Point Reyes Light - December 16, 1999
Bolinas eucalyptus-cutting may need county approval
With the first eucalyptus trees set to be removed in two weeks from private property in Bolinas, county officials have demanded that no cutting take place without their approval.
Both the Marin Planning and Public Works departments requested this week that the company proposing to cut numerous stands of eucalyptus on private and public lands, California Wood Fiber Corp., first submit a detailed plan for their review.
Public Works senior civil engineer Kevin McGowan on Monday checked out several of the proposed cutting sites on private lands along Horseshoe Hill Rd. and Pine Gulch Creek. Joining him was the restoration professional Russ Riviere, the broker of the deal, plus Kent Julin of the Marin Fire Department, cutting opponent Ilka Hartmann, and a representative of the logging company, California Wood Fiber.
"It's still in question if the private lands will need a permit," McGowan said on Tuesday. "They will have to submit an application, though, and after we review it I will forward it to the Marin Community Development Agency."
McGowan said Public Works would have jurisdiction over the project only if the environmental impacts, such as erosion, were deemed excessive.
Because eucalyptus are not a native species, he noted, the trees are not protected by any provisions in the county tree ordinance.
County planning services coordinator Brian Crawford said Wednesday that his department expects to have a formal proposal from California Wood Fiber by the end of the week, and will then decide what - if any - permits will be required.
"We may have jurisdiction over the trees under certain conditions of the Local Coastal Plan," Crawford explained. "So we have requested a detailed proposal, including the number of acres and the number of trees to be cut."
Crawford said that county planning would require permits for cutting trees in environmentally sensitive areas such as those close to creeks. "We would require a permit if they were removing vegetation in a significant natural habitat area, as designated by the local Coastal Plan, or if the trees were within 100 feet of a stream," he said.
Opponents of the cutting, including Bolinas resident Hartmann, have been calling county officials to protest the cutting, arguing against the loss of habitat of migrating monarch butterflies, which seasonally flock to the trees.
Hartmann said Tuesday there is renewed concern that Riviere has changed his plans to include felling many giant old-growth trees along Mesa Road - trees that were originally to be spared.
"Russ has already cordoned off the big trees on Mesa Road with yellow tape," she said. "We're very concerned that he changed his mind about those large trees there... I don't see any positive development with this."
Also among the concerned is Bolinas resident and consulting geologist Cabe Silverhame, who discovered that California Wood Fiber Corp. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of a Japanese parent company, Daio Paper Corp. of Tokyo.
Silverhame said several Australian environmental groups, as well as the US-based Wilderness Society, have called for boycotts of Daio subsidiary products because of - in Silverhame's words - their "rapacious approach to log cutting."
The county first involved itself in the matter after a meeting at Civic Center last Thursday between Bolinas Public Utility District director Paul Kayfetz and several county officials, including Supervisor Steve Kinsey and Community Development Agency director Alex Hinds.
Kayfetz told The Light that during the meeting he expressed his concerns over possible erosion and the use of weed-control sprays to keep the eucalyptus in check.
"I am interested still in seeing something constructive done, but not in the rainy season," Kayfetz said.
The issue was then brought up at last Friday's meeting of the Bolinas Lagoon Technical Advisory Committee at Audubon Canyon Ranch.
Though the committee has no authority over projects around Bolinas Lagoon, committee co-chair Ralph Camiccia said that the group was committed to seeing that all tree removal go through the necessary permitting process.
The eucalyptus controversy - which has resprouted every so often in Bolinas - surfaced two weeks ago, when BPUD directors heard a proposal from Riviere and California Wood Fiber to clearcut virtually all the giant eucalyptus trees from the district's 90-acre sewage-pond property.
BPUD directors were expected to vote on an updated proposal late Wednesday night.
In any event, all landowners who want their eucalyptus removed will have to wait for county approval, which is all right by BPUD's Kayfetz.
"BPUD could be the foreman on the concerns for the private lands," Kayfetz said. "I'd like to end up with a slower process that doesn't terminally discourage California Wood Fiber. Russ is in a rush to see the work done on the private lands, though."