Katherine Minkiewicz, SONOMA WEST TIMES & NEWS
The Guerneville Forest Coalition — a nonprofit group of Guerneville community members, business owners and landowners — is raising concern over a proposed 224-acre Timber Harvest Plan and logging operation in the Silver Grove area near the 2,000-year-old Clar Tree, an ancient redwood that is the tallest tree in Sonoma County.
And while the Timber Harvest Plan (THP) for the proposed logging area has protection measures in place for the tree, including a 75-foot buffer zone, many believe the great tree would be insufficiently protected by the allotted buffer zone.
There are also other concerns with the operation, including increased fire risk, flooding, erosion and landslides, Russian River sedimentation and the effect on local flora and fauna.
“In June 2020, a plan was filed with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) by a major timber operator to log 224 acres of redwoods and Douglas firs near the banks of the Russian River,” according to the Guerneville Forest Coalition.
Since then, the group and concerned citizens in the area have been vocal in their opposition toward the plan and have been lobbying for more protective measures for the Clar Tree.