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Maxxam/Pacific Lumber Slapped with Logging Violation Notice
Santa Rosa, CA -- In a brazen move, Maxxam/Pacific Lumber Co. (Maxxam/PL) began logging in the contested "Bonanza" timber harvest plan (THP # 1-05-097 HUM) on Tuesday, September 27 without the required authorization from the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (Water Board). After logging an unknown amount of the 250-acre plan, the illegal logging was stopped by the company.
Accordingly, on Thursday, September 29, Maxxam/PL was served a Notice of Violation by the Water Board for logging without a required permit.
According to the Notice of Violation, Maxxam/PL began logging the Bonanza plan without first having obtained enrollment under rules known as the General Waste Discharge Requirements. The rules are required of Maxxam/PL to protect water quality against the harmful cumulative effects that the company's logging wreaks on watersheds.
The Bonanza harvest plan contains the largest unprotected, contiguous, occupied marbled murrelet stand left on Maxxam/PL's land. Last year, a comprehensive Status Review for the murrelet, prepared by a blue-ribbon panel of top murrelet researchers, warned that if current trends continue, the endangered species faces a very high probability of extinction in California within a very short time. Despite the clear implication that Maxxam/PL's Habitat Conservation Plan is inadequate to ensure survival or recovery of the murrelet, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has inexplicably released the Bonanza murrelet stands for harvest.
It remains unknown to what extent the Water Board's Notice of Violation will prevent further harvesting in the Bonanza plan. The company is now required to submit a written report to the Water Board on Friday, September 30, describing the illegal activities and the reason the activities took place in the absence of authorization by the Water Board.
"Maxxam's liquidation plan for Humboldt County's old growth forests has yet again run afoul of the law," said Sam Johnston, Private Lands Campaigner for EPIC. "The fate of California's marbled murrelets and the old growth forests they depend on - not to mention the fate of the human communities that depend on the health of these watersheds - should not be determined by a rogue Houston outfit - Maxxam Corp.- whose subsidiary, Scotia Pacific, is flouting the law and draining the resources of Humboldt County just to pay interest on its massive corporate debt," added Johnston.
Ongoing uncertainty about a prospective corporate reorganization was stoked on September 27 when Maxxam/PL's timber-holding subsidiary, Scotia Pacific LLC, called off negotiations with its noteholders. Responding in a press release, the noteholders stated their intention of ultimately spinning off Scotia Pacific into a company separate and independent from its current parent, Pacific Lumber. Pacific Lumber is a subsidiary of Maxxam Corp., which is based in Houston, Tx.
###
Accordingly, on Thursday, September 29, Maxxam/PL was served a Notice of Violation by the Water Board for logging without a required permit.
According to the Notice of Violation, Maxxam/PL began logging the Bonanza plan without first having obtained enrollment under rules known as the General Waste Discharge Requirements. The rules are required of Maxxam/PL to protect water quality against the harmful cumulative effects that the company's logging wreaks on watersheds.
The Bonanza harvest plan contains the largest unprotected, contiguous, occupied marbled murrelet stand left on Maxxam/PL's land. Last year, a comprehensive Status Review for the murrelet, prepared by a blue-ribbon panel of top murrelet researchers, warned that if current trends continue, the endangered species faces a very high probability of extinction in California within a very short time. Despite the clear implication that Maxxam/PL's Habitat Conservation Plan is inadequate to ensure survival or recovery of the murrelet, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has inexplicably released the Bonanza murrelet stands for harvest.
It remains unknown to what extent the Water Board's Notice of Violation will prevent further harvesting in the Bonanza plan. The company is now required to submit a written report to the Water Board on Friday, September 30, describing the illegal activities and the reason the activities took place in the absence of authorization by the Water Board.
"Maxxam's liquidation plan for Humboldt County's old growth forests has yet again run afoul of the law," said Sam Johnston, Private Lands Campaigner for EPIC. "The fate of California's marbled murrelets and the old growth forests they depend on - not to mention the fate of the human communities that depend on the health of these watersheds - should not be determined by a rogue Houston outfit - Maxxam Corp.- whose subsidiary, Scotia Pacific, is flouting the law and draining the resources of Humboldt County just to pay interest on its massive corporate debt," added Johnston.
Ongoing uncertainty about a prospective corporate reorganization was stoked on September 27 when Maxxam/PL's timber-holding subsidiary, Scotia Pacific LLC, called off negotiations with its noteholders. Responding in a press release, the noteholders stated their intention of ultimately spinning off Scotia Pacific into a company separate and independent from its current parent, Pacific Lumber. Pacific Lumber is a subsidiary of Maxxam Corp., which is based in Houston, Tx.
