417 - USA Tree News

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In this issue:

 

PNW-USA

 

Index:

 

--Pacific Northwest: 1) Yet another industry motivated review of

Marbled Murrelet-based logging restrictions

 

--Washington: 2) Chance for protection for wild lands of Colville NF,

3) Elect Goldmark for Lands Commissioner, 4) Their logging W. Lake and

Snag Lake Campgrounds,

 

--Oregon: 5) Wyden on last of county timber payments, 6) BARK Growls a

warning regarding FSC for public lands, 7) Highland Fling Timber Sale,

8) A cohesive voice of quiet recreation and conservation, 9) Stop the

LNG in Coos Bay update! 10) Climbing & measuring the biggest trees,

11) More helicopters put logs in streams, 12) The lump of coal that is

the WOPR,

 

--California: 13) Mike Jani and the end of clearcutting, 14) UCSC

Treesitters' time is running out, 15) Private litigants and courts

have played a significant role in regulation of timber harvesting, 16)

Logging Snags when there's nothing left of value to cut means you have

to bend the rules, 17) Reflections on forestry sea-change amid the

ruins of the North Coast, 18) More On Big Creek Lumber losing its last

battle to destroy a cities water supply, 19) Jenner Headlands saved!

20) Future of forest activism on the North Coast, 21) Teak buying

replaces Redwood buying and that somehow makes harvesting downed old

growth redwood logs eco-conscious? 22) Yosemite & effects of Climate

change,

 

--Montana: 23) GAO gets ready to explain why we must nullify Rey's

Plum sub-division creek scam

 

--New York: 24) RAN wastes time while our last Ancient forests vanish

faster and faster

 

--USA: 25) History of Conservation, 26) Congress unable to act on more

than 150 public lands, water and resources bills, 27) Dumb hunters

fall out of trees and die in record numbers,

 

Articles:

 

Pacific Northwest:

 

1) The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) agreed last week to review

the protected status of the marbled murrelet, a sea bird that nests in

the coastal forests of the Pacific Northwest. The move comes in

response to a timber industry-led petition claiming that the bird does

not meet key provisions of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA).

But opponents cry foul, arguing that the industry petition hinges on a

flawed analysis. What's more, other, more recent studies show that the

population is in rapid decline, some scientists say, and any change to

its status could be disastrous. The fate of the small sea bird could

have big implications for old-growth forests. To protect the marbled

murrelet and also the spotted owl, whose habitat overlaps, up to

89,000 hectares of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest are

off-limits to logging. Delisting the marbled murrelet could remove

that barrier. The controversy hinges on whether the birds on the U.S.

side of the border are a " distinct " segment of the broader population

of marbled murrelets that stretches across the northwestern part of

the continental United States and into British Columbia. Yes, said FWS

when it first listed the populations in California, Oregon, and

Washington as threatened on 1 October 1992. The ESA mandates that FWS

conduct updates on listed species every 5 years. The final version of

a 2004 FWS update came to the opposite conclusion about the murrelets'

distinctness, saying that the populations are not genetically

distinct, and that all were protected by regulations on both sides of

the border. To Ann Forest Burns, vice president of the American Forest

Resource Council (AFRC) office in Portland, the 2004 study means

murrelets in California, Oregon, and Washington should be delisted. In

its petition, AFRC is now calling on the service to act on its

previous findings. " We're trying to get some logic and transparency

involved here, " Burns says. Not so fast, says Steven Beissinger, a

conservation biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who

surveyed the marbled murrelet from 1995 to 2005. He says that even

with the existing protections, the birds are suffering from " a bit of

a triple whammy " : lost habitat from logging, lost food resources, and

failed nests due to predation. Central California populations have

declined by as much as 70% in the past 2 years. Meanwhile, a U.S.

Geological Survey report released in 2007 concluded that certain

segments of the murrelet populations in central California and Alaska

are genetically distinct from the larger group, and populations across

the range are plummeting. FWS has 1 year to reach its much-anticipated

decision. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/322/5899/177a/F1

 

Washington:

 

2) This next month could offer the best chance in almost 25 years to

secure added protection for the wild lands of the Colville National

Forest. These amazing forests are home to some of the state's best

wilderness trails in the Kettle Range,Sullivan Lake area, and Okanogan

Highlands. They provide critical habitat for rare wildlife, including

grizzly bears, wolves, lynx, wolverine, and the only remaining

mountain caribou in the lower 48 states. For the first time ever, as

part of its forest plan revision the Colville National Forest is

asking the public for input on which of 21 roadless areas

(encompassing more than 230,000 acres) it should recommend to Congress

for wilderness designation. Your voice can make a difference in which

and how many of these undeveloped wild lands ultimately receive an

agency recommendation for wilderness designation. Currently, just 3%

of the 1.1 million-acre Colville National Forest is formally protected

as wilderness. Wilderness recommendations for the remaining wild areas

provide a needed balance to a landscape that already sees activities

including timber, mining, and motorized recreation. Please, today,

send a quick email supporting roadless areas for wilderness protection

on the Colville National Forest. Write your letter by October 15 and,

as part of our letter-writing contest, be eligible to win a great

prize! Or send your letter directly to: Forest Supervisor Rick Brazell

Colville and Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forests Plan Revision Team

1240 Second Avenue South, Okanogan, WA 98840 Email:

r6_ewzplanrevision Experience the Colville's roadless areas,

including a beautiful online slideshow. Attend a letter-writing party

in Spokane, Bellingham, or Seattle on October 15 and watch the

presidential debate!

http://www.conservationnw.org/columbiahighlands/colville-roadless-areas

 

 

