Bernadette was born into a working-class Catholic family in Port Angeles, Washington on June 10, 1950. Her older siblings, Burke and Alicia, and her younger sister, Mary, were always close and kind to each other. Her sheltered childhood provided a solid base for stability, hard work and love of nature. She remembered her Irish grandmother being a fountain of love. She remembered playing in the woods in empty lots and spending time at the family resort at Lake Crescent. She loved running just for the pure joy of it. She experienced much of her life through her emotions. She began taking pre-veterinary classes but got very ill and never went back to school.

When she was nineteen, she set off on a long hitch-hiking trip across the western US. She spent a winter working and living in Minneapolis with friends. When she was hitch-hiking, she would sleep in graveyards because she felt safe. When cars would stop to pick her up, her kitten would jump off her shoulder into the car which would win over the occupants.

Don Edwards picked her up hitch-hiking and she ended helping him find a farm to buy and stayed on Chemise Mountain Farm with him for 25 years of an inequitable relationship. They homesteaded and raised show goats. They had an orchard and large gardens. Her animal husbandry came in handy many times especially when cougars caused damage. The farm remained off grid with kerosene lamps and gravity flow water.

On May 1, 1973 her first child, Blossom, was born. She was delivered at home by her father because the midwives were late. The Madrone trees were in full blossom that day. Their second child, Logan, was born on May 26, 1981 and was delivered by his dad because the labor was only one hour.

She became an integral and loved part of the community in the Humboldt culture. She was involved in volunteer work in local politics. She took declarations from homeless people who were harassed and discriminated against. She also worked for years on litigation against Operation Greensweep.

In 2012 she married Jack Glick in Mendocino and lived a happy life with him in Whale Gulch. Logan and his wife, Ashley, had three children — Lukas, Parker and Connor — whom she adored and spent as much time as she could with. She spent years suffering from cancer but confounding doctors when she would bounce back from near-death episodes. Jack died over a year before she did. She was with him when he passed, and Logan was one of the first responders to show up.

She loved to travel and would regularly go up the Oregon coast and make her way over to spend time with her other grandchildren Noa, Rio and Jessica.

She was so ill and yet she was as productive and as optimistic as possible. Although she lived alone, she was surrounded by those that loved her and was able to say goodbye to her family before she passed. She did not appear to be afraid, but seemed to embrace the ultimate liberation. She passed in Eureka on March 15, 2024.

Her family will be holding a celebration of life Saturday June 8 at 1 p.m. at Beginnings in Briceland. The main course and drinks will be provided. Potluck for appetizers, sides and desserts.

Ronald Allen Ulmer passed on Thursday, May 30, 2024, at the age of 79 years.

Ronnie is survived by his daughter Chanda Ulmer-Pifferini and son Anthony Ulmer, two granddaughters Zaida Pifferini and Sophia Ulmer, and many cousins Tanya Sangrey, John, Mike, John (Bubba), Justin and Chelly Puzz, Debbie, and Rene McBride, and Rachel McBride-Praetorius, Sherie and Robert England and Angel England-Amato, Richard England, Christina Nelson, Kim, Brian and Kelly Mamaradlo and so many more. He is preceded in death by his mother Edna Puzz-Cuddie, grandmother Lillian Blake-Puzz, grandfather Mike Puzz, uncle Hank Puzz, aunties Dorthy Puzz-Walker and Norma Puzz-Dankulich, and cousins Roanne Lyall (Skooky) and Cathy Puzz-Carmesin.

A five-day fire held in his honor will begin on June 7 at his Klamath home. Friends and family are invited to stop by and share a memory. An intimate family service will be held at the Blake family graveyard on June 15th. Ronnie and his beloved cousin, Skooky, will be laid to rest.

