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PREVIOUSLY: Big Trouble in Little River: After 16 Years, an Environment Dispute Between State Regulators and an Octogenarian Farmer Just Upstream From Moonstone Beach Could be Coming to a Head

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A 16-year effort to hold a McKinleyville-area property owner accountable for polluting Little River hit a major turning point today after the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board unanimously voted to refer the case to the state Attorney General’s Office for review. Now the case will play out in the courts.

Since December 2010, state agencies and environmental advocacy groups have sounded the alarm over allegations of unpermitted solid waste disposal and unauthorized grading at the 226-acre property, which is just upstream from Moonstone Beach. Water board staff assert that “poorly managed livestock grazing” and abandoned cow and horse carcasses have contaminated Little River with bacteria, specifically E. coli and fecal coliform, putting beachgoers and threatened salmonid species at risk.

The property, owned by the Vern C. McGaughey Trust, has been the subject of dozens of warning letters and violation notices from the California Coastal Commission, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), state water authorities and various local agencies. Despite numerous attempts to resolve the matter and threats of fines exceeding $6,000 per day, 88-year-old Vern McGaughey has yet to comply.

Speaking at today’s water board meeting in Crescent City, Assistant Executive Director Joshua Curtis explained that his “foremost priority” is to facilitate the restoration of contaminated sites, emphasizing that a “site restored is a win for water quality and a win for the people of California.” However, when attempts to gain compliance fail, the state is left with “few options.”

“Our primary tool is to issue an administrative civil liability complaint, or ACLC, and bring that case to this board for adjudication,” Curtis continued. “An ACLC is an effective tool, and it does come with limitations. [It] can limit creative settlement options, and by proposing penalties, sometimes push cleanup further out of reach. … Referring this case to the attorney general keeps the focus on cleanup and restoration, and offers significantly more flexible settlement options.”

Sending the case to the attorney general would open a path for the state to pursue civil litigation to address noncompliance with the cleanup order, staff attorney Paul Ciccarelli explained. “Ultimately, the superior court will serve as a trier of fact and issue a decision on the merits,” he said. “A referral still allows for settlement discussions and gives the board more flexibility than administrative enforcement.”

Brian Fuller, a senior engineering geologist, provided the board with a detailed list of alleged environmental violations and history of attempted enforcement of the property, as seen in the following timeline. (Note: NOV is a notice of violation, an EIA is an environmental impact assessment and a CAO is a cleanup and abatement order. LEA refers to the local enforcement agency.)

“The river and adjoining wetlands have been significantly degraded over more than a decade,” Fuller explained as he clicked through images from the site. “These pictures from January 2011 show concrete waste [and] landscaping fabric lining the banks of a tributary to the Little River on the property. … The 2023 [EIA] documented that … more waste had been dumped, and also evidence of poorly managed livestock grazing, including abandoned horse carcasses in the wetlands.”

Following staff’s presentation, Ken Bareilles, a local attorney representing McGaughey, shared his client’s side of the story. Bareilles acknowledged that McGaughey, whom he described as a “very highly regarded, very honest person,” had failed to get the permit needed to address the issues on his property, but accused staff of failing to acknowledge the root of the problem.

“Before you make decisions, you have to look at the history and see what the original causes of the problem are,” he said. “He did it to stop further erosion from the bank of the stream.”

Bareilles explained that, about 20 years ago, Little River became clogged with fallen trees and debris, causing a dike along the channel to crack and flood the property. 

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“Once it broke through the levee, Little River — which, when it has a lot of heavy rainfall, it flows tremendously — started flowing down through Mr. McGaughey’s property and cutting a great big swath right through his meadow,” he said. “That flow was causing tremendous erosion on [his] property. It went down through his field, and it turned eventually, and it went right into Little River, and … he’s [taken] steps to repair it … but it’s so vast now — it’s terrible now —  and it’s cut off his only access to the whole rest of his [property].”

Several times, Bareilles said his client was willing to address the issues on the property but couldn’t because of the stop work order issued by the county in 2022.

After wrapping his presentation, Bareilles asked the board if he could give the rest of his allotted time to McGaughey’s neighbor, notorious cattle rancher Raymond Christie, who, he said, has “tremendous knowledge of that whole area” and could speak to legacy issues on the property. The board agreed.

