"The practice of timber harvesting on state and private lands in California is, in most cases, failing to adequately protect water quality and endangered and threatened species. California forestry practices have been criticized in a number of state and federal government and scientific and academic reports as insufficient to protect public trust resources such as fisheries and water quality. These documented concerns are the subject of this paper." -- Report on Timber Harvesting and Water Quality by the California Senate Office of Research (Adobe PDF)

Latest! (In descending order of date added)

Important Event: GLOBAL WARMING - DO WE KNOW ENOUGH TO MANAGE THE RISKS?
Free admission, Merlot Theater, Wells Fargo Center, Santa Rosa, Jan. 7, 7:00 p.m. Stephen H. Schneider, Ph.D., is a Professor at Stanford University, the Founder/Editor of the Journal, Climatic Change, a member of the United Nations’ Intergovernmetal Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from its inception, and a contributor to all four IPCC Assessment Reports. IPCC has just shared the Nobel prize with Al Gore. Dr. Schneider’s lecture will describe the current assessment of the complex sociotechnical challenge presented by climate change and, given the uncertainties in projecting global climate change and its impact, will suggest the application of risk management strategies to climate policy decision-making. Event details.

• Earth facing 'catastrophic' loss of species: Scientists call for action in biodiversity crisis
  · Warning that world faces next mass extinction (Guardian, July 20, 2006)
  
  Destruction of natural habitats and the effects of climate change are causing species to die out at 100 to 1,000 times faster than the natural rate, leading some scientists to warn we are facing the next mass extinction.

  Nearly one-quarter of the world's mammals, one-third of amphibians and more than one-tenth of bird species are threatened with extinction. Climate change alone is expected to force a further 15%- 37% of species to the brink of extinction within the next 50 years.
  

• Unbeatable heat: Heat wave strains power grids; another scorcher today - THE PRESS DEMOCRAT (July 23, 2006)

  It's not over yet. The North Coast blast furnace is expected to stay at 100 degrees or more as residents endure a heat wave that has strained power grids, set records across the state and sent people flocking to the ocean, rivers, lakes and just about any place with air conditioning.

• Private timberlands at risk. Government regulations, increasing value of land pressure owners to sell - Press Democrat
  
  
• Scientists fear that rising temperatures due to global warming will harm the wine industry in Napa, Sonoma and Santa Barbara counties ... S.F. Chronicle
  
  
• Mendocino County Supervisors Adopt Precautionary Principle. On June 27, 2006, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors adopted the County's first-ever environmental policy - the Mendocino County Precautionary Principle Policy.The Precautionary Principle is a guiding framework for decision-making that anticipates how actions will affect the environment and the health of future generations. The newly adopted policy will provide an innovative structure for decision-making. This structure includes the value of public input, transparency, full-cost and benefit accounting, and guidance towards alternatives with the least potential impact on human health and the environment. The Precautionary Principle is a way of making decisions that better protect the environment and human health. The Precautionary Principle basically says, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." If a practice poses threats to human health or serious environmental damage, the Precautionary Principle uses the best available science to identify cost-effective measures that would prevent harm; the Precautionary Principle states we have a duty to take anticipatory action to prevent harm.

Gualala River Steelhead Studies - Website of a fisheries biologist. "The River's future hangs to a large degree on [the vineyard] issue. Any future conversions of the landscape to vineyards inevitably comes at a cost in terms of Juvenile Steelhead habitat, as the watershed's hydrodynamics are inextricably altered."

Fix the Sonoma County Timberland Ordinance! - Sierra Club

Priceless: On Knowing the Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing
by Frank Ackerman, Lisa Heinzerling
From Publishers Weekly
"How does one put a cost on a human life? And what effect does air pollution have on our health? Ackerman and Heinzerling focus on such questions in this volume, a skeptical and instructive look at how economists put a dollar value on intangible risks and rewards. What sounds like a purely technical process has enormous political implications, thanks to the pervasive use of cost-benefit analysis in government decision making. Because this analysis is used to quantify the impact of often controversial regulatory and tax policies, the economists' numbers loom large in public policy, which Ackerman and Heinzerling clearly deplore. They've composed a lively and engaging attack, both well reasoned and well documented, on the myriad ways that these little-scrutinized figures are manipulated for political gain. While it's no surprise to anyone who has worked with statistics that numbers are frequently massaged to advance a particular point of view, the authors argue that in some cases the massaging leans toward misrepresentation or outright incompetence. For example, one study attempted to downplay the hazards of toxic waste dumps by noting that accidents with deer hurt more people every year; but then, there are many more deer than toxic waste dumps. This is a thoughtful book that is partisan but not strident; at the same time, it assumes a certain degree of mathematical sophistication." -- 'A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.' - Oscar Wilde

Sonoma County timberland ordinance: latest Sierra Club comments

Guide to the Forest Practice Act and Related Laws: Regulation of Timber Harvesting on Private Lands in California
by Sharon E. Duggan and Tara Mueller
"A comprehensive treatise on the applicable state and federal legislation that regulates timber harvesting on private lands in California. Intended as a complete resource for the full range of actors involved, the book covers statutory and regulatory requirements, case law, and agency policies, and includes short articles, charts, graphs, tables, and appendices to help the reader understand complex regulatory processes and how they interrelate. "

