Report shows high cost of timber-harvest plans

The buckeye forest project is the result of a year of study

By Christine Souza

The cost of abiding by state timber regulations makes it nearly impossible for landowners who use "light-touch" harvesting methods to make a profit, according to a report by a group of persons with varied interests from Humboldt County.

"We have been saying for many years that timber harvest plans cost too much money and they are putting good stewards out of business," said Pam Giacomini, California Farm Bureau Federation director of natural resources and commodities. "This is the first real study that puts together the numbers and shows us exactly what timber harvest plans cost and shows how they are not profitable for the smaller landowner or any forest landowner to do select management."

About a year ago, 33 Humboldt County landowners, including timber operators and ranchers, plus environmentalists and representatives of state and federal agencies, came together to tackle problems facing non-industrial foresters, such as the cost of complying with timber regulations. Interested parties shared information, held meetings, took field trips, researched problems and suggested solutions. Information taken from this productive dialogue and experience was folded into a study known as "The Buckeye Forest Project."

The group said it hopes that the report, combined with other efforts by landowner groups, government and environmentalists, will help inspire the Legislature and state Board of Forestry to create new forest policies that encourage and reward forest stewardship.

"It was a blessing to have the participation of landowners, environmentalists, agencies and other stakeholders meet under one umbrella with a common purpose-making sense of a very complex situation," said Mark Anderson, project manager for the Buckeye Forest Project. "We have brought groups together and we are not sitting here throwing rocks at each other; we have actually come together to figure out what makes sense. It was a breath of fresh air to see folks actually trying to work things out."

The study, a collaborative effort to identify problems and seek strategies to preserve open space and foster stewardship of family forestlands, describes how current regulations create unintended consequences for stewardship of private, non-industrial forests in Humboldt County.

An important feature of the document, Anderson explained, is a case study that takes a look at how Forest Practice Rules impact the ability of one family-owned ranch to harvest timber selectively, in comparison with clear-cutting or even selling the property for a subdivision. The case study property is a 160-acre parcel located along the Van Duzen River. The analysis conducted by Mark Collins of James Able Forestry indicated that the family would need to spend about $45,450 to prepare a timber harvest plan to harvest 200,000 board-feet of Douglas fir. Based on current market values, the family would lose $5,400 executing a light selection harvest. By clear-cutting, the family could earn an expected profit of $30,000. If they clear-cut and sold the property, they would net a pretax value of $250,000.

"The problem is landowners are spending a lot of money to comply with regulations and therefore have to cut more of the resource to pay to do what they want to do in the first place," Anderson said. "It puts the wrong incentive for open space and that is one of the big things that Buckeye stands for-preserving open space and ranching families. If you are getting heavily regulated and getting tired of it, your options to stay in business or sell is actually reducing open space as a function of the regulations."

The case study, Anderson said, showed the other interested parties what landowners are facing in terms of economics.

"The bottom line is, I don't see how some of the ranching families that have a fair amount of timberland will be able to stay in business over the next five years unless something changes. It is getting difficult. I think you are going to see things come up for sale shortly," said forest landowner and rancher Ron Samuelson, a member of the Humboldt County Farm Bureau and Buckeye Conservancy board member.

After 14 months of effort by individuals who took part in the Buckeye Forest Project, the diverse group developed several recommendations. Group members who represented a wide range of perspectives decided that acreage limits for non-industrial timber management plans should be expanded and applied to parcels of up to 15,000 acres. Participants also suggested that the life of the timber harvest plans, currently from three years to five years, be expanded up to 15 years for selective logging. Project participants plan to continue to work together and are interested in involving more people in the discussions.

"We kind of had to reach out a little bit. As it turns out, it has worked both ways and we have all become a little closer, I hope," Anderson said.

The Buckeye Forest Project Report was sponsored by the Buckeye Conservancy and funded in part with a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. The Buckeye Conservancy is a non-profit organization with more than 200 family, individual and commercial memberships, representing over 300,000 acres of forests and ranchland in Humboldt County.