3) Okanogan rancher and scientist Peter Goldmark offers a rare

opportunity to bring a fresh, hands-on perspective to land management

that represents improvement, even over the capable Sutherland. In a

close call, our nod goes to Goldmark. Goldmark's background seems

tailor-made for this office. He's been a rancher and wheat breeder for

years -- pertinent because the Department of Natural Resources, which

the lands commissioner leads, leases many acres of state trust lands

for farming. Goldmark, who holds a doctorate in molecular biology,

knows farming intimately. He also served a short stint as the state's

agriculture secretary in the 1990s, so he's had experience leading an

agency. Goldmark, a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for Congress two

years ago, also served on the Washington State University board of

regents for a decade, and is familiar with cutting-edge agricultural

research there. He's an enthusiastic promoter of renewable energy, and

says that under his leadership the department would be more aggressive

in using state lands to generate wind and geothermal power. Goldmark's

charge that Sutherland, a Republican, is too beholden to timber

companies and other corporate interests who have contributed to his

campaign doesn't wash with us because Sutherland has demonstrated a

willingness and ability to be even-handed in land-use decisions. Our

reason for endorsing Goldmark is the perspective he'd bring to the

department -- a practical, conservationist approach that aims to

maximize sustainability and state revenue, and to break new ground in

clean energy production and the protection of lowland areas from

questionable logging practices.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20081012/OPINION01/710129924

 

4) OLYMPIA – Western Lake and Snag Lake Campgrounds are closed to

protect public safety during salvage logging operations. The C-Line,

C-2600, and C-4000 roads are closed to public access until further

notice. These campgrounds are popular with hunters all over the state.

With the number of logging operations currently scheduled, it is

unlikely that they will reopen before the end of hunting season.

Caring for your natural resources. . . now and forever DNR manages

more than 5.6 million acres of state-owned forest, range, commercial,

agricultural and aquatic lands. More than half of these lands are held

in trust and produce income to support public schools, universities,

prisons, and other state institutions. Lands managed by DNR provide

other public benefits as well, including outdoor recreation, fish and

wildlife habitat, and clean and abundant water. Along with these other

roles, the department regulates surface mining reclamation and forest

debris burning, administers the state Forest Practices rules on

private and state-owned forest lands, and provides wildfire protection

for 12.7 million acres of tribal, private, and state-owned forests.

DNR offers technical assistance and education on a range of subjects,

including forest stewardship, mining, geologic hazards, and rare plant

species and ecosystems. http://media-newswire.com/release_1075913.html

 

Oregon:

 

5) The bill passed the House last Friday and was signed by President

Bush that same day. The package includes some $3.3 billion in federal

payments, a subsidy of sorts for lost logging revenue in rural areas.

Oregon's share will include roughly $800 million split over the next

four years, reducing slightly each year. $228 million will be injected

into Oregon county coffers next year. " [senate Majority Leader] Harry

Reid called me up early last week and asked me what I wanted to do

now. I said I was going to vote no on the bailout legislation, but I

wanted [the county payments portion] in that bill because I promised

it to the people of Oregon that we were going to attach it to every

single bill moving through, " said Wyden. Wyden said the county

payments will last another four years and that the recent

authorization is most likely the last. Now, we have to work assuming

that we aren't going to get this money again, no ifs, no buts, no

ambiguity, we have to assume that who ever represents us in Congress

the next four years will not be able to do this again. " Wyden said

that he would like to see a forest thinning program " off the ground "

as a means of replacing federal payments with timber revenue. " There

are millions of acres in our state of overstocked second growth

forest. We ought to go in and thin them out. There is merchantable

timber that we can get to mill and put people to work. "

http://www.currycountyreporter.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=4017

 

6) This week, Bark represented thousands of citizens concerned about

the future of Mt. Hood National Forest in a meeting about the idea of

our national forests getting the green seal-of-approval for their

logging practices. The " certification " of lumber and other wood

products is a market-based incentive for private timberland owners to

improve their logging practices and obtain a higher return for their

product while having a lesser impact on the environment. A recent

study tested this concept on national forests, including Mt. Hood

National Forest, and found that the Forest Service would undoubtedly

fail the test. But for the sake of discussion, let us imagine a

scenario where the Forest Service had the law enforcement needed to

keep off-highway vehicles out of the forest, where it has removed

thousands of miles of crumbling roads that are currently putting our

watersheds at risk, and it has stopped the spread of invasive plants

and secured enough funding to plan for world-class recreation without

impacting the integral ecosystems we depend on for clean air and

drinking water. In this future world, logging our national forests may

be able to attain the standards of a market-based certification stamp,

such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). But why isn't the

public's desire for clean water and outstanding recreation

incentive-enough for the Forest Service to want to achieve this future

for our national forests? And once we get there, do we want the reward

to be more logging, which is what got us in this mess to begin with?

Certification bodies such as FSC have had huge influence on

environmentally sustainable logging on private lands, and we are

encouraged to see such a respected organization giving the Forest

Service reason to take stock of where decades of mismanagement has led

us. However, is the Forest Service acting in the public's interest, or

just finding a new way to justify old practices? Click here to find

out how to comment and read more about Bark's concerns.

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2 & c=dcydSy9lJngZ%2FZuEzN1GQhx\

kDfWFtlEk

- Bark

 

7) This Sunday, October 12, 9am-5pm Highland Fling Timber Sale in

Clackamas River watershed - Just outside of Estacada, the Bureau of

Land Management (BLM) is proposing to log what remains of our public

forests. Neighbors in the area have already successfully fought off

the chainsaw before and have organized once again to be sure their

forests remain intact, providing rare habitat in the area, as well as

hiking, horseriding and biking trails to the community. To explore

this forest for yourself, and join a rising tide of opposition to the

proposed Highland Fling Timber Sale, join us this Sunday. Meet at the

old Daily Grind parking lot on SE Hawthorne and 40th at 9am. Please

don't be late, as it makes carpool organizing more difficult. Please

bring lunch, water, warm clothes and rain gear, and sturdy sneakers or

boots. If you have a reflective vest or other bright clothing bring

that too as it is hunting season and the brighter we are the safer we

are! For questions about the hike or what to bring, please call Amy

Harwood at (503) 331-0374. Bark

 

8) In Bark's nearly 10 years of monitoring Mt. Hood National Forest,

we have consistently recognized the need for a cohesive voice of quiet

recreation and conservation interests. In September, 2006, we took

action and formed the Restore Mt. Hood Coalition. Fast-forward to

September 26, 2008, and the Mt. Hood Solutions Summit. Bark brought

together over 70 conservation and recreation allies, the Forest

Service, and county and state agencies to begin a discussion about a

new vision for Mt. Hood National Forest that prioritizes ecosystem

health and quiet recreation. Visit the Solutions Summit,

www.solutionssummit.org, website for notes and photos. One of the most

important participants in the Mt. Hood Solutions Summit was the Forest

Service. The Forest Service provided resources on different planning

processes and general information to help with the discussions. And of

course the Forest Service will ultimately be asked to cooperate with

the quiet recreation community in implementing some of the ideas that

came out of the Summit. In the meantime… While Bark appreciates the

Forest Service's acknowledgement of the relatively high demand for

quiet recreation compared to off-roading, we remain baffled about the

Forest Service's approach to off-highway vehicles and travel planning.

