Religious Campaign for Forest Conservation

Hundreds of United States Forest Service employees have signed an E-mail petition calling for strict limits on logging in the pristine back country of the national forests.

The petition comes just as the chief of the service, Michael P. Dombeck, is nearing a decision on a hotly debated new approach governing forests where there are no roads for logging. The policy is expected to make millions of acres of roadless areas off-limits to logging trucks, to close some existing roads and to otherwise restrict logging on some environmentally sensitive lands. But environmental advocates have argued that the Administration's proposals do not go far enough.

The petition supporting stricter limits was circulated this month by the Association of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, a private group that is often critical of official forestry policies. Some agency supervisors warned employees that they risked disciplinary action if they used Government computers or E-mail accounts to sign the petition.

But this week Mr. Dombeck wrote to all the employees to say they had broken no rules. ''I support the open and frank exchange of views and ideas and truly appreciate hearing what my employees have to say about these and all other Forest Service issues and proposals,'' Mr. Dombeck wrote.

The hubbub was a reminder of a long-standing rift within the agency over the management of the nation's forests. Traditionalists in the service tend to support logging, while a new breed of forestry professionals are more inclined to make untouched lands off-limits.

"We support a thorough inventory of existing roads, coupled to your proposal to close, upgrade or obliterate those roads that are too expensive to maintain or are causing unacceptable natural resource damage," their petition said. "We also support the protection of unroaded areas that are critically important as habitat for wildlife and fish and as sources of clean water for our communities."

Supervisors in the Wenatchee and Gifford Pinchot National Forests, both in Washington State, the Lolo National Forest in Montana and the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico, among others, had warned employees that they were forbidden to use Government E-mail for such purposes and that they could be punished for doing so.

On January 21, Dean Lucke, Assistant Deputy Director for Forest Practice of the California Department of Forestry (CDF) wrote a letter to John Campbell, president of the Pacific Lumber Company (PL) stating, "Freshwater and Elk River are experiencing an increased rate of flooding and sedimentation that corresponds with the current cycle of logging in these watersheds. The increase in peak flows following a rainfall event appears to be a cumulative effect of timber harvesting."

Lucke's letter validates the residents repeated claims that their watersheds are in a state of emergency. This is the same Dean Lucke who, in a meeting just a few months ago told residents of Freshwater, “Clearcutting is the most immediate pro-active watershed rehabilitation measure you can take.”

“Apparently Lucke has been forced to change his tune. CDF admitting that flooding is related to logging is tantamount to Reynolds Tobacco admitting that cigarettes cause cancer.” said Al Cook.

The Freshwater watershed contains 21,000 forested acres, 15,000 of which are owned by Pacific Lumber (PL). PL has already logged more than 9,000 acres in the past decade. An additional 3,700 acres of the valley are part of active timber harvest plans.

"Freshwater is like a patient in shock who is hemorrhaging." said Ken Miller, MD, a representative of the Humboldt Watershed Council. "The highest priority is to stop the hemorrhage and treat the cause, not to perform an autopsy! Unless CDF stops already approved and active Timber Harvest Plans (THPs) in Freshwater, immediately, threat to health and safety, and loss of property will be irreversible."

Problems in many watersheds are so desperate that the California Board of Forestry, the body that interprets the state forest practice rules, convened an emergency meeting in Sacramento on February 3, to hear the testimony of residents effected by the region-wide watershed collapse. At this meeting hundreds of citizens from across the state presented evidence of flooding, siltation, landslides, loss of fish, degradation of water quality, and the unraveling of their watersheds as a result of liquidation logging practices. They asked the Board of Forestry to enact a set of Emergency Rules that would defer timber harvest plans in watersheds listed as impaired or degraded by state or federal agencies. These emergency rules would effectively stop work on the already approved harvest plans covering 3,700 acres of Freshwater Creek.

The state and federal agencies that are charged with protecting private property, and health and safety have been reluctant to use their authority to stop the liquidation logging that is so adversely effecting the downstream neighbors of PL. It is common knowledge that Department of Fish and Game personnel are under tremendous political pressure to avoid doing anything that might upset the sacred Headwaters Deal.

Predictably, Mark Stopher, of the Department of Fish and Game flatly denied rumors about political pressure to protect the Headwaters Deal. “I repeat,” he said, “there has been NO political pressure on this agency.”

Over the past three years, PL has incurred over 300 violations of the Forest Practices Act (FPA). "Violations of the FPA are not victimless crimes" said Rudy Langlois, a 35-year resident of Freshwater.

