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Helping Our Peninsula's Environment |
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Is Native Monterey Pine Forest Imperiled and Protected? 2007 - 2011 by David Dilworth HOPE’s Executive Director "Nothing is more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed. "- said US President Richard Nixon as he signed the landmark 1973 Endangered Species Act.
Is Native Monterey Pine Forest scientifically imperiled? Sadly, according to the two largest non-legislative, forest science agencies -- Monterey Pine Forest in its tiny remaining native habitat is seriously imperiled.
How is Native Monterey Pine Forest protected by law? Native Monterey Pine Forest, its trees and habitat are protected by an array of laws. The strongest legal protection is provided by California's Coastal Act which requires avoidance of harm to Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas. Other laws providing protection include Federal and state Endangered Species laws, California's Tree Cutting Penal Code 384.5(a), California's Forest Practices Act and several local laws. California's Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) provides procedural protection and requires mitigation of harm to habitat and environmental values such as loss of trees in their ecosystem, their ecosystem services and their aesthetics. The problem is that elected officials and bureaucrats prefer destroying forests and trees and their habitat so people with money can use that land; they almost always ignore and even flaunt these laws until a judge forces them to obey them. |
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Laws :
"All Endangered Species Habitat" 1. Rare Tree. All of the Endangered Species Act protected Gowen Cypress grows surrounded by native Monterey Pine Forest. 2. Endangered Orchid. Almost all (more than 98%) of the Endangered Yadon’s Rein Orchid grows in native Monterey Pine Forest. One quarter of the known individual ESA Orchids (some 36,000) would be killed by the Golf Course proposal. This endangered orchid depends upon a healthy Monterey pine forest ecosystem. All of this endangered orchid’s habitat is clearly ESHA. 3. Mark Twain’s Celebrated California Red-Legged frogs (protected by the Endangered Species Act) have been documented as traveling as much as two miles (3.2 km) from aquatic sites "without regard for topography." -Federal Register Sept, 11, 2000. Native habitat within two miles of the frogs habitats is ESHA. The frog’s range covers a substantial amount of the proposed golf course. What Else is Clearly ESHA in Monterey Pine Forests? 4. "All Coastal Wetlands" There is one last vernal pool in native Monterey Pine Forests. A vernal pool is a wetland under the Coastal Act. The vernal pool is located almost exactly in the middle of where the Pebble Beach Company wants to bulldoze another driving range. How Else are Monterey Pine Forests ESHA? Native Monterey Pine Forests Themselves are ESHA... In at Least 4 Different Ways 5. Page DMF-8, Definition AA: "Rare and Endangered Species are those identified as rare, endangered and / or threatened by ... the California Native Plant Society ... In 1994 the California Native Plant Society increased its concern for the Monterey Pine as a highly imperiled species rating it 1B. The only higher rating, 1A, means extinct - like the dinosaurs.
6. Coastal Act 30107.5 "Environmentally sensitive area" includes "any area in which plant or animal life or their habitats are ... rare..." Native Monterey pine forest is rare. The "Jepson Manual" is a set of books considered the definitive encyclopedia for California plants and trees, states that Monterey pine is "Rare."
7. Del Monte Forest Coastal Implementation Plan Definitions 20.147.020 -- Page DMF-8, Definition AA: "Rare and Endangered Species are those identified as rare, endangered and / or threatened pursuant to the 1973 convention on international trade in endangered species of wild flora and fauna." In 1986, 2 years after the LCP was adopted, Monterey Pine was identified as an endangered tree species by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Department.
8. Coastal Act 30107.5 "Environmentally sensitive area" includes any area in which plant or animal life or their habitats are ... especially valuable because of their special nature or role in an ecosystem and which could be easily disturbed or degraded by human activities and developments. Native Monterey pine forest is especially valuable because of its special role in the Monterey pine forest ecosystem because it provides the habitat, insulation from human impact, cooling shade and all other needed, natural protection for the officially Endangered Species Act listed Yadon's Rein Orchid and 19+ other officially imperiled plant species that live under it; and ... The Del Monte Forest Land Use Plan page 23 states - "alteration of the forest through tree removal or excavation could impact the soils, the natural drainage system, and plant and animal habitats. So, native Monterey pine forest is easily disturbed and degraded by human activities and development. " |
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Let us recount the ways -- -1. ESA Listed Gowen Cypress
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Yet what is Monterey County staff's Position? They claim (curiously identical to the Pebble Beach Company's position) any species not listed in the 23 year old 1984 Land Use Plan (LUP) is not ESHA. This position means - that no matter how close a species gets to extinction -- Monterey County claims they are Prohibited from protecting Monterey Pine forest as ESHA. That is simply absurd, even if you ignore that - The County has refused to update its General Plan, and even shelved an update of the Del Monte Forest LUP prepared by its own appointed citizens in 1998. Could the reason Country staff claims this - is because our Coastal Act forbids anyone from subdividing or bulldozing ESHA for a golf course? |
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Feedback - Info(at)1hope.org 831 / 624-6500 P.O. Box 1495, Carmel, CA 93921
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This Page Last Updated 1/11/11 |
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