Oregon May Tighten Logging Rules to Protect Streams

By Jeff Barnard, Associated Press

January 10, 2012 

A study finding that logging on private timberlands is making streams warmer, potentially harming salmon, has prompted the Oregon Board of Forestry to consider tightening state logging standards.

Board of Forestry chairman John Blackwell said Monday that he expects the changes would amount to a "tweaking" of the Oregon Forest Practices Act, which sets standards for timber harvest on state and private lands. He added that the board was mindful of the need to protect salmon, which need cold water, but did not want to impose regulations that would prompt timberland owners to sell their lands for vacation home and resort development.

"It's certainly going to tighten regulations on landowners, but it will not be onerous, and we will do it in such a way that landowners understand the value of it," Blackwell said.

The study by the Oregon Department of Forestry and Oregon State University found state logging standards on private lands were "inadequate" to meet the state water quality standard for protecting cold water. Based on 33 sites on state and private lands in the Coast Range dating to 2002, the study found an average increase of 1.26 degrees Fahrenheit after logging on private lands. There was no increase on state timberlands, where more trees are left standing along streams. The temperature increases were prompted by less shade thrown on the water by trees.

After hearing the study results last week, the board voted 5-2 to direct the department to start preparing new rules for protecting streamside buffers on private lands. The process is likely to take months.

Board member Jennifer Phillippi, whose family owns a mill and timberlands in southwestern Oregon, said she voted against moving forward on new regulations because the study results are not all in, and the changes in water temperature were small.

"Everybody agrees the RipStream study is a good study, but it's not finished," she said. "I would expect as we gather the rest of the information, that we're going to find solutions that are effective and efficient."

Dave Powers, regional manager for forestry of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Portland, said Washington state has had much stronger protections for streams on private timberlands than Oregon for a decade, and he expected the board to give the issue serious consideration.

"EPA also would like to see lands continue in forest production," he said. "We do not believe protection of water quality and aquatic species is inconsistent with producing timber."

Bob Van Dyk of the Wild Salmon Center in Portland said improving stream protection would help the sport and commercial fishing industries.

He noted it has been 17 years since state and federal regulations significantly cut back logging to protect fish and wildlife, and new science is prompting some of those decisions to be reconsidered.

Wolf's Entry Into CA Major Environmental Step

By Peter Fimrite, San Francisco Chronicle

December 29, 2011

A lone gray wolf crossed the border into California and was on the move south of Klamath Falls on Thursday, becoming the first wild wolf in the state in almost a century.

The 2 1/2-year-old male wolf, known as OR7, was tracked using a GPS collar as it crossed the Oregon border, to the delight of conservationists and the horror of the many ranchers in the forested northern regions of California.

"Whether one is for it or against it, the entry of this lone wolf into California is an historic event and the result of much work by the wildlife agencies in the West," said Charlton H. Bonham, director of the California Department of Fish and Game. "If the gray wolf does establish a population in California, there will be much more work to do here."

The presence of the mythic predator in California is a major event for environmentalists, who would like to see the state's native predators and wildlife returned. But it could also influence environmental and ranching policies and gun laws if the large, potentially dangerous canine carnivores become prevalent in populated regions.

The young wolf, which left his pack in northeastern Oregon in September, was confirmed to be in Siskiyou County at about noon Wednesday. A signal from his radio collar at 6 a.m. Thursday showed that he was several miles south of the border.

California to Study Whether Woodpecker Endangered

By Matt Weiser, Sacramento Bee

December 15, 2011

State wildlife officials today voted to list the black-backed woodpecker as a candidate for protection under the California Endangered Species Act.

The woodpecker is unique in that it prefers to nest in burned trees, and feeds on insects that attack trees after a fire. Environmental groups argue the current practice of rapidly logging burned forests before the lumber rots has deprived the woodpecker of habitat.

The California Fish and Game Commission, meeting in San Diego, voted 3-1 to declare the woodpecker a candidate for listing. The Department of Fish and Game has 12 months to prepare a status review on the species, then the commission will vote again on whether to protect the bird.

"It should reduce the amount of logging on post-fire habitat, but it will by no means prevent logging," said Justin Augustine, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, which petitioned for the listing along with the John Muir Project. "This would just add some balance so we do some meaningful analysis of this type of logging."

California currently allows salvage logging of burned trees under streamlined regulations so property owners can harvest the wood before it rots. Delays to protect the woodpecker could mean lost wood value.

