We are Green
Twenty-five years ago, 3 of the 5 members elected to the Arcata City Council were registered members of the Green party. This made the Arcata City Council the first elected body in the US with a majority of members from the Green party. Our long history of concern for the environment has continued to this day.
Fifty years ago, the mainstay of the local economy was logging. The controversy over cutting the last remaining stands of virgin Redwoods led to the establishment of Redwood National Park. Although only 10% of the original redwood forests remain uncut, most of that lies within Humboldt County. Over the past half century as the timber industry has transitioned to sustained yield forestry practices, and the economy of Humboldt County has diversified, the loggers and the environmentalists have learned to respect one another.
50 years ago, the city of Arcata was faced with the necessity of upgrading the capacity of its sewer treatment plant. Rather than building a new high tech energy consuming sewer treatment plant, the city along with environmental engineers from Humboldt State University decided to reclaim wetlands and an old dump site along the bay. The wastewater now flows through a series of marshes and ponds using natural processes to clean the water. The Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary now is a destination for walkers, runners and birdwatchers.
The Schatz Energy Research Center at Cal Poly Humboldt has long been a center for research into alternative non-carbon sources of energy. With HUmboldt State University transitioning to a California State Polytechnic University, the energy lab will assume an even larger role into research on decarbonizing the grid.
The federal government has identified the area offshore of Humboldt Bay as a prime area for the development of an offshore wind turbine farm. Research is ongoing on how best to harness the energy of the wind in the deep waters off Humboldt Bay. We look forward to becoming an exporter of clean energy to offset global warming.
Transition to Fish Farming
Commercial fishing was once a mainstay of the local economy. Unfortunately, due to a combination of overfishing and environmental degradation in the spawning streams that replenish the fishing stocks, commercial fishing as an industry has declined. However, due to the availability of clean water and a favorable climate, our area is being primed for development as a fish farming area. Nordic AquaFarms, a Norwegian based fish farming company is currently building a $500 million environmentally friendly project on Humboldt Bay to provide healthy protein to the world.
