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I live in Calaveras County. Sierra Pacific Industries recently announced the closure of their mill in Standard in our neighboring county of Tuolumne. 140 jobs are to be lost. As well, they are closing our next-closest mill-- the Camino Mill in El Dorado County. The Chinese Camp mill in Tuolumne which is producing cedar fence posts-- apparently for a Home Depot contract-- is being left open, but is not available for use by any local loggers who may need logs milled.

Here, too, the implication (and often overt statement) is that this has been caused by environmentalists who have constrained their activities on both public and private lands. However, not one of their timber harvest plans on private land has ever been denied due to sincere and legitimate comments filed to request better analysis and consideration for public trust resources. There has been no litigation by local groups on National Forest activities.

The mills are, in fact, being closed due to large economic conditions and because it fits into the business plans of Sierra Pacific Industries. Trying to place the blame for their own decisions on others seems both childish and disingenuous to me. Citizens are sufficiently sophisticated to understand business decisions by large corporations. Consolidating operations into the Lincoln Mill so they can potentially run three shifts a day and run a full operation is an economy of scale that probably works for them and makes business sense. Because of their control of all aspects of the process, they can absorb the additional transportation expenses generated by their decisions to close the last remaining regional mills they had not already shut down. For local, small landowners trying to harvest trees off their holdings and make even a small profit, this last round of mill closures shuts them out. Transportation costs, added to low prices at the mill, assures that they cannot make it "pencil out." There has been no media attention by SPI or their industry allies to these losers in the SPI mill closure decision.

The following appeared in the Sierra County Prospect (www.sierracountyprospect.com).

High Sierra Rural Responds

Striking back against a series of letters to the editors in some local papers, and to an editorial in the Sierra Booster (www.sierrabooster.com), High Sierra Rural Alliance has issued a response in the form of an email/press release.

We here at Sierra County Prospect only publish press releases on issues we don’t really care about. We think these challenges from the community to HSRA are important.

To be clear, the opinions cursing HSRA with the closure of the SPI small log mill in Quincy are ill-informed. HSRA is not responsible for the economic downturn, nor for decisions made at SPI corporate headquarters. In difficult times it is often comforting to have a scapegoat to blame for problems arising beyond one’s understanding.

Further, it is the opinion of the Prospect that demonizing HSRA is counter-productive in the long run. Not only does it mask the real sources of our economic problems, it segregates an organization that espouses community participation, a potential ally in an effort to bring restrained growth to our county.

In other words, suppose tonight we march with pitchforks and torches on HSRA. In the morning, would the SPI small log mill open? Would the wealthy flock to Loyalton to invest and build? Nothing would change.

In addition to masking our real problem, blaming HSRA for our situation prevents us from taking meaningful positive action. How many of HSRA’s detractors have ever attended a meeting to provide input? How many have written letters to the editor publicly asking HSRA specific questions, or challenging specific rationales?

The reality of our situation is too dire for us to waste time pointing fingers at cousins. High Sierra has talent too valuable to be wasted. We encourage people to educate themselves on High Sierra Rural Alliance, to attend meetings, to join and influence policy decisions.

By educating themselves and joining HSRA, detractors will have a win-win situation. If, indeed, HSRA is the source of all our misery, they will prevent people from joining, refuse public participation, and we’ll know them for that, and exclude them from the social life of the county. If, on the other hand, they are well intentioned, they’ll welcome public participation and HSRA will be stronger, and we will have a better tool in the struggle to bring sustainable, locally focused growth to the county.

No government agency is going to save our county or our families, we all know that. Sierra County stays alive because people volunteer with boards, commissions and organizations to work for the best for all of us. High Sierra Rural Alliance is one of that family of organizations. We don’t kick cousins out of the family because we don’t like a few things they’ve done.