As noted by many presenters and participants at the Mt. Hood Solutions

Summit, the current approach to travel planning continues to ignore

the needs of the quiet recreation community. In late August, the

Forest Service released an update letter on the OHV Plan that included

changes that may further compromise ecosystem health and quiet

recreation. Despite massive opposition to the original proposal to

create six off-road areas in Mt. Hood National Forest, the " update "

suggests that the designation of OHV routes is no longer constrained

to the six areas proposed during the scoping period. The Forest

Service is now considering additional routes and areas for OHVs -

potentially giving them more places to ride at the expense of other

users. To add insult to injury, in the Restore Mt. Hood Coalition's

scoping comments we provided a timeline and resources to the Forest

Service that would have allowed them to complete a comprehensive

travel plan in the time it is taking them to complete just an OHV

Travel Plan. Bark

 

 

9) A 36 " Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) pipeline is proposed through our

community, threatening to condemn your or your neighbor's property.

Now is the time to tell the government what you think of importing

fossil fuels from foreign governments, endangering the Coos Bay area

with a gas terminal, and transporting the gas to California by burying

the pipeline in the middle of a 95' wide clearcut corridor for 230

miles. The pipeline will cross two mountain ranges, 5 major rivers 7

times and cross hundreds of streams containing imperiled salmon. In

addition to the private land impacts, the pipeline will also cross 72

miles of public forests, clearcutting hundreds of acres of old-growth

forests reserved for rare and endangered wildlife. The government's

draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) concluded this proposal

has few environmental impacts. If a final approval is made in 2009,

the government will bestow the power of eminent domain on a

multi-national energy corporation, to condemn parts of farms in

southern Oregon. YOUR LETTER MAKES A DIFFERENCE: Tell FERC (the

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) that: 1) We are not willing to

increase our dependence on unstable foreign governments for our

energy. Over two-thirds of natural gas reserves are in Russia and the

Middle East. We do not want to foster dependence on these countries

for our energy supplies. 2) It is un-American for our government to

give an international corporation the power to take our properties –

and not even for something we need. Oregon Department of Energy

concluded that we don't need LNG. We have plenty of natural gas right

in our own country. 3) Global warming is a real threat to our world

and Liquefied Natural Gas can be up to 40% more polluting than

domestic natural gas. This is because of the extra energy needed to

process (liquefy and regassify) it and transport it across the ocean

and then to California. As it's processed, pollutants such as methane,

which is 20% more polluting to our atmosphere then even carbon

dioxide, are emitted. In fact, some have claimed that LNG has a carbon

footprint almost as dirty as so-called clean-coal. 4) FERC should

facilitate alternative sources of energy instead. The money invested

in this huge infrastructure would be better spent investing in

renewable energy, like the wave energy plant Douglas County is

proposing on the Umpqua River jetty, or solar panels on your roof.

Renewable energy projects provide hundreds of local jobs that can't be

exported. On the other hand, this LNG project would provide only 39

long-term jobs to local workers (DEIS 4-8-11). The Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission (FERC) is asking for your opinions and comments

before December 4, 2008. Please write to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 888 First St., NE, Room 1A,

Washington, DC 20426 You must reference the Project Docket Numbers

CP07-441-000 and CP07-444-000. francis

 

10) " As we approached the top of the tree, we had to negotiate our way

around many large hanging branches…Upon reaching the top…we were able

to literally stand up in the top of the tree to take our height

measurement. As we did, the clouds quickly burned off and the Pacific

Ocean came into view to the west. " —Brian French, Ascending the Giants.

Brian French and Will Koomjian have seen their fair share of big old

trees. Over the last few years, the two Oregon-based arborists have

climbed and measured champion trees across the Northwest and around

the world. On October 22nd at the Hawthorne Lucky Lab in Portland,

they will share their video, photos, and stories from the forest

canopy. While Ascending the Giants will provide a unique perspective

of the largest trees in the West, Oregon Wild Conservation and

Restoration Coordinator, Doug Heiken, will present on the role our

oldest forests play in combating the threat of climate change. Heiken

recently co-authored the report, Climate Control: How Northwest

Old-Growth Forests Can Help Fight Global Warming, and has been a vocal

advocate for including forest protections in proposed policy solutions

dealing with climate change. What: Oregon Wild Wednesday – A free

event open to all-ages. RSVP is not required, but space is limited, so

be sure to arrive early. When: Wednesday, October 22, 2008, 6-7 pm

http://www.oregonwild.org/about/hikes_events/oregon-wild-wednesday-ascending-the\

-giants/

 

11) 500 fir trees with lengths up to 150 feet and some with root wads

and branches still intact are being positioned in groups along 14

miles of Deadwood Creek and such tributaries as Misery, West Fork,

Failor, and Bear. These groupings, precisely sited and with each tree

positioned carefully, are known as large woody debris (LWD), and part

of an attempt to recreate the salmon and trout spawning habitat

present prior to the streams being used as chutes for floating logs to

area mills. It is hoped these structures can serve the many

generations of salmon that will pass until trees that have been

planted along the stream banks can mature, fall into the water, and

create such habitat again naturally. Last week a number of people who

have been working a long time to see this project happen gathered to

witness or oversee a Chinook helicopter and crew do the kind of log

placement impossible any other way without doing damage to stream

banks. While Blachly-Lane electric crews lowered local transmission

lines and others directed affected traffic, a small crowd watched as

the helicopter shuttled trees from nearby U.S. Forest Service sites

and gently maneuvered each numbered trunk into its carefully designed

position. Jason Kirchner, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife (ODFW)

habitat biologist and one of the people responsible for the project,

explains that where creeks and rivers have been scoured down to

bedrock the stream environment has become like a fresh-water desert.

