A bird's eye view of the Maple Creek watershed.

Green Diamond Resource Company (GDR) has been intensively working to churn out dozen of new logging plans for 2010.  Thus far in 2010, GDR has filed 37 THPs covering thousands of acres.  Nearly all of these plans call for a vast majority of logging operations to be conducted by clearcut.

Most of these proposed new logging plans are concentrated in a few, heavily impacted watersheds.  For example, six of these new THPs are slated to conduct clearcut logging in Little River, four of which are proposed in the Headwaters region, a watershed area that has been heavily impacted by past and current clearcutting. Little River Still provides habitat for salmon and steelhead populations. (more…)

Sol Simpson descendant and current Chairman of Green Diamond Resource Company, Colin Moseley (the crown is fake).

Since the fall of the Maxxam/Pacific Lumber Company, Green Diamond Resource Company has become the king of clearcuts in Humboldt County.  The famed timber giant is proud of their aggressive ‘even-aged’ i.e. clearcutting policy. In addition, they seriously assert that redwoods are a shade intolerant tree, and thus must grow in the full sun, i.e. plantation clearcuts.

So-called even-aged management is a euphemism for intensive clearcutting, burning, and herbicide use across Green Diamond’s vast landscape.  The trees and all vegetation are stripped bare, leaving exposed soils on the hillsides.

Clearcutting increases the risk of soil and debris transmission to watercourses, and increases the risk of significant earth movements when storm conditions are at their most intense.  Intensive clearcutting and extensive rains make for a dangerous mix of overland flow, flooding, and landslide activity.

Green Diamond’s method of two-species monoculture depends on clearcutting, broadcast burning, and the use of herbicides to allow its plantation style management to take hold. Thus the natural species diversity within the forest is compromised, and the habitat once present for threatened and endangered species is demolished. The habitat remaining is restricted almost entirely to slim watercourse buffers and serve as the last vestiges of safety and biodiversity on the landscape.

Intensive clearcut logging as practiced by Green Diamond leaves little but barren moonscapes where vibrant, recovering forests once grew.  In their place, Green Diamond intends to embark on an endless tree farm.  The needs of the species living in these watersheds are relegated to secondary status in the face of Green Diamond’s idea of maximum sustained production; clearcut, burn, herbicide, repeat every 45 years.  Under this regime, forests will not recover, species will continue to disappear, and our streams will continue to suffer.

Atrazine applied on clearcut near Korbell. Photo by Jen Kalt.

Many of us are aware of the dangers of herbicides and pesticides in our food and water. But can we trust Green Diamond to take precautionary measures when it comes to our health and the health of the fish, amphibians, and birds?

Green Diamond claims that these pesticides and herbicides are relatively harmless. With a little research, however, EPIC staff questions these conclusions. As one step in their controversial plantation forestry model, Green Diamond plans to use Triclopyr in combination with 2,4-D, Imazapyr, and Oust in 2010 in many sites along the Klamath River. In addition to these chemicals, they commonly use Atrazine.

To view a map of 12 sites Green Diamond plans to spray this year along the Klamath River within Yurok Reservation boundaries, click here.

Green Diamond lists many reasons to apply herbicides after logging, but often they cite the need to protect tree seedlings from competitive, faster growing shrubs, grasses and trees. To illustrate, one need only look to CalFire’s website and find the list of Timber Harvest Plans for the Northcoast region. In the lengthy section on Chemical Contaminants, found in subsection a 2d. under Section 4: is a section titled Cumulative Impacts of Timber Harvest Plans. In this section, they disclose a wide variety of chemical herbicides they may choose to use post-harvest. Application of chemical herbicides and pesticides are regulated by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation and the Northcoast Regional Water Quality Control Board (NCRWQCB).

But Green Diamond is not held accountable for conducting any investigation into the harm that these chemicals cause. (more…)

Redwood tree within McKay Tract. Photo courtesty Humboldt Earth First.

This week in EPIC’s Eye on Green Diamond dispatch, Amber Jamieson and Rob Diperna have combined efforts to look at both the proposed development Green Diamond has put on the table in Humboldt County, but also approved Timber Harvest Plans just east of Eureka, in the McKay Tract.

One could point to the president of Green Diamond, William R. Brown, former Chief Financial Officer for Plum Creek timber, for the direction in speculative development schemes that may have originated from his experience on the east coast. Last fall, conservation activists from Maine contacted EPIC and asked of Brown’s direction of the company. They specifically asked the question whether the company would be transforming their forests into residential developments, based on those that changed Maine’s forests forever, under Brown’s leadership at Plum Creek. Of course we at EPIC are unsure of the inner workings or strategic plans of Green Diamond’s corporate leadership. One could draw some parallels, however, based on the proposals on the table in Humboldt County.

