The company has been caught violating the Forest Practice Act more than 325 times since 1995, and the move by the California Department of Forestry to suspend Maxxam/PL's timber operating license appeared to be a bold move by the usually docile agency. There was not a reduction in the amount of logging that occurred while their license was suspended as many people hoped and thought, however, and Maxxam/PL was allowed to hire contractors to carry out their logging plans during that time.
In regards to the issuance of their 1999 license, John Campbell, President of Pacific Lumber, stated, "We take our responsibility to the forest and to the community of California's North Coast very seriously, and we are committed to regaining and maintaining our position of leadership...We will not tolerate violations of Forest Practice Rules." However, when the company was also granted a conditional license in 1998, he made similar assertions and the company still racked up about 50 violations during the course of the year. His statement in January, 1998 was "We have taken this matter very seriously, and want to assure the state that our operations will be in full compliance with the law."
Maxxam/PL attempted to lead the public to believe they lost their license for trivial acts like "throwing bubble gum wrappers on the ground," but unfortunately for water quality, wildlife and downstream neighbors, many of the violations issued to PL actually caused quite serious damage to our public trust resources. Violations issued in recent months were for acts including:
- They clearcut 11 acres and partially logged 7 acres of a protective buffer for a northern spotted owl nesting site. Neither of these areas were supposed to be logged at all.
- They clearcut 800 feet along a coho salmon bearing stream and 500 feet along a stream that supports amphibians, such as salamanders.
- They completely burned down the stream buffers in three separate areas.
- They drove loaded dump trucks and other heavy logging equipment repeatedly through a stream that had steelhead present in the area.
Roughly half of Maxxam/PL's logging plans were operated by contractors prior to the suspension, and likewise, about half of the 325 violations were issued to these contractors. It is likely, however, that Maxxam/PL still played a role in many of these violations as well, such as the case involving driving heavy equipment many times through a steelhead stream. The Sacramento Bee reported that a contractor working on one of the logging plans said he and his fellow workers warned Pacific Lumber of the need to protect the creek, but company officials ordered them to drive road building equipment through the stream instead. "We were set up," Kindred said. "I think they (Pacific Lumber) just needed somebody to make an example of."
It has become painfully obvious that our current Forest Practice Rules are not adequate to protect our public trust resources, and the lack of compliance with these inadequate rules has severe and sometimes lethal implications. All of us, especially the fish, salamanders, owls, and murrelets, hope that Pacific Lumber will finally hold true to their word and will prevent future violations from occurring. Given their track record, however, it is difficult to be optimistic. One thing is for certain: EPIC will be watching.
