00001
1 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
2 U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
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4 PUBLIC HEARING
5 regarding
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8 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT/ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT
FOR THE HEADWATERS FOREST ACQUISITION AND PACIFIC LUMBER
9 COMPANY HABITAT CONSERVATION PLAN
AND SUSTAINED YIELD PLAN
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12 REDWOOD ACRES FAIRGROUNDS, FRANCESHI HALL
3750 HARRIS STREET, EUREKA
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1998
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9:00 A.M. AND 1:00 P.M. AND 6:00 P.M.
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1 A P P E A R A N C E S
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3 PRESIDING: RICHARD DE CLERCK, Solicitor
Department of the Interior
4 500 N.E. Multnomah St., Suite 607
Portland, Oregon 97232
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APPEARING: BRUCE HALSTEAD
7 PHIL DETRICH, HCP team leader
JOHN INGRAM
8 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
2233 Watt Avenue, Suite 120
9 Sacramento, California 95825-0509
10 DEAN LUDTKE
California Department of Forestry
11 Sacramento, California
12 WILLIAM HOGARTH
JOSEPH BLUM
13 National Marine Fisheries Service
Protected Resources Division
14 777 Sonoma Avenue, Room 325
Santa Rosa, California 95404
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1 I N D E X
2
3 SPEAKER PAGE
4 (Morning session)
5
6 STEPHEN DALE 18
7 ALAN FRANKLIN 20
8 ROBIN ARKLEY 21
9 RODNEY SANDERSON 22
10 DALE WELCH 25
11 COLUM COYNE 27
12 JOHN SNEED 30
13 BRUCE CHAPMAN 33
14 DAN BROYLES 35
15 CHARLES FUENTES 36
16 BRUCE BECK 39
17 ROGER SANDERSON 41
18 JOHN LYNOTT 43
19 DENNIS SCHLOTZHAUER 45
20 NICK BOLT 47
21 JOHN KENNON 48
22 RHETT IMPERIALE 51
23 MARK MUELLER 53
24 RICHARD ROBBINS 54
25 STAN JOHNSON 57
00004
1 JEAN PAULSON 60
2 JIM MESKILL 61
3 DANIEL BARTLETT 63
4 BOB THOMAS 65
5 CARL WICKMAN 67
6 DONALD KEGLEY 68
7 JOHN FRINK 70
8 JAY PARRISH 72
9 SARA BUCCOLA 72
10 DOC GALLUP 74
11 TIM MARKS 75
12 DICK LINDSAY 76
13 MICHAEL DUNKELBERGER 78
14 ROBERT McCUTCHEN 78
15 DAN IHARA 81
16 PAULETTE KALLO 82
17 TIM PETRUSHA 84
18 CHARLES MOYER 85
19 PAUL CIENFUEGOS 86
20 JOHN PREVOST 88
21 FRANCES FERGUSON 90
22 MARK COBB 91
23 BRADLEY BURNS 93
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1 (Afternoon session)
2
3 BEA STANLEY 104
4 JAN KRAEPELIEN 106
5 BONNIE BLACKBERRY 110
6 GREG WELLISH 111
7 ROBIE TENORIO 114
8 SHAWNEE ALEXANDRI 115
9 JONATHAN PEARL 118
10 DAVID WALSH 121
11 DALE NEIMAN 124
12 CAROLYN SWANSON 126
13 ROBERT DIPERNA 128
14 TRACY KATELMAN 129
15 CRAIG BELL 132
16 JEFF KIDD 135
17 PATRICK HIGGINS 137
18 KEVIN BUNDY 140
19 JEAN CADWELL 143
20 SUNSHINE MANSFIELD 144
21 AGNES PATAK 146
22 SUZANNE BEERS 149
23 ALI FREEDLUND 150
24 ANGELA BONNER 153
25 BERT SILVA 155
00006
1 BERK SNOW 158
2 STEPHANIE GAWBOY 161
3 GARY WILHELM 164
4 ROBERT CLAY 165
5 RICHARD GIENGER 169
6 MICHAEL STOWELL 171
7 RANIL SENANAYAKE 173
8 PERRY PHILLIPS 176
9 JOHN SEVERN 179
10 BERNIE BUSH 182
11 CECILIA LANMAN 185
12 MARK HILOVSKY 189
13 MICHAEL EVENSON 190
14 CLINT BUSH 193
15 RON HASELIP 195
16 FRANK WILSON 197
17 DENNIS WOOD 200
18 REX BOHN 202
19 GARY OGDEN 203
20 JEFF RINGWALD 206
21 JOHN COOK 208
22 MIKE BONNIKSON 209
23 CARL ROME 210
24 SUSAN MALONEY 211
25 CHRIS SKYHAWK 214
00007
1
2 (Evening session)
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4 DAN KEPON 225
5 JIM HOLDNER 227
6 BILL DAVIS 229
7 JOSH STRANGE 230
8 JENE McCOVEY 233
9 PAUL BILLUPS 235
10 PATRICK LANCELIN 236
11 DOUG MOSEL 238
12 JOHANNA HARMAN 240
13 MICHAEL PASSOFF 243
14 TIM CROWLEY 246
15 DON LUTHER 247
16 RON BUSH 249
17 MARGIE NULSEN 252
18 RICK ONSTAD 254
19 EARL BOOTIER 255
20 MILO APPEL 257
21 ANDREW BUTTS 258
22 CLARENCE HOSTLER 260
23 DEBORAH BRUCE 261
24 GERALD SARVINSKI 264
25 JIM ROBERTSON 265
00008
1 TIM COPPINI 267
2 VANORA CIULLO 268
3 SIERRA SIMPSON 269
4 ELLEN TAYLOR 271
5 BLAKE JOHNSGARD 273
6 BART GRUZALSKI 275
7 JULIA BUTTERFLY 276
8 PETER CHILDS 278
9 DANNY PINEDA 289
10 JAN LUNDBERG 282
11 CHRISTINE PREUCIL 284
12 APRIL RICHARDS 286
13 NAKOMA QUINN 289
14 MICHAEL SCHWARTZ 290
15 BILL JONES 291
16 CAROLYN DEPUCCI 292
17 JENNIFER SHARKEY 294
18 WENDY STEVENSON 296
19 JIM BRAGG 298
20 DAVID PEAKE 300
21 ANNE HUBBARD 302
22 NOEL SOUCY 304
23 HEATHER RAWSON 307
24 BRIAN BASOR 309
25 DANIEL KOSMAL 311
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1 RENEE NITZEL 314
2 GARY GUNDLACH 314
3 DEMOS BARCELOS 316
4 JIM HINRICHS 318
5 ROBERT PARKER 319
6 JASON WILSON 321
7 ISADORA SICKING 323
8 BARBARA BURNS 325
9 TRACY BROWN 327
10 MARK KNIPPER 328
11 ANNE WILLIS 330
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00010
1 PRESIDING OFFICER: Good morning. Welcome to this
2 public hearing.
3 United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the
4 National Marine Fisheries Service, the California State
5 Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and the
6 California Department of Fish and Game are conducting a
7 joint process for taking comments on an Environmental
8 Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report for the
9 Headwaters Forest Acquisition and the Pacific Lumber
10 Company's Habitat Conservation Plan and Sustained Yield
11 Plan.
12 My name is Richard DeClerck, and I'm an attorney
13 with the United States Department of the Interior, Office
14 of the Solicitor. I will be serving as the presiding
15 official for this hearing.
16 Here with me today on the podium are the following
17 agency representatives: Bruce Halstead, project leader,
18 Arcata Fish and Wildlife Service; Dean Ludtke, California
19 Department of Forestry and Fire Protection; and Bill
20 Hogarth, National Marine Fisheries Service.
21 You will find an information table at the back of
22 this room with written materials about the proposed action
23 in these documents.
24 At this point I'd like to introduce Bruce Halstead
25 and Dean Ludtke, who will make brief statements from these
00011
1 documents.
2 MR. HALSTEAD: Good morning. My name is Bruce
3 Halstead. I'm with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in
4 Arcata, and I'd like to make a few statements to put this
5 hearing in perspective for you.
6 The federal Endangered Species Act has established
7 protections for species listed as threatened and
8 endangered and provides for authorization of certain
9 impacts where such impacts comply with criteria
10 established by the Act.
11 If you can't hear me, raise your hand.
12 The most fundamental protection provided by the Act
13 is a prohibition against take of species listed under the
14 Act. Take includes actions that will kill, harass or harm
15 listed species. Incidental take is defined as take that
16 is incidental to, and not the purpose of, the carrying out
17 of an otherwise lawful activity. When incidental take may
18 result from the actions of state or local governments,
19 corporations or private individuals, Section 10 of the
20 Endangered Species Act directs the secretaries of the
21 Department of the Interior and the Department of Commerce
22 to issue permits for incidental take when certain
23 conditions are met by the applicant. Those conditions are
24 described in detail in the Act. Most importantly, the
25 applicant must submit a Habitat Conservation Plan, or HCP.
00012
1 Among other things, the HCP must describe the impact of
2 the taking and the steps the applicant will take to
3 minimize and mitigate such impacts. The standards for the
4 agency's evaluation of the HCP are also described in the
5 Act. Most importantly, the agencies must find that the
6 taking will not appreciably reduce the likelihood of
7 survival and recovery of the species in the wild. If the
8 statutory conditions are met, the incidental take permit
9 will be issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and
10 National Marine Fisheries Service.
11 The Pacific Lumber Company has prepared an HCP and
12 submitted an application for an incidental take permit for
13 several species. Also, the United States Congress and the
14 California legislature have approved appropriations for
15 acquisition of portions of Pacific Lumber's property if
16 the HCP is approved.
17 Because the issuance of the incidental take permit
18 is a federal action, the process is subject to review
19 under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. The
20 State of California is also undertaking environmental
21 review under the California Environmental Quality Act, or
22 CEQA. Therefore, the state and federal agencies have
23 entered into an agreement to prepare a single
24 environmental document called a joint EIS/EIR.
25 Impacts considered under NEPA and CEQA are not
00013
1 limited to the impacts on a listed species but include all
2 impacts of the action affecting the human environment. In
3 addition to evaluation of the effects of implementation of
4 the Habitat Conservation Plan, the joint EIS/EIR will
5 cover the impacts of the proposed acquisition.
6 This public meeting is conducted as part of the
7 public comment period on the EIR/EIS. The public comment
8 period will close on November 16th, 1998. Because the
9 Congressional appropriation includes a deadline of March
10 1st, 1999, for completion of the entire process, the
11 public comment period will not be extended beyond November
12 16th.
13 On behalf of the Fish and Wildlife Service and
14 National Marine Fisheries Service, I thank you for the
15 effort you have made to attend this meeting and also thank
16 you in advance for your comments.
17 Now we'll here some introductory words from the
18 representative of the state of California.
