Long Beach Resolves Dispute Over Rare Wood

Long Beach officials and environmentalists announced an agreement Tuesday to resolve a nasty dispute over use of rare Brazilian hardwood on a harbor project outside the Aquarium of the Pacific.

In a significant departure for Long Beach and a big win for environmental groups, the city hammered out a 17-point agreement in which it acknowledged that it had a role to play in protecting rain forests and said it would bring a new consciousness to city purchases of natural resources.

City Manager James C. Hankla and several members of the City Council also issued a public apology and in essence promised not to repeat their mistake.

The dispute developed after nearly all of the rare Brazilian hardwood had been purchased, cut and laid out for the esplanade and boardwalk outside the aquarium as well as the floating pier in Rainbow Harbor, a waterway built especially to showcase the aquarium.

Last month, Hankla agreed to cancel 23% of the city’s original order of ipe hardwood and replace it with hardwood approved by the Forest Stewardship Council.

With environmental groups still unhappy and threatening to disrupt the opening of the aquarium, Hankla, City Councilman Alan Lowenthal and other municipal officials met with environmental groups and worked out an agreement that went well beyond what the city had originally proposed.

Late Tuesday, the City Council voted 8-0 to approve the agreement and new policy.

Environmental groups that worked on the agreement were Rainforest Relief, the Action Resource Center of Venice and the Los Angeles Rainforest Action Project.

In return for the activists agreeing not to embarrass the city by referring to the boardwalk as “a rain forest graveyard,” the city promised to avoid similar purchases in the future and to join in a statewide effort to convince other cities not to use the rare wood.

The city leaders also agreed to erect a sign or signs on the project “stating the importance of protecting the Earth’s tropical rain forests.” The city will circulate its new policy to other California cities. Los Angeles has a tough policy against purchasing rare wood, but most cities don’t.

“We’re as happy as you can be considering that the city already used so much [rare] hardwood,” said Tim Keating, executive director of Rainforest Relief, a national organization working to preserve the world’s remaining rain forests. “The fact that the city has said in writing that they will notify every city in California of its policy is very significant. We are hoping that other cities will adopt such policies.”

Councilman Lowenthal said: “This is something the city is very proud of.”