Neighbours Against Irresponsible Logging (NAIL)

I support Neighbours Against Irresponsible Logging in their diligent efforts to inform themselves and their community about the details of the San Jose Water Company proposal to log more than 1,000 acres of redwoods in the Los Gatos Creek Watershed. The proposal is deeply flawed; the commercial logging of these trees simply makes no sense. - Former Vice President Al Gore, 27 November 2006

Introduction

Neighbours Against Irresponsible Logging (NAIL) is a community group based in the Los Gatos region of the Santa Cruz Mountains in Northern California. We formed in August 2005, shortly after many of us received this legal notice and map in the post. The map was prepared by Big Creek Lumber, a local logging company, and sent to us by the San Jose Water Company (SJWC), which owns about 6,000 acres of watershed land in our region. The Los Gatos Creek watershed provides drinking water to local mountain residents as well as to over 100,000 Silicon Valley residents. The watershed also contains the largest remaining strand of coastal redwood forest (sequoia sempervirens) in Santa Clara County.

Many residents were puzzled by this map. The "Notice of Intent to Harvest Timber" sounded like an intended logging operation. The map was black and white, with no clear distinction between the roads, topographic contour lines and the "Non-industrial Timber Management Plan Area". The legend was not particularly helpful. It was difficult to understand this map and many people simply threw it away.

Nevertheless, a community meeting was hastily organised for 11 September 2005, to review what was known and decide whether or not to be concerned. For this meeting, I decided to try remapping the logging plan in Google Earth, to see if portraying the elements of the proposal on top of 3D, high-resolution satellite imagery would be useful to us in understanding the potential issues.

Building the Google Earth "Logging Flyover"

I wanted the Google Earth visualisation to be technically accurate, so I did not hand-draw the logging boundary in Google Earth (which I could have done using the Add Polygon tool.) Instead, I contacted the local Santa Clara County planning department. For a small fee ($15 (£7.50) per parcel), I was able to license the digital parcel data for SJWC's land and vicinity. (Note that after a recent ruling, digital parcel data is now free in California). The county also gave me other useful spatial data, such as local streams and lakes.

Then I used Google Earth Pro to Import this data, which was in "shapefile" format (.shp). Other alternatives exist for converting shapefiles to the Google Earth KML format, such as Arc2Earth.

When I compared the SJWC parcel data in Google Earth to the black and white map, it was evident that the logging zone essentially followed the parcel boundaries of a subset of the SJWC parcels. Each parcel had imported into Google Earth as an individual feature, so I was able to keep the relevant parcels and Delete the rest.

Using the Google Earth Edit > Properties feature, I coloured the proposed logging zone parcels in a semi-transparent red.

Using the Add Placemark tool, I marked on Google Earth additional salient elements of the plan such as the proposed helicopter landing pads near schools, day-care centres and homes, and where our mountain water companies drew drinking water from the creek. I also added geo-located photos of old growth redwoods that could be cut, wildlife sightings such as osprey and beavers and the pristine Los Gatos Creek itself. Adding the photos required just a simple bit of HTML within the Description field of the placemark.

In addition, I imported boundary data for the adjacent public open space preserve that would also be impacted by a commercial helicopter-logging operation nearby.

Finally, using the Add Path tool, I drew an invisible path up the Los Gatos Creek Canyon, from beginning to end of the proposed 6 mile, 1000+ acre logging zone. Using the Tour command on this path in Google Earth, users of my KML can easily sit back and take a virtual flight up the Los Gatos Creek canyon, which turns out to reveal a number of issues in the plan. When I present this KML in public, this flight is the most sought after part of the presentation.

It's worth noting that I authored this KML entirely from within the Google Earth client, by importing the parcel data and using simple tools such as Add Placemark and Add Path. It was not necessary to edit the KML code directly. (The only exception is that I created a Screen Overlay of our NAIL bumper sticker, using simple KML. ) After I collected the parcel data and took the photos, I created the entire KML in a weekend. Admittedly, this is not a stylish KML with a custom balloonstyle or custom icons. It is a fairly basic KML that uses standard icons and pop-up balloons with simple Descriptions using text and photos.

