tree-sits ride out storms 12/17 release

Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters

For immediate release

Dec. 17, 2002
Contact: Karen Pickett, BACH (510) 548-3113


Tree-sitters ride out storms

Flooding And Landslides Are Concern As Rains Come To De-Nuded Hillsides

Young people sitting high up in old growth trees trying to save them from Pacific Lumber/Maxxam's saws are riding out the latest storms to hit the California coast from a particularly precarious perch. As high winds and torrential rains sweep across California, logging activity in the woods is quieted for a moment, but will resume during breaks in the rain, as PL moves in to some of the most valuable marbled murrelet habitat in their remaining old growth holdings. But the weather hasn't slowed down protests, as a record number of tree-sitters occupy PL-owned forests, in efforts to protect old growth trees and irreplaceable wildlife habitat.

The Dept. of Fish and Game last week released more acreage of what is known as "E stands", or occupied habitat of the endangered marbled murrelet. Logging began recently in Timber Harvest Plan (THP) 00-439 in Grizzly Creek, near Grizzly Creek State Park and on Gypsy Mountain, where activist David Gypsy Chain was killed by an angry logger in 1998. Additional occupied habitat in the Nanning Creek area near Scotia was released by DFG last week, clearing the way for PL to move into some of the biggest and best blocks of murrelet habitat left unprotected.

License to destroy the federally and state-listed bird's habitat is permitted because of "incidental take permits" given PL via the Headwaters Deal, signed in 1999. The species has already lost over 96% of its original nesting habitat, primarily due to logging of old growth and residual forest, and populations continue to decline.

Flooding is also expected as water gushes down hillsides that once had the ability to hold the water in the soil. Residents of Freshwater watershed, where about 17 activists now occupy trees, including the long-term sits of Remedy and Wren, two young women occupying trees for 8 months and 6 months respectively, have experienced flooding directly related to increased logging.

New weaker standards were approved for logging in Freshwater Creek last August, allowing 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 analysis are supposed to be used to identify problem areas and develop site-specific measures to prevent water quality problems.

In 1999, the Calif. Dept. of Forestry required that Maxxam/PL evaluate whether increased flooding was related to logging in Freshwater Creek and the North Fork Elk River, and imposed a moratorium on approving additional logging operations until this and a watershed analysis were completed. Maxxam/PL did not meet the requirements, but ultimately, CDF backed down, and approved logging operations in these areas. The Freshwater Creek watershed has been heavily logged throughout the past 20 years and less than 5% of its original forest remains. Freshwater Creek was the subject of one of the most extensive watershed studies ever done in California, which concluded that the watershed is severely impaired and that all logging should cease and desist immediately. Pacific Lumber has ignored the analysis and has continued to clear-cut residual old growth forests on steep and unstable slopes while disregarding the concerns of residents.

Inclement weather has not slowed protests, as forest activists work desperately to prevent the irretrievable loss of the residual old growth stands on PL land.

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