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Residents say storm damage could have been avoided
by Glen Martin, Chronicle Staff Writer
Stafford, Humboldt County -- Early one recent morning, Michael O'Neal heard
a deep rumbling sound that seemed to issue from the depths of the Earth. At
first he thought it was the rain-swollen creek outside his rural Stafford
Road home. But when he stepped out the door and glanced at the mountain
above his house, his heart almost stopped.
Coming straight at him ``faster than a man can run'' was a huge
wall of mud and rock. Old-growth redwood trees rode the crest of the
fearsome wave like Pleistocene surfboards.
``My little daughter had a friend over, and they were in the
house,'' said O'Neal, recalling the events of December 31. ``I couldn't
tell which way the wave was going to cut -- I could either save my daughter
and her friend or run to a neighbor's house and warn him, but I couldn't do
both.''
Finally, the earthen avalanche veered slightly away from O'Neal's
home and roared toward the neighbor's house. O'Neal ran to the house and
roused the residents.
``The wave barely missed both our houses, but not everyone was so
lucky,'' said O'Neal.
Seven houses were leveled by the slide and two subsequent debris
flows. Seven other homes -- including O'Neal's -- were damaged. The access
road to the little community was obliterated. Perhaps miraculously, no one
was injured.
The Stafford Road slide was only one of many slippages -- albeit
the most spectacular -- that have bedeviled the North Coast after the
recent series of storms that raised havoc from the Sierra to the San
Joaquin River. There are at least 40 closures of main roads in Humboldt
County. Officials estimate damage at $15 million and rising.
The damage was bad enough. But what's worse, some say, is that it
could have been prevented. Stafford Road residents and environmentalists
say many of the slides happened because lumber companies had completely
stripped the mountains of trees, depriving the soil of both an anchor and
protection from saturating rains.
``I'm not a rabid environmentalist,'' said O'Neal, a mobile home
hauler. ``I've worked as a logger myself. When you look up that slope,
though, you can see that (loggers) have overdone it. . . . It's really
steep up there, and there's nothing left to stabilize the soil.''
From the air, slides are readily apparent on the heavily logged
land east of Scotia. Many of them are fresh and raw, strewn with jumbles of
large redwood trees.
Most of the slope above Stafford Road was logged by the Pacific
Lumber Co., the firm that is embroiled in the Headwaters old- growth
redwood controversy. Another local company, Barnum Timber, has also logged
on the mountain.
Mary Bullwinkel, the spokeswoman for Pacific Lumber, said there
is no proof that her company's logging contributed to the soil failure.
``We just don't think fingers should be pointed right now,'' said
Bullwinkel. ``The evidence isn't in. We weren't the only ones logging up
there -- Barnum did it too. We don't even know where the original slide
started. We have a geologist who is evaluating the situation, and we'll
decide what to do once we have his report.''
But Elyssa Rosen, a California regional representative of the
Sierra Club, said there is a serious problem in the way the state evaluates
timber harvest plans. ``It's legal to allow logging even if the required
geology report indicates soils are unstable,'' she said. ``Those kinds of
approvals are given routinely.''
Patrick Higgins, a Eureka fisheries consultant who specializes in
salmon and steelhead, said logging contributes to slides in two ways.
``First, sloppily constructed logging roads -- and most of the
logging roads here are sloppy -- can cause horrible slides in short
order,'' said Higgins. ``Second, even if a steep logged-over area is stable
for a while, it will likely fail once the tree roots rot out, which can
take 10 to 20 years.''
Tom Spittler, the senior engineering geologist for the California
Department of Conservation's division of mines and geology, said his
staffers have been noticing more slides on North Coast clear- cuts in
recent years.
``But we can't really say that logging is primarily
responsible,'' said Spittler. ``We do know that there is increased sliding
on pine and Douglas fir clear-cuts after 10 years because the roots rot
out. But redwood is a sprouting species -- the roots stay viable and send
out new shoots. They don't rot, so the situation isn't really comparable.''
Spittler said there is another possibility.
``Because there are fewer trees to take up water in a clear-cut
than in an uncut grove, it is possible that more water is available to
saturate the soil, leading to slides,'' he said.
As for the Stafford Road slide, Spittler said he hasn't been able
to gather data because the slope is still slipping.
``All we know is that it's very steep and very wet up there,'' he
said. ``We'll have to wait to evaluate evidence on logging. It's far too
dangerous to send people out there right now.''
Meanwhile, O'Neal said neighbors feel no one is interested in
their problems.
``We've been trying to meet with Pacific Lumber for more than a
week, and they keep brushing us off,'' said O'Neal. ``We desperately need
some help. The first slides cleaned off the mountain so it's slick as
glass. Any new slides will be like bullets -- much, much faster than the
first ones. Living here now is like living in the barrel of a gun.'
'
The Chronicle Publishing Company
Early this year, before the last rains came, when the state was still virtually dry, I took a winter's hike in the Fall Creek area of Henry Cowell Park. I hiked up Fall Creek, which had a healthy rate of flow. At the confluence of Barrel Mill Creek I watched the smaller tributary pouring into Fall Creek. In spite of the lack of precipitation, water flowed in abundance.
How can so much water run down relatively short, local creeks? Where does it all come from, considering the lack of rain? The scene provided a visceral demonstration of something I already knew. Forested
hills and mountains act as giant sponges, soaking up rain, holding on to it for months, and slowly releasing it even during periods of drought. The vegetation slows the pounding rain and allows it to fall gently to the ground, where the deep, composted surface sucks it up. The sated water table slowly bleeds our vital resource into a myriad of little streams. Without this storage, we would be bone dry during the summer and fall months. Without the forests, there would be no storage.
