logging-caused mud slides in Humboldt

Humboldt Watershed Council

Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
For immediate release
January 8, 2003

Hillsides Coming Down-Burying Parkland, Ancient Trees And Salmon Streams: Images On Web

Pacific Lumber Habitat Conservation Plan A Failed Experiment, Say Experts

Ancient redwood trees along California's world-famous Avenue of the Giants are being buried alive in sediment torrents originating in Pacific Lumber's (PL) logging sites. Humboldt county neighbors of the
much-protested Maxxam/PL are also frantically trying to save their houses, vehicles, possessions and their lives from the storm-related torrents that originate in hillsides de-nuded by logging.

Download-able photos can be found on the Salmon Forever website:
http://salmon-forever.org/adjacency_clearcuts.html
http://www.salmon-forever.org/nanning_creek.html

The storms of December 2002 have dramatically exposed the failure of the Headwaters Deal signed in 1999 that included a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) ostensibly protecting the threatened species residing in forestland on California's north coast. The HCP however, has been shown to be much more effective at protecting Maxxam/Pacific Lumber's bottom line. The price is paid by salmon fisheries, old-growth redwoods, private property, California's heritage redwood parklands, along with the health, safety and pocketbooks of Humboldt County residents and taxpayers.

As many as 8 landslides are visible along supposedly storm-proofed roads into active logging operations in Nanning Creek (THP 1-01-107) near the historic mill town of Scotia. These virgin ancient redwood stands, left by the "old PL" (pre-Maxxam) as nostalgic reminders of times gone by, are becoming stark clearcuts, victims of the most recent spate of PL's HCP logging. These forest stands were home to the rapidly disappearing Marbled Murrelets, an endangered seabird, and the endangered coho salmon. Those two species are among threatened and endangered species subject to an "incidental take permit" issued as part of the Headwaters deal HCP process that allows killing of endangered species and habitat destruction, normally challengable using the Endangered Species Act. This loophole in the ESA, along with HCP-mandated "watershed assessments" that ended up allowing logging in riparian areas, on landslides and within steep "inner gorge" areas that are especially suseptible to landslides and erosion have spelled disaster as wells have been polluted, septic tanks boil over and silt clogs salmon and irrigation streams.

Once world-renowned salmon and steelhead fishing streams are now choked with mud, and local residents are cleaning up from flood damage such as historically occurred only during extreme storms.

One resident of the Elk River valley reported that he waded through nearly two feet of mud slurry contaminated with floating septic spoils inside his home as he tried to save his family's possessions from the raging flood waters flowing from Pacific Lumber's lands. Other families in Elk River were evacuated by emergency response teams late into the night on December 27.

Forty-year resident Ralph Kraus reported that Elk River has flooded on seven days between Dec. 15 and 31, each time trapping and confining residents so that canoes were used to get to work, school and doctor's appointments.

WHO PAYS?
While Charles Hurwitz and his Maxxam Corp. take out the remaining redwood forests, his victims pick up the tab. Humboldt County has an over-$7 million roads bill, in part due to logging trucks and flooding, with no money in the budget to fix them.

"This is a travesty, because logging can be done in a responsible manner, in a manner that respects the rights of downstream property, and our irreplaceable heritage," said Jesse Noell, a local licensed
timber operator, and long-time foe of irresponsible logging.

"We are seeing no one in the Legislature, the agencies, or the County government who has the courage or integrity to speak up," laments Ken
Miller, a local physician. "They are all in lock-step with Hurwitz, bound by contract to defend this Headwaters Agreement even though it is violating laws and destroying the natural resource base of our economy. The local economy is being held hostage to Hurwitz's short-term, speculative, financial shenanigans.

Al Cook, a chiropractor who lives in Freshwater, has frequently been separated from his family by floodwaters-which reached record heights last week. He said, "We are not against logging. Good logging makes good neighbors. But the pace of PL's clearcutting wreaks havoc on downstream residents. PL has cut nearly our entire watershed in 12 years. The county has reduced the appraisal and tax assessment value on my house as a result of damage over the past four years."

The Regional Water Board convened a panel last summer to look at the relationship between PL's rate and intensity of logging and the impacts to the streams. "Everyone is watching to see if they have what it takes to act on the panel's findings," noted Dr. Cook. "It looks like nobody is willing to stand up to PL's intimidation, money, influence"
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