PLEASE CONTACT CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY (CDF). DEADLINE IS JULY 8th.
Charles Hurwitz's Maxxam/Pacific Lumber Company is at it again--this time trying to liquidate as much old-growth forest as it can in anticipation of filing for bankruptcy, which it has been threatening for months. Recently prevented by the State Water Quality Control Board from logging his desired volume of trees in the Elk River and Freshwater Creek watersheds, Hurwitz continues to turn to the damaged Eel River watershed, looking for quick cash at the expense of the redwood forest.
The so-called "BONANZA" Timber Harvest Plan, (THP) #1-05-097HUM, would log significant and critical old-growth forest and landslide-prone areas, as well as destroy habitat for many sensitive, threatened and endangered species including the northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet, and coho and chinook salmon. Logging would impact Nanning Creek, a tributary of the Eel River, which is already listed as "impaired" under Clean Water Act Section 303(d). Maxxam/PL proposes to log in this very sensitive area, even as the company has been battling with the state Water Quality Control Boards over their damaging, sediment-producing harvesting practices (such as clearcutting) that Hurwitz refuses to give up.
Marbled murrelet scientists have identified parts of this area as a priority habitat for the critically threatened seabird. Yet this THP will enable the harvest of old-growth redwoods currently occupied by nesting murrelets! Of the 249 acres covered by this THP, 192 acres are occupied stands for the murrelet.
Logging the "Bonanza" THP would impact just about every sensitive ecological resource in the area. This is part of Hurwitz's "end game" for Pacific Lumber. He must not be allowed to rip out precious and irreplaceable old-growth forest while further degrading water quality on his way out of Humboldt County.
MAXXAM/PL'S ILLEGAL LOGGING SPREE MUST STOP!
Tell CDF to DENY APPROVAL for the "Bonanza" THP#1-05-097HUM.
The comment period on this THP closes July 8.
