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Help Restore Our Publicly Owned Redwood Forest Jackson State Forest is a public treasure -- 50,000 acres of beautiful redwood forest located within a few hours drive of San Francisco. The state has been massively logging this public forest, owned by you and me. The profits subsidize the private timber industry. The public forest should not be used for the benefit of the timber industry. Our goal is to restore the forest to old growth for recreation, habitat, and education. All logging
in Jackson Forest should demonstrate the highest attainable sensitivity
to aesthetic and ecological values and should contribute to restoration,
habitat, recreation, or education. Find out more about the Campaign. Provide information to the Campaign in complete privacy.
Recreation
The forest is a recreation paradise. with rustic
camping and hundreds of miles of trails and roads for hikers and
bikers.
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Settlement Agreement Approved by the Court September 3, 2008. Cal Fire today announced that the court has approved the previously announced settlement agreement that resolves a number of potential legal issues at Jackson State Forest. Parties to the agreement were Cal Fire, the California Board of Forestry, the Campaign to Restore Jackson State Redwood Forest, and the holders of contracts for timber on Brandon Gulch and Camp 3. The agreement provides that timber harvesting in Camp 3 and Brandon Gulch will be changed from the original plans to a goal of further development of old-growth (technically, "late seral") conditions. It further provides that the contract holders will obtain substitute timber from other plans for the reductions in harvests in Camp 3 and Brandon Gulch. Cal Fire press release. Settlement agreement. Court approval puts the final seal on the legal saga that began in 2000. See "The Final Chapter." Jackson Advisory Group Meeting September 5-6 August 22, 2008. The Jackson Forest Advisory Group (JAG) will hold its monthly meeting on Friday and Saturday September 5-6, 2008. Agenda Friday and Saturday meetings will begin at 9:00 a.m. at the Fort Bragg Senior Center, 490 North Harold Street. Friday morning, starting at 9:30, the JAG will work toward agreement on a set of principles for managing Jackson State Forest. The public is welcome to participate in the discussion. Friday afternoon, starting at about 1:00 p.m, the JAG and the public will have their final opportunity to comment on the recommended harvest plan for Camp 3 proposed by the Late Seral Development Committee. This plan is intended to provide experimental data on moving the Camp 3 stand toward old growth. Saturday morning, the JAG will review changes made to the Camp 3 harvest plan and express its degree of consensus on the plan. The recreation committee will give an update on progress made toward forming a recreation user group. The Saturday meeting will adjourn at about 12:30. See the Agenda for details, locations, and times. Late Seral Development Committee Presents Recommendations for Camp 3 September 2, 2008. The Committee on Late Seral Development will present its recommendations for the Camp 3 Timber Harvest Plan to the JAG on September 5.
The proposed harvest is designed to provide research on accelerating late-seral development. Approximately 160 acres of original Camp 3 harvest plan was removed from harvesting in a settlement agreement between the Campaign to Restore Jackson State Redwood Forest and the state. The remaining 215 acres are to receive two different levels of thinning: 30% removal and 45% removal. Inventory plots will be established and measured prior to the harvest and at 5-year intervals afterward to measure the difference in tree growth rates in the two areas receiving different treatments. A new hiking trail is proposed. The trail will go through both the unharvested and the harvested areas, providing people with direct experience with the effects of the timber harvest operation. Brandon Gulch Harvest Plan Endorsed and Approved At its meeting of August 2, 2008, the Jackson Advisory Group gave its strong endorsement (10 "Strong Support", 1 "General Support", 2 absent) to the Brandon Gulch harvest recommendations of the Committee on Late Seral Development. The report was sent to the Ruben Grijalva, Director of Cal Fire, for his consideration. He accepted the recommendations in a letter dated August 13, 2008. The intent is to accelerate the development of old growth conditions in Brandon Gulch. The report recommends two entries twenty years apart, with the goal of creating conditions within 40 years that will set the stage for return to old growth conditions over the next 100 to 150 years. The proposed harvests will create space around the largest trees to increase their rate of growth, while attempting to keep diversity in the forest structure and the canopy sufficiently intact to discourage sprout growth. The report and minutes of its meetings are available here. The Late Seral Development Committee will present its recommendations on Camp 3 at the August JAG meeting. Recreation Committee Meeting
