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What the Campaign Has Accomplished |
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The Campaign to Restore Jackson State Redwood Forest began operations in March of 2000. Recent Accomplishments: please see our summary of news developments. Third Year Accomplishments (to November 2002) On March 20, 2002, the state agreed to halt all logging in Jackson State Forest until a new management plan and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) are approved. This is a complete legal victory for the Campaign. Without this lawsuit, the state would still be logging Jackson State under the long-outdated 1983 Management Plan. The resolution, initiated by local timber mills and logging companies, provided the Campaign with an opportunity to show the politicians of Mendocino County that Jackson State Forest could no longer be quietly turned over to timber interests. More than 500 letters in opposition were sent to the county supervisors, and sixty-five people, most of which had to take a full afternoon off from work, attended the meeting on March 12. Although the final resolution did endorse continued logging, the supervisors also for the first time recognized that recreation and wildlife should be given balanced consideration.
The Campaign’s opposition to the timber-sponsored county resolution spawned a major debate over the future of Jackson State in local newspapers. Almost every issue of the papers since Spring has contained an opinion article or one or more letters on Jackson State. Two years ago, most people on the Mendocino Coast knew nothing about Jackson State. Now almost everyone does, and the more people that know, the stronger grows support for restoration of Jackson State. A total of 4800 public comments were submitted supporting restoration and opposing the clearcut-heavy CDF Plan. Less than 50 comments supported the plan. More than 300 multi-page comments from government agencies and private experts documented deficiencies in the EIR. In contrast, not a single public comment was received on the previous, 1983 management plan. We are confident that the court will uphold our suit, forcing significant revisions in the EIR. Without a legally valid EIR, the new management plan cannot be legally approved.
Second Year Accomplishments (2001) In 2001 we had success in court, grew 225% in membership, released sensitive CDF documents to the public, and more… In issuing the injunction Judge Henderson of the Superior Court of Mendocino County fully supported the Campaign’s contention that further logging under the outdated 1983 Management Plan was illegal and threatened substantial, irreparable environmental harm. The injunction continued for a second year an effective moratorium on new logging sales in Jackson State. Last year the initial filing of our lawsuit deterred the California Department of Forestry (CDF) from filing any new timber harvest plans. In response to the injunction, CDF released a draft management plan for Jackson State. The necessary Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the plan has still not been released as of this writing (March 2002). NEWS FLASH UPDATE: March 20, 2002. Lawsuit settled – state agrees to
halt all logging in Jackson State Forest until a new management plan
and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) are approved. This is a complete
legal victory for the Campaign. The Campaign grew its active membership from 600 to 1500+, created and distributed a regular newsletter, published articles in newspapers and in newsletters of other organizations, conducted a Town Hall Meeting on the draft management plan, conducted monthly hikes through the forest, enlisted the support of 57 businesses, made direct mailings to 1,350 members, and created a library of hiking maps and information concerning the forest.
The Campaign developed its website into a major repository of information on Jackson State and Campaign activities. The site contains comprehensive information on the Campaign’s lawsuit, CDF logging operations and plans, the history of JSF, recreation opportunities, and the case for restoring the forest. Documentation was published in local newspapers, Campaign Update, and the newsletters of collaborating organizations. These documents show that CDF harvested timber beyond the legal maximum, failed to validate the inventory measurements on which harvests are based, and denied internal requests in 1994 for more resources to update the 1983 management plan. Starting in September 2000, the 70 employees of Forests Forever made restoration of Jackson State Forest to old growth the sole focus of their door-to-door and telephone outreach efforts throughout the Bay Area and beyond.
First Year Accomplishments (2000)
Our lawsuit, filed in June, deterred CDF from initiating any new logging operations in 2000. In the prior four years, 137 million board feet of trees were cut from this public forest.
CDF has been able to log Jackson Forest with impunity for fifty years because "Jackson State is the forest no one knows." To dispel public ignorance, the Campaign:
The Campaign let CDF and our state legislators know that the public wants Jackson Forest to benefit the public, not the timber industry:
The most powerful lever for change is a fully articulated vision of a restored old-growth Jackson Forest and the public benefits that will flow from it. To help develop this vision, the Campaign hosted a two-day conference on The Restoration of Coastal Redwood Forests: Jackson State Demonstration Forest.
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