Sonoma County: Logging plan is in violation of CEQA

The Sonoma County Department of Transportation and Public Works (TPW) has criticized CalFire for failing to address a significant public safety risk in the Silver Estates Timber Harvest Plan (THP). It claims that the Silver Estates forester and CalFire are in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

TPW Director Johannes J. Hoevertsz stated in a letter to CalFire, dated January 14, 2021, that “the County is concerned that in its current form the Silver Estates THP does not adequately mitigate all of the potentially significant impacts of the proposed timber operations..…”

Specifically, TPW notes that the logging plan is likely to cause a culvert on Neeley Road to fail, posing a serious risk to public safety. Having agreed that the landowner should work with the County to replace the culvert, TPW notes that: “This arrangement was incorporated into the THP but then subsequently removed after CalFIRE staff erroneously concluded that CalFIRE has no authority to administer a public works project.”

GFC member Colin Baptie said: “It’s obvious that, once again, CalFire is putting the interests of the timber industry above everything else. We have written numerous letters to CalFire expressing our concerns about this and other public safety issues. All have been ignored. The process is not about environmental review, it’s about kowtowing to the powerful timber lobby and rubber stamping plans.”

In his letter, TPW Director Hoevertsz also states that the County expects the plan submitter, Roger Burch, to “compensate the County for damage to County roads caused by timber hauling trucks.” He notes that, due to the nature of Mays Canyon and Neeley Roads and the surrounding communities, the plan submitter must ensure that log hauling trucks remain under the legal weight limit at all times. Burch has a long history of ignoring rules and regulations and has been sued in Santa Cruz and Mendocino counties.