by Mary Callahan, The Press Democrat, July 13, 2016 [excerpt:] Foes of a plan to log hundreds of acres of timberland along the lower Gualala River, including century-old redwood trees, have notified state forestry officials they intend to sue over the project unless the state rescinds its approval. The official notice, submitted Friday to Cal Fire Director Ken Pimlott, came …

There will be a Community Protest Rally at Gualala Point Regional Park on Saturday July 16, from 11 am to noon. Sonoma County Parks has waived the entrance fee for this event. Enter the park on the west side of Highway One. Just after the pay station, there is a parking area called the Salal parking area. We will congregate …

by Ric Hauer, Professor of Limnology, The University of Montana Copyright © 2016, The Conversation US, Inc. [excerpt:] Although they may not commonly be viewed as hotspots for biodiversity, gravel-bed river floodplains are by far the most important feature for nature across the landscapes of western North America. This is because gravel-bed rivers disproportionately create high diversity of habitats, concentrate …

  Date: July 11, 2016 On Friday, July 8, 2016, Friends of Gualala River and Forest Unlimited attorney Edward Yates sent CAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) a Notice of Intent to Sue over the agency’s final approval of the controversial, delayed “Dogwood” Timber Harvest Plan. The applicant is Gualala Redwoods Timber (GRT), which purchased the timberland …

by Mary Callahan, The Press Democrat, July 4, 2016 [excerpt:] Cal Fire has granted final approval to a contentious timber harvest plan that includes logging century-old redwood trees along the lower Gualala River, though environmental advocates who object may challenge it. The 330-acre “Dogwood” harvest plan had been subjected to a rare three rounds of public review and comment before …

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 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 …