19 Dean?
20 MR. LUDTKE: Hello, I'm Dean Ludtke with the
21 California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
22 I'd like to read a brief statement into the record.
23 The California Department of Forestry and Fire
24 Protection is the state lead agency under the California
25 Environmental Quality Act for this project.
00014
1 Can you hear me okay?
2 The Department will use the Environmental Impact
3 Report to evaluate environmental impacts of the Sustained
4 Yield Plan submitted by the Pacific Lumber Company. The
5 Department will use the EIR to identify potentially
6 significant adverse impacts and to determine whether the
7 Sustained Yield Plan needs to be modified with
8 alternatives or feasible mitigation measures to avoid or
9 mitigate those impacts. The EIR is a joint document with
10 the federal Environmental Impact Statement.
11 Sustained Yield plans, or "SYP"'s for short, are one
12 of the mechanisms that timberland owners can use to meet
13 the state requirement for maintaining maximum sustained
14 production of high-quality timber products while giving
15 consideration to values relating to watershed, fisheries
16 and wildlife. SYP's must include projections of timber
17 growth and harvesting over at least a one-hundred-year
18 planning horizon, a Fish and Wildlife assessment and a
19 watershed assessment. Subsequent timber harvesting plans
20 may rely on the approved SYP to the extent that the issues
21 are addressed in it.
22 Following approval, the SYP is enforced for a period
23 of no more than ten years. The Department does not
24 normally prepare an EIR for Sustained Yield Plans, and
25 usually uses its Functional Equivalency under the Forest
00015
1 Practices Act. However, in this case it was judged to be
2 more efficient to prepare an EIR as a joint document with
3 the federal EIS.
4 That concludes my statement for the record.
5 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you.
6 As stated, public comments on these documents will
7 be accepted until November 16th, 1998. After review and
8 consideration of the comments and all the information
9 gathered during the comment period, the agencies will
10 prepare a final Environmental Impact Statement/
11 Environmental Impact Report.
12 The purpose of this hearing is to receive your oral
13 comments on the proposals. The information you offer on
14 all aspects of these proposals is important and will be
15 carefully considered. Because of the importance of your
16 comments, it's necessary that we follow certain procedures
17 here this morning.
18 If you want to present comments at this hearing, you
19 must register at the table at the back of the room. When
20 you register, indicate any organization that you
21 represent. When you are called to present your comments,
22 please come forward to the microphones in the front.
23 Please begin your presentation stating your full name,
24 spell it, for accuracy for the record, and indicate what
25 organization you represent.
00016
1 In order to accept the maximum number of comments
2 into the record, I will call two names at a time, the next
3 speaker to come to the microphone, the following speaker
4 to come to the front. Because of the number of people who
5 wish to comment this morning and the limited time
6 available, we must ask that you limit your presentation to
7 two to three minutes. At the end of two minutes, I will
8 remind the speaker to sum up their statement.
9 This is an informal hearing, and therefore you will
10 not be questioned or cross-examined in connection with
11 your comments. Also, it is not possible to answer your
12 questions here. Official responses to issued raised
13 during the comment period will be stated in the
14 Environmental Impact Statement.
15 Your statements are being recorded by a certified
16 court reporter to accurately preserve them for the record.
17 Please keep in mind, however, that the reporter will not
18 record statements from the audience or which are made to
19 the audience. Comments must be made into the microphone.
20 In order to allow as many people as possible to
21 speak, it is very important that everyone maintain an
22 atmosphere of courtesy and respect for each speaker.
23 Thus, it is important to refrain from applause, argument,
24 cheering or other disruptions from the audience. It will
25 not be possible to take a clear record if there are
00017
1 disruptions. That's especially true when we have this
2 wind blowing on the door back here, so it's going to be
3 very important that we receive all of the comments and
4 they are taken down.
5 We'll maintain a fair and neutral atmosphere in
6 order to record the comments for the record. Instead of
7 presenting oral comments here this morning, or in addition
8 to the oral comments, you may submit comments in writing.
9 Written comments may be submitted today to the
10 registration table to the back of the room, and the same
11 is true for any exhibits you may want to make part of your
12 written or oral statement. And the court reporter will
13 make them part of the record. But please give them to the
14 back of the room, not up on the podium.
15 An address is available at the registration desk
16 also at the back of the room, if you wish to submit
17 written comments at a later date. However, all written
18 comments must be accepted and end no later than November
19 16th, 1998. Written comments will be given the same
20 consideration as oral comments presented here.
21 At this time, we are ready for our first speakers.
22 Would Stephen Dale and Alan Franklin please come to
23 the front.
24 Stephen, you are first.
25 MR. DALE: Good morning.
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1 PRESIDING OFFICER: Good morning.
2 MR. DALE: Stephen Dale, D-A-L-E, and I represent
3 myself.
4 I'm a resource professional that's lived on the
5 North Coast for the last 24 years; and during that time
6 I've had an opportunity to both work in the woods and fish
7 salmon commercially. I'd like to make a few observations
8 about take -- although Mr. Halstead, I believe he cleared
9 up some of my questions about it -- but this take and take
10 permits seems peculiar to me. I understand that the
11 federal and state agencies are not supposed to license any
12 activity that would result in the take of either the
13 indirect take or immediate take of an endangered species.
14 I was in Trinidad this summer enjoying a nice sunny
15 afternoon, and there was a young Fish and Game employee,
16 probably a student, fisheries student, that was counting
17 the sport take that occurred that day. And I mentioned to
18 him that when we used to -- you know, if you're trolling
19 for chinook salmon, that occasionally you hook coho; and
20 before you can land and release those coho they often
21 drown, particularly if you're not quick getting them to
22 the boat. He informed me that this was incidental take
23 and that this was permitted because the person that made
24 the direct kill on the coho had purchased a sport-fishing
25 license. And this -- this kind of thing just doesn't --
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1 doesn't seem right to me or doesn't seem to balance out,
2 given all the efforts we're making to save the coho.
3 Indirect take via habitat degradation, mostly by
4 inputs of sediment that are logging-caused, seem to be the
5 center -- center-stage issue here with the PALCO HCP. I
6 spend a significant amount of time and effort in the field
7 trying to reduce or remove existing sediment from the
8 stream systems, yet when I'm driving around the
9 northwestern part of this country and within Humboldt
10 County, I still witness agricultural interests, farmers,
11 that are disking soils immediately adjacent to
12 fish-bearing streams. I also see ranchers running cattle
13 in Class I watercourses.
14 And, again, it all doesn't quite seem to add up to
15 me. It appears to me that the existing laws and the
16 enforcement thereof are not being -- are not being
17 enforced in a balanced nature.
18 PRESIDING OFFICER: I need your summation. Your
19 time is almost up.
20 MR. DALE: Okay. I'm in support of the PL HCP
21 because I think it's a gift, and I think it's a gift
22 that's not going to come walking by again. If the same
23 -- if the same protective measures found in the HCP were
24 applied to other industries in the state, then I think
25 that you'd learn soon and quickly what take means under
00020
1 the Fifth Amendment rather than from a wildlife point of
2 view.
3 Thank you very much.
4 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Stephen.
5 Before Alan speaks, is Robin Arkley here?
6 Robin, you'll be the next speaker.
7 Okay, Alan; your testimony, please.
8 MR. FRANKLIN: Hi. Thanks for this opportunity.
9 I'd much rather take this opportunity to express my
10 thoughts than to set up in a tree 200 feet in the air.
11 But to each his own.
12 My name is Alan Franklin. I am 40 years old, and
13 outside of one year, I've lived in Scotia all my life. So
14 I know what it is like to have lived and worked for PL
15 before Maxxam took it over and what it's been like since.
16 Just a little bit about myself to -- that makes me
17 feel that what I have to say today carries some weight of
18 authority and sincerity as opposed to maybe somebody
19 that's never been off the concrete in Oakland.
20 As a boy growing up in Scotia I was involved in the
21 Boy Scouts of America for ten years, in which I worked my
22 way up to the rank of Eagle Scout. I have been going
23 fishing and hunting, skin diving, since I was old enough
24 to keep up with my dad.
25 Besides working for Pacific Lumber Company, I rent
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1 mountain pasture in southern Humboldt for the purpose of
2 cattle ranching. And I am very proud of my Humboldt
3 native American ancestry. I truly have a great respect
4 for the land and its inhabitants and a better-than-average
5 education on what it takes to be a good steward of the
6 land.
7 So now the way I feel about the way things have been
8 going on around here for the last few years is that on one
9 hand you have a company that's went away from its
10 Sustained Yield Plan, and then on the other hand you have
11 environmentalists that truly want to run Maxxam out of
12 Humboldt County. And for a long time I've just been, you
13 know, minding my business and hoping for some common
14 ground; and now with this Habitat Conservation Plan, we
15 finally have it. And it will clearly protect plants and
16 wildlife and the land; and, just as importantly, it will
17 protect jobs. So I urge you to support and approve this
18 plan.
19 Thank you.
20 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Alan.
21 Before Robin speaks, Rodney Sanderson.
22 Rodney, you'll be after Robin.
23 Robin, your testimony.
24 MR. ARKLEY: Yeah. My name is Robin Arkley. I'm 75
25 years old. I've lived in Arcata for 50 years. I've owned
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1 sawmills both here and other places, I've owned
2 timberlands and logged, so I believe I have a fair working
3 knowledge of the problems these plans encounter.
4 We know the role of PALCO is to provide zealous
5 stewardship and management of their timber resources, with
6 the key to their success being managed from the bottom up,
7 not from the boardroom down. I believe the efforts on the
8 part of PALCO are a hundred percent sincere, and hopefully
9 will free PALCO from the turmoil of the past and the
10 constant whipsawing they've been subjected to. This will
11 benefit the employees, the public and the company.
12 Thank you.
13 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Robin.
14 Before Rodney speaks, Dale Welch.
15 Dale, you'll be after Rodney.
16 MR. SANDERSON: My name is Rodney Sanderson,
17 S-A-N-D-E-R-S-O-N. I'm a native of Humboldt County. I
18 was born in Scotia in 1950. I have worked at Pacific
19 Lumber Company for 25 years. I've also served as pastor
20 of the Rio Dell Baptist Church in Rio Dell for the past
21 seven years. So I feel my history as native son and PALCO
22 employee and a minister to our small congregation in Rio
23 Dell gives me a unique insight into the enormous cultural,
24 economic and sociological effect that your decision to
25 approve or disapprove the Headwaters Forest acquisition
00023
1 proposal will produce.
2 Even though the good science has been used to
3 formulate these plans so that they could be approved on
4 their scientific excellence alone, I feel that on their
5 scientific excellence alone they should be approved.
6 The heart-wrenching, employment-ending blight that
7 disapproval of these plans will cause in my town and
8 county far outweighs any protests or any demands for
9 concessions that will never be enough anyway. Disapproval
10 of these plans will have a long-lasting lethal effect upon
11 the very social fabric of our hometowns. Our homes, my
12 wife, my children and my grandchildren.
13 As a PALCO employee, I've closely monitored the
14 progress of this bitter struggle between our company and
15 the preservationists. I call them preservationists
16 because we are the environmentalists. I am an
17 environmentalist. If we were not responsible stewards of
18 our private timberlands, we would have been out of
19 business many years ago. Instead, we have gone about
20 harvesting and replanting our renewable resource for 130
21 years.
