.facebook.com/groups/NorthCoastCNPS/ scheduled for this show, and now is available on our website. Numerous links suggest detours on relevant Safe, Healthy Transportation is Always Essential

that overall travel has declined by about half. temporary protected bike lanes. Locations with At the same time, many of our local streets and lots of pedestrian tra c, narrow or non-existent roads are seeing a dramatic increase in people walking sidewalks, and extra car capacity are good and biking. Around the world, many people have turned candidates for these kinds of treatments. to bikes to avoid crowded transit systems, and many 3. Work with residents to close low-volume residential Colin Fiske, Executive Director more are just walking and biking for exercise and for streets to through-tra c and allow free pedestrian The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing all of us a bit of relief from the hours and days spent sheltered use of these streets.  is model does not restrict to rethink the way we do things and to adopt new indoors.  is surge of bike and pedestrian activity has the use of cars by neighborhood residents on the strategies and practices in response—some of which brought into stark relief the lack of adequate active streets, but reduces tra c and lowers speeds, will be only temporary, but some of which may become transportation infrastructure. Sidewalks and bike lanes allowing walkers more safety. permanent. Changes to the transportation system, are too narrow even to squeeze by another person in 4. Work with law enforcement to conduct public in particular, are central to the pandemic response. many places, let alone maintain a safe 6 feet of distance. education for drivers about the importance As I write this, Humboldt County has been in In many communities, local governments and of yielding to pedestrians, including possibly “lock down” for more than a month. We’ve been residents have adapted to these new transportation using plain-clothes o cers to test yielding at told not to leave our homes except for essential realities with creative solutions to reprioritize street crosswalks and educate drivers who fail to yield. purposes, and we don’t know how long this situation space. Hopefully, by the time you read this, some of our will last. These local and statewide stay-at-home local communities on the North Coast will be among A long list of communities that have already orders have, by de nition, dramatically a ected our them. Here are a couple of short-term adaptations taken these measures – and many others – in local transportation systems.  e number of cars on that CRTP has been advocating locally: response to the pandemic is available on the website local roads has plummeted. Ridership on local transit of the National Association of City Transportation systems has declined dramatically and schedules have 1. Reprogram tra c signals in places like Eureka, O cials at nacto.org. More detailed coverage of local been reduced. To protect those passengers who are Arcata and McKinleyville so that people on foot transportation changes in response to the pandemic still riding public transit, HTA has installed plexiglass don’t have to touch a button – and risk picking up can be found in past editions of  e Collector at around drivers and is asking riders to sit six feet away coronavirus – in order to cross the street. transportationpriorities.org/news-updates/. from one another. Analysis of cell phone data indicates 2. Temporarily widen sidewalks and/or create

EcoNews June 2020 www.yournec.org 12 Monarch Butterfly: A Regal Species in Trouble

