| After passionate debate, the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved several resolutions to support and seek federal funds for logging, forest thinning and fuel reduction projects on area U.S. Forest Service land to reduce the risks of wildfire and boost the area’s slumping logging industry. Among the approved resolutions were a letter to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein requesting additional funds from the 2010 federal budget appropriation for forest fuel management, and a trip for Supervisor Dick Pland to sit down with Feinstein, hopefully in California rather than Washington, D.C., to discuss the issues. Also, the board approved joining the “Red Team,” a collaboration with El Dorado and Plumas county supervisors and community leaders, as well as Sierra Pacific Industries and California Forestry Association representatives, to discuss ways to boost the area’s logging industry.
But the main resolution passed supports federal legislation to increase logging and thinning in national forests to reduce wildfire threats and help California’s ailing logging industry. “It’s a resolution that urges our legislators to allow us to thin the forest,” Supervisor Teri Murrison said. “When the mills close, people who work in the forest will go away, and we won’t be able to thin these forests.” For some board members, the resolution’s wording was too partisan, especially after it was revealed that the language was courtesy of Steven Brink, vice president of the California Forest Association, a pro-logging lobbying group. Supervisor Paolo Maffei — who abstained from voting on the resolution but approved of joining the Red Team and sending the letter to Feinstein, despite saying he’d also write his own letter — questioned why there wasn’t mention of wildlife or watershed protection in the resolution. Supervisor Liz Bass voted against all four resolutions. “I’m not going to support this kind of partisan rant,” Bass said. “I don’t want my name associated with it,” she added. “It hasn’t been fact checked. There is a lot of slippery language in it.” The other three supervisors approved all four resolutions. “One sided, yes,” Pland said. “Is there another side than to protect ourselves from catastrophic wildfire? I won’t sit idly by while our constituents, who depend on these family-wage jobs, sit on the ropes.” John Buckley, executive director of the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, said that the resolution contained false and misleading information, including assertions that the Stanislaus National Forest was not being thinned because of litigation from environmental groups. Buckley didn’t doubt there were 400 million board feet of lumber — enough to run five sawmills for a year — in California’s national forests held up by pending litigation from environmental groups. But no projects in the Stanislaus National Forest are being held up, he said. Buckley insisted that it wasn’t the lack of logs, but a lack of demand for the logs that is forcing the July closure of SPI’s Standard Mill in Sonora. He pointed to earlier comments by Stanislaus Forest Supervisor Susan Skalski, who said the forest recently made a timber sale of 4 million board-feet but was unable to find a buyer for a larger sale of 17 million board-feet. For a sense of proportion, about 15,000 board-feet of lumber goes into building an average single-family home. Skalski said that the forest would analyze why the sale drew little interest and likely repackage it in several smaller sales. Buckley’s remarks were criticized by several audience members and supervisors. “Litigating parties affect local forest activity,” said Melinda Fleming, executive director of the Tuolumne County Alliance for Resources and the Environment. “Maybe it’s not a local litigator, but it still affects how we operate in the forest.” Maffei tried to find some middle ground. “If we could have people sitting down and doing the right things, instead of confronting each other and demonizing each other, maybe we’d recognize that we have common interests,” he said. # http://www.uniondemocrat.com/2009060396917/News/Local-News/Thinning-logging-resolutions-draw-fire Group hopes to bring attention to watershed with trek to ocean Stockton Record-6/05/09 By Alex Breitler The white-water boils of the wild and scenic Clavey River lay far behind a team of a dozen or so boaters who stopped by Stockton Thursday on their journey to the ocean. The calm Stockton Deep Water Channel required considerably less skill to navigate, said Emilio Martinez, a 52-year-old artist from Modesto and one of only two people planning to complete the entire trip. Others are doing only a leg here or there. "I'm not experienced with kayaks, canoes or anything," Martinez said, remembering the Class 5 thrill two weeks ago. "My stomach was queasy." He did, of course, have a guide. The trip downstream, piloted by the Tuolumne River Trust, is intended to raise the profile of that stream and its connection with the greater Central Valley watershed. So often, people focus on how much water is sent out of the Delta to farmers and cities. For once, organizers said, they wanted to highlight the water coming into the Delta, and the lands through which it passes. Rushing Sierra streams. Foothill reservoirs. Quiet, rolling rivers on the Valley floor. "It's just important to show up and tell the story of the river," said Martinez, who hopes to finish the trip with Sonora farmer Owen Segerstrom, 25, who was born in Stockton and lived for five years in Lodi. It hasn't necessarily been a relaxing vacation. Earlier this week, after several days of paddling, the team reached the San Joaquin River and jumped into a power boat. That boat was grounded on a sandbar Wednesday. They were stuck on the water well into the evening. That's just part of the adventure, the boaters said. After a brief stop at Louis Park they climbed onto a patio boat and headed into the Delta. Today, they'll get back in their kayaks for a trip across San Francisco Bay. While the vessels they use have varied, the trust says that every mile of the stream will be covered. Seeing the gradual degradation of water quality from the Sierra Nevada to the Stockton channel was "disheartening," Segerstrom said. "But it reinforces the urgency to do something about this."# http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090605/A_NEWS/906050313 | 
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