June 7th 2001

Letter to the Editor
San Francisco Chronicle Magazine
June 7, 2001

A letter published May 20th, stated that Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC) is harvesting old-growth redwood. In fact, MRC has developed comprehensive protection measures to prevent the harvesting of old growth trees. MRC lands contain a very small amount of unentered old growth stands (approximately 130 acres). These stands are preserved from harvest. MRC lands contain another 1250 acres of stands that have been previously harvested but contain 6-15 old growth trees per acre. The old growth trees in these stands will not be harvested, and the old growth characteristics of the stands will be protected. Finally, MRC lands contain an abundance of residual, scattered old growth trees (an estimated 25,000 to 50,000). These trees are preserved based on a policy that protects by age, size, function, and characteristics as follows:

  • Any redwood tree, 48" dbh and larger, established prior to 1800.
  • Any Douglas-fir tree, 36" dbh and larger, established prior to 1800.
  • Any tree established prior to 1800 (conifer or hardwood), regardless of diameter size, with a preponderance of species-specific old growth characteristics.
  • Any tree (conifer or hardwood) established before 1800, that cannot be replaced in size and ecological function within 80-130 years, regardless of diameter or presence of old growth characteristics. As far as we know, MRC is the only large industrial forestland owner in California to have such a comprehensive old growth protection policy. More about our old growth policy can be found on our web site (www.mrc.com).


The letter also states that, "Mendocino Redwood Company has been cited for numerous violations of the California Forest Practices Act." In fact, Mendocino Redwood Company has received no violations since its creation in 1998. On occasion, the loggers contracted to work on MRC timberlands have received violations. Our records show that, on our 235,000 acres of timberland, only five were issued to operators on our property last year. Our foresters are extremely diligent to watch for improper practices, to make sure that violations are prevented, and to fix any issues immediately.

One of MRC's goals is to operate with a high degree of environmental stewardship. We explain what this means to us on our web site (www.mrc.com). In an effort to make this goal credible, we actively pursued and in November 2000 were awarded third party certification of our land stewardship practices by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). This is a multi-step process of having an independent, third party assess and validate exemplary environmental practices in a forest that continues to be managed for harvesting timber. It is a monitoring system that ensures consumers, from the raw resource to the final product, items have been produced using sustainable, environmentally sensitive practices. We chose to pursue FSC certification because we, as well as many of the world's leading environmental organizations, believe this is the toughest standard available for management of forests on a commercial basis. This certification marks a starting point for the company as well as provides direction for our future management decisions. To learn more about FSC and the organizations that support them, please visit their web site (www.fscus.org). Our certification reports are posted on our web site (www.mrc.com).

Mendocino Redwood Company is very open about what we are doing on our land. We encourage curious and concerned folks to review the information on our web site. For people who have specific concerns about our operations, we provide tours of our forestland so we can discuss the concerns on site.

Sincerely,

Ellen Potter
Registered Professional Forester
Mendocino Redwood Company