On Monday, August 10, 1998, at a First Review of one of the three currently disputed Austin Creek THPs, the plan was rejected for filing by CDF. The plan proposed to log 187 acres of Kohute Creek, a Class I tributary of Austin Creek, itself a Class I tributary of the Russian River. At that meeting concerned citizens, RRRRAUL, and the Austin Creek Alliance presented strong objections to the plan and much evidence documenting the plan's unsuitability; some of these objections became CDF's grounds for dismissal of the plan.
On Monday, August 24, 1998, a CDF official announced that a Marbled Murrelet study would be conducted on the old-growth portions of Timber Harvest Plan 1-98-218 SON, one of the three currently contentious Austin Creek THPs. The site of the proposed logging operations is only five miles from the Pacific coast and appears to contain prime nesting habitat for the endangered sea-bird. The study is expected to take two, possibly three, years to complete. While the study is in process these old-growth areas (including the Jack London Grove), will be protected from any logging operations by a buffer zone. Members of the Austin Creek Alliance and of Russian River Residents Against Unsafe Logging had alerted CDF to the possibility of the reclusive bird's presence in the area.
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