Shows
EcoNews ReportThe Next Big Step Toward Eel River Dam RemovalPG&E recently tendered its License Surrender Application and Decommissioning Plan for the Potter Valley Project to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. This plan details when and how PG&E plans to tear down its two dams on the Eel River. And since an agreement has been reached for run-of-the-river, wet season diversions to replace the existing diversion to the Russian River, support for dam removal is now pretty much universal between the two basins. PG&E's Application is eye-wateringly long and technical. Thankfully, Scott Greacen and Alicia Hamann of Friends of the Eel River are here to help...
2025-08-0928 minEcoNews ReportPotholes in the Forest Service Roadless RuleThe Trump Administration has announced it seeks to revoke the “Roadless Rule,” the 2001 regulation limiting U.S. Forest Service activities in unroaded areas of our National Forests. Guests Kimberly Baker of the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) and Scott Greacen of Friends of the Eel River join the program to discuss the history and purpose behind defending roadless areas and what this new attack on our public lands means for clean water, fish and wildlife, and recreation.More information on the history of the Roadless Rule can be found here.Support the show
2025-07-0527 minEcoNews ReportA Deal for the Eel?This week on the EcoNews Report our host Alicia Hamann from Friends of the Eel River talks about the flurry of recent developments on Eel River dam removal. On January 31 PG&E released their final draft license surrender application, a document that outlines some of the logistics of how they plan to remove the two Eel River dams. PG&E is accepting comments on this document until March 3, you can find more information at eelriver.org.On a separate but parallel track is the publication just last week of a deal for wet-season diversions from the Eel...
2025-02-1629 minEcoNews ReportHow Will Groundwater be Regulated After This Significant Court Ruling?In late August, Russian Riverkeeper and the California Coastkeeper Alliance got what looks like a very significant ruling in their challenge to Sonoma County’s well permitting ordinance. The groups say that by allowing excessive and unmonitored groundwater extraction, the County is failing to protect surface flows in creeks and rivers that fish, wildlife, and recreation need. The court agreed, holding that under the Public Trust doctrine, Sonoma County has an affirmative duty to take the public trust into account in the planning and allocation of water resources, and to protect public trust uses whenever feasible,” but that the Coun...
2024-09-2928 minEcoNews Report"Project 2025" and the EnvironmentSpecial guest Congressman Jared Huffman is heading a task force in the Democratic caucus to address Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s policy outline for a second Trump administration. The document is pervaded by anti-science and anti-regulatory animus, with a particular focus on climate science and renewable energy. Friends of the Eel River Conservation Director Scott Greacen goes deep into these and even darker corners of the plan with Congressman Huffman. Support the show
2024-06-2928 minEcoNews ReportOpportunities and Challenges for the Great Redwood TrailThis week on the EcoNews Report, our host Alicia Hamann from Friends of the Eel River discusses the opportunities and challenges presented by the Great Redwood Trail. The project, proposed to be the longest rail-trail in the nation, is the state's opportunity to fulfill its responsibility to remediate the environmental harms caused by the old railroad. These harms include fish passage barriers, toxic waste, and hazardous debris left in the river. The trail will also provide opportunities for safe active transportation, enhanced public access to the Wild and Scenic Eel River, and a boost to the tourism economy. But...
2024-06-0129 min
Unmanageable with Alicia BalesEpisode 8: Eel River Deep DiveEel River News--Scott Greacen from Friends of the Eel River on Dam Removal at the Potter Valley Project; Perry Lincoln and Michelle Merrifield from the Kinest'e Coalition working toward tribal consultation on the Great Redwood Trail planning process.
2024-04-101h 57EcoNews ReportThe Latest on the Seismically Unsafe Scott DamOn this week’s episode of the EcoNews Report we reflect on the tragic dam failure in Libya last month and discuss why Scott Dam on the Eel River poses similar risks. The PG&E-owned dam sits right on a significant fault line, the Bartlett Spring Fault. Between its unusual engineering and a century’s worth of accumulated sediment, many factors are converging to make even PG&E wary of the risk. That’s why the company made drastic changes to how they manage the dam last spring. And that’s why they are pursuing expedited dam removal right now.
2023-10-0827 minEcoNews ReportHow to Make Ethical Decisions in Complicated WorldTrying to be an ethical person in the modern world is hard. How should we weigh the site-specific impacts from wind energy development against the potential climate benefit? How far should we go to try to save an endangered species (and at what point is that resource allocation better served somewhere else)? Should we rely on our intuition or does that risk confirmation bias? Does climate change clarify our moral obligations or does it make finding the "right thing" even murkier? (Is there even a "right thing"!?)Do you think about these things? Because Gang Green does...
