Sonoma County tells Cal Fire: logging plan is flawed

A qualified professional should review the visual impact of the 224-acre Silver Estates logging plan near Guerneville, according to Sonoma County.

In a letter emailed to Cal Fire on April 14, 2022, Sonoma County’s planning and permitting department (Permit Sonoma) said that the timber harvest plan (THP) lacks a proper visual assessment. More than 90 per cent of the plan is within the Highway 116 Scenic Corridor.

The letter also states that a 75 feet buffer zone around the 2,000-year-old Clar Tree is inadequate and should be extended to at least the height of the tree, estimated to be 340 feet.

The letter from Sonoma County comes just two weeks before Cal Fire is due to announce its decision on whether to approve the plan, although the State agency has already postponed its decision 16 times.

GFC member, John Dunlap, said: “We have been pushing Cal Fire to review the visual and aesthetic impact of this logging plan since it was filed in 2020. In doing so, we have discovered, surprisingly, that Sonoma County has not established a mechanism through which it can protect the scenic corridor from logging. But, thanks to our local letter campaign, the County has now reviewed parts of the THP and agrees that it fails to contain an adequate visual assessment. We hope that Cal Fire will now take action and, instead of relying on the word of the forester, will require an independent assessment.”

The County has noted in its letter that the logging plan will remove trees in numerous small groups from one quarter acre to 2.5 acres in size. While the forester claims that these openings will not be visible to the public, he provides no supporting evidence.

Following consultations with UC Berkeley tree expert, Prof. Todd Dawson, the County has also found flaws with the plan’s proposed protection for the majestic Clar Tree, the tallest tree in Sonoma County.

In its letter, Permit Sonoma claims that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has failed to “address below-ground impacts from harvest operations to the root system of the Clar Tree and surrounding redwood forest.”