Dwane E Bronson, age 87 of Carlotta, died on February 28, 2025 at home with his beloved wife and his dogs. Dwane was born on June 1, 1937 in Longview, Wash., and was the son of Jarvis and Doris Bronson.

Dwane was raised in Castle Rock, Washington and moved to Fort Bragg when he was 15, not knowing that the seven-year-old who was best friend with his sister would 14 years later become his wife. He graduated from Fort Bragg High School and went on to attend Humboldt State University, graduating with a BA and Teaching Credential. Right after graduating Dwane was invited to enroll in the Army and he served from 1962 to 1964. When returning from duty he was able to get a teaching job at Toddy Thomas for the 7th and 8th grades, then moving on to Cuddeback for a total of 18 years in teaching.

Dwane and Velma were married on Nov. 23, 1966. They had three children: Casey (deceased 1992), Kevin, and Kelli (Mike Esser). They have two grandchildren: Jacob Bronson (Casey) and Braendan Esser. Dwane is also survived by his brother Gary and sisters Rita Bell and Alice Bronson.

Dwane and Velma have lived in Carlotta for 54 years. They had a family they raised and made a family of Hydesville Community Church. If you entered the church in the last 15 years you would have shaken Dwane’s hand on the way in as he gave you a bulletin. He was dedicated to being there to welcoming people into this church and the community of family. His presence at the door will be missed by so many people.

Celebration of Life will be held on March 29 at 11 a.m. at Hydesville Community Church, 3296 Hwy 36, Hydesville,

In lieu of flowers the family asks that you donate to Hydesville Community Church P.O. Box 609, Hydesville, CA, 95547.

Lori Lynn Crook passed away peacefully on March 8, 2025, surrounded by the staff and her surrogate family at Caring Companions Care Home in Eureka.

Lori was born May 20, 1962, to Harvy and Charlsie (Vaughn) Crook. Lori was born with Cerebral Palsy and was not expected to live in to her teen years. Through the love and care of her mother Charlsie (Vaughn) Emmons and stepfather Dennis Emmons, grandparents Cletus and Mildred Vaughn, aunts and uncles, and the staff at Caring Companions Care Home (previously Hall Avenue Care Home) since 2010, Lori defied the odds and lived well beyond expectations.

Lori attended Glen Paul School in her early years, gaining many friends and enjoying the love and laughter of her classmates. She later went on to regularly attend Mad River Hospital Adult Day Healthcare Program. She had many friends and staff members who worked with her and made her laugh and maintained an unbelievable quality of life. Lori always had stories to tell about somebody at Adult Day.

Lori’s passion was being in the presence of family and friends and listening to music. Her favorite genre was country music, and she could tell you just after a few notes, who the performer was. Seeing Lori laugh could lift everyone’s spirits. Lori’s heart was pure and full of love.

Lori was preceded in death by her mother and stepfather Charlsie and Dennis Emmons, father, Harvy Crook, grandparents from the Vaughn Family and grandparents from the Crook Family.

She is survived by her brother Chris Emmons (Tara), niece Morrgin Fedinick-Emmons who Lori talked about constantly, her only Great Nephew KJ McCarty, nephew Colsen Emmons, and her Aunt Barbara (Vaughn) Adams who had a special bond with her. Her cousin Travis Wagoner always kept in touch with Lori no matter how much distance separated them. Lori would always mention Travis and Barbara in conversations because of the love they showed her. Lori is also survived by many more cousins from Coast to Coast who frequently would ask about her.

A viewing will be held Tuesday, March 25, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. with services following at 12 p.m. at Sanders Funeral Home, 1835 E Street, Eureka.

The family welcomes everyone to share their favorite stories about Lori. Lori loved life and loved people. Share what brings joy!!!

In lieu of flowers, please feel free to donate to your favorite cause in Lori’s honor.

###

The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Lori Crook’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

###

The U.S. Department of Agriculture last week announced that it is eliminating two federal programs that injected more than a million dollars into the Humboldt County economy in recent years to help schools, tribes and Food for People buy meat and produce directly from local farmers, ranchers and fishermen.

