Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap
Boycott the Gap: TIMBER WARS ESCALATE
Posted by Mary Bull (chalicenew@earthlink.net)
Thursday, July 15, 1999
Forest Defenders Across the Nation!
Thank you for your continued support! Northern California's redwood
forests are in a state of crisis. Corporate interests are liquidating
these forests at a very fast pace--with the Fishers of Gap, Inc. leading
the pack. The situation in Mendocino, where there is hardly any ancient
forest left, is very critical. Our government bureaucrats who are charged
with protecting our natural resources seem to have forgotten the words
"public trust." It's up to us to stop this deforestation.
In this newsletter and call to action...
-Fishers Log Albion Tree-Sit!
-Protest Fisher Logging of Old Growth, Ukiah Courthouse, July 19!
-Protest Fisher Logging of Old Growth, Paul Dimmick State Park, July 25!
-Meeting With Tuttle: Little Hope From the New Administration!
-Latest in the Fishers' "Pursuit" of Forest Certification!
-Call Your US Reps to Oppose Global Free Logging Before July 16!
-CA Forestry Reform Bills Update: The Pressure Is On!
-Status of Public-Interest Lawsuits In Men and Son Counties
-Upcoming Events
-Parting Note on KPFA
Fishers Log Albion Tree-Sit!
*******************************
The Albion tree-sit, which lasted 55 DAYS, ended last week. The Fishers of
Gap, Inc.'s logging company, Mendocino Redwood Co. (MRC), took advantage of
a two-day lull in the tree-sit just after the 4th of July holiday.
Evidently, they'd been lying in wait for this opportunity, and last week
dashed in and finally got what they wanted: the trees in the most sensitive
part of the active slide area.
I visited the site, which was completely trashed with downed giant
redwoods, collateral damage, slash, and other debris. The slide into the
Albion River is formidable and cutting down trees in this area is a crime.
More slides will happen - more dirt in the river, more salmon eggs
smothered, more soil lost, more trees lost to slippage. Not to mention the
loss of habitat for the homeless pair of Spotted Owls that were discovered
in the area. How can these things be legal? You tell me.
Impoverished local watershed groups have only 30 days to file suit on a
logging plan after it is approved. If they cannot get the money together,
the lawyer, and the extensive documentation - and fail to meet this
deadline - the plan is set in concrete and nothing can stop it. Our
regulatory agencies simply ignore whatever happens after that.
Local watershed groups are all volunteer. They cannot file suit on every
plan - only on a few of them. The bigger environmental groups won't get
their hands dirty doing this kind of THP monitoring and litigation. No one
was able to file suit on this plan. The extensive damage that it is doing
to the Albion River is of interest to no one in government.
Over 125 community members rallied in defense of these Albion trees and the
coho salmon fishery in the river below. Concerned residents sought advice
from an independent geologist, who recommended that MRC not log the area due
to highly unstable soil conditions. When MRC refused to listen, volunteers
took to the trees for 55 DAYS to prevent logging in the most sensitive area.
...And MRC calls themselves "good stewards"--anybody convinced yet? For a
company preoccupied with public image, this was a stupid move.
THUNDEROUS CHORUS OF WOLF HOWLS
FOR HAWK & THE ALBION NATION FOR A TRULY
HEROIC EFFORT!!! At least one old-growth redwood was spared because of it!!!
PROTEST FISHER OLD-GROWTH LOGGING - JULY 19!
*****************************************************************
You have an opportunity to protest MRC's logging practices, when the
Greenwood Creek old growth logging plan goes to court this coming Monday,
July 19, at 9:30 am, in the County Courthouse in Ukiah (100 No. State
Street). One great value of your attendance at this hearing is to show
local judges that you and other people care deeply about these issues!
Imagine what a judge thinks when he sees an empty courtroom with such a
controversial matter before him! He is under enormous pressure from the
"old boy network" of timber lawyers and developers, with the billionaire
Fishers adding their political clout on top of that. The only
counter-force to this is the people--you and me--the citizens, the
voters--being there in massive numbers!
The law is not an objective process--especially when it comes to a timber
case in Timber Country. Numbers count! Even if you don't have hope that
fairness and justice will prevail--it is vitally important to bear witness
to these events.
If you can't make the hearing, join the protest rally at 12:00 noon on the
courthouse steps. Bring signs! Bring a wet rag for your head - it's hot
out there! Short rally--15 minutes. Bronx cheer for the Fishers! Wild
howl of mourning for the ancient forest! Plug into our Old Growth 911
network (call 707-877-3405) --and keep informed.
PROTEST FISHER LOGGING JULY 25!
