Water Firm Will Seek Consent to Thin Forest for Fire Control

Jul. 26–San Jose Water Co. plans to submit formal documents to the state next month asking permission to log about 1,000 acres of land near the Lexington Reservoir as a way to control fire and protect water quality.

Much of the property — upstream from the reservoir, east of Highway 17 — was burned in the 1985 Lexington Fire.

At the time, state forestry officials expressed concern about firefighters’ lack of access to the property. A timber-management plan being developed by Big Creek Lumber would greatly improve that access, officials of the water company say.

The plan will call for a “light harvest — essentially a thinning” of redwoods and Douglas firs over 15 to 18 years, said Janet McCrary Webb, chief forester at Big Creek, located north of Davenport. Roughly a ninth of the property would be harvested every two years.

The property represents about a sixth of the land owned by San Jose Water Co.

The current timeline calls for submitting a management plan to the state Department of Forestry at the end of August. Nearby property owners in Chemeketa Park, Aldercroft Heights and the Summit Road area would be notified by mail early next month.

The water company will hold an informal meeting with neighbors at 7 p.m. today at the Redwood Estates Pavilion.

“I’m sure they see people up there on our property, and we wanted to make sure we touched base with them” before the formal notices went out, said George Belhumeur, senior vice president of operations at San Jose Water Co.

Andrew Gere, the company’s director of operations and water quality, said surveys have shown the water supply to be “generally in good shape.” Still, the risk of wildfires remains high.

The immediate effect of a fire on a water supply, Gere said, is that “the water tastes like smoke and is rendered undrinkable for a period of time.” In the longer term, he said, fire damage can harm water quality by triggering erosion, which pollutes the water supply.

So far, the logging plan seems to be generating little resistance.

“Nobody seems to care,” said Rea Freedom, who lives near the southern end of Lexington in the tiny community of Oakmont. “People tend to be busy.”

But she said she didn’t trust loggers because she had seen the devastation they can cause.

“I think logging is terrible,” she said. “I’d rather have a fire any day.”

Big Creek spokesman Bob Berlage said tonight’s meeting will address “any misconceptions” people have about logging.

“We’re proud of what we do,” he said. “We have nothing to hide.”

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