Early morning fog over Jackson State Forest,
 by Garth Hagerman

 Restore Our Publicly Owned Redwood Forest

Jackson Advisory Group Meets November 30, Santa Rosa

November, 2009. The Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) Advisory Group (JAG) will meet Monday, November 30, 2009 in Santa Rosa, California.

The JAG is meeting in Santa Rosa to allow members and staff that live in the Bay Area and Sacramento to travel on the day of the meeting, rather than on Sunday of the the Thanksgiving holiday. Agenda and Location.

The main focus of the meeting will be the continuing effort to come to agreement on landscape allocation  -- determining how areas of Jackson Forest will be managed and for what goals. Primary goals for Jackson Forest are research, restoration, timber production, and restoration.

The Landscape Committee has designated specific areas, totaling about 19,000 acres, to be managed for restoration to older forest and old growth conditions. It has recommended that the remaining acreage not designated as a special concern area or a research or demonstration are to be managed using Natural Forestry (see the adjacent column article). The meeting will address setting up a process to identify silvicultural methods to use in applying Natural Forestry in Jackson Forest.

The Research Committee is planning a gathering of researchers and stakeholders to provide guidance on landscape allocation for research. It will provide an update on  the meeting, planned for late January or early February, 2010.

The current Manager of Jackson State Forest, Marc Jameson, will retire on November 30. The JAG will consider providing recommendations to Cal Fire on the  qualifications and qualities desired in a replacement, in light of the new missions for Jackson Forest.

There will also be an update on the Recreation Task Force organized to assist Jackson State Forest in enhancing recreation and developing a recreation plan. Nancy Banker, chair of the Task Force, will make the presentation. Also discussed will be scheduling THPs to reduce impact of road closures on recreation.

For scheduled times and location, see the Agenda.

Logging Begins in Jackson Forest

August 3, 2009. Marc Jameson, Manager of Jackson Forest announced today that logging has began today in Brandon Gulch and will begin tomorrow on the North Fork Spur timber sale (which was successfully sold on the second sale offering).

This logging is the first that has occurred in Jackson Forest since 2001, with the exception of a 4-day period in 2004 when a court order preventing logging was briefly lifted.

In an email to the Jackson Advisory Group, Mr. Jameson said,

Limited harvest operations have begun as of this morning in Brandon Gulch. Mendocino Forest Products has contracted with Anderson Logging to conduct timber operations in the Brandon Gulch THP area. We will be implementing the JAG prescription in a limited portion of the THP area between Roads 360 and 363.

Some area closures will be in effect to protect recreationalists during the conduct of the operations, including portions of Roads 360 and 363. The Camp 6 Campground, which normally receives very little recreational use, will be closed.

The planned haul route is via Road 363 to Road 360 to Camp One and then Road 300 to Highway 20 near McGuire’s pond...

Timber operations are expected to begin in the North Fork Spur THP area tomorrow (August 4). Schmidbauer Lumber Company has contracted with Anderson Logging to conduct the timber operations.

The planned haul route is via Road 330 to Road 310 down the hill toward McGuire’s pond and to Highway 20. There will be areas closures in place to protect recreational visitors. The closures will affect the THP area, portions of Road 330, Road 310, and the Indian Springs Campground. The THP will incorporate selective timber harvest in accordance with the Board’s interim harvest limitations.

See Map for North Fork Closures

The Brandon Gulch logging is designed to accelerate return to old forest conditions. The biggest trees will be retained and trees around them cut to provide more light and less competition. No areas will have all trees removed. Overall, less than 30 percent of the volume will be removed. Buffers will be provided along the roads to preserve aesthetics for recreation users. See the Advisory Group recommendations for Brandon Gulch.

The North Fork Spur Harvest Plan conforms to the interim harvest restrictions in the 2008 Jackson Forest Management plan. These limit removal of trees to 30%, require that the average diameter be maintained, and prohibit clearcuts and group selections (small clearcuts). An inspection by the JAG showed that harvest will concentrate on smaller trees and should assist in restoring the forest to older forest conditions.

North Fork Spur Harvest Sold

July20, 2009. On its rebid of the North Fork Spur Timber Harvest, Jackson Forest accepted a bid from Schmidbauer Lumber for the minimum acceptable amounts specified. The bid amount of approximately $350,000 was about $245,000 more than the $110,000 Schmidbauer bid on the initial sale offer.

In the initial sale offer, no minimum price was set for redwood and Schmidbauer offered to pay just $50 per thousand board feet. Jackson Forest rejected the offer. In the rebid, a price of $205 per thousand board feet was set, and Schmidbauer met that minimum.

