Arcata Fire Protection District press release: 

This morning at 11:00 A.M. Arcata Fire Protection Districted responded to a single family mobile home fire on the 300 block of Lupin Drive in Manila. The report came in as an unoccupied structure fire. Upon arrival, the first arriving engine reported heavy fire coming from the living room, front porch, and entryway. The crew attempted to make an interior attack on the fire, but had to go into a defensive attack due to the floor of the structure be compromised.

Arcata Fire Protection District responded with one chief officer, three engines, and one rescue. Humboldt Bay Fire assisted with one chief officer and one engine, and Samoa Peninsula Fire District provided one chief officer and one engine.

The fire has been extinguished and the cause is currently under investigation. No injuries have been reported on this fire.

Arcata Fire Protection District would like to remind everyone to be safe and to practice fire safety. Test your smokealarms each month, remember to have a safe meeting place and to practice your home escape plans.

A number of friends o’ the LoCO wrote us last night to ask some variation of the question: What’s going on out 36? Cops are flying out toward Bridgeville with lights and sirens blaring.

Lt. Wayne Hanson of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office filled us in a little while ago. What happened, he said, was this.

A contractor had been working at a piece of property between Bridgeville and Dinsmore — about 29 miles down the highway from Alton. The contractor’s truck got stuck in some mud, so he called a tow truck. The tow truck driver then proceeded to get stuck himself.

At this point, Hanson told us, 29-year-old Robert Coleman — the owner of the property — came over, brandishing a handgun. (This according to the tow truck driver.) Coleman ordered the driver off the property. He did not point the gun directly at the driver, apparently, but in the driver’s telling of the tale he waved it around, aggressively.

His truck being stuck in the mud, the driver left on foot.

Sheriff’s deputies later arrived and located Coleman. They did not find a gun on his person. That being the case, they could not arrest him of their own authority. So they asked the tow truck driver if he would care to effectuate a citizen’s arrest, which he did. The Sheriff’s Office took Coleman into custody and booked him into jail on misdemeanor charges of brandishing a weapon.

Hanson said that the lights and sirens and general sense of hurry down the highway were due to the fact that the Sheriff’s Office originally received this as a hostage-taking call — that the suspect was holding the tow truck driver at gunpoint. This turned out not to be the case.

POSTSCRIPT: Scanner traffic last night indicated that a very great number of marijuana plants had been found at the scene, here. Hanson confirmed this.

However, he said, the sheriff’s office did nothing about it at the time because of a shortage of manpower. Much of the Humboldt County Drug Task Force is up in Weitchpec, assisting with the big multiagency raids on the Yurok Reservation, while a large portion of the detective’s bureau is gathering evidence on two homicides in the Rancho Sequoia area in the last seven days.

Hanson said, with something of a sigh, that the office hopes to visit the scene again, warrants in hand.

“We may go back in the near future,” he said. “That’s our plan. I can’t tell when or if, but it’s possible.”

Jefferson Colbert bump!

On last night’s edition of The Colbert Report, host Stephen Colbert attempted to make sense of the proposed Six Californias plan put forth by Bay Area venture capitalist “and evil stepfather in a Lifetime movie” Tim Draper.

During the segment, Colbert described California’s northernmost chunk — the proposed State of Jefferson, which includes Humboldt, of course — as being, “famous for producing 60% of the nation’s marijuana and eating 60% percent of the nation’s leftover burritos.” (Kinda hacky, but sure.)

“I believe Jefferson’s state flag will be a magic eye poster,” Colbert goes on to suggest before displaying a prototype.

One frivolous quibble: After staring at his proposed magic eye Jefferson flag for a few seconds, Colbert declares the hidden image to be a bear. LoCO has included a screen shot of the flag above (click to enlarge). That doesn’t look like a bear to us, Stephen. LoCO wag of the finger for you, bucko.

Anywho, view the entire Colbert Report Six Californias segment below. 

As part of our ongoing goal to relieve y’all of the need for a newspaper, LoCO is going to start doing this now. 

According to the Humboldt County Recorder, the following optimistic folks will soon be making the plunge! Speak now or forever hold your peace, HumCo!:

# # #

• 7/16/14: Tatiana T. McDermond and Thomas W. Fyfe
• 7/16/14: Kaela R. Werner and Kristopher B. Westman
• 7/16/14: Jordan L Johnson and Lacey R. Bernard
• 7/17/14: Donna L Matthews and Daniel J. Meaney III
• 7/21/14: Philip T. Dammann and Ashley A. Vanbeek
• 7/21/14: Dustin J. Bradshaw and Sarah C. Vitello
• 7/21/14: Emerald A. Young and Michael S. Whitlatch
• 7/21/14: James A. Dexter and Teresa L. Circe
• 7/21/14: Martha K Quam and Mark A. Kearon
• 7/21/14: Cristina M. Aguilar and Aaron J. Santa Maria
• 7/22/14: Jennifer R. Zeisloft and Joshua B. Levine
• 7/22/14: Kenneth R. Driver and Martha M. Hemming
• 7/22/14: Sydney E. Ely and Jared D. Bean-Sasser
• 7/22/14: Rochelle R. Klepper and Alexander K. Hawk
• 7/22/14: Darryl J. Burt and Dana L. Steele
• 7/22/14: Clarence E. Newman and Patrice D. Weems
• 7/22/14: Margaret M. Davis and Andrew J. Nugent

Note: In launching this feature, LoCO considered the perhaps more accurate title “ENGAGED,” but decided that did not sound as good. Eff it. HITCHED it is! Now, here’s some mood music, you lovebirds!

So basically, the Forest Service acquired 160 acres (apparently with oil company money) from the Smith River Alliance, who then handed over another adjacent 160 acres.

