Jackson Forest

Mattole Action Camp; Richardson Grove Back in Court

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    GATHER FOR the MATTOLE ~ IN the MATTOLE! This Action Camp and skill sharing will be a great time to plug in with other forest defenders on the North Coast, find out what is on the horizon for this spring and summer, and hike in some beautiful forest. You can contact BACH at our email for details and car-pooling and we will try to help. Find out why people are so passionate about protecting the forests in the Mattole River Watershed! Info in Humboldt: efhum@riseup.net; Save the Mattole’s Ancient Forest on FB Richardson Grove in Court (again) March …

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Forest and Species Issues Making News in Northern California

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Forest and Species Issues Making News in Northern California Mattole Forests The intrepid Mattole Forest Defenders are organizing an action training camp in the Lost Coast area for mid-March. Stay tuned for more details as local activists gear up for the logging season.  Contact efhum@riseup.net, or us at bach@headwaterspreserve.org. In the same neighborhood, another hard-working group of local residents in the Mattole River Valley—the Lost Coast League—is in the midst of challenging Humboldt Redwood Company’s (HRC) heavy use of herbicides and their THPs (Timber Harvest Plans) filed in ” legacy forests” via a different avenue. That route is a formal challenge to the “certified as sustainably …

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Richardson Grove court report; Forests & Climate hearing this week!

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Update: Richardson Grove Court Date A number of us were in Federal Court last Wednesday to hear arguments from both defendants Caltrans, and environmental organization plaintiffs in the Richardson Grove court case, back before a judge once again. This has been a long saga. After extensive arguments and many questions from the court, Judge Alsup took those arguments under consideration, and will deliver a decision sometime in the foreseeable future. There was a post-court radio story with an interview with Karen Pickett on KMUD radio here: https://soundcloud.com/kmudnews/litigation-continues-for-richardson-grove-expansion and a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity, a plaintiff in the case: https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2018/richardson-grove-11-28-2018.php Courthouse News also …

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Actions in the Forest, plus Forests in Court

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New Tree-Sit and Forest Occupation in the Mattole Shuts SPI Down Humboldt County Forest Defenders have been occupying a Sierra Pacific Industries’ (SPI) logging plan in the Mattole River watershed, effectively shutting down operations there. A tree-sitter has been perched 100 ft. up, joined in the last couple days by more activists who turned back heavy equipment and trucks on site to haul the giant logs out. The area is deep in the forest, and the activists are calling attention to corporate logging of large, fire resistant trees, damage to water quality and other destructive environmental impacts. For more than six years, protestors have …

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North Coast Forest Update–Mattole, Gualala and more

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Old Trees, River Habitat and Action: They Go Together No New Road for the Mattole!  Forest Defenders on Alert for Logging Season Our last update to you concerning the magnificent old forests in the Mattole watershed [http://headwaterspreserve.org/2018/02/comments-needed-on-mattole-forest-road-building-offshore-oil-and-wild-smith-river/] addressed Humboldt Redwood Co. (HRC)’s new logging road proposal, which seemed to have no rational foundation for construction, except to get around forest defenders’ blockade. Thanks to strong public and organizational challenges, HRC withdrew their construction proposal. This is good news! But after a too-brief sigh of relief, Mattole area activists are shifting into vigilant alert mode, as the rains stop and logging season …

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Court hearings on Richardson Grove and new alliance

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Rumblings about Richardson Grove Redwoods from Caltrans Also: New Indigenous-Enviro Alliance Sees Success We were alerted by our colleagues on the North Coast that, after a long respite of no activity on the Richardson Grove front, there are things happening behind the scenes, in the courts, and in the County Supervisor’s chambers.  Most of you will remember that Caltrans’ backward-looking ruminations for bigger, faster roadways yielded a plan announced over a decade ago, to widen and “realign” Highway 101 through the towering ancient redwoods of Richardson Grove State Park in southern Humboldt County. That plan, controversial from the beginning, has been …

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Action Updates: Mattole Forest Blockade and Richardson Grove!

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UPDATE ON  MATTOLE  FOREST DEFENSE! An area in the Mattole River watershed on  Northern California’s forested coast is called the “Lost Coast”, because of its relative remoteness from major highways and population centers. There lies mature Douglas Fir forest, unmolested by logging—left behind even by the rapacious Maxxam Pacific Lumber, in favor of more accessible redwood forest. Humboldt Redwood Co. (HRC), the current owners, have been threatening to log in an area known as Rainbow Ridge. They have been met with staunch opposition from local residents and stalwart forest defenders who have maintained a formidable blockade for five months.   HRC recently …

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More on Richardson Grove Redux: Trucks vs. Redwoods

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Caltrans has been adamant ever since they lost their Richardson Grove Highway Realignment case* in Federal Court in 2014 and were chastised by the judge for their false data and sloppy analysis. The agency was determined to resurrect their plan to accommodate oversized STAA big rig trucks on Hwy. 101 through the heart of redwood country. So their announcement in May 2017 of new documents outlining the same plan many organizations fought for years came as no surprise—but it makes it no more palatable. *Plaintiffs in the case challenging Caltrans’ project were EPIC, the Center for Biological Diversity, Californians for …

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Here we go again. New documents on Richardson Grove highway work, mirroring the old documents rejected by Federal Court

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  Breaking News: Caltrans has just announced the re-launch of their Richardson Grove Highway Project  in southern Humboldt County, through Richardson Grove State Park. The Park is home to towering ancient redwoods that people travel from all over the world to see, and home to many species facing shrinking habitat. After a long, fiercely fought, years-long battle over that plan to accommodate larger trucks through the stretch of Highway 101 that winds through the stately forest, Caltrans’ lost their case in Federal Court when the Court found their environmental documents to be arbitrary, capricious and riddled with faulty data. After …

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Ancient Redwoods in Park Under Threat Again

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Silence in the redwoods is a beautiful thing.   Since all permits were pulled after a well-fought 2014 court victory challenging Caltrans, the jackhammer shovels were called off excavation duty around feeder roots of the redwood giants in Richardson Grove State Park. However, Caltrans’ “Come hell or high water” attitude regarding its plans to accommodate oversized trucks on our coastal highway, and refusal to budge in the face of broad public opposition, clear threats to California’s sensitive habitats and species, federal court defeats and lack of demonstrated need calls for our vigilance. We now have evidenced reason to believe that …

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