22 Now, there's already some 200,000 acres of redwoods
23 preserved in national and state parks that are there to be
24 enjoyed and never to be cut. This fact doesn't seem to
25 make as much news as does saving last old-growth forests
00024
1 in private ownership. These plans are conservative; they
2 provide for the critical balance between proper use of our
3 timberland and minimal impact upon endangered species. I
4 am an endangered species.
5 PRESIDING OFFICER: I need your summation.
6 MR. SANDERSON: Yes, sir.
7 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you.
8 MR. SANDERSON: Yes, sir.
9 As a native son, I've seen my community of hard-
10 working, mostly blue-collar families decline from a sense
11 of unity where strong families and generational bonding --
12 that it was people first and children first -- to a
13 polarized, mean-spirited region where the attitude that
14 humans are only parasites to nature, and that by any means
15 "it must be earth first" is being fostered no matter what
16 the cost.
17 Great protest is being made about some supposed evil
18 corporate entities to save indigenous species. I am an
19 indigenous species. As a minister I see the threat to
20 those in Rio Dell and Scotia in this area that are on the
21 fringe of poverty. We know that all things work together
22 for good, to them that love God and are called according
23 to his purpose; but, at the same time, great havoc in
24 homes and the propensity for spousal abuse and child abuse
25 need not be fueled by unnecessary economic trauma that
00025
1 will be due to your negative ruling on this proposal.
2 I've invested my life in this area historically,
3 economically and spiritually; so I urge you to lawfully
4 consider the cast -- really bad -- catastrophic, there you
5 have it -- negative impact on myself and mine, my children
6 and my grandchildren.
7 Gentlemen, please accept this as submitted, as we
8 have written them, the HCP and the SYP.
9 Thank you.
10 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Rodney.
11 Colum Coyne will be after Dale.
12 Dale, your testimony.
13 MR. WELCH: Thank you.
14 Good morning. My name is Dale Welch, and I'm here
15 this morning to urge this panel to accept the HCP and SYP
16 plans as submitted by the Pacific Lumber Company.
17 I have lived in Humboldt County since 1953 and
18 worked at PALCO since 1971. I am an assistant shipping
19 foreman. My employment at PALCO has allowed me to raise
20 and support my family and to be a productive, contributing
21 member of our local community.
22 The Pacific Lumber Company has had a long and varied
23 history in Humboldt County. Currently they are the
24 largest private employer in our area. For this to
25 continue, however, the Headwaters Agreement Habitat
00026
1 Conservation Plan and Sustained Yield Plan must be
2 approved as proposed. These plans represent a
3 comprehensive, workable compromise that has been reviewed
4 and studied by all the governmental agencies influencing
5 the resolution of this issue.
6 The funding has been approved for this agreement
7 after years of political and bureaucratic jockeying.
8 During this time PALCO has had a great deal of difficulty
9 continuing to operate on a steady, reliable basis. Much
10 to our credit, however, PALCO and its employees have made
11 concessions that have enabled our operations to carry on.
12 As time progresses, however, PALCO's options are becoming
13 more and more limited, with the definite possibility of
14 widespread layoffs and mill closures.
15 Many people are familiar with the provision of the
16 Headwaters Agreement and the HCP/SYP plans, have been led
17 to believe by so-called environmental groups that the only
18 workable solution to these issues is a nearly complete
19 cessation of all of PALCO's timber operations. That is
20 not the case.
21 If these individuals were really familiar with the
22 comprehensive provision of these plans, they cannot
23 honestly be -- continue to be opposed to PALCO's position.
24 Much time and effort and money has been spent on these
25 studies, and it appears that the process leading to their
00027
1 approval is almost finished.
2 I urge you, for the continued economic health of our
3 community and our way of life, to accept them as submitted
4 and allow the Pacific Lumber Company to continue to
5 operate and make history into the twenty-first century and
6 beyond.
7 Thank you.
8 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Dale.
9 After Colum, John -- John Sneed will be the next
10 speaker after Colum.
11 Your testimony?
12 MR. COYNE: Mr. Halstead, my name is Colum Coyne. I
13 was a third-generation PALCO shareholder until 1985, when
14 PALCO was raided by the Maxxam Corporation and we were
15 forced to sell.
16 I'm also president of the Mattole Salmon Group.
17 Since 1980, the Mattole Salmon Group has been working with
18 our native-run king and coho salmon. We've seen small
19 increases in numbers of adult-returning fish since 1990.
20 This plan, if fully implemented, will wipe out the salmon
21 of the Mattole.
22 I remember when people would point to PALCO and say,
23 "What a good company. They grow more than they cut. They
24 take care of their workers. They take care of their
25 land." PALCO was a tangible and respected member of this
00028
1 community. It's not like that anymore. Now that Maxxam
2 is in charge, greed and speed are the words of the day.
3 Maxxam's Habitat Conservation Plan is a bad idea
4 because it robs the economies of Humboldt County and
5 California. The HCP ruins any chance we have of restoring
6 a viable salmon fishery to Northern California.
7 We used to have 40,000 people employed in the salmon
8 industry on the North Coast. We have a fraction of that
9 now. We could have that again, but only if we take care
10 of what we have left. If we nurture and respect the last
11 places where crucial cold water seeps the sustained coho
12 and other salmonids, we have hope. If we give in to the
13 quick-buck mentality, our entire local economy will
14 collapse.
15 Our once-great salmon industry is on its last legs
16 already due to the cumulative impact of irresponsible
17 logging in the watersheds of our spawning streams. Our
18 tourist industry is another cash cow that Maxxam is trying
19 to slaughter. If the view sheds are shattered and the
20 rivers are choked with silt and debris, there will be no
21 free-spending sport fishermen or other outdoor enthusiasts
22 pumping our economy.
23 After the Maxxam gets to cut for a few years,
24 they'll have to lay off their workers. They will have
25 created a bust to go with their boom. None of this is
00029
1 necessary. With proper land management, we can have a
2 win-win-win situation: a healthy fishery, viable tourism,
3 and a sensible timber industry.
4 Another reason the HCP is no good is that it
5 emasculates the Endangered Species Act. The ESA is a
6 decent law given to us by that great conservationist,
7 Richard Nixon. We still have bald eagles and gray whales
8 because of the ESA. The HCP will allow the killing of
9 many of our North Coast endangered species: tailed frogs,
10 the southern torrent salamander, and the coho salmon will
11 be up for Maxxam's take.
12 PRESIDING OFFICER: Colum, I need your summation.
13 MR. COYNE: I'm just about done.
14 These aquatic animals need adequate refugia, for
15 survival. The HCP does not address this. Do not override
16 the ESA.
17 There are many other reasons that the HCP should be
18 denied. I will touch on a few.
19 There's no real plan for avoiding mass wasting.
20 Even in areas listed in the HCP as extreme landslide-
21 hazard areas are slated for clearcut. This makes no
22 sense, and there are no repercussions for the company when
23 extensive mass wasting does occur. Mass wasting kills
24 salmon and communities. Ask Stafford.
25 Maxxam cannot be trusted. We need monitoring of
00030
1 Maxxam's operations; we need monitoring of Maxxam's
2 science. This monitoring must be peer-reviewed, and the
3 public must be involved. The HCP and SYP should N-O-T be
4 approved.
5 These plans have sounded the death knell for the
6 fishing and tourist industries, and it will change
7 the timber business on the North Coast forever. In the
8 long run, these sick and greedy plans will steal good
9 jobs, excellent quality of life, and untold millions of
10 dollars from future generations of Californians.
11 Sincerely, Colum Coyne.
12 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Colum.
13 MR. SNEED: My name is John Sneed, S-N-E-E-D. I'm a
14 resident of Humboldt County and have been involved in the
15 preservation of Humboldt for about 30 years. The conflict
16 over the Headwaters Forest itself has been brewing for
17 over ten years. Numerous initiatives and legislative
18 proposals have been put forward over the years but have
19 failed passage of ill-conceived proposals or due to a lack
20 of support in the public or from the -- by the public or
21 the intervening agencies.
22 The negotiations between the Pacific Lumber Company
23 and the state and federal agencies have resulted in the
24 most viable and reasonable solution to the conflict. The
25 battle over the Headwaters Forest has created a
00031
1 divisive atmosphere in the community, pitting those
2 citizens that embrace reasonable management and
3 utilization of our natural resources against those that
4 want to leave man out of the forest.
5 I urge you to accept and approve the current SYP and
6 HCP proposals as described under Alternative 2 of the EIR.
7 As a registered professional forester, I recognize the
8 need for protecting species and habitat, but I also
9 recognize the need to provide for society's demands for
10 renewable forest products. The Sustained Yield Plan
11 requires that the company assure that it will continue to
12 manage lands into the future to provide for the continued
13 production of the wood products we all use, while also
14 ensuring protection of wildlife, water quality and other
15 forest resources. This means continued employment for the
16 community and the ability of the local government to
17 provide services to its citizens with the taxes generated
18 from the sustainable harvest of forest products.
19 The Habitat Conservation Plan is based upon the best
20 available science and current range of knowledge about the
21 wildlife inhabiting PL's ownership. This base of
22 information for the HCP has been developed with the input
23 of and consensus of the most reknown experts in their
24 appointed fields, and requirements in the plan will be
25 monitored by agencies for compliance with rigorous
00032
1 provisions in the plan. This is the most comprehensive
2 plan ever developed for private timberlands in the country
3 and the result of arduous discussion and negotiation
4 resulting in bipartisan support, including the agencies
5 involved.
6 The local community has benefitted from the Pacific
7 Lumber Company's contributions over the years. During
8 1997 alone, PL paid out over $123 million to its
9 employees, contractors, and payments in taxes. These
10 dollars also roll over to pay other people in the support
11 industries in the local communities. The Pacific Lumber
12 Company also pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to
13 local charities and scholarships to local college-bound
14 students each year.
15 The positive economic and social consequences of an
16 approved SYP and HCP cannot be overemphasized. This is a
17 good thing for the local communities and the continued
18 protection of our natural resources.
19 PRESIDING OFFICER: I need your conclusion, John.
20 MR. SNEED: It would be a travesty to my family, the
21 local community and the forest not to approve Alternative
22 2 as proposed in the EIR for the Headwaters Forest.
23 Thank you.
24 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, John.
25 Dan. Dan Broyles?
00033
1 Dan, you will give testimony after Bruce.
2 Bruce, your testimony.
3 MR. CHAPMAN: Thank you. My name is Bruce Chapman,
4 C-H-A-P-M-A-N.
5 I have a 24-year professional work history in the
6 forest-products industry of Northern California.
7 Approximately half these years have been dedicated to
8 Humboldt County, where I currently reside. My purpose
9 here is to put into the public hearing record my adamant
10 support for the HCP put forward by the Pacific Lumber
11 Company. I do this as a registered professional forester,
12 as a concerned parent and taxpayer in this county, and as
13 an employee of the Pacific Lumber Company.
14 My support for this document stems directly from
15 having knowledge of and experience with the processes
16 involved in establishing the where, what, how and why such
17 manifesto is created. The HCP was developed with
18 renowned, experienced, forward-thinking scientific minds.
19 These people are dedicated professionals of academia and
20 are individually and collectively dedicated to studying,
21 learning, discovering solutions relating to scientific
22 issues associated with HCP processes.
23 Nature is a dynamic process. When nature presents
24 nuances, the HCP is designed to incorporate and
25 scientifically account for changes as they occur. The
00034
1 HCP's intent is to be site-specific and directly relate to
2 scienced-based decisions made by those qualified to do so.
3 What I know this HCP is not, it is not a document
4 developed from static, closed minds making attempts to
5 blend hocus-pocus, anecdotal opinions with politics to
6 carve out cookie-cutter concepts and solutions to complex
7 issues. The HCP not only exhibits a long-term dynamic
8 management plan for properties and ecosystems of one
9 owner; it may also become a long-term management plan for
10 the Humboldt County economy and potential template for the
11 forest-products industry as a whole in Humboldt County and
12 perhaps elsewhere.
13 The forest-products industry in Humboldt for decades
14 has achieved significant scientific advances in forest
15 resource management and related fields through research
16 and dedication to the profession. Because of individual
17 and collective achievements by those of us fortunate
18 enough to be associated with this mode of livelihood, we
19 know that the resources we deal with on a daily basis will
20 be positively enhanced and sustained for all time.
21 Common sense dictates it would be foolish to think
22 or do otherwise. If one of us does think in such a
23 close-minded fashion, the outcome will be a deleterious
24 and negative impact to us as individuals and to the
25 communities we live and work in. This is not what the HCP
00035
1 is about or what it represents.
2 PRESIDING OFFICER: I need your conclusion.
3 MR. CHAPMAN: Thank you.
4 Being Humboldt County's primary economic employer,
5 the company is scientifically and economically -- stream
6 of forest products. And in doing so, as a stand-alone
7 company and in tandem with other forest-products-related
8 companies of Humboldt County that are involved in the HCP
9 process, the Pacific Lumber Company has without a doubt
10 dedicated itself to the natural resources we work and live
11 with, to the supporting people of our communities, and to
12 the economic well being of our county.
13 Thank you very much.
14 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Bruce.
15 The court reporter has asked if you're going to be
16 reading your statement, slow down. Your natural tendency
17 is to run a little fast, and it's hard to get all of the
18 information down.
19 After Dan, Charles Fuentes.
20 Charles, you'll be the next speaker, then.
21 Dan, your testimony, please.
22 MR. BROYLES: Good morning. My name is Dan Broyles,
23 B-R-O-Y-L-E-S, and I was born and raised in Humboldt
24 County. I have a wife and kids and I'm buying a home. My
25 plans are to stay right here.
00036
1 I have been a mill worker for 24 years, and almost
2 all the money I have earned in the lumber industry has
3 been spent right here in Humboldt County, therefore being
4 a part of the economic balance of this county. If this
5 plan fails to pass, I wind up unemployed. I will no
6 longer be a participating part of this economic balance of
7 this county. I am only one man. We are only one family
8 of four. There are many families of four participating in
9 Humboldt County's economic balance who also depend on the
10 lumber industry for their economic balance.
11 Without the lumber industry in Humboldt, there is no
12 economy. Without economic balance, there will be no
13 Humboldt. Humboldt is the lumber industry, and the lumber
14 industry makes up Humboldt County.
15 Thank you.
16 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Dan.
17 After Charles will be Bruce Beck.
18 Charles?
19 MR. FUENTES: Good morning. We're here to talk
20 about the Headwaters Agreement and the Habitat
21 Conservation Plan, and I thank you for the opportunity to
22 speak.
23 My name is Charles Fuentes, F-U-E-N-T-E-S. I'm
24 employed by the Pacific Lumber Company, and I'm here to
25 speak in favor of the Headwaters Agreement and the HCP.
00037
1 I moved to Humboldt County from Arizona in 1973. I
2 was 23 years old then and had many of the same concerns
3 about the conservation of our timberlands as many of the
4 people in this room. I still have the same concerns
5 today. I have to. I have an 11-year-old daughter, and
6 the issues we discuss here today directly affect our
7 future.
8 If the Headwaters Agreement and the HCP is not
9 accepted, I don't believe my family has a future in this
10 community. Without responsible decisions being made here
11 today, people throughout Humboldt County will have their
12 lives adversely changed. The negative effects of the loss
13 of timber-related jobs will not only harm the men and
14 women that work within the industry but the rest of the
15 population as well.
16 Without these jobs, who will replace the people
17 shopping at the local grocery stores? Who's going to
18 employ the people picking up their new cars at the auto
19 dealership? Where are the tax dollars going to come from
20 to maintain our schools and highways?
21 The HCP is the result of a well-planned scientific
22 research designed to guarantee a future for both the
23 people who live and work in this area and the natural
24 habitat as well. Great efforts by both the Pacific Lumber
25 Company and those opposing the Headwaters Agreement HCP
00038
1 have been made to ensure the integrity of the forest and
2 the wildlife within. The same effort must be devoted to
3 protecting our jobs and therefore the future of the
4 families of this entire community, as the acceptance or
5 refusal of this plan will greatly affect each and everyone
6 in this county.
7 To amplify my point -- you're going to like this --
8 I am now exhibiting a picture of a spotted owl. A great
9 deal of research has gone towards the preservation of this
10 animal while planning the HCP.
11 Okay. Where am I?
12 Next I show you a picture of the coho salmon.
13 Tremendous concern has also been given to this species of
14 fish.
15 I unfortunately do not have a picture of the marbled
16 murrelet, chinook salmon, steelhead, and cutthroat trout,
17 all of which are primary focus points of the HCP.
18 I got you.
19 PRESIDING OFFICER: I need your summation, Charles.
20 MR. FUENTES: I got you.
21 What I do have is a school class picture. I show
22 you this and ask you that these kids from a local school
23 be given the same opportunity to continue to prosper here
24 in this community, as this is their natural habitat as
25 well.
00039
1 Thanks for your time.
2 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Charles.
3 Roger Sanderson? Roger, you'll be after Bruce.
4 Bruce, your testimony.
5 MR. BECK: My name is Bruce Beck, and I'm a
6 registered professional forester. I have worked for the
7 Pacific Lumber Company almost 20 years. I have lived in
8 Humboldt County approximately 22 years. In addition, I am
9 married and have a 13-year-old daughter.
10 It is my understanding that the Habitat Conservation
11 Plan specifically provides for commercial operations and/
12 or developments so long as species and sufficient habitats
13 are protected. Furthermore, it is also my understanding
14 that by agreeing to a Sustained Yield Plan, a company
15 commits it won't cut more timber than it grows.
16 The fact is, while I fully support protecting
17 species and habitat, my company needs predictable and
18 dependable sources of timber to run our sawmills.
19 Therefore, I am here to speak in favor of the Headwaters
20 Agreement and, in particular, the HCP and SYP that has
21 been proposed for all of PALCO's forestlands.
22 PALCO's HCP is the most comprehensive ever developed
23 for privately owned forestlands in the United States.
24 While the impetus for this effort is habitat conservation,
25 species protection and sustainable forestry, the economic
00040
1 vitality of a region is at stake and must have an equal
2 place at the table.
3 Employing more than 1500 people directly, PALCO is
4 by far the largest private employer in Humboldt County.
5 It generates more than $170 million of economic activity
6 annually, and indirectly provides thousands of other jobs
7 in such areas as construction trades, home building and
8 retailing. PALCO pays millions of dollars in yield taxes,
9 and 80 percent goes directly to schools and roads.
10 The winners in all of this are the forest that will
11 be saved, the fish and wildlife that will be protected,
12 and the jobs that will be preserved, and the
13 Constitutional property rights that will be upheld.
14 I am not a scientist, but I'm a working RPF. I am
15 convinced because of the extensive involvement of those
16 who are scientists that this plan not only is sound, it is
17 conservative; and it is our last chance to save the
18 Headwaters and other lands we consider vital to preserve.
19 There simply won't be another chance. It would be a
20 tragedy beyond belief to miss this opportunity. Therefore,
21 I ask all concerned to get on with the task to finalize
22 the plans that are before you. Please recognize the
23 economic impacts that this plan has on me, family, my
24 company and my community. It is the key to my economic
25 future.
00041
1 Thank you.
2 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Bruce.
3 John Lynott will be after Roger.
4 Roger, your testimony.
5 MR. SANDERSON: Good morning. My name is Roger
6 Sanderson, S-A-N-D-E-R-S-O-N. I'm an employee of the
7 Pacific Lumber Company and very proud of it.
8 I'm here today to defend a way of life for many
9 families. In my six years as an employee of PALCO, I've
10 been given an opportunity to ply my skills and make a
11 living, a very good living, at that. The Pacific Lumber
12 Company has been very different from other companies that
13 I have worked for; for instance, in the way PALCO looks
14 out for its employees.
15 I see PALCO keep its employees working when
16 moratoriums have been placed on Timber Harvest Plans.
17 Other timber companies would have curtailed operations and
18 laid off many of its work force. When work in the woods
19 is slowed because of winter, those loggers are given the
20 opportunity to work in the mill to keep their check coming
21 in and their bills paid.
22 PALCO provides many jobs in the area through direct
23 employment in one of its operations or other jobs related
24 to the timber industry. In short, PALCO is a vital part
25 of our community and its health and welfare.
00042
1 As I said before, I'm proud to be a PALCO employee.
2 I am also a Christian and very proud of that. I'm a
3 minister of music and deacon at the Rio Dell Baptist
4 Church; and as I was contemplating what to say at these
5 proceedings, a scripture kept coming to mind.
6 You may be thinking what does the Bible have to do
7 with this situation? Well, if you reach into your pocket
8 and pull out a coin or a bill, you'll see that each one
9 has been boldly printed or stamped with "In God We Trust."
10 Here, the very thing that is dearest to most American
11 hearts, money, have the statement about trust in God on
12 it. In fact, the very foundation of our great country is
13 built upon has its roots and principles found in the
14 Bible, the word of God.
15 So what does God and the scriptures got to do this
16 these proceedings? Everything. The scripture that keeps
17 coming to mind is Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 28. Let me
18 read it to you:
19 "And God blessed them; and God said unto them, "Be
20 fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and
21 subdue it."
22 God is saying --
23 PRESIDING OFFICER: Roger, a little bit slower on
24 the reading, but also I need your summation.
25 MR. SANDERSON: God is saying to care for the earth
00043
1 as a gardener cares for his garden, but to also utilize
2 its resources. Here we see God's Sustained Yield Plan.
3 What an awesome responsibility God has given us.
4 Now through ignorance and greed, man has sometimes
5 raped and destroyed the land and its resources. In the
6 past the timber industry has been no exception. But how
7 long will we have to pay for past mistakes? It's time for
8 the focus to be taken from the past and to be put into the
9 modern timber practices and forest management techniques
10 proposed in PL's HCP and SYP. Here highly skilled
11 foresters and management techniques, skilled foresters and
12 biologists have produced effective plans for effective
13 sustained yield and habitat conservation.
14 I believe PALCO's Sustained Yield Plan and Habitat
15 Conservation Plan are the most accomplished and
16 comprehensive ever devised. I support the Headwaters
17 Agreement, the Habitat Conservation Plan and Sustained
18 Yield Plan; and I encourage you to do the same.
19 Thank you.
20 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Roger.
