Take Action! CAL FIRE just announced that it would resume logging in Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF). Last year, protestors halted logging on four Timber Harvest Plans (THPs) located in JDSF, which would have cut down large second-growth redwoods and threatened Native American Sacred Sites.
In the midst of these protests, CAL FIRE announced that it would pause logging while discussing Co-Management agreements with the local tribes and rewriting their Management Plan. Since then, logging has been paused on JDSF. But now, without coming to an agreement with the tribes or writing a new Management Plan, CAL FIRE has announced that it will resume logging in JDSF.
Michael Hunter, chair of the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians, said he is “shocked” by the announcement, which raises doubts about the whole collaboration effort. “The State did not even bother to notify The Tribe beforehand. The State wants to continue logging our Pomo Homeland—the Jackson Demonstration State Forest—while negotiating a Co-Management Agreement with the Coyote Valley Tribe. This makes me question the State’s seriousness about Co-Managing ancestral lands. The State still does not understand that there is a difference between Co-Management and tribal consultation. Tribes must not be relegated to an advisory role in managing their ancestral lands. For Co-Management to succeed, it must be a government-to-government relationship that creates equal decision-making powers. I worry that the State does not understand the importance of the words they are using. We must ensure that Co-Management creates an equal relationship between the State and the Tribes with equal decision-making authority.”
Take action now to tell CAL FIRE to stop logging in JDSF and support the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians!