landusepbb
02-16-2004, 03:00 PM
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/7956526.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sat, Feb. 14, 2004
Wilderness group lists top 10 endangered California wildlands
DON THOMPSON
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO - A plan to triple logging in 11.5 million acres of Sierra Nevada national forests has landed the area atop an environmental group's new list of the 10 most threatened wild places in California.
As it has each of the three years it has produced the list, the California Wilderness Coalition accused the Bush administration of targeting the state's natural resources, a charge denied by a U.S. Forest Service official.
"Many of California's wild areas that Congress is now considering for permanent protection are simultaneously being targeted by the Bush administration for logging or energy development," the coalition said in releasing its list last week.
Only three of the 10 locations are new this year, including the Sierra Nevada national forests. The other new areas are the Furnace Creek area in the White Mountains, east of the Sierra Nevada, and the Golden Trout Wilderness Addition area, southeast of Fresno.
Four of the 10 sites are in Southern California, most threatened by heavy development there.
The Sierra Nevada national forests topped the list after Forest Service officials recently revised a management plan that had been approved in the waning days of the Clinton administration.
Jack Blackwell, who heads the Forest Service's California region, last month announced changes that would triple logging and allow the cutting of larger trees, steps that he said are needed to prevent the sort of devastating wildfires that swept Southern California last fall.
Environmental groups are appealing that decision to the Forest Service's Washington, D.C., headquarters, and are threatening to sue over the issue.
Forest Service spokesman Matt Mathes said the decision was not connected to the politics of the Bush administration. He noted that Blackwell served in a similar capacity, although in a different region, under Clinton.
"This is a decision that was made by career forest service employees who are ecologists, biologists, foresters, soil scientists, hydrologists and fire specialists here in California," Mathes said. "There was no communication between us and the Bush administration in Washington, D.C., that told us what to decide in any way, shape or form."
Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees forestry and natural resources, told Blackwell "to take a look at the original decision and see if it could be improved. That's it," Mathes said.
As for the other new areas, the environmental group said the Furnace Creek area is a rare desert stream threatened by illegal off-road vehicle trails, and the group said salvage logging in the proposed Golden Trout Wilderness Addition area threatens California's imperiled state fish.
Also on the endangered list is the eastern portion of the Los Padres National Forest. The environmental group cited the Forest Service's study of the potential for oil and gas development, which the coalition said would threaten endangered species habitat, including that of the California condor.
The Forest Service is required by a 1987 law to consider the drilling potential, said Mathes. He said a decision is expected this spring.
"To date, we haven't seen a lot of interest by the oil and gas industry in actually drilling there," he said. Even if there are marketable deposits, "we do look at other things like condors, foxes and other values that might outweigh the value of drilling for oil and gas."
The coalition also criticized Forest Service plans for logging in the Giant Sequoia National Monument.
"We're trying to protect the giant sequoia trees from fire," countered Mathes. "These giant sequoia trees have an unusually dense growth of smaller trees beneath them. That's not natural." The smaller trees can spread intense wildfires into the crowns of the sequoias, as nearly happened during one of the state's largest wildfires two years ago, Mathes said.
Other areas on the list are repeated from last year:
_ Algodones Sand Dunes - Off-road plan would overturn protection of endangered wildlife and wilderness.
_ Cleveland National Forest - Proposed freeways, dams, and power lines threaten region's last unprotected wild forests.
_ Tejon Ranch - Sprawl and industrial development threaten key habitat on California's largest private landholding.
_ Medicine Lake Highlands - Development of geothermal power plants threatens wild forests and sacred lands.
_ Klamath River Basin - Excessive water diversion imperils thousands of salmon and hurts farmers, fishermen, tribes, and endangered wildlife.
