Richardson Grove State Park marks the southern entrance to Humboldt County, and is considered to be the famous redwood curtain that has kept the county from becoming another exit along the superhighway of modern development. In 1922, concerns about “potential destruction of the trees by highway construction and logging” persuaded the State to protect the redwood grove. But now Caltrans is proposing to widen the highway through the Grove, resulting in removal of trees and destruction of old growth root systems.
Caltrans originally prepared a Categorical Exemption, attempting to do minimal environmental analysis for the proposed project. However, with the involvement of EPIC and other environmental advocates, Caltrans has been forced back to the drawing board to do more extensive research, stalling the proposed project in the planning process for the past year. The trees have been allowed to remain while Caltrans conducts further analysis, preparing an Environmental Impact Report on the impacts associated with the proposed “Richardson Grove Operational Improvement Project.”
The Save Richardson Grove Campaign has already stalled Caltrans, now its our job to stop them. You can be part of winning this battle right now by joining the campaign, educating yourself, signing postcards, petitioning your elected officials, reviewing the environmental documents for inadequacies, publishing opinion articles in news outlets or by doing your own unique something to spread awareness and stop the project!
Click on the links below to view Caltrans’ environmental analysis documents for the proposed Richardson Grove highway widening project:
Caltrans’ Draft Environmental Impact Report – Full Report
Appendix I Natural Environment Study – Includes analysis of biological resources
Appendix L Layout Maps – Includes maps of proposed tree and root removal
The Save Richardson Grove Campaign has been accumulating community support for efforts to stop Caltrans’ widening project through the grove. View the pages below to learn more about the Campaign to Save Richardson Grove and find out how you can get involved:
Caltrans plans to release their final proposal in May of 2010, and will stop accepting public comments at that time. Please visit EPIC’s action center to send a letter to Caltrans, to let them know your feelings about the Richardson Grove project.
This group of organizers has kept the heat on CalTrans and have brought many issues to light. Already this group has successfully forced CalTrans to produce environmental planning documents to examine expected impacts of the proposed project.
Widening the highway through Richardson Grove is just the first step in a larger scheme to alter the character of the county; to rob it of its quaint charm and turn it into a replica of so many Los Angeles suburbs.
The power is in your hands, EPIC needs support from people like you to keep the Richardson Grove campaign going. We are up against large scale developers with unlimited budgets. Every donation helps.
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