City Advances Plan to Pave Humboldt Bay Wetlands
Controversial Road Project Resurfaces

June 1, 2002

Eureka Marsh at dusk

The City of Eureka's controversial plan to construct a giant new road through the wetlands of Humboldt Bay moved closer to becoming a reality in May 2002, when the City received $250,000 in state funding to prepare engineering designs and environmental plans for the project.

The new road would be a 100-foot-wide swath through the entire distance of the area known as the Eureka Marsh, crossing saltwater, brackish and freshwater wetlands along the way. The Coastal Conservancy granted $1.2 million to the City of Eureka in 1985 to purchase the Eureka Marsh expressly to restore and enhance this wetland ecosystem.

Instead, the City is proposing to build this giant road as part of its larger effort to promote port development around Humboldt Bay. The road would serve as a business loop for truck traffic and increase access for coastal dependent industrial facilities. The direct and indirect impacts of the road would be severe, and its construction would be counter to the City's commitment and obligations to protect and restore the important habitat in the Eureka Marsh.

Please write the Eureka City Council and urge them to honor their commitment to protect and restore the open space and wetlands of the Eureka Marsh and end their pursuit to pave it.

City Council Members
Eureka City Hall
531 K Street
Eureka, CA 95501


This article can be found online at www.wildcalifornia.org/publications/article-18