Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: Welcome to the KMUD News. I'm your news Director, April Lewis, and I'm glad to be with you for this broadcast.
In this episode, we have stories on Eureka's garbage rate hikes, a winemaker trying to showcase Humboldt County's grape growers, and this week's sports report.
But first we'll do a catch up on local happenings and alerts.
This is KMUD News.
Starting off in southern Humboldt, there was a small wildfire today south of Myers Flat near the Salmon Creek exit of Highway 101 that was first reported around 11am at half an acre in size.
The Salmon Creek Volunteer Fire Department responded quickly and Cal Fire initially sent air resources, although that was quickly deemed not necessary.
Thanks to the efforts of our local firefighters, the fire only reached 3/4 of an acre and by 2pm the fire was 100% contained.
From the Department of Health and Human Services, environmental health officials are warning community residents to be on the lookout for harmful algal blooms after a dog died on Thursday, July 23, a short time after swimming in a slow, stagnant pool of water off the Eel river near Scotia. Typically, warnings about cyanobacteria and harmful algal blooms come out between late July and early August, coinciding with low flows and sustained high temperatures in the inland areas, which may contribute to cyanobacteria growth in local rivers and lagoons.
While most cyanobacteria do not affect animals or people, some are capable of producing toxins that can be harmful.
Dogs and children are most likely to be affected because of their smaller body size and tendency to stay in the water for longer periods of time.
Freshwater blooms can appear as dark green, blue, green, black, orange or brown water and can occur as mats and sometimes create scum or foam on the riverbed or on the water.
However, toxins produced may be present without visual indicators.
Since 2001, there have been 14 documented dog deaths locally, where the dog died shortly after swimming in Big Lagoon, the South fork of the Eel river or the Van Dusen River.
In each instance, water samples confirmed the presence of cyanobacteria in the water from Cal Fire and Mendocino.
Jackson Demonstration State Forest is closing Roads 202 and 250 for the remaining dry season.
The road closures prohibit the use of all vehicles and recreational traffic, including hiking, bicycling and horseback riding.
Jackson Demonstration State Forest contains important habitat for threatened and endangered listed fish species within the Big river watershed, including coho, salmon and steelhead.
Roadwork improves drainage of roads to reduce sediment input into nearby streams.
Several non profits and agencies are working with Cal Fire to implement the restoration of a large culvert crossing Chamberlain Creek aimed at improving fish passage.
Also from Cal Fire and Mendocino Cal Fire is abandoning the trestle trail in the Jackson Demonstration State Forest.
Following previous and recent discussions, the Recreation Task Force agreed to abandon the 4.3 mile trestle trail due to long term maintenance challenges, environmental considerations, safety concerns and the loss of trail infrastructure.
The trestle trail has not received significant maintenance for at least 20 years.
Effective immediately, the trestle trail will be removed from official recreation maps and will no longer be maintained as part of the designated trail system.
From the Rural County Representatives of California the rural county representatives of California, in coordination with a broad coalition of consumer, local government, labor, agricultural and public interest organizations, has filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission opposing AT&T's petition for preemption and declaratory ruling which seeks to prevent California's carrier of last resort requirements from applying to AT&T's planned discontinuance of plain old telephone service.
ATT's petition asked the FCC to determine that California's carrier of last resort obligations and any related state requirements cannot prevent the company from discontinuing telephone service once it receives FCC authorization.
California's carrier of last resort requirements are long standing universal service obligations that ensure residents have access to basic telephone service regardless of where they live.
If the FCC grants AT and T's petition, the company could move forward with abandoning universal service obligations that millions of Californians rely on, particularly those living in rural communities.
The coalition's comments raised significant concerns within AT&T's petition improperly limiting California's authority to enforce consumer protection and public safety standards, especially in rural and underserved areas where wireless alternatives remain unreliable, inadequate or unavailable, or have yet been demonstrated to provide equivalent service during emergencies.
The comments also emphasize that California's carrier of last resort framework does not require providers to maintain copper infrastructure or use any specific technology.
Rather, it requires that all Californians continue to have access to reliable and adequate communications services.
Up next our main stories. This is KMUD News.
[00:06:28] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: A trend of garbage and recycling pickup rate hikes has Eureka residents and council members concerned. Daniel Mintz reports.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: With two of its members absent, the Eureka City Council voted down a proposed garbage and recycling pickup rate increase, but there will be another try at approving it at the next meeting.
