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JERRY ROHDE:

Humboldt County is going to be the canary in the coal mine for sea level rise in California. It's happening faster on Humboldt Bay than anywhere else.

JEN KALT:

Located 280 miles north of San Francisco, Humboldt Bay is the second largest natural bay in California. The bay is a mosaic of mudflats, seasonal freshwater wetlands, streams, salt marshes, eelgrass meadows, coastal dunes, and forest. And it supports over 300 species of birds, around 100 species of fish, and 40 species of mammals. This regional abundance continues to be the home of the Wiyot tribe, whose ancestral villages of split redwood plank houses were built along the shores of Wigi, now known as Humboldt Bay. As economic development continues to transform the environment around us, communities that thrive along the bay are now facing growing concerns about sea level rise. Join us for this special Econews series focused on sea level rise along Humboldt Bay. We will explore a bit of the biocultural history of the region, and we'll dive into some of the concerns in a few key community locations around the bay.

I'm Humboldt Waterkeeper Director Jen Kalt. I'm your host for this exploration. To help us understand some of the challenges ahead for our communities, and some potential solutions. Over the past century, sea level has increased and continues to rise due to rapidly changing climate. Nearly half the world's population lives in densely populated coastal regions, and sea level rise will have a major impact as it begins to displace coastal communities.

ROHDE:

Impacts are going to occur more quickly and therefore more intensely here than anywhere else.

KALT:

Jerry Rohde is an author, historian, and ethnographer in Humboldt County.

ROHDE:

We're faced with an enormous task in dealing with the effects of sea level rise on the infrastructure around the bay. Highway 101 is the most obvious thing, but there's also water, gas, and electric lines, the low-lying communities of King Salmon, Fields Landing, and Fairhaven, and a little while later in the process, the west side of Eureka. All will be affected. The paradigm shift that I hope will gain momentum is the realization that sea level rise is happening very quickly and that our first local priority is to deal with it now.

MARNIE ATKINS:

Ha’wa’lou. Rri’nuk Marnie Atkins.

KALT:

Marnie Atkins is a Wiyot Tribal Council member. Much of the Wiyot community currently resides on the Table Bluff Reservation, a prominent headland with a vast overview of the southern reaches of Humboldt Bay.

ATKINS:

I am from what is now known as Eureka. We are currently in the Da Gou Rou Louwi' Cultural Center for the Wiyot Tribe. "Da Gou Rou Louwi'" means the ongoing return of all. When we were choosing the name for the place, we wanted it to encompass that idea of coming home, of everything returning. So it's not just about repatriation of items coming home, but it's also about the restoration of language, the restoration of cultural practices, traditional practices, you know, the reclaiming of our life ways, and the healthy lands, and water, and animals, and plants, and humans. So that whole kind of relational idea of the ongoing return of all of those things.

KALT:

There are portions of land surrounding Humboldt Bay that already flood, and sea level in Humboldt Bay is projected to rise as much as three feet over the next few decades, sparking serious concerns about the cultural, economic, and environmental well-being of the region. What's up with the transportation corridors? Will they be safe from rising waters? What about some of the other infrastructure that our communities rely upon?

ATKINS:

Wigi is the name of the bay. That's its real name, and that's our name for it. Wigi supports the center of our world. That is our sacred place. It's our creation place. It's our ceremonial place. When we have ceremony there, we don't just pray for ourselves. We pray for our neighbors in the world, you know? So being able to set the world right in our own way is important.

ROHDE:

We need to realize that the Wiyot people were very gentle with the place they inhabited. They lived in harmony with the bay and its surroundings and did little to alter their surroundings. Most of the whites did the opposite.

ADAM CANTER:

The Wiyot are certainly a people of the Wigi, the bay, the water. You know, it's a major source of transportation, but also just life and culture.

KALT:

Botanist Adam Canter is Natural Resources Director for the Wiyot Tribe.

CANTER:

The dugout canoe was really important to the Wiyot and many of their villages are on the fringes of Humboldt Bay. Thinking about sea level rise, a lot of these sites are going to be inundated, even at a foot of sea level rise. And so right now we're really asking tribal citizens what kind of concerns do they have about this and what kind of solutions, if there are any, seem acceptable.

KALT:

And what have you heard so far?

CANTER:

You know, a lot of folks are kind of taking the approach of, you know, the Wiyot being on the base since time immemorial have been adapting to sea level rise for generations.

