Clearcutting is proceeding at an all-time high on industry-owned forestlands; and as corporate timber "inventories" dwindle, their resource managers are developing strategies to woo small timberland owners into allowing them to clearcut their under-mature forests, too. A state-wide voter initiative is probably the only quick way to stop clearcutting, since the legislature appears hopeless at this time. But the obstacles to passing such an initiative are formidable.
To have any chance of success, the initiative must be narrowly focused and must not eliminate the logging industry, just bring to an end the boom-bust cycle of current forest practices. Such an initiative would not save entire groves of old growth. Efforts to preserve old growth through public acquisition would still be necessary.
What the initiative could do is to guarantee that private timberlands will be selectively cut in such a way that natural regeneration can occur. It would stop "plantation" forestry, which is a recipe for forest depletion and species extinction. It would stop the "take-all" waferboard strategy of Louisiana-Pacific and others. It would provide a precedent for mandated selective cutting which could help efforts in other states and in the national forests.
A serious proposal for a statewide ballot initiative to "Ban Clearcutting in California" is igniting enthusiasm among a growing number of Northcoast forestry activists. Several groups are meeting to develop draft language which will be circulated among forestry activists and professionals for feedback and modification. The proposal will then be taken to statewide organizations for their response - groups such as the Planning and Conservation League, Sierra Club, and Audubon. If agreement can be reached on content, process, etc., then endorsements and co-sponsorship will be sought. One statewide organization will be asked to coordinate the initiative campaign, as we clearly lack the resources to wage it from northern California.
The idea for such an initiative grew out of a proposal being circulated by the Northcoast Greens. They proposed a broader, more visionary initiative for "Forest Sanctuary" which would involve such things as a bond act and use of eminent domain to acquire corporate timberlands (now under seige) to be managed by watershed councils; as well as revisions of state forestry regulations. Some activists responded by saying that while a ballot initiative for Forest Sanctuary could help catalyze bold new thinking on sustainable forestry issues, passage is politically unfeasible this time. Many supported the idea of a separate bond act to purchase remnants of ancient forests now on the cutting block, but there are concerns about the complexity of defining terms and setting dollar amounts.
A ban on clearcutting is the main issue which all parties to the dialogue, to date, have agreed must be put on the ballot. However, research is being done on the feasibility of adopting a new set of forestry regulations based on existing rules in the "southern sub-district of the North Coast" which include counties from Marin to Santa Cruz. These rules have eliminated clearcutting in these counties and go a long way towards insuring a sustained yield of forest resources.
There are several critical advantages to basing the initiative on language that the Board of Forestry is already using. Rather than concocting a regulatory approach on our own, we are merely broadening rules which the Board of Forestry has already written. This gives the initiative a legitimacy and authority it would otherwise lack. It also gives some assurance that the rules are workable and won't have unforeseen defects that make them unreasonable or unenforceable. Environmental organizations across the state will need to know this.
This initiative would certainly reduce the rate of timber cutting, but it wouldn't close down the industry. Annual logging volume on private land might fall by 25-40%. (A more reliable estimate should be developed). Timber companies would be able to extract fewer trees per acre, but would partly be compensated by the increasing value of redwood lumber which is only produced in California. As supplies of all timber types decline, the value of saw timber capable of producing board lumber will go up dramatically.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2003
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