R11 Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Assembly Bill 2494, Rogers and McGuire, Modernizing Our Forest System
(Sponsor: Executive Office and County Counsel)
Old and even mature second growth redwood forests are now less than 2% of their original population, mostly only protected in state and national parks. Meanwhile, 73% of all remaining endemic redwood forest land is privately owned and thus unprotected, and 53% of those privately-owned redwood forests are owned by redwood logging companies whose main goal is to cut down the largest trees for their maximum number of board feet. There are still many forests that loggers have access to, without the mandated requirement to “demonstrate ” or mitigate the impacts of their large-scale disturbances, such as damage to watersheds and fish populations, whose huge population dclinse have been linked directly to logging activities over the past century. The State’s demonstration forests are the last reaslistic place to demonstrate how forests can adjust to the increasing devastation of climate change if given the chance to do so naturally, without continued, major human interference.
Recognizing and promoting the value of healthy, living forests for their planet-cooling and other important ecological benefits is more important now than ever. The current federal administration is declaring all national forests to be opened up to massive commercial logging and road building in hitherto protected, ecologically sensitive areas, just as it has also proposed opening up other public lands and ocean waters for industrial and commercial exploitation and extraction. This disastrous attack on the environment will only add to the current climate crisis, which has already caused the loss of billions of mature trees by wildfire on this continent alone.
The State’s demonstration forests are part of the public lands that we tax payers have paid and continue to pay for, including for their “management." In addition, we voted by a large majority for the authors of this bill. Please follow the will of the people of California, not the moneyed interests that oppose it, and vote unanimously to support it.
I urge you to send a letter of support for SB 2494. After more then a hundred years of destructive logging it time for the Peoples Forest (JDSF) to be managed for public access, tribal co-management, climate resilience, and biodiversity, not profit!!. JDSF can be used to demonstrate how to heal the states forests. Recent studies have shone that there will be 4 times more job in the forest doing restoration then there are at present in cutting down the trees.
The Northern Pomo and Coastal Yuki should have control it what happens to there sacred sites and ancestral territory.
Thank You
Anna Marie Stenberg, 40 year Mendocino County resident
The current mandate for Jackson Demonstration State Forest, in fact, all Demonstration State Forests in CA, is to maximize sustained yields of timber. The timber industry is heavily invested in maintaining this system.
The updated mandate, AB2494 supports ecological restoration of the Demonstration State Forests. Some thinning of trees would still be needed on an ongoing basis, retaining some timber work. More emphasis, though, would be for reducing the forest fire risk, decommissioning abandoned roads, treating logging residues, and fish habitat restoration.
Tourism and recreation would replace logging as a major source of revenue. Developed campgrounds, forest and foraging tours, indigenous village informational tours, mountain biking, and hiking generate significant income while addressing the broader consideration of a healthy ecosystem by retaining the mature trees. Mountain biking in Jackson Hole, Wyoming generated over $18 million in economic activity with a mountain bike trail system, according to a University of Wyoming study.
Governments are about following the will of the people and maintaining state assets. Governments should not be run like a for profit business. Jackson Demonstration State Forest is our jewel and sorely needs nurturing and restoration, not more clear cuts and timber harvesting in the future.
On behalf of West Business Development Center, I am writing to express our strong support for Assembly Bill 2494, authored by Assemblymember Chris Rogers.
West Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering resilient, equitable local economies across Mendocino County and the broader North Coast. We work closely with small businesses, entrepreneurs, and community partners to advance sustainable economic development.
AB 2494 represents an important and forward-thinking shift that aligns closely with both our mission and the long-term economic health of our region. This legislation modernizes the management of California’s demonstration state forests by prioritizing ecological restoration, climate resilience, biodiversity conservation, and expanded public access.
Importantly, the bill recognizes that rural economies must diversify beyond extractive industries and embrace sustainable alternatives. By supporting restoration-based forestry, research opportunities, recreation, and ecotourism, AB 2494 creates pathways for economic transition that can generate new jobs, attract visitors, and strengthen local businesses throughout Mendocino County.
West Center believes AB 2494 offers a balanced and future-oriented framework that supports both environmental stewardship and economic vitality. We respectfully urge the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors to support this important legislation.
Thank you for your leadership and your commitment to the long-term well-being of our communities.
Sincerely,
Sarah Bodnar
Chief Executive Officer
West Business Development Center
I urge the Board to support AB 2494, which aligns the mission of State Demonstration Forests with the Board’s own Legislative Platform priorities for addressing the implications of Climate Change. And further, is consistent with the on-going recognition by the Board that mismanagement of the environment produced the Climate Change disasters that have ravaged our county (adopted by the Board in its 2023 Climate Change Emergency Declaration).
The opponents to this legislation mischaracterize it as a threat to funding for Demonstration State Forests. The consultant for the California Assembly Natural Resource Committee, found no substantive basis to validate this concern. In fact, in the analysis the consultant noted that increased revenue generated from expansion of the demonstration forests use for recreational purposes would produce new revenues that would benefit the local economy. Specifically, quoting Supervisor Mulheren, the committee consultant noted - “From a local perspective, this is also about economic transition. Rural counties like ours need pathways that support restoration work, recreation, and stewardship jobs alongside responsible timber practices. AB 2494 helps create that balance.”
The planet is changing. Our climate is changing. Management of our Demonstration State Forests to maximize timber harvests at the expense of healthy forests, are no longer consistent with the new realities. AB 2494 places the emphasis for forest management on sustainable healthy forests that sequester carbon as well as provide sustainable timber harvesting.
I am writing to ask you to send a letter, as Chair of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, in support of AB 2494.
AB2494 aligns with the county's goal to support policies that advance tribal stewardship, ecological restoration, and access to state demonstration forests, like JDSF. I am aware that there are concerns about an impact to employment in our county if changes are made to the way JDSF is managed, but there is also widespread support for climate change mitigation and sustainable forestry practices as a means of building a more resilient future in the face of climate change.
Please join many of us in the county in supporting this bill by submitting your letter of support.
Mendocino Trail Stewards
P.O. Box 1834, Mendocino, CA 95460
mendocinotrailstewards.org
March 23, 2026
Bernie Norvell
Chair, Mendocino County Board of Supervisors
501 Low Gap Road
Ukiah, CA 95482
Re: Public Comment on Assembly Bill 2494, Rogers and McGuire, Modernizing Our Forest System (Agenda Item R11, Regular Board Meeting, March 24th, 2026)
Dear Chair Norvell and members of the Board:
The Mendocino Trail Stewards write in strong support of AB 2494, and we ask the Board to send a unified letter of support to the State Legislature. Changing the mandate of Jackson Demonstration State Forest has been the central mission of our organization since we were founded in 2020. AB 2494 is the bill we have been working toward.
We are a community-based organization rooted in the Mendocino Coast, operated entirely by volunteers. Our 4,016 constituents are hikers, trail runners, mountain bikers, equestrians, foragers, birders, and neighbors; people who walk in Jackson Forest regularly, who know its trails, its streams, its old growth remnants, and its clearcuts. We serve as a public watchdog on forest management decisions, we track every timber harvest plan (THP) filed for Jackson, we voluntarily maintain trails that are neglected by Cal Fire, and we educate our community about how to engage in the public process. Jackson is, as we like to say, the People's Forest. It belongs to all Californians, and we believe it deserves to be managed as such.
For decades, that has not been the case. The governing law, the State Demonstration Act, was written in 1947, when old growth logging was still being openly demonstrated as a model practice, and when the Northern Pomo people whose homeland these forests occupied had no seat at any table. Under that mandate, Cal Fire has been required to manage Jackson primarily as a commercial timber operation, and log a few of the other forests as well, with the proceeds from logging funding the entire demonstration forest system statewide. The result is a forest subjected to repeated industrial harvest cycles, degraded watersheds, compromised wildlife habitat, and a network of haul roads that scar the landscape and create ongoing erosion problems. The law has forced Cal Fire's hand, even as the science, the climate, and California's own stated policy priorities have moved in an entirely different direction.
AB 2494 changes this. It replaces a mandate built around maximum timber yield with one built around what this forest and this moment actually demands: climate resilience, carbon sequestration, biodiversity protection, restoration, recreation, fire safety, and meaningful Tribal co-governance. Crucially, it also addresses the structural funding problem by directing resources through the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund rather than requiring the forest to pay for itself through uncertain timber sales. This is the change that makes everything else possible. For too long, the logging mandate has been defended not on ecological grounds, but on financial ones. AB 2494 removes that argument.