"It certainly could lead to that," said Bob Mion, a spokesman for the California Forestry Association. "It's a little hard to predict what's going to happen."

The woodpecker exists across Canada and most of the northern United States, but is considered rare almost everywhere. California is its southernmost range.

State officials struggled over protecting the bird because an clear picture of its population in the state is not available. Partly for this reason, the Department of Fish and Game recommended against candidacy. But the commission said there was enough evidence to warrant further study. To avoid harm to property owners and fire prevention programs, it waived interim protections for the bird during the study period.

Forest Wildlife Descend on Landlord

Sierra Club CA Press Release

Juliette Beck, October 14, 2011

Berkeley, California: Residents from Sierra Nevada communities, Sierra Club members and forest critters rallied today to oppose clearcutting outside a talk by timber tycoon Mark Emmerson. Emmerson is Chief Financial Officer of Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI), the nation’s second largest logging company and California’s largest land owner. The protestors dressed in animal costumes and held signs calling on Gov. Brown to end destructive clearcutting.

“Our specatcular Sierra Nevada forests provide clean water, fresh air and are home to amazing wildlfe- but not if they are clearcut to pieces,” said Karen Maki of the Sierra Club. “Governor Brown needs to put a stop to the robber baron theft of our pubic resources by timber companies like Sierra Pacific Industries.”

SPI owns 1.7 million acres—the equivalent to the land areas of Contra Costa, Napa, Alameda and San Mateo Counties combined—is cleaarcutting much of it at an unprecedented rate and scale. The clearcuts threaten important watersheds like the headwaters of the Mokulemne River, which provide drinking water for East Bay residents. Water pollution from clearcuts also threatens to undermine extensive Central Valley salmon recovery efforts and the region’s fishing economy.

But the damage does not stop there. The forests of the Sierra Nevada help clean the air we breathe and provide homes for animals like the Chickaree squirrel which needs forests with old trees to survive. The loss of natural forests can also have negative long-term impacts on our economy.

“Our community benefits from sport fishing, tourism, hiking, and boating. Clearcutting threatens these recreation-based industries, uses fewer workers than other forms of logging, and is devastation to the region,” said Patty Gomez, a Shingletown resident who lives one mile from a clearcut and a member of the Battle Creek Alliance.

Action Alert

Research Suggests NW Forests Might Not be as Healthy as They Look

By Eric Mortenson, The Oregonian

October 3, 2011

Pacific Northwest forests may look healthy, but their ability to sequester carbon, filter water and shelter wildlife may be declining, according to researchers at Oregon State University and the University of Washington.

In articles published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers said forests may be losing ecological, economic or cultural values beneath a "veneer" of health.

Traditional forest management practices such as timber production, clear-cutting and replanting "tend to produce young forests with uniform structures and low diversity," according to OSU summary of the research.

The researchers centered on problems in mountain ash forests of Australia, but note the same issues occur in Pacific Northwest forests, an OSU news release said.

"If you just look at a forest, it may look about the same as it used to," the news release quoted K. Norman Johnson, a professor of forest ecosystems and society at OSU. "But we're losing them without really knowing it."

The researchers particularly question logging in old-growth forests and salvage logging after fires or storms. They called for more attention to natural processes and restoration of the broad range of forest structures needed to maintain the original ecosystem. They said policies and management practices should be reassessed.

Johnson said the dry forests of Eastern Oregon are an example. In the past, frequent small fires cleared undergrowth but allowed large trees to survive. They're now crowded and prone to catastrophic fire -- after which they regrow and repeat the pattern. Allowing burned forests to recover naturally would allow growth of diverse understories and more complex forest structures, according to the news release.

Billionaire Emmerson Destroys Spotted Owl Habitat

By Rob DiPerna, Environmental Information Protection Center

September 27th, 2011

Archie Aldis “Red” Emmerson, a billionaire with a net worth of $2.5 billion, and his company, Sierra Pacific Industries, the largest private forestland owner in California, continue their onslaught of clearcutting northern spotted owl habitat. Forbes ranks Red Emmerson at #153 amongst the wealthiest individuals in United States and #459 worldwide. Operating in defiance of the law, Sierra Pacific stands as one of the last big logging companies in the State of California without an approved habitat conservation plan.

