New Metal Signs for Mad River Estuary

The Mad River (McKinleyville, CA) has new interpretive signs at the recently restored Baduwa’t estuary, according to a Feb. 20 post on Lost Coast Outpost. Baduwa’t is now known as the Mad River, but it is not a direct translation, per the article. 

Nonprofit conservation organization California Trout, McKinleyville Community Services District, the Wiyot Tribe, Redwood Community Action Agency and local artists banded together to create the new signs. Alme Allen and Jullia Finkelstein were hired as the signs’ artists. The designs thread interpretive themes together, and the signs welcome and orient visitors to the sight. 

“As a Karuk/Yurok person, I am pleased to bring my artistic interpretation to this project,” Allen, a local artist, carver and cultural teacher, is quoted in the article. “Based on cultural values, the guardian monument structures deliver an old meaning to a new generation – a meaning that links people with place and the responsibility to care for the environment.” 

The signs were fabricated and installed by brothers Chris and Nick Kisselhorst, owners of Ironside Metal Works (Arcata, CA). 

Read the full article at lostcoastoutpost.com.