Friends of Gualala River Protecting the Gualala River watershed and the species living within it

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 Mary Callahan, The Press Democrat, October 18, 2015 [excerpt:] Sonoma County supervisors have signed off on the final piece of a complex deal that will transfer nearly 700 acres of the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians’ ancestral lands near Stewarts Point back to the tribe in exchange for permission to build a public bluff-top trail along more than a …

by Clark Mason, The Press Democrat, October 17, 2015 [excerpt:] The Lytton Band of Pomo Indians has added remote coastal property to its growing Sonoma County real estate portfolio, including 300 acres once owned by a large Spanish wine company that had a controversial plan to clear-cut timber and plant vineyards there. The tribe, which bought the forest land once …

Daily Kos: Zeke Grader, fish and rivers advocate, passes away SF Gate: Conservationist Zeke Grader, advocate for fish, dies Press Democrat: Zeke Grader, champion of fishermen, dies at 68 The ECO Report: Legendary Fish Advocate Honored at Sausalito Gathering (April, 2015)

Peggy Berryhill’s interview with fisheries biologist Patrick Higgins KGUA radio, 88.3 FM in Gualala, CA August 25, 2015 Patrick Higgins shares his expertise on river watersheds, fish habitats and logging practices. Higgins is the Managing Director of the Eel River Restoration Project. As a scientist, he has studied the systems of numerous California rivers and shared his concerns about industrial …

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, …

by Guy Kovner Santa Rosa Press Democrat August 12, 2015 [excerpt] Environmentalists are mobilizing in protest of a would-be bill backed by the local wine industry that would create an irrigation district intended to protect the water rights of about 1,000 grape growers in the Russian River region. . . . The move comes in fourth year of California’s historic …

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 …

Friends of Gualala River An affiliate of the Redwood Coast Watersheds Alliance P.O. Box 1543, Gualala, CA 95445  GualalaRiver.org July 20, 2015 Cal Fire – Forest Practice Program Manager 135 Ridgeway Ave. Santa Rosa, California 95401 santarosapubliccomments@calfire.ca.gov SUBJECT: THP 1-15-042 SON (Gualala Redwoods Inc. “Dogwood” THP) THP 1-15-033 SON (Gualala Redwoods Inc. “Apple” THP) Dear CAL FIRE: Friends of the …

by Peter Baye, Friends of Gualala River The lower Gualala River has a wide meandering floodplain rich in wetlands, mature productive riparian redwood forests and highly diverse riparian habitats supporting many special-status plant, fish, and wildlife species. “Flood prone” redwood forests are supposed to be protected by avoidance of logging disturbances under special salmonid protection rules under the Forest Practices …