Redwood Forest Issues on Berkley City Council Agenda

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January 30, 2002 Alert
from the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
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On February 5, 2002, the Berkeley City Council will vote on a resolution
opposing logging in the Allen Creek Grove (proposed by Pacific Lumber in
their filing of Timber Harvest Plan 1-01-352). The resolution, sponsored by
Councilmember Linda Maio and co-sponsored by Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek is
included at the end of this message. Councilmember Maio responded to BACH's
alert about the logging plan with the idea to take it to the Council, and
BACH has been working with her on the language.


If the resolution passes,, the Council will send letters urging Governor
Davis and the California Department of Forestry to deny Maxxam's proposed
logging plan, urging the agencies to take whatever steps may be necessary to
prevent further harvesting of ancient redwood forests.

Please come to the City Council meeting Tues. Feb. 5 at Berkeley City Hall
on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, 2 blocks south of University Avenue. You can
sign up to speak to during the open mike period 7-7:30 p.m. (get there early
to sign up). We also urge you to send the Council members email messages
supporting passage to ensure smooth sailing of this measure.

The email addresses of all the Councilmembers end in @ci.berkeley.ca.us.

The prefixes are:

SDean, LMaio, MBreland, MShirek, DSpring, MHawley, BOlds, KWorthington,
PArmstrong

So an example would be LMaio [at] ci.berkeley.ca.us (But you need not send a
message to Linda Maio since she is the sponsor, except to thank her.)

You can call her office or our office for further information. The
resolution as proposed is:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Resolution Opposing the Timber Harvest Plan recently submitted by Maxxam
Corporation

WHEREAS, Over 97% of the old growth redwood ecosystem in Northern California
has been decimated, much of it lost due to industrial corporate logging,
most of which has not been sustainable in economic terms or ecologic terms,
and

WHEREAS, The redwood ecosystem is unique to California, a geographic
limitation that makes this ecosystem all the more vulnerable and precious,
and

WHEREAS, our forest resources are a public resource which enable a
biodiversity of species, water which is cleaned by filtration through forest
soils, critical oxygen supplies that combat global warming, and contribute
greatly to the environmental health of our planet, and

WHEREAS, The 1999 Headwaters deal and legal agreements outlined various
components agreed to by the Federal Deparement of the Interior, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, the State Dept. of Fish and Game, the California
Legislature, and Maxxam/Pacific Lumber Corporation, and

WHEREAS, Pacific Lumber has timber-cut most of its holdings through
accelerated logging, leaving residents in Humboldt county without drinking
quality water, with a moonscape landscape over vast areas, with massive
landslides, and with a depleted economy;

WHEREAS, As part of the Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) agreement and State
Contract the "Marbled Murrelet Conservation Areas" (MMCA) were put off
limits to logging for the 50 year life of the contract, and

WHEREAS, Pacific Lumber recently filed Timber Harvest Plan (THP) 1-01-352
covering 93 acres proposing to conduct 76 acres of commercial thinning
logging in the heart of the Allen Creek Marbled Murrelet Conservation Area,
and

WHEREAS, The subject 76 acres lie within the area specified to be off-limits
under Section 3.1 (f) of the State Contract which clearly prohibits logging
activities of any kind within the designated MMCA's for 50 years.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Berkeley City Council finds that
Maxxam/Pacific Lumber's activities represent harmful and unsustainable
business practices and urges the enforcement of the HCP and State Contract
and the denial of their proposed logging in THP 352, Allen Creek grove.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council urges Governor Davis and the
California Department of Forestry to take whatever action might be
necessary to prevent the potential devastating damage to critical habitat
that would be done by further logging of our heritage Redwood Forests,
including the Allen Creek marbled Murrelet Conservation Area.


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------------
Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters (BACH)
Ecology Center
2530 San Pablo Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94702
phone: 510 548 3113
http://www.headwaterspreserve.org
email: bach [at] igc.org

HEADWATERS HOTLINE: 510-835-6303