21 John Lynott. And after John, Dennis Schlotzhauer.
22 John?
23 MR. LYNOTT: Good morning. My name is John Lynott,
24 L-Y-N-O-T-T. I'm an employee of Scotia Pacific Company, a
25 Humboldt State University graduate in Forestry. I'm a
00044
1 forestry technician. I've lived here in Humboldt and
2 Mendocino County most of my life.
3 I wish to express my support for the HCP, both as a
4 means of providing habitat for forest species and to end
5 long-term divisive conflict here on the North Coast. I
6 understand that some are asking for wider streamside zones
7 as per the FEMAT recommendations. I submit that
8 ever-widening watercourse and lake protection zones are
9 not the answer to salmon restoration. There are a number
10 of other factors to consider, and these include
11 residential development within watercourse zones,
12 environmental and biological factors in the estuaries,
13 water diversion, international fishing, and environmental
14 factors out in the ocean. These are conditions that must
15 be factored into the complex equation of aquatic habitat.
16 Common sense and the literature bear this out.
17 I work in the woods and am well aware, probably more
18 than most, of how much habitat is provided in the
19 watercourse zones and elsewhere under this proposed
20 agreement. A hundred seventy foot on either side of a
21 Class I fish-bearing creek and a hundred foot on
22 either side of other streams that provide aquatic habitat
23 for nonfish species are far beyond any regs anywhere.
24 Based on the retention standards in these zones, many of
25 these watercourse and lake protection zones are entirely
00045
1 no-cut areas.
2 The present command and control system of
3 enforcing the Endangered Species Act is not working.
4 Consultation on every project, while well meaning, is
5 uneven, and arbitrary, at best. In addition, we all enjoy
6 the benefits of diversity while the cost is borne by a
7 disproportionate few.
8 All species, threatened and otherwise, need habitat;
9 and they can't differentiate between public and private
10 lands. However, the present system is a disincentive for
11 landowners, and in turn biodiversity.
12 I urge you to move forward and approve this document
13 as is. No company can give up 60 percent of its assets
14 and expect to remain in business. Please consider my
15 remarks on streamside zones and the socioeconomic impacts
16 when you make your final decision.
17 Thank you.
18 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, John.
19 After Dennis will be Nick. Nick Bolt, please.
20 Dennis, your testimony.
21 MR. SCHLOTZHAUER: Good morning. My name is Dennis
22 Schlotzhauer. My name is spelled S-C-H-L-O-T-Z-H-A-U-E-R.
23 I would like to first of all say that I support the
24 Headwaters Forest Agreement, the HCP and the SYP as they
25 are written. I would also like to bring up a point about
00046
1 Mr. Coyne's comments. Obviously, he hasn't read the plan
2 or the HCP. Because if this is a quick buck, ten years is
3 a pretty quick buck, if you ask me. This plan has been
4 many, many years in the process.
5 I'd also like to point out that's -- the statements
6 were nothing new. They've been the same for ten years.
7 They get up here, they say what they don't like, but they
8 give no solutions. It's real easy to get up here and
9 whine about every little detail that doesn't fit their
10 agenda a hundred percent; but once again, zero solutions,
11 zero compromise. Nothing's changed.
12 I was here at the last hearing as well as all the
13 hearings, and I was told by the environmental propaganda
14 center in Garberville that my speech was nothing but
15 emotional rhetoric. Well, I looked up "emotional
16 rhetoric" in the dictionary, and the definition by Webster
17 is language that is showy, elaborate, but largely empty of
18 clear ideas or sincere emotion.
19 I would hate to think that feeding my family,
20 putting a roof over my kid's head, and providing a good
21 education for them falls under this definition. I would
22 like to think that these are my rights under the
23 Constitution rather than emotional rhetoric.
24 I'd like to give you an analogy today of the
25 Headwaters Forest Agreement and these hearings. This is a
00047
1 perfect analogy of our recent elections, which was a
2 perfect example of propaganda. The special-interest
3 groups went after the uneducated vote and got it with
4 propaganda. Don't let all the propaganda that you're
5 going to hear today cloud your view of the facts.
6 PRESIDING OFFICER: I need your conclusion, Dennis.
7 MR. SCHLOTZHAUER: Okay.
8 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you.
9 MR. SCHLOTZHAUER: I am thoroughly convinced that
10 you will approve this plan based on the facts. But if
11 you're worried for the opposition's future, rest assured;
12 they will find something else and/or another cause to
13 whine about. This is what they do, and they're good at
14 it.
15 There are two futures here as I see it: People
16 working, paying taxes and contributing to a local economy
17 for the better of all; or people without good-paying jobs
18 and people who suck the life out of the system and thrive
19 off others misfortune. I want to be part of the first
20 example. How about you?
21 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, John.
22 After Nick it will be John. John Kennon.
23 Nick, your testimony, please.
24 MR. BOLT: Bolt, B-O-L-T.
25 I'm representing Manell and Sherman. That's an
00048
1 industrial supply.
2 PRESIDING OFFICER: Nick, a little closer to the
3 microphone.
4 Thank you.
5 MR. BOLT: I'm representing Manell and Sherman, an
6 industrial supply house locally here. We've been in
7 business since 1915. We're self-employed, employee-owned.
8 We're in it for the long-term, and on that aspect we
9 support the Pacific Lumber's proposals.
10 On the private end of it, as a private timber owner
11 and landowner, I'm involved in the logging on a yearly
12 basis and a sustained yield. I understand these
13 practices, and I strongly support and urge that you guys
14 support this plan.
15 Thank you.
16 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Nick.
17 After John it will be Rhett Imperiale.
18 Okay, John. Your testimony, please.
19 MR. KENNON: Good morning. My name's John Kennon.
20 That's K-E-N-N-O-N. And in just a few short months I'll
21 be a 38-year employee of Pacific Lumber Company. And I'm
22 here this morning because I'm worried about my job. And
23 I'm representing myself, even though I have spent all
24 these years with the company.
25 Our industry, the timber industry, is one of the
00049
1 most heavily regulated industries in California, and if
2 these new regulations and restrictions that are being
3 asked for by the environmental groups are enacted, I
4 believe that our company will be regulated right out of
5 business. The effect of the economy of Humboldt County
6 and myself, I think, will be devastating. I would stand a
7 good chance of becoming a liability to the state and
8 county welfare programs, and I don't want that to happen.
9 As far as the county goes, the loss of tax dollars,
10 wage dollars, business dollars will be far reaching, much
11 further reaching than most people believe. I think the
12 county would again have trouble balancing their budget,
13 schools will receive less money, and many small businesses
14 wouldn't survive.
15 I personally talked to the employees of two small
16 local businesses, and they've all said that they can tell
17 immediately when we curtail our hours or limit the number
18 of days that we work in our operation. Their business
19 slows down, with less people coming in to buy their
20 products.
21 The most common way for the environmental groups to
22 attack not only our industry but all corporate businesses
23 seems to be through the Endangered Species Act. I have a
24 short quote here from the Greenpeace cofounder and forest
25 ecologist Dr. Patrick Moore that he made when he appeared
00050
1 before more than a hundred members of Congress and their
2 staff recently. He explained that he had become
3 disillusioned by the extremism and intolerance of the
4 environmental movement, which led him to sever
5 connections with the organization that he had helped to
6 create.
7 Dr. Moore debunked many myths concerning
8 clearcutting and endangered species. He said, and I
9 quote, "To the best of our knowledge, not a single species
10 has become extinct in North America due to forestry. We
11 should use more wood, not less, rather than the
12 nonrenewable alternatives such as steel, cement and
13 plastic that require more energy to produce," the end of
14 quote. He sounds like a sensible environmentalist to me.
15 PRESIDING OFFICER: John, I need your summary.
16 MR. KENNON: What I'm asking you to do is take a
17 reasonable approach -- take good science, proven
18 scientific facts, and apply them to these regulations --
19 and then approve the Headwaters plan and the Habitat
20 Conservation Plan so that we can continue -- continue to
21 contribute to our communities and to Humboldt County.
22 Thank you.
23 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, John.
24 After Rhett will be Mark. It will be Mark Mueller
25 then.
00051
1 Okay. Rhett, your testimony.
2 MR. IMPERIALE: Good morning. My name is Rhett
3 Imperiale. It's R-H-E-T-T I-M-P-E-R-I-A-L-E.
4 I'm a forestry technician. I have lived in Humboldt
5 County for 30 years. Upon earning a bachelor's degree in
6 1989, and after being honorably discharged from the United
7 States Army, I was hired by the Pacific Lumber Company,
8 where I now have worked for nearly seven years. I am
9 married and have two children.
10 It is clearly evident to both the scientific
11 community and to the reasonable and prudent members of our
12 society that the Headwaters Agreement, the HCP and the SYP
13 will protect species and habitat while providing a
14 predictable and dependable source of timber to supply to
15 our company's sawmills. The environmental benefits of
16 this agreement are so obvious that I feel compelled to
17 discuss the not-so-obvious human element in relationship
18 to its success or failure.
19 It will likely be stated numerous times that the
20 Pacific Lumber Company is the largest private employer in
21 the county and that it pays millions of dollars in taxes
22 annually. However, these figures have a story behind them
23 in the form of employees and their lives. This can best
24 be understood if I use a story of my life as an example.
25 My job with PALCO, like all jobs, could be described
00052
1 as a tradeoff, where I am given money and benefits in
2 return for my labor. I then use the money to pay bills,
3 such as house, car payments and buy groceries. It is a
4 simple economic cycle, where everyone from the government
5 down to the farmer benefits from my having a job and
6 spending the money I make throughout the community.
7 The economic contributions made by the Pacific
8 Lumber Company to this county extend much farther than
9 most understand. In fact, my father, who owns a trucking
10 company, is a vendor for Pacific Lumber. He depends upon
11 its timber, as do his employees. My mother, who works for
12 Renner Petroleum, providing fuel and many other products
13 to PALCO, depends upon its timber. My sister, who owns a
14 mortgage company which services hundreds of PALCO employee
15 home loans depends upon its timber. My father's father is
16 successfully retired from the timber industry. My
17 mother's father is a certified public accountant who
18 services timber-related businesses, depends upon its
19 timber. My wife's father, a third-generation, 30-year
20 employee of PALCO, depends upon its timber. All of my
21 immediate family and friends depend both directly and
22 indirectly upon the financial viability of the Pacific
23 Lumber Company.
24 I got you.
25 The economic importance of this company cannot be
00053
1 overemphasized. I have been allowed three minutes to
2 explain what couldn't be fully justified in less than 30
3 days of testimony. I have just described in real terms
4 how my life's affected by Pacific Lumber Company. The
5 other 1,500 employees have similar, if not identical,
6 stories regarding the importance of this great company in
7 their lives.
8 I believe, as the obvious scientific and economic
9 reasons for the necessary approval of the current
10 Headwaters Agreement, this particular agreement
11 illustrates how protecting the environment does not
12 simultaneously result in a loss of honorable jobs within
13 an area already deficient of diversity and opportunity.
14 Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to speak
15 in support of this historical agreement.
16 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Rhett.
