[Thespiritexpress] Our water and trees

[roz at mcn.org]

>Hi Everyone
>
I saw this article and thought I should share it as it affects us all.

2tS srponsogarhsredous  ·
While the city of Fort Bragg Is staring down the barrel of a water crisis
and their patrons are being asked to conserve more water, California
Department of Forestry is selling millions of gallons of the communities
water at a steep discount.
There are three timber harvest plans currently active that are in the Noyo
River watershed and tributaries of the Noyo, totaling just under 2,000
acres.
These THPs  will be sucking out an estimated 2.4 million gallons of water
from the Noyo primarily during drought months for the watering of roads
during timber operations.
Further, Redwoods are known for helping to regulate and store water in an
ecosystem and to regulate water flows during drought months:
“Forest soils act like giant sponges, soaking up rainwater as it falls,
and slowly releasing it throughout the dry season.”
Logging a forest has been proven to be one of the most destructive
activities you can do to the forest floor. Additionally, thinning and
removal of the canopy allows in more light and increased winds, two
factors that affect overall forest dryness.
“Spencer Robert Sawaske, a Stanford researcher, measured fog-drip from
individual trees in the Santa Cruz Mountains during the 2013 dry season.
He found that older redwoods and Douglas firs on the Pacific Coast side
near the ridgetops produced the most fog-drip: up to 38 inches recorded
over 2.5 months! He also found that this fogdrip soaked into the ground
and replenished stream flow.”
With significantly fewer trees and canopy cover in these logging areas,
there is and will continue to be less fog drip contributing to the Noyo
watershed during the driest part of the year- when we need it most.
If you are working diligently to conserve  water, if you are a farmer who
is letting fields go fallow or a home gardener starring at bare dirt this
year. If you are a city official or water worker scrambling to figure out
a way through this summer, it’s time to hold the California Department of
Forestry accountable for their rampant water misuse. Please call your
elected officials and ask them to put into effect an immediate moratorium,
and to tell CDF no logging during drought!
Call scripts can be found at
http://mendocinotrailstewards.org
https://sempervirens.org/.../redwood-champions-amid.../