Ronnie was born in San Francisco on April 3, 1945 to Edna Puzz-Ulmer and Rudy Ulmer. Ronnie grew up in Klamath and attended Klamath Elementary then graduated from Del Norte High school. During his childhood he enjoyed many adventures, from raising two abandoned river otter pups that latter became the first otter exhibit at the Sequoia Zoo to washing dishes at the at the Redwood Rest Resort, Frog Pond Restaurant & Bar, at the Klamath Glen. In 1968 he joined the Navy and served as a radio operator in the Philippines. He loved falling big timber, riding his motorcycle, reading about astronomy, welding, weightlifting, visiting with friends at the Country Club in Klamath and running from the ladies.

Ronnie was a handsome man with a great big smile. He had a big heart and he always made his family feel loved. He was a warm, caring and loving father and is greatly missed.

The man who would finally break up California is a real estate developer from Rancho Cucamonga.

Jeff Burum knows this may sound crazy. He heard that response two years ago, before he persuaded politicians and voters in San Bernardino County to study the possibility of seceding.

But leaders, Burum points out, are often considered crazy when they try to do something that no one has ever done. And he is trying to do something that others have failed at many, many, many times before.

Burum has a plan to win independence for San Bernardino County — yes, a new state of “Empire” in the diverse, working-class community of 2.2 million. Driven by civic pride in a growing region that has been looked down upon by many Californians and by frustration that the state has held it back from reaching its full potential, he envisions secession as a declaration of the county’s dignity and an opportunity to reimagine a broken political system.

The county government is planning to publish a key report evaluating the feasibility and financial implications of the proposal by June 11.

“I’m never going to be deterred based on other people’s beliefs,” Burum told CalMatters in a series of recent interviews. “If you can see a path to get there, then for the betterment of mankind, you need to pursue it.”

Though he can be coy sometimes about how much he really wants San Bernardino County to strike out on its own, Burum’s longshot campaign taps into the same vein of resistance against California’s liberal governance increasingly cropping up in more conservative pockets of the state. That includes San Bernardino County, which sued to stop Gov. Gavin Newsom’s lockdown policies during the coronavirus pandemic and which is home to one of the school boards leading challenges to policies inclusive of LGBTQ+ students and curriculum.

Jeff Burum at his Hope Through Housing Foundation in Rancho Cucamonga on April 18, 2024. Burum is spearheading the secession initiative in San Bernardino County. Photo by Zaydee Sanchez for CalMatters

Burum, who is a Republican, is less focused on settling ideological scores than demanding respect. He contends that California has long deprived San Bernardino County, which at more than 20,000 square miles is the largest county in the contiguous United States, of its “fair share” of resources.

But his belief that the solution is secession — that it would be easier to carve out another state than fix these inequities through the existing political process, because those in charge will never relinquish any power — reflects just how disillusioned so many Californians have become about the extent of the problems here and our ability to ever fix them.

California, Burum argues, is too big to succeed.

“People are revolting because they can’t relate to the purpose of government when we were created,” he said, comparing his efforts to the colonists rising up against the British. “When the government doesn’t realize it’s become one of the bad actors, it’s time to speak up.”

A long and fruitless history of splitting California

By the time California became a state on Sept. 9, 1850, it had already survived the first attempt to split it — an unsuccessful last-minute amendment in the U.S. Senate that would have divided California in two, just north of Morro Bay.

In the nearly 174 years since, according to the California State Library, more than 220 additional attempts to break up California have followed, fueled by the persistent anxieties of rural residents feeling overpowered by the cities, of conservative voters feeling ignored by liberal Sacramento and of everyone feeling eclipsed by Los Angeles.

A bill to split Northern and Southern California passed the state Senate in 1965. A similar 1992 plebiscite won approval in 27 of the 31 counties where it appeared on the ballot. Less than a decade ago, a Silicon Valley billionaire tried to put a proposal for six Californians before voters. Perhaps most famously, residents of the rural north have been pushing for decades to create the State of Jefferson with fellow breakaway counties from southern Oregon.

None, of course, succeeded.

But that hasn’t diminished the allure of secession as a cry of rebellion — especially as the scale of American society has expanded, isolating voters from their representatives, said Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee.

“The states used to be there to provide a degree of localism and small-scale governance that they’re no longer able to provide,” said Reynolds, who wrote a paper in 2019 exploring how to address the dissatisfaction that fuels state secession movements. “California is probably the worst case of that, because it is so big and the government is pretty centralized.”

So why are some San Bernardino County residents so dissatisfied that they would leave California altogether?

“Oh man. It’s a long list,” said Jose Rodriguez, a 42-year-old union electrician from Rialto, as he loaded his purchases into his car at the Lowe’s in Fontana.

Poor education. Rising crime. Bad roads. Rodriguez, who supports former President Donald Trump, said he liked the idea of living in a community where he could trust people who are like-minded.

Secession “would have happened a long time ago if it was a possibility,” he said.

Jose Rodriguez at the Lowe’s parking lot in Fontana on April 18, 2024. Rodriguez, an electrician and resident of San Bernardino County, supports the effort to have the county secede from the state of California. Photo by Zaydee Sanchez for CalMatters

Mostly, though, there’s a sense that California and what it means are slipping away. Rodriguez lamented that “the American Dream is no longer available.” While families could once survive a single income, he said, his union keeps raising the retirement age.

“I can’t be 70 years old working construction,” he said. “California, what it used to be, it isn’t there anymore.”

What happened to the ‘platinum service’?

California was good to Jeff Burum.

Originally from Maryland and later raised in Phoenix — where he said his political awakening came while fighting to keep his inner-city high school open — Burum moved to California to attend what is now Claremont McKenna College in suburban Los Angeles County. In the early 1990s, he founded a multi-state development empire of both commercial real estate and affordable housing.

Burum even came out ahead the last time he battled the government: In 2011, he was indicted for allegedly bribing county officials to approve a $102 million settlement that ended years of legal battles over flood control improvements to a property Burum wanted to develop. He was eventually acquitted in 2017, and contributed more than $100,000 to a committee to defeat the local prosecutor who led the case. Three years later, Burum received a $65 million payout from the county to settle a malicious prosecution lawsuit.

“People that come from nothing and achieve that level of success, you know, I think needs to be respected,” said state Treasurer Fiona Ma, a Democrat who became friends with Burum when they attended a legislative trip to China more than two decades ago but who decidedly does not support his secession proposal. “That’s why I think people do respect him, because he didn’t grow up with a silver spoon and he’s been a fighter all his life. And he’s not doing it to line in his pockets, you know? He’s doing it because he thinks it’s the right thing to do.”

On a sunny afternoon last month, Burum waxed philosophical about secession at the headquarters of his affordable housing company in a Rancho Cucamonga office park. The chic meeting space on the first floor looks like a hotel lobby, with a bar and an artificial fireplace. Burum hopes it could one day host conferences.

Ever expanding his ventures, even at the age of 61, there’s a studio for a soon-to-launch online media network down the hall, while the office of a professional arena soccer team he owns, the Empire Strykers, sits across the parking lot. Burum is also working on a reality show about the ghost town of Calico, which he wants to turn into a virtual reality amusement park.

First: A slogan on a wall at the Hope through Housing Foundation, which provides homes for low-income families in San Bernardino County on April 18, 2024. Second: At right, Jeff Burum at the foundation offices in Rancho Cucamonga on April 18, 2024. Photos by Zaydee Sanchez for CalMatters

Burum said he loves being part of California. He praised its expansive economy and its diverse population, which he said inspires collaboration and change for the better.

But like many conservatives, Burum views governance through the lens of business. And he has been frustrated, he said, to watch California’s government become “inefficient through its growth” over the past several decades — lacking the economies of scale that are achieved by successful companies in the private sector and failing to provide the “platinum service” that he says should come from having among the highest taxes in the country.

“Government shouldn’t be an organic growing creature. It wasn’t ever really designed to be that. Government was created to protect us,” he said. “That’s become the largest weed in the garden. Now it’s bigger than the trees. That’s what government’s become in our country. That’s what it is in our state. Listen, that’s not what we were intended to be.”

What pushed Burum over the edge was how the state handled its massive budget surplus two years ago, which he complains was “porked out, instead of being invested in our future.” He said officials should have spent more money on infrastructure, such as water reservoirs and affordable housing, and helping people meet unfunded mandates, including the requirement that all cars sold in the state be zero-emission by 2035.

“None of it is common sense,” Burum said. “There’s a lot of distrust of government in our state, so let’s show them how to do it right.”

The ‘red-headed stepchild’ strikes back

Naturally, the response of an entrepreneur was to take on a project. Burum wanted to dig deeper into the numbers, to find out if San Bernardino County was getting what it was owed, and if not, to fight for more — or leave California.

Putting a number on how much San Bernardino County is being undervalued, Burum figures, will allow the county to demand payment from California. If the debt is so big that the state can’t cover it, then that’s leverage to reach a different type of settlement, such as a tax-free zone or even secession.

“What do you have to do in order to solve problems? You have to create natural tensions so that everyone wants to take the pressure off,” he said.

Though an initial assessment in August 2022 indicated that San Bernardino County falls in the middle of the pack among California’s counties for state and federal funding per person, Burum persuaded the board of supervisors to put a measure on the local ballot asking voters whether the county should “study all options to obtain its fair share of state and federal resources, up to and including secession.”

Elected officials and business leaders complain that state support for San Bernardino County is inadequate for its size and importance to the California economy. They point to courthouses without enough space for every judge and insufficient funding for new housing and roads in one region where California’s population is still growing. It’s common to hear “red-headed stepchild” invoked when describing the county’s treatment by the ruling Democrats at the state Capitol.

“It’s super frustrating to now have a supermajority in the state Legislature that doesn’t create the space for a healthy dialogue,” Supervisor Dawn Rowe said. “This is an opportunity for us to figure out whether there are the inequities that we think we have.”

Ahead of the November 2022 election, Burum mounted a minimal campaign — no mailers, no ads, just 7,000 yard signs. He said he didn’t want to manipulate voters with a flood of money, which would have given critics fuel to brush off the significance of a victory.

With no organized opposition, his gambit paid off. The measure passed with 50.6% of the vote.

Randy Thornton, a 44-year-old truck driver from Victorville, said he voted for it because he was tired of the Bay Area and Los Angeles having all the say about the direction of California.

“The state of California is run by limousine liberals who don’t care about the working class,” Thornton, a former Democrat turned independent voter, said as he headed to a Turner’s Outdoorsman in Victorville. “We get overlooked. We don’t get the representation.”

After the election, the board of supervisors hired a consulting firm to study what San Bernardino County’s “fair share” of state and federal funding should look like, develop strategies for securing more resources and research the viability of the county changing states or forming its own state.

A draft report was due on March 3 and a county spokesperson said it is “working on the logistics of releasing” the findings this month. A representative for Supervisor Curt Hagman — who once wrote a column in defense of the initiative that declared “loving California may end in leaving it” and now serves as chairperson of the “fair share” committee — refused multiple interview requests.

And now the waiting game

In the meantime, Burum has largely gone quiet since his electoral triumph. Unlike the State of Jefferson, whose supporters fly the green double X flag of their movement all over far Northern California, you don’t see visible signs of support for a state of Empire as you drive around San Bernardino County. Most people seem entirely unaware of it.

Even Connie Leyva, a former state senator who wrote a joint letter to the board of supervisors in August 2022 opposing the ballot measure, didn’t realize it had passed when reached by CalMatters recently. She called secession a “ridiculous” idea for San Bernardino County, which she said does not have a big enough tax base to be self-reliant, and compared those pushing for it to a “petulant child.”

“These people are very foolish if they think that, by seceding from California and becoming the state of Empire, we’re going to get more money,” she said. “If you want more money, you need to work for it.”

Burum said his understated strategy is intentional. He wants to build his movement into something deeper — a cause for the residents of San Bernardino County — and he knows he needs to make people feel this is an issue about them, otherwise they won’t care. Though he’s growing impatient with the slow pace, Burum is waiting for the answers that the county’s study will provide to start evangelizing again.

“I’m not out here to push people. I’m here to put out a carrot and encourage people to follow,” he said. “I’m not going to polarize anything until it’s time to polarize something.”

He has his work cut out for him — and not just because both the California Legislature and the U.S. Congress would need to agree to form a new state.

Some San Bernardino County elected officials have enthusiastically embraced Burum’s plan, including Acquanetta Warren, a self-described “Republican with common sense” who serves as mayor of Fontana, the second-largest city in the county.

“It made a stand for ourselves. Isn’t that something, that we’re willing to stand up for ourselves finally and say, ‘we want our fair share’?” she said.

An overpass with “San Bernardino” painted on it on Interstate 210 on April 18, 2024. Photo by Zaydee Sanchez for CalMatters

Yet there remains a prevailing caution about being fully associated with secession. Warren said her own political consultant was worried that it might cause problems for her when she first began campaigning for the measure.

Rowe, the county supervisor, said including the language about secession — which she believes is “fairly insurmountable and not practical” — was more about catching attention and conveying the seriousness of their other demands. She sees the study as a way to provide a sense of validation for residents and a road map for the legislators who represent the county to advocate more effectively at the Capitol.

“It’s great, theoretically, to hope for a moment when we could express a desire for more autonomy,” Rowe said. “But I think we are hoping for a moment when we could express a desire for more respect.”

Despite all the failed attempts to split the state, Burum has no doubt it can be achieved. He’s certain that he’s developed a stronger legal foundation than his predecessors to win San Bernardino County’s independence, if that’s what all this comes to. And if not, the county only stands to gain financially.

That faith — or perhaps it’s ego — has propelled Burum through a lifetime of proving people wrong about his crazy ideas.

“So my point is, I am trying. I’m trying with every ounce, every day,” he said. “I get up every day, and when I’m going to bed at night, I kid you not, I am so worn out. I pray God lets me go to sleep and he wakes me up again in the morning, because the pressure’s on.”

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The CalMatters Ideas Festival takes place June 5-6! Find out more and get your tickets at this link.

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Some of the most liberal and conservative members of the state Senate agreed recently that if you buy an iPhone in Los Angeles it shouldn’t help pay for police in Cupertino.

But the bipartisanship wasn’t enough to pass a bill that would change the rules allowing corporations wide discretion to choose who gets their online sales taxes, forcing cities to compete by offering companies huge tax kickbacks to win their favor.

“When we’re talking about how much you’re losing in tax dollars, let me tell you, it’s over $1 billion … given back to companies,” Sen. Steve Glazer, the bill’s author, told his colleagues on the Senate floor late last month. “One billion dollars that would go to public services in all of our jurisdictions.”

The opposition to Glazer’s Senate Bill 1494 was also bipartisan, some of it from senators who represent cities that benefit from the current rules. Cupertino, for example, gives 35% of the taxes it collects from Apple – about $4.5 million per year – back to the company. Still, nearly three quarters of the city’s sales tax revenue comes from Apple, according to Bloomberg Tax, which has extensively covered the issue.

As shoppers have switched to buying goods on their smartphones and computers, officials have debated for years about where sales tax revenue should go for purchases made online. Should it be the location of the buyer or the seller? Currently, it’s the seller. And companies have significant discretion about choosing their “point of sale” for tax purposes. This gives the companies that promise local jobs and municipal revenue boosts from warehouses, offices or retail centers tremendous bargaining power over local governments as they negotiate agreements that funnel sales tax money the cities collect back to the corporations.

For Glazer, a Democrat from Orinda, the agreements with local governments that kick back sales taxes to the firms are fundamentally unfair. He believes that if Californians buy something online, they expect taxes to go to the local government where the transaction took place – not to some city that could be hundreds of miles away. He told his Senate colleagues it creates a perverse system of “winners and losers.”

“Ninety-three percent of the cities are losers,” he said. “I can tell you that if you live in cities like Los Angeles, you’re a loser; San Francisco, Oakland, you’re a loser; San Diego, you’re a loser.”

A bipartisan group of 17 lawmakers, some of whose districts include cities that were in Glazer’s “loser” category, voted to support his bill on May 23. The supporters included liberal Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco who has a 100% rating from the Sierra Club and 0% from the California Chamber of Commerce, and conservative Sen. Brian Dahle, a Republican from the state’s rural northeast corner with a 100% rating from the chamber and 0% from the Sierra Club.

Dahle, who lost a bid for governor in 2022, split with the California Taxpayers Association on this vote even though he sides with the anti-tax group’s position on bills nearly 90% of the time, according to the CalMatters Digital Democracy database.

“We hear every day on this floor about disadvantaged communities and people not getting a fair break in California and the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer,” he said on the Senate floor. “Think about this: This is not a tax increase or decrease. This is about distribution. These multibillion dollar companies in California are robbing your community and putting in that tax base that I pay in (Lassen County) in their pockets, getting even more rich off the backs of a tax.”But the arguments from the likes of Glazer and Dahle weren’t enough for the bill to pass the 40-member chamber. It got 17 votes in support and just 11 votes against, but 12 senators did not vote, which counts as a “no.”

As CalMatters has reported, lawmakers regularly avoid voting on controversial bills to avoid angering colleagues or to eliminate a record of their opposition on sensitive matters. There is no distinction for legislators who abstain or are absent.

Many of the opposing senators have communities that benefit from the tax agreements, or they sided with cities and counties that argue the tax agreements are valuable tools that help disadvantaged communities promote economic development and create jobs.

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar Glazer bill in 2019, making the same arguments.

Not surprisingly, Cupertino’s senator, Dave Cortese, a Democrat, voted “no.”

Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman, a Democratic former Stockton city councilmember, also cast a “no” vote. She told her colleagues that the current tax system doesn’t necessarily benefit just wealthy Silicon Valley communities.

“This bill is about what local governments can do with the resources they have,” she said. “So I’ll tell you some of the winners, and you tell me if they’re the big guys or not. City of Dinuba, city of Fresno, city of Merced … city of Tracy, city of Stockton. You know who those folks are? The little guys that live on that corridor, that breathe that diesel, that smell that gas, that have a lot of our jobs taken.”

California State Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman, a Democrat from Stockton, listens to legislative testimony at a hearing last year. Photo by Rahul Lal, CalMatters

She noted that Stockton alone receives about $1.5 million to $2 million a year from such an agreement. She didn’t say which company, and her office didn’t respond to CalMatters’ request for clarification. Stockton officials also didn’t respond to CalMatters’ request.

But Glazer told CalMatters those sorts of arguments are shortsighted since changing the tax system would funnel $1 billion in tax kickbacks that corporations receive from these agreements to communities across the state. It frustrated him that the influential League of California Cities opposed the bill, since the organization’s lobbyists regularly complain to lawmakers that “our cities are struggling and our cities are suffering” from lack of revenue, Glazer said.

“You’ve given more than $1 billion away of public money to these wealthy corporations,” Glazer said. “How can you come up here to Sacramento complaining about not having money?”

The League of California Cities told lawmakers in a letter opposing the bill that the proposed regulations were unnecessary since its members had agreed to place a cap on the corporate kickbacks, “provide enhanced transparency and public review, and make equitable changes” to how the taxes are distributed.

Sen. Kelly Seyarto, a Republican and former Murrieta mayor, said the tax-sharing agreements allow little communities like his to compete with bigger cities to lure in major business developers. He told the Senate’s Local Government Committee in April that if the Glazer’s bill would have passed, they wouldn’t be able to.

“And for smaller communities like the one I came from,” he said, “that’s death.”

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The CalMatters Ideas Festival takes place June 5-6! Find out more and get your tickets at this link.

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

…the curious thing about [The Matrix] was that everybody could grasp the basic setup instantly…We’re not strangers to the feeling that, for much of our lives, we might just as well be brains-in-vats, floating in an amniotic fluid of simulations. It doesn’t just strike us as plausibly weird. It strikes us as weirdly plausible…one can even start to wonder whether the language we hear constantly on television and talk radio (“the war on terror,” “homeland security,” etc.) is a sort of vat-English—a language from which all earthly reference has been bled away.

— Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, May 19, 2003

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The Matrix, that unrivalled cyberpunk movie that blew our minds 25 years ago (It’s all a simulation!), came to mind recently after a bout of Vat-English emails. The movie, you remember, has us all living in vats while believing we’re living full and eventful lives. (It was never completely clear why, exactly, the machines had us in vats, something about tapping our bodies for energy — best not to question too much, unless you’re into downing Red Pills). Our world, the simulated world, the one with the dainty green cast over everything, is The Matrix of the title, brought to life by the Wachowski brothers (now sisters).

So, Vat-English. “If there’s anything at all we can do to make your flight more enjoyable, we’ll be more than happy to help.” Thanks, United, maybe if you gave us a little more legroom back here in cattle-class, could you do that? No? Oh, that’s for First Class passengers, sorry I asked.

I’ve been having this ongoing battle with Eddie Bauer, who sold me a down vest last year with what turned out to be a defective zipper (after several months of wear). What galls me (I know, Buddhist serenity and all that) is their boilerplate response: “I wanted to personally reach out to you…Rest assured, we are committed to resolving this matter promptly and efficiently. Your satisfaction is our top priority, and we appreciate your patience as we work towards a resolution. Should you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We are here to help and support you every step of the way.” This after over 15 to and fro emails! (Still no replacement, five months later.)

Or this, in response to my wife Louisa complaining that a reply to her query (about a pedestrian bridge on the Yurok Loop, in Redwoods National and State Parks) came back unsigned (and with her name misspelled). “The lack of personal closing in emails is standard for responses coming from a NPS office, rather than a person…The closing of the email aligns appropriately with correspondence from a Superintendent’s Office. I can, however, assure you that your concerns have been seen and weighed in on by both the Superintendent and the appropriate Supervisor.” Dontcha love that passive voice?

Or look no farther than my spam folder. Here’s a recent sampling:

• Expiring Soon: hurry up! Rewards have arrived!
• I need your honest cooperation to partner with me to invest in your company…
• Greetings, I’m contacting you through email because I feel it’s more convenient for me to explain the reasons to which I’m contacting you.
• I am the reverend father Tony Elumelu J. Shedrack, director cash processing unit, united bank for Africa…
• YES! Send Me The TRUMP 2024 SAVE AMERICA Automatic Knife Now for 70% OFF!
• Attn dear: Your names, address and direct phone number is needed so we can process your payment immediately.
• Is your loved one experiencing memory loss?
• I am the only biological Daughter of the late Libyan President (Late Colonel Muammar Gaddafi) I have funds worth $27.500.000.00 US Dollars which I want to entrust to you for investment project assistance in your country.
• CONGRATULATIONS! CONGRATULATIONS!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! your email was selected among the FIVE lucky winners…

As I say, Vat-English, lacking any trace of actual meaning. Is this our future Brave New World, with ChatGPT and its many rivals writing us in lieu of a person? No human actually communicating, just vague platitudes and come-ons?

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State Sen. Mike McGuire joined local officials and trail stewards at the 2024 Humboldt Trails Summit in Eureka today to talk about progress being made on the Great Redwood Trail. The ambitious project would transform the defunct railway between Humboldt Bay and San Francisco Bay into a 307-mile hiking and biking trail.

“I think building the Great Redwood Trail is the opportunity of a lifetime to share one of the most beautiful spaces on planet Earth: the North Coast,” McGuire told the crowd. “On the Great Redwood Trail, visitors and locals alike will experience the tallest trees on the planet, remote, fog-shrouded beaches, oak-studded golden hills, wild rivers, vineyards and some of the most welcoming folks in the United States. The Great Redwood Trail is all about opportunity.”

The rail-to-trail project would provide a much-needed shot in the arm for rural communities along the trail, McGuire said. An economic benefits analysis published in 2023 estimated that the proposed trail system could generate over $102.5 million annually, nearly half of which would directly benefit Humboldt County.

“The conservative estimate suggests that there will be between 5.3 and 7.9 million new walking or hiking trips on the trail on an annual basis,” McGuire continued. “The average trail user will spend about $64 in food meals each day. They’re going to spend about $60 in retail each day and about $93 per day in lodging. Outdoor recreation is one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the entire state of California, generating an estimated $93 billion a year.”

