CLEARCUTTING CREDITS FOR BIG TIMBER?

Can't See the Smog for the Trees?

12/23/2010—Center for Biological Diversity:
The California Air Resources Board has approved a cap-and-trade program including a ludicrous loophole that will encourage forest clearcutting in the name of reducing carbon emissions and fighting climate change. The program, adopted last Thursday as part of California's effort to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions, would let industrial polluters purchase carbon dioxide "offset credits" from forest carbon projects -- including clearcutting -- instead of reducing their own emissions. The program also includes loopholes that allow big timber companies to claim carbon credit for tree growth that was already slated to occur; it lets industrial polluters dodge responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning "biomass" -- including whole, green trees -- for energy.
"Clearcutting forests is not the solution to global warming," said Brian Nowicki, California climate policy director at the Center. "At best, this will subsidize, at the expense of the people of California, some of the most damaging forest management going on today. At worst, this will incentivize the clearcutting of natural forests to be replaced by tree farms."

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12/27/2010— http://forestsforever.org
Giant landowners and timber cutters and their allies in the California Department of Forestry were able to convince seven out of 10 ARB commissioners to vote in favor of granting Big Timber clean-air credits for clearcutting – despite overwhelming evidence that CO2 emissions from clearcutting contribute substantially to global warming.
The seven commissioners refused to heed our warnings.
“We strongly urge the ARB to eliminate from the offset program the clearcutting of our forests as a way of sequestering carbon,” testified Forests Forever Legislative Advocate Luke Breit at the hearing. He urged the 10 ARB commissioners to “add provisions to assure that forest projects do not result in the conversion of naturally managed (uneven-aged forests) into clear-cut plantations.”
Despite an outpouring of public testimony in opposition at the hearing, the pro-clearcutting forces persuaded the ARB to condone an alarmingly bad practice.
The board voted to grant major timber companies such as Sierra Pacific Industries and Green Diamond Resource Company the right to profit from selling forest “carbon offsets” to industrial polluters unable to meet their statutory pollution-reduction goals under A.B. 32, California’s landmark law to limit greenhouse-gas emissions.
And the board’s vote will permit the timber companies to include clearcutting projects among the “offsets” sold. In the process, the timber companies stand to reap substantial windfall profits.
The ARB’s action defies common sense and good science! In its rush to judgment in favor of the timber industry, the ARB has made an egregious error and needs to be called to account.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/FORESTS-FOREVER/145729345990

http://www.forestsforever.org/ActionAlert_ARB_Protocols.html

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http://action.biologicaldiversity.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5297

On December 16, the California Air Resources Board will consider adopting a disastrous cap-and-trade program under AB 32, California's effort to combat climate change by reducing statewide greenhouse gas emissions.

The program would allow industrial polluters to avoid reducing their own greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing carbon "offset credits" -- many of which could come from forest management projects that allow clearcutting. The proposal would also allow industrial polluters to avoid greenhouse gas emissions limits by burning forest "biomass" -- including whole, live trees -- instead of fossil fuels, encouraging logging of California's forests and increasing overall greenhouse gas emissions.

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http://centralcoastforestwatch.posterous.com/mrc-got-huge-tax-break-dfg-bit-the-dust
As written, the forest protocols would even allow a landowner clearcutting old growth redwood to receive a carbon credit for the tree growth that would result from even-age management of the property. (I am told that the Fisher's have helped bankroll the research being conducted by Steve Sillett and others regarding the impact of redwoods on climate change and vice versa.)

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http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/center/articles/2010/new-york-times-12-17-2010.html
Dozens of witnesses -- and several board members -- voiced opposition to the provision that would make clearcutting eligible to receive offset credits for improved forest management. The debate has split environmental groups, with the Nature Conservancy backing timber companies' and offset certifiers' position that the protocol does not encourage clearcutting.
Brian Nowicki, California climate policy director for the Center for Biological Diversity, urged ARB to remove references to "even-aged management," a term that within California means clearing adjacent areas up to 40 acres.

