The Language of the Coastal Act Section 30240 commonly known as environmentally sensitive habitat area does not promote erosion, changes in topography or actively promote erosion. This was reiterated in an email to a local concerned citizen by Larry Simon, Federal Consistency Coordinator of the Coastal Commission. Restoration is allowed.
Locally, only the County can issue a coastal permit and only the Coastal Commission can issue consistency determination to approve projects in environmentally sensitive habitat
area.
There have been articles and letters to the editor in the past few months raising concerns about the management of local coastal dunes and after being approached by some members of the community, there are some questions about certain projects that should be investigated and answers given to the public. For the average person, it is easy to get lost into technical language and studies being cited.
These are not corporate projects. These are projects by organizations such as Friends of the Dunes,
Manila Community District, the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Bureau of Land Management.
These groups purport to protect the environment.
In the last several years, there have been several projects that have claimed vegetation removal does not affect the dunes. One such project is near the state park at the north end of Clam Beach. The cost of this project according Uri Driscoll, is about 1 million dollars.
Uri is not the only person raising concerns but he has been the one who has spoken up about it, most recently.
According to Uri, many projects obtained permits claiming that moving vegetation would not have deterimental effects and affect wetlands or wildlife. Using the same project near the north end of the clam beach, there have not been "any chicks hatched in the last 6 or 7 years." This area regularly produced chicks.
A county planner planner, Trevor Oslow , is also on the board of the Friends of the Dunes. He
signed off on their permit. Isn't this a conflict of interest?
Here are some questions that members of the community want answered and they want dialogue in a public, transparent forum:
How much money is being spent? Who is funding the beach grass eradication projects?
Are there unintended consequences?
Are there claims that were made in the permits yet there have been effects being seen today that are different?
Where is oversight and who is monitoring the organizations that issue the permits?
How can the public participate in the beach and dune managment process?
Has the snowy plover populations actually benefited from these projects?
What are the affects on topography, wildlife, wetlands etc and how are they being measured?
Who are the players and what is actually at stake?
What effect did the Manila lawsuit have on eradication efforts there? Were wetland restoration grant monies used properly?
According to Uri, many projects obtained permits claiming that moving vegetation would not have deterimental effects and affect wetlands or wildlife. Using the same project near the north end of the clam beach, there have not been "any chicks hatched in the last 6 or 7 years." This area regularly produced chicks.
A county planner planner, Trevor Oslow , is also on the board of the Friends of the Dunes. He
signed off on their permit. Isn't this a conflict of interest?
Here are some questions that members of the community want answered and they want dialogue in a public, transparent forum:
How much money is being spent? Who is funding the beach grass eradication projects?
Are there unintended consequences?
Are there claims that were made in the permits yet there have been effects being seen today that are different?
Where is oversight and who is monitoring the organizations that issue the permits?
How can the public participate in the beach and dune managment process?
Has the snowy plover populations actually benefited from these projects?
What are the affects on topography, wildlife, wetlands etc and how are they being measured?
Who are the players and what is actually at stake?
What effect did the Manila lawsuit have on eradication efforts there? Were wetland restoration grant monies used properly?
There have been projects blocked by the Coastal Commission citing concerns for the environment. Are wetlands and consequences to the environment and approval by the Coastal Commission and County dependent on who is backing the projects. In times when we get told California is broke and there aren't funds to pay for jails, for food for children who need it and other important concerns, why is no one questioning the salaries and monitoring a bureaucrats that think they are above answering to the public that pays their salary?
Thank you for a dose of realism.
ReplyDeleteDaniel, thank you for your comment and I remember reading your letter in the local paper on this very topic with specifics.
DeleteYou are right John that this is not a simple subject. There are a lot of elements and players and money involved.
ReplyDeleteWhat is most troubling is the lack of public process. There was in place a Dune Forum that promised to hold annual public meetings to make sure stakeholders (the public) would be able to stay engaged and have an opportunity to raise questions and get real answers. Instead we got the Secret Dune COOP that is made up of government agencies (along with the non profit FOD) who has been unaccountable.
Once real questions were getting raised thier have been no Dune Forums. But the Dune COOP keeps on with thier secret meetings.
John, here's a good study on European Seagrass. Worth a read if you're genuinely interested.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cal-ipc.org/symposia/archive/pdf/1997_symposium_proceedings1934.pdf
Geoff, I am genuinely interested in local issues. I am genuinely interested in input and dialogue.
DeleteEurope is not Humboldt County. I am not interested in deflection and people who have double standards and claim to watch out for the rest of us because only they know what is best for everyone.
John, "European Beachgrass" is the species of grass that has been removed from Manilla and other Coastal Dunes in Humboldt and beyond.
DeleteGeoff, I appreciate the link. The questions raised deserve answers.
DeleteThank you for raising these questions, John. I've read debates on these issues which have run aground on science long before the human players and organizations become visible. I have hope that these questions can get addressed and that real answers are forthcoming. I would add one: if the fiscredited Mad River Biologists did plover research which is being relied on, does it hold up and was it falsified in whole or in part.
ReplyDeleteThank you John. We need answers and transparency about the human organizations and the power dynamics.
ReplyDelete