Forests Forever Press Release
For
Immediate Release:
Friday , May 23, 2003
Contacts:
Paul Hughes, Andria Strickley 415/ 974-3636
Judge denies
temporary restraining order
to stop logging in largest state-owned forest
A superior court judge has denied a request for a temporary restraining
order to stop two timber harvests from proceeding in publicly owned Jackson
State Forest.
Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Richard Henderson denied the restraining
order request Thursday. In his ruling, Henderson said the harvests would
not cause irreparable harm to the forest.
Forests Forever Foundation and the Campaign to Restore Jackson State Redwood
Forest had requested the restraining order to stop the California Department
of Forestry (CDF) from proceeding with the "Brandon Gulch" and
"Camp 3" harvests . The two harvests encompass 900 acres.
"Hanging in the balance are some of Mendocino County’s last
acres of high quality unprotected redwoods," said Paul Hughes, executive
director of Forests Forever Foundation. "These trees are worth far
more vertical than horizontal. This state agency (CDF) is planning on
cutting down publicly owned redwoods to sell at a time when prices for
redwood lumber are at a low."
In November
2002, the two environmental groups sued CDF over inadequacies in the environmental
impact report on Jackson’s management plan. One of the most significant
of these deficiencies was the EIR’s failure to evaluate the cumulative
effects of the proposed logging operations in the context of past, present,
and planned logging in the area.
The lawsuit is scheduled to go to court July 7. Forests Forever Foundation
and the Jackson Campaign had hoped the restraining order would hold off
logging until May 30, when the groups’ request for a preliminary
injunction is heard in court. If the injunction is issued, CDF must stop
logging until the lawsuit is resolved.
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