Certification of Mendocino Redwoods Company

On Certification of Mendocino Redwoods Company: a Willow Creek THP

The SmartWood Network
The Institute for Sustainable Forestry
Forest Stewardship Council, A.C.

July 24, 1999

Certification Panel Members:

I limit my comments on Mendocino Redwood Company to my own experience with them in Sonoma County, with respect to a particular THP which they have planned in that county.

I am the Chair of Russian River Residents Against Unsafe Logging (RRRAUL). RRRAUL is a group that comments on timber harvesting plans (THPs), maintains a web site, and otherwise assists others in understanding and taking part in the THP review process. RRRAUL is working with the Forest Practice Committee of the State Board of Forestry on improving the Forest Practice Rules on giving notice to schools, fire districts and water districts when a THP is submitted. The organization has been involved in the issue of clearcuts and burns done by Gualala Redwoods, Inc.

I am also the liaison of the environmental caucus of the Russian River Watershed Council and a member of its Steering Committee. The Russian River Watershed Council is an organization whose mission is the recovery of the native anadromous fishery of the Russian River to healthy andsustainable levels. I am also a person who makes public comments on THPs. I have participated as a volunteer in restorations projects undertaken by Trout Unlimited in Willow Creek, near the site, of THP No-1-99-100 SON ("THP 100"), a Mendocino Redwoods Corporation endeavor. Last January, working with Trout Unlimited, I and other RRRAULians planted some 600 redwoods on Willow Creek.

I have reviewed THP 100 and attended the Review meetings at CDF.

Recently, in the company of Helen Libeu, Gregory Zuckert, Mike Swaney, Bill Wheeler, Chris Poehlmann and others, I attended an approximately three hour inspection of the THP area with representatives of Mendocino Redwood Company. On the hike which was the major part of the tour, I visually verified that the harvest was marked as a (lighter-than-usual, uneven aged) selection method. I also noted that the areas to be operated on excluded landslide areas of concern, that the Watercourse and Lake Protection Zones (WLPZs) were being well respected, beyond what is required by the Forest Practice Rules, and that operations were planned to correct the drainage of a large and troublesome gully (discussed in the THP as "Area A"). This feature is at present a very significant sedimentation source. I know that additional mitigations for this feature recommended at the Second Review meeting.

I am presently involved in discussing two other THPs which involve landslide areas upon which it is proposed to operate - cutting and pulling trees - a matter of great concern, both environmentally and to the well-being of nearby residents. While all logging involves at least temporary disturbances, this THP, based on the lightness of the marking and the care being taken to avoid erosional hazards, is likely to occasion much less environmental disturbance than most THPs I have been involved with in Sonoma County in the last three years.

Respectfully,

Jay Halcomb
Chair, RRRAUL