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Forests and forest histories have been an integral part of my life and consciousness since I was a child. I was raised in and around the forests along the Genesee River Gorge in upstate New York, among the Susquehanna River watersheds in Pennsylvania, in the forests and lakes of Canada's Province of Ontario, and in the hardwood and pine forests of Virginia. My public school education frequently explored the lives of Native Americans, particularly the Iroquois, Algonquin, and other Northeastern tribes who relied on the forests. Of course, the history of how the European settlers used, depleted, and transformed those same places was taught and absorbed, but was ultimately disturbing. A fascinating, albeit less emphasized topic was the notion that the forest could sustain human life while simultaneously inspire humans through its natural wonders and existence.
An especially profound experience for me was a summer I spent in Ontario lake country during my teen years. I spent my school years attending `high school USA,' where life was being relegated into this very small set of futures: prepare for college, work in a company town, enlist in the military, or god-forbid, head up some lesser life pathway. To aspire to be a farmer was less than laughable in the high schools I was familiar with. But during the summers, I spent my days as part of the staff of a canoe trip camp. It was so amazing to freely travel through forests and over lakes--lakes you could drink out of--and stay at camping places that had been camped in for millennia--to see vestiges of that life and remnants of more recent settlements and the impacts of logging and logging towns. The experience awoke in me a vague but strong desire to find a future whereby life could be lived with simple and direct relationship with the forest.
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And there we were, fall 1971, part of a modern `western tumult' traveling up Huckleberry Hill, along the Briceland and Ettersburg Roads, in the South Fork Eel River and Mattole Valleys--as a deep feeling in the pit of my stomach registered "home." The forest was young around us as we drove to our first night on the ridge between Painter and Eubanks Creeks. I turned and realized that the forest reminded me of the Pennsylvania forests of my youth, except that this part of the country hadn't been mined as well.
There followed a couple decades of getting to know "place" and searching for "right" livelihood whenever possible. Our families' best times were by the ocean, in the forest, by the streams--gathering food and materials and earning income from a wide variety of watershed restoration, building, and carpentry projects. Our years were tempered by a great sadness that so much had been lost over the last century and a half, both in our close surroundings and in the region. The people who had been an integral part of this place for millennia were mostly at a remove; the original forest was gone; and those who benefited had left for urban futures or other places; the wildlife and fisheries were a shadow of their former abundance; the land was deeply scarred, and the stability of the watersheds established over generations, though naturally affected by geological upheavals, were unnaturally disrupted--streams had become roads and roads had become streams.
These kinds of problems and circumstances were thought about and discussed around campfires at watershed restoration project sites and over kitchen tables locally and regionally. Certain actions and reactions began to manifest themselves.
Incredible efforts went into protecting the remnants and vestiges of the natural and cultural heritage of the North Coast. At the same time, the `dominant paradigm' of industrial-scale forest extraction played itself out on hundreds of thousands of acres. Dollars were squeezed out of ever smaller trees, dollars which mostly flowed to corporate headquarters in other states across the country. As predicted for decades, major companies `cut and ran,' like Louisiana-Pacific and Georgia-Pacific or just went bankrupt like Pacific Lumber/Maxxam. For the first time in over 150 years, Fort Bragg ended up with NO sawmill.
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There have been, from time to time, attempts and successful efforts to establish various types of community-based forests and forestry. Currently there are community forests in the Northeast, upper Midwest, British Columbia, and Northern California. Some are county-based, while others are municipality-based, tribally-based, or non-profit organization based. You can use your search-engines on your computer to learn a lot about what's going on. Try Arcata Community Forest, The Conservation Fund, Menomonee Tribal Forest, The Nature Conservancy, Hoopa Tribal Forest, Yurok Tribal Forest, British Columbia Community Forests, and Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc.
In the last few years, significant acreage has been acquired by non-profit organizations on the North Coast with long-term stewardship in mind. The accompanying sidebars describe RFFI's Usal Redwood Forest and the RFFI organization, which is specifically focused on establishing community-based forests and forestry.
The reality of accomplishing successful long-term sustainable community-based forests is daunting. A major high hurdle is being able to pay the debt incurred through the acquisition without resorting to the same harsh and failed techniques of the industrial model. These depleted forestlands need decades of recovery and restoration measures in order to be viable economically and environmentally. Conservation easements are crucial in paying down the debt and keeping the forestland from being lost to development. The Garcia River tract has such an easement and hopefully the Usal Redwood Forest will be able to have an easement in the near future.
In the meantime, the integration of surrounding communities into the management and restoration of the forestland is crucial--whether for fisheries habitat improvement, increasing of healthy stands of Redwoods, or recreational and cultural endeavors. Funding for these restoration measures, along with a conservation easement, are needed to bridge the decades for the forestland to become strong and healthy again. RFFI is blessed to have some good terms in their loan from the Bank of America that allow for a significant ten years or so of recovery, but the recent economic crash and the bleak outlook and current low value for Douglas-fir do not inspire optimism. We all need to do all we can NOW to make models like the Usal Redwood Forest work for future generations. Some of these perspectives will be continued next issue.
Short summaries of other issues:
Litigation is still pending over the coho salmon rules passed by the Board of Forestry and the Department of Fish & Game last year, as well as the inadequate Road Management Plan package passed by the Board of Forestry.
The pilot project for a Program Timberland Environmental Impact Report (PTEIR) for the Mattole River Watershed continues. Protections for Class III watercourses and intermittent and ephemeral streams are the current issues that are being addressed. Stay tuned to the Mattole Restoration Council website.
