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Donald Forrest, a beloved local actor and core member of Dell’Arte International’s original ensemble of performance artists, died at his home on Wednesday due to complications from COVID-19. He was 73 years old.

“He lived a very full life,” Michael Fields, a dear friend and colleague of Forrest’s, told the Outpost in a recent phone interview. “We were roommates in the early years of Dell’Arte and we ended up doing all kinds of stuff together all over the world. He was outgoing and incredibly generous. He was a brilliant actor. I mean, just absolutely brilliant. I’ve worked with some good ones but he was at the top because he just had an innate, uncompromising ability to focus on the work.”

Photo contributed by Fields.

Forrest was born and raised in Michigan. Before making his way to Humboldt County to join Dell’Arte, he performed on Broadway and was involved in “the super alternative, Lower-East Side theater scene” in New York City “where he worked with some of the greats,” Fields said. He was also involved in the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Pickle Family Circus and Make*A*Circus.

“He was part of a lot of the movement,” Fields said. “He brought physical theater to new heights.”

Shortly after moving to Humboldt County in the mid-1970s, Forrest joined Dell’Arte, where he eventually would join Fields and Joan Schirle in sharing artistic director duties for the theater company and school.  

Eventually, he met Nancy Stephenson and the couple had a son, James Forrest. He also became a stepfather to Stephenson’s daughter, Amelia Rudnicki.

“When his son was in grade school, [Forrest] started a theater program at Blue Lake School because he had always wanted to do something with kids,” Fields said. “I would say that changed Dell’Arte’s relationship with the town. He got the eighth graders to do a play every year that he would direct and it was put on in the Carlo Theatre, you know, a full production with lights, sets, sound, everything. They felt like they were on Broadway. … A lot of those kids remember Donald to this day because of those plays.”

Forrest, along with several other locals, had a cameo in the 1995 thriller Outbreak, in which he played Mark Mauldin, according to IMDB.

Most recently, Forrest took on the title role of Terry “King” Lear in “The Logger Lear,” an original production written by Fields loosely based on “King Lear” by William Shakespeare. The play, which ran at the Logger Bar in Blue Lake just a couple of weeks ago, explored the idea of legacy and what we leave behind when we die.

“There’s a line in there about regret, and the way you lift yourself out of regret is to do the things you love,” Fields said. “And for him, acting was the love of his life. We had talked about him doing this for a while and, as we get older, we start thinking of different things – different things become important. … It’s like the last role, and it’s about the end of life.”

Fields will host a wake for Forrest at the Logger Bar in the next month or so, likely in early December. 

Press release from the Eureka Police Department:

On October 23, 2023, at about 11:55 a.m., Humboldt Bay Fire (HBF) responded to the report of smoke in the greenbelt north of the Bayshore Mall. Upon arrival, HBF located a smoldering fire at an encampment. During fire suppression efforts, HBF personnel located human remains. Eureka Police Department (EPD) Criminal Investigations Unit (CIU) Detectives and the Humboldt County Coroner’s Office responded and processed the scene.

This is an active investigation and EPD is asking if anyone has any information surrounding this incident to please contact EPD Detective Donald Bailey at 707-441-4215.

Press release from 350 Humboldt:

On October 26 a group of local activists from 350 Humboldt will be seen once again along California-Highway 101 carrying alarming messages about looming climate-change-driven sea level rise. “With climate change, sea level rises. Within 30 years, this road will be underwater” messages read. Like the Burma-Shave advertisements many people will remember from days past, activists will stand one-by-one down the highway, about 100 feet apart, each carrying a few words of the message that could be read sign-by-sign as drivers passed. This will be their third action in the past 2 months. Each action has been on a different roadway to attract attention to the widespread nature of projected sea level rise impacts to come.

Although many people are peripherally aware of sea level rise threats, activists believe that the public is not yet aware of how quickly it will come and how drastically it will impact their everyday lives. “The public generally acknowledges the reality of climate change,” local activist Jamie Blatter shares. “But they don’t all believe that climate change will impact them significantly in their lifetimes. We are trying to show them that this couldn’t be further from the truth.”

