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| Thousands Of Timber Plan Marker Flags Removed By Forest Defenders For Immediate Release - Contact: "Gift" of Bundle of Timber Harvest Plan Flags Left on Doorstep of Pacific Lumber Headquarters in Scotia MATTOLE WATERSHED, HUMBOLDT COUNTY, CALIF.: Last week activists removed thousands of flags and other markers that delineated proposed Timber Harvest Plans (THPs) filed by the Pacific Lumber Co (PL) in the Mattole watershed. On Sunday, March 9, a large bundle of these flags was left on PL's doorstep at their headquarters in Scotia, California. "Without these markers, a THP doesn't physically exist," said Kestrel, a Mattole Forest Defender. In addition to removing markers, activists have made many sections of logging access roads temporarily impassable by strewing them with logging debris. They say that these actions were taken to interfere with the approval process of THPs' that threaten the environment. Howell Montia, a Mattole Forest Defender said, "Roads have been proposed that would be built across streams in seismically active gorges that would cause long lasting damage to this part of the watershed." In THP 03-007, "Skagit," several miles of boundaries and proposed roads were erased before and during a "pre-harvest inspection" done in that plan by CDF, the California Dept. of Forestry. A "pre-harvest inspection" is required to advance a THP in the approval process. "It is unclear to us at this time how the marker removal affected the inspection," said a local activist, "but how can you inspect something you can't see?" The Mattole Forest Defenders have engaged in a variety of actions so far this year including tree-sits, blocking roads with logging debris, surveying proposed THPs, and restoration work in areas damaged by logging. PL has plans to log over 400 acres in the Mattole so far this year. The company considers its' Mattole holdings to be a "sacrifice zone" under its' "Habitat Conservation Plan" (HCP). Many of the current proposed logging plans target large stands of old-growth Douglas Fir and hardwood forest with trees that are sometimes 450 years old or older. ###  << Back to Press Release Archive | Latest Press Release | Newsroom | | 
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