><::><::><::><::><::><::><::>< ><::><::><::><::><::><::><::>< Forest ALERT from the Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters June 25, 2007 ><::><::><::><::><::><::><::>< ><::><::><::><::><::><::><::>< Please take a moment to send a letter on the new plan for Jackson State Redwood Forest. Resolution is close! After eight years of demonstrations, lawsuits and negotiation, the state has finally released a new management proposal for Jackson State Forest that is very close to what the Jackson Forest Campaign has been advocating for, with ONE FATAL EXCEPTION: The proposal sanctions CLEARCUTTING on one quarter of the forest! It is essential that the Board of Forestry hear from the public. The Jackson State Forest Campaign is asking people to support the recommendations of the Mendocino Working Group they helped convene to seek an ecological solution to the disastrous management plans proposed in the past. You can easily send a letter by clicking on their sample letter page:

You can find out how to fax or mail by postal mail by going to:
http://www.jacksonforest.com/EIR3/send_comment.htm

You can access campaign leaders’ comments, background, the EIR itself and more information to compose your own letter, on the Jackson Forest website:

The comment period ends at 5 pm, July 16, 2007.

The 50,000 acre redwood forest is PUBLIC land and must be saved from industrial logging practices.

Background:
Jackson State Forest (JSF) is a publicly-owned treasure: 50,000 acres of redwood forest located on the Mendocino coast. The forest has been subjected to massive and damaging logging, however, and has benefitted the timber industry, often ignoring the public interest.

The goal of the Campaign for Jackson State Forest has always been to restore the forest to old growth for habitat, recreation and education. After successfully blocking implementation of previously-proposed ill-advised management plans, the Campaign was successful in sending the plans back to the drawing board by legal challenges. The current plan is the product of that legally-mandated rewrite. In the meantime, a working group was formed in Mendocino County, comprised of four senior people from the timber industry, one from the Sierra Club and one from the JSF Campaign. The goal of the group was to arrive at an advisory position to submit to the Board of Forestry, responsible for revising managment documents that would be supported by the various interests. The stalemate over the management plans has resulted in a suspension of logging for the last five years, giving the forest a needed rest.

The new “Alternative G”, however, contains many positive steps toward managing JSF for the broad public interest, according to JSF spokespeople. But the allowance of clearcut “variations” on potentially thousands of acres is a deal breaker.

The Campaign for Jackson State Forest makes this statement:

If we can get the Board to make this change, we will have a huge celebration! We will have transformed management of our public forest from large-scale industrial logging to a balanced program of research, restoration, recreation, and education, carried out with the oversight of a public advisory committee.

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