News

As an all-volunteer organization with very little overhead, Friends of Gualala River (FoGR) is able to utilize the donations we receive to further our mission, which is to protect the Gualala River, its watershed and the animals and native plants that live there. As FoGR has had to use legal means to help accomplish these goals, we actively fundraised in …

By: FoGR Vice President, Lynn Walton Adult Steelhead, photo by Peter Baye For nearly a year Friends of Gualala River (FoGR) has been engaged in an effort to prompt the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and the State Water Resources Control Board to perform their duty to incorporate the Gualala River’s Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for sediment …

By Laura Baker, Chair Committee Members: Lynn Walton, Chris Poehlmann, Kenyon Rupnik, Ethan Arutunian, Peter Schmidt, Nathan Ramser, Pat Maxwell As with so many other organizations, Covid has challenged our committee to stay connected to one another as well as to the larger community. For the past year and a half our committee has been meeting virtually via Zoom. The …

Topographic Model – design A green light was recently given to the proposed exhibit after generous private donations were received and the FoGR board and Sonoma County Regional Parks supplied the final lump sums to put the project’s funding drive over the top. The Topographical Model Exhibit will reside in the Gualala Point Regional Park visitors center and will be …

by Kenyon Rupnik Friends of Gualala River (FoGR) and Sonoma County Regional Parks are sponsoring a weather station at the Gualala Point Visitors Center for your enjoyment of Gualala Point and Mill Bend. In our beautiful area, Gualala Point Regional Park is a top destination for outside activities. You can spy whales at Whale Point, enjoy the Visitors Center exhibits …

By J. Stephen McLaughlin November 19, 2021 © Copyright 2021 Independent Coast Observer Reprinted with permission www.mendonoma.com The local environmental advocacy group Friends of Gualala River on Monday notified federal and state agencies, in addition to Gualala Redwood Timber, LLC, that it intends to sue in U.S. District Court to block the so-called “Little” Timber Harvest Plan, alleging violations of …

by Sonia Waraich, The Mendocino Voice, November 16, 2021 Reprinted by permission Jackson Demonstration State Forest photographed on the morning of Sept. 29, 2021. Photo by Sonia Waraich MENDOCINO Co., 11/16/21 — A debate has been raging for the past few months on whether Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) is being managed in the best way possible in the face …

Friends of Gualala River (FoGR) is pleased to publish a new issue of our monthly publication, “FoGR Monthly: September, 2021.”  This month’s feature is Geography and Climate. Click on the image below to download the .pdf file (400 KB)

by Chris McManus Independent Coast Observer August 20, 2021 Reprinted by permission © Copyright Independent Coast Observer, Inc. www.mendonoma.com Friends of Gualala River, along with Forest Unlimited in Forestville, on Monday sent a request to state and local officials asking that a regional state of emergency for the Gualala River watershed be proclaimed. This aerial view of the Gualala River …

After years of trying, and succeeding, to stop the Timber Harvest Plan (THP) called “Dogwood,” the fight was lost this past week. Those of us who have put so much effort into stopping this terrible logging plan are so very disheartened by this. We mourn the loss of the Redwood trees, the damage to the floodplain of the river, and …

Friends of Gualala River (FoGR) is pleased to publish a new issue of our monthly publication, “FoGR Monthly: August, 2021.”  This month’s feature is Sequoia Sempervirens – Coast Redwoods. Click on the image below to download the .pdf file (480 KB)

by Chris McManus Independent Coast Observer July 23, 2021 Reprinted by permission © Copyright Independent Coast Observer, Inc. www.mendonoma.com As part of its Salmonid and Watershed Restoration Project, Friends of Gualala River has launched a new lawsuit, this one focused on the Gualala River’s North Fork in the watershed’s northwest corner, the only hydrologic area of the watershed that is …

by Craig Bell Forest & River News July 16, 2021 Craig Bell is a Garcia River watershed planner, as well as past President of the Salmonid Restoration Federation, former logger, commercial fisherman, and river guide. [excerpt:] The strong recovery we are witnessing today in the Garcia River is thanks to a 30-year effort that began in 1991 when Mendocino County …

by Tempra BoardThe Sea Ranch Soundings • Summer 2021 © copyright 2021, The Sea Ranch Associationreprinted with permission Friends of Gualala River (FoGR), our area’s grassroots watershed protection non-profit, continues its hard work defending the Gualala River from the threat of floodplain logging. On May 20, FoGR filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to halt logging of Gualala Redwood Timber …

Friends of Gualala River (FoGR) is pleased to publish a new issue of our monthly publication, “FoGR Monthly: July, 2021,” detailing different places along the Gualala River to visit.  This month’s feature is Mill Bend. Each month will have a participation feature like a contest or list an upcoming event. It will feature different types of outdoor activities and where …

The Gualala River watershed and the species that live within it are in danger from proposed logging of redwoods. Friends of Gualala River has produced an informative short video about the challenge our river now faces and how you can help. Please enjoy and share with your friends.

Friends of Gualala River (FoGR) is pleased to publish a new issue of our monthly publication, “FoGR Monthly,” detailing different places along the Gualala River to visit.  This month’s feature is the Haupt Creek Bridge area. Each month will have a participation feature like a contest or list an upcoming event. It will feature different types of outdoor activities and …

Historically, the Gualala River was home to abundant coho salmon and steelhead trout populations that numbered in the tens of thousands. Today, the endangered coho salmon are all but gone and threatened steelhead are struggling to survive in the home river they evolved and adapted to over millennia. The dwindling salmonid population is a critical indicator of the declining health …

Friends of Gualala River (FoGR) is pleased to publish a new issue of our monthly publication, “FoGR Monthly,” detailing different places along the Gualala River to visit.  This month’s feature is the Gualala Bluff Trail. Each month will have a participation feature like a contest or list an upcoming event. It will feature different types of outdoor activities and where …

Redwood Coast Land Conservancy and Friends of Gualala River invite you to participate in the 2021 Gualala City Nature Challenge on Saturday May 1, 2021 from 10 am to noon. Visit Cooks Beach, Hearn Gulch, the Gualala Bluff Trail. Take a few photos of special natural features & enter them into the iNaturalist app. Between 10 am & noon on …