Humboldt County has an infamously long missing persons list. Vast uninhabited swaths of forest, unpredictable frigid oceans and swift rivers are oft-cited sources for the backlog. Less frequently noted are beams of light that make people vanish. But it’ll soon be a factor for a few unlucky people in Ferndale — or, at least, for a few characters in the film Dark Light, set to start filming there next week. 

Details are scant, but if IMDb is to be believed, the basic premise is as outlined above: a mysterious beam of light starts making small-town locals disappear, and “a defiant teen must lead the frantic survivors through a collapsing world where the slightest misstep could mean disappearing forever.”

Scenes will be shot outdoors on the 300 block of Main Street in front of the Valley Grocery store from Oct. 14-17 and again on Oct. 20, and inside of it from Oct. 21-Nov. 7. Another day of shooting will happen at the Charpentier House. Most of the outdoor scenes will be shot late at night and into the morning.

On Sept. 23, the Ferndale City Council approved an application from Tabooma, the independent film studio behind the production, granting them permission to close a block on Main Street to traffic and parking for the sequences set outdoors. Pedestrians will be allowed access in between takes. 

This is Tabooma’s second film. The first, another sci-fi film called Xeno, about a girl who befriends an alien, premiered three weeks ago and has an 86% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Both Dark Light and Xeno were directed and written by Matthew Loren Oates. 

Reactions to the news have been mixed. Some residents and business owners are concerned about the noise the production will make while shooting at night and what economic damages frequent closures of an entire city might wreak on local businesses. 

Owner of the Ferndale Enterprise and the Humboldt’s Hometown Store Melissa Sanderson wrote in a letter to the production team and the city council that she thinks the altered traffic patterns and potentially limited access to her store would impact profits and employee hours. Sanderson thinks businesses should be compensated for any impact. 

“We are proud to be part of a community that attracts attention for its charm and character,” Sanderson wrote, “but that community must be respected and protected first.”

The planned shooting schedule and Humboldt’s Hometown’s business hours overlap for four and a half hours on Oct. 14.

Humboldt County Film Commissioner Cassandra Hesseltine was more optimistic, focusing in a letter to the city council on the money the eight cast and 45 crew members will spend in Ferndale (the film has a $180,000 lodging budget, $30,000 for locally-based catering, and another $100,000 for location and labor fees).

“Humboldt is facing financial challenges, and productions like Dark Light bring outside dollars to our communities,” Hesseltine said. “With thoughtful planning, the city can minimize disruption while benefiting economically. If the film succeeds, it could also bring long-term value through film tourism, as we’ve seen with other productions in the region.”

As of publication, Dark Light producers Matthew Hsu and Ken Farrington have not responded to requests for comment; production coordinator Kev Magee is responding to an email from the Outpost. We’ll update this article when it’s received. 

###

PREVIOUSLY

• As of Today, the Klamath River is Flowing Free for the First Time in More Than a Century
• A Century Later, Salmon Again Spawning in Upper Klamath River After Dams Removed
• Indigenous Kids Are Kayaking the Entire Length of the Klamath River For the First Time Ever

###

A year after the Klamath River was returned to its free-flowing state by way of the world’s largest-ever dam removal project, scientists say nature has rebounded in astounding ways.

In an online press conference this afternoon, a group of scientists from regional tribes, environmental nonprofits and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife reported observations and data from a year’s worth of fish monitoring, spawning habitat surveys, water quality testing and more. 

The consensus was that things have gone better than anyone could have anticipated, particularly when it comes to fall-run Chinook salmon.

“What the fish have shown us is something extraordinary,” said Damon Goodman, Mount Shasta-Klamath regional director for California Trout. “The river seemed to come alive almost instantly after removal, and the fish returned in greater numbers than I expected, and maybe anyone expected.” 

Scientists from a broad array of organizations have united under the common goal of learning how salmon, other anadromous fish and an entire ecosystem recover. The removal of four hydroelectric dams on the lower Klamath has allowed for the restoration of more than 400 miles of habitat.

###

Yurok Tribal Fisheries Department Director Barry McCovey Jr. said the Klamath’s improved water quality, including a dramatic decline in suspended algae, has been a game changer for the tribal fishermen who have fed their people through gillnet fishing since time immemorial. 

