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Friends of Gualala River
We stopped a logging plan in California, and you can too!
A presentation by Ethan Arutunian in February, 2024, hosted by the Forest Protection Forum of Sierra Club California’s Stop Clearcutting CA Campaign.
In this talk, Ethan Arutunian describes how a grassroots campaign by Friends of the South Fork Gualala (FSFG) completely stopped the 283-acre Bootleg timber harvest plan (THP) in the Gualala River watershed. They defeated CALFIRE, and a wealthy and reckless timber company, at their own game using the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), without losing a single tree to the plan.
The primary agency responsible for approving and overseeing Timber Harvest Plans in California — CALFIRE — believes in one mandate: to uphold the Forest Practice Act and the Forest Practice Rules (FPRs). They constantly reference those rules when approving logging plans and when responding to the public’s significant concerns about environmental impacts. What CALFIRE fails to mention is that timber harvest plans are also subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and CEQA trumps the FPRs!
Ethan discusses the steps taken, from highlighting concerns in public comments, filing a CEQA lawsuit, temporary restraining order, and preliminary injunction, to winning the case, as well as experience dealing with CALFIRE’s review team and attorneys. The uncontested rulings issued by Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Bradford DeMeo shut down CALFIRE’s approval of the plan in four different and significant ways. He goes over the rulings in detail and identifies how each argument can be used in public comments and lawsuits to take on just about any logging plan today.
For more information, see:
Ethan Arutunian is Director of Friends of the South Fork Gualala (FSFG) and on the Board of Friends of Gualala River (FoGR). He is also a software engineer with a background in data analytics and geographic information systems (GIS) mapping. As part of his work on the Gualala River watershed, Ethan has developed a software application that models what sustainable logging practices look like in every watershed in California. The application was applied to the Bootleg plan and has already produced over a dozen highly detailed analyzes of other recently proposed timber harvest plans throughout California.
The attorney in the case, Daniel Garrett-Steinman, has been practicing environmental law since 2010. He has litigated against other high-profile defendants such as Chevron, Westlands Water District, and was involved in the litigation against Keystone.
“Steam Donkey” Logging Plan Adjacent to The Sea Ranch: Recommended for Approval
Public Comment Period Ends at 5pm on March 11, 2024
UPDATES:
Feb. 29, 2024: Review Team Recommends Approval of Logging Plan
Feb. 23, 2024: Add GRT Forester’s Responses to 2nd Review Questions
Feb. 15, 2024: Add Questions from 2nd Review Team Meeting
Feb. 10, 2024: Add GRT Forester’s Responses to Agency Questions
Jan. 27, 2024: Add Pre-Harvest Inspection report by CalFire with Recommendations
Jan. 13, 2024: Add Pre-Harvest Inspection reports by Geological Survey & CalFire
Jan. 6, 2024: Add Pre-Harvest Inspection reports by Fish & Wildlife & Water Quality
Nov. 10, 2024: Add 3rd version of logging plan
The Steam Donkey timber harvest plan (THP 1-23-00099-SON) was filed by Gualala Redwood Timber (GRT) on July 31, 2023. The plan calls for logging redwood and Douglas fir trees in 824 acres adjacent to The Sea Ranch.
CalFire rejected the initial filing on August 10, after reviewers (from CalFire, Fish & Wildlife, Water Quality and CA. Geological Survey) identified 65 questionable items which needed to be addressed. GRT resubmitted the plan on August 21. CalFire rejected the second filing on August 31 after reviewers identified 22 additional questions which need to be addressed.
Gualala Redwood Timber submitted a third version of the logging plan on November 8, 2023. Agency review team, chaired by CalFire, recommended plan approval on February 29, 2024. Public comment period ends at 5pm on Monday, March 11, 2024.
Download a pdf version of the resubmitted Steam Donkey THP mapThe documents for the third version of the Steam Donkey timber harvest plan (THP) are available below.
Note: CalFire’s standard procedure is to print out the plan documents, scan them, and post the images to their publicly accessible database, CalTREES. As a result, it is impossible to search for text in the documents, because there are no words in the documents posted, only images of words. In order to make the documents more useful, we have used optical character recognition (OCR) on the documents posted below, so that you can search them.
