Gualala divided over fireworks

A quarter-acre rock 100 yards from shore, where thousands of seabirds nest, has become the front line in Gualala's war over an Independence Day fireworks celebration.

"It is the Fourth of July, we are celebrating our Independence Day like thousands of towns around the country," said Marshall Sayegh of the Gualala Festivals Committee. "I love fireworks and enjoy seeing our community come together. That is why we are doing it, to have fun and raise money for charity."

Critics, however, contend that the noise and bursts of light startle birds on Gualala Point Island a mile away into frenzied flight, some abandoning nests and eggs.

"If they could have seen what I saw or heard what I heard, they wouldn't be setting off the fireworks," said Linda Keir, a Sea Ranch resident. "It was not one bird or two birds; it was hundreds of birds."

Opponents took the issue to the California Coastal Commission, which decided this month that the Gualala committee needed a permit, which it couldn't get in time for this year's Fourth of July weekend.

"What we understand is there could be impacts," said Bob Merrill, a district manager in the commission's Eureka office. "People had been to the show last year and observed birds leaving nests. We also heard from the Department of Fish and Game, which is also concerned."

Keith Faulder of Ukiah, the festival's attorney, has written the commission challenging its ruling.

Fireworks shows are held without permits in Point Arena, Fort Bragg, Bodega Bay, San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Cruz and Monterey, Faulder said, so it appears that Gualala is unfairly being singled out.

"There is no evidence that the display in any way will adversely impact the Gualala community or Gualala environment," Faulder said.

Merrill said, however, the Coastal Commission requires permits on a case-by-case basis. It required permits for Sea World in San Diego and a small fireworks charity event last year in Monterey Bay.

In Gualala, the fireworks also could require closing a public easement, another reason cited by Merrill for requiring a permit.

Merrill suggested the organizers find a different location for the fireworks show.

Sayegh said the organizers hope to resolve the dispute quickly so the show can go on.

The debate has bitterly divided coastal residents, turning friends on each other and spurring threats of boycotts against some businesses that support the fireworks, said Jan Harris, executive director of the Redwood Coast Chamber of Commerce.

"It is amazing," Harris said. "It is like the blue states and the red states, it is so divided. People have stopped being friends with each other."

The fireworks display is planned for 9:15 p.m. July 6, the first day of a three-day Patriot Days celebration.

The three-day event is to feature the Foundation for Early America, a 12-man troupe from Southern California that will re-enact the Revolutionary War period in U.S. history.

Plans include costumed actors who will set up camp, stage a mock takeover of Gualala and fire muskets and cannon.

The event drew 3,000 people last year and raised $5,000 for the Gualala River Watershed Council, which is using the money to erect educational kiosks along the river.

"It was a very unifying event last year and very popular," Sayegh said.

Last year was the second year of the festival and historical re-enactment, but the first that fireworks were included.

The fireworks were staged by Boom Boom Productions of Hayfork, cost $12,000 and lasted 12 minutes. They were launched from a supermarket parking lot and lofted over the mouth of the Gualala River and the Pacific Ocean.

"I didn't think we would damage the environment, and we didn't," Harris said.

But those watching Gualala Point Island, which is 100 yards offshore of Sea Ranch, said there were pronounced effects.

Richard Kuehn, a retired physician who is pressing for the fireworks to be canceled, said people who were present told him the noise sent the nesting birds into flight, not returning for a day or more. It included two kinds of cormorants, black oyster catchers, Western gulls and pigeon guillemots.

"Seabirds only nest once, not like many other birds, like robins or swallows," Kuehn said. "Seabirds get one chance a year. This is the time they are doing it."

Opposing the fireworks show are the Madrone Audubon Society, Redwood Coast Wildlife Supporters, Friends of the Gualala River and the Sea Ranch stewards group that monitors the island, Keir said.

The offshore rocks are part of the California Coastal National Monument program and are protected by the federal Bureau of Land Management.

Jeff Fontana, a spokesman in the bureau's Susanville office, said the bureau hasn't taken sides in the controversy, but will monitor the birds' activities if the fireworks are shot off this year.

You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@press

democrat.com.

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INDEPENDENCE DAY FIGHT

Critics of Gualala's fireworks display say the noise and bursts of light cause birds on Gualala Point Island to abandon nests and eggs.

The issue was taken to the California Coastal Commission, which is now requiring the Gualala Festivals Committee to have a permit for the display, which the committee couldn't get in time.