State timber regulations make it nearly impossible for Humboldt County ranchers and timberland owners to break even by using the light-touch logging methods many of them wish to employ, a recently released report has found.

The Buckeye Forest Project -- made up of landowners, agencies and environmentalists -- looked at a 160-acre plot near the Van Duzen River outside of Bridgeville. They found that the gentle, selective logging ranch owners Graham and Gloria Cottrell wanted to do fell short of overcoming regulatory costs.

Clearcutting the area, by comparison, yielded a profit -- but not nearly the profit the landowners would realize if they subdivided the plot.

With its goal to prevent the negative consequences that come with subdivision of land -- erosion from roads, harm to wildlife and overuse of streams for domestic water -- the group made recommendations.

It suggested the state Board of Forestry allow Nonindustrial Timber Management Plans to apply to parcels of up to 15,000 acres -- up from 2,500 acres -- in stages. The board should also examine extending the life of timber harvest plans from three to five years up to 15 years, with the possible caveat that logging would only be done selectively.

The Buckeye Conservancy spearheaded the project with funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service. The conservancy is a group of ranchers, timberland managers and resource professionals who care for 300,000 acres in Humboldt County. The group was formed out of concerns about the loss of ranch and timberland important for wildlife and fish, as well as for preserving family ownership of open spaces.

Buckeye Conservancy Executive Director Johanna Rodoni said that the project shows that the health of watersheds and the viability of the landowners are linked. Today's regulations often overlap, creating undue expenses and hardship on the landowner, she said.

"The process could be streamlined and still cover all the requirements," Rodoni said.

While other initiatives have tried to help small landowners, the Buckeye project involves landowners, state and federal agencies, environmentalists and foresters in a way the project thinks will bear fruit.

"I think that this group of people and this process can shake things up enough to get something done," said Tracy Katelman of the North Coast Restoration Jobs Initiative.

Katelman, an environmental advocate in the project, said going through the process built trust between the often disparate groups. The goal, she said, remains the same: finding regulatory relief for people doing good forestry.

The nonindustrial timber plan expansion would help landowners selectively harvest trees while keeping their operations viable, the report found. One way it would help is by allowing landowners to sell logs when the market is up, increasing the price per log and reducing the number of logs they need to sell to make money.

The report found that the California Department of Forestry could face a short-term jump in workload with the change, and that there may need to be more opportunity for public comment on such plans. And while landowners may benefit from market jumps, mill owners could face uncertain log supplies if there is less financial pressure on ranchers to log.

Expanding the nonindustrial timber program would help the recovery effort for wildlife like the northern spotted owl, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Ken Hoffman.

"Most of the landowners who manage under the Nonindustrial Timber Management Plan do a really good job of maintaining and enhancing habitat," Hoffman said.

Extending the life of standard timber plans would also prevent landowners from having to sell logs at low prices, and ease the cost of securing logging plans every few years.

The report will be presented at the California Board of Forestry meeting next month.

"Hopefully they'll read this and see the sincerity behind it and take the actions that are recommended," Hoffman said.

The project isn't finished, Rodoni said. The group hopes to study in greater detail the findings of the report, and delve deeper into issues it didn't have the opportunity to do for this report.