Sierra Club Submits Comments on Sparta Mountain Logging Plan

NJ Sierra Club Submits Comments on Sparta Mountain Logging Plan

The Sierra Club has submitted comments on the environmentally destructive plan to allow logging in Sparta Mountain on the last day of public comment. We believe the proposed Forest Stewardship Plan will turn the Mountain into a field for bird habitat and other vaguely defined “stewardship” practices that will clear-cut the forest. This plan will destroy critical natural resources, violate the objectives and goals of the Highlands Act, and go against the Regional Master Plan (RMP). We are concerned that this program will threaten the drinking water supply for half of the state as well as interfere with our right to use our public land preserved for the enjoyment of all of us. We have urged the DEP to extend the public comment until the day after any public hearing, but they have failed to do so. No date for a public hearing has been set as of yet.

“The DEP's proposed plan for Sparta Mountain is a really a disguise to log an environmentally sensitive forest and we are coming out against it on the last day of public comment. Sparta Mountain is a treasure of the Highlands in an important forested greenway, that is being threatened by logging. The DEP wants to clear cut the Mountain under the phony excuse of so-called bird habitat when it is really about bringing in commercial forestry. This is an important canopy forest and the destruction of the canopy will cause pollution and run-off. DEP should not take down 120-year-old oaks to turn them into a field for logging,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “ If this plan moves forward, it will threaten the highest water quality in the state. Logging operations will also impact pristine C1 trout streams and neo-tropical birds who are dependent a deep forest to protect their habitat from other species. This plan threatens our open space, drinking water, and violates the public trust. Sparta Mountain was purchased with public money to be protected for future generations, but this plan will interfere with recreation and public access for years to come.”

Logging will bring in siltation and run-off, impact pristine C1 trout streams and the highest water quality in the state. The Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act was signed into law in 2004 to preserve open space and protect the state's water supply. According to the Highlands Regional Master Plan, the biggest threat to the region is the alteration of habitat, maintaining the forest’s edge, and fragmentation. This proposal will actually increase fragmentation by removing the forest canopy. Clear-cutting will impact the area 300 ft. inland from the cut. That means if there is only 2 acres of cut, it will actually increase the amount of area impacted to 6 acres. It will not only change the soil composition by opening the forest floor to more sunlight, but it will open up the entire area for invasive species, deer over-population, as well as increase flooding and non-point source pollution. We are concerned that this plan could have serious environmental impacts to nearby trout streams, wetlands, vernal streams and overall water quality. This plan will violate the objectives and goals of the Highlands Act and the Regional Master Plan (RMP) and even goes against protections for stream buffers.

“Logging operations will cause great long term ecological damage and destroy our ground water, aquifers, high quality trout streams and wetlands. When it rains, the forest helps to break down rain drops so that the waters soak in the region’s soft soils. This helps re-charge the Highlands aquifers, but without the forest it will deplete the groundwater. If the canopy is removed, the area will increase storm water runoff and therefore pollute high quality streams that protect our water quality,” said Jeff Tittel. “These oak trees have taken 120 years to grow and DEP’s plan will not trim trees in the area, but take down the most expensive trees for re-sale, causing the most damage possible.We are even more concerned is that this plan is exempted from soil conservation, which is problematic because there will be run-off and siltation coming off the site.”

These operations will lead to more erosion and stormwater runoff impacting pristine streams and reservoirs and aquatic ecosystems. Opening up the canopy will lead to a loss of biodiversity in our forests as more deer and invasive species take over. Invasive species infestations would require herbicide use which could impact sensitive streams and areas above reservoirs and water supply intakes. Since the DEP Forest Stewardship Plan does not meet these two standards for C1 streams, we are concerned of its impact to the Russia Brook, which is a DEP designated trout production C1 stream. Based on a study by the USGS, increases in sediment and temperature result in toxic effects of increased stream concentrations of nitrate and aluminum from logging runoff. The USGS also found that clear cuts caused 100% mortality of trout. We are even more concerned is that this plan is exempted from water and soil rules by the DEP themselves, as well as the Highlands Act, which will allow run-off and siltation coming off the site.

