How do you improve the flow of a river? Just ask our friends at Salmonid Restoration Federation.

On this week’s episode of the EcoNews Report host Alicia Hamann of Friends of the Eel River is joined by Dana Stolzman and Katrina Nystrom from Salmonid Restoration Federation, and Joel Monschke from Stillwater Sciences, for a discussion of flow monitoring and enhancement projects on the South Fork Eel River. Tune in to learn more about SRF’s decade of flow monitoring on Redwood Creek, the Marshall Ranch Flow Enhancement Project, and more.

Learn more about Salmonid Restoration Federation.

At the time of my birth, on December 10, 1928, to Weston and Mary Walch, a winter storm caused Little River to overflow its banks, flooding the valley and the road between Highway 101 and Crannell. My grandmother, Mae Fields, had driven up from Eureka in her high-wheeled Buick Roadster — the only car in our family — in order to take my mother to the hospital, but soon after her arrival at our home it became impossible to drive into or out of Crannell. The floodwaters were rushing over the road and the only way to get to Crannell was by the company railroad. Dr. Cooper, from Arcata, agreed to attend the delivery at our home, and my dad arranged with Mr. Heightman, the town boss, for an open-sided railroad car, or “speeder,” to bring Doctor Cooper into town. That was a cold and wet ride above the flooded road to Crannell. My mother was already in labor and Dr. Cooper arrived just in time for my birth. It was an adventure for the doctor to come as he did through the storm that night, and it seems it was an omen: my life was meant to be an adventure.

Crannell was a railroad logging “company town” owned by Hammond Lumber Company. The town was complete with family housing, bunkhouses and a lodge for the single workers, a cookhouse, company store, grammar school, church, a firemen’s dance hall and other facilities for the workers and their families. Crannell was located ten miles north of Arcata and two miles east of Highway 101 and Clam Beach. Little River coursed its way from the redwood-forested hills above Crannell, down beside town, then through the valley and the dairy-farm bottomlands, to flow into the ocean near Moonstone Beach.

Crannell on the map.

When I was born my parents already had three daughters. My dad had always been an outdoor person. He’d grown up on a ranch, he hunted, fished, and worked in the woods, and he wanted a boy. As told to me by my mother and grandmother, when my dad saw that I was a boy, he grabbed the doctor and danced with him on the kitchen floor. 1 had three older sisters, Belva (Dinah), Mae Pauline, and June Ann to dote over me, and I grew up in a very loving family.

My very first memory in Crannell is of the train whistle each morning at five o’clock to awaken the workers for breakfast. After breakfast the loggers and woods crews would hike up the hill to the station and take the train into the woods for another day’s work. Ken Cole, or another of the Coles, was the engineer. The train would leave the roundhouse at Railroad Avenue and make its way up to Little River Junction, across the curved high trestle, and loop around to the upper, east side of Crannell, where we lived. The east side was called Hillside Terrace, and the lower, west side was called Eucalyptus Heights. Fancy names for this little town of Crannell! As the train neared the area above our house to pick up the crews, it would let out another whistle blast. Hiking from their homes to the station and back, the loggers cut deep trails with their caulk boots over the years, some more than a foot deep. Bachelor workers ran down to their cabins after work to be first to get hot water for a shower, and first in line for the dinner bell.

Our house on Hillside Terrace was the last house up the hill, not far from the upper tracks, and the steam whistle sounded like it was right outside our windows. We were close friends with the Cole family, and Ken Cole would always give a couple of toots above our house when he brought down another trainload of logs.

In addition to the passenger train, there were six other locomotives that pulled strings of flatcars to the woods. The caboose, with its potbellied stove, made a nice warm place for the crew to eat lunch or play cards while waiting in the woods for the flatcars to be loaded. Once loaded, the flatcars would be pulled to Crannell and left on a siding. A much larger locomotive would then pull two or three of them at a time out to the big company sawmill in Samoa. The railroad grade from Crannell to Samoa was mostly flat. It ran along the sand dunes of Clam Beach, over the Mad River railroad bridge, then on to the Samoa mill. Upon returning to Crannell the locomotives would be aligned in the roundhouse into proper work stalls by a large turntable. Night crews would apply oil and grease and make repairs, readying them for another day’s work. All day long during the work week, railroad trains were chugging and whistling past our house in Crannell.

I will always remember the sounds from these trains — the steam from the locomotives, the shrill whistles, the click-clack of the wheels on the rails and the screeching sounds of steel wheels against steel tracks when the trains rounded a curve. I can still recall the smell of the pungent black smoke belching from the stacks as the trains pulled hard up the railroad grades. These trains and the railroad were in use until the big 1945 fire in the Hammond logging woods near Big Lagoon, which burned down twenty-three bridges and destroyed much of the railroad.

The beginning of my life coincided with the beginning the Great Depression. As everywhere. Depression times were tough in the timber industry. Due to the low demand for lumber to build houses, logging crews were working only a three or four-day week, and only one in three neighbors had work at all. My dad was fortunate to have mostly steady work during the Depression, as his job was operating a railroad steam crane. The high boom steam cranes were necessary to lift big timber beams to build the railroad bridges and to clear out mud and rock slides on the railroad tracks during winter storms.

The author, Wes Walch, with his sisters, Mae Pauline, Belva, and June Ann, in 1933. Photo courtesy Wes Walch, via the Humboldt Historian.

Even after the Depression, money was still scarce for my family and most others in Crannell. I do recall as a child my parents and our neighbors playing cards and drinking homemade beer that my dad and most of the men made. While the men played pinochle in the dining room, the ladies played Parcheesi in the kitchen. I remember this because my small bed was next to the wall in the dining room, and I would fall asleep with my dog Poochi lying beside me, listening to the men talking and laughing at the table.