With the Trump administration describing the decision as a “return to long-term, fiscally responsible initiatives,” the USDA canceled roughly $660 million that would have gone to schools and child care facilities this year through the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS), plus about $420 million for a program called the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement (LFPA), which helps food banks, Native American tribes and other groups provide locally cultivated food to their communities. 

Humboldt County residents involved with these programs tell the Outpost that their elimination represents a huge economic blow to farmers and ranchers; meanwhile, many residents, including children, seniors, tribe members and others, will wind up eating less nutritious food that gets shipped here from out of the area.

Carly Robbins, executive director of Food for People, said her organization has been getting about $360,000 per year in funding from the LFPA program, allowing the food bank to buy and distribute more food to low-income residents. 

“Obviously this is a bummer for us,” she said, “and for our clients it means less local produce will get to households.”

One purpose of the USDA’s local food programs was to encourage farmers to increase production, which they could confidently do knowing that their crops would have a buyer.

“Now, farmers may have already planted [this year’s] crop thinking that funding was coming,” Robbins said. “It’s a big blow for us … and it’s harmful for the farming community as well.”

In Humboldt and Del Norte counties, most of the federal LFPA funds have flowed through the North Coast Growers’ Association’s Harvest Hub, which connects farmers and ranchers with restaurants, government institutions, food banks and direct sales customers. The USDA also has an LFPA Plus program, which provides funding for tribal governments. It, too, has now been canceled. 

Megan Kenney, the Harvest Hub director for NCGA, explained how the state’s food hubs like Harvest Hub function.

“So the food hub is that sort of middle entity that has a lot of connections with small scale farmers,” she said. “It [gives purchasers] one point of contact, one delivery that they’re getting, one invoice that they have to track. So it’s a lot more manageable for larger buyers.”

That includes schools. A dozen Humboldt County school districts took advantage of the USDA’s LFS program, collectively receiving $108,400 ahead of the 2022-23 school year to be allocated across multiple years. That represents a small fraction of the $15 million annual budget for school nutrition programs countywide, but the funding played an important role, according to Humboldt County Superintendent of Schools Michael Davies-Hughes.

“One of benefits of locally sourced food, obviously it’s the freshness and quality of food but also that partnership with local farmers,” Davies-Hughes said. “It was a win-win for both farmers and the local community and also for students to receive locally sourced food.”

Free meals are available to public school students countywide, and the LFS funding was distributed based on enrollment numbers, with Eureka City Schools receiving the largest share, $29,800, followed by the McKinleyville Union Elementary School District with $11,400 and 10 other districts receiving less than $10,000 apiece.

“There’s a pretty broad segment of the population that gets affected by these cuts, but it’s disproportionately [impactful] for people living in poverty,” Davies-Hughes said.

In the Hoopa Valley that includes seniors — tribal and non-tribal alike — who have been getting food produced entirely by tribal farmers and ranchers participating in the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s Niwhong-xw K’iwiyul project, financed through the USDA’s LFPA Plus program.

Tribal member Allie Hostler, who works as managing editor of the tribe’s newspaper, the Two Rivers Tribune, and manages the Klamath Trinity Resource Conservation District, was instrumental in developing that project, which used federal funds to purchase thousands of pounds of fruits, vegetables, eggs, pork, beef and poultry from local farmers and ranchers.

One hundred fifty food boxes per week were distributed to participants of the K’ima:w Medical Center’s Senior Nutrition Program. Last week, after Hostler found out that the LFPA Plus program had been axed, she voiced her frustration in a Facebook post:

This program was critical to the development and strengthening of local food economies, creating a resilient supply chain and reducing dependency on food grown on mega farms hundreds of miles away. It was incredibly rewarding to see our food system begin to function as it should — food grown, produced, raised, & gathered here, stayed here. And, small farmers were valued participants in the market.

This giant unilateral cut will permanently scar RURAL FARMERS and RURAL FOOD SYSTEMS!

Watermelons grown as part of the Hoopa Tribe’s LFPA Plus-funded Niwhong-xw K’iwiyul project.

She’s concerned not only about the community’s access to affordable and nutritious food but also about the farmers who’ve come to rely on the program’s funding to keep their farms afloat. Reached by phone, Hostler said the USDA strongly promoted its LFPA programs when they were launched a few years ago and specifically encouraged Native American tribes to participate via LFPA Plus. 

“Joe Davis, who was tribal chair at time, was in Washington, D.C. for another purpose,” Hostler said. “He met some officials with the USDA, who strongly encouraged the [Hoopa Valley Tribe] to apply.”

Hostler wrote the grant request, and USDA awarded the tribe approximately $727,000 to be distributed over two years. (The tribal council unanimously agreed to have the program run by the Klamath Trinity Resource Conservation District.) However, it took a lot of time and effort to get off the ground, so when the Trump administration killed the LFPA Plus program last week only a small percentage of those funds had been used. Hostler said the tribe will never get to spend the rest.

“In essence we lost $600,000 in procurement dollars for local food,” she explained. “We just won’t be able to provide the food boxes at all [anymore], none.” 

She’s worried that elders who can’t afford locally grown, nutrient-dense foods will turn to cheaper, low-quality options. The tribe already experiences high rates of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases due to a lack of access to nutritious food, generational trauma and other social determinants of health.

“But I’m also completely at a loss about what our farmers will do,” Hostler said. “This was a program that we promoted to our farmers after it was promoted to us by the USDA.”

With the Biden administration investing in development of local food economies, the tribe could assure farmers (and aspiring farmers) that they’d have a buyer for their produce. Same with ranchers and their livestock. Now, that system has evaporated.

“I have farmers worried because they’ve already started to plant 2025 crops,” Hostler said. The LFPA Plus program allowed farmers in this rural and remote area to earn a good return on their investments while improving the health of the community.

Hostler noted that roughly half of the Trinity River’s water gets diverted to “big ag” producers in the Central Valley, where much of the water simply evaporates “because of wasteful watering methods.” The food grown in the Valley then has to be shipped to the North Coast in emission-spewing trucks. Hostler lamented what’s now seemingly lost.

“We were creating a system that was less dependent on the corporate agriculture that depletes our water source,” she said. “Plus, it just makes sense. The food was grown here and consumed here. We were building a supply chain, a distribution chain; we were were tackling issues like storage, and delivery days and pricing, etc. It’s just a huge disappointment. I just don’t see how [the new administration] doesn’t see the value in local food systems — because our story not unique. This is everyone’s story.”

Other tribes that participated in the LFPA Plus program include the Karuk, Yurok, Tolowa Dee’-ni, Bear River Rancheria and Blue Lake Rancheria, according to Kenney, the Harvest Hub director. 

Last week, after learning of the program’s cancelation, Blue Lake Rancheria Tribal Chairman Jason Ramos issued a statement to community members, farmers and supporters. He thanked the USDA for its funding, which allowed the tribe to provide fresh food boxes to more than 150 households each month. [DISCLOSURE: The Blue Lake Rancheria is a minority owner of the Outpost’s parent company, Lost Coast Communications, Inc.]

Since the Rancheria launched its program in 2022 it has distributed more than 20,000 pounds of locally grown produce and more than 6,000 pounds of local fish, meat and eggs, Ramos said in his announcement.

“Through this program, we have not only provided fresh food to our community but also strengthened our local food system by supporting small farmers and fisherman, prioritizing purchases from socially disadvantaged producers, and increasing economic opportunities for those growing, catching, and raising food in our region,” the statement says.

With the program’s cancellation, more than $105,000 in anticipated funding to the Rancheria was eliminated. Blue Lake’s food distribution initiative will end after September.

One of the main suppliers of vegetables and beans to the Harvest Hub is Earthly Edibles, a certified organic family farm on 28 acres near Korbel. Owned and operated by Ed Cohen, the farm provided veggies to the local schools that participated in the USDA’s LSA program and to tribes and Food For People via the LFPA and LFPA Plus programs. Earthly Edibles received between $60,000 and $70,000 via those programs last year alone.

“As you might imagine, this is a huge game changer,” Cohen said regarding the end of those initiatives. The funding helped him afford employees raises, which he considers integral to honoring and retaining workers. The cut in funding will be painful.

Broccoli from Earthly Edibles. | Photo courtesy Ed Cohen.