Dan Sealy of this year. In preparation for this possible listing, For a full list of suggestions, refer to the Xerces This Wasp Kills Black Widows: Meet the Mud Dauber and to limit impacts, in March the USFWS identi ed Society’s “Managing for Monarchs in the West”: www. owners and administrators of transportation and xerces.org/publications/guidelines/managing-for- Rhiannon Lewis-Stephenson three to six weeks. Active during the day, energy transmission corridors to partner with federal monarchs-in-west and Tom Wheeler, daubers are likely found mowing down scientists and government agencies to manage those Elsewhere on the Xerces website, you can learn EPIC on pollen, paralyzing spiders, or adding corridors better for the survival of monarchs. Better more about the incredible lifecycle of the Monarch to their nest. Daubers like warm weather management will, in turn, help other butter ies, moths, Butter y and other species of moths and butter ies,  e mud dauber wasp wins the award and are most active during late spring and bees and pollinators.  e managers of those corridors and how to conserve them including their “Western for the most badass wasp. Mud daubers, summer in our region. Pre-pupal larvae will on federal lands and on non-federal lands will change Monarch Call to Action”: www.xerces.org/ a common name for solitary wasps that go into dormancy if the weather dips and how and when they mow and treat those corridors. For an excellent reference of what plants are build their nests out of mud, are native to will overwinter in their mud nests. It is a In the meantime, scientists, local, state and federal good hosts for butterflies and other information California.  ey are avid pollinators and live wasp-eat-wasp world out there; daubers agencies and conservationists wait for the results of on California native plants, check out CalScape on a diet of nectar, however, their larvae are eaten by other parasitic wasps. the petition to list the monarch butter y. website: www.calscape.org/loc-/cat-Lep/ord- are fed a diet of stunned spiders that are Daubers are often removed because  ere are things everyone can do to share in the popular?srchcr=sc5eab6a0303d5f captured and subsequently immobilized of a cultural anti-wasp hysteria. Daubers protection of monarchs and other important plant  e best source of information on native plants by stinging. Despite this ferocious hunting rarely sting humans. But don’t worry if they pollinators. and pollinator hosts is our own North Coast Chapter of ability, mud daubers are very docile and do. While their venom may be paralytic What you Can do to Help: the California Native Plant Society’s “Gardening with Monarch Butter y. Credit: Brett Billings, USFWS Commons unlikely to sting humans. for spiders, it is reported that a dauber 1. Avoid buying fruits, vegetables and grains that Natives” online brochure which includes “Common Overall there are  ve species of mud sting is only mildly painful—like that of are transgenically modi ed (popularly referred to butter ies of Humboldt Bay and their host plants”: dauber wasps in the United States, with two a honeybee—as it is not a typical defense In the 1980’s over 4.5 million monarch butter ies as GMO.)  ese plants are frequently created to www.northcoastcnps.org/index.php/gardening/ species of mud dauber wasps prevalent in mechanism. Dauber mud nests are also (Danaus plexippus plexippus) migrated from the withstand application of herbicide to eradicate gardening-with-natives-w-brochure California: the black and yellow mud dauber removed because some think they are California mountain foothills and the Central Valley to weeds, which also eradicate milkweed and other  e California Department of Fish and Wildlife (Sceliphron caementarium) and the blue unsightly. To each their own, but these overwinter along the coast from southern Mendocino critical pollinator host plants. also has a conservation plan which you can check out mud dauber (Chalybion californicum).  eir authors enjoy their architectural creations. County to Baja, Mexico. In some coastal towns monarchs 2. In your garden and yard: on its website: www.wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/ hang in large clusters on pines and eucalyptus trees. • When appropriate, plant milkweeds to provide food Invertebrates/Monarch-Butter y names describe their look, with black and Blue mud dauber. Photo credit Jimmy Smith, Flikr Creative Commons And we are not alone. Other wasp weirdos yellow mud daubers commonly mistaken report that you can encourage nest creation Monarchs are considered occasional migratory visitors for monarch caterpillars. (Note: well-intentioned, for yellowjackets and paper wasps, and blue by providing a nice muddy material for to Humboldt and much of the North Coast, visiting planting of inappropriate milkweed can harm mud daubers sporting an electric blue look. While after which the young dauber pupates, breaks out the the daubers. (Not all locations are good, however, as vegetation for nectar to fuel their pilgrimage. In 2018 butterflies by confusing the egg-laying cycle. both focus on spiders as their dominant prey for their seal, and emerges as an adult. daubers have caused plane crashes by building their and again in 2019, California surveys revealed less Check out websites below for proper milkweeds.) young, blue mud daubers often focus speci cally on Adults live a brief but productive life, between nests in airplane instruments.) than 30,000 individuals or less than 1% of historic • Plant flowers, ideally black widow spiders, making them a top predator of populations. Studies suggest the butter ies are at a diversity of native Monarch Migration Map. Credit: Xerces Society black widow spiders. Both mud daubers build their critically low levels in the western United States due species with overlapping nests—mud mansions with small cave-like cells for to the destruction of their milkweed habitat along  owering phenologies, their young. Daubers will look to build in areas that are their migratory route as housing expands into their to provide nectar for sheltered and near a good supply of mud and spiders, territory and use of pesticides and herbicides increases. adults. such as under bridges or under the eaves of a house. Similarly, the separate population of North American • Eliminate or reduce On that note, don’t confuse the mud dauber for monarchs east of the Rockies is crashing. In 2017 the use of pesticides and other more prevalent and potentially stinging wasps. eastern population had fallen by 27% and the following herbicides. Yellowjackets, long the bane of backyard barbeques, year an additional 53%.  e migration of the eastern • Include other features are a voracious social wasp that will buzz about your population may range over 2,000 miles from Canada such as trees, shrubs, food, trying to sneak o with a piece of meat or fruit. to Mexico where it overwinters in forests. Those and structures for shade, Most yellowjackets live in underground burrows, monarchs face increased loss of host plants for eggs perching, or roosting. although the invasive German yellowjackets take up as crops are sprayed with herbicides, increasing large • Provide shallow water residence in home walls. And don’t confuse them for winter storms caused by climate change wipe out sources. paper wasps, either.  ose ubiquitous garden dwellers trees and, of course, due to the expanding sprawl of 1. Engage in citizen can be nonnative and invasive (although they do development. science like the provide helpful pest control and pollination services) In 2014  e Center for Biological Diversity, the “Western Monarch and generally won’t sting humans unless their intricate Xerces Society and Dr. Lincoln Brower petitioned Milkweed Mapper” paper nests are disturbed. for listing the monarch butter y as Endangered.  e www.monarchmilk Spiders should be scared of mud daubers. Female US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is conducting weedmapper.org/ daubers will sting the spider with a concoction that the assessment and a decision is due in December renders it paralyzed but alive.  e spiders will then be brought back to the mud cell where momma dauber often lays an egg on the  rst deposited spider. Momma dauber will put into the cell all the food her young Carol Ann Conners larvae will need in this life stage—up to 25 paralyzed 707-725-3400 but very alive spiders—and then seal the end of the 654 Main Street, Fortuna cell.  e larvae will spend its youth slowly munching [email protected] USED REDWOOD LUMBER CA License #0E79262 on spiders, one by one, until they are all consumed, Mud dauber wasp. Photo Credit Ian Jacobs, Flikr Creative Commons Lorelei Lane, Arcata OldGrowthTimbers.com 707-834-5340

13 www.yournec.org June 2020 EcoNews Monarch Butterfly: A Regal Species in Trouble

Dan Sealy of this year. In preparation for this possible listing, For a full list of suggestions, refer to the Xerces and to limit impacts, in March the USFWS identi ed Society’s “Managing for Monarchs in the West”: www. owners and administrators of transportation and xerces.org/publications/guidelines/managing-for- energy transmission corridors to partner with federal monarchs-in-west scientists and government agencies to manage those Elsewhere on the Xerces website, you can learn corridors better for the survival of monarchs. Better more about the incredible lifecycle of the Monarch management will, in turn, help other butter ies, moths, Butter y and other species of moths and butter ies, bees and pollinators.  e managers of those corridors and how to conserve them including their “Western on federal lands and on non-federal lands will change Monarch Call to Action”: www.xerces.org/ how and when they mow and treat those corridors. For an excellent reference of what plants are In the meantime, scientists, local, state and federal good hosts for butterflies and other information agencies and conservationists wait for the results of on California native plants, check out CalScape the petition to list the monarch butter y. website: www.calscape.org/loc-/cat-Lep/ord-  ere are things everyone can do to share in the popular?srchcr=sc5eab6a0303d5f protection of monarchs and other important plant  e best source of information on native plants pollinators. and pollinator hosts is our own North Coast Chapter of What you Can do to Help: the California Native Plant Society’s “Gardening with Monarch Butter y. Credit: Brett Billings, USFWS Commons 1. Avoid buying fruits, vegetables and grains that Natives” online brochure which includes “Common are transgenically modi ed (popularly referred to butter ies of Humboldt Bay and their host plants”: In the 1980’s over 4.5 million monarch butter ies as GMO.)  ese plants are frequently created to www.northcoastcnps.org/index.php/gardening/ (Danaus plexippus plexippus) migrated from the withstand application of herbicide to eradicate gardening-with-natives-w-brochure California mountain foothills and the Central Valley to weeds, which also eradicate milkweed and other  e California Department of Fish and Wildlife overwinter along the coast from southern Mendocino critical pollinator host plants. also has a conservation plan which you can check out County to Baja, Mexico. In some coastal towns monarchs 2. In your garden and yard: on its website: www.wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/ hang in large clusters on pines and eucalyptus trees. • When appropriate, plant milkweeds to provide food Invertebrates/Monarch-Butter y Monarchs are considered occasional migratory visitors for monarch caterpillars. (Note: well-intentioned, to Humboldt and much of the North Coast, visiting planting of inappropriate milkweed can harm vegetation for nectar to fuel their pilgrimage. In 2018 butterflies by confusing the egg-laying cycle. and again in 2019, California surveys revealed less Check out websites below for proper milkweeds.) than 30,000 individuals or less than 1% of historic • Plant flowers, ideally populations. Studies suggest the butter ies are at a diversity of native Monarch Migration Map. Credit: Xerces Society critically low levels in the western United States due species with overlapping to the destruction of their milkweed habitat along  owering phenologies, their migratory route as housing expands into their to provide nectar for territory and use of pesticides and herbicides increases. adults. Similarly, the separate population of North American • Eliminate or reduce monarchs east of the Rockies is crashing. In 2017 the use of pesticides and eastern population had fallen by 27% and the following herbicides. year an additional 53%.  e migration of the eastern • Include other features population may range over 2,000 miles from Canada such as trees, shrubs, to Mexico where it overwinters in forests. Those and structures for shade, monarchs face increased loss of host plants for eggs perching, or roosting. as crops are sprayed with herbicides, increasing large • Provide shallow water winter storms caused by climate change wipe out sources. trees and, of course, due to the expanding sprawl of 1. Engage in citizen development. science like the In 2014  e Center for Biological Diversity, the “Western Monarch Xerces Society and Dr. Lincoln Brower petitioned Milkweed Mapper” for listing the monarch butter y as Endangered.  e www.monarchmilk US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is conducting weedmapper.org/ the assessment and a decision is due in December

Carol Ann Conners 707-725-3400 654 Main Street, Fortuna [email protected] USED REDWOOD LUMBER CA License #0E79262 Lorelei Lane, Arcata OldGrowthTimbers.com 707-834-5340

EcoNews June 2020 www.yournec.org 14 14 The Environmental Protection Information Center e Law Firm of Marten, Fisher, and Owl

Tom Wheeler, Executive Director Services, a branch of the Department of Agriculture that kills “problem” wildlife. Under threat of litigation, EPIC is proud to announce its association with the the coalition pressed for substantial changes to the Law Firm of Marten, Fisher and Owl. A West Coast contract, and the county listened. A win/win/win for  rm, Marten, Fisher and Owl know that the best wildlife advocates, wildlife, and the county! defense is a good o ense; that’s why we’ve partnered Under the revised contract, Wildlife Services will with them to protect the North Coast. Check out the implement numerous reforms to reduce its killing latest litigation from this feisty forest  rm. of wildlife involved in con icts by — among other reforms — prioritizing non-lethal mitigation measures EPIC Sues Trump Administration to Save in urban and suburban areas and prohibiting killing of beavers. the Humboldt Marten Advocates began working with county o cials EPIC, together with our friends at the Center for after notifying the county that its existing contract Biological Diversity, sued the Trump administration with Wildlife Services violated state law by allowing for its failure to  nalize Endangered Species Act the use of lethal methods without considering their protection for the Humboldt marten. Fewer than impacts to the environment. Under the modi ed 400 of these secretive forest dwellers remain in four Mature-forest-stand_Crawford, photo courtesy of Kimberly Baker, EPIC contract, Wildlife Services cannot kill animals in isolated populations along a narrow strip of coastal urban or suburban areas of the county until after habitat in northern California and southern Oregon. implementation of “all feasible non-lethal mitigation Since 2010, EPIC has worked to secure long-term EPIC Challenges Crawford Timber Sale measures.”  e new contract also imposes reporting protections under the federal Endangered Species In May, EPIC filed litigation to challenge the requirements and restricts cruel or ecologically harmful Act for this critter. Unfortunately, the U.S. Fish and Crawford Timber Sale on the Klamath National Forest. killing methods such as pesticides, lead ammunition Wildlife Service has fought us every step of the way.  e project is located 15 miles southwest of the town and body-gripping traps. Most recently the Service failed to finalize of Happy Camp and north of Dillon Creek, a salmon For nearly a decade, Humboldt County has protections for the marten, blowing past missed stronghold of the Klamath River. It proposes logging employed Wildlife Services to kill hundreds of native deadlines and ignoring our letters of protest. In October the forest canopy down to 30% in over 250 acres of animals under contract with Wildlife Services. Data 2018, eight years after EPIC and the Center for Biological mature and old-growth forests. from that federal wildlife-killing program shows that in Diversity  rst petitioned to protect this rare carnivore,  e virgin forest in the Crawford Timber Sale is the period from 2008-2017 in Humboldt County alone the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the just outside the Siskiyou Roadless Area and provides Wildlife Services killed at least 178 coyotes, 54 black Humboldt marten as a threatened species under the an important wildlife corridor between the Siskiyou bears, 43 gray foxes, 23 mountain lions, 483 raccoons, ESA. But the wildlife agency has yet to  nalize the rule, and Marble Mountain Wilderness Areas.  e project 880 skunks, and 112 opossums — overwhelmingly on denying the marten the protections it needs to survive would threaten the Paci c  sher, a candidate for listing behalf of the livestock industry. under the federal Endangered Species Act and would also put at risk the northern spotted owl. Serving as Critical Habitat for the imperiled northern spotted owl, the project area is home to two of the few reproductive owl pairs remaining on the Klamath National Forest.  e Crawford Timber Sale would result in the “take” of these surviving pairs and would remove and degrade over 350 acres of Critical Habitat.

Humboldt County Revises Contract with Wildlife Services EPIC was proud to be a member of a large coalition of environmental and animal rights groups who successfully moved Humboldt County Humboldt marten. Courtesy of Mark Linnell, U.S. Forest Service to revise its contract with the federal Wildlife Dead beavers, photo obtained via FOIA from Wildlife Services

15 www.yournec.org June 2020 EcoNews Klamath Salmon 2020 Outmigration: Late storms, a threatened lawsuit and faulty stream adjudications Felice Pace, With  ows under 30 cubic feet per second and bad North Group Water Chairperson water quality, many of the salmon which emerged from spawning gravels in the Shasta River Basin this year In the February/March ECONEWS, I reported on likely died before they could reach the Klamath. It is di culties salmon faced getting to spawning grounds similar every year. One of the best spawning streams, in the Scott River Basin last fall. Chinook never made Parks Creek, for example, is dewatered annually over it even as irrigation continued unabated. Luckily, signi cant stretches which, in the words of one  sh big storms  nally came and most Coho were able to biologist, turns living salmon fry into salmon jerky. access spawning grounds in and above the agriculture- Parks Creek is signi cant not only because it dominated Scott Valley. would provide excellent salmon habitat if it were not In springtime, salmon emerging from spawning dewatered, but also because the Trump Administration’s Klamath Riverkeeper highlights the dewatering of Scott River gravel must leave for the ocean or  nd a place to rear National Marine Fisheries Service plans to bestow near Fort Jones. Photo courtesy: Klamath Riverkeeper for a year or more before beginning the journey. Most a Safe Harbor Agreement on major Parks Creek groundwater, including  sheries, stream ecosystems Chinook migrate immediately; Coho and Steelhead irrigators, absolving them of responsibility for “take” and recreation. But Water Board sta say their hands stay at least a year near natal streams before leaving of ESA-listed Coho salmon. One of those landowners are tied by Scott River Stream Adjudications that do for the ocean.  e migration is di cult every year due is Sierra Paci c Industries founder and president, not require watermaster service or that extractors of to bad water quality and insu cient  ows, but this Red Emerson. Emerson and other SPI executives are interconnected groundwater report their water use. year concern is heightened. major clearcut-plantation loggers; they are also major Until that changes, the survival of Scott River salmon, May 1 surveys in the Klamath Mountains found contributors to Republican and some Democratic and in particular Coho salmon, will remain dependent precipitation at 40% and snow pack at 8% of average. political candidates. While many young Klamath salmon die every year in on early fall storms to get spawners to spawning streams, and on snowmelt to get young salmon out dewatered streams and from disease epidemics, this e Scott River of those streams and down to the Klamath. year is expected to be catastrophically worse. Concerns In the Scott Sub-Basin the plight of salmon is tied  e inability or reluctance by State Water Board are greatest for Scott and Shasta River salmon. In those to the advent of major storms in the fall and to how o cials to e ectively regulate irrigation in the Shasta Klamath sub-basins, stream ows drop radically or much precipitation and snowpack accumulates over and Scott is signi cant because those basins were disappear entirely as irrigation from stream diversions the course of winter. With snowpack at 8% of the long once and could again be strongholds for Klamath and groundwater extraction ramp up after April 1. term average, this will be a particularly deadly year for River Basin salmon production. Until the dewatering young Scott River salmon. It will be especially deadly of stream habitats in those two key sub-basins ends, e Shasta River because in most of Scott Valley there is no watermaster however, Klamath salmon will not recover to levels Unlike snowmelt streams of the Klamath Mountains, service to make sure those with surface water rights of abundance needed to consistently support tribal the Shasta River Basin is mostly volcanic, consequently do not take more than they have a right to divert. subsistence, sport and commercial salmon  shing. springs there have near-constant  ow all year. But Groundwater extraction is also unregulated. In a well Ending dewatering will likely require that stream without the snowmelt  ow bump seen on the Scott, regulated basin, irrigation diversions and groundwater adjudications for both basins are opened and  xed salmon in the Shasta Basin are at risk from dewatering extraction would be limited in dry years so that  sh so that the pain of inadequate stream ow is shared every year.  e dramatic  ow reduction when irrigation (and those who depend on  sh) are not made to bear by all water users, not just the  sh. starts is seen in the graph below displaying Shasta alone the impact of drought. I  nd it perplexing that those who depend on River  ows from March 4 until May 4. Fortunately, the advent of warm weather snowmelt salmon, including tribes and commercial salmon bolstered Scott  ows just as salmon fry emerged from  shermen, have not taken action to open and  x the spawning gravels. Consequently, most Chinook salmon Scott and Shasta River Basin stream adjudications. juveniles likely made it to the Klamath and Paci c this Perhaps they are counting on dam removal to boost year. Prospects for Coho and Steelhead, however, are salmon production. While there is excellent habitat dire.  ey must survive over a drought summer and above upper Klamath Lake, however, it is unlikely that fall, while full irrigation continues.  is year most Coho salmon can successfully migrate past the two dams salmon produced in the Scott and many Steelhead that will remain and through Keno Reservoir and trout will also be turned into salmon jerky. Upper Klamath Lake where water quality is terrible and water temperature is lethal for salmonids. Changing the dynamic In light of tribal and  shermen inaction, I believe The State Water Resources Control Board is the environmental community must step up to secure supposed to make sure that irrigation does not water management changes needed in the Shasta and substantially damage the bene cial uses of surface and Scott Basins. Stay tuned.

EcoNews June 2020 www.yournec.org 16 Will COVID-19 Undo Environmental Gains to Reduce Plastics? packaging, molded  ber containers, and more easily Microbe Journal on April 2 examined the length of recyclable options.  eir motivation is compliance time the coronavirus can last on certain materials.  e with upcoming legislation and to satisfy the increasing  ndings indicate that the virus can remain on paper for Gi ord Hall and Maggie Gainer, ZWH demands of consumers. up to three hours, cloth for up to two days, and plastic Zero Waste Humboldt urges Redwood Coast Since March, the petrochemical industry seized for up to three days. Environmental experts stress residents to join us in learning to adapt to the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to exploit that plastic bags can still harbor viruses and bacteria of the COVID-19 public health crisis while we continue the public’s fears and step up lobbying efforts to during their manufacturing, transport, stocking or use. to reduce the horri c impacts of single-use plastics rescind recently passed laws to restrict single-use Despite this, several U.S. states and cities have on the environment. plastics. Within days of President Trump’s declaration repealed regulations or delayed passing laws that First, we always recommend that businesses and of a national emergency, plastic industry lobbyists, restrict single-use plastic bags, and some state and residents follow Public Health instructions. ZWH their legislative allies, and marketing  rms launched city governments have prohibited customers from has regularly consulted with Humboldt County national campaigns advocating for the rollback of laws bringing their reusable bags into stores due to the Environmental Health Services to make sure our public banning plastic bags. fear of spreading the virus. education is consistent with Public Health standards.  e Plastics Industry Association urged the federal While coping with the COVID-19 crisis is our top Second, during the coronavirus, we have been government to issue a statement promoting the “health priority, our environment’s plastics crisis is on the back pleased to observe that many Humboldt grocery stores, and safety bene ts of plastic bags.” One manager of burner. But now is not the time to halt the progress restaurants, and food delivery services continue to the Association, Tony Radoszewesk, stated that “ e made to address the proliferation of single-use plastics use brown paper bags and paper cartons for meals. COVID-19 pandemic is forcing many Americans, in our environment. We urge you to continue your waste We have not seen many regress to plastic bags and businesses, and government o cials to realize that reduction and reuse habits at home, and to integrate styrofoam. When you place a food order, tell them single-use plastics are often the safest choice.” Zero Waste principles into your business decisions you prefer paper and compostable  ber, not plastic. Single-use plastic is not inherently “cleaner” than at the workplace. Humboldt County residents have Single-use plastics were designed for extreme the reusable bag, mug, etc. Coronavirus lives on several strong core values in sustainability, and cannot allow emergencies – not daily life habits. Our short-term surfaces, and research shows that the virus remains the plastic industry to mislead us. Many Humboldt adaptation to the requirements of COVID-19 will viable three times longer on plastic than on other residents are using this time of sheltering in place to not need to continue as long-term dependence on surface types. Although the CDC has not issued any re ect on alternatives to the waste they generate and single-use plastics. Zero Waste leaders are seeing comments condoning or recommending plastic bags setting Zero Waste goals. To share your waste reduction many food producers gradually switch to less wasteful versus reusable bags, a study published in the Lancet ideas, contact [email protected]. Jobs Available in Environmental Health ~ 30 people to carry out this work;  eld inspectors are Carolyn Hawkins, (which can be obtained on the job) enables one to supported by managers, administrative and clerical Registered Environmental Health Specialist seek a position as an EHS Trainee. When all education sta . We strive to create a positive environment for  e interaction of people and their environment and experience requirements are met and an exam is both employees and the public. can bring many things...inspiration, enjoyment, health passed, Registration is granted by the state. To learn DEH Supervising Environmental Health Specialist and renewal but it can also bring disease, as we have more, visit the CA REHS Program page: www.cdph. Mario Kalson, who graduated from Humboldt State learned from the coronavirus. ca.gov/Programs/CEH/DRSEM/Pages/EMB/REHS/ University in 2002, said the transition from biological  e  eld of Environmental Health (EH) is a marriage REHS.aspx  eld technician to EH professional has been rewarding. of science and service.  ose working in the EH  eld For some, the current pandemic brought immediate “It’s been gratifying to use applied sciences to help keep take scienti c principles pertaining to injury and changes to our daily jobs (some are serving in our our rivers and beaches clean and our communities disease prevention and apply them in our communities Emergency Operations Center with Logistics, healthy.” He continues, “There is no trophy, and through observation, evaluation, communication, Operations, or assisting with contact tracing). little fanfare, but you know you are working for the education and enforcement. A continuing challenge  e Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has greater good.” within this professional  eld is the shrinking workforce. produced a 3-minute video (“Why are Environmental  e majority of EH employment opportunities  e number of people entering the  eld and beginning Health Services Important?”) that shows how EH are with state, local, tribal or federal government but a career is much smaller than the number of those sta work with epidemiology and laboratory sta many private companies (primarily in food production reaching retirement age and departing.  ere are to protect public health. www.cdc.gov/cdctv/ or service) also employ EH sta . Not all states require many good jobs available! environmentalhealth/environmental-health- registration to work as an Environmental Health Here in Humboldt County, the Division of services-important.html Specialist (sometimes titled Sanitarian) but in California, Environmental Health (DEH) operates as part of the If you are interested in a career in Environmental the California Department of Public Health administers Public Health Branch of the County Department of Health locally, contact DEH at [[email protected]. the Registered Environmental Health Specialist (REHS) Health & Human Services. Ever wonder who conducts ca.us] to connect with one of our current EH employees program. restaurant, pool or summer camp inspections? We do for details about this rewarding work. Submit a job Other than obtaining a BS in Environmental Health that. Land ll, compost facility or gas station inspections? interest card to receive recruitment noti cations www. (o ered by only 5 universities in CA), a BS degree We do that. Site evaluation and permitting for water governmentjobs.com/careers/humboldtcountyca/ with a minimum of 30 semester units of basic science wells and septic systems? We do that, too. DEH employs jobInterestCards/categories. combined with a prescribed amount of experience

17 www.yournec.org June 2020 EcoNews Casey's Coastal Column Trash-a-thon: Direct Action Activism & Citizen Science

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300 2nd Street, Old Town, Eureka Casey Cruikshank, Beach, Adopt-A-Block, Zero Waste Coastal Cleanup (707) 442-3541 • www.humboldtherbals.com Coastal Programs Coordinator Day and the Zero Waste Lending Library. “We Help You Understand Nature’s Pharmacy” In the midst of quarantine the NEC sta has been As we get more involved in year-round data working hard to come up with creative ways to safely collection, we rely on volunteers to help us gather that rally our community into active environmental work. data. We would love to have your help during our  rst  is slow pace and time outside of the o ces has lent ever Trash-a-thon. If you have any questions about more space to our “backburner” projects and some this event please visit our website to learn more or of our best ideas are coming forward. With Coastal email [email protected]. Programs deeply rooted into the NEC’s long history, we’re very excited to see where these new projects take us. During quarantine I’ve been taking a deep dive into the NEC’s data collection strategies,  ne tuning our goals and researching everything I can to make sure we are using the best methods available. Between researching, we’ve also been planning a new exciting event that will take place in July between the 18th and the 25th. Trash-a-thon is a great way to participate in environmental stewardship, fundraise for Coastal Programs at the NEC and clean up your community. Trash-a-thon is similar to a walkathon, where you raise money from sponsors for each mile walked; in this case, volunteers raise donations for the number of pieces of trash that are picked up within a 24- hour timeframe. Anyone and everyone is able to participate as long as any teams that are formed are adhering to the quarantine guidelines. All funds raised will support the NEC’s Coastal Programs Citizen Science Project, Adopt-A-

