Central Coast Forest Watch (CCFW) is the new kid on the block. Formed in 2007, CCFW is just getting its feet wet in local forest issues. CCFW's staff person, Jodi Frediani, a long-time forest advocate, has kept busy this season on a number of projects.

Cemex, the Mexican-based, international corporation, logs thousands of acres adjacent to its cement plant in the coastal town of Davenport north of Santa Cruz. Both conifers and hardwoods are harvested on an on-going basis in the San Vicente Creek watershed, which provides drinking water for the town of Davenport as well as supports a population of threatened steelhead and endangered coho salmon. San Vicente Creek was recently listed as impaired for sediment. Efforts to amend a 535-acre timber harvest plan (THP) in the watershed that provides drinking water for the town of Davenport have been amazingly successful. Frediani worked with Davenport residents, met with the county timber harvest review team member and the Davenport Sanitation District liaison and managed to get CalFire (previously CDF) to twice rescind approval of the THP (in January and May 2007). This multi-pronged approach ultimately led Cemex/RMC, the international landowner, to agree to remove winter operations between October 15 and May 1.

Cemex 535-acre timber harvest plan.
Photo: Jodi Frediani

In efforts begun in 2004, Frediani was successful this year in getting San Vicente Creek, the source of Davenport's drinking water, 303(d) listed by the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) and the U.S. EPA. Based largely on turbidity data from Davenport's treatment plant, as well as a Department of Fish and Game (DFG) report documenting poor spawning conditions in the stream, the listing should help provide additional protection in the watershed. For the past several years, citizens of Davenport have either had water trucked in during the winter or been under a "boil water order" because of excessive turbidity. Testimony from Davenport residents at a SWRCB hearing helped clinch the listing.

Citizens of all ages testified at the CalFire public hearing in February 2007.

Photo: Jodi Frediani

On another front, Frediani has continued to work with a local citizens group, Neighbors Against Irresponsible Logging (NAIL), in their protracted efforts to keep the proposed San Jose Water Company 1000-acre Non-industrial Timber Management Plan (NTMP) from being approved. More than 500 people attended the CalFire public hearing in February and the majority spoke passionately and intelligently against the plan. Frediani's education efforts paid off, bringing a community up to speed on the Forest Practice Rules, the problems the plan presents for water quality, slope stability, increased fire danger, disruption of neighborhood ambiance from extensive helicopter operations, and impacts on federally threatened California red-legged frogs and the plethora of bird species in the watershed, including nesting osprey and golden eagles. (Watch the power point presentation of the key strategies NAIL employed, or download it here.)

The plan runs six miles upstream from the Lexington Reservoir along Los Gatos Creek. Hundreds of homes line one ridgetop while the Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve hugs the northern side of the watershed. The San Andreas Fault zone runs the length of the proposed in-perpetuity harvest proposal. The logging is proposed by the largest private water purveyor in Santa Clara County-- which gets 10% of its supply of drinking water from the creek, as well as additional water from the downstream Lexington Reservoir. A small public water utility and a small private water company also rely on the creek for their drinking water.

Young protester outside of corporate offices of San Jose Water Company. Photo: Jodi Frediani

Frediani also continues to send out monthly Forest Updates to an interested forest advocacy list and works closely with other environmental groups.


Forest Update: San Vincente, Fern Gulch, Grizzly Flat and More
1. San Vicente Creek remains on 303(d) List (read more)

Engaging Timber: Protecting Your Watershed and Your Backyard
May 11, 2010
You've just learned that a logging plan is proposed in your backyard or watershed. Maybe you're concerned about adverse impacts to the steelhead or coho salmon that once were plentiful in area streams, but now seem more a dream than a reality. Or perhaps you're worried about your private road that is slated to be used for log hauling. Maybe your water intake is in a creek that runs through the land to be logged. What can you do and where should you start? The Fight Back! Forest Defenders Handbook, A Citizen's Guide to Timber Harvest Regulation may be able to help. But before getting into the particulars, it will be useful to understand a bit of the history of logging regulation. (read more)


Wildfire Effects: Wanted Dead or Alive: Fire Scars and Cavities in Old-Growth Trees
December 18, 2009

Recent studies by Humboldt State University professor Steve Sillett and others have highlighted the incredible complexity of giant old-growth redwoods: canopies rich with iterated tops, huckleberry gardens, aerial salamanders, and even plankton. Yet only 3-5% of these ancient trees remain along California's coast. While many speak of restoration including creation of old-growth characteristics in young-growth forests, such efforts are new, experimental, and as yet unproven. (read more)


Wildfire Effects: Lessons to be Learned: Fuel Reduction Programs
August 19, 2009

On June 21, 2008, lightning ignited what would become known as the American River Complex (ARC) Fire in the Tahoe National Forest. It took firefighters 42 days to bring the fire under control, at which point approximately 20,000 acres were burned. A variety of conditions (complex topography, lack of personnel and resources due to a large number of wildfires burning throughout California at the time, limit on air operations due to dense inversion-caused smoke, and management decisions) led to delays in the control of the wildfire. Throughout most of that period weather conditions were considered to be moderate with relatively high ambient and fuel moisture. However, 27% of the fire burned on a single day. July 9 was dubbed the "blow up day," as it was the day of the fire's hottest temperatures and least humidity. Much of the affected area that day burned at a high severity, or "stand-replacing," level. (read more)


Monitoring Regional Forests
August 19, 2009
Central Coast Forest Watch (CCFW) has kept busy this year, both reviewing timber harvest proposals and weighing in on state regulatory packages. CCFW submitted an extensive comment letter on the Bohemian Grove Non-Industrial Timber Management Plant (NTMP) on the Russian River, outlining the ways in which that plan has misinterpreted the Forest Practice Rules to try to qualify for the in-perpetuity NTMP permit. That plan is still under review by CAL FIRE. We also prepared in-depth comments on the Eureka Gulch Timber Harvest Plan on Corralitos Creek in Santa Cruz County, which along with DFG and County non-concurrences, helped get a winter cut-off rainfall amount included in the plan, instead of open-ended winter operations. (read more)


Wildfire Effects: Fire Resistance of Redwoods
April 15, 2009

From Sonoma to Santa Cruz, foresters are attempting to justify the need to log large tracts of redwoods, claiming that such harvests are necessary to protect the forest and nearby human neighborhoods from fire. However, saying that something is true doesn't necessarily make it so. And many have disagreed with the industry's assertions. (read more)


Wildfire Effects: Fire and Hydrophobic Soils
December 31, 2008
As I tap away at my computer keys, the sun outside once again filters through the trees. Weather forecasts predict rain this coming weekend, but to date (nearly the end of October) we have had at most one inch of precipitation in the Santa Cruz Mountains. That first rain event led to Reverse 911 calls to downstream residents of the 4,000 acre Summit Fire, warning of potential flooding, debris flows and torrents, and hazardous road conditions. Of course, once the rains begin in earnest and the bare hillsides mobilize, hazards to our threatened steelhead and endangered coho salmon populations will be imminent as well. (read more)


Recent Wildfire Impacts
September 2, 2008
In late May and June 2008, Santa Cruz County experienced two major wildland fires, which impacted more than 5,000 acres. Approximately 70 homes and many other outbuildings were lost, and hundreds of residents (including yours truly) were evacuated as the two fires burned out of control in separate areas of the county. Both fires were apparently caused by human carelessness and spread rapidly due to extremely dry conditions, strong winds, and heavy fuel loads of dense chaparral and knob cone pine. Both fires briefly entered the redwood/Douglas perimeter forests where CalFire was finally able to establish containment and full control. (read more)


Central Coast Forest Watch
December 10, 2007
Established in 2007, Central Coast Forest Watch's Director, long-time activist Jodi Frediani, has kept busy on a number of projects. (read more)


Please Welcome Our New Partner....: Central Coast Forest Watch
August 22, 2007
Central Coast Forest Watch (CCFW) is the new kid on the block. Formed in 2007, CCFW is just getting its feet wet in local forest issues. CCFW's staff person, Jodi Frediani, a long-time forest advocate, has kept busy this season on a number of projects. (read more)


Central Coast Forest Watch
Central Coast Forest Watch (CCFW) is pleased to announce it has received grants from the Cereus Fund of the Trees Foundation and the Rose Foundation's Northern California Environmental Grassroots Fund. Some of those monies will be used to develop a citizens' handbook for timber harvest review. In the meantime, we continue to watchdog several problematic timber harvest plans in the Santa Cruz Mountains. One such plan proposes harvesting on sixteen existing slides, many with their toes in the creek. Another plan is to replace a misaligned failing culvert with a bridge, even though the bridge will not actually be used for the harvest. Bridge design has also been lacking and the forester has resisted producing adequate plans to satisfy the various review team agencies. CCFW continues to partner with Sierra Club in preparing and emailing a monthly Forest Update to interested parties. Those who would like to receive the updates may contact CCFW at: *JodiFredi@aol.com*. (read more)



Contact Information

Email: jodifredi@aol.com
1015 Smith Grade Santa Cruz, CA 95060