Almost a week after being discovered with severe injuries and memory loss along the Lost Coast Trail, Sashank Upadhyayula is still trying to piece together what happened to him.
Upadhyayula, a 34-year-old first-time backpacker from San Jose, was found hypothermic and covered in blood by a group of six teens and two camp counselors on the morning of June 25th. The two adults dressed some of his wounds and called for helicopter rescue by satellite phone, and Upadhyayula was taken to a hospital and released the same day.
Upadhyayula told the Outpost in an email that he has wounds on his arms, torso and throat, and shared what he can remember of the moments before and after he was injured.
Around 10 p.m. on Monday, June 24, “I remember hearing something, being scared and removing my bear spray, my two knives, water reservoir and my electronics,” Upadhyayula said. Next he can recall, Upadhyayula woke up in the surf. “[I] made my way to the trail and collapsed after getting my mylar blanket. I covered my torso with the blanket and assumed fetal position to retain heat.”
He was found around 9 a.m. the next morning.
“The doctors believe that it was a knife [or] bladed weapon,” Upadhyayula said. “With my lack of memory and because my knives are missing and how I was separated from my pack and found quite a distance away […] it all points towards me being attacked.”
Upadhyayula reported the incident to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office and to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) King Range National Conservation Area Office.
BLM King Range Area Manager Paul Sever told the Outpost that the Sheriff’s Office has opened an investigation. But at this time, there is “no reason to believe that there is any threat to public health or safety” along the Lost Coast Trail, Sever said.
The Sheriff’s Office didn’t respond to requests for comment. We’ll update if more information becomes available.
[CORRECTION: The Sheriff’s Office had, in fact, sent us this response, which slipped through our inbox this morning. Apologies.]
The HCSO is continuing to investigate this incident but there is currently no information to suggest there is any current/on-going threat to safety of the public along the Lost Coast Trail. As with any such remote/rural area, we encourage people to make sure they are adequately prepared for the rugged terrain of that area (adequate food, clothing, maps, GPS enabled location/emergency notification device) and as with anywhere, people should always be aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious activity/behavior to law enforcement.
“I just want to thank the people that helped rescue me and I want the other hikers in that area just to be aware of their surroundings and to make sure that nothing like this happens ever again,” Upadhyayula said.
To his rescuers, Upadhyayula added: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I cannot express my gratitude, you are doing God’s work. I hope you achieve your dreams. Happy trails!”
On June 29, 2024, at approximately 10:35 PM, Humboldt Communication Center (CHP
Dispatch) received a 9-1-1 call of a crash involving a motorcycle on Redwood Drive, north of
the community of Redway. Redway Volunteer Fire Department, City Ambulance, and CHP
arrived on scene and provided life saving measures to the rider. The rider, Raul Villalobos, a
34-year-old Eureka resident, was transported to Jerold Phelps Medical Center in Garberville, where he was pronounced deceased. Villalobos was not wearing a helmet at the time of
the crash.
A preliminary investigation shows Villalobos was riding his motorcycle northbound on
Redwood Drive at a high rate of speed. Villalobos laid the motorcycle down, it left the
roadway, and struck the embankment. The CHP Garberville Area Office is investigating the
cause of the crash.
The California Highway Patrol wants to remind motorists the importance of wearing
appropriate safety equipment while riding motorcycles, including Department of
Transportation (DOT) approved helmets.
The Humboldt Area Foundation and Wild Rivers Community Foundation Board of Directors is excited to
announce important changes in the organization’s leadership serving our beloved region:
Our Chief Executive Officer, Bryna Lipper, has been accepted to a distinguished PhD program at Carnegie
Mellon University with a focus on climate change and social jus ce in rural and Indigenous communities.
Her research will involve this region’s environmental and political history and pose future scenarios for
climate justice. As such, Bryna will be stepping out of day-to-day management and assume the role of
Chief Innovation Officer where she will collaborate at national and state levels to further partnerships,
research, and public policy related to philanthropy supporting our Pacific Redwood Region.