ATKINS:

You know, we have multiple traditional village sites around Wigi, the Bay, as well as up and down the coastline, whether they be, you know, proper villages or home sites to fishing campsites that are traditional. There's a potential of losing them, both for contemporary reasons, because we're, you know, still using them, or for historical reasons that we could lose that connection to our cultural practices, our traditional life ways. That's very concerning. It's all connected. Indigenous people have the historical knowledge of being in place for thousands upon thousands upon thousands of years, and we can see the effects happening in, you know, maybe one person's lifetime. That's kind of scary.

ROHDE:

Immediately after the White arrival in 1850, you can see dramatic changes in the landscape. Whites had a vastly different set of needs than did the Wiyots.

KALT:

This is historian Jerry Rohde again.

ROHDE:

There's a tremendous sudden and continuing impact on the physical landscape because the Whites were developing a new and complex infrastructure. Within a few weeks of their arrival, they killed Wiyots, burned at least one village, and taken over much of the land on the east side of the bay. They wanted most of the Wiyots' land, and they wanted the Wiyots out of the way.

KALT:

Economic drivers have contributed to alterations to our environment that are now exacerbated by the effects of climate change. It's news to many that the Humboldt Bay Area is experiencing the fastest rate of sea level rise on the west coast. Understanding the vulnerabilities of this region is key. Let's delve into some of the specifics of the local community challenges along Humboldt Bay and how we might address them. First we're headed to the Little Hamlet of Fairhaven to meet up with a local resident, Troy Nicolini.

TROY NICOLINI:

And this town, you know, it's weird because it's really flat right here as you can see, but just to the west of us are high dunes and 11 acres of that is actually owned by the community services district. So in my mind we have sort of a retreat option that could be a long-term solution.

KALT:

The town of Fairhaven is located on a narrow spit of land between the Pacific Ocean and Humboldt Bay called the Samoa Peninsula, and it's one of the lowest-lying communities around the bay, so it is vulnerable to flooding. Sitting at just about 10 feet above mean sea level, impacts from our changing climate are top of mind for residents.

NICOLINI:

The near-term solution, I think, for me, is to try and fight the impacts of sea level rise as long as we can, you know, balancing the needs of ecosystem restoration and preservation with the need to preserve the community. And so, Fair Haven almost offers a perfect little, like, micro-environment of what the challenges are, what some of the solutions are, and how those impact people's lives. And the high dunes could buy a lot more than 20 years. I mean, the dunes, elevation's always not very intuitive as you walk from one elevation to another, like, but those are 40 and 50 feet high, and you're standing out about two or three feet above mean sea level. So, you know, it's a big elevation gain for me.

KALT:

Do you think that would buy 30, 40 years?

NICOLINI:

Well, and then, man, I'll tell you what. This community is such a great spot to examine because it has every complexity in some ways you could have. Because it isn't just sea level rise due to rising water that impacts this community. It's also being sucked down by plate tectonics slowly. So our apparent sea level rise is the highest in North America, right where you're standing.

KALT:

Well, should we go walk down to the water?

NICOLINI:

Yeah, I was going to describe our experience of walking down to the water. We're now standing like about 600 feet from the bay side And we're about three-quarters of a mile from the ocean side and just to put in context what we're going to experience walking from where we're at now to the bay. I guess maybe we shouldn't have brought the dogs.

KALT:

Pipe down over here!

NICOLINI:

You know, if we walked to the ocean, before we got to the ocean, we would go up over some dunes, right, and then drop down to the beach. Everybody's experienced that. And those dunes are formed by the waves that cause sand to be pushed up into the beach area and then the wind, especially the northwest wind here in the summer, takes that sand and propels it up into the dune area where it's trapped by grasses and plants and that's what forms the dunes. And those are actually protective dunes, like, if those weren't there, we would have even just ocean waves washing across the roads in town. So those are sort of protective dunes. Now, the exact same process happens on the bay side, but it's muted. So we get southwest winds during winter storms that blow sand up from the bay into the grasses that's actually protecting the town of Fairhaven. But I want to make sure that you're aware of it as we're walking that we're going up before we get to go down to the beach on the bay side. We are actually being protected by this thing that we're about to walk over. And when I say we, I mean the entire town of Fairhaven is really protected by this barrier set of sort of smaller dunes that's on the edge of the bay. And making sure that that process continues into the future is really important to protect the town from sea level rise because as the sea rises, if all the mechanisms that create those dunes are still happening, then sand can be blown up and higher and higher and continue to provide some kind of protection. And the key is that the ocean itself or the bay doesn't rush into the community. So there's been things happening in this bay for many years. You know, the entrance of the bay before we had shipping, you know, when it was natural, it would have looked sort of like the mouth of the Mad River. It would have had a braided look to it, like there'd be sand shoals in the middle and small creek off to one side and, you know, it wouldn't really be a deep channel that could be navigated by ships very easily. So what was done to make it more predictable and safe for ships is the jetties were put in. And what the jetties do is they channelize the flow that goes in and out of the bay due to the tides. But an unanticipated side effect is that it allowed waves from the open ocean to come right through that harbor entrance with all of their might and very quickly start to erode land inside the bay. In fact, you'll see trees lying dead toppled over in the water. That's because their roots were undermined by this erosion from the waves bouncing off the rocks in front of King Salmon and causing erosion here. So that was an example where the erosion that's happening was somewhat exacerbated or redirected by something that humans did, right? And that's always been true in the bay, but under a time of sea level rise where you have additional challenges, that kind of behavior can be really catastrophic. And by behavior I mean putting in shore protection that allows the waves to bounce off instead of breaking. On a normal sloped beach like the one we're walking on, when a wave comes into this beach, well, we've all seen it, they curl up and they break and they lose most of their energy. Very little is reflected off. But when you put a vertical rock wall or almost vertical rock wall, the waves don't break, they just kind of rush up and bounce back off with most of their energy intact. And then they travel off in some direction and break somewhere else. So that somewhere else, in the case of King Salmon, has been this beach across the bay for many decades. So that's sort of the ongoing story. Now we have sea level rise, and there's new concerns. This is a great dog beach. It's really nice.