If approved, residential and commercial customers will be paying almost 9% more for their pickup service.
The city's franchise agreement with Recology Humboldt county allows annual rate hikes to ensure that the service rates cover the cost of providing the service, said environmental project manager Robin Prasker at the July 21 council meeting where the rate hike was up for approval.
A required independent analysis backs up an 8.5% rate hike.
Inflation, decreased value of recycling commodities and a decrease of CRV material contributed to the calculation.
Other costs such as insurance and unpaid customer fees also played a role.
The analysis determined that the rate increase is, quote, reasonable, considering all the factors, but it's part of a larger trend of rate increases, as noted by council member Rene Contreras deloach.
[00:07:59] Speaker C: The first one that I participated in passing was in 2023. That was our 10.44% increase. And I remember at the time I said, this is a really big increase. And I was told, well, this is because we're catching up.
And then 2024 was 4.29, but 2025 was 9.46, almost back up at that level, and now this one is going to be almost nine. And so we're back up at that level. And I'm concerned about what's happening because when we did this in 23, you know, inexperienced me kind of felt like, you know, this was conveyed to me like it was a one off. And this is not obviously a one off. You know, this is going and going and people are really concerned about it.
[00:08:42] Speaker A: Contreras deloach said the hikes have far outpaced inflation rates and this just feels like some pretty substantial jumps to be happening and for us to be voting yes on recology. General manager Frank Nelson said recycling trends are affecting the cost revenue balance.
[00:09:02] Speaker D: What we're seeing in the industry is the indicators of inflation.
A big component of this rate increase was the recycled processing cost.
We anticipated bringing in like 14,000 tons of recycling last year or 16, I can't remember off the top of my head, but we only brought in like 12.
And so every year, pretty consistently, we brought in 14,000 tons of recycling. Well, the cost of recycling is divided by the tons. And so when you don't bring in as much recycling as as much as you anticipate, you don't have as much commodities to sell and we don't have as much commodities to sell. And the commodities that you're selling that you're mining out of the recycling are lower grade commodities like paper or plastic because a lot of it's going to a CRV buyback.
The price of recycled processing goes up. And so there's a lot of economic pressures and they're causing a lot of people to consume less and recycle less, and then when they are recycling, they're looking to bring back that CRV money sooner.
And so that's driving a good chunk of the rate increase. And I don't think that was foreseeable for a lot of us.
[00:10:07] Speaker A: Answering whether the rate surge will continue, he said, quote I guess I could best say I hope it doesn't happen for a prolonged period of time, but it will indeed continue to happen. Councilmember Leslie Castellano noted a near future
[00:10:22] Speaker E: twist just for folks to have on their radar. And Frank, feel free to share more information if I'm wrong, but one thing that we're not yet seeing are the rate increases that will likely come once composting is implemented. I just want to be transparent about that. SB 1383 is legislation that mandates that municipalities implement composting measures for sure. I just want to speak to leadership at the Waste Management Authority and the you know, there's going to be a strategic planning and visioning process that will address some of that. But you know, folks are definitely mindful of the cost of these things. And also, you know, it's not we're not yet seeing it on our current rates. And so though these rates may stabilize, there may be additional rates in the future related to implementation of composting.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: A public comment period on the rate hike had no takers. Up for a vote was the latest increase which has a July 21, 2026 effective date with only three council members present and three votes needed to approve the increase.
The motion to approve it failed, with Contreras deloach voting against.
The increase will be reconsidered at the next council meeting when more members will presumably be present in Eureka. For KMUD News, this is Daniel Mintz,
[00:12:01] Speaker B: A Sonoma based winemaker who was raised in Humboldt county is trying to showcase the quality of Humboldt County's grapes. KMA News reports.
Adrian Manspiecker is the owner and winemaker for Joseph Jewel Wines, a Russian River Valley based producer of primarily Pinot Noir.
That in itself is far from unusual as there are hundreds of Pinot Noir producing wineries in Sonoma County.
However, Adrian's winery has a unique story and spin on Northern California Pinot Noir production. He is originally born and raised in the Benbow area of southern Humboldt and fell into wine first as an enthusiast with his wife who lived in Sonoma County.
KMUD News interviewed Adrian about his journey into the wine business and how it eventually led him back to promoting Humb County's grape growing industry.
[00:12:54] Speaker F: So I grew up here,
[00:12:57] Speaker G: lived in
[00:12:58] Speaker F: Benbell most of my life. That was about 2003. And my girlfriend at the time, now wife, moved to Sonoma county to go to dental hygiene school.
