Happy Trails

This morning Roger James and I spoke with Dennis Houghton, trail advocate and formerly with the City of Arcata. He will be giving a talk on The Art and Science of Sustainable Trail Building at about 6:30pm on Thursday, November 8th. However, there will be a free Fish Taco Dinner before hand at 5pm. It all takes place at the D Street Community Center in Arcata.

This morning Michael Kauffmann and I spoke with Deborah Zeirten from Save The Redwoods League. The organization is one of the oldest conservation groups in the country and this year is celebrating its centennial. Deborah is in charge of education, focusing on grades 6-12. SRL organizes field trips to the redwoods and takes care of the transportation. Educations who want to take advantage of this should email Deborah at education@savetheredwoods.org.

This morning Carol Vander Meer and I spoke with 5th District Supervisor Elect, Steven Madrone. He has a long history of trail work dating back to the 80s with Annie and Mary, rail banking and the Hammond Trail. We got his perspective on current trail project, Senator McGuire's bill to create the Great Redwood trail, and other future projects.

This morning Carol Vandermeer and I talked with Rees Hughs, trail advocate and author of "Hiking Humboldt, Volume 2." We looked at some of the choice spots in Humboldt County that are great for a Fall Hike.

This morning Emily Sinkhorn and I spoke with Brian Gerving, City of Eureka Public Works Director about Eureka's Measure "I", which would add 1/4 of a cent to the sales tax for the next 20 years. The money could only be used for road maintenance in the city. We also looked at CA Proposition 6. This would eliminate the gasoline tax imposed by SB1. The elimination of this gas tax would impact road maintenance and trail projects statewide and here in Humboldt County. We strongly urge all voters to read then voter information packet before heading the the polls in November.

This morning I spoke with Morgan Lommele of People for Bikes, in Bolder Colorado. People for Bikes is an national non-prophet promoting biking nationwide. Morgan and crew have been working on getting legislation passed for e-bikes state by state. There are still over 20 states that consider e-bikes motor vehicles. Therefore they are not allowed on trails and in some cases not even on the streets since they can't be registered as motor vehicles. To be clear, e-bikes have a small electric motor that assist in peddling and can only go up to 20mph. The motor on an e-bike is no larger than what you would find on a hair dryer.

This morning Carol Vander Meer and I spoke with Sean Tetrault, Co-owner of Revolution Bicycles and Colin Fiske of the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities (CRTP) about E-Bikes. What they are, the different classifications, and where you can ride them. E-Bikes will be discussed tonight at the Transportation and Safety Committee in Arcata.

This morning I spoke with Emily Sinkhorn who is in the middle of her bike tour of eastern Europe. Thus far she has biked though Serbia, Transylvania, and Romania. This morning she talked with us from the town of Nausud, Romania, which is 10 hours ahead of us.

This morning my cohost, Roger James and I spoke with Humboldt Supervisor, Mike Wilson about The Great Redwood Trail. The exciting news is that SB 1029, the state bill that would create the Great Redwood Trail Agency, has passed both the State Senate and Assembly and is now on it's way to the Governor to sign into law. Your efforts to date have made a great difference in getting the bill this far. Now is the time to once again call the Governor's office and ask him to SIGN SB 1029! The bill will be on his desk this week so don't delay. Your support really does make a difference! Call 916-445-2841.

This morning my co-host Roger James and I spoke with Alison Sterling and Jeff Morris about a new bill just introduced by our congressman, Jarad Huffman. It is JR 6596 and supports a myriad of recreation and trail opportunities in Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity Counties along with wilderness restoration and fire management. More info at MountainsAndRivers.org

This morning Carol Vandermeer and I spoke with Hank Seemann, Deputy Director, Humboldt County Environmental Services, about recent milestones with the Humboldt Bay Trail, including the Humboldt Bay Marathon, County approval of environmental planning document (CEQA), submission of a grant for construction funding, and more.

Lyndsey Battle Talks with Miles Slattery and Emily Sinkhorn about Eureka City Parks and bike share programs in Eureka.

This morning, Michael Kaufman and Joe Gillespie joined us on KHUM to talk about the history, current state and future of trails throughout Del Norte County. For those wishing to become involved with the Del Norte Trail Alliance, contact Joe: 707.954.1641 or email: delnortetrailalliance@gmail.com

This morning Emily Sinkhorn and I spoke with Darlene Santer about Petrolia Pathways. This is a project to make walking and biking in Petrolia safer by adding shoulders and pathways for pedestrians and cyclists.

This morning Roger James and I spoke with wilderness author, John Soares about his various books on great hikes in and near Humboldt County along with the Trinity Alps, Russian Wilderness, Mount Shasta, etc.