Local timber people and the Mendocino Board of Supervisors urged Jackson Forest to reconsider and accept the initial, rejected bid. The outcome shows that Jackson Forest was wise to instead open the sale for a second round of bidding. Still, the editorial on this page argues that Jackson Forest sold the public's trees substantially below the current market price.

North Fork Spur Timber Sale To Be Reopened for Bids

June 26, 2009. At the monthly meeting of the Jackson Advisory Group (JAG), Russ Henly, Cal Fire Assistant Deputy Director for Resources, announced that Cal Fire intended to reopen bidding on the controversial North Fork Spur timber sale.

When initially opened for bidding, only Schmidbauer Lumber of Eureka bid. Its bid of $108,000 was rejected by Cal Fire. A campaign was started by Jere Melo and Mike Anderson to exert political pressure to have the bid accepted or have the sale opened up for bids again (see related stories).

After hearing Mr. Henly, the JAG listened to members of the timber industry repeat the arguments made at the Board of Supervisors meeting. The JAG discussed the issue briefly among themselves. It was immediately clear that the JAG supported the planned action of Cal Fire to reopen bidding, and a resolution to that effect was passed unanimously.

This was a quiet ending to the controversy. Cal Fire's agreement to reopen the bidding seemed to satisfy everyone. It is still uncertain whether an acceptable bid will be received, given the nearly non-existent demand from mills for redwood.

First Meeting of the New Recreation Users Task Force

June 15, 2009. The first meeting of the Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) Recreation User Group Task Force will be held on July 2, 2009 at 3:00 P.M. at JDSF headquarters, 802 N. Main Street, Fort Bragg. The public is invited.

The formation of the Recreation Task Force is a significant step towards elevating recreation in the priorities of JDSF management.

The formation of the Task Force was mandated in the new management plan for Jackson Forest, approved in January 2008. The Task Force, whose members were selected in an open process, will advise JDSF management on the creation of a recreation plan for the forest and on development of a user survey. It members will also provide liaison with the various groups of recreation users.

The initial meeting  will focus on the group structure, organization, charter, goals and objectives.  Call Craig Pedersen, JDSF, (707) 964-5674, for more information.

Mendocino Supervisors Urge Jackson Forest to Give Away Timber To Bailout Loggers

June 24, 2009. Anderson Logging, led by Mike Anderson, and other timber men had a receptive audience yesterday. The Mendocino Board of Supervisors seemed more than anxious to show their support for the timber industry and to express their anger that Jackson Forest is still not cutting timber.

Introduced by Jere Melo, Mike Anderson urged the supervisors to tell Cal Fire to reconsider a rejected bid for a Jackson Forest timber plan. If the sale goes forward, his firm will receive $1.3 million to do the logging and hauling. The rejected sale bid, by Schmidbauer Lumber, of Eureka, was $108,000 for 4.5 million board feet (BF) of timber.

Admitting that the bid was very low, Mr. Anderson stressed that it would provide jobs for 30 to 40 timber workers for 3 to 4 months. His son, Miles Anderson, then told the supervisors that "In making our bid, we did not charge anything for its equipment. Our concern is for jobs for the workers."

Larry Holgren of Schmidbauer explained why the bid was so low, amounting to only 2.5 cents per board foot, or a total of $108,000. His firm is interested only in Douglas Fir, which was 64 percent of the sale, and tried to find other mills to buy the redwood. Willits Redwood, which specializes in large redwood logs, would buy the larger logs, but these amounted to only 15% of the redwood. No buyers could be found for the remaining 85% of the redwood logs; so his firms bid assumed they would truck all these to Eureka, store them over the winter, and truck them back to a Mendocino County mill next year (when hopefully there would be a market). The combined trucking and logging costs totaled $1,404,000. The estimated delivered value of the timber was $1,535,000. Mr. Holgren said that his firms bid of $108,000 provided an estimated profit of only $23,500. Details of the Schmidbauer cost analysis.

Vince Taylor told the supervisors that for Cal Fire to have accepted the bid would have been "economic lunacy." "In a normal year, the sale would generate about $1.8 million dollars; thus selling it now for $108,000 makes no sense for Jackson Forest." The argument is that it would create 30-40 jobs for 3-4 months. The money that would be paid to these workers would amount to about $350,000 (30 workers for 3 months). Jackson Forest would be sacrificing five times this amount of revenue. It makes no sense.

Mr. Taylor said that the reason the sale didn't take place is that "the timber industry in in the tank. The supervisors should direct their upset at the investment bankers, the Federal Reserve, and the mortgage industry. They created the housing bubble and consequent collapse that has brought the timber industry (and the world economy) to its knees.

Mr. Taylor also urged the supervisors to defer to the Jackson Advisory Committee, which is scheduled to discuss the sale this Friday. He said that it took eight years to take Jackson Forest out of a political fight and that the supervisors getting involved risked re-politicizing the forest.

Supervisor Kendall Smith recommended the Board send a letter urging Cal Fire to submit the sale for rebidding, but the remainder of the Board wanted to tell Cal Fire "strongly" to reconsider and accept the Schmidbauer bid. A resolution containing this sentiment was passed unanimously.

Campaign to Have Jackson Forest Give Away Its Timber

June 23, 2009.  Jere Melo, Fort Bragg City Councilman, and Mike Anderson, owner of Anderson Logging, have launched a campaign to force Cal Fire and Jackson State Forest to make a large timber sale at far below fair value. Upset that Cal Fire rejected the sole bid of $108,000 for 4.5 million board feet of timber, Mr. Melo and Mike Anderson are taking their case to the political bodies of Mendocino County. Mr. Anderson's firm would do the logging if the sale goes forward.

On Monday, June 22, at the meeting of the Fort Bragg City Council, Mr. Melo introduced a resolution   to request Cal Fire to resubmit the sale for bids and urge Cal Fire to price it at a level that would sell, regardless of the long-term value of the timber. Mike Anderson argued to the council that it would create 3-4 months of 30 to 40 timber jobs.

The City Council voted against supporting the resolution by 3 to 2 (with Jere Melo being one of the "yea" votes). The Council decided that the reason the bid was rejected was that it was too low.

Today, Tuesday, a similar issue will be be brought up before the County.

Jackson Forest Fails to Sell Timber Harvest Plans

June, 2009. Reflecting the depressed market for timber, Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) failed to attract any bids on two timber sales and rejected a low bid on a third sales.

No bids were received for a timber sale in 14 Gulch and Dunlap North. Both of these sale areas are in the south central area of Jackson Forest, near Highway 20. The 14-Gulch sale was for 1,685,000 board feet of timber, of which about 800,000 board feet were redwood. The Dunlap North sale was for 2,600,000 board feet, of which 1,300,000 board feet were redwood.

Recognizing the depressed market, especially for Douglas Fir, JDSF had set the minimum bid for Douglas Fir at just $10 per thousand; but even this almost-free price for fir was not enough to attract bids.

Another sale, the North Fork Spur, received one bid of $108,000. JDSF management rejected this bid. The sale was for 4.5 million board feet; thus the bid amounted to only $25 per thousand board feet. In normal years, Jackson would expect to receive bids of $300 to $500 per thousand board feet.

Jackson Advisory Group Meets June 26-27, 2009

June, 2009. The Jackson Forest Advisory Group (JAG) will hold its monthly meeting on Friday and Saturday, June 26-27, 2009. The meetings will be at the Fort Bragg Senior Center, 409 North Harold Street. Agenda

Of particular interest to the public will be an item scheduled for 10:45 am on Friday to discuss the timber sale program. The item was placed on the agenda at the request of member Jere Melo, who is upset at the failure of the three sales put out for bid this year (see other stories on this page). He is particularly upset that JDSF rejected the sole bid of $108,000 for the North Fork Spur sale. In an email distributed to JAG members, Mr. Melo made clear his views:

At this time, the [Jackson Forest] sale program has totally failed. Our approved Work Plan assumed a successful sale program. While the rejection of the North Fork Spur sale is a trust matter (Just what is a bidder to do with an advertised sale?), there are reasons why folks are not able to bid on Dunlap North and 14 Gulch. And there are reasons why there is a failure to resolve contracts at Brandon Gulch and Camp 3. It is time for a transparent discussion of the sale program. I have asked some local experts, Chris Baldo from Willits Redwood, Larry Holmgren from Schmidbauer Lumber and Gary Roach from Roach Logging to speak about their impressions of the sale program. We also need to hear from Cal Fire about the real reasons for the North Fork Spur rejection and about any feedback they have received from purchasers about the no-bid sales.

The matter of paying for JDSF activities is no small matter. We really do need to look around and understand the very serious economic problems facing the public and private sectors in California. Local mills have high log and lumber inventories due to slow sales, and those inventories are overpriced in light of current prices. They need to work down the inventories and prices over time. And the state has a rough $24 billion deficit that will grow each day unless cuts are made and revenues are improved. The Legislature is groping for cash, even to the point of violating provisions of the state constitution and state laws they have adopted. $130,000 or so from the North Fork Spur is not much, for sure, but a rejection is $130,000 less. It is time for JAG to shake off the "Ho-Hum" attitude about the need for JDSF to finance its programs.

Mr. Melo has prepared a document giving the background of the timber sales and proposing recommendations to be adopted by JAG.  Mr. Melo would like members of the timber industry to suggest how the sales program could be made more to their liking. He also wants JDSF staff to justify their rejection of the bid.

