Posted 7/09/02

The California Department of Forestry (CDF) is rushing to resume massive logging in Jackson State Redwood Forest. The proposed plan calls for clear-cutting one half of the forest, which is owned by the citizens of California.

The deadline for sending comments regarding the proposed plan and accompanying Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is July 15. To submit comments to the governor and CDF, go to http://jacksonforest.com/EIR/eir_top.htm and follow the instructions.

"This EIR and the management plan that goes with it would place a state seal of approval on the destructive logging CDF has been doing at Jackson," said Paul Hughes, Forests Forever executive director. "The EIR essentially makes a case that the cutting is not harmful. In reality, it is a heavy blow to wildlife and water quality."

Background:

Located only three hours north of the Golden Gate Bridge, Jackson is the largest of eight state-owned forests in California. It is the only state forest that is home to a significant percentage of mature redwoods, which constitute an increasingly rare and valuable forest ecosystem for both wildlife habitat and recreation.

Unbeknownst to many Californians, CDF has for many years logged Jackson Forest, using the roughly $15 million in annual revenue to fund state programs that subsidize the timber industry. Past logging at Jackson has included large-scale clear-cutting.

The funds not only enrich CDF, but also subsidize programs to repair watershed damage on private timberlands– effectively paying many of timber owners' environmental repair costs. The monies pad the budget of an agency that environmentalists, editorial boards and the public have long criticized as operating too much on behalf of the timber industry and with too little regard for protecting natural resources.

On May 18, 2001, acting on a lawsuit brought by the Mendocino-based Campaign to Restore Jackson State Redwood Forest, the Superior Court of Mendocino County issued a Preliminary Injunction prohibiting CDF from planned logging in Jackson. On March 20, 2002, CDF settled a subsequent Campaign suit out of court and agreed to halt all logging in Jackson until the new management plan and its EIR have been approved. The injunction on logging will remain in force until then. Now is the time for the public to comment on the plan.

The draft Management Plan and EIR are available on the web at www.fire.ca.gov.

For more information on Jackson State Forest, visit: www.jacksonforest.com.