FOER worked hard to provide detailed comments on the Great Redwood Trail Agency’s (GRTA) nearly 600-page Draft Master Plan for the Great Redwood Trail. In addition to the comments linked below, we submitted location-specific comments using the GRTA’s pdf commenting application focused on locations to expand equitable river access, camping or access sites popular with … Read more
Whenever a state agency begins a new development project, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires agencies to evaluate and disclose to the public the potential environmental impacts of the proposed project. This evaluation of impacts usually comes in the form of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). These reports are an important part of … Read more
This week on the EcoNews Report, our host Alicia Hamann from Friends of the Eel River discusses the opportunities and challenges presented by the Great Redwood Trail. The project, proposed to be the longest rail-trail in the nation, is the state’s opportunity to fulfill their responsibility to remediate the environmental harms caused by the … Read more
Background On November 8th Public Works brought a “Resolution to Summarily Vacate a Portion of Fisher Road (4G070) South of State Highway 36 in Hydesville” before the Board of Supervisors. This 0.8-mile section of road is located on one ranch and the property owners would like this section converted to a private road that will … Read more
Have you ever seen the “Grand Canyon of the Eel River”? Few have, but that might change soon thanks to a major new conservation deal engineered by the Wildlands Conservancy. The former “Lone Pine Ranch,” owned by San Francisco financial mogul Dean Witter, is now the Eel River Canyon Reserve, one of three reserves managed … Read more
By now, news of the impending threat of coal trains coming to town has spread far and wide. Municipalities from Sonoma to Humboldt have passed resolutions opposing the storage, transportation, and/or export of coal through their communities. Senator Mike McGuire introduced legislation, SB 307, to help stop the proposal by prohibiting state funding to improve … Read more
The Wildlands Conservancy is close to acquiring the 26,600 acre Lone Pine Ranch. This property contains more than 20 miles of river frontage, hundreds of acres of wetlands, and over 86 million board feet of trees in the standing forest, which can be protected to sequester vast amounts of carbon dioxide. The acquisition will build … Read more
The North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA) has submitted reports to the Surface Transportation Board in support of its proposed railbanking of the Northwestern Pacific Rail line from Willits north to Eureka. This includes branches of the line in Samoa, Korblex, Carlotta, and Blue Lake. Friends of the Eel River submitted comments to the Surface Transportation … Read more
Last month our staff attended a ribbon cutting in Ukiah for the first officially branded portion of the Great Redwood Trail. We are so thankful to Senator McGuire and his staff for their work establishing a future for this trail. As the Senator said at the ribbon cutting, this portion of the trail is an … Read more
Settlement between North Coast Rail Authority, Friends of the Eel River and Californians for Alternatives to Toxics ends decade-long dispute, upholds bedrock environmental law and advances rail-to-trail project. Marin County, Calif. – The North Coast Rail Authority agreed in late April to a legal settlement with non-profit organizations Friends of the Eel River and Californians … Read more