During the week of February 5th through 9th, the Mattole Forest Defenders defended another Mattole plan along Rattlesnake creek. THP 309 is in the lower north fork of the Mattole, about 12 miles from the Mattole Free State blockade and Long Ridge Area. Mattole Forest Defenders confronted Maxxam/Palco-hired Columbia logging crews three days in one week, halting logging until almost noon each of those days. Four activists were arrested over the week while shadowing timber fallers as they attempted to cut trees. THP 309 is 63 acres in size and calls for clearcutting and selection of second-growth douglas fir forest and 15 acres of old-growth douglas fir. Rattlesnake Creek is directly adjacent to Humboldt Redwoods State Park and logging crews parked within the state park to hike to the units which in some cases are only 200ft from the county road. THP 309 was opposed by a number of community groups for its lack of proper cumulative impact analysis on the effects on late successional forest and threatened Mattole fisheries. No watershed analysis was conducted by Maxxam in the Mattole before THP 309 and four other THPs in North Fork of the Mattole were approved. It's another example of clearcutting in unstable areas and targeting pockets of old-growth left on Maxxam holdings.