Elk THP Documents

Update: The Elk THP was withdrawn in 2024

The Elk timber harvest plan (THP 1-19-00098-MEN) was first submitted by Gualala Redwood Timber in June, 2019. The plan calls for logging redwood trees in 157 acres near Elk Prairie, at the confluence of the North Fork and Little North Fork of the Gualala River. 117 acres are selection logging in the floodplain, plus 24 acres of clearcut on the slopes above Elk Prairie.

Elk THP, 1-19-00098-MEN (click to enlarge)

The Elk THP proposes to log in the floodplain in the river. This is a highly sensitive setting, where cool streams have supported Coho salmon in the past, and support Steelhead trout. This area contains the best remaining salmonid habitat in the Gualala River watershed.

The THP asks for exceptions to standard rules which prohibit use of heavy equipment in flood-prone areas. CAL FIRE’s own rules should preclude the use of heavy equipment in the flood-prone areas of this THP. All of the submitted THPs for floodplain logging in the Gualala River watershed are requesting these exceptions. The exceptions have now become the rule, counter to the intent of the rule-making for these protections.

The documents for the not-yet-approved timber harvest plan are available below. CDF’s standard procedure is to print out the plan documents, scan them, and post the images to their publicly accessible database, CalTREES. As a result, it is impossible to search the documents, because there are no words in the documents posted, only images of words.

In order to make the documents more useful, we have used optical character recognition (OCR) on the documents posted below, so that you can search them.

Elk THP Section 1 – Legal Description – [0.3 MB, 7 pages] Cover pages, signatures.

Elk THP Section 2 – Operations – [5 MB, 90 pages] Silviculture, Yarding, Erosion Hazard Rating, Winter operations, Roads & landings, Watercourse & lake protections, Alternative Watercourse & lake protections (in lieu of standard rules), Wildlife observances & enforceable provisions, Maps

Elk THP Section 3 – Supporting Materials – [1 MB, 25 pages] Stand Descriptions & Silvicultural Methods, Roads on slopes > 50%, Water Drafting, Watercourse and lake protection zone roads, landings and skid trails, Alternative watercourse & lake protections (in lieu of standard rules), Analysis of Alternatives

Elk THP Section 4 – Cumulative Impacts – [9 MB, 143 pages] Past, present and future projects, assessment of cumulative watershed effects, soil productivity, biological resources, recreational, visual, traffic, noise, greenhouse gas impacts, wildfire risks

Elk THP Section 5 – Attachments – [8 MB, 174 pages] Including soil erosion hazards, Erosion Control Plan, stream monitoring reports, Northern Spotted Owl information

Elk THP Section 6 – Archeological Information – [0.1 MB, 1 pages] (confidential)

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CalFire Pre-Harvest Inspection Report

Water Quality Pre-Harvest Inspection Report

Dept. of Fish & Wildlife (DFW) Pre-Harvest Inspection Report

• Pre-harvest Inspection Report, THP 1-19-00098-MEN, “Elk” THP, by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). This report is 23 pages long, to which is appended a report on the “Lily” Timber Harvest Plan (THP 1-04-032-MEN) which was proposed in 2004 in the same area as the Elk THP (see below).
• The Lily plan was withdrawn after the National Marine Fisheries Service determined that the plan was likely to cause illegal “take” of listed salmonids. NMFS no longer reviews timber harvest plans.
• The report expresses CDFW’s concerns regarding salmonids, northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet, osprey, bald eagle, great blue heron, great egret, and foothill yellow-legged frog

Lily THP (2004) Report – attached to DFW PHI Report