Original Source: http://www.wildcalifornia.org/pressreleases/number-2

Court Rules Against Pacific Lumber's Headwaters Permits
Over 600 acres of Ancient Forest Logged Using Illegal Permits

May 20, 2003

     (Eureka, CA) - On Monday, May 19, 2003, a Superior Court judge indicated he intends to strike down key permits issued by the state in 1999 as part of the Headwaters Forest Agreement. Sitting on special assignment in Humboldt County Superior Court, Judge John Golden said that the California Department of Forestry (CDF) and the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) failed to follow the law in granting the Pacific Lumber Company a 120-year logging plan, a permit to kill endangered species, and a permit to alter streams. He further indicated the state had failed to consider evidence and had failed to conduct environmental review consistent with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The case was brought by the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) and Sierra Club. The United Steelworkers of America filed a companion case regarding the logging plan in which Judge Golden also issued a favorable ruling. The rulings will become final after a hearing scheduled for June 30, 2003.

     "Under these illegally issued permits, Pacific Lumber logged over 31,000 acres, mostly by clearcutting, including over 600 acres of ancient forest used by ultra-endangered sea birds for nesting," said Cynthia Elkins, Programs Director for EPIC. "Not in our lifetime can we restore those 1500 year-old redwoods."

     Although the lawsuit was filed in April 1999, it was not heard until March 2003 mostly because of procedural roadblocks thrown up by CDF and Pacific Lumber, including failure to produce the correct administrative record, the papers the court must have to decide the case.

     "We believe that both jobs and a sustainable environment can be achieved in Humboldt County, but not if regulators bend over backward to let Maxxam¹s Pacific Lumber Company strip every tree off the hillsides," said Dave Foster of the United Steelworkers of America. "Our union believes that all natural resource companies should be run in a responsible fashion that respects the environment and creates economically sustainable communities. Today's decision proves that labor/environmental coalitions can hold corporations accountable."

     "Yet again, the Court has ruled that entrenched State agencies like CDF are not protecting our forests from powerful timber interests," said Paul Mason, Sierra Club's Forestry Representative in Sacramento. "If CDF won¹t do their job, the Legislature should hand over authority to an agency that is not tainted by decades of rubber-stamping illegal logging plans."

     The Headwaters Forest deal, finalized March 1, 1999 was a multi-part agreement. For $380 million dollars of state and federal money, the public got title to 7500 acres that included the 3000-acre Headwaters Grove plus a 3500-acre buffer that was not old growth forest. At the time, Headwaters was the largest unprotected ancient redwood grove in the world with trees as old as 2000 years. For $87 million more of state funds, California purchased an additional roughly 1000 acres of old growth in two separate groves plus buffers. Pacific Lumber received state and federal permits to log its remaining 211,000 acres. It was the state permits that the court indicated Monday had been issued illegally.

     The permits and documents at issue in the case include:

     The Sustained Yield Plan (SYP) issued by CDF. The SYP sets how many board feet of timber the company can log each year and is projected over a 120-year period. The court found that at the time of the permit approval no SYP document was actually in existence, and that the purported SYP produced by CDF at the hearing was a "post-hoc construction, made by CDF staff, counsel for CDF and counsel for PALCO...."

     The Incidental Take Permits (ITPs) issued by CDFG. One ITP authorizes the company to destroy nesting habitat (old growth forest) used by the endangered marbled murrelet, a small sea bird, and to kill or harm up to 340 individual murrelets. CDFG also permitted killing of, or harm to, other protected species such as the Northern spotted owl and bank swallow, and provided assurances that no additional protection would be required for the 50-year life of the permits for species that were not listed at the time, including the tailed frog, pond turtle, red tree vole, coho salmon, chinook salmon, steelhead trout and cutthroat trout.

     The Streambed Alteration Permit (Sec 1603) issued by CDFG. The Section 1603 permit allows the company to build roads across creeks and rivers and conduct other logging-related activity in and near watercourses. At the time of the Headwaters Agreement, the Pacific Lumber lands were considered to encompass some of the best remaining streams in the state for threatened coho salmon and steelhead trout.

     The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Documentation. When conducting environmental review for the above permits, CDF and CDFG were required to comply with CEQA. The Court decision indicated that they did not.

     Failure to Consider Evidence. The Court also indicated that the CDF and CDFG failed to consider thousands of pages of evidence in the record prior to issuing the permits, including comments made at public hearings.

     Lead attorneys for the plaintiffs are Sharon Duggan and Brian Gaffney for EPIC and Sierra Club; and Jonathan Weissglass and Rebekah Evenson of the Altshuler Berzon firm for the United Steelworkers. Additional legal assistance was provided by Pat Gallagher, staff attorney for Sierra Club, and paralegal Sam Johnston.