KALT:

It is. I came out here on King Tide and it's a foot higher than the beach.

NICOLINI:

Yeah, the very high tides will get right up to that ice plant basically.

KALT:

If you're just joining us, today's Econews Report is part of a special series on sea level rise.

NICOLINI:

How far out in the future can anybody plan for you know? We don't live that long. So I feel like we have a few ways this could go in the near term, the medium term and the long term, and it's pretty complicated. But if you go into with an attitude of hope you see there's some possibilities of this community sticking around for a long time. And if you look at it from a perspective of pessimism you'd sell to a climate denier and get the heck out of here right now There's the range of emotions you can have, you know.

KALT:

We've explored some historical overview of Humboldt Bay and some sea level rise challenges for the community of Fairhaven. Now we head to the community of King Salmon.

NATE FAITH:

I do face the reality, if we don't take any action, I do face the reality that will be unlivable at some point.

KALT:

Nate Faith is a resident of King Salmon, which is a small community south of Eureka, directly across from the bay entrance.

FAITH:

We're on my back deck right now on the canal between Cod and Crab Streets, which does see a lot of wildlife and we get kayakers and it's a lot of fun, but if you hear the bird noises there are sometimes skirmishes, fights over food because we are right on the water.

KALT:

What do you love about living here in King Salmon?

FAITH:

It fills my soul. I know that might sound a little new-agey and no one would guess I'm actually a trained scientist myself because I'm no longer in the profession and I have not kept up on the research, but even knowing what I know, I chose to live here knowing it was risky, but I hope not reckless. I hope I found the balance between risky and reckless because I took one look here and you can see for anyone who has not been into one of the homes in King Salmon, it's very different on the backside of the houses than it is on the front side. The street side just looks like your everyday sort of funky eclectic neighborhood where people have different things going on. There's no HOA, so everyone's got something different happening, but you walk around to the back and it's like magic. It's a totally different feel and I came to look at this house and just said, oh, it's mine, it's mine. I literally sit out here and feel all the stress of the day goes away. I feel transformed at night. It's just a chorus of frogs and the crickets are going at night, the water's placid, so there's this calmness, there's this sense of being part of nature in a way that I don't have to go camping anymore to get nature, I just come out to my own deck and to be able to see a heron eating a fish on your dock or have the hawk that ate the rabbit right over my head on the top of my gazebo here, it's just astounding to be that close to nature. You're just a few feet away from all kinds of natural things happening.

KALT:

The town of King Salmon is defined by canals carved out of this edge of the bay. Regular flooding is already common here because it's so low-lying. And, as with the rest of the region, it's projected to get worse. In addition to tidal water intruding from the bay, King Salmon also experiences flooding when groundwater rises with storm surges. And there's a former nuclear power plant nearby where spent nuclear fuel is stored on site on a coastal bluff just 44 feet above mean sea level. It's buried in dry concrete casts right above King Salmon, but we'll get to that later.

FAITH:

Anyone who loves nature, I think, would have a very hard time walking away from this or not appreciating how much it is meaningful to you on a level that's not financial. It's on a level as a person, it means so much. So I couldn't walk away. I walked into it knowing there is a risk.

