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Neighbors Against Irresponsible Logging (NAIL)
I support Neighbors 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, November 27, 2006
IntroductionNeighbors 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 mail. 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 stand 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 organized for September 11, 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 visualization 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/parcel), I was able to license the digital parcel data for SJWC's land and vicinity. (Note that by 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 colored 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 centers 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 over 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:
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 center. 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 organizations, such as:
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.
ImpactGoogle Earth was instrumental in our grass-roots victory, which also resulted from the hard work of many in our community. Specific positive impacts of Google Earth included:
Advice and Lessons Learned
LinksKML: http://www.mountainresource.org/loggingmodelVideo: http://www.mountainresource.org/flyover NAIL web site : http://www.mountainresource.org/nail
Selected media coverage (specifically referencing Google Earth):
Additional media coverage:
NAIL Press Release:
AuthorRebecca Moore, Member of NAIL Steering Committee
AcknowledgementsGoogle 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.ContactsRebecca Moore, rebecca@mountainresource.org; Kevin Flynn, keflynn@cisco.com; Terry Clark, taclark@cablerocket.com |
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