ON THE NET
Read the report: http://www.calwild.org/resources/pubs/10most04.php
Read the Forest Service's Sierra plan: www.fs.fed.us/r5/snfpa
View the Forests with a Future campaign: www.forestsfuture.fs.fed.us
Posted on Sat, Feb. 14, 2004
Wilderness group lists top 10 endangered California wildlands
DON THOMPSON
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO - A plan to triple logging in 11.5 million acres of Sierra Nevada national forests has landed the area atop an environmental group's new list of the 10 most threatened wild places in California.
As it has each of the three years it has produced the list, the California Wilderness Coalition accused the Bush administration of targeting the state's natural resources, a charge denied by a U.S. Forest Service official.
"Many of California's wild areas that Congress is now considering for permanent protection are simultaneously being targeted by the Bush administration for logging or energy development," the coalition said in releasing its list last week.
Only three of the 10 locations are new this year, including the Sierra Nevada national forests. The other new areas are the Furnace Creek area in the White Mountains, east of the Sierra Nevada, and the Golden Trout Wilderness Addition area, southeast of Fresno.
Four of the 10 sites are in Southern California, most threatened by heavy development there.
The Sierra Nevada national forests topped the list after Forest Service officials recently revised a management plan that had been approved in the waning days of the Clinton administration.
Jack Blackwell, who heads the Forest Service's California region, last month announced changes that would triple logging and allow the cutting of larger trees, steps that he said are needed to prevent the sort of devastating wildfires that swept Southern California last fall.
Environmental groups are appealing that decision to the Forest Service's Washington, D.C., headquarters, and are threatening to sue over the issue.
Forest Service spokesman Matt Mathes said the decision was not connected to the politics of the Bush administration. He noted that Blackwell served in a similar capacity, although in a different region, under Clinton.
"This is a decision that was made by career forest service employees who are ecologists, biologists, foresters, soil scientists, hydrologists and fire specialists here in California," Mathes said. "There was no communication between us and the Bush administration in Washington, D.C., that told us what to decide in any way, shape or form."
Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees forestry and natural resources, told Blackwell "to take a look at the original decision and see if it could be improved. That's it," Mathes said.
As for the other new areas, the environmental group said the Furnace Creek area is a rare desert stream threatened by illegal off-road vehicle trails, and the group said salvage logging in the proposed Golden Trout Wilderness Addition area threatens California's imperiled state fish.
Also on the endangered list is the eastern portion of the Los Padres National Forest. The environmental group cited the Forest Service's study of the potential for oil and gas development, which the coalition said would threaten endangered species habitat, including that of the California condor.
The Forest Service is required by a 1987 law to consider the drilling potential, said Mathes. He said a decision is expected this spring.
"To date, we haven't seen a lot of interest by the oil and gas industry in actually drilling there," he said. Even if there are marketable deposits, "we do look at other things like condors, foxes and other values that might outweigh the value of drilling for oil and gas."
The coalition also criticized Forest Service plans for logging in the Giant Sequoia National Monument.
"We're trying to protect the giant sequoia trees from fire," countered Mathes. "These giant sequoia trees have an unusually dense growth of smaller trees beneath them. That's not natural." The smaller trees can spread intense wildfires into the crowns of the sequoias, as nearly happened during one of the state's largest wildfires two years ago, Mathes said.
Other areas on the list are repeated from last year:
_ Algodones Sand Dunes - Off-road plan would overturn protection of endangered wildlife and wilderness.
_ Cleveland National Forest - Proposed freeways, dams, and power lines threaten region's last unprotected wild forests.
_ Tejon Ranch - Sprawl and industrial development threaten key habitat on California's largest private landholding.
_ Medicine Lake Highlands - Development of geothermal power plants threatens wild forests and sacred lands.
_ Klamath River Basin - Excessive water diversion imperils thousands of salmon and hurts farmers, fishermen, tribes, and endangered wildlife.
ON THE NET
Read the report: http://www.calwild.org/resources/pubs/10most04.php
Read the Forest Service's Sierra plan: www.fs.fed.us/r5/snfpa
View the Forests with a Future campaign: www.forestsfuture.fs.fed.us