A public process that excludes the public

GFC member John Dunlap explains in this article in the Press Democrat how it has been impossible for members of the public to follow Cal Fire’s review of the Silver Estates logging plan.

In the article, he wrote: “What has happened with the Guerneville [Silver Estates] plan, while undoubtedly par for the course, shows a shocking disrespect for public due process. A slew of changes, both big and small, were made to the timber harvest plan over the course of seven months. The revisions were neither categorized nor indexed. They appeared in numerous memos and letters from the forester to one agency or another, uploaded to a clunky website and scattered among the 300-plus online public comments.”

He notes that the California Supreme Court recognizes that “….few, if any, industries adversely affect the rights of others and the public generally, as do the timber and logging operations.”

Given this, he asks: “why is it made so hard for the public to see what’s going on?”

The Silver Estates Timber Harvest Plan (THP) is currently under review by Cal Fire and a decision to approve is expected shortly.