CDF has changed the meeting time for the NTMP public hearing.  The new time is an hour earlier at 6:00PM.  Please plan on attending at 6:00 rather than 7:00 as previously announced.

Residents Be Aware and Informed

The California Dept. of Forestry will hold a Public Hearing on San Jose Water Company’s proposed plan to log the Los Gatos Creek Watershed on

Wednesday  January 31, 2007 at  6:00PM

Santa Clara County Board of Supervisor’s Chambers:  70 West Hedding Street San Jose.

We must stop San Jose Water Company from destroying the beauty of these mountains and threatening our safety and drinking water. This commercial logging plan will increase the fire threat, decrease water quality and open the area to slides, noise, helicopters and dangerous traffic forever.

 If we don’t stop it now it cannot be stopped.

If we don’t stop it no one else will.

Bring your neighbors, friends and family and support your community.  Let the state of California, Santa Clara County and SJWC know they cannot destroy our watershed for corporate profit!

 
Directions to 70 West Hedding: Go NORTH on HIGHWAY 17. Continue on 17 northbound (becoming I-880.) past Los Gatos and Campbell.  Take the FIRST STREET exit. Turn RIGHT onto N 1ST ST. Turn RIGHT onto W HEDDING ST.  70 W Hedding St is on your left.  There is street parking and a parking lot across the street (bring coins for meters.)  Enter building via front lobby and follow directions to Supervisor’s chambers.

For Information: www.Mountainresource.org/nail

NAIL Members:  The information below will be sent out soon to the 95033 zip code.  Please spread the word among your neighbors and local friends.  It is time to act individually - to support and safeguard your mountain environment and keep it from attack by this profit-seeking corporation. Plan on carpooling with others to the public hearing.  Arrive early to secure parking.  Write out your short statement outlining your reasons for opposition and stand up and be heard.  It is vital that we have a large turnout of residents to express their views on this issue.

NAIL Steering Committee

Residents Be Aware and Informed

The California Dept. of Forestry will hold a Public Hearing on San Jose Water Company’s proposed plan to log the Los Gatos Creek Watershed

Wednesday  January 31, 2007 at  7:00PM

Santa Clara County Board of Supervisor’s Chambers:  70 West Hedding Street San Jose.

We must stop San Jose Water Company from destroying the beauty of these mountains and threatening our safety and drinking water. This commercial logging plan will increase the fire threat, decrease water quality and open the area to slides, noise, helicopters and dangerous traffic forever.

 If we don’t stop it now it cannot be stopped.

Bring your neighbors, friends and family and support your community.  If we don’t, no one else will. Let the state of California, Santa Clara County and SJWC know they cannot destroy our watershed for corporate profit!

Directions to 70 West Hedding: Go NORTH on HIGHWAY 17. Continue on 17 northbound (becoming I-880.) past Los Gatos and Campbell.  Take the FIRST STREET exit. Turn RIGHT onto N 1ST ST. Turn RIGHT onto W HEDDING ST.  70 W Hedding St is on your left.  There is street parking and a parking lot across the street (bring coins for meters.)  Enter building via front lobby and follow directions to Supervisor’s chambers.

 The editorial  letter below appeared in the Wednesday, Dec. 27 Los Gatos Weekly Times.

The San Jose Water Company timber management plan for the Los Gatos Creek watershed is destructive to the environment and will severely decrease the quality of life for residents. The San Jose Water Company logging plan needs to be discarded. The plan proposes cutting trees atop the San Andreas fault for 6 miles along Los Gatos Creek. Deforestation, road Cat track construction and the burning of fossil fuels pollute the drinking water of residents. When a forest is cut, especially on slopes, sediment is washed into rivers. Sediment will decrease the downstream reservoir capacity at Lexington and Elsman.

Forest watersheds perform valuable work for humans. They filter water, air, soil and decrease atmospheric and ocean temperatures. Forest and watersheds store rain, replenish groundwater supplies and control floods. Forests inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen. Forests stabilize the soil. The value of the work accomplished by natural areas is staggering. For example, the average 50-year-old tree in America is worth $600 if cut for timber. If the single tree is kept alive for another 50 years, it will produce $196,000 worth of ecological services. Coast redwood are the tallest living things on Earth; therefore, they accomplish more work than an average tree. Old-growth trees perform more work and sustain more life than if they are cut. Our entire economic system is backwards because we do not take into account ecological services rendered by natural areas.

