Early morning fog over Jackson State Forest, by Garth Hagerman

Help Restore Our Publicly Owned Redwood Forest

April 29, 2008. In a letter to newly appointed Jackson Advisory Group members, Cal Fire Director Ruben Grijalva outlined the department's plans for resuming timber operations in Jackson State Forest under the management plan approved earlier this year. Logging has been halted by court order since 2001.

The first timber harvest plan (THP) to be submitted will be for Northfork Spur and will have an "Option (a)" document attached. Director Grijalva explained, "This is a document we are required to prepare under the Forest Practice Rules to demonstrate how management of JDSF [Jackson Demonstration State Forest] will achieve 'maximum sustained production of high quality timber products.' ... [A] typically lengthy review of the Option (a) is conducted, resulting in a slow review process for the THP."

It is unlikely that Northfork Spur will get into operation in 2008. It should be noted, also, that the Option (a) requirements are very loose and don't really require "maximum timber production". Rather, the central requirement is that the level of logging be sustainable.

Northfork Spur is an area of old second growth redwoods, unentered since the original logging about 100 years ago. This stand has potential high values for restoration, habitat, and recreation. Director Grijalva recognizes its importance, "This harvesting plan is in an area identified as "sensitive" according to the Management Plan and other public comment. As such, we will bring the Northfork Spur THP forward for JAG review and comment. If I determine that changes to the Northfork Spur THP are necessary, based on the JAG's recommendations, CAL FIRE will file an amendment to the THP."

Review by the JAG, with ample opportunity for public input, is one of the benefits to the public built into the new management plan. It will be important for members of the public to express their views on Northfork Spur.

Cal Fire plans to submit a second THP for approval this year, 14 Gulch, without JAG review. Director Grijalva explains, "While this THP also is in an area designated as sensitive in the Management Plan, CAL FIRE will not be bringing this THP to the Advisory Group for review. The Management Plan permits THPs in sensitive areas to skip Advisory Group review if necessary to allow resumption of the Forest's harvesting program in the 2008 operating season. I have determined that this faster track approach for the 14 Gulch THP is necessary to ensure that it can be operated on in this year's operating season.

Although lack of JAG review is a loss to the public, it needs to be viewed in perspective. This is the only THP that is likely to go without JAG review during the three year initial period. It will still be subject to the strict initial-period harvest restrictions, which prevent clearcuts or mini-clearcuts ("group selection"), limit the volume removed to 30% of the stand outside of stream zones, and require that the average size of trees be maintained.

On the plus side, Cal Fire needs to demonstrate to the timber community that the compromises embedded in the new management plan will not continue to prevent timber harvesting, and Cal Fire needs the revenue from the 14 Gulch timber sale to finance staffing and operations of Jackson Forest. Overall, the decision to go forward with 14 Gulch without JAG review seems understandable and reasonable.

Jackson Advisory Group Appointed
First Meeting May 9, 2008
Cal Fire Director and Chair of the Board of Forestry To Attend

Sacramento, April 2, 2008. The Board of Forestry confirmed all 13 members of the Jackson Advisory Group recommended by Cal Fire Director Ruben Grijalva.

The initial meeting of the Advisory Group will be in Fort Bragg on May 9 and 10, 2008. Signaling the importance of and support for the advisory process, Ruben Grijalva, Director of Cal Fire, and Stan Dixon, Chair of the Board of Forestry will open the meeting on May 9. A full day of presentations on Jackson Forest, the new management plan, and advisory group duties and process are planned. Agenda.

The May 9 meeting is a great chance for anyone interested in the future of Jackson Forest to understand the present situation and the opportunities for public involvement.

 Meetings are open to the public and participation in the planning process is welcomed and encouraged. The advisory group will play a key role in defining the future of Jackson Forest. It has up to three years to consider how best to manage the forest in the public interest and to recommend changes to the management plan to the Director of Cal Fire and the Board of Forestry.

This is the public's chance to influence the direction of the forest. Don't miss it.