And after a short period of a long distance relationship, I decided to move down to Sonoma County.
And it's kind of, you know, over the time frame of several years of living in Sonoma County, I, you know, we go wine tasting and, you know, we're meeting friends. And so what ultimately was the beginning of how I got into the wine business was my wife and I would invite people over for what we were calling like a supper club on Sunday nights, and she would cook like a great Italian meal. People would bring wine over and we just kind of socialize and enjoy wine with food.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: In the early to mid 2000s, the movie Sideways set off a huge surge in Pinot Noir sales across the U.S.
the famously fickle terroir driven varietal of Burgundian origin was planted in wide swaths across Northern California, especially in coastal climates like Sonoma's Russian River Valley. Adrian describes the aha moment that led him to be a Pinot Noir driven winemaker and how it led him back to Humboldt County.
[00:14:12] Speaker F: We wanted to start a brand that was going to be like, you know, following in that terroir driven, you know, Pinot Noir brand where you're working with different vineyards and creating single vineyard Pinots. But we were two young kids and at the time we didn't own a vineyard. We, you know, we were, we didn't have the fruit sources locked down. And so I called every single vineyard in Sonoma county, trying to see if they had Pinot Noir available for sale, and pretty much didn't even get a response. Like, I would leave voicemails and nobody responded.
So I actually went on Craigslist and found the first vineyard we sourced fruit from, which is very ironic that you would find grapes for sale, you know, on Craigslist. But that was a vineyard out in Forestville, where I live now.
But we struggled. And so what happened during that time frame is like the light bulb popped on in my head and I'm like, oh, Humboldt has a lot of these things that makes Russian River Valley Pinot Noir so well known. It's like the coastal influence, the fog, you know, proximity to the Pacific Ocean and all that. And so that was 07. After struggling, I. I had reached out to my parents and my mom and asked if she remember. I don't. As a kid, I didn't remember a lot of vineyards planted up here. But I remember there was the winery Brycelyn, and they were sourcing fruit locally, but I don't remember seeing any vineyards that were producing grapes. And so anyway, it took me a little while, but I ended up connecting with Alan Estrada. Alan and Sandy Estrada, who own Elk Prairie Vineyards, which is up on Fruitland Ridge just above Myers Flat, and made wine from their vineyard in 08. So it was this third year of our production, but I started making wine from Humboldt county grapes at that moment.
[00:15:53] Speaker B: After Adrian Manspieker, winemaker for Joseph Jewell, started to craft wines from Humboldt grapes, he quickly realized that southern Humboldt's varied soils and microclimates offered large and dynamic differences in terroir and varietal expression for Pinot Noir.
[00:16:10] Speaker F: There's two vineyards on Fruitland Ridge that I'm now actually farming. One's called Fruitland Ridge Vineyard. The other one is Elk Prairie, and they're about a half a mile apart. And the soil types are different and they're not very far apart. So, you know, the soil's.
There's a little bit of volcanic high iron loam in the Fruitland Ridge vineyard, whereas the Elk Prairie is more shale, fractured stone, very little. Like, they're not like super fertile farmland. You know, these are. They're stressing the vines and plants a little bit, which is usually good.
And they're hillside.
There's a vineyard in Benbow called Ryan Vineyard, and that is an alluvial fan. So It's a. About 10ft of silt and sand, so it's really well draining. But there's no hard pan of clay or anything to retain moisture, so it requires a lot of water to farm.
And then Alder Point is kind of volcanic in nature too, with lower elevation, some like river rocks mixed in, some alluvial, you know, stuff going on there. And then Phelps is similar to Elk Prairie, so those two have similar soil types where elks, you know, Phelps is a little bit more of a fractured.
[00:17:18] Speaker B: Adrian also spoke on the challenges of growing and producing wine in Humboldt county. Despite the high quality of its wine grapes and how remoteness and unique terrain make wine production more difficult.
Much of current Humboldt wine grape production stays within the county and is consumed within Humboldt County.
At Joseph Jewell, Adrian aims to help spread the word on the quality of Humboldt's wine grapes across the state and country.