Environmentalists fight vineyards' spread - ANNAPOLIS, Calif. (AP) - "In the fog-shrouded forests of California's remote North Coast, winemakers believe they've found the perfect terrain to grow the notoriously fickle pinot noir grape prized by connoisseurs. Vineyard developers are snapping up thousands of acres of redwoods and firs in Sonoma County, with plans to clear the trees and plant the once-obscure varietal made famous by the wine-fueled road trip film 'Sideways'. Environmentalists and residents in Annapolis, a tiny town about 140 miles north of San Francisco, are trying to rein in the pinot lovers. They're fighting the conversion of timberlands into vineyards, which they say destroys wildlife habitat, erodes the soil, contaminates the water with pesticides and opens the door to development." See also: "Pinot craze sows seeds of conflict"

Why local forests deserve protection - "The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors should be applauded for tackling the tough issue of converting private forest land to vineyards and other agricultural uses. Unfortunately, the supervisors' solution doesn't go far enough in protecting the county's precious timber lands." (Halcomb and Hudgins). See also: "Timberland-to-vineyard rules before supervisors"

From the North Coast Water Network: "Wednesday's storm brought major flooding to Freshwater and Elk River on less than 2" of rainfall. In Freshwater, the flooding rose more than 15" above the 'benchmark' level set by the 1955 flood. This kind of flooding is now commonplace in these two watersheds, as sediment from upstream logging has filled in the stream channels by as much as 60%. With no where else to go, the water spreads across fields and roads, and into yards and houses... Humboldt Watershed Council

NAPA COUNTY: Wine country casualties - Grape-eating bears killed as vineyards' territory expands (SF Chron). " Wildlife is often the loser as vineyards steadily creep into the hinterlands ..."

Latest on the Sonoma County Timberland Ordinance. The BOS will be meeting Tuesday, Dec. 13, at 2:15 to consider the ordinance. It isn't heading in a good direction...

U.S. Delegation Walks Out of Climate Talks (Andrew Revkin, NY Times) - "Emissions Accomplished"

"Human activities are influencing the chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere in ways that are not fully understood but which could ultimately affect forest ecosystems in significant ways. The buildup of greenhouse gases is accelerated by fossil fuel burning, deforestation, livestock production, agricultural activities, and the widespread use and release of chemical compounds such as CFCs".
-Report of the United States on the Criteria and Indicators for the Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests, USDA Forest Service, 1997

"California’s forests are an important contributor to global carbon cycles and act to help regulate climatic changes. Scientists generally have agreed that the earth’s climate is changing. Most believe that this is at least partly due to human activities that have altered the chemical composition of the atmosphere through the buildup of greenhouse gases—primarily carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. These gases trap heat. Although uncertainty exists about exactly how earth’s climate responds to these gases, global temperatures are rising... Forests play an important role in the earth's carbon cycle. On one hand, the loss of forests on a global scale to other uses (deforestation) is responsible for up to one-third of carbon emissions to the atmosphere, and ranks second only to the burning of fossil fuels as a source of CO2 emissions. On the other hand, forests serve as a huge carbon sink: they capture CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and store it as carbon in wood and other carbon-based compounds in soil, in understory plants, and in the litter on the forest floor. Large amounts of additional carbon could be stored in U.S. forests, including those in California."
Source (emph. added): FRAP (CDF).

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors voted 3-1, Sept. 22, on the boldest GHG emissions reduction target of any U.S. community. Photos and more: http://www.skymetrics.us/news/news22.php

See also: Role of Forestry in Carbon Sequestration in the County, "Sonoma County, similar to the global arena, is also losing its forestland. Between 1990 and 1997, the County lost 9,505 acres of its hardwood rangelands (oak woodlands) to vineyard conversions. Sonoma County has lost at least 20% of its original conifer forests to other uses, with the most significant conversion occurring between 1850 and 1940. The majority of the County’s old growth forests have been logged, which means the significant carbon stores that those forests once held have also been lost. While current statistics indicate fewer acreage of timberland loss in more recent times, the pending conversion of 1,900 acres of timberland to vineyards by Premier Pacific Vineyards indicates that conversion of the County’s softwood forests still occurs and is still a threat."

See also: Timberland Site Class on Private Lands Zoned for Timber Production
Why do we especially need to preserve Site Class III? There is almost no Class I or II in private TPZ, the bulk of it is III.
Table 7. Timberland Production Zone (TPZ) acreage by Site Class in California as of 2000-2001

RRRAUL Letter to BOS, re Timberland Ordinance, Oct. 4, 2005

Population Numbers May Doom Salmon "Too many people using too much energy and natural resources make it inevitable that wild Pacific salmon will become extinct over the next century without a major overhaul in the way people live their lives, a group of 30 scientists, policy analysts and advocates concluded"... "If this is the path society is going down, we want to make sure everybody understands." (AP)

CDF begins to join the 21st century! Posting THP information on the Internet. See also: When will... ? Also: THP Status at CDF

Update: the Aug. 23, BOS hearing on the County Timberland ordinance (Sierra Club)

Environmental Literacy and the Citizen-Scientist (Link) "I hope that citizens will take responsibility for increasing their scientific, political, and environmental literacy and recognize the importance of the positive effect that an informed public will have on the policy process." - Stephen H. Schneider, Climatologist

Scientific Certification Systems - Forestry (Link)

Latest on the County Timberland Ordinance (Sierra Club),
S.C. letter to BOS, Aug. 23

Grapes Shouldn't Replace Trees (Hudgins and Halcomb)

More on the County Timberland Ordinance. The ordinance proposal will be taken up by the Board of Supervisors on August 23:
RRRAUL Letter to BOS
Presentation to S.C. Environmental Forum, June 15 (PDF)
Deja vu, all over again? -- California Wine Country Clashes with Ecosystem (Washington Post, 2004)

"LONDON (Reuters) - The devastating impact of mankind on the planet is dramatically illustrated in pictures published on Saturday showing explosive urban sprawl, major deforestation and the sucking dry of inland seas over less than three decades."