Nutrients from the soil, leaves, salmon carcasses and rotten wood just

flush clear down to the estuary with nothing to hold them. With the

placement of LWD, these log barriers slow the destructive speed of

high water, and collect and sort gravel, silt, bits of wood and leaves

and, the richest source of nutrients, salmon that have died after

spawning. In these watery compost bins, the tiny organisms that are

the base of the food chain grow in abundance. The gravel collected

becomes new spawning beds. The deep pools that form provide cover for

adult and juvenile fish, have a lower water temperature that holds

more dissolved oxygen, and support fish through the driest periods of

the summer. Such barriers also raise the water table and promote the

movement of the channel back and forth over time, building richer soil

that supports the growth of trees and other vegetation within the

riparian zone.

http://www.thesiuslawnews.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0 & page=72 & story_id=16\

48

 

12) And thus we have the lump of coal that is the WOPR. Here are a few

details about the plan, courtesy of our forest expert Doug Heiken,

that just might blow your mind: 1) 375% increase in timber harvest

compared to current logging levels, 2) timber harvest equivalent to

100,400 log trucks per year, or 1 million log trucks over a decade 3)

27% of the remaining old growth on BLM land would be clear-cut over

the next 100 years (that's almost 100,000 acres for those of you

keeping track at home) 4) protection for rivers and streams would be

slashed in half compared to the existing plan 5) Over the next 100

years, the plan will result in 180 million tons more carbon in the

atmosphere compared to a " no harvest " alternative, equivalent to the

greenhouse gas emissions from 1 million cars driven for 132 years 6)

the so-called " regeneration " harvests in the plan (some 70% of the

volume comes from regen harvest) are real clear-cuts with NO green

tree retention 7) almost 1300 miles of new roads -- Frankly, my head

hurts. Like I said, this baby is 2,000 pages long, so we are still

unraveling it. Once we have it fully digested we'll be pulling out all

stops to make sure that this disaster of a plan gets no where close to

implementation. In the mean time, feel free to go hug a tree and

commiserate.

http://www.oregonwild.org/about/blog/wopr-jr-bush-can-t-have-it-his-way

 

California:

 

13) Mike Jani pilots his pickup across a seasonal bridge above the Eel

River and stops near a clearing littered with redwood stumps and

scattered forest brush. " This is what the previous management was all

about, " the chief forester of Humboldt Redwood Co. said. He's

referring to clear-cutting, or what in timber parlance is known as

" even-aged management, " in which nearly all of the trees in a harvest

area are removed. As the former chief forester for Santa Cruz County's

Big Creek Timber Co., he oversaw timber operations that were the first

in California to be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, a

nonprofit organization that encourages environmentally sound logging

practices. Mendocino Redwood has since earned that same distinction.

Jani said he hopes to duplicate that success in Humboldt County.

Continuing up a hillside, he stopped the truck above a grove where

only some redwoods had been felled. The remaining trees, besides

providing for future revenue, will offer habitat for owls and other

creatures. The approach favors long-term returns over short-term

profits. It also means loggers are having to learn a new system. A

group of men using a machine called a yarder to bring logs up the hill

dodged trees left behind as part of the selective removal. Driving

away, Jani spotted a flattened-out area known as a skid trail where

trees had previously been brought out. He was pleased to see that

workers had covered the trail with forest debris as opposed to leaving

it bare. " They're getting it, " he said with a smile.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20081012/NEWS/810120319/0/NEWS09

 

 

14) Now that the settlement agreement has been finalized between the

City of Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County and UC, CAL FIRE moved forward

and approved the university's THP/Conversion to remove trees in the

path of several small campus improvement projects plus remove trees

from the site of the proposed Biomedical Science building. Of course,

those trees are currently the location of a year long tree sit. We'll

have to wait and see how UC will deal with the tree sitters. I'm

assuming that nothing will happen until the Central Coast Regional

Water Quality Control Board issues a waiver of Waste Discharge

Requirements for the UC THP. However, there is a big issue about storm

water runoff that wasn't addressed during the THP review. Here are

excerpts of some concerns expressed by CLUE (Coalition to Limit

University Expansion) to Regional Water Board staff. CLUE has been

involved in the law suit/settlement agreement, the THP review and many

other aspects of the proposed UC expansion: " I just received notice

from Cal Fire that they have approved a UCSC Timber Harvest Plan that

includes logging for the construction of the Biomedical Sciences

Facility. I believe this is an approximately 80,000 sq. ft. facility.

My understanding is that there will be a significant increase in

post-development stormwater runoff volume from this project. RWQCB

previously offered extensive comments about the stormwater management

for this project on Science Hi ll. This is the area of the campus

which the Kennedy-Jenks study recommended no more development, but

that if there were to be additional development, there should be no

new net increase of volume of stormwater runoff because of the

precarious state of the watersheds in that area. As you can see, the

water board expressed serious concern about post-development runoff

volume. UCSC's reply (SA-2-4) essentially says that because of the

many site constraints, they have done everything they can butthere

will still be an increase in stormwater water volume in severely

impacted watersheds. In other words, they are not accomplishing what

you requested. jodifredi

-ftp://thp.fire.ca.gov/THPLibrary/North_Coast_Region/THPs2007/1-07-062SCR/

 

15) ANALYSIS OF THE CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL

QUALITY ACT AND THE FOREST PRACTICES ACT, AN ANALYSIS OF CASE LAW, by

Ariela Freed - Historically, private litigants and courts have played

a significant role in the regulation of timber harvesting in

California, often propelling major changes in the state's forestry and

environmental laws. Perhaps at no point has this been more true than

after the enactment of the California Environmental Quality Act

( " CEQA " ) and the Z'Berg Nejedly Forest Practice Act ( " FPA " ) in the

early 1970's. This paper provides an overview of litigation involving

timber harvest practices since that time to the present, focusing on

recurring issues that have compelled private parties to seek judicial

review. Of principal concern to litigants have been the adequacy of

cumulative environmental impact assessments, evaluation and mitigation

of impacts on wildlife, perceived violations of agency authority and

abuse of discretion, and the interaction of CEQA with the FPA.

