URGENT: March 16th Deadline for Comments on AB 2494!
The time is NOW to recreate demonstration forests for the 21st Century, and we mean RIGHT NOW, as the legislative process moves quickly, and your help is urgently needed. Time is of the essence!
On March 23rd, the Committee on Natural Resources of the California State Assembly will hold a hearing on AB 2494, the bill authored by our new Assemblymember Chris Rogers that would redefine the management of Jackson Demonstration State Forest to prioritize biodiversity, fire resilience, tribal co-management, carbon sequestration, and recreation instead of timber production. The deadline to submit a letter of support for AB 2494 is Monday, March 16th.
Change is often a slow walk. It’s been 50 years since the management of State Demonstration Forests has changed. This bill opens up new possibilities for changes that have been repeatedly requested by the public and repeatedly rejected by the current management.
Currently the majority of Jackson's recreation takes place within the confines of the coastal region between Mendocino and Fort Bragg, consisting of a few thousand acres. The forest has a few scattered and mostly dilapidated campgrounds inland, and many others that are closed. The coastal trail system, built and maintained predominantly by The Mendocino Coast Cyclists, is a true hidden gem and a large economic driver for destination bikers, hikers, equestrians and foragers bringing much needed revenue to our communities. The amazing State Parks along the coast tie into this system for an even more extensive array of trails for day excursions.
The Jackson Demonstration State Forest has approximately 48 miles of official trails and an estimated 350 miles of actively used roads, plus another 150 miles of potentially improperly abandoned roads. That puts the miles of roads per square mile within Jackson at approximately 6.5. According to the National Marine Fisheries Service’s working guidelines, watersheds over the 3 miles of road per square mile threshold are characterized as “not properly functioning”. There is an enormous need for road decommissioning at Jackson, and a great potential for turning some of those roads into trails.
In frustration with the lack of new trailbuilding on Jackson, community members have built their own trails over the years, mostly on abandoned roads and skid trails, and Cal Fire looks the other way. These trails are unsanctioned by Cal Fire due to reasons such as safety and watershed concerns. Unfortunately, very little if any dedicated funding exists for trail maintenance, so Cal Fire mostly relies on the Mendocino Coast Cyclists to bring trails up to snuff. Features such as bridges can get very expensive, so trail rehabilitation is often tied to timber harvest plans. An example is the trail known as EZN, aka Blue Gum. The plan was that a large bridge, built off-site, would be delivered to a stream crossing on the trail via logging equipment used during the Caspar 500 Timber Harvest. A win-win, right? Not if the people who use that trail don’t want to see their beloved giant redwoods cut down in the process. So the trail rehab remains at a stalemate. Without reliable funding (from logging), Cal Fire often repeats their mantra that they can’t build new trails, because they can’t maintain the ones they have. Without maintenance, visitors often get lost and locals get frustrated, starting the cycle all over again.
With Cal Fire's current mandate to harvest timber to pay for operations, the trails on Jackson Forest are often closed for extended periods of time (up to two years). Although management requires that timber contractors restore official trails to their original condition, there is no accountability on the part of the contractor if the public is unhappy with the results post-harvest. Large piles of slash and redwood stumps left behind can turn a once beloved trail walk into a nightmare. One neighbor of Jackson told us she didn’t return to her favorite trail for three years after the area surrounding it was clearcut, because it made her too depressed.
Now, envision a whole-forest recreational, cultural, and restoration approach. Imagine not just a permanent trail system in those few thousand acres near the coast, but an entire network of properly mapped, marked, and maintained trails throughout the entire 48,000 acres of Jackson, without the threat and visual blight of a destructive timber harvest. Meanwhile, watersheds are rehabilitated and sacred sites protected with the help of tribes and the application of Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
The funding mechanism of AB 2494, utilizing existing monies from timber products taxes, removes the need to harvest large redwoods from Jackson to pay for operations and opens up the potential for major new grants. Having a more reliable annual budget will allow for the long term planning and commitment to forest rehabilitation through tribal co-management while also expanding recreational opportunities. As a bonus, smaller- diameter trees will at times be cut and sold as a byproduct of restoration and research projects, truly thinning out the dense understory created by outdated logging methods, making the forest more fire resilient while creating comparable revenue. Before you shout “Impossible!”, check out this alternative timber harvest plan created by climate scientist John O’Brien, PhD. And, restoration activities will create more jobs per dollar spent in the forest than today’s management approach.
We know you’ve got a lot on your plate, but now is our chance to finally create meaningful change on the People’s Forest. The timber industry is naturally opposed to this bill, and they are well-organized and well-funded.
Here are instructions for submitting a letter to the Assembly:
Write a brief letter about the bill with your name at the top, your address, and the date. Address it as follows:
Isaac Bryan
Chair, Assembly Committee on Natural Resources
California State Assembly
Sacramento, California 95814
Re: Hearing on AB 2494 - Demonstration State Forest Management
Sign in to the California Legislature Position Letter Portal if you have used it before, or create a new account by clicking ‘Create an Account’ on the Portal’s website.
Submit your letter by clicking on ‘Submit a Letter’ (located beneath the ‘Activity’ banner)
Identify the bill by choosing AB (Assembly) and typing in AB 2494.
Follow the instructions provided by the portal to upload your letter and complete the process.
You can get ideas from our letter or copy and paste the script at the bottom of the page, but telling your own story is always more effective.
Thanks for your continuing support. It took all of us to get this far. Let’s keep moving and making the impossible possible!
Sample Letter
Dear Chair Bryan and Members of the Committee:
I am reaching out to you to voice my support for AB 2494, which would modernize the management plan for Jackson Demonstration State Forest. This proposed legislation would shift the management focus of the Jackson Demonstration State Forest away from industrial, commercial timber production to focus on restoration, recreation, wildlife, and tribal co-governance. I believe that having increased recreational access, tribal co-governance, and a more restorative lens for the forest would be meaningful to communities near the demonstration forests. In addition to this, we would be storing more carbon in our forests, thus improving our climate crisis response. Refocusing these priorities will strengthen local economies by enhancing recreation opportunities and providing many more jobs than with current forest management practices, through true restoration and research projects. Thank you for taking the time to consider my comments.
