Men’s club stirs environmentalists

A bid for a logging permit by the super-secretive Bohemian Club is being criticized by environmentalists bent on saving the redwoods at the organization’s Bohemian Grove property along Sonoma County’s Russian River.

Reportedly boasting members such as Charles Schwab and Henry Kissinger, the elite all-men’s club is asking for a logging plan that would allow it to cut more than 1 million board-feet each year from the mature redwood forest. Opponents of the plan include various federal and state agencies, which are charged with protecting spotted owls and other wildlife.

Club officials claim they want the permit to reduce the grove’s fire risk. But several scientists told the San Francisco Chronicle that the move may actually increase the fire hazard along with harming the habitat.