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Parcel 4 Public Field Tour Sept. 20, 5:30 pm

The City of Eureka, in partnership with the California Coastal Conservancy, Audubon Society, Redwood Community Action Agency, and GreenWay Partners is looking at feasible ideas for improving public access and natural resource enhancement at the Parcel 4 property behind the Bayshore Mall. Parcel 4 is located directly on the Humboldt Bay waterfront and boasts extensive historic, cultural, and environmental character; making this site an exciting prospect for organized future development of public access and environmental restoration. Parcel 4 is currently planned to provide a link in the California Coastal Trail/Eureka Waterfront Trail as a critical non-motorized transportation alternative to US 101/Broadway St. The proximity of Parcel 4 to the bay makes it a perfect spot for both birding and other wildlife viewing and education, and wetland habitat improvement and restoration in conjunction with planned public access. A well planned vision for future recreation and conservation that includes formalizing recreational use behaviors and integrating environmental and cultural enhancement and protection is desired.

The dynamic history of and public interest in the site has culminated in a situation where the zoning and designation within the Local Coastal Plan conflicts with a conservation easement held by the Audubon Society. The coastal dependent industrial use zoning is a product of the land being a former mill site and adjacent to a deepwater dock site. A conservation easement was placed on the site when no suitable development arose after purchase by the City of Eureka and State Coastal Conservancy in 1985. Because the zoning and conservation easement effectively cancel each other out, the property has sat undeveloped and largely unmanaged up to the present. While irregular site cleanups have been organized, the property has largely succumbed to use as a waste disposal site, homeless encampment, location housing a variety of unmanaged and potentially unsafe recreation uses including hiking, art, an after-school hang-out, bicycling and birding.

Where: Parcel 4 located behind the Bayshore Mall; please park in the parking lot north of the Mall buildings and look for the event table

When: Tuesday September 20th from 5:30pm to 7:00pm; show up a little early to register

Who should attend: Anyone from the public interested in participating in a tour and creative visioning session looking forward to improving public access and the environment at a long-neglected site along the Eureka waterfront. While there will be some clean-up and a site inspection prior to the field tour, the area has not been maintained for use by the public and we discourage bringing small children on the tour.

What participants will be doing: When you arrive, you will be guided to a table where you will sign a waiver. Staff leading the tour will give a brief presentation about the goals for looking at the site and a few details about safety. Once the walk begins, we will be looking at historic relics, modern problems and opportunities, and brainstorm together about future goals and visions for Parcel 4. The tour will take us all around the site, providing a thorough feel for existing activities behind the Bayshore Mall and showing off the dramatic views from the shoreline. At the end of the tour, all participants will have a chance to weigh in through written comment on future public access and open space ideas for Parcel 4.

What to bring: Please come prepared with sturdy closed-toed shoes, water, warm clothing that’s easy to hike in, and ideas about what you want to see on the site.

Shark Fin Ban Awaits Governor's Signature

9/10/11

For sharks, life at the top of the ocean food chain is becoming safer — at least from human predators.

The last 12 months have seen a flurry of laws, regulations and industry actions to end the international trade in the age-old delicacy, including bans on shark fin sales in Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and parts of Canada.

Last week, the California Senate also voted to ban the sale or possession of shark fins — a billion-dollar global trade that has led to the brutal deaths of tens of millions of sharks a year and resulted in many open-ocean shark species being threatened with extinction. The Bahamas and Honduras have prohibited shark fishing in the last two years.

“We’re really enthusiastic to see good things finally starting to happen for sharks,” said Elizabeth Wilson, a marine wildlife expert at Oceana, a nonprofit conservation group that has long campaigned against the trade.

Shark fins are used to make a coveted Chinese banquet soup that can sell for over $100 a bowl. It has the ceremonial mystique of benefiting health and virility, and serving it to guests is considered to be a sign of great honor and respect.

In an increasingly prosperous Asia, the market for the soup has grown drastically, causing overfishing around the globe. The presence of the once-common hammerhead in large parts of the western Atlantic, for example, has decreased by up to 89 percent over the last 25 years.

The spate of new protections is a result of efforts by environmental groups to reduce market demand for shark fins, because international treaties have failed to adequately curb shark fishing.

The Food Network recently removed all shark recipes from its offerings, and the celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has been pressing Chinese restaurants in London to renounce the soup this year.

Shark populations cannot tolerate intensive fishing because sharks have few offspring and often do not reproduce until they are over 10 years old. Even by conservative estimates, more than 10 million shark fins moved through Hong Kong in 2008, the main distribution center for the trade. Fins sell for over $300 a pound.

Many marine biologists support tougher regulation of shark fishing itself.

“These bans go part way, but you’re still allowed to fish sharks without a permit,” said John Bruno, a marine ecologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. “In North Carolina, there are shark derbies for fun, where they are hung by their tails. We think it’s O.K. to do that with this ocean predator, but we wouldn’t dream of doing it to a terrestrial animal like a bear.”

