December 7th 1998

Editorial
The Press Democrat
December 7, 1998

Chances the Mendocino Redwood Co. will be able to peaceably and responsibly log the 235,000 acres of timber it acquired earlier this year from Louisiana-Pacific Corp. slipped a few more notches down the probability scale last week.

A little more than a week ago North Coast anti-logging activists launched their nationwide campaign against the Gap clothing store which is owned by one of the partners in Mendocino Redwood and whose family has respectable environmental credentials.

And then last Tuesday Norman de Vall called on the untested timber firm to suspend all of its logging plans until the former L-P land can recover from intense logging. De Vall called the firm's pledge of long-term stewardship of the land a farce.

It would seem de Vall wants to convict Mendocino Redwood long before the jury comes in and in the face of confidence by the state Department of Forestry that Mendocino Redwood's plans meet local logging rules established just a few weeks ago. It's too bad. After a few years of acrimony among the timber industry, its workers, and environmentalists it would have been nice to try to build some middle ground that accommodates all interests. But that seems unlikely.