Steam Donkey Timber Harvest Plan documentsSteam Donkey THP Section 1 – [3rd version, 3 MB, 10 pages] Legal description: Cover pages, signatures.
Steam Donkey THP Section 2 – [3rd version, 29 MB, 122 pages] Operations: Silviculture, Yarding, Erosion Hazard Rating, Winter operations, Roads & landings, Watercourse & lake protections, Alternative Watercourse & lake protections (in lieu of standard rules), Wildlife observances & enforceable provisions, Maps
Steam Donkey THP Section 3 – [3rd version, 3 MB, 22 pages] Supporting materials: General Description of Plan Area, Analysis of Alternatives, Silvicultural Methods, Ground-based equipment on steep slopes, Roads, Landings and Skid Trails, Archaeological survey methods and procedures
Steam Donkey THP Section 4 – [3rd version, 21 MB, 159 pages] Cumulative Impacts: Past, present and future projects, assessment of cumulative watershed effects, soil productivity, biological resources, recreational, visual, traffic, greenhouse gas impacts, wildfire risks, noise
Steam Donkey THP Section 5 – [3rd version, 47 MB, 306 pages] Attachments: Including soil erosion hazards, Erosion Control Plan, slash treatment, Northern Spotted Owl information, botanical survey
Steam Donkey THP Section 6 – [3rd version, 0.1 MB, 1 pages] Archeological information: (confidential)
Steam Donkey THP: Agency Reports & RPF ResponsesDec. 27, 2023: Department of Fish & Wildlife – [0.1 MB, 7 pages]
Jan. 3, 2024: Water Quality Control Board – [0.2 MB, 6 pages]
Jan. 10, 2024: California Geological Survey – [9.7 MB, 20 pages]
Jan. 11, 2024: CalFire Dept. of Forestry – [1.4 MB, 13 pages]
Jan. 27, 2024: CalFire Dept. of Forestry + 22 Recommendations – [1.4 MB, 16 pages]
Feb. 5, 2024: GRT Forester’s Responses to Agency Questions – [40 MB, 206 pages]
Feb. 15, 2024: Questions from 2nd Review Team Meeting – [1.3 MB, 2 pages]
Feb. 23, 2024: GRT Forester’s Responses to 2nd Review Questions – [18.6 MB, 51 pages]
Feb. 29, 2024: Review Team Recommends Approval of THP – [0.3 MB, 1 page]
To download additional documents for this logging plan,
visit the Steam Donkey THP page on the CalTREES website.
To submit your comments on this logging plan, email your comments to: santarosapubliccomment@fire.ca.gov
or send your comments via U.S. Mail to:
Forest Practice
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
135 Ridgway Ave.
Santa Rosa, CA 95401
In the subject line of your email message, or at the top of your letter,
be sure to reference: THP 1-23-00099-SON “Steam Donkey”
Rainbow over Gualala after severe storm
Photos courtesy of Jeanne Jackson
Gualala River mouth after more heavy rain
Photos courtesy of Jeanne Jackson
Drone shot of Gualala from over the Ocean
Taken on January 12, 2024 at the end of the king tide.
Photo by Bonny Dunn, BonnyDunn.com
reprinted with permission.
Gualala River mouth wide open after heavy rain
A beautiful photo of our favorite river, taken on the afternoon of January 3, 2024 by Chris Braley.
Thanks to Chris Braley for this inspiring image.There was drama where the Gualala River meets the turbulent Pacific Ocean!
After the storm on December 27, 2023, the Gualala River was running high and fast. The Pacific Ocean was roiled up with huge breakers and the river was full from the rains.
Here’s a video of the action. See if you can spot the River Otter swimming in the raging river!
Here’s what it looked like on Thursday morning, December 28 from the Gualala Bluff Trail. The river is pouring into the ocean, while the ocean breakers are flowering over the sandbar.
Photos & video courtesy of Jeanne Jackson at Mendonoma Sightings
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