The first time the Supervisors set a meeting to consider the FAC, the tiny meeting room in the Veteran's Hall of Ukiah was so small that almost as many people were left standing outside as were able to crowd inside. This meeting could not go on and had to be rescheduled. The second meeting, in Crown Hall of Ft. Bragg, had enough seating to handle an audience of considerable size, had one shown up, but it didn't. It is still fair to say, though, that at each of the first two meetings, the yellow ribbon contingent outnumbered everyone else by about ten to one. But I digress.
The Ft. Bragg meeting proved to be largely a waste of time. Somehow, the purpose of the meeting was changed. Instead of hearing the FAC proposal itself, the meeting was mostly dedicated to hearing complaints about the proposal from a yellow ribbon minority contingent of the FAC members. This seemed to produce a great deal of confusion and frustration. In the first place, it only makes sense to hear a proposal before hearing comments about it. Secondly, many of the comments contained erroneous assumptions about the FAC proposal and were therefore misleading or inappropriate. Thirdly, the rising sense of frustration and confusion seemed to delight the yellow ribbon contingent, as if this degenerated state of affairs was somehow a victory for them. The only bright spot of the day was a talk delivered by Dave Hope about logging under the southern sub-district rules of Santa Cruz County. This talk, like the others, had little to do with presenting the FAC proposal, but at least it injected a taste of soberness and reality into what was otherwise fast becoming a hysterical and unruly proceeding.
The third FAC meeting at the City Hall in Ukiah was well attended and, for once, the yellow ribbon contingent was only about half of the crowd. This crowd composition resulted in a calm and respectful atmosphere for the meeting, but the FAC proposal was still not heard. More comments about the proposal were heard instead. And again, without knowing the proposal itself, many of these comments were uninformed and misguided. Of course, knowing what's in the FAC proposal is not necessarily going to change the content of some of these comments, even though it should.
It's obvious that there is a lot more going on around the FAC process than meets the eye. Depletion is the problem the FAC is supposed to address. Over two and a half years ago the Board of Supervisors established the FAC to advise the county on the depletion of the county's standing timber volume, depletion of the the county's natural forest ecosystems, depletion of the number of jobs and depletion of the timber-based economy. The FAC's work took two and a half years largely because of stonewalling from the yellow ribbon contingent. Unbelievable as this may sound, the first year and a half was consumed in overcoming the yellow ribbon denials that depletion exists! The committee then entertained various ideas for solving the depletion problem and was forced, during the whole of this process, to scrap, slash and compromise one proposal after another for the sake of the yellow ribbon contingent of the committee. And finally, the FAC was able to come forward with a proposal for the Board of Supervisors to consider. This proposal is about as watered down and compromised as it can be and still be able to address the forest depletion problem in Mendocino County. The FAC proposal would, after a generous phase in period, halt the depletion, and over a very long period of time, bring about the regeneration of timber volume that this county so badly needs.
The specifics of the FAC's proposal, however, seem to be merely a side issue in the public debate. There are many who are simply opposed to any sort of regulation of the timber industry, regardless of the reason for it. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the whole of the FAC proceedings over the past years was being used by the yellow ribbon contingent as nothing more than a stall tactic in order to continue depletion-business as usual for as long as possible. Now that the FAC is concluding its work, the yellow ribbon crowd is trying go back to square one and pretend that the FAC process never happened, or at least that nothing significant occurred there. Rather than discuss the end product of over two years worth of work, the yellow ribbons would rather discuss about anything else, including: their own alternative proposal, anyone else's alternative proposal, issues that have already been adequately dealt with by the FAC, lies, misinformation, or even the weather. This is all just more stall tactic.
The real issue, behind the FAC proposal, is that the rule of King Timber is finally coming to an end in Mendocino County. This tyrannical rule should have been brought down years ago, before the county's forests had been turned into a national sacrifice area, before the massive mill closures and layoffs, before the timber-based economy became sluggish and weak, before the forested ecosystems were degraded and before the hoards of the expanding civilization were massed on the boarder and ready to turn abandoned forestland into condos and vineyards. In spite of all this, the yellow ribbon forces are still loyal to King Timber and are not quite ready to accept the control of government by democracy. The yellow ribbon forces hold fast to the company line even though the world-wide corporations, who together are King Timber, would continue to suck the trees, the profits, the jobs and the life from their county and from their families. They know that continued depletion of the timber volume leads only down a dead end road, but still they resist regulation that would stop the depletion.
But, depletion is not an issue that only effects the yellow ribbon crowd. It effects all of us. It's about our homes, our jobs, our families, our community and our way of life. That's why our attendance at the FAC hearings is so vitally important. These hearings are not just about timber. They are about our lives and about our future. As for logging; there is a way to do logging that does not involve continued depletion. There is a way to do logging that involves the restoration of ecosystems and the regeneration of timber volume upon which our rural lifestyles and our local economy so heavily depend. Adopting the FAC proposal is one way to bring about such logging. Leaving the decision to King Timber is not.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2004
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