The Greenwood Watershed Association lawsuit involves three timber harvest plans. This case is still pending before the Superior Court in Mendocino County which has issued a preliminary injunction. The long-term viability and quality of the water supply for the town of Elk is in serious jeopardy, and both the stream and offshore fishery resource have been adversely affected by the incremental and devastating effect of repeated logging. It is also clear that CDF does not listen to the concerns of the public, and chooses instead to categorically endorse the opinions of the registered professional forester (RPF).
There are two timber harvest plans which CDF recently denied, THP 126 and THP 280. Both of these plans would have had a terrible impact upon the drainage had they gone forward. THP 126 is in Anderson Creek drainage. It was originally submitted as THP 046, and, when recommended for denial, it was resubmitted as THP 126. A hydrologic analysis was conducted considering the steep terrain, high annual rainfall, persistent soil and stream channel erosion problems due to previous logging, and the proposal for road building and timber harvesting, and any other operations that could result in significant upland soil and stream channel erosion and excessive stream turbidity. There were obvious serious irreversible soil degradation and site class depletion problems and THP 126 was denied by CDF. The denial was not appealed by LP. The day after the November 1990 election, the plan was resubmitted and is currently being reviewed by CDF.
THP 280 was denied by CDF and appealed by the timber plan submitter LP to the Board of Forestry. It is located on Deer Creek on the Navarro River. The Board of Forestry upheld the denial by CDF on technical grounds only, and asked for new information. This THP is expected to be resubmitted.
There has been much written about the condition of the Big River Watershed and the estuary. The bottom line is that it is in a state of significant decline. One drainage in the Big River Watershed System is Daugherty Creek, a major tributary to the South Fork of Big River. There was litigation over a harvest plan approved by CDF in 1988. CDF's decision of approval was reversed by the Superior Court. Over 50% of the watershed has been harvested in the past ten years, with over 90% of the "silvicultural method" being clearcut or overstory removal, with the Soil Conservation Service rating hazard over a majority of the timberland as severe under bare soil conditions.
The Albion River and Salmon Creek Watersheds are drainages that have been heavily impacted by logging. In the Railroad Gulch drainage of the Albion River, over 85% of the area has been impacted from logging since 1977. CDF estimates that this rate of harvest approximates that of the entire Albion drainage. The approval of THP 122 is now in litigation because of the conditions of the watershed and the failure by CDF to once again evaluate cumulative impacts. Two harvest plans have recently been approved in the Salmon Creek watershed, and are in litigation (THP's 1-90-567 and 1-90-578). The watershed has been subjected to repeated harvest entries such that almost 100% of the area has been under harvest in the past ten years.
The Schooner Gulch total watershed area is approximately 3,050 acres, of which some 2,150 acres are in various states of recovery following timber harvest activities during the past 20 years. A proposed harvest of 610 acres will add dramatically to this devastation, and bring the total harvested acres to over 90% of the watershed.
The Redwood Coast Watersheds Alliance, Inc. is a public interest non-profit tax-deductible corporation that offers support to watershed groups within the Redwood Coast Bioregion. This bioregion is a geomorphic unit of three major watershed regions located in the western areas of Humboldt, Mendocino and Sonoma counties. Two regions of the Eel and Russian Rivers embrace the third region, a portion of the North Coastal River System. We have an information list of contacts for watershed groups currently organized and working together within this Redwood Coast Bioregion. If you wish to contact a watershed group or become active in protecting your watershed, please contact Bill Johnson 468-1253 or Betty Ball at the Mendocino Environmental Center, 468-1660. We encourage your participation. And please continue to support your local watershed association. They are a vital link in our new world order.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2004
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