LCL Sign On Letter: Rainbow Ridge

April 20, 2016

Dear Concerned Citizen,

The Lost Coast League is an organization of northcoast residents concerned with preserving the natural heritage of the Mattole River and the BLM King Range National Conservation Area. We were successful in winning permanent federal wildlife protection embodied in the BLM KRNCA as well as in lawsuits protecting the coho salmon habitat in the Mattole River.

The Mattole community recently learned of Humboldt Redwood Company (HRC) intentions to log 1000 acres of 150 year and older, previously un-entered of

late successional forests in both the Upper and Lower North Forks of the river. The Lost Coast League has advocated, monitored and protected these forests from unsustainable logging practices for decades. We are an outspoken grassroots group comprised almost entirely of Mattole Valley residents.

Concerns relating to logging of this rare lowland Douglas Fir forest vary due to the sheer volume they propose to harvest this year alone. The harvesting is proposed on the most geologically unstable zones on the North Coast. Landslides riddle

the watershed from ridge to stream beds on these steep hillsides of unconsolidated soils. Begun in the late 70s, the Mattole is home to the longest existing citizen-run restoration program in the state, pioneering upslope, river and salmon restoration projects. As we learn more about their plans, our concerns over Humboldt

Redwood Company's negative effects on restoration efforts are growing. HRC has made promises to conserve valuable forestlands, but there is no permanence to those promises, no written commitment to a third party land trust or the State of California. The Lost Coast League wants to investigate the permanence of this promise together with negotiating its perpetuity. This sign on letter is designed simply to ensure our participation in the process as mandated in HRC’s FSC certification.

There is a fear that irreversible operations will commence without addressing issues meaningfully. We are writing to you today to ask for your letter of support to the LostCoast League as we negotiate a solution with HRC that leaves unentered forestlands intact. We believe our participation could directly benefit ecological health of the North Forks of the Mattole as well as the company’s image. We anticipate that our relations will become conflict-free with an openness to dialogue.

Thank you very much. Very Truly Yours,

Ellen Taylor