California Lets Pacific Lumber Keep Logging License
12/31/97
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Headline: California Lets Pacific Lumber Keep Logging License
Source: The San Francisco Examiner
Date: 12/31/97
Author: Jane Kay, Examiner Environmental Writer
Copyright 1998: San Francisco Examiner
State lets logging firm keep license
Pacific Lumber promises to comply with forestry laws
The world's largest private owner of prized redwood
trees, Pacific Lumber Co., has averted losing its
license to log in California as long as it abides by
restrictions clamped on its timber operations.
Pacific Lumber, a subsidiary of Maxxam Corp., got the
go-ahead Tuesday to proceed with logging next year
under an agreement with the state Department of
Forestry.
"The agreement raises the standards, and it increases
the scrutiny," said Karen Terrill, Forestry Department
spokeswoman. "The restrictions are unprecedented, and
apply only to Pacific Lumber."
The department, which enforces state forest practices
law, about two weeks ago notified Pacific Lumber, owner
of 200,000 acres of giant redwoods and Douglas fir,
that it wouldn't renew its commercial license.
Pacific Lumber showed a pattern of failing or refusing
to comply with the rules, the department said. The poor
practices caused erosion that ruined streams and
destroyed wildlife habitat, the department said.
In 1997, Pacific Lumber piled up 44 violations on more
than a dozen different logging plans, according to the
department.
Terrill called the threatened revocation "very rare."
"Ninety-five percent of timber operators are in
complete compliance," she said. "The other 5 percent
take up 90 percent of our time."
In a statement, John Campbell, Pacific Lumber CEO and
president, said discussions between his company and the
state had produced the agreement.
"Our timber operator license is vital to our business
and we are pleased that an agreement with (the
department) was reached," Campbell said. "We have taken
this matter very seriously and want to assure the state
that our operations will be in full compliance with the
law."
In the agreement, the state ordered Pacific Lumber to:
*Issue gate keys to state inspectors so they can make
both surprise and scheduled visits to logging sites.
*Restrict activities near streams that could result in
sediment, including traveling on dirt roads, hauling
logs, placing rock on roads and other activities in
certain weather conditions.
*Give authority to a registered professional forester
who would supervise or shut down timber operations. The
forester would inspect every operation at least twice a
month and submit written reports to the state.
The Environmental Protection Information Center in
Garberville was still reviewing the new conditions
Tuesday.
"This could provide a new level of scrutiny of Pacific
Lumber's operations, if the restrictions are well
spelled out, and there's a good monitoring system (by
the state)," said Cecelia Lanman, a founder of the
group. "But we must have strong enforcement by the
state Department of Forestry in order for this
agreement to have any effect. Our experience has been
that (the department), and (Gov.) Pete Wilson have
miserbly failed to enforce this law."
In addition, Lanman believes that the conditions should
include the larger issue of cumulative impacts of
logging addressed by a State Court of Appeal decision
won by her group in 1985.
After Maxxam bought Pacific Lumber, based in Humboldt
County, in a 1985 hostile takeover, the company
accelerated logging.
"The license should be revoked on the basis that
Pacific Lumber has cut too much too fast," said Lanman,
"and has created cumulative impacts that will have a
disastrous effect on the salmon and the watershed for
generations to come."
North Coast environmentalists are leading a campaign to
secure 60,000 acres of redwood forests owned by Pacific
Lumber for national forest land.
The federal government has put up $250 million to
purchase 7,500 acres of it, including the 3,000-acre
Headwaters Grove, the largest intact private virgin
redwood stand in the world. The state must raise $130
million to pay its share.
Meanwhile, Pacific Lumber continues logging on its
large second-growth and old-growth holdings not
included in the 7,500-acre deal or protected by
specific federal laws, including the Endangered Species
Act.
Under the conditional license, the Forestry Department
could instigate a license suspension proceeding within
24 hours if it had complaints of violations from its
staff or the Humboldt County district attorney. The
department would have 15 days to decide whether to
revoke the license.