State water board orders Pacific Lumber to temporarily
halt logging
SCOTIA, Calif. (AP) - State water officials ordered Pacific
Lumber Co. to temporarily halt logging in Humboldt County on Wednesday
after environmentalists filed a petition questioning the validity of
the company's timber harvest plans.
The State Water Resources Control Board issued the stay
requested by the Humboldt Watershed Council and the Environmental Protection
Information Center to suspend logging in parts of the Freshwater Creek
and Elk River watersheds near Eureka on California's far northern coast.
In February, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board agreed
to allow Pacific Lumber to cut up to 50 percent of the annual 1,100-acre
harvest limit in the environmentally fragile watersheds, where residents
complain that logging operations have caused flooding and property damage.
After Pacific Lumber officials protested, the regional water board voted
5-3 last month to allow the Scotia-based firm to log 25 percent - or
about 400 acres - more than the board's executive director, Catherine
Kuhlman, gave the company permission to harvest.
The state water board's decision Wednesday will prevent Pacific Lumber
from logging the additional 25 percent until the board can hold a hearing
on the environmental groups' petition. No hearing date has been set.
Pacific Lumber officials said the stay would create more financial uncertainty
for the struggling timber firm, which has threatened to file bankruptcy
if it can't down enough trees. The company said it would immediately
appeal Wednesday's decision.
