The Great Redwood Trail (GRT) is a rails-to-trails project spearheaded by California Senator Mike McGuire to convert the defunct Northwest Pacific Railroad line into a 316-mile multi-use trail from San Francisco to Humboldt Bay. Supporters believe the trail will benefit tourism in Mendocino and Humboldt counties, where opponents raise multiple concerns. On May 19th, Michelle Merrifield, Nikcole Whipple, and other Pomo, Wailaki, Nomlacki, and Yuki Eel River tribal descendants, along with local allies, met at the Southern Humboldt Community Park as part of the Kinest’e Community Coalition. They argued that the planned trail, which passes through the rugged wilderness of the Eel River Canyon, hasn’t adequately consulted with them or addressed their concerns about land access for Native people, tribal control of ancestral homelands, sacred site security, and cultural resource protection. The GRTA is “mandated to undertake the process of railbanking the former North Coast Railroad Authority rail corridor with the Surface Transportation Board,” according to the website.
The Northwest Pacific Railroad was completed in October 1914. Its tracks were laid into the geologically unstable canyon along the Eel River corridor, part of the ancestral homeland of the Kinesté (pronounced Kin-es-tet) people, which is what the Wailaki called themselves before first contact. Michelle Merrifield, a Wailaki and Nomlacki tribal member who lives in Round Valley, vehemently rejects the trail from start to finish. “In the 1910s, 1915s, [that railroad] basically bulldozed right through village sites, desecrated and decimated our lands and our ancestral burial sites,” she said in an interview at the Southern Humboldt Community Park on Sunday, May 19th, after hosting the Kinesté Community Coalition meeting opposing the trail. “If you look at the maps, you see, wow, there’s a lot of tribal people that had been there. Where are they? Where did they go? And that saddens me.”
She continued, “I’m a third-generation Round Valley native. So I had great grandparents that were up there in the mountains. And they were forcibly moved out of there. That’s what we hold onto – out there.” She gestured behind us, toward the hills behind Garberville that lead to the Eel River Canyon. “That’s our lineage. That’s our DNA, that’s where we come from. Where this trail is coming through is exploiting all of that information.”
At a previous Kinesté Community Coalition meeting in Richardson’s Grove in September, Louisa Morris, a representative for the Great Redwood Trail Agency, suggested placing signage along the trail to educate hikers about the culturally sensitive sites surrounding them.
Merrifield doesn’t “think it’s necessary”: “Putting it on signs, that, ‘back in this time, these tribal people were here,’ or, ‘Oh, look at these village sites,’ ‘Oh, look at these petroglyphs’—that… that sounds like a tourist attraction for their trail.”
Louisa Morris, when asked to comment on May 22nd, stated, “It was a suggestion–we would not want to do anything like that if tribal people (whose ancestors lived there) did not like the idea. We want to work with the Kinest’e Coalition, Wailaki people, tribal governments and members, to collaborate and create a trail project that we all feel good about. I believe that I speak for the Great Redwood Trail team when I say that we want to listen, respect, and find a way forward together with everyone’s ideas, values, and input.”
Page 50 of the Draft Master Plan currently suggests “Install interpretive signage and tribal artwork along the trail that is developed by local tribal people.”
GRTA Executive Director Elaine Hogan added via phone on May 25th, “Any signage that is put along the trail that has anything to do with the history of Native American tribes will be done in partnership with Native American tribes. So it would not be us creating the language. That would very much be done in partnership. So, I understand that there’s a very delicate balance between exploiting Native history for the benefits of tourism, and authentic representation of the history.”
In an earlier interview with Merrifield on April 10th in Round Valley, she expressed that the GRTA prioritizes outsider tourism above the needs of Native people: “Our territory, we had our village sites in there. When they herded us out of that area and into Round Valley, we weren’t able to get back up there. It’s fenced, it’s no trespassing, we’ll be shot on sight. We wonder how to get back in there.” Merrifield asked, how can tribes be expected, or “pushed,” to consult about this trail, “when they haven’t even been allowed to return to that land? Letting strangers through there, but WE haven’t been back yet.”
