Lumber Mills To Shut Down; Workers Protest
Tue Feb 22, 9:58 PM ET
A fight is on in Tuolumne County between two lumber mills and the U.S. Forest Service. And caught in the middle are dozens of workers who will be losing their jobs.
Sierra Pacific has announced plans to shut down mills in Sonora and Chinese Camp. The company claims the U.S. Forest Service is not allowing it to clear and process enough lumber in the Stanislaus National Forest to keep the mills running.
Dozens of Sierra Pacific sawmill workers gathered in front of the Tuolumne County Courthouse to protest the shut downs.
"It's just unreal how so many people have to fight for their jobs right now, especially the third best paying in the county," said laid-off worker Phillip Bauer.
"It's kind of rough right now. We've all been working around here pretty much all our lives," said laid-off worker Dennis Noble.
Sierra Pacific Industries spokesman Ed Bond said the company had to make a hard decision on the layoffs, and that the Forest Service is the only agency that can stop the closures.
The Forest Service says its hands are tied by federal guidelines.
Sierra Pacific is the biggest employer in Tuolumne County, and the layoffs will hit the local economy hard. More workers will be laid off in the coming weeks, among them some third generation mill workers.
Now, it's up to Tuolumne County supervisors to figure out if they can keep the mills open. A committee is now being formed to look for a fix to the problem.
Full Version: Lumber Mills To Shut Down; Workers Protest
Here is the text of an email I received from a county supervisor in Plumas County.
QUOTE
Below is a continuing sad story of mill closures, family displacement and heartaches that you cannot feel, until you have lost your job. This is the symptom caused by those who have systematically been able to close our national forests.
I have been fighting the source of this problem most of my career and must admit that we have not been very effective. It wasn't because we were not correct, but rather because the public and elected officials, led by the media and the so-called "Environmental Movement", with little resistance from state and federal agencies, including Forest Service have willed it to happen. We cannot fault the companies (LP, GP, Simpson, Hi Ridge Lumber Company, Wetzel-Oviatt, Cheney Brothers and the list goes on) for going out of business, when they have been faced with lawsuits, injunctions and a myriad of uncertainties that promise the death of any business.
Sierra Pacific Industries has been under attack in the Sonora area for the last several years. They have managed their own lands, but needed additional timber from federal land that is being held up by those who do not and will not permit the sale of federal timber. Under those conditions, SPI will have no choice, but to close the mills.
If that seems too far away to be concerned, next turn to what is happening in Lassen and Plumas County on the Lassen and Plumas National Forests. The SPI mill in Loyalton was closed because they could no longer await the promises of more timber under the Herger-Feinstein Quincy Library Group Act. The Susanville SPI mill was closed last year, because of the unavailability of a timber supply.
Now, the timber sale program on the Plumas National Forest is being delayed because of lawsuits by major environmental groups. Can the Quincy SPI mill survive? I really don't know. I thought that they would be able to sustain their operation in Tuolumne County, but they can't unless federal timber becomes available.
While those of us in Plumas County and most all rural timbered counties worry about the threat of catastrophic wildfires, due to unmanaged Forest Service timberland, national environmental groups, are suing to stop sound forest management practices.
Many citizens watch, but few become involved to make a difference.
Every citizen should be incensed that the two mills are closing in Tuolumne County. This is not just because of the loss of jobs and family instability, although that is certainly an important issue. But, with the closure of mills, we have lost the tool needed to manage our national forests. The forests must be thinned, but the cost is going to become prohibitive, if the mills are located too far from the wood fiber source.
Will the closure of mills be the end of the quest to attack the use of our national forests?
No, grazing on federal land will be stopped before too long.
Our rights to use Forest Service roads are being altered very significantly and in effect federal lands are headed towards management as parks, while the National Parks are being designated as Wilderness Areas, as we have seen with Lassen Volcanic National Park. And, the Roadless Area Review promises to set-aside additional lands for non-motorized use.
In the long-term the Sierra Nevada Conservancy will play a roll in removing productive forest lands from accessibility, even though they may be portrayed as "Working Landscapes."
The news article below indicates that the Tuolumne Board of Supervisors will convene to see if they "....can figure out how to keep the mills open..." I applaud their effort, but the solution is in the hands of the Forest Service who reportedly say that their "...hands are tied because of federal guidelines." Those guidelines have been initiated and implemented by the same national "environmental" groups that are stopping the projects in Plumas County.
I am perplexed by the fact that there is no sight-in-view for an end to the attack on the public use of our national forests. That will only be changed when the public rises in mass to show that "enough is enough." That will probably not occur, unless we can really experience the pain that thousands have been enduring over mill closures during the past 15 years.
My intention had been to merely pass onto you this heartfelt message of mill closure and the resultant tragedy to the families and communities in that area.
I have gone beyond that charge. And, I haven't conveyed any philosophy, or facts that I have not provided to many of you before.
But---it is important to remember that if today, we believe that this is only somebody else's problem---tomorrow it will truly be ours.
I have been fighting the source of this problem most of my career and must admit that we have not been very effective. It wasn't because we were not correct, but rather because the public and elected officials, led by the media and the so-called "Environmental Movement", with little resistance from state and federal agencies, including Forest Service have willed it to happen. We cannot fault the companies (LP, GP, Simpson, Hi Ridge Lumber Company, Wetzel-Oviatt, Cheney Brothers and the list goes on) for going out of business, when they have been faced with lawsuits, injunctions and a myriad of uncertainties that promise the death of any business.
Sierra Pacific Industries has been under attack in the Sonora area for the last several years. They have managed their own lands, but needed additional timber from federal land that is being held up by those who do not and will not permit the sale of federal timber. Under those conditions, SPI will have no choice, but to close the mills.
If that seems too far away to be concerned, next turn to what is happening in Lassen and Plumas County on the Lassen and Plumas National Forests. The SPI mill in Loyalton was closed because they could no longer await the promises of more timber under the Herger-Feinstein Quincy Library Group Act. The Susanville SPI mill was closed last year, because of the unavailability of a timber supply.
Now, the timber sale program on the Plumas National Forest is being delayed because of lawsuits by major environmental groups. Can the Quincy SPI mill survive? I really don't know. I thought that they would be able to sustain their operation in Tuolumne County, but they can't unless federal timber becomes available.
While those of us in Plumas County and most all rural timbered counties worry about the threat of catastrophic wildfires, due to unmanaged Forest Service timberland, national environmental groups, are suing to stop sound forest management practices.
Many citizens watch, but few become involved to make a difference.
Every citizen should be incensed that the two mills are closing in Tuolumne County. This is not just because of the loss of jobs and family instability, although that is certainly an important issue. But, with the closure of mills, we have lost the tool needed to manage our national forests. The forests must be thinned, but the cost is going to become prohibitive, if the mills are located too far from the wood fiber source.
Will the closure of mills be the end of the quest to attack the use of our national forests?
No, grazing on federal land will be stopped before too long.
Our rights to use Forest Service roads are being altered very significantly and in effect federal lands are headed towards management as parks, while the National Parks are being designated as Wilderness Areas, as we have seen with Lassen Volcanic National Park. And, the Roadless Area Review promises to set-aside additional lands for non-motorized use.
In the long-term the Sierra Nevada Conservancy will play a roll in removing productive forest lands from accessibility, even though they may be portrayed as "Working Landscapes."
The news article below indicates that the Tuolumne Board of Supervisors will convene to see if they "....can figure out how to keep the mills open..." I applaud their effort, but the solution is in the hands of the Forest Service who reportedly say that their "...hands are tied because of federal guidelines." Those guidelines have been initiated and implemented by the same national "environmental" groups that are stopping the projects in Plumas County.
I am perplexed by the fact that there is no sight-in-view for an end to the attack on the public use of our national forests. That will only be changed when the public rises in mass to show that "enough is enough." That will probably not occur, unless we can really experience the pain that thousands have been enduring over mill closures during the past 15 years.
My intention had been to merely pass onto you this heartfelt message of mill closure and the resultant tragedy to the families and communities in that area.
I have gone beyond that charge. And, I haven't conveyed any philosophy, or facts that I have not provided to many of you before.
But---it is important to remember that if today, we believe that this is only somebody else's problem---tomorrow it will truly be ours.
Its a shame. The forests need to be thinned, or risk a wildfire that you cannot control. I live in the San Bernardino National forest. I was evacuated for 2 weeks Oct/Nov '03, during the wild fires. Logging is not a bad thing! Roads through the forest are not a bad thing! When they fight a fire, they try to hold a line at one of the roads that they are SO against! If we had more roads, thetre may be a better chance to fight some of these fires. 
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