A marsh moment

Friends of the Arcata Marsh hosting New Year's Day stroll

Start off 2024 with a bit of exercise and education as local naturalists and tour leaders Paul Johnson, Lynn Jones and Barbara Reisman of Friends of the Arcata Marsh present a 90-minute New Year's Day walk Monday at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary. This free event will be held rain or shine.

Those who would like to attend will meet at 10 a.m. in front of the Arcata Marsh Interpretive Center on South G Street. The building will be open Monday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Restrooms are available inside.

“A marsh walk is a fun way to start winter and the new year, because it is rejuvenating to walk at the wilder intersection of urban watersheds and the bay. The air is fresh, clouds are always interesting and, on a guided walk, you learn something new,” said Jones, who is also a FOAM board member.

Jones added that on the New Year's Day walk, visitors “might see many night herons in the willows at the north end of Klopp Lake, a pretty low tide, lots of construction and improvements along I Street, more plants and birds since the vegetation is sparse in winter, and overwintering migratory birds.”

The Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary is home to the city of Arcata's innovative wastewater is treatment facility. The sanctuary is 307 acres, including freshwater marshes, salt marsh, tidal sloughs, grassy uplands, mudflats, brackish marsh, approximately five miles of walking and biking paths and the Arcata Marsh Interpretive Center.

Friends of the Arcata Marsh was founded in 1989 with the

“A marsh walk is a fun way to start winter and the new year, because it is rejuvenating to walk at the wilder intersection of urban watersheds and the bay.” — Lynn Jones, FOAM board member

initial task of raising funds to build an interpretive center at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary, but since then the nonprofit works to educate the public about the Arcata Marsh.

“The Arcata Marsh is a popular place for many locals because of its proximity to town,” Jones said. “The Bay Trail runs right though it through it, so it's an easy walk, run, bike, skate or scoot to get there. The trails are flat, so (they are) accessible to most people. It's a good motorfree place to walk a leashed dog or cat. Even in the rain, there are great views from lots of different trails.”

For more information about the FOAM New Year's Day walk, call 707-826-2359. For more information about the nonprofit Friends of the Arcata Marsh, go to https://www.arcatamarshfriends.org/.

JOSE QUEZADA, HUMEDIA — FOR THE TIMESSTANDARD A great blue heron splashes water as it plunges its head to feed in the shallow tide waters of Humboldt Bay along a trail at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary last weekend.

JOSE QUEZADA, HUMEDIA — FOR THE TIMES-STANDARD A great blue heron lands on an old pier piling in Humboldt Bay last weekend, a few yards west from the main parking lot beside Klopp Lake at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary.

JOSE QUEZADA, HUMEDIA — FOR THE TIMES-STANDARD A young egret comes in for a landing in the waters of Humboldt Bay. Large number of egrets, sandpipers, herons and other wildlife are visible at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary in the early winter season.

HEATHER SHELTON — THE TIMES-STANDARD The Arcata Marsh Interpretive Center has interactive exhibits, free maps and literature, a bookstore, bird checklists and a log of recent bird sightings.

JOSE QUEZADA, HUMEDIA — FOR THE TIMES-STANDARD A marbled godwit feeds in the mudflats of Humboldt Bay, beside the trail levee separating Klopp Lake and the bay at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary.