Mendocino fire damage at least $50 million

As the Mendocino County fires begin to cool, timberland owners and forestry experts are beginning to assess the havoc to the landscape and the ailing timber industry.

The state has set a damage estimate of $50 million, though some timber owners want a closer look at their still-smoldering holdings.

"There's no question it's a financial hit," said Frank Kemper, a spokesman with Cal Fire, which produced the monetary damage estimate based on meetings with landowners.

But Mike Jani, chief forester for Mendocino Redwood Co., which bore the brunt of the fires, said a full assessment will have to wait.

Of 53,300 acres affected by the fires, 23,000 acres belong to Mendocino Redwood.

"We're making a guesstimate of 20 percent to 25 percent of the area that was burned really got toasted," Jani said.

"Until these fires actually cool down and it's safe enough to get into the interior of the fires, we're really going to have a hard time assessing the damage to the timber itself," he said.

The extent of the damage won't be known until the last of the embers have cooled, likely after the first rains, Jani said.

The fires primarily burned low to the ground, devouring brush and smaller trees.

Whether the fire killed more established trees isn't as obvious. In many cases, it will require making incisions through the bark of trees to see whether the layers that pull in nutrients and water are damaged, Jani said.

California Department of Forestry and UC Cooperative Extension officials will be assisting with the evaluations.

"There are a lot of questions," said Greg Giusti, a forest adviser with the extension in Mendocino County.

Most of the questions focus on Douglas fir trees, which are more susceptible to fire damage. Redwood trees are more resistant, and stands may even be improved by the burning off of underbrush and the resulting stimulation of growth, Giusti said.

Foresters must decide whether trees that appear to have been damaged need to be salvaged sooner than later, he said.

While many charred trees should be harvestable with little underlying damage to the timber, this is a bad time to be cutting a lot of Douglas fir, Giusti said.

Demand for Redwood is strong -- it's selling for more than $900 per 1,000 board feet -- but Douglas fir prices have been depressed by cheap imports and high fuel costs.

"The last thing the Douglas fir market needed was more cheap wood to come on line," Giusti said.

Douglas fir sells for about $264 per 1,000 board feet, down from $305 last year, according to the California Forestry Association. Prices peaked this decade in 2004 at $434 per thousand board feet.

But the bigger hit in Mendocino County could be from the loss of the smaller, more fire-prone stands of Douglas fir, Giusti said. If a significant number of those have been destroyed, it means a gap in future timber harvests, income and employment, he said.

The industry has been in decline for more than a decade in Mendocino County, the result of years of overcutting, competition from a global market and skyrocketing fuel costs. In 2007, timber production in Mendocino County dropped from 110 million board feet to 103 million board feet, largely because of the drop in demand for new houses, said Mendocino County Agricultural Commissioner Dave Bengston.

The decline affects government services as well as the timber companies and their employees. Ten years ago, timber harvests contributed $2.5 million to Mendocino County government agencies and schools. Last year, it contributed less than half that -- $1.1 million, according to the county Auditor's Office.

The fires also could prompt more environmental regulation by displacing protected spotted owls and their favorite food -- wood rats, Giusti said.

Most forest-dwelling animals probably escaped the slow-moving fires or went underground. But the wood rat generally runs for home, comprised of dry wood, a bad choice in a fire, Giusti said.

On the other hand, the fires will have cleared out old underbrush, allowing for the growth of more nutritious forage for deer and other herbivores.

The fires also likely will benefit the forests themselves in the long run, Giusti said. "This type of fire can generate positive ecological benefits," he said.

And it will give local biologists a good opportunity to study how animals react and adapt to fire, Giusti said.

"From a biologist's point of view, we have a lot of cool questions to answer," he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com.