Only the trees are the same

Taking a job in the woods of Northern California might seen like a step into a buzzsaw, but Coeur d’Alene forester Steve Narolski does not see it that way.

Narolski went to work for Scotia-based Pacific Lumber, or PALCO, in September. Pacific has been controversial since its purchase by Maxxam Inc. in 1986. Now the Houston owners have warned Pacific could follow fellow subsidiary Kaiser Aluminum Corp. into bankruptcy if California does not issue permits necessary for the seasonal harvest on some of the 200,000-plus acres the company owns in Humboldt County.

Forestry in California, Narolski finds, may be a world of strange agency acronyms, but the acrimony is familiar.

“Wherever you manage forest, you’ve got opposition,” he says. Just the process may be different.

Getting a permit to cut trees on private land in Idaho, for example, can take as little as a single visit to the Idaho Department of Lands. In Washington, the process entails preparation of a roughly 20-page application describing the land, harvest plans, effect on streams, among other factors. A permit can be issued after a 30-day waiting period. Some cutting may require submission of a State Environmental Policy Act application.

That work would amount to an undercut in California, where even a fast-track review will take a minimum of 50 days, preparation of documents equivalent to an environmental impact statement, and reviews by appropriate federal, state and tribal agencies.Water-quality permitting is part of that process, and the California Water Resources Control Board signed off on the paperwork necessary to get the contested harvest under way. But the regional water board has balked on all but four of 16 permits, precipitating the crisis that had Maxxam Chairman Charles Hurwitz meeting last month with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s top environmental deputies.

For Narolski, who as a forester with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game in the 1990s had to work with local groups opposed to logging in sensitive areas like Farragut State Park, the contentiousness in Humboldt County recalls encounters he had in Idaho.

Nobody, whether they live in Idaho or California, likes to see stumps, he says. But at Farragut, for example, he says he worked with groups like the Audubon Society and individuals like the late Susan Weller to fashion acceptable harvest plans.

“Every single one of my projects was collaborative,” Narolski says.

Not so in redwood country, where polarization has stifled dialogue between the company and its environmental foes who, he says, do not understand management of the resource.

Narolski himself works in Douglas fir stands that differ only in the lack of brush from those he is familiar with in North Idaho. The topography is also similar, as are the highly erodible soils. Environmentalist charges erosion from Pacific lands has caused downstream flooding and sedimentation are among the most damning against the company.

In defense of his employer, Narolski says Pacific has agreed to forestry plans more restrictive than those applied to other private landowners. Weather, road conditions and other factors prevent the harvest of every acre permitted. Action by the regional water board is critical because if cutting does not start within the next few weeks, endangered species surveys scheduled for March will be compromised and work must halt for the season.

The company says it has never harvested as much timber as allowed under a 1999 agreement with the state of California, and has been losing money as a result. Employment is half what it was five years ago.

Narolski, 49, says he finds himself in Scotia because steady contraction of resource industries in the Northwest forced him to look farther afield for work. His family, for the time being, remains behind in Coeur d’Alene.

Long involved with the Boy Scouts in the Inland Northwest — he did the forestry plans for Camp Cowles and Camp Easton — he fills some idle time in Scotia as an assistant Scoutmaster with one of the oldest troops in California. He is also on the volunteer fire department.

Narolski also has some studying to do. Despite his 28 years in the profession, he scored 69 on the difficult test needed to obtain a California registered forester license. The passing grade is 75. Narolski had been with Pacific just four days when he took the test, which he will retake in April. In the meantime, a licensed forester must review his work.

That’s fine with Narolski, who continues his education in the complex world of California forestry.

“The staff here promotes good science,” he says. “It’s a very exciting opportunity for me.”