>From: kathy.bailey@sfsierra.sierraclub.org
>Date: Sat, 27 Dec 97 11:42:14 PST
>To: hfcc@lists.montara.com
>Subject: Pac Lumber - Sac bee story
>Reply-To: Headwaters Forest Coordinating Committee <HFCC@lists.montara.com>
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>Dodging a regulatory ax: Pacific Lumber Co. asks state officials for one
>more chance
>
>By Nancy Vogel
>Bee Staff Writer
>(Published Dec. 27, 1997)
>
>Officials with Pacific Lumber Co., on the verge of losing its license to
>log, tried to convince state forestry regulators Friday to give them
>another chance.
>
>Company leaders met with California Department of Forestry and Fire
>Protection officials in Sacramento to try to reach an agreement that
>will lead to state renewal of the company's timber operator license for
>1998.
>
>State regulators had informed the company Tuesday that they would deny a
>license to cut trees starting Jan. 1. Loggers with Pacific have too
>often violated rules designed to protect water quality, soil and
>wildlife, the regulators said.
>
>The Department of Forestry could reverse its decision and issue a new
>license if Pacific convinces regulators that it will change its ways,
>and signs an agreement to that effect.
>
>"We're looking for something from them that will assure us (that) this
>won't happen again," said Gerald Ahlstrom, deputy chief of forest
>practice enforcement for the department. "Hopefully, we could make a lot
>of progress today."
>
>Talks may continue through the weekend, he said.
>
>Any agreement would have to outline exactly what Pacific intends to do
>to avoid more breaches of the state Forest Practice Act. In the past
>three years, inspectors have issued 56 notices of violations to the
>company involving 103 code sections.
>
>Generally, the violations have involved erosion, road maintenance,
>failure to clean out culverts, and working when roads are too wet,
>Ahlstrom said.
>
>It's possible that the department could issue a provisional license, he
>said. "There would probably be some stipulations that if there were any
>problems, they could immediately lose their license," Ahlstrom said.
>
>Of the 2,000 businesses the department checks for compliance with state
>forestry rules, only four or five, including Pacific Lumber, face action
>this year.
>
>Pacific still can hire independent loggers to cut trees for its
>sawmills. Contractors supply about half the company's timber anyway,
>company spokeswoman Mary Bullwinkel said.
>
>Pacific owns more than 300 square miles of forest in Humboldt County,
>including an untouched grove of redwoods that are perhaps 800 years old.
>Environmentalists named it Headwaters and have been struggling for more
>than a decade to save it.
>
>The federal and state government are negotiating to buy Headwaters and a
>buffer of surrounding forest for $380 million from Houston billionaire
>Charles Hurwitz. His company, MAXXAM Inc., purchased Pacific Lumber Co.
>in 1985.
>
>The presence of endangered species, including coho salmon and a seabird
>called the marbled murrelet, has complicated Pacific's plans to log
>Headwaters.
>
>
>
>
David M. Walsh
P.O. Box 903
Redway, CA 95560
Office and Fax(707) 923-3015
Home (707) 986-1644


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