Should Cal Fire manage the forests?

We need the Jackson Demonstration State Forest(JDSF) mission now, more than ever. CalFire has made serious mistakes, but they are still the best suited to manage JDSF.

When it was established, the initial intent for JDSF was to do scientific research on a working redwood forest to provide the basis for demonstration so forest landowners could better manage their forests. The overriding problem in redwood forestry is that most forest landowners are disconnected from their land and from working their land. To this vast majority, forest management is an abstract concept relegated to licensed professionals, loggers, self-appointed experts, media, academics, teachers, government regulatory agencies, forest environmental activists, forest certifiers, etc. This vast majority includes large and small private redwood forest owners and the general public that owns JDSF. The latter is the largest population of redwood forest landowners in California. Our problem is vast. Being disconnected from the land and from working the land, forest landowners are limited in verifying, questioning, and discussing what they read and hear about redwood forests and forestry. This is at the heart of the impasse we are having regarding whether forest management decreases or increases fire risk and our debate about carbon sequestering. There is more than one science-based view here. JDSF is in the ideal position to address our problem, which was their mission from the beginning. This does not mean that JDSF has the definitive “settled science” on redwood forest management. Science is never settled, and inquiry, confirmation, skepticism, discussion, and experimentation are always necessary for science, or there is no science.

CalFire has made two mistakes in the management of JDSF. The first has been an inadequate long-term program of outreach and education that leaves landowners with the impression that logging is all that happens at JDSF. This can be and needs to be corrected. Outreach and education are a fundamental part of the JDSF mission. Forest landowners are interested in learning about what is going on in their forests. But they need the qualified JDSF staff to demonstrate, explain, and discuss what is going on there. This does not happen on its own. The second mistake by CalFire has been a failure to take aesthetics after logging seriously enough. There is no valid excuse for this. Forest landowners expect to see an appealing-looking forest immediately after logging, and this is entirely possible. That being said, remember the only people who don’t make mistakes are people who don’t do anything. And CalFire management of JDSF has been doing a lot of good things. Management of JDSF has, over the years, been exceptionally good. There have been many accomplishments from dedicated and high-quality staff. CalFire has taken a cutover forest and converted it into a world-class working forest, with an unmatched range of recreation opportunities enjoyed by many. Critical studies of redwood silviculture, fish, watersheds, wildlife, carbon sequestering, etc., have been conducted. Innovative silviculture has been tried and applied. The ideal Coho Salmon habitat has been fostered and created. CalFire needs credit for this. Who else could have done this better? Who else could do better moving forward when we know much more needs to be done?