“Logging operations will threaten nearby streams and cause the trout to die. We have seen irreparable damage in forests from logging practices that bring in heavy machinery from ruts, gullies, and other equipment decades after the project has ceased. In the past, logging near streams have run brown for years later and the runoff cannot be controlled. We are most concerned because it will remove important 300 ft. buffers near streams that protect high quality waterways and critical headwater areas. Category one streams are supposed to have no measurable and calculable change in water quality and the USGS has found logging operations will kill trout. In addition, state protections placed on stream buffers could be violated,” said Jeff Tittel. “Under this plan, there is no requirement for stormwater runoff. Not only will this destroy forests, but it will end up spraying pesticides above some of our most critical water supplies.”

The Highlands is a breeding ground for endangered neo-tropical song birds, that require a deep forest at least 300 ft. of undisturbed habitat to protect their nests from other species. This proposal would threaten the WMA’s biodiversity including the federally-threatened Northern Long-Eared Bat and federally-endangered Indiana Bat.

“The DEP should not destroy an entire ecosystem to create habitat for one bird species when they can do this somewhere else. There are 75 different species of neo-tropical song birds that would be impacted by logging on Sparta Mountain plan, in addition to harming threatened and endangered Bat species. If Audubon wants Golden Warbler habitat, didn’t PSEG create with the Susquehanna-Roseland powerline cutting through the Highlands Preservation Area that Audubon supported”” said Jeff Tittel. “Even worse is that this plan does not have any rules or enforcement in place for commercial loggers. That means there is no penalty if they clear cut important forest canopy, clear cut, run skidders through streams and do a lot of damage because there is no mechanism for enforcement.”

A final and mysterious blow to this proposal is that Sparta Mountain WMA had previously received High Conservation Value designation, that prohibited logging, but in in 2013, FSC removed its designation, while adjacent privately managed NJA Sparta Mountain Preserve retained it. The status was changed by so-called stakeholder meeting, but we don’t know who was in attendance and the rational. FSC is a private organization and never released the information and they are not subject to public records information requests. Also, NJA is the only group in New Jersey that are a FSC certified organization so therefore they have a monopoly since they are the only organization that can do FSC projects. (see the top of page 4 of the Forest Management Audit here: http://fsc.force.com/servlet/servlet.FileDownload?file=00P4000000DX5LzEAl).

“FSC changed the designation of this forest without any public input or oversight by removing the High Conservation Forest designation at Sparta Mountain. It is outrageous that they changed this characterization not based on any facts and ignore the environmentally sensitivity of the site, so they can allow this property to be logged. FSC is a private nongovernmental group that are too cozy with the timber industry,” said Tittel.

In 2014, the legislature had proposed a plan to log our forests and open our state parks up to commercial logging operations. The Office of Legislative Services estimated the program would cost $2.7 million to implement. Loggers would have to take $2.7 million worth of trees out of our forests just to cover those costs and additional revenue would go to the General Fund. In the past, the state has received $75 per tree for oaks that sold on the market for over $2000. This is a horrible sell-out to our forests and water resources for private logging companies.

"There is no economic benefit to logging, especially when you look at the costs to environmental impacts like pollution, loss of habitat, and invasive species," said Tittel.

NJ Audubon had even conducted their own studies previously that cited undisturbed habitat for interior forest species, was critically important for many neo-tropical migratory birds, including in the Audubon report: Impacts of Ecosystem Degradation on Forest Wildlife Diversity .

“The DEP should be protecting forests, not logging them. These lands belong to all of us, not commercial loggers. With this plan, instead of hiking trails on Sparta Mountain, we will have logging roads. This is a horrible sell-out to our open space for private logging companies. Commercial logging is part of Governor Christie’s plan to privatize our parks like what he is doing at Liberty State Park. If they do it here, they can do it anywhere in the Highlands and Pinelands, which together holds the drinking for millions of people,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “I was given the award of NJ Audubon Conservationist of the Year in 1994, but since then Audubon has totally diverted from its mission to protect the contiguous canopy of this forest. I had worked with them for decades, but in the last five years they’ve switched their mission from preservation to chainsaws. We must urge the DEP to withdraw this destructive plan to protect our water and open space. Sparta Mountain must be preserved so that its natural resources can be enjoyed today and by future generations. We cannot turn Sparta Mountain over to commercial logging operations.”

A copy of the plan can be found here: http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/pdf/2015/spartamt_plan.pdf

The New Jersey Sierra Club’s comments to the plan can be found attached.