Remember the courageous tree-sits in old-growth redwood trees that proliferated in the Freshwater watershed last spring (that were then unceremoniously and recklessly dismantled by Pacific Lumber over the course of a couple of months)?
The Freshwater watershed has been a high priority for defense for several reasons. The 19,000 acre watershed east of Eureka is the northern reach of Maxxam/Pacific Lumber holdings, and though not virgin forest, contains high quality habitat for the endangered coho and chinook salmon. The part of the watershed that was home to the tree-sits has now been devastated, though forest defense efforts did stall logging. Steep, unstable hillsides have been laid bare, and last winter's rains brought renewed flooding. As part of their logging process, PL set a post clear-cut fire that threatened "Jerry," the tree Remedy lived in for a year. The "prescribed burn" got out of control and jumped the county road, for which PL had to pay over $8,000. Jerry remains occupied by tree-sitters, including Willow, who hasn't touched the ground since November 11.
But there is still forest to defend. Upper Freshwater Creek has been called a fisheries laboratory unlike any other in California by university fisheries biologists, with healthy gravel spawning beds in the upper 3 miles of the watershed, even though logging has degraded the water quality of the stream itself. Decades ago, this portion of the watershed was logged by (the old) PL, so the second growth is 60 to 80 years old with 3 to 4 foot diameter trees. Said Humboldt state fisheries professor Terry Roelofs, "It is the least managed part of the watershed. It is still relatively intact."
Greeting the new year in their inimitable style, PL brought in helicopters to log about 180 acres on a timber harvest plan (01-201 Hum) that includes at least 51 acres of clear cuts. Nearly 5 miles of road had already been punched into the area, and this cut is part of a plan to log about 300 acres in upper Freshwater during 2004. THP 201 is in the upper Freshwater area that is believed to support fully 70% of the coho salmon in Freshwater Creek. Five of the ten units in 201 have already been cut.
Residents monitoring sediment loads predict increased chronic turbidity (the period of time when in which a waterway is clouded with silt) in Freshwater creek, which is already "at the edge" in terms of sediment loads. Sediment prohibits fish from being able to find food and destroys their spawning beds. Additional erosion--virtually a certainty given the terrain of the logging plan area--could push the fish's ability to survive over the edge.
While some activists are looking to new empowerment given the Water Quality Control Board to veto timber harvest plans that would cause serious erosion, this particular plan was approved too long ago to come under new guidelines put in place by passage of SB 810, passed in the California Legislature last fall. Regardless, many new THP's continue to be submitted and approved.