Moreover, alarmist claims that the bill will eliminate jobs are not grounded in fact. The state-funded restoration effort known as Redwood Rising is designed to address an area similar in size and budget to Jackson, yet generates far more jobs. These jobs are higher paying and more secure from disruptions arising from economic downturns or legal challenges than Jackson Forest is today. Despite claims to the contrary, such restoration efforts do continue to log overcrowded trees that compound fire risk and slow the return to mature forest conditions, and substantial revenues can be produced in the process. To be clear: AB 2494 does not end timber harvest at JDSF. Timber sales can still occur under the bill, but in service of restoration and research rather than as a commercial production mandate. That is a meaningful distinction.
We also want to note that this effort has a history. In 2004, SB 1648, a bill with a similar purpose, passed both chambers of the Legislature, only to be left unsigned by Governor Schwarzenegger. The North Coast has been waiting over twenty years for this to be corrected. The ecological costs of delay are not abstract: they are measured in acres logged, in salmon streams degraded, in carbon released, in trails and campgrounds closed. The window to protect and restore what remains is not unlimited.
AB 2494 aligns squarely with Governor Newsom's Executive Order N-82-20 and the state's 30x30 initiative. Passage of this bill would make all 14 demonstration forests, nearly 85,000 acres of publicly owned land, eligible for 30x30 protections. That is a significant and achievable conservation gain, and it is right here, ready to act on.
AB 2494 is not an attack on foresters or on responsible land management. It is a recognition that public forests owe the public more than just board feet, they owe us clean water, wildlife habitat, climate resilience, recreation and a future that subsequent generations will thank us for protecting.
Jackson Forest has been waiting a long time to become a Demonstration Forest for the 21st Century. We urge you to help make that happen.
With appreciation for your service to our community,
The Mendocino Trail Stewards Steering Committee,
Chet Jamgochian
Marilyn Lemos
John O’Brien
Lynne Paschal
Jessica Rose
Paul Schulman
I wholeheartedly support AB 2494’s plan to modernize the Jackson Demonstration State Forest. This bill finally prioritizes forest health and tribal sovereignty over simple profit.
Key benefits of AB 2494 include:
Integrating Indigenous Knowledge: Formally recognizes tribal sovereignty in forest management.
Sustainable Funding: Redirects timber revenue into a dedicated restoration fund, ensuring long-term maintenance.
Purposeful Timbering: Shifts logging from a primary goal to a byproduct of ecological research and forest health.
Boosting Tourism: Supports rural economies by investing in recreation like mountain biking and hiking.
Protecting Redwoods: Ends the practice of cutting down old-growth trees just to pay for forest operations.
It is time to move past outdated extraction models and embrace a sustainable, 'working forest' approach.
I am writing to express my opposition to AB 2494 which would change the purpose and funding of the State of California's Demonstration State Forest program. The Demonstration State Forest Program was created to keep forestlands sustainably producing wood products and employment for the people of California while also providing a diversity of landscapes to facilitate research and demonstrations in forest management practices. These lands are also used as proving grounds for many of the California Forest Practice Rules. These state forest lands also provide local employment and Timber Yield taxes to the counties that they are located in. The Demonstration State Forest program was initially envisioned by the legislature to be self funding and has been so for many years. This funding was and can be provided by the sale of sustainably harvested timber. What is more is that these state forest lands are open to the public for recreation and enjoyment. So these state forest lands are already sustainably managed for multiple uses much like the United States Forest Service lands.
I find that the proposed legislation is unnecessary because much of the proponents' concerns are already addressed in the current management of state forest lands. There is research, carbon storage, public access, tribal involvement, recreation, restoration, clean water, and healthy wildlife and habitat. What this bill appears to focus on is stopping timber harvesting on state forests which is exactly what these lands were acquired for. State forest lands are required to be sustainably managed and to grow more wood than they harvest. Also please note that California presently imports over 70% of the wood that its citizens use. If anything California needs to do more job producing timber harvesting not less. Also this bill would put funding for the Demonstration State Forest Program back on taxpayers, something the program was not set up to do. Ironically this taxpayer funding would come from the tax paid on lumber purchased in the state even though 70% of which comes from outside California. Again California doesn’t need more tax burdens.
