Not all logging is equal.  CSERC has repeatedly voiced strong opposition to the widespread clear-cutting done each year on thousands of acres of local timberlands by Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI).  Just as openly, CSERC has strongly supported responsible logging methods and the use of logging as one important tool to reduce wildfire risk in overly dense forests.  Without a viable market for small to medium size trees, it would take a huge amount of appropriated dollars for the Stanislaus National Forest to do all the thinning logging that is needed in high fire risk areas of the forest.

   As the recession drastically shrinks the demand for lumber, mills have closed all across the nation.  In March, SPI announced plans to close three mills in California, including the local Standard sawmill east of Sonora.  In addition to blaming the poor market, SPI claimed it wasn't getting enough wood from national forest lands, and that State forestry regulations were too restrictive and burdensome.

  The closure of the Sonora mill (above) would cost 146 jobs and leave the local region with only one functioning sawmill.  That Chinese Camp mill (below) handles cedar logs that are converted to fencing and other cedar materials.  If the Standard mill closes, there would be no local market for the tens of millions of board feet of pine and fir logs that the Stanislaus Forest is continuing to offer in timber sales and fuels projects.

  Based on the remaining log supply at the Standard mill, SPI spokesmen have estimated that the mill will close "permanently" in July.  All the equipment would remain on-site, however, which would allow the mill to reopen speedily if the housing market rebounds and the demand for lumber rises.  SPI has made no promise to reopen the facility, even if market conditions improve.

  Some environmentalists might be tempted to celebrate the closing of a sawmill where billions of board feet of wood has been milled over the years.  Countless thousands of giant, old growth trees were sliced into boards at this facility in the past.  But national forest management has changed significantly over the last 15 years, and without a local mill, positive thinning logging operations on the Stanislaus Forest may end up being postponed for years.

  There's also the fact that Californians still need wood products, even during a recession.  If wood doesn't come from thinning logging on national forest lands, it likely will come from clear-cuts from Canada or private timberlands.  SPI has repeatedly insisted it won't halt clear-cutting in its forests, so the mill closure may cause a reduction in clear-cutting in the local region.  But in the long term, CSERC believes that having a regional mill operating is essential to being able to use logging as one valuable tool for managing local forests.