For many motorists in the area, portions of the road they rely upon will become impassable within a few decades. This is true of many other areas in the region, including Highway 101 south of Bracut Road, Bayside cutoff, G street south of 1st street in Arcata, Highway 255 between Arcata and Samoa, a large swath of King Salmon, and other locations. Fields Landing could flood from emerging groundwater. An additional present concern is the 41 miles of dikes on Humboldt Bay that were not designed with sea level rise in mind. If these dikes fail, which could happen at any time rather than decades from now, thousands of acres would flood on a daily basis, putting critical utility and transportation infrastructure at risk immediately. These projections are based on existing and moderate levels of emissions, which scientists agree is virtually certain to occur. In fact, sea level rise is occurring at a significantly more rapid pace than predicted, which is also true of many other disasters caused by climate change. Because climate change impacts become “locked” into the climate system and are not quickly or easily reversed, a damaging amount of sea level rise is unavoidable regardless of actions taken today.However, swift and bold action is still urgent, as unchecked emissions will only make projected sea level rise worse. If we take bold climate action now, catastrophic levels of sea level rise will still occur but we can reduce the amount of loss and damages that we and our children will face.

“I am standing out here today because 30 years is not that far from now,” says local climate activist Gail Coonen. “My youngest grandchild will be just 30. Wherever he goes in the world, he will experience the impacts of catastrophic climate change.”

Activists plan to continue holding similar demonstrations throughout the region to alert motorists to the mounting climate impacts that are well underway. “People slow to read the signs, and it is obvious that some people were impacted, and even shocked, by what they were seeing” says local activist Kasia Tomkiel.

To get involved in local climate action, visit 350 Humboldt at https://world.350.org/humboldt/

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Press release from the Yurok Tribe:

Earlier this month, Yurok condor A6 (Me-new-kwek’, “I am bashful or shy”), along with several other condors in the new population, fed on a poacher-killed elk within Redwood National Park in the Bald Hills of Humboldt County. In a routine autumn health check conducted a few days later, five out of eight birds were found to have concerning levels of lead in their blood. For seven of these birds, this event was likely their first time accessing food not provided by the Northern California Condor Restoration Program (NCCRP), based on the intensive daily monitoring. Due to the timing, visual observations and other factors, the illegally killed elk is believed to be the source of the toxin uncovered during the birds’ health assessment.
 
Of the five birds, Me-new-kwek’ (Condor Recovery Program Studbook 1101: wing tag designation A6) was the only one whose lead level came back higher than the identified treatment threshold, warranting immediate medical intervention for lead poisoning.
 
While in hand, lead chelation therapy was initiated on Me-new-kwek’ at the NCCRP’s Condor Release and Management Facility in Northern California. The condor was transported the following day to Sequoia Park Zoo (SPZ) and received a series of x-rays to determine if there were lead fragments still in his digestive tract. The scan came back clear, indicating that what he ingested would have been dust-like in composition. After completing one round of chelation therapy at SPZ (5 days of injections and fluids), his blood lead level had decreased to below the treatment threshold, and Me-new-kwek’ was returned to the NCCRP flight pen. He will remain in the pen to improve his health before release, and to serve as a mentor for incoming birds. The chelation drugs (Calcium EDTA) are designed to bind to the lead in the condor’s system while extra fluids dilute the high levels of lead subsequently passing through liver and kidneys to minimize organ damage. This therapy is hard on the birds, tiring them considerably, but it has been used to reduce lead levels over the decades of the recovery efforts.
 
Foraging on opportunistically found food is part of becoming a wild condor, but unfortunately feeding on animals harvested with lead ammunition comes with a big risk for this recovering species.

Lead poisoning from ingestion of lead ammunition is the single largest threat to free-flying condors. Lead exposure has hindered recovery efforts throughout the condor’s current range in the US, including California, Arizona, and Utah. Many hunters and poachers shoot large game through the vitals (the heart and lungs) to quickly dispatch their quarry.  These parts often comprise a portion of the gut piles left behind, and frequently contain high quantities of lead if lead bullets are used to dispatch the animal. A very small piece of the soft metal is enough to make a scavenging animal ill, and can even kill a condor, eagle, or most any other scavenging bird. Lead ammunition mushrooms and fragments upon impact with an animal, scattering countless particles within the tissues. As obligate scavengers which rely solely on carrion, condors (prey-go-neesh in Yurok) will feed on these remains. Gut piles from non-lead shot game provide a clean source of sustenance for condors and other wildlife. In 2019, California banned the use of lead bullets for hunting in the state.  
 
The return of the condor to Yurok ancestral territory and the cultural and ecological restoration of the landscape requires a transition to non-lead ammunition. The Yurok Tribe has worked for over a decade on non-lead outreach prior to the arrival of the prey-go-neesh, with growing investment by local partners such as Green Diamond Resource Company who last year joined the North American Non-lead Partnership which includes over 40 organizations committing “to collaborating with hunters to improve ecosystem health for scavenging wildlife.” Hunter involvement is invaluable in decreasing the amount of lead on the landscape. A similar educational approach has been successfully employed, through the hard work of the Peregrine Fund and the Arizona Game and Fish Department, in Arizona to reduce lead poisonings among their condor populations. Efforts to reach out to ever more hunters and land managers who use ammunition in hunting or as a management tool continue. Less than a month ago, another condor safely consumed her first wild meal. A7 (He-we-chek’, “I am healthy”) fed on bear and deer carcasses harvested on the Yurok Reservation by tribal members with non-lead ammunition provided by the Yurok Tribe’s Hunters as Stewards Program, demonstrating success in building relationships with hunters. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s California Condor Recovery Program and the partners including the NCCRP have been working diligently to educate the public about the dangers of lead ammunition to condors and other wildlife and reduce this threat since it was identified. This poaching incident remains under investigation by law enforcement staff with Redwood National & State Parks and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. 

Poachers are harvesting game illegally and are difficult to reach. Many likely harvest game to feed themselves and families, and are encouraged to consider that lead is not only toxic to scavenging wildlife, but also to humans. It is especially detrimental to developing children and through pregnant and nursing mothers to their babies and unborn fetuses.
 
Given it is likely that the poached elk was Me-new-kwek’s first wild meal, this emphasizes the harsh reality that condors face as wild birds. Fortunately, Me-new-kwek’ survived and is doing well, but this incident serves as a reminder that lead ammunition is a huge obstacle to condor recovery. This is no longer about merely working toward a lead-free landscape for future condors. Me-new-kwek’, one of only eight free-flying condors in this region, has already been negatively impacted by lead and five of the eight Yurok condors have been exposed to the toxin. Please help us encourage the use of non-lead ammunition – tell your friends, family members, and neighbors, or talk to your local outdoor or outfitters store. If you want resources to help communicate the dangers of lead ammunition, please visit our Hunters as Stewards page or huntingwithnonlead.org. For help finding non-lead ammunition, please check out Ventana Wildlife Society’s RimfireRoundup.com.
 
The NNCRP is a partnership between the Yurok Tribe and Redwood National and State Parks. Last year, NCCRP released the first condors to flyer over far Northern California in more than a century. The NCCRP is the newest release site in the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service-led California Condor Recovery Program. Together the partners in the recovery program have grown the free-flying population from a low of 22 birds in 1982 back to over 300 today.
 
NCCRP staff would like to express our gratitude to Sequoia Park Zoo for their dedicated care of Me-new-kwek’, Oakland Zoo for their knowledge and support in beginning his treatment, and all of our supporters for their wholehearted advocacy in returning condors to Yurok Homeland.
 
If you would like to learn more about the NCCRP, please visit our website or Facebook page.

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We’re making shapes in the sky again! LoCO reader Daniel Braden sends in video he took a few hours ago in Eureka of some pilot Picasso seemingly attempting to pull off the standard air smiley. At least that’s our best guess. 

We don’t know who’s responsible for the sky scribbles, but perhaps history has the answer. Either way, we appreciate. 

When it comes to California’s efforts to tackle climate change, China and California are linked in a critical way: The world’s most populous country processes the vast majority of rare metals needed for electric car batteries.

This week Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is touring China with an emphasis on the environment, namely on how California and China can cooperate on climate.

Newsom is the third California governor in a row to make an official trip to China, and he does so at a moment when California is perhaps more heavily dependent than ever on the country to meet its own climate goals.

China’s role as a raw materials processor makes it a linchpin in California’s requirement that all new cars sold in the state are zero-emission vehicles by 2035. The relationship between the two governments is a longstanding one, and California and China have traded notes on everything from climate regulation to technology in recent years.

A California-China Climate Institute, led by former Gov. Jerry Brown, hosts a partnership between UC Berkeley and Tsinghua University in Beijing. The state and the government share similar policies, including emissions reduction targets, electric vehicle mandates and carbon trading programs.

