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From Digital Redwoods

Digital Redwoods

Digital Redwoods is an award winning initiative of Access Humboldt (AH), endorsed unanimously by the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and other local governments in the region, with support of Redwood Coast Rural Action (RCRA) and others forming a regional network of community leaders, public and private sector, focused on getting all communities in the North Coast region (including Humboldt, Del Norte, Siskiyou, Mendocino, Trinity, Lake, and Sonoma Counties) connected to high speed broadband.

Digital Redwoods was recognized by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) with a Community Broadband Award for 2009 Community Broadband Wireless Network of the Year. The project also develops and operates dedicated fiber optic network assets for public, education and government purposes.

In 2010, with support from Headwaters Fund, Digital Redwoods' parent organization Access Humboldt helped to develop broadband stimulus applications for ARRA funding through the US Department of Agriculture (RUS) for HoopaNet last mile service in Hoopa Valley and Orleans, and through the US Department of Commerce (NTIA) for the Humboldt Community Access Network (HCAN) to build new public benefit broadband network connections for the least served communities of Humboldt County - including community anchors for public safety, health, education and civic engagement, with interconnection to Yurok Tribe's proposed network connecting Del Norte County up the Coast. HCAN project is also seeking match funding from the California Advanced Services Fund, administered by the California Public Utilities Commission.

Concept Overview

Rural Broadband Access "By any media and regardless of frontiers"

Digital Redwoods is designed with consideration for the "digital ecology" of the marketplace of ideas, and with a vision to develop sustainable broadband media ecosystems that engage private investment along with local community anchor organizations such as university, community college, schools, public safety, health care providers, libraries and digital media access facilities.

Digital Redwoods' approach to community broadband development takes a long term view for the growth of communication networks both on the ground and overhead. Public agencies and private businesses are partnering with non-profit public benefit corporations to build community broadband media networks. Like an ancient forest, these root and canopy networks are uniquely adapted to their particular situations to maintain health and vitality over time.

This sustainable ecosystem approach for community based broadband is like planting Digital Redwoods that will develop a diverse and healthy marketplace of ideas over time. By supporting community anchor institutions, these broadband deployment, demand creation and adoption efforts will ensure public, education and government media access for the next, broadband generation.

By design, Digital Redwoods' regional projects adapt uniquely to the places and people in each community served. Three examples are: Digital Rio Dell, a municipal wireless network providing redundant Internet access for the City, Library and Volunteer Fire Department; Access Humboldt Libraries providing free public Wi-Fi access; and, Eureka Muni-Hub, a community fiber co-location facility with wireless interconnection capabilities.

Appropriate network technologies and innovations, including cloud architecture and open source applications are incorporated in this initiative to meet human needs. Individual deployment and adoption projects will connect local communities where people live, to other connected places, and with virtual communities across the larger realms of human communication.

Doing What?

Digital Redwoods is deploying broadband communications capacity to "least served" communities for the Counties, Tribes, municipalities, community service districts (fire, transportation, water, etc.), schools, libraries, health care, and other public, education and community-based facilities starting with Humboldt County, and including Mendocino, Lake, Santa Rosa, Trinity, Siskiyou and Del Norte Counties, in a wider region known as the North Coast of California.

Broadband network facilities and related resources developed by the Digital Redwoods project with public funds will be treated as public benefit assets managed on behalf of and accountable to participating local communities - education institutions, government agencies and community based organizations.

Digital Redwoods will use federal and state funds and other public resources to develop new sustainable regional broadband communications network assets with dedicated fiber and wireless capacity through community anchor facilities such as schools, health and library facilities to support robust next generation digital media applications for public safety, education and other community communications purposes.

For Federal ARRA broadband stimulus funding, Digital Redwoods is supporting public benefit applications to deploy comprehensive community infrastructure, including "last mile" wireless networks for Hoopa and Orleans (Panamnik) as proposed by Hoopa Tribe. And Access Humboldt is applying on behalf of the County and others for the Humboldt Community Access Network HCAN designed to reach the least served communities anchor institutions.

Broadband network deployment for community anchors will maximize opportunities for carrier neutral co-location, peering and interconnection between commercial, non-commercial and public safety networks serving remote communities throughout the Redwood Coast region. Adoption and demand creation efforts will engage local resources at each location served.

Broadband deployment, demand creation, adoption and inclusion components of Digital Redwoods will serve each community through community anchor institutions (schools, libraries, health clinics, fire stations, grange halls, community centers, etc.) at remote unserved and underserved locations throughout the region. Through these community anchor institutions, public, education and government (PEG) partnerships with private sector participation will launch social enterprise efforts to advance and sustain regional and local broadband media programs.

History

RCRA's initial broadband project was a supply/demand study in partnership with the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) and Humboldt State University (HSU) called Redwood Coast Connect (RCC)). One of the outcomes of the RCC report was the identification of significant missing "middle mile" connections ("middle mile" is defined as the connection between the big broadband fiber infrastructure that runs along Highway 5 here in Northern California to drop off points or network nodes from which communities can connect to—the-connection. Transport between the distribution switches and individual homes and businesses is referred to as "last mile"). Without additional "middle mile" connections many communities cannot get adequate service. Digital Redwoods project is in the process of developing a broadband deployment, demand and adoption strategy to enable all least served communities to gain access, improving the quality of life in our remote rural communities.

In January 2009, the Obama administration proposed significant funding for broadband infrastructure as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) which was passed in February 2009 allocating approximately $7.2 billion. These new federal funding sources represent a significant pool of funds for infrastructure focused on unserved and underserved communities and promise to pay 80% of the capital cost of infrastructure. The ARRA broadband funding is focused on public/private partnerships and the benefits of projects in terms of jobs created, health care delivery, education and public safety.

Digital Redwoods is a collaborative regional effort designed primarily to serve the public good.

Digital Redwoods is convening open, transparent governance to identify local objectives (public needs and interests) that can be accomplished through projects like HCAN proposed for ARRA funding program NTIA/RUS. Projects being proposed for the region are coming from private and community interests as well as public, tribal and non-profit sector organizations.

Access Humboldt is advancing Digital Redwoods on behalf of public, education and government sectors to work with private partners to get the best community outcomes for the region. Regional plans for deployment, demand creation and adoption will help to form a coherent design and an open process to coordinate partners for ARRA broadband infrastructure funding proposals and related regional broadband efforts over time.

Conclusion

Digital Redwoods will build and operate robust community/municipal broadband media networks for least served communities by connecting local anchor facilities (schools, libraries, community centers, health care facilities, community media centers, etc.) in Humboldt, Del Norte, Siskiyou, Trinity, Lake, Mendocino and Santa Rosa Counties as well as many remote communities in the North Coast region of California. Local adoption of broadband media applications for public safety, education and government (PEG) purposes will be integral with network design and operation.

In addition to public funding, the support and cooperation of various Federal, State and local agencies and public utilities (BLM, Forest Service, State Parks, Caltrans, PG&E, etc.) will be essential to develop optimal sites and agreements for wireless and fiber networks.

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For more information, contact: Sean McLaughlin, Access Humboldt, w: 707-476-1798, DC: 202-495-0616, e: sean@accesshumboldt.net.