MENDOCINO CO., 2/20/26 – A bill to change how California’s demonstration state forests are managed — placing greater emphasis on research, public access and forest restoration rather than logging — was introduced in the State Assembly on Friday.
Assembly Bill 2494 was introduced by Assemblymember Chris Rogers, D-Santa Rosa and co-authored by state Senator Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg.
According to Cal Fire, California has 14 demonstration state forests totaling 85,000 acres. Unlike state parks, they are working forests. Cal Fire manages the lands that are used to test and show forestry practices, conduct research, and harvest timber while remaining open to the public for recreation.
Two of the state’s 14 demonstration forests are in Rogers’ district: Jackson Demonstration State Forest in Mendocino County and Ellen Pickett State Forest in Trinity County.
Rogers introduced the bill with the goal of modernizing policies that he says haven’t been updated in decades and are not aligned with the state’s current climate initiatives.
Under current law, known as the State Demonstration Act, timber production is a key part of how demonstration forests are funded and managed. AB 2494 would shift that emphasis by stating that research, recreation and forest restoration are the primary purposes of the forests.
The forests grow far more timber than they harvest, according to Cal Fire data, and on average produce tens of millions of board feet of wood each year. Timber sales could still occur, but only as part of restoration or research work.
The bill would also allow certain state forestry funds to be used to support maintenance and restoration projects in the forests and encourage greater tribal involvement in management.
Rogers said the measure would also help rural counties diversify their economies as traditional logging activity declines.
“Like many rural communities, Mendocino County is struggling,” said Mendocino County 5th District Supervisor Ted Williams, whose district includes much of Jackson Demonstration State Forest. “As we transition away from an economy that relies primarily on extractive industries, which no longer provide sustainable support for our residents, we must expand opportunities for revenue and job creation.”
According to Cal Fire, Jackson is the largest demonstration forest in the state at just over 48,000 acres. It was originally used for logging before the state purchased it in 1947.
The forest is lush with coast redwoods, many of which are harvested yearly and used for “demonstrations” of forest management techniques like forest thinning with fire. It’s also used for recreation, drawing visitors who use its 48 miles of trails for horseback riding, biking, hiking and mushroom hunting.
Williams believes that expanding recreation and restoration work in demonstration forests could bring more visitors and create new jobs for county residents tied to tourism and outdoor use.
“By directing the state to manage demonstration forests for public access…we can attract additional user groups such as mountain bikers, mushroom foragers, hikers, birdwatchers, and others to help steward our public lands and support resilient rural economies,” Williams said.
AB 2494 would also encourage greater coordination and co-management agreements with tribes. Supporters say that could expand opportunities for tribal governments to participate in decision-making and land stewardship on state forest lands.
Jackson Demonstration State Forest sits on the traditional homeland of Northern Pomo and Coast Yuki peoples.
According to Buffie Campbell, who is an enrolled member of the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians, a descendent of Noyo Reservation and Yokayo Reservation, and Northern Pomo, tribal nations and Indigenous peoples have been “shut out” from co-managing the demonstration forests and sharing their own traditional forest management knowledge.
She calls AB 2494 a “major step” towards opening the door for partnerships and co-management opportunities between Cal Fire and tribes across the state.
“This is an impactful step towards educating the public regarding tribal sovereignty and historical trauma and its effects today,” she said. “As well as providing acknowledgement of those tribes and once known villages impacted by antiquated laws. Inviting and including Native voices through partnership and co-management is how we will make systemic changes in land management.”
AB 2494 will next be heard in Assembly policy committee before moving through the standard legislative process.
This is a developing story.
Wasn’t that land given to the state with the stipulation that it was to be logged and the proceeds were to benefit the school district? Sounds outright disrespectful to the donor if you ask me.
If properly implemented, this new Bill (AB 2494) stands to dispel the false choice in which modernized management would somehow harm the local economy and forest health. Indeed the opposite is true. According to research funded by Cal Fire, a serious slowdown of redwood tree growth across the state (including Jackson and two other State Demonstration Forests) points to the ecological AND economic UNsustainability of current practices. The issues are outlined in detail in our recent report entitled “Greenwashing in the Redwoods: A critical look at Cal Fire’s management of Jackson Demonstration State Forest” https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e3a-4L1VeWKb1GI35Nxp7aiIbTZ2dUla/view.
AB 2494 stands to capture a wide range of benefits:
BUDGET STABILITY: Cal Fire’s operation of Jackson is to be funded by the existing Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund rather than commercial logging (no new taxes). This actually provides far more stability for Cal Fire employees, and less conflict with the public and the revenue uncertainties that creates. It also opens up new potential revenue streams. For example, the management changes make the lands eligible for participation in the state’s 30 x 30 program. That said, the proposed changes do not ban economic activity in the forest, as some may fear. Rather the new approach centers on what might be thought of as a “restoration economy”. A concrete example is provided in our recent report (link above) for the ill-fated Caspar 500 timber harvest plan (targeting large trees), which was to generate a little over $2 million in revenues. An alternative plan for the same location finds that a larger number of smaller and truly overstocked trees could be harvested for the same revenue, while much more effectively moving the forest towards old-forest characteristics.
FIRE PREVENTION: There is now an enormous literature showing that many current forestry practices in Jackson (and elsewhere) often actually compound fire risk, while science-based restoration (including beneficial fire) substantially reduces the risk. Consider that much of Jackson is today stocked with 400-600 trees per acre — a direct result of past logging practices that artificially “thinned” small numbers of large trees — while mature old-growth forests may have only 20 or so giants per acre. AB 2494 appropriately realigns the management of Jackson with Cal Fire’s primary mission.
JOB CREATION: As traditional logging-related jobs are falling, there are arguably far more jobs (including for Native peoples) in the new approach. AB 2494 allows for employment and revenue generation from harvesting the aforementioned overcrowded small trees. There are additional potential jobs in processing and manufacturing using these new feedstocks, restoration of waterways, removal of invasive plants, decommissioning unneeded roads, ongoing beneficial fire programs, performing research, and more fully developing the unrealized recreational potential of JDSF.
CLIMATE RISK REDUCTION: The roughly 2000 logging trucks rolling out of Jackson in an average year represent a heavy loss of carbon. According to research in JDSF funded by Cal Fire, the forest today only holds 1/10th of the carbon it did prior to the era of logging. The current management paradigm of indefinitely maximizing yield means that this massive carbon loss will never be recovered, which works at cross purposes to the state’s climate goals. AB 2494 seeks to instead maximize durable (stable) carbon storage, which goes hand-in-hand with retaining and nurturing large trees and shaping a forest that is more resilient to the already-present ravages of climate change.
This win-win legislation will benefit the forest and the economy.
The devil is in the details. Established science must be recognized and incorporated in management far more so than at present. Research conducted on State Demonstration Forest lands must be more rigorously planned and reprioritized to address modern concerns. Restoration and resilience must be defined so as to avoid greenwashing. A trust-but-verify approach must be taken to set concrete management goals, targets, and measures of progress that are regularly verified. Focused effort is needed to actually build the restoration economy envisioned in AB 2494. In support of all these aspirations, far more transparency is needed in the decision-making processes, operations, and financials of the State Demonstration Forest system.
Creating jobs that are funded by taxpayer dollars does not help the economy.
Thank you for Assembly Bill 2494
A step in the right direction