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October 2006 Newsletter

The great news that you are all probably aware of is the Sempervirens Fund’s purchase of the Lompico Creek Headwaters, Islandia, from Redwood Empire.  I hope you can all be generous with you donations to the Sempervirens.  Many people have already made substantial donations.  Sempervirens has taken on the task of purchasing this land on our behalf.  Land trusts often use loans and other financial tools to complete the huge transactions that are necessary to their work.  The Lompico purchase cost Sempervirens about $3.5 million.  There is no magic bank where this money comes from.  It must be raised by all of us working together.  People who do not have the personal resources to make a large donation may have friends and neighbors who do.  You may work for a business that has a charitable giving program.  Donations to the Sempervirens Fund are fully tax deductible.

650-968-4509 or www.sempervirens.org

The Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County

The Community Foundation has approved a matching grant of $10,000 to double the donations to the Headwaters purchase from people in our area until December 31, 2006.  When you make a donation for the purchase of Islandia, your donation will be matched by the Community Foundation.  If you have not yet made a substantial donation, please consider it now.  Your gift will be doubled with the Community Foundation’s grant up to $10,000, so we hope to raise $20,000 overall with their help.

The Lompico Watershed Conservancy

invites you to join your friends and neighbors

for dinner and live music at the Trout Farm Inn on Saturday, November 4, 2006, at 6:00 p.m.

We have arranged a fixed price menu with a no-host bar.  You will be entertained by lively music and have a chance to win a raffle / silent auction for local goods and services.  A video presentation and photographs will be on display.

RSVP and advance payment is necessary.

Please RSVP by October 25 in order to plan the dinner.

All proceeds will go to the Headwaters purchase.

Dinner includes salad, bread, potatoes, vegetables, coffee and dessert. 

Dinner choices are: Trout Almandine, Prime Rib, Vegetarian Rigatoni.  $40.00 per adult.    $15.00 for children under 12, order off the menu.

Make checks payable to the Lompico Watershed Conservancy

335-8136         P.O. Box 99, Felton, CA  95018

What Happens With Islandia Next?

After they have paid off their loans and other costs, Sempervirens will begin the process of transferring the land to a permanent conservation owner.  Sempervirens does not hold land for long periods of time.  They are planning to convey the property to a public agency.  Discussions about this possible transfer have not yet begun.  Essentially Islandia will belong to all of us in common.  Some arrangement for public access will be worked out.  It will be possible to hike and enjoy the Lompico Headwaters.

It is important to understand that the Lompico Watershed Conservancy is not empowered to speak for the Sempervirens Fund.  We are simply trying to explain what we understand about plans for the future of Islandia.  Eventually, the maps of this area will show a watershed preserve at the headwaters of Lompico Creek.  This is a major change in land use designation from the current Timber Production Zone.  The value of everyone’s home in this area will likely increase as a result.  A protected watershed and wildlife preserve for Lompico is a great thing.  Many people have worked to make this happen and we would like to offer our thanks to everyone who has helped us reach this point, and to those who are helping to pay for the land.

You Can Help

The fund raising for the Islandia purchase will continue for some time yet.  There are many ways to help.  We need assistance from volunteers for a variety of tasks that include web design, graphic design, event planning and media outreach.  Please call the Conservancy at 831-335-8136.  We are particularly interested in setting up a benefit concert with well-known performers.  We have some help with promotion but we need musicians who can draw a large crowd.  These people are often busy and hard to pin down for dates.  If you can help, please contact us.  Public events like benefit concerts are very useful because they give us media exposure.  The Lompico Watershed Conservancy wants the Sempervirens fund raising to be successful so that they can move on to the conservation of other important lands in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  When they stepped in to purchase the Lompico Headwaters (Islandia) this was a new type of project for them because this land is not going to be added to State Parks.  The fund raising is also difficult because there has been no government funding as is usually the case with lands that become part of a California State Park.

New Leaf Markets Community Day

New Leaf Markets in Felton and Boulder Creek offered the Conservancy a “Community Day” at both stores on Thursday, May 25^th to benefit the Sempervirens Fund.  New Leaf donated 5% of the day’s receipts to the Conservancy and Sempervirens Fund for the purchase of the Lompico Headwaters.  We are grateful to New Leaf for their help.  It is important to have a business community that works with charitable organization to accomplish the wide range of work that needs to be done to protect the public interest.

Landslides and Erosion

The unusually continuous rains in spring 2006 activated serious landslides in Lompico and the rest of the Santa Cruz Mountains that have damaged homes and roads.  This is one of the risks we face living in these young, geologically weak and unstable mountains.  We offer our condolences to those personally affected by this misfortune.  This article is not intended to specifically address problems on Lower Lake Blvd.  It is general information.

Culvert stranded in creek bottom by total washout of fill in the “Happyland” area of Lompico

If you have concerns about soil stability that may affect your home or private road, it is often best to consult a licensed engineering geologist. They are required by the State to have a level of training and experience that goes well beyond the general information in this newsletter.  There are tests that can be conducted to determine the underlying condition and stability of the slope you live on.  Remember, because a hill looks stable to you does not mean that it is not going to move some day.  Geologic analysis is a very complex matter.  This article is not intended to frighten anyone.  Large dangerous landslides are uncommon.  However they do happen, and if you live in the Santa Cruz Mountains long enough you are going to see these hills move.  There were an extraordinary number of cut-slope failures along Lompico Road last winter.  Most were shallow but they give you a front row seat on the erosion processes as affected by roads.

Erosion control and site drainage are important factors in many landslides.  Big deep landslide systems are more complex than shallow debris slides but both types can be related.  Modification of the terrain from cutting roads and the many effects of home sites can cause some dangerous alterations to hill slopes, and change surface and even subsurface water flow. These landscape modifications can (but certainly not always) affect the activation of landslides.

Cut Slope Failure on Lompico Road

The geology of this area was poorly understood when the homes and roads were originally build.  Most of the area’s landslides are quite old but that does not mean that they will never move again.  These slides can remain dormant for long periods of time (100 years or more) but then advance unpredictably, especially when the soils reach the point of super-saturation or when there is earthquake activity.  Conditions of excessive water content in soils and rock from prolonged and continuous rainfall are a cause of many slides.  Rain intensities and durations like those seen last winter and spring are more likely in the future as our planet’s weather systems become more unstable from global warming.  We may just as well suffer from prolonged droughts as well.

Things You Can Do to Reduce Erosion and Increase Safety

Always direct water away from your home’s foundation and locations of road or driveway failure.  Allow the water to disperse onto natural terrain where concentrations of water flow are less likely to develop and cause problems.  Road systems and driveways interrupt natural water flows and concentrate water by combining several small rivulets into larger more powerful flows of water.  In already developed areas it can be hard to change this situation but improvements like water bars, better surfacing and improved drainage are usually possible.

The big trees that make up our forests are very important for slope stability. Their root systems act like cables helping to hold soils in place on steep slopes.  The soil in this area is very often cohesionless sand and loam which is extremely mobile when it is disturbed and subjected to surface water flow.  Soil that is firm when dry can become weak and mobile when saturated with water.

You can increase soil stability and reduce erosion by planting deep rooted native plants around your home and driveways.  These plants help hold soil in place and they need little to no irrigation once established.  They may grow more slowly than exotics but they are more permanent, which is very important.  The French broom that is invasive on disturbed sites like landslides has small shallow roots and is not very useful for erosion control.  The broom dominates a site and keeps native plants from reestablishing after a land disturbance.  Broom is also very flammable.  Vinca and ivy are also problem invasive plants that drive out natives and are poor substitutes for good erosion control.

There are many beautiful local native plants that are becoming increasingly available in local nurseries as people learn how well they work.  It is important to know the soil moisture and sunlight needs of plants before you place them.  Many plants have very specific requirements necessary to thrive.  A way to learn about our native plants is simply to walk on undisturbed parts of the forest around us.  You can learn which plants live only on continuously damp soil or in dry chaparral and oak woodland. Landscaping that takes care of itself without watering and also holds soil in place is a benefit to everyone.  It helps our wildlife too.

The San Lorenzo Valley Women’s Club, the California Native Plant Society, and the Santa Cruz County Resource Conservation District are all good sources of information on these subjects.

What About Water Pollution?

Soil erosion is a big problem for water quality in Lompico Creek and the San Lorenzo Basin.  It prevents water agencies from using the river for days on end, and it kills our wildlife including steelhead trout and coho salmon.  The estimated annual average sediment load from the San Lorenzo River is 144,000 tons.  Lompico Creek sends about 15,000 tons of sand and silt into the River every winter as part of that total.  This is a truly astonishing rate of erosion.  Soil erosion and landslides are related.

