Cal Fire (formerly the California Department of Forestry) has ruled San Jose Water Company's 1,000-acre property in the Santa Cruz Mountains ineligible for a "Non-industrial Timber Management Plan" (NTMP). This seems to represent a complete victory for NAIL, the grassroots Neighbors Against Irresponsible Logging organization which formed in June 2005 to fight the Water Company's plans to harvest timber from watershed land along Los Gatos Creek.
"We have won the battle!" NAIL's Terry Clark wrote to his group. "Do a victory dance!"
NAIL enlisted former vice-president Al Gore when he visited in 2006, used Google Earth to chart Water Company land holdings, and approached State Assemblyman Ira Ruskin, who took up the cause.
"Since the beginning of this process, I voiced my concerns to Cal Fire about the fire safety issue and the size of the logging area and expressed my desire to see this land preserved as open space," Assemblyman Ruskin wrote in a letter announcing Cal Fire's decision.
San Jose Water had proposed a logging plan that would have involved trucks and helicopters and at the very least would have impacted residents of the communities of Chemeketa Park and Aldercroft Heights. But those opposed to the logging were also concerned about the environmental costs, and some felt that the Water Co. was looking to make money.
Mountain resident and NAIL member Rebecca Moore is also a member of the Google Earth team, and she was able to use the technology to document that San Jose Water's property was not eligible for the NTMP. Her groundbreaking use of satellite imagery for political argument was mentioned in the Sept. 6 edition of The Economist.
It appears that NAIL's careful analysis of San Jose Water's land holdings persuaded Cal Fire that the company owned too much land to be eligible for the simpler Non-industrial logging plan process.
Kevin Flynn of NAIL thinks that the Water Company will resign themselves to being good stewards of the land. If they think of selling off the trees in the future, he says, "they know they'll face motivated and intelligent opposition."
NAIL plans a small celebration for its members in Chemeketa Park on Sunday.
Due to the timing of the announcement, a San Jose Water Company spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
Related Articles
S.J. Water Logging Plan Set for Public Hearing (1/26/07)
Logging Plan Subjected to Public Hearing (1/31/07)
Logging Alternative: Public Ownership (2/2/07)
Thanks to NAIL member Kevin Flynn for reporting this story
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