July 25, 2011
128 million Salmon and Steelhead Restoration Project Threatened by SPI Logging
SACRAMENTO, Calif. July 25, 2011 - Residents of the small town of Manton, near Mount Lassen, in conjunction with the public interest organizations Center for Sierra Conservation and Battle Creek Alliance, filed an injunction today in the Third District Court of Appeal to stop clearcut logging in Battle Creek, a tributary to the Sacramento River and one of California's last streams left for wild run salmon to spawn. The areas being clearcut belong to Sierra Pacific Industries, California's largest timber company and landowner by far with over 1.7 million acres statewide.
Residents of Manton challenged the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF's) approval of the Lookout Timber Harvest Plan (THP) on the basis that CDF failed to adequately assess the environmental impacts of this plan in conjunction with surrounding plans as required by state forestry regulations and the California Environmental Quality Act. The Lookout Plan is one of sixteen THPs, encompassing almost 20,000 acres in total, approved by CDF in the Battle Creek watershed since 1998. The primary method of logging being used is clearcutting.
"SPI's logging is extremely destructive" said Michael Graf, one of the attorneys representing the petitioners. "They mow down the forest, spray pesticides to make sure nothing else can grow, then plant genetically selected pine trees in rows. These trees are then logged the same way as any agricultural crop. SPI are essentially replacing the Sierra Nevada forest with managed timber plantations across thousands and thousands of acres. Yet nowhere is there any acknowledgment in the environmental review process of the substantial impacts of this conversion on numerous wildlife species that rely on a diverse natural forest environment."
As reported in a June 19, 2011 Sacramento Bee investigation of Battle Creek, erosion from logging roads and areas clearcut by SPI is filling the streams and pools needed for salmon to spawn. Battle Creek is the site of a $128 million state and federally funded salmon and steelhead restoration project, which includes the removal of five PG&E dams. The restoration project is the largest of its kind in the nation and is hoped to restore salmon runs in the Sacramento River.
"The water, wildlife and fisheries belong to all of us, now and in the future. Environmental laws were enacted to prevent exactly this sort of piecemeal destruction from occurring, but the methodology used here has circumvented those laws," said Marily Woodhouse, a plaintiff in the lawsuit and co-founder of the watchdog group the Battle Creek Alliance. "This benefits only a few at the expense of the many. California's resources need to be protected, not looted."
Petitioners are part of a statewide coalition of fishing and conservation groups that are calling on Governor Brown and Secretary of Natural Resources John Laird to stop logging in the Battle Creek watershed. The coalition seeks to end environmentally destructive clearcutting and herbicide applications throughout the Sierra Nevada mountain range as an outmoded, ecologically destructive practice. The Sierra is the source for 65% of California's developed water supply.
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