Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC) recently lost a lawsuit brought against them on the old Enchanted Meadow plan. Now MRC once again wants to cut in the same area that was protected by the Albion Nation/Earth First! Uprising in 1992. This new plan encompasses one of the few unentered second-growth stands left on the Albion and is adjacent to the Enchanted Meadow Wetlands Sanctuary as well as the Raven's Call Wildlife Sanctuary.
Albion residents and other concerned citizens are demanding that the California Department of Forestry (CDF) deny approval of Timber Harvest Plan (THP) 1-01-033 until MRC develops a management plan for the entire Albion River watershedÑone that addresses the recovery of listed species, including Coho salmon, spotted owls and marbled murrelets, and non-listed species; that addresses how this damaged forest can be returned to health; and that properly includes the community in any decision making.
For more information, contact Linda Perkins at 937-0903, or Sal Eggleston at 937-0525, or the MEC.
MRC's tenth of 13 new logging plans in Greenwood Creek in two years' time, THP 1-00-357, proposes 77 acres of "alternative prescription" (90% clearcutting), cable yarding corridors (long skinny clearcuts) and road construction on very steep slopes directly above the main stem of Greenwood Creek. Greenwood is a fish-bearing creek, and the sole source of water for the town of Elk.
Access to this plan is via the Sky Ranch Estates fire and rescue dirt road system, where a community project worked for three years to restore fish habitat and water quality. Invoking a questionable 1954 easement, MRC intends to use the restoration project flatcar bridge, which was installed for erosion control and was never intended for heavy logging equipment. The project also installed three miles of water bars to reduce erosion from these roads into the creek. Logging operations inevitably cause surface erosion, and failure of the bridge and/or these roads will mean more dirt in the water, where Coho salmon and steelhead trout are struggling to survive.
MRC is claiming there are no Coho left in this creek, while failing to cite strong evidence to the contrary. Meanwhile, they are making sure that any remaining Coho choke to death on the cumulative impacts of their 13 logging plans. MRC has another 16 plans in adjacent Elk Creek, where Coho numbers have fallen from ten to zero over the last five years.
For more information, contact the Greenwood Watershed Association at 877-3405, www.elksoft.com/gwa; or the MEC.
THP 1-00-364, known as the Montgomery Woods THP, was recently reopened by CDF for public comment. The owner of the property, William DeRidderÑa well-known timber pirate who never met a standing tree he didn't want to cutÑhas filed an amendment to the original plan, which was approved by CDF over the objections of citizens. Concerns had also been expressed by California Parks Department representatives and state Department of Fish and Game staff.
The amendment requests that CDF re-include one acre that was originally taken out of the THP so DeRidder could file a "less than three acre conversion" along with the THP. The acre in question includes the biggest trees on the property, some more than 60 inches in diameter. These trees constitute the fringes of the redwood forest on the northwest corner of Montgomery Woods. They are critical habitat for wildlife, including the Northern Spotted Owl, of which there are several mating pair in the area. Also on this acre is a wet area which provides habitat for aquatic wildlife and plants.
Forest defenders have vowed to save these trees and are working on different alternatives, including purchasing the property. Folks can help by writing to CDF, talking to potential purchasers, or standing out on the road if logging should resume. For more information, call Ed Nieves at 937-0637, or the MEC.
The "Skunk Train" plan, THP 1-99-412, has been in limbo for months now. Judge Richard Henderson heard arguments from Friends of the Noyo Headwaters and Campbell Timber Management (also known as Hawthorne Timber Company) last January 19, but still has not issued a judgment.
This plan, which came with the deal when Campbell bought out Georgia Pacific Corporation's timberlands in our county three years ago, lies adjacent to eight miles of switchbacks on the highest portion of the Skunk Train route in the upper Noyo River watershed. The Noyo is home to one of the last runs of native Coho salmon in the state. It has already been seriously degraded, and the Coho can't handle any additional sediment that logging on the steep, unstable slopes would release.
Old growth redwoods would also be victims if this cut is allowed to proceed, and views that entice tourists to ride the Skunk Train would be despoiled.
Let's hope that Judge Henderson makes the right decision. If not, the case will be appealed, and if that were to fail, nonviolent activists are prepared to risk arrest.
Contact the MEC to stay informed.
Jackson State Demonstration Forest (JSDF) is 50,000 acres of mature redwood and Douglas fir forest situated between Fort Bragg and the village of Mendocino. It encompasses most of the Caspar Creek watershed and portions of the Noyo and Big River drainages. JSDF is administered by the CDF, the same agency that rubber stamps logging plans for the timber industry.
Since the late 1940s, CDF's mission at JSDF has been to log the forest as a demonstration of sustainable forest management. Although CDF has done much better than industrial foresters in preserving board feet of standing timber, it has consistently focused on cutting the largest remaining trees.
The nonprofit Campaign to Restore Jackson State Redwood Forest believes that it is time to stop all logging in JSDF (except some beneficial thinning), and set aside this last big tract of sizable trees for recreation and habitat restoration. The Campaign has sued CDF to halt all cutting in JSDF until the agency produces a new long term management plan. For about a year, CDF responded to public pressure and suspended logging in JSDF, but recently put two timber harvest plans up to bid.
To find out how you can help restore this publicly owned treasure and convert it to entirely benign usesÑand for information on hikes and bike rides in the forestÑcontact the Campaign to Restore Jackson State Redwood Forest: 964-5800; www.jacksonforest.com.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2001
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited