With an increasingly intense proliferation of timber sales on our national forests the Forest Service is working hard to “get the cut out” despite growing evidence of long term harm to wildlife and salmon, and the decimation of old growth forests.  With a new ranger in charge, projects on the Salmon River are getting increasingly worse.

Nearly all projects are justified by a fear of wildfire and claim that the forest is overly dense.  However, science shows that logging can increase the risk of fire.  Generally, northerly aspects are moist and dense, and southerly aspects are more open with an inherently higher chance of burning.  Our forests need fire, and high severity fire is part of a healthy ecosystem that typically burns less than 10% of any given fire event.

The Partially Good:  The Eddy Gulch project covers a huge expanse of land, 25,969 acres, between the North and South Forks of the Salmon River, including 8,291 acres of commercial tree harvest, 17,524 acres of underburning and thousands of acres of brush clearing.

Guidelines call for protecting trees over 20 inches in diameter, and units are concentrated on ridge tops where most fires start and where there is a chance to stop fire from entering into the next watershed. However, much of this area is set aside for protecting old growth forest habitat, there are 23 Northern Spotted Owl (NSO) nest sites in these watersheds, and yet some stands would be reduced to 40% canopy closure.

The Bad:  The Little Cronan project is being done with minimal environmental review with no opportunity for appeal.  This project is on the Wild and Scenic North Fork Salmon River, which is critical for salmon recovery. The FS is proposing to use a trail as a logging road, and is targeting old growth trees to make the forest “healthier.” However, it is those older, bigger, fire resistant trees that provide the best habitat for old growth dependent species.

The Ugly:  The Petersburg Pines Healthy Forest Restoration Act Project proposes over 2,000 acres of commercial logging on the South Fork Salmon River.  The USFS claims that it is following the Salmon River Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). This is a blatantly false claim.  The CWPP calls for 80% canopy retention and demands a discussion for harvesting any trees over 27 inches in diameter.  Despite this, more than half the project targets ancient trees in old growth/late seral stands.  The project would remove NSO habitat and reduce canopy down to 40%.

The USFS has no current baseline population information for the NSO, yet it continues to target habitat for logging.  The Recovery Plan for the owl states that the main threats are competition from barred owls, and past and current habitat loss. Recent research indicates that logging reduces the competitive advantage that spotted owls have in dense forest and increases the chance for barred owl invasion. (Dugger et al. In Press, Transient dynamics of invasive competition: barred owls, spotted owls, habitat, and the demons of competition present. Ecological Applications. [doi:10.1890/10-2142.1])

EPIC believes that management should prioritize small diameter forest stands and plantations (previous clearcuts). Our message is clear: no logging old growth, stay out of spotted owl territories, no new roads, keep adequate canopy and protect the soil, water, fish and wildlife.

EPIC Screening of Patagonia Rising Puts Removal of Klamath River Dams in a Global Context.

At 7 PM on Tuesday, October 11, at the Arcata Theater Lounge (1o36 G Street, Arcata), EPIC will be proud to host a screening of the documentary film Patagonia Rising. This film describes the efforts of communities in Chile to protect the wildest rivers in the Patagonia region from mega-hydroelectric development, and their realistic vision for sustainable alternatives.

This compelling film is particularly relevant in Northwest California due to the public comment period that is currently underway on the Draft Plan for the removal of 4 obsolete and destructive dams on the Klamath River. As communities in California work to fulfill the promise of an agreement to decommission dams and begin to restore the long-abused Klamath, people all around the world are struggling to defend their still free-flowing rivers from large dams. This global dynamic is essential to understanding this historic moment for the rivers in our region.

Come out to the Arcata Theater Lounge at 7 PM on October 11 to see an amazing documentary film that recounts a story that the filmmakers decided was “too important not to tell.” Patagonia Rising is an independent documentary that explores the perspective of families along the Baker River in Chile’s Patagonia whose way of life is threatened by a proposal to build a series of giant dams that, if built, would forever change the landscape and the culture of this wilderness refuge.

We at EPIC have chosen to host this film because we believe that a global perspective on the costs of the hydropower industry can assist in understanding the importance of public participation in the plan to remove dams from the Klamath River. This film screening on October 11 launches several weeks of activities around the Klamath dam removal plan. EPIC is one of several organizations participating in a “teach-in” event that is scheduled for 6:30 PM on October 19 at the Wharfinger Building in Eureka. As well, a series of public hearings on the Klamath dam removal will be hosted by the Department of Interior, including a hearing on October 26 at the Arcata Community Center in Arcata.

Come out to this film on October 11 to learn of what is at stake in one of our planet’s iconic struggles over natural resources, and what it means for us at home in Northwest California.

