New Salmon Rules Note Forestry’s Role in Recovering Species
New rules conserve forest resources, help fish and riparian species; but at huge cost to forest owners

Sacramento Calif., October 7, 2009 – The California Board of Forestry today unanimously adopted permanent Salmonid Protection Rules that recognize the value of active forest management on privately owned forestlands in efforts to recover salmon populations in the state’s coastal watersheds. The adoption of permanent rules ends nearly a decade of operations under temporary provisional rules.

“The recognition that forestry can be advantageous to fish and other aquatic species is welcome and long overdue,” says David Bischel, California Forestry Association (CFA) president. “The Board adopted permanent rules that include all substantive mitigation provisions sought by Fish and Game, and in doing so, solidified the role that active forest management can play in enhancing fish habitat. Forestry on California’s private forestlands has been shown to improve watershed health, and that’s good for fish and working forests.”

The new rules focus on recovering coho and chinook salmon and steelhead trout populations but will benefit a wide range of aquatic and riparian species. The rules establish protections near watercourses throughout watersheds, including seasonal streams that typically run dry in summer months. The rules allow management in watersheds where salmon populations have declined significantly in recent decades as part of efforts to enhance habitat for threatened or endangered aquatic species.

“The new rules make it clear that forestland owners are doing their part to recover imperiled salmon populations,” says Bischel. “That Fish and Game got everything they sought in the rules package should mean the salmon wars are over. We’re helping to recover fish in exactly the way Fish & Game requested. This should usher in a collaborative era focused on watershed health and recovering robust fish populations.”

“But the rules are extremely costly,” continues Bischel. “They effectively remove 12 percent of private forestlands within the range of salmon from active management at a cost to forestland owners of more than $500 million in lost timber value. They also mean a reduction of nearly 100 million board feet of annual sustained-timber yield, which eliminates the equivalent of the annual supply for two sawmills that could support more than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs.”

Active forest management enhances watershed health, conserves spawning gravels and protects habitat for a wide range of aquatic and riparian species. Managed forests hold water better during storms and provide clean gravels, deep pools and cobbled stream bottoms in which to lay their eggs and start life.

Managing forests also protects watersheds from severe wildfires. High-intensity wildfire strips lands of vegetation, sterilizes soils and exposes soils to massive erosion that can destroy fish spawning gravels.

Research shows that oceanic conditions have the most significant impact on salmon survival and populations. Temperature fluctuations affect food supply and predation in the ocean waters where salmon spend more than half their life. On average north of Santa Cruz, for example, only about 3 percent of the young fish that swim out to sea return as adults to spawn.

The Board of Forestry is the lead agency charged with policy and rule-making authority governing activities on the state’s private forestlands. The Department of Fish and Game is charged with recovering fish populations in the state’s waterways. State law dictates that the Board of Forestry consult with Fish and Game in the adoption of rules pertaining to species listed under the state’s Endangered Species Act.

Bischel also noted that of the 165 economic sectors the Air Resources Board identified in California, the forest sector is the only one identified as a net sequesterer of carbon. All others are net emitters. Healthy, well-managed forests clean the air and act as “carbon sinks,” removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, storing the carbon and releasing oxygen.

“The Air Resource Board under the leadership of chair Mary Nichols has done a commendable job in developing protocols that should encourage sustainable forestry and lead to significant increases of carbon sequestration,” Bischel says. “A wide range of opinions and a great deal of science is represented effectively in these protocols. The end result could bring a valuable asset, the state’s working forests, into the forefront of addressing climate change. Science shows that forest management can increase carbon sequestration while conserving forest resources from soils to water and wildlife habitat and the new protocols reflect that science.”

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The California Forestry Association represents professionals committed to sustainable forestry and the protection of the state’s natural resources.
CFA is committed to keeping the public informed on issues surrounding efforts to keep California forests healthy and well-managed for water, wildlife, wildfire protection and climate change benefit.

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