###
For more information:
http://www.wildcalifornia.org
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Another reason to boycott Maxxam/PL and have them evicted from Humboldt is their use of automated logging. Using heavy machinery for removing logs replaces local loggers with machines. When unemployment skyrockets in Humboldt, the timber barons blame environmentalists, yet the reality is that automated logging can harvest more timber with less workers needed. Local people are considered irrelevent and contracters come in for automated logging. These contracters have no health benefits and work in dangerous conditions. They too are expendable..
Heavy machinery used in automated logging also compacts soil by reducing pore space and suffocating roots. Trees growing near skid trails are often stunted in growth, depleting the future generations of forest canopy cover and healthy trees..
Sending much love and support to all saving the forests from Maxxam's ecocide!!
luna moth
Earth First! Mabon
"Haida Gwai (R)evolution!
First Nations Victory
by
Jessica Bell
"Today, the Haida's future is also threatened by corporate logging. Both Weyerhaeuser and the Province of British Columbia have crippled the island community's long-term economic and environmental sustainability by consistently over-logging-especially high-value, old-growth cedar, Douglas fir and hemlock-and by using automated machinery instead of local loggers, then exporting the logs for processing. This process converts culturally, spiritually and ecologically valuable ecosystems that have sustained life for thousands of years into two-by-fours, decking and siding. It is estimated that more than 30 billion dollars worth of lumber has left the island. The vast majority of that money does not go toward providing Haida Gwaii with better schools, health care or sustainable economic development opportunities, but to the pockets of Weyerhaeuser's executives, who live in exclusive Seattle suburbs. Weyerhaeuser's CEO, Steve Rogel, earns more than six million dollars a year. Meanwhile, an underemployment rate of more than 60 percent is leading younger generations to abandon the misty island for the large cities of Prince Rupert and Vancouver."
http://earthfirstjournal.org/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=7
Heavy machinery used in automated logging also compacts soil by reducing pore space and suffocating roots. Trees growing near skid trails are often stunted in growth, depleting the future generations of forest canopy cover and healthy trees..
Sending much love and support to all saving the forests from Maxxam's ecocide!!
luna moth
Earth First! Mabon
"Haida Gwai (R)evolution!
First Nations Victory
by
Jessica Bell
"Today, the Haida's future is also threatened by corporate logging. Both Weyerhaeuser and the Province of British Columbia have crippled the island community's long-term economic and environmental sustainability by consistently over-logging-especially high-value, old-growth cedar, Douglas fir and hemlock-and by using automated machinery instead of local loggers, then exporting the logs for processing. This process converts culturally, spiritually and ecologically valuable ecosystems that have sustained life for thousands of years into two-by-fours, decking and siding. It is estimated that more than 30 billion dollars worth of lumber has left the island. The vast majority of that money does not go toward providing Haida Gwaii with better schools, health care or sustainable economic development opportunities, but to the pockets of Weyerhaeuser's executives, who live in exclusive Seattle suburbs. Weyerhaeuser's CEO, Steve Rogel, earns more than six million dollars a year. Meanwhile, an underemployment rate of more than 60 percent is leading younger generations to abandon the misty island for the large cities of Prince Rupert and Vancouver."
http://earthfirstjournal.org/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=7
Automated logging. Great...How do you think that logging is done, by hand? Do men pull logs around and lift them on to their bicycles and take them to town? Would you like for oxen and horses to be used? Sorry, but I need some more information here. Are there robot loggers out there painted in plaid toros and red suspenders? I bet that C3PO can cut over a half million board feet a day when properly charged up oiled! I heard that R2D2 was seen recently stormproofing a road in Elk River. Tell you what, its a busy time in the woods right now. You show me a faller that isn't working and I'll show you one sorry dude.
Your soil compaction analysis is so compelling and enlightening that I feel like a scientist after reading it. Just by reading your one paragraph, I'm convinced that robot logging stunts future generations and should be banned. Ban the robots!
Your soil compaction analysis is so compelling and enlightening that I feel like a scientist after reading it. Just by reading your one paragraph, I'm convinced that robot logging stunts future generations and should be banned. Ban the robots!
Activist are currently occupying the largest tree in the "Bonanza" Timber Harvest Plan. The tree, Spooner, is over 14 ft. in diameter. Plus, there is HUNDREDS of HUGE old growth Redwoods in the Plan. Your Help is Needed! Check it out! May the Forest be With You!
http://www.wesavetrees.org/bonanza.htm
http://www.wesavetrees.org/bonanza.htm
For more information:
http://www.wesavetrees.org
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