Logging crews gaze up at a 252-foot old-growth redwood slated for removal in Lower Redway. | Photo submitted by Sue Maloney.

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PREVIOUSLY: 

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UPDATE: Humboldt County Planning and Building Director John Ford sent us the following statement on Friday evening:

The tree was going to be removed [on Thursday].  A crowd gathered in close proximity to the tree that included children.  The Highway Patrol wanted to close the road for the safety of the public.  But the public would not move.  The only way to move the crowd is close the road which requires an encroachment permit.  That will likely be applied for next week.

We issued a stop work order on the removal of the tree in response to allegation’s that the tree was not hazardous.  The property owner submitted reports from a Registered Professional Forester and certified arborist finding the tree is in fact hazardous.  The stop work order was lifted.

The discussion of the Q-Zone is currently planned for the June 2 Board of Supervisors meeting.

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Original post: Efforts to remove an old-growth redwood from a Lower Redway property were halted late Thursday afternoon after county officials and local law enforcement determined the tree could not be felled safely due to its proximity to Briceland Road, a main thoroughfare for many SoHum residents.

As reported by the Redheaded Blackbelt this morning, the county is now asking the property’s owner, Robert Scarlett, to obtain an encroachment permit before work can resume. 

The 252-foot tree — estimated to be between 350 and 370 years old — is the last old-growth redwood standing on a corner lot at Oakridge Drive and Briceland Road in Lower Redway. As previously reported, several old-growth redwoods were removed from the property last year after a CalFire forester’s inspection determined that the trees posed a safety hazard to nearby structures. 

The removal of the trees sparked outrage among some residents and environmentalists, many of whom were involved in the Timber Wars of the 1990s and were under the impression that the trees were protected by a county-designated “Q Zone” that was enacted in 1996 to safeguard old-growth redwoods near the John B. DeWitt State Natural Reserve. 

A group of protestors congregated at the corner of Oakridge Drive and Briceland Road for most of the day on Thursday to protest the removal of the towering tree. Among the protestors was Redway resident Sue Maloney, who said the protest broke up late in the afternoon after the California Highway Patrol and county officials informed the property owner and logging crew that cutting the tree — even topping it — posed a safety risk to people traveling on Briceland Road. 

This morning, Planning and Building Director John Ford and Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell met with a small group of concerned residents, dubbed the Old Growth Neighborhood Association, to discuss next steps for the tree’s removal.

“From what we understand, the landowner is required to apply and will receive an encroachment permit,” Maloney told the Outpost. “Apparently, the road will be shut down for many hours, but they won’t tell us ahead of time. … Somebody in our group thought [residents should be notified ahead of time] because what if you … you’re coming from Shelter Cove and you have an emergency or you’re going to the airport … and  you don’t have an extra 40 minutes to take Old Briceland Road?”

“Whether or not they give people notice, people are going to be outraged,” she added. “It’s not an emergency, it’s the planned logging of a 10-foot diameter old-growth redwood tree that never should’ve been allowed to be cut in the first place.”

Maloney lamented the whole ordeal, casting doubt on the inspector’s determination that the trees posed a significant hazard. “If the county had done [its] job and required a permit [of the property owner], we believe those trees would not have been deemed hazards and alternative treatment measures could have been taken, such as intense limbing,” she said.

Lower Redway resident Linda Sutton, who lives just down the road from the property in question, expressed concern about the future of old-growth redwoods in her neighborhood. 

“Many residents here have worked hard at being good stewards,” Sutton said, noting that her parents first bought property in Lower Redway back in the 1940s. “A lot of people don’t know that much about redwoods … and they’re really apathetic. … They just want the money, and we wonder, would these trees have been cut if they couldn’t cut them for profit?”

Maloney and Sutton are hopeful that, once the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors reviews the Q Zone policy in the coming months, the county will adopt better protections for old-growth redwoods in Lower Redway. 

“The trees were here first, and people, for whatever reason, really did build homes close to the trees,” Sutton said. “I think it’s a special neighborhood. People get tired of hearing us say that, but I think it’s the mixture of trees and homes and how we interconnect [that will] save this little forest of redwood trees.”

The Outpost has contacted several sources at the County of Humboldt for the details of the encroachment permit and more information about when tree removal will occur, but we did not receive a response before publication. We’ll update this story when we hear back.

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The Lower Redway property before the trees were removed, captured via Google Street View in June 2025.