Such get-togethers and the Saturday night dances were the entertainment in those days. And we did have a big cabinet Philco radio. Whenever President Roosevelt would give his weekly radio talks to the nation, all the grownups tuned in, listening to his every word. All of us kids would have to be quiet and not make a sound when President Roosevelt was on the radio.

Even when our folks had very little money, we always had plenty to eat. My dad raised chickens, geese and rabbits, and we had a big garden. When old enough I helped my dad spade and plant the garden and my sisters kept busy picking the vegetables and helping our mom with the canning. Deer, ducks and fish were always plentiful, and it was pretty much open season all year round if you needed meat. Most of our fresh fruit and corn came from Pepperwood and Shively. My grandmother would bring boxes of corn, peaches, pears, apples and other fruit for canning. We had a large room next to our woodshed with shelves of canned food. The milkman and butcher wagons delivered milk, eggs and meat around town. Milk came in thick glass bottles and you could see the cream on top. If we were out by the meat wagon and hung around long enough, we could almost always get a beef wienie from the butcher as he made his rounds.

My mother was an excellent cook. Her parents, Josie and Nick Dubrovic, emigrated from Vienna, Austria and settled in Arcata. Grandfather Nick was a ship’s carpenter and he built a large two-story house at 15th & G Streets in Arcata for their large family of four girls and three boys, with extra rooms for boarders. On weekends, bachelor workers When old enough I helped my dad from logging camps and sawmills would come into town by train and board at their home. My mom grew up helping to cook for these boarders, and she also worked in her late teens as a waitress and cook in a cookhouse. She enjoyed cooking and in addition to Austrian dishes, she made delicious soups, including her specialty, Italian minestrone. Mom made her soups in large cookhouse-sized kettles, and all were welcome. On occasion, there would be over twenty kids at our house eating her soup.

The town of Crannell was a close-knit community. It was a standing joke around town that the ladies auxiliary did all the firefighting. The men would be out working in the woods during the day and the ladies auxiliary would put out the fires. The PTA met once a month at the schoolhouse, bringing potluck meals. My mom usually brought delicious kettles of tamale pie. The volunteer firemen put on town dances, for which they provided the midnight meals. Built on steep-sided hills that ascended from the valley and Little River, Crannell comprised 125 homes, with about 450 residents. Water came from several springs above town, with small reservoirs that fed into three or four fifteen foot by twenty-foot tanks. Three-inch metal pipes carried the water into town. The roads were all gravel; only the road from Highway 101 up to the company store was paved. Sidewalks, picket fences, and bridges were all made from redwood boards or timbers.

The author’s father, Weston Walch, standing on the boom of the steam crane, 1930s. Photo courtesy Wes Walch, via the Humboldt Historian.

All workers’ houses were pretty much alike. Rent was $12.00 a month for each family and an extra $2.00 for a garage. For the bachelor workers living in the bunkhouse cabins and lodge, rent was free. Houses were made with 2x4-inch studs, and 1x10-inch redwood board-and-batten siding, supported by redwood beams. Our house, like many, was built on a hillside, with the lower end some ten feet off the ground. The space under the house was used for storage and, of course, for keeping the beer vats. The inside walls were 1x10-inch redwood siding covered with cheesecloth and wallpaper. The floors were covered with bright linoleum. All houses had wood cookstoves with hot water coils and pipes that ran to the hot water tanks, standing in the kitchen corner. The tanks were not big enough: hot water to wash and bathe was a scramble for us all. Each house came with two bedrooms, one bathroom, kitchen, pantry with a cooler {no refrigerators), washroom, living and dining room, and an attached woodshed off the back porch. My parents slept in one bedroom, and until we added a third bedroom, my three sisters slept in the other bedroom, and I slept on my cot in the dining room. Our mother would get up at 5:00 a.m. to light the stove and heat the water, make lunches for my dad and us four kids, cook an early breakfast for my dad before he went to work, and then for my sisters and me before we left for school.

I still remember an almost tragic morning when I was about five years old. I was up early for breakfast with my mom and dad, and there was a flock of quail in our garden. There were no houses above us so my dad would occasionally shoot quail that strayed into our garden. He was loading a 12-gauge shotgun in the kitchen, with the barrel pointed down to the floor, while keeping an eye on the quail. Suddenly the gun went off, shooting a two-inch hole through the floor. I was standing beside him and the shot missed my foot by just six inches. His face went white. He put the shotgun away and never attempted to shoot quail around the house again.

From our house up on Hillside Terrace we probably had one of the best views in town — to the ocean on the west, up Little River to the east, the forest to the north, and the valley and bottomlands to the south. Being in the last house up the hill also meant we had the longest walk, or run, to school, as well as to the store and down to the river. This turned out to be a good thing in a way, because my sisters and I learned to run very fast. We always won money in the foot races at company picnics and at the Mattole River BBQ’s on the Fourth of July. Our dad was fast, too, and would win the men’s races. He also played baseball for the Crannell team when they were in the mid-county league. He was a left-handed batter. In one game, at Scotia Lumber Company, he hit four home runs over the short right-field fence and into the Eel River

The general manager’s house was located on the hill next to the school with a view to the Pacific Ocean. The managers’ houses were much larger, with fireplaces, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and hardwood flooring, picture windows and fancy kitchens. These houses also had steam heat from the steam boilers, left from the days when the sawmill was in Crannell. Growing up, it was quite apparent to me that the managers and bosses had the best houses and all the perks. 1 knew then that, someday, I wanted to be one of those bosses.