The present County Timberland Ordinance proposal (Option 5) is fatally flawed. Here's why:
Troubles with Option 5 -- a Sierra Club comment
What Is the Best Option? (Option 3)
Peter Baye comments: “Retail restoration and mitigation: forest conservation during the Grape Rush”
"Perils of Pollyannas"
"From local changes to landscape changes: how to restore degraded landscapes as well as degraded lands?"
Forestry Rehabilitation Primer

Just what's so special about forests, anyway? Well, duh... "The world's forests provide many important benefits: Home to more than half of all species living on land, forests also help slow global warming by storing and sequestering carbon. Forests are sources of wood products. They help regulate local and regional rainfall. And forests are crucial sources of food, medicine, clean drinking water, and immense recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual benefits for millions of people. Yet, in many parts of the world, forests are being rapidly cleared for agriculture or pasture, destructively logged and mined, and degraded by human-set fires. The clearing and destructive logging of forests is the single greatest cause of species extinction worldwide. It is also the source of one-fifth of humankind's annual emissions of carbon dioxide, the most important greenhouse gas. Under current trajectories, most of the world's remaining large tracts of intact, biodiversity-rich forests -- from the Amazon Basin and Indonesia to Maine and Alaska -- will be gone by mid-century. " Read the Union of Concerned Scientists -- Restoring Scientific Integrity, etc.

Vertical vineyard fights fears of slides
Planting down steep slope has La Honda residents worried
'A Silicon Valley millionaire couple's audacious plans to grow "the best
Pinot Noir grapes in the world" on steep slopes in the Santa Cruz Mountains
has set off a water war in the woodsy hamlet of La Honda.' Maria Alicia Gaura, S.F. Chronicle, Tuesday, April 26 2005.

RRRAUL urges the Sonoma County Planning Commisioners to adopt Option 3 of the County's staff report, and to reject Option 5.

Forestland to vineyard conversions: what are we really talking about? Here are views and maps of the Gualala watershed, an area already hammered from logging, which is now being proposed for even more conversions of forests to vineyards.

Satellite images

Maps and photos

See also this Google satellite photo, and a PDF of pictures

Nowhere Near No Net Loss "For example, a permit is granted to fill a 10 acre wetland and 20 acres of existing wetlands are acquired and donated to a park district as mitigation. The database would show this as a 10 acre net gain, when in actuality, this results in a net loss of 10 acres of wetlands. Additionally, the data does not account for the fact that even wetland restoration and creation may not result in gains because of the high failure rate of such projects... Study after study shows how unlikely efforts to date to restore wetlands result in fully functioning systems, and to date, there is no plan to ensure that the functions and values restored are in any way equivalent to those lost. "

"Due to failures of mitigation requirements, '… the Section 404 permitting process has been fostering an 80 percent net loss of wetlands.' R. Turner, A.M. Redmond, and J.B. Zedler, 2001. Count it by Acre or Function: Mitigation Adds up to Net Loss of Wetlands. National Wetlands Newsletter 22:6"

Humboldt Watershed Council Appeals PalCo decision to State Water Board
Read the petition

Support SB 646 (Kuehl)

Change in PALCO/RWQCB meeting: "Item No. 7 is the PUBLIC HEARING to consider whether to direct the Executive Officer to enroll additional Timber Harvesting Plans in Elk River and Freshwater Creek watersheds under Order No. R1-2004-0030, General Waste Discharge Requirements for Discharges Related to Timber Harvest Activities on non-Federal Lands. " Now scheduled for the Luther Burbank Center at noon, Wednesday, March 15. See also RRRAUL Letter.

In related news: "A new source of disagreement has emerged in the long-running controversy over logging in the Freshwater basin east of Eureka. The latest tiff concerns a recent report that raises questions about whether the state agency charged with regulating logging in Freshwater has underestimated the extent to which timber harvesting by the Pacific Lumber Co. is increasing the frequency and extent of flooding in the watershed. The report has been quickly dismissed by scientists with Pacific Lumber and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. In a nine-page report prepared last month, Leslie Reid -- a leading expert on the environmental impacts of logging -- said that when CDF calculated the likelihood of flooding in Freshwater in a study last year, it failed to consider the most important factor: the reduction in the ability of streams to carry water due to channel shrinkage caused by sediment build-up from harvested areas and logging roads. Instead, CDF looked only at the extent to which logging activity can increase peak streamflows from run-off from logged areas and logging roads. Reid noted in her report that Pacific Lumber's own analysis of flooding in Freshwater suggests that '75 percent of the flooding problem is due to sediment accumulation and 25 percent to increased runoff'." See also: Calculation of cutting rate for Bear Creek watershed (source: Review of the Palco SYP), and the Final Report and Effects on Beneficial Uses of Water (Elk, Stitz, Bear, Jordan, Freshwater)

Scientific American: How Are the Mighty Fallen?
The rise and fall of Montana, Maya and other societies -- a review of Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

How fine sediment in riverbeds impairs growth and survival of juvenile salmonids
Kenwyn B. Suttle, Mary E. Power, Jonathan M. Levine, and Camille McNeely
Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA
See also: Erosion, Destruction, and Public Subsidy.