KALT:

King Salmon, because of the way the town was built, it's the lowest-lying community in the Humboldt Bay Area, and it's therefore at the highest risk from rising sea level, and experiences quite a bit of flooding when there's a lot of rain during high tide events in particular. There's a lot of flooding here, and people have come to be somewhat accustomed to having to deal with floods on an occasional basis. But as sea level rises, this region has twice the rate of sea level rise or more of the rest of the state of California. So sea level rise is going to affect people here first in a lot of ways. It doesn't get a ton of attention because it's a very small community. It's unincorporated. There's not a lot of expensive, valuable real estate here. And so I think that a lot of people are concerned that when it comes time to find government funding to help communities like this, that King Salmon and Fields Landing will be bypassed. I know you said you're not up on the latest science, but can you just talk about your understanding of sea level rise and what it will mean for this place, for King Salmon?

FAITH:

Well, if we don't do anything, my understanding is within about 20 years, I might not be completely right on the timeframe, but we'll be having significant floodings frequently enough that it's going to actually impact us being able to get to and from our homes. It could be impacting our ability to actually live here, especially for the people who are on the street level. That's my understanding, is that it's simply going to encroach. I've seen the modeling that shows, of course, the street I chose to live on down here being the first one to be underwater. We're apparently the low spot. My car is a go kit. I have all my earthquake and wildfire supplies. I've got a whole camping set, changes of clothes, emergency food, all that in my car. I also have a backpack in my house if I had to grab the cat and my backpack and dash out the door. What it means to me is I am prepared to have to have some hardships and some limitations, but whether that's sustainable over the long term.

KALT:

What is your thinking in preparation for flooding and how do you keep track of, you know, when you need to get things ready and stuff, like what are the triggers for that?

FAITH:

So far I haven't done a very good job. I have been lucky. Like I say, I've got the go-kit in the car, the go-kit in the house, arrangements for the cat if I can't make it to him. But in terms of actually putting out sandbags or anything like that, I haven't done that yet. I was very lucky that the highest the water has gotten was it was about two inches from the top of that retaining wall. I do plan to put another layer of the cinder blocks just to at least keep my structure from having a lot of water coming over the wall and directly behind it. But of course I watch the weather and rain and if it does look like there could be a lot of heavy storms then I start talking to local friends, neighbors about who's got what going on on their schedule. The person next door is pretty flexible and just making sure that I have coverage for the cat really since I have my car prepared. Sometimes I'll take my home go-kit with me as well so I have everything that I could need. But it really kind of just weather dependent and of course the King Tide season. I do look for those announcements that King Tides are predicted. I do want to get some sandbags and things for the front garage. That would be helpful to bolster that. I just haven't done that yet. I've only had the most minor water coming in but that is something I do need to do. I need to get some of those types of supplies and get them ready and then depending on weather reports and the King Tide reports. We don't get much news down here.

KALT:

Are you on the county's alert system? It's called Eventbrite or something like that.

FAITH:

I do have the Humboldt Alerts that sort of for the earthquake and things like that went off. I have those that come in. I did get those about King Tides last year, I think. I think I am, because I definitely get them for the earthquakes, and I do think I got some that said King Tides high tide is expected 9.2 feet or something. I think that I did get some of those. Oh, good. I tried not to be completely reckless. I did buy a home on a flood foundation as opposed to one that was set on the street level that has the retaining wall already installed. I may argument that, but I tried to mitigate the decision's impact as much as I could. But the fact is, yes, that we're at a risk here, but I hope we can save it because this is very unique. It's not something you find all the time in neighborhoods. Yeah.

KALT:

It is a very special place, very, very unique.

FAITH:

Regarding what I think is happening, my understanding is that we have a bit of time, but not really. We need to be taking action now. Clearly there will need to be solutions. I'm hopeful that I've structured things enough to be able to adapt with some of the inundation, some of the high water events, while we're working on solutions.

KALT:

Folks are working to start these conversations. Understanding the history of a place, the ways in which communities used to coexist with the ecological processes of their region, it helps us envision our lives more aligned with the rhythms of the natural world and a more sustainable way of life. Our changing climate with its extreme weather events and rising water levels calls for action. We face huge challenges, but people are working on potential solutions like restoring our tidal wetlands and building living shorelines instead of seawalls to protect vulnerable areas of our coast. For more information on sea level rise in Humboldt Bay, check out the Humboldt Sea Level Rise Institute website, humboldtsli.org.

OUTRO:

Many thanks to community members Marnie Atkins, Jerry Rohde, Nate Faith, Troy Nicolini, and Adam Canter. This has been another episode of the EcoNews Report. Join us again at this time on this channel next week for more environmental news from the north coast of California. This episode was produced by Jesse Eden with funding provided by the California Coastal Commission Whale Tale Grant Program. Thanks for joining us.