I apologize for possibly duplicating this message, but I sent it before using an old email address of mine that is likely to be caught be spam filters, so it may not have reached you. Sorry.
I have some great news! The pressure is building on the California Board of Forestry to severely restrict clearcutting in Jackson State Forest, our 50,000-acre redwood forest located just four hours from San Francisco and Sacramento.
You can add to this pressure by sending your letter to the Board:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/alternative_g
If you haven't already done so, please help to save our publicly owned redwood forest!! Sending this prepared, editable letter will take only a few moments of your time.
In the latest development, the Board of Supervisors of Mendocino County, where Jackson Forest is located, unanimously voted on June 26, 2007 to support the position that clearcutting should be minimized and only done for clearly justified scientific research or forest health. They voted to tell the Board of Forestry to incorporate the recommendations of a Mendocino working group into Alternative G. The Campaign to Restore Jackson State Forest was intimately involved in the creation of these recommendation and their incorporation into public policy.
Here's more on the recommendations just endorsed by the Mendocino Supervisors: Last Summer, four senior members of the Mendocino County timber industry began meeting regularly with me and a representative of the Sierra Club. Our working group's goal, endorsed by the head of California's forestry department and the Board of Forestry, was to come to consensus agreement on a plan for Jackson State Forest. Our working group published our consensus recommendations on November 30, 2007.
Our recommendations would change the mission of Jackson Forest from solely timber production to research, restoration, habitat, and education. Timber harvesting in the forest, which would finance operations and repair past damage, would be carefully designed and implemented to maintain and improve forest health. Perhaps most importantly, a public advisory committee would become actively involved in design of a new long-term landscape plan and management plan for the forest.
Since that time our working group has been negotiating with the state to follow our consensus roadmap to resuming operation of our public redwood forest, where all operations have been halted by lawsuits since 2001.
The result is the new "Alternative G" for Jackson State Forest recently released by the Board of Forestry for public comment. This alternative incorporates many of the recommendations of the working group. Unfortunately, it falls short in a number of important respects -- most importantly it fails to minimize and require explicit justification and review for any clearcuts.
In a recent letter, the Mendocino working group emphasized its recommendation that clearcut variations be limited to the minimum that can be justified for forest research and forest health. The limited clearcuts allowed under this proposal would allow the forest to fulfill its research goals without detracting from the important goals of restoration, wildlife, recreation, and human enjoyment.
Please tell the Board of Forestry to support the recommendations of the Mendocino County working group. Send a letter quickly and easily at:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/alternative_g
Please forward this message to family and friends along with a personal message. My experience is that most of the letters will come from personal referrals.
We are very close to achieving the victory for the forest that thousands of us have been working to achieve for nearly a decade. Please help us and our forest by taking a few moments to send your letter. You will have my sincere appreciation.
Sincerely,
Vince
Vince Taylor
Executive Director
Campaign to Restore Jackson State Redwood Forest
PS: Learn more about the history and recent developments in the Campaign:
http://www.jacksonforest.org/
To find out how to postal mail your own letter, go to:
http://www.jacksonforest.com/EIR3/send_comment.htm
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