This project is my research endeavor to find and document information about the G-O Road.
The G-O Road is in Northern California and was planned and built by the United States Forest Service starting in the 1950's and into the '80s. G-O Road is short for the Gasquet to Orleans Road as it was supposed to connect the towns of Gasquet, CA & Orleans, CA. To complete the project, the Forest Service needed to upgrade 49 miles of previously unpaved roadway. Starting at either end, the completed road was supposed to meet in the middle. However, a six mile segment of the road was never completed. This segment would have run through or near several American Indian cultural and religious sites in the high country of the Six Rivers Nation Forest. These sites were and are used for certain rituals that are an integral part of the Yurok, Karok and Tolowa Indian culture. In addition the completion of the project would have adversely effected the fish runs of the adjoining Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. Several groups led legal challenges to block the completion of the last 6 mile segment of the road. These groups included the Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association, The State of California through the Native American Heritage Commission, The Sierra Club as well as other conservation and environmental groups.
In the 1980's The U.S. District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals sided with the Indian Cemetery Protective Assn. and blocked the completion of the road. The case was finally decided in 1988 by the U.S. Supreme Court who overturned the lower courts ruling and sided with The Forest Service. By that time Ronald Reagan had signed the California Wilderness Act of 1984. While this act did not prevent the completion of the road, it prohibited commercial activities like mining and logging in a significant portion of the Six Rivers National Forest including the high country. This essentially eliminated the need for the road and the Forest Service abandoned the project.
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