Mar 12 - RISE EVENT - The Force Is Strong With This One ... Our Spring Fundraiser at the Arcata Community Center!
April ? - RISE EVENT - Rotaract Color Run - More info to follow ...
Apr 8-9 - District Training Assembly - Ukiah Fairgrounds
May 6-8 - RISE EVENT -Arts Arcata
May 6-8 - District 5130 Conference - Marriott Napa Valley Resort & Spa
May 29-June 1 - Rotary International Conference in Seoul, South Korea
June 18 - RISE EVENT - 26th Arcata Oyster Festival
July 4 - RISE EVENT - Independence Day RCAS Family Comfort Station
- Congratulations to Tom Tellez and the crew at Wallace & Hinz - they were named the Business of the Year at the recent Arcata Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner! Tom said that he asked Terry Beaudet, a long-time W&H
employee who is retiring, to join him at the podium. Class action, Tom!
Tom Tellez and Terry Beaudet - The Rising Star Foundation sent a thank you note to the Club in appreciation of the scholarships we provided to four local History Day competitors. The funds helped the students travel to participate in the state competition.
- Claire Ajina traveled recently ... perhaps to New Orleans? At any rate, she brought a little Mardi Gras with her, for President Howard. She presented him with a feathered
mask and matching boa, and she had beads for him - which she made him catch from a distance. He didn't miss a single strand!
Captain Infinity ... In Disguise! - President Howard reminded us to sign up for the District Assembly in Ukiah. The dinner will be held the evening of Friday, April 8, and the training sessions will take place the next day. You are guaranteed to learn things about Rotary you never knew.
- The big fundraiser for North Coast Big Brothers / Big Sisters - Bowl For Kids Sake - will take place on March 4th & 5th (this Friday and Saturday). Sunriser Alyson Hunter would welcome support for her team, and the North Bay Rotaract Club is also seeking pledges. (They have also invited us to bowl with them!)
... Rachel Damme, Cory Booker, and Lacey Watson were on hand to let us know how their year is going. The membership of their Club has remained at about 25, with additions and departures. And Rachel noted that there is a new Rotaract Baby, with two more on the way!
NBR has been recognizing a Rotaractor of the Month to encourage involvement and to generate enthusiasm. They have been a big part of our Adopt-A-Highway forays, and they have also helped the Humboldt Crabs clean up their section of 101 at the Giuntoli exit. They also worked on a beach-cleaning effort, and they continue to work on the garden for the Raven Project. As Rachel noted, "We like to get our hands dirty!"
Other organizations they have helped with include Big Brothers/Big Sisters (in addition to Bowl For Kids Sake, NBR participated in - and won - the Chili Cookoff!), the AHS Career & College Center, and they collected Toys For Tots during the holidays. They are always lending their support for projects and events put on by the Rotary Clubs in our area, and they supported the Special Olympics and CASA.
Cory was one of the Rotaractors from our District who traveled to Bangladesh to work on a Rotaplast project. The Rotaplast program provides surgeries to correct cleft palates, cleft lips, and other deformities. She said that the experience was "life-changing".
The group plans to repeat its Fun Run this summer, however the date has not been finalized yet. They will co-host the event with the Arcata High Interact Club and the HSU Rotaract. Lacey said that they are hoping to add a Carnival-esque after party in the Wildberries parking lot. Along with the other District 5130 Rotaract Clubs, they will be putting out a second edition of their popular Rotaract Cookbook. And as previously mentioned, they will be bowling this weekend!
We haven't heard from our Exchange Student Sophia Waern-Bugge for a few weeks, 'cause she's been busy! She skied at Mount Bachelor, among her other travels. Sophia told us that "I've met a lot of new people" lately, including our Outbound Exchange Student from last year, Sylvie Leppig.
She is starting to raise funds for the Western Safari Trip in June, so she brought several plates of cookies, which she sold at the meeting. Watch for more flash bake sales at the meetings to come!
