U.S. official fears new California logging rules may hurt salmon

Article by Matt Weiser, Sacramento Bee
September 12, 2009

New logging rules intended to protect California salmon may do just the opposite, according to federal officials who are considering additional industry monitoring to prevent extinction.

The California Board of Forestry on Wednesday granted initial approval to the new rules governing logging near streams in coastal and mountain forests.

The unanimous vote by the nine-member board came after a decade of pressure from the National Marine Fisheries Service, which had warned repeatedly that state logging rules didn't do enough to protect salmon habitat from erosion and high temperatures.

The forestry board, however, rejected protections sought by the service and by the state Department of Fish and Game.

Charlotte Ambrose, California salmon recovery coordinator for the federal fisheries service, called the rules approved Wednesday an "overall weakening" of those in place before. She said they likely would push the state's already imperiled salmon and steelhead closer toward extinction. "There is a likelihood of harm to salmon or steelhead should forest practices proceed under these rules," Ambrose said.

The national fisheries service may impose its own regulations on logging plans in some areas of California if state rules gain final approval at the forestry board's October meeting, Ambrose said.

The decision comes amid an unprecedented California salmon crisis. Commercial harvest of Central Valley chinook has been suspended for a second year due to a record-low population.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has pressed the Obama administration for economic aid in response to the salmon crisis. Yet he also has urged federal officials to weaken salmon protections that govern reservoir operations.

Schwarzenegger's appointments have tilted the forestry board in favor of logging interests. By law, three board members must come from industry and five from the public at large. The governor named industry-leaning members to two of the public seats.

At issue are protective buffers around streams and how so-called "Class 2" streams are defined.

Class 2 streams are those that hold water year-round and have important spawning habitat. They are fed by Class 3 waterways – small tributaries that dry up in summer.

The state Department of Fish and Game urged the Board of Forestry to assume that wherever two seasonal waterways meet to form a water-bearing stream, it should be considered a Class 2. Buffers then would be required around that Class 2 zone to limit or prevent logging.

Tractors and other heavy logging equipment can cause erosion that clogs gravel where salmon could spawn. Excessive tree removal along streams reduces shade and can cause water to become too hot for fish.

Instead, the forestry board approved its own process for defining Class 2 waterways: Foresters working for logging companies will determine in the field whether a stream merits Class 2 status and its buffer zones.

State officials would determine later whether the forester's decision was valid.

"It was a piece of rule language that, in my personal opinion, wasn't as well written," said Mark Stopher, an environmental program manager with state Fish and Game. "I'm a little disappointed. But we can make this work."

The forestry board also shrank the buffer zone from 150 to 100 feet for Class 1 streams – larger waterways that hold fish year-round. It banned logging within 30 feet of those waterways, and will restrict the number of trees that can be cut between 30 and 100 feet.

Industry officials say the new rules don't allow enough logging near streams.

"The concern is that we're going to re-create an environment that's going to foster severe wildfire," said Bob Mion, spokesman for the California Forestry Association. "When fire burns severely in those areas, the effect on watershed health is devastating."