Please send as far and wide as possible. Thanks, Robert Sterling Editor, The Konformist http://www.konformist.com If you are interested in a free subscription to The Konformist Newswire, please visit http://www.eGroups.com/list/konformist/ and sign up. Or, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject: "I NEED 2 KONFORM!!!" (Okay, you can use something else, but it's a kool catch phrase.) Visit the Klub Konformist at Yahoo!: http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/klubkonformist From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1999 From: Earth First! Media Center <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: PACIFIC LUMBER LOGGING PLANS THROWN OUT BY COURT March 14, 1999 MacGuffin Communications 366 California Ave. #7 Palo Alto, CA 94306 Contact: Adam Miller 650-851-1147 Michael Evenson 707-629-3679 For Immediate Release: PACIFIC LUMBER LOGGING PLANS THROWN OUT BY COURT Judge Blasts Department of Forestry for Abuse of Discretion Following close on the heels of the government's acquisition of the Headwaters Forest from the Pacific Lumber Company, a Humboldt County Superior Court Judge ordered the California Department of Forestry (CDF) to rescind approval of two Pacific Lumber Company timber harvest plans in Northern California. On March 9, Judge W. Bruce Watson ruled that CDF's approval of plans to clearcut nearly 200 acres of old growth Douglas-fir above Sulphur Creek in the Mattole River watershed, violate state law. Watson wrote in his decision "CDF's failure to meaningfully analyze, evaluate, consider, and use the comments, opinions and recommendations of other public agencies, experts within their fields, as the law requires is prejudicial abuse of discretion..." Serving as his own attorney, Michael Evenson, 53, filed the two lawsuits in the summer of 1998. Evenson is a rancher who lives at the mouth of the Mattole River near Petrolia, California (population 100), the westernmost point in the continental United States. "It's like David and Goliath," said Bob Martel of the Humboldt Watershed Council. "A lone citizen, without a lawyer, prevailed in court against an opponent as menacing as Pacific Lumber's owner, Charles Hurwitz, with his legendary platoon of lawyers. These THPs would have affected the entire community downstream. Homes and productive farmland would have been washed away. This is a victory for everyone." "Not only did these THPs threaten wildlife habitat, they threatened our property." said Ellen Taylor of Petrolia, a grandmother of 56, who was arrested, along with 20 other protesters, in August for blocking Pacific Lumber's logging in the proposed THPs. "You don't need a Ph.D. to see what happens when you log steep slopes: you get landslides. These landslides are why our river is so full of gravel and silt. The salmon can't spawn and the riverbanks are being undercut, which imperils our homes." The Mattole Valley is in the most seismically active terrain in the country. The exceedingly steep slopes, highly erosive soils, and rainfall of up to 200 inches make sustainable logging by clearcut impossible. In his 18 page ruling, Judge Watson also said the cumulative impacts assessment in the THPs as approved by CDF appear inadequate. "Both [THPs] encompass a large portion of a small watershed that has been seriously degraded, most likely due to cumulative adverse impacts caused by a variety of land use practices [logging]," wrote Judge Watson. This information has been known to CDF since at least 1990..." His ruling confirms CDF does not have the expertise to make biological decisions, and Watson's decision will likely affect approval of other timber harvest plans in areas where the risk of landslides is a concern. The agencies were unanimous in their determinations that the area is extremely unstable, and that logging on slopes as steep as 80% increased the likelihood of landslides that would, in turn threaten the dwindling populations of the endangered coho salmon. Watson cited the objections raised by state Department of Fish and Game, National Marine Fisheries Service, North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, Environmental Protection Agency and US Geological Survey. Watson wrote "CDF is mandated by law to consider the concerns expressed, and address those concerns, by either finding they are without foundation, which appears unlikely given the record, or account for concerns, which accounting is supported by the record. In [these THPs] CDF did neither, that failure is an abuse of discretion." Attorneys for both CDF and for Pacific Lumber claimed that the Habitat Conservation Plan accepted as a condition of the Headwaters acquisition, would provide adequate protection for Sulphur Creek, and that it included higher standards of protection than existing state law requires. Judge Watson did not agree. He wrote: "Irrespective of the [HCP] agreement, however, given the substantial concerns expressed by the other agencies, CDF would have been remiss in approving [the THPs] in any event." Judge Watson ruled in favor of Evenson on all counts, and awarded court costs. "After a decade of liquidation logging, Pacific Lumber doesn't have any old growth forest left to cut that doesn't endanger species and downstream residents." said Evenson. "There's nothing to cut but the steepest, most landslide-prone slopes." "CDF can no longer rubber stamp THPs, disregarding the