Climate Change and the Dunes
Sunriser Carol Vander Meer was our Featured Speaker, and she talked about the Dunes Climate Ready Grant, awarded to Friends of the Dunes, to study the effects of climate change on the coastal dunes, and to help prepare for the future. The project brings together many agencies and organizations, and it is funded by the Coastal Conservancy.
Carol noted that there are two paths to look at as climate change continues (and they are not mutually exclusive). We can work to minimize the impact of the change, and we can also prepare for the conditions that will be created as a result of climate change.
Carol reminded us that her role with Friends of the Dunes recently changed - she stepped down as Executive Director, and she is now the Special Projects Manager. The community outreach portion of the Climate Ready effort is one of those projects.
The basic question is this - how will sea level rise affect our coastal dunes? To answer this, we have to know a little more about the makeup of the dunes. The portion nearest the beach are the foredunes - the only part of the dunes that run parallel to the shore, not parallel to the prevailing winds.
The foredunes are created by waves that deposit sand onto the beach. That sand is then picked up by the wind, which carries it up the slope of the foredune, which increases in size as a result. Thus, the foredune is a sand-sharing system with the beach. The two components go through cycles of storing and releasing sand, exchanging sediment with each cycle. The amount of sand exchanged depends on many factors, and the cycles occur at different times.
In the typical annual cycle, the beach builds up during the summer, then it erodes during winter storms, leaving steep foredune formations. El Niño, an interannual cycle, reverses the tradewinds and causes warmer waters in our area, which increases the average wave height. This intensifies the effects seen in the annual cycle.
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| Carol Vander Meer |
In response to the rise in sea level, we expect the foredunes to gradually retreat towards land, "rolling over", as the peaks created fall in that direction. We would want the foredune to remain intact so it can continue in its role as a buffering zone between the ocean and the dunes themselves. The successful movement of the foredune relies on incremental movement of vegetation in parallel fashion. The movement of sediment with the foredune is necessary for the vegetation to move.
From January 2012 through August 2015, the process was monitored at Lanphere Dunes and at Ma-Le'l Dunes. This study looked at the foredune vegetation at those sites. These included European beachgrass, native beachgrass, and native dune mat. The equipment used measured changes in the height of the land with a great deal of precision. The study also included vegetation sampling - the types and density of vegetation in a number of areas.
The preliminary results indicate that the amount of sand trapped by the vegetation may inhibit the movement of the foredunes toward land. This suggests that we should be encouraging less dense vegetation in the foredune areas, to allow the landward migration. The Climate Ready grant was awarded "to test this hypothesis, and to expand our understanding of the processes over the entire littoral cell and over the longer term". The goal is to identify vulnerable areas along our coast, and to develop a long term model that predicts how the dunes will react to different scenarios and adaptation strategies.
Carol said that there are many collaborators on this project, and more information, including ways that you can be part of the process, can be found by visiting the Dunes Climate Ready page on the Friends of the Dunes website.
Vocational Moment
Sunriser Tomas Chavez said that in 2006, he started working with Sequoia Personnel Services. He said that his days involve interviewing people of various ages and career levels. He said, "We try to help people find not just a job, but the right job. We're also a staffing agency, so we do staffing as necessary." He finds his career very rewarding, since he is able to help people change their lives.
At the end of December, SPS owner Lianna Simpson retired after 35 years of service. The business was sold to Cardinal Services, a family-owned firm based in Oregon, but with Humboldt County roots. Although the organization hasn't yet settled on a title for Tomas, he is in charge of the Eureka office. As part of a larger company, the local office has more resources to offer both employers and job-seekers.
Unsung Rotarians of the Month
President Howard named Sunrisers Chris and Lisa Hemphill as his Rotarians of the Month for February. Chris and Lisa were members of the Rotary Club of Dougherty Valley in San Ramon before they moved here and joined our Club. Howard said that they both told him that they didn't want to immediately move into leadership roles with us. But they have, and they have been very active in so many of our Club's activities. And ... they're a lot of fun!
