6 thoughts on “County supervisors urge state to review Jackson Demonstration State Forest’s management

  1. Great article on JDSF. Check out the history. Decades ago much of the revenue was distributed to small forest landowners. That money had to be used to improve forest lands. Currently it is my understanding revenue from JDSF pays for salaries. If this is true there will be little incentive for Cal Fire to meet the supervisors goals.

  2. Thanks for your brief article. It is unfortunate that the author chose to primarily quote Calfire without completing any fact checking. Here are a few key facts, that the reporter could have easily uncovered with a little work.
    1. The management plan does not discuss climate change. Indeed in the entire 900 page EIR for the Management Plan, only 5 pages are dedicated to a discussion of climate change. Further Calfire’s own Timber Harvest Plans for JDSF as recently as last year included a statement that the science is not clear on climate change.
    2. JDSF was not deforested when it was acquired by the state in 1947. In 1947, there were over 10 square miles of unentered ancient forest. Now there is less than 3/4 of a square mile. There was also over thirty square miles of forest that had only been logged once, most of that over fifty years before. Now there is a maximum of five square miles that has only been logged once.
    3. There were over 700 letters submitted on this item. The most of any item before the board and les than 5% of the letters were opposed to the resolution. The vast majority were in favor of the resolution.

  3. I suggest that the Nov. 15 Board of Supervisor Meeting be viewed to get the whole balance of public comment voices that spoke at that meeting and can be viewed at https://mendocino.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=265

    The Board of Supervisors rec’d at least 800 letters/emails submissions and 50 archived phone calls for the public record. Please go to link and click on 4a) Discussion and Possible Action Including Adoption of Resolution Requesting Scientific Review of Jackson Demonstration State Forest (Sponsors: Supervisor Williams and Supervisor Gjerde)
    Demonstration and Recreation are the three main operating elements of JDSF – a forest owned by the taxpayers of California. Does anyone see the conflicting elements here? This is not about the old divisive trope  pitting  environmentalists against  loggers— or special interests using social media to shut down logging– rhetoric that is recklessly tossed around. The cry from the public  is to ensure the  resiliency of these publicly owned  forests in the face of climate change and asking for placing a moratorium to resolve inherent contradictions in the mission of JDSF and issues found in standing  THP rules. JDSF operates under Cal Fire & California Board of Forestry who in turn regulates logging. The Board of Forestry, stacked with timber industry interests, govern the Timber Harvest Rules and their regulations are outdated in their response to the unprecedented and historic impacts of climate change and how forests have enormous potential in mitigating climate change. And this is not in alignment with the Governor’s plans. The scientific community agrees that present approaches to logging forests contribute to climate change because it depletes the forests’ ability to absorb vast amounts of the warming gas CO2.We would like to think that sustainable logging is not about clearcutting. Unfortunately, certain types of near clearcutting are employed —” allowable cut, “ “even-aged management,” “sustained yield,” “variable retention,” are under so-called sustainable forestry practices.Logging terminology is often not understood by the public or policymakers. many variations of terminology mean that technically correct usage may not be descriptive or updated to todays’ science  or enough to know what is meant in each case.

    The bottom line is the competeing interests need to be balanced.

  4. The whole of the Jackson Demonstration State Forest is Unceded Pomo Lands, there is many cultural sites, burial sites, and sacred sites. Some have been identified and compromised by Cal Fire and the logging operations and road building.
    This forest has been inhabited for thousands of years, it has been used for shelter, manicured in areas for wildlife and vegetation production.
    Salmon, steelhead, and trout were plentiful in the streams.
    Presently the person who is to identify cultural sites has less than 12 hours of training, that person decides what is and is not a significant native historical site.
    The state has an extremely poor history in identifying, protecting, or preserving native cultural sites.
    I do believe this year is the first time the local native community has been involved with examining the Timber Harvest Area’s, it is supposed to happen before the THP is approved, not after they have been started or completed.
    Damage has been done, some areas have been destroyed, others may be in harm’s way.
    This is business as usual for how the government protects native cultural areas.

  5. David Martinez added some invaluable information and I would like to take what he said even further. A question is often asked “who is best suited to manage Jackson State?” Well the answer to that is obvious, its original stewards the Pomo, or more broadly perhaps the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council (https://sinkyone.org/). Who better to manage the land than its indigenous inhabitants who faithfully, responsibly and effectively nurtured the forest for thousands of years before colonists ever set foot on these shores? The truth is, neither cal fire nor by extension the timber industry is “managing” JDSF, capitalism is, and that needs to change. Capitalism lacks the ancestral wisdom and knowledge to manage this invaluable resource. JDSF should be ceded back to the Pomo and both cal fire and the state should then be lucky enough to learn from them how to truly “manage” a forest ecosystem without the corrosive influence of capital.

  6. I once again think that some of the people against logging the redwoods in a state owned forest are misinformed and not aware of the history associated with their complaints. All through civilization the powers that be..i.e. greedy and conscience less politicians and their employers corporations and the wealthy…will not do anything until it’s to late. There will be no substitute material to replace Redwood until the last sun blocking…debris causing…smelly redwood grove is annihilated. Then and only then can the discovery of a building material just as good be invented. History is the best teacher.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *