Take Action! CAL FIRE announced on Monday, October 17th that timber operations would resume in the controversial Caspar 500 Timber Harvest Plan (THP) located in Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF). The plan has been at the center of over two years of protest in the state-owned timberland located in Mendocino County. As originally proposed, the plan would cut down large, second growth redwood trees, add new roads, harm a Native American sacred site, and impact a popular hiking trail. Such a plan would have been horrifying on a private industrial forest, let alone on State lands.
Due to years of sustained public outcry, CAL FIRE announced last year 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 in Caspar. But now, without coming to an agreement with the Tribes or writing a new Management Plan, CAL FIRE has announced that it will move forward with this controversial plan.
The Save Jackson Coalition is holding a rally tomorrow, Thursday October 20th, in Fort Bragg in order to protest the resumption of logging and the fact that CAL FIRE is proceeding without the consent of the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians. Not only is this resumption of logging a betrayal of the negotiations entered into between the Tribe and the State, but this notice also comes at the end of October close to the start of the wet weather period in Northwest California.
Logging in the rain is dangerous and negatively impacts the salmon-bearing streams of JDSF. Use of heavy equipment on dirt logging roads in the rain will pollute Caspar Creek, a salmon-bearing stream, with sediment pollution which negatively impacts these vital, endangered fish. CAL FIRE’s own forest practice rules require logging to be curtailed during the wet weather period. Why is CAL FIRE in such a hurry to restart logging right before the wet weather period begins? It would seem that they are bowing to pressure from timber companies to resume logging in this State-owned land for their benefit, rather than listening to the public and the Tribe who have been advocating for our public lands to be put to better uses.
We need you to write to the CAL FIRE decision makers who have decided to resume logging and urge them to stop. This is necessary to protect endangered coho salmon, Native American heritage, large redwood trees, and so many more amazing qualities of this forest that should be protected rather than sacrificed for the sake of logging.