“They look at what California is doing, and they treat it as a benchmark,” said Mary Nichols, former chairperson of the California Air Resources Board, which sets climate and air quality control policies. “They definitely are watching what happens in California.”

This year California met its goals for electric car and electric truck sales ahead of target, and that rapid initial consumer uptake has been a source of pride for Newsom.

The governor’s overseas trip comes after he took a high-profile swing at the oil industry in a United Nations address, where he was the only U.S. representative to speak at the Climate Ambition Summit during New York Climate Week.

On Wednesday, Newsom’s climate diplomacy reached a new level of visibility when the governor held an unscheduled meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. The two politicians discussed ways to “accelerate our progress on climate in meaningful and substantive ways,” Newsom said, according to The Associated Press.

The trip comes at a tense moment in U.S.-China relations. Last week, the differences in world alliances were on full display as Xi hosted Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

By keeping his focus on climate change and cooperation, Newsom has the chance to sidestep some diplomatic thorniness.

California’s climate regulations

Unlike the U.S. government, California has enshrined specific greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets into law. China has also taken that step, though its emissions goals are less ambitious than California’s, with the Chinese government seeking to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, 15 years after California’s target.

China also modeled its carbon-trading market on California’s cap-and-trade program, which was launched in 2013 and reauthorized in 2017 under Brown. China opened its market in 2021.

Earlier this month, the governor signed two bills into law aimed at forcing large companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and their financial risks. Given that many major U.S. companies have operations in China, getting clear industry data in that country will be critical for these reporting requirements.

The California Air Resources Board “is going to be examining the data that is submitted by companies that are subject to our statutes, and the Chinese are going to be very interested in following what California is doing — as they always are,” Nichols said.

State Sen. Henry Stern, a Democrat from Calabasas who also serves on the California Air Resources Board, said data from China will be important going forward.

“China is very clean in some parts of their system and very dirty in others, so data is everything here,” Stern said.

China embraces electric cars

In some aspects, the Chinese are ahead of California in clean vehicle adoption. The governor on his trip this week visited the Guangdong province, where the city of Shenzhen was the world’s first to adopt an all-electric bus fleet, with 16,000 buses and 40,000 charging stations, according to the governor’s office.

The Chinese electric vehicle company BYD has a battery-electric bus manufacturing plant in Los Angeles County. Newsom on Tuesday test-drove a hybrid vehicle manufactured by the company.

“They look at what California is doing, and they treat it as a benchmark. They definitely are watching what happens in California.”
— Mary Nichols, former chairperson of the California Air Resources Board

The governor also has plans to visit an offshore wind facility in the province of Jiangsu. His administration envisions offshore wind farms producing 25 gigawatts of electricity by 2045, powering 25 million California homes and providing about 13% of the state’s power supply.

And the Chinese are a critical supplier of electric vehicles to the world. The governor will complete his trip in Shanghai, visiting the Tesla Shanghai gigafactory, the world’s most productive electric vehicle plant.

California’s electric car mandate has helped kick off an automobile industry race to make cheaper, longer-lasting batteries that take less time to charge. The demand for electric vehicles has, in turn, sparked a worldwide rush to mine the needed materials, and China is at the center of that rush.

Chinese vendors have a near-complete monopoly on processing essential car battery materials.

Biden’s EV battery incentives

The Biden Administration is aiming to change that dynamic. The federal Inflation Reduction Act requires that by next year at least half of the battery components in electric vehicles be sourced in the U.S., or from a country that the U.S. has a free trade agreement with, in order for electric car buyers to qualify for rebates. That does not include China. The share of sourced materials increases to 80% in 2026. Chinese vendors are looking to develop their ties with companies here in the U.S. in response.

Nevertheless, the Chinese hold 80% of the world’s cobalt processing, which is used for lithium NCM batteries, along with 76% of the world’s natural graphite processing, 56% of synthetic graphite and 60% of the world’s processing capacity for lithium compounds, according to the U.K.-based firm TechInsights Inc.

China also produces 50% of the world’s sodium hydroxide, which is used for sodium ion batteries.

“China has developed the battery supply chain for many years in advance of other countries,” said Kevin Mak, an analyst for TechInsights Inc. “The Chinese government planned this early on.”

