King Salmon, Fields Landing homeowners seek answers to threats of sea level rise

EUREKA, Calif. (KIEM) – With sea level rise threatening the future of communities in King Salmon, and Fields Landing, an adaptation planning workshop was held on Tuesday to discuss options.

Sea level rise is expected to impact homes in these areas as soon as 20 years from now, and the Humboldt County’s Planning and Building Department, among other agencies, are making themselves available to homeowners to answer questions.

Some questions that were asked tonight include:

Are property values going to sink?
How will this impact homeowners insurance?
How will the rise impact the South Bay School, and the King Salmon power plant?

Some answers were limited, with other answers available online, as this is the start to a long and collaborative process.

For now, the basic plan is to protect the area as long as possible, until retreat is necessary.

”When sea level rise gets to a place where we can’t continue to protect property, we want to build a retreat gracefully,” said Planning Director John Ford, “What that means is have people be able to use their homes for as long as they possibly can, but then it gets to a point where they need to find other places to live.”

District 1 Supervisor Rex Bohn says because residents from King Salmon and Fields Landing are in a flood prone area, residents may already see an increase in their insurance.

Another meeting on the topic of sea level rise for the community of Fairhaven is scheduled for August 14 at 6:00PM, at the Samoa Women’s Club.