First public presentation of the Google Earth "Logging Flyover"

I thought I was well-informed regarding SJWC's application to log the watershed above Lexington. But I nearly fell off my chair when I had a good look at Rebecca Moore's Google Earth presentation of the logging zone. This three-dimensional presentation gave an amazing topographic bird's eye view of how invasive the logging will be. - Letter to the Editor, Mountain Network News, by resident Lisa Sgarlato

At the packed-to-overflowing community meeting in September 2005, I first presented this KML to about 300 residents. When I flew in from outer space to the Santa Cruz Mountains and then turned on the long, red swath representing the logging zone, there was a gasp from the audience. Then we virtually flew:

• Up the Los Gatos Creek canyon
• Past our homes and our children’s schools
• Along our steep and narrow mountain roads that would be burdened with a dozen per day 90,000-pound logging trucks navigating more than 30 blind curves where children walk to school
• Past active landslide areas on the slopes alongside the creek that SJWC proposed to log (along the San Andreas Fault)
• Over the proposed helicopter landing pads near homes and the day care centre
• Along the currently pristine and beautiful creek to its headwaters.

We flew to the actual locations and photographs of old growth redwoods which could be cut. Then I used the Ruler tool in Google Earth to measure the distance from the logging zone to the preschool and daycare centre. It was less than 300 yards.

The flyover electrified the room. Suddenly everyone began to call out issues, questions and concerns that had become apparent in the plan. We used Google Earth interactively to zoom to and study various areas. I was asked to repeat the flyover twice that day and subsequently have been asked to present it at more than a dozen additional community meetings and to many individuals and organisations, such as:

• 

  NAIL's mascot, Charlie the Beaver, a "Responsible Logger"
  Enlarge image

• Assemblyman Ira Ruskin
• San Jose Mercury News Editorial board
• Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
• Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club
• Former Vice President Al Gore
• Members of the media

Community members requested that I post this KML so that they could use it to explore the plan. I've also created a simplified movie version. Michael Ashbridge, a colleague on the Google Earth team, helped create a 3D SketchUp model of a helicopter hauling a redwood tree out of the canyon, on a realistic flight path near several schools. I imported data from the California Natural Diversity Database showing sightings in the Los Gatos Creek canyon of endangered California red-legged frogs. Other community members have contributed information and photos such as the one of our mascot, Charlie the Beaver, a "Responsible Logger".

In 2007, I developed a second Google Earth presentation in collaboration with ecologist Adelia Barber, whose meticulous analysis showed that SJWC owned too much timberland to legally qualify for their permit. We submitted this evidence to the California Department of Forestry. They agreed, ruling that the logging plan was ineligible. After two long years, we'd won.

Impact

Google Earth was instrumental in our grassroots victory, which also resulted from the hard work of many in our community. Specific positive impacts of Google Earth included:

• Understanding the logging proposal issues in context: Google Earth succeeded in giving the community much more context for interpreting and evaluating the SJWC logging plan. Potential issues of the plan related to proximity, topography, natural and man-made features could only be grasped by viewing the plan against real world imagery and 3D terrain. As a result of this and other research, NAIL was able to articulate clearly-identified problem areas in the plan, such as negative impact on water quality, increased fire danger, threat to public safety and environmental harm to the redwood forest and watershed.
• Raising public awareness: Many residents have reported that they feel much more informed about the details of the logging proposal as a result of the flyover.
• Inspiring action: It helped to galvanize our community into action, from hiring expert consultants to meeting with public officials to present our concerns.
• Raising our credibility: The flyover has been a powerful tool in establishing that NAIL is a technologically-sophisticated group able to use high-tech tools to illustrate and advocate on behalf of our concerns.
• Raising Media Awareness: The flyover has been featured on local TV news broadcasts, local NPR public radio and in many newspapers and blogs.
• Educating and Inspiring others, going "viral": This KML has been discovered by other forest activists around the world and used as a model to follow for their campaigns. I've heard from environmentalists in Minnesota, British Columbia, Australia and many other places. For example:
• • 
    From: Joshua Davis
    Sent: Thursday, 19 January 2006 11:45 AM
    To: rebecca@mountainresource.org
    Subject: inspiring Minnesota
    
    Hi, Rebecca.
    I coordinate the volunteer Forest Watch programme in Minnesota, where we're trying to monitor and influence state and national forest logging plans here http://northstar.sierraclub.org/campaigns/forests/fw/index.html. Your project has inspired us to do the same, think we have a couple GIS volunteers who can figure out how to import layers into GE. I've been using Google Earth for six months on our campaign, but your flyover is so much more of a public education tool and we hope to have our own presentation by July.
    