Household chemicals, fertilizers, paint, motor oil and human and animal wastes are obvious kinds of pollution that we are all responsible for.  Household chemicals can be disposed of free of charge at the Ben Lomond Transfer Station.  Toxics can be dropped off Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday till 2:30 p.m.

Lompico Creek is good steelhead trout habitat.  The small fish in the stream are juvenile (baby) steelhead that will migrate down to the Pacific to mature.  A few will return as big adults to spawn during a winter storm when the creek is high.  They are protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act.  No fishing is allowed in any tributary to the San Lorenzo River including all of Zayante and Lompico Creeks. 

What is Next for the Lompico Watershed Conservancy?

The protection of the Lompico Headwaters “Islandia” was the founding goal of the Conservancy.  Since the beginning of this organization in 1997, it was clear that several environmental issues came together in the struggle to protect the Headwaters.  Water quality, endangered species, land use policy and environmental law and science were all part of the story.

The Conservancy succeeded with the help of the community, the County, the Sempervirens Fund and the Lompico County Water District.  Several other organizations played important parts as well.  The first includes the San Lorenzo Valley Women’s Club, the Sierra Club, and Citizens for Responsible Forest Management.  Things could have gone very differently but we were relentless, and we were fortunate to have powerful assistance when it really mattered.  The Sempervirens Fund’s intervention was critical.

Lompico became an issue because we were not willing to stand idly while this special headwaters area was logged.  Without community opposition, this would have occurred in 2001.  We made Lompico an issue and we were lucky to receive assistance when it really mattered.  The logging plan denial before the Board of Forestry was a stunning achievement.  The “system” can work if citizens are involved.

There is much more to be done.  Harmful impacts to water resources and wildlife are never ending.

The Conservancy was the first private organization to complete a fish habitat project in the County’s modern history when we completed the Old Lompico Pool Fish Passage Project in 2004.  We would like to do more of these projects.  The steelhead population in the San Lorenzo River has not increased in size in the last several years and may be just hanging on, as pollution, water diversion, and other impacts mount at the same time that work is being done to try to improve habitat.

Coho salmon are on the knife-edge of extinction.  Santa Cruz County is a testing ground where it will become clear whether wildlife are going to continue to spiral down to extinction, or whether together, we will save a place for our wildlife to live among us.  People all around California and the San Francisco Bay region are saying goodbye to wildlife.  Decisions are being made every day that close the door to wild places, animals and native plants.  The conservancy will continue to work for a future that is different; a future where wild nature is something that we are fortunate to live with and not just something that once existed but now is only seen on television.

Kevin Collins
Board President
831-335-8136
bats3@comcast.net
www.lompicocreek.org

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Lompico Headwaters “Islandia” THP is Denied on Appeal Before the CA Board of Forestry June 2004 Newsletter of the Lompico Watershed Conservancy The long dispute over Redwood Empire’s Lompico headwaters logging plan (THP) finally reached the stage of a County appeal of plan approval to the California Board of Forestry. The THP was approved on October 30th, 2003 by the California Department of Forestry (CDF). This happened after 25 months of stalling and 43 extensions of a “directors decision”. Santa Cruz County appealed that approval to the California Board of Forestry. The public testimony portion of the appeal was heard at the February meeting of the Board of Forestry. At the April 7th meeting, the Board rendered a decision on the appeal. The action the Board of Forestry took was ground-breaking. So much so, that as of the date of the printing of this newsletter, the staff of the Board of Forestry has still not released a written version of the Board’s decision. They were stunned. This win is the result of coordinated community action and County support. The Lompico Water Board, many, many community members and the Conservancy working together made this happen. This is the power of grass roots activism. Thanks to you all! The THP was “disapproved” on the grounds that the department (CDF) did not justify its conclusion of “insignificant impacts” from the logging plan relative to the total of cumulative impacts on the entire watershed. CDF has never dealt realistically with the issue of cumulative watershed impacts as required in State law. They have tended to look at each THP independent of all the other negative effects that watersheds are subject to, such as previous or current logging plans, existing road networks, gravel mining, pollution from residential areas and so on. This violates a basic principle that underlies much of the California Environmental Quality Act and the intent of Environmental Impact Reports. The principle is that a “project” such as logging or development must take into account the combined effect of various negative impacts on a resource, such as forest dependent wildlife or water resources, to which the “project” will contribute additional negative impacts. That is the meaning of cumulative impacts. CDF and the forester simply claimed that the effects on water quality from the logging plan would be minimal. Their justification for this claim was that helicopters would “yard” most of the logs, that the plan would observe the Forest Practice Rules, and in some small ways, presume to exceed the rules. We always disputed these conclusions in the first place. For instance, helicopters were going to be used simply because the land is so steep and erosive, and the terrain is so complex that helicopters were the only way to get at the trees. The construction of a road network in this terrain was illegal by the terms of the Forest Practice Rules. This does not in itself make helicopter yarding a “mitigating” factor. Roads and skid trials are not the only sources of erosion from logging. Removing trees from steep slopes and inner gorge stream corridors also causes erosion as does a general reduction in tree canopy on land with sandy soils and this type of terrain. Helicopters are also very disruptive to the people and wildlife living near the THP area because they produce intense noise for weeks on end. Recent changes to State law have made the Regional Water Quality Control Boards responsible for regulating soil pollution from logging operations. CDF is no longer able to claim that it has primary authority for regulating soil erosion pollution. CDF did this for decades while California streams were damaged and salmon have gone extinct or declined to remnant runs of fish. Coho salmon are on the verge of extinction. Public advocacy is curcial now. The transition from CDF “regulation” of water pollution to Regional Water Quality Control Board regulation will be a slow process. Regulating pollution from logging plans is a new task for them. The Regional Water Quality Control Boards do not have the staff to do their job. The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board is attempting to work out a practical means of monitoring for soil pollution from logging and the Lompico Watershed Conservancy is participating in the development of this process. Monitoring, or judging the extent of “non-point-source” pollution, is much more difficult than monitoring pollution from manufacturing etc. It is one thing to measure the concentrations of pollutants coming out of a pipe and quite another to gage the rate of soil erosion off of a logged landscape. This process is also under way for agricultural water pollution, and for urban and suburban street runoff (stormwater). These are huge problems that are not likely to be solved any time soon. It is unknown whether our salmon and the general health of our watersheds can survive until these pollution problems are effectively dealt with. Advocacy for solutions to these problems is one of the reasons that organizations like the Lompico Watershed Conservancy exist. The denial of the Islandia logging plan is a big victory. Santa Cruz County has not won a THP appeal hearing before the Board of Forestry for many years. The Board decision for the Islandia appeal was ground-breaking in the way it addressed the Forest Practice Rules. However it must be remembered that Redwood Empire still owns Islandia. They may again try to log the Lompico Creek headwaters. We must continue to look for a solution to this dilemma. Purchase of this land is likely to be the only permanent solution. This was the original reason for the formation of the Conservancy and we hope you will continue to support us. This task is not over! It is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Our legal and science expenses for this campaign were high and have put a strain on our resources. We hope that you will again make a donation to the Lompico Watershed Conservancy so that we can continue our work. Stream Restoration this Summer This Summer, the Conservancy will carry out a stream restoration project at the old Lompico Pool site to improve adult steelhead migration passage. We will be asking for volunteer help during this project. The primary funding for this project will come from the California Department of Fish and Game. This concreted section of streambed has needed correction for many years. People are surprised to learn that large migratory fish spawn in Lompico Creek. There are few adult fish and they come up Lompico Creek during and after winter storms when the Creek’s flow is higher than normal. You are very unlikely to see an adult and they prefer to move at night. The wild Steelhead Rainbow Trout that return to our creek come in from the ocean after 2 or 3 years at sea. They lay eggs in Lompico Creek and then try to return to the ocean. These fish are in the salmonid family but do not die after spawning. The condition of the creek, especially during the Summer and Fall is critical to the survival of their young. Please be conservative with water use and do not disturb the creek or flush pollutants into the water. These remarkable fish are listed under both the State and Federal Endangered Species Acts and it is illegal to molest them in our creek. We all are the protectors of these splendid animals. The Conservancy is all volunteer and donations from community members are very important to us. We are a non-profit charatible organization. All donations are tax deductable. You can contact us at 831-335-8136. Send emails to <bats3@cruzio.com>. We have a web site at www.lompicocreek.org The Raptors of Islandia Before the Lompico THP was filed a “raptor survey” was conducted on the property. This survey reported the presence of every hawk and owl species that is found in Santa Cruz Mountains forest habitats. The birds discovered were Coopers and Sharp Shinned Hawks, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Saw Whet Owls, Northern Pygmy Owl, Great Horned Owls, and Western Screech Owls. These surveys are not often required for THPs by CDF or Fish and Game. CDF rules require “buffer zones” around raptor nests but this rule is poorly enforced and it is generally entirely up to the landowner and the forester. The proven presence of wildlife on their lands is usually not of interest to logging companies but it is of interest to scientists and to the public. These birds are usually very shy and sensitive to disturbance. If you see a large stick nest in a tree near your house please try not to disturb it or make noise in the vicinity. The nesting period for these birds generally runs from March to early July but is variable. Owls often roost (sleep) in large old trees during the day. The smaller owls use holes in trees where branches have sheered of and left a void that they can use or where a woodpecker has already chipped out a cavity. This is one of the reasons that snags (dead trees) are so important to birds. If a dead tree is not likely to fall onto your house or on an area where it might injure people, please leave these dead trees in place and let them fall naturally when they finally weaken from normal deterioration. On the ground, fallen trees are also important for wildlife, soil building and erosion control. Raptors are splendid birds, beautiful and inspiring to watch. We are lucky to have so many species of these birds that live in our area. Coopers Hawks are in the sub-family Accipiridae with the species name accipiter cooperii. Accipiters are very fast smaller hawks. Coopers Hawks hunt robin sized birds within the forest. They only occasionally take rodents or other prey. They can careen through the forest with amazing agility as they race after prey. They appear and vanish in a heartbeat. Coopers hawks will sometimes be seen soaring high in the air but are much harder to see than Buteos like Redtailed Hawks which often hunt over open country by soaring all afternoon. Male Coopers Hawks are from 14” to 16” inches long with a wingspread of 27” to 30”. Females are larger with wingspreads of up to 36”. The backs, top of the wings and the top of the heads of these birds is gray to blue-gray. Their under side and chest have a brown barred pattern. Coopers hawks, like all Accipiter hawks, have short broad wings and long tails. Coopers have a rounded end to their tail which is an easy way to distinguish them from Sharp Shinned Hawks. These hawks have a wide array of calls, especially those sounds used between breeding pairs. Some researchers have noted between 20 and 30 distinct sounds. These birds are popular with falconers. Hawks have tremendous eyesight and can see much farther and with higher resolution than humans. Imagine a Coopers hawk veering through trees and brush at high speed. They have to re-focus and image their surrounding at high rates of speed to avoid crashing into trees and being injured. They also have very acute hearing which they also use for locating prey, finding mates and defending their home ranges. Sharp-Shinned Hawks are also in the Accipiter sub-family. These smallest of the hawks are very fast. The males are 10 to 12 inches long and have a wing span of from 20” to 23” inches. The females are 2” or 3” inches larger. This characteristic of larger size in females is true of most hawks and owls. It is called sexual-size dimorphism. Why this is the case is a matter of conjecture. Sharpies are grey on their backs and have undersides that are white with finely detailed bands and streaks. The end of their tail usually looks straight in flight rather than curved as in the Coopers Hawk. They are very lightweight, slender birds and they prey almost exclusively on small birds in forests. They zip through the forest with a speed that must be terrifying for the small birds that they hunt. Sharp Shinned Hawks fly in a fast and direct manner and are not often seen soaring overhead. The third accipiter in California is the Northern Goshawk. This bird is rarely seen south of San Francisco Bay and is very rare and endangered. However, one was spotted attempting to take a pet cockateel in the window of a house along upper Lompico Road last year. Goshawks are the largest accipiter with females ranging from 22” to 26” in length and males being about 4” inches shorter. Their wingspan is from 44” to 47”. Goshawks are dark grey on their backs and the top of the head. Their undersides are pale with grey streak marks. They have a white bar above the eye. Goshawks are fierce powerful birds that will vigorously attack people who disturb their nests. They are more likely to eat small mammals than the other accipiters. When hunting other birds they have been known to crash into brush and branches knocking out their prey which is hiding inside. These birds are very rare and dependent on mature conifer forests for suitable habitat. Old growth forests in the North Coast, Sierras, Cascades, and Klamath and Trinity mountains are their last best refuges in California Red-tailed Hawks are in the sub-family Buteonina or Buteos. These are robust birds with broad tails and round ended wings. They usually hunt by perching in open areas or by soaring on thermals using their acute eyesight to spot prey. They hunt small mammals like rodents, other vertebrates such as snakes and lizzards, and even insects. The sight of a big Red-tail holding a heavy writhing snake in its talons is impressive .Red-tailed hawks are commonly seen but have many color variations in their plumage and are difficult to differentiate from other large hawks. Often people mistake other large hawks for Red-tails. Generally speaking their backs are dark brown with a pattern of bars. Their underside varies from nearly white to brown and has a pattern of brown streaks on the chest. Their tail is reddish brown with a narrow white tip. The underside of their wings is often lightly colored with dark wingtips. The females are larger than males with a length of 21” to 25” and a wingspan of from 48” to 58” inches. These are big birds. The call of the Red-tail is in the soundtrack of virtually every movie with a wilderness scene. Red-tails form tight pair bonds and display together by acrobatic flying high overhead. They sometimes spar with Golden Eagles in impressive territorial disputes. The Red-tail is no match for the more powerful eagle but two hawks can drive off an eagle very effectively. Smaller birds that feel threatened by a Red-tail can harass the hawk by diving on it from above. However many a crow or grackel has been killed by a Red-tail which flipped over in flight and grabbed the crow with its powerful talons. end to their tail which is an easy way to distinguish them from Sharp Shinned Hawks. These hawks have a wide array of calls, especially those sounds used between breeding pairs. Some researchers have noted between 20 and 30 distinct sounds. These birds are popular with falconers. Hawks have tremendous eyesight and can see much farther and with higher resolution than humans. Imagine a Coopers hawk veering through trees and brush at high speed. They have to re-focus and image their surrounding at high rates of speed to avoid crashing into trees and being injured. They also have very acute hearing which they also use for locating prey, finding mates and defending their home ranges. Red-sholdered Hawks are a little smaller than Red-tails and are more common in forest areas where they nest along creeks and river bottoms. However they are Buteos and hunt in much the same way as Red-tails and for similar prey. The males are from 17” to 23” long and have a wingspan of from 33” to 44”. The females are several inches larger. These hawks are often confused for Red-tails but there are distinct differences. They are reddish brown on their backs with a ruffus (reddish) patch at the bend of the wing (sholders). Their tails are black with several narrow white bars. Northern Harriers and other hawks, eagles, vultures, Osprey and falcons are native to our area and may be seen occasionally, but these birds require habitats different from deep forests and are not “generalists” as are Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks. The Canyon’s Owls Owls are in the order Stringiforms. There are several fascinating and beautiful owls living in our area. They are principally nocturnal and have very acute hearing and eyesight. Their heads are large with facial disks and large eyes facing forward. The facial disks have complex patterns of feathers which act to focus sound into their ears. In fact the entire face of an owl is designed around their hearing and the face acts like a parabolic dish amplifying sound. Their ears have adaptations which allow the bird to locate prey in three dimentional space with astonstonishing accruacy. Like all raptors, their eyesight is very acute and they have huge eyes for their size to capture the faint light after nightfall. They can hunt in almost complete darkness! The ear tufts which some owls have are not associated with hearing but are species markers. Except for the Pigmy Owl which hunts during the day, all owls have tiny frilled edges on their wing feathers which create micro-turbulence and make the flight of owls silent so that their prey can not hear them comming. They are silent steath hunters. The Western Screech Owl is a small bird with a length of only 6.5” to 10” and a wingspan of 20” to 24”. Their head has conspicuous ears or horns and they have two color phases, a brown color and a grey color. Their feather patterns are very complex with a lighter breast. Their eyes are an intense yellow. The eat small rodents, birds, and insects. Their call is distinctive but is very hard to describe. It is more like a quavering whistle which may be repeated several times. Generally speaking owls are relatively quiet and do not call often. It takes time to hear them. They usually nest in the hollows of trees which is why older forests are so important to them. When owls feed their young they do not usually tear up the food like hawks and other raptors do. Owls swallow animals whole and regurgitate a pellet of feathers and bones. The Northern Pigmy Owl is the smallest owl species in North America. It is a beautiful little bird. They are from 6.5” to 7.5” long and have a wingspan of between 14” and 15” inches. They have no “horns” or ears, are slate gray to brown on their backs and have whitish undersides which are striped and spotted. They nest in abandoned woodpecker holes or natural cavities. This owl often hunts by daylight and preys on small birds, rodents, insects and other small prey. Unlike other owls, the Pigmy Owl’s flight is not silent and the bird does not have frilled feather linings intended to quite wing beats which other owls use for stealth. Like all owls the Pigmy’s flight is direct and without any soaring or display. Their call is soft and musical. One common call is several notes at an even pitch, a pause and then last note. The Northern Saw-whet Owl is also very small with a length of 7 to 8.5” and a wingspread of 18” to 22” inches. It has no ear tufts, is dark brown on its back and has a complex and beautiful pattern of stripes against a white background on its underside. This owl prefers conifer forests and nests in cavities. It has several calls, one of which sounds like the filing of a saw with a few similar notes in sequence. It also makes a whistle and other sounds. The Saw-whet’s flight is silent. It generally hunts at night and prefers mice and other small rodents, bats, and ocassionally small birds. The Great Horned Owl is a large widespread bird that makes the characteristic call that people associate with owls, the hoo-ho-hoo sound. This owl makes many sounds including barks, screams, and other quieter sounds. Great Horned Owls are from 18” to 25” inches long with a wingspread of between 48” and 58”. It has large ear tufts which give it its name but these “horns” have nothing to do with hearing. They are feathers for display. This powerful bird eats a variety of prey and sometimes takes on surprizingly large animals. This owl is fearless and powerful. If you ever encounter one that has been injured by a collision with a car, or other accident and is on the ground, be very carefull. Handling this bird is like picking up an eagle. Cover it with a cloth before trying to lift it with its wings folded up against its body. Sadly owls are often injured in collisions with cars because they take their prey from the ground and when flying away may not be able to get high enough to avoid being struck by a fast moving vehicle. top August 2003 Newsletter The Lompico Creek Headwaters THP (1-01-170 SCR) is in its 41st extension of a director’s decision to September 1, 2003. This logging plan closed public comment on September 20, 2001 after the largest attendance at a Timber Harvest Plan (THP) public hearing ever seen in Santa Cruz County and the biggest pile of letters opposing the plan that the Santa Rosa Regional Office of the California Department of Forestry has ever had to deal with for a single THP. It appears that CDF will make their move on this THP whenever they decide that it will be in the landowner’s interest. There is no other practical reason for the continuing delays. This has been clear for some time. It is important to understand that CDF is a near perfect example of a regulatory agency which has a mutually cooperative relationship with the industry that it has the responsibility to regulate. This is obviously not the ideal way to protect the public interest, but it is a long-term structural problem. A recent court order in Northern California, which found that flawed information was used in preparation of the Pacific Lumber Sustained Yield Plan (SYP), is an example of how such a relationship can produce tainted results. This SYP was part of the 1999 “Headwaters” deal. The following edited press report from the Eureka Times Standard is a perfect example of how this problem is revealed. Late Tuesday afternoon July 22nd, Judge John Golden issued his statement of decision, in which he writes that the state erred in drafting the company’s logging guidelines, and that they must be rewritten. The Environmental Protection Information Center and the United Steelworkers of America brought the twin suits four years ago. Golden ruled in the groups’ favor on all counts. Golden found that CDF’s director at the time, Richard Wilson, didn’t follow state forest rules when he approved PL’s (Pacific Lumber) Sustained Yield Plan, which guides PL’s timber harvest over 100 years. He also ruled that the state Department of Fish and Game abused its discretion when it issued a so-called Incidental Take Permit, and a Streambed Alteration Agreement. ‘The decisions challenged in this proceeding are so extensively flawed that it cannot be determined that there is any part of the project which they are intended to support which can be severed from the remainder in order to allow the severed part to proceed while the remainder is remediated,’ Golden wrote. Individual plans based on the permits may harm fish, wildlife and long-term timber production, he wrote. The Sustained Yield Plan was agreed to as part of the 1999 Headwaters Forest agreement. The state and federal government paid PL $480 million for the 7,400-acre Headwaters Forest and two other groves, and PL agreed to stricter logging rules. EPIC did not challenge the federal Habitat Conservation Plan, which remains valid. “He’s basically said that because the violations are so inherent and so flagrant that all the permits are so fundamentally flawed that they must be thrown out and the entire process begun anew,” said Cynthia Elkins of EPIC.” In another court case brought by the Campaign for the Jackson State Forest, the state’s largest “demonstration” forest which is on the Mendocino Coast, Vince Foster wrote a press release. The following is an excerpt. 