[00:17:47] Speaker F: I would love to see more vineyards and I'd love to see more winery sourcing from here. And I think that's, you know, the huge part of it is the more people making good Wine. You know, I'm an advocate for grapes grown in Humboldt that get out there in the marketplace and the more wineries making, you know, great wines from Humboldt and getting them out, out of Humboldt. You know, a lot of the wines that are made here just go to the local market, so nobody's ever heard of it outside of here. But that's the opposite of what I do. I sell a little bit of wine in Humboldt, but the majority of my stuff goes across the country to different
[00:18:16] Speaker B: states to help better spread the word on Humboldt's vineyards. Adrian is currently in Humboldt county leading a group of enthusiasts and wine club members through tastings and vineyard tours. He's hosting wine tastings and food pairings at the Benbow Inn, along with taking guests on a tour of the Phelps ranch in Salmon Creek, which is one of the main Humboldt vineyard sources for Joseph Jewellery.
[00:18:40] Speaker F: So about three or four years ago, I hired a professional photographer who's in the wine industry who, you know, has photographed in her, you know, assessment, thousands of vineyards. And I brought her from Santa Barbara up here and she came all the way up to Todd Phelps's ranch and his vineyard. And I just remember her saying while she was like taking photos and videos and stuff, she's like, this is the most beautiful vineyard I've ever been in.
And that kind of stuck with me. And I remember I was like, this is the most beautiful vineyard that no one will ever see.
And so that was kind of my approach at that point. Like, I want to get people in the vineyard. My goal was to get these people been drinking my wine from Humboldt. But I'm a, you know, I'm a very visual person and they've never seen the vineyards. So it's like I wanted to get that connection to people from outside of the area or even inside the area too. You know, granted, I lived here for 20 years and I, I'd never seen a vineyard in Humboldt. So I thought, let's do this experience up in the, you know, up on Phelps's ranch. It's a beautiful place that, like I said, nobody would see. And he's farming, you know, his vineyard top notch and it makes amazing wines. And I thought it would just be really fun to do an experience in the vineyard and see who we could get to jump on board.
[00:19:51] Speaker B: There are some notable Humboldt products that are well known outside the area, beyond the region's famous cannabis products like Larapin sauces, Dick Taylor chocolates and Cypress Grove cheeses are well loved outside the county.
Adrian Manspieker WINEMAKER for Joseph Jewell is trying to illustrate the same craft quality with Humboldt wine by pairing the resources and access of a Russian River Valley wine producer with the unique terroir of Humboldt County's wine grapes. Reporting for gaymud, I'm April Lewis.
Here's Ray Hamill with this week's KEMA News Sports Report.
[00:20:34] Speaker G: 3 Humboldt County Little League All Star teams were in action at their respective section tournaments this week as a memorable summer for the district 26 squads continued hello and welcome to this week's KMUD News Sports Report. I'm Ray hamell with humboldt sports.com we'll have more on how the county's Little League All Stars fared in just a moment and as we take a look at all of the big local sports stories of the week, including why it was a tough week for the Humble Crabs, all the latest on the local American Legion clubs and why it will be a big weekend for one of them. In particular, news of how College of the Redwoods football is succeeding off the field of competition and how the CR volleyball team is preparing for the upcoming season. But first up, an impressive summer continued for the county's Little League All Star teams this week. A pair of Redwood Empire Little League teams were in action at their section tournaments after going undefeated in the District 26 tournament last month. The Rell 12 year olds traveled to CALUSA to represent the county and finished second in tournament play. After opening the tournament with a 40 loss to Chico Central last Friday, Redwood Empire came alive and responded with three straight elimination game victories where they outscored their opponents by a combined 355 to set up a rematch with the Chico All Stars in the Champions round on Tuesday night. However, the Chico All Stars would post a second tournament win over the Humboldt county team to secure the championship and advance to the upcoming NorCal state tournament while ending a memorable summer for Redwood empire. The Redwood Empire 11? S were also in action at their section tournament this week and got things off to an exciting start with a 54 walk off win over Chico west side in Chico on Friday. The county champs, however, would drop back to back games on Sunday to bow out of the tournament and end their season. Rounding out a busy week for the district teams, the Eel River 10 year old all Stars also were in action at their section tournament in Clearlake. The Eel river players turned in a composed performance for such a young group on the way to winning the section championship after losing to Westside Chico 149 on Tuesday night, their first loss of the summer. The Eel River All Stars responded with a much better performance in a true championship showdown on Wednesday night, defeating the same team 188 Eel river will now advance to the NORCAL State Tournament in Fremont which gets underway on Saturday. Switching gears, it was a disappointing week for the Humble Crabs who saw their chances of qualifying for next week's Pacific Empire League Championship Series take a hit with two losses over the weekend. On Friday night the Crabs closed out a five game series against the West Coast Kings at the Arcata ballpark with a 128 loss. They quickly bounced back with an impressive 21 win over the league leading Healdsburg Prune packers on Saturday night before dropping a second game against Healdsburg on Sunday by a score of 9 to 1. The Crabs came into this week fourth in the PEL standings with the top two teams advancing to the championship series. They will close out league play with a three game series against the third placed Medford Rogues this weekend with game one set for Friday night at 7pm The Crabs also played a non league game against the Berkovich Honors on Tuesday night and scored a pair of late runs on the way to a 20 win.