Sara Dronkers will begin acting in the role of Chief Operating Officer immediately. Sara, with over 20
years of work experience at HAF+WRCF, has been involved in all functions of the Foundation’s
remarkable growth and performance, from grantmaking, to finance, to donor development. Sara begins
to oversee executive management in a me of the foundation’s history where grantmaking to the
community is at record high levels, including a projected $12 million in the upcoming 2024/25 fiscal year.
Sara has served as Chief of Staff of the foundation since 2020.
Tripp-Allen.
This growth is further grounded in the official appointment of Paula (Pimm) Tripp-Allen as Vice President
of Programs, Community Partnerships, and Tribal Relations at the Foundation. Pimm will lead the
organization’s grantmaking efforts, program and affiliates, and regional initiatives. Pimm, of Yurok and
Karuk ancestry, will also continue leading Native American and Tribal Naion relations, and the
Foundation’s activities furthering justice in Native communities. Long affiliated with the foundation,
Pimm began more than two decades ago on staff for the Native Cultures Fund, then served on the Board
of Directors for many years. Immediately prior to serving as Vice President, she served as Senior Advisor
to the CEO for the past 2 years.
In addition to its strong vote of support for this leadership structure for the Foundation’s evolution, the
Board of Directors voted unanimously to extend the terms of its Board Officers—including Chair Charlie
Jordan, Vice Chair David Finigan, and Secretary Raquel Ortega—and its Committee Chair positions for up
to a year for continuity to the staff and clarity to our community. Board Chair Jordan and Vice Chair
Finigan shared the sentiment that:
“The board is excited that Bryna will continue to provide invaluable leadership and creativity to the
foundation while she undertakes her doctorate program. Our foundation is in an excellent place as a
result of the strategic work she accomplished during the past five years that has elevated our region
statewide and nationally. The board is likewise extremely confident in and fortunate to have Sara
Dronkers step into the top management role at the Foundation, given her many years of experience,
community knowledge, and operational acumen. With our former board colleague Pimm Tripp-Allen as
Vice President directing our program and grantmaking activities, we are certain that our highest values
of service, equity, and responsibility within our region will prosper. The board also has the deepest
gratitude and admiration for Sarah Millsap, Vice President of Finance and Administration, who steadfastly directs our fiduciary, investment, and budgetary duties with unparalleled ability and
oversight; and Vice President of Advancement, Gina Zottola who provides the Foundation’s inspiration
for charitable giving, legacy, and philanthropic partnerships that support our region’s goals and dreams.
The Humboldt Area and Wild Rivers Foundation could not be be er poised for the future with this
leadership team. The Board is confident that these leadership changes will fortify the Foundation’s
commitment to growing a thriving, just, healthy and equitable region. We are poised for a future filled
with opportunity and growth, guided by a team of inspiring leaders.”
Signed,
Charlie Jordan – Chair
David Finigan – Vice Chair
Raquel Ortega – Secretary And the entire Board of Directors of Humboldt Area Foundation and Wild Rivers Community Foundation
Justin Garwood in the Trinity Alps, fall 2022. Photo: Justin Garwood.
On a sweltering October day in 2022, Justin Garwood tucked a piece of glacial ice into his sleeping bag, carefully arranged clothes around the bundle, hiked 10 miles out of the Trinity Alps and stuck the chunk in his freezer, where it remains today.
“I don’t know what to do with it now,” he admitted.
The Trinities were once home to the lowest altitude, western-most glaciers in California: the Grizzly and the Salmon. But in 2015, after years of severe drought, the Grizzly Glacier broke apart and the Salmon disappeared entirely (or “went extinct,” in science-speak).
The now-extinct Salmon Glacier in the Trinity Alps in 2009 vs. 2015. Photos: Justin Garwood.
And in the fall of 2022 the Grizzly went extinct too.
“A certain climate supports glaciers, and we’ve left that,” said Garwood, an environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish & Wildlife, who described their loss as a “threshold crossed.”
