Humboldt County hasn’t always been well known to the rest of the state, with many Californians placing the northern border somewhere near San Francisco, long unaware one could drive six hours past “the City” and still be south of Oregon. But things are different now. The Redwood Curtain has been lifted. Trinidad has always been […]
Elaine Weinreb
Posted inArts + Scene
Getting Blackberries
Picking blackberries a lovely form of Zen practice the ones you see first – bright red – are not the ones you want their black edible sisters hide modestly among the thorns and leaves. Pick too fast and you crush the berry pick too fast and you stab your fingers grab the berry just right […]
Posted inNews
County Vets Ideas to Fund Green Energy Projects
The county of Humboldt is weighing whether to place a bond or carbon tax measure on the November ballot to fund projects aimed at reducing the county’s greenhouse gas emissions in the face of a global climate crisis. Like other communities throughout the world, Humboldt County is wrestling with how to transition to clean, renewable […]
Posted inNews
The Battle for Elk River
Kristi Wrigley remembers a time when the Elk River ran clear and deep, providing a reliable source of good water for her home and adjacent apple orchard. Those years are now long past and the Elk River watershed has been named as one of the most degraded in Northern California. The river channel has widened, […]
Posted inNews
County Climate Action Plan Plods Forward
In the aftermath of the Board of Supervisors voting down the Terra-Gen wind project amid dire global climate forecasts, many have been asking what Humboldt County can do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow climate change. Well, local governments are working on it and residents have lots of ideas. The state is requiring every […]
Posted inNews
Grave Concerns
The city of Trinidad is returning a $714,000 Caltrans grant after a contentious council meeting in which residents raised concerns that the trail renovation project it would fund might disturb a Native burial site. “What is the cost of integrity and honor?” one of 20 or so public speakers at the Jan. 14 meeting said. […]
Posted inNews
King Tide Tour Gives Glimpse of Sea Level Rise
Dozens of people gathered in the rain at the Arcata Marsh on Saturday, Jan. 11, to view the highest tide of the year and listen to a discussion on how it can be seen as a preview of sea level rise and the effects it will have on both the city of Arcata and the […]
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Why the Supes Denied Terra-Gen’s Wind Project, Despite a Series of 11th Hour Concessions from the Company
With Humboldt County supervisors Rex Bohn and Virginia Bass having indicated they would support controversial plans to erect a wind farm on Monument and Bear River ridges south of Rio Dell, and supervisors Steve Madrone and Estelle Fennell having indicated they would not, Supervisor Mike Wilson was left as the swing vote. Obviously deeply conflicted […]
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McKinleyville Again Mulling Town Center Plans
McKinleyville is once again in the process of reimagining itself and that again means envisioning a Town Center. Town Center plans were the focus of a Nov. 13 community meeting, with additional conversations slated for December, January and February. Some McKinleyville residents have long dreamed of a time when their town will be a beautiful, […]
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Planning Commission Denies Wind Farm Project
The Humboldt County Planning Commission voted 4-2, with commissioners Mike Newman and Alan Bongio dissenting and commissioner Brian Mitchell absent, to deny a proposal to build a wind farm on Monument and Bear River ridges south of Rio Dell. An initial vote on a motion to accept the project stalled with a 3-3 vote, which […]
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Overflow Crowd Again Turns Out for Public Hearing on Controversial Wind Farm Proposal
The debate over the proposed Terra-Gen wind energy project seemed no closer to resolution after a second heated five-and-a-half-hour public hearing at the County Planning Commission on Thursday. Once again, the Supervisors Chamber was packed with people standing in the aisles. About 40 people who could not fit into the crowded room stood outside in […]
Posted inNews
Green Versus Green
Two public forums held earlier this month on the proposed Terra-Gen Wind Generation Project covered the same topics but the moods were radically different. The first meeting, a Nov. 6 panel discussion sponsored by the Schatz Energy Research Center at Humboldt State University, was calm and rational in tone, attracting nearly a thousand people to […]