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ANOTHER VIEW:

http://www.forestsworkwonders.org/2010/12/california-to-hold-public-hearing-on.html

Roadless Fed Forests Protected Despite Crazy Courts

With courts split, Vilsack acts to preserve Roadless Rule

--Agriculture Secretary extends protections for another year

While federal courts continue to wrangle over the legality of the Clinton-era Roadless Rule governing national forests the Obama administration in May acted once again to safeguard the nation's inventoried roadless areas.

On May 28 Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued an interim directive preserving roadless area protections for one more year.

"While the courts continue to wrestle with roadless policy," Vilsack said, "I will continue to work to ensure we protect roadless areas on our national forests."

The initial rule protected some 58 million acres of mostly forested roadless areas on federal lands — including 4.1 million acres of national forests in California — from logging, mining, development and road building.

Last summer the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the 2001 Roadless Rule. The Rule currently is under appeal in the 10th Circuit. A decision on that case could come any day.

"Renewing this directive reflects President Obama's commitment to protecting our forests by ensuring that all projects in roadless areas receive a higher level of scrutiny," Vilsack said.


story continues here:

http://www.forestsforever.org/en2.3story3june2010.html

Another Defeat for Bush's Calif. eco policies...

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Fed Judge Overturns Roads Plan for So-Cal National Forests

excerpted from:
http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/2009/court-rules-that-southern-california-forest-plans-violate-federal-environmental-laws.html

September 30, 2009
San Francisco, CA -- A federal district court judge ruled late Tuesday that U.S. Forest Service management plans for four Southern California national forests did not adequately protect those forests' wildest landscapes. In the ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel agreed with seven environmental groups that the Forest Service failed to assess cumulative damage to those national forests that would be caused by piecemeal road building and other development in most of the forests' roadless areas, in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. The environmental groups, represented in the suit by Earthjustice attorneys Erin Tobin and Trent Orr, are the Center for Biological Diversity, Los Padres ForestWatch, Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, California Native Plant Society, California Wilderness Coalition, and The Wilderness Society. "Some of the most wild and pristine areas of southern California's national forests were given a second chance with this court decision," said Ileene Anderson of the Center for Biological Diversity. "These areas provide critically important strongholds for endangered species such as steelhead, the California condor and the arroyo toad; especially during this time of climate change." "The decision vindicates the public's right to know how our national forests are managed," said Earthjustice attorney Erin Tobin. "It is a victory for southern California's wild areas and wildlife, healthy forests, and clean drinking water." At issue are more than a million acres of roadless areas within the Angeles, Los Padres, Cleveland and San Bernardino National Forests. The four forests, surrounded by some of the most rapidly urbanizing land in the United States, are the last remaining refuge for the region's imperiled species such as the California condor. At the same time, the forests are increasingly subject to disturbances ranging from off-road vehicle abuse to oil and gas development to invasive species, the impacts of many of which are exacerbated by road building. The challenged management plans recommended just 79,000 acres of roadless areas for possible wilderness designation and slotted more than 942,000 acres for possible road building or other development. According to the court's ruling, the Forest Service violated federal environmental law by ignoring the "larger picture" of how allowing more development in roadless areas — while recommending almost no such areas for permanent wilderness protection — would affect the forests' irreplaceable landscapes and wildlife. The court also ruled that the Forest Service's failure to consider alternative approaches for monitoring the health of forests and their wildlife that are harmed by wildfire management, energy development, and substantial off-road vehicle use was a further violation of the law...

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Websites that track Private Industrial Timber Company Logging Plans

http://thptracker.blogspot.com/

a blogsite with a lot of useful information

http://www.thptrackingcenter.org/thpdatabase.html

copies of the actual timber harvest plans are posted here

http://www.fire.ca.gov/ResourceManagement/THPStatusUpload/THPStatusTable.html

the state’s list