Thinking of cruising up to Crescent City this weekend? You might want to reconsider. Caltrans announced Wednesday that U.S. Highway 101 will be completely closed to traffic in Del Norte County just south of the Mill Creek Park entrance from 9 a.m. at least until 5 p.m. Sunday, March 16 as work crews stabilize a […]
Environment / Natural Resources
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Earthquake and Record Rainfall, Sunday Had it All
Humboldt County got a good jolt Sunday night when an earthquake struck off the coast, west of Ferndale, but the chances of a large aftershock striking the area are diminishing by the minute. Folks throughout northern California reported feeling the 6.8 quake that hit about 10:18 p.m. some 48 miles off the coast. Most reported […]
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Wet February Boosts Rainfall Totals
Things are looking up! Humboldt County isn’t out of the desert just yet, but a wetter-than-average February has the county’s year-to-date rainfall totals looking much more respectable. When the last drops were counted on Woodley Island, the folks over at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tell us a total of 6.09 inches of rain […]
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Prairie Creek Scenic Byway Will Close Nights to Prevent Burl Piracy
File under: This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things. Newton B. Drury Parkway, that languorous, serpentine, redwood-lined scenic bypass through Prairie Creek State Park, will now be closed dusk ’til dawn because of burl-raiding nincompoops. California State Parks announced the closure — effective Saturday at sundown — as a measure to keep people from […]
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Planning Commission Seeks Guidance from ‘Bosses’
Facing a riled-up public, some of the newest members of the Humboldt County Planning Commission found themselves on the short end of two votes Thursday night. For the second meeting in a row, Supervisors Chambers was about half-filled by angry and demanding trail advocates, along with a smattering of fisheries biologists. One contested vote was […]
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Planning Commission Meeting Canceled
The Humboldt County Planning Commission’s special General Plan Update meeting scheduled for tonight has been canceled due to a lack of a quorum, according to county Planning Director Kevin Hamblin. After last week’s meetings caused quite a stir, tonight’s meeting was expected to be heavily attended. Hamblin said the commission is still scheduled to meet Thursday, which […]
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From the Publisher: Poking a Hornet’s Nest
Editor’s Note: The following is a column by Journal Publisher Judy Hodgson that will appear in this week’s print edition, which hits streets tomorrow. Don’t miss Marcy Burstiner’s “Media Maven” column in this week’s print edition. Real and potential Brown Act violations are popping up with such frequency now, it’s like a game of Whack-A-Mole. Did […]
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Trails Vote Kicks Off GPU Firestorm
It seems the Humboldt County Planning Commission has kicked a hornets’ nest. Or, maybe it was just Third District Supervisor Mark Lovelace. During its sixth meeting to take up the Conservation and Open Space element of the General Plan Update — recently dumped back into its lap by the Board of Supervisors — the commission […]
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North Coast Rivers Subject to Low-Flow Closures
Looking to grab your rod and pull a nice steelhead out of a North Coast River? Well, you might want to check with the Department of Fish and Game first. The state Office of Administrative Law recently approved emergency regulations adopted by the California Fish and Game Commission that allow the department to close some […]
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Biologist Pleads Guilty in Yurok Embezzlement Case
A local biologist pleaded guilty today to a single federal count of conspiring to embezzle funds from an Indian tribal organization stemming from the bilking of nearly $1 million in federal funds from the Yurok Tribe over a three-year period beginning in 2007, tribal spokesman Matt Mais confirmed. According to court documents, Mad River Biologists […]
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Yurok Tribe Tosses Cap in Trade Ring
The Yurok Tribe has entered the carbon trade market, joining with sustainable forestry investment group New Forests Inc. to sell carbon credits based on a 7,660-acre patch of Doug fir and mixed hardwood forest the tribe’s promised to manage for increased carbon sequestration. The tribe will be issued 704,520 credits, according to a news release […]
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Caltrans and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Caltrans recently had what amounted to a very bad day. Specifically, Jan. 30, when Caltrans lost a major appellate court ruling on perhaps its highest profile North Coast project and was the subject of a scathing state report. First, the California Court of Appeals overturned a trial court decision and ruled that Caltrans must re-evaluate […]