For background on the Klamath Dams Removal Plan listen to the most recent version of the EPIC Edition of the KMUD Environment Show where EPIC’s Gary Graham Hughes interviews Felice Pace, Klamath resident and author of the “Klamblog” (klamblog.blogspot.com).

See the trailer here:

Patagonia Rising from Brian Lilla on Vimeo: http://patagoniarising.com/trailer

Download the print-ready poster here.

Visit the website of the Arcata Theater Lounge.

EPIC is celebrating a victory at Tolowa Dunes State Park, in Del Norte County on the banks of the pristine Smith River.  Beginning this month, the California Department of Parks and Recreation will no longer allow private cattle grazing on state park land.

In May 2011, EPIC notified the Parks Department that their permits authorizing a private dairy farm to graze cattle on 230 acres of public land along the Yontocket and Tolowa Sloughs were illegal, and that the grazing was adversely impacting those acres and surrounding habitat.  For many years, the private grazing permits violated laws governing the management of California’s state parks, and the California Coastal Act.  EPIC’s persistence in this endeavor in coordination with local citizens made a difference, and the Parks Department will now comply with its legal duties and respect the intended purpose of Tolowa Dunes State Park.

“We are pleased that the Parks Department made the right choice here, siding with native wildlife over private cattle grazing at this unique state park.” said Andrew Orahoske, conservation director for the Environmental Protection Information Center. “We’re looking forward to assisting with the development of a restoration plan for the property, including restoring the wetlands and sloughs of the Smith River Estuary. This area will once again provide critical rearing habitat for juvenile salmon and offer refuge for other imperiled species,” concluded Orahoske.

This victory for Tolowa Dunes State Park underscores EPIC’s commitment to defending threatened state parks throughout northwestern California. Other threats to state parks in Del Norte County include the proposed closure of the Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, and the Caltrans proposal to widen U.S. Highway 199 through Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, potentially destroying ancient redwoods forever. As another example of EPIC’s success, in July 2011, EPIC secured a preliminary injunction in federal court halting Caltrans’ widening of U.S. Highway 101 through Richardson Grove State Park based on irreparable harm to ancient redwoods.

Students and faculty at Stanford Law School’s Environmental Law Clinic assisted EPIC in convincing the Parks Department to remove cows from Tolowa Dunes State Park.

Click here to download official press release

TAKE ACTION NOW!  After years of abuse from logging, poorly placed road construction, and indiscriminate impacts from Off-Road Vehicles (ORVs,) the Beegum Creek Watershed in the Yolla Bolla Ranger District of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest still provides essential habitat for at-risk Spring Chinook salmon. Spring Chinook salmon in the greater Klamath basin are currently undergoing a status review under the Federal Endangered Species Act thanks to a petition put forth to the National Marine Fisheries Service by EPIC.

To their credit, the Forest Service is attempting to fix the damage of the past by repairing, decommissioning and closing old logging roads.  Some of these roads are literally falling into rivers and streams and dumping sediment into fish habitat. The Forest Service is also proposing to rein-in uncontrolled ORV use that has scarred highly erosive slopes and impaired riparian habitats throughout the watershed.

Unfortunately a small minority of forest visitors see Beegum Creek as their private ORV playground to be trashed rather than as an important watershed for salmon recovery.  It is imperative that ORV use is constrained in Beegum Creek in order to recover critical stream habitats for Spring Run Chinook Salmon.

Please take a moment to send an e-letter to the Forest Service letting them know that you support their efforts to restore clean water and salmon habitat in the Beegum Creek Watershed.

Join EPIC on Wednesday, September 21 between 5:00-10:00 p.m. at the Redwood Curtain Brewing Company to try hand crafted artisan ales listen to live music by singer-songwriter Josephine Johnson and get to know the environmental community in our area.

$1 of every pint sold supports environmental protection of the places we love here on the northcoast. Support a great cause and raise your glass to the Environment!

The Brewery is located in Arcata at 550 South G Street #6.  Bring your friends, listen to some music, have a few beers for a good cause and meet some EPIC folks

See you there!

EPIC will hold an Open House at 6pm on Thursday September 15^th at our Arcata office.  The open house will feature a short presentation on EPIC’s industrial forestry reform program, which focuses on protecting forests, wildlife, and clean water on privately held forestlands in California.

EPIC is a state-wide leader in the battle to reform the dominant paradigm of industrial forestry on private forestlands.  Highly intensive practices such as high rates of harvest, large amounts of clearcutting, short logging rotations and the wide-spread application of chemical herbicides are threatening our forests, wildlife and clean water throughout the state.  Large private industrial forestland owners are held to much lower protective standards than are logging operations on public lands, and state logging regulations are generally not adequate to protect threatened resources.  Many threatened and endangered species such as Northern Spotted Owls, Marbled Murrelets and Coho salmon now teeter on the brink on private lands where the mandate to log as much as possible as fast as possible pervades management strategies. EPIC is dedicated to continually developing strategies to confront and reform these damaging practices, and envisions a future where our forests can work while providing for wildlife and clean water.

