Agencies Yield to PL

October 1, 2002


When the Headwaters Deal was announced, federal and state officials claimed they had reached an agreement with Pacific Lumber that would provide the strictest logging standards in California for threatened salmon and other aquatic species. However, these standards have been roundly criticized by numerous scientists and fisheries biologists, and what officials did not publicize is that these questionable standards can be weakened piece-by-piece, watershed-by-watershed. It's no surprise that Pacific Lumber is doing just that, and has started with Freshwater Creek - already one of the most severely degraded watersheds in Humboldt County.

New, weaker Freshwater Creek logging standards were approved by state and federal wildlife agencies on August 15 and will apply to all logging plans Pacific Lumber submits for the watershed. This will allow more logging in riparian areas, on landslides, and within steep, "inner-gorge" areas that are especially susceptible to landslides and erosion.

The new standards were developed through a "watershed analysis" process designed under the Headwaters Deal. Watershed analyses are supposed to be used to identify problem areas and develop site-specific measures to prevent water quality problems. There is abundant evidence that logging under the previous standards is resulting in further sediment pollution and other problems in Freshwater Creek. But Pacific Lumber is using the process to lower water quality protection measures even more, instead of increasing them as needed. This is an outrageous violation of the public trust.

The Regional Water Quality Control Board did not sign off on the original standards or the Freshwater prescriptions, and have had concerns about both all along. The Board and Redwood Sciences Laboratory have found that Pacific Lumber based its watershed analysis on dubious and inadequate information. Of particular concern, the agencies questioned the validity of the analysis of flooding caused by sediment pollution and the resulting impacts on water quality, listed salmon and trout, and the safety of downstream residents.

The Freshwater Creek watershed spans almost 20,000 acres, of which Pacific Lumber owns 77%. In 1997, the California Department of Forestry (CDF), Regional Water Board and other state agencies declared that Freshwater Creek was severely impaired due to landslides and chronic erosion triggered by Pacific Lumber's logging operations.

Since that time, CDF has approved another 2,000 acres for logging in Freshwater, the vast majority of this being clearcutting. Additional timber harvest plans covering almost 700 acres could be approved any day. Residents in Freshwater Creek have experienced unnatural flooding over the last ten years, and the Regional Water Board believes these logging operations will exacerbate these problems further.

There was a high level of public interest in the Freshwater Creek watershed analysis, but Pacific Lumber managed to keep the public largely shut out of the process. Pacific Lumber is now working on a similar analysis for the Van Duzen watershed, and residents in this area are also finding it difficult to make their information heard. This sets a dangerous stage, particularly for watersheds where there are not many human residents.


This article can be found online at www.wildcalifornia.org/publications/article-4