June 24th 1999

By Lisa Norman

The Mendocino Beacon
June 24, 1999

People who have spent countless hours researching the forest practices of area timber companies have said the hypocrisy never ends. Having gained minor improvements in fish habitat conditions within a few timber harvest plans only to lose the remains of what is considered the last old growth in some watersheds has made some residents speak out.

A protest against logging of the last old growth redwoods in Greenwood Creek took place last Friday, said Mary Pjerrou, co-chair of the Greenwood Watershed Association. About 25 people gathered at the gate to celebrate the redwood forest with drums, horns, bells and other musical instruments, and breakfast food items.

The "Breakfast First! II," a sequel to the first one that took place in 1990 against Louisiana-Pacific, was in opposition to the Mendocino Redwood Co.'s timber harvest plan, THP 1-95-315, amendment 10.

MRC purchased about 120,000 acres of Louisiana-Pacific's North Coast holdings in June of last year; this area is divided among watersheds with roughly 30,000 acres in the Albion and Lower Navarro area, 40,000 acres in the Rockport area, and 50,000 acres from the Greenwood area the Garcia River.

Early this year, the company changed the commercial thinning of the original plan inherited from L-P to a group selection. According to the amended plan, the company intends to log 200- to 600-year-old redwood trees in 15 strip clearcuts down a steep slope in a Greenwood Creek watershed, said Pjerrou. L-P had prescribed a commercial thin of the area but hadn't logged it, she added.

MRC, instead, is high-grading 31 acres, said Pjerrou. The company has reduced the harvest area from 168 acres to 31, but is taking out the biggest trees, trees that were verified by Pjerrou's undisclosed source to be the last old growth in the area, she said.

Interviewed by telephone this week, MRC President Sandy Dean agreed that the treatment of the harvest was changed from commercial thin to group selection and that the company has reduced the acres operated on from 168 to 34.

Some of the targeted trees are 3 to 5 feet in diameter, said Pjerrou. Wildlife Biologist Alan Cooperrider has said that the diameter of the trees, more than the age of the tree, is critical habitat for wildlife species, she added.

It is clear that Mendocino Redwood Co. is not on a sustainable course, said Pjerrou. "What they are saying is not what they are doing."

Dean said that the company's old growth policy does not allow for unentered old growth stands to be harvested. Stands with significant concentrations of old growth will not be harvested, and individual old growth trees with wildlife value, meaning flat tops, big limbs, or cavities, will not be harvested, he said.

Aside from minor cosmetic improvements MRC has made in response to something L-P started, good stewardship of the land has not been seen overall, said Pjerrou. Road repair and other sediment-control measures to preserve Coho habitat, among others, are examples of the "minor improvements" that have been made. Logging plans that nurture the forest back to its foremost health have not been seen, she added.

Dean said 40 million board feet of conifer volume, redwood and Douglas Fir, is harvested per year. That amount is double the best or most feasible, said Pjerrou. Some residents have asked for a zero-cut.

The group selection prescription means that 80 percent of the acreage is untouched, said Dean. A commercial thin would have trees taken over the entire acreage, he added. "How is it high-grading if only 20 percent of the acres are being cut and we're leaving 80 percent?"

Pjerrou said there is also concern over decimated timberland being converted into vineyards as seen in the Coastal Forestlands' recent proposal to convert 10,000 acres of timberlands to vineyards in Sonoma and Mendocino counties between Annapolis and Mountain View Road.

The Coastal Forestlands' company has just half the board feet that MRC has, said Pjerrou. She added that the forestland is capable of a density of 100,000 board feet per acre and MRC's land currently averages about 7,000 to 8,000 board feet per acre. Dean said it's closer to 8,000 and 10,000.

Georgia-Pacific averages about 10,000 board feet per acre, Pjerrou added. Jackson Demonstration State Forest has about 40,000, added Dean.

Dean said that the company is taking the old growth policy a step further, stating that no harvesting of individual old growth trees 48 inches in diameter or more and 250 years or more in age will occur.

MRC has set such high standards when defining what it means by old growth that there is no limit to the devastation that can occur, said Pjerrou. "It's bogus, a tree must be 250 years old or more and be 48 inches in diameter to be considered old growth, plus the scattered residual old growth trees, which are all we have left, are to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis."

The company acquired about 140 timber harvest plans from L-P and the members of the public are monitoring those plans, to no avail, said Pjerrou. The county was promised a sustained yield plan by 1995 under former Forestry Director Wilson's administration, but none has been completed. The loop hole was no deadline was given, said Pjerrou.

A sustained yield plan, a master plan of harvest treatments for the company's entire holdings, divided by watersheds, has Greenwood Creek watershed set for even-age clearcutting over 30 percent of the land for 10 years. This plan is being implemented without approval, said Pjerrou. "It is too severe for any coastal watershed."

A revised and better plan is needed, she added. "It is the best timber management option, if the plan is a good one, which it is not in this case."

Other options include no stocking at all, a "desperation" mode for the company, said Pjerrou, or setting production rules or limits on clearcut and stocking stands with tress of a certain dimension.

Dean said that the sustained yield plan is not approved; CDF has accepted it for submission and it is technically in a "period of determination." The plan's approval, however, is not especially relevant, he added.

"We are operating at harvest levels much lower than what is contemplated by the SYP and will likely replace the SYP with another regulatory document," said Dean. The company's long-term plan, which has not been released yet, will replace the SYP, he said. "It will reflect a lower level of harvest and be a more understandable document."

No logging has occurred on the fully approved plan, said Dean. The

Greenwood Watershed Association sought to obtain a temporary restraining order on the plan. The 1 p.m. court hearing on the order was delayed Monday pending appointment of a judge. Later that day, Judge Frank Petersen heard arguments but was not willing to issue a temporary restraining order at the time. He said he would have a decision by Friday.

While Petersen considers the issue, he asked that harvesting not begin. Should he decide against the temporary restraining order, Petersen also requested that the Redwood Company give the plaintiffs five days time to appeal his order before proceeding on the harvest plan. It was agreed. Meanwhile, a vigil is being kept at the gate by local volunteers equipped with a cellular phone to report any logging activity.