Priorities
Working Lands and Waters
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Conservation / Restoration
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Recreation
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Livable Communities
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Working Lands and Waters 〰️ Conservation / Restoration 〰️ Recreation 〰️ Livable Communities 〰️
Working Lands and Waters
Humboldt Bay’s uplands and tidelines are one of Humboldt County’s most important and enduring economic engines. The vast majority of the of these baylands are zoned for coastal-dependent industrial and agricultural uses.
A primary responsibility of the Harbor District is to support diverse economic development and programs in and around the bay, including shipping and trade, dredging, navigation, harbor safety, port facilities, docks & marinas, aquaculture & mariculture, fishing, among others. I serve on both the Dredging Subcommittee and the Finance Subcommittee to ensure the Harbor Districts collaboration with Federal, State, County, municipal, Tribal, agricultural, maricultural and fishing entitities within the Bay. I am committed to maintaining a clean Humboldt Bay with ecological fitness and biological diversity that ensure viable working lands and working waters for generations to come.
Conservation, remediation and restoration
I am a candidate who equally values the Harbor District’s commercial, recreational and conservation missions. They are inextricably linked. That said, my 35-year professional career has focused on watershed management, water quality, ecological restoration, and habitat enhancement. It is of vital importance to me that the focus and effort put into port development by the Harbor District does not overshadow its conservation mandate. There have been over forty ecological restoration projects since 1990 involving over a third of Humboldt Baylands. I have been involved in the funding acquisition, planning, implementation and/or monitoring of over 20 of these projects.
I will continue to support conservation first. That is, maintain existing healthy habitats. My second goal is to remediate relic brownfields and attendant pollutants from past industry. That is, make them fit for re-use and ensure that future industry are not allowed to pollute water and soils in the manner of historic industries. Thirdly, I will strongly support ecological restoration and invasive species control throughout the Bay on lands that are sufficiently remediated.
Recreation
What has always been known to locals and is now becoming understood elsewhere is that Humboldt Bay is a world-class destination in which to recreate. I served for a decade on the City of Eureka Open Space Parks and Recreation Commission and worked for over a decade at the Redwood Community Action Agency advocating for multi-use trails, boat launches, water trails, interpretive signage, parks, camping areas, recreational fishing and hunting, among other forms of recreation. This election cycle is concurrent with the development of the 320-mile Great Redwood Trail from San Francisco Bay to Humboldt Bay. I will continue support the recreation economy through recruiting and assisting recreation-based businesses and tourism-based businesses. More importantly I will continue to support programs and projects which increase access to residents to recreate in and around Humboldt Bay.
Livable communities
The Harbor District’s commercial, recreational and conservation missions all add to creating liveable communities in terms of balancing needs for jobs, places to recreate and stewarding a clean, biodiverse bay. The last 5 years and the next 10 years represent a critical strategic planning and implementation period impacting the future of communities around the Bay and Humboldt County in general. I live, will retire and likely die on Humboldt Bay. The communities that I represent in Division 4 are largely comprised of my family, friends and colleagues. I have been fortunate to collaborate with, educate and be educated by, the next generation of natural resource managers and leaders. I am held accountable to maintain and create liveable communities for future generations. My prayer is that my legacy will be making reasoned, diversely-consulted and balanced decisions that support local and regional quality of life.