Fed court suit targets Tahoe loggers

Thursday, Oct. 14, 1999 | 10:38 a.m.

The civil complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, targets Grass Valley-based Menasha Corp., which was contracted by the Tahoe City Public Utility District to remove dead and dying trees on 113 acres of land near Homewood Ski Resort.

The complaint alleges Menasha and its contracted loggers instead felled 49 trees greater than 30 inches in diameter, in violation of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's law designed to protect Tahoe's remaining old-growth trees.

If a maximum penalty of $5,000 per tree is ultimately assessed, the company could be fined $245,000 or more.

"We believe the Menasha Corporation has violated numerous provisions of TRPA code by cutting some of the largest trees in the Tahoe Basin without a permit or TRPA approval," said John Marshall, TRPA's general counsel.

Marshall said settlement negotiations continue but the complaint was filed because the deadline to do so is near.

"We'll continue to talk with them if they want to talk but at this point we're set to defend vigorously," said Menasha executive Mark Salyer.

If something wrong occurred at the west shore logging site, it was with the pre-harvest inspection of the logging site, Salyer said.

"That's not our job, it's their job," Salyer said. "I think we did an exemplary job out there and if there was a problem it wasn't our problem."