Steps Towards Sustainable Community, Winter 2005

Arcata High School

In its fourth year, the Community Environment Design and Restoration (CEDAR) Academy at Arcata High School lets students create projects to promote the environmental well-being of their school and the community. CEDAR was started by biology teacher Louis Armin-Hoiland, who has taught at Arcata high since 1987. This year there are 42 CEDAR students. Their projects include: salmon restoration, creek restoration, teaching local elementary school children about worm composting, and promoting sustainability by encouraging people to buy from local businesses.

Creek Restoration
Since 1991, before the CEDAR program started, Armin-Hoiland had his students involved in studying and restoring Jolly Giant Creek. Jolly Giant is a 5-mile long stream that starts in Arcata’s Community Forest, flows along the north boundary of the school and empties into Humboldt Bay. “During the past 150 years, various parts of the creek had been logged, stripped of native vegetation, culverted, and channelized,” notes Armin-Hoiland. “Its course was altered by lumber mills and it was polluted with urban runoff. We pulled out garbage, tires, concrete, and asphalt.”
With grants from the State Department of Water Resources-Urban Streams Program, the Department of Fish and Game, and other federal and State agencies, the students conducted six major restoration projects on Jolly Giant.

“Our work on Jolly Giant has included daylighting 300 feet that had been underground,” explained Armin-Hoiland. “We built a new creek channel with rock weirs, log, and rootwad structures to add fish habitat. We have also removed non-native plants, planted native plants, improved wildlife habitat, and re-introduced native species.

“We put in public access to the creek that includes footbridges made from wood out of the Arcata Community Forest (Insert, page 10), and benches made from recycled plastic lumber. Unfortunately, the creek still gets vandalized, so we continue to pick up trash, repair damage, and cleaning up tagging.”

Solar and Green Schools
Another CEDAR project was applying for and getting a grant to install solar panels on the school roof. In 2002, students installed 16 panels that produce a total of 2.5 kilowatts, enough to meet typical energy needs for most households. Last summer the school received a $178,000 Solar Schools grant from the California Energy Commission for a 30KW photovoltaic system. CEDAR students also got a $10,000 grant to fund solar hot water systems and energy auditing equipment.

Arcata High will also be doing energy audits and efforts to reduce energy use through Green Schools, a program of the Alliance to Save Energy. “The school’s electrical bill is about $87,000 a year,” notes Armin-Hoiland, “We hope to reduce that significantly.”

CEDAR senior Beth Rickard explains, “We will look at operating hours and computer use and consider improvements like light sensors in the bathrooms and possible replacement of our inefficient boiler heating system. Some of the classrooms have been updated with dual pane windows and new lighting ballasts. We also need to focus on behavior changes and educating students about where the energy comes from and how it is used.”

Richark says of the CEDAR program. “It has been a great opportunity for me, I am much better at public speaking now. You have to think for yourself, chart your own learning, and work with other people.” This is echoed by senior Dani Moulia, who says, “It fosters in-depth thinking, to be self-sufficient. People don’t expect much of high school students but in this program, something is expected of us and we actually accomplish things.”

Waste
The school, which has no on-site food service, still generates considerable waste. Through student and teacher efforts, recycling containers for cans, bottles, office paper, and newspaper are now maintained on campus by maintenance staff. Organic waste goes to the agriculture garden, and used oil goes to local recyclers. Will Bagnall’s math classes conducted waste audits in 2004 to find a baseline for future waste reduction strategies. Prompted by these waste reduction efforts, the school district is currently working on waste reduction policies that will address, among other things, the purchase of recycled products for the schools. “Some students will be working with the Arcata Community Recycling Center and the City of Arcata to further reduce our waste,” notes Armin-Hoilan.

Contact Information:
Louis Armin-Hoiland
Arcata High School
1720 M Street
Arcata, CA 95521
(707) 825-2481
www.nohum.k12.ca.us/ahscedar
lah@nohum.k12.c

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Last updated: August 01, 2008