Within the past two years, the three large timber corporations that dominated logging in Mendocino County for decades-Louisiana Pacific (LP), Georgia Pacific (GP) and Coastal Forestlands (CFL)-all sold off their holdings in the County.
In mid-1998, LP sold its 231,000 acres of mostly cutover timberlands to Mendocino Redwood Company, an investment of the Fisher family of the Gap clothing empire. To get a sense of the damage that LP did before they bailed out, unlogged old growth redwood forests typically contain 100,000 or more board feet per acre (bf/acre) of standing timber, and well managed industrial forests contain about 40,000 bf/acre. The timberlands that MRC bought from LP are estimated at a pathetic 8,000 bf/acre.
Late last year, GP sold its 194,000 acres to The Hawthorn Group, which is part of The Campbell Group, which is owned by United Assets Management (you get the idea). The timber inventory of this ownership is about 10,000 bf/acre. And in July of 1998, CTL (94,000 acres) sold out to Pioneer Resources, which was purchased a few months later by Strategic Timber Trust. These lands are in the worst shape of all, with only about 4,000 bf/acre of timber remaining.
Together, these three ownerships comprise almost all of the industrial forestland in our county. Given their sorry state, they should be left alone to heal, or subjected to only very light selective cuts. However, in their short tenures, the new owners have made it clear that they have no such intentions. Instead, they are hellbent on liquidating the last sizable trees on the lands they control, while converting over to tree farming "pecker poles" and to real estate speculation.
Mendocino Redwood Company hit the ground running with a campaign to sell itself as a new kind of timber corporation, dedicated to "stewardship" and sustained yield forestry. Unfortunately, the company's track record tells a different story.
MRC has abandoned the Sustained Yield Plan drawn up by their predecessor (which LP never implemented), and switched over to an "Option A" loophole that calls for cutting 40,000,000 board feet of timber per year--twice what independent observers say is sustainable. Last year MRC filed logging plans on approximately 7,000 acres of timber, a one-third increase over LP in its final years.
Some good news is a significant victory in a longstanding lawsuit brought by Redwood Coast Watershed Alliance, involving three MRC timber harvest plans (the two Enchanted Meadow plans in the Albion and another plan in Greenwood Creek). These plans are now history, and Judge Vincent Lechowick even acknowledged the significance of cumulative impacts caused by repeated logging within watersheds--a very important legal precedent. In the wake of this victory, MRC withdrew one of their most flagrant plans, THP 1-97-445, which the company had succeeded in separating from the above lawsuit. MRC also yielded to public concerns and spared some old growth Douglass fir that were marked for cutting on Cliff Ridge.
These victories notwithstanding, the main thrust of MRC's forest practices remain the same. The company is continuing to log far in excess of the rate required for forest recovery, is continuing to employ clearcutting (and virtual clearcutting methods with labels like "variable retention"), is continuing to cut old growth, and is continuing to spray the herbicide Garlon.
An example of a "disaster" logging plan that MRC refuses to let go of is the Kaisen Gulch THP 1-97-380 in the Albion. This plan involves the cutting of old growth, road building on steep and unstable slopes (with several slides), and logging directly above one of the few remaining populations of native Coho salmon. A tree sit in this plan was taken down by MRC security last year, but now another one is up and occupied!
Whereas MRC officials fall all over themselves trying to look good, the Hawthorn people don't seem to care what anyone thinks. If anything, they are even more cavalier than their GP predecessors.
In 1987, GP entered into agreements with County governments to refrain from clearcutting and create a Scenic Corridor along the right of way of California Western Railroad. Since the "Skunk Train" is one of the County's main tourist attractions, this seemed as much an act of enlightened self interest as one of goodwill. GP broke this agreement when they decided to sell their timberlands, and filed Timber Harvest Plan 1-99-412 along eight miles of switchbacks in the upper Noyo River watershed.
