CalTrans Talks Trees At Wednesday Town Hall Meet

Contemplated cut of Eucalyptus stand draws critics

Humboldt Sentinel
12/1/08
By Sentinel Staff

EUREKA -- There will be a town hall meeting Wednesday, Dec. 3 to talk about a CalTrans plan to cut down many of the eucalyptus trees along Hwy. 101 between Eureka and Arcata. The meeting will be 5-7 p.m. in the Wharfinger Building, 1 Marina Way on the waterfront of Eureka.

In response to community input, CalTrans is offering alternative plans to preserve the trees, which were planted by a Eureka family in the early 1920s to serve as a wind block to their ranch.

Behind the primary option CalTrans is considering are traffic safety concerns, as the area has seen several close-calls due to the short inbound merging lane logging trucks face when departing the California Redwood Company facility located between the highway and Arcata Bay. Yet local environmentalists such as Eureka activist Jack Nounnan advocate alternatives which involve the closure of median crossings or their conversion into signal interchanges or even a full interchange at the highway’s intersection with Indianola Cutoff.

”They are a living part of our heritage now!” Nounnan exclaimed in an e-mail concerning the trees.

Call Kim Floyd, Project Manager for CalTrans, at 707-441-5739 for more information.