The major focus of Friday's meeting will be on defining and clarifying the concept of Natural Forestry and its application to Jackson State Forest.

At 10:00 am, John Helms and Dan Porter will summarize forestry literature references and recommendations related to Natural Forestry.

The agenda picks up the discussion of Natural Forestry at 12:15 pm, following lunch. The discussion in the afternoon will be led by the Landscape Committee, which been working on defining Natural Forestry and listing principles to use in applying the concept to Jackson Forest. This discussion will continue until adjournment at between 4:30 and 5:00 pm.

The Saturday meeting will begin at 8:30. There will be a presentation by the Research Committee and an update on JDSF activities. At 10:00 am, committee breakout sessions or further JAG discussion will occur, as determined by the group.

No afternoon session is planned for Saturday.

Landscape Planning Committee Addresses Emulating Natural Forestry Processes

March 13, 2009. The Landscape Committee of the JAG addressed at length managing Jackson State Forest by emulating natural forest processes.

The central proposal at the meeting was a variation of the principles of Natural Forestry discussed in an adjoining editorial. There appeared to be a move within the Committee of managing the bulk of the forest for simultaneous restoration to old growth and timber harvesting.

Detailed notes of the meeting and a link to an audio tape of the meeting are at Jackson Forum. You can add your own comments.

Jackson Forest Announces Formation of Recreation Task Force

Issues Call for Applications

March 5, 2007.   Jackson Demonstration State Forest staff, the official managers of Jackson Forest, have issued a request for applicants to serve on a newly established recreation advisory group. Applications are due by April 3, 2009. Candidates should expect to be interviewed.

Officially titled the Recreation User Group Task Force, the group will provide on-going advice on recreation in Jackson Forest. Most importantly, the Task Force will have a major role in developing a new long-term recreation plan for Jackson Forest.

The invitation describes the setting for the Task Force:

A new management plan for JDSF, adopted in January, 2008, proposes enhanced recreation and calls for user groups to advise the department in developing and implementing a plan to achieve this purpose.  The management plan also established a Jackson Advisory Group to facilitate public input on a variety of management issues, including recreation.  It is intended that interactions of the department, the Task Force, the Jackson Advisory Group, and the public will help achieve the recreational goals and objectives of the JDSF management plan.

The Task Force will represent a broad range of interests:

Members may include, but not be limited to JDSF neighbors, cyclists, equestrians, target shooters, teachers, hunters, hikers, campers, bird watchers, mushroomers, nature photographers, trail guide writers, and event organizers.

Anyone with an interest in and time and energy to devote to enhancing recreation in our 50,000-acre publicly owned redwood forest is urge to apply. Full details.

More News
Jackson Forum

Editorials

A Possible Roadmap for Reaching Agreement on Future Management of Jackson Forest

November 25, 2009. A primary mission for the Jackson Advisory Group (JAG) is to recommend how the landscape of Jackson Forest should be managed to meet the goals of research and demonstration, restoration, watershed and ecological health, timber management, and recreation.

The Landscape Committee has designated areas to be managed for restoration to older forest and old growth forest. Still, management objectives and methods have not yet have specified for more than half of the forest. The Landscape Committee has recommended that, in the absence of research and demonstration projects, the remainder of the forest be managed using natural or restoration forestry methods -- single-tree selection aimed at increasing the size and volume per acre of trees, while striving to maintain a natural, undisturbed feeling.

Various concerns have been raised about this recommendation by JAG members. In particular, those concerned about research and demonstration want to be sure that the forest has sufficient diversity of conditions to support a broad research program. Others are concerned natural forestry might not generate sufficient revenue to fund forest operations, or that trees will be grown to a size that the public will not allow to be cut.

Based on recommendations made by the Research Committee members, but not fully approved by the committee, a clear pathway toward moving forward seems at hand. I have created a "Landscape Reconciliation Roadmap" that lays out the areas of agreement, questions and issues, and ways to resolve the questions and issues.

Those who want a detailed view of the status of JAG's efforts to reach agreement on Jackson Forest management, may wish to study the roadmap. Anyone can comment on the roadmap at the Jackson Forum.

Vince Taylor
The above views represent those of the author personally and not as a member of the JAG

Restoration and Natural Forestry Gathering

October 19, 2009. The October National Geographic features an article that details the year-long walk of Mike Fay through the entire redwood region. Based on his findings, Mr. Fay is urging widespread adoption of a form of restoration forestry practiced by a number of managers of small timberland holdings. This form of forestry was pioneered by Jim Grieg in the 1960s. Its basic elements are single-tree selection, relatively light harvests, growing trees to 30-40+” before harvesting, and maintaining the forest in a natural, attractive state.

