Good News for a Change: A Bill to Change Jackson’s Mandate!
How about some good news for a change?
Since its inception in 2020, the mission of the Mendocino Trail Stewards has been to change the mandate of the Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF): to prioritize not the demonstration of commercial logging, but to instead manage for climate risk reduction, biodiversity, recreation, and tribal co-management.
We are thrilled to announce that we are one giant step closer to our goal! Last Friday, Assemblymember Chris Rogers introduced AB2494, a bill that would end the commercial logging mandate of JDSF.
We were not the first to advocate for changing Jackson’s mandate. In the early 2000s, the Campaign to Restore Jackson State Forest, headed by Vince Taylor, joined with Forests Forever to help pass a bill that would have changed the focus of the state forests from timber production to a mix of uses including restoration, education, and recreation. SB1648 passed the Assembly and the Senate on August 27, 2004. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger returned it to the legislature unsigned on September 16th.
Twenty-two years later, our friends at the The Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC) are carrying the torch by sponsoring AB2494. We are hopeful that Governor Newsom will get behind this bill and accept this “low hanging fruit”, as it aligns with his Executive Order N-82-20, aka the 30 x 30 Initiative, to protect 30% of California’s lands and waters by 2030. This bill would qualify all 14 demonstration forests (85,000 acres total) for 30 x 30.
Since JDSF is by far the largest demonstration forest at almost 50,000 acres, all 14 forests are essentially funded by timber sales here in Jackson. A key component to this bill is that it moves the state away from relying solely on timber harvesting to fund the management of the demonstration state forest system. Instead, it would fund the forests through the existing Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund. 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. In other words, Cal Fire would no longer need to sell timber to pay for stream restoration or trail building.
The bill also updates the antiquated definition of management of demonstration forests, which is currently defined by law as “the handling of forest crop and forest soil so as to achieve maximum sustained production of high quality forest products while giving consideration to values relating to recreation, watershed, wildlife, range and forage, fisheries, and aesthetic enjoyment.”
In contrast, this new bill “prioritizes the environment, recreation, scientific research and addressing climate change as the main focuses for the state to manage our public lands,” as stated in Rogers’ press release.
If fortified with safeguards to close potential loopholes and ensure positive outcomes, this legislation stands to be an important step toward a modern vision for California’s demonstration state forests. We are excited at the possibility of seeing our demonstration forests become “Demonstration Forests for the 21st Century.”
Please join us in thanking Assemblymember Rogers for championing AB2494. Click this link to send him an email, or thank him in person at his town hall in Philo this coming Friday, February 27th. One of our earliest supporters, Senator Mike McGuire, is cosponsoring the bill, so be sure to send him your thanks as well.
Let’s bask in this victory for a while… and then get this bill to the finish line!
