7/14/05
SB 744 WOULD POST TIMBER HARVEST PLANS ONLINE
A bill that would plug the timber harvest approval process into
the Information Age has been introduced by state Sen. Sheila Kuehl
(D-Santa Monica).
SB 744 would require the state Board of Forestry to make timber
harvesting plans (THPs) available on the web. The bill also would
levy a reasonable fee, paid by applicants for a THP, to help offset
the administrative costs of posting THPs on the web.
Making THPs available on the internet will greatly improve public
access, making it much easier for concerned citizens to find and
comment on them. Currently THPs are processed exclusively on paper,
making dissemination of this information slow and cumbersome.
"The current process is burdensome, causing delay and inconvenience
for citizens who want to comment on THPs," said Paul Hughes,
executive director of Forests Forever. "That serves the interests
of the logging companies and landowners, not the public as a whole."
The bill also would help ease the paperwork burden on the California
Department of Forestry (CDF). It is especially appropriate that
a process concerned with logging should help forests by using less
paper. The CDF cranks out between 800 and 1,200 timber harvest plans
a year, all processed on paper.
An opponent of the bill, the California Forestry Association, worries
that posting THPs on the web "would provide easy access to
people around the world to file comments." They also worry
that the openness of the internet would encourage people to "mischievously
comment on THPs for the sole purpose of typing [sic] up the Department’s
personnel and resources."
The idea that commenting on California timber harvest plans might
become a kind of global fad is intriguing, but rather unlikely.
"As for filing ‘mischievous’ comments, whatever
those might be," Hughes said, "it’s not up to the
forestry association to decide what’s mischievous, let alone
to curtail citizen access."
Making public access easier increases the transparency of government
processes, and benefits everyone– except those who would prefer
to have their plans become reality without public scrutiny.
Said Hughes, "This is an idea that Forests Forever has long
advocated."
WHAT YOU CAN DO
SB 744 has cleared the state Senate and is about to go to the Assembly
floor. Write to your assemblymember and ask him or her to support
Sen. Kuehl’s SB 744.
You can locate your assemblymember at: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov
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