REMINDER--
State Water Board will decide at a hearing JUNE 16 whether the stay on logging in the impaired watersheds of Elk River and Freshwater will stand. (See BACH's April 7 and March 30 alerts for details). We re-post EPIC's alert below, which also includes information about old growth forest hikes. Also check out detailed stories about Maxxam/Pacific Lumber in last Sunday's SF Chronicle: The financial wizard behind Pacific Lumber controversy and Lumber dispute coming to a head.
The financial wizard behind Pacific Lumber controversy
Lumber dispute coming to a head.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/12/BUG87D71N21.DTL
PUBLIC MEETINGS, EMAIL YOUR SUPPORT
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HIKE ENDANGERED OLD GROWTH IN THE SALMON RIVER, JUNE 18th-19th
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Upcoming Meetings: Two on June 16th
1. Meeting of The State Water Board, Sacramento (Attend or send a
letter)
2. Weekend Hike in the Klamath National Forest, June 18-19
1. STATE WATER BOARD MEETING
Thursday, June 16th, 2005, 9:00 am
Coastal Hearing Room--Second Floor
Joe Serna Jr./Cal/EPA Building
1001 I Street
Sacramento
This month, the Water Board will be considering a petition submitted by The Humboldt Watershed Council, EPIC and the Sierra Club. EPIC member support is needed in the Board room!
The Water Board has issued a draft order which upholds our petition, finding that the Regional Board erred when it enrolled Pacific Lumber timber harvest plans under the general waste discharge requirements. We will present brief statements in support of that draft order, urging the Water Board to adopt its proposed order. Given the fierce fight PL has waged in the media and in the Governor's office, our presence would remind them that they are accountable to us as well as the corporations, and we are keeping a close watch on their ecisions.
If you can't attend, please take a moment to email a letter to the State Water Board, indicating your support for the draft order. Use the email we've provided below to submit your comments.
Written comments must be received by 5:00 p.m., June 15, 2005.
Take action now by responding to this alert using EPIC's web site:
http://www.wildcalifornia.org/actions/number-26
3. HIKE ENDANGERED OLD GROWTH IN THE SALMON RIVER
Visit the Meteor and Knob Old Growth Timber Sales, June 18th-19th
On the third weekend in June, EPIC's Forest Watch will host our second summer hike to endangered old-growth in the nearby Klamath National Forest. Our first hike was on May 21st to the Sims Fire Salvage Sale where the Six Rivers National Forest wants to conduct what the Forest Service persists in calling "salvage" logging. Instead of a dead forest that needed intensive logging, our group found a recovering
landscape teeming with renewed life.
For our second hike of 2005 (June 18/19), we will visit the Meteor and Knob old-growth timber sales, which target key ancient forest habitat vital for the Northern Spotted Owl and three species of salmon. The Meteor old-growth sale is 744 acres, of which 353 acres will be clear-cut. 103 acres are in riparian reserves, including buffers above active landslides. Many units are also in Klamath Shoulderband snail habitat. Units of the Knob sale are next to a Wilderness trailhead and
a Wild and Scenic River. Though the Forest Service tries to justify the planned logging as necessary to reduce wildfire, cutting old-growth forest in these remote areas will likely increase the risk of wildfire, and further fragment key habitat between established wilderness areas.
We will leave from Arcata on Saturday morning, June 18th, and carpool out to the south fork of the Salmon River, where we will hike parts of the Knob sale. Saturday night will be spent at one of the local campgrounds along the Salmon River. Sunday we'll head out to the Meteor sale. After hiking, there will be opportunities to relax, swim and eat dinner. We'll return Sunday evening.
Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast will be provided but hikers should also bring lunch food, money for gas, camping and light hiking gear.
Expect moderate hiking. The caravan will meet on Saturday morning 8:00am at the Arcata Co-op kiosk, on I Street between 8th and 9th.
This is one of the most beautiful areas that we'll visit this summer.
Please RSVP via e-mail, forestwatch@wildcalifornia.org, or by calling
Josh Brown at 707-476-8340.
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