[Silverback John (Mendocino Bonobos) alerted us to this uniquely Californian controversy. What a shame that Governor Newsome allows this to happen in this great country. Federal troops need to be sent in immediately! SB SM]
https://www.sfgate.com/northcoast/article/mendocino-big-river-sauna-controversy-21100732.php
An aerial view of Big River, in Mendocino County, Calif. halbergman/Getty Images
By Matt LaFever,North Coast Contributing EditorOct 16, 2025
Roughly 150 miles north of San Francisco, Big River meets the Pacific Ocean just south of Mendocino, a coastal town famed for its Victorian architecture perched atop bluffs that plunge into the sea. Flowing more than 40 miles from its headwaters in the redwood-covered Coast Range, Big River contains the longest undeveloped estuary in Northern California. In this primordial waterway, coho and Chinook salmon swim, harbor seals bark, and river otters play.
Yet for the past month, the waterfront peace has been roiled by a dispute over a local business. In an established parking area not far from the river’s mouth, Paul Snowdy and Elika Freeman have operated a business since mid-September called MendoSauna, offering customers a rustic, wood-fired sweat lodge experience followed by an instant plunge into Big River’s cool waters.
In an emailed statement to SFGATE, Snowdy and Freeman described themselves as Mendocino Coast locals and environmentally conscious entrepreneurs who began their “mobile sauna in 2020 for ourselves to enjoy with friends and family.” Their vision, they wrote, was “to build an environmentally minded local sauna service at the beach,” adding that they “wanted to build it so that it blends in and wouldn’t distract from the natural beauty.”
However, longtime locals have pushed back against MendoSauna, alleging the saunas have polluted their beloved riverside with smoke from the wood stoves that heat their interiors. Resident John Lawrence told SFGATE that he has recreated at Big River for decades, but recently, “I was kind of taken aback when all of a sudden out of nowhere, I’m paddling up the river and the smoke hits me in the face.” He said the stoves’ smoke goes “right through where the seals congregate.”
The Big River Estuary is part of Mendocino Headlands State Park, a protected stretch of coastline managed by California State Parks. MendoSauna’s operation near the river was approved under a special-event permit meant to “evaluate public interest, environmental effects, and overall compatibility with the area,” State Parks spokesperson Adeline Yee told SFGATE.
Snowdy and Freeman told SFGATE that Wednesday, Oct. 15, was their “last day of operation at Big River for the foreseeable future.”
State Parks now has a public comment period open through Oct. 30 at 5 p.m. Yee said all input will help determine whether MendoSauna — or any similar business — should be allowed to operate on Big River Beach in the future.
Robert Jamgochian, a former biology teacher who has long fought for Big River’s ecological health, summed up the tension in Mendocino right now: “The community, I’ll tell you right now, is pretty fired up about this.”
Where there’s smoke, there’s backlash
In addition to being part of Mendocino Headlands State Park, the Big River Estuary is also a State Marine Conservation Area, one of dozens created across California to safeguard ocean wildlife and habitat. Established in 1999 as part of a statewide network of marine preserves, Big River remains one of the coast’s most biodiverse places — home to redwoods, bishop pine, pygmy cypress, northern spotted owls, bald eagles and brown pelicans.
Robert Jamgochian called the waterway “a very spectacular, extraordinary estuary with all kinds of sea life” where one can find “pipefish, sea otters, coho and steelhead, [and] large bird populations.”
His wife, Ann Jamgochian, described how the woodsmoke settles into the estuary’s still air, carried inland by the prevailing winds. “You can smell the smoke like a half a mile away because of the way the winds are blowing,” Ann Jamgochian said. “It just hurts your lungs.” She added that some locals “aren’t recreating on the beach on the days when the saunas are burning because they can’t breathe. They have to use their inhalers, and they don’t want to do that.”
Dennak Murphy, a member of the GrassRoots Institute, an environmental justice group on the North Coast, wrote to SFGATE that “the Mendocino community fought hard to prevent commercial development of the Mendocino headlands and Big River Beach and surrounding forests over many decades.”
Snowdy and Freeman do have some defenders, however. Mendocino Coast resident Lauren Waswo wrote to SFGATE that the business represents “a thoughtful, low-impact way to connect and experience the river.”
In an emailed statement to SFGATE, Snowdy and Freeman addressed residents’ environmental concerns, saying they’ve worked to minimize “environmental impacts” by “using a Kuuma sauna stove,” a model designed to reduce smoke output, as well as by “burning Madrone firewood,” which when properly cured “produces less smoke,” and by “using locally sourced and reclaimed wood.” Beyond operating their sauna business, they added, they “regularly pick up other people’s trash and help keep the area clean.”