The company store stood in the hollow between Hillside Terrace and Eucalyptus Heights.

It was a large two-story building containing a department store, groceries, a meat market, and the towns post office, with individual boxes for residents. All produce and merchandise came in by railroad to a siding at ground level, and was carried to the upper floors on a large platform elevator. Mr. Gregory was the store manager. One hand-lever gas pump stood outside the store, as well a phone booth containing the only public phone in town. If we wanted to call someone we walked or ran to the store and waited our turn, as the phone was generally in use. Since it was on a party line, the calls were none too private anyway.

At one end of the store were the offices for the woods managers, safety, and payroll. It was at a sliding window between the offices and the store that one could obtain scrip money. You know the tune, “You Owe Your Soul To The Company Store,” by Tennessee Ernie Ford? Hammond Lumber Company had its own scrip money — from a copper dollar down to a penny — and each coin had an H stamped through it. If a worker was short of money before payday, he could go to the store payroll office and borrow scrip money. Of course, you could only spend the money at the company store and the company would deduct what was borrowed from your next paycheck. There was a lot of Hammond Lumber Company scrip money borrowed in those days. and many who owed their souls to the company store.

Next to the store were a barbershop, the bachelor men’s cabins, a one-room library, and the large busy cookhouse. The company cookhouse fed the bachelors and management personnel. Each day head cook Tony Gabriel and his wife and staff prepared a large breakfast of pancakes, eggs and meat for more than 75 men, a box lunch for the woods crew, and a big dinner that always had two or three choices of meat, potatoes and gravy, vegetables, and choice of pie or cake. Cookhouses were famous for their well-prepared and large meals to satisfy a hungry logger and had their reputations at stake to attract good steady workers.

Workers paid about thirty dollars a month for all their meals. Tony Gabriel was a great cook as well as an excellent baker, having studied and worked as a chef in hotels in Chicago, before coming out West. Tony would often have large cookies or a piece of fried chicken for us kids when we came by after school.

The company raised its own pigs in large pigpens east of town. Pork chops, roasts, ham and bacon for the cookhouse all came from these company pigs. The company garbage truck picked up scraps of food from the cookhouse and delivered it to the pigs on a daily basis. Seagulls gathered around the feeding troughs by the hundreds. From our house we could see these seagulls flying around and knew it was feeding time. The garbage truck also picked up everybody’s garbage on a weekly basis, a service included in the rent. The garbage dump was a good place for us boys to sharpen our shooting skills: we would plink at scurrying rats and shoot tin cans with our .22 rifles.

Across the river, down on the flat below the store, stood the Firemen’s Hall. The little non-denominational church stood beside it. Our sister, June Ann, was the first bride to be married in this little church and possibly the only one. The Firemen’s Hall, complete with kitchen, hosted meetings for the volunteer firemen and the Boy Scouts, as well as school plays, movies, and dances. Most folks didn’t have cars in those early days and the Saturday night dances were the big event. Everybody went, grown-ups and kids, and danced to Crannell’s own band, “Coles Californians,” led by Ken Cole. When us kids got sleepy we just lay down on one of the benches and went to sleep. Sometimes there was a little more than just dancing~a few too many beers and the fighting would start. I remember Dad coming home more than once with a bloody shirt. As recounted by my sister Belva, this would be the night that mom would make a rather lumpy bed in our large wood box just inside the back door for Dad’s discomfort.

Another big event was the Fourth of July, when Hammond put on a big picnic as a get-together for its two towns, the logging town of Crannell and the mill town of Samoa. The company transported the Crannell families out to Samoa for the picnic, twenty miles distant, on the logging crew train, and back home again that night.

BBQ beef and beans were served, with kegs of beer for the men, and soda pop for the ladies and kids. There were softball games, races for the men and kids, a tug-of-war between the loggers and the mill workers, and in the evening a dance at the Samoa Firemen’s Hall. This picnic was supposed to be a friendly get-together, but the competition coupled with the beer generally resulted in some pretty good all-out brawls between the loggers and the “sliver pickers,” which was what the loggers called the millworkers. My pal Ken Gipson’s dad, Cal Gipson, was one tough fighter and could hold his own at the dances and picnics with the best of them. My dad always claimed that he was just trying to separate or stop a fight and of course got right in the middle of it. I don’t know if it was because of the fighting, or lack of interest after people started getting cars and traveling more on holidays, but the company stopped having these “friendly picnics.”

In Loving Memory Of
Lonnie Dale Box
April 30, 1962-June 12, 2023

It is with broken hearts we announce Lonnie Dale Box passed away unexpectedly on June 12, 2023, from complications of a stroke, at 61 years old. He was surrounded by his loved ones and pastor Kerry Houston at Mad River Community Hospital. He is now at rest with his parents.

Lonnie was born on April 30, 1962 at the old General Hospital in Eureka, California, to Herbert Tex and Arlene Box. He grew up in the Blue Lake and Korbel area his whole childhood and was the baby of 5. Lonnie stayed close to his siblings all throughout life. He attended Blue Lake Elementary School and went on to graduate from Arcata High in 1980. He attended College of the Redwoods where he was a standout pitcher, which led him to follow his brother’s footsteps pitching for the Humboldt Crabs for three to four seasons. His love for baseball will carry on through generations.

In 1986 Lonnie and his first wife Toni Browne welcomed his first son Cody Robert Box. In 1988 Lonnie and Linda Adams welcomed his second son Casey Dale Box. Lonnie and Linda would spend the next 36 years together enjoying the life and family they built in the Maple Creek and Blue Lake area. Lonnie loved his sons dearly and enjoyed teaching them about hunting, fishing, ranching and the backroads. His time up Butler Valley with his sons will be forever cherished.

