Some of Caltrans’ highway expansion projects halted but heating up again; wetlands destruction continues in Willits
Big trucks, big highways or wild coastal ecosystems?
Jackson Forest
Join Us for Stomp the Stumps annual music & dance benefit ! Friday, May 16
The 16th annual Stomp the Stumps! brings together some of the Bay Area’s most dedicated political rock and dance bands for fundraising concerts to help save what’s left of natural Northern California. Longtime Stumpers the Funky Nixons and the Gary Gates Band perform before fellow returnees Curly cap the night. A rockin’ benefit for Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters at Ashkenaz Club: MAY 16! 1317 San Pablo Ave. at Gilman, Berkeley 94702 doors @ 8; music @8:30 3 dance beat bands: Funky Nixons, house band of Peoples’ Park and proponents of all good causes in the Bay brings …
Caltrans is out of step with the times, says independent study. Write a letter today to add your voice for redwoods and wetlands!
Sometimes—if you keep broadcasting your message logically, accurately and persistently, the echo comes back to you when you hear those in decision-making capacities using the same words. Please write to Brian Kelley, Secretary, Calif. State Transportation Agency, Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, Chair, State Senate Transportation Committee, with cc to Gov. Jerry Brown (addresses below) Caltrans is seriously out of step with the times, with the needs of the state of California, and with the ecological imperative. We have been voicing this for a long time, and now an independent study has come to that same conclusion. The Report, the …
Richardson Grove Update: WIN in Appeals Court!
Appeals Court Reverses State Court Giving Green Light to Richardson Grove Highway Project See our report from the Courtroom in our Jan. 21 update here. The following is excerpted from the Center for Biological Diversity’s press release: The California Court of Appeal today ordered Caltrans to reevaluate the environmental impacts of a controversial highway-widening project in Humboldt County that would harm irreplaceable old-growth redwood trees in Richardson Grove State Park. The appeals court unanimously found that Caltrans failed to follow the law in assessing impacts on ancient redwoods and providing mitigation measures to reduce potentially severe harm to …
Two court reports: Richardson Grove redwoods last week; Willits Bypass Protester in Court this week
Report Back from Jan. 15, 2014 Court of Appeals in S.F. hearing arguments to reverse the previous State Court decision in the Richardson Grove case EPIC attorney Sharon Duggan delivered excellent and compelling arguments before the 3-judge panel, showing that the potentially catastrophic impacts on the ancient redwoods were not addressed by Caltrans in their EIR, saying “there is nothing minor about 73 redwood trees being impacted.” This, contrary to Caltrans documents saying there would be “no significant impact” from their pneumonic spade equipment 2 foot deep excavation around the roots of the old growth redwoods. The Caltrans attorney …
Richardson Grove Court Hearing: Jan. 15, 9 a.m., Court of Appeals, S.F.
You are encouraged to attend a hearing at the State Court of Appeals that will hear oral arguments challenging previous findings from the State Court re. Caltrans’ plans to “realign” Highway 101 through the old growth of Richardson Grove State Park in Humboldt County. Lawsuits to stop highway work within the park were launched in both State and Federal Court. The injunction from environmentalists’ win in federal court have held off heavy equipment thus far–you will hear more about the federal case soon. The same environmental groups, however, lost in state court via an unfortunate decision by a judge in …
You Can Help Us Put the Brakes on Caltrans!
December 10, 2013 Dear Friend of the Forest, If a brave activist climbs high in a tree’s branches and sits there for two months, and trees fall around her, but no cameras are in the forest, does anyone hear? Tree-sits, crane-sits, hard-hitting stories on state wide TV and the LA Times, months of strategizing, scores of press releases, dozens of demonstrations and actions—it takes a community. We at Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH) are proud to be part of the community working to find a better alternative to the boondoggle highway project under way in Willits in Mendocino County, …
Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters Alert: Richardson Grove Redwoods Need Your Help!
As we told you in a previous alert, Caltrans recently posted new documents in response to the April 2012 court order issued when EPIC and the Center for Biological Diversity prevailed in federal court and halted the Richardson Grove highway “realignment” project that we and our allies had been opposing, with their lawsuit in April 2012. The Federal Judge ruled that Caltrans had “arbitrarily and capriciously tried to justify the project with false data.” (their measurements of the trees and their mapping.)See our fact sheet on the Richardson Grove highway project at http://headwaterspreserve.org/2011/09/big-trucks-or-big-trees-what-do-you-wantCaltrans has defied the court order resulting from the …
Put the Brakes on Caltrans ! Tell Caltrans ~ No More Super Highways Where We Don’t Need Them !
Thanks to Caltrans intransigence, the threats to the old growth redwoods in Richardson Grove in Humboldt County are back on the horizon, along with more backward-thinking projects in redwoods and wild country in the Smith River area, on the far north coast. These renewed threats add to Caltrans’ poor performance in Mendocino County in Willits and the extreme damage heavy equipment has been wreacking on the wetlands and forests there. The new developments: 1) Richardson Grove: Caltrans has posted new documents in response to the April 2012 court order issued when EPIC and the Center for Biological Diversity prevailed in …
Forest Update for November 2012
What’s happening in the redwoods and on the north coast? There are a number of updates on critical projects affecting our forests on California’s north coast that forest advocates will want to keep on their radar. Local Alert! Oakland Redwoods On Chopping Block Richardson Grove injunction delaying Caltrans holds but State Court Falls Down on the Job Caltrans project through wetlands and oak forest forging ahead Wild Smith River and pristine forest in far north threatened by (again) Caltrans highway project (Do we see a pattern here?) marbled murrelet critical habitat threatened: call to action! Redwood Logging in Oakland? BY …