October 8th 1998
October 8, 1998 Irresponsible acts Letter to the Editor Fort Bragg Advocate-News On Sept. 28, I represented the North Greenwood Community Association at a meeting in Greenwood/Elk sponsored by the Sierra Club, the Redwood Coast Watershed Alliance and the Kaisen Gulch group. Approximately 30 other persons, including representatives from local environmental groups, watershed associations, scientists and the California Dept. of Parks and Recreation were there to address concerns about the way in which the Mendocino Redwood Co. conducts its timber operations on the coast. We addressed Mr. John Fisher, representing the Fisher family (of Gap Inc.,) which owns most of the company, and Mr. Sandy Dean, President of the Mendocino Redwood Co. Their response to our concerns made it clear to many of us that the Mendocino Redwood Co. is environmentally irresponsible. The Mendocino Redwood Co. is rapidly filing and pursuing Timber Harvest Plans (THP's) which we consider hazardous both to the environment and to human health. The Navarro River watershed is the most heavily impacted watershed for sediment on the coast. It is listed for both sediment and temperature by the Environmental Protection Agency and its Coho are listed as "threatened." Yet the MRC plans include logging on steep slopes in wet weather, reactivation of old logging roads and building of new logging landings in riparian protection corridors, and the use of Garlon and Roundup sprays on old clear-cuts (e.g., THP 198-193 MEN (Camp Creek/572 acres), 1-98-219 MEN (Flynn Creek/222 acres) and 195-213 MEN (Upper Barton Gulch/Navarro River). Landowners with property near THP 1-95-213 MEN have recently been noticed by the Mendocino Redwood Co. of the intent to spray Garlon and Roundup on a steep northern slope of the watershed, in an area which includes a seasonal stream feeding into the Navarro River. Run off could enter the river just upstream from a deep pool where the children of Greenwood/Elk swim during the summer months. At the meeting in Greenwood/Elk we learned that both Garlon and Roundup are hazardous toxins. Roundup disturbs enzyme systems in plants and animals. It targets the liver. It breaks down into formaldehyde, a know carcinogen. Garlon has two components, 245T and 2,4D. The first is only one atom different from the infamous Agent Orange, and the second is a known carcinogen. Garlon remains in the soil for two years. We urge your readers to familiarize themselves with the actual terms of the THP's under which Mendocino Redwood Co. is operating, and then to write thir concerns to their political representatives and to the regulatory agencies responsible for the protection of both the forests and human health. The California Department of Forestry can be contacted through their FAX line at 576-2608. Hillary Adams, President North Greenwood Community Assn. Mendocino Redwood Company response to Dr. Adams