2022-12-0333 minEcoNews ReportWhat Will the Next Plan for the Northwest’s Forests Look Like?The Northwest Forest Plan — first adopted in 1994 — guides the management of federally owned forest lands in Washington, Oregon and Northern California. A lot has changed in the last 26 years, but the plan has mostly remained static.Until now! Mike Anderson of the Wilderness Society joins hosts Tom Wheeler (EPIC) and Scott Greacen (Friends of the Eel) to preview an upcoming effort to revise this important document, and to think about how to incorporate everything we’ve learned in the last quarter-century.Support the show
2020-08-0228 minEcoNews ReportA State of the Klamath Update: A Spirited Discussion on What That Big Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Decision MeansLast week the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission either moved along the Klamath Dam removal project, or else it threw a big wrench in the works. S. Craig Tucker, consultant to the Karuk Tribe, and Mike Belchik, senior water policy analyst with the Yurok Tribe, joins Scott Greacen (Friends of the Eel) and Tom Wheeler (EPIC) for a spirited discussion on the new news about the state of dam removal. What does the FERC ruling mean? Will it speed up dam removal or slow it down?Support the show
2020-07-2629 minEcoNews ReportWhy Spring- and Summer-Run Salmonids are So Damn Interesting and WeirdSpring-run chinook and summer-run steelhead are exceedingly strange creatures. What makes them different from their (more numerous) winter-run colleagues? Why are they an important indicator of the health of a river? What’s their future?Scott Greacen (Friends of the Eel River) and Tom Wheeler (Environmental Protection Information Center) host a discussion on these odd fish, with Bill Tripp of the Karuk Tribe, consultant Craig Tucker and fish researcher Samantha Kannry.Support the show
2020-06-2029 minEcoNews ReportHow Can We Be Happy, Healthy, Effective Activists and People?Scott Greacen, Jen Kalt and Tom Wheeler discuss a recent Op-Ed in the New York Times and ask each other the question: How can we be all be happy, healthy, effective activists without succumbing to gloom?More on Oregon activist Emma Marris's 5-step plan for dealing with the stress of the climate crisis and becoming part of the solution: How to Stop Freaking Out and Tackle Climate Change. New York Times, January 10, 2020.Marris is fighting a proposed Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) project in Coos Bay and the associated pipeline that would impact the...
2020-03-0730 minEcoNews ReportThey’re Back! Your Loveable Environmental Curmudgeons Have a New ShowRemember the EcoNews Report? It was that handy, locally produced environmental news roundup on KHSU that you used to tune into on Thursday afternoons, back when KHSU was a thing.Now, readers/listeners, it is back! Every Saturday at 10 a.m., the Lost Coast Outpost and our sister station KHUM (104.3 and 107.3 FM) will bring you the newly revamped half-hour enviro news/chat program with all the old familiar faces — Jen Kalt (Humboldt Baykeeper), Tom Wheeler (Environmental Protection Information Center), Larry Glass (Northcoast Environmental Center) and Scott Greacen (Friends of the Eel).This week: What we’re d...
2019-09-0829 min
EcoNews ReportData Suggests Broad Decline Among Regional BirdsAmerican Avocet, the species with the biggest decline in eBird. Credit Ken Burton
“Data suggests that 2/3 of regional bird species are in decline, 1/3 of those are double digit declines”
Friends of the Eel River’s Conservation Director Scott Greacen hosts a discussion with Ken Burton, author of Common Birds of Northwest California and A Birding Guide to Humboldt County, about patterns in observational data that may reflect changes in bird populations.
In the course of revising his latest edition of Common Birds of Northwest California , Ken compared data from the global citizen science database eBird over th...
2019-03-0700 minEcoNews ReportA New Hope for an Ancestral RiverCredit Rob Badger/Friends of the Eel River
“Many people know that the river’s name is the Eel River right now, but the original name is Wiyot, that’s what we originated our name from and that is our ancestral river.” Ted Hernandez, Tribal Chair and Cultural Director for the Wiyot Tribe.
Friends of the Eel River’s Conservation Director Scott Greacen hosts a discussion about the cultural significance of the river and future of the Eel River Dams with guests from the Wiyot Tribe and CalTrout. Joining him are Ted Hernandez, Tribal Chair and Cultural Director f...
2019-02-0700 minEcoNews ReportTalking About the Bigger Picture of California’s Legal Cannabis IndustryCannabis growing in Humboldt County Credit Friends Of the Eel River
Are prohibitionary cities and counties unintentionally sanctioning the illegal cannabis market? Friends of the Eel River’s Conservation Director Scott Greacen discusses this question with HDL‘s Cannabis Policy Advisor Mark Lovelace.
