Ridge Trail will link them up

11/10/12
 

The city of Arcata has bro­ken ground on two major new sections of trails in the Arcata Community Forest, which will eventually be used by hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians.



“(The community forest) is not new for us, but it’s expanding in an exciting way,” said Mark Andre, Arca­ta’s Environmental Services director. In 1979, Arcata approved a “Multiple Use Management Plan” initiative, which led the forest to look much like it does currently — a series of multi-use trails over an area of approximate­ly 800 acres.



Andre said the process of adding trails to the forest involves doing some “low intensity” sustainable timber harvesting in some areas, and doing road decommission­ing, which often means pre­venting erosion on old log­ging roads while turning them into single-track trails.



What used to be a small, overgrown trail along a crumbling logging road in the Sunny Brae Forest was recently built into a widened, well-draining gravel road to help with the logging and trail building process.



Andre said the community forest, as it currently stands, wasn’t enough for Arcata’s recreationalists.



“It’s a reflection of the demand. It’s what people want,” Andre said.



He said the community forest additions are also a sig­nificant part of the city’s eco­nomic development strategy. Businesses may be more per­suaded to relocate to a city like Arcata that has an exten­sive trail system for its employees, Andre said.



With the addition of a trail on the northern end — run­ning to West End Road — and a trail on the southern end — running through the Sunny Brae Forest — the four-mile Ridge Trail will run without break from West End Road to Buttermilk Lane in Sunny Brae.



On the northern West End Road side of the forest, there will also be a trail built called Samuels Loop, Andre said. In the new Sunny Brae section of trails, work is being done to build a section of trail specifically made for moun­tain bikers called Beith Creek Trail. That section is designed to mimic mountain bike trails in places like Tahoe and Bend, Ore., he said.



As funding trickles in — from outside grants and local fundraisers — Andre said work groups have continually chipped away at the projects. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence raised $6,500 for the project from a recent soft­ball game. A group of work­ers was laying down gravel in the soon-to-be Sunny Brae system recently. He said there will also be a number of workdays for local volunteers to help out.



Part of the challenge to link up the various new sections has been purchasing the numerous, and sometimes small parcels of land to make it work. A 114-acre parcel was bought from Bob and Carol Morris to expand the Sunny Brae Forest. The city pur­chased a 16-acre property from Green Diamond on the northern end of the forest last December for $262,000.



“It only works when private landowners sell or grant us land,” Andre said.



Another more recent chal­lenge for Andre has been securing easements with landowners in the new sec­tions, to improve access to the trails.



Uri Driscoll, a 30-year resi­dent of Arcata and the Northern California Horse­man’s Association vice presi­dent, said he’s been working with the city to improve access points for his fellow equestrians.



He said there are neighbor­hoods with lots of horse owners — both in Sunny Brae and on Fickle Hill — and the new trail system will help them reach the trail without putting the horse in a trailer. For horse owners farther away, he’s been work­ing with the city on a better access point off West End Road, where equestrians would have plenty of room to park.

“That would be a great spot, a good trail hub,” Driscoll said of the proposed parking lot location. He said it would be easy access for hikers and bikers, too.

As for the community forest trails them­selves, Driscoll said he is impressed.

“The trails are excellent,” he said. “They’re state of the art with their trail building. I wish other municipalities paid this close attention.” Kirk Cohune, an environmental planner at Greenway Partners and avid mountain biker, volunteered time in the past three years to get the new forest additions kick-started.

As a mountain biker, he said he’s particu­larly excited about the potential of the Sunny Brae tract of trails, which will feature moun­tain bike trails for beginners to advanced riders, and a downhill-specific mountain bike trail.

“There’s a lot of kids that just want to go downhill fast,” Cohune said. Those trails will be mountain bikers only, “so you don’t have to freak out when you come around a corner, and there’s a horse there.”

Cohune said he’s been consulting with Andre on how to add banked turns and flow into some of the new trails for mountain biker’s enjoyment. He praised Andre’s open­ness to designing the forest with multiple recreational uses in mind. Cohune said the original plan for the community forest was hiker-specific — a mix of trails with stairs and logging roads, neither of which are espe­cially horse or bike friendly.

Cohune said he hopes he’ll be riding the new trails sometime next summer.

“They’re pretty far along on it already,” he said.

Andre encourage people to volunteer, or give money to the Arcata Forest Fund, part of the Humboldt Area Foundation, if they want to help keep the building process moving.

“Every $300 gives us a couple more feet of rock,” he said.

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11/5/12

Today, California Coastkeeper Alliance (CCKA), which represents 12 California Waterkeeper organizations throughout the state, announces the appointment of Sara Aminzadeh as executive director. Promoted from her role as acting executive director, Aminzadeh assumes the role simultaneously as she launches a two-year campaign to tackle California’s biggest—yet largely unknown—water quality problem: polluted runoff.

“We’ve made huge strides in controlling pollution from pipes, but toxic runoff from agriculture operations, the urban landscape and industrial facilities still plagues our coasts, bays and rivers,” said Aminzadeh. “It is a low profile, high-impact problem that degrades the California way of life and our state’s ocean and tourist-based economy.”

According to CCKA, polluted runoff is often considered an issue too complicated to solve, but left ignored, the problem has serious economic and public health implications. Research shows that contamination from polluted runoff at Southern California beaches sickens approximately one million swimmers every year, resulting in public health costs of up to $50 million.