There are many problems with this plan, including clearcutting, logging old growth trees (which have become so rare in our county), cutting on steep, unstable slopes, further degradation of the Noyo River and its dwindling populations of Coho salmon and steelhead trout, lack of an endangered plant survey, and the possibility of destroying Native American artifacts.
Of utmost concern, however, is the precedent that would be set by voiding a Scenic Corridor agreement (undemanding as this one is; it actually permits cutting 50% of the trees bordering the railway). The section of track within the THP is near the summit of the line and affords breathtaking views which would be despoiled by logging. The California Western Railroad is the only mass transit system in the world that passes through an ancient forest.
Despite appeals by the County Forest Advisory Council, the County Board of Supervisors, the Willits City Council, the Mayor of Fort Bragg, numerous environmental organizations and many concerned citizens, Hawthorn seems determined to carry out this logging plan. We can only hope that as this THP proceeds through the approval process, CDF (California Department of Forestry) will see fit to deny it. CDF rejected the plan on first review, then demanded a long list of changes during the second, several of which Hawthorn seems to be balking at making. Both the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and the National Marine Fisheries Service objected to the plan.
If CDF does give final approval to THP 412 (as they do with virtually every timber harvest plan that industry puts before them, no mater how outrageous), Hawthorn Group can be assured that citizens will respond with nonviolent direct action. This will be in full view of all the tourists who ride the Skunk Train to enjoy our county's scenic wonders, and will no doubt grab worldwide media attention. Does Hawthorn really want this to happen?
The third large timber company that recently changed names, Coastal Forest Lands, is in such disarray that its principals aren't sure of their identity (they're vacillating between "Pioneer Resources" and "Strategic Timber Trust"). Whatever its name, the ownership is in three chunks--the 59,000 acre Longview Tract east of Point Arena, the 20,000 acre Willits Woods west of Willits, and 15,000 acres in the Big River watershed.
The Longview Tract achieved notoriety a few months ago when the new owners announced that the old ones intend to "buy back" 10,000 acres and convert them to vineyards, nearly doubling the acreage in our county planted to grapes.. This triggered an outcry that is still reverberating, from forest preservationists to neighboring landowners to the Board of Supervisors.
The most feared scenario is one that is already playing out in Sonoma County-forestlands are cut to death and converted to vineyards, then vineyards are uprooted and converted to urban sprawl. The mechanism that can actualize forest-to-vineyard conversions is the same "Option A" loophole to state-mandated Sustained Yield Plans that timber corporations are utilizing to continue their forest liquidation programs without accountability or oversight.
Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) is 50,000 acres of publicly owned timberland lying east of the hamlet of Caspar. JDSF is administered by the California Department of Forestry, the same CDF that approves Timber Harvest Plans and is supposed to make sure that industrial forestry corporations manage their public trust lands for "sustained production of high quality forest products."
JDSF is a "working forest," meaning that it is continually being logged. Its mission is to serve as a model for how timber companies can best manage their holdings, and in one way, at least, it does a passable job. At somewhat over 40,000 bf/acre, Jackson Forest keeps its inventory of standing timber at an acceptable level for an industrial forest.
What JDSF doesn't model consistently is environmentally friendly and economically viable forest practices. Rather, it showcases the many varieties of clearcutting and "even-age" tree farming, and is cutting the last old growth trees under its stewardship.
JDSF is so allied to industrial forestry that it too has abandoned its Sustained Yield Plan in favor of the "Option A" loophole. Hopefully, it is easier for we the people to influence JDSF's practices than those of the big timber corporations. JDSF will be holding an informational "Technical Session" on the new SDSF Management Plan at the Ukiah Conference Center on Thursday, March 30. This will be followed by public input "Scoping Session" on Tuesday, April 11 in Ukiah; Wednesday, April 12 in Fort Bragg; and Thursday, April 13 in Sacramento. Phone JDSF at (707) 964-5674 to make reservations to attend the Technical Session (and ask them to move it to the Coast where most of the concerned public lives), and to get more information on the Scoping Sessions.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2000
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