Merrifield chuckled, “Then, the Great Redwood Trail people, they go, ‘You get to go back up in your territory again! Yay!’ And we’re like… no, that’s not how we’re asking. So the Wildlands Conservancy, now they’re saying, ‘It’s open to the public! Tribal people come too!’” Too? “We haven’t been out there in over a hundred years. There were a lot of massacres of tribal people up there. They herded hundreds of families, tribal members [to Round Valley]. And they had the Citizens Militia, paid to hunt down tribal people.”
Merrifield continued, “We’re acclimated to Round Valley just because this is our home site now. But some refer to it as a concentration camp because that’s how they treated us when we got here. Our roll numbers, our ID numbers, you know, might as well tattoo that on us as well.”
On October 14th 2023, at the Dyerville Overlook Great Redwood Trail Community Event, Nikcole Whipple, Round Valley tribal member, Nomlacki and Yuki descendent, and Save California Salmon representative for the Eel River region, described the term “public lands” as eliciting the feeling of a blow to the chest: “Every time I hear ‘public lands,’ it’s like a stab in my heart, [since] why we have these public lands is because they were stolen from the tribes.”
When asked, “What does the term ‘public land’ mean to you,” Elaine Hogan responded via phone interview on May 25th: “So, since the massacres of the Wailaki people in the 1850s and 60s, they’ve been cut off from their ancestral lands. And displaced. And the creation of the Great Redwood Trail is an opportunity for us to partner, a government agency, the Great Redwood Trail Agency, to partner with the Wailaki people, to gain access to that land and to be able to have stewardship of that land.”
Hogan continued, “And it’s also an opportunity to, to clean up the hazardous waste left from the railroad industry. And for Native people to gain access to their former village sites and cultural sites that are of importance to them. By the land being opened up to the public, it represents an opportunity for them to have stewardship over it, to work in partnership with us, as a public agency, the Great Redwood Trail agency, to work in partnership with us to steward those lands. And so I see it as a real opportunity.”
Hogan added, “There’s a permitting system we are planning to have in the Eel River Canyon. I mean, we could even…” She paused, then laughed, “I mean, we have so many ideas, … honestly, we just haven’t gotten to the point to have that dialogue with them. But, you know, we could have things like Native-guided tours of the Eel River Canyon. Where the elders of the tribe have trained the youth to be backpacking guides that lead people on tours of that area, and walk them through the cultural sites. We could create village sites, replicas, similar to what is in Sue-meg village in Trinidad.”
During the May 19th Kinest’e Community Coalition meeting opposing the trail, Merrifield emphasized, “At least know the history of why we’re resistant to just opening that up to the public. I mean, there is a history that is not settled with tribal people up there.”
Merrifield reiterated, “There had been a lot of genocide of our tribal people in… those backwoods, the wilderness areas.” The Great Redwood Trail strikes Merrifield as a continuation of a “settler, colonial” enterprise. When the colonial rush to know the world swept through her ancestor’s landscape, cultural genocide in the Eel River Canyon was facilitated by the very railway system that the Great Redwood Trail is now “capitalizing on.” She stated, “This trail makes it feel like that all over again.”
Hogan responded on May 25th, “We are really looking forward to this trail being a place of healing for them, and not exacerbating scars of genocide with the creation of the railroads. So we’re really hoping to work in partnership with tribes.”
When asked where the Draft Master Plan addresses protecting cemeteries and petroglyphs, including rock art sites referred to by Eel River Wailaki tribal historian Ben Schill on May 19th as “the monuments of the Wailaki,” Hogan replied on May 25th, “The Draft Master Plan is the culmination of what we heard from all of our tribal engagement, our tribal partners and community stakeholders over the past two years. And so, the specific tribal recommendations that we heard are summarized into 13 tribal recommendations. I don’t have the exact page number. And one of them includes consulting with tribes to identify those culturally sensitive sites. And looking at potential reroutes. Or potential ways to mitigate harms to those sensitive, and culturally important, sites along the trail. At this point, we have received recommendations from tribes that those are things we need to pay attention to.”