It is also interesting to note that in a recent flight over the McKay Tract, I noticed the blue tarps sheltering a tree village! After the flight, I looked up the Humboldt Earth First! website and found that they had information about the McKay 09 THP, a threatened mature forest within the McKay Tract, in the Ryan Creek watershed and adjacent to Cutten (Eureka). These dedicated activists are likely the only reason why this grove of forest has not been liquidated into quick profits for Green Diamond. I hope to spread the word of the stand that they are taking, to illustrate how dedicated people will sacrifice so much, to stand up for what they believe in. (more…)

This week in our Eye on Green Diamond dispatch, Rob Diperna reports that Green Diamond applied for a new “Habitat Conservation Plan” in an effort to obtain a new 50 year Incidental Take Permit for Northern Spotted Owls that live in the forestlands on the Northcoast. Don’t be fooled! The Orwellian language used in this process can be confusing, if not misleading.

An Incidental Take Permit is like a hunting permit for endangered species. If granted, this new permit will offer Green Diamond the opportunity to “take” more owls, without fear of violating laws protecting threatened and endangered wildlife.  In addition to owls, the plan may attempt to get the green light on other wildlife species, like the Pacific fisher.

The documents can be daunting, and the process exhausting, for everyone involved.

Although Green Diamond uses antiquated logging practices like clearcutting, they work with credible, skilled biologists and other scientists in their planning processes. EPIC and our allies acknowledge that most of Green Diamond’s staff and contractors do cutting edge work in an attempt at understanding redwood forest ecology and to minimize impacts of logging operations.

Unfortunately, much of the conservation effort from within Green Diamond’s labyrinth of fish and wildlife research is overshadowed by the company’s continued dependence on liquidation logging practices, heavy use of herbicides and short rotation cycles. We at EPIC must hold the Washington state-based decision-makers (and profit-takers) at Green Diamond/California Redwood Company/Simpson Timber accountable for their irresponsible and destructive priorities,  but want to commend local workers, scientists and contractors for their ongoing efforts to perform responsible forestry.

Thanks for everyone’s comments on the Eye on Green Diamond dispatches. With diligence, communication and open-eyes, we can find common ground and solve the problems that plague our environment and our economy on the Northcoast.

Thanks for reading!

Kerul Dyer

Green Diamond Campaign Coordinator

Eye on Green Diamond: Week 5

by Rob Diperna

Green Diamond has applied to the Fish and Wildlife Service for a new Habitat Conservation Plan. According to the Federal Register notice dated April 16, 2010, the new HCP will cover Northern Spotted Owl and potentially Pacific Fisher. To read the documentation, click here.

The proposed HCP would cover Green Diamond lands in both Humboldt and Del Norte counties.  The purpose appears to be to obtain a new 50-year Incidental Take Permit (ITP) for the Northern Spotted Owl.  Just three years ago, Green Diamond received an extension on its existing NSO HCP, and was given authorization to take eight more owl pairs. (more…)

Every week, I receive what CalFire calls Start-up Notifications, through email. While I have  become accustomed to the ups and downs of environmental advocacy work, these “notifications” provoke a particularly unsettled feeling for me. Do people in the community understand that this timber company is continuing to liquidate the redwoods, at an increasingly unsustainable rate?

This week in our Eye on Green Diamond,  Rob Diperna has outdone himself again. He has identified patterns in their planning and listed out the vital statistics for the five Green Diamond plans announced through the Startup Notification I received Monday, April 12.   Now, as I publish this carefully edited (for accuracy) dispatch, I just received yet another Startup Notification from CalFire.  Green Diamond has announced that they plan to begin logging operations on two additional THPs. That’s seven,  just this week.

We will update the information in our post when time allows. To get involved in the Green Diamond Stop Clearcutting campaign, please contact us!

For the wilds,

Kerul Dyer

Green Diamond Stop Clearcutting Campaign (more…)

Aerial photo above Maple Creek for EPIC by Kerul Dyer

Green Diamond Resource Company recently applied for a Master Agreement for Timber Operations and a programmatic Road Management Waste Discharge Requirements from the Department of Fish and Game and the Regional Water Quality Control Board.  At present, the Department of Fish and Game has prepared a draft Mitigated Negative Declaration regarding this project.The Department of Fish and Game is acting as the lead agency with the Regional Water Board playing the role of a responsible agency. The MATO is designed to create a programmatic basin-level approach to road maintenance, construction, and decommissioning. The project primarily will provide programmatic coverage under Section 1600 of the California Fish and Game Code pertaining to streambed alteration.

However, the MATO has further reaching implications than simply construction, decommissioning, and maintaining roads and stream crossings. The MATO also provides ‘coverage’ along with programmatic mutually agreed mitigations for biological resources.  For example, the MATO contains a programmatic consultation for Osprey that may be impacted via operations on roads and associated with road facilities.  Furthermore, the MATO also contains a programmatic agreement for the treatment of threatened and endangered or at risk species that may be encountered or impacted in the course of road or road facilities maintenance, construction, and mitigation. (more…)