Fall-run Chinook are entering the river earlier than they used to and traveling further upriver than they’ve been in a century. The ones that returned to the Klamath in August were so robust and chubby “we call them footballs,” McCovey said.

In talking with tribal fishermen, sport fishermen and the community at large, he said, “There’s this feeling that the river just feels different. It feels stronger. It feels cleaner.”

The Klamath is still healing from a century of blockage behind a series of hydroelectric dams, “and the scars are still fresh,” McCovey said. “But the progress that we’ve made in just one year is pretty incredible, and it provides us with a lot of hope for the future.” (To hear more from McCovey, check out the latest episode of the WNYC podcast “Science Friday,” which just came out today.)

While fall Chinook have been an immediate success story, the spring-run Chinook population has a longer road to recovery. It was decimated by a century of blockage. The Klamath’s population of wild spring-run Chinook is down to just a few hundred, Goodman said, adding that the nearby Salmon River hosts one of the last viable populations of spring-run Chinook, and there’s a hatchery population on the Trinity River. 

The Klamath’s population of these fish is “on the verge of extinction,” Goodman said, though there is now optimism about its recovery.

“We have a lot of work to do to get spring Chinook back in this river system, but we have an opportunity to do that now with dam removal,” he said.

There were major concerns ahead of dam removal about the release of accumulated sediment behind the dams and the resulting effects on dissolved oxygen levels in the river. 

Toz Soto, senior policy and research advisor for the Karuk Tribe, said the drawdown was scheduled for last winter to minimize impacts, and while there was a spike in turbidity immediately after the last cofferdam was removed, the water quality quickly recovered.

###

“Thankfully, it all worked out in a positive way,” Soto said, noting that there was no large-scale fish kill and the Klamath’s dissolved oxygen levels never fell below the California water quality standard.

Meanwhile, water temperatures in the Klamath have dropped, which is also a positive for fish health. The reservoirs acted as “heat batteries” keeping the water unseasonably warm into the fall migration season, Soto said. The lower temps since dam removal give fish an earlier opportunity to migrate while also improving their health, he explained. The cooler water has reduced the prevalence of toxic chemicals called microcystins, which are produced by algae.

Sami Jo Difuntorum, cultural Preservation officer with the Shasta Indian Nation, focused her comments largely on the impacts to the surrounding landscape.

“We’ve been called the tribe the dams were built on and it is literally true,” Difuntorum said. “The dams were built on our villages.”

When she looked at the landscape immediately after the reservoirs were drained, “It was really stark, really barren,” she said. “Nothing had grown there for, what, 100 years.” While most everyone involved was ecstatic, Difuntorum didn’t immediately share their sentiment. “It didn’t really feel joyous to me,” she said.

It wasn’t until she heard the river rushing through the canyon, hearing rocks popping as water hit them for the first time in 100 years, that she felt happy.

“What it said to me was … the earth and the rocks were welcoming the water back, and so that meant healing,” she said.

Later in the press conference, during a Q&A period with journalists, Goodman said that the Klamath River monitoring work has been impacted by recent federal funding cuts, including the Department of the Interior’s decision to terminate CalTrout’s funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“This loss in funding was a setback for our scientific data collection on the world’s biggest restoration project, but our team is finding other ways to make it work … ,” he said. “While we’re already seeing that the Klamath dam removal is a success, we need consistent and accurate data to understand how much of a success this project was, and we’re currently fundraising to fill the gap for that lost funding.”

Below is a press release with more information:

###

KLAMATH RIVER, Calif. – This October marks the first anniversary since the removal of the four lower Klamath dams, and scientists, advocates and Tribes are celebrating dramatic ecological improvements for the Klamath River. Ongoing scientific monitoring, which started years prior to dam removal, has enabled the documentation of significant advances in water quality, water temperatures, and the rapid return of native salmon populations to previously blocked habitats.

“The Klamath is showing us the way. The speed and scale of the river’s recovery has exceeded our expectations and even the most optimistic scientific modeling, proving that when the barriers fall, nature has an incredible power to heal itself,” said Barry McCovey Jr., Director of the Yurok Tribal Fisheries Department.