Lonnie was the best grandpa in the world. He loved every minute with his grandkids. They were his shadow, his pride and joy. He loved watching them play sports, he never missed a game. His grandkids will never forget their “papa cino”

Lonnie had a long career working for Simpson Timber Company in Korbel for over 20 years where he became a lumber grader. Lonnie was also part of the Korbel Fire Brigade. He was very passionate about the Mill and loved working alongside his family and friends.

Lonnie made many friendships throughout his life. He loved making people laugh and if you knew him chances are you have a funny story with him. He was an avid hunter and all his siblings say he was the best shot. He was a very simple man with the greatest sense of humor. He was an animal lover, a man of many traits. He had the sweetest soul and the most contagious laugh with the biggest dimples. His family is going to miss him deeply.

Lonnie was survived by his life partner Linda Adams, their son Casey (Angel) Box and grandkids Bailee, Miley and Braxton Box. His oldest son Cody (Sierra) Box and grandkids Cooper, Brooklyn and Bodie Box. His four older siblings; Bobby(Marie) Box, Mona Hill, Cindy Box, Monte(Teresa) Box, Greg Perry and his lifelong best friend Dana Jensen. Lonnie is also survived by many nieces and nephews he loved; Heidi and Terrence (Jenny) Box, Clayton (Jen) and Tory (Jessica) Swift , David (Brittany) Duran, Travis (Bella)Toledo, Lindsey (Andy) Titus and Sarah (Chris) Purvis.

Lonnie will be laid to rest next to his parents Tex and Arlene Box at Sunset Memorial. There will be a celebration of life at Camp Bauer in Korbel on July 30, 12-4 p.m. ,for friends and family.

Lonnie will be greatly missed. We love you, papa cino.

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Manuel F. Machado, 88, passed away in Eureka on June 26, 2023. He was born on May 19, 1935, in Arcata to Manuel and Lena Machado.

Manuel went to school at Arcata Elementary and then Arcata High School before leaving to help at his parent’s dairy ranch. Manuel later worked for 15 years at Louisiana-Pacific Pulp Mill in Samoa. He then went back to school, earning his diploma and GED within a year at Eureka Adult School.

He met his wife Audrey at a dance and they were married in Reno, Nevada on September 8, 1977. They had 47 wonderful years together until Manuel’s passing on June 26.

Manuel always had a smile on his face, and stories for everybody he met, whether old friends or new. He loved spending quality time with his family, especially his grandchildren.

He served in the National Guard and was a member of St. Bernard’s Parish, Portuguese Lodges, SES, I.D.E.S. Supreme Council and Luso America. He was also a member of the Redwood Kings Auto Club and nicknamed the “The Pontiac Kid,” because he had a red Pontiac.

Manuel is survived by his son, Manuel and wife Kristi Machado; grandsons Brady and Blake Machado; daughter Lena Machado; granddaughter Lexi Rentz; brothers Joseph and John Machado; son Kevin and wife Renay Machado, and daughters Christina Machado, Charlotte and husband Roy Scott; grandchildren, Melinda Scott, Catherine Scott, Roy T. Scott, and Sarah and husband Colin Hayes, Tammy and husband Michael Kowalski; 10 great grandchildren and goddaughter, Jonene Avila.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Manuel and Lena Machado, his son Domingo Machado and sisters Eleanor Machado, Celeste and husband Oliver Bruner.

Family and friends are invited to attend the Rosary service at St. Bernard’s Church in Eureka on Friday, July 7 at 9 a.m.

Interment will follow at Ocean View Cemetery in Eureka.

We would like to thank his sister-in-law Lucy Spratt, Dr. Jennifer Heidmann and the nurses and staff at Redwood Coast PACE and at Alder Bay Assisted Living for the wonderful care they provided.

Arrangements are under the direction of Sanders Funeral Home in Eureka.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in his honor to Hospice of Humboldt or Redwood Coast PACE.

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Martha Howard, a 60-year resident of Fortuna, was born in January of 1938, in Queens, New York. She went home to her Lord on June 5, 2023, after a serious heart condition. Martha spent her early years in St. Lewis, Mo. until her family moved to Long Beach, where her father, a skilled tool and die maker, worked in the Long Beach Naval shipyard during WWII. She remained there until her marriage. She was very active in her church youth group and participated in many short trips with the group. In 1958, she met the love of her life in the carpool she took to work. Charles and Martha were united in marriage in 1959. The young couple had two children, Janice Howard-Martin, and Charles Howard, II.

Martha was a joyful person and loved to have laughter and fun in her life. She worked part-time while her children were in their teens and dedicated the rest of her time to their pastimes. She planned fun activities for her family including summer dinner Picnics and swimming at Women’s Federated Grove (Four Fireplaces), camping at various state parks, and vacations throughout the western United States. In the couple’s retirement, they were able to travel to England to visit their son stationed there. She also enjoyed laughing and joking with her three treasured granddaughters.

She remained a devoted member of Christ Lutheran Church until her death. She served as a council member and enjoyed the Women’s group activities including sewing needed items for St. Luke’s Convalescent Home and making warm quilts for those in need. She loved knitting and her hands were constantly busy making socks and hats for the homeless. After working at College of the Redwoods, she decided to attend the college and continue her education. She graduated in 1982 from College of the Redwoods, with an Associate of Arts degree in business.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles Howard, to whom she provided devoted care during his long illness with Alzheimer’s Disease; her parents Carl and Hilda; her brother and best childhood pal, Carl Edward; her sister in-law Kathy; and her brother in-laws, Wilbur Branch and James Howard. Her sister, Camille Branch, passed away two weeks after Martha.

