State Announces $3.9 Million Grant for Forest Restoration and Community Protection Near Redway
Redway resident Adona White overlooking dense forest within the project area. [Photo from Redwood Community Action Agency]
Nearly $4 million has been awarded by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CALFIRE) to Redwood Community Action Agency for the Redway Forest Health Project. This project will improve the health and fire resiliency of 858 acres of forestland surrounding the town of Redway, CA. The areas slated for treatment include public lands managed by California State Parks and adjoining private properties. The project area includes slopes overlooking the South Fork Eel River and Holbrook Grove, located at the north end of town. The project will address legacy logging impacts and accelerate forest restoration on the 500+ acre parcel added to Whittemore Grove in 2003 as part of the local, grassroots “Stable Slopes Forever” campaign.
The majority of the project is on John B. Dewitt Redwoods State Natural Reserve property and will be focused on accelerating the development of old-forest structure and reducing unnatural fuel build-up. Cooperating adjacent private landowners will support the completion of a shaded fuel break along the ridgetop to improve fire safety, remove excess understory vegetation, and enhance habitat on their properties.
Redwood Community Action Agency (RCAA) is leading the project in close collaboration with California State ParksThe project team assessing forest conditions in John B. Dewitt Redwoods State Natural Reserve. [Photo from Redwood Community Action Agency]
, with local forester Tim Metz helping to plan proposed forest restoration treatments. Local non-profit Ancient Forests International provided critical financial support for early project development.
“This is a fantastic project that lets us restore the portion of Redway Ridge that was originally protected by the ‘Stable Slopes Forever’ campaign, protect our ancient redwood groves, and make our community safer from fire,” said Metz.
RCAA Projects Coordinator Natalie Arroyo, who led the grant-writing and project development efforts, shared that “this project was truly a community-led effort, and it was an honor to be part of it! The resident leadership in pushing for this project was extraordinary, and RCAA is looking forward to supporting this important work. We are committed to supporting healthy watersheds and healthy communities, and see so much need for climate change adaptation and resilience projects like this one.”
“This will be a real boost for Redway, certainly for community safety, but also for local businesses and economic activity,” said Dave Walsh with Ancient Forests International.
The project, a priority in the Humboldt County Community Wildfire Protection Plan and for the Southern Humboldt Fire Safe Council, will adjoin another CALFIRE project that is currently being implemented on the east side of Redway. When combined, the projects address fire risk from both east and west and improve the ability of trees and other vegetation to survive fire and summer drought stress.
“These types of partnerships with the community will be essential for public land managers to be able to address the scale of our fire challenges” said Victor Bjelajac, the Superintendent of the North Coast Redwoods District of California State Parks.
Project details will be refined in cooperation with project partners and resource [management] agencies over the coming months. Project implementation, including light ecological thinning and treating surface fuels both mechanically and with prescribed fire, will likely start in 2023 and will be complete by spring of 2026. Support for early plant and wildlife surveys is coming from the North Coast Resource Partnership through the state’s Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program.
The project was catalyzed by local residents Dave Walsh, Adona White, and Tim Metz, with support from former resident Paul Mason, a Sacramento-based forest restoration advocate. The project is supported by Assemblyman Jim Wood, Senator Mike McGuire, the Southern Humboldt Fire Safe Council, Ancient Forest International, the Environmental Protection Information Center, and numerous local businesses.Project team members, including Victor Bjelajac, the Superintendent of the North Coast Redwoods District of California State Parks and members of Superintendent Bjelajac’s staff, visit portions of Whittemore Grove. [Photo from Redwood Community Action Agency]
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When the Redwood forest start burning like our fir and oak forest, maybe just maybe people will believe in climate change.
I believe in climate change I just don’t think people are causing it since the climate has changes since before man was industrialized. I also don’t think the government taxing people and using it as an excuse to grab power is going to change it.
You are blind
So….. Who caused the worse drought just over a 1,000 years ago. Science should be more than opinion. There is more at play here than meets the eye.
“There are more things on heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Shakespeare.
ok Ernie, i agree, here is some science.
we released this carbon, not a volcano or some other natural event, humans released this carbon.
to answer your specific question… the differences are scale and time. if you can imagine the j curve of atmospheric carbon, I’m sure you’ve seen one before….the line runs almost parallel to the bottom edge of the graph until the last 2% of the graph where it shoots straight to the top. the parallel portion represents millions of years while the upward moving bit represents under 200 years. we have released a significant percentage of the carbon sequestered during the dinosaur age, which was millions of years long. and now here comes the heat following behind, and it’s lagging. (you know the way we see hospital rates and then deaths lag behind infection by a few weeks?) well this is like that. the oceans have been absorbing carbon but they’re saturated now, so it’s on like kong.
land temps are going to rise fast and hard. nothing that we know is going to be the same in 5years. it seems high normal now, but it will be “always extreme” very shortly.
there has been a staggering loss of ice at the north pole and now we see the south pole going. you’re a refrigeration guy, you understand we need that cold storage for a habitable planet.
and we released this carbon, not a volcano or some other natural event, humans released this carbon.
Got Tonga? Fire and the redwood forest are adapted perfectly to each other. Redwood forests have burned since time immemorial. The 1920s Klamath fire burned all the way through the Inland Douglas fir forests through the coastal redwood forests to the bluffs of Trinidad. This has nothing to do with climate change. As for man caused climate change, unproven theory pushed by democrats,bureaucrats, and other scientific illiterates as a power grab. Main causes known so far for climate change are solar cycles, geological events, and undersea methane vents. Unfortunately for the man caused climate change fanatics, their entire theory got blown to smithereens when the Tongan volcano blew up and vomited all over the atmosphere. Ever wonder why it was in the news for five seconds and then poof, gone? Answer, because it vomited out more atmospheric gases, particulate matter, and methane than man could do in one million years. So, no, the climate is always changing as it is not static, but saying it is mans fault that it is accelerating is a farce perpetuated by dishonest power mad politicians and their syncophant followers, most of whom don’t understand or can even comprehend geology, forestry, chemistry, biology, astronomy, climate science, or basic math. Reality sucks and the inconvenient Tongan explosion is proof that the pushers are frauds speaking to gullible who mimic talking points because they have no basis in reality. Got Tonga?
You are blind
OMG, if Tim Metz is involved in this project, hold on to your hats. He did not have a good track record down at the Southern Humboldt Community Park, as the Board President, paid for restoration, cutting down old growth redwood without a logging plan. He made allot of money from being on the Park Board and the only Park restoration was done on what would become Dazey’s 80 acres. Plus all the thousands of board feet of lumber Dazey milled from the Park logging projects, that he kept, while Metz looked the other way. Metz used volunteers to do all the work, while Metz cashed and kept all the EQIP funding, so hold on to your wallets and count the money twice everyday…
I loathe to dignify your uninformed ranting accusation with a response, but will make an exception in your case. You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about. I was there. My forestry crew thinned 50 acres over five years. And we got paid our usual rates.
I’ve known and respected Tim Metz for at least 25 years. He is an honest, hard working, accomplished professional who puts himself out there for the environment and the community. He is also a class act.
Given the long history of your posting comments of this nature that I’m aware of, I invite you to consider the implications of that last statement.
By the way, although I don’t know him nearly as well, Steve Dazey impresses me as having similar positive attributes as Tim.
Yes, my “long history” speaking the truth, asking questions and backing it all up with facts is well documented, can I say the same of you, no. All you have are alterative facts. How much of your work (crew) was done at Tooby or Community Park?
Many people agree with you Mr. Voice
Okay Ed, you’re making claims, now back them up. Show us your proof and physical documentation. Don’t just tell us about your physical proof.
Otherwise you get no more attention here.
A picture is worth a thousand words, In the next 3 pics this was the log deck being milled into lumber on the Park property. All these tree’s were cut down on the Park property. Where did it all go?
I can only post one pic ay a time…
I can only post one pic at a time
None of these trees, at least not without being able to count the rings, look even close to old growth. I see a bunch of logs thay aren’t much bigger than 20-24″ dia, most smaller.
And what matter is it where the lumber went? If it was sold, as you are alluding to, and without a THP, which you also allude RPF Tim Metz did not have, then there could be some issue. If the lumber was not SOLD there is no violation.
I cut and mill my own lumber when i have time. I’ve also cut 36″+ dbh meadow firs that were less than 80 years old. Nowhere near old growth status, and they were destroying the habitat from which they sprouted.
So, again, where is this hard proof you have to condemn with?
My guess is you have nothing concrete and know little about forestry.
You mean like this redwood at Tooby Park?
Here’s my problem, there was no timber harvest plan and Metz was the Park Board President, of a Public Benefit Corporation, who owns the property these tree’s were harvested and milled into lumber. With no public discloser or reports why they were harvested. The Park Board does not have their board meeting open to the public, nor do they allow the public to read their Board meeting agendas or Board meeting minutes. Was Metz hired by the Park as a RPF while he was the Park President, yes. Was that a conflict of interest, yes! And as a RPF, why was Metz being so secretive about it? If its all legit, why didn’t the Park Board or Metz disclose all the records?
In the public records disclosed by the Park Board (see link below) there is no mention of tree harvesting, how many or for what reason! Why is that? And since Restoration Forestry Inc. was contracted for this work, where are the reports or records of that work? Was Metz following the ethics of a RPF?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S53tKlqoGSbex3yzjgs-v8vUVX-IP30q/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mEvpXUzB2SH1uP8RB77jAUwKtFTLxd6A/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tsAaKtL4ykThYryVlLG3buLJkVXE2y_S/view?usp=sharing
Here is another fun fact. When I asked KMUD News to look into the Redwoods being cut down and milled into lumber at Tooby Park, here was the response from the Park Board to KMUD News:
“Many years ago a registered professional forester (RPF) determined that there were a few trees proximal to Tooby Memorial Playground that posed a threat to the safety and well-being of park goers. A number of bay trees and a portion of a redwood tree were felled shortly thereafter. For years the redwood tree has been laying where it fell, blocking the trail through the redwood grove. Last week a park supporter with a portable mill and all requisite equipment began milling a section of the felled tree. The end result is beautiful redwood lumber that we will use in the Park on necessary maintenance projects. We are excited for all the upcoming improvements we can now do for the benefit of all Park users, and we are very thankful for the time and energy of all the volunteers that assisted with this project.”
Laura Cochrane
Executive Director
Southern Humboldt Community Park
1144 Sprowel Creek Rd
PO Box 185
Garberville, CA 95542
(707)923-2928
sohumpark.org
Needless to say, KMUD never did a news story and this information was swept under the rug and forgotten. There is so much wrong with the statement made by the Park. If a RPF was hired to determine if 3 mature Redwood should be cut down, where is the RPF report and who wrote it, where is any information concerning it, where is the justifacation for killing a Redwood Tree? That a Redwood in the pic below “posed a threat to the safety and well-being of park goers”, which is hundreds of yards from the “Playground”? Or did someone just need some redwood lumber? If that is the case with Redwoods, there would be no Redwoods left in Lower Redway or a number of State and National Parks, right! So, where did that redwood lumber go or what was it used for? Who was this RPF? So many question, so little answers!
Please excuse my lack of clarity – the work I refer to in that post is that my crew has thinned 50 acres of land on Community Park property. Overall, we have treated well over 1000 acres in Southern Humboldt County to restore and enhance forest health and reduce wildfire hazard. Much of that work has been in conjunction with Tim Metz.
Try as you may to discredit him. Your efforts are both transparent and laughable, as well as pitiable.
As mentioned previously, I have been there. You, most appreciably, were not.
Thank you Dave and Thank you for using your name. Just to be clear, in that 5 year period of thinning 50 acres on Community Park property, what years was that?
Thank you Dave Kahan for making the facts clear!
You have no idea how far off base you are with these statements.
I know, I did not drill down enough into Metz and Dazey’s self-dealings transactions while on the Park Board, including not having a THP and taking all that timber for themselves. Metz knows what I’m talking about just ask him.
Ed Voice, please chill out. We are trying to make good things happen in southern Humbolt. Please don’t tear down our hard work!
No Dave, I will not “chill out”, my comments do not disparage this project, only to point out this “local forester” who is named in this project and IMHO, his past unethical conflict of interests as a RPF. Sometimes the past comes back to haunt you. Maybe choose a different lead RPF is all I’m say’n!
All that timber? Huh?
Ed, it’s really not that much…
The slash pile isn’t very big, either…
And I personally cleaned up a some of the smallest diameter “logs”… That wouldn’t make lumber, maybe two cords worth…
Yep, it was so buggy, it was only good for firewood…
4-8 inch diameter… For posts, but they were full of beetles…
Did you ever consider that those trees might have been beetle infested, and needed to go?
