Updates + News
EPIC & Allies Petition State Water Board to Step In Over Elk River Mess
February 4, 2019
The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board has made an even bigger mess of the situation in Elk River by failing to revisit and revise sediment pollution waste discharge permits for Green Diamond and Humboldt Redwood Company in the watershed as directed by the State Water Resources Control Board. To add insult to this injury, the Regional Board continues to allow Green Diamond and Humboldt Redwood Company to enroll Timber Harvest Plans under the old permits while it continues to kick-the-can down the road on the required revisions. read more >>
Lawsuit Targets California Permit for Clearcutting Endangered Marten Habitat
January 31, 2019
Conservationists today sued the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to challenge its “Safe Harbor Agreement” that would allow Green Diamond Resource Co. to harm state-endangered Humboldt martens by clearcutting the endangered animal’s habitat. The lawsuit seeks to invalidate the agreement because it provides no net conservation benefit for martens. Fewer than 200 of the forest-dwelling carnivores survive in California, and clearcut logging is the primary threat to their recovery. read more >>
Court: Gray Wolves Can Keep California Endangered Species Protection
January 29, 2019
Judge Finds No Merit in Pacific Legal Foundation, Rancher Challenge. On January 28th a state court judge upheld protection for gray wolves under the California Endangered Species Act. The ruling rejected a challenge from the Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of the California Cattlemen’s Association and California Farm Bureau Federation. read more >>
BREAKING: Federal Court Halts Illegal Logging in Sensitive Forests
January 28, 2019
Post-Fire Logging in the Siskiyou Crest Mountains would Degrade Water Quality and Irreparably Harm Wildlife Habitat. Late Friday, Judge Troy L. Nunley halted plans for post-fire, clear-cut logging in northern California’s Klamath National Forest. The court held that the Seiad-Horse timber sale project would illegally and irreparably harm aquatic resources with increased sedimentation, violate the Northwest Forest Plan’s restrictions on large snag removal from a late-successional reserve, and violate the National Environmental Policy Act for failing to analyze the effects of the project. read more >>
SoHum Community Meeting: Green Diamond & Sproul Creek
January 23, 2019
EPIC staff will present a 20-minute talk/power point that contains information and visuals about the Sproul Creek property and Green Diamond and its practices. A question and answer session will follow the presentation. All ages welcome. Donations graciously accepted at the door. read more >>
Trump's Shutdown Threatens Public Lands, Wildlife and Human Health
January 23, 2019
The government shutdown continues over Trump’s “ecological disaster” border wall. For our federal public lands, the shutdown stinks. The Feds are the largest landowner in the county—by far—with about 640 million acres, including over five million acres in Northwest California. While these lands largely remain open, there are reports at parks across the country of overflowing human waste and trash. Without caretakers, people are already wreaking havoc. In Joshua Tree National Park, vandals have hacked apart the iconic trees. read more >>
Clean Water or Industrial Waste Ditch—The Future of Elk River Still Hangs in the Balance
January 22, 2019
Elk River and its residents, human and otherwise, continue to play second-fiddle to the industrial timber ensemble of Humboldt Redwood Company and Green Diamond Resource Company when it comes to state agency enforcement and regulation of logging. EPIC expects this from CAL FIRE, an agency that seemingly never met a THP it didn’t like and want to approve. What’s more disappointing is the 20-years and-counting of heel-dragging by the North Coast Regional Water Board to develop and implement a Total Maximum Daily Load. read more >>
Action Alert: Arcata’s People-First Plaza?
January 14, 2019
Put People First! Sign Now! Our friends at the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities have an important petition on their website to prioritize pedestrians the Arcata Plaza. We at EPIC urge you to sign on. (We did!) As a local resident, you know that the Arcata Plaza is the heart of the city. During a Farmer’s Market, it is great—alive and vibrant—but most other times, it can be a drag. The Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities wants to “pedestrianize” the plaza—redesign the plaza so that people, not cars or corporations, are put first. read more >>
Action Alert: Green Diamond Clearcuts Threaten Humboldt Marten in Klamath Glen
January 10, 2019
Take Action: Green Diamond clearcuts—that’s pretty clear-cut. What’s not, perhaps, are the consequences of its clearcuts, as the company strives to spin whatever mythology it can muster to convince agency regulators and the public at-large that there’s nothing to be seen and no harm being done. In late November 2018, Green Diamond submitted THP 1-18-177DEL, “Arrow Mills,” THP, totaling 125 acres of timber harvest in Upper and Lower Turwar Creek at Klamath Glen. Of the total 125-acre THP, 104 acres is proposed for clearcutting. read more >>
Breaking: EPIC in Court to Defend Old Growth in Klamath National Forest
January 10, 2019
Today EPIC is in court asking for an injunction on the Seiad-Horse Project, which is a timber sale proposed in the Klamath National Forest. The project targets over 1,000 acres on the Siskiyou Crest for clearcut logging. The proposed timber sale is located within an inventoried Roadless Area, a Late Successional Reserve and other areas that are critical habitat for species like the Pacific fisher and northern spotted owl. read more >>
