|
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/10/15 /MN4 6610.DTL ©1998 San Francisco Chronicle Page A19 Thursday, October 15, 1998 Pacific Lumber Faces Clear-Cutting Charge Contractor razed sensitive area along creek near Eureka Greg Lucas, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau Just weeks after receiving $242 million from the state in a deal to save several groves of ancient redwoods, Pacific Lumber is facing charges of clear-cutting trees in a protected zone along a sensitive streambed. The destruction along 500 feet of Freshwater Creek, just east of Eureka, took place over Labor Day weekend and prompted the state Department of Forestry to take legal action. Pacific Lumber, which has already been cited for 14 violations of state forestry laws this year, blamed a logging outfit it hired to harvest adjacent areas. Pacific Lumber President John Campbell said the company's own inspectors discovered the clear-cut and ordered the logging outfit to report it to the state. "There was no effort to hide this," Campbell said. "Procedurally, the company took all the right steps. Our compliance guy found the problem and reported it, and we notified the contractor." The logging outfit, Rounds Logging, will not have its contract with Pacific Lumber renewed, Campbell said. State forestry officials found, however, that Pacific Lumber "shares responsibility" for the violation. "We're going to file a citation (against Pacific Lumber)," said Ken Nielson, a deputy chief in the state Department of Forestry. "You're supposed to leave 50 percent of the shade along this watercourse. There wasn't any left." Rounds Logging was also cited for cutting down the trees and for allowing trees to fall into the stream. If found guilty of the violation, the company is guilty of a misdemeanor. Each violation carries a $1,000 fine, which is relatively small compared with the $50,000 to $100,000 worth of a mature redwood tree. Clear-cutting is prohibited under state law along the banks of streams and creeks. Depending on the slope of the stream bank, the no-clear-cut zones range from 50 feet to 100 feet on either side of the watercourse. If fish live in the stream, the zones are bigger. According to Department of Forestry documents, the area near Freshwater Creek was found last year to contain a small number of spotted owls -- one of the endangered species that inhabit the 190,000 acres of North Coast forest owned by Pacific Lumber. After finding the birds, Pacific Lumber scaled back its plans to clear-cut the area, instead deciding to leave 60 percent of the trees. This year the owls moved on, and Pacific Lumber opted to clear-cut. But the company did not amend the timber harvest plan that it submitted to the state. Nor did it mark the boundary of the protected creekside zone on the plan. Over the Labor Day weekend, nearly all the trees in the protected zone were felled. "This resulted in approximately 500 feet (of stream bank) with all but a few trees removed," according to a state report on the incident. Environmental activists, who have been fighting with Pacific Lumber for years, say the latest alleged violation is normal behavior for the company. "Breaking the law is business as usual for Pacific Lumber, but this incident is especially egregious," said Kevin Bundy, spokesman for the Environmental Protection Information Center. The trees were cut a week after the Legislature adjourned for the year. Its final act was to approve a deal using $480 million in state and federal money to preserve a grove of 3,500 ancient redwoods in the Headwaters Forest and an additional 5,000-plus acres of timberland that serves as home to endangered fish and birds. Signing of the deal ended months of often intense negotiations involving the White House, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Governor Pete Wilson, state legislators, environmentalists and Charles Hurwitz, the Texas billionaire who owns Pacific Lumber. During his ownership, the company has had a steady stream of violations of state forestry laws. Since 1996, Pacific Lumber has been cited for 272 violations on its lands -- 12 serious enough to warrant criminal charges, according to the Humboldt County district attorney's office. In 1992, the company logged in the Owl Creek grove of redwoods, one of the stands purchased in the Headwaters deal, without receiving state permits. Last year, the company pleaded guilty to logging too close to streams and improperly disposing of slash, the brush and limbs from felled trees. The company was placed on probation, a condition of which was that there be no more violations. At the end of 1997, the state revoked the company's timber license but returned it several days later. Shortly afterward, Campbell said he sent a letter to all company employees and to the various companies with which Pacific Lumber contracts, saying "violations and citations would not be tolerated, and people (should) be alert and vigilant." In mid-1998, the state filed charges against the company for more violations similar to the ones last year and for operating heavy machinery in the rain, which is illegal because it increases sediment in streams. The company was found guilty and fined the maximum amount: $13,000.
|
Return to Home