News of fish passing the former dam sites came the same week as the project’s completion in early October 2024. While scientists were actively monitoring fish movements and spawning activity in the weeks and months following the restoration of natural flows to the river, it took several months of analysis to finalize specific data related to fish activity above the former dam sites. We now know that more than 7,700 Chinook Salmon swam upriver of the former Iron Gate dam site (the lowermost dam in the system) last fall to access habitat previously blocked by the dams. This number comes from a combination of monitoring techniques, including the use of SONAR, spawner surveys, and redd counts. This year the monitoring continues, and salmon have made it over the Link River Dam into Upper Klamath Lake.

“This is one of the most collaborative and comprehensive restoration studies ever undertaken with agencies, Tribes, and NGOs all coming together to monitor the recovery of the Klamath River salmon post-dam removal,” said Damon Goodman, Shasta-Klamath Director for California Trout. “What we witnessed was extraordinary—the river came back to life almost instantly, and fish returned in greater numbers than anyone imagined.”

Perhaps the most immediate and vital sign of the river’s healing is the dramatic improvement in water temperature—a crucial factor for the Klamath’s ecosystem. The dams and their reservoirs created artificially warm water temperatures in late summer and fall, when fish were returning to the system to spawn, and excessively cold water in the spring, when juvenile salmon out-migrate to the ocean. Ongoing monitoring of water temperatures both pre- and post-dam removal shows that temperatures have returned to a more natural regime that provides improved conditions for salmon during adult spawning migration and juvenile outmigration.

Hand-in-hand with this temperature recovery is a demonstrated monumental improvement in water quality, especially the precipitous decline of harmful algal blooms (HABs) and their associated microcystin toxins. Data collected by the Karuk Tribe since 2006 shows a powerful recovery: while 58% of samples below the former dam once exceeded public health limits, post-dam removal, 100% of water samples have tested within safe limits for people and wildlife. This combination of cooler, cleaner water is creating a resilient, thriving future for both fish and people.

“Since the dams were removed, temperature, algae, and dissolved oxygen levels have all dramatically improved,” said Toz Soto, Senior Policy and Research Advisor for the Karuk Tribe’s Department of Natural Resources. “The process of removing the dams created temporary water quality impacts as sediments impounded by the dams were mobilized through the system. When we look back at the data over the last year, we see that those short-term impacts were worth it, and the immediate improvements to the system are clearly documented in the data collected by the Karuk Tribe and others.”

The first year of a dam-free Klamath River demonstrates a powerful trajectory towards salmon recovery and an ecosystem with significantly improved health with significant cultural and community benefits for Tribes and others in the region.

###

PREVIOUSLY:

• Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore Gets in There Early, Announces That He Would Like to be Your State Senator in 2026
• Santa Rosa City Councilmember Joins Race to Replace Sen. Mike McGuire in 2026
• Marin County Assemblymember Damon Connolly Officially Joins Race to Succeed the Termed-Out Mike McGuire in the State Senate

###

Public statement from the James Gore for State Senate campaign:

My friends,

I love this country, I love California, and I especially love the people and communities of Northern California. For the past 25 years, it has been the honor of my life to lead as a public servant through these chaotic times.  

Leadership comes in many forms, and it asks us to be honest with ourselves and with those we serve. After much reflection, I have decided that the State Senate is not the right path for me or my family at this time. I have worked relentlessly to embrace this campaign, but cannot commit to be everywhere all the time at the expense of my life as a father and husband. Therefore, today, I am stepping away from the campaign we have all worked so hard to build together.

I want you to know how deeply I value the trust you’ve placed in me and in this process. That trust is sacred. While I will not continue this campaign, I am not stepping away from service. I believe my greatest impact right now is to finish my full term as Supervisor of Sonoma County and to focus my energy on forging a new path to build a vibrant and resilient future for our community, our California, and our country. 

I will not seek reelection as County Supervisor. A new path awaits, but I will relentlessly pursue ways to bring people together, to solve problems with integrity, and to push forward the vision of a sustainable, prosperous future.

Thank you for walking beside me on this journey. Thank you for your belief in our shared work. Though this chapter closes, the story of service continues, and I look forward to all we will build together in the years ahead.

Bit of a scene on Broadway at the moment, as a very large contingency of police and fire personnel deal with a person holed up in one the rooms of the Flamingo Motel.

Officers are currently negotiating with the person, trying to get them to come out of the room. They are apparently familiar with the person, addressing him by name.

All lanes of Broadway are open, despite the huge number of first responders in the area.

