Humboldt commission weighs permit to cut last old-growth redwood in Redway

A 252-foot-old-growth redwood standing on a Lower Redway parcel at Oakridge Drive and Briceland Road survived a June 19 vote, after Humboldt County’s Planning Commission denied a special permit to cut it. The hearing drew more than two dozen speakers. The tree was about 10 feet in diameter and between 350 and 370 years old.

The parcel belongs to Robert Scarlett, who obtained a CAL FIRE hazardous-tree exemption for about five old-growth trees. Four were removed before Humboldt County stepped in and said the last tree required a county special permit. County Planning Director John Ford later said staff initially believed CAL FIRE’s exemption controlled the site, but the county concluded it did have jurisdiction in the lower Redway Q Zone. That correction came only after the earlier removals were already complete.

The county’s Q Zone rules, created in 1996 to protect old-growth redwoods near the John B. DeWitt State Natural Reserve, bar removal of trees larger than 12 inches in diameter unless there is a clear threat to people or property, and a special permit is required in that case. The misunderstanding over how that rule overlapped with CAL FIRE authority was part of why the case escalated so quickly.

The report on the removals, first slated for the Board of Supervisors on June 2, was postponed until after the permit case was finished. An appeal could later limit what supervisors could discuss if they heard the report first. The Board is expected to review the episode later, alongside possible changes to Q Zone protections and future tree-removal review.

At the June 18 hearing, residents and activists criticized the county for allowing the first four trees to come down without a county permit. Cal FIRE has since opened an administrative investigation into the removal process. The permit denial leaves the remaining redwood standing for now.