By Gregg Stevens – North Coast News, June 7, 1990
A proposed shelterwood cut on Greenwood Creek in Elk has residents concerned about its effect on the town water supply.
More than 50 people attended a town meeting at the Community Center on May 21 to hear how this cut may pollute the town well and discuss ways to prevent it.
Charlie Acker of the Elk Water District emphasized that this is not some grabbing-at-straws attempt to stop logging in the area, but that there were legitimate water-quality problems that may arise due to the steep grade and instability of the slopes to be logged and the proximity of the town well to the creek. The well is about a half mile downstream from the cut.
The area of the proposed shelterwood removal was originally part of a select cut timber harvest plan filed and approved in 1985. After hearing from the Water Quality Control Board, the Review Team for the California Department of Forestry approved the plan under the condition that in some areas logs could not be removed by skidder, but had to be yarded out up the hill.
For economic reasons, Louisiana Pacific, owners of the land, decided not to log these areas, although they did go ahead with the rest of the cut.
It’s these areas that were left that are now the subject of an amended THP, which allows most trees larger than 10 inches to be cut and removed by tractor.
The problem is that, due to erosion from high water, the town well is now situated less than 20 feet from Greenwood Creek. If this cut goes through as planned, a hard rain would wash a large amount of mud into the creek, and possibly seep through into the well.
The level of turbidity, or cloudiness, of the water would far exceed the stringent water quality standards for drinking water, increasing treatment costs or forcing the district to switch to another well with greatly reduced flow.
Mendocino County Supervisor Norman deVall, a resident of Elk, said that the community needs to present their views directly to the Review Team that was scheduled to meet that Wednesday. The team tentatively approves or denies THPs for the Mendocino County area.
More than 20 Elk residents took his advice and made the trip to Ukiah to meet with them. They brought with them video footage of Greenwood Creek after the last cut in this area in 1985. The creek at that time resembled mud more than water.
The review team denied the amended plan on the grounds that not all of the adjacent landowners had been notified of the planned cut.
Upon their return, several residents were concerned that the plan was denied on a technicality before the possible environmental problems could be thoroughly discussed.
Louisiana-Pacific could either reapply for the cut or log another neighboring spot on the large area they own on Greenwood Creek. One such plan already has been filed for land a short distance upstream.
And there still is the possibility of the plan being approved by the review board in Santa Rosa, although it usually follows the recommendations of county teams.
Either way, it’s apparent that many of the residents of Elk are ready to take a stand against any logging operations that directly affect the Greenwood Creek watershed.