Friends of Gualala River Protecting the Gualala River watershed and the species living within it
These have been busy times for Friends of Gualala River. We’d like to update you on our activities involving litigation, advocacy, and education and outreach. The brief reports below are linked to more in-depth information elsewhere on our website.
Litigation and Advocacy
FoGR Wins Fight to Enforce Legal Limitation
of Sediment in the Gualala River
In 2001, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruled under the federal Clean Water Act that the Gualala River had too much sediment to provide healthy habitat for salmonids. The EPA determined the sources of that sediment and calculated by how much the sediment needed to be reduced. Responsibility for enforcing these provisions lies with the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. But instead of creating the required plan that would show how to reduce the sediment to the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), the Regional Board failed to act for over two decades.
In 2021, when Gualala Redwoods Timber submitted its Far North THP for approval (227 acres along the North Fork), FoGR sued the Regional Board for its on-going failure to address sedimentation. Under the resulting settlement the agency will now initiate the process of developing the plan and the method for implementation. The agency has two years in which to draft the plan and an accompanying environmental report which will be released for public comment. This is an extremely important step in restoring the health of the river. You can sign up for updates on the process from the Regional Board and get more details about the issues in this article: Gualala River Sediment Reduction Planning Moves Forward After FoGR Win. As the draft plan is released, there will be public meetings and opportunities for public comment. Stay tuned.
Friends of the South Fork Gualala Wins Lawsuit to Halt the Highly Flawed Bootleg Timber Harvest Plan
Our friends and colleagues at Friends of the South Fork Gualala succeeded in their lawsuit against the Bootleg Timber Harvest Plan which would have logged nearly 300 acres of forest along the Middle South Fork which has been heavily impacted over the past decade. Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Robert DeMeo concluded in his final ruling that the THP failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the state’s highest standard of environmental protection. The Court agreed with the plaintiff, Friends of the South Fork Gualala, finding that the logging plan lacked any meaningful analysis or discussion with respect to impacts on sedimentation, impacts on biological resources, impacts on cultural resources, the cumulative impacts from previous logging that has already occurred in the area, and in its analysis of alternatives.
The Middle South Fork Gualala watershed consists of approximately 6,500 acres of forest, 35% of which has been logged in just the past 10 years. (see map above)
For more information, see: Court rejects Gualala River logging plan.
For additional context, the following summary table shows that many thousands of acres across the Gualala River watershed are currently subject to active logging plans, while many thousands of acres more have been logged in the past.
| Owners | Selection | Clearcut | DDD | Ownership |
| The Conservation Fund | 271 | 0 | 0 | ~34,000 |
| Gualala Redwood Timber | 1,537 | 282 | 0 | ~30,000 |
| Mendocino Redwood Co. | 1,430 | 0 | 0 | ~8,000 |
| Richardson Ranch | 289 | 0 | 5,965 | ~6,000 |
| Bower Family | 81 | 0 | 625 | 625 |
| Other | 274 | 0 | 61 | ~121,000 |
| TOTAL | 3,882 | 282 | 6,651 | ~200,000 |
Notes:
Selection = Unevenaged
Clearcut = Evenaged
DDD = 10% Dead, Dying, Diseased exemption
All figures are acreages of timber harvest plans (THP), non-industrial timber management plans (NTMP), and exemptions for “dead, dying, diseased” timber operations which have been approved by CalFire and not yet completed.
Education and Outreach
FoGR is dedicated to providing the public with factual, science-based information about the Gualala River and the surrounding watershed. Here are some of the educational and public service projects we’ve created.
Weather and Wildfire Camera Map
Summer heat and fire risk have arrived in Mendonoma, and Friends of Gualala River offers a website with useful weather information for residents and visitors. Last year we launched our interactive weather and wildfire camera map of the watershed. At the FoGR website, a click on the “weather” button brings up a map of the Gualala River watershed. The map has icons linking to weather station data and fire watch camera views from multiple sites.
FoGR and Sonoma County Regional Parks started this service with a single weather station at the Gualala Point Regional Park to help park visitors plan their activities. The project was expanded in February to an interactive map with information from stations and cameras for the entire watershed.
