August 19, 2009
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Usal Redwood Forest
Efforts which specifically involve the Usal Redwood Forest (URF), the community-based forest of the Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc. (RFFI) in northwest Mendocino County, continue. These efforts aim to continue the restoration work there, get a conservation easement, and to develop restoration and management plans that meld into an overall Stewardship Plan. A preliminary workshop and field evaluation was recently conducted by Scientific Certification Systems' personnel as a start on achieving certification by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). It is heartening to know that all parties involved, including Bank of America, which loaned the money for the URF purchase by RFFI; Campbell Timber Management (CTM), the hired managers; and RFFI are all squarely behind this. FSC criteria include little or no clear cutting, little or no herbicide use, long harvesting rotations, and transparent and strong relations with affected human communities--all elements of RFFI's principles, goals, and management template. A proposal has been submitted for funding to evaluate different styles of `stand improvement' for the reduction of the hardwood component, and increase of redwood on appropriate sites. This particular issue has been a continuing focus of the Institute for Sustainable Forestry (ISF).
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The spawning and habitat surveys in Anderson Creek this past season were completed. Interpretation of the spawning redd data by the California Department of Fish & Game (DFG) should be done in August. We observed and recorded Chinook, coho, and steelhead redds (nests) and fish. DFG has measurement criteria for redds that are supposed to determine the species that constructed them--and that give a reliable population estimate. We were pleased with the many redds we recorded which should have meant we would observe more than a hundred adult salmon or steelhead. As it turned out, the number of our observations of adult fish was in the 20s--it was, at times, scarily evident how thorough the bears were in preying on the salmon and steelhead. It did appear, though, that most redds were completed and the fertilized eggs deposited in the substrate. We were seeing many young-of-the-year, Chinook and coho in early April. It did seem that Steelhead use of Anderson Creek was way down this year.
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All of the above is being carried out in the context of the abysmal economic conditions in California and across the nation. There is hardly any logging going on anywhere in California--the value for the timber resource having plummeted. The bright side is that this gives an opportunity for forest recovery, stewardship planning, and implementation of stewardship measures--if funding can be found. Things are sure `out-of-whack' when all the high-value and high-energy components of forests resources remain squandered and/or unappreciated. Making fuel hazard reduction, forest stand improvement, and clean energy production work together is certainly unrealized here, although different initiatives are going on in the region to make some positive and cooperative change.
National Geographic Magazine
One of the BIG DEALS coming up is the highly anticipated October National Geographic Magazine article about the Redwood Region--from San Luis Obispo to Oregon--ostensibly (and hoped for) through the eyes of Mike Faye and Lindsey Holm from their Redwood Transect Hike from south to north. Locally (among other places), they walked from the cove at Mistake Point, up through the Sally Bell Grove, down into the North Fork Usal Creek via Waterfall Gulch, up the other side to the WRP Ridge, and then down Standley Creek to the South Fork Eel River. Robert Ballard, the `long-time' Forester (now with CTM for the URF & RFFI), met them and accompanied them down Standley Creek. He was deeply impressed with their mission, perspective, and the fact that they did it in sandals--scrambling over log jams and rough terrain.
Mike has articulated his notion of a "Marshall Plan" for the Redwood Region. There was the famous Marshall Plan for recovery of Europe after WW II. It looks like there will be a series of public gatherings to relate to all this. One is scheduled at Humboldt State University in early October, and another in Mendocino County soon after. Mike and Lindsey met and talked extensively with the whole range of stakeholders: corporate heads, timber managers, loggers, fisher folk, tribal people, so-called environmentalists--the spectrum of residents. Mike and Lindsey, and many others, hope their experience and the communication of it, will help forge an era of cooperation and recovery heretofore unknown. There will also be an hour-long special done by National Geographic on their cable channel.
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One other thing that's on my mind is the continuing frustration over forestry regulatory `wars'--and accomplishing real change that will result in forest and watershed recovery. One should know that great progress has been made in the last several decades, but much remains unaccomplished. Some of the gains would have been unimagined 30 years ago: clearcuts reduced to thirty acres or less from their usual 120 acres, the imposition of no-cut buffers on fish-bearing streams and buffers of meaningful and significant width on most watercourses in general. Of course there remain improvements that should be done--BUT--one thing that hasn't been accomplished is a meaningful process for the evaluation of, and response to, cumulative impacts. I am personally very frustrated that the pilot projects necessary to determine an effective process--projects that are `transparent' and involve representatives of landowners/plan submitters, agencies, and affected public--have been repeatedly stymied by assorted entities and by the lack of will and vision. Currently, we've gotten as close as ever with support for such pilot projects from a panel of Technical Advisory Committee of scientists, but short-sighted interests may frustrate this attempt as well. More next time . . .
Short summaries of other issues:
* Litigation over the coho salmon rules passed by the Board of Forestry and the Department of Fish & Game last year: the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), the Sierra Club, and Cal Trout have won a tentative decision that tosses out the Board of Forestry Rule that they had no authority to make regarding coho, and tosses out DFG coho rules that needed an Environmental Impact Report.
* Waivers renewals for Waste Discharge Permits for logging by the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (NCRWQCB): Legal appeals against this renewal have been lodged by timber interests. Among other things, the waivers call for Erosion Control and Road Management Plans.
* The Board of Forestry continues to work on rules changes. See their website.
* This year's Coho Confab is going to be great on the Mendocino Coast, August 28-30th. Some of the features are tours of 10 Mile River and the Usal Creek. Go to *calsalmon.org* (Salmonid Restoration Federation) or *treesfoundation.org* for more information. Be THERE!
* EPIC is closing its Mateel office, but retaining its Mateel phone contact, with the Arcata office as the center of its activity.
Please get involved in ways that are effective and meaningful for you, and that contribute to real solutions--rg
For More Info:
Board of Forestry www.bof.fire.ca.gov
EPIC www.wildcalifornia.org
Richard Gienger rgrocks@humboldt.net
Since arriving in the Mattole Valley of Humboldt County in 1971, Richard Gienger has immersed himself in homesteading, forest activism, and watershed restoration. Richard's column covers a range of issues including fisheries and watershed restoration and forestry, plus describes opportunities for the public to make positive contributions in the administrative and legislative arenas as well as in their own backyards.
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TOC for Forest & River News, Summer 2009