... to protect, enhance and restore the forests and watersheds of the North Bay
We are looking for a media specialist to publicize the present makup of the California Board of Forestry and how it subverts the public interest. We also need to inform the general public about our suggested reforms that can make the Board of Forestry serve the public intrests rather than just those of the corporate timber industry.
Important information that you need to know about defending your home from wildfire:
Forest Protection Forum: Defensible Space
Friends of Fife Creek (FoFC) will hold a Give Back Tuesday fundraiser at the Rainbow Cattle Company in Guerneville CA from 6 to 8 PM.
The Friends of Fife Creek is sponsored by the Community Clean Water Institute, a 501(c)(3) (CCWI)nonprofit organization. Forest Unlimted partners with FoFC and CCWI because our mission is to protect, preserve and enhance the forests and watersheds of the North Bay. FoFC have sponsored many efforts to clean up and restore Fife Creek which originates in Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve .
Fife Creek is a significant tributary to the Russian River and FoFC’s restoration efforts have opened up potential habitat for the endangered coho salmon. Please support their work!
The nine-member California Board of Forestry, by law, must have three members of the logging industry and one from the livestock grazing industry. The remaining five “public” members, may also be from the logging industry. In practice they usually include a member of the professional organization for Registered Professional Foresters (RPFs), and consultants who work for the industry and a banker who finances logging operations.
The result is a board that promulgates Timber Harvest Rules that service the logging industry, rather than the public interest.
Forest Unlimited has initiated a campaign to reform the Forest Practices Act which created the nine-menber Board of Forestry. We urge the Legislature to alter the standards for Board of Forestry members. Each seat on the board should be designated for an expert in one of the following disciplines: Scientific forestry, geology, hydrology, ecology, fisheries, fire science, native American forestry practices, forest economics and tourism. None of these members should work or have worked for the logging industry. This would shift the focus from short-term industry profits to long-term public interest.
If you would like to help with this campaign, here is how:
Join the Reform the Board of Forestry working group. The group jointly manages the campaign and meets every two months via zoom and communicates weekly via email. The group will meet once a month via zoom.
Circulate our petition and return the results to Forest Unlimitd. We will present them to our California senators and assembly members. Here is a link to the Petition: Reform the Board of Forestry Petition. Please let us know if you are circulating them.
Donate specifically to this Campaign. Just click the donate button on the home page and note “Board Campaign”.
The burning of biomass is touted as a zero-carbon industry. Instead is just another scheme for increasing the demand for wood and increasing logging while increasing carbon and other types of pollution. So it is good news that NRDC has prevented the construction of a large pellet plant. Read the details here.