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September 2009
California Oak Report
Carbon Reignites CA Forest Wars
You can feel it in the air. High Country News recently took note of it. On 14 million acres of California private timberlands and woodlands, trouble is brewing.
Below is an August 25, 2009 press release from the Center for Biological Diversity regarding successful lawsuits filed against the California Department of Forestry for its failure to measure forest carbon emissions in timber harvest plans. This result demonstrates that there are no carbon exemptions, even for commercial logging, from the California Air Resources Board forest protocols. Furthermore, this Center victory supports Oak Foundation’s contention that simply planting trees doesn’t represent California Environmental Quality Act proportional mitigation for CO2 emissions due to oak woodlands conversion.
Greenhouse Gas Lawsuits Stop Sierra Logging Plans
In response to recent lawsuits by the Center for Biological Diversity, plans to log more than 1,600 acres of Sierra Nevada forest have been formally withdrawn by Sierra Pacific Industries, the timber company that had proposed the logging. The Center filed three lawsuits earlier this month against the California Department of Forestry for illegally approving the plans without analyzing the carbon and climate consequences of the logging.
"Rather than attempt to defend the indefensible, Sierra Pacific Industries wisely retreated from this fight," said Brendan Cummings, public lands director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "The cancellation of these ill-conceived and illegal logging plans is an important step toward bringing the timber industry in California into the 21st century."
Despite well-established law that state agencies must analyze and mitigate the greenhouse gas emissions from a specific project when they approve it, the Department of Forestry had failed to carry out any project-specific analysis of the emissions that would result from Sierra Pacific Industries’ clearcutting plans.
Beyond the three now-canceled plans in litigation, more than two dozen similar logging plans by Sierra Pacific Industries are awaiting approval from the Department of Forestry. Together, these plans would authorize clearcutting over 12,000 additional acres of California forests.
"The California Department of Forestry now needs to reject all pending and similarly flawed clearcutting plans," said Jan Chatten-Brown of Chatten-Brown & Carstens, co-counsel for the Center in the recent suits. "Unless the Department starts requiring logging companies to disclose, analyze, and most importantly, mitigate the actual carbon dioxide emissions resulting from logging plans, they will likely find themselves back in court."
The California Department of Forestry is responsible for approving all logging plans on private land in California and must ensure that each proposed plan complies with the California Environmental Quality Act. Under this law, state agencies and local governments approving projects must analyze the projects' effects on greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, as well as the cumulative impact of related logging. However, rather than calculate the carbon emissions that would result from Sierra Pacific Industries’ actual logging plans, the Department of Forestry has asserted that over a 100-year time frame enough trees would grow back on the company’s lands to render the logging carbon neutral.
The three lawsuits, filed in superior courts in Lassen, Tuolumne and Tehama counties, asserted that the state violated the California Environmental Quality Act and the Forest Practice Act when it approved Sierra Pacific Industries’ timber-harvest plans without addressing the CO2 emissions that will result from the clearcutting.
"Clearcutting is an abysmal practice that should have been banned long ago due to its impacts on wildlife and water quality," added Cummings. "Now, in an era where all land-management decisions need to be fully carbon-conscious, there is simply no excuse to continue to allow clearcutting in California."
Sonoma County Woodland Carbon Issues
Below is a recent letter sent by the Oak Foundation to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. To date no reply has been received from the Board.
August 12, 2009
Board of Supervisors
Sonoma County Administration Building
575 Administration Drive, Room 102A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403-2887
Re: Sonoma County Oak Woodlands
Honorable Supervisors:
The California Oak Foundation (COF) writes with brief comments and questions regarding current Sonoma County oak woodland policies:
1. Why doesn’t Sonoma County have an oak woodlands conversion ordinance similar to the one it has for conifer timberland conversions, particularly in light of deforestation carbon biological emissions? Notably, the Preservation Ranch timberland conversion proposal commits this vineyard development to compliance with the California Air Resources Board forest protocols methodology, net present value carbon accounting and carbon neutrality. Why are these CO2 emission standards not being applied to the conversion of Sonoma County oak woodlands?
2. Sonoma County claims it is not exercising discretionary approval in its Vineyard Ordinance. COF contends that Sonoma County is in fact exercising discretionary judgment in the Ordinance by its conclusion that oak woodlands deforestation CO2 emissions due to vineyard development do not significantly contribute to climate change.
3. If carbon biological emissions due to vineyard development are deemed significant environmental impacts in Napa County, Santa Barbara County and other wine regions, why aren’t these adverse public health effects considered significant in Sonoma County?
Oak Foundation looks forward to a response from the Board at its earliest convenience.
Respectfully,
Janet Cobb, President
California Oak Foundation
Greenhouse Gases: Don’t Delay, Mitigate Today
The Natural Resources Agency’s proposed CEQA greenhouse gas amendments state, "Thus, the amendments to the CEQA Guidelines developed pursuant to SB 97 do not create new requirements; rather, they interpret and clarify existing CEQA law." This Resources Agency finding requires valuation of climate change impacts in CEQA documents now, even before final adoption of State CEQA Guidelines on climate change. If it isn't new CEQA, there’s no need to wait until January, 1 2010 to implement the GHG amendments.
Announcements
New website for information and photos of the goldspotted oak borer.
Merchandise
With school starting and acorn season fast approaching, we invite you to visit our website at www.californiaoaks.org, the Kids Page, and download a free copy of our curriculum, Investigating the Oak Community (also still available in hard copy at $14.95 plus tax, shipping and handling – an order form can be printed out and mailed from the Merchandise Page). If any acorn recipes are going to be on your holiday menus, the sooner you start the acorn leaching process, the better – instructions, as well as recipes for acorn breads and pastas, soups and sauces and would you believe cheesecakes(?) available in our free book, Acorns and Eat ‘em downloadable on our Merchandise Page.
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