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Activist Support
In the aftermath of the Pacific Lumber bankruptcy, forest defense activists turned the bulk of their attention towards the two major timber companies left in Humboldt County, Green Diamond and Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI). In June, a tree-sit was set up in the Six Rivers National Forest to bring attention to SPI's plan to build a road through part of the Underwood Roadless Area to log untouched pine, cedar, and Douglas-fir forest in their 160-acre private inholding. A lightning strike set a fire that inundated the area in smoke and ash, forcing defenders to evacuate. The SPI road was subsequently built and a small portion of the forest clear-cut under a salvage-logging loophole. SPI is expected to file a new plan to log the rest of their inholding next year.
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Cereus funding supported activities including informational tabling, travel expenses, telephone, photography, the purchase of THP plans, and more.
Granted $2,500
Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
With Cereus Fund support in 2008, the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters carried out grassroots organizing, advocacy work, public education and media work on a variety of fronts.
BACH has long brought their input and comments on management of the Headwaters Reserve to the BLM. Comments were provided on the BLM's planning document, a forward-looking draft plan for the Reserve for the next several years. Preliminary comments were submitted regarding the BLM's new interpretive center, addressing the issues of impact on the biological integrity of the Reserve of visitors, the impact of the center itself, appropriate education of Reserve visitors on recreation vs. preservation, and the inclusion of a historical look at the grassroots advocacy campaign that resulted in the establishment of the Headwaters Reserve as protected acreage. BACH completed a draft brochure to educate visitors to the Reserve about the vulnerabilities of the threatened Marbled Murrelet, entitled "What Hikers Should Know About the Secretive Marbled Murrelet."
BACH served as "Media Central" for the 21-month long campaign to save the oaks in Berkeley, writing press releases, organizing press conferences and other events, lining up interviews, and serving as a source of information and referrals for the media. Similar services were provided on the Pacific Lumber bankruptcy issue. BACH also put together a PowerPoint presentation covering "How to Utilize the Media in Carrying Out Campaigns for Social Change," and have already presented it to several groups.
BACH was instrumental in the organizing of the Hurwitz Out of Humboldt celebration in October in Humboldt County. Besides insuring that the event was inclusive of all those people who had been part of the two-decades-long campaign, BACH researched, copied, and brought most of the material that constituted the "Headwaters Museum", a very popular component of the daylong event.
Granted $5,000
Central Coast Forest Watch
Cereus support enabled Central Coast Forest Watch (CCFW) to continue forest and watershed protection work in Santa Cruz County. The funding has helped the group to continue to watch-dog the timber industry, near completion on a first draft of their revised Citizens Guide to Timber Harvest Review, and keep the public informed of matters relating to forests and watersheds, including threats, victories, and educational articles and events.
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When CCFW reviewed a Timber Harvest Plan on Soquel Creek that proposed to construct culvert crossings upstream from recently discovered juvenile coho salmon, the group contacted the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and enlisted their help. NMFS will now fully participate in the review of this THP, a first in years, and the landowner has already agreed to install bridge crossings instead of culverts. A small victory for coho salmon!
Santa Cruz County riparian protection policies have been poorly implemented in recent years, including the removing of large wood (bad for stream health and fish), granting riparian exceptions, and little to no enforcement of riparian violations. Latest efforts by CCFW include collaborating with NMFS, Department of Fish and Game, Santa Cruz County staff, and local environmental groups to effect positive change on these issues.
Granted $2,500
Eel River Salmon Restoration Project
Thanks to continued support from the Cereus Fund, the Eel River Salmon Restoration Project (ERSRP) was able to plant redwood trees and willow on recently completed restoration projects in Redwood Creek and in Leggett Creek.
ERSRP recently cleaned out the sediment ponds in Redwood Creek, the Blue Goo Landslide. The landslide has over many years contributed huge sediment loads to salmon and steelhead spawning gravels in lower Redwood Creek, requiring periodic maintenance of cleaning out the sediment and redistributing it up-slope. As an integral part of the maintenance, ERSRP has planted thousands of trees on the stored soil which has now become a forest. (See page 18 for an article describing the history of this restorative effort.)
In addition ERSRP has also completed an erosion control project in Upper Leggett Creek to stabilize eroding banks and provide gradient control in the stream channel. Some willow was planted in the trenches while the excavator was at work. Follow-up tree planting will take place later this year with additional willow staking and redwood planting.
Granted $3,500
Environmental Protection Enformation Center
The Cereus Fund granted support to EPIC's very successful Public Lands Program for 2008. Following is a brief overview of the work recently completed under this program.
