Habitat destruction

[Stelenes at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/19/00 1:27:40 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
cherubini at mindspring.com writes:

> Doug, the California Forest Products Commission 
>  http://www.calforests.org/education/facts.html says we should worry 
>  more about bark beetles than chainsaws:
>  
>  -  Insects do more damage to the forest than fires and disease
>  combined. Bark beetles eat a circle around the trunk, preventing 
>  nutrients from reaching leaves and roots.
>  

Of general interest for habitat protection, quoted from Bonanza, the 
Sacramento (Mother Lode) Chapter of the Sierra Club:
"...SPI is now seeking a habitat conservation plan (HCP), that could permit 
continued large scale destruction of endangered-species habitat across whole 
landscapes.  The so-called "no surprises" policy strips protection from 
species that may be listed as endangered in the future....SPI has asked for 
"no-surprises" coverage for 200 unlisted species, including the California 
Spotted Owl. 

SPI is the principal sponsor of the web site referenced.  While people here 
argue about the benefits of limited collecting and such these folks are 
depleting habitat and extirpating species of butterflies like the Pine White 
every day.  Please read on...

Paul, I suppose you are being pleasantly sarcastic and not disturbingly 
serious with the information you kindly provided from the The California 
Forest Products Commission web site.  They are insulting to anyone's 
intelligence, aren't they!  I did check carefully, at least they didn't claim 
that the bark beetles caused more damage than chainsaws though I almost 
believed they would say it!   According to other information on the web site, 
this group's activities benefit every business involved in any way with the 
forest products industry, and the activities are funded solely by producers 
who pay an assessment on their products.  I suspect that might bias the 
statements somewhat.  Elsewhere, I noted: 

"The Commission is governed by a 10-member Board of Directors; a president 
manages Commission programs. Members represent small, medium and large forest 
products companies throughout the state. Activities generated by the 
Commission benefit every person involved in any way in the forest products 
industry, no matter what size the business. More important, the Commission's 
activities are designed to create a better economic and environmental climate 
in California by educating consumers about the importance of forest 
management."

"No public funding is used to support Commission programs. Only companies 
producing five million board feet of logs or more annually are mandated to 
pay, thus excising small producers from an added burden. Harvest information 
is provided to the Commission by the state Board of Equalization to ensure 
accurate reporting of assessment obligation. Assessment rates are determined 
each year by the Commission Board of Directors. Rates are based on the type 
of activities to be accomplished in the following year."

You can check out the Board of Directors at 
http://www.calforests.org/environment/links.html#Anchor-Commission-35314
Or you can call them at 1-877-REPLANT to tell them what kind of job they are 
doing, or just tell them.  By the way, one of the Board of Directors of the 
Commission is Sierra Pacific Industries (Ed Bond, Secretary/Treasurer Sierra 
Pacific Industries www.sierrapacificind.com).  SPI's Chair, Red Emmerson, was 
a beneficiary to the Headwaters Deal, receiving $78 million for lands he was 
logging immediately adjacent to Headwaters Grove.  SPI received 39% of the CA 
timber volume from National Forests.  The Sierra Club estimated that the 
Forest Services Timber Program results in $1.2 billion loss to taxpayers 
annually.  Members of the Commission and especially SPI (The second largest 
private landholder in the USA, though it is all in California) are the 
beneficiaries of this.  Clear-cutting on SPI's lands, according to the 
California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF), increased 2,426% from 
1992 to 1999.  According to Charlotte Fox of the Government Accountability 
Project, "In almost every year for the last 10 years, SPI has been the focus 
of major felony investigations by the Forest Service and other government 
organizations."  On several to many occasions they have been documented to be 
stealing timber from public lands.

Finally, the quality of the information on the website is embarrassing: for 
example these "facts: appear on the site:

"Scientists now know that a certain amount of erosion is necessary to create 
gravel beds where fish spawn. Woody debris in streams helps form pools and 
gravel beds and promotes nutrient recycling important to the aquatic food 
chain." [Note: they are justifying the widespread erosion the timber industry 
causes by saying it feeds the fish]

"One of the latest weapons to help prevent forest fires is goats. They eat 
the underbrush between trees that would provide fuel if a fire started." 
[Note: I guess we can downsize the fire department and unleash the secret 
weapon]

"It takes as much training to become a Registered Professional Forester as it 
does to become a lawyer, and they're licensed much the same way doctors are."
[Note: a comparison with lawyers seems apt, though I wonder how Doctors and 
Lawyers feel about the comparisons]

I will reserve comment on all of the other lame "facts" on the site as Fred 
Heath kindly pointed out how ludicrous some are.

Happy Butterflying.  Doug Dawn.
Woodland, CA
(Yes Woodland, town symbol is a tree, named for the woods that used to be 
here which were completely cleared 125 years ago, like nearly every other 
example in the California Central Valley.  The nearest place east to see nice 
woodlands now is Placerville, beyond the other side of the Valley and that is 
not close).