News

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …