The Save Richardson Grove Coalition is fighting an uphill battle. Despite its members collecting over 10,000 emails, comments, signatures and letters opposing the California Department of Transportation’s (CalTrans) proposed “Improvement Project” and a comprehensive list of grievances, the coalition has been consistently ignored by the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors.
On Tuesday, over 50 members of the coalition decided to take matters into their own hands, storming the Humboldt County Courthouse in Eureka to attend the public opinions session of the supervisors’ meeting.
The CalTrans project (detailed in a previous Lumberjack story, “Paving Paradise” by Melissa Coleman) plans to cut down 54 trees and set up a retaining wall along a stretch of Highway 101, on the property of Richardson Grove State Park, so that the largest (STAA) semi trucks can make their way through Humboldt County.
The board has the power to halt the CalTrans proposal, and has never responded to the coalition’s requests to be included on the agenda for the supervisors’ weekly meetings.
“Unfortunately, it seems the board has funded a really biased propaganda campaign,” said Ken Miller, one of the organizers of the coalition.
Although they weren’t on the supervisors’ agenda, members of the coalition gave the supervisors a veritable piece of mind, citing numerous and sustainable alternatives to the project and arguing against environmental degradation.
The coalition and CalTrans disagree on almost every aspect of the project: that increased traffic will cause climate change, that local business will profit, etc.
The animosity is perhaps too tangible: CalTrans is currently suing the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) for $10,000 for a sign that sits along 101 in Benbow that simply says “Save Richardson Grove” on the basis that EPIC doesn’t have a permit (even though the sign is on private property).
Members of the coalition were under the impression that each person would have three minutes to speak before the supervisors. However, when over 50 people arrived en masse to support the coalition, Board Chair Clif Clendenen announced that each speaker would only have one minute to discuss their grievances due to the overwhelming number of speakers.
After a wave of disappointed groans and impassioned calls for a bigger venue and more time, Clendenen reprimanded the audience, stating that he would “clear this room if he had to.”
Sydney King, a resident of Piercy, Calif. and member of the coalition said, “I drove almost 80 miles to get here today and this is how they treat us?”
Carlos Quillez, another member of the coalition, was not only enraged at the conduct of Clendenen, but of the entire board as well, citing their failure to engage constituents. “You have failed to deal with us democratically and that’s why we had to show up en masse here today,” said Quillez. “You threaten to clear the room, saying you have other business to attend to, but this is the business: the people’s business.”
As a representative of the Intertribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, Pricilla Hunter was there to raise the concerns and objections of local indigenous tribes, who regard the Grove and its surroundings as a sacred cultural site. Citing support from the National Congress of American Indians, Hunter said, “The Grove holds great cultural and spiritual significance for local tribes.”
Daniel Rocky, also of the Wilderness Council, referenced the warnings of Sinkyone spiritual leaders, who have said, “By destroying redwoods, human beings will destroy themselves.” Furthermore, Rocky said that the project should be abandoned because “it benefits only a handful of interests.”
In a previous Lumberjack story, Caltrans Project Manager Kim Floyd said that the project, by allowing larger trucks to travel in Humboldt County, will help local businesses stay competitive in the marketplace and that many local business owners support the project.
However, local business owners Loreen Eliason and Patty Watson were both present on Tuesday to express their qualms with and general disgust of the project.
Watson, who is co-owner of the Singing Trees Recovery Center in Piercy, believes that if the project proceeds as planned, her business will shut down, leaving drug addicts without a place to recover. “No one will want to enter treatment if there is all this construction and noise pollution here, 50 feet within us,” said Watson. “People come here for the redwoods and tranquility. We employ 10 people and if we have even two bad months, we’re done.”
Eliason, who owns the Riverwood Inn in Phillipsville, said that visitors come from all over the world, wanting to see redwoods and discover that “unique vision” of Humboldt County. “Richardson Grove is the entrance to the county and it can’t be degraded,” said Eliason. “I don’t want to see another tree cut for another highway project.”
During the session on Tuesday, almost every speaker petitioned the supervisors for an opportunity to be included on the agenda in the near future. “Quality of life factors are critical to the community in Humboldt County,” said Larry Goldberg, a resident of Eureka. “Issues like these deserve to be debated in public forum.”
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BTW, we get our gasoline sent here by barge, for much less then it cost to truck it up, and we still get reamed by the retailers with the highest price in the lower 48, so don't assume lower trucking fees will lead to lower priced good.