Friends of Gualala River Protecting the Gualala River watershed and the species living within it
This article is a brief overview.
See all of the articles from the Floodplain Logging campaign.
The lower Gualala River has a wide meandering floodplain rich in wetlands, mature productive riparian redwood forests and highly diverse riparian habitats supporting many special-status plant, fish, and wildlife species. “Flood prone” redwood forests are supposed to be protected by avoidance of logging disturbances under special salmonid protection rules under the Forest Practices Act.
Floodplains are important to the river’s health because they capture and hold sediment and debris, which improves water quality and salmonid spawning and rearing habitat. Juvenile salmonids migrate into floodplains during and following high flows to seek winter rearing habitat and refuge.
The Cassidy THP (Timber Harvest Plan) and the Iris & Lily THPs – all proposed by Gualala Redwoods, Inc. around the turn of the century – were rejected by the CA. Dept. of Forestry after the National Marine Fisheries Service determined that these logging plans in the floodplain of the Gualala River would seriously impact the recovery efforts of coho salmon and steelhead trout, which are listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. The Department of Forestry denied the Cassidy plan, and when Gualala Redwoods appealed to the California Board of Forestry, the Board upheld that denial. The Iris & Lily plans were subsequently withdrawn.
After the CA. Dept. of Forestry (now part of CAL FIRE) adopted the Anadromous Salmonid Protection (ASP) Rules in 2009, and Gualala Redwoods Inc. was purchased by Redwood Empire and renamed Gualala Redwood Timber (GRT) in 2015, GRT proposed the Dogwood THP in the floodplain of the South Fork Gualala River. Despite the ASP Rules strengthened protections for floodplains, CAL FIRE approved the plan to log 90~100 year old redwoods on hundreds of acres in the Gualala River floodplain.
The approval of the permit was marked by a rally and protest of over 200 local citizens on July 16, 2016, who objected to CAL FIRE’s waiver of regulatory protections of the unique floodplain forest.
In the summer of 2016, FoGR, Forest Unlimited and the California Native Plant Society filed suit to compel CAL FIRE to set aside the agency’s approval of the Dogwood timber harvest plan. The lawsuit alleged that CAL FIRE’s approval of the “Dogwood” THP was in violation of California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) and that CAL FIRE’s inadequate assessment of significant impacts to floodplain forest wetlands, rare plants, archeological resources, and special-status species violated environmental regulations.
CAL FIRE was ordered by Sonoma County Superior Court to vacate (revoke) the GRT logging plan in April, 2017. However, after revising the logging plan, GRT submitted the Dogwood plan again, and again it was approved by CAL FIRE. The revised plan was as bad as the original, so FoGR and FU filed suit again, and again the court agreed.
After further revisions, the Dogwood logging plan was approved by CAL FIRE for a third time. This time, the court ruled in favor of CAL FIRE. FoGR appealed the decision, but the appeal was not successful.
FoGR and the Center for Biological Diversity then sued in Federal court to protect threatened and endangered fish, birds and frogs from harm from the Dogwood floodplain logging plan. After years of trying, and succeeding, to stop the Dogwood logging plan, the fight was finally lost, and the trees were cut. Gualala Redwood Timber, having won in court, eventually logged more of the Gualala River floodplain, with the Little THP and Far North THP.
In response to the Far North THP, FoGR petitioned the State Water Resources Control Board and North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board to incorporate the Federal Environmental Protection Agency’s Gualala River Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for sediment into the North Coast Basin Plan and to develop and implement an action plan specifying how sediment pollution will be reduced throughout the watershed. That petition was successful. FoGR achieved a major accomplishment that will help improve water quality and reduce sediment pollution in the Gualala River and its tributaries – a pivotal step in assisting salmonid recovery efforts.
