MENDOCINO CO., 9/19/26 — On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 2494, which would have changed the management priorities for Jackson Demonstration State Forest and California’s 13 other demonstration state forests.
“I am returning Assembly Bill 2494 without my signature,” Newsom wrote in a veto message his office posted Friday. The message is dated Sept. 18. His deadline to act was Sept. 30.
Jackson lies between Willits and Fort Bragg. It covers 48,652 acres, according to Cal Fire, which runs the demonstration forests. That’s more than half of the system’s roughly 85,000 acres.
The veto leaves existing law in place. Under that law, managing the forests means achieving “maximum sustained production of high-quality forest products,” with consideration for recreation, watershed and wildlife.
The bill, advanced by Assemblymember Chris Rogers, D-Santa Rosa, would have replaced that definition with a list of public benefits. The list includes biodiversity and habitat, durable onsite carbon storage, climate resilience, ecosystem function, recreation, watershed health, wildfire resilience and research.
Logging would have remained legal for three purposes: research, demonstration and restoration. The bill also would have authorized the state natural resources secretary to enter co-management agreements with California tribes.
Newsom objected to the list of benefits. “By narrowing the management of these forests to a limited set of public benefits, this bill risks the State’s ability to fully demonstrate the best science-based practices,” he wrote. “At a time when California is racing to keep pace with a rapidly changing climate, we cannot afford to lose the flexibility needed to safeguard our forests for future generations.”
His message doesn’t mention Jackson, tribes or timber. It describes the forests as “living laboratories for research, recreation, and the demonstration of sustainable forest management.”
Mendocino County supported the bill. The Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 on Sept. 1 to ratify a letter of support to send to Newsom, according to the meeting’s draft minutes.
The Rural County Representatives of California asked for the veto. Mendocino is one of the Sacramento association’s 40 member counties. On Aug. 28, the association posted a call to action on its website. It said it was asking Newsom to veto the bill, and it asked counties to send veto letters of their own.
The bill would replace “established, scientifically-based forestry concepts with new and uncertain terminology,” the association wrote, and would “eliminate the self-sustaining fiscal model currently in place.”
Tulare County also opposed the bill, according to the Senate’s floor analysis. That analysis lists others as opposed unless the bill was amended. They include the state Department of Finance, Cal Fire Local 2881, Mendocino and Humboldt Redwood Companies and Willits Redwood Company.
The same analysis lists the Environmental Protection Information Center in Arcata as the bill’s sponsor.
A rally in support of the bill was held Aug. 15 at Fort Bragg Town Hall. Supporters said the rally was organized “in solidarity by tribal nations and allies.” It called for the bill’s passage and the governor’s signature. It also called for a halt to logging in Jackson, including a timber harvest plan near Chamberlain Creek that organizers say Cal Fire approved in December.
The bill wouldn’t have changed that plan. It wasn’t retroactive and said nothing about plans already approved. The center’s executive director, Tom Wheeler, said in an email in August that the bill “does not stop any existing THPs,” using the shorthand for timber harvest plans.
The Senate approved the bill 29-10 on Aug. 26. The Assembly agreed to the Senate’s amendments 58-19 the next day, according to the recorded roll calls. Every vote for the bill came from a Democrat and every vote against it from a Republican.
Overriding a veto takes two-thirds of each house. That is 27 of 40 senators and 54 of 80 Assembly members. The bill passed with more than that in both.
Rogers’ office hadn’t posted a statement on the veto to his Assembly website as of Saturday morning.
