Editior's Note
The early part of this decade witnessed the strongest housing market and the highest demand for softwood building products in recent memory. Today, in the midst of recession and the collapse of housing prices, we are experiencing a period where the price of Douglas-fir sawlogs is too low to justify the cost of harvest. These forces have the potential to fragment the North Coast's forested land base as timberland owners facing increasing financial distress find themselves considering alternatives to timber production. (read more)

Community-based Forestry: Legitimacy and Stability for PL Lands
In January of 2007, Pacific Lumber Company (PL), through its two components, Scotia Pacific and Palco, filed for Chapter 11 protection from its creditors. I doubt anyone local needs a detailed depiction of how PL had treated its 217,000 acres of timberland during the preceding 22 years after its takeover by Houston-based Maxxam Corporation. If you set out to identify Community Forestry by what it absolutely is not, you might create a scenario like the one that actually developed between late 1985 and early 2007. (read more)

Community-based Forestry: Community Restoration Begets an Approach to Community Forestry
When the Mattole Restoration Council was founded in 1983, it grew out of the founders' realization that salmon don't just live in rivers, they live in watersheds. What's more, those watersheds aren't just made up of forests, prairies, and wildlife--they are home to people, too, the only species able to make a conscious effort on the salmon's behalf. For any restoration effort to gain traction and staying power, it would need to be rooted in an approach that invited all landowners and residents to participate in whatever way they could: a community-wide approach to restoration. (read more)

Community-based Forestry: Why Community Forestry? And Why Now?
"Community-based forestry (CBF) is a participatory approach to forest management that strengthens communities' capacity to build vibrant local economies-while protecting and enhancing their local forest ecosystems. By integrating ecological, social, and economic components into cohesive approaches to forestry issues, community-based approaches give local residents both the opportunity and the responsibility to manage their natural resources effectively and to enjoy the benefits of that responsibility." (read more)

Wildfire Effects: Fire and Hydrophobic Soils
As I tap away at my computer keys, the sun outside once again filters through the trees. Weather forecasts predict rain this coming weekend, but to date (nearly the end of October) we have had at most one inch of precipitation in the Santa Cruz Mountains. That first rain event led to Reverse 911 calls to downstream residents of the 4,000 acre Summit Fire, warning of potential flooding, debris flows and torrents, and hazardous road conditions. Of course, once the rains begin in earnest and the bare hillsides mobilize, hazards to our threatened steelhead and endangered coho salmon populations will be imminent as well. (read more)

Diggin' In: The Gienger Report
I've been wondering how to approach the topic of "Community Forests," or "Community Forestry," and/or "Community-based Forestry" for this edition of Forest & River News. A summary of some of my regularly covered topics will follow my thoughts on community connected forests. Included in this article are descriptions of a specific community-based forest organization, the Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc. (RFFI), and a specific community-based forest owned by RFFI, the Usal Redwood Forest. (read more)

North Coast Living: A 22-year Long Creek Restoration Concluded
Bill Eastwood and Harry Vaughn are men who take the long view. This past week, they put the finishing touches on an environmental problem that Eastwood says dates back to 1965. (read more)

Spreading Awareness about Conservation of Indigenous Lands
Two documentaries which feature the cultural land conservation work of InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council have involved recent visits to Sinkyone land, where filmmakers interviewed Tribal community members and filmed restoration projects on InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness land and in the adjacent Sinkyone Wilderness State Park. (read more)

Cereus Fund 2008
With sincere gratitude and deep appreciation for your continued support... (read more)