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State Rules Weren't Followed With Lode Logging Plan

Posted on: Saturday, 22 April 2006, 15:00 CDT

By Read The Fifth District Court Of Appeal Decision (.Doc File), The Record, Stockton, Calif.

Apr. 22--ARNOLD - A state appeals court has ordered a halt to plans for clear-cut logging on private land near Calaveras Big Trees State Park, saying that the California Department of Fish and Game failed to follow state rules when it reviewed the environmental damage the logging might cause.

Sierra Pacific Industries, California's largest owner of private timberland and a major employer in the Mother Lode, in 2001 filed three separate plans to harvest trees on a combined total of 1,369 acres spread over dozens of sites east and north of Calaveras Big Trees State Park in Tuolumne County.

The California Department of Forestry approved those plans in 2002. Then, Ebbetts Pass Forest Watch and the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center filed suit to overturn the plans. A local court rejected the environmental suit.

The environmental groups appealed to the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Fresno, which filed its ruling last week. That ruling orders the Department of Forestry to rescind its approval of the harvest plans.

The Mother Lode-based environmental groups oppose SPI's logging plans because they believe the clear-cutting and so called "variable retention" logging methods the company prefers are damaging the region's forest and eliminating habitat needed by birds and other species.

Variable retention logging differs from clear-cutting in that a few trees are left on an otherwise clear-cut area. Environmentalists argue that variable retention is often effectively the same as a clear-cut because of the huge breaks created in the forest canopy.

"If these were allowed to go forward, the total would allow more than 70 clear-cut logging units to add to more than 150 already existing clear-cut units that are just in this general area north and east of Big Trees Park," said John Buckley, executive director of the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center.

In particular, Buckley said that the Cedar Flat plan would allow logging within 200 feet of Big Trees State Park and that the Curry harvest plan would allow logging along a creek above the park, threatening the park with mud and sediment flows from post-logging erosion.

Buckley said the checkerboard pattern created by earlier clear-cuts is easily visible to airplane passengers who fly over the region.

David Dun, an attorney representing Sierra Pacific Industries, said his firm believes the Department of Forestry did all the proper studies to see whether the logging plans might hurt fragile species like the spotted owl.

"We believe the spotted owl is absolutely safe. We believe the spotted owl thrives on private timberlands," Dun said.

One disputed point is whether the Department of Forestry sufficiently considered the cumulative effects of all the logging going on throughout the Sierra on spotted owl and Pacific fisher habitat.

Environmentalists and the Fifth appellate court agree that the geographical areas the CDF studied are inadequate. But a similar case in the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento ended with the opposite ruling in 2004.

The Third District court ruled in that case that the CDF had acted properly in its approach to assessing the cumulative impacts on habitat of six timber harvest plans SPI prepared in Calaveras and El Dorado counties.

Because of the conflict between the district courts, Dun said SPI is immediately requesting a "rehearing" of the matter by the Fifth District court. If that rehearing does not restore SPI's timber harvest plan approval, then Dun said SPI likely would appeal to the state Supreme Court.

State forestry officials said Friday that they haven't decided yet whether they will appeal the latest ruling. Meanwhile, the latest ruling sets a different standard for how to review logging plans in the nine counties covered by the Fifth District court.

"Their plans will have to be reviewed differently than plans elsewhere in the state," said Duane Shintaku, assistant deputy director for forest practice of the CDF.

Shintaku said the CDF will consult with State Resource Agency officials and the office of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger before deciding whether to appeal the decision.

Buckley said he hopes state officials will conclude that the Fifth District court is right about the high standards state law sets for reviewing the damage that logging can cause.

"This doesn't in any way stop SPI from clear-cutting, which is obviously something that we believe is an appropriate change that needs to take place," Buckley said. "But what this does do is require the state and SPI to actually look at the landscape effects of so much clear-cutting as it affects water and wildlife."

Contact reporter Dana M. Nichols at (209) 754-9534 or dnichols@recordnet.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Record, Stockton, Calif.

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Source: The Record

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