January 28th 1999

Mendocino Redwood Co. Reports Its Plans, Projects for the Year

By Lisa Norman
Mendocino Beacon
January 28, 1999

Two weeks ago, 19 coho and one chinook were found in the main fork of the Albion River by fisheries biologist Aaron Nadij. That was encouraging, said Nadij, who noted that the average weekly carcass count runs from 10 to 20. The higher the amount, the healthier the spawning level is for the fish, he said.

For local Albion resident Linda Perkins the total was discouraging.

"That stream used to be so packed, you'd step all over them," she said. One area fisherman noticed a decline of the fish beginning in the 1950s and the final decline happened in the late '60s, she said. Mendocino Redwood Co. President Sandy Dean said the company has been working on several fish restoration projects since it purchased the roughly 230,000 acres of Mendocino and Sonoma county land from Louisiana-Pacific last June.

In addition, the company has budgeted $3 million for road upgrades.

In-stream projects

A modest amount of MRC's $3 million road budget will go toward fish restoration projects, said Dean. "We're going to pursue as many projects as we can, and as much funding so we can make a bigger impact." Nadij's carcass survey in the Albion River involved counting the fish found, measuring their lengths, and taking a hole punch sample of tissue. The tissue sample is being used in a National Marine Fisheries Service DNA study that looks at how many wild species are coming back or cross breeding, said Dean.

The DNA study, started about a year ago and chartered by the Bodega Marine Lab, will use the survey information to develop a DNA database on coho salmon, he added.

Other projects that MRC is assisting with include one that targets the South Fork of the Garcia River. The company is working with Trout Unlimited, a national organization with an office in Oakland, to restore coho salmon to the Garcia.

Trout Unlimited successfully restored a population of coho to Lagunitas Creek in Marin County and chose the Garcia as the next site because of its high potential. The project was proposed during L-P ownership and before the close of their L-P's timber sale to MRC, MRC had agreed to take on the project with Trout Unlimited. Dean added that Point Arena resident Craig Bell was also instrumental in getting the project started.

The companies are waiting on additional funding to come through, said Dean. "We are hopeful that the South Fork of the Garcia will be a model for restoration on a big scale, and in a number of other watersheds." Sediment issues will be addressed in another project initiated by Bryan Thurmond of Point Arena and road expert Danny Hagans, said Dean. The Schooner Gulch project is ready to go and scheduled for spring, Dean added. Mendocino Redwood Co. is also working with the Mendocino Fisheries Program on two projects. One project targets bank stabilization, revegetation and sediment control in Big River. The other project is a stream assessment of the North Fork of the Navarro River. Both projects are awaiting further funding, said Dean.

Dean added that the company is working with California Conservation Corps on a project that includes stream assessment and restoration work along the Albion River.

With regards to the Elk area coho data released in November of last year, Dean said the data has been misunderstood. "It was only a fish distribution survey, not a population study," he said. Only 10 or fewer juvenile coho were found in 1995, in a surveyed period from 1994 to 1996, within a 150 square-mile distance from Greenwood Creek to Alder Creek, said Mary Pjerrou of the Greenwood Watershed Alliance.

Dean said the survey was not over the entire 150 square-mile area, but 19 specific sites were selected for counts. In addition there was not a single protocol used, data was just collected, and not all the land in the surveyed area belonged to MRC, he added. No fish restoration projects specific to the Elk area have been planned yet this year. A timber harvest plan (THP 445) approved in March of 1998 under L-P ownership and continued under MRC ownership will continue despite a lawsuit filed by Greenwood Creek Watershed Alliance in opposition to MRC reopening the public comment period on the related plan.

Litigation over this 600-acre plan in the Elk area, which includes 450 acres of scattered clear-cuts "in name not action," said Dean, was ended in November when a judge ruled that MRC and CDF, whose job it is to review the plans, should reopen the public comment period on a harvest plan if they so choose.

The National Marine Fisheries Service had issued a letter to MRC stating that the plan might endanger coho habitat. However, the service revised its comments in a subsequent letter after meeting with MRC in July and September and making a field visit in October.

Dean said the service clarified that they may not have understood what the terminology of "clear-cut" meant in the plan, and MRC had no intention of clear cutting in the traditional sense. The harvest units are scattered throughout the parcel, it's not one 400-acre cut in one area, added Dean.

Still, both Pjerrou and Perkins agreed that it is NMFS's job to issue guidelines to protect the fish and they have failed to do so.

On-ground projects

Dean said the company is working with Jerry Franklin and Dale Thornburg of Pacific Forest Trust. The group is highly regarded in the forestry field, and has been consulting MRC on forestry issues in general, offering creative ideas to preserve working timber forests, said Dean. MRC has replaced the term "clear-cuts" with "variable retention cuts." All new timber harvest plans for 1999 will use this new term which is more practical, said Dean.

The variable retention prescription for each harvest plan demonstrates a more thoughtful consideration of the land and its affect on the landscape, said Dean. The company will be applying the new policy, but the word clear-cut will still remain in use on the plan. "What happens on the ground is more important than what words say," said Dean.

The company has also contacted with the Forest Stewardship Council for advice on certification, said Dean. No decision or change in policy has yet been reported. MRC has budgeted $3 million for road upgrades in 1999. Last year the company began on a road in the Albion area that failed in February of last year. The slide occurred because, there were no timber operations in progress, said Dean.

Excess soil was removed from the failed road and deposited in a safe, flat area. To stabilize the road, jute was placed to cover the exposed earth that has slipped and the area was then seeded with grass. In addition, three months ago a catch basin was installed at the bottom of the 800-foot hill at a cost of $2,000.

Many other road projects are scheduled this year, with work beginning in the spring, said Dean. Among them is a rail car bridge to be installed in Norden Gulch of the South Fork of the Albion River. The new bridge will open up the stream in a way better suited for the fish than using a culvert, said Dean.

In 1998, 10 million board feet were harvested from the Albion area which was 25 percent of the company's annual harvest for the year. Dean, however, disagrees that the Albion area is being over-harvested. MRC operates at 60 percent of its annual growth rate, which is conservative, said Dean. The harvest in the Albion area was at or below the growth rate for the trees in that area, he added. The idea that the nearly 15,000 acres with an inventory of 20,000 board feet per acre, a total of 300 million board feet, would run out in four years is false, said Dean.

MRC's plans for road restoration also include out-sloping the roads so water drains off the hill with less road erosion. More stable roads, those that are rocked, as well as roads away from streams, are other upgrades that will be taking place this year, said Dean.

"It will be an on-going process for the next couple of years, and I think we're already making progress," he said. "Those that follow in four to five decades will then have better choices." Dean added that the company is not certain it will sell the land in 40 to 50 years, only that the 40- to 50-year time frame is a good planning horizon. Gap boycott Dean had very little to say about the recent Gap clothier protests in the Bay Area and the Global Exchange lawsuit against Gap for using sweatshop labor in production.

"Mendocino Redwood Co. only does business in Mendocino County," said Dean. "Gap and MRC are two totally unrelated businesses, with no legal relationship to each other, totally separate except that one family owns a piece of both." Dean added that MRC welcomes involvement from the community and if people are concerned about what the company is doing they should contact MRC here. The company has a Web site with updated information at www.mendocinoredwoodco.com.

Copyright 1999 Mendocino Beacon & Fort Bragg Advocate