Ben Schill stated on May 19th, “Understand… Inaction to protect the vulnerable sites will make the [GRTA] board directly responsible for their future degradation.”
Merrifield added, “My thoughts on the wild up there, is, leave the wild to the wild and leave it alone. I mean, you already took enough land.” She went on, “The state of California sold that land. And that’s why some of the landowners have had that area up there for over 50 years, and they’ve kept it wild, they kept it to themselves, mostly…They settled there, that’s their property, and they don’t want it open to the public.”
Merrifield continued, “And this trail is going right through [the ranchers’] property. They’re like, ‘what are we going to do, if the public starts coming through? Using our bathrooms…’ It’s beautiful up there, but we’re not public people. We’re more private. You’re trying to push more [people] on through there? So, my campaign is opposing this trail. Or, let us be stewards of places we haven’t gone in for a very long time and help us preserve what we know to preserve.”
Speaking to the concept of traditional ecological knowledge, Merrifield added, “There’s a lot of indigenous medicines out there, plant life. And, of course, animal life, that’s trying to come back after being wiped out, like martins and some fishers, and the elk. And condors that might come down from the Klamath River to the Eel River corridor. But they won’t if there’s backpackers and mountain bike traffic through there.” Merrifield referenced the Yurok Tribe Condor Restoration Program (YCRP), an example of the power of Native stewardship efforts to bring large gains, such as this apex scavenger, absent for over a century, back to the land.
Merrifield additionally worries about the effect of the trail construction on the salmon runs. Eel River Wailaki historian Ben Schill concurred saying “The building of the railroad not only destroyed sites and cemeteries, but it dumped so much excavated material into the river that the huge salmon runs were terribly affected and remain a fraction of what they were.”
Perry Lincoln is the founding director of tribal nonprofit Native Health in Native Hands, or Cho-ge xo-la be’ (pronounced Cho-get ho-la-bet), a Wailaki phrase for “The medicine is in our hands.” He mused, “Do we think about the porcupine? Do we think about the eel? Do we think about all those other animals that are extinct? So many shell animals that were in the river are not even in the river anymore. So all of this adds up to what we’re talking about today. If we have a trail through the Eel River corridor, is it going to cause more damage to life?”
Merrifield spoke to feeling pressured and rushed to review Great Redwood Trail documents with a strained expression. “So they’re telling us that they’re taking our comments about this trail into consideration, but where are they taking them? Then they released the 586-page Draft Master Plan, to try to give us an idea of the game plan, but they gave us, what, 30, 60 days to make comments on it? That’s not right. It feels unfair–hurry up and read through that, and they give us a deadline.”
Nikcole Whipple echoed Merrifield’s sentiment about having enough time to voice concerns. She referenced “the Bay Delta Project” and “the Voluntary Agreements used to fast-track the permitting process, bypassing CEQA and Tribal Consultation”: “The state intentionally held the CEQA process over a period of time during a holiday season, so none of the tribal governments were in office or working, and the 30 days lapsed, and so some of the big tribes in the Sacramento valley got left out and they are moving forward.”
Whipple added, “It’s a tactic, it’s what they do. We need to jump on providing public comment, otherwise we’ll get left out and told ‘Your time period already passed’.” Whipple continued, “Something to include in our public comments are the fallacies documented in the Master Plan regarding tribal engagement. ‘Community engagement where tribal people are’ is not the same thing as tribal consultation. We know they didn’t reach out to this many tribal members. They didn’t consult. Their numbers are false.”
When asked to respond to Whipple’s comments, Elaine Hogan replied on May 25th that “60-day comment periods on government documents are pretty typical. However, we remain open to dialogue and communication. This is a multi-generational project and so this is not the only opportunity for input. This is really meant to be an ongoing dialogue and partnership over generations.”
“I understand that a 60-day comment period may feel limiting,” Hogan continued, “but it is just the beginning of our interactions together. And I want people to feel like they can reach out to us, and ask us to come to their meetings.”
Hogan explained, “Part of the reason that we haven’t been able to have the individual conversations with the Wailaki about where, specifically, their cultural sites are that we need to avoid in constructing the trail, is because we don’t have funding for planning any of those parts of the trail, through the Eel River Canyon. What we have right now with the Draft Master Plan is a real high-level overview.”
