Editor:
Thank you, Amy Gustin, for continuing to speak out for wildlife (“Our Shrinking Habitat,” July 6). Is anyone listening?
My property is mostly forested. Until a few years ago, the woods were crisscrossed with deer paths. Brush in the clearings was nibbled down and my pet roses had to be fenced. Squirrels rustled the leaves overhead and argued with one another. Hawks and eagles perched on the treetops and dived for prey in the meadow. Wild turkeys browsed in the tall grass.
All are now conspicuous by their absence. The woods have become silent and empty. Very few songbirds remain.
Where are the owl-lovers of yesteryear, they who helped run Big Timber out of town? Perhaps they’ve forgotten that owls rely on their acute senses of sight and hearing to hunt in the dark. Both of these are severly compromised by traffic and generator noise, and glowing hoops. Diminished territory and natural prey have forced many animals to depend on garbage dumps and domestic livestock for their survival.
While county officials tweak ordinances and haggle over land usage, the Green Rush destroys more and more of our biodiversity and quality of life.
Please, let’s get it under control and have peace again.
Betty Crowder, Honeydew
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This article appears in Best of Humboldt 2017.
I agree.
Utter nonsense.
Twenty five years ago Humb.Co. Planning Commissioner Denver Nelson called for water carrying capacity studies for our headwaters. At a minimum, certification for expected impacts on fresh water should be required prior to approval of ANY development, it’s not brain surgery!
But OHHH NOOO, the “liberal”, “progressive, “environmentalist”, “back to the land”, “low impact”, “homesteaders” would have none of it!!!
NOT ONE SoHum resident bothers to testify in support for their “low impact” lifestyle in front of the Planning Commission and instead SoHum came out in force to partner with wealthy speculators and their “Humboldt Citizens for Property Rights” to lobby, (and win), the Planning Commission’s uninterrupted right wing, political legacy of deregulation.
Congratulations Betty, you and the other SoHum “environmentalists” got what you wished for! Go ahead, put up that guest rental you always wanted and wire it up any damn way you want! Grow lots of pot!
We are experiencing the 6th largest biodiversity collapse and extinction event because of lost habitat and diminishing clean water. Yes, it’s a slower loss than allowing continued clear-cutting, but the end result is indistinguishable.
Industrial Pot follows industrial timber because the folks living in our headwaters want to retain their ancient “Lockian” philosophy (John Locke), in effect, whoever can afford the deepest wells, fattest pipes and biggest pumps get the most water.
Until we extract ourselves from this 300 year old philosophy, Humb. Co. will continue down the identical path of rural SoCal 100 years ago…like most of the rest of the world…