On Saturday, October 24, the Advisory Group to Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) will be sponsoring a day-long gathering of well-known forest managers who practice the type of forestry favored by Mr. Fay and featured in his article. Weather permitting, the managers will visit four different types of forest stands in Jackson Forest and offer their opinions on how they would manage these stands.

[Maps and Background Information for Tour]

The gathering of mangers is an important step in the development of a long-term landscape management plan for Jackson Forest. The committee of the Jackson Advisory Group charged with landscape allocation has recommended to the full group that “Natural Forestry” should be the dominant form of management in Jackson Forest, outside of preserves, old-growth development areas, and research and demonstration sites.

The concept behind Natural Forestry is simultaneously to maintain timber production and to foster the forest’s development towards its natural age and structural state. This is an entirely new and exciting concept in forest management, offering the possibility of fulfilling the public’s desires to see redwood forests moved toward their magnificent natural state while generating the revenues needed to operate Jackson Forest as a world-class research, demonstration, and recreation forest.

The gathering of forest managers is intended to provide guidance on the range of their management techniques that could be incorporated in Natural Forestry. Because Natural Forestry is new and knowledge of the long-term dynamics of recovering redwood forests is limited, it will be essential to apply a variety of approaches, do rigorous monitoring and evaluation of the results, and apply the findings to adaptive management. As a public research and demonstration forest, Jackson State Forest is the perfect vehicle for conducting this grand experiment in restoring redwood forests.

Everyone is invited to attend. If you have an interest in forest management and restoration, this is a rare opportunity. The tour will start at 9:00 a.m. at JDSF Headquarters, 802 N. Main St., Fort Bragg. Bring lunch and own transportation (or carpool with others) and dress for the weather.

As I write this, the outlook is for reasonable weather. If it is rainy, the Restoration Forest Management Roundtable/Field Tour will be held indoors at the Redwood Coast Senior Center, 490 N. Harold Street, Fort Bragg. If weather is questionable, call Russ Henly at 916-214-4868 to confirm whether field tour or indoor meeting will be held.

Vince Taylor
The above views represent those of the author personally and not as a member of the JAG

A version of this article was submitted to the Advocate and Beacon newspapers.

Jackson Timber Sale Reform Needed

August, 2009. The saga of the attempt to sell timber in the North Fork Spur area demonstrates vividly the urgent need to reform timber sale practices in Jackson Forest. This sale was offered twice. Both times there was only a single bidder.

The rejection of the sole bid in the first sale created a political uproar from the Mendocino timber community, causing Jackson Forest to open the sale again. In the first sale, no minimum price was set for redwood, and the bidder, Schmidbauer Lumber of Eureka, offered an absurdly low price of $50 per thousand board feet -- less than 10% of the normal price.

In the second sale, Cal Fire set a minimum bid of $205 per thousand board feet for redwood. Schmidbauer was again the sole bidder, bidding just the minimums, and the bid was accepted.

At first glance, the rebid appears to have been good for Jackson Forest. It will receive about $350,000, compared to the $110,000 offered on the first sale. But, in responding to the political pressures, Cal Fire apparently bent over more than a little to ensure that the timber would be sold. The minimum bid of $205 per thousand board feet is well  below even current depressed redwood prices.

When I learned about the terms of the resale, I investigated the current market for redwood in Mendocino County and found that a more appropriate market price would have been about $300 per thousand. This would have added $150,000 to the amount received by Jackson Forest for the 4.5 million board feet of timber it sold.

I wrote my finding to Russ Henly, Cal Fire Assistant Deputy Director for Resource Protection. In his reply, he attempted to justify the bid, but he did so by assuming logging costs well above those already specified by Schmidbauer in its initial bid and then tacking on a "profit and risk factor" of 12%. The current depressed market price of timber more than provides an adequate risk and profit factor.

The present practice is for managers of the forest to create a timber harvest plan (THP) that specifies the amounts of timber to be cut and the logging methods. The THP is then put out for bids and sold to the highest bidder. The winning bidder then hires a logging company to do the harvesting and hauling.

The core defect in the present system is that it was designed for a time when the timber industry in Mendocino County was very much larger and multiple mills in nearby Fort Bragg were competing for logs. Now there are no mills in Fort Bragg and only a few mills in the county.

Rather than a competitive bidding situation, we now have a few mills that all exchange information and logs; so there is not the opportunity for open, honest bidding. Equally important, Jackson Forest sales are very large and require large payments up front. These factors discourage bidders and depress the price that Jackson is likely to receive.