“We’ll weather it, but it’s gonna be a huge blow,” Cohen said.

He’s more worried about the smaller farmers who, like those in Hoopa, have come to rely on USDA programs to finance the Harvest Hub’s wholesale purchases for their crops. Some of those farmers recently bought or leased new land to increase production.

“It will be devastating for them,” Cohen said.

For his own part, Cohen opted to plant fewer specialized crops in favor of increased broccoli and lettuce production because those items were popular staples in USDA-funded programs. He also increased Earthly Edibles’ acreage for growing heirloom beans, which he believes is the only plant-based protein being grown in wholesale volumes within a 150- or 200-mile radius. His farm was in the process of scaling up bean production because of the demand at the Harvest Hub. He’ll now have to rethink some things.

“But for me, the biggest loss is the connection [between] local farmers and those underserved communities — the tribes, the elderly, the senior resource center and our local kids who for years were just getting the kind of commodity, terrible food that I grew up on,” Cohen said. The younger of his two kids is still a student in the local public school system. “They were switching over to locally grown, fresh food. To me, more than my [financial] loss, that affects me the most. That’s hardest for me.”

Kenney said the North Coast Growers’ Alliance does a lot of collective production planning via a nonprofit endeavor called Farms Together, which helps participating wholesale farmers collectively produce crops that align with regional demand. The surprise announcement that these USDA programs are ending will certainly throw some farmers for a loop.

“Like, one of our farms, Green Spiral Farm [in Arcata], just planted an entire greenhouse full of bok choy because of this [LFPA] opportunity,” Kenney said. Now that the program is dead, the farm may struggle to find a buyer.

North Coast Growers’ Alliance initially received notice that all current contracts were frozen, but that directive was later rescinded, with the agency saying only future contracts will be canceled. 

“So we still have about $160,000 in our contract with Food for People,” Kenney said. “Basically, what that means now is that instead of being able to bring them $10,000 [worth] of produce every single week, and really have their clients being able to access this huge variety of whatever they want, we’re probably going to need to significantly reduce our weekly amounts so we can extend the funding for longer.”

The North Coast Growers’ Association worked hard to ramp up local food production with the funding it received through the LFPA and LSA programs. That volume of food production can’t simply be shut off at the drop of a hat — or the whims of a new administration.

“The funding did what it was supposed to do: It really increased the production of all of our smaller scale farms, which are most regenerative farms,” Kenney said. “But they’re also the most vulnerable farms because they don’t have the money to be able to just pay for the seeds and the labor to plant all of these crops [only] to have them not get a return on their dollar.”

That unfortunate outcome may now be inevitable, though.

“I imagine there being probably millions of pounds of produce that are being cultivated right now for this program that aren’t going to have a buyer … ,” Kenney said. “That’s what I see happening to our farmers here on the North Coast as well as across the entire state — well, and entire country, really.”

While the USDA’s local food programs weren’t around for very long — the initiatives began during the pandemic — they brought more than $1 million in federal funding into Humboldt County, where it was reinvested to support local farmers, ranchers and fishermen while improving the diets of children, seniors, low-income residents and other vulnerable populations. 

Nationwide, these programs accounted for about 0.016 percent of the  federal budget.

UPDATE: Says Caltrans:

As of 5:20 p.m. Monday, March 17, Route 36 is OPEN TO ONE-WAY TRAFFIC CONTROL with up to one-hour delays east of Swimmer’s Delight near the Devil’s Elbow picnic area (PM 15-16) in Humboldt County.

# # #

Original Post: Yes, Highway 36 is very much in “You Shall Not Pass” mode. Earlier today Caltrans posted the clip above showing a very active slide east of Carlotta and also had this to say:

As of 8 a.m., Monday, March 17, Route 36 is FULLY CLOSED east of Swimmer’s Delight near the Devil’s Elbow picnic area (PM 15-16). The road will be closed from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. and open from noon to 1 p.m.

TRAFFIC ADVISORY: Route 36 is scheduled to close east of Swimmer’s Delight near the Devil’s Elbow picnic area (PM 15-16) on Monday, March 17, from 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Vehicles will be allowed through from noon to 1 p.m.

