Opinion ID: 2585012
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Sustained Yield Plan's Demonstration of the Maximum Sustained Production of High Quality Timber

Text: The Steelworkers claim that the SYP violated the provision in Forest Practice Rules section 1091.45, subdivision (a) that an SYP must demonstrate how sustained production of high quality timber products will be achieved. In support of this claim, the Steelworkers point to what they contend are several undisputed factual findings on this issue by the superior court. First, that old-growth trees are high-quality timber; in fact, the highest quality, and produce the most desirable commercial timber. Second, that the majority of old-growth trees projected to be logged over 120 years will be felled in the first decade and more than 80 percent in the first 20 years. Third, that such a rate of logging does not balance growth and harvest over time with respect to old-growth timber. The success of this claim depends upon the Steelworkers's equating high-quality timber products in the Forest Practice Rules with old growth trees. In making this equation, the Steelworkers cite two pieces of evidence in the record. The first is a reference in section 3.9 of the final EIS/EIR singling out the unique attributes of old growth forests. These include that old-growth redwood stands may have 10 to 20 times the wood volume of an entire acre of trees in the deciduous forests of eastern North America [citation], that the volume and the quality of the wood ... make such redwood trees extremely valuable, and that old growth forests provide important habitat for many plant and animal species not provided by younger forests. The Steelworkers also cite to a table found in the Public Review Draft of the SYP demonstrating that old growth redwoods, and to a lesser degree old growth Douglas firs, are significantly more valuable economically than younger growth species. (13) We conclude that these citations fail to demonstrate that CDF violated Forest Practice Rules section 1091.45, subdivision (a). The fact that old growth timber is of the highest quality, and that 80 percent will be logged over the first 20 years does not mean that other, remaining timber is not of high quality within the meaning of the Forest Practice Rules. These rules provide that maximum sustained production is demonstrated in an SYP by providing sustainable harvest yields established by the landowner which will support the production level of those high quality timber products the landowner selects while at the same time meeting the various other requirements. (FP Rules, ง 913.11, subd. (b), italics added.) As noted, we defer to an agency's interpretation of its own regulations, particularly when the interpretation implicates areas of the agency's expertise. ( Yamaha Corp. of America v. State Bd. of Equalization, supra, 19 Cal.4th 1, 12-13.) Although heavily logging old growth timber in the early decades may cause economic or ecological repercussions, the Steelworkers have failed to demonstrate that such heavy logging, by itself, violates any Forest Practice Rule.