Martha is survived by and will be missed by her younger brother John, and her children Janice Howard-Martin and Charles Howard, II. She will also be dearly missed by her three granddaughters Rebecca, Emily, and Rhiyon. She leaves behind her sisters and brothers by marriage who loved her as their own, as well as numerous nieces, nephews, her goddaughter and many dear family and friends.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 8, 2023, at 11 a.m., at Christ Lutheran Church, 2132 Smith Lane, Fortuna, Pastor Paul Demant officiating. There will be a celebration of life at the church’s social hall following the service. Private interment beside her husband will be at Sunrise Cemetery, Fortuna. Cremation provided by Ayres Family Cremation, Eureka.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Martha’s name to Christ Lutheran Church, 2132 Smith Lane, Fortuna, CA 95540.

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A few of the folks representing Vineyard Offshore stopped by the Outpost office this week to talk about offshore wind development on the North Coast and what that means for the people of Humboldt County. 

Vineyard Offshore is a North America-based developer for Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, one of the energy companies that was awarded a lease to develop floating offshore wind energy facilities on the West Coast during a lease auction hosted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) last December. Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and RWE Offshore Wind Holdings, LLC placed the winning bids for two lease areas in the Humboldt Wind Energy Area (WEA), which spans more than 132,000 acres approximately 20 miles west of Eureka.

The Vineyard Offshore team is currently working on Vineyard Wind 1, the nation’s first utility-scale offshore wind energy project, located about 35 miles off the coast of mainland Massachusettes. 

In our interview, Jennifer Cullen, the company’s director of Labor Relations and Workforce Development, talks about the job creation aspect of the project and her hopes to employ local folks in long-term positions at the future wind farm. Erik Peckar, who recently took on the title of West Coast Director of External Affairs, tells us about his experience in working with coastal communities on developing strong Community Benefits Agreements. Andrew Doba, the director of communications, chimes in here and there.

Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

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LoCO: What brings you to Humboldt County this week?

Jennifer Cullen: Well, we just left a conference with LIUNA, the Laborers’ International Union of North America. They convened a group of 60 or 70 people, including contractors and community partners, as well as the two developers that both have lease areas off the Humboldt County coast – Vineyard Offshore and RWE [Offshore Wind] – to talk with the community about workforce development and, specifically, engagement with the labor unions. I spoke about our workforce development and our project labor agreement for our project on the East Coast. … 

We know the communities where we’re from and we’re here to get to know Humboldt better. There are a lot of stakeholders here that are very engaged and really interested in [offshore wind] but there’s still a question surrounding, you know, “What does this mean for us? How does this work? Who are you guys? What are you doing?” We’re just doing our best to try to get to know all of the various community partners we’re going to be working with.

Erik Peckar: Well, this is my third day on the job as the West Coast Director of External Affairs [for Vineyard Offshore]. I actually came out to California five or six weeks ago to talk to some folks about the Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) and my experience in working with Vineyard Power, which is a non-profit on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. … Humboldt is really at the beginning level. This is a big opportunity for me to really take a lot of the lessons learned with Vineyard Power and translate a lot of those skills in the development space to what’s kind of going on here. 

I’ve been involved in the community organization space on Martha’s Vineyard since 2010. I think a big part of this is bringing the community along, and understanding that the community has some ownership of the project and has a voice in the project. We want to foster a true partnership with these CBAs between developers and communities to make sure everyone is walking hand in hand. There are a lot of things that the community will want from these projects and you can’t attain those goals without the project actually succeeding. It’s kind of a two-way street in terms of getting things done. So, we’re doing a lot of listening, a lot of learning, a lot of just meeting folks and really trying to understand the needs of the community.

LoCO: I have had a hard time trying to understand exactly what the process is for the CBA money. I understand that this money was pledged upon the purchase of the leases but how is the pledge fulfilled and what are the mechanics for that? This is something the community is very interested in and it’s kind of the tip of the iceberg for what we are hoping this sort of new industry will bring into the community, but I think people are confused – I’m certainly confused – about how the whole process works.

Peckar: The process here in California is a little bit different from my experience in Massachusetts in terms of the timing of things. In Massachusetts, we had [our CBA] prior to the lease auction. Rewind back to 2015 or 2016. We, as a community, got [BOEM] to recognize CBAs as a discount factor in the auctions. So they would give a certain percentage credit to a developer that had CBA with a community benefit organization. Vineyard Power essentially got the support of all of the six towns on Martha’s Vineyard to come together and we were kind of, you know, dubbed the community benefit organization to be able to negotiate with a developer on behalf of the community.

LoCO: So, Vineyard Power was the community benefit organization?

Peckar: Correct. And the main tenants of what we wanted for the community was, initially, we wanted some sort of option to potentially purchase the electricity. We were looking at jobs – operations and maintenance jobs specifically. The project committed to having an operations and maintenance facility on the [island] because, once construction is completed after two or three years, you then move on to the operation phase and the construction jobs phase out. So, there are jobs that the project developers committed to being on Martha’s Vineyard for the lifetime of the project. 

Another thing is all of the six towns on Martha’s Vineyard came together to commit to being 100 percent renewable and convert our transportation electricity by 2040. … Where do we get their electricity from? We get it from offshore wind. That was kind of the magic space that we as a community wanted to get to and the project developers committed a certain portion of the funding to help us reach those goals. … They understood that partnering with a community benefit organization and having the community on your side would increase the likelihood that the project was going to succeed. That has played through to fruition with construction going on right now and with the project being awarded the first power purchase agreement in Massachusetts.