The California ban, which has passed both chambers and now goes to Gov. Jerry Brown, would have a major impact on the availability of shark fins in the United States because most are imported from Hong Kong via California. The legislation bans imports as of Jan. 1, 2012, but allows those who possess shark fins to dispose of their stocks until June 30, 2013.

Though one of the bill’s sponsors is Paul Fong, a Chinese-born assemblyman from Sunnyvale, some Asian-Americans in the state have objected that the measure is discriminatory, singling out an important cultural tradition. But some surveys have shown that 70 percent of Asian-Americans in California support the bill.

SF Baykeeper Oil Spill Funding Bill Passes Senate and Assembly

9/8/11

After a long fight, both the California Senate and Assembly have passed AB 1112 to provide much-needed funding for oil spill prevention and response measures in California. Introduced by Assemblymember Jared Huffman and sponsored by San Francisco Baykeeper, the bill will now head to the Governor to be signed into law.

The budget for California's Office of Spill Prevention and Response was set for huge cuts because oil companies were fighting a modest increase in fees to fund the program. The bill will raise the fee 1.5 cents on a barrel of oil and fund protections for the Bay and coastlines statewide.

For more info on AB 1112, Click HERE.

California Coastal Commission Appoints New Director

9/8/11

The California Coastal Commission has voted unanimously to appoint Dr. Charles Lester to the position of Executive Director, effective today. Dr. Lester has been serving as the Acting Executive Director since former Director Peter Douglas announced his retirement in August.

Dr. Lester will become the fourth E.D. to lead the Commission since its creation in 1972 with the passage of Proposition 20. Prior to his appointment, Charles served as Senior Deputy Director of the Commission, holding that position since 2006. His employment at the Commission began in 1997. Previously, Dr. Lester was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Dr. Lester received his Ph.D in Jurisprudence and Social Policy from the University of California at Berkeley. In addition, he earned his J.D. at Boalt Hall School of Law and a B.A. in Geochemistry from Columbia University.
“The entire Commission recognized and appreciates the unique experience, unwavering integrity, and clear vision Dr. Lester brings to this position. While Peter Douglas leaves very large shoes to fill, Charles fits into them quite comfortably,” said Commission Chair Mary Shallenberger.

Dr. Lester takes the helm of an agency with 142 authorized staff positions and an annual budget of approximately $16 million.

Upon accepting the appointment, Dr. Lester emphasized the ongoing importance Californians place on protecting coastal resources and coastal access. He also acknowledged the importance of improving communications and collaboration with public agencies and local governments along the coast to achieve the purposes of the Coastal Act. He thanked Peter Douglas for his unprecedented leadership and cited the deep dedication and professional skills of the Commission’s staff.

“I am deeply committed to implementing the Coastal Act, but I am also a problem-solver, and I look forward to bringing people together around environmentally sustainable solutions that protect coastal resources and provide maximum public access to the coast for all Californians.”

Download the Press Release

Part of Arcata's coastal plan approved

9/9/11

A dispute that arose between Arcata city officials and the California Coastal Commission over the city's coastal plan in August was settled Thursday.

Commissioners unanimously approved the portion of the city's Local Coastal Program that deals with land use regulations in Arcata's coastal zone, but at the city's request commissioners did not vote on the portion of the program that deals with how development occurs.

The commission's decision gives the Arcata City Council six more months to review changes coastal commission staff asked it to make to its coastal program in August. The city will use that time to work on the development portion of its Local Coast Program, said Community Development Director Larry Oetker.

”We felt like if we could get our land use plan approved we were 50 percent of the way there,” he said. “And then we can come back and work on our implementation plan.”

The commission's decision comes after the Arcata City Council voted on a resolution Wednesday in favor of the changes commission staff recommended to the land use portion of the program, according to Bob Merrill, the commission's North Coast District manager. In addition to requesting more time to review all of the recommended changes, city officials also believe the changes they agreed to make to the Local Coastal Program are consistent with the California Coastal Act, Merrill said.

The changes Arcata agreed to address were sea level rise, tsunami hazards, storm water management, wetlands, public access and recreation and visual resources, Oetker said.

Jennifer Kalt, Humboldt Baykeeper's citizen water monitoring coordinator, said during public comments that she was concerned about the proposed change to the Local Coastal Program that addressed the California Coastal Trail. In McKinleyville, there are signs pointing people to the Hammond Trail portion of the California Coastal Trail, she said. But when the trail crosses into Arcata there are no signs directing people.

”As we know in the current economic climate, it's necessary to have this in the LCP or it's not going to happen,” she said.

Arcata's Director of Environmental Services Mark Andre said the city already has planned a coastal trail through Arcata. The trail will be paid for by a Coastal Conservancy grant, and the environmental study process has begun.