By Patric Hedlund, TME

The future of Tecuya Ridge and Cuddy Valley may be shaped by two opposite verdicts handed down by the same three-judge appeals panel last week.

The impact of the two rulings on February 4 by California’s Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals may be that forest thinning on the ridges of Cuddy Valley will proceed, while over a thousand acres of Tecuya Ridge may be spared commercial harvesting of large trees.

The decision in the Tecuya Ridge lawsuit came nearly three years after the Center for Biological Diversity, Los Padres ForestWatch, and John Muir Project first filed Los Padres ForestWatch et al. v. U.S. Forest Service; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That suit alleges that the United States Forest Service violated federal law by…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

A view of Cuddy Valley 

Cuddy Valley Project Area

Tecuya Ridge Project Area

In the Cuddy Valley stand due to be thinned, Chad Hanson, PhD, of the John Muir Project demonstrates the size of trees that the February 4 Appeals Court ruling will allow to be taken by logging contractors.

To see full stories with photos, please purchase a copy of the newspaper at many locations (click this link for a list) throughout the Mountain Communities.

Or, have your newspaper delivered via mail and include internet access. Just call 661-245-3794. Classified ads are FREE to paid subscribers! See front page at www.mountainenterprise.com for details.

The e-Edition is available now with full photos and stories at The Mountain Enterprise e-Edition. Select the 2022-0211 edition.

(subscriber login required)

This is part of the February 11, 2022 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you.