RRRAUL readership -- dedicated and growing.

Salmon habitats face cuts; 'Critical' areas to be reduced 80%. The Bush administration proposed Tuesday an 80 percent reduction in designated habitat for endangered Pacific salmon and steelhead, leading environmentalists to charge that recovering populations of the rare fish could collapse once again... Bill Kier, a Sausalito-based fisheries consultant who specializes in salmon and steelhead, said the announcement marked "a sea change" in federal policy, one that could prove disastrous for the fish. "It's a default shredding of the ESA," Kier said. (See also: Important Critical Habitat Decision.)

Check out the new website for the North Coast Water Network: http://NorthCoastWaterNetwork.org/ The purpose of the website is to draw attention to grassroots environmental and social justice groups in the north coast region of California that are focused on issues related to fresh water.

Friends of the Gualala and the Sierra Club say: "STOP FORESTLAND DESTRUCTION! Private and corporate interests are targeting coastal redwood forestlands in Northern California for clear cutting to make way for extensive new vineyard projects. Once these redwood forests are destroyed, they will be lost forever. Conservation groups including the Sierra Club and Friends of the Gualala River are working to protect existing forestland for the benefit of future generations."

“CHAINSAW WINE” PROTEST APPEALS TO PINOT NOIR PRODUCERS TO REIGN IN THEIR “BAD APPLES” -- WHAT: Street Theater Protest with Chainsaw-carrying 8’ Wine Bottle
WHEN: 9:45 AM, Saturday, Oct. 29, 2004
WHERE: 14711 ARMSTRONG WOODS RD., GUERNEVILLE, CA.

Climate Change and Forests (www.panda.org) "Of all the threats to forests, climate change is the most insidious. Its impacts will be felt, to varying degrees, in every forest and woodland in every part of the world. The situation is not helped by the fact that many of the world's forests are in poor condition and will be unable to adapt or adjust to climate change. Moreover, the ongoing destruction, fragmentation, and degradation of forests combine to make climatic change the biggest threat - and the biggest challenge - of all. As the global climate warms up, patterns of rainfall will change; some areas will become drier and others wetter. At the same time, 'normal' temperature patterns will be disrupted. As a consequence, many species will be unable to survive in places where they live today. Forests, together with grasslands, wetlands and other ecosystems, will be forced to move to other areas or face gradual extinction. Because trees grow slowly, forests need time to adapt to environmental changes, but the expected rate of global warming and sea-level rise will mean that many forest types will not be able to keep up. Furthermore, in regions with high human populations, land for new forests to colonize may simply not be available.Future El Niño events - the periodic upwellings of warm waters in the Pacific Ocean which affect weather patterns across the globe - could increase incidences of fire, particularly in the forests of South America, releasing millions of tonnes of stored carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. " See also Forest Conversion

"An ecological system in dynamic balance is like a finely tuned automobile engine, and damage to any component can disable or impair the efficiency of the entire mechanism. This means that if we are to expect a good harvest of fish, the temperature conditions in the water medium must strike a favorable balance for all the components (algae and other plants, small crustaceans, bait fishes, and so on)." -- John R. Clark, "Thermal Pollution and Aquatic Life", Scientific American, March, 1969.

Rally for the River BBQ Party, "The Year of the River!", Friends of the Russian River, Congresswoman. Lynn Woolsey, Russian RiverKeeper, etc. -- Sunday, Sept. 12, Burke's Canoe Trips, Forestville

All of the recent expert comments on proposed vineyard conversion projects in the Annapolis area: http://www.gualalariver.org/vineyards/letters.html
A map of conversions, etc., on the 'Annapolis' page: http://www.gualalariver.org/vineyards/annapolis.html
Brief updates on the Artesa project and the Haupt Creek logging:
http://www.gualalariver.org/vineyards/artesa.html
http://www.gualalariver.org/forestry/haupt.html

Support AB2121: Please send a letter to Governor Swartzeneger in support of AB2121. This is an extremely important bill for our rivers and fisheries. AB 2121 requires the State Water Resources Control Board to adopt as state policy the draft guidelines from the Department of Fish and Game and NOAA Fisheries, formerly the National Marine Fisheries Service, that establish minimum streamflows to protect salmon and steelhead in the coastal rivers of California north of San Pablo Bay.

POST-NORMAL SCIENCE - Environmental Policy under Conditions of Complexity (Link) - "In relation to policy, 'the environment' is particularly challenging. It includes masses of detail concerning many particular issues, which require separate analysis and management. At the same time, there are broad strategic issues, which should guide regulatory work, such as those connected with 'sustainability'. Nothing can be managed in a convenient isolation; issues are mutually implicated; problems extend across many scale levels of space and time; and uncertainties and value-loadings of all sorts and all degrees of severity affect data and theories alike... We are now witnessing the emergence of a new approach to problem-solving strategies in which the role of science, still essential, is now appreciated in its full context of the uncertainties of natural systems and the relevance of human values."

