Recent raging winter storms have caved in streets, wrecked piers, collapsed homes and apartment buildings, and submerged property up and down California’s coastline.Now, as sea levels continue to rise from climate change, scientists are working on a real-world experiment that could help reduce the impacts.At a 247-acre property near the Santa Cruz-Monterey county line, crews are planning to protect against flooding — not by trying to hold back the ocean by building bigger sea walls — but by converting flood-prone farmland into tidal wetlands. During big storms and high tides, this allows ocean waters to move inland in an orderly way instead of threatening homes and other property.In other words, working with nature, as opposed to trying to battle the ocean’s relentless forward march.“It’s a demonstration,” said Sarah Newkirk, executive director of the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, which is overseeing the project. “What we are doing here is applicable to other places in California, the Gulf of Mexico, and other parts of the country.”On Wednesday, Newkirk’s non-profit environmental group closed a $13.4 million deal to buy the property, known as Beach Ranch. The bucolic farmland sits at the mouth of the Pajaro River near the crashing waves of Monterey Bay, and has flooded multiple of times over the past few generations, most recently this January, and during the previous winter.Read More
One third of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge is closed to the public after a tide gate and the adjacent levee were found to need urgent repairs. The Salmon Creek Unit, including a visitor center and the Shorebird loop trail, were closed in mid-July after staff found the overflow infrastructure was deteriorating.“Having people walking on a trail that’s being undermined, that’s pretty dangerous,” said Cashell Villa, the refuge manager.The Shorebird loop trail is on the levee itself, which protects the Richard J. Guadagno Visitor Center and the refuge’s headquarters from tidal water. A news release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says both the levee and the Long Pond tide gate need urgent repairs until they can be replaced.During an extreme high tide event, the trail and refuge buildings could be inundated with water, according to the release.Villa said more water was observed coming from pipes, showing that deterioration was happening between the levee and Humboldt Bay. The unit was fully closed to the public July 21, and the trail was closed a few days earlier once the water was noticed.When the area will be reopened to the public is yet to be determined.The rest of the refuge is open, including the Hookton Slough and Ma-le’l Dunes units. The refuge’s website, www.fws.gov/refuge/humboldt-bay is being updated with closure information.Read More
Humboldt County’s Environmental Health issued a reminder last week for residents to keep their eyes peeled for algae on rivers and lakes that can produce harmful compounds. Growths of algae generally pick up in late July and August, as water slows down and heats up, situating Humboldt County at the start of the season.“They’re most likely to occur later in the summer when the river flows are low,” said Ben Dolf, a supervising environmental health specialist for Humboldt County.Water warms up to create conditions for algae blooms to be more likely in freshwater, he said, including the harmful kind.Environmental health has so far received three reports of algae this year — and all were determined to be the non-harmful type, said Dolf. Algae in the Mad River was found by the Blue Lake Rancheria to be non-harmful, and the state determined algae at the South Fork of the Eel River and Van Duzen River at Swimmers Delight to contain no harmful species.While these blooms were friendly clusters of photosynthetic organisms, the harmful ones look similar to laypeople. The harmful kind, cyanobacteria (or blue-green algae), can grow in any freshwater, look dark green, black, orange, blue green or brown, can float around, be foamy or in a mat. The harmful algae can produce toxins, tastes and odors with health risks to humans and animals, according to DHHS.Dolf encouraged people to report algae blooms to discover if any harmful toxins are afoot.“If the water doesn’t look clean, if the water looks cloudy or just it doesn’t look pristine, and seems — for lack of a better word — gross, be cautious, avoid it,” advised Dolf, then take photos, send to their office and “we’re happy to help assess whether or not the conditions are safe or harmful.”The North Coast Water Quality Control Board and the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services Environmental Health Division investigate reports of algae, which can be e-mailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 844-729-6466. Blooms can also be reported via the “bloomWatch” app. Photos of suspected blooms can also be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..Read More
On Tuesday evening, the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District will provide an additional look at how exactly the offshore wind project slated for waters roughly 20 miles west of Eureka could proceed.The Harbor District is holding a community meeting to show simulations of future operations at the Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind Heavy Lift Multipurpose Marine Terminal, located between the town of Samoa and Tuluwat Island, from a few angles.“We’re really excited for the public to see this,” said Chris Mikkelsen, the Harbor District’s executive director. While drafts of the site plan have been available to view for quite some time, these images are new.The planned 180-acre terminal is set to host the staging, storing and manufacturing of components and assembly of massive turbines. These will be then towed and installed in lease areas in the Pacific Ocean, like one roughly 20 miles west of Eureka and other projects off the coasts of California and Oregon.How large the turbines built locally will be is still to be determined, but they could reach around 900 feet high. Humboldt Waterkeeper, a local environmental advocacy organization, noted this is about three times taller than the former pulp mill smokestack in Samoa. The terminal will be built on what was once part of the former Hammond Lumber Mill.Keep Reading
California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a state Assembly bill by Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) on Thursday that would beef up water regulations during droughts on the coast. AB 1272 would have made the State Water Resources Control Board outline guidelines for water use and diversion in some coastal watersheds during times of drought.“While I support efforts to protect coastal watersheds from the extreme dry conditions exacerbated by climate change, this bill creates significant, ongoing costs in the millions of dollars that should be considered in the annual budget process,” Newsom wrote in his veto message.An Assembly floor analysis of the bill said the State Water Resources Control Board estimated a one-time cost of about $10 million and ongoing costs of $1.1 million annually to administer the program. The Department of Fish and Wildlife estimated approximately $1 million in costs annually to pay for new positions. The state is facing a deficit projected to be $27.3 billion in 2025-26.The bill, introduced in early 2023, includes watersheds along the North Coast like the Eel River, plus those near the San Francisco Bay and the Central Coast. It would have added teeth to guidelines by authorizing the board to issue cease-and-desist orders if guidelines were violated, and would authorize up to a $500-per-day civil liability.Keep Reading