17 After Mark, it will be Richard Robbins.
18 Mark, your testimony, please.
19 MR. MUELLER: Hello. My name is Mark Mueller. My
20 last name is spelled M-U-E-L-L-E-R.
21 Here we are again begging the mercy of some
22 regulatory agency that was set up to defend monied
23 interests to please uphold our environmental laws. While
24 those who are tired of Maxxam Corporation's disregard for
25 the forest are taking time -- we are taking time from our
00054
1 livelihoods, Maxxam pays employees to be at these hearings
2 today.
3 In the first hundred years of United States history
4 corporations we were dissolved -- corporations were
5 dissolved when they were found to break the law. Now,
6 when Maxxam Corporation illegally logs millions of dollars
7 of redwoods in a riparian zone, hauls them out, then turns
8 itself in two weeks later, Maxxam corporation gets to keep
9 the logs and gets a couple-of-grand tax-deductible fine.
10 As many other speakers have and will say, hopefully
11 in detail, this HCP is heavily flawed. To think Maxxam
12 Corporation will follow this HCP for 50 years, let alone
13 one year, is incomprehensible. This HCP is no more than a
14 way to further isolate Maxxam Corporation from the laws of
15 this state and country and hence from the authority
16 through democracy of the citizens.
17 Thank you.
18 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Mark.
19 After Richard Robbins it will be Stan Johnson.
20 MR. ROBBINS: Good morning. My name is Richard
21 Robbins, R-O-B-B-I-N-S.
22 I've lived in Humboldt County for over 40 years. I
23 was raised in Carlotta, where my parents owned and
24 operated a country store. I was raised with the ideals of
25 family, faith in God, work, respect, responsibility,
00055
1 fairness, service, respect for property and for the law.
2 My wife and I spent over 20 years raising our family in
3 Fortuna. We've tried to raise our family with the same
4 ideals, consistency and stability that we were blessed.
5 I have been employed for over 23 years by the
6 Pacific Lumber Company, where I currently am the director
7 of information systems. In my computer-related
8 profession, it is not uncommon for a company to experience
9 large turnover. I've enjoyed a stable atmosphere of a
10 company that's been in business for over a century and
11 wants to continue.
12 Thirteen years ago, when Pacific Lumber was acquired
13 by Maxxam and outsiders predicted doom, I saw our company
14 commit to the long-term. I saw Pacific Lumber expand its
15 ability to make better use of its resources. And, as a
16 result, I chose to stay with our company and our
17 community.
18 I've seen similar commitments with my staff, as
19 well. In today's business environment, where
20 computer-related jobs turn over in one to two years, my
21 staff seniority ranges from eight years to thirty years.
22 I've seen our company's commitment to doing things better.
23 I've seen our forestry department grow from three
24 foresters to over 40 experts, including
25 foresters, technicians, silviculturists, wildlife
00056
1 biologists, fisheries biologists, geologists, engineers
2 and computer specialists.
3 PRESIDING OFFICER: Slow down a little bit, Richard.
4 MR. ROBBINS: Thank you.
5 I've been involved with our company moving to a
6 state of the art geographical information system that will
7 not only track our existing land and timber resources, but
8 streams, soil, fish and wildlife, and enable our experts
9 to model and plan how we best can maintain our working
10 forest while protecting the environment.
11 I work with systems. A system is a working
12 relationship that can be maintained and perpetuated, not
13 at the expense of its components but in harmony with them.
14 I am here to speak in favor of such a system, and that
15 system is the Headwaters Agreement, specifically, the HCP
16 and the SYP of all of Pacific Lumber's timberlands.
17 This system respects the protection of species and
18 habitat, provides for the sustainable farming of trees,
19 and fosters a predictable and dependable economy. The
20 Headwaters Agreement is the culmination of a cooperative
21 effort between public and private sectors. It has
22 bipartisan support and the involvement of every government
23 agency that is involved with the environment, forestry,
24 fish and wildlife.
25 This agreement has created a partnership between our
00057
1 company and the government. This agreement has a delicate
2 balance. Its balance protects our environment, fosters
3 economic growth, provides for social stability. Without
4 this agreement and its accompanying HCP and Sustained
5 Yield Plan, we will all lose.
6 I ask you to proceed with the work of finalizing the
7 plans before you. We want to protect our environment. We
8 want to protect the rights of private ownership. We want
9 to protect our social and economic well being. We want to
10 be a good and trusted neighbor for a long time to come.
11 Help us save our towns, our county; help us protect and
12 save our farm.
13 Thank you.
14 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Richard.
15 After Stan, Stan Johnson, will be -- Jean Paulson
16 will be the next speaker after Stan.
17 Stan?
18 MR. JOHNSON: My name is Stan Johnson. I was raised
19 in Humboldt County and have lived and worked here for the
20 past 23 years. I am employed by the Pacific Lumber
21 Company as a computer technician.
22 My brother, sister, brother in law and nephews also
23 work for the Pacific Lumber Company. I represent 21
24 family members who work for or are supported by the
25 Pacific Lumber Company. We are families who spend our
00058
1 money in Humboldt County. We have lived here for most of
2 our lives and would like to continue doing so.
3 People I talk with are excited about the Habitat
4 Conservation Plan and the Sustained Yield Plan. We see it
5 as a way of securing our future and putting an end to the
6 controversy and strife. This is a win-win situation for
7 both sides of the issue. I'm here to voice my concerns
8 for the economic stability and future of Humboldt County.
9 The Pacific Lumber Company is one of the county's
10 industries that uses a natural and renewable resource. It
11 does not look promising for other manufacturing companies
12 to locate in Humboldt. They would need to bring in
13 resources and then ship their products out. From what I
14 have read, it does not look like the government wants to
15 help in upgrading our harbor or keeping a viable railroad
16 in our area.
17 Should the Pacific Lumber Company be unable to
18 continue as an employer, the effect would be devastating
19 to Humboldt County. Most Pacific Lumber Company employees
20 have families and need employment that provides medical
21 insurance and a wage that is adequate for providing the
22 basic needs, such as food, shelter, clothing and
23 education. If not for the Pacific Lumber Company, many
24 employees would have to leave the area to find employment
25 with these benefits.
00059
1 A lot of the service-industry jobs do not meet the
2 needs of families. And if it wasn't for the Pacific
3 Lumber Company, the people who are not employed by them
4 would be in for a rude awakening if they were not here.
5 Without the spending of PALCO dollars in our county, the
6 secondary and surface industries would be severely
7 impacted.
8 I feel that the Habitat Conservation Plan and
9 Sustained Yield Plan are workable in its proposed form.
10 The plan is based on sound science. Changing the plan by
11 asking for 200- or 300-foot buffer zones on streams would
12 put us out of business.
13 The plan would allow the Pacific Lumber Company to
14 provide employment for many generations. It would also
15 benefit the county in many ways, like higher wages and a
16 good tax base. The Pacific Lumber Company not only
17 benefits its employees, but it also donates money and time
18 to many good causes in the county. The Pacific Lumber
19 company is and has been a good neighbor for many years.
20 It is my understanding that economic and other
21 social impacts must be considered. Please realize
22 Humboldt County needs the Pacific Lumber Company.
23 Thank you.
24 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Stan.
25 After Jean, Jim Meskill.
00060
1 Jean, your testimony, please.
2 MS. PAULSON: I'm Jean Paulson.
3 PRESIDING OFFICER: Yes. You're next.
4 MS. PAULSON: I'm from Eureka.
5 Gentlemen: Imagine, if you will, standing before an
6 assemblage of your great grandchildren and their children.
7 Imagine having to say to them, "We once had a remnant of
8 an irreplaceable ecosystem in our care, one that went back
9 millions of years with giant trees whose crowns captured
10 fog and rain and allowed it to trickle slowly, gently down
11 into a living, breathing mat of vegetation far, far below;
12 whose high branches held summer stars and winter moon in
13 their graceful, moving embrace. Their roots held the
14 soil, made of all that had come before, in place. The
15 forests these giants made sheltered wild and varied life,
16 myriad in form. Through its glades ran clear streams and
17 rivers, silvered with fish.
18 "And we let it go. We let this shimmering and
19 intricate web of life be sawn, blasted, burned, doused
20 with chemicals, its fish blinded and choked by sediment,
21 its animals and their offspring dispersed, dispossessed
22 and killed, the land itself skinned and flayed, for the
23 profit of a company which breaks laws meant to protect
24 these forests, which logs in a manner that is not
25 sustainable.
00061
1 "And we paid them to do this. We paid them with
2 money, with our lost fisheries, with our soon to be lost
3 timber jobs. We paid with a conflict that has torn our
4 community to shreds. We paid with the blood of these
5 animals and these fish, with the crash of these ancient,
6 holy trees. We let them dismantle creation. We should
7 have known better."
8 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Jean.
9 After Jim it'll be Daniel Bartlett.
10 Jim, your testimony, please.
11 MR. MESKILL: My name is Jim Meskill, M-E-S-K-I-L-L.
12 And what I have done is come up with an extremely
13 conservative hypothetical situation I would like to be
14 considered.
15 The average pay, we'll say, is ten dollars an hour
16 for working at PL; and I know that that's extremely
17 conservative, okay? The boss pays a buck or two more, you
18 know. But what does this mean to 1600 men? Well, just to
19 one man it's only just a little over $20,000 a year. But
20 to 1600 men, it's $128,000 a day. It's $2,688,000 a
21 month, $32,256,000 a year, all going into our economy.
22 Without that, there is no economy. That's not counting
23 the help that PL has probably given to men in the 401(k)
24 plan and other benefits.
25 Out of this, these 1600 persons pay about two and a
00062
1 half-percent payroll deductions and seven-and-a-quarter-
2 percent merchandise taxes to the state and the county,
3 which equals $3,144,960. Not counting property taxes, not
4 counting personal property or licenses for cars, boats,
5 motorcycles, et cetera. So that would be all added also.
6 Pacific Lumber taxes is about six million dollars,
7 combined state and county taxes. Now, mind you, we're
8 talking about a ten-dollar-an-hour person, okay? Added
9 together between PL's taxes and this ten-dollar-an-hour
10 person, we come up with $9,144,960 to be divided up
11 between the state and the county.
12 Now, I can't find out how much the county receives,
13 so what I did is I took another estimate. If it's 33
14 percent, it's a little over three million dollars that the
15 county receives; 50 percent is four-and-a-half million
16 dollars; and 66 percent will be a little over six million
17 dollars.
18 We would hope that you would consider accepting the
19 plans that have been put forth as is. Can the county
20 afford to take this kind of a loss if these jobs go down?
21 I can't.
22 The one other thing I'd like to say: Some of these
23 taxes went to the schools to prepare men for the
24 Department of Fisheries and for the Fish and Wildlife
25 Department and for our Forestry Department. If we cannot
00063
1 depend on what kind of a plan these people came up with
2 together, then why are we paying taxes to send these
3 people to school? These people should know. They are
4 trained by the best teachers we have.
5 Thank you.
6 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Jim.
7 Bob Thomas. Bob Thomas will be speaking after
8 Daniel.
9 Daniel, your testimony please.
10 MR. BARTLETT: Thank you. My name is Daniel
11 Bartlett, B-A-R-T-L-E-T-T. I'm a native of Humboldt
12 County, I've worked 27 years at Pacific Lumber Company,
13 and I'm a fourth-generation employee there.