Time-lapses sent to SFGATE by Snowdy and Freeman show their mobile saunas giving off only thin wisps of smoke, but photographs shared by concerned residents tell a different story, showing the units shrouded in haze.
‘There’s been no transparency’
For many locals, the problem isn’t just the smoke; it’s the process. Several said their frustration is aimed less at Snowdy and Freeman than at State Parks, the agency that approved the operation.
“It was after us discovering one morning, showing up at the beach with two of these saunas burning and little signs pointing down the beach saying ‘sauna, sauna, sauna,’ that we’re like, what’s going on?” wrote Ann Jamgochian. She said State Parks “did not publicly post that this was going to be a proposed concession anywhere.”
She added: “There’s been no transparency.”
In a statement, State Parks spokesperson Yee said MendoSauna is operating only as part of a short-term trial run, not a full concession. The sauna trailer, according to Yee, sits in the upland parking lot “adjacent to—but outside of—the mapped boundary of the Big River Estuary SMCA.” She described it as a “non-permanent structure on a trailer” that is meant to be easily removed once the trial ends.
Yee said that during the test period, State Parks staff have been monitoring smoke and coordinating with the Mendocino County Air Quality Management District to ensure the operation meets local standards. If a sauna were to become permanent, she added, it would require both Coastal Commission approval and an environmental review under CEQA.
Murphy, of the GrassRoots Institute, called the sauna trial more than a local dispute; he sees it as a warning sign. “The sauna operation is the foot in the door,” he wrote, arguing that “residents along the coast understands that private equity firms, corporations and other businesses would love to ‘monetize’ public assets along the northern coast.”
Murphy also questioned whether the project fits the mission of State Parks. “The California State Parks and Recreation has important priorities and mandates including equity and inclusion, meaning access to public state parks is for everyone, not just well-to-do tourists,” he wrote. “Private saunas on the beach would appear to be aimed at a particular demographic.”
“Resiliency and conservation are also important priorities for state parks as is climate change and carbon sequestration,” Murphy continued. “It is hard to imagine that portable wood fired saunas contribute to any of these priorities. In fact ‘wood burning saunas’ are a carbon emissions business.”
Waswo, meanwhile, sees the business as benign — even beneficial. She said MendoSauna offers “a safe, healthy, outdoor environment where we can gather, relax, and enjoy nature without freezing our asses off.” She pointed out that “there are already plenty of homes and businesses close enough to Big River using wood heat that the smoke could drift over, and no one is coming after them.” From her vantage point, “the pushback here feels less about actual environmental impact … and more about resistance to change.”
‘It’s the Instagram moment’
Across California, mobile saunas are suddenly everywhere. From floating wood-fired spas in Sausalito to pop-ups parked in Richmond and along Marin’s backroads, the Bay Area has embraced the Nordic ritual as part of a growing outdoor wellness movement. Many of these new saunas tout sustainability and community, inviting guests to sweat, plunge and socialize in natural settings.
On the Mendocino Coast, though, some locals see that trend as a warning. “Mobile saunas are now kind of the new thing,” said Robert Jamgochian. “It’s the Instagram moment — a gorgeous place, set up your sauna, snap your pictures, you’re on your way.” He fears that what’s unfolding at Big River is only the beginning. “Even if we shut down this concession,” he said, “it’s going to be a statewide issue.”
For now, Snowdy and Freeman’s permit has lapsed, so the saunas will go cold. It remains to be seen what State Parks will glean from public comment.
In the end, everyone says they’re fighting for the same thing: to protect Big River. The divide is about what that protection should look like. For some, that means keeping commerce off the sand. “We are not anti-business,” said Robert Jamgochian, “but this shouldn’t happen in a state park.”
Others say protecting Big River means supporting those trying to live and work beside it. Autumn Faber, a resident of the Mendocino Coast, said Snowdy and Freeman “are beloved members of the community” who have “worked diligently to source materials that will have low impact.” She added, “I’m exhausted and embarrassed by the lack of support that some members of the community show for young families trying to make it in this economy.”
North Coast Contributing Editor
Matt LaFever has reported on California’s North Coast in print and radio for nearly a decade. A Humboldt State grad and 20-year Emerald Triangle resident, he strives to document the wilderness, wildlife, and wild people who call this place their home. Reach him at matt.lafever@sfgate.com.