Although this paper categorizes litigation within these areas for ease

of review and analysis, it should be noted that most cases involve a

significant amount of overlap.

http://w3.uchastings.edu/plri/96-97tex/caselaw.htm -

http://sustainableforestry.blogspot.com/2006/08/analysis-of-case-law-conflicts-b\

etween.html

 

16) In 2001-2002, Citizen's for Responsible Forest Management filed

suit against CAL FIRE and Don Campbell, landowner, for what CRFM

believed was an illegal minor-amendment to allow harvesting of snags

on the Campbell property along Baldwin Creek adjacent to Wilder Ranch

State Park. In 1992, Campbell got the first NTMP to be issued in Santa

Cruz County. It covers his 600 acre property in the Baldwin Creek

watershed and specifically prohibits snag harvest. Prior to the

lawsuit, Campbell had illegally cut multiple snags, including old

growth redwood, in the stream channel of Baldwin Creek. The

minor-amendment was CAL FIRE's (Nancy Drinkard's) way of 'correcting0

the violation. The amendment claimed that since there would be a lot

of snags on the adjacent parklands, then Campbell no longer needed to

retain snags on his. Ultimately, under pressure of further legal

action, Campbell withdrew the amendment. However, since then, he has

continued to harvest on his property under multiple Dead, Dying and

Diseased (DDD) Exemptions. The majority of trees proposed for harvest

under those exemptions have been Douglas fir and redwoods. Sounds a

lot like snags to me. His September 2007 Exemption for 40 acres

specifically mapped a 4' diameter downed Douglas fir in the riparian

corridor. At Sierra Club's request, CAL FIRE did an inspection and

told Campbell he could not commercialize the downed wood and snags

adjacent to Baldwin Creek. However, that Exemption was 'amended' in

December of 2007 to harvest during the winter period and increased the

area to be harvested to include 200 acres of hardwood. Wow, not only

were winter ops allowed, but the DDD Exemption magically morphed into

a Fuelwood Exemption. To continue the free-form 'harvest permit

vehicle,' Campbell submitted a new DDD Exemption September 2008, this

time without a required map. CAL FIRE asked for a map to be submitted

(after the map absence was brought to their attention) and apparently

Campbell emailed the original map from Sept 2007, with no changes

noted, even though he admitted he had completed part of that harvest.

Hmm. The 200 acres have now magically disappeared, and the 4' diameter

old growth Douglas fir snag in the WLPZ is still mapped for harvest.

After speaking with DFG about this problem, they followed up with CAL

FIRE. It now appears that CAL FIRE will tell Campbell he cannot

harvest snags on his property. Not under his NTMP, nor under an

Exemption. However, I was told that he will still be allowed to

continue harvesting under Exemptions, rather than utilizing his NTMP.

If you are as confused as I am, raise your hand. Clearly this is a way

for Campbell to avoid having an RPF oversee his logging activities,

avoid having CAL FIRE conduct regular inspections, avoid having to

post Log Truck signs along his haul route, etc. And it is not clear if

his activities are in conformance with the objectives of his

non-industrial timber management plan.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/water-uranium-hayfield-2185785-district-agenc\

y

 

17) John Sneed, who was chief forester for Pacific Lumber, remembers

clearly the song protesters greeted him with when he was working in

the forest. " Hang down your head, John Sneed, hang down your head and

cry, " went one of the verses. " You take this personally, " he said.

This is the bitter history Dean must contend with as he tries to

convince old antagonists that Humboldt Redwood is a kinder, gentler

timber company. Dean's partner is John Fisher, son of The Gap founder

Don Fisher. The family formed the investment company that acquired the

Mendocino and now Humboldt County lands. While the Fishers are primary

investors in the ventures, they are not involved in day-to-day

management of the properties and declined comment for this story. In

June, a Texas judge approved a $530 million cash deal that allowed

Mendocino Redwood and an East Coast hedge fund to acquire Pacific

Lumber, which had declared bankruptcy in 2007 after it was unable to

its debt payments. Mendocino Redwood's partner -- Marathon Structure

Finance Fund of New York -- loaned Pacific Lumber $160 million after

the company put the company town of Scotia up as security. Marathon

solicited Mendocino Redwood to become a partner in a plan to take over

the bankrupt company. The court-approved deal calls for Mendocino

Redwood to manage timber operations, while Marathon pursues the sale

of residential and commercial properties to current occupants and

other potential buyers. Dean's challenge is to turn a profit while

harvesting a third fewer trees annually than Pacific Lumber did, and

doing so in the more environmentally friendly manner that he's touted

as a hallmark of the new regime.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20081012/NEWS/810120302?Title=Timber_s_New_\

Dawn#

 

18) Here's a memo, from NAIL Steering Committee member Terry Clark to

NAIL members: " The result of the unanimous vote by the BoF is that

this NTMP that we have all been fighting for three years is now off

the table with no hope of resurrection. SJWC has indicated they will

not appeal the decision in court. The door is still open down the road

for shorter, 3-year logging plan applications on smaller parcels of

land, but SJWC has not taken any action on this. IF that occurs, NAIL

will be involved and vigilant in opposing any plan that affects fire

safety, water quality, slope erosion, danger to wildlife and threats

to our community. Your NAIL Steering Committee members, some community

residents, forestry consultant Jodi Frediani, members of the Loma

Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club, representation from Assembly Member

Ira Ruskin's office and Attorney Tom Lippe, special counsel for Santa

Clara County, all attended the hearing in Sacramento, opposing the

permit. SJWC and their timber contractor, Big Creek Lumber, were

denied an application in September of last year based on the number of

acres of timberland owned by SJWC. NAIL's challenge to the acreage

reported by SJWC forced CDF to conduct their own study to validate or

refute NAIL's fi ndings and CDF's final results agreed with NAIL's

assertion. The permit was denied and SJWC stated they would appeal.