CDF rescinds approval of a THP! (One of the worst clearcuts - withdrawn after a lot of protest.) On Monday, Aug. 23, 2004, CDF rescinded its previous approval of Gualala Redwoods Inc. THP 1-010-365 SON ("Lola") at the request of the submitters. This timber harvest plan had been an object of much contention since its inception, proceeding finally to litigation. The plan had been submitted in late 2001 and proposed to clearcut 102 acres on Rockpile Creek, a tributary of the Gualala River, a river listed for both sediment and temperature impairments.

Climate change could have drastic impact on California. "Global climate change could significantly alter life in California by the end of the century, according to a study co-authored by Stanford University researchers published in the Aug. 16 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).... Computer analysis also forecast that milk production would be reduced 7 to 22 percent in the state's top 10 dairy counties, and that wine grape production would be impaired statewide except in cool coastal vineyards. Meanwhile, between 50 and 75 percent of the state's alpine forests will disappear in 100 years, the researchers predicted. Overall, the study showed that the amount of climate change and the severity of its impacts can be cut by 50 percent or more if greenhouse gas emissions are reduced in coming decades." (Stanford Report, August 18, 2004)

Check out: E/ The Environmental Magazine

Important Critical Habitat Decision - 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Recovery vs. mere survival: conservation and critical habitat include recovery, not just survival. Key points from the decision -- "Congress, by its own language, viewed conservation and survival as distinct, though complementary, goals, and the requirement to preserve critical habitat is designed to promote both conservation and survival. Congress said that “destruction or adverse modification” could occur when sufficient critical habitat is lost so as to threaten a species’ recovery even if there remains sufficient critical habitat for the species’ survival... we conclude that the critical habitat analysis in the six BiOps was fatally flawed because it relied on an unlawful regulatory definition of “adverse modification” and it impermissibly substituted LSRs for critical habitat. Neither of these errors was harmless..." full text of decision here

Seattle Post-Intelligencer article "Court blocks cuts in Northwest forests -- A federal appeals court shot down a series of timber cuts planned for national forests in the Pacific Northwest yesterday, ruling that regulations ostensibly protecting the spotted owl and other threatened species are "blatantly contradictory to Congress' express demand. In a ruling covering 6.9 million acres but with potentially even greater implications, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it's not enough for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to merely keep threatened species from dying out.The government also must protect natural areas deemed critical to the recovery of battered animal populations so that they no longer need protection under the Endangered Species Act, said the court, which is based in San Francisco and covers nine states..."

The Nature Conservancy announced today the acquisition and permanent protection of 1,711 acres on the Stornetta Brothers Ranch at the mouth of the Garcia River in Mendocino County, near Point Arena.

When will CDF join the 21st century and properly computerize? - group letter, CDF reply.

June 30, 2004- Russian River Chamber of Commerce, Supervisor Mike Reilly, Assemblywoman Patty Berg, State Senator Wes Chesbro, and U.S. Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey give 2004 Environmental Awards to Pocket Canyon Protection Group (presenter: Helen Libeu) and Russian RiverKeeper (presenter: Marty Griffin), recognizing "extraordinary efforts to protect and educate our community on the environment".
 

Gualala River recommendation (P. 236) from the Recovery Strategy For California Coho: "MC-GU-03 Enforce existing, SWRCB/Department, bypass flow, permit conditions of North Gualala Water Company diversions on North Fork Gualala River. The North Fork Gualala River provides an important source of coldwater input to lower mainstem and estuary".

NOAA to RWQCB: "NOAA Fisheries specifically refers the Regional Board to review the Report of the Scientific Review Panel on California Forest Practice Rules and Salmonid Habitat, (Ligon et al. 1999). This report was produced by a third-party Blue Ribbon Science Panel tasked to review the Rules and, where necessary, provide recommendations to improve the Rules for salmonids. The Science Panel concluded that the Forest Practice Rules, including their implementation, do not ensure protection of anadromous salmonid populations. There are over 30 additional science/technical reports corroborating Science Panel findings. Unfortunately, many issues raised by the Science Panel and others regarding Rule inadequacies have not translated to the promulgation of substantive Rule modifications. NOAA Fisheries has significant concerns that currently the Rules are not providing adequate protection of riparian habitats, floodplain processes and general forest health essential to the survival and ultimate recovery of listed salrnonids." [Emph. added]

'No Tree Left Behind" -- California Budget Trailer Bill
The Governor has added language to a Budget Trailer Bill. This language is great for the timber industry and horrible for the environment.

What IS Going On Behind the Sea Ranch?

New Report Details Maxxam/PL's Wholesale Noncompliance with Environmental Protection Standards: Company Racks Up Over 300 Violations in Five Years -- (EPIC)

Preserving California’s Wild Things
Demise of California wildlife a legacy of this generation

"The Documents in the Case" -- a compilation (by Redwoods Forever) of documents which may usefully be quoted in public comment or news articles on CDF practices. These documents highlight the inadequacies of the current Forest Practice Rules, as implemented, to adequately protect our forests and rivers, and the habitat of threatened salmon and other species.