Over the course of 20 minutes, Christie described his upbringing on the neighboring property and recurring issues with Little River getting “plugged up” with debris. He named several county and state employees who, he claimed, had blatantly ignored his repeated requests to address water quality issues in the creek and accused CDFW staff of thwarting a restoration project in Little River. 

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“I’ve been reaching out to water quality for several years about a lot of different problems we have in Humboldt County, and it’s all went on deaf ears,” he said, accusing water board staff of cherrypicking information. “I got photos and videos — I’ve been documenting the whole time. The river — they neglected to show you this — is no longer going in the channel. There’s a half-mile stretch of river there that is dead. … Why didn’t they show you that? Because they didn’t want to.”

Christie claimed the fecal bacteria in the river is coming from another property further upstream that’s dumping sewage directly into the waterway. 

“Nothing ever been done about it,” he continued. “All this stuff that Vern’s being blamed [for], all Vern was trying to do … was protect his land from Fish and Wildlife’s actions of plugging up that river. It’s absolutely ruined his land. … Vern is not guilty of this, and I’m going to tell you something right now: I will fight with Vern to the bitter end on this whole thing because the whole truth has not come out.”

All who spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting urged the board to approve the resolution and forward the case to the attorney general for review.

Michael van Hattem, a senior environmental scientist with CDFW, described McGaughey’s property as “one of the worst” he’s ever seen for environmental violations. He described “countless solid waste dumps,” including derelict vehicles and RVs, as well as “land and habitat abuse.”

“CDFW recognizes the Little River Watershed as a critically important resource for salmonid recovery,” he said. “Given the ongoing harm to Little River and its floodplain, wetlands, sensitive species, habitats, tributaries, and the responsible party’s refusal to comply with the cleanup order, judicial enforcement of the water code is the most appropriate and efficient option [for enforcement]. CDFW and our … partners fully support fixing the issues in Little River once and for all, and that starts with the McGaughey property.”

Several other speakers, including Jen Kalt, executive director of the Humboldt Waterkeeper, raised concern about the presence of fecal bacteria in Little River and the potential for people to get sick from accidentally ingesting the water. 

“We’ve received numerous complaints from people who have children who experience explosive diarrhea and vomiting after playing in the river or after rinsing off their wetsuits in the river,” she said. “As you heard, Little River also supports spawning coho and other protected species. It’s a really important watershed … and it could be a really incredible place if it could be cleaned up and restored. … The Little River doesn’t belong to any individual landowner; it belongs to all of us.”

Following public comment, board member Molli Myers asked staff about the stop work order. “Is there anything that is stopping them from cleaning this up right now?”

“No,” Fuller said. “The cleanup and abatement order was drafted in consultation with all the other agencies so that it could be consistent with their actions. … We’ve worked closely with our agencies to make sure that Mr. McGaughey doesn’t have to deal individually with all the agencies. We’ve really tried to be consistent, as shown by our actions and joint settlement discussions.”

Bareilles emphasized several more times that the stop work order was preventing his client from moving forward with cleanup, and claimed he had “never gotten word back from the county” about how to move forward.

In a terse exchange, Board Chair Alexandra Hart emphasized that it is the property owner’s responsibility to follow up, not the county’s.

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“You’ve had no follow-up with the county? You haven’t called them?” she asked.

“We’ve met with them,” he replied.

“But you haven’t had a subsequent follow-up call since then,” she said. “You haven’t pressed the issue. I mean, the onus is on the property owner to do that.”

“We’ve met with them in good faith, said we’re ready, willing and able, but we need to get permits to cross this gap that has been created,” he said.

Myers interjected, emphasizing that the stop work order is “only one of the issues,” underscoring the “degradation” on the site.

“I can see the pictures; there’s dead animals, carcasses that have been there rotting for I don’t know how long to be in that condition,” she continued. “And all the commenters are right; there’s little kids in that river all the time. It’s unacceptable, and I feel like you’re defending it.”

After some additional conversation, the board voted unanimously to approve the resolution and forward the case to the attorney general for review. The document can be read in full at this link.