After a 3 1/2 hour meeting before the 9-member, governor-appointed

board, that included statements made by attendees, timber industry

lobbyists and counsel representing San Jose Water's lumber contractor,

Big Creek, the board voted unanimously to deny the appeal. We would

like to thank this entire community for the support it extended to

fighting this wrong plan in the wrong place. Our redwoods and big

trees will continue to grow and flourish. NAIL encourages SJWC to

receive a fair market price for the forested acreage while retaining

water rights to the land so it can be converted to open space public

land and preserved for future generations. NAIL has worked very hard

on this and to achieve a unanimous vote by the board in the face of

SJWC/Big Creek's pressure and high priced San Francisco attorney as

well as logging industry lobbyists, was a coup for this community. You

CAN make a difference as an individual, never forget this.

http://cbs5.com/search/Default.aspx?N=4294574043 & TabId=0 & Dt=los%20gatos%20creek%\

20logging%20watershed

 

19) The Jenner Headlands, a stunning swath of undulating coastal

prairie and inland forest that almost soars off the sands of Sonoma

Coast State Beach, is being bought for $36 million, the largest

conservation acquisition in Sonoma County history. The Sonoma Land

Trust toured its new acquisition, the 5,630-acre Jenner Headlands

purchased for $36 million, thursday October 9, which includes this

vista looking south including Goat Rock, Bodega Head and Pt. Reyes and

Highway 1. The property, north of Jenner where the Russian River

enters the Pacific Ocean, extends 2.5 miles north along Highway 1 and

inland toward Cazadero. If the transaction, forged through a

partnership of public agencies and environmental nonprofits, is

completed on schedule early next year, public access would be

conducted through organized tours sometime next spring. The 5,630-acre

headlands, now reachable only by private logging roads from Jenner or

Duncans Mills, also would host a three-mile section of the California

Coastal Trail. The expanse of grass and woodlands is believed to rank

among the largest privately held properties along the California

coast. " You could be looking at 40 homes or a golf course right now, "

west county Supervisor Mike Reilly said Thursday as he surveyed the

property from boulders clustered around a wind-bowed oak tree. " Now,

we have preserved one of the most dramatic views in California. " On a

clear day, a vantage point on the Jenner Headlands provides a view of

the Russian River's spillway into the ocean, Bodega Head and the Point

Reyes Peninsula. Under the pending transaction, the county's

Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District would contribute

about a third of the $36 million purchase price, while the rest would

be split among the Sonoma Land Trust, the state Coastal Conservancy,

the California Conservation Board, the Gordon and Betty Moore

Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's

coastal and estuarian land protection program.

http://rare-earth-news.blogspot.com/2008/10/public-and-private-to-save-5630-acre\

..html

 

20) Now that the old growth redwoods on the former Pacific Lumber Co.

lands have been saved, and the new Humboldt Redwood Company has also

agreed to use selective harvest only, doing away with the destructive

practice of clearcutting, many people must be wondering what North

Coast Earth First! is doing now. The period of celebrations can only

last so long, as there is still much work to be done and many issues

to address; it's going to take some time to develop new and focused

campaigns, and we need your input and ideas to help formulate the next

non-violent attack on the corporate power structures that threaten our

ecology and free society. I've been thinking about the many lumber

companies who are still clearcutting and using herbicides, and the

best way to go about taking them on. In these times of economic

crisis, it's hard to find lots of people who want to go out and get

arrested for just any old clearcut; people have their own worries

right now, and many cannot afford the fines and hassles associated

with getting arrested for a cause, understandably. Maybe what we need

is another initiative, similar to the Forests Forever initiative that

was being promoted at the time of the bombing of Judi Bari, which

would ban clearcutting statewide. The Humboldt Redwood Company is

already well on its way to proving that selective harvest can be done

on a large scale, and profitably. Few of us Earth First!ers are

lawyers or legislators, so we would need the help of folks who are

good at writing the kind of language needed for such a bill. Any

takers? People have been telling us that we should be lobbying, and,

if we had a bill to lobby behind, then such actions may be possible.

We could start fundraising for the expenses associated with lobbying,

such as food, lodging, and traveling expenses, and then non-violent

direct action campaigns could be structured around the proposed bills,

to bring attention to the issues, gain popular support, and to gum the

gears of the corporate industrial timber machine. As a good friend

recently said, the way of the Samurai is to tighten your helmet after

a victory, and I feel we need to keep the ball rolling in a really

strong way. http://www.northcoastearthfirst.org

 

21) Teak is now the most widely used outdoor wood in the U.S. with a

well deserved reputation for durability in any outdoor weather. It's

an excellent choice for outdoor furniture or structures if you want it

to last. Teak sold in the U.S. is almost exclusively plantation grown

in Central and South America. These plantations grow teak in rows and

harvest in 20 to 40 year rotations in most cases. The highest quality

teak plantations have 60 to 80 year rotations, but they are a very

small minority. Teak is marketed as a " sustainably harvested "

alternative to exotic wood's taken from rain forests. The teak

industry is large and spends millions annually to market this

enviromental angle. It's part truth, part fiction. The truth is teak

does take pressure off the native forests as a source of good quality

wood. The fiction is a significant percentage of these plantations are

grown on lands that were once forests. And, teak tree farms are not

native to the Americas. They replace native biologically diverse lands

with monoculture that provides minimal habitat for any type of

wildlife. So, it's a mixed bag with the teak. Better than logging the

Amazon, but not ideal. What about Redwood? Well, Redwood was the

outdoor wood of choice in the U.S. for most of the 20th century. Like

teak, it is a beautiful wood with an excellent reputation for outdoor

durability. It was available nationwide and used for anything outdoors

until the early 1990's. But, the Redwoods were overlogged and in

1990's lumber production collapsed to 1/3rd the levels of prior

decades. Redwood mostly disappeared from the east coast and central

states. Today, Redwood is available mostly in California and some

other western states. The overall quality has dropped because the

average size of trees being harvested is smaller than in prior

decades. In 1995, Old-Growth Again purchased and began to restore its

Redwood forestland. We offer Redwood in 3 grades to distinguish it

from the what is on the market today. The young Redwood, our least

expensive grade, has a 10-year decay warranty and is comparable to

what is mostly available on the market. Our mature Redwood, our most

popular grade, has a 20-year decay warranty and is comparable in

durability to the highest grades of teak. And, our highest grade, the

reclaimed Old-Growth Redwood, has a 30-year decay warranty. It exceeds

the climate durability of any plantation grown teak. It takes

centuries of slow growth to make lumber that is almost decay proof.