Comments on Conversions

Comments on Hanson/Whistler Conversion (PDF)

More Comments on Hanson/Whistler Conversion

Deforestation and Vineyard Conversion Website (Redwoods Forever)

Comment on 'Streamlined' Timberland Conversion Process

Comment on Conversion Applications

'Untouched' rainforest hit by environmental change
Changes in tree communities underline humans' pervasive influence. The balance has been altered because the fastest-growing tree species are now growing even faster. Carbon dioxide is the most likely cause. "It's a concern that even the most intact wilderness in the world is affected by CO2."

Sign-ups for letters/emails re: CAC OPTION THREE

Environmental Legislation in California
See "Forestry", under "Conservation and Natural Resources" -- Planning and Conservation League (PCL)
| See also: FORESTRY REFORM BILL PACKAGE

Another Memo to BOF re Microclimate Rule (HTML) / PDF of same

PowerPoint Presentation (as 1.5 M PDF) re Microclimate Rule

PowerPoint version of same Microclimate Presentation

Water Quality Concerns in the Sierra Nevada from Silvicultural Activities (Clearcutting)

Levine Comments: Draft Water Quality Control Policy For Developing California's Clean Water Act Section 303 (d) List

Coastal Forest Alliance Comments on 'Pre-consultations'

Chainsaw Wine in Sacramento

Key Open Government Laws: The primary four laws that regulate the public's access to government and government records are the Ralph M. Brown Act, the California Public Records Act, the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, and the Freedom of Information Act.

January 6, 2004, Sacramento, California: The California Board of Forestry decided today to uphold the Department of Forestry's denial of timber harvest plan THP 1-00-484-SON on Haupt Creek, in the Gualala River watershed. (For background on this THP, see various items below). The vote was 5 to 2 in favor of upholding the denial. Congratulations to all who worked on this.

Memo to BOF re Clearcutting, Landslides, and the Microclimate Rule

Clearcutting Causes Landslides

Landslides and Clearcuts: What Does The Science Really Say?

ETHICS FOR NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGERS by Jack Ward Thomas, Chief, USDA Forest Service. Written when serving as Chief Research Wildlife Biologist, USDA Forest Service, La Grande, Oregon

Black Carbon Contributes To Droughts And Floods

In China: A new NASA climate study has found that large amounts of black carbon (soot) particles and other pollutants are causing changes in precipitation and temperatures over China and may be at least partially responsible for the tendency toward increased floods and droughts in those regions over the last several decades.In a paper appearing in the September 27 issue of SCIENCE, Surabi Menon of NASA and Columbia University, and her colleague, James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, indicate that black carbon can affect regional climate by absorbing sunlight, heating the air and thereby altering large scale atmospheric circulation and the hydrologic cycle.

Levine Comments on SWRCB Waivers for Timber Operations (Make it so -- No more waivers! No more free ride!)

Comment to CDF on THP 1-01-365 SON

Water Quality Non-Concurrence on THP 1-01-365 SON

Levine Comments on THPs THP 1-01-365 SON Rockpile Creek, Gualala River THP 1-03-185 SON South Fork Mainstem, Gualala River

ANGELS ON THE HEAD OF A PIN (Helen Libeu)

Rockpile Creek Aerial (Click to view)

Letter to BOF re Microclimate Petition and Stream Temperatures (HTML, PDF)

Estimating Cumulative Effects of Clearcutting on Stream Temperatures (USGS)

Stream Network and Stream Segment Temperature Models Software (USGS)

How to submit Letters and Op-Eds

Haupt Creek Denial Appealed to BOF in January

On October 12th, 2003, Governor Davis signed SB 810, which gives Water Quality more authority in reviewing THPs. (See below for more on SB 810.)

Pocket Canyon THP 1-02-216 SON : SECOND REVIEW occurred September 4, 2003. The plan has now been recommended for approval by CDF. The Public Comment period closes approximately Sept. 25. See www.pocketcanyon.org for more information.

County General Plan Update (CAC) Letter, and a Sonoma Group Sierra Club Handout

Microclimate Rule Petition (HTML, PDF) (A proposal to moderate the environmental impacts of clearcutting and other even-aged management logging methods)

Support SB 810 (Note: SB 810 has now passed both the Assembly and the Senate. Now the Governor needs to sign it. This bill would help the Regional Water Quality Control Boards with the review of Timber Harvest Plans. Please urge the Governor to sign it. See the Letter to Governor Davis Re SB 810)

More Haupt Creek Comments (Note: on Friday, September 5, 2003, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officially denied THP 1-00-484 SON, the plan to begin logging the Haupt Creek old growth coastal redwood forest in the northwest corner of Sonoma County.)

Rule on Microclimates proposed at BOF (on 9/10/03)

More on Microclimate Rule (also: PDF version)

Presentation on Microclimates at BOF

PDF version of Microclimate Presentation

PowerPoint version of Microclimate Presentation

THP Status at CDF

Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics

Chipping D, 1999. Timber Harvesting Plan Handbook. California Native Plant Society. Sacramento, CA. ii + 43 pp.