California’s climate has long been “variable” in terms of precipitation (rain and snowfall), meaning swings from bone-dry to drenched-wet are nothing new. But warming is pushing that variability into overdrive, flatting four seasons into two: flood and drought, with drought growing ever longer.
“Some people call it the ‘climate vice,’ things are being put in a vice and squeezed,” Garwood said, “Snow is melting off sooner and coming later, so there’s less water on the landscape.”
An avid backpacker in the Klamath range and subranges (Siskiyous, Trinity Alps and Marbles) and co-editor of The Klamath Mountains: A Natural History, Garwood has been studying the effects of climate change in the mountains for years – as thisBackpacker article chronicles. And, having grown up in Lewiston (east of Weaverville, west of Redding, at the edge of the Trinity Alps), he’s seen the region’s precipitation patterns change throughout his lifetime.
“When I was growing up, we used to get some decent snowstorms,” he said, “It wasn’t a big deal if two feet of snow fell at 2000 ft elevation.”
“Today, that’s a big deal,” he added.
Now, Garwood and climate scientist John P. O’Brien (also Trinity County-raised) are working on research that tells the story of the Grizzly’s final years – a sort of epilogue to glacial ice in the Klamath. But Garwood made clear that the disappearance of the glaciers, which were small to begin with, will not affect ecosystems as much as the shrinking of perennial snowfields in the range, such as those at Mirror Lake and Canyon Creek (both of which disappeared during the summers of 2013 and 2014).
“The elephant in the room isn’t the glaciers, it’s the loss of snow,” he said, explaining that the higher-altitude glaciers can be understood as a “canary in the coal mine” for what’s happening further down.
Increasing temperatures at higher altitudes are raising the snow line year by year, curtailing mountains’ abilities to act as ice chests for groundwater that is “metered out,” in Garwood’s words, during the dry summer months. These stores feed the rivers, lakes and reservoirs that provide crucial cold-water habitats for salmon and other species (as well as drinking water and electricity for humans, as O’Brien pointed out).
Melt is also occurring earlier in the year and faster – increasing flood risks during high precipitation years.
“Climate-driven megadrought” in the American West over the last two decades, which has marked the driest period on record in 1,200 years, has raised flood risks as well by making soil, trees and vegetation less able to soak up water.
(Parched landscapes tend more toward erosion and flooding during extreme precipitation events rather than beneficial water capture and retention.)
Vegetation change in the mountains above the Scott River, a tributary that feeds into the Klamath River, after years of drought (left: Dec. 1984, right: Dec. 2019). Images: Google Earth.
And (perhaps obviously), the less moisture gained and retained, the farther the severity and reach of fires will extend as “fuel conditions” (firefighter-speak for grasses, trees, branches and brush) increase in flammability.
“While we may see flooding in parts of the forest during the winter, the vegetation or ‘fuels’ will still dry out during the summer months. It’s not a question of ‘if’ fire will occur but rather ‘when,’” Adrianne Rubiaco, fire public affairs specialist with the Six Rivers National Forest, told the Outpost via email, “This is one of the reasons we are working with our federal, tribal, state, local and private partners to manage landscapes and reduce wildland fuels.”
The Red Salmon Complex Fire burns in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, 2020. Photo: Finn Scott-Neff.
Intensifying cycles of hotter, drier summers and shorter, more storm-filled winters explain why the forested montane areas of Northern California are predicted to experience up to a 400% increase in the average area burned annually by 2100, while the Shasta-Trinity National Forest expects a 300-400% increase in the frequency of 200-year flood events during the same period.
In climate-change-feedback-loop fashion, severe fires further alter water cycles by scorching the land, burning away moisture-absorbing vegetation and layering ash over snow and ice.
The River Complex Fire did just that in 2021, according to Garwood and O’Brien. Climbing the south face of Thompson Peak and burning at a higher elevation than any fire in recorded Klamath history, it rained ash down on Grizzly Glacier – accelerating the mass’s melt.
Scarred landscape surrounding Trail Gulch Lake, a popular backpacking spot in the Trinity Alps, after the River Complex Fires burned 199,343 acres in the summer of 2021 (left: July 2017, right: Mar. 2024). Images: Google Earth.
