Red Tail THP Ongoing Carnage
While the hotly contested Caspar500 THP has been successfully paused by forest defenders, logging has continued (not without interruption!) in the equally objectionable Red Tail THP. This plan is particularly egregious as it is completely located within an "Old Forest Development Area" (OFDA), an area legally designated to implement silvicultural practices that will enhance structural characteristics similar to older forests. However, Calfire has once again deceived the public by exceeding the OFDA allowable cut by 10-15%!
See EPICs letter on Red Tail here and take a look at the ongoing carnage... as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.
Red Tail THP ongoing carnage - pictures were taken in Winter 2021/2022
Old second growth redwoods cut in the Red Tail THP, some upwards of 6 feet in diameter! These trees cut from an Old Forest Development Area (ODFA) will no longer be offering their free-of-charge climate protection by sequestering CO2 and providing habitat to threatened biodiversity among other numerous ecosystem services.
Look at the remaining forest in the background: Does that look like Calfire has done a good job at promoting old forest structure? Nope, we don't think so either.
For an Old Forest Development Area, the forest remaining standing in the background is looking awfully spindly and young don't you think? How do you promote a forest to have old characteristics? How about for starters leaving the oldest trees standing rather than felling them. Calfire has unequivocally made the average age of this forest area YOUNGER than when it was when they started. Your tax dollars hard at work here in publicly-owned Jackson State Forest.
Everyone has a “good side” and trees do too…these big trees look better right-side up don't you agree?
Lamenting CALFIRE’s handiwork here in Jackson in this Old Forest Development Area. How do you develop an old forest if you selectively cut down all the oldest trees? That's right, you don't.
What's worse than cutting down the oldest trees in an Old Forest Development Area? Try doing that right next to an endangered Coho-bearing river! That’s right, an insult to injury is the recurring theme here in Jackson.
Both Red Tail West and East directly border the South Fork of the Noyo River. Once home to countless runs of Coho, Chinook, and Steelhead anadromous fish, these coastal rivers have been so heavily impacted by logging over the years that populations of these species are on the brink of extinction in these coastal systems. Calfire’s solution: log more.
A recent status review for the Central California Coast Coho salmon evolutionarily significant unit was conducted and found that the Noyo River population was deemed at moderate to high risk of extinction (Spence and Williams 2011).
This is why in 2012 the National Marine Fisheries Service listed the Noyo River as a Core Focus Watershed for immediate restoration for Coho recovery. Calfire’s response? Log more.