2 “Judge Henderson found very significant deficiencies in the treatment of both the regional setting of Jackson State Forest and analysis of cumulative impacts. Correcting these deficiencies will be a major task and will not be quickly done. The implications of the decision are far broader and profound than the requirements to correct the deficiencies in the EIR. Judge Henderson strongly condemned CDF for its complete disregard of the clear legislative directives requiring consideration of the regional setting and cumulative impacts. He said that CDF failed to prepare an EIR that complies with the minimal statutory requirements and CDF ignored the relatively clear guidelines and conducted a deficient environmental review. Taken as a whole, Judge Henderson’s decision amounts to a strong indictment of CDF’s disregard for the public, the environment, and the law. The state administration and legislature cannot ignore this criticism, which comes not from an environmental organization, but from a judge who has demonstrated a strong concern for the well-being of the timber industry. CDF is charged with enforcing the environmental laws designed to protect the state’s forest resources. Its failure to perform an even minimally adequate environmental review of its own timber operations is scandalous. It raises fundamental questions about CDF’s ability and desire to enforce forestry environmental laws, as well as its fitness to manage the state forests.” Both of these cases are indicative of the arrogance of CDF when it comes to addressing the concerns of the public regarding environmental harm. In both cases, it was only through the persistent efforts of citizen activists, working through the courts, that the public interest was given equal consideration. 3 The Lompico THP sums up nearly every type of hazard and conflict with the public interest that can be associated with private land logging. In the broad sense, this is why CDF is continuing to delay ruling on the THP. It is also why the land subject to the logging plan sold for so little back in 1995. This land is known locally as “Islandia”. A house built in the 1930s, stood on it until it was burned and finally demolished around 1998. Islandia was largely clear-cut before the end of the 19th century but there are still old growth redwoods on the property, and the forests are again tall and protecting a very steep, sandy set of headwaters gorges, the source of the creek. The community of Lompico depends heavily on the creek for drinking water. The terrain of the creek’s headwaters is highly erosive, unstable, and supports rare wildlife. To refer to the beauty of a place is sometimes regarded as quaint or unimportant in the broad scheme of what we consider practical or commercially expedient. However Islandia is indeed beautiful. It is so steep and complex that it can only be accessed for logging by helicopters. It is not appropriate as a tree farm and belongs in protected status. The Conservancy formed in 1997 and promptly contacted the landowner to inform him of our interest in purchasing the land. Over time, two appraisals were commissioned, but the results of these appraisals apparently did not satisfy the landowner’s interests. Neither the Conservancy, the Lompico County Water District, or another large land trust were able to arrange a purchase. County Supervisor Jeff Almquist attempted to assist in negotiations, but the landowner demanded a price which was so high as to make a purchase impossible. We are still quite willing to arrange a sale and would obviously prefer to work to pay Redwood Empire for Islandia rather than continue an endless dispute over a logging operation We have to assume that the CDF Santa Rosa Regional Office will make a decision on the Lompico THP within the next weeks or months. There are a few other THPs in California which have been stalled since 2000, so nothing is certain. If CDF approves the Lompico THP, Santa Cruz County will request an appeal hearing 4 before the Board of Forestry. The County appeal will be an important opportunity for citizens to again voice their objections to this logging plan. When this happens the Conservancy will notify all its supporters of the appeal and explain how to help. top Lompico Creek Restoration The California Department of Fish and Game approved a grant to the Conservancy to improve steelhead fish migration passage through the Old Lompico Pool area. The permits for this project, which have all been filed, are so complex and numerous (there are at least 7, County, State, and Federal), that it very difficulty for us to tell what has become of them, especially the federal permits. It is becoming unlikely that the work can start in time to be finished before October 15th. We will probably have to delay this project until next summer. Before this job starts we will contact the community to ask for volunteer help. This will be an interesting opportunity for people to learn about stream function, fish habitat, and restoration. Steelhead successfully spawned in Lompico Creek last winter and spring. There are many small young fish in the Creek. Please be conservative with water usage this summer. It is important that everyone on the Central Coast understands the link between water usage and stream conditions. Late summer and fall are the most difficult times for juvenile fish survival, and water flows and water quality are critical. Last summer, during a drought year, many older juvenile fish died before they had a chance to migrate to the ocean. We are responsible for the survival of wildlife in our beautiful canyon.   Central Coast Water Quality Control Board The Conservancy has been working with the Sierra Club and Citizens for Responsible Forest Management to send a proposal to our Regional Water Quality Control Board for improvement in the way that the Regional Board deals with the control of soil pollution into our streams from commercial logging operations. Until January of this year, the Regional Boards across all of California granted a categorical, industry wide waiver of the requirement to report waste discharges from all timber operations. Absurdly, the State had left the control of pollution from logging operations to CDF, with predictable results. Our Central Coast Regional Board was the only one to not re-establish similar “blanket” waivers this year. At present, logging plans in the Santa Cruz Mountains must apply for individual waivers. The Conservancy and its partners agree that the industry should be required to file for waste discharge permits just as other industries are expected to do. This is very complex, but it has bearing on the situation in Lompico, because our Regional Board’s staff issued a non-concurrence on the Lompico THP. This non-concurrence may be a reason for the reluctance of CDF to approve the Lompico THP. Agriculture has a waiver similar to the one which was issued to logging plans. For agriculture, this means that, for instance, a farm can flood irrigate a field and then return the used, chemical and fertilizer contaminated water back into the river which was its source, without a requirement to test the water for contamination levels, and report this to water quality agencies. Obviously is would be preferable for the agencies themselves to test the water. If you have ever noticed the radical decline in water quality in the Sacramento River between Redding and Sacramento, now you have some idea how it happens. The Conservancy works with other organizations to address problems. The dispute over the Lompico THP is a unique situation, because Islandia and its relationship to Lompico are unique. No one intends to stop agriculture any more than we expect to end logging. What we are working toward is a more effective and equitable sharing of responsibilities and costs, and a world where “sustainability” is not just a public relations buzzword. Clean water should not be a commodity to be abused. Everyone who lives in Lompico or the Santa Cruz Mountains can understand that we are all responsible for the condition of our streams and the wildlife which depend on them.   Water Quality and Stream Conditions The health of Lompico Creek and all the Streams of the San Lorenzo Valley is of primary concern to the Lompico Watershed Conservancy. The health of a stream can be defined in several ways. Water quality is the most broad consideration. The State of California describes this as the level of water pollution and water temperature. The list of pollutants which affect our streams is very long but they can be reduced to: • sediments from soil erosion, • nitrates and pathogens from human and animal wastes and fertilizers, • oil, paints, and various chemicals from, vehicles, households, agricultural and industrial   sources • excess algae growth from nitrates, fertilizers, excess sunlight hitting the stream, high   temperatures and stagnant water All of these forms of pollution make water unhealthy for us to drink. In Lompico the majority of the water we drink comes from Lompico Creek. San Lorenzo Valley Water uses a more diverse but similar source of water including wells. The Lompico County Water District has some wells that they use when the stream is too polluted with sediment to process during and after rain storms, and when stream flow becomes inadequate in late summer. Well water can also be polluted with excess minerals and polluted infiltration from surface water. This is a condition which is monitored by water purveyors, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, and EPA.   