California Approves New License for Pacific Lumber Co.
12/30/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Logger granted license; Pacific Lumber Co. must allow state
inspections
Source: The Associated Press
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 30, 1999
SACRAMENTO (AP) -- The state approved a new two-year logging license
Wednesday for Pacific Lumber Co. that lets authorities inspect
cutting areas without warning and attend private company planning
sessions.
The license, which takes effect Jan. 1, came with an unusual
agreement between the Humboldt County-based timber company and the
state Department of Forestry that lists a series of conditions
concerning the company's operations on more than 200,000 acres of
forests.
The accord was signed by Pacific Lumber President John Campbell and
CDF Director Andrea Tuttle, who was picked by Gov. Gray Davis to head
the department.
The agreement does not affect the terms of the Headwaters Forest
pact, in which the state and federal governments purchased some
10,000 acres of land last spring and turned it into a public preserve
about 250 miles north of San Francisco. The property includes several
thousand acres of ancient redwoods.
But the agreement stems in part from environmentalists' complaints
and regulators' concerns about the company's logging practices,
despite state and federal courts and boards that have upheld company
actions over the years.
The CDF said Wednesday that Pacific Lumber's track record has
improved dramatically since 1997, justifying the issuance of a two-
year license.
Tuttle said ``the company's performance has improved significantly
this year with violations dropping tenfold since 1997.''
According to both the company and the state, Pacific Lumber received
12 violations from CDF thus far this year, 49 violations last year
and 126 violations in 1997.
A violation may mean the company didn't comply with harvesting rules,
such as cutting too close to streams or disturbing wildlife habitats.
However, of those issued this year, ``none of the violations resulted
in significant impacts to environmental resources,'' according to the
company.
The license conditions include:
+ Giving the state the keys to Pacific Lumber's gates, thus allowing
state CDF inspectors to enter the property at any time.
+ Allowing CDF representatives to attend the meetings, hitherto
private, at which the loggers decide their final harvesting strategy
for specific stands.
+ Making the company liable for triple penalties for cutting timber
in the no-cut zone.
+ Requiring the company to provide data it acquires on threatened
wildlife.