In local American Legion baseball news, the Humboldt Eagles 19 ewes saw their season end at their area tournament in Fairfield over the weekend. The Eagles dropped their tournament opener to Napa Valley falling 6 2, but would respond in dynamic fashion with a 65 walk off win in eight innings against the Sonoma County Vipers. However, the Eagles would lose their third tournament game falling 10 to Petaluma to end any hopes of a championship before closing out the season with a 93 win over UBA Sutter in their final tournament game on Saturday.
However, it was a good summer for the local American Legion team which is made up of the best young high school and college players in the county.
Under the guidance of first year manager Scott St. John, the Eagles finished the season with a record of 1710, including an impressive showing on the way to winning the championship at the Fairfield tournament.
The Eagles 17 Ewes meanwhile, also have been competitive this summer and are playing at their area tournament this week. The Eagles, who are coached by TJ Brogan, are 14 and 10 heading into postseason play. They dropped a pair of non tournament games to the show 18 ewes out of reading over the weekend falling 107 and 16 3. But according to Brogan, that was the best team they have faced all summer and playing the tough competition in the lead up to the area tournament in the should help prepare the team for postseason play.
Switching gears, the College of the Redwoods football team began preseason preparation this week, six weeks ahead of the Corsairs season opener at San Jose in late August. It's been a good off season for the team as the Corsairs moved an impressive 12 players onto four year programs, including at least four that will play for Division 1 teams. According to head coach Jason White, that is the most players the program has sent to Division 1 programs in a single season in several years.
Among the local standouts moving on, former Saint Bernards crusader Kyler Smit is joining Montana Tech, an NAIA school, while former Eureka lager Dominic Conant is moving on to play at Simpson University in Reading, another NAIA program. The Corsairs made the switch from the American Division to the more competitive national division a year ago, and after some early setbacks, they began to find their feet, winning three late games to leave them in contention for a conference title on the final week of the regular season, including a memorable road victory at Butte, a perennial state powerhouse. They would finish the season 3 7, including a 32 record in conference play, and White and his players will be hoping to build on that this fall. And rounding out another big week in local sports, the College of the Redwoods volleyball team is also busy preparing for the upcoming season. Head coach Macy Thomas has been busy on the recruiting trails this off season and has a sizable roster of 14 players heading into the new season, including multiple former HDNL players, a group that includes Macy Secor of Eureka, Sahara Tupua of Saint Bernards and Melody Brennan of Del Norte, as well as Khalifa Young of Aldergrove Charter School. Thomas team will also feature a pair of key returning players from Arcata High School, Quincy Collins and Bella Campbell. And that's this week's kaymud News Sports Report. Until next time, I'm Ray Hamill with humboldtsports do that's all for our news broadcast.
[00:27:22] Speaker B: Thanks for listening. Thanks for our rotation of broadcast engineers Dennis Marr, Katie Phillips, Bianna Federico, Michael McCaskill, Larry Lashley and Javier Rodriguez.
Also, thanks to our reporters for this broadcast, Daniel Mintz and Ray Hamill.
KMO News is now on streaming platforms including Apple, Podcasts and Spotify. You can download our stories and newscasts for offline listening. You can also follow us us on social media amudnews, including Facebook and Instagram. Do you have issues important to you that deserve more attention? Are there stories we're missing or that you're curious about? Can give us a call at 707-923-2605 or send an email to newsameho.org Redwood Community Radio Inc. Is funded by Press Forward, the national movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news. Learn more at PressForward News.
Redwood Community Radio acknowledges that its transmitter sites are located on the unceded territory of the Sinkyon, Mailaki, Wyatt, Wilka and Kato people.
We honor ancestors past, present and emerging and acknowledge the ongoing cultural, spiritual, physical connection that these tribes have to the region.
I'm April Lewis. Stay tuned.