Water Quality and Wildlife Problems with water quality which make water dangerous for human use are much the same as those that are problems for aquatic life. Salmonids (salmon and steelhead trout) are very vulnerable to chemical pollution, sedimentation, high temperatures, some types of algae growth, and low levels of dissolved oxygen Oxygenation is part of water treatment for human use. Stream temperatures that are to high for the health of salmon and steelhead are often treated as a type of “pollution”. Stream temperature is adversely affected by the removal of tree canopy from logging and development, and the diversion (or pumping) of water from streams for human uses. The diversion of water in the San Lorenzo Watershed is a major negative impact to stream health. In the late summer and fall this impact can cause fish kills and make fish more vulnerable to attack from predators such as birds (kingfishers and mergansers), and raccoons and other mammals. Wildlife predation is a natural process but human alteration of the environment often disrupts the balance between predator and prey. Steelhead can hide in deep pools, and under woody debris and other structure in streams. Low stream flow makes it difficult for steelhead to escape predators. Pools that are filled with sediment from excess erosion, provide nowhere for juvenile and adult fish to hide. Stream flow can fall so low that fish cannot swim up or down stream to escape attack. In small streams like Lompico Creek pools can become “disconnected” in the fall even without water diversion. When stream flows drop and water temperature rises, the level of dissolved oxygen falls. Steelhead and salmon need highly oxygenated cold clean water to survive. Steelhead can handle warmer water if enough food is available but August, September and October are when aquatic insects, the food of juvenile fish become more scarce. Juvenile fish sometimes starve or weaken and die from predation before they can make it through the season and migrate down river to the ocean where they grow to adulthood. Steelhead are “sea run” rainbow trout. They were the most famous sport fish on the west coast before their rapid population decline began. Coho, or silver salmon are the salmon species that are native to the streams of the Monterrey Bay region. They were extirpated (driven locally extinct) from the San Lorenzo Basin by about 1986. Both of these fish are strikingly beautiful animals revered by native Americans from California to Alaska. Anyone who has had the luck to watch them jumping waterfalls during their upstream migration to spawn will never forget the sight. Stream Conditions and Habitat, What Can We Do? All the new is not bad. The numbers of steelhead which biologists find in the river appears to be holding steady for the last few years. They are quite low from a historical perspective but we are learning to take better care of our streams and steelhead may be benefiting from this. One of the most important changes which we can make, is to stop pulling logs and other large pieces of wood debris out of streams like Lompico and Zayante Creeks. This Large Woody Debris, as scientists call it, is one of the most important components of good habitat. This cannot be over emphasized. But it is now widely understood to be a critical habitat factor. A conference was held in Ukiah this winter called “Large Woody Debris in Coastal Streams”. There were a lot of people at this conference and even the logging industry and CDF do not dispute the need for large wood objects like redwood logs in our streams. Now it is important for the general public and road maintenance crews to get the message. During high water events in the winter the presence of large logs and root balls which are wedged into the stream channel is the single most important factor in creating deep pools for juvenile fish to live. It is a complex process, but to put it in simple terms, these large wood objects create turbulence in the stream which scours out deep pools and keeps the pools working in spite of sediment loads. This does not mean that sediment from watershed disturbances like logging is not a problem. What it means is that without these large objects in the creeks, the number of and depth of pools in a creek will fall dangerously low. This process even creates the gravel spawning beds at the edge of pools! It has taken biologists and fluvial geomorphologists a long time to realize this. When log jams form which threaten a section of road or a house which may be too close to a stream, the log jam can be pulled apart, but the wood should be left in the stream. The wood will move down stream and lodge or settle out somewhere else. There are long stretches of our creeks which have no fish habitat because there are not enough large woody objects in the stream. Old logs eventually get washed out to sea or rot away so there needs to be a continual replacement. Many of the logs imbedded in Lompico Creek are there from the clear cut at the turn of the last century. New logs have to replace them for the creek to support fish. One of the reasons that logging companies are not supposed to log heavily near streams is because the trees which grow along streams will eventually die and fall into the creek thus becoming habitat for fish. If the trees are all cut and hauled away, then no habitat. Sediment from soil erosion is still a big problem for many different reasons. It clogs water treatment facilities for people. It fills pools, buries the nests of fish and suffocates the eggs before they can hatch. To much sediment, and aquatic insects die or have no place to grow. Juvenile salmon and steelhead feed by sight and cannot feed when our creeks are brown with mud. Course sand sediment during flash floods even cuts their gills. How do they survive? It’s amazing. We can bring our creeks back to heath again. We can protect our drinking water. We can leave a world our children will want to live in. We know how to do it. No one is going to do this for us. It is our responsibility to work together to see that our resources are protected. Only through citizen action is this possible. top Fall 2002 Newsletter The California Department of Forestry (CDF)has continued to extend a “directors decision ”on the Lompico THP for well over a year now.There have been 23 extensions of the decision date.Most of these extensions have been for two weeks each,which is bizarre.Perhaps CDF thinks that they can confuse people by their strange behavior.The explanation that they are working on the “official response to public comment ”(OR)has worn very thin,but there is little doubt that they are sending this matter through a circuit of attorneys in an effort to perfect their OR. Some informed political observers have speculated that they were waiting out the November elections.It is not possible to tell.The new decision date is now given as November 29th which is a holiday for most.CDF can approve the THP at any time on or before their stated decision date.As far as we understand,they are not required to inform anyone of their decision other than to mail the “Official Response ”.The Conservancy regularly calls CDF Santa Rosa so as to prevent a “surprise approval ”that could be intended to out maneuver those challenging the THP.The short 5 days between approval and the legal start of logging operations may be intended to prevent THP opponents from having time to act through administrative and legal channels. On November 19,2002,the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors re-confirmed their intent to appeal the THP,if it is approved,and directed the Planning Department to carry out the appeal to the Board of Forestry.The Conservancy board is grateful to our Supervisor Jeff Almquist for his continuing assistance in this situation.Santa Cruz County residents are lucky to have a county government which is responsive to its citizen ’s concerns about environmental protection. CDF could be maneuvering to try to catch County staff out for the holidays and give Lompico a “present ”of the helicopter logging of Islandia.The Conservancy is watching CDF closely to prevent the delivery of such a “present ”. William Snyder,the Deputy Chief of Forest Practice,has previously told the press that they would rule on the THP in August.He then informed Kevin Collins that they would rule on the plan in October.Apparently,Snyder then told the County that he would rule on the THP during the week of November 14th.We view the 23 extensions,as at least in part,as a tactical maneuver to diffuse public awareness of this singular dispute over the Lompico THP. There may have been more extensions of decision on this plan than anyone has ever seen from CDF. The Lompico THP may have become a political as well and an environmental issue. CDF is obviously rattled by the sheer volume of articulate public opposition to the plan.According to statements in press reports quoting a CDF official,more letters opposing this THP were received by the Santa Rosa Region office,about 325,than this person has ever seen before for a single logging plan.This combined with the professional and scientific-based comments from the Conservancy seems to have placed CDF in a confused position. For years now,different Redwood Empire logging operations have been controversial.A Sonoma County THP was successfully blocked by the Sonoma County Sanitation District and the Russian River County Sanitation District.The specific dispute over this Sonoma THP had to do with hydrology and the Sanitation District ’s lease on the property for infiltration of treated waste water.Louisiana Pacific,the previous owner,had attempted to log this land in 1985 and been stopped by public pressure.This property contains the tallest redwood in Sonoma County and has been of interest to conservationists for a long time.Louisiana Pacific sold the land to Burch in 1998.Burch then filed the blocked THP.This story comes to us from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. The Conservancy has spent considerable effort trying to arrange a purchase of Islandia,the Lompico Creek Headwaters land,but the sale price set by Burch was impossible for us to fund because it was far above market value.Neither the Lompico Water District,or the Conservancy,can arrange funding at the price required by Burch.We believe that we could have paid Burch far more than this land cost him to purchase in 1995,before the Conservancy had formed. We are asking citizens,who have not done so lately,to again write to CDF expressing their opposition to this plan.CDF is supposed to be a State agency with the responsibility to protect public trust resources.Approving almost every logging plan,which they accept for filing,obviously calls into question whether CDF ’s close relationship with the logging industry interferes with its responsibility to the public.The Lompico THP will be a test of this question.Just because land has redwood growing on it does not mean that it should be logged.CDF needs to accept this.The community interest in an undamaged water supply and a healthy environment is more important that the interests of individual land speculators or logging companies.Any prospective purchaser of Islandia,could have discovered that logging this property would be controversial.The simple fact that the combined Islandia parcels represent the most important land unit in the watershed for Lompico should have been obvious.This is one reason why 425 acres sold (by County Recorders Office record)for only $370,000!Other logging interests turned the property down when it was on the market. In some ways,we in the Santa Cruz Mountains are lucky.In the northern coastal counties and the Sierra,clear-cut,burn,and herbicide logging is commonly approved by CDF.Numerous watersheds have been essentially demolished by logging.The Gualala River basin has had about 