EcoNews June 2020 www.yournec.org 18 Where Conservation Meets National Politics, NEC Legislative Interns Keep Us Up-To-Date

following the Wildlife brought up again. If president Trump is re-elected in Corridors Conservation November it is highly likely that these bills will not Act of 2019 (S. 1499, be passed and that he will keep pushing for oil and H.R. 2795), “a bill to gas lease sales along the OCS. If Joe Biden is elected establish National Wildlife there is likely to be a better chance for this legislation Corridors to provide to be passed, but it is still uncertain.” for the protection and Kenny Mort, an intern from Orange County, has restoration of certain been following Senate Bill 3422,  e Great American native  sh, wildlife, and Outdoors Act, which in his words, “would potentially plant species, and for be the most signi cant piece of conservation legislation other purposes.” passed in the United States in the last  fty years.”  is According to Odom, bill would create a trust fund, composed of 50% of “Linking habitats to revenues from the development of oil, gas, coal, or prevent the formation alternative or renewable energy on federal lands and of isolates is crucial waters, up to $1.9 billion. It would also provide $900 in slowing the pace million in permanent annual funding for the Land of numerous species’ and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). extinction. Not only do Mort reports that “the current administration has migratory terrestrial  ip  opped their position when it comes to the LWCF. animals such as deer, In its recent budget proposals, the administration has elk, bears, and most proposed signi cantly reducing LWCF funding, even notably the pronghorn up to 97%. However, in early March, President Trump antelope bene t from safe stated in a tweet that he would sign into law a bill that passage, but providing restores the country’s national parks and provides and perfecting human- permanent funding for the LWCF.  e presidential 2020 NEC Environmental Policy Interns in the NEC o ce. From left_ Kenny constructed infrastructure endorsement has provided lots of momentum for Mort, Aspen Stepanek and Vanessa Odom. Photo by Dan Sealy such as highways and this bill (which) already garnered bipartisan support.” bridges will help save Momentum for this bill has continued, and it has Caroline Gri th human lives as well.”  e been read twice in committee and is on the Senate EcoNews Journalist main controversies around this piece of legislation are legislative calendar.  scal and property rights related, as it requires “federal As NEC Legislative Analyst and Legislative With the 2020 Presidential and Congressional agencies to conduct planning to identify and protect Intern supervisor, Dan Sealy, says, “Knowledge of elections swirling in the foreground, important wildlife corridors on federal lands, and implementation the relationship between politics and conservation conservation legislation and policies are on the table, of strategies will require federal dollars to increase is useful knowledge whether your career takes you being written, revised, ripped up and abandoned federal property. Conservative members of Congress to a  re watch tower in the wilderness or the halls behind the scenes.  ere is a lot to keep track of and tend to oppose actions that may require federal funding of Congress.”  ose interested in applying for next here at the NEC we are fortunate to currently have a or imposition on private land,” says Odom. semester’s program can send a short introductory email trio of Environmental Policy Legislative Interns who Legislative intern, Aspen Stepanek, from Santa explaining their interest and background in resource are following important conservation legislation and Rosa, has been following S. 1304, the COAST Anti- conservation to Dan Sealy at [email protected]. keeping us up to date. Drilling Act, and S. 1318, the West Coast Ocean  e Environmental Policy Internship, which has Protection Act, introduced in response to a Trump been in place since 2013, is a collaboration between administration executive order (13795) that seeks to the NEC and HSU which gives students a “virtual open up more than 98% of the Outer-Continental Washington, D.C. experience.” Under the supervision Shelf (OCS) for oil and gas exploration. According of NEC Legislative Analyst, Dan Sealy, the interns to Stepanek, if passed the two bills would halt the Your source for the finest hardwoods & wood working supplies learn how policy is crafted and how it moves through administration’s attempt to lease any more o shore the halls of Washington on its way to becoming law, tracts for oil and gas exploration. S. 1304 prohibits Your local including tracking relevant controversies surrounding the U.S. Department of Interior from issuing leases supplier of policies.  rough this process, they learn about the for the exploration, development, or production of oil marine plywoods hurdles to getting legislation passed and just how or gas in the North, Mid-, or South Atlantic Ocean or HYDROTEK MERANTI & long it can take for a bill to become a law.  ey also the Straits of Florida, or the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. DOUGLAS FIR learn the di erent tactics that are used by opponents S. 1318 would permanently ban o shore drilling on Lumber for boats, paddles & oars to keep certain pieces of legislation from moving the West Coast. According to Stepanek, “Currently ASH, PORT ORFORD CEDAR, SPRUCE, CVG FIR, WHITE OAK, forward.  e internship is self-directed and unpaid, there is no motion to proceed with o shore oil drilling, MAHOGANY, PURPLE HEART, JATOBA but participants receive academic credit. but (lacking Congressional legislation to block the 5301 Boyd Rd., Arcata • Just off Giuntoli Lane at Hwy 299 Vanessa Odom, an intern from Chicago, has been drilling) it is only a matter of time before the issue is 825-8880 • www.almquistlumber.com

