SECOND UPDATE: Another release attempt is now scheduled for Thursday, with monitoring starting around 5 a.m. UPDATE: As of 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, A1 was still in the enclosure overlooking perched on the edge of a rolling prairie in Redwood State and National Parks. According to a post from the Northern California Condor Restoration Program around […]
Animals
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Fourth California Condor Readied for Release (with Video)
The Northern California Condor Restoration Program is readying to release a fourth California condor Tuesday to join three others currently flying free in the skies over Humboldt County. Known as A1, the young male’s first out-of-enclosure debut was delayed by a faulty satellite transmitter, which was replaced last week (see video below). If all goes […]
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Back to the Beach: Kids Ocean Day 2022
Hundreds of Humboldt County school children participated in this year’s 17th annual Kids Ocean Day event by helping to restore dune habitat at the Mike Thompson Wildlife Area on the South Spit of Humboldt Bay. To mark the day, the kids joined together with their classmates, teachers and volunteers to form the shape of three […]
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Third Condor Set to Fly Free
The Northern California Condor Restoration Program is readying to send a third condor out into the wilds of Humboldt County on Wednesday to join two others — A2 and A3 — that took their first foray earlier this month. A change in the weather forecast is delaying the previous plan to go forward on Tuesday. […]
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Condors Return to the North Coast’s Skies (with Video)
Just around 10:30 a.m. today, two young California condors made their first venture into the wild and the Northern California Condor Restoration Program took flight, bringing the bird known to the Yurok Tribe as prey-go-neesh back to the skies over their ancestral lands after more than a century of absence. The moment culminates 15 years […]
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First Condor Release Set for Tomorrow
Two California condors are slated to be released into Redwood National and State Parks tomorrow, becoming the first to soar over the North Coast in more than a century. It’s a moment the Yurok Tribe has been working toward for 15 years, with the flight not only marking the captive-born birds’ first foray into the wild […]
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Fish and Wildlife to Ban Crab Traps for Recreational Season
Effective April 24 at 7 p.m., the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is prohibiting the use of crab traps for recreational catches due to an increased risk of whale entanglement. “This restriction is being implemented because of the unusually large number of humpback whales that have migrated back to California waters earlier than in […]
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North Coast’s Commercial Dungeness Season Closing Due to Entanglement Risk
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is closing the commercial Dungeness crab season statewide due to “assessed entanglement risk,” with the North Coast season now ending on April 20 at noon. “We received reports of additional humpback whale entanglements and moved quickly to close the fishery to protect migrating humpback whales that are just […]
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‘Kevin’ the Baby Seal Has a Name and New Home, For Now
The baby seal rescued by Eureka Police Department officers who responded to a report of a couple taking the pup from near the Samoa Bridge, putting it into an aquarium and driving away has a new name: Kevin. The young one is under the care of the Northcoast Marine Mammal Center, which reports the nonprofit “will […]
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Report to California Legislature: Prepare for Devastating Effects of Climate Change
Painting alarming scenes of fires, floods and economic disruption, the California Legislature’s advisors on Tuesday released a series of reports that lay out in stark terms the impacts of climate change across the state. The typically reserved, nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office outlined dire consequences for Californians as climate change continues to alter most aspects of […]
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Eureka Police Save Baby Seal Being Taken Away in Car (with Video)
Eureka Police Department officers saved a baby seal from a couple who took the pup from an area near the Samoa Bridge, put it into an aquarium in their car and were attempting to drive away. A person who witnessed the incident called police, who were able to locate the car and bring the seal […]
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Sierra Snowpack Worsens, Falls to Lowest Level in 7 Years
Seven years ago today, during the height of the last drought, California Gov. Jerry Brown stood on the barren slopes of the Sierra Nevada, watching as engineers measured the worst snowpack in state history. Today, snow measurements aren’t quite so bleak. But the snowy scene belies the severity of the drought. The snowpack — which […]