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Richardson Grove State Park, covering approximately 2,000 acres, was put into the public trust almost a century ago to memorialize the fallen soldiers of WWI, and it is home to the ninth largest tree of all remaining Coast redwoods.

Caltrans is proposing to “realign” and widen Highway 101 through Richardson Grove in response to Governor Schwarzenegger’s 2006 Strategic Growth Plan that proposed changes to north coast highways to enable interstate “STAA” trucks full access to Del Norte and Humboldt Counties. Under the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982, STAA trucks cannot legally transport materials through this area because of road size limits in Richardson Grove State Park and Big Lagoon, just south of Crescent City. The Legislature exempted cattle trucks from this regulation in 2007.

The Coalition to Save Richardson Grove, representing environmental, business and citizen groups in Humboldt County came together in 2007 to find out what Caltrans was planning in Richardson Grove. As more details of the plans came trickling out, the Coalition began to contest Caltrans' claim that their own environmental studies, being done "according to state and federal guidelines" showed that "nothing [they] see so far indicates the need for a full EIR.” The Grove Group began to call attention to the project and demand that Caltrans conduct a full CEQA and NEPA review, and publish the resulting environmental impact study and report for full public examination and comment. The Coalition circulated a petition to Governor Schwarzenegger, Congressman Mike Thompson, and other state representatives, urging them to support a complete environmental review and warning them of potential issues.

The Coalition was successful in forcing Caltrans to follow state and federal guidelines in full evaluation of the project. As of March 2009, Caltrans is accepting comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Review, and they will have to respond to the issues that have been brought to light during the public review process. Without the public pressure so far applied, it is very possible that we would already have a very different path carved through the Grove. A number of business owners in the northern part of the county have been pushing very hard to open up this area to interstate commerce at the expense of small business throughout the area, and apparently to the detriment of our ancient redwood grove. It is clear that we must continue being vigilant to make sure Caltrans complies with the remaining stages of the process.

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