Haupt Creek Redux -- Recommended for Denial

NORTH COUNTY OLD-GROWTH LOGGING FOUGHT (Press Democrat)

The Final, Final, Final Review (???) at CDF of the Haupt Creek THP 1-00-484 (Does CDF ever acknowledge cumulative effects in a watershed? See also: http://www.gualalariver.org, http://redwood.sierraclub.org/articles/April_03/OldGrowthForest.html, http://redwood.sierraclub.org/Campaigns/ForestProtection/Index_Forestry.html)

A SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR THE PREDICTION OF CUMULATIVE WATERSHED EFFECTS (UC Committee on Cumulative Watershed Effects)

What a long strange trip it's been - or - Who took the synthesis out of analysis? (Reid et al.)

Salmonid Guidelines for Forestry Practices in California

Bibliography Update

North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board: TMDLs (Link)

Some forestry science: Managing redwoods, Aquatic ecosystems of the redwood region, Terrestrial fauna of redwood forests (PDFs) [Noss, The Redwood Forest]

Pocket Canyon Overflight Video (Real Player - requires high speed connection)

Gualala Watershed Conversion and THP Comments (Artesa)

KRIS Presentation

Potential Effects of Climate Change on Trees and Forests

Real Science vs. Weird Science: The Interior Department's Manipulation of Science for Political Purposes

POCKET CANYON PROTECTION GROUP (Link)

The THP Review Process at CDF (Source: CDF, Adobe PDF)

The Timberland Conversion Process at CDF (Source: CDF, Adobe PDF)

Vineyard Conversion: Letter to CalPERS (California Public Employees Retirement System) and Premier Pacific Vineyards

“Water or Wine?” -- Vineyard Conversions

Other additions and updates to these pages, in descending order of date:

Didn't Vote?
UC Center for Forestry (Blodgett) Link
Memo to the Sierra Club: Pay More Attention to Water Quality
Alert -- Help Urgently Needed to Stop Worst Anti-Forest Bill
Forestry and Fishery News - Coho listed under California Endangered Species Act - PALCO Shut Down
Regional Water Quality Control Board Hearing: Timber Harvest Operatons Waste Discharge Requirements - Waiver
RRRAUL Letter to WQRCB re Timber Harvest Operatons Waste Discharge Requirements - Waiver
Bush's So-Called "Healthy Forest Plan" - EPIC ALERT!!!!
Notice of TIMBER HARVEST PLAN WORKSHOP Water ruling sticks in Joy Road battle
Friends of Mill Creek -- THP Disputed
California Native Plant Society -- Timber Harvests (Link)
Why Not Filing Fees for Timber Harvest Plans?
Sonoma County Timberland to Vineyard Conversions
Humans running up huge 'overdraft' with the planet says new WWF report (Link)
Tree disease hits Contra Costa, Humboldt counties, Bay laurel may spread organism
Judge orders EPA to protect salmon from pesticides
How to Lose Your Political Virginity while Keeping Your Scientific Credibility
THP Review Process

(Source: CDF)
TMDL Effectiveness
Friends of the Gualala River
Sudden Oak Death is worsening
How to file a complaint against a Registered Professional Forester
CATs Settles Lawsuit with the EPA on the effect of Pesticides on Salmon and Wildflower Endangered Species
An Ecosystem Approach to Salmonid Conservation (Manual)
TMDLs -- U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal Decision: S.F. Baykeepers vs. Christine Todd Whitman, Administrator of EPA (4/15/2002)
BOF Hearing on the 'Broken' THP Process
THP Notices of Submission
Appeal of Men 101 Denied
PowerPoint Presentation to BOF re Men 101
Board of Forestry Appeal Hearing -- Gualala Redwoods THP on the Gualala (see also RRRAUL 101 letter, Gualala Logging Challenged)
Fishlink Sublegals
Board of Forestry Schedule - 2002
 (USGS) National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA)
Binsley Poplars
Search RRRAUL
An Aftermath of Logging
KRIS (Noyo River Information System) Link: Fisheries Resource
Defending the Redwoods
Gualala Logging Challenged
Should Scientists Advocate Public Policy?
!!! A Request to Supervisor Mike Reilly re Scenic View Corridors !!!
A Millenium of California Forestry 
Some Disputed THPs
Issues
CDF Slowly Joins the 21st Century:

RRRAUL and Sonoma Earth Action present --
A Fish and Forestry Forum: an Earth Week Celebration (Monday, April 17, 3:00, SSU Commons)

SB 1963
Management Measures for Forestry (SWQRCB -- Link)

Tractor in Stream (Photos: M. Winslow)

RRRAUL received the following comment on these photos from a Canadian reader: "I've been a logger in British Columbia for the past 28 years.  I am also an old resident of Gualala.  I was raised there in the 50's and 60's and remember the river dumping all its silt during the rains of December when it overflowed the bar.  And that's what the salmon and the steelies had to swim up into!  But never would I believe that in this day and age would machinery be allowed to yard logs over a stream bed.  That is a photo of a totally mindless and obscene act.   I would hope anyone over 5 years old could understand that you just don't treat rivers and streams in such a manner. Apparently not though, eh?"  --  John Sawyer, British Columbia

Analysis of the 2000-01 Budget Bill: Watershed Assessment Initiative (Link)

Forest Practice Rule Revisions (Jan 1, 2000 -- Coho Considerations)

California Code of Regulations (Link) [The CCR website can be searched in a variety of ways, including by CCR Title Number, and Section Number at Go to a Specific Section. (Include "Title" in the search, but not "Section"; e.g., "Title 14" and "916" for "Title 14, Section 916"). For forestry, the relevant sections are: (Title 14) Sections 890 - 1663.9. ]