And while on Thompson, the tallest mountain in the Trinities, the River Complex also destroyed an ancient stand of whitebark pine (a federally “Threatened” species under the Endangered Species Act).
Whitebark pine. Photo: Justin Garwood.
“These are not fire-adapted trees,” O’Brien said, explaining that because they grow at high elevations, whitebark pine haven’t had to face fire and lack the thick bark armor that protects their lower-altitude compatriots like redwoods and Douglas fir.
“The loss of this ancient subalpine stand is another local indicator of rapid climate change,” Garwood added.
Best practices for managing the cycles of extreme precipitation and hotter, drier summers that climate change is causing in the Klamath do not aim to stop fires entirely. On the contrary, prescribed burning has been known to decrease the severity of fires and has been carried out by the Karuk Tribe for thousands of years.
“Conducting prescribed burning on public land can release less volatile smoke and ash and reduces the potential risk to firefighters and people living in rural communities,” said Finn Scott-Neff, a lead forestry technician with a hotshot/handcrew out of Salyer.
The Red Salmon Complex Fire burns in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, 2020. Photo: Finn Scott-Neff.
While rains may have provided some respite from drought these last two winters, the loss of ice in the Klamath Mountains serves as a foreboding indicator that the range – and the ecosystems within it, developed alongside now-altered cycles of snowfall and melt – will continue to repay the debt that greenhouse gas emissions have written in California’s ledger during the coming seasons of fire and flood.
“Water has a non-negotiable freezing point. If you don’t get below that, you won’t get snow,” O’Brien said, “Warming temperatures push this ever uphill, every year.”
The Red Salmon Complex Fire burns in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, 2020. Photo: Finn Scott-Neff.
Born
to Sylvester and Marjory Mart, passed away into the arms of her
Savior on June 3 in her daughter’s home. AKA: Janis Martz, Janis
Shaffer and Janis Teague. Janis is survived by her husband, Bud Nees, and two children — David Shaffer and Kim Lueras — and a brother, Terry Martz. She also leaves behind
11 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.
Janis had a 31-year
battle with congestive heart failure. Janis
worked much of her life as a waitress and knew many, many people. She
was very outgoing and would strike up a conversation with anyone who
crossed her path! She would light up any room she entered. She was
funny, and witty and full of light! She instilled in her children the
importance of hard work, promptness, honesty and being mindful of
those around you!
Janis
was very generous and loved helping people. She was dependable and a
woman of her word! She was often found in one of the restaurants where she worked or frequented, giving it right back to anyone
heckling her.
She
will be deeply missed! Until we meet again!
A
memorial will be held on Saturday,
July 6th.
Contact her daughter for details at kimklueras@gmail.com.
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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Janis Nees’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.
It
is with profound sadness, we announce that Brian Strehl McSilvers,
age 45, passed away in Humboldt County on June 24, 2024.
Brian
was born September 25, 1978 at Mad River Hospital in Arcata and lived
most of his life in Humboldt County. He also lived in Oregon, Hawaii
and the San Francisco Bay Area. He was the eldest son of Kathleen
Strehl Swineford and Jan Dwight McSilvers.
Brian
was an avid fan of all sports, but was truly committed to the
Pittsburgh Steelers since boyhood. Brian delighted in playing
baseball with his friends and often organized informal leagues for
their teams to compete with one another.
Brian
was preceded in death by his grandparents, Jack and Jackie Strehl of
Fortuna and Claire McSilvers
of
Springfield.
Brian
is survived by his mother and stepfather Kathleen and Mark Swineford
of Dickson, Tenn.;
his father and stepmother Jan and Linda McSilvers
of
Springfield, Ore.;
his brother Michael McSilvers
of
Las Vegas; his sister Miranda Swineford of Shoreline, Wash.;
and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.
Brian
will be interred at Harpeth Hills Memorial Gardens in Nashville,
Tenn.
For
those desiring memorial contributions are suggested to give to
Humboldt Soups On at humboldtsoupson.com.
###
The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Brian McSilvers’ loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.
Construction sites in the hallways of Keyes Elementary School in Keyes on Nov. 15, 2023. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local.
The Legislature agreed late Saturday on a $10 billion bond to pay for repairs and upgrades at thousands of K-12 school and community college buildings across California, some of which have languished for years with dry rot, mold, leaks and other hazards due to lack of funds. K-12 schools would get $8.5 billion and $1.5 billion would go to community colleges.
“This money is badly needed,” said Rebeca Andrade, superintendent of Salinas City Elementary District in Monterey County. “We don’t have the money to make the basic, structural repairs that are needed at every one of our schools. Students need safe spaces to learn if they’re going to reach their full potential.”
The agreement comes after months of wrangling by lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who had to choose between two competing school facilities bills – one that included four-year colleges and one that didn’t. Assembly Bill 247, sponsored by Al Muratsuchi, a Democrat from Torrance, had the edge because it asked for less money and because four-colleges have their own means of raising funds. The bond needs a ⅔ approval majority in both houses and Newsom’s signature.
Originally, the bill asked for $14 billion, which would have made it one of the largest school bonds in state history.
There were several potential bonds competing for room on the fall ballot, but Newsom hinted he was leaning toward the school bond in his revised budget proposal. That called for draining the remaining $375 million in an existing school facilities fund and eliminating a $550 million grant program that would have paid for new kindergarten and preschool classrooms. He noted in his proposal that a school facilities bond could fill both those funds. The proposal ended up as part of the final budget.
No dedicated funding stream
Money to fix California’s schools is sorely needed. In 2020, voters rejected a $15 billion school facilities bond, leaving the state’s school repair fund – last replenished in 2016 – nearly empty.
“We need help. It’s become an issue of equity — our students deserve safe conditions for learning like everyone else.” — Rebeca Andrade, superintendent of Salinas City Elementary District
Unlike most states, California doesn’t have a dedicated stream of funding to repair school buildings. Money comes from state or local bonds — a system that benefits more affluent districts, according to a recent report from the Public Policy Institute of California. State money usually requires matching funds from the district, which is easier to raise in wealthier areas where voters are more apt to approve bonds and where bonds raise more money because property values are higher. Rural districts and those with higher numbers of English learners, Latino and low-income students typically have the hardest time securing money to fix school buildings.
Plenty of research points to the link between student achievement and the condition of school buildings. Students whose schools are modernized, clean and safe tend to have higher test scores, lower suspension rates and higher rates of attendance.
The unequal way California distributes school repair funds prompted Public Advocates, a nonprofit law firm, to threaten to sue the state, claiming the system is unconstitutional. Public Advocates has been urging the state to adopt a sliding scale that would allow smaller and low-income districts to collect more state funds to make needed repairs. The bond does call for a sliding scale, but it was unclear today if Public Advocates would proceed with its lawsuit.
The bond needs a simple majority to pass in November, but it’s not clear how receptive voters will be. In light of economic worries, 64% of voters said this is a “bad time” for state bonds, according to a survey released in June by the Public Policy Institute of California. At the same time, respondents said that K-12 education was their second-highest priority for state spending, just behind health and human services.
‘We need help’
Salinas City Elementary, where half the students are English learners and more than 75% are low-income, has struggled for decades with building repairs and upgrades at its 15 campuses. Walls are cracked, roofs leak, window frames are rotten, some schools lack air conditioning and wheelchair ramps are pocked with holes. The district lacks a large stage for performances, or a decent STEM lab. A recent survey of all needed repairs put the cost at $500 million.
In 2022, local voters overwhelmingly passed a pair of school facilities bonds, despite the fact that the bonds will raise property taxes in the predominantly low-income community. But the bonds will only bring in $149 million, not nearly enough to meet the need. That’s why the state bond money is crucial, Andrade said.
“This community is amazing. They value education and they trust us,” Andrade said. “But we need help. It’s become an issue of equity — our students deserve safe conditions for learning like everyone else.”
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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
