Chopping Down Logging Rules

For years the giant Pacific Lumber Co. has eagerly been trying to close a deal to sell 7,500 acres of old-growth redwoods and other trees in Humboldt County to the state and federal governments. But you’d never know that by looking at the company’s actions lately, actions that threaten to undermine the whole transaction.

State regulators suspended Pacific’s logging permit this week for gross violation of rules designed to protect threatened and endangered species in its North Coast lumber empire. The suspension comes as the two governments and Pacific are attempting to reach final terms for the $495-million sale of the so-called Headwaters Forest and smaller tracts of old trees.

Unless the sale is completed by March, Washington will withdraw the federal share of the $495 million for Headwaters, the largest stand of old-growth redwoods still in private ownership.

A key part of the agreement is that Pacific must comply with a habitat conservation plan covering logging on more than 210,000 acres of other environmentally sensitive groves it owns. The plan is designed to provide protection for more than a score of threatened or endangered species, including the spotted owl and coho salmon.

The state’s suspension of Pacific’s logging permit is the second in two years. It shows Pacific cannot be trusted to follow acceptable logging practices on its own. The final version of the habitat conservation plan must contain strict regulation of logging operations and provide close oversight to make certain the law is followed. Pacific retains no moral standing in this deal. The sale should be contingent on its acceding to tough state regulation.