Victory at last for Jackson State Forest

After a seemingly endless saga of court cases, environmental documents, and hearings spanning the past eight years, the state Board of Forestry and Fire Protection on Jan. 9 approved a new and improved management plan for Jackson State Forest. The Sierra Club has been following this issue since 1996, has been intimately involved with this process, and is very pleased with the outcome.

At nearly 50,000 acres, Jackson State Forest in Mendocino County is California's largest state-owned forest, and is by far the largest public redwood forest between San Francisco Bay and Humboldt County.

A working group of industry and environmental representatives in Mendocino County worked for 18 months to craft consensus recommendations aimed at resolving much of the ongoing controversy surrounding the management of Jackson Forest. The Board, recognizing a historic level of agreement among disparate interest groups, followed nearly all of these recommendations.

The Board of Forestry adopted the new plan by an 8 - 1 vote, with Tom Walz, the representative from Sierra Pacific Industries, opposing all aspects of the historic agreement. We commend boardmembers David Nawi and Pam Giacomini, who comprised the Jackson Forest Subcommittee and put endless hours into this effort over the past few years.

The new management plan puts research, restoration, and ecological and watershed processes ahead of timber management. It provides for a three-year initial period during which harvesting will be quite restricted 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% of tree canopy (or the equivalent) and not reducing the average tree diameter in the harvested stands.

Meanwhile, an independent advisory group will work over the next three years to develop a long-term landscape plan and recommendations for future management. This new "Jackson Advisory Group" will have a balance of people with environmental, conservation, timber, and science concerns. The advisory group has high visibility, will report to both the Board of Forestry and the California Department of Forestry (CDF), and has strong support from the director of CDF. The recommendations of the advisory group seem very likely to be accepted and implemented.

We have worked closely over the past several years both at the Board of Forestry and in the legislature to fundamentally change the management direction at Jackson, and we've finally cleared a historic hurdle. Although cautious optimism, watchfulness, and participation are the order of the day, we truly seem to be at the beginning of a revolution in management of our forest.

For more details and news, see the web site of the Campaign to Restore Jackson State Forest

Paul Mason and Kathy Bailey, Sierra Club California; and Vince Taylor, Campaign to Restore Jackson State Forest