NORTH COAST
In your mind’s eye, picture wild coastline, giant rivers, farms and ranches, redwood trees and forest lands stretched across 20,000 square miles, including millions of acres of federal land. 40% of the state’s natural runoff water, including a lot of the water that feeds farming in the southern part of the state. This area makes up 11.5% of California’s land but it’s home to less than 1% of the state’s population.
The North Coast, as it’s defined in California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment, stretches over 20,000 square miles and includes six counties: Mendocino, Humboldt, Del Norte, Lake, Trinity, and Siskiyou. This episode explores how climate change is projected to affect life in the North Coast region.
Questions
How is climate change expected to affect the North Coast region? Which of these effects will have the greatest impact on people’s day-to-day lives, in your opinion?
What is the current status of dam removal along the Klamath River? How has this change affected fish populations in the river? How has it affected the lives of Karuk and Yurok people who have traditionally fished the river? How has it affected the lives of farmers in the upper Klamath basin?
First, look at the CalFire Fire Hazard Severity Zones Map for your county and for the counties mentioned in this episode (Mendocino, Humboldt, Del Norte, Lake, Trinity, and Siskiyou). How does your home county compare to at least one of these other counties? Next, look at this Wildland-Urban Interface map. Do you live in one of the three zones shown on the map (interface/intermix/influence).
Have you had any weather- or environment-related experiences similar to the young people in this episode? If so, how are your experiences similar? If not, why do you think that is?
Voices
In order of appearance, the young people I interviewed for this episode were: Kaitlin, Tehlias, Sola, and Dora (all living at least part-time in Ukiah). I also spoke with my scientist-collaborator, Nancy Freitas.
Listening
Want to listen on another platform? You can find Future Imperfect on Apple Podcasts and on Stitcher.
Resources
If you want to dig deeper into some of the topics in this episode, here are some places to begin.
About anticipated climate change impacts:
California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment, Regional Reports
Climate Change and Health Profile Report Humboldt County (2017)
About heat and HABs:
“Clear Lake Cyanotoxin Issues” from Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians
“Climate-Fueled Heat Waves Spell Danger for Wildlife” from Sierra: the Magazine of the Sierra Club
“Harmful Algal Bloom in San Francisco Bay Results in Aquatic Mortality, Fish Kills” from the Ocean Protection Council
“Fish are piling up dead around Lake Merritt” from Oaklandside
About the Klamath River Basin:
"Recovering Salmon: Zooarchaeology and Oral Tradition in the Documentation of Extirpated Cultural Keystone Species in the Upper Klamath Basin" from Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations
“Klamath Homestead Drawing” from Oregon History Project
“Water Crisis Reaches Boiling Point on Oregon-California Line” from AP News
Klamath River Fish Kill 2021 (video) on the Yurok Tribe Facebook page
“Wildfire kills Klamath fish: ‘Everything that’s in there is dead.’" from High Country News
“The largest dam demolition in history is approved for a Western river” from NPR
“The world’s largest dam removal will touch many lives in the Klamath River Basin” from OPB
“The Science of Saving Salmon as Klamath Dams Come Down” from UC Davis
About forests and fire dangers:
“California Forests” from University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources
"The Legacy of the Log Boom: Humboldt County Logging from 1945 to 1955" paper by Paul G. Wilson
“Drought, fire management and land use changes have led to denser forests in California” from Phys.org
“History of California Wildfires” from Western Fire Chiefs Association
“The New Normal: Wildfire Risk in the Wildland Urban Interface”
“PG&E Sparked at Least 1,500 California Fires. Now the Utility Faces Collapse" from The Wall Street Journal
About using fire as a tool to manage forests:
Learn About Prescribed Fire in Northern California (video playlist)
About drought in Willits:
"Willits faces water crisis; only 100-day supply left" from ABC7 News
“Water shortage in Willits stokes fears" from Manteca/Ripon Bulletin
“California Drought Drying Up Restaurant Business" from WBUR
"As Drought Continues, Northern California Towns Run Out of Water" from KQED
About floods:
About sea level rise impacts in Wigi-Humboldt Bay and beyond:
“Wiyot Placename Video” from Wiyot Tribe (website)
“California Flook Risk: Sea Level Rise Fort Bragg Quadrangle” from the Pacific Institute
Surging Seas Risk Finder from Climate Central
Sea Level Rise planning documents from Humboldt County, CA
Summary of Hazard Scenarios from Humboldt County Sea Level Rise Planning
The Sea Also Rises, a Humboldt County Civil Grand Jury report
“Nuclear Waste Is Piling Up. Does the U.S. Have a Plan?” from Scientific American
"How Climate Change Threatens Coastal Archeological Sites" from KLCC/The World
About Indigenous peoples mentioned in the episode: