The Bay Area Forest Activist Newsletter, Winter 2003

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Controversial Logging of State Forest Approved!

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March 1, 2003


Despite the public outcry, on January 8, 2003, the State Board of Forestry cleared the way for logging of 1,000 acres of mature second-growth redwood forest in the heart of Jackson State Forest in Mendocino county. The contested Brandon Gulch and Camp 3 Timber Harvest Plans (THPs) were stopped for nearly two years by a lawsuit filed in May 2001 by the Campaign to Restore Jackson State Redwood Forest (the Campaign) and Forests Forever. However, Board members reportedly were told that the profits from logging Brandon Gulch and Camp 3 were critical to pay for other state forestry programs facing sharp funding cuts due to the soaring state budget deficit.

In November 2002, the Board conditionally approved a controversial CDF management plan for the 50,000-acre State Forest which allows logging of 5,000 acres of second-growth redwoods in the next 5 years, over half in clear cuts. The plan was developed in response to the lawsuit by the Campaign and Forests Forever which forced CDF to develop a new management plan and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to replace its outdated 1983 plan and EIR for Jackson, California's largest state forest.

However, the Board added several restrictions in deference to the nearly 5,000 comments received opposing the CDF’s Management Plan and for the first time recognized the equal importance of restoring the old-growth forest for wildlife habitat, recreation, education, and research. The revised plan divides the demonstration forest into 3 logging categories: one-third of the forest would be clear-cut without any logging restrictions, another third would be selectively harvested, and the final third would be logged in smaller clear-cuts of one to five acres.

BOF recommended changes include:
· Delay of two large logging plans until CDF reports how these projects would affect restoration efforts in other parts of the forest;
· Request that CDF prepare within one year a research and demonstration plan assessing the potential effects of logging on other beneficial uses of the forest, including water quality, fisheries, and recreation, not just timber harvesting;
· Direct CDF to open a meaningful dialogue with local residents regarding the management of Jackson State Forest and report back within one year.

The State acquired Jackson State Forest in the 1940s to demonstrate that logging second-growth redwoods could be profitable. No market existed at the time for second-growth timber. Now second-growth redwoods are highly profitable, and CDF’s Management Plan would destroy some of the most important remaining habitat for species that depend on old redwood groves to survive.

More than 10,000 acres of redwoods in Jackson forest are 80 to 100 years old, and nearly 500 acres remain virgin forest. While much of the forest was devastated by CDF’s pro-logging mandate, Jackson still contains some of the best habitat for recovery of imperiled species in Mendocino county, in stark contrast to clear cut ravaged adjacent industrial forest land.

In October 2002 the Jackson Campaign and Forests Forever filed a second lawsuit challenging the CDF’s EIR and Management Plan for Jackson State Forest as inadequate and not in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act. The two groups are also working on state legislation to change the mandate of Jackson forest from “demonstration of logging” to a “demonstration of restoration”.



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TOC for The Bay Area Forest Activist Newsletter, Winter 2003



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