RRWC Meeting: Jan. 29, 2000
Saints and Sinners
Forests (Link -- CDF Fire and Resource Protection: FRAP)
THP Notices of Submission
Logging Failures Near Jenner
G-P logging near Ft. Bragg, Mendocino Co. (Photo: MEC) 

Georgia-Pacific Clearcut near Ft. Bragg, - "Logging is Good for the Land", Charles Hurwitz, Pres. Maxxam 

TMDL Handout
Letter re CDF Computerization
A Pop Quiz: Comments on a Barn Gulch THP, and on Lawsuits
RRRAUL TMDL Comment
EPA Proposes To Get Tough On Water Pollution Caused by Logging
Comment on EPA Proposal
TMDL Program (Link)
Salmon, Timber, and the Economy
Watershed Worries
RRRAUL Calendar
(Link) LANDPATHS
THP Paper Flow
Return of the Munchie THP
Neighbors to Litigate Austin Creek THP
Judge Refuses to Halt Timber Harvest Plans
L.A. Times: Forest Policy Failure

Earlier additions:

Forestry Links
DFG and WQ Get Tough on THPs
TMDL Process Flow Chart
NMFS Harm Definition
NMFS Criticizes a THP and Leans on BOF
Mendocino Redwood Company Option A (Link) 
What is an 'Option A'?
DMG Note 45 (PDF file: Guidelines for Engineering Geology Reports on THPs)
(Link) Model Ordinances to Protect Local Resources
Notes on the Forestry Process
(Link) Woody Debris Research Assessment
Restoration at Willow Creek
1999 CDF Trends
Perspectives: Forum on Fisheries and Aquaculture
CDF 1603 Guidelines
TMDL Bill Signed by Gov. Davis
Clarification: An Occidental THP
Leavening: Teaching Math Through the Years
A Clearcut Controversy: Gualala Redwoods, Inc. (Updated)
Friends of the Garcia River (Link)
TMDL Program (EPA Link)
CDF Survey Guidelines
Board of Forestry Disciplines Forester
RRWC Ad Hoc Assembly: Letter to USACE
Chart of CDF Review Process
A Willow Creek Controversy
Presentation to BOF, Aug. 2, 1999

Intro: County Land Use and Salmonids
Exec. Summary: County Land Use and Salmonids
Approaching Messy Problems: Strategies for Environmental Analysis (Link)
On Certification of Mendocino Redwoods Company: a Willow Creek THP
Discussion of Clean Water Act
Notes on Forestry Reform
Links to Current California Forestry Regulation: On the Logging Page
Coastal Commission Approves Santa Cruz County's Zoning Restrictions on Logging

What is going on?

More Gualala Clearcut Photos 
Forest Practice Rules and Salmonid Habitat Report (Report of the Scientific Review Panel, Watershed Protection and Restoration Council)
Executive Summary: WPRC Science Panel 
(Link) Getting Started on TMDLs
A Bigger Picture (Gualala River Improvement Network)
Is Gualala Burning? Water Quality Board Chides Practices
(Link) Gualala.net
Fog Larks
Forestry and Watershed Analysis: Publications list of Leslie Reid, USDA Forest Service

The immediately following pertain to the recent 10,000 acre, two-county vineyard conversion proposed by Coastal Forestlands.

Giant Forestland to Vineyard Conversion Proposal

How did this happen? Shocking Stocking Report: CDF on Pioneer Coastal Forestlands

More Logging Photographs -- Gualala River Region

[The following question was recently posed to CDF staff in a letter from a Registered Professional Forester, who had also recently boasted of his years of professional experience: "I do not know what LWD is. Can you give me a clue?" Clue: LWD is "large woody debris." The phrase occurs often in the Forest Practice Rules, particularly in the section on cumulative impacts, and the acronym is standard.] 

Help stamp out clueless forestry!
Latest Forestry News 
Bibliography
New Gualala Photographs on Photo page
Habitat: the Need for Deadwood
(Link) Logging Gamecock Canyon by Kathy Dean Santa Cruz Mountains violations private property roads forestry issues
(Link) WDFW -- Fish Passage Design at Road Culverts: A design manual for fish passage at road crossings
RRRAUL Letter to DFG, RWQCB -- Where Are You?
Damage on the Gualala ( Letter & Photos)
What's Wrong with THPs?
Links to Current California Forestry Legislation: On the Logging Page
A Walk Through the THP Process
Clar Tree THP Denied
Testimony on Forestry and Salmon
LOGGING PLAN BRINGS PROTESTS (Press Democrat)
How To Harass A Public Agency
Whither the Russian River Watershed Council?
A Brief Bibliography of Forestry
1_26_99
Aerials of Austin Creek, Guerneville
Fish and Forestry News
Clar Tree, Austin Creek News
Miscreancy: Criminal Charges Filed Against Winery and Cazadero Logger
LOGGING PRIVATE PROPERTY

KRIS Coho 

What is KRIS?

Press Democrat's Site of The Week - 1998 

The following site has been previously chosen to be Search Sonoma's "Site of the Week" in 1998: 

5/18/98 R.R.R.A.U.L. 

[Copyright © 1996 by The Press Democrat & Pacific Web. All Rights Reserved.] 

[RRRAUL at Sonoma State University, April 1999] 

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