A conservationist’s perspective on Jackson State Forest

I have recently read articles on the campaign to set aside 20,000 acres of Jackson Demonstration State Forest as a forest preserve. As a person who has spent 40 years working as both a land conservation professional and forester, I’d like to share my thoughts on the campaign.

On the JDSF’s mission and role: The legislative intent in establishing JDSF was to use its 48,000-plus acres to demonstrate various approaches to managing a working forest to benefit forest landowners, forest managers and the public.

JDSF is a working laboratory that provides important research and demonstrates methods to reduce sediment delivery to creeks, the impacts of forest management on subsurface hydrology and the application of silvicultural methods on forest growth. I know of no other place in the state where this kind of critical applied research is consistently occurring.

I currently work with landowners to re-establish old growth/late seral forests, but we’re finding that leaving them alone fails to reduce fuel loads and build critical forest resiliency. Ironically, active forest management in preserves, including removing the understory, prescribed burning and conservative thinnings are being applied to preserve the preserves. We have a lot to learn about forest stewardship in the age of climate change and catastrophic fire, and this is where JDSF can play a critical role by demonstrating the most effective approaches.

On JDSF’s forest management practices: To suggest that JDSF is destroying critical Redwood forest is fundamentally inaccurate. JDSF has been transformed from a forest that was overcut and depleted resource to a vibrant working forest that focuses not just on timber management, but building forest resiliency, improving and protecting wildlife habitat, riparian corridors and providing recreational opportunities. Simultaneous to the management of its timber resource, JDSF has restored non-timber resources including:

• 76 Northern Spotted Owl “Activity Centers”

• 459 acres of old-growth reserves

• Thousands of old-growth trees (reserved via a no-cut policy)

• 12,234 acres of forestland managed primarily for nontimber values

It is critically important to understand the public involvement in JDSF’s forest management. Five different agencies, including the California Department Fish and Wildlife and the Regional Water Quality Board need to approve each Timber Harvest Plan that is submitted by JDSF, which also entails review of requisite wildlife, plant and archaeological surveys. Equally important is the input from JDSF’s Advisory Group and the JDSF Recreation Task Force. Composition of both of these groups is made of a broad spectrum of community members.

Regarding the economic benefits: At the same time that JDSF provides the aforementioned non-economic benefits, it also provides a significant amount of both direct and indirect employment. In the last ten years, timber harvesting has provided jobs for some 1,300 people and, annually, JDSF employs 20 fulltime staff and six to 10 parttime staff.

In addition, Mendocino County benefits directly by receiving about $500,000 dollars annually from timber taxes.

Unlike the wonderful state parks in Mendocino County, which are funded via tax revenues and have a huge amount of deferred maintenance, JDSF is a real bargain for us taxpayers. Timber sale revenues enable JDSF to not only actively maintain its roads to prevent soil erosion and sediment delivery to creeks, but also maintain its recreational trails, which are free for public use.

It is critically important to understand the public involvement in JDSF's forest management. Five different agencies, including the California Department Fish and Wildlife and the Regional Water Quality Board need to approve each Timber Harvest Plan that is submitted by JDSF, which also entails review of requisite wildlife, plant and archaeological surveys. Equally important is the input from JDSF's Advisory Group and the JDSF Recreation Task Force.

On the role of state parks and national forests in Mendocino County and in the state: Mendocino County is blessed with about 24,000 acres of state park lands, including old-growth reserves at Montgomery Woods and Hendy Woods. In addition, the Mendocino National Forest contains 913,306 acres of land, including 180,000 acres of the Yolo Bolly Wilderness Area, with the remaining acreage for all intents and purposes not managed for timber production. Stepping outside our county, there are approximately 243,000 acres of coastal Redwood state parks — stretching from the Oregon border all the way to Monterey County. These fabulous assets have already been set aside for the public, belying the need for further preserves.

Decades ago, conservationist, forester and author of a “Sand County Almanac,” Aldo Leopold, advocated for treating our natural resources not just as a commodity, but as a community of which humans were only a part. He saw this “land ethic” as a process; not something that can be reached with finality.

I believe that JDSF is modeling this approach via its forest stewardship. It could generate much more revenue from timber sales, but it has elected — to all our benefit — to temper commoditization with other human and natural values.

I respectfully submit that JDSF is working well, and that we not fix what isn’t broken.

Roger Sternberg has served as the Pacific Forest Trust’s Forestland Conservation Director and the Mendocino Land Trust’s Executive Director. He is a Registered Professional Forester and consults with nonprofit organizations, governmental agencies and forest landowners on land conservation and forestry projects.