Category Archives: Smith River

Articles, Community News, Local Government, Smith River, Tribal Affairs

Del Norte Supervisors Oppose Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation’s Land-Acquisition Efforts

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Photo by Persephone Rose

Four county supervisors officially opposed efforts by the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation to place more than 24 acres into trust, citing concerns that the land would no longer generate tax revenue for the county.

In a letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs on Tuesday supervisors pointed out that much of Del Norte County consists of public land and is home to “three tribes whose trust land holdings have grown over the past decade.”

“Although each acquisition may seem small, the cumulative impact of continued reductions of the county’s privately held land base — and thus its taxable land base — is significant,” the letter states. “This ongoing trend strains local resources and challenges the county’s ability to serve its residents.”

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Arts & Culture, Smith River, Tribal Affairs, Videos

The 2024 Peace & Dignity Journey Run

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In the 2024 Peace and Dignity Journeys run, participants embark on a seven-month prayer run from Fairbanks, Alaska, and Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, converging at El Cuaca, Colombia. This journey emphasizes the commitment to prayer, underlining the obligation to strengthen spiritual connections among Indigenous Peoples across the Western Hemisphere.

Join Rory McCain and Ethan Caudill-DeRego of Redwood Voice as they meet up with and interview the runners from the north during their overnight stay with the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation.

Agriculture, Articles, Community News, Environment, Health, Smith River

Smith River Residents Air Concerns About Illnesses They Say Are Linked to Pesticide Use In Lily Industry

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Marilyn Gray Wintersteen admitted she didn’t think much about what growers were spraying on the lily fields in her neighborhood until last year when it hit her in the face.

Wintersteen was planting flowers in her backyard on Ocean View Drive when she got a face full of spray from the adjacent lily field.

“My skin burned, my eyes burned, my tongue swelled up, I had blisters on it [and] I ended up in the ER,” she said. “I got from the back of my house where they were spraying around to the front of my house and bent over to catch my breath. I could not breathe.”

Wintersteen, a 35 year resident, told her story to the North Coast Water Quality Control Board at a town hall meeting at the Smith River United Methodist Church on Monday and to the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

Both meetings, and a third at the United Methodist Church in Crescent City, focused on the Water Quality Control Board’s efforts to develop water quality regulations for Easter lily bulb production in the Smith River plain. Those regulations will be in an order monitoring and mitigating the impacts of copper diuron and other pesticides and fertilizers on the watershed aquatic ecosystem. 

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Agriculture, Articles, Environment, Smith River, Tribal Affairs

(Updated) Public Asked To Weigh In On Pesticide Use In Smith River’s Easter Lily Bulb Industry

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(Updated at 3:58 p.m. with a clarification about Monday’s public meeting in Smith River from the Environmental Protection Information Center.)

Conservationists seeking to eliminate the use of “highly toxic pesticides” on Smith River’s Easter lily fields want to give residents and county officials a chance to voice their concerns next week.

Scientists with the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board also want to hear from the public as they continue work to develop water quality regulations for commercial Easter lily bulb production in the Smith River area.

The meeting on Monday will include a presentation from Water Quality Control Board staff on the waste discharge permit process and will give the public a chance to offer testimony.

Representatives with the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), the Siskiyou Land Conservancy and the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation will be part of that discussion at 6 p.m. Monday at the Smith River United Methodist Church before going before the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors.

Monday’s public forum will be broadcast live on KFUG Community Radio, 101.1 FM — listen by clicking here.

“We are hoping that affected community members will come to each of the two meetings and help make a compelling case as to why pesticide application needs to be more regulated,” Josefina Barrantes, EPIC’s Del Norte advocate, told Redwood Voice Community News on Thursday. “We want both the water board staff and the Board of Supervisors to hear how the pollution has affected the community so that it can motivate real change.”

The Water Quality Control Board will also go before the Board of Supervisors at their meeting 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Flynn Center, 981 H Street in Crescent City.

The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board will hold a public scoping meeting from 4-6 p.m. Tuesday at the United Methodist Church in Crescent City. This meeting will also be held virtually. For more information about efforts to develop waste discharge permit requirements for Easter lily bulb production in Smith River, click here.

Continue reading (Updated) Public Asked To Weigh In On Pesticide Use In Smith River’s Easter Lily Bulb Industry →