19 www.yournec.org June 2020 EcoNews Make your voice heard Save this list of contacts for your reference Humboldt County Supervisors Eye on 825 5th Street, Room 111 Eureka, CA 95501 1st District - Rex Bohn Washington 707-476-2391 [email protected] Dan Sealy, NEC Legislative Analyst 2nd District - Estelle Fennell 707-476-2392 California Water Wars Forever [email protected] As spring moves to summer, the perpetual water and weakening environmental laws, Rep. McClintock 3rd District - Mike Wilson concerns of the West rise in level perhaps near that (R-CA) and Bishop (R-UT.) What does this have to do 707-476-2393 of the Coronavirus crisis. Currently the drought with the North Coast? In this case, Rep. McClintock [email protected] monitor for California shows all of Northern California fears funding the desalination plant would be at the 4th District - Virginia Bass in a state of Abnormally Dry to Extreme Drought expense of his long-desired increases in dams on 707-476-2394 conditions. Congress has not stopped discussing northern rivers, such as Shasta Dam, to further twin- [email protected] and legislating water projects in California, from tunnel and other water projects that rob the northern 5th District - Steve Madrone raising dam heights and shoring up irrigation canals region of water that sustains the river ecosystems and 707-476-2395 to funding desalination plants. In campaign speeches, feeds the local  shing communities.  e San Diego [email protected] then-candidate Trump promised California farmers Coastkeeper opposes the desalination project and U.S. Senators - California more water. Now President Trump has worked with suggested alternatives such as conservation, wastewater agriculture and water-suppliers to push forward as recycling and stormwater capture to better meet the Senator Dianne Feinstein many water projects as possible, often at the expense needs of the San Diego area. https://feinstein.senate.gov/public of endangered species and the environment in general. Legislation directed at funding water infrastructure 331 Hart Senate O ce Building  e issue came to a stand-o in February when the projects including harbor dredging and maintenance Washington, D.C., 20510 Trump administration  nalized biological opinions and related bills for clean drinking water are progressing Phone: 202-224-3841 on salmon and the critically endangered delta smelt through committees and have a chance at passage Senator Kamala Harris to accommodate additional water being taken from this year. https://harris.senate.gov the Sacramento Delta. In May, California Governor 112 Hart Senate O ce Building Newsom responded by taking the administration to Good News for Renewable Energy Washington, D.C., 20510 court over those biological opinions. California also With strong bipartisan support, speci cally that Phone: 202-224-3553 made a determination for the State Water Project of Sen Grassley (R- IA), the US Treasury Department Look up other senators here: under California’s endangered species law and found indicated it would extend the tax incentives for renewable https://www.senate.gov/senators/index.htm that the Trump Administration’s analysis falls short of energy developers. It wrote that the Department “plans protecting the species.  at analysis is more restrictive to modify the relevant rules in the near future.” Greg U.S. Representative - California District 2 of exports, though environmentalists say it, too, falls Wetstone, president of the American Council on Congressman Jared Hu man short. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner, Brenda Renewable Energy, said his group was “encouraged” https://hu man.house.gov Burman, responded for Interior Secretary Bernhardt in by the letter and extended “our appreciation to the 1406 Longworth House O ce Building a letter to Senators Feinstein and Harris attempting to Treasury Department for this important step, which will Washington, D.C., 20515 create a political stand-o by accusing Gov. Newsom help the renewable sector continue as a key economic Phone: 202-225-5161 of “embrace(ing) the tactics of the litigious groups (i.e. driver through this downturn, and an e ective climate solution over the long haul.” (eenews May 8, 2020) Look up other representatives here: conservation organizations) at the expense of families, https://www.house.gov/representatives farms, communities and wildlife…” and indicating that the federal government would continue to move Keystone Pipeline Delay California Governor forward with their projects. In other good news, a judge in Montana issued a Governor Gavin Newsom In related congressional committees, bills are decision that the Keystone Pipeline developer’s permit https://www.gov.ca.gov moving slightly to increase desalination (using sea water is on hold until developers engage in the interagency c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173 or brackish estuary water) to make fresh drinking water consultation required under the Endangered Species Sacramento, CA 95814 in drought-prone Southern California. Desalination Act.  at process can result in up to a year or so Phone: 916-445-2841 projects are generally opposed by conservation of delay which, depending on the outcome of the An email contact form can be found at organizations because of the ecological impacts to November, 2020 elections could result in a fresh look at https://govapps.gov.ca.gov/gov40mail/ the process. However, in March a House Natural the project by a di erent administration and congress Resources Committee hearing got feisty when Rep. Levin with, perhaps, a di erent outcome. Look up other California state legislators (D-CA) defended his bill, HR 3723, the “Desalination here: http:// ndyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/ Development Act.” His one cosponsor, currently, is our Coming Up Looking for someone not on this list? own Rep. Hu man; both men have a strong record of Both the House and Senate will be in session most www.usa.gov/elected-officials environmental protection, so support for desalination or parts of June and July and several bills are expected plants is somewhat unexpected. Opposing the bill are to move forward.  e NEC will share alerts for any Questions? Contact the NEC at 707-822-6918 or [email protected]. two congressmen who have a long history of opposing key legislation activity. the federal government and supporting dam-building

EcoNews June 2020 www.yournec.org 20 Get on Board for the Climate

Martha Walden, What Now Coalition

My last column was all about the Humboldt Climate Challenges we had scheduled throughout the month of March from Rio Dell to McKinleyville.  ese neighborhood events would have enticed a variety of people to come together to play our climate board game and, in this way, learn the most e ective answers for climate change here in Humboldt County. But Nature intervened, and you know the rest. Our events were inde nitely postponed, and we're staying home much more than usual.  ese are strange times, and of course, we're very fortunate to live where we do.  e What Now Coalition is doing more than cooling its heels. 350 Humboldt celebrated Earth Day, along with other 350.org members all over the country, with its Stop- e-Money-Pipeline campaign. In addition to having letters to the editor published in local publications, we messaged banks that help fund fossil fuel projects by posting negative reviews, tweets, and audio-visual productions. Check out the videos at youtube 350 Humboldt. Food for People volunteers. Photo Credit: Food For People Facebook Page. 11th Hour has been meeting on the beach and investigating Humboldt County's obligation to reduce its organic waste by 50% by 2020 and 75% by 2025. it speci cally for human consumption. Arcata and California says so in SB 1383. Most green waste is Eureka are collaborating with Food for People and already separated from the waste stream, but Humboldt State University to rescue food before it more than 5.5 millions tons of food are tossed is sent to the dump.  is project netted a $163,657 into land lls in California every year.  is waste grant from CalRecycle last year. entails CO2 emissions from the energy required SB 1383 also affects how ranches and dairies to grow and transport the food. It also emits treat cow manure, the largest source of methane in methane as it rots. Land lls are responsible for Humboldt, but that sounds like the topic for another 21% of California's methane emissions. column. Methane doesn't stick around in the atmosphere for nearly as long as CO2, but it is eighty times more potent during the  rst ten years. So, it's particularly dangerous right now because we must reduce our emissions by 50% in the next ten years. In 2000, global methane emissions had almost as much global warming Inc. impact as CO2. Drastically reducing short-term NCCS climate pollutants, including hydro uorocarbons and soot as well, could buy us some time. So what can Humboldt do with its organic North Coast Cleaning Services waste? Anaerobic digesters would be great.  ey make fuel out of methane and capture carbon. The Green Cleaning Composting the waste would be simpler and Specialists perhaps more feasible--either at industrial-sized facilities or smaller distributed sites. Trucking Commercial office cleaning, it to facilities out of county is an option but window cleaning, and would be a loss of a valuable resource. Compost fertilizes soil and sequesters carbon, plus making carpet cleaning services. it creates jobs. www.northcoastcleaning.com Of course, the best option for food is to not waste it to begin with. SB 1383 mandates that 707-269-0180 Vermicomposting bucket (composting with worms.) the county divert at least 20% of edible food PO Box 177, Eureka, CA 95502 Photo credit: Mizzou CAFNR, Flikr Creative Commons. destined for the garbage, and furthermore, salvage