Please join us for an evening of talk and mixing.  The EPIC office is located at 145 ‘G’ Street, Suite A, in Arcata.

TAKE ACTION NOW!  The Klamath National Forest is proposing to log dozens of old growth trees on the Wild and Scenic North Fork Salmon River. While EPIC was able to stop this plan temporarily, for USFS failure to complete consultation with the US Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act, the Ranger has said that as soon as there is concurrence the timber sale will move forward. Please contact the Salmon/Scott River District Ranger and ask him to abandon plans to log irreplaceable old growth forests.

The 70 acre Little Cronan Timber Sale is being done through a Categorical Exclusion which does not provide an environmental analysis, even though the project would build landings, skid trails and a logging road over the Garden Gulch Trail in a Key Watershed that is critical for Salmon recovery.

Their Fire and Fuels Report claims that this forest is not a high-risk area for fire danger.  The purpose and need for the project is “forest health” and timber extraction.  We know there are thousands of acres of small diameter plantations that would be more appropriate for “thinning.” Old forests have intrinsic environmental benefits that exceed their value as wood products.

The Cronan Gulch watershed was designated as Northern Spotted Owl Critical Habitat in 1982.  The same stand was proposed for helicopter logging in the 90’s, which was litigated and dropped because of the designation.  In 2008, the Bush Administration eradicated thousands of acres of Critical Habitat and this watershed was one of them. EPIC challenged this plan in federal court, and even though the Fish and Wildlife Service remanded the ill conceived changes and is currently mapping revised NSO Critical Habitat, the Salmon River Ranger District is moving as quickly as possible to log the area before Critical Habitat is reinstated.

The North Fork of the Salmon River is designated as a National Wild and Scenic River system based on its fisheries values.  It provides 40 miles of habitat for Chinook and Coho salmon and many other native fish. This particular forest stand is an important wildlife corridor between the Marble Mountain and Trinity Alps Wilderness areas.

The Forest Service (FS) itself has already determined that this watershed is important to wildlife. “This watershed has habitat critical to wildlife and fish species that are listed or petitioned for listing through the Endangered Species Act.  Some of these habitat features may be at risk and need protection or enhancement.  Older, late successional forest stands and anadromous fish habitat are considered some of the most important features within the watershed.” – North Fork Salmon River Watershed Analysis 1-1

Take a moment to send a letter to the Forest Service expressing your concerns for this project.

Mama, the gray whale in the Klamath River

EPIC is mourning the loss of a gray whale that recently died in the Klamath River.   The whale, named “Mama” by locals, resided in the Klamath River for nearly two months, baffling experts and fascinating the public.  While researchers attempt to draw conclusions about the whale’s death, the threats to the Klamath River basin’s fish and wildlife are plain to see.   Due to the public outcry over their slaughter, gray whales recovered from the brink of extinction, making them an Endangered Species Act success story.

This same public commitment is now desperately needed for our salmon.  Klamath and Trinity River salmon are in need of more water.  Coho salmon are already listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act, and Chinook salmon are under evaluation for listing, as a result of a petition by EPIC and other organizations.

There’s a lot of water trapped behind the big dams this year, especially Trinity Dam.  Much of that water is destined for export out of the basin via the Central Valley Project to southern California.  In addition to this water theft in the Trinity, aggressive water diversions throughout the Klamath Basin and its tributaries are drying up creeks and killing off salmon.  Water diversions and groundwater pumping on the Scott River is killing juvenile coho salmon right now.  Watch the video below, which documents fish kills from earlier this month.

The Bureau of Reclamation operates two massive projects within the Klamath River Basin.  While much attention has been paid to dams on the Klamath River, the Klamath’s largest tributary, the Trinity River, is dammed and extensively diverted out of the basin to the Sacramento River by the bureau’s Central Valley Project. The loss of cold Trinity River water is very detrimental to salmon throughout the system, not to mention that Trinity Dam’s reservoir has drowned for decades too many miles of salmon spawning grounds.  The bureau also operates the Klamath Project, which is responsible for draining crucial wetlands and changing the hydrology of the Upper Klamath Basin to a catastrophic extent.

Video produced by Klamath Media Collaborative.

The State Legislative Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture held an informational hearing on the state of Coho salmon in California on Tuesday, August 16^th at the State Capitol.

The informational hearing, dubbed “Coho salmon on the Brink”, featured testimony from several key agencies, including the Director of the Department of Fish and Game, and the Southwest Regional Administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Executive Officer of the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board.