As owl habitat disappears, owl researchers recently issued a comprehensive report detailing the population demography for the species – Forsman et al. 2011, “Population Demography of the northern spotted owls: 1985-2008”, Studies in Avian Biology, UC Press. The author’s conclusions paint a dire picture, detailing range-wide declines for this iconic forest raptor. In particular, some of the most precipitous declines have taken place on private timberlands, including lands owned by Emmerson and Sierra Pacific.

While private interests liquidate old-growth trees and leave behind clearcuts visible from space, the state and federal agencies charged with protecting spotted owls and other wildlife have abdicated their responsibilities due lack of funding. In 2008, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stopped reviewing timber harvest plans in California, citing high costs, leaving it up to state officials at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). Without federal owl biologists reviewing timber harvest plans, Cal Fire officials without any expertise in owl biology have relied on private consultants employed by the timber industry.

Under this new arrangement, Sierra Pacific’s destruction of Northern Spotted Owl habitat has accelerated. Without a federally approved habitat conservation plan, Sierra Pacific’s logging of owl habitat violates the Endangered Species Act (ESA). A conservation plan would not stop logging, but direct the operations in a more ecologically sound manner. Furthermore, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has concluded that Cal Fire’s approval of timber harvest plans without oversight by federal owl biologists results in harm to spotted owls, particularly on Sierra Pacific land.

Cal Fire for its part insists that it has no mandate to manage for recovery of the spotted owl. Thus, state officials continue to allow Sierra Pacific to destroy habitat and compromise the integrity of spotted owl home ranges.

The 2011 Revised Northern Spotted Owl Recovery Plan calls for the retention of high quality habitats on private forestlands in order to mitigate for habitat loss and the invasion of nonnative barred owl, a competitor. Therefore, conservation of spotted owl habitat on Sierra Pacific’s lands is absolutely essential to the recov

California State Logging Program Called Out for Violation of Fish and Wildlife Protection Laws

By Justin Augustine, September 21, 2011
Center For Biological Diversity

SACRAMENTO, Calif.— A coalition of conservation and sportsmen’s groups formally notified the state of California today that the state’s management program for timber harvest is out of compliance with laws designed to protect the state’s fish and wildlife. Recent changes in program funding have largely eliminated California Department of Fish and Game review of decisions by the California Department of Forestry (Cal Fire), the state agency that oversees logging in the state. Both Fish and Game and Cal Fire are housed in the state’s Resources Agency.

In October 2010, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed Fish and Game funding for the majority of staff positions that review timber harvest; the funding has yet to be reinstated. As a result, Cal Fire no longer regularly consults with Fish and Game over the environmental impacts of logging, as is required by state law. In the Sierra Nevada, for example, Fish and Game involvement has been completely eliminated despite the fact that widespread clearcutting continues to occur.

“Logging can cause severe harm to California’s wildlife, including species such as coho salmon and steelhead trout,” said Justin Augustine with the Center for Biological Diversity. “That’s why state law requires Cal Fire to consult with the Department of Fish and Game: to make sure that our fish and wildlife receive the protections they need and deserve.”

Cal Fire’s timber-harvest review program is currently exempted from certain provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act because the program is considered “functionally equivalent” to the normal “environmental impact report” process that most projects go through. But in order to maintain its “functionally equivalent” status, Cal Fire is required to consult with Fish and Game regarding the impacts of logging plans on fish, wildlife and rare plants.

“We have tried hard to maintain a fig leaf of funding for consultation on THPs by the Department of Fish and Game,” said Michael Endicott with the Sierra Club. “But even legislative budget proposals that would provide interim funding without taking any money from the General Fund have been removed by the past two governors. It is time for the governor and the agencies to come up with proposals that will assure full participation in THP reviews.”

“The state cannot slash funding for DFG’s review of timber harvest plans on one hand and then pretend that DFG is meaningfully participating in timber harvest reviews and protecting fisheries on the other,” said California Sportsfishing Protection Alliance Executive Director Bill Jennings.

In a letter to California Natural Resources Secretary John Laird, the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club California, Forests Forever, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Protection Information Center, Ebbetts Pass Forestwatch, Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, Central Coast Forest Watch, Battle Creek Alliance, and the Northern California Council, Federation of Fly Fishers called for either a restoration of Fish and Game oversight of Cal Fire’s timber harvest review or a cancellation of Cal Fire’s functional equivalency status under the California Environmental Quality Act.