Nikcole Whipple emphasized, “Every time we go into a meeting we’re told something differently. The agency will tell us there is plenty of time and the trail is not a done deal, and then in another meeting the agency will say that there is ‘legislation’ and the trail is a ‘done deal.’ We are continually misinformed, and it is confusing.”
Whipple added, “In Ukiah, the trail has been done for at least five years, and it’s a homeless encampment where multiple fatalities have occurred.”
Attorney Shannon Wilhite gestured to page 51 of the weighty draft Master Plan, printed in full at the May 19th Kineste Community Coalition meeting. She sighed, “There is a vision statement stating that they will work collaboratively with Native American tribes. And so far we haven’t seen it. A huge fault is that they state that they have been working collaboratively. But there hasn’t been any collaboration with most of the tribes, with the tribes that are opposing it, or have issues with it.”
Wilhite explained, “They talk a lot about Blue Lake Rancheria, who want the trail, and who they’re working closely with. But there’s our group and a bunch of other tribes that they’re not collaborating with. Round Valley Tribe, as Nikcole Whipple was saying, is over 5,000 members, and they only spoke to a handful of people. So they’re not really representing what the indigenous people are wanting.”
Merrifield shared her opinion about the railroad debris. “You’re building a trail on top of an abandoned railroad track, and you don’t even plan on cleaning that up? Which they later came back and said, they MAY clean some stuff up. But they’re not telling us where it is, what it is, and when. So they just do a smoke screen, like, ‘We’re cleaning it up! Relax! Get off our backs!”
Merrifield went on, “Well, we wanna know where this ‘clean-up’ is going to take place. My 55 years of life, I’ve seen those old abandoned railroad tracks as like a scar on Mother Earth. From north to south, it looks terrible. We can see the abandoned railroad tunnels, we can see the creosote-soaked railroad ties still jutting out of the earth.”
According to railstotrails.org, “If railroad ties are old, creosote may ooze out, leeching toxins into the soil and poisoning plant life, insects and small animals, the flora and fauna of the rivers.”
“There are railroad tracks dangling in mid-air, from the slides and earthquakes. And then there’s railroad cars along the banks. They purposefully left the railroad cars to rust and corrode along the banks of the water of the Eel River. I don’t like that. It bothers me, because if you look back in history, settlers haven’t cleaned up any of their garbage. It’s an eyesore to me,” sighed Merrifield. “It’s garbage, it’s not a natural habitat for wildlife. They are going to create more garbage, if they put any kind of porta potties…there’s no one to monitor any part of this trail to help clean up the garbage.” She emphasized, “More people… More garbage!”
At a December 17th event by Native Health in Native Hands, the “Na-Lu-La (Thank You in Wailaki) Celebration,” Behavioral Health Specialist and local tribal member Monica Super stated in her closing speech, “Our people believe there is an umbilical cord inside of the earth and it’s connected with the one we get from our mother… We have hundreds, if not thousands, of stories that tell about our ancient landscape and our sacred spaces, that are really set there by the creator as our health system.”
The Great Redwood Trail project holds complex implications for the communities it touches. While proponents emphasize potential economic benefits and increased public access to California’s rural beauty, some tribal members like Michelle Merrifield and Nikcole Whipple highlight deep-seated concerns about historical injustices, cultural preservation, and environmental impacts. For them, the trail is more than just a path through the wilderness; it intersects with their history, culture, and identity in a way that they fear could lead to further erosion of their connection to the land.
The Great Redwood Trail isn’t “great”!
It’s a terrible idea that has steamrolled through our great wilderness. It will bring nothing but harm to wildlife, native land, and private property. The native people are the ones who should be stewards of their land, not the government.
I haven’t heard any private property owners that want this trail through their land either. Say No to this trail!
Amen!!🙏🏼 Longtime Local you are 💯correct on all points!!
Yes Longtime Local is spot on correct!
However my cynical side fears that it might be too late to stop this.