You are making a mountain out of a molehill…
And I’m not so sure anyone needs a timber harvest plan to cut lumber or firewood for their own use, but I could be mistaken…
“Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.” ― Mark Twain.
Never listen to a man who can’t separate the tale in his mind from reality or provide proof of claim.
Sorry, my bad…
This comment is ridiculous, hateful and just plain wrong. I’ve known Tim Metz and worked with him on many projects over the last 30 years. He has a great track record working for the community, the environment and any group or person who hires his firm to assist in restoration of abused and impacted forests and watersheds. Unlike Mr Voice, whom I’ve found is consistently working against our community and anyone who rises to a leadership position here. These community board of director positions DO NOT PAY, require immense sacrifice of personnel time and energy to volunteer for and result in constant attack by ego crazy haters who pretend to be advocates, all to get attention! UGH.
We need people in these leadership jobs, but it becomes nearly impossible to get good people on ‘Boards’ when all you get for your time and work is a few nutty members of the public attacking and shaming everyone!
According to documents you must not have read above, being on the Park Board does pay very well, as in the case of Tim Metz and many other Park Board members, not counting getting paid for work done at the Park. How much has Tim Metz done for the community, vs himself? Perception is everything, deception is what makes it work. PT Barnum would be proud of Tim Metz, never a shortage of showmen and their BS in SoHum…
If these millions do not provide housing where are the people in your “economic development” going to live? In your rehabilitated forest?
The short sightedness is breathtaking.
You completely miss the point of what a project such as this provides ! These types of forest management ‘millions’ provides protection for the entire community in and around Redway.. it provides a fire protection zone for the town. Proper forest management of removing dead, beetle infested trees, thinning an overgrown stand of timber, removing ladder fields such as woody debris and brushy understory through various methods provides a ‘fuel break’ that reduces the intensity of a raging inferno.. keeps it from traveling through the dense understory or racing through an overcrowded canopy.. and provides firefighters a chance to prevent it from destroying the homes and towns they already live in !
I know of one small town in California that had a similar grant to provide a protective buffer around it such as this project provides.. but it burnt to the ground at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars in property loss as well as several lives also.. while some misinformed, misguided, touchy-feely complainers, who didn’t want the land ‘disturbed’, held it up in court !
Your shortsightedness is breathtaking !
Probably 30 to 70 people already living there..
This is a great project for the surrounding forest, for local fire resiliency, and for Redway residents and visitors. Bravo!
Ed Voice is his usual bullying self, never actually doing anything for the community, just complaining and complaining, and obstructing the positive work of others. He hasn’t lived in this area for years!
More wasted taxpayer dollars.
Big win. Outside $ into the local community, land cared for.
“Resilience”..
there it is again,
Worst word ever
Tourists will love seeing bums living in the forest until they step on a needle or a pile of shit.
There she is. Adona White with Water Quaility said she would help protect our old growth redwood grove with spotted owls from a permitted grow across the Mattole river in Ettersburg. She said “I’ll get the ball rolling”. What happen Adona? We never heard from you again. There are even more greenhouses closer than the legal setback dumping fertilizer into the river and noise from the huge fans should chase off the wildlife. So much for CEQA protecting the river.
For the un-educated, here is a map and description of the project area and location, which was not included in the thread post:
http://www.redwoodhikes.com/Dewitt/Dewitt.html
Fabulous! My gratitude to Adona, Dave & Time and everyone who helped get this going! WOW! Starting in 1996, 3 community groups, Stable Slopes Forever, Redway Forest Defense and EPIC, worked hard for nearly 8 years turning back 2 dangerous harvest plans before lobbying state funds from Prop 40 to buy this acreage (from Palco) and adding it to the State Park lands. We paid 2.3 mil so this grant of 3.9 mill for restoration is nearly twice the original cost of the lands. That land is in desperate need of this work and will become an amazing forest and community resource in the future. The local jobs it will provide young restoration workers is just the beginning of the goodness to come. Thanks again!
OMG! I just finished reading all the comments.
It LOOKS like the ranting loonies and So Hum haters really come out when someone does something good for our community.
But I think its all one toxic EX-resident who want folks to think he’s a whole crowd. Freaky. Sad.