By Ron Guenther – Mendocino Commentary, November 15, 1984 and Country Activist, June 1985
The California timber industry has announced that it will continue its campaign under the Deukmejian Administration for an almost complete relaxation of the California Forest Practice Rules, and less public involvement in timber harvest planning.
Under its new proposals, public notice requirements would be cut, and the timber industry permitted continuous, side-by-side clearcuts of unlimited size—even in the most sensitive Coastal Zone areas. Wild trees and a healthy forest diversity would be eliminated in favor of managed, chemically dependent monoculture tree farms on millions of acres of prime California forestlands.
Besides unlimited side-by-side clearcutting, industry foresters would be allowed to remove shade canopy from streams, burn in watercourse protection zones, and operate near active bird nesting sites—along with other forest abuses not now permitted by the present forest practice rules. Industry foresters would be allowed to rewrite the rules on a wholesale basis throughout the state with major emphasis placed on short term, chemically dependent timber production, and short shrift given to water quality, fisheries, forest diversity, wildlife, and other important forest, watershed, and stream values.
In its new move, the timber industry seeks to continue its successes under Deukmejian in achieving major relaxations of the present forest practice rules which evolved after many years of work by forest conservationists. The new timber industry proposals will be coming up in January and February before the timber industry-dominated State Board of Forestry.
Union Protest
In a not-so-surprising move, the Fort Bragg local of the International Woodworkers of America (IWA) has filed a formal protest with the Calif. Department of Forestry over a proposed clearcutting of 2,530 acres by Louisiana Pacific (L-P), in the headwaters of Big River, east of the town of Mendocino.
The IWA believes that with this and other clearcuts in the Big River watershed, the cumulative impact upon the river is substantial. This will have an effect upon water quality and sedimentation of spawning gravel that will adversely affect fish life in the river.
On the jobs issue, the IWA has this to say, “The accelerated cut in Mendocino County by L-P will also have an economic impact upon us when L-P has finished cutting over their timberlands and we can no longer look to them for jobs and taxes. We submit that they are not managing their property on a sustained yield basis and we request that all Timber Harvest Plans be reviewed with the effect upon the landowners sustained yield program as the final determining factor predicating approval or rejection.”
These are strong worlds indeed, but with Georgia-Pacific’s (G-P) also greatly accelerated clearcut schedule in Mendocino County, it seems that the corporate timber colossus is in lock-step towards a deforested, jobless future for the county unless strong, citizen action is taken to the State Legislature. The IWA will be working towards a legislative solution to continued massive clearcutting, deforestation, and fisheries destruction in California due to timber industry short-term goals, and an industry-dominated state administration.
Three cheers for the Woodworkers!