When great teams of men and machines crash into the forests with chain saws and trucks, the trees come down. The shade-loving under layer is left to try to survive hostile conditions. The rain comes driving down. Encountering no resistance, the rain washes away the top layer of composted material, material that cannot be replenished without the trees. Soon runoff has scoured the hillsides and carved deep ruts into the soil. Often rock that has been buried for eons is exposed. There is nothing left to act as a sponge.
So, instead of the scene I saw at the confluence of Fall Creek and Barrel Mill Creek, there would be barren hills and deep gullies. In the winter the creeks would run wild, muddy torrents that would leave the people living downstream screaming to have the government spend millions on flood control. In the summer the hillsides would be parched, the creek beds empty, causing the people living downstream to scream for the government to spend billions to pipe water a hundred miles from an already overtaxed supply.
In the short run, some companies would make a bundle on the lumber. In the short run, a few jobs would be created. In the long run, the life blood of this state is our water supply. With it we prosper. Without it our farms and cities die.
Then one must factor in the wonderful but fragile biodiversity of the forests, the incredible beauty of these natural places, and the great appeal forests have for visitors from areas of the state where forests do not exist.
It amazes me that the most intelligent species on the planet can be so stupid and short sighted as to allow our most valuable resource to be harmed in any way. Naturally, Cowell park is protected, at least for the present, but it is only a tiny island in a green sea of short term economic greed.
I've read that water users are going to have to face a substantial rate increase to pay for extending the pipe from the Gilroy area to the Pajaro Valley.
I hope I'm not the only one who objects to paying for bad water management policies. There are alternatives to this costly venture, alternatives other than placing us at the end of a pipeline that could well dry up when needed most, in drought years.
We've channelized our creeks and rivers, running most of our water to the ocean in the name of flood control. However, we still have floods that wipe out people's homes and businesses.
We could have agricultural areas along the river where high water could spill over and later settle into the ground water table. During the rare years when this would happen, we would pay the farmers for the use of that land, the value of the crops that would have grown during that brief period. This would be far cheaper than the aftermath of last year's flood. It would also recharge our ground water.
we could also preserve and enhance our natural wetlands, areas that trap and hold our water, releasing it gradually during the dry season. These areas would include our sloughs and mountain wetlands, such as Grizzley Flat.
We could demand that our elected officials at all levels coordinate an intelligent plan to preserve and protect the most valuabe resource in California, our life-giving water.
We could place water conservation and management above the special interests of the developers and the timber industry. We should not have to pay for special interest profits our of every water bill.
We could also entrust a public agency with the responsibility of filing suit against people who destroy and degrade our common water supply, even if it occurs on private land. Our water knows no property lines.
Lastly, we need to communicate these things to those who make policy at every lelvel, from the city to the state and even to the federal government. It is our water and our right to protect it.
I appreciate what your organization has been trying to do about logging at Grizzly Flat. And I am absolutely aghast at Judge Stevens' decision.
However, I have made a decision that I will make no further contributions to any environmental organizatin until I see action being taken by that organization to deregulate and restore the commercial production of hemp.
If hemp could be put into commerical production, we could stop cutting trees and meet all of our oil and gas fuel needs. We would not have to worry about the threatened oil drillling in Alaska or elsewhere. It is estimated that 10,000 acres of hemp would produce more pulp for paper and construction use that 40,000 acrea of forestland. Hemp paper is stronger than that made from trees, with far less toxic chemicals and less wear and tear on equipment for pulp harvesting, transportation and processing. Hemp fiber board can take the place of wood in construction, mold making and commercial fabrication.
I will appreciate an explanation of any steps your organization may be taking to promote the commercial production of hemp. If nothing is being done, why not?
DON'T CUT DOWN THE FORESTS
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ALTERNATIVES TO WATER PIPELINE
HEMP LETTER REPRINTED FROM CRFM
Dear CRFM members:
Saw this letter in the Citizens for Responsible Forest Management newsletter and got permission to reprint.
Commercial hemp strains have virtually no THC, which is the rationale that the DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY uses for control of the plant. Even if it had such properties, how can anyone justify such regulation when alcohol and nicotine are marketed freely in our country?
--Emily Maloney
Attorney at Law
Santa Cruz, CA Return to ALERT
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WETLANDS DESTRUCTION by Gary Harrold
Could the slough's purplish copper butterflies and hooded mergansers survive and 1800 unit subdivision? Would the feeding grounds of the violet-green swallow, the great horned owl and the delicate black necked stilt be affected by a golf course, auto plaza and industrial center? The watsonville City Council wants to annex the slough system so a San Francisco-based developer can bulldoze and build, consequently degrading this 800 acre ecosystem. A preliminary environmental impact report, funded by the developer, says 1800 housed, a golf course, an expansive industrial center and many roads would have no significant impact on wildlife, agriculture, open space, traffic, water or view-sheds. LAFCO, an agency in charge of city boundary changes, says this project would impact water quality, encourage habitat reduction and be growth inducing.
Suggestion: Leaarn all you can about biotically-rich wetlands. Protest this development. Call the Watsonville Mayor (724-0510- home or 728-6006- work) or write the Watsonville City Council at PO Box 50,000, Watsonville CA 95077. Join the Open Space Alliance, a project of the Environmental Council of SAnta Cruz County. CAll 426-2286 or write: E.C. Open Space Alliance, PO Box 1769, Santa Cruz CA 95061. The Calilfornia Native Plant Society, Save our Shores, Friends of the Pogonip, Watsonville Wetlands Watch, Corralitos Neighbors and 9 other organizations want to preserve this precious and serene ecosystem.
ENVIRONMENTAL LINKS: Click and be somewhere else
Environmental organizations
Sierra Club
Environmental Defence Fund
Rainforest Action Network
Greenpeace
Friends of the Earth
Earth First!
Bat Conservation International
The Nature Conservancy
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