After many trials and tribulations relating to funding and insurance, it looks like salmon and steelhead spawning surveys will be completed this season in Anderson Creek in the Usal Redwood Forest. Hopefully such surveys will include Standley Creek as well in the upcoming year.
Clif Clendenen was elected 2nd District Supervisor in Humboldt County, joining the other new Supervisor Mark Lovelace, on the Board. There is much anticipation of assorted struggles, such as the General Plan update and building code enforcement.
Eyes are glued on the new Humboldt Redwood Company (HRC), the offshoot of the Mendocino Redwood Company, which has successfully gained control of the former Pacific Lumber/Maxxam after the complex intrigue and waste of millions of dollars in bankruptcy proceedings. HRC is dropping the annual cut to 55 million board feet per year for ten years and has an old-growth protection policy. There are still lingering controversies, such as the implementation of the old-growth policy, the use of herbicides, and what to do about Elk River and Freshwater Creek.
Part of the continuing controversy of the PL/Maxxam legacy and the new owners is the State Supreme Court decision, which emphasized the requirement of the Headwaters Deal for the former PL/Maxxam lands to have a Sustained Yield Plan (SYP). The Court ruled for EPIC, the Sierra Club, and the Steelworkers Union that there was no valid SYP. It's nice to be right, but it gets real complicated when you're vindicated ten years after the misdeed was done.
Get in touch with EPIC and Humboldt Watershed Council for the latest information on many of the above topics and other issues. Please get involved in ways that are effective and meaningful for you, and that contribute to real solutions.--rg
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The Usal Redwood forest is located in the Coastal Redwood Region of Northern California. The area was once a thriving ancient redwood and Douglas-fir forest. Overlogged for its valuable redwood, the Usal Redwood Forest is now dominated by second-growth Douglas-fir and Tanoak. It contains at least eighteen creeks and tributaries, many of which are crucial spawning and rearing habitats for listed salmon and steelhead. The area is also the historic home of Native Americans who continue to use the land for hunting, gathering, and ceremonial purposes.
The forestland of California's North Coast, outside of that owned by the federal or state governments, is held by large industrial logging companies and small non-industrial landowners. Outside of some early requirements for replanting and size limitations on cutting, there was no comprehensive regulation of logging until the passage of the Forest Practices Act of 1973. Especially adverse impacts occurred with the post-World War II logging boom and the floods of 1955 and 1964, which resulted in massive soil erosion, which was then magnified by the previous logging. The North Coast has yet to recover from this damage.
The Usal Redwood Forest was subject to the logging and impacts described above. Massive erosion and channel blockages damaged salmon and steelhead habitat, and runs have become drastically depleted. It is feared that Usal Creek has lost two of its three cohorts (age classes) of coho salmon.
Due to the nature of logging and the environmental damage which has occurred on the North Coast, communities here have been polarized around issues relating to the logging industry. Contention over land use continues. Some struggle to protect forestland regardless of the economic consequences, and some seek to exploit the forest regardless of environmental consequences.
With RFFI's purchase of the Usal Redwood Forest, there is an opportunity to restore the forestland with a program which responds to current and future needs for forest products such as fisheries, food, and building materials--both hardwoods and conifers--in an economy based on conservation rather than raw exploitation. RFFI's acquisition of the Usal Redwood Forest and their unique model for community forestry has the potential to "liberate" depleted industrial forestland and create a positive and caring relationship between people, the forest, and the life that it supports.
About the Redwood Forest Foundation
The Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc. (RFFI) is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. Its vision is to establish community-based forests that provide critical habitats for increased biodiversity and improved regional economic vitality.
RFFI's mission is to acquire, protect, restore, and manage forestlands and other related resources in the Redwood Region for the long-term benefit of the communities located there.
Millions of acres of industrial lands are sold each year in the United States. Until now, many of these timberlands have been managed to provide short-term economic gains. This has resulted in depleted forest ecosystems, leading to a contentious public debate. The ability of a non-profit corporation to purchase these forestlands will break this cycle and enhance community opportunities.
Cutover forestlands do not have the same appeal for preservation as old growth. However, they are just as important in terms of large, landscape-scale protection and restoration of habitat. The income derived from active forest management and recreational opportunities will enable RFFI to buy large forest tracts for their restoration, conservation, and open space value, and pay back the incurred debt.
RFFI is striving to create a model of "working community forests" by purchasing and sustainably managing the once great redwood forests in Northwestern California. This will perpetually benefit residents socially, environmentally, and economically, because net profits will be returned directly to the communities served.
RFFI wants its forest management practices to demonstrate respect for the integrity of forest systems. Sustainable habitat will benefit the community and forest industry by providing high quality water, air, and forest products along with the open space that North Coast residents treasure.
The jobs created by the sustained flow of forest products will provide a family-friendly income. The long-term profits will benefit the community through augmentation of existing county budgets for education, roads, and public welfare. Finally, the forest will provide a space for both young and old to enjoy in culturally diverse ways.
For more information: info@rffi.org
Since arriving in the Mattole Valley of Humboldt County in 1971, Richard Gienger has immersed himself in homesteading, forest activism, and watershed restoration. Richard's column covers a range of issues including fisheries and watershed restoration and forestry, plus describes opportunities for the public to make positive contributions in the administrative and legislative arenas as well as in their own backyards.