Forestry

On July 1, 2016, CAL FIRE approved the five mile long, 400+ acre “Dogwood” timber harvest plan (THP; logging permit) that lies entirely within the floodplain of the designated Wild and Scenic Gualala River.   Under current California forestry regulations, the floodplain (riparian) redwood forest is supposed to be protected against all logging disturbances like skid trails and haul roads …

Letter from botanist & coastal ecologist Peter Baye on the recirculated “Dogwood” logging plan in the floodplain of the Gualala River (May, 2016) — download pdf: Comments by Peter Baye on the recirculated THP-01-15-042-SON Dogwood Brief excerpt: Conclusions and Recommendations The addition of skid road maps without corresponding data and analysis of sensitive floodplain forest resources is meaningless for impact …

by Mary Callahan, The Press Democrat, May 10, 2016 [excerpt:] A disputed plan to log century-old redwoods along the Gualala River is running into stiff opposition from environmentalists who say the days of timber operations near North Coast streams, even on land long used for commercial logging, should be over. Opponents of the proposed timber harvest in northwestern Sonoma County …

CalFire has announced the re-opening of public comment on the “Dogwood”  floodplain logging plan (THP 1-15-042-SON) until Monday, May 16, 2016 at 5 p.m. CalFire says they are only re-opening the plan for public comment on the new material provided by the forester for landowner Gualala Redwood Timber (GRT). The recirculated timber harvest plan (THP) documents are located in CalFire’s …

April, 2016 To: Roger Burch, President of Redwood Empire Sean Burch, Vice-President and GM of Redwood Empire Henry Alden, Forester Re: The Timber Harvest Plan dubbed “Dogwood.” Dear Sirs, We are residents of the Mendonoma Coast. We treasure our wild river, the Gualala River. We realize the Burch family recently acquired the 29,000 acres of Gualala Redwoods land previously owned …

Sign this petition to help protect the floodplain of the Gualala River! Gualala Redwood Timber has proposed a logging plan targeting redwood forest in the floodplain of the Gualala River ( THP 1-15-042-SON “Dogwood”). To protest this destructive logging plan, please sign this petition at Change.org. We implore you not to log alongside the Gualala River! The petition was started …

What You Can Do To Help Stop the Timber Harvest Plan in the Floodplain of the Gualala River, THP 1-15-042 “Dogwood” This may be the last call for urgent action on the “Dogwood” Timber Harvest Plan (THP), which is now (end March 2016) in the final stages of a permit decision by CAL FIRE. On Thursday, March 17, a community meeting …

Thursday March 17, 2016 at 5:30 p.m. at the Gualala Community Center The Gualala Municipal Advisory Council (GMAC), a committee that reports to the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, is holding a public forum on the proposed “Dogwood” Timber Harvest Plan (THP) for Gualala area residents and other interested members of the public. The public forum is scheduled for Thursday …

 by Guy Kovner, The Press Democrat, January 3, 2016 [excerpt:] They say money doesn’t grow on trees, but a nearly 75,000-acre swath of redwood and fir forests blanketing the wildlands of Sonoma and Mendocino counties is generating millions of dollars as it contributes to California’s ambitious campaign to curb greenhouse gas emissions. In a reversal of forest profiteering that dates …

Letter from hydrologist Greg Kamman on the recirculated “Dogwood” logging plan in the floodplain of the Gualala River (December, 2015): Brief excerpt: “Given the Gualala River is a sediment and temperature impaired waterway, it is my opinion that State resources agencies should not approve the Dogwood THP until it can demonstrate that proposed timber harvest actions will not lead to …

Letter from botanist & coastal ecologist Peter Baye on the recirculated “Dogwood” logging plan in the floodplain of the Gualala River (December, 2015) — download pdf:   Brief excerpt: Conclusions and Recommendations Despite recirculation and ample opportunity to correct deep flaws in the THP identified in public and expert comments, the Dogwood THP persistently retains both careless errors and apparently …

On November 15, 2015, the Gualala Municipal Advisory Council (GMAC) sent a letter to CalFire expressing concerns regarding the proposed “Dogwood” and “Apple” logging plans in and directly adjacent to the environmentally sensitive floodplain of the Gualala River. Download the letter in pdf format: GMAC letter on Apple & Dogwood logging plans

by Mary Callahan, The Press Democrat, October 22, 2015 [excerpt:] Plans to harvest century-old redwoods along the Gualala River are stirring opposition in the wake of an unsuccessful bid to acquire the commercial timberland for conservation purposes, including the expansion of a public park. The logging proposal covers more than 500 acres upstream from the town of Gualala and includes …

by Will Parrish, North Bay Bohemian, October 21, 2015 [excerpt:] The fight to save majestic coastal redwood groves in California has been waged for more than a century, starting with the campaign that created Big Basin State Park in 1902. . . . This year, a new redwood battle has emerged, this time in northwestern Sonoma County. Gualala Redwoods Timber …

by Amie Windsor August 21, 2015 © copyright 2015, Independent Coast Observer reprinted with permission More information around the extended comment period for timber harvest plan (THP) 1-15-042-SON, also known as “Dogwood,” has emerged: according to Cal Fire Deputy Chief Leslie Markham, the comment period has not been extended, as previously reported in the ICO. Rather, a new comment period …

Gualala Redwood Timber has proposed two logging plans targeting redwood forest in the floodplain of the Gualala River and on steep slopes directly above ( THP 1-15-042-SON “Dogwood” and THP 1-15-033 SON “Apple,” respectively). The plans fail to comply with state and federal laws protecting threatened and endangered species. Agencies which should be protecting those species (National Marine Fisheries Service, …

Updated August 12, 2015 Friends of Gualala River hired a geographic information system (GIS) specialist to take the multiple timber harvest plan (THP) maps submitted and make new composite maps that are readable in context of the landscape and past logging. The full extent of the footprint of the logging plans in the lower Gualala River floodplain redwood forest and …

Letter — signed by Sierra Club Redwood Chapter, Center for Biological Diversity, Madrone Audubon Society, California Native Plant Society (Dorothy King Young Chapter), Friends of the Gualala River, Forest Unlimited, and Northern California River Watch — commenting on Timber Harvest Plans THP 1-15-042 SON (Gualala Redwoods Inc. “Dogwood” THP) and THP 1-15-033 SON (Gualala Redwoods Inc. “Apple” THP): Click on …

Technical comments on the “Dogwood” and “Apple” logging plans from Greg Kamman, a hydrologist with over twenty five years of technical and consulting experience in the fields of geology, hydrology, and hydrogeology. The data analysis in Kamman’s letter concludes that GRI’s consultant’s 2010 “analysis is flawed and grossly underestimates the potential impacts on steelhead summer rearing habitat in the river …

Update: August 6 Thanks to efforts by Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo, Mendocino County Supervisor Dan Hamburg, State Senator Mike McGuire, Congressman Jared Huffman and others, the deadline for public comments on THP 1-15-042 “Dogwood” has been extended for at least 30 days on grounds that CAL FIRE found “discrepancies” in the plan. Dear Friends of the Gualala River, You …