Andrew Doba: And you’ve got to remember, this is all in the shadow of Cape Wind, which was a project that was going to be closer to shore in Nantucket Sound and was basically debated for 16 or 17 years before it was finally shut down. There were a lot of lessons learned from that failed process. We wanted to make sure the next project was built from the ground up rather than saying, “Top-down, this is what we’re trying to do.”

Cullen: My hometown is where Cape Wind was our cable for this project and where Cape Wind’s cable was proposing to make landfall. My town sued the federal government when they granted the permit. … So, when this project came around we understood that you don’t shove a project like this into a community; you build it with the community. We had a really good working relationship throughout the process where Vineyard Power understood the project and could provide really useful input about the design of the project as well as community concerns so nothing would come as a surprise when we would do our permitting public hearings. … We knew the concerns and we also had already incorporated that input into our design. …

One of the things people on the island really wanted were those long-term jobs. It was a tough commitment for us to make because there’s only one place that you can build a facility like that on the island because of zoning … but now, the facility is under construction and our commitment is that 100 percent of those workers will be island-based within five years. You don’t relocate people to an island like Martha’s Vineyard. You find, recruit and train the locals to do those jobs because housing is nonexistent. … But I can’t just bring the jobs to a place that says “We want jobs!” if there aren’t the right people to fill those jobs. We needed to find people and figure out what they would need to go from a bartender or a landscaper… to a qualified offshore wind technician. So, we worked with the community in setting up a community college program that was available locally on the island.

LoCO: Are you working or partnering with College of the Redwoods or Cal Poly Humboldt to create similar programs here?

Cullen: It’s still really early in the game but I know both educational institutions have been thinking about [developing those programs] way before we got here. … College of the Redwoods especially because a lot of our jobs – I would say 90 percent – are more technical and don’t require a four-year degree. … I’m going to work on getting them just information about the certifications that we’ve needed and that we’ve seen our suppliers need. And then Cal Poly Humboldt, College of the Redwoods and the Yurok Tribe all have an MOU [memorandum of understanding] to collaborate but it doesn’t sound like there’s a whole lot of detail to it just yet. …

Peckar: Partnerships with universities are absolutely critical … in facilitating in training, workforce development [and] communications, but also in reaching the whole community and ensuring that women and [BIPOC] Black, Indigenous, people of color are also getting the same opportunities as middle-aged white guys. That’s really important. …

LoCO: Going back to the CBA, we still need a certified community benefits organizer, right? We don’t have a place in Humboldt County where these investment funds will be deposited and we don’t know yet how they will be spent. How will that process work here?

Cullen: I mean, there’s basically no roadmap for any of this kind of stuff. So many of the commitments we’ve made and have now executed with Vineyard Wind were written down as a bid or a little project and we submitted it and then suddenly it’s like, “Now make this stuff real. Make it happen. Put people on jobs. Do the [CBA].” As for how it will work here, there aren’t really answers to a lot of those questions.

LoCO: But, at some point, BOEM will have to decide or identify an entity to receive those CBA funds, right?

Peckar: That’s all written out in the Final Sales Notice. … Now there’s a clock, let’s say, and the two developers up here and the three developers down in Morro Bay need to go into these communities and find or meet folks who represent the community and sign these CBAs or come to some arrangements by a certain particular time.

Cullen: And the challenge we have is understanding who that is, right? There might be some people that say, “We represent the community and we know what’s best.” I mean, we just won this lease in December but our teams have already been out here four or five times at this point because we need to get this right. We need to know that the entity or entities that say they represent the community actually do have the tribes, the fishermen, the laborers and all of these partners legitimately involved so they can say, “Yes, this is the entity that will speak on behalf of my community.”

Peckar: The community really needs to understand that this is a partnership. We’re not just going to cut a check and go away. Once the permitting phase starts and we go into a process with the federal government where there are public hearings, we as a company need folks to show up and show their support. …

There are going to be pieces of this project that will require valuable input that are not part of the CBA. One example from the project on the East Coast is, you know, we as a community were really concerned about nighttime lighting from the project. … And the feedback we gave into the project was basically asking if there were technical components they could potentially mitigate. You know, instead of having all 62 turbine lights being on every night all night, what are some options there? They looked into it and it ultimately got approved to use an aircraft detection lighting system. … Those lights will only come on when an airplane flies within a certain level of the turbines. …

This is an iterative process and there are options on the table. We want to work with the community, but there’s also the question of whether it is technically feasible to do certain things. …

LoCO: I understand that building this kind of relationship with the community is really what you’re striving for … and the CBA is a small part of that, but one of the concerns I hear a lot surrounds infrastructure and the housing crisis. Hopefully, we could use some of that for matching funds to build new housing to accommodate the workforce we’re anticipating here. … We want to be sure that we are able to accommodate the growth that goes along with that, but there’s concern that instead of going through some sort of public process … it would end up in, say, the arms of a nonprofit without a public process.

Peckar: Again, going back to the CBA process that we went through with communities on Martha’s Vineyard, you know, there are six towns on the island. One town says one thing and one town wants to do the exact opposite. It was an educational process. We knew that we would never achieve what we wanted to achieve if one town tried to come out and organize independently. 

Back in 2009/2010 when we could kind of see where this process was going, we just did our best to educate everyone along the way at a municipal level to get complete buy-in and build trust. We had to say, “Hey, we’re the organization that could lead us in this direction and we can negotiate on behalf of the whole island … what do we want?” … We formed an advisory committee with members representing all six of the towns, we have a tribal nation on Martha’s Vineyard as well and they are represented. Then there are some nonprofits and others that sit on the steering committee. However, I can’t sit here and say that model will work for you. This community really needs to sit down and have some discussions about the local needs and who they want to negotiate for them, and that’s challenging. 

Cullen: Where we have been the most successful in our community partnerships … is when we’ve been involved in a transparent process with an entity that has the trust of the communities that we’re working with. One in which people see the opportunity, not just in the dollar sitting in the bank, but how to leverage those dollars alongside the project to maximize it all. We’re gonna be bringing in suppliers, we’re gonna be bringing in electricity, we’re gonna be bringing in all of these different things and if that money is used to address some of the barriers to maximizing the overall benefit that works for us and that works for the community.

In Massachusetts, for instance, we have wicked infrastructure issues in those small communities out on the coast and we have a huge wastewater problem. … So, we worked really closely with [one of] the town[s] because we needed permits from the town, we were gonna run cables in their streets and land or our cable at the beach. And they were like, “The sewer thing is a huge problem for us and we’ve got a plan but it’s literally a billion-dollar project.” And so we worked with them and they advanced their timeline to lay some really critical sewer backbone infrastructure in the same route that we were routing our cable. So we said, “Great, we’re gonna open the roads. You guys go ahead and go in first to lay the sewer lines and we’ll come in after, lay the cable and close the roads.” It saved the town like $10 million.

LoCO: Well, the transmission of electricity is a huge issue up here, especially in Southern Humboldt where PG&E is basically at capacity. I have heard the statewide electrical transmission system likened to a series of blood vessels. Here in Humboldt, our lines are like capillaries and we need an aorta to handle and distribute the power that will be generated by the wind turbines. Congressman Jared Huffman and other state representatives are trying to expedite these critical infrastructure improvements but, I’m curious, where do you fit into that process?

Cullen: What I’m hoping is that Lieutenant Governor [Eleni Kounalakis], who was at the labor event we attended earlier, will help further transmission goals in California. Humboldt is so critical – not just for the projects happening in the Humboldt [Wind Energy Area] but for projects up and down the coast [because] the port is going to be booming. We can’t move forward on these goals until there’s improved electrical transmission. … We can’t even really start designing or understanding how big of a project to build until we know more about capacity, who we’re selling the power to [and] what the rates are looking like. There’s so much that needs to happen before we can even start, but as soon as that’s ready we’re itching to go. … 

LoCO: Are you working with lawmakers or with PG&E to try to figure out solutions to make a larger transmission line to the project area?

Doba: Some of our senior management recently met with some elected officials down in Sacramento. At this point, we’re just anxious to make sure the conversation keeps going and then ultimately [leads] to some kind of resolution.

Cullen: I mean, building an offshore wind farm is really a massive undertaking and, on top of that, there are all of these other challenges. We need partners in the state that wants this and they have to support the parts of this that are really theirs to do. … We want to make it better but oftentimes we [as developers] are expected to solve these legacy issues, clean energy, job creation, societal issues, public transportation, etc. … A lot of these things that really require all these entities to work with us to provide the bones to make it work.

LoCO: One thing we haven’t touched on yet are concerns surrounding the commercial fishing industry. I’m sure your team is well-versed on this topic having worked with coastal communities on the East Coast. … A lot of the fishermen I’ve spoken with are worried they’re going to lose access to fishing grounds. Over the years, their fishing grounds have gotten smaller and smaller due to increased regulations around commercial fishing. Can you talk about how you worked with commercial fishermen on the East Coast to alleviate some of these concerns? How will that inform your conversations here?

Cullen: [Crista Bank] is this totally badass woman who does our fisheries work and she’s very well respected in the community. It’s so key for us because she knows these guys, they trust her. They give her an earful regularly, she takes it because she knows them, and then they go get a beer, you know? One thing we heard from [the fishermen] really early on – and what we’ve been working with Crista on – is making sure they don’t miss out on an economic opportunity, too. It’s the same thing on the East Coast: the fishing grounds are shrinking but the quota isn’t. 

We worked with them through the permitting process, engaging with them, listening to them, what are their concerns … and we ended up rearranging our entire turbine layout to be responsive to their concerns. … We had to start from scratch with all the survey work, but it was the right thing to do. We spaced them out a full nautical mile so you can now go any which way through it. It was really tough to do but we did it and all [six] of our lease holders in that area agreed to have the same like layout. …

We’ve also provided funds to get fishermen trained to a certain standard … and vessels that want to work on the projects, we said, “Hey, we’ve got scope and we’ve got a need for you. We appreciate and recognize your knowledge of how the sea works and we see that you’re a valuable asset in making this project successful.” …  So they go out there with us and they just kind of, like, babysit our vessels and make sure that any incoming or passerby vessels are understanding what’s going on. And we’ve found that the fishermen really appreciate the work. …

Peckar: We want to get a better understanding of the fleet here in Humboldt, who the players are and who’s who. That’s what we’re getting into now, really trying to lay that foundation with some potential fishery representatives and we want to hire a fishing liaison for the West Coast. … We will also start up some surveying work in the next couple of years which might include opportunities for fishermen to go out on a survey vessel to make sure there aren’t any interactions with crab pots or help us in identifying someone else’s gear. We need people who are already a part of the fishing community that people really trust because, ultimately, this is all about building trust. …

Cullen: We only had to do a year of pre-construction surveys but we did three. We knew that understanding the impacts that we have is going to be important and so we went above and beyond on that because we knew it was gonna be critical. We kind of set the bar for the other developers and we encouraged them to do a lot of research as well so, ideally, years down the line we can say, “Yes, we built this project based on real science that you guys all bought into.” And the impact really hasn’t been what everyone was worried it would be and we can really, genuinely back that up. …

LoCO: And going back to working with other developers, what does that process look like? Are you all using the same technology? Are you working together on certain studies? Is each development going to have its own set of operating standards? In what situations do you and do you not work together?