The DFG and the NMFS presented compelling evidence that Coho salmon populations have substantially declined over the last 30 years, and that those declining trends show no signs of abatement.  Coho salmon populations have all but disappeared when compared with historic estimates, and many historic Coho streams are now considered either extinct or at risk of extinction, even in the Southern Oregon/Northern California Coho region.

Lack of adequate funding, regulations, and enforcement mechanisms to protect Coho, particularly on privately-held timberlands in California continues to hamper efforts to protect, conserve, and restore properly functioning freshwater habitat conditions.  In particular, 2010 budgetary cuts to the DFGs Timber Harvest Plan review program has left the Department hampered in its duties to conserve and recover Coho on privately-held timberlands, where the NMFS estimates approximately 90 percent of remaining freshwater habitat for this species resides.

Water diversions, both legal and illegal, also continue to hamper Coho conservation and recovery.  Once again, the lack of adequate funding for the DFG, and ultimately, the lack of adequate regulatory muscle for the Department continue to allow water diversions, both legal and illegal, to remove essential flow from Coho bearing streams in critical summer months.

The loss of adequate habitat structure and complexity in freshwater habitats for Coho was also identified as a primary limiting factor.  Lack of a streamlined regulatory process to allow for the placement of large woody debris in Coho bearing streams to provide habitat complexity to facilitate rearing and sheltering habitats continues to hamper efforts by the agencies and independent landowners to provide for these essential habitat elements.

Coho salmon are indeed on the brink, and the lack of adequate funding, regulatory mechanism, and enforcement mechanisms at the state level, these trends are likely to continue.  The State must act swiftly and decisively to provide adequate funding, regulations, and enforcement of such regulations if we are ever to hope to recover this iconic fading species and prevent its annihilation .  EPIC is dedicated to the conservation and recovery of this essential species, and will continue to advocate for adequate regulations, and adequate funding and enforcement of those regulations.

 Watch Videos of the Hearing Here

It is truly rare when the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) provides formal disagreement with Cal Fire over the approval of a THP, but that’s exactly what happened with THP 1-11-038SCR, “Victoria”.  The “Victoria” THP covers only 38 acres of selection logging in Santa Cruz County.  However the THP is located in Branciforte Creek, a tributary to the San Lorenzo River, where the state of Central California Coast Coho salmon is extremely dire.  The San Lorenzo Coho run is considered to be either extinct or on the brink of extinction,  and logging, along with other human-related activities, has been identified as the primary cause of habitat loss and degradation.

As part of its Pre-harvest Inspection (PHI) for the “Victoria” THP, the DFG raised  substantial concerns over the reconstruction of a landing in a stream channel that drains directly to Branciforte Creek, where it is believed that Coho salmon may be hanging on.  The landing construction inside the watercourse channel, and the subsequent use of this landing and the road associated with it, raises significant concern over the potential for sediment to discharge into Branciforte Creek.  The Forester for the THP, the Cal Fire inspector, and the Cal Fire review team all disagreed with the DFG’s recommendation to delete the use of the landing from the THP. The construction of a landing inside a watercourse channel is contrary to standard Forest Practice Rules provisions, and a special dispensation and justification must be made in order to go forward with such a proposal.

The DFG provided a formal letter of disagreement with Cal Fire review team recommendations to approve the THP without incorporating the DFG recommendation to delete the use of the landing.  Cal Fire, for its part, remains complicit, and continues to rationalize away the potential dangers of reconstructing the landing inside the watercourse channel.  Cal Fire has merely required the plan submitter to provide more discussion to justify the use reconstruction of the landing, and subsequently recirculated the THP for 30 days (re-opening the public comment period).

The Cal Fire review team and the plan submitter are not required by the Forest Practice Rules to accept and incorporate all the recommendations of the DFG into approved THPs, and as often happens, Cal Fire is siding with the landowner, while disregarding the concerns of the DFG.  Cal Fire and the DFG have a long and sordid history of disagreement over recommendations made by the DFG, and in most cases, the DFG is forced to either formally disagree with Cal Fire, or simply let its recommendations go by the wayside.  The DFG is often reticent to provide formal disagreement with Cal Fire, as Cal Fire almost always gets their way in these disagreements.  This betrays one of the most fundamental flaws in the Forest Practice Rules;  Cal Fire and landowners are allowed to disregard the recommendations of other public trust agencies such as the DFG, while the DFG is forced to fight for its proposals at management level.

EPIC will continue to monitor this situation closely.  The DFG’s formal disagreement raises substantial concerns over potential harm to endangered Coho salmon, and we will continue to engage with the DFG and Cal Fire in hopes that an amicable resolution can be achieved.

