[GRRN] The GAP

Heidi Kreitz (hkreitz@kwom.com)
Thu, 7 Jan 1999 12:05:13 -0600


Below is an article that was posted on another list that describes what is
being done to the redwoods by the owners of the Gap, Banana Republic, and
Old Navy. Take from it what you will....

Also, there is a website at www.gapsucks.org on the same topic. While it
may not be the nicest name for a website, it has some more information on
the topic.
====================================

Subject:
GBlist: The Gap
Date:
Sun, 29 Nov 1998 21:55:15 -0500
From:
Khmet <Khmet@tidalwave.net>
To:
"greenbuilding@crest.org" <greenbuilding@crest.org>

Someone posted an inqury regarding this, thought I would pass it on.
hey all - thought you might want to read this. It doesn't feel to me
like the
whole story is being told. anyone know any more about this? - jk

<< ENVIRONMENTALISTS CALL FOR BOYCOTT OF GAP STORES
Scripps Howard News Service
Release date: 11-27-98
Must credit the Sacramento Bee
By NANCY VOGEL
Sacramento Bee

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - What might have been another local round in
Mendocino
County's timber wars has grown into an unlikely national boycott of
three
clothing stores - The Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy - as
environmentalists
try to pressure the new owners of 350 square miles of timberland.
On Friday, the heaviest shopping day of the year, environmentalists
plan to
protest how the family that founded The Gap manages land it bought just
four
months ago from Louisiana-Pacific Corp.
Organized rapidly in cyberspace, the boycott will include a rally in
front of
The Gap store in San Francisco's Union Square and pickets from Santa
Rosa to
Chicago to New York. North Coast environmentalists say they want the
Fisher
family, founders and major shareholders in The Gap Inc., to swear off
herbicides and clearcuts and cut fewer trees.
But the family says it bought the land and two sawmills in part to show
that
a timber company can be environmentally sensitive. They say they intend
to
have their logging practices certified as sustainable from an
independent team
of experts.
State regulators call the company "a breath of fresh air."
"From the signs I'm seeing, they're trying to cut back and run
responsible
operations," said Rodger Thompson, deputy chief of forest practices
along the
north and central coast for the California Department of Forestry and
Fire
Protection. "Our field people on the ground are liking what they're
seeing."
At the same time officials with the Fisher family firm, the Mendocino
Redwood
Company, urge consumers to call with concerns and read their Web page
(http://mendocinoredwoodco.com ),boycott organizers say they've found an

audience on their Web site (www.elksoft.com/gwa ) from England to India
to
Japan.
"They love the redwood forest," said Mary Pjerrou, president of the
Redwood
Coast Watershed Alliance, "and they're shocked to learn that anyone is
cutting
redwoods at all. And to find that their favorite store is doing it is
even
more shocking."
Pjerrou accuses the Fisher family of perpetuating the worst logging
practices
of Louisiana-Pacific Corp., practices that bury coho salmon spawning
beds in
sediment, trigger landslides and wreck wildlife habitat. In particular,
activists want the company to shun herbicides and clear cuts, halt
winter-time
logging and slow the pace of logging overall.
The Fisher family said it intends to, at least for the next couple of
years,
reduce harvest levels 15 percent from what Louisiana-Pacific Corp.
planned.
Some herbicides and clear-cutting are necessary to help Douglas fir and
redwood take hold again among stands of tan oak, they say.
But those practices, as well as winter-time logging, will be done with
care
that goes beyond state forestry rules, said John Fisher, general manager
of
Sansome Properties, which is the investment arm of the Fisher family and
owner
of Mendocino Redwood Company.
"Because we're a family we can take a much longer perspective," said
Fisher.
"We don't have shareholders to please, we don't have quarterly profits
we have
to demonstrate. That allows us to do many things differently."
The company's critics, he said, seem to want no logging whatsoever.
"If we tomorrow said we're not going to cut another tree," said Fisher,

"there would be 650 people out of work and we don't believe that would
prove
anything about how to operate a timber company sustainably."
In July, Sansome Properties bought 235,000 acres, sawmills in Fort
Bragg and
Ukiah and a distributing center from Louisiana-Pacific. Only 18 of the
acres
had never been logged, said Fisher.
Initially, North Coast environmentalists said they had high hopes for
the
Fisher family, whose Gap stores sell khaki pants, jeans and flannel
shirts
popular with college students and yuppies. One of the sons of the
founder of
The Gap sits on the board of directors of the Natural Resources Defense
Council.
Mendocino Redwood Company officials say they intend to log about 2.5
percent
of their inventory, or roughly 40 million board-feet a year, for the
next two
years. A greater share could be cut after that. Before it sold the
property,
Louisia-Pacific had filed long-term plans with the state showing they
intended
to log an average of 60 million board-feet a year for the next ten
years.
The company will use some herbicides and clearing of forest to control
tan
oak and madrone trees so that redwood and Douglas fir can once again
dominate
the Mendocino forests, said Sandy Dean, the company president.
"We're trying to be open and honest about what we're trying to
accomplish,"
he said. "It's up to our neighbors in Mendocino County to decide whether
they
want us to be their partner. I think that when they look at what we're
trying
to accomplish and compare that to others, they'll find that we are a
great
partner."

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)
>>

>>

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