On Saturday afternoon, Sept. 5, 50 or so members of R.R.R.A.U.L. and the Austin Creek Alliance met with 5th District Supervisor Mike Reilly, representative Ryan Spencer from Assemblywoman Virginia Strom-Martin's office, and representative Jim Leddy from State Senator Mike Thompson's office. The object of the meeting was to discuss three highly controversial Austin Creek timber harvest plans (THPs), and to voice alarm over the current frenzy of logging activity in the County. Supervisor Reilly noted that his office is currently handling 14 THPs.
An attendee of the meeting drily said that, "All the media attention seems to be focused on the Headwaters, and as a result it is overlooked how much significant impact upon the fisheries and the local environment these smaller logging operations can have." The three Austin Creek THPs, collectively, propose to log nearly 600 acres (including two stands of old-growth redwood) and will directly impact Kohute Creek, a class I tributary of Austin Creek, itself a class I tributary of the Russian River, and a home to threatened coho, threatened steelhead, and endangered freshwater shrimp.
The group urged the government representatives to increase their efforts to help the public deal with THPs. Among the issues raised were fire safety, traffic congestion and road damage, and despoiliation of public resources. The County was asked to send officials to THP reviews held at the California Department of Forestry (CDF); a practice not now generally followed although permitted under the Forest Practice Rules. Other suggestions were that the County routinely require timber operators to post bonds covering damage to public properties which might result from logging operations, and that the County provide staff to routinely handle timber issues on a local level.
The group also suggested that legislation be introduced to extend the amount of time currently permitted for CDF review of THPs; under the present Forest Practice law, even when there are significant flaws in a THP but there is not enough time for agencies to do adequate field inspections, the Department of Forestry must ask the plan submitter or forester for agreement to extend the time limits. If this is not done, the THP is automatically approved within a short time span, usually 45 days following their submission at CDF -- whether or not they have received sufficient analysis and mitigation by a sometimes overworked CDF and other state agency staff.
Attendees thanked Senator Thompson, via his representative, for sponsoring passage of a recent bill, SB 1856, providing funding for new CDF staff positions.
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