Now we face the looming possibility of having president greusome Newsom and his replacement Governor Mike for hire McGuire to contend with.
Thank you to all Tribes and their members and elders that have jumped on board to oppose this.
If you all unite and get the people to the north to change their position you may have the power to get this cluster F***K stopped forever.
B.s. every tribe wants sovereignty, then they sell their interests to companies like station casinos. Every one. Lake county, Geyserville, Windsor, twin pines. People just want money. Natives are no different Mr longtime local.
Outlaw and Hobo trail of homeless tents with tons of tax dollars needed to maintain it when the State is broke and our parks are falling apart?
Makes complete democrat sense.
Very well-written and interesting article, thank you for all the links to background information. I hope we hear more from this young journalist.
The “public” cannot be trusted in the wild. I foresee trash, destruction and a serious potential for massive wildfires caused by thoughtless visitors..
Agreed. Beyond that, what happens if someone has a medical emergency or is jumped? It’s a disaster waiting to happen.
I love the idea of a trail. I don’t love how this is being done. The Kinest’e Community could be a primary partner in deciding what is to be done here. There is much healing to be done: healing of the physical damage to the earth; healing of the relationships of the native community to their home; healing of the legacies of my community causing genocide and environmental damage.
The rail trail will be a drone freeway someday
Just crazy. All these mendo libs vote for these people!! Constantly railing against policies that people you support are pushing? Makes no sense. This state has been run by liberals for over 30 years, so why would they be so mean to natives?????.?.?.?.?.?.?
Jose, we think the wild west was in the ancient past. That’s why. We don’t realize we are the last strong hold. It’s actually quite interesting. An ethnographic study should definitely be conducted here
There is more trash created in these rural areas due to black market cannabis farms and local farmers/owners dumping debris on their 50 plus arce parcels and no one knows it’s there until the property sells or someone stumbles across it. The trail may act as a first responder to trash, fire 🔥, and security 🚨 concerns. The trail could put eyes in places that normally does not get attention. Illicit activity, squatters, homeless for some basic examples. The sheriff and Cal fire could plausible access these remote areas via this trail system to help fight fires and uproot unwanted visitors. Solar powered cameras and lights could be placed in certain areas with low visibility. There are ways to make the trail safe and even make the surrounding community safer than it is now. This trail could be used as an additional escape route for future fires 🔥🔥🔥which is a matter of when not if. The trail can act as an alternative route for transportation which can reduce wear and tear on local roads. God forbid people might ride there bikes into town instead of driving and taking up parking spaces or tearing up underfunded local roads.
I hear you, but like, at the same time, …
Once in my youth, I camped on the eel for 3 days before reggae on the river. I kid you not, the day they let people in to camp for reggae, like, the hour of…………….a fu@%!*# menstrual pad floated down the river. I was 17. Never forget.
This is a trail not a festival party. The trail can be a two way street if people are being degenerates on trail they can be reported like they would anywhere else in the community.
That’s actually true, my friend makes bank cleaning up old mj farms
Solar powered cameras and lights in areas with low visibility? Eyes in places that normally do not get attention?
Yeah an even bigger and more intrusive government that’s the answer!
1984 came and went forty years ago pal.Maybe while we are at it we should all be chipped or have barcodes on the tops of our noggins that can be read by satellites.
If that’s your solution then keep electing Democrats.
No one cares about your meth lab or your bunker full of illegal guns, but we do care about when you blow yourself up with old faulty butane/propane tanks. Consider it early fire detection warning.
Just like every other person that has ever lived I have been accused of some seriously contemptuous crap.
You however win top honors for being the biggest presumptuous damn fool imaginable.
That’s pretty ironic coming from a guy peddling unfounded conspiracy theories over a nature trail. Nobody cares about watching you or your business. You’re not that special.
Have you ever been in the Eel river canyon? The railroad is so screwed up there will never be a trail.
The public will never walk through those collapsing tunnels, the public will never walk across those broken bridges.
Keep your security cameras in Oakland
Good points Tim.
Although I have never lived anywhere in that neck of the woods I’m well acquainted.
