News from the Center – Apr/May 2019
2019 is starting out to have a much different feel to it than 2018 did. Following the fall mid-term elections, there is a widespread feeling of hope that we have a chance to begin...
What’s on our Members’ Minds? 2018 Survey Results
The NEC recently conducted an online survey to identify our members’ highest priority issues and programs. This is the third survey the NEC has conducted over the last 10 years in order to assess...
Rethinking the Rs: A Reckoning
A Note from the Editor
Ah, Spring. As the winter rains start to subside, we are finally beginning to see green leaves budding and flowers blooming. Birds are singing in the trees, preparing nests for...
Have You Been Recycling Wrong?
In the early 1970s, the environmental movement began to surge. Inspired by concerned citizens, grassroots recycling centers started popping up, including here in Arcata (read more here).
In the early days, cleaning and sorting each...
The Green New Deal – What it is and why we need it Now
“Today we embark on a comprehensive agenda of economic, social and racial justice in the United States of America,” stated Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY, 14th District).
The Green New Deal (GND), introduced in February, is...
Nexus: Getting to the Root
Nexus: Where human rights, the environment, social justice, and the economy intersect.
Environmentalists are well-versed in articulating the ecological crisis. We can speak of rising sea levels, topsoil loss, vast gyres of garbage in every...
24th Annual Godwit Days
24th Annual Godwit Days
Arcata Community Center
April 17-23
Godwit Days is an annual spring migration bird festival that celebrates the marbled godwit and all birds of Redwood Coast forests, bays, marshes, and mudflats. The festival provides...
From Recyling to Reducing: A Brief History of Waste Management in Humboldt County
Waste management is a crucial and often overlooked part of everyday life. Although the recycling model that has developed over the decades has been far from truly sustainable, recycling has been an important pillar...
5th District Supervisor Steve Madrone: Putting Vision into Action
Humboldt County's new 5th District County Supervisor, Steve “Sungnome” Madrone, attended the Northcoast Environmental Center's March Conservation Committee meeting to discuss some of his important conservation goals. Present at the meeting were representatives from...
Massive Public Lands Bill Becomes Law – Including Good News for California
A massive collection of Republican and Democratic natural resources bills called S. 47, the Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, was signed by the president on March 12, 2019.
The bill stands out as unique in...
Student Focus: HSU Range & Soils Club
HSU’s Range and Soils Club exposes students to a variety of aspects of range and soils science. The club helps students learn about the different types of skills needed to be resourceful land...
Wildlife Care Center Provides Priceless Care on a Shoestring
Last year, between the 1160 patients treated at Humboldt Wildlife Care Center, and the 440 birds admitted during the botulism outbreak at the Lower Klamath Refuge north of Shasta, life-saving care was provided for...
Wolf Recovery in Crosshairs Again
Once again, gray wolves are in the crosshairs. On March 14, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formally announced its plan to delist gray wolves across the lower 48 states. Ten years ago, the...
New Bayside Monarch Project
Bayside Pride, Inc. and the Jacoby Creek Land Trust have partnered to focus on the plight of the iconic monarch butterfly. The Bayside Monarch Project was first inspired by Bayside resident, Richard Beresford, who...
Casey’s Coastal Column: Earth Day Every Day Get Involved in NEC Coastal...
An Overview of the NEC’s Coastal Programs
In 1979, Joe Abbott and his wife Ann Morrissey wrote a grant for what was called the “Beach Beautification Project." It was a two-year project targeting Humboldt County’s...
Creature Feature: Planting for Pollinators
Spring is springing, and it’s time to start doing yardwork and planting our gardens for the coming year. It’s important to consider whether the plants you choose are helping to support the local native...
Kin to the Earth: Carol Ralph
Carol Ralph lives and breaths the natural world, and delights in sharing her immense knowledge with a great many in our community and beyond. She is also a natural-born teacher. Many of you will...
Eye on Washington: the 116th Congress
After a significant delay caused by the government shutdown, the 116th congress kicked off with a new Democratic majority in the U.S. House. New members of the U.S. Senate were sworn in, committee chairs...
Humboldt Baykeeper: Fish Farm Proposed for Former Pulp Mill in Samoa
Fish Farm Proposed for Former Pulp Mill in Samoa
In February, the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation, & Conservation District voted unanimously to approve a $20,000/year, 3-year “Option Period” for Nordic AquaFarms subsidiary California Marine Investments,...
EPIC: Happy 20th Birthday to the Headwaters Forest Reserve
Happy 20th Birthday to the Headwaters Forest Reserve! The 7,472-acre Headwaters Forest Reserve—located just south east of the City of Eureka, CA—was established on March 1, 1999 as part of the landmark Headwaters Forest...
Sierra Club: State Water Board Rebuke
North Coast Water Board’s permits to control agricultural
and forestry pollution are inadequate
In recent years, I have personally filed numerous requests with the North Coast Water Quality Control Board asking them to control agricultural pollution...
CNPS: Spring Wildflower Show & Native Plant Sale
Spring Wildflower Show & Native Plant Sale
The North Coast celebration of wild California plants
Free, open to all!
This annual celebration of wild plants is now so big, it is in two places! Visit both sites...
Zero Waste Humboldt: Nearing the Tipping Point?
Changing our Single-use Plastic Culture
Malcom Gladwell defined a tipping point as “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point.” Indications are that the U.S. public is gradually awakening to the fact that...
CRTP: Public Transit as a Civil Right
Monday, February 4, was the second annual Transit Equity Day, organized by a national coalition of groups ranging from labor unions to the Sierra Club to the NAACP. The date is significant: It’s the...