85%of its forested acreage logged in the last 18 years according to the National Marine Fisheries Service and State Water Quality staff.Due to the relatively heavy residential land use in the Santa Cruz Mountains,the impacts to our watersheds are the cumulative impacts of logging,housing development,road systems,water diversion,and multiple sources of pollution.The impact of logging here is still very significant,but we all bear the responsibility to protect water quality,stream habitat,and forest conditions.We live in some of the most erosive terrain in the world.Islandia is a perfect example of this with its extensive areas of extreme erosion hazard rating (even by CDF ’s standards!). Please make a donation to the Conservancy. Your help is necessary so that we can continue to work for conservation in Lompico Canyon and surrounding areas. We are awaiting a decision on our latest grant application to the California Dept.of Fish and Game for stream restoration funding. The future success of the Conservancy depends on your support.The next few months will be interesting as the State finally makes a decision on the Lompico THP.Approval by CDF does not end the discussion on the future of this land. All donations to the Conservancy are tax deductible. Our website will be updated soon.The address is www.lompicocreek.org ______________________________________________________________ If you have not done so already,please write one more letter to CDF opposing the Lompico THP (1-01-170 SCR).On the next page you will see a sample letter that you could use as a model. However,feel free to write what ever you think is appropriate.You can also fax using the number below.Please send a copy of you letter to the Conservancy at Box 99 Felton,CA 95018,or to our fax/phone 335-8135. Thank you for you continuing help. ______________________________________________________________ Date CDF-Forest Practice Program Mr.William Snyder Deputy Chief,Forest Practice Northern Region Headquarters 135 Ridgway Ave. Santa Rosa,CA 95401 Subject:THP #1-01-170 SCR,the Lompico THP My opposition to this ill-advised logging plan has not weakened and my reasons for opposing it have not changed.I expect a public agency such as CDF to act in the public interest,regardless of your past performance. The Lompico Creek headwaters are extremely steep and erosive and obviously inappropriate as a tree farm. You have the responsibility to deny this plan.The mission of CDF is not to approve every THP that is dropped in front of you. Prove to us that your agency can earn the public ’s trust and deny this THP. The lengthy delays by your agency in ruling on this THP have not diluted the opposition to this logging plan from the people in the area. Redwood Empire is a large industrial landowner with good alternatives to the plan they submitted.This land should be transferred,by sale or donation,into public trust ownership for permanent conservation.The recommendations of NMFS,Water Quality,and Santa Cruz County must be honored.This THP is of questionable economic benefit to the landowner,and a long term threat to the community interest.It must not be approved. Your name and signature Your address You can fax or mail. The CDF Santa Rosa Forest Practice Fax #is 1-707-576-2608 Cougars in the Santa Cruz Mountains Cougars in the Santa Cruz Mountains Cougars in the Santa Cruz Mountains Cougars in the Santa Cruz Mountains Cougars in the Santa Cruz Mountains California has more mountain lion habitat than any other state or Canadian province except for Texas,about 110,000 square miles.Oak woodland and chaparral are considered the best habitat in California.Conifer forest has lower habitat value because it supports fewer deer,the preferred prey of lions.The Santa Cruz Mountains have very complex ecotones,forest types and considerable oak woodland and chaparral.For instance,in Lompico Canyon,the north facing slopes tend to be dominated by douglas fir and redwood while slopes with southern aspects tend toward mixed hardwood and chaparral.The creek corridors are almost always redwood dominated.Mountain lions are occasionally spotted in the area but are probably roaming because the canyon is not large enough to support even one lion.The average home range for adult males is between 60 and 70 square miles while females use smaller ranges of 25 to 30 square miles.These range sizes are approximate and vary widely with habitat quality.In our mountains there are probably 4 to 8 cougars for every 100 sq.miles.Six hundred square miles is about the minimum habitat necessary to support lions and they still need connections to other areas.Females tend to use their ranges more intensely,while males use larger ranges with the desire to overlap more female ranges.These big cats tend to defend the area that they are occupying at any one time rather than attempting to dominate their entire range.Males communicate their presence to other cats with scrapes,often on ridge tops or creek bottoms.Cougars are very secretive and widely dispersed.Many people who study these animals almost never spot them in the wild unless they are using radio telemetry.Population studies can be done using DNA sampling of hair and scat. Mountain lions possess some remarkable adaptations which have allowed them to survive and prosper.They have very acute night vision and tend to hunt at dawn, dusk and during the night.Their eyes possess a vertical streak that allows them to see movement with great sensitivity while their color vision is limited and not nearly as complete as human vision.The vertical streak is somewhat similar to the acute central vision of predatory birds,in that there is an intense concentration of light receptors in a particular part of the retina of the eye.They can hear sound up into the ultra-sound range,well above the upper limit of human hearing.Their limbs are designed for speed and power and they are ambush hunters.The speed of these cats comes from a long stride length,great strength,and a very flexible spine.They are very fast over short distances and reach speeds of about 35 miles per hour.Their long tail is used like a rudder as they rush after their prey.The pads on their feet are soft so that they can move quietly through the grass and leaf litter,and they have retractable claws which they keep very sharp.The jaws of cougars are short and they have large teeth which gives them a powerful bite. They tend to kill with a bite,often to the cervical (neck)vertebrae.However lions, as highly intelligent animals,have a strong learned component to their hunting skills and tend to use hunting techniques learned from their mothers.Male lions play no part in raising the young. Deer are the preferred prey of cougars,probably because these cats are large and need a lot to eat,but these cats will eat almost any hapless animal that strays within range including large birds which they can grab out off the air.A nursing female cat will kill a deer (if deer are available)about every 4 to 5 days.They are exclusively carnivorous and eat no fruit or other plant material.Male lions have an average weight of about 140 pounds while females are smaller at about 110 pounds.These cats can weigh 190 pounds.They are obviously formidable predators. The gestation period is only 90 days and the kitten ’s eyes open 2 weeks after birth. The young have a high mortality and adult mountain lions have an average life span of only about 6 to 7 years though wild study animals in California have lived to be 13 years of age,and these cats,while in captivity,can live much longer.This short life span in the wild may seem a surprise for such a large dominant animal, but when you consider the hardships of their lives is becomes easier to understand. Taking down a big buck or feral pig is dangerous,and lions are often injured while hunting.If they are injured and unable to hunt they will starve very quickly. Many people are afraid of mountain lion attacks,but fortunately they are very rare.When you consider how many people hike and camp in lion territory it becomes clear how unlikely it is to be attacked by a lion.It is always best to be careful however,and never let children wander alone in lion territory.Also,if you ever encounter a lion on a trail,do not run.The lion expects this response from prey and may be triggered into an instinctive attack by motion.It may be best to stand still with your eyes on the cat or to very slowly and calmly back away.Stand, pick up any children with you,and make yourself look larger,if possible,by raising your arms and opening your coat or jacket. The information in this story should not be considered as definitive.If you hike alone in lion country you may want to read more on this subject.The great majority of mountain lion sightings are incorrect identifications,and the animals sighted are dogs,bobcats,and even house cats.Lions are very rarely seen,and should you see one,count yourself lucky,as you are among the privileged few who have had the thrill to spot this magnificent animal. Mountain lions were once the most widely distributed large predator in the Americas,ranging from Canada to Patagonia and from California to Florida.Now, in the United States,lions are extirpated (removed)from east of the Mississippi except for an endangered sub-species in Florida known as the Florida Panther. The Florida lions are on the edge of extinction due to habitat fragmentation,more than any other single problem.Most Florida lions are killed trying to cross highways.The State of Florida,in a belated attempt to save its lions,has built underpasses on the principle highway crossing the Everglades called Alligator Alley.The lions in our mountains also face this same problem.The migration corridors through south county are the link that our lions have with the larger populations in the Diabolo Range,Mount Hamilton,Henry Coe State Park east of Morgan Hill,and the surrounding ranches east of Highway 101.Major roads and highways,and areas of dense development,cut off lions from being able to disperse across the landscape and provide new individuals to keep the gene pool diverse and strong.Interbreeding destroys the health of wildlife just as it is very unhealthy for people.The European aristocracy discovered this problem the hard way.The Santa Cruz Mountain lions have an area barely large enough to sustain a population of lions.The lands of the Peninsula Open Space District north of Santa Cruz County are one of the best areas for lions in our bioregion. Because cougars need so much land,and links to other areas to which they can migrate,habitat quality and connectivity are the single most important factors which will determine if our lions survive into the future.Whether animals like cougars continue to be with us will be a decision that we as a society make.Through proper land use planning,we can sustain large areas of unfragmented habitat that animals like lions must have to survive.We know what is required of us to make room in this world for the splendid wildlife that are our companions on this little blue planet. A Northern Goshawk was spotted this November along upper Lompico Road when it attempted to take a parrot from near the kitchen window of a house.The presence of this rare,endangered,forest dependent bird demonstrates how crucial our mountains are to wildlife in California.   top

