Benbow Billboard

The Highway Expansion Would Significantly Harm One Hundred and Eight Old Growth Redwood Trees

Redwood Times Honors our Namesake http://www.redwoodtimes.com/ci_18321895

I appreciate this fact-filled article in Redwood Times addressing the concerns of those of us who treasure Richardson Grove and our unique Humboldt way of life. Gary Hughes and Barbara Kennedy presented Rotary new information on the likely irreparable impact to Richardson Grove, and questioned the value of this project for our community.

The new report by Dr. Joseph McBride -- forester, professor at UC Berkeley, author of 277 articles on trees (especially Redwoods) and adviser to State Parks -- offers the real science that CalTrans failed to give.

Dr. McBride’s tree-by-tree analysis of project impact on RG finds 108 old-growth trees that will have root systems significantly affected, and anticipates 37 are likely to die.

We cannot accept this likelihood of irreparable harm to our State Park, and the Redwood Curtain.

Thanks to Rotary and to Redwood Times for this good start to a fair hearing.

Lauren Oliver
****

Here is a link to Dr. McBride's Declaration
http://www.box.net/shared/djce84fkqklcmu10116s presented in the lawsuit against CalTrans brought by the Environmental Information Protection Center [EPIC], Center for Biological Diversity, Californians for Alternatives to Toxics [CATS], and individuals. The case is formally called:

BESS BAIR et al vs. STATE OF CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
in the U.S. District Court Northern District of California

"large diesel trucks on 101...24-hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year"

Richardson Grove as important as general plan update

Ken Miller/For The Times-Standard

06/22/2011

Wholesale STAA access through Richardson Grove is potentially the most immediately devastating threat to our county.

It would open the north-south link in a circuit connecting Interstate 5 and U.S. Highway 101 via routes 199, 299, and 20, putting large diesel trucks on 101 through, not just into, our county, 24-hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Signaling or one-way traffic would create harmful congestion in the grove, and do nothing about the STAA traffic through the county.

Who benefits?

Mainly the international trucking industry and a few local businesses. Caltrans' EIR acknowledges that local industries do not need these trucks: “... There is a maximum weight restriction for loads as well as maximum length of cabs and trailers, and that for heavy loads, the economic advantage for the larger [STAA] vehicles is not there,” concluding that the “Proposed project would not result in significant increases in overall economic productivity in the region.”

Wal-Mart and Home Depot in Crescent City have been the squeakiest wheels for Richardson Grove and 199, whining that lack of STAA access costs them $15,000 monthly, savings they would surely use to undercut local businesses, and exchange good paying jobs for low-wage employment as their stores are linked all along the 101 corridor.

Could the new general plan stand up to STAA-related sprawl development?

Vehicular traffic from the proposed Marina Center is estimated at 16,000 trips daily. Add STAA to that and the pressure to open and widen Waterfront Drive and bypass Eureka escalates. Caltrans never considers this, despite the 2003 Caltrans-funded study warning about the “constraint on economic development” from “traffic congestion on U.S. 101 in Eureka's commercial and retail areas due to heavy overlapping uses for trucking, through traffic, and local traffic.”

Ambulance and coroner business may spike. These large trucks represent less than 3 percent of vehicles, but are involved in 14 percent of fatal crashes, and automobile passengers constitute 98 percent of the fatalities in car vs. truck accidents.

Who loses?

The project is a job killer for many local businesses, and will cost the rest of us in road damages, safety hazards, noise and air pollution, congestion, and quality of life. Trinidad will not be so quaint, or quiet, with 24/7 STAA on the 101 grade.

Many of these trucks have extra cabs with kitchens and beds enabling transit from Mexico to Canada without needing a motel or restaurant.

Ancient redwoods may not tolerate modern road use and construction technology. Trees that have survived for a century next to the current roadbed may have benefited from the paucity of heavy truck traffic, as well as construction in 1915 with horse and buggies, hand tools, and gravel, mitigating factors that this project would undo overnight.

Arguments that road construction will not harm ancient redwoods rely on Caltrans' arborists who have no expertise in redwoods, and on Caltrans' own claims.

Experts like Steve Sillett and Stan Binnie registered serious concerns about disturbing woody and feeder roots, justified by the numerous ancient redwoods whose tops are dying back along 101, and those which have fallen, revealing evidence of road or path-induced damage. Hence Redwood Park warnings to avoid walking over roots.

Scientific literature is clear that redwood roots interconnect for up to 500 feet, and that roots larger than one inch are considered “major.” Yet Caltrans claims that roots larger than two inches in diameter will not be cut in the structural root zone, ignoring the critical feeder roots. According to HSU's Professor Sillett, there have been no relevant studies on the impacts of roadways on redwood roots.