21 www.yournec.org June 2020 EcoNews 10 Billion Trees in Pakistan The Shorts As part of a Green Stimulus package, the Pakistani EcoNews Report Report government is paying out of work day laborers to plant Short bits of interest and positivity trees.  ousands of workers are planting saplings as a part of the 10 Billion Tree Tsunami program. Here’s a selection of some recent EcoNews Reports: Icelandic Tree Huggers  e Icelandic government is advocating that citizens An Existential Toolkit for the Climate Generation hug trees for 5 minutes a day to alleviate loneliness. People are being encouraged to hug di erent trees. May, 9, 2020 – Humboldt State Research has shown that there are health bene ts to professor Sarah Jaquette Ray talks with hosts Tom Wheeler and Alicia tree-hugging, in fact the Japanese practice of forest- Hamann about how to avoid bathing has been part of the national health program burnout, why peddling hope and since 1982. leveraging guilt are not e ective, and how we can move past the Ashaninka Indigenous illusion of partisan division to working toward climate justice. Caroline Gri th. Reparations EcoNews Journalist  e Ashaninka Indigenous community has received Welcome to the Wonderful New World of $3 million and an o cial apology from companies that Electric Bicycles! illegally logged mahogany, cedar, and other tree species May 2, 2020 – Everything you need to know about in the Kampa do Rio Amônia Indigenous Reserve in the RCEA’s new electric bike rebate program. What Protesting Just got Easier the Brazillian Amazon over 30 years ago.  e money is it, why is it, and how do you take advantage of it? Due to COVID 19, the Bureau of Land Management will go directly to projects that bene t the forest and will accept emailed protests of oil and gas lease sales the Ashaninka community. Backyard Birding for the Bored! “for the foreseeable future.” Previously, in many states, April 25, 2020 – Are you bored at home? Do you keep protests had to be hand-delivered or sent via U.S. France’s Green Bailout seeing a bird in your backyard and wonder, “what are mail.  ough the protest rules have changed, the sales  e French government is bailing out the airline you?” On this week’s EcoNews Report, the Green Gang continue despite petitions by environmental groups industry, but only if it gets green. In order to receive investigates backyard birding! Stay sane during the to halt sales during the Coronavirus pandemic. a €7 billion bailout, Air France will need to cut its shelter in place by birding without having to leave your house! emissions by 50% by 2030, use 2% renewable jet fuel Biofuel Hand Sanitizer by 2024 and drastically reduce the number of  ights Biofuel companies who thought they could retool less than 2 and a half hours in duration which compete Humboldt’s Climate Action Plan, With County and start producing hand sanitizer are asking the FDA with much more e cient rail services. Planner Connor McGuigan to loosen regulations around the type of alcohol used April 11, 2020 – Connor McGuigan, lead planner on the in sanitizers.  e biofuel industry has lost about half county’s multijurisdictional Climate Action Plan, joins of its production during the coronavirus outbreak. host Tom Wheeler to talk about Humboldt’s biggest The Rage of the Barred Owl climate challenges, the development of the plan and A Surge in Pedestrian and more. by Ellen Taylor Bike Paths Worldwide When Moon unmasks your naked face Victory Gardens! Recognizing the health bene ts of walking and And gilds your gun with diamonds green April 4, 2020 – Grocery store shelves got you anxious biking, and the need to physically distance, hundreds I mark your progress from afar. about food security? Bored at home with nothing to do? of cities around the world have closed streets to cars You stumble toward my roosting place, Start a Victory Garden! Guests Julia Graham-Whitt and Mir during the outbreak, many of which will remain closed. de Silva of Two Green Thumbs share tips and tricks to get In Bogota, Columbia, city o cials opened up nearly Studying your tiny screen, your  rst garden established, from seeds to soil and grass 47 miles of new temporary bike paths, converted 17 Tracking an arti cial star. to garden. miles of car lanes to bike routes and added 340 miles of You killed my wife some dawns ago, paved, protected paths. Paris is creating 650 kilometers Fooled by your telescopic sight: Let’s Talk About Transportation Emissions of “corona-cycleways” and converting one major She was a Northern Spotted Owl! March 14, 2020 – This week: Dan Jacobson of Environment thoroughfare into a bike boulevard.  e government You threw her feathers in the snow California joins the Green Gang to talk about how we of New Zealand will reimburse cities for 90% of the No measurements of weight or height: can reduce the largest single source of greenhouse gas cost of converting roads into permanent social spaces. Bars or spots, murder most foul! emissions: Transportation. Management stalks through the trees Sierra Club’s First Latino Plying the Endangered Species Act President And shifting its dynamic core.  e Sierra Club elected its  rst Latino president. We will be gone when, by degrees Ramon Cruz, a native of Puerto Rico, served in senior The soil will sicken, parched and cracked: KHUM104.3 positions at the Environmental Defense Fund and was Then re, desert, nothing more. also the deputy director of Puerto Rico’s environmental I, Owl, now curse your species’ birth: Sat @ 10am regulation agency. No Permit comes from Mother Earth. Thanks to KHUM & Lost Coast Outpost!

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