President’s Column
November 2004
9:00 a.m., Sunday, April 8, 2007
Imagine yourself with visiting friends birding at a marsh on Humboldt Bay. Cormorants getting their breakfast in the bay as a Kingfisher loudly proclaims its territory. You can also smell the rich bay mud as the tide recedes and the scent of fresh vegetation from the freshwater fringes of the adjacent salt marsh. You and your friends can also hear a subtle chorus of birds in the salt marsh and alders that greet you as you arrive, waiting to be identified and observed. You and your guests are entering a restored marsh just minutes from downtown Eureka, yet seemingly much farther away.
This is the Eureka (formerly PALCO) Marsh. It was bought by the City of Eureka in 1985 with a grant from the Coastal Conservancy. Now, 21 years later and just two years after the start of physical restoration, there is more wildlife in the marsh and shorebirds are flying over the dike from the salt marsh to the edge of the bay as the tide goes out.
Now imagine you and your friends at the same place, same date and time, but something is different. The Kingfisher can barely be heard, you can’t smell the bay mud or the marsh vegetation, and there is not a bird to be heard in the marsh. As you watch the shorebirds fly across the dike, you notice several dead ones at the side of the road. Road? Yes! Very little can be heard due to traffic noise, and the smell of exhaust obliterates more subtle aromas. Although it took you longer to get here than before the road was built, it seems closer to town.
It’s 9:10 a.m. Sunday, April 8, 2007. Time to go home before the traffic picks up the normal 4,000-vehicle day typical of Sunday traffic on the Waterfront Drive Extension.
The second scenario is the one the City of Eureka is promoting, despite its conflict with the marsh restoration and probable violation of the Coastal Plan and the City’s own policy.
Redwood Region Audubon Society has joined with other environmental organizations to oppose the Waterfront Drive Extension south of Del Norte Street and save what can be a major asset to Eureka. We insist that the City of Eureka honor its contract with the Coastal Conservancy and fulfill its public trust obligation.
Please support our effort. Contact your City Councilperson if you live in Eureka, the Coastal Conservancy, California Coastal Commission, and spread the word. Watch for more information and workshop announcements.