If ancient redwoods suffer due to this project, how many hundreds or thousands of years will it take for the damage to show up? And what penalty, or relief, is there?

Perhaps the saddest casualty has been the failure to consider alternatives to 6 mpg STAA trucks for our goods movement in the face of greenhouse gas emissions, rising fuel costs and sea levels, and climate change.

Short sea shipping from our undeveloped port is the most efficient transport modality on the planet, and with 299 STAA access it could meet nearly all of our shipping needs, creating boatloads of jobs.

A 2003 Caltrans' Cambridge Systematics study summed up the benefit of not widening 101 through Richardson Grove, and retaining the critical buffer between 101 and I-5: “The county's relative geographic isolation has spared it from some of the sprawl and growth pressures that have impacted many of California's coastal communities, lending the area a quality of life cherished by residents.”

Source: http://www.times-standard.com/guest_opinion/ci_18328563

Richardson Grove Action Now Returns from Bay Area and Sacramento

For Immediate Release (pdf Here) June 14, 2011

Richardson Grove Action Now Steps Beyond the Redwood Curtain –
Direct Action Resistance Brought to Sacramento June 8-10!

Contact: Verbena Lea 707.602.7551 rgroveactionnow@gmail.com

After six months of organizing rallies and actions behind the 'redwood curtain' protesting CalTrans' plan to expand Highway 101 through Richardson Grove State Park and adjacent forestland, Richardson Grove Action Now [RGAN] last week upped the ante by taking the fight to the state capital in Sacramento, where they carried out a flash mob action. The highway expansion plan has global significance, threatening some of the last 2% remaining ancient redwoods on Earth.

RGAN activists rode on the White Rose bus to Oakland, Sacramento, and Glen Cove, Vallejo in order to mobilize widespread resistance to the highway expansion, demonstrate at the Capitol, and connect with an ongoing spiritual encampment established to stave off development on a sacred indigenous burial shellmound site in Glen Cove. RGAN's Verbena Lea says, “Worldwide, people are opposed to harming or cutting ancient redwood forests, which CalTrans plans to do; ancient redwoods have all but been wiped off the face of the earth and, like the people at Glen Cove, we are saying to developers, government and corporations, 'You have already desecrated and taken too much- We're stopping you here.'”

The road widening would mutilate an ancient grove in order to facilitate trans-national corporations, nuclear materials, development, and military having greater access to the Humboldt Bay region which has been relatively protected by forest bottlenecks and winding roads. Highways 199, 299, and 36, entering the region from the East, are also on the cutting block for highway expansion.

The “White Rose” bio-diesel bus was formerly used by anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, and as a support vehicle for the Longest Walk 2 in 2008, organized by AIM to draw attention to indigenous sacred sites in danger of being destroyed by developers. (The White Rose was a German anti-fascist group during Hitler's reign, executed for distributing pamphlets encouraging resistance to the Nazis.)

Thousands of individuals and groups, including RGAN, have written Gov. Jerry Brown, urging him to cancel the road widening plan using the Governor's authority. RGAN made this demand at the Capitol through a contemporary direct action known as a flash mob, and will reach the world through their musical protest, executed without permit, then circulated via YouTube. The video will be released this week.

On the Capitol steps, despite threat of arrest from onlooking officers, RGAN activists- joined by supporters from Chico, Sacramento, Oakland, and San Francisco- busted out a flash mob version of George Clinton/ Parliament's “We Got the Funk.” RGAN's updated lyrics detail multi-faceted opposition to road widening through Richardson Grove (i.e. “We want old growth, not corporate flow.”) Followed by police, RGAN marched to CalTrans' state headquarters & chanted “No Road Widening Through Richardson Grove. We are the People and the People Say NO,” handing literature to CalTrans employees & passers-by. The final Sacramento flash mob action was done on a busy street in the business district. Families took photos, and many people including a foreign magazine writer took literature to spread the word against the highway expansion.

While at the Capitol, RGAN learned that four women in wheelchairs had just been arrested protesting California officials' refusal to fund peoples' survival needs- cutting healthcare, in home services, education, etc.-with ever-increasing monies going to prisons, corporations, police, and urbanized development. Gov Brown recently shut down seventy state parks to “save” $22 million; however, the state intends to sink $5.5 million of public money, matching federal funds, into the 1.1 mile highway expansion through Richardson Grove.

