In the last issue of Wild California, EPIC reported that the California Board of Forestry passed regulations to allow the logging industry to re-write their own rules and weaken protections for salmon under the guise of "watershed analysis." EPIC filed a lawsuit in November to prevent these regulations from taking effect, but fortunately, due to strong comments that we submitted at the administrative level, the California Office of Administrative Law tossed the Board's regulatory rule package in December. However, the industry has definitely not given up on this one, and the Board is expected to pass some version of the rule package in upcoming months.

Lobbyists from Simpson Timber Company introduced this rule package to the Board of Forestry in July 2001, and the Board passed it in record time -- by October. This is in stark contrast to the inert behavior Board members displayed when citizens have submitted rule language for positive reforms, as citizens have struggled through years of meetings in a vain attempt to get the Board to pass the even smallest of improvements.

Under the rule package, the logging industry would be provided with an easy way to lower the minimum protective standards for water quality and fish habitat. While this can already be done under the current rules, the primary difference is that logging companies would not have to provide "equal or better protection" than the existing Forest Practice Rules when lowering these standards. This would all be based on a process that involves no biologists, geologists or others who have the expertise to conduct a watershed analysis. Additionally, information on the analysis would not be made available for public review until after it is accepted by the California Department of Forestry, a practice that is completely opposite from the requirements of state laws.

EPIC submitted comments to the Board that detailed the many ways in which the rule package does not comply with state and federal laws and will cause further decline of native salmon and other aquatic species. The Office of Administrative Law, which reviews all regulations passed in California for their compatibility with state laws, agreed with many of EPIC's points, and on December 3 rejected the rule package, largely on the basis of EPIC's comments.

The Board and industry came right back in January and began working to get this rule package passed again. It is very important that citizens stay informed and get involved in this issue. It is exactly the type preferred most by the industry: difficult to explain, extremely complex, and entirely sinister underneath it all. The implications are numerous and profound, and it is only with effective citizen action that these disastrous rules will be defeated once and for all.

Please contact our office at epic@wildcalifornia.org or (707) 923 - 2931 if you would like to receive more information and/or would like to be notified of upcoming public hearings and comment periods on this issue.