As part of a plaintiff group, EPIC achieved a big win last spring in their case against the US Forest Service over new proposed regulations for the National Forest Management Act. The District court ruled the new regulations illegal on NEPA and ESA grounds. The Forest Service recently withdrew their appeal of the case, but will proceed with a new set of proposed regulations.
EPIC challenged the Six Rivers National Forest Fire Management Plan (FMP) based on its failure to subject the FMP to NEPA, and the court agreed. The Washington DC headquarters of the Forest Service then directed Six Rivers NF to withdraw the plan.
Along with its allies, EPIC fought the Knob Timber Sale in the Klamath National Forest based on its impacts to the Northern spotted owl and the last potentially viable population of native Klamath River spring-run Chinook. Their efforts saved many of the large trees and got the Forest Service to drop some of the most sensitive logging units.
EPIC filed suit to halt the East Fork Timber Sale which was justified as a "fuels reduction" effort. Among the problems with this claim is the remoteness of the area from any human community that might be threatened by fire, the fact that the fire-prone condition of the forest is a consequence of past intensive logging, and the fact that the kind of logging proposed under the Sale will actually increase the probability of intense fire in the future.
In 2005, a genetic analysis revealed that the Siskiyou Mountain Salamander (protected for more than 30 years under the California Endangered Species Act) is a distinct species from the Scott Bar Salamander who exists only at the confluence of the Scott and Klamath Rivers. The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) tried to use this new information as a pretext to deprive the Scott Bar Salamander of protections, and allow logging in old-growth forests previously protected as salamander habitat. EPIC went to court and successfully stopped the logging plans, and returned to court to challenge DFG's de-listing of the species. EPIC also won this case.
Granted $5,000
Institute for Sustainable Forestry
Beginning in early 2007, the Institute for Sustainable Forestry (ISF) joined in a coalition of North Coast community-based conservation groups to form a Timber Acquisition Group (TAG, later known as the Community Forestry Team, or CFT) and focus on the potential acquisition of Pacific Lumber Company's Scotia Pacific forestland. The TAG emerged from the Redwood Forest Foundation's Humboldt Advisory Group to specifically address the Palco Bankruptcy. In December, 2007, the CFT developed an MOU with The Nature Conservancy, Save the Redwoods League, Conservation Forestry, as well as a bank representing potential sources of loan capital. The plan was to make a bid on the Palco/Scopac timber properties in the event that they were put up for auction--the plan recommended by the Scopac Noteholders that was submitted to the bankruptcy court. At that time there were only two reorganization plans in the bankruptcy process: Palco's plan, and the Scopac Noteholders plan.
With Cereus funding, ISF played a key role in providing a valuation of the timberland which assisted the CFT in assessing the impact of various financial scenarios on the application of limited conservation resources to specific goals and the scope and shape of community participation.
Mendocino Redwood Company submitted a third reorganization plan to the bankruptcy court. MRC's plan promised to introduce an old-growth preservation policy, to meet Forest Steward Council management standards on all harvesting, and to maintain the Palco mill as an ongoing operation. The price MRC proposed to pay for the Scopac properties was in line with ISF's evaluation.
In an open bidding process there was significant risk that the CFT would not be the high bidder, and/or that Mendocino Redwood Company would not participate. Bidding would also tend to increase the final purchase price that might increase the intensity of future harvesting to pay off the acquisition debt. For these reasons, the CFT decided to stand aside in the process, and Mendocino Redwood Company's purchase of the Palco timberland was approved by the court.
Humboldt Redwood Company's proposed forest practices provide a welcome relief from the policies of Pacific Lumber. Yet in the long term their opposition to the use of conservation easements leaves the future of this critically important redwood forest in doubt. In addition, the current economic crisis hits owners of working forests particularly hard as lumber prices remain at historic lows. The ability to offer market prices to landowners who may be forced to consider selling their timber land can have a positive impact on keeping North Coast working forests whole. In light of this consideration, ISF continues its involvement with the CFT and continues to meet and build relationships to develop the necessary tools to respond to future acquisition possibilities.
Granted $5,000
Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center
KS Wild's Conservation Program works to protect Wilderness quality lands, old-growth forests, riparian habitat, wildlife corridors, and wildlife on more than eight million acres in the Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion, more than half of which lies in California. Cereus funding supported KS Wild's California Conservation Program in 2008.
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Out of concern for the Shasta-Trinity's high annual projected timber volume, KS Wild started a monitoring program for the National Forest. As some of the West's largest wildfires this year were concentrated in the Shasta-Trinity, the timing couldn't have been more appropriate. Already President Bush has made an on-site press opportunity of it, and the district's arch-conservative Congressional Representative, Wally Herger, is clamoring for immediate suspension of NEPA in order to log it.
