There are few regulatory regimes whose adverse impacts to water quality have been more comprehensively documented than the California Forest Practice Rules, with the same fundamental problems being noted by a variety of agencies, blue-ribbon panels, scientists, and courts throughout the last two decades. Despite this ever-growing body of evidence, vast deficiencies persist today.

In the North Coast region, more than 85% of the rivers are listed as impaired under the Clean Water Act, and all native salmon species are listed as threatened with extinction under the Endangered Species Act. In listing these streams and fish during the 1990's, the U.S. EPA and the National Marine Fisheries Service both identified logging operations approved under the Forest Practice Rules as being the primary reason for such listings becoming necessary.