New Blockade Rises to Protect Old Growth in the Mattole!
Logging season has returned to the north coast, and Humboldt Redwood Co. (HRC) remains adamant that they will cut in the previously unlogged forest in the Mattole River watershed. The blockaders, however are even more determined that they will not. After an effective and successful action training skill share camp in May, numbers of people monitoring, communicating, strategizing and holding the blockade line were boosted in the Mattole.
Now, there is a new heavy tripod on the main logging road on Rainbow Ridge near the headwaters of the North Fork of the Mattole.
Activists have been working via a multitude of strategies to prevent logging in this ancient forest for decades. HRC, who purchased the Mattole River Valley land, and the rest of the largely depleted 200,000 acres of forestland from Maxxam/Pacific Lumber Co. a decade ago, has repeatedly said they plan to cut the “Long Ridge Cable” THP (timber harvest plan) in the Rainbow Ridge area, despite many questions remaining around the legality of key parts of the plan. This spring, HRC abandoned plans to build a new logging road, designed only to circumvent the protesters, in the face of a public pressure campaign.
Watch for updates. If you wish to engage, contact them at contactefhum@gmail.comor mattoleactioncamp@riseup.net.
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Redwoods in Gualala Delta Spared Again![]()
We shared with you in early May that the timber outfit Gualala Redwood Timber Co., operating in the Gualala River watershed, had refiled the “Dogwood” logging plan after Friends of Gualala River and Forest Unlimited had successfully fought to stop that plan. Now those groups have filed another lawsuit. In mid-June, the logging was again halted, thanks for the persistence of the forest advocates and a good decision by the judge in Sonoma County Superior Court. For more, see the article in the Sonoma West newspaper. We will continue to track this important issue, and we give kudos to the Friends group and Forest Unltd.! The habitat in this forest is so important for salmon, steelhead and other wildlife, along with rare and threatened plants in this precious estuary redwood forest.
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Rally and Court Hearing in S.F. for ciritically endangered species
Although far from the rivers and forests or California’s north coast that are our focus, the Okanowa Dugong is a very special and very endangered species literally on the brink of extinction. A relative of the manatee, the dugong in the waters off the island of Okanowa numbers in the single digits. A U.S. military base on the island is pushing to expand, and pave over the coral and seagrass essential to this graceful species. The Turtle Island Restoration Proj![]()
ect and the Center for Biological Diversity and Okanowa residents filed a lawsuit to stop the habitat destruction. That suit will have a hearing at the Federal Building in San Francisco (450 Golden Gate, up the street from Civic Center BART) at noon on June 28. You can join activists for a rally preceding the hearing and attend the hearing to show support. Email info@seaturtles.org for more info.
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