The Sonoma County judge ruled Monday that California forestry officials violated the Environmental Quality Act when they approved the club's logging plan for the Bohemian Grove in 2009.

Jay Halcomb with the Redwood Chapter of the Sierra Club hails the decision.

"We were glad that the ruling went our way. We had argued that the Bohemian Club was attempting to over log the property and that's what the dispute is about and that they hadn't properly considered taking fewer trees from the property."

In his ruling, the judge questioned the state's decision to allow clear-cutting as part of the plan, which the Bohemian Club says is needed for fire safety.

Members of the 135-year-old club, which hosts an annual closed-door retreat, have included every Republican president in the past century and elite business and political leaders.