Timber company signs deal,
trust to keep 731 acres wild
Excloo to the Sac Bee
NEVADA CITY - Sierra Pacific Industries and the Trust for Public Land inked a $3.4 million deal Thursday that turns 731 acres of forested canyon land over to the South Yuba River wild and scenic corridor.
Officials from the forest products company, TPL and the South Yuba River Citizens League hailed it as a sensible and amicable resolution to a lingering land use dispute.
"It will help the company consolidate its lands and solve some problems with checkerboard land management. You can't multiple-use every acre," said forester Tim Feller, a district manager for SPI.
TPL's ownership of the parcel, which is located near Malakoff Diggins State Park about eight miles northeast of Nevada City, is only temporary.
The land preservation group is expected to turn the title over to the state Department of Parks and Recreation for future management, said Janet Cohen, SYRCL's executive director.
The fate of this relatively small plot became a hot-button issue in Nevada County two years ago when SPI announced plans to harvest the Douglas firs on it.
Trouble was the land was located inside the 39-mile long state-designated wild and scenic section of the South Yuba River. Opponents feared large scale harvesting would destroy the spirit of the wild river run.
"There was a huge public outcry locally. Can you imagine walking down Humbug Trail and coming out at the river only to look across and see clear-cut?" Cohen asked.
The company, SYRCL and Nevada County officials agreed to a moratorium on logging while opponents shopped for an alternative - which proved to be TPL.
"SPI was responsive ... held off on logging and worked with TPL and our partners so it could find suitable timberland elsewhere," TPL director David Sutton stated in a joint release with SPI.
The happy resolution showed the company's "commitment to land preservation, economic investment and responsible forest management,” said A.A. "Red" Emmerson, president of SPI.
The $3.4 million from the sale would go to purchase "other resources," Feller said.
Meanwhile, further downstream at Devil's Slide, TPL, the Sierra Fund and the Nevada County Land Trust have struck a separate deal with private landowners for an additional 453 acres, Sutton said.
Taken together, the two agreements will add 1,184 acres to the scenic corridor, Sutton said.
The South Yuba River attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists a year and represents an unmeasured, but significant, economic benefit to the county, Cohen said.
The state Department of Parks and Recreation toted up 671,000 visitor-days to river swimming holes and sunning rocks when it last counted in 1991. That number has since risen, "phenomenally," Cohen estimated.
trust to keep 731 acres wild
Excloo to the Sac Bee
NEVADA CITY - Sierra Pacific Industries and the Trust for Public Land inked a $3.4 million deal Thursday that turns 731 acres of forested canyon land over to the South Yuba River wild and scenic corridor.
Officials from the forest products company, TPL and the South Yuba River Citizens League hailed it as a sensible and amicable resolution to a lingering land use dispute.
"It will help the company consolidate its lands and solve some problems with checkerboard land management. You can't multiple-use every acre," said forester Tim Feller, a district manager for SPI.
TPL's ownership of the parcel, which is located near Malakoff Diggins State Park about eight miles northeast of Nevada City, is only temporary.
The land preservation group is expected to turn the title over to the state Department of Parks and Recreation for future management, said Janet Cohen, SYRCL's executive director.
The fate of this relatively small plot became a hot-button issue in Nevada County two years ago when SPI announced plans to harvest the Douglas firs on it.
Trouble was the land was located inside the 39-mile long state-designated wild and scenic section of the South Yuba River. Opponents feared large scale harvesting would destroy the spirit of the wild river run.
"There was a huge public outcry locally. Can you imagine walking down Humbug Trail and coming out at the river only to look across and see clear-cut?" Cohen asked.
The company, SYRCL and Nevada County officials agreed to a moratorium on logging while opponents shopped for an alternative - which proved to be TPL.
"SPI was responsive ... held off on logging and worked with TPL and our partners so it could find suitable timberland elsewhere," TPL director David Sutton stated in a joint release with SPI.
The happy resolution showed the company's "commitment to land preservation, economic investment and responsible forest management,” said A.A. "Red" Emmerson, president of SPI.
The $3.4 million from the sale would go to purchase "other resources," Feller said.
Meanwhile, further downstream at Devil's Slide, TPL, the Sierra Fund and the Nevada County Land Trust have struck a separate deal with private landowners for an additional 453 acres, Sutton said.
Taken together, the two agreements will add 1,184 acres to the scenic corridor, Sutton said.
The South Yuba River attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists a year and represents an unmeasured, but significant, economic benefit to the county, Cohen said.
The state Department of Parks and Recreation toted up 671,000 visitor-days to river swimming holes and sunning rocks when it last counted in 1991. That number has since risen, "phenomenally," Cohen estimated.
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