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On June 20, EPIC and the Sierra Club led a coalition of conservation and fishing groups, farmers, and residents from around the state in petitioning the State Water Resources Control Board to protect California's water supply and revoke the California Department of Forestry's (CDF's) unilateral power to approve logging operations.
In 1988, the State Water Board signed an agreement with CDF and the Board of Forestry and gave them responsibility for assuring that logging operations do not harm fish habitat, water supplies, and other natural uses of rivers and streams in California. However, the State Water Board noted many problems in the rules and requirements of both CDF and the Board of Forestry, and conditioned the agreement on significant reforms being made in short order.
It has been more than fifteen years since that agreement was signed, yet CDF and the Board of Forestry have not resolved any of the substantive issues it identified. This includes serious flaws in the way cumulative impacts are analyzed, zero provisions for monitoring, excessive logging in stream buffers, and concerns with the approval process itself. All of these are fundamental points of concern that numerous agencies, blue-ribbon panels, courts, and others have also highlighted for years.
The consequences of these problems could not be more profound. The watersheds affected, such as the Klamath, Eel, Feather, and Mokelumne Rivers, provide the vast majority of California's water supply. These watersheds also provide the majority of the state's spawning habitat for commercial fish species.
On the North Coast, where industrial logging corporations own roughly half the land, all native salmon species have been listed as threatened and nearly all impacted streams and rivers have been formally listed as impaired. The rate and style of logging that led to widespread problems in the region are now being matched in the Sierras, where there has been a 25-fold increase in clearcutting since 1992.
Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) began purchasing large tracts of land in the Sierras in the last fifteen years, quickly becoming the largest landowner in California and the second largest in the nation. It now owns more than 1.5 million acres in California, extending more than 350 miles from Mount Shasta to Yosemite National Park.
Two years ago, the company announced it was changing its practices dramatically and intends to clearcut, spray herbicides, and convert the forests to commercial tree plantations on 70% of its land. This land includes large holdings in the Mokelumne and Feather River watersheds, which are water sources for Berkeley and other places in the Bay area and Los Angeles. It also includes forests in watersheds that are treasured by millions, such as the Yuba and American.
The tragic condition of the rivers on the North Coast should serve as a cautionary tale of what is to come in the Sierras if current logging practices continue. It is of paramount importance that watersheds in these regions are protected and restored, and it is abundantly clear that CDF and the Board of Forestry are incapable of doing this job. The time has come for them to be "taken out of the driver's seat."
EPIC prepared a detailed, 20-page petition that was signed by more than 25 organizations from around the State, demanding that the State Water Board "reclaim its authority that CDF and the Board of Forestry have so thoroughly misused." As the petition further states, "It is clearly pparent that if the State Board does not take this action and the Board of Forestry and CDF are left at the wheel, we are all headed for disaster."
CALL THE GOVERNOR TO ACTION
Since taking office, Governor Gray Davis has steadfastly refused to protect California's forests as he pledged to do during his campaign. The logging industry has contributed nearly $500,000 to the Governor's war chest since he took office, and he seems to have become beholden to the industry instead.
The Governor has heard enough from the industry. Please call or write his office and urge him to protect California's water supply and fisheries by protecting forests from irresponsible logging practices. Let Governor Davis know that Californians will not stand for a handful of corporations being allowed to destroy our priceless public trust resources.
Governor Gray Davis
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA
phone: (916) 445-2841
fax: (916) 445-4633