concerns of the regulatory agencies." Bob Martel explained. "They should defer to the determinations of wildlife agencies charged with the protection of public trust values." "This decision isn't just a victory for salmon and neighbors." said Evenson. "It's also a victory for Pacific Lumber employees who's very future is jeopardized by unsustainable logging practices. Every hillside they've logged surrounding these THPs is riddled with landslides. Trees don't grow on landslides. Judge Watson reminded us that the law has the future of timber workers in mind." "You can't have sustainable timber jobs without practicing sustainable forestry." said Evenson. Earth First! Media Center Andy Caffrey, director [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/9901/ We have so much more to do! We are working so hard to get the word out to the world via the Internet on these crucial and cutting-edge campaigns against these outrageous atrocities! Our postings about David Chain's killing have now gone out to over a million people on five continents and been translated into French, German, Greek, Italian, Spanish and Russian. _____________________________________ WE NEED YOUR HELP RIGHT NOW We have just gone through a tormenting last five months and are flat broke with broken down gear, scant supplies, and late bills to cover. We are in need of certain supplies as well, such as Epson 740 ink cartridges, zip disks, videotape, postage, and subscriptions to periodicals, if we are to continue on after March. Please send contributions to further our work in support of the above and dozens of other EF! campaigns, payable to "Earth First!," to Earth First! Media Center P.O. Box 324 Redway, CA 95560 Thanks! We could do so much more with your involvement. Why not show this material to your friends? Just print it out and make some photocopies to help get the word out... _____________________________________ We're trying to remove the obstacles to your involvement. Please visit our newest Earth First! Media Center online, activist work centers: To learn about the killing of David Chain http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/9901/death_david.html What's Up with Headwaters Forest? Bookmark this site for 1999! http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/9901/whasup.html Sections coming soon: Buffalo Nations, Cremate Monsanto, the Biotic Baking Brigade, our Kaiser Ore Ship blockade action in Tacoma, Wash., AIM and EF!, musician Spring tour schedules, more audio and video files, and expanded regional support. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subj: Darryl for MAXXAM Board Date: Friday, March 19, 1999 05:12:35 AM From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dear Jail Hurwitz fans: The time has come to send your letters, your emails, make your phone calls for the cause. The cause being running Darryl Cherney of Earth First! for the MAXXAM Board of Directors. If elected I promise to do a debt for nature swap, turn Hurwitz in to the feds, grant the locked out steelworkers anything they want and let the workers unionize at Pacific Lumber, for starters. I will return all the pension money stolen and generally be a good guy. I promised Hurwitz in May of 1997 when I spoke to him at that Shareholders meeting that I would take over his company and its time to make good on that promise. I will be at this years shareholders meeting on May 19 in Houston and want to be there as the candidate from hell for MAXXAM. You can contact the Rose Foundation, who has the power to help me run for the board the following ways: Phone: 510-658-0702 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] As an alternative, liberal foundation, Rose has run progressive candidates for he MAXXAM Board before. But they were unknown and colorless. This time, they should run a striking Kaiser worker and an Earth First!er and make the headlines around the world. By the way, if you want to go to the MAXXAM annual Shareholders meeting you must buy one share of MAXXAM. They must notify you of the meeting. This net list will do the same. There will be a protest outside (location to be announced) for those without a share of stock who can't get in. You can buy a share from any stockbroker. Or email back here for more info. Thank you for your support. Darryl Cherney Director, Jail Hurwitz Campaign Earth First! troublemaker MAXXAM Shareholder (5 shares donated by the late Max Berking, formerly a New York State Assemblyman and then retired to Florida. This one's for you, Max) Environmentally Sound Promotions PO Box 2254 Redway, CA 95560 http://www.jailhurwitz.com/ ----- Peace! Rob, Sector Air Raid Warden at Rob's Place /RENEGADE/ newsletter: http://fornits.com/renegade/ DEDICATED TO SPIRIT, TRUTH, PEACE, JUSTICE, AND FREEDOM Bay_Area_Activist list: http://fornits.com/renegade/peaars.cgi?fetch=54 Usenet: news://alt.thebird news://misc.activism.progressive CHAT: http://jupiter.beseen.com/chat/rooms/i/1055/ Rob's Place: http://www.vom.com/rc Robert Cherwink <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> WHEN SPIDERS UNITE, THEY CAN TIE DOWN A LION -- Ethiopian Proverb ------------------------------------------------------------------------ eGroups Spotlight: "Astrophysics Forum" - All about astrophysics. http://offers.egroups.com/click/243/5 eGroup home: http://www.eGroups.com/list/konformist Free Web-based e-mail groups by eGroups.com