RGAN's Sue Ricker said, “If CalTrans can widen the highway through Richardson Grove, a world-renowned old-growth redwood forest, they'll go to any length to convert the 101 into an interstate NAFTA artery.” Already Cypress Grove Chevre -once a locally-owned goat cheese producer, now owned by Swiss multi-national Emmi Corp.- trucks in goat milk from Mexico. Cypress Grove is a supporter of CalTrans' project.

Although CalTrans claims that the project will not harm ancient trees, it is well-established that cutting, compacting, & excavating redwood roots, as planned for the road widening, would harm or kill the trees. Also, it appears that huge ancient redwoods would have to be cut to implement CalTrans' road widening.

RGAN vows to stop this plan in the roads, offices, trees, construction sites, & gov't buildings- near and far.
###

No Willing Contractors, No Road Widening!

CLICK HERE FOR A LARGER VERSION OF THE POSTER

*New Handout* Brought to Bay Area & Sacramento

STOP HIGHWAY 101 EXPANSION THROUGH RICHARDSON GROVE!

Richardson Grove is the mystifying stretch of Highway 101 that curves through the south fork of the Eel River where, coming north, one first encounters ancient redwood forest. The California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) is set to implement a plan, launched by federal, state, and corporate interests, to widen Hwy 101 through Richardson Grove.
This project threatens the survival of ancient redwood forest and would usher in and exacerbate a host of
horrendous social, economic, and cultural problems.

Some of the last 2% remaining old growth redwoods, including the 9th tallest in the world, lives in Richardson Grove. It's crucial to do everything possible NOW in order to stop Caltrans. You know you're in redwood country when you bike, walk or drive through the road lined with giants of many generations. Further from the road, the redwood grove extends. You might notice the tops of some of the huge trees along Hwy 101. No greenery and no branches way up there, but instead “spike tops.” They're the result of top die-off from compaction & other injury to the shallow roots of the giant trees. Roots must be protected.

The Richardson Grove area, for millenia, has been & remains sacred territory for First Nations people in this region and is an important place for visitors and inhabitants, human & non-human, of many nations.

Traveling north up Hwy 101 from the Bay Area, you pass hillsides, stripped of their majestic oaklands, now replaced by miles of grape vineyard grids as far as the eye can see. North of that, you arrive in Willits, where there is an arched entry announcing “Gateway to the Redwoods”. But there are no redwoods there; only gas stations and chain stores lining a four lane highway.

As the redwoods in Willits have been replaced by roads and chain-stores, the current “gateway to the redwoods” is about 60 miles north:
Richardson Grove State Park.

CalTrans, using federal and state funds, plans to cut old and young trees, excavate ancient roots, and harm rare and endangered species that inhabit Richardson Grove- all to expand Hwy 101 for greater truck and military access through the coast. Richardson Grove State Park was established to protect this area from the “drums of progress." Not one tree should be cut or harmed in a State Park.

Ancient redwood forest is rare, highly threatened, near extinction. Ancient redwood trees: at risk of there being no more left on Earth. Roads, sprawl, development & short-sighted profiteers have, in a relatively brief period of time, stripped the earth of these amazing beings & the wisdom & life they support.

“There's a real NAFTA scam ruining lives all around.
Don't bring tanks and sweatshops through our ancient grounds.” Richardson Grove Action Now

►CONTACT
RICHARDSON GROVE ACTION NOW

707.602.7551 rgroveactionnow@gmail.com

Direct Action to Stop the Road Widening!

Resist Corporate and U.S. Military Invasion

“I've seen great glaciers melting...met lightning eye to eye.
Now I hear bulldozers coming & I know that I am soon to die” The Tree, Dana Lyons

***

CALTRANS PLANS TO EXPAND HIGHWAY 101
THROUGH RICHARDSON GROVE STATE PARK

● Funded by the Federal Govt. & the State of California, $5.5 million from each of them.

● A State Park is supposed to be protected from any tree cutting or damage. Tree cutting and irreparable damage are part of this plan.

● Ancient redwoods inhabit Richardson Grove. ● CalTrans would have to cut ancient redwoods in order to widen the road to the plan's dimensions.

● CalTrans would excavate and cut the roots of the ancient trees in Richardson Grove and severely compact the root zones.

● Redwood tree roots are shallow. They stay healthy through their connection to other redwood roots in the area, and cannot withstand compaction.

● CalTrans would be would stealing private property which includes old growth trees, is steeply sloped on both sides of the road, and houses Singing Trees (Drug) Recovery Center. ● That land would be stripped bare and flattened into roadbed for the road widening project.

● CalTrans also has plans to widen every highway coming from the East into the Humboldt Bay region. One of those plans would desecrate Jedediah Smith State Park on Rte 199. One plan has already included a huge clearcut on both sides of Rte 299, on the eastern end.

● Highway expansion through Richardson Grove is motivated by corporate, military, & nuclear industry interests.

● CalTrans tried to pass this plan through without environmental review or public input. ● There are 2 lawsuits with multiple plaintiffs against the plan.

● Politicians, from the County Supervisors to the Congress reps, rubber-stamped the plan, ignoring legalities and large public outcry.

● Local gov't used $55, 000 public funding to disingenuously promote the plan through paid letters to the editor, lobbying, & teaching business owners how to promote it.

● The State promotes the road widening to increase access for big trucks.

● There is a low incidence of accidents on Hwy 101 thru Richardson Grove currently -even though big semi's get through already.

THE ROAD WIDENING THROUGH RICHARDSON GROVE WOULD:

►bring an increase in large trucks going faster. Conditions would make the stretch dangerous for drivers and almost impossible for anyone to walk or bike on the shoulders as they do now.

►allow an inundation of trans-national corporations into north coast towns, subjecting the land, waters, forests, local economies, and working conditions to the ruinous dominance of greedy corporations.

►in conjunction with highway expansions from every other entrance into the Humboldt Bay region, expose the entire northcoast to increased militarization and corporate exploitation.

►have irreparable negative consequences. Change the face of the north coast.

THERE IS A STRONG PEOPLES' RESISTANCE TO HIGHWAY EXPANSION THROUGH RICHARDSON GROVE. WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Richardson Grove Action Now 707.602.7551 rgroveactionnow@gmail.com
saverichardsongrove.blogspot.com

May 25, 2011: Injunction Sought in Lawsuit Against CalTrans

For Immediate Release, May 25, 2011

Contacts: Gary Hughes, EPIC; Patty Clary, CATS; Peter Galvin, Center for Biological Diversity

Challenge Seeks to Halt California Highway Project That Would Destroy Ancient Redwoods

SAN FRANCISCO— A coalition of conservation groups and local residents today asked a federal judge to stop California transportation officials from moving ahead with a controversial highway project that would jeopardize ancient stands of redwood trees in northern California’s Richardson Grove State Park.

The coalition seeks to halt plans by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to realign a section of Highway 101 that winds through old-growth redwoods in the park. The work would require crews to dig into the roots of towering redwoods that stand along the highway within park boundaries. Today’s filing asks a judge to stop the project until legal proceedings are complete.

The threat of possibly fatal damage to the prized ancient trees, as well as harm to sensitive wildlife posed by the controversial project, is driving today’s legal challenge, which is the second filed by the coalition. Caltrans has failed to evaluate impacts of the project in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

“The importance of this old-growth redwood stand, in view of the important heritage of the redwood forest, requires special consideration before projects that would impact the stand are allowed to go forward,” Joe McBride, a professor of forestry and landscape architecture at the University of California at Berkeley, said in today's filing. “Substantial, irreparable damage would occur to the trees in the project area. This would, in turn, cause negative impacts to the overall health of the forest.”

McBride’s finding is based on his scientific review of the potential of impacts to each tree along the project route — a review plaintiffs show Caltrans failed to undertake.

“This project will cause major damage to one of our most prized state parks,” said Gary Hughes of the Environmental Protection Information Center, one of the plaintiff groups and spokesman for the coalition. “For Caltrans to railroad this multimillion-dollar project by grossly understating its impacts is a violation of the public's trust and a wasteful use of taxpayer money.”

“With less than 3 percent of our ancient redwood trees remaining, we cannot allow Caltrans to injure and kill the precious giant trees of Richardson Grove State Park,” said Peter Galvin, conservation director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We will fight this project to the end, no matter how long it takes.”

Plaintiffs 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.

May Day in Richardson Grove!

Defend our Roots on Sunday the first of May

MAY DAY! MAY DAY?

YES! In Richardson Grove from dawn to dusk. Celebrate the ancient holy day on Sunday May 1st by mingling with the greatest May Poles on the Planet.

Gather at the turnout just north of the Grove just after Bigfoot Burl. The Richardson Grove Truth Booth will be there, stocked with literature, videos, and graphics.

“Guided tours” by our knowledgeable booth crew will be held every hour on the hour. The Children’s Corner will be in session, providing childcare as well as special child-level explorations of the Grove.

Drummers will be drumming and entertainers will be entertaining.
So bring your instruments, songs and signs along with food to share.
Bring your tree ornaments and decorations to make this a May Day to remember.

