Why the Community Needs ERWIGHistorical land use and unstable geology, combined with human-caused and natural events, have created a growing demand for environmental restoration on the North Coast. However, a vital link was missing between private landowners who would like to address areas of concern on their property and organizations with the resources, funding, and technical abilities to make the work happen.
That’s where ERWIG comes in. We take a moderate, open-minded approach to restoration, allowing us to work with individuals and organizations from all industries and walks of life. The focus of our work is keeping salmonid populations and their habitat healthy and thriving. With open communication between private landowners, restoration groups, government organizations, and prominent industries, we can make a positive impact on our streams and the amazing native fisheries that depend on them. |
How ERWIG
|
Meet The Team
Executive Director & Project Manager
|
Isaac Mikus
Isaac received a B.S. in Botany and Marine Biology from Humboldt State University. He has been working in the fisheries restoration field since 2005 when he joined the AmeriCorps Watershed Stewards Project (WSP). After two years of WSP he went to work for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in the Fisheries Restoration Grant Program, then the California Conservation Corps where he helped design and build instream habitat structures. Through his work Isaac has visited nearly every salmonid bearing stream in Humboldt and Mendocino County. |
Board of Directors
Clif Clendenen - Chairman
Clif was born in Scotia and raised on his family’s apple farm in Fortuna. He graduated from the University of California, Davis with a degree in Botany. After a few years of travel, he returned to Fortuna to work at Clendenen’s Cider Works, which he’s owned and operated for over 30 years. Currently, he’s mentoring his son, Drew, the 4th generation to manage the farm. Clendenen’s Cider Works has been in continuous production since 1869 and in the Clendenen family since 1909. Clif’s recent term on the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors underscored the importance of good long-term land use planning. He is excited to help NRLT keep agricultural and timber lands healthy, productive and viable. |
Ken Jorgenson - Vice Chairman
Ken is a founding board member of ERWIG. His passion for and commitment to protecting salmonids began when he first encountered native Chinook spawning near his home in the upper reaches of Cummings Creek nearly 40 years ago. Ken is a small business owner and regional musician. He leads the Mighty Rover band with a desire to showcase American music through evocative lyrics and powerful melodies. You can catch him around Humboldt most weekends playing roots country, honky-tonk and swing music. |
Nancy Kaytis-Slocum - Secretary
Nancy lives and farms on the banks of the Eel River, where the river meets the sea. Encircled by Salt River, Morgan Slough and Eel River, the “Island,” also known as Camp Weott, lies on the south side of the Eel River Estuary. Nancy is entering her 30th year as secretary for the Humboldt County Fish & Game Advisory Commission. When she is not travelling, she and her husband Bruce raise chickens and grow and preserve most of their own food on the floodplains of the lower Eel. |
Sandra Hunt-von Arb - Treasurer
Sandra is a Senior Biologist at Pacific NorthWestern Biological Resources Consultants. She has been a wildlife biologist in Northern California specializing in sensitive and endangered species since the mid 1990’s. Her recent work includes surveying for dragonflies and damselflies, aka odonates. She has presented and/or led field trips on dragonflies for Godwit Days Bird Festival, Redwood Region Audubon Society, Plumas Audubon Society, Point Reyes Field Institute, and Redwood Parks Association & Tolowa Dunes Stewards, among others. |
Mel Kreb
Mel Kreb and his family have lived in the flood plain of the Eel River for 27 years and operate the Flood Plain Produce, an organic seasonal produce farm. He is one of the founding members of the Salmonid Restoration Federation and ERWiG. As the northern district director of the California Conservation Corps he worked closely with his staff and the Department of Fish and Game to insure the founding and continuing success of the CCC Coastal Fisheries Restoration Program and the Americorps Watershed Stewards Program. He is currently retired from state service and can be found peddling produce at all the local farmers markets. |
Scott Downie
Mr. Downie, a Humboldt County native, recently retired after twenty-two years as a fisheries manager with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. He initiated and developed a large scale assessment effort for CDFW on the North Coast that became the Coastal Watershed Assessment and Planning Program. Since the 2010 passage of the medical marijuana legislations, Downie's attention has been increasingly drawn to excessive and illegal water diversions, waste water discharge abuses and their impact on fish, wildlife, and rural quality of life. He has been honored by CDFW, the American Fisheries Society, the Salmon Restoration Federation , Humboldt County, twice by the California Assembly (1991 and 2013), and by the House of Representatives for this extensive work in watershed and fisheries. |
|
Jim Lamport
Jim is a legal document assistant from Blocksburg, whose office is in Garberville. He is a long-time northern Mendocino / southern Humboldt rural homesteader, and so naturally he's an environmentalist, serving also on the boards of the Ecological Rights Foundation (the parent organization of Humboldt Baykeeper) and the Institute for Sustainable Forestry. His current goals include not screwing up his lines in the upcoming community theater production, and getting a seat on the Headwaters' Fund board. |
John Summers
John works for the Mattole Restoration Council as a Field Crew Leader for the Native Ecosystem Restoration Program. His work focuses on invasive species removal, riparian ecosystem restoration, and Sudden Oak Death (SOD) monitoring. His prior work experience includes several terms with AmeriCorps specializing in habitat restoration and environmental interpretation, and as a forestry technician for Full Circle Forestry. He is a graduate of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry with a BS in Conservation Biology. |
Bruce Slocum
Bruce, the Coast Guard Licensed operator and owner of the Camp Weott Guide Service, has been traveling and exploring the Eel River Delta waterways since 1955. He once said “Some people like to travel to different places to explore new surroundings – I want to spend my life discovering everything there is to know about my own back yard.” You can find more information about Camp Weott in this North Coast Journal Article. |
|
Melanie Cunningham
Melanie operates Shakefork Community farm in Carlotta, CA. You can find her at farmers markets, providing nourishing produce straight from the earth to your table that’s both organic and sustainable. |
Michael Camann
Michael is a professor in the Biological Sciences Department at Humboldt State University. His interests focus upon insect ecology at the community and ecosystem scales. |
Charlie Butterworth
|