*********************************************
The Fishers' logging company, MRC, is hammering the Navarro River with
logging plan after logging plan. One of their recent plans was for over
500 acres of logging. Now they have two NEW LOGGING PLANS coming down -
directly adjacent to the Paul Dimmick campground in the redwood corridor on
Highway 128.
On Sunday, July 25, forest defenders will rally at Paul Dimmick Park from
11:00 am to 2 pm, in order to help educate the many tourists who will be
driving home from the Mendocino Music Festival down Highway 128 that day.
One of the new logging plans is so close to Paul Dimmick you can hear
campers from the logging area. The plan includes the notorious "group
selection" clearcuts, targeting old growth trees on the highway side of the
ridge--and two sections of 90% clearcuts on the other side, out of sight.
THP 1-99-239 MEN--in case you want to bother writing to CDF about it.
The only way we're going to stop this is public education. Picnic in Paul
Dimmick on July 25--and help pass out flyers and hold signs on the highway!
Meeting With New CDF Director Tuttle: Report!
****************************************************
We met with newly appointed CA Dept. of Forestry Director Andrea Tuttle in
Sacramento on June 14th. Here are a few hair-raising excerpts from our
meeting:
First and foremost, Tuttle stated unequivocally to me, "You will not get
what you want: We will not disapprove any THPs." This extraordinary
statement came from the head of an agency that touts its "final authority"
over logging plans, and that is mandated by the Forest Practice Act to
disapprove any logging plans that do not comply with environmental rules
and laws. We have come to expect CDF to "rubber stamp" all timber
corporation logging plans. We have never before heard it stated by CDF
that disapproval of a logging plan is not even an option.
Tuttle further said that she thought the Santa Cruz County ordinance
stipulating a 50-foot riverbank no-cut zone was "unreasonable," and that
Big Creek Lumber was "justified" in suing the County over it. She
indicated that she found nothing wrong with clearcutting an area and
replanting it with seedlings. And when we protested MRC's cutting of the
last old growth on its holdings, she shrugged and said glibly, "That's what
timber companies do!"
She went on to make the absurd statements that she "doesn't do THPs," and
that "CDF doesn't approve or disapprove THPs" - as if CDF were some sort of
passive observer of logging plans. She said if we want to change the status
quo (i.e., CDF approving, and aiding and abetting the liquidation of our
forestlands), we should go to the governor and the legislature. However,
after washing her hands of THPs, Tuttle recently turned around and DEFENDED
the Fishers' Greenwood Creek old-growth plan (THP 315), in an email to one
of our network members, and a subsequent email to us. Her email on this
THP and our response to it will be posted shortly at our web site (for
advance copies, email me). Her misinformation about this logging plan is
amazing--as is her toadying to the Fishers and their forest liquidation
company, MRC.
Please note that the Forest Practice Rules (section 898.2) state
unequivocally that the Director of CDF is obliged to disapprove plans that
put endangered species in peril, or that contain misleading or insufficient
information for cumulative effects analysis.
The plan in question - THP 1-95-315 MEN Amendment no. 10 - ignored the
company's own tree size data for Greenwood Creek, which shows a critical
lack of the big trees needed by wildlife in this watershed. They didn't
include it and they didn't discuss it. (The public had to send it to CDF!)
They did the same with their fish data, the Elk town water district
turbidity (stream pollution) data, and everything else of consequence. The
plan is egregiously misleading and incomplete.
The meeting with Tuttle was a momentary blow: I had really hoped that the
government would start doing its job. But this ain't gonna happen, folks.
All that money you're paying in taxes is going for nothing as far as
forestry regulation is concerned. Paying fat salaries and pensions to
people who are ACTIVELY CONTRIBUTING TO THE DEFORESTATION
OF MENDOCINO COUNTY.
Fishers' "Pursuit" of Forest Certification: Latest
****************************************************
Local watershed activists have been contacted by a fellow named Mark Baker
who is putting together "focus groups" for watershed input on the question
of forest "certification" for the Mendocino Redwood Company. Mark works
for "Scientific" Certification Systems (SCS) in Point Richmond, CA. Two
"forest certifiers" are involved: The for-profit SCS, and the non-profit
"Smartwood," both of whom operate under the umbrella of the Forest
Stewardship Council, an organization that is already tainted by Fisher
influence (see below).
These entities are allowing two weeks for written public comment on
certification for MRC (even less time than CDF allows for public comment on
logging plans). They are granting local watershed groups a total of two and
half hours time for discussion of this matter (a half hour each)--with
only one week's notice--a token effort, at best. At worst...