Mines and factories in Africa, Australia, South America and Asia produce the raw materials for batteries, and the hunt for those metals has become increasingly intense, with exploration in the Arctic Circle now being considered. Deep seabed mining is also underway, with China poised to dominate that particular underwater push, The Washington Post recently reported.

“Components right now — and in the future — are going to be vulnerable to control by the Chinese and their partners.”
— Duncan Jepson, former Hong Kong attorney, and labor and human rights investigator, who now lives in Los Angeles

China has forged other key economic and trading relationships that governments may have to rely on as they seek solutions for the climate crisis. China’s Belt and Road Initiative has made $1 trillion in infrastructure investments in developing countries across the world.

“Those relationships will affect supply chains on many materials,” said Duncan Jepson, a former Hong Kong attorney, and labor and human rights investigator, who now lives in Los Angeles. “Components right now — and in the future — are going to be vulnerable to control by the Chinese and their partners.”

An antagonistic relationship with the United States could make tackling those initiatives more complicated — and a relationship with California might help.

“One thing you have to consider here is that, particularly in California, you do have the largest Asian population, and a very large Chinese population, and that’s meaningful,” Jepson said. “California looks east.”

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

Isaiah Rayne Ruhlen, 22, passed away on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, of an accidental fentynal toxicity.

What can a father say about the needless death of his young beautiful boy? His life was ended short by an evil that has crept into our community and others like it. As his father I beg all parents and people to get help and find help for anyone who suffers in addiction. In the greatest sadness we offer this.

He was born May 3, 2001 to Ino Riley and Shelley Ruhlen at Mad River hospital. His early years were spent in the mountains around Willow Creek on various vegetable farms. As a young child he was behind the booths of his father’s vegetable farm and became loved by the customers and farmers alike. One of the first words he could spell was “organic”! Time on the land and with farmers at the local markets gave him an early passion for food and people.

Isaiah graduated Arcata High in 2019 where he became passionate about culinary arts. One of his first jobs was at Kneeland Glen Farm stand, where he was loved, thank you Kathy! He worked at Los Bagels as a high-school student. (Thank you, Eddie!) And after high school he took on a second job at Cafe Brio becoming a beloved and cheerful purveyor of the coffee bar. (Thank you, Tamara!)  He was appreciated so deeply by his community and coworkers. He was loved for his cheerful positivity and he radiated this positive nature in every part of his life .

He also took to driving, as he was known to race up and down the local back roads. He would craft videos of this racing with his close friends who will surely miss him. Isaiah loved to drift his cars and drive fast along the steep and curvy Fickle Hill Road. He lived his life with gusto and fearlessness.

In his short life he pushed the limits with himself in every way. Enduring four broken collar bones, he had to break both twice! He skated avidly at the different local parks which he was very passionate about.

Isaiah had four little brothers and one little sister. He loved them and they loved him so deeply, his kind and loving spirit will carry with them for life.

He leaves behind so many sad faces in our community and he will be missed dearly by his family, his coworkers, his many friends of his peer group and the farming community of Humboldt County. He was a true Farmers’ Market kid, his first market was at the age of 6 months and he was part of that community up until the end. He was known by all of the farmers as this happy smiling face, chipper sweet voice and angelic curly hair!

When such a young life is so tragically lost in such a small community the word travels fast, the outpouring of support and kindness and love was almost immediate and continues to this day. Isaiah’s family sends their greatest thanks and welcomes all of the kind words, flowers and letters that have been shared by the staff at Cafe Brio and members of the NCGA and by many of his family friends. Thank you, all. He had so many loved ones and supporters. A special thanks to all of you out there in this area that have reached out to his grieving family. We embrace you all for that. Isaiah would have approved, as he always showed his best to everyone.

Isaiah is preceded by his great-grandmother Irene “Madhavi” Riley and his grandfather Scott Riley.

He is survived by a long list of family, some of which are the following: Ino Riley, Lauren Ballard-Riley, Cayleb Riley, Asher Riley, Shiloh Riley, Soraya Riley, Mike and Sue Ballard and the entire Ballard family, Faith Riley, Bijan Riley, Andrew Riley, Christine Bernard, Lacey Johnston, Jeffery Bernard, Shelley Ruhlen, Gabriel Ruhlen, Josh Ponce and Terry Ruhlen.

His remains were cremated at Ayres Family Cremation. A memorial is wanted but not planned yet.

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