How much will it cost to build the trail? A 2020 study by the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA)estimated design and construction costs to clock in at approximately $1 billion, which amounts to roughly $3 million per mile. 

McGuire did not mention that figure during today’s summit but told the Press Democrat in a 2020 interview that the estimate was “complete hogwash” and “not based in reality.” McGuire said most of the trail would cost between $15,000 and $20,000 per mile.

“Approximately 90 percent of the trail – from the southern Mendocino County line all the way up to Samoa – would be backcountry, and that would be the least expensive portion of construction,” he said. “We can put in dirt and/or gravel between railroad ties and between rails. … The more expensive areas [that] will require longer-term maintenance will be within our community centers. … That will [cost] approximately $100,000 to several $100,000 a mile because we also have to take into account underground facilities, water and sewer.”

The good news is that some of the trail has already been built. Elaine Hogan, the Great Redwood Trail Agency’s executive director, said 22 percent of the trail is either complete, under construction, in planning and design, or soon to begin planning. “I was actually really surprised when I did the numbers and thought, ‘Okay, you know, we’re doing it! It’s happening!’” she said.

One of the Great Redwood Trail Agency’s top priorities is addressing environmental and safety concerns in Eel River Canyon, the “heart and crown jewel” of the Great Redwood Trail. The agency is also working with landowners from Island Mountain to Alderpoint to Fort Seward and the Wildlands Conservancy to address local concerns about the trail.

“[W]e are really working at the grassroots level,” Hogan said. “There’s a group of community members in Alderpoint that are looking to get a planning grant. [There are] really excited neighbors who are looking forward to the economic revitalization of that area that has been really affected [by] the downfall of cannabis.”

The Great Redwood Trail Agency has extended the public comment period for its Draft Master Plan. The new deadline to submit written comments is July 3. Online comments can be submitted at this link or emailed to info@greatredwoodtrailplan.org.

Several local officials provided updates about new and ongoing local trail projects earlier in the summit. Some of the trail projects will eventually become a segment of the Great Redwood Trail; others will connect to the trail.

Just a few days ago, the county announced that the Humboldt Bay Trail is on track to be finished by the end of the year, possibly as early as October, according to Hank Seemann, the county’s deputy director of environmental services. Once the Humboldt Bay Trail South project is complete, you’ll be able to walk and bike all the way from Arcata to Eureka. If you deviate slightly from the trail, you can make it all the way up to Clam Beach by taking the Hammond Trail.

Emily Sinkhorn, the City of Arcata’s director of environmental services, said the city is expected to begin construction on the Annie and Mary Connectivity Trail next year. The trail will enhance connectivity between Arcata and the Valley West area.

The City of Eureka has also made significant progress on the Bay-to-Zoo Trail. The preliminary design and environmental documents for the trail should be wrapped up by the end of the year, according to city engineer Jesse Willor. If everything goes according to plan, construction could begin as early as 2026.

This week on the EcoNews Report, our host Alicia Hamann from Friends of the Eel River discusses the opportunities and challenges presented by the Great Redwood Trail. The project, proposed to be the longest rail-trail in the nation, is the state’s opportunity to fulfill their responsibility to remediate the environmental harms caused by the old railroad. These harms include fish passage barriers, toxic waste, and hazardous debris left in the river. The trail also provides opportunities for safe active transportation, enhanced public access to the Wild and Scenic Eel River, and a boost to the tourism economy. But of course a grand vision like this has significant challenges too. Top of the list are protecting cultural sites abused by the railroad, navigating fragile geology, and of course funding this whole thing.

Join us to hear from guests Ross Taylor, fisheries biologist and principle at Ross Taylor and Associates, Colin Fiske, executive director for the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities, and Scott Greacen, conservation director for Friends of the Eel River.

LINKS:

• Ross Taylor’s fish passage report
• Great Redwood Trail Master Plan
• Friends of the Eel info about the railroad