Sandy Dean of MRC has been stating publicly that MRC is "pursuing" forest
certification, and has been making hard use of this "pursuit" in his public
relations campaign. The token time given to watershed groups will also,
undoubtedly, be used as P.R. to lend credibility to this bogus certification
and "sell" it the public, just as MRC is currently attempting to "sell" its
liquidation logging program by constantly repeating that he and the Fishers
want to be "good stewards of the land."
It's called "sound bite" forestry.
Clearcutting, herbicide use, old growth logging and massive assaults on the
Albion, the Navarro, Greenwood Creek, Elk Creek and anywhere else with a
few trees left--to the contrary notwithstanding.
Dean and the Fishers have abandoned the PUBLIC process of creating a
"Sustained Yield" Plan (SYP) - the long term forest management plan that is
mandated by the Forest Practice Rules. The only sanction they can obtain
now for forest liquidation is one that can be bought openly: certification.
Here are the steps for forest certification, as we understand them:
1. Remove all the old growth on your property.
2. Get a "green" label for your "pecker pole" lumber.
For those who are unaware: Bob Fisher, V-P of the Gap and an investor in
the Mendocino Redwood Company (by his own, written admission), sits on the
board of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The NRDC was
instrumental in creating the Forest Stewardship Council, and has a rep on
the FSC board. FSC is the umbrella group for Scientific Certification
Systems and Smartwood/ISF (the Institute for Sustainable Forestry).
(Smartwood is headquartered in Richmond, Vermont - and is a sub-umbrella
for ISF.) The NRDC publishes an elaborate brochure about the Forest
Stewardship Council which has a prominent quote in it, from none other than
Bob Fisher (who says the Gap will do its part for certification by using
certified wood in Gap stores "where possible"). It also sports a photo of
the interior of a Banana Republic store.
In other words, the Fishers' logging company is "pursuing" forest
certification from forest certifiers that Bob Fisher helped to establish, that
he perhaps contributed (or contributes) money to (we'd like an answer to this question!), and that he retains some measure of control over, through interlocking boards of directors.
The certified wood movement has some good and honest people working in it,
who have devoted years of their lives to improving forest practices. Their
work is about to be discredited and destroyed by the Fishers' corrupt use
of these organizations to further their plans in Mendocino County
(deforestation, real estate speculation--vineyards and subdivisions).
You can write SCS to let them know what you think about MRC getting
certified. Here's a sample letter:
"Scientific" Certification Systems
Attn.: Robert Hrubes
145 Park Place, Point Richmond, CA 94801
Dear Scientific Certification Systems:
Re: forest certification for the Mendocino Redwood Company
!@#÷$¿%^&!?*$%?>!ƒ!%$*?!&^%¿$÷#@! = thppppbbbsss (i.e., Bronx cheer).
Yours sincerely,
Fred Activist
Stop the Free Logging Agreement: Two Calls To Action!
**************************************************************
1.) Deadline: July 16. Please pick up the phone right now and tell your US
rep to sign on to the Cook/Miller letter to President Clinton opposing the
Free Logging Agreement (FLA) (for background info, see contacts below). If
you dial 1010-297 first, the call will cost you 10 cents (10 cents/minute):
-Marin and Sonoma, CA: Lynn Woolsey 202-225-5161
-San Francisco, CA: Nancy Pelosi 202-225-4965
-Elsewhere: Call 202-225-3121 to be connected to your rep's office
2.) Deadline: July 25. Please personalize the following sample letter
expressing your concern about the FLA and send 20 copies
(unbelievable--tells you something!) to:
Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, Trade Policy Staff Committee ATTN: Forest
Products ATL, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Room 122, 600
Seventeenth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20508
RE: The Economic and Environmental Effects of Tariff Elimination in the
Forest Products Sector (i.e., the Free Logging Agreement--FLA)
Dear CEQ and USTR,
I am extremely concerned about the rate at which we are consuming our
forests around the world. According to the World Resources Institute (WRI),
nearly half of the world's original forest cover is gone. Of the remaining
original forests, most are severely degraded, while only 22 percent remain
as large tracts of relatively undisturbed primary or "frontier" forests. WRI
and other organizations have named commercial logging as the greatest threat
to frontier forests. The American Forest and Paper Association has predicted
that the FLA will lead to increased consumption of wood products world-wide.
Deforestation causes desertification, destroys biodiversity, extinguishes
species, and contributes to global warming. An increase in unsustainable
logging practices made possible through the FLA will undoubtedly exacerbate
these problems: hasten the deforestation of the world's native forests and
increase threats to biodiversity preservation. An in-depth environmental
analysis using NEPA standards and methods as outlined by the American Lands
Alliance should be undertaken and the resulting report carefully considered
before any such agreement is made.
