SACRAMENTO (CN) - The California Department of Forestry properly protected the California spotted owl and the Pacific fisher when it issued three permits to log private land in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, the California Supreme Court ruled.
Justice Werdegar ruled that the department correctly applied state environmental and forestry laws regarding the selection of the areas where it assessed the impact of logging on the animals.
The decision reversed a ruling by the Court of Appeals, which indicated that the laws required separate areas to study the two species. Werdegar replied that the law needed to be read "for substance."
The state department also properly analyzed the effects of herbicides on the species, Werdegar ruled.
Ebbetts Pass Forest Watch led the group of conservationists who objected to the logging plan, which calls for the use of "even-aged management." Using that method, most or all trees of similar ages are harvested at the same time.
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