Humboldt Redwood Company’s request to change the way sediment pollution is regulated on the Elk River was shot down by the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board Thursday.

Board members pointed to a lack of data showing sediment conditions on the river improving. A motion to adopt the changes failed, with four board members voting “nay” and only Dale Romanini and Jake Mackenzie in support.

The changes surround Humboldt Redwood Company’s (HRC) Waste Discharge Requirements (WDR), the primary regulatory mechanism for controlling sediment pollution from logging in the watershed.

This rejection followed Water Board staff’s assurances the changes would not reduce water quality protections on the river, which has been heavily impacted by sediment from logging operations, historic and present, and has regulations a staff member said were the strongest in the state.

But environmental groups at the meeting swayed the board, saying instead the changes could increase sediment loads to the river, and argued the regulations should stay the same until marked improvement was recorded.

“It’s hard for me to imagine that increasing logging on 40% slopes, on any geology, would not bring down sediment,” said Board Member Hector Bedolla, speaking of one requested change.

HRC owns about 79% of the Upper Elk Watershed, according to Water Board documents. Under the 2019-era regulations, HRC can propose alternative practices, so long as they are equal or better than requirements in the original WDR. HRC sought a smattering of technical changes to the document.

Jim Burke, Water Board senior engineering geologist, said during a presentation the changes were found to be “reasonable and appropriate” by Water Board staff — who assured the board throughout the meeting they would not reduce water quality protections.

“This permit provides the strongest water quality protection of any permit in the state. The revisions preserve that high level of protection while better aligning the permit with real world operational conditions by allowing HRC flexibility in managing its forest while still complying with the [Total Maximum Daily Loads] targets,” said Burke.

Burke, who said he is regularly on the ground, said “observations of conditions on HRC timberlands in the Elk River by myself and my staff show minimal evidence of sediment discharge.”

But one environmental group took issue with specific changes.

Katy Gurin, a CalTrout project manager, said the changes “have the potential to increase erosion and sediment pollution by allowing more logging on steep slopes and near water courses.”

Katy Gurin, a CalTrout project manager, speaking during the meeting Thursday. “I want to see the river recover,” she said. Screenshot

The organization called for three items to be removed: one that would lower certain tree retention requirements, new allowances for logging on steeper slopes and a new allowance for group openings (removal of a patch of trees) near certain watercourses.

Several board members noted surprise after hearing CalTrout’s position on the topic — the organization is heavily involved with science and restoration in the watershed.

“I was taken back by your comments, and they’re in direct contradiction to what our staff is telling us,” said board member Gregory Giusti.

Other environmental groups, fishing advocates, the Blue Lake Rancheria and downstream residents whose properties flood every year spoke in opposition to the changes.

Nuisance flooding has continued since Maxxam Corporation-controlled PALCO moved to massively increase harvesting in the basin during the late 1980s and ‘90s, causing thousands of cubic feet of sediment to stick to the channels.

Flooding blocks the road and inundates properties along the Elk River during storms.

“We have not seen any improvement at all in either water quality or flooding,” said Kristi Wrigley, who lives on her family’s apple orchard, which was founded in 1903, on the north fork of the Elk River.

She said last year, they had seven or six floods, one of which was the highest flood they’d ever seen, and flooding has reduced usable land on the farm by two-thirds.

Jerry Martien, Elk River resident, said the regulations haven’t improved the river. He read a poem that ended with “we should be cutting lies, instead of trees.” Screenshot

Board members hesitated to agree to the changes after hearing CalTrout’s position, with multiple pointing to a lack of evidence showing a marked improvement.

Environmental organizations, including Arcata-based Environmental Protection Information Center, pointed to previous Water Board documents and argued the changes ran counter to regulatory goals.

Earlier in the meeting, during a general update on the Elk River, Water Board Engineer Lance Le gave a presentation on monitoring.

On suspended sediment from 2003-2025, three monitoring stations showed an improving trend, while four had no trend. Meanwhile, the severity of ill effects were largely staying the same, with one station showing improvements and another worsening. The analysis, based on HRC data, did not analyze nuisance flooding.

CalTrout’s Gurin, said, from her reading of the data, “There’s no improvement in suspended sediment at most stations, and there’s no improvement in the severity of ill effects at most stations,” and cast doubt on whether decades of regulatory work was effective.

Mike Miles, an HRC forester who spoke during the meeting on behalf of the company, said these data points showed instead a lack of sediment coming off of hill slopes into monitoring areas, saying instead the data pointed to a decline of erosion or a static condition.

He also pointed out water quality wasn’t being monitored in the 1980s or 1990s, when a mass of sediment that is still clogging channels was released.

“If we were to compare today’s water quality with water quality of the ‘90s, ‘80s and ‘70s, you would see a big difference; there’s no doubt about it in my mind,” he said.

During a presentation he pointed to numerous restoration projects the company has been involved in, plus protection measures like barring clear cutting and old growth logging, and leaving larger trees for habitat.

“It’s a different way of doing forestry,” he said, calling it progressive.

Later, he said it’s difficult to stand there after 100 years of forestry and try to represent the industry, “but that’s not how we’re managing our forest.” He emphasized that HRC is trying to be in the same boat as partners and called for board members to come out to see the land.

Some board members said the decision was tough.

Following assurances the body could revisit the regulations at any time, like if monitoring showed sedimentation getting worse, Mackenzie leaned towards adopting the changes.

He made a motion to move forward, with the removal of language that called Tan Oak a less desirable species (board member Molli Myers, a Karuk tribal member, pointed to the significance of the tree as a staple food source for local Indigenous groups).

But a straw poll vote found there wasn’t sufficient support.

Other board members said they wanted to see improvements in conditions before making changes. Chair Alexandra Hart remarked it felt like the board was “putting the cart before the horse.”

Board member Bedolla said he’d like to see the trends improve before expanding logging.

“I think that we should be talking about what’s going to make things better. It is our job to protect the water quality,” said Myers; she said if water quality is not improving the board should not be increasing logging activities.

Thus, with the non-vote, the requirements will stay the same. Board staff said HRC could propose changes at any time.

The Board’s legal counsel told them litigation could force a permit revision to come back before the board.

The full meeting, which includes an update on efforts of the water board in the basin at large, can be found at this link.

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• Upcoming Logging Permit Changes Could Mean More Sediment in Elk River, CalTrout Says