Cullen: What’s tricky along the East Coast – and I hope it’s better for us here – is that we’re asked to compete on things [and] competing yields lesser overall results for the communities that we’re collaborating with. … We need to all come together on what the technical specs will be that we’re all working towards. Right now, I mean, how many foundation designs are there for floaters? Twenty? Thirty? Ideally, we all use the same technology. …

LoCO: Well, to wrap things up, what are the next big steps for Vineyard Offshore? Any other closing remarks?

Peckar: Well, I’m going to be moving out to the West Coast in October. I’ll be based out of the Bay Area but I’ll be coming up here pretty regularly and building a team. I’m really looking forward to getting to know the folks here and building a relationship with this community. … We want to keep the conversation going with the folks at Crowley and the port and keep working at the state level to keep things going with power purchase agreements. … It would be great to have a little cross-pollination and bring folks from the East Coast out here and vice-versa to learn more about the work we’re already doing out there and share that knowledge.

Cullen: I think continued engagement with the port and making sure we’re all aligned on what’s getting built and that it’ll support what we need. I think a lot of [this process] is just building relationships in the community. … I think the next couple of years are really going to be getting to know this place and them getting to know us. There’s a lot it’s still unknown! We’re not just being cute about it, there’s a lot about this industry that we don’t really know yet.

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PREVIOUSLY:

• Biden Administration Proposes Offshore Wind Lease Sale, Including Two Spots Off the Humboldt County Coast
• IT’S ON: Humboldt Offshore Wind Leases to Go Up For Auction on Dec. 6
• Harbor District Announces Massive Offshore Wind Partnership; Project Would Lead to an 86-Acre Redevelopment of Old Pulp Mill Site
• Offshore Wind is Coming to the North Coast. What’s in it For Humboldt?
• North Coast Fishermen Fear for the Future of Commercial Fisheries as Offshore Wind Efforts Advance
• North Coast Tribes Advocate for ‘Meaningful, Impactful Partnership’ with Potential Developers Ahead of Tomorrow’s Highly Anticipated Offshore Wind Lease Auction
• ‘Together We Can Shape Offshore Wind for the West Coast’: Local Officials, Huffman and Others Join Harbor District Officials in Celebrating Partnership Agreement With Crowley Wind Services
• SOLD! BOEM Names California North Floating and RWE Offshore Wind Holdings as Provisional Winners of Two Offshore Wind Leases Off the Humboldt Coast
• ‘It’s Beyond Frustrating’: Yurok Vice-Chair Calls Out Provisional Winners of Offshore Wind Bid for Failing to Engage With the Tribe Aheads of This Week’s Auction
• California’s Aging Electrical Infrastructure Presents Hurdle for Offshore Wind Development on the North Coast

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PREVIOUSLY:

• Get Your Swimming Trunks and Sunscreen! Freshwater Park’s Iconic Swimming Hole is Coming Back This Summer

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Press release from the Humboldt County Public Works Department:

The Environmental Services Division of the County of Humboldt’s Public Works Department is excited to announce that the seasonal Freshwater County Park Dam has been successfully installed and the swimming area at Freshwater Park is ready for public use.

Background

Freshwater Park is an eight-acre county park located at 3100 Freshwater Rd. approximately 3.5 miles southeast of Myrtle Ave. The County of Humboldt has owned and operated Freshwater Park since 1939. Freshwater Creek meanders through the park, and the park’s main attraction during the summer is a swimming area created by a seasonal dam, which has been installed since the 1920s.

The swimming area is created by installing a temporary dam across the creek. The dam facility, located in the southern portion of Freshwater Park, includes permanent concrete wing walls, sill, and retaining walls, and removable I-beams, flashboards, and a gate valve. Freshwater Creek drains into Humboldt Bay via Eureka Slough and provides habitat for fishery resources including Chinook and Coho salmon, and steelhead. Upon installation of the dam, the pool provides deep, cold water that is an ideal environment for salmonids. In 2010, funding was obtained through the California River Parkways Grant Program to construct a juvenile fish ladder to allow juvenile salmonids to move freely upstream and downstream of the seasonal dam. The concrete fish ladder is adjacent to the dam and is viewable by the public.

The last time the Freshwater Dam was able to be installed was summer 2019 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and permit challenges related to drought conditions. In order to reinstall the dam, the Environmental Services Division needed to determine the flow threshold at Freshwater Creek and complete a successful review with federal and state regulatory agency partners, including the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California Northcoast Regional Water Quality Control Board, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Freshwater Park Hours of Operation, Fees, and Amenities

Freshwater Park is open from sunrise to sunset for a day-use fee of $5. In addition to the swimming area, Freshwater Park amenities include an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible playground, accessible routes to the volleyball court, picnic areas, and other locations throughout the park, and creek access. Restrooms are open and cleaned regularly, and parking is available subject to vehicle limits. The Freshwater Park gazebo area is open for group reservations through November 30. To make a gazebo reservation, call (707) 445-7651.

Tips for Visiting

The water in the Freshwater Park swimming area is cold, so visitors should prepare accordingly. For the safety of the public, please not use alcohol or drugs, including some prescription drugs, before swimming at Freshwater Park. Small children and inexperienced swimmers should wear a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket or flotation device while swimming. Please note that the use of water wings is not recommended for small children.

Park visitors are asked to be courteous to other people at the park and respectful of the wildlife and plant communities. Dogs are not allowed. Camping, motorcycles, fires, and firearms are prohibited. 

For more information on Humboldt County parks and trails, please visit the Parks and Trails web page or call (707) 445-7651.