Cal Fire’s Proposed Changes to Caspar 500 Too Little, Too Late
Too little, too late. This was the consensus at the most recent board meeting of the Mendocino Trail Stewards regarding Cal Fire’s proposed changes to the Caspar 500 Timber Harvest Plan (THP). The alternative plan was unveiled at the latest Jackson Advisory Group (JAG) meeting on May 2nd. The scaled back version would change 75 acres of the plan from commercial timber harvest to “non-commercial fuel reduction treatment - cutting of less than 11-inch diameter trees and vegetation.” The popular “Parallel” and “Jackaroo” trails are located within this 75-acre area, as are the two giant second-growth redwoods that activists have defended since last spring, known as the Mama and Papa Trees. Another old favorite of activists, a tree they call Gemini, would be spared by shortening the logging road that would have taken it out. An additional facet of the revised plan would involve identifying and retaining a number of “Potential Elder Trees” (P.E.T.’s) on the landscape “for ecological and carbon sequestration/storage purpose.” Click here to read Cal Fire’s description of the proposed changes.
The Mendocino Trail Stewards appreciate Cal Fire’s willingness to compromise. We feel the proposed changes are a good start, but we cannot support them, for the following reasons:
JAG meetings are not a respectful stakeholder process. Instead of a roundtable discussion with all concerned groups present, mediated by an outside facilitator, Cal Fire is in control. There are multiple barriers to public participation in these meetings, as stated in a recent letter from the Coalition to save Jackson. Read the letter here:Jackson Coalition Ltr on JAG Process.docx
One of the biggest barriers is the time of the meetings. Most are conducted during the workweek, the most recent one being on a Monday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
The May 2nd meeting included a presentation on the Caspar Creek Watershed study and a look at planned improvements on Blue Gum Trail (aka EZ In). Unfortunately, many members of the public could not physically negotiate the trails to get to the locations where important discussions took place.
The many handouts presented at the meeting were not made available to the public ahead of time, as they would be during a typical public meeting such as a city council meeting. Giving informed public comment on the fly is not an easy task. Furthermore, the deadline to submit public comment via email prior to the meeting was April 28th, a week before these documents were distributed in any form.
The JAG meetings typically move to different locations throughout the day, however, no map is provided, and the directions are unclear. According to the agenda, the second part of the latest meeting was to be held at “The Caspar Watershed Area.” Most people are not going to forego four paid work hours to try and catch the last half of the meeting by searching for some vague location.
Second growth redwoods should remain standing. The Mendocino Trail Stewards maintain that the state of California should not be in the business of selling second growth redwood trees, of which only 2% remain. Although the P.E.T. strategy appears to be an improvement from business as usual, this plan would still allow for the harvesting of those second growth trees, and the amount of lumber removed would not be decreased. We believe Cal Fire can and should find a way to return the money to the lumber mills for the THPs which have already been sold.
Tribal issues are far from resolved. At the May 2nd JAG meeting, the JAG tribal relations subgroup (formed in November 2021) presented some hopeful recommendations for supporting tribal co-management of JDSF. While we view this as progress, serious concerns remain regarding Cal Fire’s treatment of Pomo sacred sites, not only in Caspar 500, but also in Soda Gulch and the proposed Gulch 16 THP.
At the JAG meeting, activists echoed the concerns of The Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians regarding these sites and repeated their call for a moratorium while Coyote Valley is in government-to-government consultations with the State. For more detailed information on this topic, check out this press release from Redwood Nation Earth First!
A moratorium is needed. We continue to ask for a moratorium on all commercial logging and road building, and any other operation that puts cultural sites at risk, until the above issues can be addressed, a new management plan is put in place and a new Environmental Impact Report is approved.
Due to the efforts of the Coalition to Save Jackson, no new timber sales will be offered in 2022. In addition, Cal Fire has allocated ten million dollars for the Demonstration Forests this year – “to ensure adequate funding to meet the community, tribal and the State’s expectations” and to make needed improvements – and they have proposed an additional ten million for next year. This is a historic first, says Cal Fire, as the operations of these forests have in the past relied on money from timber sales. Nonetheless, Cal Fire insists on forging ahead with the Caspar 500 THP, as State Forest Program Manager Kevin Conway put it, “in some way, shape or form.” Operations are expected to resume in mid June or July.
Meanwhile, the people’s moratorium on logging continues, and we will continue working toward passing legislation to change the mandate of JDSF from timber harvest to recreation, carbon sequestration, ecosystem restoration, and cultural preservation, with tribal co-management.
As longtime forest activist Bill Heil put it, “We’re sailing against the tide until we change the mandate about what Jackson Forest is here for, which is to really be a research and demonstration forest. It doesn’t say a research and demonstration tree farm or log producer. It says forest. And forest means more than the trees.”
Read more: Press Democrat: Cal Fire Seeks Agreement with Activists, Tribe in Jackson Demonstration State Forest
By Lynne Paschal