How Do We Count The Fish

 On this week’s edition of the EcoNews Report, host Alicia Hamann of Friends of the Eel River is joined by three fisheries experts to talk about how we count fish in the Eel River. Tune in to hear from Wyatt Smith from the Round Valley Indian Tribes, Dave Kajtaniak from the Department of Fish … Read more

Coal Trains Inch Forward with Surface Transportation Board Decision

Two weeks ago, the federal Surface Transportation Board made some important decisions about the future of trails in our region. Tune in to hear about the latest developments including what’s in store for the Annie and Mary Trail and what comes next in determining the future for the Great Redwood Trail. Will it be a … Read more

EcoNews Report Toxic Tires Killing Coho

 The EcoNews Report talks with guest Warner Chabot, ED of the San Francisco Estuary Institute, who gives us the scoop on breaking research into a toxic chemical from tires that is killing coho salmon at alarming rates. This research further emphasizes the importance of protecting the remaining coho salmon populations that are struggling to … Read more

Regional Water Board Proposes Rules to Protect Water Quality from Impacts Associated with Marijuana Cultivation

A substantial crowd was on hand May 7 at Eureka’s Wharfinger Building as the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (generally known as the Regional Water Board) held a public workshop at its board meeting to discuss a draft framework for regulating water quality impacts associated with cultivation of marijuana and similar crops. The … Read more

The Sixth Mass Extinction is Happening in Humboldt

And Big Weed seems nearly as concerned about the loss of coho salmon as the timber industry was. In the last EcoNews, I wrote about the new federal Recovery Plan for coho salmon, and its warning that water diversions and sediment impacts associated with the booming marijuana industry present grave threats to coho recovery in … Read more

Learning from Yesterdays Mistakes to Avoid Tomorrows Tragedies

Though humans have lived along the bountiful shores and rivers of the far North Coast for tens of thousands of years, the span of our now-dominant civilization’s history here has only begun to exceed a century and a half. Looking particularly at the environmental history of the Eel River, it’s striking that some of the … Read more

Coho Recovery Plan Addresses Marijuana-Related Impacts

A long-anticipated federal recovery plan for coho salmon in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon[1] was released in its final form this September. The plan says the continuing decline of the South Fork Eel River’s population of coho must be reversed, and the watershed’s runs recovered, to meet the Endangered Species Act’s  goal of protecting the … Read more

Would the Real NCRA Please Stand Up?

Railroad Agency Ducking Environmental Review to Avoid Disclosing Harms to River River advocates have been encouraged, if not surprised, by the rapid return of salmon after the two Elwha River dams in Washington state’s Olympic National Park were removed. Even a century’s absence won’t keep fish out once barriers are removed. Our generation’s best chance … Read more