Features

Court blocks disputed logging

The Associated Press
Wednesday May 23, 2001

UKIAH — A judge Monday blocked two disputed logging operations in Jackson State Demonstration Forest, ruling that management practices for the projects needed updating. 

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Richard Henderson’s ruling is a setback for California Department of Forestry. The agency is responsible for monitoring logging on private timberlands and depends on revenue from the 50,000-acre Jackson State forest to pay for reviews of other projects. 

“Even a casual review of the plan reveals that the conditions on which it was developed 18 years ago have changed dramatically,” said Henderson. 

Henderson’s ruling affects only the two disputed logging plans, but representatives for the state agency say the decision could stall further logging in the forest until a new management plan can be reviewed and adopted. 

“It’s unclear how we are going to proceed,” said Helge Eng, a state forestry spokesman. 

Henderson said the state’s claims it would lose revenues with the logging shutdown ignored the harm resulting from current logging operations that could become irreparable. 

Opponents of the state logging operations in Jackson State forest want to restore the parcel to an old-growth redwood forest.