###

Press release from the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services:

As we move into the fall and winter months, the Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services, Division of Environmental Health (DEH) is providing an end of season recap of harmful algal bloom (HAB) activity locally noting that the instance of additional blooms for the year is low. 

According to data provided largely from the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), recreation waters in Humboldt County were impacted by eight individual reported HAB incidents between late July and mid-September. 

HABs were identified through a combination of routine sampling of Big Lagoon by the Big Lagoon Rancheria, local agency response to reports from the community and sampling conducted by the RWQCB. Harmful algal species were identified in Big Lagoon, the South Fork of the Eel River and the Mad River. Active blooms that trigger posting of signage and public advisories are identified through a combination of visual indicators and direct testing for the presence of algal toxins. 

Harmful algal blooms can occur in any freshwater body. Caused by multiple species of what are called cyanobacteria, they can look like dark green, bluegreen, black, orange or brown scum, foam or mats on the riverbed or floating on the water. Warm water and abundant nutrients can cause cyanobacteria to grow more rapidly than usual causing “blooms.” Most cyanobacteria do not affect animals or people, however, a small number of cyanobacteria species are capable of producing toxins that can be harmful to animals and humans. Dogs and children are most likely to be affected because of their smaller body size and tendency to stay in the water for longer periods of time.

This season the South Fork of the Eel River experienced blooms at six different locations—Richardson’s Grove, Redway Beach, Cooks Valley, Avenue of the Giants, Redwood Campground and one near Miranda. Of those, there was one confirmed report of a dog death likely attributed to exposure to algal toxins. One algal bloom was reported for Mad River, at a river access point in Blue Lake, with an unconfirmed report of human illness. 

Sampling at Big Lagoon, the only recreational water body in the county that is afforded routine monitoring thanks to a federal grant awarded to the Big Lagoon Rancheria, detected concentrations of HAB toxins exceeding state safety standards. Harmful toxins were identified in samples collected on July 22 at three separate locations—exceeding the threshold for a public advisory warning against swimming and water contact by pets. The following sampling event on July 31 showed two locations having concentrations reduced from the “Warning” threshold to “Caution,” but one had elevated concentrations to nearly 10 times the “Danger” threshold—prompting a public advisory to avoid all water contact activities on the water body. Subsequent testing events showed toxin concentrations below actionable thresholds. 

Moving into fall and winter, the likelihood of additional blooms this year is low—but never zero. Be observant when recreating and report areas experiencing large concentrations of algae to HAB experts at: CyanoHAB.Reports@waterboards.ca.gov or 844-729-6466 (toll free). Blooms can also be reported via the “bloomWatch” app available for free download on iTunes or Google play.

To learn more about cyanobacteria and harmful algal blooms, visit the state of California’s website at mywaterquality.ca.gov/habs/index.html. 

To learn more about cyanobacteria and algae on the South Fork Eel River, visit eelriverrecovery.org/algae.

For information on conditions occurring within Humboldt County, contact DEH at 707-445-6215 or 800-963-9241. Photos of suspected blooms can also be emailed to envhealth@co.humboldt.ca.us.

###

There was a very bad helicopter crash in the Sacramento area Monday night. Shortly taking off from UC Davis, a REACH air ambulance crashed onto Highway 50, seriously injuring all three employees aboard.

As the Outpost’s Scanner Traffic Indicates correspondent “Todd” noted at the time, the helicopter in question was based in Redding and often responded to Humboldt County emergencies.

The Outpost asked REACH if the crash would affect service to Humboldt in the coming months. This is what they told us.

Thank you for reaching out. We don’t anticipate any impact on service in Northern California. Our fixed-wing operations in Humboldt and Crescent City, as well as our helicopter base in Brookings, Oregon, remain fully operational. During periods of crisis, industry partners offer support, as demonstrated immediately following the recent incident. We are confident that this collaborative spirit will continue should future needs arise, and we extend our sincere gratitude to all those who have offered their assistance.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

After six years of service, Ryan Derby, Manager of the Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services (OES), will depart the County this Friday, Oct.10, 2025, to join the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) in Sacramento.

Under Derby’s leadership, Humboldt County OES has guided the community through numerous local emergencies and advanced preparedness efforts that will continue to strengthen the county’s ability to respond to disasters.