At their July 26th meeting, California’s Wildlife Conservation Board approved 19.5 million dollars of funding for the conservation easement to ensure that the Usal Redwood Forest be protected in perpetuity as a functioning community forest.  The funding was awarded to The Conservation Fund, which will purchase and oversee the terms of the easement. There were more than 760 letters/e-mails in support and only 3 opposed.  Many of the letters in support of the easement were from people who responded to EPIC’s action alert.  Thank you for your participation, it made a difference in Usal!

The WCB vote was 2-0.  The Board Members were confident the easement had adequate scrutiny, was of high quality, and ready for approval.  Chris Kelly, representative of The Conservation Fund, the actual holders of the easement, answered an assortment of questions from the Board Members and from the Legislative Advisory members or their representatives.  Some specific issues included how the easement supported the Coho Recovery Strategy, how the easement would be enforced, the 2.9% per year cutting limitation, and prevention of road-related sedimentation.  Mr. Kelly referenced the requirements in the easement for application of the standards and procedures found in the Weaver/Hagans Forest and Ranch Road Manual.

Related matters and policy issues regarding the WCB Prop 84 Forest Conservation Program will be discussed at the next Wildlife Conservation Board meeting, which will probably be some time in September.  At that time, the Gualala Forest may be up for a conservation easement.

Support Richardson Grove at Beginnings on Sunday, September 4

On Labor Day weekend we’ll celebrate our treasured Richardson Grove and the well-earned Preliminary Injunction to stop the road-widening project.

Help raise funds for the Dec 1 hearing when Richardson Grove goes to court!  EPIC’s lawsuit will drive home the solid science of the McBride findings.  We can win!  And it takes big bucks to go to court.

Enjoy wonderful music!  Marjo Wilson Band will climax the evening, rocking out & bringing all dancers to our feet.  Joanne Rand will play a set including her new Richardson Grove song.  The set by Jefferson Parson and his Raspberry Jam Band will include all 5 of his original Grove songs.  And hey, it’s Jefferson’s 70th Birthday — so it’s a double celebration.

Do come early for a marvelous evening.  Doors open at 5:00, dinner starts at 5:30 by Sue’s Organics.   Beer and Wine available.  Music during dinner includes other singer-songwriters with songs honoring the Grove: Jan Bramlett, Bud Rogers and Jessie Rubin.   Following an invocation by Native Elder Jene McCovey, Gary Hughes will give an update on the campaign to Save Richardson Grove.

Then it’s dessert — delicious tasty treats donated by the community.  Get your energy up while Joanne plays, then put on your dancing shoes for Marjo.

We look forward to building the spirit of the Grove with you and assuring success in court!

Thanks to everyone who helped us meet our $5,000 goal last month to pay our portion of the court ordered bond for the injunction!

We did it! With your help we can keep the momentum growing!

Speak Up to Defend the Clean Water Act! The Clean Water Act is under attack by Republicans and few wayward Democrats in Congress. EPIC is working to defend the Clean Water Act and we need your support to push back against three damaging proposals.

TAKE ACTION and tell your federal lawmakers that you oppose industry attacks on clean water. Tell them that you speak for the salmon that are choking on sediment from logging roads, and for future generations that will look back on this time as a turning point in protecting water for all. We are witnessing an unprecedented attack on clean water, so we must act now to stop coal, timber and chemical companies from stripping the Clean Water Act of its power to protect our water. The Clean Water Act is under attack by Republicans and few wayward Democrats in Congress. EPIC is working to defend the Clean Water Act and we need your support to push back against three damaging proposals.

Contributions from Andrew Orahoske and Rob DiPerna

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently released a Revised Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl, which has been listed as threatened with extinction for the past 20 years. The previous Recovery Plan was tampered with for political reasons, and turned out to be highly inadequate. Along with a coalition of groups, EPIC sued over the politically tainted version and the federal government agreed to complete a new plan.  The promised revision is a step in the right direction to protect this iconic species of northwestern forests.

The Recovery Plan addresses multiple threats.  It takes climate change into consideration and targets the barred owl, an invasive species from the East that competes for spotted owl habitat. The plan reiterates the importance of national forests and other federal lands to the survival of the owl, and recommends extensive forest restoration to speed the recovery of old-growth forests.  Furthermore, it invites private forest landowners to safeguard the spotted owl by protecting suitable habitat and proposes incentives for furthering the species’ recovery.

Old-growth forests, the owls’ preferred habitat, has been logged for decades and continues to be threatened.  While the plan uses new mapping to identify the best habitat for the owl, it does not include specific reserves.  Critical habitat will be designated when researchers complete a mapping and computer project that predicts survival rates based on the best habitat.

