WILSON WATCH : Political Timber

Gov.-elect Pete Wilson showed last week what he meant by a campaign promise to be California’s environmental advocate. He will try to save the first 564 acres of a 3,000-acre forest of ancient redwoods in Northern California that are marked for the chain saw.

It will take some doing. A permit for the first phase of wiping out the forest will come before the state Board of Forestry Jan. 9. The board’s nine members are all appointees of outgoing Gov. George Deukmejian and owe Wilson nothing. Environmentalists who sponsored last November’s Forests Forever initiative contend that the board has a chain-saw mind-set. A spokesman for the owner of the forest property, Pacific Lumber Co., provided a timely example of the mind-set Thursday. Talking of these towering and irreplaceable natural monuments, some of them 2,000 years old, he said: “I’m amazed this is still a large focal point when you’ve got so much (redwood forest) locked up in parks.”

Still Wilson’s mission is not hopeless. Pacific Lumber is asking the board to overrule the state Department of Forestry, which rejected its request to fell the redwoods earlier this year. One factor was concern for the marbled murrelet, a chunky sea bird with the coloring of vanilla-fudge ice cream that nests in the redwoods. Like the spotted owl, it may be headed toward extinction.

It will be a popular move. The Forests Forever initiative nearly carried, even with its $742-million bond issue. All in all, it’s not a bad start on his self-described second job as environmental advocate.