After two years of working with EPIC, I am so excited to see the swelling enthusiasm of our small but dedicated team of activists and organizers. EPIC’s work over the years has ebbed and flowed from an epicenter of information based in the heart of the struggle to defend redwood forests in Garberville to sparse offices in Eureka and skeleton staff with board leadership. Our totally redesigned website is a step into a new era for the organization, but we haven’t lost sight of where we came from.
EPIC’s roots go back to a time when the office was located inside a potato chip delivery truck out in Ruby Point and peaked when we had an annual budget exceeding a half of a million dollars a year. The organization now boasts a lean but committed staff and works out of a 500 square foot office just a block off of the plaza in downtown Arcata. Our priorities include monitoring all of the projects across four national forests, protecting the Tolowa Dunes to the north, advocating for public policy across California in Sacramento, working to protect Richardson Grove State Park and remaining old growth redwood groves, and fighting for sustainable forestry.
These days, most of EPIC’s staff works normal business hours, supplemented by evening meetings, fieldtrips to proposed projects, and occasional flights over our vast region. With the foundation built to increase EPIC’s capacity, our near term future will focus on a public outreach campaign to once again provide our community with a clearinghouse of information and resources.
The announcement of our Brews & Views weekly discussion marks the first new event planned to reach out to the North Coast. EPIC staff and community can discuss pressing environmental issues impacting our region each Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m. at Humbrews in downtown Arcata. We look forward to gradually increasing our constituency and gaining valuable insight for our program work.
We realize that the function of our globally connected ecosystems face immediate threats of unpredictable degradation. Our region could provide a globally significant reserve for carbon and refuge of biodiversity if we can defend our water, forests and air in Northern California.
EPIC staffers including myself, Scott Greacen, David Lawlor and Natalynne Delapp will contribute to the blog regularly and include timely information to engage the EPIC community. If you like the new website and the organization’s exciting plans for 2010, please consider making a donation to help us protect our unique bioregion and keep Northern California wild.
Thanks for visiting!
Kerul Dyer, Outreach Director