14 I just wanted to point out some facts that I know
15 about on a very narrow basis where the company has helped
16 the county and the community in overall respects. I've
17 lived in a rural community of Shively. Not too many
18 people probably heard of this little town. It's up in the
19 Eel River -- and I've lived there for the last 44 years.
20 As an outdoorsman, I have been known to live close
21 to the land. I'm very concerned personally about
22 environmental issues, and I believe we have to strike a
23 balance between our future of our land, water and wildlife
24 resources with our human needs and population growth. I
25 feel the Headwaters Agreement meets these goals.
00064
1 To get to Shively in the wintertime, you have to
2 drive ten miles of mountainous road through second-growth
3 redwoods. I might add that this right of way to this road
4 was donated to the county in the 1950's. And as far as
5 mudslides, in the 50's and 60's I lost more time going to
6 school in four years than I have in the last 27 years due
7 to slides working for the company.
8 Oh, by the way. I'm not getting paid to be here,
9 and I don't think anybody else is.
10 A few of subspecies of our human race use our
11 Shively Road as a personal dumping ground, a real eyesore
12 at times. Who's the one that cleans this up? Pacific
13 Lumber Company does. They don't have to. It's a county
14 road. They clean it up every once in a while.
15 The last 45 years, in late spring we have a summer
16 bridge we put in, shortens the travel to the highway,
17 quickens fire protection, and is a viable outlet for
18 produce and hay. Pacific Lumber's always helped the town
19 of Shively with resources and equipment to put this bridge
20 in.
21 And I've got several others, but I'll cut it short.
22 These are just a few examples of what I personally
23 know of that PL does. It doesn't make the news, no big
24 deal for just helping people out, not necessarily
25 employees of Pacific Lumber Company but people in general
00065
1 in the county; and I fear that a lot of this -- these
2 unheard of programs such as these, and -- that benefits
3 society as a whole will be lost if we don't pass this
4 Headwaters Agreement.
5 Thank you for your attention.
6 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Daniel.
7 After Bob will be Carl Wickman.
8 Okay. Bob, your testimony, please.
9 MR. THOMAS: Thank you very much. I appreciate the
10 opportunity to speak before you today. My name is Bob
11 Thomas. I'm president of Joe Costa Trucking, a regional
12 trucking company that's domiciled in Arcata, California.
13 I provide employment for approximately 150 North Coast
14 families and have an annual payroll in excess of five
15 million dollars a year. Forty percent of this payroll is
16 generated as a direct result of hauling for the Pacific
17 Lumber Company.
18 In addition, approximately $800,000 per year is
19 generated in highway and fuel taxes as a result of this
20 hauling. These taxes are necessary to repair our streets
21 and highways in order to keep them open and to ensure the
22 continuous flow of goods and services to the North Coast.
23 Often taken for granted are the charitable causes
24 and youth activities vital to the families in our region,
25 many of which depend upon the forest-products industry.
00066
1 Without the revenue derived by hauling for the Pacific
2 Lumber Company, we as a company would not be able to
3 sponsor the half-dozen youth athletic teams that we
4 currently sponsor, keeping these kids off the streets, or
5 provide the contributory funding for FFA and 4-H as well
6 as numerous other worthy organizations, organizations that
7 depend upon Joe Costa Trucking and the Pacific Lumber
8 Company for the funding to keep them operational.
9 Recent curtailments in Pacific Lumber Company
10 operations due to log shortages are a direct result of
11 prolonged negotiations in finalizing a Headwaters
12 Agreement, and in illegal activist activities -- and in
13 illegal activist activities have resulted in a reduction
14 of our work force and have increased unemployment for our
15 fragile economy.
16 Make no mistake that these activists have one goal,
17 and that is to stop all PL timber harvesting, as evidenced
18 by the following ad in the want-ad section of the November
19 7th San Francisco Chronicle, and I quote -- and in
20 response to those who are actually being paid to be here,
21 I'll read you this ad. "Don't get mad, get organized.
22 Forests Forever is hiring and training grassroots
23 organizers to join our staff of activists working to save
24 all 60,000 acres of the Headwaters Forest. Twenty-one
25 thousand dollars a year, paid vacation, sick days,
00067
1 holidays. Ten dollars an hour to work on the phones.
2 Now, you tell me who's being really paid to be here.
3 PRESIDING OFFICER: Bob, I need your conclusion.
4 MR. THOMAS: I'm not a scientist, I'm a businessman,
5 but I'm convinced after my cursory review of the
6 scientific scrutiny this plan has received that a sound,
7 conservative -- and our last chance to save Headwaters.
8 With a bipartisan blessing this agreement has received
9 from the White House to the state capitol as well as both
10 legislative branches of the state and federal government,
11 it's obvious to me that we need to close this chapter.
12 I urge you to approve the plans that are before you
13 so that the thousands of North Coast families who depend
14 upon the Pacific Lumber Company for a living can get out
15 of limbo and get on with their jobs.
16 Thank you.
17 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Bob.
18 Donald Kegley will be after Carl.
19 Carl, your testimony.
20 MR. WICKMAN: My name is Carl Wickman,
21 W-I-C-K-M-A-N.
22 I am a rank-and-file member of Steelworkers Local
23 329 in Spokane, Washington. I am a Maxxam/Kaiser employee
24 there. I have been off now for about a month and a half
25 because we're in a labor dispute.
00068
1 People ask what business I have here today. In
2 Spokane, as I speak now, there are Maxxam/PL employees
3 crossing my picket line replacing me and my coworkers.
4 This is undermining our efforts to bring Maxxam/Kaiser to
5 the bargaining table and negotiate a fair contract for us,
6 our families and our community. We have many people in
7 our community that depend on these jobs, as well. I know
8 I'm an outsider here, but I have outsiders in my community
9 now impacting me directly every day.
10 This is being done in the name of the relentless
11 pursuit of higher profits. Considering the fact that the
12 man behind this is responsible for a billion-and-a-half-
13 dollar taxpayer S and L bailout, I see no good reason why
14 he should receive another windfall at taxpayer expense.
15 I know it will be put to use to displace people, not
16 to secure long-term economic stability for us and our
17 community.
18 Thank you very much.
19 PRESIDING OFFICER: Before Donald speaks, John
20 Frink.
21 John, you'll be after Donald.
22 Donald, your testimony, please.
23 MR. KEGLEY: My name is Donald Kegley, K-E-G-L-E-Y.
24 Like Carl, I'm from Spokane, Washington. I
25 represent 3,000 striking steelworkers across this nation.
00069
1 We are all governed under one contract and owned by
2 Maxxam/Kaiser Aluminum.
3 We have a lot of things in common with these people
4 here. I've listened to Pacific Lumber people talk up
5 here. I want you people to know something. Our company's
6 just like your company. At one time we had a stellar
7 corporate view. The people in this state of California
8 considered Kaiser, the name, to be one of the best
9 corporate citizens around.
10 I have also heard that for over 100 years, Pacific
11 Lumber had that same regard. They did a fine job. They
12 continued the company and built an empire. They did a
13 great job to their communities.
14 But a few years ago, folks, we were taken over by
15 the same man. In an illegal bailout of a failed savings
16 and loan in Texas, Charles Hurwitz was able to take over
17 Pacific Lumber and only a few years later take over Kaiser
18 Aluminum. Since then, the outcome has not been the same.
19 I hear about people talking about their livelihood
20 in this community. Let me tell you, when Charles Hurwitz
21 decides that this is no longer a profitable place, not
22 only will the trees be endangered but, ladies and
23 gentlemen, your jobs and your livelihood will be
24 endangered.
25 I'd like to say very briefly and quickly that I've
00070
1 brought with me documentation that Charles Hurwitz and
2 Maxxam, Inc., has violated Washington state laws, numerous
3 laws, environmental laws. This is not a man or a company
4 that can be trusted to carry out a 50-year plan, much less
5 a one-year plan.
6 Thank you very much.
7 PRESIDING OFFICER: Jay, Jay Parrish, will be the
8 next speaker after John Frink.
9 John, your testimony please.
10 MR. FRINK: My name John Frink, F-R-I-N-K. I am
11 employed by Redwood Kenworth Company in Eureka,
12 California. I'm the Kenworth truck salesman for Humboldt
13 and Del Norte and northern Mendocino counties. We sell
14 trucks and provide parts and service for the trucks we
15 sell.
16 It is my understanding that the Habitat Conservation
17 Plan specifically provides for commercial operations
18 and/or development so long as species and fish and habitat
19 are protected. It is also my understanding that by
20 agreeing to a Sustained Yield Plan, a company commits that
21 it won't cut more than it grows.
22 I am here as a vendor to the Pacific Lumber Company
23 and other forest-products companies. I in turn have
24 customers. The fact is while I fully support protecting
25 species and habitat, I need dependable sources of truck
00071
1 sales in order to survive. My parts-and-service
2 departments in turn need me to sell trucks so that these
3 sales will generate parts-and-service sales for them. We
4 need each other in order to survive. You destroy a part
5 of it, you destroy a part or, in some cases, all of
6 another part.
7 Redwood Kenworth Company, though a very tiny piece
8 of the puzzle, generated federal excise tax in the amount
9 of $295,800; California sales tax in the amount of
10 $178,712; DMV fees, $75,400.
11 I believe that if the Headwaters Agreement is now
12 resolved forthcoming, then all the small businesses, truck
13 dealerships, part outlets, equipment suppliers, car
14 dealers, so on, so on, will be impacted by this severely.
15 Just think of the lost tax revenue alone, will be
16 devastating.
17 I support the Pacific Lumber Company's endeavor in
18 fairly trying to please all in trying to resolve this
19 situation.
20 Thank you.
21 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, John.
22 Jay Parrish?
23 While Jay's coming to speak, the next speaker, then,
24 will be Sara Buccola.
25 Okay. Jay, your testimony, please.
00072
1 MR. PARRISH: My name is Jay Parrish, P-A-R-R-I-S-H.
2 I'm a Rio Dell city councilman and a 17-year employee of
3 the Pacific Lumber Company.
4 I am here to voice my support of the Habitat
5 Conservation Plan and Sustained Yield Plan. These plans
6 are reasonable. They protect the environment and give
7 economic predictability to Pacific Lumber Company, its
8 employees and the communities they support.
9 Please finalize these plans, realize the economic
10 stability it will give our community.
11 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Jay.
12 Before Sara speaks, Doc Gallup will be the next
13 speaker, then.
14 Sara?
15 MS. BUCCOLA: Okay. Picture, if you would, a small
16 community town overflowing with a friendly, family-
17 oriented atmosphere, a town which, if it were not for a
18 certain company, would not even exist. In fact, families
19 that live in this beautiful town do so in houses that are
20 provided by this company. Children are educated in the
21 local school, which is also provided by this company.
22 Residents feel safe in the neighborhood of the town, which
23 is owned and maintained by this company. I certainly can
24 picture a town like this one, because I grew up there.
