SACRAMENTO, CA - On May 17, the State Water Board denied Pacific Lumber Company’s efforts to block the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board's order to monitor stream conditions before logging commences within the "Hole in Headwaters." The monitoring plan is designed to determine the current conditions of the river so that impacts from the logging plan, and several others upstream, can be evaluated. Conservationists are hopeful that this decision will delay logging while work is underway to add this area to the Headwaters Reserve, and efforts to do so are mounting.
The area is known as the "Hole in Headwaters" because it is surrounded on all sides by the recently acquired Headwaters Reserve. The logging plan at issue, THP 97-520, was originally submitted by Elk River Timber in 1997, and was transferred to Pacific Lumber ("PL") as part of the Headwaters Deal in March 1999. Since the plan was originally written, the condition of the river has declined to such an extent that PL is now required to deliver drinking water to downstream landowners. The river had been used since the early part of the 1900's for domestic purposes, and is extremely critical for the coho salmon and other imperiled aquatic species.
Meaningful monitoring of logging impacts has been an ongoing struggle between the corporation and the regulatory agencies. PL has ardently resisted any monitoring that accurately quantifies the impacts of their logging activities, instead relying on legal wrangling and counter-offers for monitoring plans that would fail to detect increased sediment in the streams. "If PL spent as much time and money complying with the Water Board’s requests as they have on lawyers to fight these reasonable requests, they’d have been done long ago," Paul Mason, Executive Director of EPIC, said.
Last Thursday’s hearing was on PL’s effort to block implementation of the Monitoring & Reporting Order. A full two- to three-day hearing on the merits is scheduled to begin on June 25. Many observers are concerned that Governor Gray Davis will appoint new industry-friendly members to the two vacancies on the board before the next meeting. In that case, if one existing member changed his vote, the Board could override the Regional Board's Order.
Legislators and conservationists have been working to purchase the Hole in Headwaters since 1998, and it was included as a possible additional acquisition with remaining funding from the Headwaters Deal. Following acquisition of the Owl Creek Grove, $13 million was available to be re-appropriated for this purchase. The Senate Budget committee re-appropriated the funds for this purpose, but the Assembly returned the funding to the General Fund. A Conference Committee to resolve these differences is expected to begin next week.