I hopped my first northbound freight in Ukiah when I was 15 and made my first journey through the canyon and many more during the following 15 years or so.
Also many steelhead fishing trips to Dos Rios and hiked miles down the tracks.
Nay-Sayer and He or Her fellow travelers are probably pushing for surveillance cameras in hopes of being able to hack into them and watch the children go potty and swim naked and take baths in the river with their guardians.
Those must’ve been some amazing trips, I never rode the train but I have hiked the tracks, and rode a motorcycle along the tracks,
Some beautiful country out there, I just don’t see the feasibility of repairing the tracks to a trail, there is thousands of culverts, bridges and tunnels to fix.
Mr. Fed up needs help from his buddy Tim. I’ll get you both some foil hats so the Aliens don’t probe neither of you with anything the US gov’t hasn’t approved of yet.
You can save your foil, hopefully you get cell service when you need to get rescued out of the Eel river canyon. 🏭🤡
I would love to have cell service while being lost on the GRT. This would be a great addition to the trail.
Don’t count on it. Remember to bring a snake bite kit
Rome wasn’t built in a day…and time is endless.
How and the Sam Hell could anyone ever get lost on a trail that follows a defunct railroad bed and follows two major river systems the Russian and the Eel and two major highways the hundred and one and l62 Covelo Road for most of its entirety?
The only things that come to my mind are either you could get lost in a phone booth or you’re trespassing.
That said people will need cell service for when they get injured or ruffed up and robbed or even worse case scenarios.
There will be some folks along the way who resent the whole business as well.
Especially and rightfully so the Native peoples who find city folks digging round their ancient village and ceremonial sites and burial and cremation sites helping themselves to whatever they can find.
And it will be easy pickins because the dumb asses in charge of planning want to put up cutesy placards alerting everyone as to where they are located.
I won’t even go into the fish and game violations that will surely take place and like S Burkey stated the public cannot be trusted especially fucking city people.
Clearly Tim and Mr Fed Up were trying to debate in bad faith. A trail that goes north and south ⬇️ is not a place to get lost. There are trails all over the US and most people don’t have problems with the trails, not to mention, these trail blazers bring business, and alternative access routes to the local areas. The tribes have already invited some of the most unsavory types into this area via the black cannabis market. Covelo has a reputation and it isn’t because of city folk. Many local landowners are complicit in collecting rent from the black cannabis growers yet they suddenly have a fear of a nature trail coming around the neighborhood. Cannabis isn’t a schedule 1 drug anymore and soon it’ll be treated like beer is today.
I was not debating in bad faith.
I am just speaking the truth
You should go out and look at the railroad in the Eel river canyon. It Is in shambles.
You can’t just let the public walk across a old decrepit bridge or walk through a tunnel that is about to collapse. Its Not as easy as paving over the tracks
There is also sections that are completely gone because of erosion.
Look up the geology of the area and the history of the railroad, the railroad was constantly closed from landslides, because the Eel river canyon is very unstable.
This area is not like every other trail in the US.
It probably makes sense to build the trail from willits south, but willits north is going to be a mistake.
Like I said go out there and look.
And also look at the map this trail will not go through Covelo.
You and Mr. Fed up were getting all wrapped up in unfounded conspiracy theories of big brother because I bnrought up the idea of putting in solar powered cameras and lighting. This is not a debate but fear mongering. You can build a trail anywhere if the resources and the will is there to do it. It isn’t far fetch to build a nature trail through Mendo given other counties in and out of CA have done it.
Go ahead and build it.
All that it’s going to take to destroy the Eel canyon section will be another monster flood like the one that occured in 1964.
I witnessed the resulting destruction of that event firsthand.
The majority of GRT from outlet creek to Scotia will end up in the River and washed out to sea.
In other words it’s a total waste of time and money.
The truth is not fear mongering
You talk about resources, the biggest resource needed is money, last time I checked California has a huge budget deficit, your solar powered cameras without internet service might not be a reality
Tim, you are making a claim you can’t prove or disprove. Might as well be talking about aliens in backyard. I can’t say you’re wrong nor can you prove this to be true. I’ll keep the tin foil ready for you.
