Ten Reasons to Halt Logging in Jackson State Forest

The facts in the case are indisputable: CDF last updated the management plan in 1983.  By its own terms, the 1983 plan was to have "a major review at the midpoint of its effective period (1987), and be completely revised in 1992."    Thus, for the past eight years, CDF has been without a current management plan and logging illegally. State agencies should obey the laws of the state.

The illegality of continued logging is only the first of ten compelling reasons to halt it:

2. It is fiscally irresponsible to log JDSF, which is owned by the state, while the state is spending hundreds of millions to acquire private redwood lands to prevent logging on them.
3. There is no rush to log JDSF. The logs will be there next year if not cut this year, and they will be bigger and more valuable. CDF has promised a new management plan by next year.
4. If CDF had preserved the old-growth trees it inherited in Jackson Forest, rather than logging them at the first opportunity, they would have a present market value of one billion dollars – almost 200 times what was received. Sales of old second growth will prove to be equally financially foolish.
5. The revenues being generated by logging of JDSF go into a special state fund that subsidizes forest practices of private timber owners. The public forest is being cut down to benefit private owners of forestland.
6. The next logging is scheduled to take place in the middle of the most popular camping and education area of the Forest, along roads that fork off from the egg-taking station.
7. CDF’s pending plans will destroy sections of the forest that haven’t been logged for eighty to over 100 years, sections that are of great value for habitat, recreation, and education.
8. The cut-heavy 1983 management plan is out of touch with present realities and science. Industrial timberlands are cut over, the region’s salmon streams and salmon fleet are both nearly defunct, and redwood-dependent species are endangered.
9. CDF’s own advisory committee has recommended that large areas of the forest be devoted to restoration of old growth and habitat for endangered species, with no logging.
10. CDF’s failure to update the management plan has denied the public any influence on policies governing JDSF since 1983. No further logging should take place until the people of California have had a chance to express their current opinions about proper use of JDSF, including the Campaign’s proposal to restore Jackson Forest for habitat, recreation, and education.

The Board of Forestry has the power to order a halt in logging. You can help enormously. E-mail the Board, CDF, and the governor. Tell them you want a halt in logging until a new management plan is approved.  Cite any of the reasons above, or just let them know your feelings about Jackson State.