The Siskiyou Crest at the Oregon-California border provides a vital habitat linkage corridor for wildlife. Unfortunately, almost half of the lands are private timber parcels, many of which face imminent logging threats. KS Wild recently began a campaign to track and challenge the worst of these projects, focusing efforts in California where more stringent state laws provide better tools.
The rising price of precious mineral has spurred a resurgence of interest in gold mining in the Klamath-Siskiyou, particularly suction dredge mining which hydraulically sifts through streambeds to locate the gold, destroying spawning beds and introducing large amounts of sediment into the water. KS Wild is preparing a legal strategy to force agencies to clean up areas that continue to leach sediment into waterways and to make it more difficult for new permits to proceed.
Granted $2,500
Mattole Restoration Council
Cereus Fund provided support for the Mattole Restoration Council's Forest Practices Program (FPP) in 2008 in order to allow for their continued involvement in the Mattole Watershed Analysis; participation in the Timberland Acquisition Group (TAG coalition)formed as a result of the Pacific Lumber bankruptcy; and to provide outreach, education and networking within the Mattole watershed community and greater Humboldt County community related to the protection from subdivision of working timberlands.
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The MRC played a key role in the TAG coalition (which morphed into the Community Forestry Team) and worked steadfastly on a strategy that could allow their vision for PL's timberlands to succeed if the bankruptcy moved to an auction. However, the Mendocino Redwood Company's plan prevailed in the end, which heralds a change (substantially for the better) in management style for the over 200,000 acres in Humboldt County, including nearly one-tenth of the Mattole watershed.
Outreach to Mattole residents has always been a strength of the FPP. This outreach has encouraged many residents to get involved in the public comment process. Working on that success, the FPP has tried to broaden its sphere of influence by involvement with the Humboldt County General Plan update to encourage the protection of watershed integrity and working forestlands.
Granted $2,500
Restoration Leadership Project
The main goal of this project, headed by well-known and respected restorationist Richard Gienger, is to solve environmental problems by unifying people to bring about lasting positive change in land management attitudes and practices. One very special and specific objective directly related to this goal and supported by this year's Cereus grant is to ensure the success of the Usal Redwood Forest (URF) as a model for community-based forestry that will last for generations. The project's efforts are directed to improve timber harvest practices; road building, maintenance and removal; and fish and other wildlife habitat restoration and conservation. The emphasis is on landscape scale, long-term recovery planning, with an effective monitoring process that provides for documentation of impacts and implementation of corrective measures as needed.
In 2008 there has been a great increase in the documentation of the communities' involvement with the URF and of the forest itself. With the help of the Cereus Fund, Richard has been able to persevere and catalyze adequate funding and interest to start salmon spawning surveys in the forest--Anderson Creek this season with surveys anticipated to add Standley Creek to the effort next year. This is important not only for scientific understanding but also for direct community involvement in conservation and connection to the community-based forest.
Funding from the Cereus Fund also enabled Richard to attend key meetings and give significant input regarding the establishment of adequate monitoring to ensure protection and recovery of listed salmonids and for project proponents to be responsible for carrying out basic monitoring responsibilities. Progress is continuing on implementing basic photo-monitoring protocols to ensure protection of forest, water, and wildlife resources. Richard's service on the state Coho Recovery Team is in a venue appropriate for these efforts, as is his continued participation on the Monitoring and Tracking Subcommittee of the Monitoring Study Group. Another important focus of this work is getting biological evaluations or assessments for coho salmon, deemed so important by the Department of Fish & Game and others, to actually happen.
Granted $5,000
Salmonid Restoration Federation
With Cereus funding in 2008, SRF advocated for maintaining endangered species listing for coho salmon, long-term restoration funding in California, and Klamath dam removal as part of the FERC relicensing process. The Cereus grant enabled SRF to advocate on behalf of these issues, send representatives to key hearings, develop talking points, mobilize citizens, and make headway towards securing long-term sustainable funding for salmon restoration efforts.
SRF has been working with the California Watershed Network and an ad hoc coalition of watershed groups to come up with a legislative solution to create a sustainable funding source for the Salmonid restoration field. SRF and other members of our state-wide watershed coalition are working to make the Integrated Regional Watershed Management Planning process more accessible to the watershed restoration community. SRF is also monitoring several other watershed-related bills addressing issues including how funds from Proposition 84 will be allocated, water runoff pollution, environmental justice, and climate change. All of these water bills have water quality, fishery restoration, and watershed management components.
