Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Big Creek proposal for logging Arlie property moves forward

Denevi points out irony of golf course battle

By Jeff Kearns

Mountain residents who weighed in on a logging proposal in the Lexington Basin showed up to the public hearing with concerns not about how the trees would be cut, but rather how they would be transported down the mountain.

The hearing, held by California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials at Los Gatos Town Hall on Aug. 20, was an opportunity for the public to learn about and comment on a Timber Harvest Plan filed by Big Creek Lumber of Davenport, Santa Cruz County, which wants to harvest a percentage of trees in an area north of Bear Creek Road.

Although loaded logging trucks would only be using about 200 feet of Bear Creek Road, area residents are still wary of potential safety concerns on the narrow mountain road through the Lexington Basin.

Big Creek wants to harvest trees on 125 acres of the 1,130 acres owned by the Arlie Land and Cattle Company of Cottage Grove, Ore. Arlie sold the logging rights for the property to Big Creek last February. The logging company will eventually submit plans for other parts of the land, Big Creek forester Mike Jani said.

Many residents, who have resigned themselves to the fact that an open-space preserve doesn't appear to be in the cards for the land, turned out to protest different aspects of the plan, not the plan itself. Because the rights have been sold, they belong to Big Creek indefinitely. And the Timber Harvest Plan the company submitted to CDF earlier this summer, like all other plans, will almost certainly be approved.

"If you comply with the rules, you get your logging permit," said CDF forester Nancy Drinkard. "What we're trying to find out is if this plan follows the rules." Drinkard added that the process is heavily legislated and heavily regulated.

Residents made it clear they would rather see the land left alone, but said that they were comfortable with Big Creek because of the company's reputation as one of the most environmentally sound forest managers in the state.

"It seems unlikely this land can be conserved as open space," said Joanna Yates, whose property on Thompson Road borders the Arlie land. "But if it must be done, I'm glad Big Creek is doing the work."

Yates and others raised concerns about fire danger, landslides and runoff into Lexington Reservoir, but the impact of the logging trucks was the main concern raised by almost every speaker who addressed the plan.

Because the harvest area is on the northwest corner of Arlie's land, trucks will have to take Bear Creek Road for a short distance, cut across the former Jesuit novitiate to Highway 17 on Alma College Road, then head south over the summit. To return to the site, the trucks will exit at the Bear Creek Road interchange, turn around and head south for a short distance to Alma College Road, then cut back through the novitiate.

Residents, including one cyclist with bike-safety concerns, asked that the plan allow as few logging trucks on Bear Creek Road as possible. According to the plan, between eight and 16 loads per day would be hauled to the company's mill in Davenport.

Golf course developer Pete Denevi, who has been working toward building a country club on the site of the old novitiate for more than four years, recently sued Arlie for terminating his option to buy the 210-acre site. That land, on the northeast corner of the property, is part of the 1,130-acre total but was not included in the deal when Big Creek purchased the timber rights.

"It's ironic we were turned down last year to build a golf course and plant a thousand new trees, and now the proposal is to remove several thousand trees," Denevi said. "If our golf course had been approved, the logging rights would never have been sold."

Big Creek's plan will allow cutting 60 percent of the trees that are more than 18 inches in diameter, but forester Eric Huff, who wrote the plan, says that the company intends to take about 40 to 50 percent of those trees, which will be hand-picked by the company's foresters. Huff says Big Creek will give tours of the land to concerned residents, and will allow public observation of the harvesting operation, which it is not required to do under state law. Jani said the harvest would probably last "less than two months."

On Sept. 8, CDF will hold a review team meeting, which is a multi-agency review of the findings of the field review and come up with a tentative recommendation, which will be forwarded to the main forestry office in Santa Rosa. The meeting will be held at the Felton CDF office at 6059 Highway 9, and will be open to the public.

Public comments on the plan may be addressed to CDF Resource Manager Tom Osipowich, 135 Ridgeway Dr., Santa Rosa, 95401. The comment period closes Monday, Sept. 14. For more information, call the Felton CDF office at 831/335-6740.

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