Jackson Advisory Group (JAG) charter, members, and agenda.

Board of Forestry Approves New Management Plan

Sacramento, January 9, 2008. In an action that culminated 8 years of controversy and litigation, the Board of Forestry voted 8 in favor and 1 abstention to approve a new management plan for Jackson Forest that is a milestone in moving Jackson State Forest towards management in the broad public interest.

At the meeting, the Board accepted several amendments that brought the management plan into full conformance with the consensus plan for the forest developed by the Mendocino Working Group,

The Board agreed to limit timber harvesting during a 3-year interim period to that needed to fund the operations of Jackson Forest, and not to generate surpluses. It also agreed to give a newly-formed Jackson Advisory Group the authority to review essentially all timber harvest plans during the interim period. These were the final keys to getting the agreement of the Campaign to Restore Jackson State Forest to support the new management plan.

At the same meeting, the Board also approved the supporting Environmental Impact Report for the management plan. The vote was 8 in favor, 1 opposed. This EIR had been in process since July 2003, when the previous EIR was declared invalid by the courts.

Attention will now turn to the next phase of reforming the management of Jackson Forest. During this phase, which will last up to three years, the new Jackson Advisory Group will work with the public and Jackson staff to develop a consensus long-term landscape plan for the forest.

With the approval of the Management Plan, logging can now resume in Jackson Forest, but under restrictions designed to limit the amount, kinds, and location of logging to ensure that the logging does not preclude future planning options during the initial planning period.

Jackson Advisory Group Charter Approved
Nominations solicited

Sacramento, January 9, 2008. The Board of Forestry approved a charter for a new Jackson Advisory Group. The charter provides the advisory group with broad authority and support to develop a long-term landscape plan and associated timber harvesting, forest and stream restoration, and recreation activities.
More

Board of Forestry Supports Management Reform

Sacramento, October 10, 2007.  By six to two, with one abstention, the Board of Forestry voted to support in principle a new “Alternative G” for Jackson State Forest. The alternative  includes major reforms proposed by the Campaign to Restore Jackson State Redwood Forest, the Sierra Club, and the Mendocino Working Group. It also includes safeguards against unjustified clearcutting. More

Public Tells Board of Forestry "No" on Clearcuts

July 16, 2007. The public comment period for the new management alternative for Jackson State Forest ended today. Supporters of the Campaign to Restore Jackson State Forest sent in over 1200 letters and those of the Sierra Club over 700. More

Mendocino Supervisors Support Mendocino Working Group

June 26, 2007. The Mendocino County Supervisors voted unanimously to write a letter of support for Alternative G with the changes recommended by the Mendocino Working Group.

The unanimous support for the far-reaching reforms embodied in Alternative G is a monumental event. In the past, concerns about timber production to support the timber industry have split the Supervisors.

The Supervisors support for the changes recommended by the Working Group, which will further strengthen environmental protections, will be important in gaining acceptance for them in Sacramento.

New Management Alternative for Jackson Forest Released
-Public Comments Needed-

June, 2007. The Board of Forestry has released a new environmental-plan alternative for Jackson State Forest.

 The new "Alternative G" contains many positive steps toward managing Jackson Forest for the broad public interest, but it is fatally deficient in one important respect -- it would allow clearcut variations on thousands of acres without research or forest health justification. More

Mendocino Group Urges Minimum Clearcuts

June 20, 2007.  In a letter released today, a group of Mendocino timber-industry leaders and environmentalists today urged the Board of Forestry to strictly limit clearcutting and its variations in Jackson Forest. More

The present letter follows an earlier report and letter.

Mendocino Working Group Issues Report
Proposes Plan for Resuming Operation of Jackson Forest in 2007

Mendocino County, November 30, 2006. A consensus proposal for getting Jackson State Forest back into operation was released by a Mendocino County working group. The group consists of four senior people from the timber industry, one from the Sierra Club, and one from the Campaign to Restore Jackson State Redwood Forest. More

Working Group Report

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