Glenn Edwards to Speaker Bass

GTE & Associates
Forestry Consultants
P.O. Box 997
Ukiah, CA 95482
 707-489-8688

October 30, 2009

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass
1303 10th Street, Room 219
Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Ms. Bass:

I am writing to endorse my support of the Freshwater Tissue Companies’(FTC) vision to produce “eco-friendly” toilet tissue and their vision for the future. The forest products industry has seen a continued reduction in viable operating facilities on the north coast in recent years. FTC is a strategically positioned component of the forest products industry which will encourage environmentally responsible management of the renewable resources within the redwood forest region.

Maintaining a viable forest products industry is essential if we are going to have a healthy ecosystem that provides the quality of life that we are all seeking in this region. As a registered professional forester in the state of California, I have been practicing forestry in Northern California for the past 29 years. I know first hand the challenges that the forest products industry and landowners in the Coastal Redwood Region are facing to compete successfully in today’s global forest products industry. I have reviewed the FTC business plan, giving particular attention to the Fiber Supply summary. Upon review of the information presented in the Pulp Chip Analysis and the Forest Economics portions of the Fiber Supply Summary, I am in agreement that the north coast redwood region can sustainably supply FTC with the needed wood chip resources, both hardwood and softwood. FTC proposes to produce environmentally responsible tissue products by sourcing one half of the mill’s needed fiber from tanoak trees, which is generally considered to be a nuisance tree. As a forester, I am very familiar with the timber species, both commercial (softwoods) and non-commercial (hardwoods), throughout the coastal redwood region. The current choice of most landowners, in the absence of any viable market for tanoak is to chemically treat the trees, killing them where they stand. This practice unnaturally increases the loading of dead and dying trees in the forest which may greatly increase the risk of insect infestations, the spread of disease and wildfire. The FTC Plan would provide a market for tanoak logs (50% of tissue recipe), turning this currently non-commercial hardwood species into a valuable commodity while reducing the need for herbicide application. This represents a responsible land management practice and a sustainable use of regional wood resources.

The business plan put forth by FTC is a regional approach that will provide a significant boost to the north coast timber industry and provide a needed incentive to timber landowners to intelligently and sustain-ably manage all of their timber resources. Restoring the value of wood chips to the log will expand the economic benefits region-wide and help keep non-industrial and industrial forest landowners productively on their land.

FTC has offered a “fresh” approach to the north coast region and I urge you to do whatever you can to help them make this a success.

Sincerely,

Glenn T. Edwards
Registered Professional Forester
RPF #2363