Water Board adopts harvest limits for Palco lands in Freshwater and Elk River

The permits are highly significant, in that they will have the effect of restricting Palco’s rate of harvest as a means for measuring compliance with sediment limits. Though not as restrictive as the draft permit advanced by RWB staff, the adopted permits will limit Palco to 144 acres per year in Freshwater, 133 acres in South Fork Elk River, and 264 acres in North Fork Elk River.

These two watersheds have been the focus of intense study and debate since the mid-1990’s, when residents first started noticing increases in flooding and other water quality problems, following a dramatic increase in logging by Pacific Lumber. Palco owns some 80% of each watershed, and has logged about 80% of that ownership since 1986.

The permits, called Watershed-wide Waste Discharge, are the product of 9 years of effort by the residents of the watersheds, the Humboldt Watershed Council, and RWB staff to address the cumulative impacts of PL's aggressive logging in these two watersheds. WWDRs are, simply, permit requirements for any operations which have the potential to discharge waste (in this case, sediment) into these watersheds. Because the amount of sediment generated is a function of the amount of land-disturbing activity, these permits create limits upon the amount of logging, by area, that PL will be allowed to do in these watersheds in coming years.

The permits limit logging to the lesser amount indicated by either a "Peak Flow Reduction Model", or a "Landslide Sediment Delivery Reduction Model". These models are coupled with Cleanup and Abatement Orders (CAOs) in both watersheds, plus numerous other technical provisions.

The Peak Flow Reduction Model sets limits upon increases in rainfall runoff as a function of canopy removal, and so it determines the maximum allowable clearcut-equivalent acres (CCE) which may be logged annually. As a simple example, if PL clearcuts an entire acre, that counts as 1 CCE, whereas if PL selectively logs half of the trees on an acre, that counts as .5 CCE acre.

The Landslide Sediment Delivery Reduction Model sets limits on the amount of sediment which can enter the streams as a function of landslides related to logging activity. This model does not differentiate between clearcutting and selective logging, but it allows far less logging if any of it is in high-hazard zones as opposed to low-hazard zones.

In three-days of hearings held over two weeks, numerous potential changes were discussed, including provisions which would require Palco to fund studies of downstream infrastructure issues, as well as funding some amount of work based on the outcome of those studies. Palco had offered to fund these studies if the RWB did not restrict their logging in the watersheds in any way, but the offer was withdrawn by Palco when it became clear that they weren’t going to get everything they wanted.

After nearly 4 hours of closed-door deliberations, the five members of the Board voted unanimously in favor of a modified version of the permit, which significantly weakened the Peak Flow Reduction Model and doubled the timeframe for recovery for these watersheds from 10 years to 20. The Landslide Sediment Delivery Reduction Model was left intact.

For Freshwater Creek, the Peak Flow Model limits canopy removal to no more than 382 CCE acres per year. However, the Landslide Model limits ground disturbance to a maximum of 144 acres in low hazard zones, down to as little as 38 acres in high-hazard zones. Since the Landslide Model is the more restrictive of the two, the 382 CCE figure cannot be achieved, effectively limiting Palco to 144-acres per year.

For North Fork Elk River, the Peak Flow Model limits canopy removal to no more than 264 CCE acres. The Landslide Model for North Fork limits ground disturbance to a maximum of 266 acres if it is all in low hazard zones, down to as little as 21 acres if it is all in high hazard zones. Palco could thus clearcut as much as 264 acres per year, assuming that none of it is in high-hazard areas. Since the amount of allowable ground disturbance is virtually the same, any amount any areas which are logged by thinning or selection harvesting will reduce the overall amount of canopy removal.

In South Fork Elk River, the RWB staff had previously determined that the Peak Flow Model did not apply, meaning that the changes in the adopted permit would have no apparent effect. Staff had also determined that the there was no significant difference between sediment delivery from high-risk and low-risk areas in South Fork, so the Landslide Model limits disturbance to a maximum of 133 acres for all hazard zones combined.

The Regional Board also adopted a “zero discharge” standard for sediment beyond the amount allowed by the permits. Presumably, this would allow for Palco to obtain further permits if the Executive Officer of the RWB is satisfied that the additional THPs would generate absolutely no sediment.

“These permits are a landmark achievement, and vindicate the efforts by the Humboldt Watershed Council and affected residents of these watersheds” said Mark Lovelace, President of the Humboldt Watershed Council. “Though they do not go as far as we would like in terms of recovery, they are still a huge step forward in regulating water quality.”

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