The two-year campaign enables CCKA to organize its locally based Waterkeeper organizations under a single focus, helps Californians understand the problem, mobilizes citizens and engages businesses in new ways. To begin, Aminzadeh will seek statewide permits that effectively regulate runoff to California waters as required by federal and state pollution laws, and enable citizen action to improve local water quality.

“Citizen monitoring and investigation by local Waterkeeper organizations of industrial and municipal facilities helps highlight pollution hotspots, spurs immediate improvements to water quality, and can inform the development of better policies and regulations,” said Aminzadeh.

Aminzadeh’s experience includes advocacy before state decision makers as policy director for CCKA and as a policy analyst with San Francisco Baykeeper. In 2010, she helped launch CCKA’s climate change adaptation programs including work to address sea level rise and ocean acidification. Aminzadeh serves as the public representative on California’s Water Quality Monitoring Council, working to communicate water quality data and information to the public in an easily understood manner. She received a juris doctorate from University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a bachelors of science in Environmental Studies from University of California, Santa Barbara, where she graduated with honors.

California Coastkeeper Alliance is a state-local partnership with California’s 12 Waterkeeper organizations to ensure that Californians enjoy clean water and a healthy coast. CCKA is a member of the international Waterkeeper Alliance, a movement with almost 200 programs around the world.

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11/5/12

More than a ton of used marijuana grow soil illegally dumped on the bank of the Eel River near Ferndale was cleaned up and hauled away last week, a Humboldt County Division of Environmental Health press release said.

Soil used in marijuana growing operations is often high in added nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, said Melissa Martel, director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Division of Environmental Health in the release. It becomes detrimental to the environment when it's allowed to filter into waterways, she said. About 30 bags of the soil were taken to Wes Green Landscape Materials in Arcata, one of the local facilities to accept spent soil for a fee.

”It's bad for the rivers because it starves the river of oxygen, harms river organisms and can cause fish die-off,” Martel said in the release. “It can also stimulate blue-green algae blooms during certain times of the year in creeks or slower-moving bodies of water.”

Blue-green algae looks like green, blue-green, or white or brown scum mats floating on the water, she said. These floating algae masses, or “blooms,” can produce potent natural toxins. Dogs and children are most likely to be affected because of their smaller body size and tendency to stay in the water for longer periods, the release said.

People are advised to be conservative with the use of fertilizers and pesticides on their lawn, garden or agricultural operation, the release said. They should recycle spent soil that has been used for intensive growing by tilling it back into gardens or protecting it from rainfall to avoid nutrient runoff.

Staffers with DEH's Solid Waste Local Enforcement Agency Program perform a variety of services, including investigating illegal dumping. Martel said DEH has seen an increase in the amount of waste in general that is discarded illegally adjacent to rivers, in wooded areas, along roadsides and in other areas around the county.

Samoa, Loleta and parts of Blue Lake have been particularly hit hard by illegal dumping, she said.

”The best management method for spent soil is reuse. Growing vegetable crops in this high-nutrient soil, or mixing it with other soil, may result in high yields,” Martel said.

”When something is dumped inappropriately, it costs agencies and property owners time, resources and money,” Martel said. She said law enforcement should be called if people see others in the act of illegal dumping.

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Organization unveils plan to tackle the state’s biggest water quality threat

11/5/12

Today, California Coastkeeper Alliance (CCKA), which represents 12 California Waterkeeper organizations throughout the state, announces the appointment of Sara Aminzadeh as executive director. Promoted from her role as acting executive director, Aminzadeh assumes the role simultaneously as she launches a two-year campaign to tackle California’s biggest—yet largely unknown—water  quality problem: polluted runoff.

“We’ve made huge strides in controlling pollution from pipes, but toxic runoff from agriculture operations, the urban landscape and industrial facilities still plagues our coasts, bays, and rivers,” said Aminzadeh.  “It is a low profile, high-impact problem that degrades the California way of life and our state’s ocean and tourist-based economy.”

According to CCKA, polluted runoff is often considered an issue too complicated to solve, but left ignored, the problem has serious economic and public health implications.  Research shows that contamination from polluted runoff at Southern California beaches sickens approximately one million swimmers every year, resulting in public health costs of up to $50 million.

The two-year campaign enables CCKA to organize its locally based Waterkeeper organizations under a single focus, helps Californians understand the problem, mobilizes citizen and engages businesses in new ways. To begin, Aminzadeh will seek statewide permits that effectively regulate runoff to California waters as required by federal and state pollution laws, and enable citizen action to improve local water quality.

“Citizen monitoring and investigation by local Waterkeeper organizations of industrial and municipal facilities helps highlight pollution hotspots, spurs immediate improvements to water quality, and can inform the development of better policies and regulations,” said Aminzadeh.

Aminzadeh’s experience includes advocacy before state decision makers as policy director for CCKA and as a policy analyst with San Francisco Baykeeper.  In 2010, she helped launch CCKA’s climate change adaptation programs including work to address sea level rise and ocean acidification. Aminzadeh serves as the public representative on California’s Water Quality Monitoring Council, working to communicate water quality data and information to the public in an easily understood manner.  She received a juris doctorate from University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a bachelors of science in Environmental Studies from University of California, Santa Barbara, where she graduated with honors.

Learn more about CCKA’s new Executive Director and Stormwater Campaign at CAcoastkeeper.org.

California Coastkeeper Alliance is a state-local partnership with California’s 12 Waterkeeper organizations to ensure that Californians enjoy clean water and a healthy coast. CCKA is a member of the international Waterkeeper Alliance, a movement with almost 200 programs around the world.