On June 28, 2008, the Recreation Committee of the Jackson Advisory Group (JAG) had its first meeting. In addition to Committee members Peter Braudrick and Vince Taylor, about 30 avid recreationists attended. A brief introduction stressed that both the new management plan and the charter of the JAG mandate the development of expanded recreation opportunities in Jackson Forest. Now is the time for the community to make known its desires and to help design the recreation plan for the forest. The JAG has through 2010 to develop its recommendations for changes to the management plan. A recreation plan can be a part of the JAG's recommendations. Unlike the past, Cal Fire is receptive to public input, and there will be funding to support recreation. Five different recreation interests were represented, with many people supporting multiple interests: Hiking, Off Road Vehicles (OHV), Bicycling, Equestrian, and Shooting. The meeting broke into sub-groups to come up with
points, goals, and priorities. Then each group presented its findings to the
meeting as a whole, receiving comments and questions. There were common points
among the groups. Almost everyone wanted an inventory and good maps of the
present trails. There was a strong desire to expand the trail system. Also,
the different groups wanted to be able to find ways to let each group have its
favorite recreation without harming others' pleasure in the forest.
First Meeting on Forest Management Plans for Brandon Gulch and Camp 3 May 29, 2008. The first meeting of the group charged with designing the logging plans for Brandon Gulch and Camp 3 will meet Tuesday June 3, 2008, at 9:00 a.m. at Jackson Forest headquarters in Fort Bragg. .Details. There will be a field trip to the two plans, followed by discussion back at forest headquarters in Fort Bragg. (Draft Minutes of June 3 meeting) Brandon Gulch and Camp 3 are the two timber harvest plans that the Campaign to Restore Jackson State Redwood Forest stopped for eight years through its court actions. These two plans are in stands of redwoods that haven't been touched since the initial logging nearly 100 years ago. They are beautiful, mature forest, and they are in the heart of the recreation area near Camp One. What happens to these stands will set an important precedent for the future of other similar stands. The Campaign has reached an agreement with Cal Fire to allow harvesting in the two plans to hasten the development of old-growth conditions. The technical term for old growth is "late seral," and the meeting on Tuesday will be the first in a series to design timber harvests to "accelerate late seral forest conditions" in Camp3 and Brandon Gulch.
The group assigned the task of recommending the marking of trees to be cut is a subcommittee of the Jackson Advisory Group (JAG), the independent advisory group established to provide oversight and recommendations on management of Jackson Forest. All of its meetings will be open to the public, and it will interact with the full advisory group as it develops its recommendations. Recreation values
will be explicitly considered by the subcommittee,
but they need to hear from you about your concerns and desires.
John Helms, chair -- forest ecosystem dynamics, silviculture
Location and Times Public is responsible for its own transportation, food, and water.
Official notice and agenda |
Editorials
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. Public Access to Forest Discouraged July 31, 2008. Road 500 in Caspar is a highly used public road. A private landowner at the west end of Road 500 has attempted to discourage public access to Jackson Forest by having posted this sign -
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This sign is in conflict with the
stated position of Cal Fire on preventing any effort to discourage public
access to this road. 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 ParticipateJuly 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. Real-time online email archive 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. This site is particularly useful at the moment for following the JAG's discussions about how to manage Brandon Gulch and Camp 3 for accelerated old growth development. 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. New Jackson Forum Blog INow you can add your own two cents (or priceless golden words) to the discussion about the future of Jackson Forest! The Jackson Forum Blog is now open for business. IThe blog will be updated regularly with news about and reports from those working to plan the future of Jackson State Forest. The Forum is the place to go to find out what others are saying about Jackson Forest and to have your own say. Check it out now! 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?
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. 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 |
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