You can spend some of the day as one of the Eco-tourism Counselors, getting the travelers out of their cars and trucks, hopefully to explore the Grove with the rest of us.

Check it out Sunday May 1^st.

Thanks from the Preserve Richardson Grove Hospitality Committee.

For more info call 952-215-4058.

PHOTOS from April 18, 2011 Rally/Protest at CalTrans, on the Streets of Eureka, & at the Courthouse

Etched in stone and delivered to CalTrans:
ONE DEMAND. CANCEL THE PLAN!

Richardson Grove Action Now Press Release, April 20, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 20, 2011

Opponents of Federally-Funded CalTrans Plan To Widen Hwy 101 Through Richardson Grove State Park Warn Contractors Seeking To Work On The Plan:

“BIDDER'S BEWARE -WE WILL STOP YOU EVERY STEP OF THE WAY!”

Contact: Richardson Grove Action Now 707.602.7551, rgroveactionnow@gmail.com

Humboldt County, CA: In an April 18, 2011 protest, the latest in a series of direct actions and mass rallies, including a day-long lockdown occupation of the CalTrans District 1 Headquarters, a treesit on private property bordering Hwy 101 that CalTrans plans to steal and de-forest, two large banner hangs, and a crafty public meeting disruption, Richardson Grove Action Now (RGAN) declared, “Bidders Beware! We will stop you every step of the way.” Northcoast communities are not only threatened with the Naval war games testing and bomb detonation currently taking place off the Northern Pacific Coast, but now must stave off a federally-motivated CalTrans plan to mutilate an ancient redwood grove so that trans-national corporations, nuclear materials, development, and military have greater access to Humboldt Bay and to towns that have been relatively protected by a bottleneck of forests and winding roads from the South and East.

Sue Ricker of RGAN said at Monday's demonstration, “It's preposterous in 2011 to be destroying the last remaining 2% of old growth. If CalTrans can widen the highway through Richardson Grove State Park, a world-renowned redwood forest, they'll go to any length to convert the 101 into an interstate NAFTA artery.”

RGAN vows to stop this plan in the trees, roads, and offices, and has been relentlessly vocal about CalTrans' lies regarding the motivations, logistics, and consequences of the road widening project. “Despite CalTrans' biased claims that no old-growth trees will be cut or harmed if the project moves ahead, we know that excavating, cutting, compacting, and paving over the roots of ancient redwood trees spells certain death.” says members of RGAN. Furthermore, anyone traveling through the Grove, as do thousands of awestruck people every year, knows that in the narrowest sections of the road, there is little space (only 23 feet) between the humungous old growth trees. CalTrans' plan calls for 28 feet and would require CalTrans to cut the ancient monuments. RGAN notes that every time there is a protest against the expansion project, CalTrans trips over itself to create new lies and to counter growing awareness of the nefarious plan. While CalTrans claims that root excavation does no harm, several landslides have occurred in the past month, including a massive slide onto Highway 101 north of Richardson Grove, exhibiting of what happens to roads and mountains when roots no longer stabilize the ground.

April 18th was CalTrans' Advertised Bid day for the major construction in the road widening plan. Although recent activity in lawsuits against the project suggest that CalTrans will halt its bidding process for a couple of months, CalTrans District 1 Supervisor spoke on Monday to the press about the bidding process going forward, while the only delay he acknowledged regarded a related, but separate, culvert project in the Grove.

On Monday (April 18th), while a hundred community members protested at the CalTrans District 1 HQ in escalating resistance to the highway expansion, CalTrans locked its doors to the public. While demonstrating on the office lawn, people made dozens of phone calls to CalTrans to express opposition to the plan; CalTrans responded by turning off its phones. One demonstrator climbed a ladder onto the roof to address the crowd and highlight the urgency of direct action to prevent the road widening: “We are strong, unified and growing in numbers. We will not back down, and our determination to protect the Redwood Curtain is not shaken by the violence, lies, and scare tactics perpetuated by the State, nor by distortions of the truth from the complicit corporate media.” She was arrested by several officers. Many officers were posted inside, at the front doors, and on the various rooftops of the HQ.

One demonstrator's thorough presentation to the crowd included information about the long-standing and shrouded motivations of the project and the fact that there are also CalTrans road “widening” projects on every highway entrance east to the Northcoast. The cracking open of the Redwood Curtain promises to forever change the physical, social, and economic landscape of the Northcoast and what has been, for millenia, redwood country.

RGAN will broaden and intensify the non-violent direct action campaign against the wasteful, illegal, and irreparable plan. The group warns potential bidder companies that contractors will deal with more than just a construction job if they choose to do harmful road widening through the world-renowned ancient grove.
###

Photos will be posted soon from April 18th Mass Rally Protest!

Download PDF of Press Release:
http://www.box.net/shared/73sxabqa48

Disrupt the bid start day! Mass Rally Mon April 18 To Oppose CalTrans' Federally-Funded Road Widening Plan Through Richardson Grove State Park

MEDIA ALERT: April 14, 2011 For Immediate Release

Contact: Richardson Grove Action Now (707) 602-7551, rgroveactionnow@gmail.com



Mass Rally Monday April 18 at Noon To Oppose CalTrans'
Federally-Funded Plan to Widen the Highway Through Richardson Grove State Park

Protest Coincides With Advertised Bid Day for Bulk of Richardson Grove Highway Construction



Humboldt County: Richardson Grove Action Now has organized a rally for Monday, April 18, 2011 at CalTrans District One Headquarters in Eureka to protest the federally-funded plan to widen Highway 101 through Richardson Grove State Park. April 18th is the advertised bid day for the main phase of construction for the Richardson Grove project. The protest will begin at noon where participants will again demand “No Road Widening Through Richardson Grove.”



Richardson Grove Action Now asks , “If CalTrans can build in a State Park and injure protected old-growth, steal adjacent private property forestland, and violate the Endangered Species Act, what is stopping them from building anywhere for any reason and turning it all into highway?”



The organizers invite all who value living ecosystems and locally-owned business instead of free-trade corridors for interstate commerce to come to CalTrans and declare “HANDS OFF THE ANCIENT FOREST! We are resisting your military and corporate invasion!” Rallyers are encouraged to bring signs, banners, musical instruments, and bullhorns on Monday to make sure that there is no business as usual for CalTrans on the bid day and to deliver the message cancel the plan.



On the morning of Monday April 18th , bicyclists against the highway expansion through Richardson Grove will depart at 10am from the Arcata Plaza for a group ride to the Mass Rally at CalTrans in Eureka.



Richardson Grove Action Now believes that a grassroots movement committed to direct action is key in the struggle against Caltrans' disastrous and destructive project. Richardson Grove Action Now is interested in organizing with anyone to protect the autonomy of west coast rural communities, and to keep corporate and government entities from ruining our local economy and dominating and bullying us. Organizers know that CalTrans' highway expansions are supported by U.S. Military and so-called defense agencies that wish to have greater access to and control over the people and natural resources of this region.



Richardson Grove Action Now invites all opposed to the plan to CalTrans this Monday, April 18th to insist on the right to survive and determine what passes through our lives and covers the landscape of our home.



For more info: Richardson Grove Action Now at (707) 602-7551 or email rgroveactionnnow@gmail.com.

Can't You Read the Signs, CalTrans?

Second Mass RALLY at CalTrans on MON, APRIL 18

Mass RALLY at CalTrans In Opposition to the Road Widening Through Richardson Grove!

Richardson Grove Action Now announces and invites all to a mass RALLY at CalTrans in Eureka on Monday, April 18th. April 18, 2011, according to CalTrans, is the date when the highway expansion plan through Richardson Grove State Park will be advertised for subcontractor bids.

We are the people and the people say "NO ROAD WIDENING THROUGH RICHARDSON GROVE!"

Protect the forest and our future. Resist Invasion.


Rally on Monday, April 18th at NOON
at
CalTrans District 1 Headquarters
1656 Union St. (Union and Wabash)
Eureka

There will be a group bike ride meeting at the Arcata Plaza at 9:30am before the rally. Bicyclists will leave at 10am for Eureka!

For info or to get more involved contact Richardson Grove Action Now, call
(707) 602-7551 or email rgroveactionnow@gmail.com.

***

Monday April 18th, mass Rally to protest the road widening plan through Richardson Grove. Noon at CalTrans District 1 Headquarters at Union and Wabash in Eureka.

Open Letter to Gov Jerry Brown from Richardson Grove Action Now

March 30, 2011
Sent Via Facsimile, U.S. Mail, and Electronic Mail

RE: Opposition to California Department of Transportation's Highway 101 Road Widening Project Through Richardson Grove State Park (project number #464804)


Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr.
c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814


Open Letter to Governor Jerry Brown,

We, Richardson Grove Action Now, are writing today to inform you of CalTrans' plan to widen Highway 101 through Richardson Grove State Park in hopes that you will use your power to prevent this project from proceeding. The word “inform” has been used very specifically here. Given that you're known for your reverence of the ancient redwood forests and indeed your respect for your constituents, many of whom make the North Coast their home, we cannot imagine that you are aware of the specifics of this project. Before we outline those specifics, we would like to relay the words of John Muir displayed on a placard in Richardson Grove State Park: “God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods.” However, the end of Muir's statement, not seen on this placard, continues as follows: “But he cannot save them from fools.” Let us not be fools.