Crews will be removing additional hazards and slide material that came down during the weekend’s storms. This schedule is subject to change depending on slide activity.

This video was taken Friday and shows some of the work being done to clear hazards from the slide area.

Remember, a quick glance of which routes in and out of Humboldt are passable is always available on the LoCO homepage under the Humboldt Roads banner.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On Jan. 21, 1998, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) responded to a call of found human skeletal remains. Deputies met with a citizen who had been horseback riding in the area. The citizen led the deputies to the remains located on Clam Beach near the mouth of Little River.

The remains were collected and later examined by an anthropologist, who confirmed they were human. The remains were sent to the California Department of Justice where a DNA sample was obtained. The sex of the remains was determined to be male. The DNA sample was entered into CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) and compared to reported missing persons. No match was ever made. The case was also entered into NAMUS (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System) under case number UP55179. The remains showed signs of being well-worn from either water or sand erosion. It was reported that there had been heavy rain prior to the discovery. It is possible that these remains are from an ancient burial site located near the beach or nearby rivers.

With the advancement of technology, HCSO has partnered with Othram Inc to complete Forensic Genetic Genealogy. A sample was sent to Othram Inc and later determined to be Native American. The most recent common ancestor was Catherine Prince, born in 1843. Research shows Catherine was one of the sole survivors of a Native American massacre along the Van Duzen River near Alton. Catherine may have later been adopted by the Francis family of California. The Wiyot Tribe was contacted and noted the Prince family is documented within the tribe, but no relatives could be located. 

The Sheriff’s Office is looking for family members of the following people:

• Catherine “Kitty” Frances Prince 1843-1940
• Married to James Napoleon Prince 1843-1910
• Possible children: Dan Prince, Theodore Prince, and Edith Anderson

Anyone with information is asked to contact Missing Person/Cold Homicide Investigator Mike Fridley at (707) 441-3024. 

Press release from the Eureka Police Department:

The Eureka Police Department conducted a Shoulder Tap operation on March 15th, 2025 within the city limits of Eureka, CA as a part of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control’s (ABC) Annual Statewide Shoulder Tap Operation. This operation resulted in one subject being booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility (HCCF) for public intoxication and two additional subjects being cited for furnishing alcoholic beverages to a minor.

Shoulder Tap operations target adults who purchase alcohol for persons under the age of 21.

During a Shoulder Tap operation, a minor under the direct supervision of law enforcement stands outside of a liquor or convenience store and asks customers to buy them alcohol. The minor also indicates they are underage and cannot purchase the alcohol.

Underage drinking harms our community. Preventing the sale of alcohol to minors will help to increase public safety and make our roads safer.

If an adult agrees to purchase alcohol for the underage person, they can be arrested and cited for furnishing alcohol to a minor. The penalty for furnishing alcohol to a minor is a minimum $1,000 fine and 24 hours of community service.

“We conduct these operations to keep alcohol out of the hands of our youth,” said ABC Director Joseph McCullough. “By preventing underage drinking we can increase the quality of life in our communities and reduce DUIs.”

Statistics have shown that young people under the age of 21 have a much higher risk of being involved in a crash than older drivers. About 25 percent of fatal crashes involve underage drinking according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the ABC Alcohol Policing Partnership (APP) program.

Fossil fuels are bad for us, both to our climate and to our health. These impacts are felt most acutely in fenceline communities immediately adjacent to fossil fuel power plants, which also tend to be lower-income, communities of color. Folks from these communities are banding together to present a new energy future that leans into renewables and battery storage in order to shut down the gas power plants that pollute their neighborhoods and harm their families.

Julia Dowell of the Sierra Club and Heena Singh of California Environmental Justice Alliance join us on the show to talk about their work leading Regenerate California where they apply pressure on local and state agencies to retire gas plants in environmental justice communities. They share their advocacy on how responsible utility scale energy infrastructure (like offshore wind and transmission) can enable gas plant retirements. Show your support for state action to build offshore wind by signing a petition here.

LEARN MORE:

• EcoNews: Tribal Energy Sovereignty
• Heat Wave Report
• NOx Report