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Deficient habitat plan for Headwaters would axe irreplaceable groves, species
Posted
9/14/98 In the final hours of its 1998 session the California legislature passed Assembly Bill (AB) 1986, which provides over $245 million in state funding for the flawed 1996 Headwaters "deal." Gov. Pete Wilson is expected to sign the bill; but the battle is not over. A "deal"-mandated Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) covering Pacific Lumber Co.'s (PL's) forest lands now represents the best opportunity to bring about improvements in the "deal's" protections for forest-dependent threatened species. Public comments on the HCP can significantly strengthen environmental safeguards, as well as help build a case for future litigation on behalf of the forest. |
Northern spotted owl. By Larry Eifert |
From mid-March through August Forests Forever organizers generated about 6,600 collected letters from Northern California citizens, over 5,000 petition signatures, and an additional 45,000 committed letters and calls urging decisionmakers to oppose "deal" funding unless the HCP's watercourse, wildlife and ancient grove safeguards were strengthened. Preventing passage of the "deal" in the budget bill helped bring about some modest improvements to the final acquisition bill. Final AB 1986 amendments added $115 million to the state's portion of the acquisition funding, up from the original $130-million price tag. Of this additional sum, $80 million was added to buy the 925-acre virgin Owl Creek Grove, $20 million went toward purchase of the 1200-acre Grizzly Creek parcel and $15 million was directed to Humboldt County to offset any loss of timber tax revenue that might result from the purchase. In all, then, about 9,500 acres will be permanently protected from logging, up from 7,500 before the vote. (The 7,500 acres already covered acquisition of the ancient Headwaters and Elk Head Springs groves.) Stream protections also were improved a little in the bill. Original "deal" language called for 30-foot no-cut zones on either side of Class I (fishbearing) streams, with mere 10-foot buffers on Class II (perennial non-fishbearing) streams. Once signed by the governor the new agreement mandates a three-year study period during which Class I streams will be protected from logging out to 100 feet from the stream bank, and Class II streams to 30 feet. Following the three-year watershed analysis, however, federal officials may determine buffer zone widths and substantially lower them. But while some improvements were made in the "deal" the passage of AB 1986 marked the elimination of environmentalists' best recent tool for protecting the forest-- withholding acquisition funding from MAXXAM. And thanks to the bill's passage most of PL's more than 200,000 acres would be converted to even-aged forest, essentially condemning precious habitat to clearcutting every 50 years or less. Forests Forever and other groups have called for protection of the entire 60,000-acre Headwaters Forest. When the 50-year HCP expires the agreement exposes to logging roughly half of all the ancient and residual old-growth redwood acreage on PL property– about 10,300 acres, including the Allen Creek, Shaw Creek and All-Species virgin groves. An additional 8,700 acres of ancient Douglas fir also is slated to be cut. Charles Hurwitz and his MAXXAM Corp. will be paid $480 million for less than five percent of PL's land. MAXXAM purchased PL and all its holdings in a 1986 leveraged buyout for about $850 million, and since has extracted an estimated $1.5 billion from the forest. What you can do: Contact federal officials and tell them the current HCP provisions would further imperil listed species and fragile old-growth habitat. A suitable HCP would provide:
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FORESTS FOREVER San
Francisco |