Activists Decry Logging of Scenic State Forest

FORT BRAGG, Calif. — For years, a significant chunk of California's budget for forest restoration and protection has hinged on the logging of thousands of century-old redwoods in a state forest near the Mendocino coast.

To the chagrin of environmentalists, the scenic 50,000-acre Jackson Demonstration State Forest has been a cash cow, with woods full of 80- to 120-year-old trees generating as much as $12 million annually.

One of the few remaining public redwood forests, Jackson was established more than 50 years ago as a place for the state to experiment with sustainable forestry. The concept was to promote more environmentally friendly harvesting practices while selling felled trees to raise money for government coffers.

Two years ago the logging was stopped when environmental groups successfully argued in court that the state's management plan failed to fully account for the effects of logging on water quality and wildlife.

But the state has since updated its management plan and last month accepted a $3.4-million bid that will allow Schmidbauer Lumber Co. of Eureka to begin logging more than 400 acres in the next several weeks.

"This is a good deal for Californians," said Louis Blumberg, spokesman for the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "Especially in this time of fiscal problems."

The money from logging goes to a variety of programs; the biggest amount pays for the maintenance of state forests and firefighting. But other money goes to pay private landowners -- among them rural resorts and country clubs -- to plant lesser trees to mitigate erosion and to thin the woods on their own land.

The latter program is viewed dubiously by local activists and major environmental groups.

"We are cutting down big redwoods in one place to plant tiny trees with low survival rates in another," said Paul Hughes, executive director of Forests Forever, a San Francisco-based environmental group. "It makes no sense."

By logging redwoods, activists say, the state is sacrificing a precious scenic resource to squeeze out as much money as possible during lean budget times.

With a different forest management, "You can bring back these 100-year-old redwoods at Jackson to something approaching ancient forests," Hughes said.

California officials say they are just doing the same kind of things that the state has been doing since 1947, when it acquired the forest from the Caspar Lumber Co. and allowed logging to continue.