http://www.pressdemocrat.com/local/news/12logging_b1empireb.html
May 12, 2001
By MATT WEISER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Two local environmental groups have filed suit to restrict logging along the Gualala River near The Sea Ranch, a proposal that has also raised concerns for state water quality officials.
The lawsuit is the latest salvo in a growing conflict between coastal residents and logging companies. Most recently, Jenner residents challenged a logging plan they fear would harm the town's water supply.
The proposed 108-acre logging plan by Gualala Redwoods Inc. includes 65 acres of clear-cutting near the main stem of the Gualala River just upstream from its union with the Pacific Ocean.
Gualala Redwoods officials say they followed all the rules in drafting the logging plan, and the California Department of Forestry approved it Feb. 1.
Citizens for Watershed Protection and Russian River Residents Against Unsafe Logging filed suit April 26 against Gualala Redwoods and the Forestry Department. The suit alleges the logging plan does not fully consider alternatives or the project's cumulative effect on the environment of the Gualala River.
Helen Libeu, president of Citizens for Watershed Protection, said the timber harvest plan fails to live up to its legally required status as an environmental impact report. She said it uses "boilerplate" statements instead of site-specific studies on cumulative impacts and alternatives.
Both groups last year won a lawsuit on similar grounds involving a logging plan near Austin Creek in the Cazadero area.
"I can't imagine a more glaring illustration of cumulative impacts than the Gualala River," she said. "The cumulative impacts from clear-cut logging on steep slopes have simply filled the river in to where it's a sandbank with this little tiny strip of water snaking through."
Henry Alden, vice president of Gualala Redwoods, said his company followed the rules in preparing the timber harvest plan and that the Forestry Department concurs.
"It was strictly, 'Did you comply with the (rule) language?' and they believe that we unambiguously did," Alden said. "Of course, we're diving in to look at it again, but right now we believe we did our best."
Forestry Department officials referred questions to the State Attorney General's Office, which had not yet reviewed the lawsuit. But John Davidson, supervising deputy attorney general, said, "In most of these challenges, the (Forestry) Department is upheld."
In approving the logging plan, the Forestry Department rejected an appeal by a sister state agency to restrict logging adjacent to the Gualala. The North Coast Regional Water Quality Board asked that clear-cutting be forbidden in a 150-foot-wide buffer along the river in the northernmost harvest area, an area it considers a flood plain. The water agency called instead for selection cutting in this zone, which would leave trees behind to shade the river and prevent erosion.
The Gualala is already considered an "impaired" river under the federal Clean Water Act because of heavy erosion, which destroys spawning habitat for salmon and steelhead.
But the Forestry Department rejected the water agency's request, ruling the area in question is not a flood plain and saying adequate protections are already in place.
In an unusually strident response, the water agency claims the Forestry Department relied on outdated science to reach its conclusions and ignored its own regulations.
"The California Department of Forestry should not cite irrelevant literature, ignore the policies developed by their own management, and disregard local studies conducted by their own staff when driving to make a conclusion for the plan submitter," Dave Hope, environmental specialist with the water quality board, wrote in a March 12 letter.
Gregory Zuckert, chairman of Russian River Residents Against Unsafe Logging, said there are other concerns. Less than a year ago, biologists spotted a pair of endangered northern spotted owls in an area proposed for clear-cutting along the river. He also worries Gualala Redwoods' plan to burn logging debris could devastate vegetation that protects small streams in the area.
But Alden said his company is conducting additional surveys for spotted owls. If any are found, the company will be required to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before cutting begins, and no logging will be allowed within a 500-foot radius of any birds. And he said that while it is impossible to guarantee control of a debris fire, his company has "a pretty good record" of protecting stream buffers from fire.
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