Following the discovery of a mass open cattle grave (and subsequent cover-up) in the Arcata Bottoms, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board has assumed authority over an investigation, taking the reins from Humboldt County’s Department of Health and Human Services, Environmental Health division.

“We understand that Humboldt County had made some efforts to work with this particular landowner and have been unsuccessful,” said David Leland, the assistant executive officer of the local water board office, which is a division of the state Environmental Protection Agency.

That landowner, Raymond Christie, told the Outpost earlier this week that such open graves are commonplace on local pastures, and he argued that this method of disposing of cattle carcasses was perfectly legal. County officials, however, said the practice does not comply with guidelines developed by the Humboldt County Department of Agriculture and the University of California Cooperative Extension. 

Leland said his agency doesn’t handle this type of case very often, and he agreed that, based on the drone-captured video of the burial site, it looks like the open grave was not in compliance with guidelines. 

The trouble with guidelines, though, is that they’re not legally enforceable. But Leland said there are probably elements of his agency’s Basin Plan that would apply. With the carcasses disposed so close to the groundwater level and nearby sloughs, he said, “This would be a discharge of waste into waters of the state, and you’re not supposed to do that without a permit.”

Nonetheless, Leland said his agency’s typical first step in situations like this is to contact the landowner and discuss the issues to “see if there’s a better way to do things.”