[Thespiritexpress] Our water and trees

[Riantee Rand]

Thank you this is so immediately important. I am passing it on, and calling
Riantee

> On Jul 19, 2021, at 20:01, Roz via Thespiritexpress <thespiritexpress at lists.mcn.org> wrote:
> 
>> 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.../
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Thespiritexpress mailing list
> Thespiritexpress at lists.mcn.org
> http://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/thespiritexpress