Jun. 30, 1999 Press Democrat articleBy MIKE GENIELLAPress Democrat Staff Writer
Report urges logging limits, incentives
Current state logging regulations are inadequate to ensure protection of salmon in Northern California rivers and streams, a blue-ribbon panel of independent scientists said Tuesday.
It may be necessary to curb future logging in specific watersheds until studies of impacts on salmon habitat can be done and their recommendations implemented, according to the five-member panel that was created in March 1998 by former Gov. Pete Wilson in cooperation with the National Marine Fisheries Services
The scientists also recommended, however, that if logging is restricted, landowners should be given taxpayer-supported incentives to maintain and improve freshwater salmon habitat.
"If the state and federal governments are going to pay millions of dollars for salmonid restoration, then tax credits for the retention of key habitat features may be a reasonable step,'' the panel concluded. The scientists' call for major changes in state regulations was hailed Tuesday by environmentalists, who argued the scientific conclusions underscore inadequacies in the state's 25-year-old Forest Practices Act. Timber industry representatives said Tuesday that many of the scientific recommendations already are voluntarily being implemented by timber companies.
The administration of Gov. Gray Davis, which can directly affect state timber practices by filling five seats on the state Board of Forestry, on Tuesday called the scientific report "thoughtful, credible and independent.''
Noting that the report was commissioned by the Wilson administration, Davis aide Maria Rea said, "There is independent agreement that serious changes need to be made. We will be reviewing the recommendations very closely.''
The five-member panel was headed by Gary Rynearson, a Humboldt County forestry expert. Other members were Alice Rich, a Marin County fisheries biologist; Frank Ligon, a Berkeley consultant in forest management; Dale Thornburgh, a Humboldt State University forestry professor; and William Thrush, an Arcata fisheries biologist.
Rynearson on Tuesday declined to elaborate on the report's conclusions. "It would be inappropriate until we formally make the presentation at next week's forestry board meeting,'' he said.
The 181-page report addresses a host of salmon-related issues, and notes scientific uncertainty surrounding how large a role ocean conditions play in salmon survival rates. The scientific panel instead focused its work on whether state regulations adequately ensure protection of freshwater habitat for salmon.
