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 18
You may remember from our previous update that Caltrans and environmental plaintiffs were in federal court in San Francisco in November.
This upcoming hearing on March 18 is the companion lawsuit in state court, and the public is encouraged to attend. However, this hearing is in Humboldt County. It will be at 1:45 pm in Humboldt County Superior Court (525 Fifth St., Eureka) before Judge Kelly S. Neel.
The federal case is still pending a decision; though recently Judge Alsup issued a number of questions relating to an issue that Caltrans generally downplays–that of potential increased truck traffic through the Grove, and impacts from increased big rig trucks on Richardson Grove State Park, its visitors, and the Park environment, including the old growth trees the Park is famous for.
Both cases challenge the fact that Caltrans simply issued an addendum to their original project proposal, which had already been found to be riddled with inaccuracies, inadequate in analyses and otherwise not up to snuff legally, in previous court battles. By using the addendum process Caltrans was both skirting public comment on the re-issued project proposal and ignoring the gross inadequacies in the 2010 EIR on the project.
This case slogs on…and on and on. But in the meantime, there are no jackhammers pounding into the soil around the old growth tree roots. The environmental side has won numerous legal battles, and Caltrans keeps coming back, as if this project serves some pressing need. Only for the trucking industry, Caltrans, only the trucking industry. Stay tuned.