You should do some more research before you say anything else, you sound like a jackass.
Everything I said can be researched and read about in numerous places
You could also get away from your cellphone and actually go look at the tracks In the Eel river canyon, let me know when you find what you have decided is reality.
Don’t bring a tin foil hat, bring a helmet
Tim, yesterday the BOS got a clear run down on the general budget in Mendo. The county costs are rising faster than the revenue streams. Unfounded conspiracies aside, the county needs to generate new revenue streams or the current roads and services will fall further behind than they already have. Mendo is going to change fundamentally (whether people like it or not) and cannabis isn’t going to save Mendo from its spending behavior. A nature trail coming through the county would bring in new revenue potential to the cities and county alike. No need for ad hominem attacks. You just sound angry 💢 and remind the readers who speaking in bad faith. I suggest watching the BOS meeting 🤝 and be a productive member instead of a negative Nancy.
Mendo Maverick, The majority of the trail is mostly proposed, if you look at the map. The trail destination in many areas is not set in stone. Like any new infrastructure project, they will consider things like soil and erosion prior to building the trail head.
Not angry just stating the facts of the situation on the ground.
The facts you fail to acknowledge and research
Good try with the Gaslighting though
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting
There are already cameras in and around major streets in Ukiah finding stolen cars and people with warrants. Seems like a productive use of camera technology. It wouldn’t be so bad to have some on the trail for fire detection and emergencies. No conspiracies just practical use of cameras.
Then why not contact the powers at be and have them conveniently place some in and around your abode.
Until next time Sieg Heil!
It’s about money either way. Tribes or Rail Trail fans. Tourist bring money…tourist are lots of people and nowadays that’s not eviormentally friendly. Tribes say they should control…how much control? Designations of everywhere as tribal land from the past is a usary of the intention of the sovereignty. Certain parts are sovereign I am sure. But the carte blanche control of 365 miles of trail is a stretch Spanish can claim too? The past is filled with ownership. Today’s Northern California wild lands is what has got to be protected. Access makes it vulnerable to damage. Wilderness needs to be saved for the wildlife ..trees…fish and watershed… in my opinion. Rail Trail pushers are promoters of tourism or taking property in the guise of a trail. If people, all people were actually thinking of the enviorment. They would push a hands off policy and save the pristine Wilderness to not be touched by any man. Most people are not respectful of the Wilderness anymore. Shut the trail down and keep it safe for nature’s creatures.
Angelcat didn’t you praise Lake County BOS for raising $700k in an attempt to save Pillsbury Dam? 🦫
Dams are not environmentally friendly and they cost money 💰💰💰 to maintain. Wait so you said “tourist are lots of people and nowadays that’s not eviormentally friendly.” But you are praising Lake County’s BOS to save a dam that predominantly is used by agriculture which is not environmentally friendly either and heavily subsidized by tax payers. 🫢
Why don’t you just be honest and say I don’t want outsiders on my porch?
I was on Island Mountain Saturday, abandoned Grows, Buildings & a blight. I saw Eagles, wild Pig, Squirrel, Deer with newborn. I saw no evidence of positive human impact only damage. Mike McGuire did not enjoy his Education, he has said this many times, this “legacy ” trail is a Stain on our Wildlands wasting tax dollars better spent on Road repairs where they exist, not more infrastructure impacting the Environment. Remove the existing human impact, the railroad ties which are toxic & allow the Land to just be.
This money could totally be spent just paving the roads, putting sidewalks on dangerous roads and painting the lines on the roads. The intersections are a mess. Does nobody care about repairing infrastructure anymore? Why are we building more infrastructure? This isn’t about hiking or bringing money! This is about re-commandeering the West’s last rural strong hold and establishing a straight thoroughfare from the otherwise inaccessible port of Humbolt. They need more West Coast Ports as we shift from oil in the east . The government is not pushing this trail for our health, wealth and enjoyment.
Longtime Local you are spot on.
Look what the powers that be are doing to the Mojave Desert near Boron, destruction of the environment for solar:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/solar-project-destroy-thousands-joshua-100000768.html