The Brazilian Environment Ministry stopped all forest clearing permits one day after it announced the deforestation rate in the Amazon jumped 30% over last year. Preliminary data shows an area the size of Belgium--6,500 square miles--was cleared in 1998. This is only on Brazilian land! Much of the cutting involved illegal logging and clearing by small farmers. Environmentalists say these figures were far too low because they did not include 4,200 square miles that burned from forest fires in 1998.

The New Scientist magazine recently reported the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Australia found that the U.S. and Canada are both overestimating sustainable future timber harvests by as much as 40%, resulting in "serious environmental damage." Describing the situation in Canada as "desperate," the report says forest managers are not taking into account the need to sustain biodiversity, forest cover, and to protect against soil erosion.

Members of the Jewish community have invoked a process that dates back to the time of Moses and sought to bring Houston-based Maxxam Corporation President Charles Hurwitz in front of a Jewish court of law, called a Beit Din, in an effort to end harmful logging practices by the Pacific Lumber Co., a Maxxam subsidiary.

The Beit Din , a practice which dates back to Biblical times and which means “House of Judgement” in Hebrew, is a court of three Rabbis that has been traditionally used by the Jewish community to settle religious and also civil disputes. The Beit Din , although not widely used to settle civil disputes in recent times, is an appropriate forum to air community differences which have an underlying moral issue.

Alan Rosenberg and Annette Lamoreaux, leaders in the effort, are seeking to have the Bein Din act to halt Pacific Lumber Company from undertaking any logging in the ancient Douglas fir forests of the Mattole river drainage in Northern California.

Annette Lamoreaux said that she and Charles Hurwitz, both members of the Houston Jewish community, “should personally appear in front of a Rabbinical court and argue their respective cases, since Beit Din usually hear directly from the parties involved. I am particularly troubled about the logging practices of Pacific Lumber that have impacted their neighbors in Humboldt County. The small community of Hydesville (population 1100) has repeatedly asked that Pacific Lumber discontinue pesticide spraying on land that is only 700 feet from the community well; Pacific Lumber has refused. The North Coast Regional Water Quality Board has ordered Pacific Lumber to provide alternative water to the residents of Elk River; Pacific Lumber has not done so.

Alan Rosenberg, an organizer of the Beit Din, added that “Pacific Lumber has already logged thousands of acres of old growth Redwood and Douglas fir, and has been convicted of over 250 violations of the California Forest Practice Rules. Recently The Federal and California State Governments, displaying a complete lack of seichel (Yiddish for intelligence) reached a tentative agreement to pay Maxxam over $380 million for land, without requiring Maxxam to end some of their most destructive logging practices.

The idea of appealing to our religious community in an effort to change the business practices of one of our members and make Mr Hurwitz behave more responsibly could have far reaching implications for ALL business and religious groups in this country. That is why we seek to convene a Beit Din and make our appear to a Higher Authority.

Prince Charles is locked in a battle of wills with Tony Blair over genetically modified food. Down ing Street is pressurising Charles to withdraw his website, in which he describes genetically modified (GM) food as a potential risk to public health and the environment and an unacceptable challenge to the natural order.

A defiant Charles refuses to change the site which is visited daily by thousands of people worldwide. In it he states: "We should not be meddling with the building blocks of life in this way." Charles adds: "There is an important public debate needed on whether we need GM crops at all."

The Sunday Express has learned that far from being silenced, the Prince will continue to speak out strongly against GM food once the political controversy has died down, so that he can capitalise on the new wave of popular concern. Only last week he hosted a special seminar the dangers of genetically engineered food at Highgrove with the Soil Association to discuss the best way of taking his campaign forward.

With the Government increasingly rattled over the political fallout, Mr. Blair dramatically intervened yesterday. In a newspaper article. he refused to bow to demands for a three-year ban on the commercial growing of GM crops and accused the media and Tories of distortion. Ministers fear Charles's outspoken comments, posted on his website in December - before the row erupted over Science Minister Lord Sainsbury"s involvement with the biotech Industry - will damage efforts to reassure the public.

Downing Street took the unusual step last week of phoning Buckingham Palace to advise the Prince to withdraw the website comments. He was also advised to refrain from any public comments until the political heat has cooled. Charles has decided the site, due to be changed this week, will now remain for several more weeks. As soon as the political climate allows, he will make an outspoken speech on the issue.

A Palace aide said, "The Prince feels very strongly this is absolutely the right moment to drive home his long held concerns about this sort of food. "He first made a speech on the subject two years ago. He is determined not to be left out of a debate he feels he helped to start."