CALTRANS TRIES TO ADVANCE RICHARDSON GROVE PROJECT
Environmental group plan to oppose lifting injunction that halted construction
The fight over a Caltrans project that would widen U.S. Highway 101 to allow larger commercial transportation trucks to travel through Richardson Grove is continuing.
The highway expansion initiative has languished in recent years after several environmental groups, including Arcata-based Environmental Protection Information Center, sued to halt the project. Caltrans recently moved to lift the injunction made in 2019 by Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Kelly Neel halting construction, said Tom Wheeler, executive director of EPIC.
“We plan on opposing that (motion to lift the injunction) in court. We do not believe that Caltrans has meaningfully completed the requirements of Judge Neel to lift the injunction. If that injunction is lifted, we will consider the next steps at that time,” Wheeler said via email.
EPIC and the Center for Biological Diversity are attempting to stop the project because it would allegedly harm nearby old-growth redwood trees by cutting and paving over root systems. Caltrans has disputed this and has criticized studies cited by environmental groups pointing to potential redwood damage.
Caltrans began the project as an attempt to accommodate Surface Transportation Assistance Act-compliant trucks, which currently cannot travel the corridor through Richardson Grove because the road cannot support their size.
“The project would improve the movement of goods in and out of the area. No old-growth trees would be removed and the roadway would look much the same after construction,” Myles Cochrane, a Caltrans District 1 spokesperson said via email. “Additionally, the project’s limited root disturbance would not affect the continued health of old-growth redwoods in the project area.”
The project was incepted in 2007, and according to the Caltrans website, there is no estimated start date for construction. In 2021, the 2017 addendum to the final environmental impact report was circulated for public review and responses to comments on the report’s addendum — which were published in January — can be found on the project’s website at https://bit.ly/3kEmkmh.
The response to comments details Caltrans’ rebuttal to claims made by public commenters — who were overwhelmingly against the project — and to studies concluding that the project would harm local redwoods.
Caltrans responded that the cited study “Long-term impacts of road disturbance on old-growth coast redwood forests” had various flaws and that it does not change the CEQA determination that the project would have minimal impact. One of the criticisms was that the studies assume the date of construction near Pepperwood was off by five or more years, which impacts the tree-ring analysis and casts doubt on the study’s conclusions.
The environmental groups assert that the 3,000-year-old trees are likely to experience crown dieback and heightened stress due to construction, diminishing their famously long lives and growth. Wheeler noted that the Caltrans’ “analysis area” is under half the size it should be for the project’s scope.
“We simply can’t let this beloved remnant of primeval for
est be damaged for an unnecessary highway widening project in our state park,” Peter Galvin, director of programs at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a release. “Caltrans should read the writing on the wall, drop this project, and let these towering trees flourish.”