Board of Forestry approves new management plan for Jackson State Forest

On January 9, 2008, the California Board of Forestry voted 8 to 1 to approve a new management plan for Jackson State Forest.

The new plan incorporates all of the amendments to the draft of the management plan asked for by the Mendocino Working Group, an advisory board consisting of community and industry representatives.

The board also approved, 8 to 1, the new Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for Jackson Forest. The absense of a valid EIR for the forest has meant that logging has been halted there since the previous EIR was declared illegal by the courts in 2003. (Forests Forever was a party to the lawsuit that resulted in the previous EIR being thrown out.)

Earlier this year, Forests Forever and other groups concerned about clearcut logging in Jackson State Redwood Forest urged the California Department of Forestry and the Board of Forestry to revise Alternative G in the draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) the state was proposing for the new management plan for the forest. Conservationists particularly objected to the amount of clearcutting permitted by Alternative G.

In October, the board voted to support a revised Alternative G to the draft EIR that is based on a consensus plan supported by the Campaign to Save Jackson State Redwood Forest, the Sierra Club, and the Mendocino Working Group, an advisory council of conservationists and timber industry representatives.

This new alternative contains, among other provisions, strong safeguards against clearcutting, a major goal of Forests Forever and the other groups working to protect Jackson Forest.

Another key provision of the revised alternative G is the establishment of an outside advisory committee. At its Jan. 9 meeting, the board established an advisory committee, the Jackson Advisory Group. The 14-member committee will consist of scientists, timber industry representatives, conservationists, environmentalists, and recreation interests. The majority of its members will be from the Mendocino community. The board is calling for nominations to the advisory committee.

The new management plan gives review authority over all timber harvest plans to the Jackson Advisory Group. The group will work with the general public and the Jackson Forest staff to prepare a long range landscape plan for the forest, covering timber harvesting, forest and stream restoration, and recreation. During a three-year interim period while these issues are being worked out, timber harvesting in the forest will be limited to what is necessary to fund forest operations.

Timber production will no longer be defined as the main purpose of the forest. Instead, Jackson will be managed for research, wildlife habitat, restoration, and recreation. Timber harvest will fund the management of Jackson, but projects will only be considered in terms of the other uses of the forest.

The Campaign to Save Jackson Redwood Forest has more news on its website.