Note: Lana Cohen is a Report For America fellow covering the environment & natural resources for TMV & KZYX. Her position is funded by the Community Foundation of Mendocino, Report for America, & our readers. You can support Lana’s work here or email [email protected]. Contact Cohen at LCohen@mendovoice.com. TMV maintains editorial control.
LITTLE RIVER, 9/25/20 — Two conservation groups, Friends of Gualala River, and the Center for Biological Diversity have filed a lawsuit in federal court against Gualala Redwood Timber Company. They claim the timber company’s planned timber harvest project in the Gualala River watershed violates the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court Northern District of California on September 15.
“This logging plan would log over 340 acres of river floodplain, a very, very important stand of forests remaining along the Gualala River and would have real negative impacts on the river’s wildlife and the recovery of the river,” Peter Galvin, program director and co-founder of the Center for Biological Diversity said over the phone.
Gualala Redwood Timber company declined to comment for this story, as did Cal Fire.
Friends of Gualala River (FoGR), a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the Gualala River watershed and the species that rely on it, and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), a nonprofit focused on habitat and wildlife protection in the United States are seeking a court order to stop a logging venture, called the Dogwood Timber Harvest Plan, that would take place in the Gualala River floodplain, a river-adjacent Redwood forest which is inhabited by multiple species listed as threatened or endangered.
“While it is correct that Cal Fire approved this project, the reality is that, unfortunately, the California Department of Forestry, Cal Fire, has really sided with the timber interests all along through this process and really through the last number of decades. They are not the ultimate arbiters of the federal endangered species act,” said Galvin.
“We disagree that they are in compliance with the law and that is exactly what we are asking the court to rule on is to look at the scientific evidence, to look at the expert reports and we feel confident that the court will agree with us that this logging project does harm endangered species and does violate the federal endangered species act.”
According to the lawsuit, filed on September 15, 2020, and written by the conservation groups, or the plaintiffs, the timber harvest would take place on 342 acres of floodplain near the town of Gualala, an area which contains some of the last mature Redwood floodplain ecosystem in the region. In the area, there are four species listed as either endangered or threatened — the California Red-Legged frog, the Northern Spotted Owl, Northern California Steelhead, and The Central California Coast Coho Salmon.
Charlie Ivor, president of Friends of Gualala River, Galvin both said they think the project violates the endangered species act because it does not adequately consider the listed species habitat.
They believe that if Gualala Redwood wants to go forward with their project, they should apply for a special permit, called an incidental take permit, that would require them to adopt measures to minimize the adverse impact on all listed species and develop a plan for the species recovery. Gualala Redwood Company does not agree.
“We were asking for modifications of the plan that the proponent was not willing to do so we took the step of filing the lawsuit,” said Galvin.
Gualala Redwood Timber Company, which is owned by Redwood Empire Sawmill, declined to comment for this story. However, in an interview for a previous story, representative for Gualala Redwood, forest manager John Bennett, made clear that the company believes they have satisfactorily considered the endangered species in their logging plan by adhering to guidelines put in place by the Fish and Wildlife Service regarding the species, and that, therefore, applying for an incident take permit was not necessary. Bennett also noted that the project was approved by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
At the time of the interview, Bennett mentioned a variety of rules the company complies with to ensure the safety of listed species, such as providing at least a 500 foot distance between spotted owl nests and logging operations, and making sure skid trails have as little impact as possible.
In essence, Gualala Redwood thinks that by following guidelines from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and getting approval from Cal Fire, they have proved that they adequately considered the areas ecology and the listed species.
Friends of Gualala River and the Center for Biological Diversity do not agree.
“We fundamentally disagree that while it is correct that Cal Fire approved this project, the reality is that, unfortunately, the California Department of Forestry, Cal Fire, has really sided with the timber interests all along through this process and really through the last number of decades. They are not the ultimate arbiters of the federal endangered species act.”
“We disagree that they are in compliance with the law and that is exactly what we are asking the court to rule on is to look at the scientific evidence, to look at the expert reports and we feel confident that the court will agree with us that this logging project does harm endangered species and does violate the federal endangered species act.”
Note: Lana Cohen is a Report For America fellow covering the environment & natural resources for TMV & KZYX. Her position is funded by the Community Foundation of Mendocino, Report for America, & our readers. You can support Lana’s work here or email [email protected]. Contact Cohen at LCohen@mendovoice.com. TMV maintains editorial control.
Note: Lana Cohen is a Report For America fellow covering the environment & natural resources for TMV & KZYX. Her position is funded by the Community Foundation of Mendocino, Report for America, & our readers. You can support Lana’s work here or email [email protected]. Contact Cohen at LCohen@mendovoice.com. TMV maintains editorial control.
Isn’t it odd that, this late in the day, we are still dithering about forest removal? af
Liberals don’t care that mothers fathers and little children are being burned alive in out-of-control fires caused by none other than over regulation of logging (fuel removal), so-called “environmental” laws that have greatly restricted the number of control burns allowed (fuel removal), and so called “environmental” laws that have greatly restricted the literal going in and removing of bone-dry fire tinder (fuel removal) over the last few decades. The forcing of local residents to “conserve” water and leave their lawns bone-dry in fire-crazy environments, lest they be punished with huge monthly penalty fees (never mind the allowance of dope-growers and wine-grape growers allowed to used millions of gallons of water, pollute our rivers and creeks with chems, and dry up our local creeks. “Nuh-uh! It’s ‘man-made climate change’ that’s doing it!!!!”…..”It’s PG&E that’s causing it!!!”…(remind me again how many times liberal activists and “environmental” groups have tried to get laws passed to force PG&E to **narrow** the swaths they cut around power lines?)…you know, because…”it harms the forests and environment!”. Yes and brings fire fuel closer to the power lines, but never mind that unimportant little fact. Since these activists are *still* trying to get laws passed to force PG&E to leave narrower paths with fuel closer to power lines. 40 years ago as a pre-teen I listened to locals saying the “liberals/environmentalists are going to burn California down if we keep allowing them to pass laws leaving the forests full of tinder and fuel”. 40 years later…what’s happening?