The solution to this is for Jackson Forest to harvest and deck logs on its own. It can then sort the logs by types and offer lots of these for sale or bid in quantities that will have the best demand. Micro mills in the area would be able to purchase logs from Jackson, something not currently possible. Not only would this improve the price received, but it would allow Jackson Forest to hire and oversee the logging contractors, ensuring that they met the high standards appropriate for Jackson forest.

The Jackson Advisory Group is expected to recommend making this change. It deserves widespread support.

Vince Taylor
The above views represent those of the author personally and not as a member of the JAG

Misdirected Ire

June 22, 2009. Jere Melo, is angry. The focus of his ire is the failure of Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) to be cutting trees this year. If things continue as they have so far this year, this will make the eighth year in which no trees have been logged in Jackson Forest. As someone who is emotionally allied with the timber industry (having held a management position at Georgia Pacific for many years), it is understandable that he wants to see Jackson Forest producing timber.

If it were environmentalist who were creating the problem, his ire and the target of his anger would be understandable. But the failure to harvest trees in Jackson Forest this year has nothing to do with environmentalists or legal obstacles. 

Jackson Forest is now able to sell timber and has six timber harvest plans completed, two of which are under contract (though subject to negotiation on price). Despite these apparently favorable developments, Jackson Forest has so far not been able to harvest any timber so far this year.

The reason no sales have occurred is obvious, and Jere Melo understands it as well as anyone: the timber market is in the tank. The distribution chain is full of unsold lumber, and mills have more than they need sitting around. The view in the industry all year has been that it would be doubtful if bids could be obtained for any substantial timber sale.

Instead of directing his ire at the investment banks, the Federal Reserve, and the mortgage industry that created the housing bubble and consequent bust that has brought the housing industry, and indeed the world economy, to its knees, Mr. Melo is directing his ire at the staff of JDSF for rejecting a bid of $108,000 for 4.5 million board feet of timber! This would have amounted to giving away the public's timber for 2.5 cents per board foot! These are depression prices. Times are bad, but we are not in a depression.

In rejecting a low-ball bid, the staff of JDSF used good judgment and common sense. In a few years, when the timber market returns to more normal times, this same sale will bring the state about $1.8 million, eighteen times the rejected bid. It makes complete sense for JDSF to wait for a better market.

Mr. Melo has been joined in his campaign by Mike Anderson, owner of Anderson logging. Mr. Anderson's firm will be paid $1.3 million to the logging and hauling if the sale goes forward.

Mr. Melo and Mr. Anderson asked the Fort Bragg City Council and the Mendocino Supervisors to request Jackson Forest to reconsider and accept the low-ball bid. The Council declined to support their request; the Supervisors endorsed it enthusiastically. So goes politics. The Supervisors have no ownership, responsibility, or accountability for Jackson Forest. This made their emotionally satisfying stance easy to take.

Mr. Melo and Mr. Anderson are both members of Jackson Advisory Group (JAG) and Mr. Melo has put the item on the agenda  for the upcoming JAG meeting this Friday (see Agenda and discussion document).

Everyone deserves to have a hearing for his or her concern. Hopefully, though, the JAG members and staff will help Mr. Melo and Mr. Anderson to understand that the problem with sales lies not within Jackson State Forest but in the dismal economy

Vince Taylor
The above views represent those of the author personally and not as a member of the JAG

Support Natural Forestry

May 12, 2009. The Jackson Advisory Committee is close to deciding on the principles to use in developing a long-term management plan for Jackson State Forest.

A key issue is the extent to which management should aim to restore most of the forest to old growth conditions while simultaneously harvesting sufficient timber to fund management of Jackson Forest and other state forests.

At the heart of the issue is the question whether or not we can obtain wood products from redwood forests in a way that honors and preserves the essential natural characteristics of redwood forests. The objective of Natural Forestry is to do just that.

The idea behind Natural Forestry is to emulate, to the extent practical, the natural processes that would occur in the absence of man's intervention. Obviously, harvesting timber is something that would not be done in the absence of man, but trees do die naturally in forests. The more closely harvesting activities mimic the process of mortality that naturally occurs, the more closely they would represent natural forestry.

Preliminary analyses indicate that it would be feasible to place stands in Jackson Forest on a path to old growth while continuing to harvest sufficient timber to meet revenue needs. More analysis is required to translate the concept of Natural Forestry into concrete management recommendations.

If you agree that Natural Forestry deserves full consideration, please click here to send a letter of support to the Jackson Advisory Group.

Signs Discouraging Public Access  Finally Removed

In July, 2008, the Jackson Advisory Group requested Jackson Forest staff to negotiate with a landowner over a sign that discouraged public use of of Road 500 in Caspar is a highly used public road into Jackson Forest. 

