Dogwood THP

Friends of Gualala River (FoGR) and our allies once again recently prevailed in court. The timber harvest plan called Dogwood has been found twice to fail to meet California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirements for failing to evaluate project alternatives with less environmental impacts. FoGR also won on the lack of a Cumulative Impact study. Dogwood III is just as …

This December, 2018 update details where FoGR is at the end of a tumultuous year of persistence. Everyone involved in the legal battles to protect the Gualala River floodplain should heave a sigh of relief, but not too deeply, for the struggles continue. Here we learn what may be next and why FoGR folks have to remain steady and vigilant. …

Media Release October 19, 2018 Sonoma County Superior Court once again has ruled in favor of Friends of Gualala River (FoGR) in its lawsuit against CAL FIRE’s approval of logging of coastal floodplain redwood forest in hundreds of acres of the Wild and Scenic Gualala River. The controversial “Dogwood” timber harvest plan (THP) proposed by Gualala Redwoods Timber LLC has …

Media Release June 7, 2018 Sonoma County Superior Court has once again granted a preliminary injunction to put the start of logging on hold in the 100-year-old redwood forest of the Gualala River floodplain, located in northwest Sonoma County and southwest Mendocino County. On June 5, 2018, Judge René Chouteau issued a tentative order granting a motion for preliminary injunction …

by Mary Callahan, The Press Democrat, April 19, 2018 [excerpt:] A controversial plan to log miles of Gualala River floodplain, including nearly century-old redwood trees just outside Gualala Point Regional Park, is back on track, setting the stage for a showdown in court or perhaps among the trees themselves. Charll Stoneman, forest manager for Gualala Redwood Timber, which owns the …

Friends of Gualala River (FoGR), along with Forest Unlimited, is taking legal action against the resubmitted Timber Harvest Plan “Dogwood,” the THP that would log in the floodplain of the Gualala River. CAL FIRE approved this THP on March 30, 2018. Dogwood contains the largest tracts of mature redwoods in floodplains, beginning at the boundary of Gualala Point Regional Park’s …

Attention: Forest Practice California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection 135 Ridgeway Ave, Santa Rosa, California 95401 santarosapubliccomments@calfire.ca.gov Subject: THP 1-15-042 SON – “Dogwood,” Reopened Public Comment Period Date: November 26, 2017 Friends of the Gualala River (FoGR) is a non-profit, grassroots watershed protection association formed to share common concerns and research regarding the welfare of the Gualala River, its …

Comment letters on the “Dogwood” floodplain logging plan (THP 1-15-042-SON), submitted on behalf of Friends of Gualala River by subject matter experts: Download: Letter by Tom Gaman, CA Registered Professional Forester and ARB Forest Carbon Verifier; Letter by Greg Kamman, CA Registered Geologist & Certified Hydrogeologist; Letter by Stacy Li, Ph.D., professional aquatic biologist. Our sincere thanks to these experts …

November 26, 2017 SUBJECT: THP 1-15-042 SON (Gualala Redwoods Timber LLC “Dogwood” THP, reopened public comment) CAL FIRE Forest Practice Program: Attached are my comment letters on the original and recirculated THP versions for the “Dogwood” Timber Harvest Plan 1-15-042, from 2015-2016. I am resubmitting these comments for the resubmitted THP of the same file number, which is substantially the …

We are sorry to report that Gualala Redwood Timber (GRT), has decided to resubmit the Timber Harvest Plan called “Dogwood,” located in the floodplain of the Gualala River — the one we have been protesting and fighting for two years. We knew that winning in court didn’t save the Gualala River floodplain. The judge, in essence, told GRT they had …

We are very sorry to report that Gualala Redwood Timber (GRT), owned by the Burch family, has decided to resubmit the Timber Harvest Plan called “Dogwood,” the one we have been protesting and fighting for two years. We knew that winning in court didn’t save the Gualala River floodplain. The judge, in essence, told GRT they had to take into …

Friends of Gualala River Forest Unlimited California Native Plant Society MEDIA RELEASE Date: September 26, 2017 The lawsuit to stop logging the Gualala River floodplain redwood forest tract in the “Dogwood” timber harvest plan (THP) is over. CAL FIRE was ordered by Sonoma County Superior Court to vacate (revoke) the Gualala Redwood Timber Company timber harvest plan on April 18, …

Friends of Gualala River Forest Unlimited California Native Plant Society MEDIA RELEASE Date: June 29, 2017 After halting logging in the environmentally sensitive mature floodplain redwood forest of the lower Gualala River, Judge René Chouteau of Sonoma County Superior Court awarded $162,000 in attorney’s fees to the successful parties in environmental litigation over CAL FIRE’s approval of the Dogwood Timber …

by Mary Callahan, The Press Democrat, June 20, 2017 [excerpt:] A disputed 2-year-old plan to log along several miles of the Gualala River floodplain remains in limbo five months after a Sonoma County judge nullified its approval and sent it back to state forestry officials for revision and additional public review. Acting on a lawsuit brought by environmental groups, Superior …

by Will Parrish, North Bay Bohemian, February 15, 2017 [excerpt:] Here in the North Bay, a controversy over timber industry damage to the Gualala River in northwestern Sonoma and southeastern Mendocino counties has been raging since 2015. First came the Dogwood plan, a 320-acre timber harvest plan filed by Gualala Redwoods Timber company (GRT). It involves tractor-logging hundreds of stately, …

Friends of Gualala River Forest Unlimited California Native Plant Society MEDIA RELEASE Date: January 28, 2017 The “Dogwood” Timber Harvest Plan (THP), an environmental review of the first major logging of the mature redwood forest on the sensitive floodplain of the Gualala River, has been sent back to CAL FIRE for a full revision. The plan is bound for a …

Thursday, October 27, 2016 5 to 7 p.m. Gualala Community Center 47950 Center St., Gualala, CA 95445 Please join host Jeanne Jackson (Mendonoma Sightings) for a one-time informal workshop co-sponsored by Friends of Gualala River, Forest Unlimited and California Native Plant Society – Dorothy King Young Chapter, for updates on the future of the lower Gualala River Riparian Redwood Forest, …

by Mary Callahan, The Press Democrat, September 16, 2016 [excerpt:] A Sonoma County judge has halted logging operations tied to a disputed timber harvest plan in the Gualala River watershed until a court challenge against the project can be resolved. Superior Court Judge Rene Chouteau granted a preliminary injunction Wednesday, affirming an earlier tentative ruling in which he said environmentalists …

Friends of Gualala River Forest Unlimited MEDIA RELEASE Date: September 15, 2016 – updated On Wednesday, September 14, Sonoma County Superior Court confirmed a tentative ruling to temporarily halt further logging of the controversial Gualala River floodplain within the “Dogwood” timber harvest plan area while litigation proceeds. Hon. René Auguste Chouteau, Supervising Civil Court Judge, granted a Preliminary Injunction to …

Comments on the “Dogwood” floodplain logging plan (THP 1-15-042-SON), submitted on behalf of Friends of Gualala River by subject matter experts: Download: Comments by William Russell, Ph.D., Professor of Environmental Studies; Comments by Teresa Sholars, emeritus Professor of Biology; Comments by Stuart Siegel, Ph.D., Professional Wetland Scientist. Our sincere thanks to these experts for their efforts on behalf of the …