Both organizations are pretty excited, since the Smith River, its Siskiyou Fork, and Hurdygurdy Creek are premiere salmon spawning grounds.

From a Six Rivers National Forest press release (see below):

“This stream (Hurdygurdy creek) is a true salmon sanctuary,” said Gasquet Ranger District Fisheries Biologist Mike McCain. He added that one reach within the protected area contained the most Chinook salmon habitat in the entire 2013 Siskiyou Fork survey. 

These parcels were heavily logged over 50 years ago, Grant Werschkull of the Smith River Alliance told the Lost Coast Outpost. He emphasized that in addition to fish habitat, the parcels also serve as a wildlife travel corridor for bears, cougars, and other fauna.

The land will stay accessible to the public, but timber harvest, gravel mining, or other resource-extraction will be prohibited in perpetuity, he said.

Grant Werschkull:

“It’s incredibly important to protect these large landscape areas from fragmentation, and it’s a good investment so that the public isn’t obligated to fight fires around these little islands of private property.”

####

Six Rivers National Forest Press Release:

Smith River land purchase and donation
to protect wildlife habitat and public access

Eureka, California, July 22, 2014 – The Smith River Alliance and the Six Rivers National Forest announced Friday, July 18, the permanent protection of 320 acres along the Siskiyou Fork of the Smith River for public recreation access and wildlife habitat purposes. The Siskiyou Fork is a tributary of the Middle Fork of the Smith River, about 10 miles upstream from Gasquet.

Through the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), the Forest Service was able to secure funding to purchase one 160-acre parcel – called the Hurdygurdy parcel, from the Smith River Alliance (SRA). The SRA donated the second 160-acre parcel, the Siskiyou Fork area of the Smith River. Established in 1965, the LWCF is funded through federal offshore oil and gas drilling revenues. A portion of these revenues, about $900 million per year, is reinvested through LWCF into conservation and outdoor recreation sites on public lands.

Over the last eight years, the Forest and SRA have worked to obtain LWCF funds to convey 3,705 acres into the Smith River National Recreation Area. The sale and donation are associated with the Hurdygurdy Purchase, where the Forest Service is making phased acquisitions of approximately 5,300 acres for inclusion in the national recreation area.

The SRA retains 1,812 acres of land and will continue to seek additional LWCF appropriations to add the land to the national recreation area. “We’re extremely pleased to have permanently protected the entire property—and to have conveyed the 3,705 acres into the Smith River National Recreation Area,” said Grant Werschkull, Executive Director of the SRA. “We’re also grateful for the partnership of our elected representatives and support of the many state and national agencies and organizations that have worked with us.”

“We’ve been working collaboratively with Smith River Alliance for many years to make this happen,” said Acting Forest Supervisor Mike Minton. “With the efforts of the Alliance and funding from the LWCF, we’ll be able to further protect spawning and rearing habitat for salmon, steelhead and coastal cutthroat trout, which are listed as Forest Service Sensitive Species.”

Hurdygurdy Creek is a significant spawning and rearing tributary for salmon and steelhead and it’s one of the most productive salmon streams in the Smith River National Recreation Area.

“This stream is a true salmon sanctuary,” said Gasquet Ranger District Fisheries Biologist Mike McCain. He added that one reach within the protected area contained the most Chinook salmon habitat in the entire 2013 Siskiyou Fork survey. “Fish use almost all of the available spawning gravel in this reach and twenty redds—or spawning nests—were observed during the survey,” he said.

Many wildlife species also benefit as the new public lands provide habitat and a travel corridor for species such as black bear and cougar, as well as smaller mammals. The Siskiyou Wilderness is only a few miles upstream and passage through these lands is necessary to reach the lower reaches of the Siskiyou Fork and the Middle Fork.

The project also guarantees public access in perpetuity to the Siskiyou Fork. “This is a win-win for public access and fish and wildlife, said David Palmer, District Ranger for the Gasquet Ranger District/Smith River National Recreation Area. “Here we’re protecting habitat for salmon and wildlife and we’re also making sure the public will always have access to these lands.”

This is a first for the Six Rivers NF, to be able to simultaneously close two land adjustment cases working with the same partner.

The Smith River Alliance is a watershed organization, founded in 1980, to provide for the long-term protection, restoration and stewardship of natural resources in the Smith River watershed. SRA efforts focus primarily in the Smith River watershed, which includes the Smith River National Recreation Area, 490 square miles of watershed land managed by the Six Rivers National Forest, Redwood National and State Parks, Lake Earl Wildlife Area, and acreage held by private landowners.

Over the course of the campaign, many agencies and organizations endorsed the project including the American Rivers, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, California Trout, California Wilderness Coalition, Del Norte County Fish and Game Advisory Commission, National Wildlife Federation, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Salmon Restoration Federation, Save The Redwoods League, Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, The Wilderness Society, Trout Unlimited and the Wild Salmon Center.

Trinity County Sheriff’s Department Press Release:

On July 23, 2014 at approximately 7:30am, Law Enforcement Officers from the Trinity County Narcotics Task Force (TCNTF) and U.S. Forest Service entered an illegal marijuana garden located in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest West of Wildwood. Upon entering the garden Deputies were confronted by two armed male Hispanics. Deputies ordered both males to drop their weapons at which time one male Hispanic, armed with a rifle, began to raise his weapon toward the Deputies. Deputies fired approximately 10 rounds at the suspects who then fled into the underbrush and out of view. A systematic search of the area by ground and air failed to locate the suspects or any evidence that anyone had been struck by the gunfire. No law enforcement personnel were injured during the operation. The shooting is currently under investigation by the Trinity County District Attorney’s Office and more information will be released when available.