Old-growth trees are extremely fire-resistant and act as a barrier against fire, protecting lives and property. Most old redwood trees have fire scars on their trunks. When old-growth trees are cut, dense underbrush grows back, increasing the fuel load and likelihood of fire. The largest and most healthy trees are planned to be cut along Los Gatos Creek, 40 percent of redwoods over 36 inches in diameter. Instead of cutting old-growth, fire- resistant trees, the under-story needs to be aggressively harvested. Before the 1950s, fire was a returning occurrence in nature. Fire germinates seeds, releases seeds from pods, kills disease, stimulates new growth and forces trees to grow larger. Fire damage is a result of 50 years of clear cutting of forests in the Western United States and intensive fire suppression. Overall, the San Jose Water Company's logging plan is destructive. Instead of controlling fire, fire destruction will be assured.

Ninety-six percent of old-growth forest in California has been cut. It is time to get serous about protecting our natural resources. The Santa Cruz Mountains' forests and rivers generate the water and air that local residents consume. The Santa Cruz Mountains are habitat for deer, red-legged frogs, Pacific giant salamanders, arboreal salamanders, banana slugs, terrestrial garter snakes, rainbow trout, great blue heron, white snowy egrets, cougar, bobcat, raccoon, possum, beaver and raptors.

No logging of large trees in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Cutting old, large trees is an archaic and destructive activity. Do not support San Jose Water Company's logging plan. The plan is not updated to sustainable, healthy forestry practices. Please do what is in your power to protect the Los Gatos watershed and the humans that depend on it.

Michael Lee

Roseville Department of Parks and Recreation

Seven others signed this letter.

Original letter may be found here. 

The following are report excerpts written by a hydrologist and fisheries biologist representing Santa Clara County regarding concerns related to the SJWC logging plan.  The full reports are now public record.  These comments reflect serious concerns about the plan by the scientific reviewers.
 
To see the full report go to:

In the San Jose Water NTMP site, high rainfall, major deep and shallow landslides underlying residential areas bordering the proposed cutting zones, and the fact that redwood trees are notorious for 'profligate' water use raises immediate concerns about the potential effects of forest management on slide stability and public safety.  My conclusions are that the proposed cutting schedule and volumes will most certainly contribute to slide instability including increased rate of motion of existing deep-seated slides that affect residential areas, streams, and highways within the NTMP areas of the southwest side of Los Gatos Creek and along Briggs Creek.

The primary basic premise of the authors of the NTMP is false.  They say that timber removal from deep-seated slides is contemplated but that it will not destabilize slide masses....Timber removal will accelerate sliding near the slide head and near its base.  The middle will follow.

Tim Best has recommended mitigations for the sites identified in NTMP Section 5…, but concludes that “It is very unlikely that the proposed harvest will have any measurable impact on deep-seated stability”.  I believe that I follow his reasoning but disagree fundamentally.

….field traverses and calculation of changed water balance show that this basic premise is both false and very dangerous.

Today’s closed canopy forest is proposed to be opened in each cutting cycle, thus increasing growth of shrub and hardwood species that are now not common over the primary timber production areas.  Such increased shrub growth increases fire danger …

The majority of the NTMP timber production zone is mapped as landslide…

The consequences of unmapped compound slides are that proposed timber harvest roads and cutting units probably cross onto active slide areas and displace surface water into obscured scarps, thus accelerating unrecognized slide masses that carry increasing sediment loads into the watercourses at the base of the slides. Sites that should at least be classed as special treatment areas with no tractor entry will not be recognized until it is too late to avoid the damage.

….the revised Figure 2A “Landslide Map” from Best indicates that he recognizes nested features that he classes as “large failures” below Chemeketa Park and below Call of the Wild.

The NTMP has not adequately evaluated natural rainfall intensity in the project area and thus underestimates winter condition site preparations such as culvert diameters, crossing design, and road standards for winter access.

The proposed NTMP is not soundly based in its assumptions about harvesting on deep-seated landslides that dominate the proposed harvest areas.

I estimate that 63 percent of that merchantable basal area would be equivalent to about 48 trees to be harvested per acre.

