Posted on 10/07/2008 6:50:24 PM PDT by nickcarraway
After three years of hearings, debates and studies, a plan by San Jose Water Co. to log redwood and Douglas fir trees over 1,002 acres in the Los Gatos Creek watershed along Highway 17 is facing its day of reckoning.
The state Board of Forestry is scheduled to hold a hearing today on whether to allow the plan to go forward, or to deny it, as the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has recommended.
The showdown — a culmination of the most contentious logging battle in decades in Santa Clara County — centers on two vital questions: What is timberland and how much of it does San Jose Water really own?
If the company owns more than 2,500 acres of timberland, under state law it does not qualify for the open-ended logging permit it is seeking. The company says it owns 1,971 acres with commercially harvestable trees. State forestry officials say it owns 2,825 acres that either have — or could grow — such trees. Both sides, along with logging opponents, have stacks of aerial photos, GIS maps and ground-based reports to buttress their arguments.
It's up to the board, a nine-member panel appointed by the governor, to decide on what the definition of "timberland" is.
The battle lines have been drawn since 2005.
San Jose Water, a privately held company that provides drinking water to 1 million people in San Jose, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cupertino and Campbell, says it hopes to reduce fire risk it owns between Lexington Reservoir and Summit Road by thinning a forest that hasn't been logged since the 1800s.
"We were very lucky this summer. The Summit fire came within a mile of our property," said John Tang, a spokesman for San Jose Water, referring to a blaze in May that burned 4,270
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
ping
What do they say?
The plan is a net benefit to the watershed.
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