December 10, 2007
I started off my last "Diggin' In" column telling about the over 170 lightning fires in July around the Klamath, the Sierras, and Southern California. In June, the Angora Fire west of South Lake Tahoe, with wind gusts to 80 miles per hour, quickly burned over 3,000 acres and destroyed over 300 homes and businesses. Now, in November, the big issue of the massive October Santa Ana wind-driven fires in Southern California is still hot--though now competing for headlines with the recent oil spill in San Francisco Bay. The scale of the emergency brought on by these fires was mind boggling--over a half-million persons evacuated, thousands of fire crews working `round the clock--emergency response issues, building location issues, building code issues. There's going to be a continuing and serious "coming to grips" with fire related issues in California in 2008. To get the current low-down on the Southern California Fires, check out the CalFire (CDF) website www.fire.ca.gov.index.php. The leading homepage story regards the Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) assessment reports of the Southern California Fires. This website will also take you to the whole realm CalFire/CDF related matters.
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The 10th Annual coho Confab cosponsored by Trees Foundation and the Salmonid Restoration Federation (SRF), held in the Mattole River watershed, August 17th through 19th, was wonderful. More than 200 persons enjoyed the splendid weekend centered at the Mattole Grange, which included field tours all over the Mattole Valley covering past, present, and future restoration efforts. I especially enjoyed the tour of the work and restoration of the Mattole Canyon Creek delta area--led by the instigator and indefatigable resident restoration practitioner, Gil Gregori. I also fully enjoyed the "Generation of Restoration" tour of the Mattole headwaters area with Eric Goldsmith of Sanctuary Forest, Joel Monschke of the Mattole Restoration Council, and yours truly. Check out the SRF website at www.calsalmon.org to stay abreast of salmon/steelhead news and events.
It's also worth noting that the restoration honorees at the annual Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment (ASJE) Restoration Celebration were: Project of the Year: the Yurok Tribal Fisheries Restoration Program for the McGarvey Creek Project; Organization of the Year: the Mattole Salmon Group; and Restorationist(s) of the Year: Gil Gregori and Peter Brucker. Gil is mentioned above. "Petey" is a long-time Klamath activist and restorationist. The Mattole Salmon Group was founded by Freeman House and Dave Simpson in the late 70s and early 80s, and bolstered by Gary Peterson and many others over the years. Ray Lingel was present along with current Director Tom Campbell. There was lots of family in attendance for all the award winners, including the Lara family and other relatives and friends of the Yurok Restoration Program.
Problems continue with the California coho Recovery Strategy. The new person hired by California Department of Fish & Game to head up the Recovery Team was moved to another position. A meeting of the coho Recovery Team is now scheduled for December 13th. The inadequate action by the Board of Forestry and the DF&G towards the development of rules for coho protection and recovery has resulted in the November 15th filing of a Writ of Mandate by the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) and the Sierra Club against the Board of Forestry's "coho Incidental Take Permit Assistance" and "Road Management Plan" rules packages. What was looking last summer like a positive attempt to address consistent forestland protections for all listed anadromous salmonid species degraded into short-sighted, inadequate `window dressing'. On top of it, significant restoration money was removed from the state budget, ostensibly due to this poor showing by the Board of Forestry and DF&G. Hope remains that our dear state legislators, Assemblymember Patty Berg and Senator Pat Wiggins, will be successful in restoring this money when the Legislature reconvenes in January. As I said in my last column, "I have spared you the description of the excruciating details of this continuing saga." See some of my earlier columns for some of those details. Try the Trees Foundation website at
www.treesfoundation.org.
A bright spot in the coho saga occurred on November 20th. The California 3rd District Court of Appeal rule unanimously against the California Forestry Association (CFA), the California Chamber of Commerce, and the California Cattlemen's Association in their attempt to overturn the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) listing of coho Salmon north of San Francisco. The Appeal Court ruling upheld a Superior Court decision in 2006 that also upheld the listing against CFA's attempt in that court to thwart listing. The Fish and Game Commission in 2004 listed the coho Salmon as Threatened on the Northern California Coast and Endangered on the Central California Coast. Hopefully CFA and their allies will see the light and not continue their unwarranted and mean-spirited delay tactics to the California Supreme Court. Let's get on with the work of protection and recovery of coho and other listed species.
Reforms in the Archaeological and Cultural Heritage Protection Program of CalFire are still in the offing. The Native American Advisory Council (NAAC) to CalFire and the Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC) will be cosponsoring a 1-3 day workshop, hopefully in early 2008.
The pilot project for a Program Timberland Environmental Impact Report (PTEIR) for the Mattole River Watershed continues. Drafts for standards for light-touch forestry are being reviewed. The methodology for assessing cumulative impacts is being determined. I should have some substantive news about this in the next column. Check out the MRC website: www.mattole.org about the pilot project and a myriad of other programs with which the Mattole Restoration Council is involved.
The Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc. (RFFI), new owners of the 50,000 plus acres of the Usal Redwood Forest thanks to a $65 million loan from the Bank of America, continues to work on pressing tasks such as management needs, a conservation easement, and incorporation of the community in community-based forestry. Check out the RFFI website: www.rffi.org. Several important public events relating to the Usal Redwood Forest specifically, and in community-based forestry in general, will be held in 2008. Pay attention and get involved.
And speaking of paying attention and getting involved: How about the Pacific Lumber/Maxxam reorganization plan they ran before the bankruptcy judge in Corpus Cristi in October--22,000 acres to be divided into 160-acre "kingdoms" at $35,000/acre? That's 22,000 acres of some of the most productive forestland in the world between Fortuna and the Headwaters Forest. On top of that they want to resell the Marbled Murrelet Conservation Areas (MMCAs) to conservation interests. These are the areas that were protected for Marbled Murrelets for fifty years under the Headwaters Deal.
Amazingly--and it's about time that Humboldt County did something to say no to Hurwitz/Maxxam--the Humboldt County Supervisors voted 4-1 to enact an emergency moratorium on building on Timber Production Zoned land. This certainly sent a message to the judge that the County was saying no to the horrific reorganization plan. Dave Simpson and Mark Lovelace of the Humboldt Watershed Council witnessed this in the court--surrounded by 47 attorneys. This action by the Supervisors, while positive and essential relative to PL/Maxxam, set off a firestorm of warranted and unwarranted panic by so-called `small TPZ landowners.' Loud demonstrations against the Supes' action took place--signs with messages like "The supervisors are taking away my dream" were prevalent.
PL/Maxxam's worst case example of subdivision and forestland loss triggered a high-profile controversy that had been a sort of esoteric general plan issue over what to do to preserve resource lands. Stay tuned to this Humboldt County/PL/Maxxam gumbo. It's got everything from owner-built housing liberty issues to corporate carte blanch abuse issues. Better weigh in and help forge some sane ground for the future. Are we going to have peace in the valley and forests in the hills or kingdoms in the hills and conflicts everywhere? What scale are you on?
Get in touch with EPIC at 707-923-2931 and Humboldt Watershed Council at 707-822-1166 for the latest information on many of the above topics and other issues. Please get involved in ways that are effective and meaningful for you, and that contribute to real solutions.
--rg
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TOC for Forest & River News, Winter 2007