He says the family intends to underscore its environmental commitments by earning Forest Stewardship Council certification, which should relieve some of the criticism. In August, a review panel denied certification for the company, but Mr. Dean vows to re-apply. To showcase their progress, Mr. Dean and his chief forester, Mike Jani, slog through a recently logged mountainside in the pouring rain. To replenish stocks of valuable redwood and Douglas fir, foresters traditionally would have clear-cut the parcel and burned it, says Mr. Jani. Instead of a lifeless moonscape, the slope remains wooded in spots and green.
Water cascades over stone culverts built into logging roads, reducing erosion.
The goal, Mr. Dean says, is a forest that will one day have trees of many ages and sizes, traversed by clear streams, supporting wildlife and loggers alike. That subtlety is lost on Mr. Heil, the forest defender. With chain saws buzzing all around him, he hikes with his dog Lucy near his home in the Albion watershed. The owls are gone, and now Mendocino Redwood is logging in the dense grove. But they're taking down the thick forest from little to none.