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http://www.sacbee.com:80/news/news/local08_20000315.html Sacramento Bee Published March 15, 2000 Protesters duel over logging plan By Nancy Vogel Bee Staff Writer In a classic California clash over forests, logging trucks convoyed in downtown Sacramento and nine environmentalists locked fingers and waited to be arrested at a state Board of Forestry meeting Tuesday. The sawmill workers and Earth First! members all protested, for different reasons, Gov. Gray Davis' proposed changes in the rules governing how trees are cut on private land in California. Slowed by environmentalists who interrupted the hearing and declared it a "farce," the board put off until today a vote on whether to accept all, part or none of the governor's proposal. The package is designed to make logging less hazardous to salmon and steelhead that spawn in California's forests. By restricting logging along streams, industry foresters say, the proposed rules could put 30 percent of private timberlands off-limits to harvest. A University of California, Berkeley, timber economist estimated that the rules could cost 2,000 to 4,000 logging and sawmill jobs, cut timber harvest levels in the state by 24 percent in the long-term and carry an overall economic impact of up to $430 million. At stake, environmentalists say, is the survival of coho salmon -- all California runs of the silvery fish were listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 1997 -- and steelhead, which are proposed for listing on the North Coast. The National Marine Fisheries Service, charged with protecting those fish, has called California's existing logging rules too weak. By destroying shade, generating erosion and blocking streams with road crossings, logging can make streams too warm, too silty or inaccessible to salmon. Davis' proposed changes to California's 27-year-old Forest Practice Act would restrict how many trees could be cut along major streams and steep slopes, and force landowners to install bigger culverts. State foresters drafted the rules based on a June 1999 report by a panel of independent scientists. But timber industry workers attacked the proposed changes Tuesday as unnecessary, too burdensome and lacking scientific justification. The rules allow logging along salmon streams so long as 85 percent of the canopy remains, but foresters said that, in effect, means no harvest at all because many streams don't naturally offer that much shade or removing even a few trees would violate the rule. The effect of the rules on California's biggest private landowner, Sierra Pacific Industries, would be to eliminate harvest of about 125 million board feet of timber a year, said SPI forester and former Board of Forestry member Tom Nelson. "That's a couple of sawmills," he told the board. "That means we buy the land, we pay the taxes, we take the risks and you control the productivity." At noon, roughly 300 timber industry supporters kicked off a rally downtown with blasts from two dozen logging trucks, some loaded with redwood logs and hung with signs saying, "From the most protected forests in the world." "If there's no logging, I don't have any business," said Carl Hass, who employs 25 people in a Rocklin business that buys sawdust and bark from mills and sells it to landscapers, poultry farms and others. He said the proposed rules make no sense to him. "It's almost like we're all interlopers on the Earth," Hass said. Environmentalists have dominated past Board of Forestry hearings on the Davis administration's proposal. But those who earn their living from the forest outnumbered environmentalists Tuesday. Some arrived from the farthest reaches of Northern California. More than 150 people signed up to address the board, but they were delayed for at least an hour when nine members of Earth First! suddenly moved to the front of the hearing room and joined hands with finger locks of woven straw. They stood in a line in front of board members, refused to move and were arrested. "We want to make a statement that this meeting and these rules are a joke on the people of California who are losing their forests and their salmon," said Naomi Wagner of Humboldt County, a spokeswoman for the group. Joe Blum of the National Marine Fisheries Service called the proposed amendments "a good first step" that lacks scope because it doesn't require watershed assessment -- a methodical, stream-by-stream documentation of salmon runs and the logging, urbanization, water diversions and other forces that could harm the fish. Davis has proposed including $7 million in the state's next budget to launch such studies. The Board of Forestry is composed of four Davis appointees and three others who were appointed by Republican Gov. Pete Wilson. There are two vacancies. NMFS biologists, who hold the authority to stop logging on land where listed salmon spawn, have become increasingly frustrated with the board's failure to overhaul timber harvest rules. In 1998, based on promises of quick fish protections from California, NMFS had agreed not to list steelhead on the North Coast. But last month, the agency reversed itself and proposed listing those steelhead. Environmentalists, too, are frustrated. On March 1 they sued the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, arguing that the agency's rules are so weak that when the state approves a landowner's timber harvest plan, it tacitly allows the killing of endangered fish. [sidebar:] Protecting the fish In an attempt to protect salmon and steelhead, Gov. Gray Davis has proposed changing the rules that private landowners must follow when cutting timber. Independent scientists say the existing rules do not adequately protect fish. The National Marine Fisheries Service, charged with restoring salmon and steelheads, has also called the proposed rules too lax. Highlights of the governor's proposal: 85 percent of forest canopy must be retained within 75 feet of salmon and steelhead streams, (current regulation is 50 percent). 10 biggest trees along a 330-foot stretch of stream must be retained. Ban use of heavy equipment within 50 feet of streams that flow only in the wet season, though trees may still be cut. Some suggestions of the National Marine Fisheries Service: 50-foot, no-logging buffers along streams that flow in the wet season. 180-foot, no-logging buggers on streams used by salmon and steelhead. Watershed analysis that leads to site-specific logging guidelines. Sources: California Board of Forestry, National Marine Fisheries Services
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