A major concern with the proposed project to widen Highway 101 through Richardson Grove is the damage it will cause to the ancient old-growth redwoods in and around the Grove. Many of these living monuments already border the road and many more are within several feet. The proposed project, as outlined in CalTrans' Environmental Impact Report [EIR], entails cutting forest and widening the road so that the asphalt reaches the trunks of ancient trees. Redwood root systems are both shallow and wide. Thus, in order to expand the road, CalTrans intends to “excavate” and cut into the root systems of ancient trees and impact them with pavement. Although CalTrans claims that it will not be cutting roots larger than two inches in diameter, it is clear, once again from the EIR, that this claim is false. CalTrans likely tells this lie because it is well known that redwoods experience canopy die-off when their root systems are damaged. It is also disingenuous for CalTrans to claim it will not fall ancient trees for this project. The road and shoulder expansion that CalTrans plans cannot physically fit between several of the huge, ancient redwoods lining the narrowest parts of the road. Cutting trees in the State Park and compromising the health and vitality of old-growth redwoods, especially considering how few of them are left on Earth, is unacceptable.

The purpose of the federally and state funded “Richardson Grove Improvement Project” (as it's dubbed by CalTrans) is economic in nature. As stated on the CalTrans website, the project would allow Surface Transportation Assistance Act [STAA] trucks heavier use of Highway 101 north of Leggett. Currently, the smooth area of road running through Richardson Grove State Park is the only section of Highway 101 where STAA trucks are restricted from traveling, although these trucks are regularly granted exemptions and do pass through the area. CalTrans alleges that the STAA prohibition (albeit exemptions) results in economic disadvantage because “truck cargo must be unloaded and transferred to shorter trucks, making goods movement more expensive.” Though we do not believe in this reasoning, as will be further discussed later in this letter, our purpose in mentioning it here is to highlight that this project is clearly predicated on economic, not safety or environmental, reasons. Interfering with a state park for economic purposes is not only wrong; it is illegal. Furthermore, in this time of economic crisis, the ten million plus dollars that are being allocated for the road widening project through the Grove could be better utilized elsewhere.

The 1.1 mile stretch of Highway 101 that passes through Richardson Grove State Park announces one's southern entry into redwood country. It is both the symbolic and literal threshold to what is lovingly known as the Redwood Curtain. Beyond this portal exists a relatively strong regional economy where the majority of businesses are locally-owned. Allowing easier and constant access to this area for more STAA trucks will open the flood gates for large, multi-national corporations to gain a foothold here. Indeed, this is what the project to widen Highway 101 through Richardson Grove is truly about. While it may offer an economic boost for some in the short term, we know that time and time again, this pattern of economic “growth” has proven to be detrimental to communities across the country. Widening the road through Richardson Grove would defile the spirit and unique character of the North Coast, a sanctuary that we cannot afford to lose.

In closing, we believe there are many reasons why the “Richardson Grove Improvement Project" is wrong. It is wrong to jeopardize the vitality of one of California's State Parks for purported economic gain. It is wrong to injure and risk what is left of the ancient redwood ecosystem. It is wrong to increase the vulnerability of our communities and landscape by subjecting us to the will of multi-national corporations. It is wrong to perpetuate the genocide of indigenous peoples by further degrading the Grove, a place of spiritual and cultural significance. Only employment initiatives which promote, not degrade, the health of Humboldt residents and the region's unique ecosystems should be explored. We implore you to act with us to help save Richardson Grove State Park and in the process, help preserve the unique cultural heritage, true wealth, and beauty found on the North Coast of California.



Sincerely,

Richardson Grove Action Now
P.O. Box 5692
Eureka, CA 95502
(707) 602-7551

Monday, March 21st RALLY & COURT

CALTRANS is preparing to widen Hwy 101 thru
RICHARDSON GROVE STATE PARK for increased industrial trucking & militarization. We will stop them!

CalTrans' plan threatens our rural lives and involves cutting & crushing ancient redwoods' roots, cutting 56 trees in the state park, & possibly changing old-growth forest on private property into road bed.

TWELVE PEOPLE, ARRESTED AT A LOCKDOWN PROTEST AT CALTRANS, HAVE COURT ON:

MONDAY, MARCH 21^ST
COURTHOUSE IN EUREKA (5th and K)

RALLY ON FRONT STEPS 7:45 am
COURT FOR 12 ARRESTED 8:00 am

Rally with Richardson Grove signs, then support in court.

(There is a security check x-ray machine in the courthouse.)

Richardson Grove Action Now (707) 602-7551

RALLY date changed to Friday April 1st due to weather. No joke :)

UPDATE! RALLY RESCHEDULED FOR APRIL 1ST DUE TO WEATHER. SEE YOU THERE!

Friends of Richardson Grove Will Hold A Rally & Celebration of Spring On Friday April 1st, 2011 Challenging the Highway Widening Project Threatening Ancient Humboldt County Redwoods

CalTrans Project Through Richardson Grove State Park Would Harm Old-growth Trees, Marbled Murrelet Habitat, and Rural North Coast Towns

GARBERVILLE, Calif.— A group of Friends of Richardson Grove State Park invite the public to a Rally and Celebration of Spring on Friday, April 1st, 2011 from 12:00 Noon until 4:00 PM at the Garberville Town Square. This will be a family-friendly event focusing on educating the public about the ill-advised highway-widening project that not only threatens the ancient redwoods of Richardson Grove State Park, but could also change the rural character of Humboldt County.


The event will feature local speakers, musicians including Bud Rogers, Jefferson Parsons and Defenders of the Holy Grove, educational literature, sample letters to send to elected representatives, a craft table for children and adults and the opportunity to discuss with neighbors the effects this project might have on our State Park and Community.


The highway project is widely opposed by local residents, business owners, conservation and Native American groups, and economists as unnecessary and damaging to the State Park, the venerable old-growth grove and its wildlife, tourism, and the coastal communities of Humboldt County.


Caltrans and certain business interests have attempted for decades to provide access for larger commercial trucks through the area, and in the past few years have pushed for widening the narrow, meandering section of Highway 101 through the world-renowned ancient redwood grove in Richardson Grove State Park. This park at the southern entrance to Humboldt County is considered to be the “redwood curtain” protecting the small communities of the north coast from blight and urban development. Public outcry has so far protected the grove from development, but Caltrans and a handful of business interests have aggressively pushed for access for larger trucks.


Established in 1922, Richardson Grove State Park was recently rated as one of the top 100 state parks in the United States, and attracts thousands of visitors from around the world every year to explore one of the last protected stands of accessible old-growth redwoods. It is here you first encounter significant old-growth forest when driving north, and this popular tourist destination has provided many people with a transformative experience walking through some of the oldest living beings on the planet.


The proposed spoiling of Richardson Grove and widening of the highway through the “Richardson Grove Operational Improvement Project” does not serve the region’s best interests and threatens the area’s environment, economy, and way of life. The Humboldt County Economic Development Program has used public funding for a misleading public-relations campaign claiming the widening and increased large-truck traffic are needed for safety and commerce and will benefit Humboldt County through falling retail prices, bolstering the local economy, and making travel into the county from the south safer. Bigger trucks do not somehow translate to consumer savings, but do increase wear and tear on roadways and decrease safety for smaller vehicles. The widening would provide incentive for big-box retailers like Walmart and Home Depot to move into Humboldt County, to the detriment of local businesses. The reality is that this project has the potential to change forever a rural lifestyle cherished by residents of the North Coast.


Caltrans claims the “realignment” project is needed to safely accommodate large-truck travel, remove the restriction of larger vehicles on this section of highway, and improve movement of commercial goods. However, it appears from Caltrans’ own statements and signage that the portion of road for which this project is contemplated is currently designated for larger trucks and that Caltrans has exaggerated potential safety problems.


Advocates for the grove forced the agency to complete a full Environmental Impact Report, rather than the Categorical Exemption and minimal environmental analysis Caltrans originally tried to employ. Caltrans’ preferred project appears to be a predetermined decision taken in advance of the environmental analysis. Federal law prohibits transportation projects on public-park lands except in cases where there is no feasible alternative. Since smaller-sized commercial trucks already travel through the grove to deliver goods to Humboldt County, one feasible alternative would be to leave the highway as it is and retain the integrity of Richardson Grove.


The project is opposed by the Environmental Protection Information Center, Save Richardson Grove Coalition, North Coast Environmental Center, InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, Friends of the Eel River, Center for Biological Diversity, Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters, Californians for Alternatives to Toxics and Richardson Grove Action Now, among others.

Words of Wisdom to An Arrogant Greedy Humboldt Board of Supervisors

BLAST FROM THE PAST: April 27, 2010
http://www.archive.org/details/AH-bos-pm_4-27-10