The NTMP has not adequately evaluated natural rainfall intensity in the project area and thus underestimates winter condition site preparations such as culvert diameters, crossing design, and road standards for winter access.

It is possible that the stream is just now beginning to recover from cutting in the late 1800’s that destabilized slide masses that were then exacerbated by the 1906 earthquake.

Thus, changes that may be imposed by the proposed NTMP must be added to past stress responses and may reasonably to expected to lengthen the period of natural recovery of the stream course in that watershed.

It would seem prudent to simply avoid any harvest or road activities in the slide zone, which also includes the riparian zone.

….it is certain that the proposed harvest schedule will seriously exacerbate slide stability.

Because the Santa Clara County residential areas between the Summit Area and Chemeketa Park, including both sides of Highway 17, are located on these deep seated slides that support the trees to be cut in the proposed NTMP, the potential liability for San Jose Water Company if they carry out the propose NTMP harvest plan becomes extraordinary.

Robert Curry, PhD, Hydrologist

The NTMP erroneously states that there are no non-listed species which will be significantly impacted by the operation.  Coldwater species including landlocked steelhead/rainbow trout and riffle sculpin are potentially present in the project area.  These non-listed species may be significantly impacted by the operation.  Potential impacts are related to habitat degradation through increased sedimentation, increased water temperature, and barriers to migration at stream crossings of Class I and Class II watercourses. These potential impacts are not considered or evaluated.

Data presented in Section V of the NTMP indicates that existing temperatures approach the upper threshold of suitability for coldwater species and contradict statements elsewhere in the NTMP that temperature is not a limiting factor.

The NTMP provides no assurances as to the degree to which the avoidance and mitigation measures for soil stabilization and erosion control will actually be implemeneted.

Jeffrey Hagar, Fisheries Biologist

A Leg Up on Loggers

Mountain residents find an endangered species could decide their battle against Los Gatos Creek logging plan

By Vrinda Normand

SANTA CRUZ Mountain residents have tried everything they could think of to keep logging out of the Los Gatos Creek watershed.

When the San Jose Water Company announced a plan last year to raze 1,000 acres on the watershed, nearby community members formed NAIL (Neighbors Against Irresponsible Logging), and hammered home how tree harvesting would increase the risk of fire in their backyard forest and rattle windows in their peaceful Silicon Valley suburb.

More recently, they even got former Vice President Al Gore—hot off the buzz around his hip eco-flick An Inconvenient Truth—to sign their petition after he saw a virtual fly-over of the proposed logging zone. The computerized 3-D map, created by Google whiz Rebecca Moore, shows tree-felling operations encroaching only hundreds of yards from schools, churches and homes.

But the San Jose Water Company and its partner Big Creek Lumber maintain that logging will be good for the forest. They point out that timber trucks and helicopters will only be around for a few months every two years. Under NAIL's scrutiny, they've had to resubmit their NTMP (timber harvest plan) to the California Department of Forestry—but still believe they can get it approved.

Don't count on it. Because after all of this back and forth about noise, fire safety and water quality, it's likely to be a nonhuman neighbor that proves to be NAIL's most powerful weapon.

In October, the Center for Biological Diversity reached a settlement with the United States Environmental Protection Agency after a federal court found the EPA guilty of violating the Endangered Species Act by approving pesticides without considering how they might impact the red-legged frog. The settlement prohibits the use of 66 chemicals in red-legged frog habitats around California.

The Los Gatos watershed area that's slotted for logging also happens to be a red-legged frog habitat, as documented in San Jose Water's timber harvest plan. This creates a few extra land-use obstacles that neighborhood activists haven't hesitated to pounce on.

For one, the lawsuit may mean that San Jose Water can no longer use herbicides to control weeds on its property, a practice that NAIL members have criticized for being potentially dangerous to aquatic species and humans. The privately owned company feeds off the Los Gatos Creek to provide drinking water for over 100,000 people in the South Bay.

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup (a weed killer manufactured by Monsanto), is one of the chemicals limited by the EPA lawsuit. San Francisco State University professor Carlos Davidson says studies have shown that red-legged frogs die at higher rates in areas downwind of pesticide use. In fact, this phenomenon is part of a global decline of amphibians that environmentalists believe is partly linked to pesticide chemicals found in water sources.

