Restoring the Eel Must Be Done Right

Dear Friends, Can you believe we are preparing to celebrate 30 years of protecting the Eel River? Many of you have been with us since the beginning, for which we are incredibly grateful. Some of you may have participated in Friends of the Eel River’s very first meeting in late 1994, our initial actions intervening … Read more

Comments on the Great Redwood Trail Draft Master Plan

An old wooden rail structure crosses over a winding stream and cuts into a green hill full of trees.

FOER worked hard to provide detailed comments on the Great Redwood Trail Agency’s (GRTA) nearly 600-page Draft Master Plan for the Great Redwood Trail. In addition to the comments linked below, we submitted location-specific comments using the GRTA’s pdf commenting application focused on locations to expand equitable river access, camping or access sites popular with … Read more

Scoping Comments on the Great Redwood Trail PEIR

Abandoned rail cars on the shore of the river.

  Whenever a state agency begins a new development project, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires agencies to evaluate and disclose to the public the potential environmental impacts of the proposed project. This evaluation of impacts usually comes in the form of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). These reports are an important part of … Read more

Great Opportunities and Challenges for the Great Redwood Trail: EcoNews Report #234

A kayaker paddles in a murky river next to an abandoned rail car. Eco News Report Saturdays at 10 A.M. on K HUM 104 point 7 or on your podcast app.

 This week on the EcoNews Report, our host Alicia Hamann from Friends of the Eel River discusses the opportunities and challenges presented by the Great Redwood Trail. The project, proposed to be the longest rail-trail in the nation, is the state’s opportunity to fulfill their responsibility to remediate the environmental harms caused by the … Read more

Take Action: Help Preserve Public Trail and River Access

Background On November 8th Public Works brought a “Resolution to Summarily Vacate a Portion of Fisher Road (4G070) South of State Highway 36 in Hydesville” before the Board of Supervisors. This 0.8-mile section of road is located on one ranch and the property owners would like this section converted to a private road that will … Read more

Coming Soon — Camping by the Grand Canyon of the Eel River

EcoNews Report: Protecting the 'Grand Canyon' of the Eel River

Have you ever seen the “Grand Canyon of the Eel River”? Few have, but that might change soon thanks to a major new conservation deal engineered by the Wildlands Conservancy. The former “Lone Pine Ranch,” owned by San Francisco financial mogul Dean Witter, is now the Eel River Canyon Reserve, one of three reserves managed … Read more

No Coal In Humboldt

By now, news of the impending threat of coal trains coming to town has spread far and wide. Municipalities from Sonoma to Humboldt have passed resolutions opposing the storage, transportation, and/or export of coal through their communities. Senator Mike McGuire introduced legislation, SB 307, to help stop the proposal by prohibiting state funding to improve … Read more

Protecting the ‘Grand Canyon’ of the Eel River

The Wildlands Conservancy is close to acquiring the 26,600 acre Lone Pine Ranch.  This property contains more than 20 miles of river frontage, hundreds of acres of wetlands, and over 86 million board feet of trees in the standing forest, which can be protected to sequester vast amounts of carbon dioxide. The acquisition will build … Read more

FOER Supports Proposed Railbanking of NCRA’s Line from Willits North

The North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA) has submitted reports to the Surface Transportation Board in support of its proposed railbanking of the Northwestern Pacific Rail line from Willits north to Eureka. This includes branches of the line in Samoa, Korblex, Carlotta, and Blue Lake. Friends of the Eel River submitted comments to the Surface Transportation … Read more

Great Redwood Trail Ribbon Cutting

Great Redwood Trail Ribbon Cutting Ukiah

Last month our staff attended a ribbon cutting in Ukiah for the first officially branded portion of the Great Redwood Trail. We are so thankful to Senator McGuire and his staff for their work establishing a future for this trail. As the Senator said at the ribbon cutting, this portion of the trail is an … Read more