Only a natural forest can do that. We don't harvest old-growth

Redwood. Luckily many logs were left on the forest floor in the early

to mid 1900's to keep our furniture shop busy for many years. Yes, the

logs sat on the forest floor for 50 to 100 years and are still in

excellent shape! To read more about our forestry practices, please go

to: http://www.oldgrowthagain.org/sustainable.html

http://oldgrowthagain.org/blog/2008/10/redwood-or-teak-for-outdoors/

 

22) A second study, by Craig Moritz and colleagues, found that warming

in California's Yosemite National Park has already caused elevational

shifts in the range of mammals species. " These kinds of changes in

community composition have been going on forever, " said James Patton,

a UC Berkeley professor emeritus of integrative biology who led the

field work for the second study in Yosemite. " The only thing that

makes this different is that it has probably happened in our lifetime.

It is the speed with which these changes are taking place that gives

one pause. " " If change happens too fast, elements of the system may

start to collapse because a keystone element of that system gets

pulled out too quickly, " he continued. " That is something we just

don't know. From my standpoint, if I had the opportunity, I would want

to minimize the rate of change. " Moritz added that because Yosemite is

well protected, its species will fare better than those in

non-protected areas. " Yosemite has been very well managed so that

species have been allowed to move, " said Moritz, a UC Berkeley

professor of integrative biology and director of the campus's Museum

of Vertebrate Zoology. " We need to continue to protect large swatches

of public land from land-use changes. " The results of both studies

suggest that global warming will present challenges not seen in tens

of millions of years for the world's biodiversity. Craig Moritz, et

al. Impact of a Century of Climate Change on Small Mammal Communities

in Yosemite National Park. SCIENCE 10 OCTOBER 2008 VOL 322

http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1009-biodiversity.html

 

Montana:

 

23) The Government Accountability Office released a letter Friday that

questioned the closed-door land use plan between Agriculture

Undersecretary Mark Rey and the Plum Creek Timber Company — the

largest private landowners in Montana with 1.2 million acres. The GAO

investigators — provoked by the secretiveness of the land use easement

and potential impact on Montana's forestland — referenced the National

Forest Roads and Trails Act passed by Congress in 1964, which states

the purpose is " to facilitate timber harvesting, " and concluded the

agency cannot grant a right greater than what the act allows. Many

argue private driveways are not facilitating timber harvest,

particularly when the road easements detail " cost-sharing agreements, "

where taxpayers and Plum Creek split cost of road construction and

maintenance. " As a general matter, " said GAO counsel Rich Johnson,

reports the Missoulian, " an agency of the federal government can only

give away public property to the extent that it's been authorized to

do so by Congress. " In other news, Rick Holley, President and CEO of

Plum Creek Timber, will be a Keynote Speaker at the upcoming Real

Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies conference, and will be

discussing the company's approach to real estate activities. Plum

Creek Timber has recently aligned itself to be a real estate

investment trust and reports its real estate revenue tripled to more

than $330 million annually during the last five years, reports Michael

Jamison from the Missoulian. Recently, Missoula County discussed its

option to potentially opt out of Plum Creek easement access.

http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/plum_creek_timber_road_eastment_investigate\

d_by_gao/C35/L35/

 

New York:

 

24) " RAN has wasted over a year ignoring our concerns, and now they

bury in a short blog entry their intention to review FSC. Meanwhile

FSC continues with plans to certify hundreds of millions of hectares

of new ancient forest logging. Failure to end this matter now and make

explicit commitments will show RAN is more concerned with throwing

lavish parties and Amazon cruises, than quickly ending FSC's enabling

of ancient forest logging. " Last week forest defenders rallied at New

York's Bluestocking Bookstore to denounce the Rainforest Action

Network (RAN) for their support of industrial logging of primary

forests. See the protest's banner at:

http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/img/deranged_big.jpg RAN is the

focus of a global campaign to end ancient forest logging, starting

with getting the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), of which they are a

founding and leading member, to stop falsely certifying first time

industrial primary forest logging as being environmentally beneficial.

When questioned, Mike Brune, RAN's Executive Director, stated again

that RAN does not support industrial logging of old growth forests,

but does support FSC. This transparent doublespeak was met by laughter

from the audience. Due to Ecological Internet's campaign, forest

conservationists are increasingly aware FSC's existence depends upon

ancient forest logging. Further protest actions are expected, and the

email protest continues! Some progress has been made, as RAN recently

stated in their blog that they " have begun undertaking a strategic

review of the Forest Stewardship Council's (FSC's) benefits and

costs... " and whether " ...RAN can continue supporting the FSC. "

However, no firm, time-bound commitments were made. The campaign

continues until RAN makes written promises to use their FSC membership

to get FSC to stop certifying old-growth, and if this fails, to resign

from the organization. This impasse comes as a new study finds forest

loss costs some $2-5 trillion a year in terms of lost services

provided by healthy ecosystems, many times the cost of the current

financial crisis. The benefits to be realized by a few, including RAN

and FSC in terms of undeserved goodwill, from cutting down ancient

forests are no match for the long term ecosystem services that are

gone forever.

http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=ran_ancient_forest_lo\

gging

 

USA:

 

25) Once-radical notion of conservation was first introduced to the

general public through a handful of national newspapers devoted to

hunting, fishing, and natural history. When Forest & Stream editor

Grinnell sent a reporter to Yellowstone in 1894 to cover illegal

poaching, the story galvanized popular interest in public lands; weeks

later, Congress passed legislation to protect wildlife on national

parks. Meanwhile, urban reformers with little connection to sportsmen

were opening another front in the nascent environmental movement. In

the 1890s, public health advocates from Jane Addams's Hull House

linked sewage outflows with outbreaks of typhoid fever and pushed for

sanitary garbage disposal. In 1906, Upton Sinclair published The

Jungle, exposing the dangerous and unsanitary conditions of

meatpacking plants. Later that year, Congress and President Roosevelt

created the Food and Drug Administration. By the time Roosevelt's

cousin occupied the White House, a second environmental awakening was

taking place. Massive erosion, caused by drought and unsound farming

practices, led to the Dust Bowl--when dark clouds swept across the

prairie and drove families off their farmsteads. In 1936, President

Franklin Roosevelt called representatives from local hook-and-bullet

clubs to Washington for the first North American conference on

wildlife. A year later, a newly formed national network of sportsmen's

clubs lobbied for the Wildlife Restoration Act, which imposed a

federal tax on sporting equipment to fund state wildlife agencies.

