Los Gatos Weekly-Times

News

Former vice president calls proposal 'flawed'

By Jason Sweeney

Al Gore has taken sides in the back-and-forth battle over a proposed logging plan for the watershed above the Lexington Reservoir.

Neighbors Against Irresponsible Logging, a group of mountain residents opposed to the plan, put out a press release Nov. 27 with statements from Gore.

"I support Neighbors Against Irresponsible Logging in their diligent efforts to inform themselves and their community about the details of the San Jose Water Company proposal to log more than 1,000 acres of redwoods in the Los Gatos Creek Watershed," Gore said in the statement. "The proposal is deeply flawed; the commercial logging of these trees simply makes no sense.

"Forests like these are worth fighting to save. As one of the largest stands of coastal redwoods in Santa Clara County and adjacent to Silicon Valley, this healthy forest is performing many vital unseen functions including storing carbon dioxide, which reduces global warming."

Kalee Kreider, Gore's communication director, confirmed the statements were accurate.

Big Creek Lumber Company and the San Jose Water Company are attempting to gain approval to log redwoods and Douglas fir on 1,002 acres of San Jose Water Company land above Los Gatos.

Mountain residents are attempting to block the plan. They maintain logging the forest would increase fire risk, increase erosion and decrease water quality. They also have safety concerns regarding logging trucks on narrow mountain roads, and quality-of-life issues regarding noise from chainsaws and helicopters.

But representatives from Big Creek and the San Jose Water Company say logging would reduce the fire hazard, would not effect water quality and would be done selectively in an environmentally sensitive manner.

Bob Berlage, a spokesman for Big Creek, said his company is drafting a letter to Gore inviting him to tour the watershed. John Tang, a spokesman for the San Jose Water Company, said his company is doing the same.

"We actually welcome Mr. Gore's involvement," Berlage said. "We believe if we could get Mr. Gore to come out and look at what our company has done in the forest for the last 60 years, he would realize that our practices are completely consistent with his environmental philosophy. We're completely sincere with getting him out in the woods."

Tang said, "If he takes us up on our invitation, we're confident that he will come to the conclusion that both he and San Jose Water Company share the same goals about the environment."

"Personally, I wonder how much information he would gain from a tour because it's likely to be very carefully scripted," said mountain resident Rebecca Moore.

Moore, a Google employee, gave a presentation at a NAIL meeting last summer using Google Earth software that depicted the proposed logging area in three dimensions.

Moore said when Gore visited Google, she gave him demonstrations of various Google Earth models. "One of them was the redwood logging proposal fly-over," she said. "He was struck by it and concerned by it. He is familiar with that forest and asked if he could do anything to help."

Berlage said Moore's Google Earth presentation doesn't give the complete picture regarding the logging plan because it doesn't show the situation on the ground.

Moore disagrees. "I think every element in the model is objective," she said. "It's high- resolution aerial imagery of the entire area, which allows people to see the proximity of logging trucks, logging zones and helicopter take-off and landing areas to people's homes and to schools. It shows the steepness of the terrain that they propose to log."

Jodi Freidiani, a forestry task force chairwoman for the Sierra Club who is representing NAIL, said she is happy Gore has taken an interest in the logging plan. "It touches on an issue that's dear to his heart," she said. "That's global warming. The larger trees, in my understanding of the science, do a better job of sequestering carbon. Certainly, if logging increases the fire risk and the whole thing goes up in flames, the burning of wood releases the carbon."

But Berlage said the logging plan could reduce global warming. He said when lumber is used to build houses, the carbon is sequestered long-term in the lumber. Then as the forest grows and replaces logged trees, more carbon is sequestered at a faster rate in the growing trees.

Tang said he hopes Gore takes up the invitation to tour the watershed. "We're disappointed that he hasn't contacted us yet."

Freidiani also hopes Gore takes up the offer. "I think it would great," she said. "Whether he's got the time and schedule to do that is a whole other story."

Santa Clara County, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, the California Geologic Survey, the Department of Fish and Game and the California Department of Forestry are currently conducting pre-harvest inspection reports of the proposed logging area. Once the reports are completed, public hearings regarding the logging proposal are expected to occur early next year.