Breaking News: EPIC Sponsors Legislation to Conserve State Demonstration Forest System

Today on Friday, February 20th, Assemblymember Chis Rogers introduced AB 2494, a bill that would provide a transformative update to the management of California’s State Demonstration Forests by shifting the management of the forest away from industrial commercial timber production, and towards ecological restoration, climate resilience, and Tribal co-governance for more than 85,000 acres of public forestland statewide. EPIC is proud to sponsor this bill because it will qualify the 85,000 acres of state demonstration forests for the state’s goal to conserve and protect 30% of land and coastal waters by the year 2030.

This bill will include the end of the commercial logging mandate for the Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF). The Jackson Demonstration State Forest in Mendocino County is the largest demonstration forest in the state, nearly 50,000 acres of the 85,000 throughout the whole state. Within Jackson, there are active mushroom foragers, mountain bikers, campers, hikers, and equestrians, which in turn support the local tourism economy. The area also constitutes a tribal cultural landscape for Coast Yuki and Northern Pomo peoples. 

“EPIC thanks Assemblymember Rogers for his leadership on helping California reach its 30x30 goals by modernizing how we manage our own forests,” said EPIC’s Conservation Attorney, Melodie Meyer. “California’s state-owned forests should be managed for all of its people and the variety of needs we have from public lands, from recreation to clean water to carbon sequestration and storage. The age of logging public lands for private profit is rightfully ending.”

The legislation helps to bring the governance of state-owned Demonstration Forests to the modern era by updating management objectives that date back to 1947, when logging old-growth forests and destructive logging techniques were still being demonstrated. By modernizing state policy that governs State Demonstration Forests, which are currently managed by the State Board of Forestry and CalFire under laws within the Public Resources Code, we are helping the state update the management of its forests to catch up with its conservation priorities and climate goals. Prioritizing the climate and wildlife within state demonstration forests is critical in a time when the federal government is backsliding on its prior commitments to address the climate crisis and is instead ramping up timber production across the country. This bill would shift the focus of demonstration forest management from timber products to thriving forests that store significant amounts of carbon and serve as quality wildlife habitat. 

The bill also enables CAL FIRE to seek opportunities for Tribal co-management and to integrate local Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge into forest stewardship, strengthening Tribal sovereignty and cultural stewardship of ancestral lands. “Inviting and including Native voices through partnership and co-management is how we will make systemic changes in land management,” said Buffie Campbell, an enrolled member of Sherwood Valley, descendant of Noyo Reservation and Yokayo Rancheria, Northern Pomo. “Tribal nations and Indigenous communities have long faced barriers to caring for their ancestral homelands since colonization—including being shut out of true co-management and limited in bringing Traditional Ecological Knowledge into California’s State Demonstration Forests. Updating the State Demonstration Forests Act is a major step toward changing that.… This is an impactful step towards educating the public regarding Tribal Sovereignty and historical trauma and its effects today, as well as providing acknowledgement of those Tribes and once known villages impacted by antiquated laws.”

As this bill moves forward, EPIC is hopeful that the bill will not only shift management practices in demonstration forests to uphold the state’s values in climate resiliency but will also influence the timber industry by demonstrating restoration logging practices.

Please thank Assemblymember Chris Rogers for introducing AB 2494 and for being a fierce advocate for our forests.