(Ed. Note: The following is the introduction to a planfor the Mendocino National Forest, submitted to the CAFA for possible inclusion in the Ancient Forest Protection Act .)
The following narrative journey through the Mendocino National Forest is one of love, one of great pain, and one of fitful hope.
This is a place that provided for humans abundantly, with every need Ñfood of every description, legendary game herds, salmon and steelhead; shelter; clothing; hot baths, cool showers; from its climax in the South Yolla Bolly Mountains to Snow Mountain and Goat Mountain near Clear Lake.
The Mendocino's unique ecosystem diversity sustained a wide range of wildlife species including elk, grizzly bear, gray wolf, and wolverine. The north and northeast portions of the Forest were dominated by dense stands of mixed conifers, while white and red fir forests prevailed at higher elevations. The drier southern slopes supported a rich blend of oak and chaparral with mixed conifers on north and east-facing slopes. The central core of the Forest, marked by magnificent north/south trending ridges, was once a lush perennial grassland - with mixed oak and conifer forests sloping off in all directions. The Forest streams were graced with abundant salmon and steelhead runs.
This was never a wilderness fortress. The gentle eastern foothills and the broad river canyons of the Eel, Grindstone and Thomes Creeks mingled with the surrounding valley farms and ranches.
But it is obviously a mistake to be so accessible. The indigenous Yuki, who had lived exclusively in the valleys of the Mendocino National Forest for at least 5,000 years, were virtually exterminated by the first white settlers within two decades. Herds of sheep, goats, and then cattle brought in by ranchers attracted to the areas's legendary rangeland, decimated the forest's extensive perennial grasslands. Vast areas of what has been called the world's finest summer range are now "erosional pavement" with no vegetation at all.
In the early 1900's small scale logging began. By the 1950's, the Forest Service, under pressure from large timber companies, began to road and log the best timberlands. Today, logging roads invade nearly every corner of the Forest that supports even marginal timber stands. Once majestic forests are now described as "open areas with clusters of pole-size trees." The Draft Forest Plan describes the "poorly stocked stand condition that now exists over much of the Forest" and attributes this to the "cumulative effect of past timber harvesting practices."
Despite this plundering, the Forest Service, again at the reckless urging of the timber industry, plans continued logging of the remaining unprotected old growth, even while faced with the shattered ruins of this bankrupt practice.
The bitter irony is that National Forests were originally set aside as reserves specifically to wrest them from the short-sighted, exploitative practice of the large timber companies, so they could be used and enjoyed by the general public in perpetuity. Through political maneuvering, deceit, and ignorance, these forests are now managed almost entirely to benefit the timber industry.
The Ancient Forest Reserve System encompasses three fourths of the Mendocino National Forest. We are proud of this bold recommendation and feel that it re-establishes the spirit of the National Forest Reserve System as it was originally conceived 100 years ago. The boundaries of the Mendocino National Forest, established in 1907, protected the naturally shifting mosiac of its varied and interdependent ecosystems. Those boundaries made sense then, and they make even more sense today.
This naturally shifting landscape mosaic on the Mendocino is the result of broad variations in elevation, moisture, exposure, and soil types. The old growth conifer stands, in particular, were naturally fragmented by these conditions, and so rarely stretched ridge after ridge. Forty years of accelerated logging and road building has so disrupted this forest cover that no large intact old growth conifer stands exist outside of the Yolla Bolly Wilderness. Old growth is now an extemely rare successional stage of forest type on the Mendocino, and its many dependent wildlife species are in danger of extinction.
The only biologically viable conservation strategy for protecting the fragmented ancient forest ecosystems on the Mendocino is to preserve most of the remnant old growth and associated forests (however small) in large ecologically diverse core reserves connected by riparian and ridgetop corridors. These corridors will allow for the migration and dispersal of native wildlife and vegetation. We submit this proposal with the optimism that these remnant ancient forest, along with the Wilderness areas and the roadless areas, protected and nurtured, will be the germ from which this once magnificent forest can be restored.
The Forest Service was unable to provide timber volume figures affected by this proposal in part because of the newly designated HCA's. Undoubtedly this proposal would dramatically reduce the amount of logging allowed on the Forest. Mills in the surrounding community, and in fact whole communities, were built around unrealistic and downright deceitful promises of "sustainable" flows of logs from our National Forests. We can either continue to supply those mills and communities for another five or ten years, and utterly eliminate the remaining old growth and reasonable sound residual forests before facing mill closures, or we can face mill closures now while there is still a chance to restore and preserve our National Forest heritage. It is simply a question of courage. We either pass the buck to some future Congress, or we deal creatively and sympathetically with loggers, mill workers, and their families now by providing retraining programs, funded restoration programs, and the like. Waiting will not make it easierÑnot on Congress, not on workers, and especially not on the forest.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2004
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