Sincerely,
Your name and address
If you are new to this network and need background info on the FLA and the
World Trade Organization (WTO), which, like NAFTA, seriously threatens
democracy, the environment, and social justice, contact Antonia Juhasz
or Sam Johnston .
-Forestry Reform Bills Update: The Pressure Is On!
*********************************************************
CA Forest Defenders, Remember AB 717 and 748 (Keeley)? These two important
forestry reform bills will be up for a vote by the CA State Assembly in
January. The Assembly recesses for three months in the fall. Between now
and then we must gently persuade our reps to vote for these bills, and to
co-author them, if at all possible! Check out http://www.assembly.ca.gov to
find out who your reps are. If you're new to this network and need
background info, email me. I'll provide a "hit list" and sample letter to
the CA network in a follow-up email.
Public-Interest Lawsuits: Status
***********************************
-THP 1-99-100 SON, Willow Creek. Injunction hearing to stop this MRC plan is
currently scheduled for JULY 26. Call Kimberly Burr at 707-887-7433 for more
info. THREE CHEERS FOR PIETER, DARRYL, & RICK of the Western Watershed
Alliance, who've been doing some great outreach and organizing to save the
Willow Creek watershed in Sonoma! To help in this effort, call 707-865-0244.
-THP 1-98-266 MEN, Elk Creek. Injunction hearing to stop this Roger
Burch/Redwood Empire plan that threatens the only known coho fishery in a
150 sq. mi. region is currently scheduled for JULY 30 in in Ukiah. We are
also currently awaiting a ruling on our appeal of Judge Lecowick's denial of
a TRO for this plan (they are logging furiously--I reconned the site and the
place is utterly trashed, heartbreaking). For more info, call 707-877-3405.
-THP 1-98-350, Kaisen Gulch, Albion River. ARWPA won their TRO on this MRC
plan! THREE CHEERS FOR LINDA PERKINS & THE ALBION NATION!!! Injunction
hearing currently scheduled for August 20, Ukiah. Call 707-937-0903 for more
info!
Upcoming Bay Area Events
******************************
--Saturday, July 24. CIVIL RIGHTS MARCH AND RALLY. Roosevelt Park (19th &
Santa Clara), San Jose. Assemble: 11 am. March: 12 noon. Rally: St James
Park (First and St James), 1:30 pm. Info numbers (all Area Code 408):
223-7567, 729-4453, 562-2556, 257-9424, 238-7569. The list of sponsors for
this event is a mile long!
--Saturday July 31, 1999. Carpenters Local 405, 2102 Almaden St. Near
Highway 280, San Jose, California. Join the BAY AREA LABOR RANK & FILE
PROTEST. Defend One Person, One Vote. Stop The MaCarron/Casey Concession
Contract. For more info, contact Bay Area Workers Committee: 415-641-4440
united@labornet.org BAWC P.O.Box 40458, San Francisco,CA 94140
To get on a labor/social justice net for the full announcements, contact
Steve at intexile@bari.iww.org.
***************************************
Parting note...
Private corporate interests and their big-money agenda have destroyed our
natural resources across the globe--they've also recently taken over our
public radio station here in the Bay Area (KPFA), as they have taken over
our public television station (KQED, none other than Don Fisher co-chairs
the Board). However, WE STILL HAVE THE INTERNET--and it will be instrumental
in finally bucking this corporate yoke!
Take Heart: This is going to happen big time, and soon.
Mary Bull
Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap Campaign, SF
_________________________________________
Other Contacts/Information Sources:
www.elksoft.com/gwa
----------------------------
Mary Pjerrou, Redwood Coast Watersheds Alliance
707-877-3405 pirohuck@mcn.org
----------------------------
Norman de Vall, Greenwood Watershed Association
707-877-3551 ndevall@mcn.org www.gapsucks.org
----------------------------
Redwood Mary (Mary Rose Kaczorowski),
Plight of the Redwoods Tour redwoodm@mcn.org
http://sites.netscape.net/redwoodmary/redwoodmaryr
----------------------------
Mary Bull,
Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap Campaign
415-731-7924 chalicenew@earthlink.net
-----------------------------
Also of interest:
----------------------------
Gap Labor Exploitation URLs:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/01/14
/MN19190.DTL
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/01/20
/MN49132.DTL
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/01/22
/MN49806.DTL
http://www.house.gov/resources/105cong/democrat/cnmifin.html#contractlabor
http://www.globalexchange.org
For questions and comments please e-mail us!
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Copyright 1999 Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap.