    Thank you
    Joshua Davis
    Conservation Organiser, Sierra Club North Star Chapter

Advice and Lessons Learned

• Even simple Google Earth KMLs can be effective.
• You don't need to edit the actual KML code in order to create a compelling presentation. Many features can be created directly within Google Earth.
• You don't need a large staff. An individual can create a powerful KML.
• Lots of useful land use and natural resource datasets are available from local governments and online. These can be imported into Google Earth to add more context.
• People love viewing 3D flyovers. This is where the unique power of Google Earth truly shines. Consider creating some type of flight path through your project area.
• Post your KML on your website, to the Google Earth Community, and consider submitting it to the Google Earth Outreach Showcase. In addition to gaining exposure for your project, your KML can also serve to educate and inspire others.

Links

KML: http://www.mountainresource.org/loggingmodel
Video: http://www.mountainresource.org/flyover
NAIL web site : http://www.mountainresource.org/nail

Selected media coverage (specifically referencing Google Earth):
"Eyes in the Sky and on Your Desktop: With Google Earth, satellite images become an activist's ally", Sierra Club Magazine (Sept/Oct 2007)
"Cal Fire Denies Water Co. Logging Plan: Victory for Neighbours Against Irresponsible Logging", Los Gatos Observer (28 September 2007)
"Activists Start Googling: Internet Maps Illustrate Environmental Woes" , Wall Street Journal (15 November 2007)
"GREEN Eyes in the Sky: desktop satellite tools are changing the way environmentalists work" , San Francisco Chronicle (11 Jan 2006)
"Mountain Residents Fight Water Co. Logging Plans", Local CBS evening news report (20 March 2006)
"Neighbours use high-tech tools to challenge logging plan", San Jose Mercury News (1 February 2007)
"Technology builds bigger soapbox", San Jose Mercury News (3 December 2006)
"Battle Over Plan to Cut CA Redwoods" and "The Back Story: Redwood Battle", KGO TV (31 January 2007) (video)
"Former vice president calls proposal 'flawed'", Los Gatos Weekly Times (6 December 2006)
"A Leg up on Loggers" , Silicon Valley Metro (6 December 2006)
"Google Earth Critical Tool in Fight Against Logging Plan", Google Earth Blog (6 February 2007)

Additional media coverage:
"Log Jam", Silicon Valley Metro (7 February 2007) (scroll down to article)
"Logging Alternative: Public Ownership", Los Gatos Observer (2 February 2007)
"Logging pln excessive for future of watershed", San Jose Mercury News Editorial (31 January 2007).
"Towering Battle: Residents Fight to save Redwoods, Douglas Firs" , San Jose Mercury News (27 January 2007)
"Tree Reprieve" , San Jose Metro (4 Jan 2006), reporting withdrawal of the NTMP logging plan by SJWC

NAIL Press Release:
Former Vice President Al Gore and Prominent Fire Scientists Weigh in on Los Gatos Creek Logging Plan

Author

Rebecca Moore, Member of NAIL Steering Committee

Acknowledgements

Google Earth has been just one part of a much larger community-based effort to protect our forest and watershed from this logging plan. Special thanks to my NAIL colleagues and collaborators, including Ken and Gaby Adelman, Adelia Barber, Terry Clark, Kevin Flynn, Jodi Frediani, Rea Freedom, Eric Horton, Rick Parfitt, Linda Wallace, Supervisor Don Gage, Assemblyman Ira Ruskin, former Vice President Al Gore and so many others who've supported and worked with us to achieve this victory. Credit goes also to CDF (CALFIRE) for responding appropriately to public input, investigating the issues we raised and ultimately making the right decision to reject this logging plan.

Contacts

Rebecca Moore, rebecca@mountainresource.org; Kevin Flynn, keflynn@cisco.com; Terry Clark, taclark@cablerocket.com