on the web at: https://sodacanyonroad.org/forum.php?p=1771

Ryan and Diane

A huge problem is brewing up here and we need some help from the County Administration to manage the issue and preserve the neighborhood. This subject could get out of hand and result in major problems for PGE and Napa County.

Teams of Tree cutters and arborists from out of state are here to work on the right of way/easements for PG&E power line, and they are increasingly seen as mercenaries who have been designating the Redwoods as hazards to the above ground power lines. They are entering private property and dropping trees without even attempting to speak to the owners of the property. Funny, but the trees of major interest are the Redwoods, the money $$ trees, of high value when hauled in mill lengths off the property. No Oaks, Madrones, Pines and Firs have received such treatment. It is turning into Grand Theft Redwoods. How much is each Redwood worth? $1,000, $2,000, $3,000????

The major headache is the Arborists who have shown up from States that do not have Redwoods in their lexicon. Only California, Oregon, and Nevada have redwoods, so how is an Arborist from outside these states familiar with the FIRE Resistance of the Redwoods. I know that you passed around, with Steve Lederer of Public Works, a criteria list for burned tree evaluation, but the very fact of the Redwood fire resistance and recovery ability does not seem to be considered or paramount in the current decisions being made on the Slopes of Mt Veeder. These wood cutters have $$ signs in their eyes, not the welfare neighborhood and collaboration with residents and property owners. It is simply a rape of our neighborhood.

I will point you two to the Redwood Trees in the City of Napa, especially on Franklin Steet between Pine and Laurel as an example of a neighborhood that has preserved their Redwoods and revier them, protecting them against any attempt by PGE or the City to cut them down where they interfer with the PGE easements. Just have a look at the wires passing through the limbs and branches of the trees. PGE and the Residents have made compromises to keep the trees: PGE has put up insulated wires as they pass through the trees and most of residents have put their Electrical Service connections underground, all to retain the trees in the neighborhood.

Not so on Mt Veeder. Residents have been staying up here, even if PG&E has not recovered power to their homes, staying just to protect the Redwoods and keeping the tree cutters off their's and others property. One resident is in touch with the lawyers who handled the PG&E disaster in San Bruno. Others are experiencing simply high handed logging in the guise of Right of Way protection. Nothing about this is collaborative.

The downed trees are hauled off on flatbed trailers, not logging trucks, the very trailers that transported Excavators to Mt Veeder, which they use to load the large logs. This loading and transport is not completed with logging equipment, so they are not passing any smell test in their efforts to reap the $$ from the Trees. And to add insult to injury, they are using the south end of Mt Veeder to transport their equipment and the recovered logs, all passing over the restricted culvert with a load limit of 12 tons, easily surpassing the load limit for that road section. If that stone culvert collapses and cuts off the south access to Mt Veeder Road, another burden will be placed on the Residents. Steve Lederer knows well about this culvert limits after protests by neighbors when Mayacamas Vineyards transported a 40 ton Tractor, all after the Road Dept gave the hauler permission for access delivery across the culvert: so why the limit and the road signs?? Is this just a Cover Your Ass moment that does not include concern for the Residents?

And Why Now? How come PGE has not tried to cut down these Redwoods in the past 30 years? Why, all of sudden is it imperative to do the cutting now, on trees that have maximum fire resistance and fire resilience and have not been a big bother or danger to the above ground power easements? Other trees are also cut down, Oaks, Madrone, Pine Fir, Laurel but none of these species are being transported out of the area for milling. Most have been cut into small sections and left by the roadside for disposal by local and county residents. Another Smell test.

This situation deserves investigation to make sure the $$ are not clouding the issues of Right of Way rights and resident property rights. You need to document just what is going on. Send some investigators from the DA's office and Sheriff Deputies up there to document the efforts of these tree cutters, PG&E and the Residents.

I do not want this situation to escalate any further. PG&E and their wood cutters are increasingly seen as extremely unwelcome predators. Do something If I was cutting down the trees in your front yards and along the streets as is happening on Mt Veeder, you would not be happy at all and have the same questions I have posed here in.
If assistance from the Napa County is weak and unresponsive, then any attempts by Public Works to manage the trees in their roadway Rights of Way will be imperiled.

Be swift.

Gary