Karen Pickett

Tree-Sit Defending North Coast Wetlands Continues!

by

Update from the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters As readers of these posts know, a Caltrans project related to the Richardson Grove highway project (on hold for the moment) through what we believe are Caltrans’ ultimate goals (an I-5 size highway up the coast) is starting up in Willits. On the start-up date for the Willits Bypass project through sensitive wetlands and significant oak woodlands, Earth First! and local activists turned out to oppose the project in a successful rally on the site. A tree-sit was launched, and as a result, Caltrans did not work all of last week, after …

Read more

Willits Bypass Update: Caltrans Set to Start Work Jan. 2013

by

Willits Bypass Update Caltrans Work Set to Start End of January 2013 We last updated you in November re. this Caltrans boondoggle project in Mendocino County that would affect significant wetlands, an oak woodland, salmon and steelhead habitat and endangered plant species. Now, after delays and false starts, construction on the Willits Bypass is officially set to begin Jan. 28, 2013. Caltrans has received their last remaining permits from the Water Quality Board and State Fish and Wildlife Departments, giving them the green light to “top” and limb oaks, remove vegetation in the Bypass footprint and punch a haul road …

Read more

Protected Headwaters Threatened by Green Diamond

by

HAPPY NEW YEAR! We hope this is a good year for wild places everywhere and all of our fellow species!  Take action to make it so. With Maxxam gone, other timber companies threaten integrity of Headwaters Forest Reserve Thirteen years after the historic transfer of the largest groves of ancient redwoods left on Maxxam/Pacific Lumber’s ravaged land to public hands and protection as Headwaters Forest Reserve, other companies in the mold of Maxxam/PL are nipping at the edges of that precious forest.  The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has done a stand up job over the last decade to protect and …

Read more

Your Redwood State Park: Big Trees or Big Trucks?

by

Richardson Grove, Gateway to Redwood Country BIG TRUCKS or BIG TREES? What do YOU want? Traveling north on Highway 101, there is a place where the term “Gateway to the Redwood Country” resonates as the canopy suddenly shades the pavement, the Eel River rounds the bend and there is green as high up as you can see. As the roadway twists and turns, it meanders through Richardson Grove, which has been protected as a State Park since 1922. It is a California treasure and world-class park. Read on to see how you can help to keep it that way. Why …

Read more

BIG TRUCKS or BIG TREES? What do YOU want?

by

Your Redwood State Park: Richardson Grove, gateway to redwood country BIG TRUCKS or BIG TREES? What do YOU want? Traveling north on Highway 101, there is a place where the term “Gateway to the Redwood Country” resonates as the canopy suddenly shades the pavement, the Eel River rounds the bend and there is green as high up as you can see. As the roadway twists and turns, it meanders through Richardson Grove, which has been protected as a State Park since 1922.  It is a California treasure and world-class park. Read on to see how you can help to keep …

Read more

Redwood Forest event –please reply!

by

You haven’t heard from us for a while. Email alerts from the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters have gotten scarcer–in large part because of the change in ownership of the redwoods on the formerly Pacific Lumber land–now Humboldt Redwood Company. Our agenda is evolving…but one aspect of our work remains the same: our role in the offshoot group Friends of Headwaters Reserve and our monitoring of the management of the part of the redwood forest that was preserved and passed into public hands via the 1999 Headwaters Deal. We are now planning some exciting field trips that we would like …

Read more

STAND UP for Richardson Grove in Sacramento June 22

by

***SAVE THE DATE: Wednesday, June 22*** We are planning to converge on Sacramento to STAND UP for the redwoods in Richardson Grove State Park on Wednesday, June 22. Plans are in the works and more details will emerge soon, but we will be joining with forest activists from Humboldt and Mendocino counties to: **RALLY at Caltrans and voice opposition to their highway “realignment” project through the redwoods **MEET with Agency and Legislative reps **DELIVER a large number of postcards and petitions to Governor Jerry Brown, who has the power to rescind this ecologically destructive, ill-advised and UNECESSARY project through a …

Read more

Redwood Forest Update

by

Caltrans’ plans to widen and “straighten” Highway 101 through Richardson Grove State Park, home of the Avenue of the Giants, has not been taken off the table, despite huge public opposition and a budget crisis facing California. The one piece of good news is that their bulldozers and other earth-moving and root-carving euquipment have been fairly quiet in that area, but local residents have not! There have been two rallies, two action camps, two lawsuits and lots of other noise directed at decision-makers recently, and there is action you can take. Please keep reading. Our previous update alerted you of …

Read more

Update on Richardson Grove redwoods

by

Highway Widening Project Moves Forward Slowly–In the Wrong Direction Caltrans’ plans to widen and “straighten” Highway 101 through Richardson Grove State Park, home of the Avenue of the Giants, has not been taken off the table, despite huge public opposition and a budget crisis facing California. There are two things you can do right now, described below, and we urge you to also stay tuned to alerts during what could be a critical time for this project that threatens the ancient redwoods of California’s north coast. One: We encourage you to write a letter to the new/old Governor Jerry Brown …

Read more

Update from the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters

by

Dear friends of the forests, A few days ago, we at the Berkeley office of the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH) got a letter from someone who had filed comments about pollution problems in the Eel River tributary Outlet Creek in Mendocino County. He was referred to us by the Ecology Center, and wanted to know who was doing restoration and clean-up around the area where Outlet Creek flows into the Eel River. I think of this call as we wonder-after all the campaign changes, organizational changes and “down-sizing” we have had to do operationally- whether we are still …

Read more