Thirteen weather stations show various conditions such as temperature, humidity, wind, precipitation and other data across the wide variety of coastal and inland microclimates influencing the Gualala River. Cameras in the Alert California system show 180 degree real time views in different directions from ten sites throughout the watershed. FoGR hopes this information will help residents and visitors keep informed about local weather conditions for all their activities. In addition, the wildfire cameras are designed as an early warning system that allows participants to report wildfires that they see.
Native Tree Species Series
Since 2018, FoGR has been producing in-depth descriptions of the native tree species in our forested watershed with the aim of familiarizing the public with these trees in their natural habitat. Much more than a field guide, this series provides abundant photos of different parts of the trees including leaves, bark, flowers, seeds, and other features, and the descriptions include information about the life cycle and ecology of each species. In celebrating these trees, we strive to reveal the unique qualities of each species.
This is a lengthy work in progress—of the approximately 3 dozen species in the watershed, we have completed treatments for the following: coast redwood, red alder, white alder, California bay laurel, California buckeye, grand fir, western hemlock, and big leaf maple.
You can find the series on our website in the main menu under Nature > Trees.
Stream Water Quality Monitoring
FoGR has partnered with the Redwood Coast Land Conservancy and The Stream Team to collect and monitor water quality in the Gualala River and estuary. This project is designed as hands-on experience for volunteers interested in learning how to test the river water for various conditions such as dissolved oxygen, sediment, temperature, etc. The next monitoring event will be on Saturday, September 16. Meet at the Mill Bend Center off of Old State Highway. For more information and to sign up, visit the Gualala River Stream Team Facebook page or contact info@thestreamteam.org.
Other Issues FoGR is Following
Pumped Storage Hydropower Project at Fort Ross
The scenic rural Sonoma Coast at Fort Ross State Historic Park has been revealed to be the new target of a large “pumped storage” electrical power project to be built by an out-of-state oil and gas company.
The project, to be sited only 1.5 miles northwest of this popular visitor destination, would use massive electrical turbines to pump seawater into a 5,600 acre-foot storage reservoir 1500 feet above sea level. Five reversible 250-megawatt turbines would subsequently utilize gravity to generate electricity from the falling water, which would then be discharged into the intertidal zone of the Pacific Ocean.
For more information, see: Big Oil Targets Sonoma Coast and Marine Sanctuary.
Water Board Issues New Draft Rules Covering Vineyard Impacts to Rivers and Streams in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties
On August 2nd, the North Coast Regional Quality Control Board issued draft rules covering “reporting requirements, annual fees, well and groundwater monitoring, ground cover requirements, and restrictions on wintertime operations.“ According to the Regional Board, these measures are necessary to ensure that the impacts from soil disturbance, chemicals, and loss of riparian habitat that shades fish habitat do not continue to degrade water quality in creeks and rivers. Vineyard owners are pushing back, claiming that these rules are excessive and will hurt them economically. The Gualala River is among those rivers affected. The public has a chance to weigh in during the comment period with the deadline 5 pm, August 30th.
For more information, see: Sonoma, Mendocino County grape growers battling new rules designed to reduce sediment, pesticides in local waterways.
Friends of Gualala River sponsored an award at the Art in the Redwoods Festival in 2023, for the twenty-second year in a row. A cash prize contributed by FoGR was given to the artist whose work best captured the ecology of the Gualala River watershed.
Congratulations to local artist, Chris Grassano, whose piece “Redwood Melody” (above) received the Environmental Art award sponsored by FoGR at the 2023 Art in the Redwoods Fine Art Exhibit. The 62th annual Art in the Redwoods Festival took place on Saturday, August 19 and Sunday, August 20, 2023.
For information about volunteering, contact FoGR at info@gualalariver.org. And please consider a donation to FoGR. We are all locals working for you as volunteers, and we welcome your ideas, monetary donations, and willingness to join us. Everyone is welcome, appreciated, and needed.
Donate using credit card or Paypal
or send a check to:
Friends of Gualala River
P.O. Box 1543
Gualala, CA 95445
