The legal challenge to the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) approval of their highway development project in Richardson Grove State Park will continue to evolve over the next several weeks.
The state case hearings originally scheduled for March 14 in Humboldt County Superior Court in Eureka were canceled and then reset. The hearing in the state case will now be heard on Thursday, March 22, at 8:30 AM in Courtroom 8 of the Humboldt Country Superior Court.
After the oral arguments in the Federal Case were heard on February 23 in San Francisco, the presiding judge ordered a site visit to the Richardson Grove in order to fact check details important to the case. This site visit took place on March 5, and the resulting report was filed on March 13. Both plaintiffs and defendants will have until March 26 to prepare and file a briefing in concern of the report arising from the site visit. This means that it is unlikely that the Federal Court will issue a decision on this case before the end of March 2012.
Our team at EPIC will continue to work to keep people interested in this crucial state parks defense initiative in as timely a manner as possible. Please visit the saverichardsongrove.org for updates, subscribe to our electronic newsletter at EPIC’s main wildcalifornia.org website, and “like” our Facebook page to receive nearly daily updates about our work for state parks, endangered species, and the wild forests of Northwest California.