On the west side of the Cascades, the plan will likely result in a net benefit to old forests. But on the drier east side a massive amount of forest thinning is proposed.  The impact of thinning on owls is not well understood.  The plan is vague about how to slow down logging if it proves detrimental to the birds.  In the redwood region, some of the most important habitat for recovering the owl is held by large private interests.  The fate of the owl very much rests in the treatment of these important private lands.

Populations continue to decline from Washington to Northern California. It’s about an entire ecosystem on a downward spiral. Protecting all remaining old growth makes sense.  Older trees store more carbon than younger trees and may dampen the effects of global warming.  The recovery plan relies on how federal and state agencies administer the plan, not just for owls but for clean water, salmon and carbon storing.

Thanks to our new and long term members, EPIC is gaining the momentum needed to meet our ambitious environmental protection goals. We all know that the stresses on our landscape and it’s unique inhabitants are growing–to meet those growing challenges EPIC needs to build its base of financial support. With your help we can do it!

The last three months have been an exciting time at the Environmental Protection Information Center. We have been engaging with the immediate community, reaching out to the extended EPIC membership, building our cases and program initiatives, and achieving concrete advances in our legal strategies. The granting of the preliminary injunction by the Federal Court that halts progress on the inappropriate Caltrans proposal for Richardson Grove State Park is another historical moment in the trajectory of EPIC’s successes protecting endangered landscapes in Northwest California.

This momentum would not be possible without our members and significant donors. We at EPIC extend a heartfelt thanks to all of you who have contributed to our Richardson Grove Legal Fund, and to the many people that also choose to donate to support our costs for broader environmental advocacy in the redwood region. It is our membership and base of supporters that makes our work possible.

Thanks to all of the donations that continue to come in, we have nearly reached our goal of raising $5000 to afford our share of the bond that plaintiffs were ordered to post as part of the Richardson Grove injunction. We need an ongoing push of EPIC supporters to help us reach our $5000 dollar goal for the Richardson Grove Legal Fund this week! If you have not done so already, please consider donating to our Richardson Grove Legal Fund today!

Our work to protect Richardson Grove State Parks fits into a broader strategy to respond to the stewardship crisis in the California State Park system. The threat to close up to 70 parks statewide is an unprecedented attack on our public trust resources. EPIC is one of the only organizations in our region that can advocate effectively for our public lands on both a state and federal level. On top of that, we are the only group in our region that works on both public and private land issues. Our efforts to promote community forestry in the Usal while confronting egregious industrial behavior on Green Diamond/Simpson lands are uniquely coherent, and these initiatives are only possible due to the contributions of our membership and community of supporters.

If you are not already a member of EPIC, please become a member today!

The team at EPIC thanks you for your generous support, and celebrates with you the recent victory in our Richardson Grove campaign. It is only with your support that we can keep up this work. Thank you! and remember to donate today!

The yellow circle is a Northern Spotted Owl Site, and the red represents the McKay ’09 THP

On Friday, July 8th, Green Diamond filed a notice with Cal Fire that they intended to begin logging operations on the “McKay 09” THP in Ryan Creek, near Cutten, in Eureka.  This notification means Green Diamond could begin timber falling anytime in the proceeding 15 days.  Green Diamond has already begun road clearing operations in preparation for potential logging. The “McKay 09’” THP proposes to log 60 acres of mature second growth and residual old growth redwood forest that supports threatened species such as the Northern Spotted Owl. Ryan Creek is also known to support threatened Coho salmon.  Green Diamond intends to clearcut 37 acres of this forest, while selectively logging 21 acres in riparian management zones.   Behind the clearcutting and forest conversion looms the specter of permanent conversion for residential development.

According to a March 11, 2008 letter from Green Diamond to the County, the Company has 442 acres of suitable development property in the Mckay Tract, 256 of which is already zoned for that purpose.  However, a 12/15/10 article in the Eureka Times Standard indicated that Green Diamond is working with the Trust for Public Land to craft a plan to protect the 7,500-acre McKay Tract next to Cutten and virtually the entire Ryan Creek watershed from development. So now as the chain saws are set to run, the question begs whether Green Diamond wants a community forest, or residential sprawl for the McKay tract.  Resorting to clearcutting some of the last remaining mature forest in the Ryan Creek watershed would send a message of Green Diamond’s intent. Despite all its posturing of good will, it is now unclear that Green Diamond prefers development over conservation in the McKay Tract. EPIC will continue to monitor the situation in the McKay Tract closely.  Please stay connected to www.wildcalifornia.org for more updates.

Please be a part of the EPIC defense of Richardson Grove, and pledge your support this week!