At the 26th Annual Salmonid Restoration Conference, SRF offered a session on dam removal that highlighted how the FERC relicensing process can provide an opportunity for dam removal, fish passage improvements, and other large-scale restoration. Additionally, SRF offered a FERC relicensing presentation at the 3rd Annual Spring-run Salmon Watershed Symposium and tours of the dams in the Yuba watershed that are up for relicensing.
Granted $2,500
Salmon Forever
Since 1997, Salmon Forever has collected water samples from streams and rivers on the north coast of California to increase our understanding of chronic turbidity and suspended sediment concentrations that impair the health of our fisheries and water supplies. Discharges of sediment from poor land use activities have overwhelmed many of our rivers resulting in the loss of channel capacity necessary for the conveyance of flood waters. Due to severe loss of conveyance capacity of the streams near the communities of Elk River and Freshwater Creek, lives and livelihoods and homes, orchards, hayfields and property are threatened numerous times each year.
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Salmon Forever maintained four continuous turbidity monitoring stations located in Elk River and Freshwater Creek and one in the Van Duzen River that pump water samples for processing in Salmon Forever's laboratory. The stations and the laboratory continue to provide turbidity and suspended sediment data for the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, community members, scientists, students, and the timber industry.
With Cereus funding and a work-study agreement with Humboldt State University, Salmon Forever trained students in the scientific lab and field methods of watershed monitoring.
Granted $5,000
Salmon Protection and Watershed Network
The Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) received Cereus funding this year for their work to protect Central California's largest, although critically endangered, run of wild coho salmon in the Lagunitas Creek watershed, Marin County. Below are some highlights from their campaign this past year:
Stream Conservation Area Campaign--Protecting Riparian Habitat Through Grassroots Activism
Thanks to the Cereus Fund, the members of SPAWN, citizens of Marin, and hundreds of scientists who signed an open letter to the Board of Supervisors, a historic agreement was reached between SPAWN and the Marin County Board of Supervisors in February of this year. After several years of struggle, the County agreed to fund a study of the impact of development on coho salmon and to take a "time-out" on creekside development by implementing a two-year moratorium on new development in the Stream Conservation Area in the San Geronimo Valley while the study is completed. This study should ensure that development decisions of the future, here in California's most important watershed for critically endangered coho salmon, will be informed by the best available science to protect and restore these endangered species of Marin.
Conservation Monitoring To Protect Critical Headwaters
This spring SPAWN completed its 3rd year of outmigration monitoring and research for the San Geronimo Valley sub-watershed. The data gathered during these 76 days of continuous research again highlighted how critical the San Geronimo Valley is as coho and steelhead juvenile nursery habitat. This data set is in part responsible for the current listing of the San Geronimo Valley as a "tier one," or highest-priority, region by the National Marine Fisheries Service. SPAWN also nominated, and the Valley was successfully listed as a "Priority Conservation Area" by the Association of Bay Area Governments.
Every Fish Counts
Tributary creeks dried up faster than anyone can remember this year due to the driest Spring on record since 1879. In many tributaries the flow slowed to a trickle during the coho smolt out-migration, trapping the fish in isolated pools. Fish trapped in these pools cannot move far and are subject to the decaying conditions as the pools dry and warm up and become depleted in oxygen. Biologists and volunteers rescued more than 4,000 juvenile salmonids from certain death in the tributaries this year and safely relocated them downstream to still flowing reaches of San Geronimo Creek.
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Each winter SPAWN's volunteer Creek Naturalists (our "watershed ambassadors") lead over 1,000 members of the public on creekwalks in the Watershed to view coho spawning and to explore the different ways in which people can take action to restore these endangered fish. SPAWN successfully held their Creek Naturalist Training Workshop in October where 25 new and returning Naturalists joined together to learn about coho ecology and nature interpretation and to prepare to monitor the upcoming spawning season.
Rainwater Harvesting
Cereus funding also contributed to the launch of SPAWN's new Rainwater Harvesting Program. Consider that 600 gallons of water runs off a 1,000 sq. foot impervious surface for every inch of rainfall. In Marin, the average 48" annual rainfall translates into 28,800 gallons of pure rainwater for every 1,000 sq. foot roof surface! Stewarding endangered streams and salmon back to health means that we all need to be serious about reducing our demand on water from behind devastating dams and reducing our storm water footprint on streams. SPAWN is distributing cisterns to local schools and residences across Marin where model roofwater-harvesting and rain garden projects will be installed this month to demonstrate ways to turn winter surpluses of stormwater running off roofs into a summer irrigation resource.
Granted $2,500
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