Legislation legalizing recreational cannabis in California provided robust local control by allowing cities and counties to chose their level of involvement with the new law. Given three options – to adpot the system as it, to modify as they see fit, or to opt out completely – the majority of municipalities chose to opt out of the lega...
2019-01-0300 minEcoNews Report“Bi-partisan” Action at the Expense of California SalmonAerial view of Shasta Dam. Photo: Robert Campbell/Wikimedia Commons.
Friends of the Eel River’s Conservation Director Scott Greacen explores these questions and more with guests John McManus and Regina Chichizola. John is the president of the Golden Gate Salmon Association, which represents both sport and commercial fishermen in its effort to restore salmon runs in the central valley. Regina is the salmon and water policy analyst for the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations and co-director of Save California’s Salmon.
Senator Diane Feinstein teamed up with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other Republ...
2018-12-0600 minEcoNews ReportIs Policy Before Science the New Norm in Water Regulations?MiddleFork_channel_TiPa Eel River CC FOER
Tune in for a discussion of how federal agencies are protecting fish, or rather failing to do so.
Scott Greacen, Conservation Director for Friends of the Eel River is joined by Chris Shutes, FERC projects director and water rights advocate for California Sportfishing Protection Alliance to discuss federal influence on water policy in California.
Trump’s memoranda on water policy last month is part of a pattern of bending federal agencies to have policies that are more favorable to water supply interests. Particularly concerning is the way in whic...
2018-11-0100 minEcoNews ReportGovernor Brown Signed the Great Redwood Trail Bill!Northwest Pacific Rail alongside the mainstem Eel River. Photo: Scott Greacen/Friends of the Eel River.
Scott Greacen, FOER’s Conservation Director and Humboldt County’s 3rd District Supervisor Mike Wilson discuss SB 1029.
Formerly known as the Great Redwood Trail Act, SB 1029 shifts the North Coast Railroad Authority’s mandate from developing rail infrastructure to developing trail from Willits north to Blue Lake and eventually preparing a shut-down plan for the agency.
Read more about the bill on Lost Coast Outpost, and learn about FOER’s vision for the Great Redwood Trail here.
2018-10-0400 minEcoNews ReportIn Landmark Decision California Court Finds Public Trust Doctrine Applies to Groundwater“It feels like law has yet to absorb the lessons of science.”
Friends of the Eel River’s Conservation Director Scott Greacen is joined by Glen Spain from Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations for a discussion about one of the most consequential public trust decisions in California law in decades.
The public trust doctrine stems from ancient roman law and states that certain resources (like air and water) are owned by the state and held in trust for the people.
Tune in to learn about the case that established the public trust do...
2018-09-0600 minEcoNews ReportWhy Huffman’s NW California Wilderness Bill is SpecialEnglish Ridge, mainstem Eel River. Photo courtesy of Friends of the Eel River.
“Many of us have been fighting for these [wilderness protections] since the whole concept of wilderness was created in the first place.”
Scott Greacen, Friends of the Eel River Conservation Director discusses Congressman Huffman’s recently introduced wilderness bill with Alison Sterling-Nichols and Larry Glass. Alison is an organizer and consultant with NW California Mountains and Rivers, Larry is Executive Director of Safe Alternatives for our Forest Environment and Board President of the Northcoast Environmental Center.
2018-08-0200 minEcoNews ReportSalmon People in an Era of Ecological ColonialismKlamath River Estuary, Yurok Territory Credit: Wikimedia Commons
“When we call ourselves salmon people, that’s very literal in our purpose to take care of salmon. So that means the river and the forest, and all of these other things that create salmon habitat. So if the salmon aren’t here, I think that’s a very cosmological violence – like striping identity, striping purpose.”
Scott Greacen, Conservation Director for Friends of the Eel River is joined by Kaitlin Reed, Yurok Tribal member and PhD candidate in Native American Studies at UC Davis. Katilin is studying Native American land and wat...
2018-07-0500 minEcoNews ReportQuestioning Local Government Transparency and AccountabilityPart of the mile-long diversion pipe that connects the Eel and Russian Rivers. Credit: Friends of the Eel River
“The key piece of this whole scheme, is that you get out from under the requirement to provide fish passage over Scott dam” Tom Wheeler, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Information Center, hosts a discussion with Friends of the Eel River Conservation Director Scott Greacen about Humboldt County’s position on the Eel River dams and concerns about transparency in local government.
Tom and Scott discuss the results of Friends of the Eel River’s recent Public Records...
