The public comment period on the long-delayed revised Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for Jackson State Forest ended on March 1, 2006, with public comments topping 6,000.
The EIR was subject to voluminous comment from experts coordinated by the Campaign to Restore Jackson State Forest, the Sierra Club, and other environmental groups detailing deficiencies of the plan. State agencies also submitted comments. The public response documents the numerous failures of the EIR to adequately describe and compare the environmental impacts of the proposed state logging plan and alternatives. See expert and agency comments at: www.jacksonforest.org.
In his comment, Vince Taylor showed conclusively that the inventory estimates used in the management plan and EIR are so greatly in error that the management plan and environmental report are invalid. Five influential members of the state Senate wrote to urge the Board of Forestry to reject the proposed management plan with its large-scale clearcutting.
Emails supporting management reform of Jackson State Forest topped 6,000. The public strongly expressed its desire to see Jackson Forest managed for ecological, recreational, and research values, not simply for timber production.
The outreach to obtain broad public comment was a joint effort of the Campaign to Restore Jackson State Forest, California Defenders of
Wildlife, the Sierra Club, Forests Forever, and numerous smaller groups and individuals.
The next step will be for the staff of the Board of Forestry to review and respond to all of the comments received. It may revise the document in light of the comments. This will likely take at least several months, given the large volume of detailed comments sent in by public experts and government agencies. The Board will then consider which of the alternatives in the plan to adopt.
If and when the environmental report is approved by the Board of Forestry, the Campaign will consider whether the legal deficiencies warrant filing a lawsuit.
Until a new environmental impact report and management plan are approved, the court-ordered halt to logging will continue.
For more information go to www.jacksonforest.org
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TOC for Forest & River News, Spring 2006