Disputed Gualala River logging plan stalled pending revised study

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 Court Judge Rene Chouteau ruled in January that the 330-acre project was deficient because it failed to account for the cumulative impacts of a different logging plan in development when the proposal at issue was first submitted.

. . .

Larkspur attorney Ed Yates, who represents several environmental groups trying to block logging in the floodplain, said it would behoove Gualala Redwood Timber to substantially adjust its plan, given the many objections plaintiffs have lodged against it.

The Dogwood proposal “is legally inadequate in many different areas: plants, endangered species, water quality, climate change, alternatives, mitigations,” Yates said.

“We think there’s an enormous amount wrong with it,” he said. “The judge didn’t rule on any of that, but if Cal Fire doesn’t fix any of that … then we will continue to litigate the other items, as well.”

. . .

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