FORT BRAGG, CA., 5/14/26 — A two-part public information forum took place in Fort Bragg on May 7 and May 9 to highlight the problem that contamination still poses for future uses of Georgia-Pacific’s old mill site.
The mill site, about 425 acres with 2.5 miles of ocean frontage, covers the western third of the City of Fort Bragg. Established in the 1880s by the Union Lumber Company and later operated by Georgia-Pacific until it closed in 2002, the timber mill played a significant role in Fort Bragg’s timber industry.
Decades of industrial processing operations left behind hazardous byproducts, including documented contamination from dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), heavy metals, and wood treatment chemicals in soil and sediments. The toxins have led to ongoing investigations and cleanup efforts overseen primarily by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC).
At the first event on May 7, Project-HERE (Headlands Environmental Remediation Education) held a meeting at Fort Bragg’s Town Hall to highlight areas that remain contaminated. Project-HERE is a subcommittee of the Noyo Headlands Working Group of the Grassroots Institute.
The town hall was moderated by Project-HERE’S Jim Schoonover, a retired environmental health and safety professional with 30 years of experience in the University of California system, Stanford University, and NASA Ames Research Center. Key presenters included Steffany Aguilar, California Professional Geologist PG of Farallon Consulting, L.L.C., and the mill site’s Fort Bragg City Council ad hoc committee members Mayor Jason Godeke and Councilmember Lindy Peters.
Presentations focused on how legacy industrial contaminants persist in soil, groundwater, and marine ecosystems. Ongoing remediation strategies such as containment, monitoring, and the importance of public participation in oversight and accountability were also on the agenda. The discussion also raised concerns about data gaps, including historic site use, sea level rise, tsunami and earthquake risks, dam failure, and limited offshore sediment sampling.
Presenters explained that the mill site is listed in EPA databases as an environmental concern but is not on the federal Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). Future remediation has remained controversial, particularly regarding how legal responsibility is assigned to potentially liable parties. They stressed that continued coordination with regulatory agencies is needed to clarify permitting and remediation requirements for the site’s mill ponds and wetlands, and to determine any additional cleanup needed for future uses.
City Council member Peters described what early community meetings hoped for after the mill closed. “One early vision included an entrance off Redwood Avenue leading through a landscaped buffer of trees to a scenic pond or lake, envisioned as the ‘gem’ of a future recreational area with wildlife,” Peters said. “The community later learned that the pond area may be among the most contaminated and dangerous parts of the site.”
Peters asked how effective activated charcoal is for remediating dioxin contamination and requested a review of available remediation alternatives. Technical advisor Steffany Aguilar responded that dioxins are highly persistent and difficult to treat, and that activated charcoal has not been used as a standard remediation method at dioxin-impacted sites.
Remove it or restrict it
Aguilar said her review of roughly 20 dioxin-impacted sites in California found that cleanup strategies generally fall into two categories: excavation and off-site disposal of contaminated soil or leaving contamination in place with land-use restrictions. The latter approach typically includes legal covenants, fencing or access controls, and long-term monitoring requirements to limit human exposure.
Aguilar added that due to the compound’s persistence and resistance to degradation, treatment technologies effective for other contaminants, such as petroleum compounds or volatile organic compounds, have not shown comparable success for dioxins.
“There are very few proven remediation strategies for dioxins, and most real-world projects rely on either removal or long-term containment,” said Aguilar.
Aguilar discussed the feasibility studies completed in 2019 and updated in 2025 that concluded the most practical option for the remaining heavily contaminated area, identified as OU E on maps, was to leave contamination in place and impose a land-use covenant, likely including fencing. Aguiar noted that since dioxins and PCBs break down extremely slowly, restrictions could remain for decades or even centuries. Ongoing groundwater monitoring is also in place, but no active remediation is currently underway
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state’s DTSC divide large, contaminated sites into operable units (OUs) to make investigation and cleanup more manageable. The former Fort Bragg mill site is divided into several OUs that separate different areas of contamination for cleanup and regulatory review.
These include former industrial and wood processing areas (OU A), mill ponds and contaminated sediments (OU B), upland support and storage areas (OU C), the groundwater system (OU D), and the remaining low-lying mill pond/dam area (OU E), which includes several ponds and is the last major area still under evaluation for cleanup and restricted use.
The walkabout and the mussels
On May 9, Aguilar and Leslie Kashiwada, Ph.D., a retired scientist, marine ecologist, and Project-HERE team member, led a tour along public access areas of the former mill site. Holding a clipboard with printed visuals against the wind, Aguilar explained the purpose of the walk, saying the session was organized in response to community calls for greater transparency about conditions at the mill site and remaining contamination.
The one-hour field trip included a review of mill site history and how geology influences contamination. A final stop focused on OU E, the last remaining area not yet cleared, and a discussion of recent mussel sampling and analysis.
Standing on a path bordered by a metal fence, Aguilar directed the group’s attention to the fenced-off northern area and held up a 2004 photo from the mill site’s closure showing transformers that once occupied the area. She noted the equipment contained polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which were widely used in such systems.
Aguilar explained that such equipment was documented during Phase I environmental assessments because it can be a potential source of contamination. PCBs, a chemical introduced in 1929, were widely used for its durability and resistance to breakdown.
Banned in 1979 due to health and environmental risks, PCBs persist in soil and sediment because they break down slowly and are often called “persistent organic pollutants” as they resist natural degradation.
The E.P.A. notes that PCBs adhere strongly to soil and sediment particles and bioaccumulate in fatty tissues of organisms. Aguilar said that contamination management and long-term cleanup reflect broader environmental regulations established in the 1970s.
She added that PCBs had been found in such concentrations at the site that “a lot of the soil that was excavated and removed by the truckloads” was because of PCBs. “PCBs can cause cancer, can cause birth defects, and they take a really long time to break down in your body and in nature,” she said.
As Aguilar spoke, several members of the group noted water accumulation along that section of the path from areas that were blocked off to public access. A comment was made by Project HERE member Jade Tippet, “I’ve been walking along this path for years and until just a year or so ago, this water wasn’t on the surface, so something changed.” The group decided more investigation was needed into the source of the water.
The last stop of the tour was higher along the path, overlooking the mill pond and dam area, a manmade water management system tied to former mill operations with two side-by-side runoff spillways that discharge into the ocean. One spillway is associated with the mill pond and the other tied to Fort Bragg storm drains
At this point, Kashiwada explained the process used to conduct citizen science sampling. The idea was to sample mussels found near the spillways. A grant was obtained through DTSC’s technical assistance grant program.
“We selected three sites to collect California mussels for testing dioxins, furans and PCBs — two in Soldier Bay near the former mill ponds and a reference site north of Fort Bragg. Sampling occurred in October 2025 and February 2026.”
The mussels did not seem to contain dioxin or furan, another contaminant, but several dioxin-like PCB indicators were detected, with higher concentrations at the Soldier Bay sites compared with the reference site farther north.
“While overall levels were low, there was enough evidence of toxicity to warrant additional sampling,” Kashiwada said.“California mussels serve as sentinel species for marine contamination,” Kashiwada continued. “They filter large volumes of seawater and can accumulate pollutants such as PCBs and dioxins in their tissues, allowing scientists to assess contamination levels in the surrounding environment.”
Kashiwada noted that analytical methods have limits for detecting very low levels of dioxins and that even small amounts are considered harmful.
Lots of questions remain
The Mendocino Voice interviewed several participants during the field trip to gather their perspectives on the mill site, cleanup efforts and future use of the property.
Fort Bragg resident Tyr Duryee, a water cycle restoration practitioner, said, “I wanted answers and to understand better, and I did not know the levels of toxicity. We saw water running across this property from these contaminated areas. How heartbreaking and how big this mess is.”
Fort Bragg’s Donna Kimble said, “It is meaningful to see what is out here. My concern is there are so many contaminants on site. Actually, my biggest concern regarding the mill site is the probability of toxic chemicals from the ponds, groundwater or soil running off into the ocean and compromising marine life and our fragile ocean environment.”
Overall, the conclusion from both events was that uncertainties and questions remain, as data gaps were identified, including limited sampling due to the site’s size and long industrial history; outdated or limited detection limits in older data, which create uncertainty in contamination levels; insufficient evaluation of risks from sea level rise, tsunamis and earthquake-related dam failure; and limited offshore sediment flow sampling.
The City of Fort Bragg is developing its 2026 Economic Development Strategy and working with Mendocino Railway, which owns much of the site, and state partners on a long-term vision for the redevelopment of the property. The city’s continued engagement with the community and the property owner is in accordance with the City of Fort Bragg’s Local Coastal Program, which will guide development of the mill site.
Mill site survey shows public wants more cleanup—and more public access
At Monday’s Fort Bragg City Council Meeting, city manager Isaac Whippy presented the findings of the City of Fort Bragg 2026 Economic Development & Mill Site Community Survey that was completed in March.
With more than 325 survey respondents, a consistent theme emerged: support for cleanup of the mill site’s existing toxic areas and maintaining the mill site with open public access as a natural open space, for recreation, concerts, and outdoor events. The survey also supported development to be prioritized for housing, “blue economy” jobs and businesses, such as sustainable ocean-related tourism, fisheries, marine research, aquaculture and coastal innovation.
High on the list was to proceed with development on areas of the mill site that require no further remediation, while cleanup work continues on the mill pond and other remaining areas under regulatory oversight.