What is "Cumulative
Impact" and doesn't C.D.F. consider "Cumulative Impact" when approving
Deforestation Projects ?
"Cumulative Impact"
is the common sense idea that all of these small vineyards deforestation
projects, when taken together, are having a much greater effect on the
environment than what is implied in the paperwork submitted for each individual
deforestation project.
By law C.D.F. (the
California Department of Forestry) is supposed to do an EIR ( Environmental
Impact Report)" to consider the "Cumulative Impacts" of each project as
the project relates to the surrounding area. The guidelines for this required
review are defined in CEQA
( The California Environmental Quality Act).
An excerpt
from CEQA:
It is the
intent of the Legislature in enacting this chapter that a master environmental
impact report shall evaluate the cumulative impacts, growth inducing impacts,
and irreversible significant effects on the environment of subsequent
projects to the greatest extent feasible.
The types of things
that are supposed to be considered are the previous environmental damage
from 100 years of excessive logging and the effect deforestation will have
on already impaired river systems.
Gualala River - Sonoma County
(Please note the sediment below each clear cut area)
The
Gualala River is considered an "impaired" river under the federal Clean
Water Act because of excessive sediment and high temperatures, both of
which can be lethal to salmon and steelhead.
Each deforestation
project begins when a professional forester is hired by the vineyard
developer to push the project through the California Department of Forestry
approval process. C.D.F. has created a specialized language with catch
phrases that when used seem to guarantee approval.
Rule #1 for
every Professional Forester:
Virtually
every deforestation proposal submitted to C.D.F. says the magic words --
"no significant effect on the environment will occur".
With a wink and a
nod C.D.F. is able to conclude that the deforestation project will have
absolutely no negative effect whatsoever on the environment, wildlife and
waterways. The project is approved with a less stringent report called
a "Negative Declaration".
A segment of the Forest
is allowed to disappear forever supposedly without any significant impact.
In fact the Developers and the Foresters that they hire would have you
believe that each deforestation project will have a positive impact on
the Forest they just eliminated.
While this claim of
"no significant impact" seems absurd even when applied to an individual
deforestation project , it is the total environmental damage from all the
projects viewed together that is intentionally being ignored by the professional
foresters and C.D.F.. The negligent practice of ignoring "cumulative impact"
is irresponsible and the results are irreversible.
The CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT
OF FORESTRY collect their fees and justify their jobs by issuing simplified
declarations to make sections of the Forest disappear forever.
"Flexibility" is the
word used by C.D.F. for the leeway allowed to professional foresters. The
forester may develop alternative practices to those required by the regulations
based on site-specific data and use his or her professional discretion
in determining what to include in the Timber Harvest Plan.
Isn't there something
corrupt when C.D.F. bases their vineyard deforestation decisions on the
opinions of foresters who are bought and paid for by the vineyard developers?
C.D.F. has refused
to even consider demanding independent Environmental Impact Reports for
these clear cuts. Deforestation projects in the Gualala River watershed
are approved like clockwork without adequate "cumulative impact"
review.
C.D.F.'s refusal to
assess cumulative impact is not new. In 1985 citizens took their contention
that the California Environmental Quality Act requires cumulative
impact assessments for timber harvesting to court. They won their case.
The court ruled that several timber harvest plans that C.D.F. had approved
did not provide adequate environmental review.
In 2004 lawsuits are
once again being threatened against C.D.F. regarding their lack of cumulative
impact assessment for vineyard deforestation.
LITTLE HOOVER COMMISSION Report
#126
State of California 1994
Despite the hoops that timber operators
must jump through and the barriers erected by the planning process, the
environment is not being effectively protected because of the flawed concept
that the Timber Harvest Plan process is based on -- namely that ecology
can be addressed on a parcel-by-parcel basis. In addition, the State's
focus is almost entirely on procedural steps rather than on the eventual
outcome. As a result, what occurs in the real world may have very little
relationship to what is prescribed in a harvest plan, and there is no mechanism
for linking demonstrated effectiveness of mitigation measures to future
policy directives.
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A
SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR THE PREDICTION OF CUMULATIVE WATERSHED EFFECTS (UC
Committee on Cumulative Watershed Effects)
The deforestation
of the Gualala River Watershed
in Sonoma County
"No significant effect
on the environment"
California Lists
Coho Salmon Under State Endangered Species Act (CESA),
Feb.
6, 2004
On 4 February, the California Fish & Game Commission officially
listed coho salmon populations from San Francisco to the Oregon border
under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA).
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