Redwood Reader

California continues to make decisions apparently based on poor understanding of mans interactions with nature. The article
California Landslide Part of Ancient Problem (http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20051020/sc_space/californialandslidepartofancientproblem&printer=1) points out the La Conchita for study, and came to the conclusion it was an ancient active slide area. These localities are generally known, and that brings us back into real estate versus natural phenomena discussions like the earthquake, tornado and hurricane population centers, amongst others. The article shows many slides are not man made, and suggests buying out homeowners and creating park and beach. Even more impressive is the description of the rock, very similar to our own, and the effects of water as precipitation and as springs.The fact that landslides are regularly occurring a year or more after very wet weather should be a source of interest to several fields of study.
Federal judges are showing their anger over the "accidental" cutting of 290 trees in a biological reserve near the Biscuit Fire salvage logging site in southern Oregon, failure of agencies to implement fisheries protections and water allocation for the Colombia and Klamath River salmonid populations. In the West we are now seeing judges rule in favor of the environment over and over by the very nature of the proposals and practices that caused all the legislation in the first place. And the conservatives rail against it but what are they conserving by allowing business to run amok with our resources?
The Governor vetoed three important North Coast issues last week deciding the North Coast Railroad Authority would not be able to make the train run profitably, and cut its funding by five and a half million dollars. By all accounts the Upper Eel River watershed is difficult, dangerous and fluid landscape to try to build a railroad on. We heard in the late eighties South Fork ridge was an old railroad right of way, and have always wondered about a possible route inland instead of coastal. It probably goes through some protected areas but a study of routing may make a public discussion a reality. There is little use of the railroad when it ran (last in 1997), mainly timber, and it is hard to see a lot of other uses, except maybe gravel or water which probably would be cheaper to barge. Humboldt could then join the I-5 corridor and ship and receive goods by rail much more regularly, and that would justify port expansion. (My cousin was one of the Coast Guard Sea Marshals who came up last year to prepare local law enforcement for possible hostage attacks against cruise ships coming to Humboldt Bay. We had a good visit afterwards, and they left. When the ship got here, it couldn’t find the mouth of the harbor and passed by on its way north. No ships have come in since then.)
Thursday Senator Wes Chesbro tried to address this new problem caused by the governor’s veto for the salmon restoration work. It is truly troubling that the tidelands lease money has been taken just when it is about to produce extra revenue. Anyone doing restoration work over the last two decades knows funding is an up and down item, and I am personally knowledgeable about projects being okayed and then not funded, or even having funding taken away after approval. We have always seen our private property as our purchased mess and know some parts of the job will be way too big for us, and probably for anyone trying to justify the expense of repair from ignorant and destructive practices. Sen. Chesbro has said he will present a bond issue to continue the programs in order to assist the fish and retain expertise in the restoration industry.
This is about the same thinking as on the railroad, with the concern not about making a profitable business but rather the fact that business use has to justify the expense or repair and maintenance of miles of railway in harsh conditions to keep the railroad from sliding into the river. As the senator said, the Northcoast Railroad is an environmental disaster waiting to happen.
The Governor also vetoed salmonid restoration funding meant to replace lost revenue from tidal wetlands oil drilling in the deal that allowed it off southern California. The money had been instrumental as matching funds for a variety of restoration projects and was the basis of the so-called restoration industry. We believe restoration will always be massively under funded for the amount of work required, and that that funding is part of a peace dividend the nation cannot afford in time of war. For these reasons we think restoration is a limited opportunity to make the big corrections and map out essential work always realizing the plans may remain good ideas for long after any particular funding cycle ends. We have always done restoration as volunteers with a commitment to a piece of land and have only asked for professional insight, help with permitting since the state has restricted most of the activities that would allow landowners to fix stream habitat on their own, and at some point machine work. We have made homes for many trees, mainly our own but with an MRC planting. We believe if we label restoration as an industry it will make a tragic disappearance during tough funding cycles, and continuity of purpose is critical in an industry where often times doing nothing is a totally acceptable part of the process in many years, as the landscape heals itself.
Another veto would have regulated the number of crab pots any boat can manage. It is a compromise number intended to protect small boat owners and local fleets. Removal of the pot limits allows big boats to out compete smaller ones and deplete the resource faster. Like the Atlantic waste fish food surveys of the eighties, larger boats lead to collapse of many fisheries just by the size of the catch enabled by the larger newer boat design but by the size of the catch needed to pay for it.
All of these issues directly affect employment and revenue for Humboldt County. We do not see any suggestions or ideas forthcoming form Sacramento. We did get a significant boost from transportation projects recently awarded. With the decline of state and federal payment plans on many levels, the service sector will also see a hit.
It is time for new thinking in terms of resource management and land management. Paying for people to grow big trees, and selling this mechanism for carbon sequestration would alter the focus of many dedicated landowners. Another concept worth going back for a look is the water bag sales. Instead of contracting, just sell full bags if and when you have them. The concept needs work but water is a valuable commodity, and we generally have more than enough. Generally though- clients should not have any claim on any water not considered excess. The only truly sustainable industry is in intellectual property, where the forces of nature interact with the human intellect unleashing creativity in a myriad of ways.