Northern California Tribes and Agencies Plan for Tribal Land Return 

Winnemem Wintu Chief Caleen Sisk (left) addresses panelists at the Northern California LandBack Symposium. All photos this article courtesy of Save California Salmon.

Tribes Ask State to Update Policies and Join Fight for Unrecognized Tribes and Water Protection at LandBack Symposium  Arcata, CA, from March 28, 2023 Press Release—Save California Salmon and Cal Poly Humboldt’s Native American Studies Department hosted the Northern California LandBack Symposium. This first-of-its-kind free event featured Tribal and State leaders, university representatives, foundations, NGOs,…

Read More

Living on Borrowed Time: Decommissioning Dirty Industry Facilities

Guest Column by Gary Graham Hughes, California Policy Monitor, Biofuelwatch The decommissioning of the dirty dams on the Klamath River is indicative of a pattern of extractive industrial economies. Time and again we witness the construction and operation of polluting industrial facilities that, though celebrated when constructed, are found after the passage of time to…

Read More

Poem: The Judges and the Frog

Photo from www.washingtonpost.com “They’re Great Little Animals”: The dusky gopher frog goes before the supreme court”, 09/29/2018 photo by Emily Kask, The Washington Post

An account of the Dusky Gopher Frog’s Defense, and Fight for His Life, before the U.S. Supreme Court, October 1, 2018 and the consequent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s and the National Marine Fisheries Service’s revision of the Definition of Habitat The Judges and the Frog By Ellen Taylor On a seepage slope, amidSly pitcher…

Read More

Poem: The Rage of the Barred Owl

Barred Owls have been migrating to the North Coast for decades. As a less specialized species than the Northern Spotted Owl, they have been able to move successfully into the habitat of this old-growth-dependent and endangered species. Previously, the decline or “poor population performance” of the Northern Spotted Owl was blamed on the disappearance of old and mature forests. But now the guilt has settled on the Barred Owl, who interbreeds with the Northern Spotted Owl and is therefore accused of “genetic swamping” along with habitat invasion. So, shooting Barred Owls has been accepted as a mitigation for cutting down more ancient forest. Hence, the Barred Owl’s rage. Click READ MORE for poem.

Read More

Green Forest Certification Does Not Stand Up to the Timber Industry

By Michael Evenson, Lost Coast League …And It’s Especially Impotent When It Comes to Emphasizing the Role That Forests Play in Combating Climate Chaos The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) was created when environmental, social justice, and wood-working groups came together in 1993 with a common goal. The sustainable certification scheme was intended to nudge the…

Read More

Green Diamond to Log Sproul Creek

By Sproul Watershed Advocates Green Diamond recently acquired 9,400 acres in the Sproul Creek watershed, extending from near the Garberville airport to Ettersburg Junction to the ridges south of Whitethorn.  This land once belonged to Barnum Timber, which was infamous for phenoxy herbicide spraying in the 1970s. Sproul Watershed Advocates (SWA) was formed to keep…

Read More