2018-06-0700 minEcoNews ReportVictory in Court for Klamath SalmonCoho spawning on the Salmon river. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
“Rivers carry more than just water – they also carry sediment which is very important to a river’s function and its ability to naturally regulate itself from diseases.”
Friends of the Eel River’s Conservation Director Scott Greacen discusses the Yurok and Hoopa Tribes’ recent US district court win with the Yurok Tribe’s senior water policy analyst Mike Belchik.
Upper basin irrigators asked the court to alter the injunctions it had put in place in February of 2017, which require the Bureau of Reclamation to provide two types of re...
2018-05-0300 minEcoNews ReportDam Safety and Railroad Bills Move Forward in SacramentoScott Dam graphic about “The Knocker” from PG&E.
Stephanie Tidwell, Friends of the Eel River Executive Director, and Scott Greacen, Friends of the Eel River Conservation Director, discuss new and proposed state legislation and how it may effect the Eel River. California legislators passed SB 92 and AB 1270 , both of which provide greater oversight of California dams. AB 1270 requires annual inspections of high hazard dams – those were loss of life is likely in the event of dam failure, and even makes some information from inspections part of the public record. If these new procedures raise red flags about the safety...
2018-04-0500 minEcoNews ReportIs the Future of Eel River Dams Being Decided Behind Closed Doors?The Scott Dam on the Eel River. Photo: Rob Badger/Friends of the Eel River.
Tune in for a discussion of the fate of the Eel River dams that highlights more questions than answers. Pacific Gas and Electric made headlines last week when they announced, during the Eel Russian River Commission (ERRC) meeting, their intention to sell or surrender the Eel River dams. The Commission then began a discussion of how to expand their charter to meet the requirements of obtaining and running the Eel River dams, without admitting any intention to actually acquire the dams. They told the...
2018-03-0100 minEcoNews ReportThe Importance of Baseline and Cumulative EffectsCaribou Lake in the Trinity Alps Wilderness. Photo courtesy of SAFE.
“This is where we get to the idea of cumulative effects – how do we ensure that the watershed remains capable of supporting salmon and steelhead and other species that we need and frankly have an obligation to.”
Scott Greacen, Conservation Director for Friends of the Eel River, hosts with guest Larry Glass, President of the Northcoast Environmental Center and Safe Alternatives for our Forest Environment (SAFE). They discuss SAFE’s recent legal victory against California Department of Food and Agriculture’s aerial spraying program that targeted schools and...
2018-02-0100 minEcoNews ReportYesterday, Today, TomorrowRailroad crossing completely washed out at Rocky Gulch alongside hwy 101. Photo: Scott Greacen.
Friends of the Eel River Executive Director Stephanie Tidwell and Conservation Director Scott Greacen discuss rising tides, climate change, and Friends of the Eel River’s on-going legal battle with the North Coast Railroad Authority. Scott and Stephanie discuss the fight between state and federal law in the Trump era and the struggle to secure environmental protections at the state and local level.
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2018-01-0500 minEcoNews ReportAbrupt Abolition of Restoration Oversight GroupScott Greacen, Conservation Director for Friends of the Eel River, hosts this episode about the abrupt abolition of the Trinity Adaptive Management Working Group (TAMWG). TAMWG was a federal advisory committee made up of local landowners, scientists, and business owners who provided oversight for the Trinity River Restoration Program. The decision to dissolve the committee appears to have come from high level Department of Interior officials. Scott is joined by Darren Mierau, North Coast Director for CalTrout, and Tom Stokley, Consultant to the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen Associations. Read Will Houston’s article in the Eureka Times Standard fo...
2017-12-0700 min
Happy TrailsCA Supreme Court Decision Against the NCRAThis morning Emily Sinkhorn and I spoke with Scott Greacen, Executive Director of Friends of the Eel River about the recent CA Supreme Court Decision Against the NCRA for not following CEQA guidelines regarding the northern portion of the railroad right of way.
2017-08-0126 min
Food Non-FictionSave the Salmon - Part 2In "Save the Salmon Part 2" we explain why environmentalists talk about the drastic loss in salmon populations even though salmon seems to be abundant in grocery stores and sushi restaurants. We talk about the differences between wild and farmed salmon. This episode also discusses the pros and cons in the debate on using farmed salmon as a way to provide salmon to the masses and alleviate the fishing of wild salmon. Should you be buying farmed or wild salmon? Which one are you getting at restaurants? How do you know what the best choice in salmon is? We cover...
2015-05-0321 minHappy TrailsScott Greacen & NCRA Right Of WayCliff talks with Scott Greacen of Friends of the Eel River about the future of the NCRA right of way and trail development down the 101 corridor and around Humboldt Bay
2011-11-3026 min