Green Diamond Resource Company recently purchased 9,400-acres of commercial timberland in the Sproul Creek Watershed in Southern Humboldt County. Sproul Creek is a tributary to the South Fork Eel River. The purchase was orchestrated between Green Diamond and the Boyle Forest LP, (formerly Barnum Timber Company).
In a separate transaction, Boyle Forest LP agreed to donate a conservation easement over the 9,400-acres of Sproul Creek property prior to the sale to Green Diamond. The donated-conservation easement facilitated by the North Coast Regional Land Trust covers a full divestment of rights to any development or any sub-division of the Sproul Creek property. The Conservation Easement does not address or constrain in any way forest management activities, either by Boyle Forest LP, or by the new owners, Green Diamond Resource Company.
While the likelihood of whether or not the Sproul Creek property ever would have been sub-divided or developed is speculative, what will happen to the property now under the ownership of Green Diamond Resource Company is not. All Green Diamond seems to know how to do is clearcut, and clearcut on a self-established maximum 45-year rotation, meaning every 45-years, Green Diamond will clearcut the exact same pieces of ground.
The Sproul Creek property now under Green Diamond’s ownership is largely comprised of well-stocked forest stands composed primarily of redwood and Douglas fir, both long-lived tree-species with the capacity to potentially grow to be hundreds of years old or more. That is, unless Green Diamond is in charge.
Green Diamond’s purchase of the Sproul Creek Property is a major cause for concern for the salmon fisheries of this major South Fork Eel River tributary, among other aquatic and terrestrial concerns. And, Green Diamond clearcuts mean Green Diamond herbicide applications during the site preparation and pre-emergent seedling establishment phase of the reforestation process.
Green Diamond Resource Company is not locally-owned, does not operate its own mills, and employs only some of its own Licensed Timber Operators, and so the vast majority of the wealth and profit extracted from the company’s nearly 400,000-acres of timberland leave our community and head north to corporate headquarters in Seattle, WA.
EPIC has had its eye on Green Diamond for some time now, and we will be re-doubling our efforts to keep the company accountable in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties.
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