About nine and a half months after surrendering to federal prison, embattled local biologist Ron LeValley recently announced his return home with a grinning selfie taken somewhere on the North Coast and a plea for help paying down the debts incurred from his “sabbatical.” Since LeValley’s incarceration for conspiring to embezzle almost $1 million from […]
Environment / Natural Resources
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Spotted Owl to Get Endangered Listing?
Well, U.S. Fish and Wildlife may have told the Humboldt marten to suck it up this week, but it looks like the service has the northern spotted owl’s back. The agency issued an initial finding — based on a three-year-old Environmental Protection Information Center petition — to reclassify the bird from a “threatened” to an […]
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Developers Withdraw Marina Center Permit Application
It easily could have been taken as an April Fool’s joke. On April 1, Security National Vice President Mike Casey filed papers with the California Coastal Commission, withdrawing the company’s application for a coastal development permit that would have paved the way for the first phase of the long-debated Marina Center development on Eureka’s blighted […]
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The Marten’s Fine, Says the Feds
A years-long tussle to get U.S. Fish and Wildlife to recognize the plight of the Pacific marten (which includes the Humboldt marten) just ended, with the national service announcing that the furry creatures’s problems “do not rise to the level of a threat either individually or cumulatively.” The marten’s “stressors,” which Fish and Wildlife says […]
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Seeing Tomorrow’s Eclipse an “Iffy” Proposition
If you’re planning on prying yourself from your covers before dawn tomorrow to catch a glimpse of the lunar eclipse, you might be heading back to be disappointed. The eclipse will begin at 4:57 a.m., when the earth, moon and sun align in the sky, with the earth blocking the sun’s rays and casting the […]
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HumBug: Mysteries of the Variegated Meadowhawk
Science always starts with a question. A few winters ago, walking along my favorite stretch of the Van Duzen River on a sunny day, I was surprised to see a dragonfly. Dragonflies spend most of their lives in the water as predatory larvae looking nothing like the graceful fliers everyone knows. As adults they commonly […]
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On the Klamath dams front
Former Oregon state senator Jason Atkinson has co-produced a new documentary about the conflict between users of the Klamath River and how they finally hashed out the historic Klamath Basin Comprehensive Agreement to take out four dams and restore salmon and other habitat. The agreement awaits Congress’ approval. The film, by Atkinson and filmmaker Jeff Martin, […]
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Survey your sins
Ah, the magical storm drain. Alligators live down there, we know, and escapees, and gourmand rats — fantastical beings swimming around in lurksome joy. Plus, of course, all that junk you’ve let wash into it, too: pet poop, cigarette butts, wrappers, caps, oil, chemicals and other detritus that drifts from fingers, drips off cars and […]
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Wet Socks be Damned
Apparently, it takes more than a little localized flooding to knock the United States Postal Service off its game. Humboldt County has been hit with a healthy dose of wind and rain over the last 24 hours, leading to some rising rivers, downed power lines and flooded streets, particularly in Fortuna and the Eel River […]
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Facing Possible Removal, Newman Resigns Land Trust Post
Facing the threat of a vote to remove him from office, Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District Commissioner Aaron Newman has stepped down from his seat on the Northcoast Regional Land Trust Board of Directors. “There was just a difference of opinion that caused some discomfort on that board, so I didn’t want to […]
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Ho Ho Heave Ho
Your dear old Christmas tree wants to go back to the good green earth it came from. Come, compost! Come, energy! So get on it, before Valentine’s Day smooches in to mock you and your tree. You can drop your tree off for recycling at one of the places listed below, or call for curbside pickup. […]
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Yes, That’s Humboldt County’s Water
Four years after a request from the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, the federal government has decided, per a solicitor’s review, that the county does indeed have the right to an annual 50,000 acre-feet of water it was promised back when the Trinity River was dammed. At the urging of Congressman Jared Huffman, apparently, the […]