Sheriff William Honsal praised Derby’s contributions, stating, “Ryan has served the County of Humboldt with distinction for the past six years, providing exceptional leadership, innovation, and dedication in one of California’s most disaster-prone regions. We thank Ryan for his incredible service and commitment to the Sheriff’s Office and the residents of Humboldt County, and we wish him every success in his new role with the State.”

Derby highlighted several areas of importance and accomplishments that have happened during his leadership and one of those was the implementation of the Genasys evacuation management platform.  He describes it as “a major accomplishment for my team.” He explained, “This project brought together partners from throughout the county to identify evacuation zones that are ready for use at a moment’s notice, decreasing the time it takes us to provide life-saving notifications to the public, and providing an interactive map to increase understanding of danger areas.”

Derby also expressed pride in the county’s response to numerous local emergencies. “I’m also really proud of the successful response efforts the county has led for numerous local emergencies, including the COVID-19 pandemic where we relocated the Emergency Operations Center twice to increase staffing capacity and set up a large Joint Information Center to oversee public communications,” he said. He added, “Another example, which is probably my favorite because of its unconventional nature, was ‘Operation Hay Drop.’ This was a major winter storm that cut off access to communities, and the largest impact was the inability to feed livestock. Our team coordinated with CAL FIRE, the US Coast Guard, and California National Guard to air drop bales of hay via helicopter to isolated ranches, helping reduce cattle die off. It was a fun mission, and I’ll never forget loading hay into a Huey.”

Derby stated one of his proudest achievements was the complete remodeling of the county’s EOC. “My team and I had a vision and were able to make it come to life on a shoestring budget—replacing tables, redesigning the flow of the room, having it painted and incorporating numerous display screens to increase our ability to monitor, track and share information. When I started in OES, our emergency operations center (EOC) was borderline embarrassing. Now it is both something that the team can be proud of and will better enable the County of Humboldt to serve the community,” he said.

In addition, Derby emphasized technological improvements and partnerships. “We have embraced a lot of new technologies to increase our service delivery and improve efficiency—such as the evacuation management platform, increased use and build out of our Humboldt Alert system and obtaining the ability to send alerts through the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS). Additionally, with an abundance of consecutive local emergencies that Humboldt County has experienced in recent years, we have had opportunities to identify new partners that can fill in the gaps of emergency response and recovery that local government cannot deliver on and have leveraged these partnerships to build a more resilient county,” he said.

He also highlighted community engagement: “We have made a conscious effort to be more public facing, engaging in routine community outreach events and talking to people, encouraging them to sign up for alerts, helping them develop preparedness plans, etc. This type of engagement is extremely important to both inform the community and show them that the people providing emergency information live, work and care for this area.”

 Derby acknowledged the difficulties of working in a rural, hazard-prone county. “Humboldt County is one of the most hazard-prone areas of California and unfortunately is very poorly funded and understaffed in emergency management. Finding creative ways to leverage partnerships, increase efficiency of process and meet legislative requirements has at times been difficult. These challenges also serve as one of the more interesting aspects of the job—having to come up with unconventional approaches to how our work is carried out and finding solutions to complex problems,” he said.

 Derby advised future leadership to focus on partnerships. “Prioritize relationship building. This career field is all about partnership and working together to serve the community in times of need. Emergency management is the world’s greatest team sport, and nobody will be successful if they try to do it themselves. Also, listening and learning from peers and partners is the only way to understand the challenges our community faces, understand community needs and make informed decisions on protective actions to take. Nobody will ever have all the answers, we must work together,” he said.

 The Office of Emergency Services exists to help the public make informed, confident decisions before, during, and after a crisis. The mission is to ensure people have the right information at the right time, because good information saves lives. Day-to-day, Humboldt County OES employees work to build a resilient community by planning for known hazards, educating the public, and strengthening partnerships across government, nonprofits, and the private sector. When emergencies occur, their focus shifts to coordinating resources, providing clear guidance, and supporting the restoration of critical services.  Derby said, “While we can’t create individual plans for every resident, we can empower people with the tools and information they need to prepare themselves, their families, and their neighborhoods.”

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office and the Office of Emergency Services thank Ryan for his years of leadership and service. His dedication and innovation have left a lasting mark, making Humboldt County stronger, more resilient, and better prepared for the future.