Even Monsanto's product label warns against applying the herbicide directly to water, where it is more likely to come into contact with aquatic animals. It also cautions against using it in areas adjacent to known habitats of threatened or endangered species.

San Jose Water sprayed 600 gallons of a 2 percent Roundup solution on its land this year. Andrew Gere, director of Operations and Water Quality, says his company only applied the herbicide in the dry summer months, away from water. According to Monsanto, Glyphosate breaks down quickly when it adheres to soil particles. Gere cites a scientific study that found Roundup posed little risk to aquatic animals when it was only applied on land.

Metro asked to see the study he referred to, and he directed us to a secondhand summary of a 2000 journal article published by Monsanto on its website.

NAIL member Kevin Flynn points to another Roundup study conducted last year by scientists at the University of Pittsburgh, funded by the National Science Foundation, which found that typical land application of the herbicide killed 98 percent of tadpoles and 79 percent of frogs within one day.

Despite the company's assurances that it uses Roundup appropriately, opponents have their doubts. During a pre-harvest inspection of the watershed in September, David Hope, a senior environmental scientist for the Regional Water Quality Control Board, noticed signs of herbicide on surface water. He says he saw dead weeds—that had obviously been sprayed—lying on a stream that ran along a roadside ditch. The stream drains into the nearby Los Gatos Creek.

San Jose Water's Gere told Metro that water wasn't present during spraying.

But Hope laughs at this response. "Yeah, right," he says. "No doubt there was water when they sprayed. It was a very consistent stream. They [San Jose Water] have guidelines against that."

NAIL members see this misstep as another example of poor land stewardship by San Jose Water. Gere says the neighborhood opponents are making a mountain out of a molehill. "NAIL would have you believe that we're spraying this stuff willy-nilly in the water," he says. "This is really about opposition to the NTMP. They're throwing darts at the credibility of our company. It's nothing more than that."

Frogs in Hot Water

One assertion no one would argue with is that this frog has been through a lot.

During the Gold Rush, San Franciscans considered them a delicacy, consuming about 80,000 every year. In 1865, the scarlet-tinged critters caught Mark Twain's attention. He featured them in his story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."

Unfortunately, they couldn't stay ahead of hungry humans while their habitats were being destroyed by mining operations.

By the time the largest native frog in the Western United States earned a spot on the Endangered Species List, nearly 90 percent of them had been wiped out from California forests and wetlands. That was 1996. A decade later, only small groups live scattered throughout coastal ranges.

Over the course of those 10 years, the red-legged frog has become a strategy for environmentalists, a thorn in the side of Bay Area builders and the basis for lawsuits over sprawling developments.

So why should we care about this plump critter that can grow as large as three human fists? Davidson of SFSU says frogs eat huge numbers of insects that could be dangerous to humans and agriculture. They're also considered important indicators for changing environmental conditions.

Plus, says Davidson, "They're beautiful animals. It would be really sad to lose them."

The following article appeared in the Saturday, Dec. 2, 2006 Los Gatos Daily.  It was written by Kristen Munsen.

The article below appears in today's San Jose Mercury News (Sunday, Dec. 3, 2006.)  It was written by columnist Scott Herhold.

Herhold: Technology builds bigger soapbox

By Scott Herhold

Mercury News

In the primitive days of politics, neighbors trying to fight an environmentally questionable project on 1,000 acres near their homes might have to depend on word of mouth, a telephone chain to summon the faithful to endless public meetings.

But this is the era of iPods, Blackberries and Google Earth, when the digital can trump the verbal, when even a national leader can be recruited to a local cause through the power of a display on the Web.

That brings me to a tale that includes former Vice President Al Gore, the trees above Lexington Reservoir and the ingenuity of Rebecca Moore, a Google Earth engineer who lives in the Los Gatos mountains.

Here's the background: Citing the need for fire protection, the San Jose Water Co. has submitted a plan to log 1,000 acres of its land in the mountains above Los Gatos.

The plan has prompted sustained protest from the neighbors, who insist that the water company's plans will degrade the water quality and increase the danger of fire.

Devil in details

I don't pretend to understand the details, which is where the good and bad of logging resides. From my quick reading, it strikes me that the neighbors have raised legitimate questions about plans to cut larger trees, defined as more than 24 inches in diameter.

But this story isn't so much about the rights and wrongs of the issue as it is about the way the debate has unfolded politically and technologically. The two strands merge.

About 15 months ago, in September 2005, the water company sent a notice to neighbors of their intent to harvest timber, complete with a somewhat sketchy map. One of the people who got it was Rebecca Moore, who worked on developing Google Earth, the cool Web feature that lets you zoom down from outer space to see your back yard.

Other folks might have shrugged. Moore created a virtual Google Earth ``flyover,'' which gives you the impression of traversing the logging area in a helicopter at 1,000 feet. You can see it yourself by going to www.mountainresource.org/nail, and scrolling down until you see the Google Earth image.

When Moore showed the flyover on a big screen to neighbors who packed a community meeting, it had a huge impact, showing how large the logging area is and how close to schools and homes. ``I essentially flew everyone up the Los Gatos Creek canyon,'' she told me. ``It just electrified the room.''

View from the top

Perhaps her best-known convert came to the cause eight months later. Gore, a senior adviser to Google and the central figure in the movie ``An Inconvenient Truth,'' wanted to see how Google Earth worked. After showing him a couple of global examples, Moore showed him the Los Gatos Creek flyover.

``He was very struck by it,'' she remembered. ``He immediately offered to help. I was sort of stunned at his generous offer.''

That led to a statement last week from Gore that came out strongly against San Jose Water's logging plans. ``The proposal is deeply flawed,'' he said. ``The commercial logging of these trees simply makes no sense.''

In response, the Big Creek Lumber Co., which is planning the cutting on San Jose Water's property, has said it will formally invite Gore to come look at other logging it has done.

``We think what Big Creek is doing is precisely the kind of land stewardship and responsible forward-looking business practices that he's been advocating for years,'' said Bob Berlage, a spokesman for Big Creek, a family-run firm that has a reputation for not clear-cutting forests.

So the kindling's in the fire. Or the logs are piled high. Whatever. With the support of the inventor of the Internet at stake, could it be anything other than a flaming controversy?

Press Release From Neighbors Against Irresponsible Logging (NAIL). Los Gatos, CA
Release Date: Monday, November 27, 2006.

Former Vice President Al Gore and Prominent Fire Scientists Weigh In On Los Gatos Creek Logging Plan

Efforts to protect the Los Gatos Creek Watershed from a logging plan proposed by the San Jose Water Company (SJWC) received prominent backing in recent days - eliciting support from Former Vice President Al Gore as well as some of the country's most prominent fire scientists. The plan to log over 1,000 acres of redwood trees in a vital watershed adjacent to Silicon Valley led to the formation of the community group Neighbors Against Irresponsible Logging (N.A.I.L) to fight the plan. Nearly 5,000 signatures have been collected in opposition.  Mr. Gore is among those who have signed the petition.

Former Vice President Al Gore became aware of the plan through his viewing of a Google Earth virtual flyover of the logging zone that showed the location of the logging and its proximity to thousands of local residents. He had words of praise for NAIL and criticism for the logging plan. "I support Neighbors Against Irresponsible Logging in their diligent efforts to inform themselves and their community about the details of the San Jose Water Company proposal to log more than one thousand acres of redwoods in the Los Gatos Creek Watershed. The proposal is deeply flawed, the commercial logging of these trees simply makes no sense."  Over 100,000 Santa Clara Valley and Santa Cruz Mountain residents obtain drinking water from the creek.  In the words of the former Vice President, "Forests like these are worth fighting to save". Mr. Gore also spoke of the vital role this forest plays in the ecosystem. "As one of the largest stands of coastal redwoods in Santa Clara County and adjacent to Silicon Valley, this healthy forest is performing many vital unseen functions including storing carbon dioxide, which reduces global warming."

Residents have long stated that the plan to log the largest, most fire resistant trees will increase fire hazards in the watershed. Some of the country's most prominent fire experts have studied the logging plan and visited the site of the proposed logging. Reports from Dr. Scott Stephens, Professor of Fire Science at the University of California, Berkeley; Dr. Philip Omi, Professor, Forest Fire Scientist at Colorado State University; and Richard Montague, former Western Regional Director of the United States Forest Service and President of Firewise 2000 are being submitted to the California Department of Forestry.  Dr. Mark Finney, Research Forester for the United States Forest Service in Missoula, Montana and the author of the FlamMap computer model for studying fire behavior, reviewed and concurred with the report written by Dr. Stephens but did not visit the site. The FlamMap model was used by SJWC in the Fire Hazard Assessment contained within the logging plan.  