SAN FRANCISCO— A federal judge on Wednesday ordered California state transportation officials to stop work on a controversial plan to cut wider highway lanes through ancient redwoods in Northern California’s Richardson Grove State Park. The judge granted the injunction that was being sought by a group of plaintiffs that includes three environmental organizations and several citizens, finding the project is likely to harm trees and may violate federal law.

The judge halted plans by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to realign a section of Highway 101 that winds through old-growth redwoods in the park to accommodate large-truck travel. The work would require crews to extensively cut into the roots of towering redwoods that stand along the highway within park boundaries. The injunction prohibits all on-the-ground construction and even contract advertising, bidding, or awards until the merits of the case are heard. The case is to be heard on Dec. 1, 2011.

The court’s decision centers on the controversial project’s potentially fatal damage to the prized ancient trees, as well as harm to sensitive wildlife. The plaintiffs charged that Caltrans failed to evaluate impacts of the project in violation of environmental laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act. Those arguments were recognized as valid in Wednesday’s court decision granting the injunction. The federal lawsuit accompanies a California state action also filed by the coalition.

“This project would cause irreparable damage to one of our most prized state parks, and this decision confirms the legitimacy of our concerns,” said Gary Hughes of the Environmental Protection Information Center, a plaintiff group based in Humboldt County. “We believe that this ruling highlights the ecological importance of the state parks in redwood country, and we hope that decision-makers are beginning to understand the legal and ethical responsibility they have to steward these globally important protected areas for future generations.”

“With less than 3 percent of our ancient redwood trees remaining, we cannot allow Caltrans to injure and kill the precious giants of Richardson Grove State Park,” said Jeff Miller with the Center for Biological Diversity. “We hope that with this court decision, Caltrans will scrap this misguided project that would sacrifice redwoods and the endangered species that depend on them for the sake of a few more oversized trucks speeding through the grove.”

Plaintiffs in the case (No. C 10-04360 WHA) are Trisha Lee Lotus, Bess Bair, Bruce Edwards, Jeffrey Hedin, Loreen Eliason, Environmental Protection Information Center, Californians for Alternatives to Toxics and the Center for Biological Diversity. They are represented by a team that includes Philip Gregory and former congressman “Pete” McCloskey of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, a law firm in San Francisco.

Judge Orders California to Halt Work on Richardson Grove Highway Expansion That Would Harm Ancient Redwoods – EPIC’s Press Release

Richardson Grove Injunction Cites Inconsistencies in Environmental Review; Caltrans Stands By Project – Times Standard

Preliminary Injunction Granted in Richardson Grove Case – Times Standard

Order Granting Preliminary Injunction – United States District Court

Please join us from 6-8 PM on July 13, at the Trinidad Town Hall for a Community Forum on industrial forestry as practiced by Green Diamond.  Hope to see you there! Download a flier to post in your community!

While Green Diamond continues its onslaught of intensive industrial forest liquidation in Maple Creek, the company is doing very little monitoring or research to discern the consequences of these practices for public trust resources.  We know very little about conditions in the Maple Creek watershed, and Green Diamond Timber Harvest Plans recently submitted for Maple Creek are virtually devoid of any data or other meaningful information.  What data does exist is very limited in scope and size, thus rendering it impossible to discern any real patterns or implications from such data.

Maple Creek is known to support both resident and anadromous fisheries, but Green Diamond does not appear to be conducting any monitoring of these species in Maple Creek.  The aquatic monitoring data that does exist represents a small sample size over a small period of time, and the results are wildly variable.  No information about the conditions of habitat for resident or anadromous fish is provided in Green Diamond’s THPs, leaving a massive informational gap that hampers both agency and public evaluation. The only mention of monitoring activities conducted by Green Diamond in its THPs for Maple Creek indicates that recently-implemented headwaters stream monitoring is showing erosion impacts resulting from existing roads, though this data is also limited.

The fundamental requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act to make decisions based on substantial evidence appear to be largely disregarded by Green Diamond and Cal Fire. The virtual informational void in Maple Creek as evidenced by lack of any data or quantitative analysis in Green Diamond’s THPs makes approval of these plans as written suspect at best.  Cal Fire has systemically failed in its responsibility to make determinations based on substantial evidence in light of the record presented. This fact betrays a lack of regulatory mechanisms and controls over potential impacts to fish and other threatened species.

These disturbing information gaps are part and parcel of the ongoing liquidation practices of Green Diamond. EPIC is working hard to expose the activities of this company in order to leverage on the ground changes that protect natural resources from over-expoitation, and to foment company wide reform. The efforts that Green Diamond makes to hide their destructive practices from a forest products market that is increasingly sensitive to sustainability issues made up a big part of our last edition of the EPIC Environment Show on KMUD radio.

On the evening of Friday, July 8, EPIC is honored to feature the work of Joan Dunning, the widely recognized children’s stories artist and author, as part of the city wide Arts Arcata! celebration. From 6 until 9 PM the staff of EPIC will host a reception in our office at 145 G St Suite A, in Arcata, down by the marsh, and we invite everyone to come by! Ms. Dunning will have paintings and other work on display in our office, and the EPIC crew will be excited to receive visitors, adults and children alike. This gathering will provide us an opportunity to speak of Ms. Dunning’s art, and of EPIC’s work to protect the wild nature of Northwest California.

Joan Dunning: Magnetizing Children to the Natural World

In anticipation of the showing, we asked Joan a few questions about her art and her activism. We think this interview captures an important glimpse into a creative talent who has demonstrated a tremendous dedication to expressive creativity, and who is contributing to a bioregional community awareness that endeavors to maintain a balanced relationship with the landscape that provides us spiritual and physical sustenance.

Enjoy this brief interview with Ms. Dunning, and be sure to join us this coming Friday evening for Arts Arcata!

What can you say is the seed of your artistic inspiration?

I am both and artist and a writer and have been since I was a little girl.  I have always wanted to do illustrated books on natural history topics and this is my fifth (see my website: joandunning.com or do a search of my name on Amazon.) This book, Seabird in the Forest, is very special to me because I have always wanted to do a children’s book that I illustrated in oils.  This is my first  book in oils and people love it!  Also, I think the topic: the marbled murrelet and the canopy of the ancient redwood forest, is mysterious and fascinating.  

How did you decide to dedicate your artistic and professional energies to teaching children (and adults!) about nature, and specifically the redwood forest?

My father was a wanderer of California, Arizona and Nevada.  By example, he taught me to love California as my only religion.  I have lived other places and felt extremely claustrophobic because I am so used to California’s wealth of public land.  It was actually kind of a shock, as I was growing up, to realize the uniqueness of my personal heritage. I gradually realized that not everyone shares my impassioned feelings about the natural world of California.  When I teach a classroom full of city children to draw a marbled murrelet chick coming out of its egg, a lot of kids are hatching too.  When I was a child, someone came to my fourth-grade classroom and taught me how to draw a redwood.  I remember every minute of it, and it was life-changing.  

What is the role of art, and especially art designed for children, in todays environmental politics?

I have an idea to help save the parks called Art Saves a Park (ASAP).  When children receive guided instruction in drawing a simple image from the natural world, they can experience that “form follows function.”  We can talk about why the marbled murrelet only lays one large egg instead of four small ones like a similarly-sized robin.  In the process, the child learns, becomes involved in an artistic expression, and, ultimately, this piece of art can be “sold” in an exhibit in a school “gallery,” perhaps with refreshments and a drawing lesson or other presentation for the parents by the children.  Everyone learns, and the proceeds can go to a special fund for the state parks.  

Can you describe how you balance art with science in your books?

I believe that children deserve a good story.  I like fuzzy, lovable, appealing images.  I believe they are good for children’s souls.  I do not believe in overloading children with “hard facts” or “hard realities.”  It is not their fault that previous generations have neglected their window of stewardship of the earth.  On the other hand, I am devoted to the elegance and discipline of science;  I love the reality of nature and the challenge of walking that fine line between anthropomorphizing and presenting delicious information and images that instantly magnetize children to the natural world.

How is a group like EPIC important in the year 2011? Why would you suggest that people support EPIC?

Because it exists!   It is a tool, nothing more, nothing less and it is there for us to use by offering time, new ideas and financial support.  EPIC has a proud history of effectiveness against MAXXAM Corporation in the days of “Headwaters.”  Few people who did not live through the period that began in 1985 with the hostile take-over of Pacific Lumber Company, can imagine the fierce struggle that engulfed Humboldt County.  EPIC was a key player, organizing and winning countless lawsuits that held off the liquidation of precious fragments of the vast ancient forests once stewarded by the exemplary, family-owned Pacific Lumber Company.  You can read about this struggle in my book for adults, From the Redwood Forest, which is out-of-print, but which you can order , new or used, on Amazon for just a few dollars.  

Any special reasons to come out to the EPIC Arts Arcata! event featuring your art?

To have some fun in a warm, similarly committed group of people; to purchase a signed, personally inscribed copy of Seabird in the Forest; to see original art from the book; to learn, first-hand, about my process in creating Seabird and my other books; to ask me any questions you may have; to purchase a print of the original art; to have some wine and good conversation; to meet new friends and see old ones; to support EPIC; and maybe I will even teach you how to draw a marbled murrelet chick hatching out of its egg if you bring a pencil, an eraser and a piece of paper and wait till I have a moment (this is for children and for adults, including all those people who “can only draw stick figures.”)