This week we’re looking at the life of Patrick Harvey, an incarcerated man who could potentially be resentenced in Humboldt County. We’re also sharing the story of a volunteer for CASA who’s making time for kids in foster care. Finally, a humorous fish story just this side of NSFW. Hit subscribe for weekly updates on […]
marine life
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Making Change: Love
In honor of this week’s Green Issue, let’s talk about … love. Welcome to part four of Making Change, a six-week series on the how and whys of personal, social and political change. Sometimes to define what one means requires explaining what one does not. I confess to an inner eye-roll when people talk about […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Sunken Seaweed’s Dual Mission
While at then Humboldt State University, Torre Polizzi and Leslie Booher were part of a team surveying seaweed along the North Coast, documenting the mass die offs of sea stars and kelp. “That was pretty painful to witness,” says Polizzi. The kelp, on which endangered abalone depend, are still being devoured by starving purple urchins, […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Pandemic Beach Finds
I was born on the beach. Actually, it was about 4 feet above the beach. My mother was a competitive beach volleyball player. She leapt for a big spike and I found myself momentarily suspended in mid-air before falling on my face in the sand. Mom screamed, “Game point!” and scooted me and my placenta […]
Posted inNews
The 25 Days of Crustmas
There’s big excitement in the online crustacean nerd community. Alison Young, co-director of the California Academy of Sciences’ Citizen Science Program and Humboldt State alumnus, just invented the Twitter hashtag game #25DaysofCrustmas. The rules of the game are simple. Fellow nerds post a crustacean picture and/or interesting crustacean fact each day of December up to […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
Witch/Fossil Hunt!
I apologize in advance to anyone who didn’t want to be transported to this alternate universe just now. But you can relax because the only difference between this new universe and your old one is that I was elected president of the United States in 2016. My presidency started out OK. But then someone noticed […]
Posted inNews
Follow the Sea Dragon
UPDATE: You can record marine debris you suspect is from the Japan tsunami with the mobile device Marine Debris Tracker. Use your discretion, NOAA requests — don’t report everything in sight, only stuff that seems very probably from the event. While we here on land, including on Humboldt’s coastline, await with dread and curiosity the […]
Posted inNews
Whale, CSI
It probably will be at least two months before marine mammal specialists get enough lab results to make an educated guess about what killed the whale that circled for so many weeks in the Klamath River. One set of tests will look for toxins produced by freshwater algae. Another batch will assess blubber for contaminants […]
Posted inNews
Mama Whale Passes
Sad news — especially for those who seized the opportunity to be mesmerized by cetacean sublimeness in the past couple of months. The mama gray whale who had been living in the Klamath River since June 24 — and who’d been alone since her calf swam back out to sea July 22 — has died. […]
Posted inNews
Whale and Her Calf in the Klamath
The Inland Whale from Thomas B. Dunklin on Vimeo. A Gray Whale and her calf, in the lower Klamath River, roughtly 3 miles upstream of the mouth of the river. They have been in the river for over a week, and may stay much longer. In 1989, a mother and calf came in and spent […]
Posted inNews
Naval Gazing, Redux
When the Journal first reported on the U.S. Navy’s plans to increase training in the Northwest Training Range Complex in January, 2009, reaction was slight. Since then, environmental groups and city councils have joined what the SF Chron calls “a growing chorus” of governmental bodies and citizens resistant to what they see as a lack […]