25 My name is Sara Buccola. I am a wife and a mother
00073
1 and an employee of Pacific Lumber Company in Scotia. I am
2 proud to be working for a company that always has and
3 still does provide so very much economic and social growth
4 to our area.
5 My father, who has worked for Pacific Lumber Company
6 for 37 years, raised me in the community town of Scotia.
7 Myself, along with friends and family, lived in a company
8 home, attended grammar school at a company building, and
9 spent our days playing in a safe and happy neighborhood.
10 I only hope that I will be fortunate enough to raise
11 my own daughters here as well. They too can grow up
12 knowing that they are an important part of a strong
13 growing community. Or will they? One might wonder
14 whether or not a town whose livelihood is dependent on the
15 survival of the Pacific Lumber Company will remain.
16 In order to ensure the life of not just a company
17 and a community but of an entire county in which the
18 Pacific Lumber Company is the largest private employer,
19 the proposed Habitat Conservation Plan and the Sustained
20 Yield Plans must be accepted.
21 I believe that the experts designed these plans to
22 be sound and conservative. I also believe that another
23 chance to preserve ancient forest and wildlife while at
24 the same time protecting jobs and rights will not be easy
25 to come by again. My family and my future depend on that.
00074
1 Thank you very much.
2 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Sara.
3 After Doc will be Melissa Marks.
4 MR. GALLUP: My name is Doc Gallup, G-A-L-L-U-P. I
5 have a bachelor of arts degree and I've been working in
6 the power plant in Scotia for about 12 years.
7 I agree with the conservation plan. It's an
8 excellent example of two schools of thought compromising
9 and meeting in the middle. Conflicting interests in
10 today's society are rarely negotiated in such a balanced
11 manner.
12 Speaking from the area of my expertise, which is
13 electrical-power generation, the Pacific Lumber Company
14 contributes a significant volume of electricity to the
15 public of Humboldt County. The source of our power comes
16 from the parts of the tree that the sawmill cannot use,
17 such as bark, trimming, knots and branches. This material
18 also goes to our environmental state-of-the-art power
19 plant, which makes electricity to run our own operations
20 and to serve the public with.
21 There was once a time when this county's electrical-
22 distribution system was disrupted due to a storm. During
23 this time the Pacific Lumber Company was a sole provider
24 for a portion of the county's electrical needs.
25 Even ash that is produced by Pacific Lumber's power
00075
1 plant is used by the public in several ways. One, the
2 agricultural industry in Humboldt County uses our ash for
3 soil enhancement. They use it to maintain pH levels in
4 the soil, thereby reducing the need for chemicals out in
5 the fields.
6 Second, the carbon ash is used for making barbecue
7 briquettes. This community needs this approval to
8 maintain the renewable source of electricity that the
9 Pacific Lumber Company provides for the public.
10 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Doc.
11 After Melissa Marks --
12 Melissa, are you here? I'm going to have to go on
13 if you're not here.
14 Okay. Tim Marks. Tim, are you here?
15 As Tim's coming, the next speaker then will be Dick
16 Lindsay.
17 MR. MARKS: Good morning. My name's Tim Marks,
18 M-A-R-K-S, native of this county and third-generation
19 Pacific Lumber Company employee.
20 Pacific Lumber Company has been good to my family
21 and myself over the years. PALCO's scholarships have
22 helped put my children through college. They also provide
23 excellent benefits for my family.
24 I'd like to encourage the agencies concerned to
25 approve PALCO's Habitat Conservation Plan. Many good
00076
1 people have worked hard on this plan. It may not be
2 perfect, and there doesn't appear to be an alternative
3 plan that is as extensive as PALCO's, so let's give it a
4 chance.
5 It's interesting to note that apparently PALCO has
6 the only land in the county that fosters fish and wildlife
7 habitat. My job and the well being of my family is
8 directly dependent on the approval of PALCO's Habitat
9 Conservation Plan.
10 Thank you.
11 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Tim.
12 After Dick it will be Michael Dunkelberger.
13 Dick, your testimony, please.
14 MR. LINDSAY: Good morning. My name is Dick
15 Lindsay, L-I-N-D-S-A-Y. I've lived in Ferndale for the
16 past 22 years. I've been involved with the building --
17 construction industry since 1957, first in Minnesota,
18 where I grew up; then I went to Hawaii; and now I've lived
19 here for 22 years.
20 During these years I have either managed or owned
21 equipment dealerships that promote equipment and services
22 to grow and harvest agricultural products. Trees are
23 agriculture, as is corn or sugar cane. Trees just take a
24 little longer to bear the fruit. I also own a cafe and an
25 antique mall.
00077
1 The Habitat Conservation Plan, Sustained Yield Plan
2 and the Headwaters Agreement have been developed by sound
3 scientific minds. It's been reviewed, it's been
4 revisited, it's been renewed, it's been rewritten, and
5 it's been challenged by many of the best minds on all
6 sides of the issue.
7 We can continue this process or we can move on. I
8 believe enough studying, enough digesting is enough, and
9 we should get on with the program of approving the plan.
10 We, the people of this area, have put up with enough
11 advice from experts from outside the community. We all
12 know the old saying an expert is someone more than 500
13 miles from home, or whatever miles you want to put in
14 that. Too bad all those experts that are trying to help
15 solve our problems don't take a look at their own back
16 yards and start solving their own opportunities. Leave us
17 alone. We can take care of our own selves, within the
18 local area.
19 As a vendor to the industry, a business owner who
20 depends on a local economy and supports the local economy,
21 I ask that you approve the plan and agreement as
22 presented. Let's get on with our lives.
23 Thank you.
24 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Dick.
25 While Michael is coming, Bob Griswold will be the
00078
1 next speaker then.
2 Michael, your testimony, please.
3 MR. DUNKELBERGER: Yes. My name is Michael
4 Dunkelberger. That's D-U-N-K-E-L-B-E-R-G-E-R. And I am
5 proud to say I've been employed by the Pacific Lumber
6 Company for going on 18 years.
7 Now, at home, I think some of you already know that
8 I have a rather unusual hobby of the keeping of reptiles
9 and amphibians and the study of such. I have photographed
10 a number of the species that are highlighted in this HCP
11 for protection. And I can tell you that judging from what
12 I have seen out in the field, photographing some of these
13 animals, that I think the buffer zones that are given are
14 quite adequate. And it is my firm belief that as it is,
15 I'd like to see you people approve these plans as they are
16 written.
17 Thank you.
18 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Michael.
19 Bob Griswold?
20 Okay. Robert McCutchen?
21 Robert, you will be the next speaker, then.
22 After Robert it will be Dan Ihara.
23 MR. MCCUTCHEN: My name is Robert McCutchen,
24 M-C-C-U-T-C-H-E-N. I have lived in Humboldt County for
25 over 45 years. I've worked for Pacific Lumber Company for
00079
1 over 30 years. And I'm speaking today to voice my
2 concerns and support for the HCP/SYP plans.
3 The Headwaters Agreement combines the acquisition of
4 ancient forests with the protection of fish and wildlife
5 and the preservation of jobs. The 7500 acres of
6 Headwaters grove, plus an additional 8500 acres of redwood
7 forest, is set up to protect the breeding habitat of the
8 marbled murrelet. These reserves include all of the most
9 biologically valuable old-growth-forest stands on PALCO's
10 property.
11 The HCP provides for 170-foot buffers on Class I and
12 100-foot buffers on Class II streams which, quote, "If you
13 were to put all of those together, they would be as wide
14 as a football field that would be stretched from Scotia to
15 the southern tip of Baha," unquote.
16 This amount of land and the surrounding buffers
17 provide habitat for both endangered and nonendangered
18 species. It also adds to the 90,000-plus acres of
19 old-growth redwood forests that are available to the
20 public today.
21 The SYP is a widespread ecological forest-management
22 plan that spans 120 years. It means that PL must
23 demonstrate to the regulators' satisfaction that its
24 operations will not cut more trees than it can grow.
25 Furthermore, PALCO must prove that the HCP works,
00080
1 that the fish and wildlife are being protected, and
2 the habitat conditions are improving. If not, then PALCO
3 and the experts must get together and determine what
4 modifications can be made.
5 While the purpose for this plan is for habitat and
6 species protection and sustainable forestry, the economic
7 strength of a region is at stake; and it must be
8 considered.
9 I'm not a doctor of science, I'm not an expert
10 biologist, but I am a worker, and I have lived around
11 these forests and streams almost all of my life, and I am
12 convinced because of the huge involvement of those who are
13 scientists, that this is a sound and conservative plan.
14 It's a workable solution to an ongoing controversy. We
15 need it, our community needs it.
16 And I would like to assure you that these guys here
17 from PL are not being paid today. They're here because
18 they finally have gotten the opportunity to come on a
19 workday to express their views and concerns and let you
20 guys know that they are very concerned about this plan.
21 So please realize the economic and social impact on
22 our lives that this plan carries.
23 Thanks.
24 PRESIDING OFFICER: Thank you, Robert.
25 Before Dan speaks, Paulette Kallo?
00081
1 You'll be next.
2 MR. IHARA: Hi. I'm Dan Ihara, I-H-A-R-A. I have
3 been a consultant for the County of Humboldt to study the
4 impact of the Headwaters Acquisition on the local economy.
5 I am here speaking for myself, as a volunteer, as a
6 citizen, and I'd like to share the following information.
7 The economic impact analysis of the HCP is
8 fundamentally flawed. It uses the average harvest of the
9 last ten years as the base year. These were years of
10 overharvesting and should not be used as the only
11 benchmark to evaluate the economic impact of the proposed
12 project and its alternatives.
13 A better, perhaps the best, alternative to use for a
14 base year is Alternative 1, the no-project alternative.
15 This alternative gives the harvest levels that can be
16 sustained under existing laws. The sustained level of
17 harvesting under existing laws is 171 million board feet
18 and 1,147 PALCO jobs. The HCP proposes 1,565 PALCO jobs,
19 or 418 more than can be sustained under existing laws.
20 These are a lot of jobs. Four hundred jobs is
21 approximately 12 million dollars in payroll. For ten
22 years, or over ten years, this means 120 million jobs. If
23 the no-project Alternative Number 1 were followed, the
24 government would not spend $480 million to buy Maxxam
25 land. Even if the PALCO workers affected under
00082
1 Alternative 1 were fully compensated for ten years, the
2 government would save $360 million.
3 There was one thing with which Charles Hurwitz and I
4 agree. The HCP is necessary to pay off Maxxam's bond-
5 holders. Maxxam gambled that it could sell junk bonds to
6 finance its takeover of Pacific Lumber. Maxxam has
7 painted itself into a corner by overharvesting the last
8 ten years. Maxxam needs the change in the law to pay off
9 its bondholders. There is no need, though, that taxpayers
10 should be required to bail out Maxxam and its bond-
11 holders for its speculative gambles.
12 I'll summarize here. For reasons itemized in my
13 written comments, the draft environmental impact analysis
14 of the HCP is fundamentally flawed and should be
15 disapproved. All taxpayers should not be required to bail
16 out Maxxam's bondholders. All affected Pacific Lumber
17 Company workers should be fully compensated.
18 I'd just like to add to that the plan calls for
19 harvest