(Two-thirds of the funding for these agencies today still comes from

taxes and license fees on sportsmen.) America's third environmental

upsurge began in 1962 with the publication of wildlife biologist

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, which traced the destructive path of

the pesticide DDT through the food chain. Chemicals and industrial

pollutants were jeopardizing human health and putting the nation's

official symbol--the bald eagle--at risk of extinction. In the late

1970s, a rift opened between environmentalists and hunters.

Sportsmen's groups had supported the Clean Air Act and Clean Water

Act, but they were not equipped, nor particularly inclined, to oversee

implementation. The membership of such groups, drawn largely from

rural areas, continued to focus on local concerns and hands-on

conservation projects. Different priorities alone didn't cause bad

blood. But with the emergence of the animal-rights movement, a growing

number of urban and suburban Americans, with little experience of

farms or slaughterhouses, came to view hunting as backward or

barbaric. Local chapters of some green groups, including the Sierra

Club, campaigned to prevent or curtail state hunting seasons. This put

some greens and hunters directly at odds. " To hear someone attack your

grandfather's tradition--that stings, " says hunting columnist Wray.

" And they [hunters] don't forget. " The intensity of these conflicts,

and a growing sense of cultural alienation, led many sportsmen to view

environmentalists as antagonists. After sportsmen left the fold, the

environmental movement became more vulnerable to political attacks.

The seeds of the modern anti-environmental backlash were sown, when

conservative leaders in the late 1970s and 1980s came to see

environmentalism, together with Nader's consumer-safety movement, as

threats to commercial enterprise.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0605.larson.html

 

26) Lawmakers were unable to act on a massive omnibus package of more

than 150 public lands, water and resources bills before recessing for

the elections. The bill combines a package of 53 bills passed by

unanimous, voice vote out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources

Committee last month with a 96-bill omnibus package from the Committee

that was already awaiting consideration on the Senate floor. Together,

the bills in the omnibus package would create more than one million

acres of wilderness while authorizing dozens of studies for potential

parks, protected rivers, and historical landmarks. Please click here

for a list of the bills. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

announced that the bill will be brought to the floor for a vote on

November 17, when the Senate plans to return to Washington for a lame

duck session. A lame duck session occurs in even-numbered years when

Congress has to reconvene following the November general election to

take care of unfinished legislation. Some lawmakers who return for

this session may have lost their bids for reelection and will not be

lawmakers in the next Congress. Hence, they are informally called

" lame duck " Members participating in a " lame duck " session. Lame duck

sessions often create interesting scenarios, as some of the lame duck

Members have " nothing to lose " and may cast surprising votes. The

public lands omnibus has an avid opponent in Senator Tom Coburn

(R-OK), who objects to about 100 of the bills because they would put

some public lands off limits to extractive development. Senator Coburn

has been successful so far in preventing the bill from coming to the

floor for a vote. However, the sponsor of the bill, Senator Jeff

Bingaman (D-NM) has said he has the 60 votes it would take to override

Coburn's hold. However, even if the Senate does return to vote on the

bill, if the House is not in session, the bill will not be able to

move forward. The bill must pass both chambers to be sent to the

President's desk for his signature. If this package is not passed this

session, it will need to be reintroduced in the 111th Congress. While

the vast majority of the bills in the package are supported by the

conservation community, there is one proposal that is not. HR 2801 and

S. 1680 would allow a road to be built through the Izembek National

Wildlife Refuge.

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2 & c=csGtmLgUAIBS56dbqyCZVK%2F\

H6haCwyXJ

 

27) With another archery deer hunt in full swing and rifle season on

its way, deer hunters who choose to hunt from elevated stands are

asked to use caution when heading up to their perch. Studies show more

people are injured or killed each year, not in firearms incidents but

in accidents involving tree stands. With the popularity of elevated

stands on the rise and the amazing variety found on the market, more

hunters are heading up in and effort to stack the odds in their favor.

Hunting from an elevated stand offers the hunter several distinct

advantages, such as a better vantage point, larger field of view and a

chance to spot game quicker while removing the hunter from the direct

line of sight of their quarry. It also helps to keep unnatural scent

away from a wary whitetail's nose. Unfortunately, climbing 15 to 20

feet off the ground places hunters in jeopardy of returning to earth

in an unexpected and often catastrophic manor. In fact, studies done

by the National Bowhunter Education Foundation (NBEF) show that

accident rates caused by falls from stands are as high as one in three

hunters, and the possibility of a near miss is even higher. The NBEF

has made it a goal to help lower these statistics with their Project

STAND (Stop Tree Stand Accidents 'n Deaths). According to the NBEF,

tree stand mishaps are occurring on an all too regular basis and the

image of hunting is tarnished. " Thousands of accidents occur each

year, with many resulting in serious injury and even death, " said

Marilyn Bentz, executive director of the NBEF.. " Hunters need to start

taking treestand safety as seriously as they take firearms safety. " A

tree stand hung 20 feet in the air should be treated like a loaded gun

because it is every bit as dangerous, Bentz said. " When hunters start

treating their tree stand set-ups with the same caution they do a

loaded firearm these accidents and deaths will start to go away. " Just

why are there such high accident and death rates? The NBEF believes

that nearly every hunter in America knows they should wear a

fall-restraint device, yet only about 50 percent do and even fewer use

them while climbing, descending or getting into or out of their

stands. According to the NBEF, many hunters believe it will always be

the other guy who falls, and it will never happen to them. The facts

show that if this is how they approach tree stand safety, it WILL

happen to them.

http://www.stjoenews.net/news/2008/oct/10/taking-stand-hunting-safety/?sports