Bull Creek, CA: Logging Resumes on Rainbow Ridge, Forest Defenders Continue Resistance

Report from forest defenders in Northern California about continued resistance to logging. 

Bull Creek, CA – Early this morning, logging operations in the newly approved Rainbow Ranch timber harvest plan was halted by multiple road blockades aimed at restricting access. The forest is considered to be some of the last intact biodiverse forest in Northern California and is said to play a crucial role in mitigating climate change.

Within the last few weeks, Humboldt Redwood Company (HRC), successor to Pacific Lumber Company, began logging operations in a newly approved Rainbow Ranch timber harvest plan (THP), directly adjacent to the Humboldt Redwood State Park.

The THP was approved in June despite receiving more than 20 public comments from local landowners, as well as environmental groups including the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), Mattole Restoration Council, and Lost Coast League who expressed concerns over the plans impact.

“This THP intends to cut into some of the last late seral forest in the Rattlesnake Creek basin watershed. That disturbance will fragment habitat for listed and rare species in an area close to the boundary of the Humboldt Redwood State Park”, states Michael Evenson in his public comment on the plan.

These logging operations come right after HRC completed operations in two THPs on Long Ridge, also in the watershed, despite bitter opposition from the community including two treesits and multiple arrests.