Hi all,
Our local
SF Green Party helped write and shepherd this legislation to
victory. Particularly important is that we stuck to our guns
and insisted that a ban on genetically engineered tree
cultivation be included in the resolution. Because we stayed
firm, both Davis and San Francisco have now passed calls for
bans on both clearcutting and GE tree cultivation.
Eric B
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 25, 2014
CONTACT:
Juliette
Beck, 530-902-8407
stopsierraclearcutting@gmail.com
(Photos, video available upon request)
San Francisco Calls for State Ban of Clearcut Logging
and Other Factory Tree Farming Methods
San Francisco, CA—On Tuesday June 24, 2014, the San
Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a
resolution to call on the state legislature and governor to
enhance protections for California's forest watersheds by
banning factory tree farming methods based on clearcut
logging and toxic herbicide application.
“In keeping with San Francisco’s leadership in the
environmental justice movement, I felt compelled to
collaborate with the Sierra Club and environmental leaders
to introduce this resolution urging the state to stop these
destructive clear cutting practices," said resolution
sponsor Supervisor David Campos. "It is incumbent upon us
public officials to take a stand and fight to protect our
natural resources. San Francisco’s pristine Sierra water
supply and greenhouse gas-free hydro power, the integrity of
the planet’s climate, and the security of wildlife and human
health are intimately dependent on the health of our
forests. I am proud that we received unanimous support from
the Board of Supervisors for this measure."
California’s forest watersheds store, filter, and gradually
release 75% of the state’s clean water supply.* Mature
forests absorb up to 40% of all human-caused greenhouse gas
emissions.
Currently, California law allows all trees to be cut on
large tracts of forest (clearcutting) followed by the
planting of new trees as factory-farmed industrial
plantations of only one or two tree species. Toxic
herbicides are applied to prevent the growth of
‘undesirable’ tree and plant species. Over a million acres
in key watersheds in the Sierra Nevada, Cascade, and Redwood
forests are in the process of being converted to highly
uniform, fire-prone tree plantations.
Clearcutting and tree farming create a sterile landscape
much like factory-scale corn, soy, or alfalfa fields,
allowing minimal natural plant and animal biodiversity and
creating soil disturbance and runoff that pollutes waterways
and releases large amounts of greenhouse gasses into the
atmosphere. Maintaining natural, mature forests is
increasingly recognized as vital in reversing climate
change.**
The resolution also calls for a California prohibition of
the outdoor cultivation of genetically engineered tree
plantations, an even more aggressive and
chemically-intensive form of factory tree farming for which
biotech corporations are currently seeking approval at the
USDA.*** Opponents warn that such genetically engineered
tree plantations, if approved, could make destructive
clearcutting even more profitable and desirable to the
timber and tree pulp industry, and could present serious
biological contamination dangers to the integrity and health
of California wildlife.
Opponents of clearcutting call for trees to instead be
logged using a less destructive method known as selective
harvest, which involves the planned removal of carefully
identified trees, while leaving overall forests intact.
Sierra Club spokesperson Juliette Beck hailed the passage of
the measure, saying “This resolution against clearcutting
marks the beginning of a turning point in California, away
from destructive and toxic factory tree farms and toward
more ecologically sustainable methods of selective logging
which will preserve healthy forests, the Earth’s climate,
and more stable jobs in forest products and tourism, far
into the future.”
*Sierra Club, http://www.sierraclub.org/clearcutting/downloads/Clearcutting-factsheet.pdf
**Nature Journal, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nature12914.html, January
29,
2014
***Center for Food Safety http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/files/ge_pages_final_nov-1_80728.pdf,
November 2013, p. 3
###