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Lompico Watershed Conservancy March 2002 Newsletter Hello neighbors, The Timber Harvest Plan (THP 1-01-170 SCR), which closed public comment on September 20, 2001, is still on hold at the California Dept. of Forestry, Santa Rosa office of Forest Practice. After six extensions, CDF now states that they will make a decision on the THP by April 15th. From the experience of recent similarly disputed THPs, we do not think that CDF staff can approve the THP, but there are no guarantees and the landowner or forester can appeal a rejection to the Board of Forestry. It is remarkable that we have been able to hold up approval of this plan. It is rare for this to happen. Most years, virtually every THP which gets through first review is approved. There are several reasons that the Lompico Creek Headwaters THP has been held up. First, the people of this community spoke up in large numbers, voicing their opposition to the THP. CDF received nearly 200 letters (by their count) commenting on this plan. These letters make a file about 5 inches thick. The public hearing for the THP had the largest attendance of any such event in Santa Cruz County since the formation of the Forest Practice Act in 1974! Also, many people showed up for the Pre-Harvest Inspections at the CDF office in Felton. This made it clear to the State and Federal agencies involved that local citizens expected a rigorous examination of the environmental impact of this proposed logging operation. Four of these agencies wrote comments on the plan which requested or required changes to the THP. The Region 3 Water Quality Control Board (SWQCB) subsequently wrote a letter of non-concurrence on the plan after the forester refused to include a water quality monitoring plan for the THP. Santa Cruz County and the Lompico Water District also objected, The most influential comments came from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) which wrote a letter to CDF recommending significant changes to the logging plan. These changes required much wider stream side buffer zones, and these zones are absolutely no-cut buffers instead of the limited-cutting stream side buffers (or WLPZ) that are allowed by the Forest Practice Rules (the rules the CDF uses). The forester has refused to incorporate the NMFS recommendations. NMFS is a federal agency and the staff of state agencies do not have the authority to defy federal recommendations. Roger Burch, who owns Islandia, has previously indicated his willingness to consider an offer for the sale of the property to the Lompico County Water District. Representatives of the Water District, the Lompico Watershed Conservancy and County Supervisor Jeff Almquist met with the landowner in August 2001 to discuss a sale. The Water District engaged an appraiser acceptable to the property owner to assess the fair market value of the land. This appraisal is now in the hands of the Water District. A purchase offer must be made to the landowner. Only then can we tell if a purchase is possible. The Lompico Water District, which diverts water from Lompico Creek, surveyed its customers by mail to assess their willingness to help cover some of the costs of purchasing Islandia. This survey was conducted at the suggestion of Supervisor Jeff Almquist. All of you who receive water bills were mailed this survey. The response to this survey was very positive. One third of the 500 customers returned the survey and of those, 85% indicated their willingness to help pay part of the cost of acquiring Islandia through an increase in their water bills. The Water District has been under a State ordered moratorium preventing the release of any new water meters continuously since 1988 due to a lack of supply, and has been under previously instituted moratoriums going back to 1974. Nonetheless, the District periodically experiences water shortages due to lack of rainfall and increased demand from "second unit" expansion of existing dwellings. Background Information Lompico Creek, has been listed as impaired for sediment under the Clean Water Act 303(d) process for years and is one of the first watersheds in the Monterey Bay region so listed. The entire San Lorenzo River, its tributaries and lagoon were recently added to the list of impaired waterways by the Region 3 Board of the State Water Quality Control Board (SWQCB). It is the responsibility of the forester and CDF not to allow actions that further reduce the water quality in our streams. This legal responsibility is often ignored in practice by those responsible, but in the case of Lompico Creek this became an issue. Despite the fact that the THP involved helicopter yarding (moving the fallen logs to trucks by helicopter), Water Quality knew that, because of the extreme erosion hazard of area soils, reductions in water quality were likely from a logging operation. The soils in Islandia and nearly all of Lompico Canyon are cohesionless, which means that the soil grains have no tendency to stick together. This is a characteristic of sands and other types of sandy mineral soil. On top of this, much of our Canyon has very steep terrain, especially the proposed logging area, Islandia. Helicopters were proposed for the THP because it is impossible to build a road and skid trail network necessary to haul out the logs. The National Marine Fisheries Service wrote their letter recommending significant changes to the THP pursuant to a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for the listed salmonids (or fish in the salmon family), which are known to spawn in Lompico Creek. Coho Salmon have not been found in the San Lorenzo River since about 1982. This means that they have been extirpated, or driven into extinction, in the San Lorenzo. Ironically, these salmon have not even been listed as endangered (only threatened) under the Endangered Species Acts of the United States and the State of California. A few Coho are thought to still be returning to a couple of smaller streams between here and San Francisco Bay such as Scott Creek. However, Coho are disappearing rapidly across the entire Pacific Northwest south of British Columbia. Coho require clean cold water and fewer obstructions to their spawning migrations up stream such as old dams and other man made constructions in creeks. The low water years during the 1986 to 1993 drought may have been the final "straw" for San Lorenzo River Coho. Some biologists believe that the water flow was so low in the river, especially after the diversion of water by the City of Santa Cruz and others, that Coho could not get up the river to spawn. Fortunately Steelhead Rainbow Trout are still spawning in the San Lorenzo River System and Lompico Creek, though their numbers are perilously low. Redwood Empire asked the State Dept. of Fish and Game to survey for Steelhead in Lompico Creek before they filed their THP, perhaps hoping to show that Steelhead were not present in the part of the creek near the logging operation. This move backfired because Fish and Game found Steelhead throughout the creek. When the THP was filed, it became a responsibility of the National Marine Fisheries Service to evaluate the effect of the proposed logging operation on marine animals listed under the Endangered Species Act . NMFS is responsible for Salmon and Steelhead because these fish spend much of their lives in the ocean. NMFS staff only have the time to attend a few Pre-Harvest Inspections in Northern California so we were fortunate that they decided to look into the Lompico THP. NMFS has been pressing CDF to improve the Forest Practice Rules so that salmonids are not harmed by logging but CDF has not made necessary reforms. The result has been that NMFS has started to oversee private land logging in California in order to prevent the extinction of our fish. When the forester (RPF) refused to implement the recommendations from NMFS staff, CDF staff were legally prohibited from approving the plan. That is where things stand now. Other THPs have received recommendation letters from NMFS that are similar to the letter written in response to the Lompico THP. A THP in the Gualala River watershed (north of the Russian River) was rejected by CDF staff after NMFS formally objected to the plan. The Gualala River Watershed has been demolished by constant logging. California citizens groups have previously appealed to the Board of Forestry to halt logging in the watershed until it has time to heal. The Board of Forestry dismissed this appeal in customary fashion. The Board of Forestry is the governing body which oversees CDF. and is appointed by the Governor. Gualala Redwoods Co. appealed the rejection of their THP (because of a NMFS recommendations letter), but were not successful. The Board of Forestry voted to reject the appeal so that the THP died. It was a very close vote and the Board of Forestry may have been influenced by their fear of a lawsuit with a federal agency. This vote took place in early February. How this decision will affect us in Lompico is hard to tell. The drainage of Lompico Creek, particularly the headwaters area which contains the Burch property, Islandia, is very steep, deeply incised and erosive terrain. The soils are sandy and prone to rain impact, sheet erosion, riling, and high stream flow induced erosion. There are many landslide systems which have their toes in the water courses, making the watershed prone to slope failures during high water events. Rainfall intensities are high in the coast ranges from this area northward. The Conservancy commissioned a geological report by a Ph.D. engineering geologist. This report, which used stereoscopic photographic analysis, pointed out that information in the THP document "systematically and significantly understated the area actually underlain by landslides." This geologist shared information with David Hope who attended the Pre-Harvest Inspections (PHI), representing the nearby residents. Mr. Hope video taped the THP area during the PHI. David Hope is an RPF and employee of the SWQCB, North Coast. Mr. Hope also worked for many years evaluating THPs for Santa Cruz County. A Ph.D. hydrologist wrote a letter for the nearby landowners quoting studies he conducted after the winter of '82-'83 which estimated that inner gorge debris slides in the watershed contributed sediment into Lompico Creek at about 11,000 tons per square mile. This respected scientist has also estimated the long-term average sediment yield in the upper Zayante Creek basin (an area including Lompico Canyon) to be about 3,000 tons per square mile. The scientific data that has been placed in the public record for the Islandia THP has been very important in convincing agency people that the THP is ill advised. This information refutes the disclaimer-like statements in the THP document which maintain that the timber harvest will have no significant environmental impact. Nearly all THPs include similarly absurd statements. One of the interesting documents which appeared in the THP was a survey of raptors or hunting birds that occupy the logging area. This survey made about 75 sightings of eight species of hawks and owls, yet failed to note the location of a single nest even though the survey took place during the nesting period for most of these birds. This is a good example of the evasive nature of the THP document. The Water District has been engaged with the Conservancy since 1998 when the landowner was considering donating Islandia to the District. This process failed. The Conservancy was formed in 1997 and has worked for the protection of the Islandia headwaters land as its most important task while at the same time pursuing other restoration work for Lompico Creek. After two previous attempts to interest the California Dept. of Fish and Game in assisting us in doing barrier removal, and watershed analysis on Lompico Creek, the Dept. is now involved in stream restoration with the Conservancy. The Conservancy was influential in convincing the Sempervirens Fund to attempt a purchase of the Islandia property in 2000. Sempervirens withdrew when another purchase drained their cash reserves, but they remain interested in the protection of this land. The Conservancy has made many contacts with State officials, other land trusts, and charitable foundations in an attempt to prepare for the opportunity of funding the acquisition of Islandia. If the landowner is willing to sign a sale agreement, the Conservancy and the Water District will work hard to find the remainder of the funding that will be necessary to complete a purchase of this beautiful series of headwaters canyons, Islandia. The structure and the costs of writing and enforcing a conservation easement are well understood by the board of the Conservancy , which has the legal council to perform these tasks. Because Islandia has been undisturbed for approximately 100 years, its forests are restored and wildlife is abundant. These features give the land added value from a conservation prospective. These attributes will be lost after a timber harvest takes place. If the current landowner conducts a logging operation on the property, it will become virtually impossible to ever again interest private donors in its protection, and repeated logging operations will produce a continuing soil erosion cycle. Past experience in Lompico Canyon has demonstrated that area soils are remarkably erosive. This area, because of its steepness, high rainfall and poorly consolidated soils, is considered by geologists to be among the most erosive terrains in the world. Lompico Creek is an essential drinking water source and supports ESA listed species. The protection of Islandia has broad support from Lompico and both State and Federal agencies have expressed their concern for the potential negative impacts of timber harvesting on the beneficial uses of water in Lompico Canyon. Placing this land in protected status is the solution to these negative impacts. The present attempt to buy this land probably represents the last chance to accomplish this goal. Coniferous Trees of the Santa Cruz Mountains The forests of Santa Cruz Mountains have a unique group of conifers or cone bearing trees which give the area's forests a dramatic grandeur. This mountain range contains the southernmost large stretches of forest dominated by Redwoods or Sequoia Sempervirens. The northern coastal canyons of the Big Sur Mountains are dominated by Redwoods but in Big Sur, Redwoods can only grow down inside the cool creek canyons which descend to the Pacific Ocean. Here in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Redwoods grow in nearly all of the watersheds. The largest trees are found near water courses and in cool areas on the northern facing mountain sides. Redwoods are remnants of an very old family of tree species. There are only three species in the Sequoia genus which have survived the ages, Coast Redwood or Sequoia Sempervirens, the Giant Sequoia of the western side of the Sierra Nevada Range, and a beautiful smaller tree from China called the Dawn Redwood. Redwoods were once much more widespread across the face of the earth and were munched on by dinosaurs during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. During this time the earth's forests were dominated by coniferous trees and ferns. Redwoods predate the appearance of flowering plants by millions of years. The Redwood forests of Coastal California and the isolated Sequoia stands in the Sierra Nevada are thought to be the last small remnants of this family of trees that have survived the ages and grow in areas where the weather mimics the conditions in which they evolved millions of years ago. Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world. The tallest recorded tree is about 360 feet high and grows along Redwood Creek near the town of Orick. This is an astonishing height for a tree when you consider that the average height of the large second growth trees we are familiar with is about 150 feet. The Sequoias are more massive but do not get as tall probably because their wood is structurally weak and the crowns of the trees are broken off by wind and lightning strikes. Redwoods live for over 2000 years under the right conditions and are virtually never killed by disease (or fire when they are big), but eventually fall over in windstorms, or are undermined by flood erosion or landslides. There is only a small remnant of the original old growth forest that once spread across the Santa Cruz Mountains. Nearly all of the remaining old growth is protected in parks, but isolated small groups of ancient trees are scattered about our mountains and these few old trees are vital to the survival of many bird and bat species. There are stands of old growth in Islandia which were left behind by the loggers because they were to hard to get at or would have shattered when they fell and so were not of interest to the loggers. About 3 to 4 percent of the original giant redwood in California still exists. Giant old trees are very valuable because the wood is of much higher quality than the wood of young trees. The qualities that made Redwood a highly prized lumber tree are not present in second growth wood. Young trees (less that one hundred years old) do not have wood that is as rot and insect resistant or as beautiful as do old trees. The new composite materials manufactured for decking, siding, and fences are a better c