Mr. Montague had this to say in his report. "It is my opinion that fire spread, fire intensity and flame lengths will be much higher after timber harvest than if the coast redwoods and Douglas fir stands within the watershed are left in their natural state." Dr. Stephens stated, "If thinning occurred it would open up the canopy and this would probably result in a forest with higher fire hazards." The experts also refuted the results of a fire hazard assessment submitted by the San Jose Water Company. "The report is misleading insofar as it builds an apparent rationale for timber harvest under the guise of wildfire hazard reduction" according to Dr. Omi.

Issues of potential damage to water quality and increased landslide danger have also been raised by residents and corroborated by hydrology and water quality reports submitted to the California Department of Forestry as part of the logging plan review process.


--------------------------------------------------------------------
Neighbors Against Irresponsible Logging - N.A.I.L.
www.mountainresource.org/nail

For more information contact:
Kevin Flynn - NAIL
email: keflynn at cisco.com
phone: 408-832-7180

or

Terry Clark - NAIL
email: taclark at cablerocket.com
phone: 408-353-3454

The premier wildland fire experts in the country wrote separate reports on the impact of proposed logging by the San Jose Water Company in the Los Gatos Creek Watershed. Each individual visited the site of the proposed logging and analyzed the Fire Hazard Assessment written by TSS Consultants for the San Jose Water Company. Following are excerpts from their reports. The full reports can be found attached (below).

• Dr. Phillip Omi - Professor, Forest Fire Science, Colorado State Univ.
• Dr. Scott Stephens - Professor, Fire Science, Univ. of California,Berkeley
• Richard Montague - Western Regional Director, US Forest Service (retired). President Firewise 2000

In addition, Dr. Mark Finney, Research Forester, USFS, Missoula, MT creator of the FlamMap computer model used by TSS Consultants, reviewed and concurred with Dr. Stephen's report.



Increase In Fire Hazard

"To open up the normally dense crown cover to more sunlight and solar heating will reduce live and dead fuel moisture, thereby increasing fire spread, fire intensity and flame lengths." -- Richard Montague



"Even with the recommended lop and scatter fuel treatment option described in the NTMP and Fire Hazard Assessment, it is my opinion that fire spread, fire intensity and flame lengths will be much higher after timber harvest than if the coast redwood and Douglas fir stands within the watershed are left in their natural state" -- Richard Montague



"Lopping and distributing fuels may increase fuelbed continuity and spread rate, depending on extent and quality of execution." -- Dr. Omi


"If thinning occurred it would open up the canopy and this would probably result in a forest with higher fire hazards." -- Dr. Stephens



Little/No Threat of Crown Fires

"Mature coast redwood stands usually will not support a crown fire without a heavy accumulation of ground fuels" -- Richard Montague



"Apparently, about 9% of the NTMP is susceptible to crown fire, approximately, 2/3 of which is off-limits to management activities.  Reducing the supposed crown fire threat on less than 3% of the total land area within the NTMP may not be meaningful or cost-effective" -- Dr. Omi



"Removing forest canopy by thinning this forest would not effectively reduce potential fire behavior and effects, especially in areas where redwood is the dominant species. Redwood foliage is not particularly flammable and there are few records of crown fires in redwood forests." -- Dr. Stephens



Regarding Fire Hazard Assessment by TSS Consultants

"It is my professional opinion that the conclusions and recommendations presented by TSS Consultants were based on incomplete or unsubstantiated data." "The data used (by TSS) does not appropriately reflect how coast redwoods and/or Douglas fir stands within the Bay Area react to wildfire." -- Richard Montague



"The TSS report is reasonably written but misguided and potentially misleading." "The report (TSS) is misleading insofar as it builds an apparent rationale for timber harvest under the guise of wildfire hazard reduction." -- Dr. Omi



"In summary, I believe the forest treatments outlined in the FHA (Fire Hazard Assessment) would not result in a reduction of fire behavior and effects in these redwood forests." -- Dr. Stephens

The full reports are attached below.