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The sign was in conflict with the stated position of Cal Fire on preventing any effort to discourage public access to this road.
More.

I'm happy to report that new signs have been installed that emphasize the public nature of the road and request driving slowly. The landowner has, in any event, slowed traffic by installing road bumps.

This is a good outcome for the public, preserving the right of public access into the forest over a publicly held right of way.

Natural Forestry for Jackson Forest

February 17, 2009. Recently the concept of "Natural Forestry" as a management strategy for Jackson State Forest has gained prominence in discussions of the Jackson Advisory Group (JAG), the independent advisory group charged with developing recommendations for long-term management of the forest.

Camp 3 Jackson State Forest

Mike Jani, co-chair of the Landscape Committee of the JAG coined the term and gave a definition for Natural Forestry. "Natural Forestry is managing the forest to emulate natural forest processes." A key aspect of the natural processes of redwood forests is that the trees grow to 500 years and upwards.

The key elements of Natural Forestry are that harvest operations would be designed to continually grow stands to higher volumes and larger tree diameters, would allow some portion of trees to grow indefinitely larger, and timber harvesting would continue without end. As the stands grew over hundreds of years, they would more and more resemble natural old growth stands.

Natural Forestry, if it could be demonstrated to be economically and practically feasible, would remove the necessity to choose between managing the public forest to maximize its ecological value or managing it to provide revenues and desired timber jobs. Natural Forestry would be the preferred management strategy for multiple objectives, including timber production, habitat, and restoration of redwood forests to the old growth condition that is the natural state of redwood forests.

Ecologically, Natural Forestry management is a strong contender for the best strategy. As Ken Fisher has commented, it "... does maximize cubic volume of wood over time, carbon sequestration, tree size, non-model conforming tree qualities like large irregular upper branching, reiteration, and old bark qualities." These are powerful pluses.

Major questions need to be answered about the economics and mechanics of harvesting trees in stands that continually grow older. The JAG will be addressing these in the coming months.

There is also a legitimate fear of those interested in timber production that at the point in time where the majority of trees in the stands are hundreds of years old and five and more feet across, the public will cry out against cutting any of the trees and harvesting will come to a halt.

Natural Forestry needs much more thought, discourse, and investigation, but the concept is exciting.

Comment on this article and see related posts at Jackson Forum under the heading "Natural Forestry."

Vince Taylor
The above views represent those of the author personally and not as a member of the JAG
__________________

Published as one of a series of columns in the Mendocino Beacon and Fort Bragg Advocate News under the heading "Jackson Forest Wanderings", February 19, 2009.

Harvest Plans Need Reconsideration

January 2nd, 2009. The Jackson Advisory Group (JAG) has now reviewed four near-term harvest plans proposed for Jackson State Forest. A problem with the harvest plans proposed in the management plan has now become apparent, a problem that has been exacerbated by the housing collapse and general economic downturn.

Dunlap North, Jackson State Forest

Many of the harvest plans were developed long before the present management plan took its final shape. Indeed, a number of these plans were initially developed in the 1990’s under the 1984 management plan that was declared invalid by the courts. The priorities and goals for forest management in the new plan differ greatly from those of the 1984 plan (which primarily addressed managing the forest for maximum timber yield, with no attention to endangered species and ecological diversity and little attention to recreation)...

Hare Creek Effects of Illegal ORV Use

[Read the remainder of this  article and add your comments.]

The Final Chapter

August, 2008. In 2000, the Campaign to Restore Jackson State Redwood Forest filed suit to halt logging in Jackson State Forest. Over the next eight years, legal actions or the threat of legal actions compelled the Department of Forestry (formerly abbreviated as CDF, now Cal Fire) to refrain from any logging and to develop a new management plan and accompanying environmental documents. Finally, in January of 2008, a new management plan for Jackson State Forest was approved, with the support of the Campaign.

One issue remained unresolved - what was to happen with the two timber harvest plans (THPs) filed in 2000, for Brandon Gulch and Camp 3. These plans were subsequently halted by the legal actions of the Campaign. The state contended that the THPs were still valid, although they were long past the 5-year expiration limit in the statutes. With the approval of the management plan, these plans could go forward...  More

More Editorials

Read my latest Jackson Wanderings column, published in the Fort Bragg Advocate and Mendocino Beacon at the new Jackson Forum

New Ways to Learn and Participate

July 8, 2008. As the topics being considered by the Jackson Advisory Group (JAG) expand, you will find it challenging to keep abreast of developments and to get your views heard by the JAG.

Help is here in the form of several new online capabilities.

Where We Are and Where We Came From

Branching Out, the newsletter of the Trees Foundation, recently published my article on the history and developments of the movement to reform management of Jackson State Forest, Where We Are Today and Where We Came From. Also an Adobe Acrobat Version

What Lies Ahead?

March13, 2008. Fifty-thousand acre Jackson Demonstration State Forest is a major part of the landscape of the Mendocino County coastal community. It also has been a focus of controversy and division since 1995, when the Caspar Community protests against nearby logging began an escalating effort to reform management of Jackson Forest.

As memories tend to be short, many may have forgotten that during the 1990s, the state was cutting upwards of 60,000 trees per year from our public forest. The major management goal was "to get out the cut." Timber harvests were concentrated in previously unentered 80 to 100 year-old stands, and also in local neighborhoods that adjoined the forest.

Public opposition culminated in the formation of the Campaign to Restore Jackson State Redwood Forest in 2000. The Campaign undertook a succession of lawsuits that effectively tied up all timber harvesting from 2001 until this year.

For the last two years, those at the center of the controversy have been working to find common ground. I am happy to report that these efforts have borne fruit.  Am opportunity has been created to transform our local 50,000-acre Jackson Demonstration State Forest into a model of excellence, into a world-class demonstration forest that will bring pride to our community, the timber industry, the research community, and the forest managers.

In January, 2008, the Board of Forestry approved a new management plan that contained the essential features of a consensus reached among representatives of major county timber interests, the Campaign, and the Sierra Club. With this approval, the state can now legally resume logging in Jackson State. What does this mean for the forest and for you and me?

A new "Jackson Advisory Group," is currently being appointed. It will have a balance of people with environmental, conservation, timber, and science concerns. Its charge is to work during the next three years to develop a consensus on a long-term landscape, recreation, research, and management plan. The advisory group will likely invite local people with knowledge and interests to join subcommittees focused on different aspects of forest management. Monthly meetings open to the public are likely. It also seems likely that the staff of Jackson Forest will welcome formation of a "Friends of Jackson Forest" to allow volunteers to assist in restoration and recreation projects.

During the time the public is working with the advisory group to develop a consensus management plan, until  2011, all harvests in Jackson Forest will take place under strong protections "to assure that long-term planning options, particularly in sensitive areas, will not be precluded."

Protections include avoiding harvests in areas that have not been entered since 1920 or that have a significant density of large trees (with some possible initial exceptions), review of all harvest plans by the advisory group (which will provide a forum for public input), harvesting only by selection methods (no clearcuts), and retaining at least 70 percent of tree canopy (or the equivalent) and not reducing the average tree diameter in the harvested stands.

Thanks to reform legislation, revenues from harvests in Jackson Forest will only be able to be spent within the state forest system. During the first three years, harvest levels will be limited to those needed to finance operations of Jackson Forest. Harvest levels will be a fraction of those occurring during the late 1990's.  

We are truly at the beginning of a revolution in management of our forest. Thanks are due to all of those in the community, the timber industry, the Board of Forestry, and most especially the Director of the Department of Forestry, Ruben Grijalva, and his staff, whose hard work and willingness to seek consensus made this possible.

Vince Taylor

For more history, see below and here.

The Next Phase Begins
History and the Future

January 10, 2007. When the Board of Forestry approved the new management plan for Jackson State Forest on January 9, 2008, it was a milestone in the long struggle to reform management of Jackson Forest.

In thinking about where the reform effort goes from here, I found myself thinking about how we got to this point.

1995 marked the first public demonstration against the industrial logging practices that had characterized management of Jackson Forest since it started operations in the early 1950s. Demonstrations escalated in following years, with activists chaining themselves to gates in hopes of preventing logging in redwood stands that had grown back untouched for nearly 100 years. More

Earlier Editorials

The Campaign's proposal for Jackson Forest

Jackson Forum Blog

Jackson Forum is the place to go to find out what is happening in Jackson Forest --  and to have your own say. Check it out now!

Jackson Forum publishes in-depth reports on recreation and other meetings and analyses of important issues. Your comments can add to the discussion.

Real-time Online Email Archive
You can keep abreast of ongoing discussions among JAG members at the public JAG Google Group.

This location has real-time archive of all emails among members of the JAG on topics of substance, together with attachments. Replies under the same heading are kept together making it easy to follow the discussion.

You can't post at the site, but you can email me any comments or thoughts, and I will email them to the JAG and post them to the group.

Cal Fire Website for Jackson Forest

The official website of Jackson Demonstration State Forest has links to official documents, timber harvest plans in Jackson, and meeting announcements related to Jackson Forest.

Jackson Forest Monthly Reports

January, 2009. Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) makes monthly status reports on activities to the Board of Forestry and the Jackson Advisory Group.

2009

• August

• July

• June

• May

• April

• March

• February

• January