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EPA Report: Wetlands in poor condition

5/21/16

A first-of-its-kind report card on the nation’s wetland habitats shows the western U.S. is not doing a good job at keeping these disappearing ecosystems in good condition.

The report, released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this month, found only 21 percent of the 146 surveyed wetlands west of the Rocky Mountains were in “good” condition compared to about 61 percent in poor condition and 18 percent in fair condition.

Common impairments for these western wetlands and those throughout the nation are ditches and draining systems, nonnative plants, loss of native plants, and surface hardening such as road paving and other development — all of which have occurred in Humboldt County, according to Humboldt Baykeeper Director Jennifer Kalt.

“The public lands wetlands are being treated much better than they used to be and the private land wetlands are continuing to be abused and destroyed,” she said.

Bay Ball in Board's Court

Planning director opts to bypass planning commission, take bay zoning issue to supervisors

5/5/16

There's a showdown looming for the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, which will be asked by planning staff to temporarily expand the allowable uses of 118 properties around Humboldt Bay zoned as coastal dependent.

The staff recommendation recently came before the Planning Commission, which expressed a variety of concerns before declining, with a 5-1 vote, to back staff's recommendation to the board. That left Interim Planning Director Rob Wall with the choice of either bringing the matter back before the Planning Commission so that its members could try to reach a compromise measure they could support or taking the matter directly to the board without the commission's support. He chose the latter.

Gas tax shortfall delays 101 safety corridor project

5/8/16

Two Eureka road rehabilitation projects are likely to be cut, and the long-anticipated $38 million U.S. Highway 101 Corridor Improvement Project at the Indianola Interchange will likely be delayed two years, according to a report released by the California Transportation Commission.

Funding for these improvement projects comes from the state’s gas tax, which has seen massive shortfall as gas prices have plummeted and fuel efficient vehicles, including electric plug-ins, replace gas guzzlers.

How the Harbor District Found Itself in the Middle of Humboldt’s Most Bitter Political Fight

4/29/16

Last week, two elected officials got into a face-to-face, toe-to-toe, “let’s take this outside”-style argument during a break in a Planning Commission meeting. This wasn’t a personal beef (the men each told the Outpost afterward that they consider each other friends). Nor was it about a property dispute that affects either man directly.

No, the spat boiled over from a long-simmering political dispute over management of Humboldt Bay. Former Planning Commissioner Dennis Mayo and current Harbor Commissioner Richard Marks (the officials in last week’s quarrel) stand on separate sides of a philosophical and tactical divide that has gradually expanded to define Humboldt County’s most bitter political struggle — whether we should wait for big, blue-collar industries to arrive on our shores via sea and rail, or start allowing other businesses to use that land.

County moves forward with sewage testing plan

State to review plan

4/20/16

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday moved forward with a draft plan to manage private septic systems, which includes a provision to test streams and rivers for possible contamination of fecal bacteria.

County Environmental Health Division supervising environmental health specialist Carolyn Hawkins said the water testing will allow the county to determine whether human waste is responsible for contaminating four local beaches and surrounding waterways. Hawkins said the alternative is retaining the current program, which requires landowners living near these bacteria-impaired waters to follow stringent and expensive building rules if building a new septic system or repairing an existing one. “You can differentiate the source of the bacteria,” Hawkins said. “We want to use that to help focus our efforts so we’re not spinning our wheels and going off in the wrong direction. If we see a human source, then we know more about where to focus our efforts.”