Jessica Holloway, Rob Kimry,
Cory O’Connor
Economics 309, Spring 2003
(Prof. Hackett)
(i) Strengths
One of the greatest things about Humboldt County,
according to Georgiana Wood of the Arcata Economic Development Corporation, is
the amazing cooperation among the seven cities and the county in the
presentation of their prosperity plans to the Economic Development Agency. A broad range of people from all seven cites
were called upon to give input to the process including citizens, local
businesses, federal, state and local governments, and local non-profits. This
served to make those things valued by all communities a priority in the
prosperity plan. Another closely related
matter, emphasized in the report, was keeping Humboldt County a good place to
live, while maintaining the community values and the small town atmosphere, and
also allowing it to prosper.
The
report also calls for building common ground.
This would allow the surrounding counties of Del Norte, Lake, Mendocino,
and Humboldt to form a district, which makes it easier to communicate about
organizational matters on a regional basis, as well as have a stronger voice
when talking to Sacramento.
The main key in the report is the industry cluster. The cluster model is the framework for
analysis, planning and implementation.
This is a strength because it calls for helping as well as listening to
the already established businesses in the county rather than trying to
specifically recruit from outside the area.
The importance of these clusters is that they are net importers of money
rather than exporters.
With the demand for organic foods increasing and the
activism against factory farms, Humboldt County has an edge with this
market. The practice of organic dairy
farming within the many small scale farms in our area is one of the strengths
in that industry. This form of
sustainable farming will only be beneficial for the environment as well as the
economy in the long run.
Another strength is the sustainable form of timber
harvesting, a practice spoken of by Georgiana Wood. Effort has been made to
utilize all the resources in a given area of felled timber. Not only were large
conifers used, but also the madrone and salal in the area. This attention to
detail and lack of waste is a commendable practice.
(ii) Weaknesses
Because we are looking at
this report from an economic as well as environmental sustainability point of
view, the main weakness in the prosperity report would be the lack on an environmental
sustainable emphasis. Examples of this are found within the lumber and wood
production cluster and the fisheries, fish processing and aquaculture cluster.
The pulp mill in Arcata no longer uses bleach
and thus does not introduce as many dioxins into the environment anymore, but
unfortunately the use of bleach in other areas has left behind some
contaminated sites, such as Lagoon Creek. In the area of sustainable harvesting
the lack of site-specific studies among certain areas is a weakness. Watersheds
and riparian zones need very different things depending on the specific
ecosystem.
Large-scale aquaculture has
been shown to be detrimental to the environment. Although it has improved
recently there are still problems, which do not seem to be a concern within the
report. According to Tim McKay of the North Coast Environmental Center, the
aquaculture industry has previously had a very negative impact on the Bat Rays
population, as well as the growth of eelgrass, a primary plant in the marine
ecosystem. The aquaculture industry has improved some, the oysters are now
grown using the “rock and bag” a format which elevates off the sea floor. The
largest aquaculture company in Humboldt Bay, Coast Seafood, has been fairly
slow to comply with all environmental regulations, and according to Tim McKay,
they still lack some required permits.
Another problem with Coast
Sea Food is that it is a Washington state based company. The company takes the
oysters and processes them in a plant in Oregon, taking jobs away from Humboldt
County. This causes a leakage of money out of Humboldt County with the use of
our own natural resource. Most of the money from this industry does not stay
within the local community, with the exception of the salaries paid to local
workers. The smaller local businesses are more compliant with environmental
standards and it is these businesses that need to be specifically focused on in
the prosperity report to overcome this weakness.
(iii) Opportunities
Some of the opportunities within the prosperity plan
lie in underdeveloped aspects of the base industry clusters. Within the lumber and wood products industry
cluster the opportunity to focus more on sustainable and value-added products
is one we hope more people will pursue.
Upgrading the technology sector should not be a
problem, even though people think of technology as being a huge power
drain. According to Tim McKay of the
NEC, the power plant has, and continues to be, underutilized by as much as 70%,
so this should not prove to be an obstacle.
When the fiber optic cable is finally connected to the county it will
give the technology sector a huge boost.
McKay also says that another underutilized sector has been the
educational facilities in the county and if used properly could be very good
for the prosperity of the North Coast.
Mr. McKay says that better communication between the industry and
educational sectors is necessary for this to happen.
Another exciting opportunity embedded within the
education and research industry profile is the Schatz Energy Lab. With energy needs becoming more critical,
work that the lab does will become more and more important. The focus of the lab is developing Hydrogen
Fuel Cells, a sustainable way of storing energy. This is going to become more important in our country as fossil
fuel depletion becomes a global issue.
Investing in a place like the Schatz lab will be a great economic
opportunity as consumers start to turn toward renewable energy.
The tourist industry also has some opportunities to
grow. The need for new lodges and other
attractions are currently being considered by some of the Tribal Governments in
the area according to Tim McKay.
Putting in an environmentally friendly golf course is also being
discussed. Pinpointing what exactly
tourists come to the area for would be the best thing the industry could
do. That way they could focus their
efforts more efficiently.
There are opportunities in some other unconventional
sustainable practices. The possible use of dairy farm waste as a methane energy
source is something that federal grants are available for. Also, the expansion
of the industry that grows plants for environmental restoration would be a
sustainable area of development to look into.
(iv) Threats
Because the report focuses on the economic growth of
the county it does take into consideration the negative environmental effects
of some of the businesses. This could be a big threat to our community when
these clusters start to grow in accordance with the prosperity report. With expansion
of the clusters there is the probability of them becoming more environmentally
unsound as they grow bigger.
Georgiana Wood said the role of the
commission was not to act as the “police” but to simply review any projects
that were put to them to see if they meet with the goals of the report. The
expansion of the clusters is the focus of the report and other factors of
growth are not taken into account. Even
though the commission has no legal power, and the final decision to allow new
businesses lies in the hands of elected local officials, they still have
influence when stating if businesses are complying with the prosperity report.
An example
of how the growth of a cluster could be detrimental is within the dairy and
dairy processing cluster. The waste issue within the dairy industry is a
weakness that the prosperity plan does not directly address. The inability for
farmers to dispose of dead animals is newly becoming an issue as well, with the
close of the nearby rendering plant. The dangers to the water quality here
could also be perceived as a future threat. So far there has not been any
serious health problems associated with the local dairies, but as the industry
grows so will these problems associated with it.
The timber
industry could also be a future threat to our area. According to prosperity
timber harvesting will hit its peak in approximately 10 years, this threatens
to create even more watershed issues. The forest product industry is
historically one of the largest economic factors in the county and it is simply
a shame that they tend to fight every effort to reform the industry into a more
sustainable force.
Another threat of the report is the lack of public
oversight for the businesses that belong within the clusters. Many of these
action plans in the report are good, but seem to lack any real movement or
commitment to date. Lack of growth oversight of the businesses within the
clusters could threaten our way of life in Humboldt County. The economic growth
of our area needs to be done responsibly, in an environmentally sensitive
manner and taking into consideration long term planning; with more of a focus
on practices that can create more money locally while being done sustainably.