San Jose Water Co. Withdraws Timber Harvest Plan to Complete Fire Study

San Jose Water Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of SJW Corp., has temporarily withdrawn its Non-Industrial Timber Management Plan (NTMP) submitted to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF).

"The withdrawal gives us the opportunity to focus our efforts on completing our fire study and addressing CDF's request for additional information," said senior vice president of operations George Belhumeur. "We remain strongly committed to the stewardship of our watershed."

The NTMP proposed to harvest, in stages, timber from approximately 1,000 ac of SJWC's watershed properties in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Although a fire study is not required nor usually included in an NTMP, SJWC's goal is to include additional fire protection measures within the plan based on recommendations developed from the study.

The fire study is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2006. The recommendations from the study, as well as the responses to CDF's questions, will be incorporated into a revised NTMP. SJWC expects to resubmit the NTMP to CDF in the spring of 2006.

Source: SJW Corp.