California's Demonstration State Forests were acquired to demonstrate sustainable forest management using timber harvesting to prove or disprove the effectiveness of the Forest Practice Rules and to provide multiple other uses as mentioned. They were not acquired to be parks nor be managed as such. This bill would reduce Timber Yield taxes paid to and employment in Mendocino County. I hope you can join me in opposing AB 2494.
Hello Board members and thank you Ted Williams for representing me! First of all I support the 1 cent sales tax for road improvement and R9 noise ordinance. In regards to this agenda item I think the California's Department of Forestry's management of forestland is way outdated and should be divorced from it's Fire Prevention role that our state can not do without. AB 2494 will still allow for the harvesting of trees but in an ecological manner that enhances the biodiversity of the forestlands rather then destructive rubber stamping of THPs (timber harvest plans) for decades which have been totally void of responsibility for their negative cumulative impacts seriously degrading forestland health. Hearing opponents of AB 2494 say "we manage our forests to produce high quality timber products" represents the short term nonrenewable perception that industrialized harvested native trees can just later replaced by tree plantations. This creation of "quality products" is virtually impossible without healthy soil and water that turns to dust with unsustainable forest practices. AB 2494 is seeking to redesign these practices into long term and sustainable ones where the trees,waterways, indigenous people,plants, mushrooms,fish, etc can all not just survive but thrive. It that will allow the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund to spend funds for the state demonstration forest system and I support it!
MCFB would like to express our opposition to AB 2494 and request that the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors vote to oppose it as well.
As written, AB 2494 endangers sufficient and consistent funding for the management of JDSF by doing away with the Forest Resources Improvement Fund, diverting all funds to the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund, and putting support for demonstration forests on the lowest tier of funding priorities. This funding change significantly jeopardizes the fundings for state demonstration forest management and staff. Commercial timber harvesting in Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) currently generates funding to pay for management, ecological restoration and research purposes within JDSF and across the state demonstration forest program. The fact is, 99.5% of the revenue supporting the management of JDSF comes from timber sales. To put current expenses in perspective state demonstration forests costs, for staff and operations, totaled approximately 9.8 million dollars in 2024 with 6.6 million for staffing. Locally, of JDSF’s 5-million-dollar annual budget 31% covers operations that include the roads program, recreation, research, timber sales, and administration. Prescribing the state demonstration forest program to an over extended fund logically will lead to staff reductions and environmental impacts such as a reduction in restoration forestry projects, trespass issues, and the uncheck spread of invasive species.
JDSF is a jewel in our community not only for its physical beauty but for the varying objectives that it achieves. Without using general fund dollars, JDSF allows for recreational opportunities that provide economic and health benefits to our community. It allows for input from local Tribes to inform management decisions. It sequesters carbon and supports restoration of salmonid populations. It also produces high quality timber, which is what financially supports everything else. It is a model example of a restoration economy that spurs economic activity.
It is unreasonable to think that we can continue to be successful at achieving all these varying objectives without the revenue from timber harvest and it is unreasonable to think that removing funding for forest management will not have a dramatic impact on jobs and the ripple effect of that economy. Besides supporting the programs provided within the boundaries JDSF, there are economic benefits of timber harvest that extend into the greater community. It is estimated that for every 10 million board feet (MMBF) harvested-160 jobs are created, $4.3 million in local wages earned and $184,000 in local taxes are generated. JDSF averages an annual harvest of 13 MMBF. Our County can ill afford to lose 200 jobs, $5.6 million in wages or $240,000 in tax revenue. As outlined in the socioeconomic Impact study, “Assessing the Restoration Economy within Redwood National and State Parks,” restoration forestry bringing significant income to this rural region in the form of direct impacts (such as payroll), indirect impacts (such as materials purchased), and induced impacts (such as groceries).
Our County has a resource-based economy. We manage our farms to produce agricultural products, and we manage our forests to produce high quality timber products. There is no shame in this, this is something we should be proud of. While we still suffer from some of the legacy impacts of historic management practices, our current state laws require better management practices and through model regulations, timber operators have adapted to modern forest practices. The restoration economy is a by-product of sustainable timber harvest that has had significant ecological restoration benefits at JDSF. What AB 2494 proposes would jeopardize staffing and future projects and the bills stated goals of “biodiversity conservation and fire resilience, while maximizing the promotion of durable onsite carbon storage and sequestration, climate resiliency goals, equitable forest access, wildlife and recreation opportunities, and compatible research efforts.” AB 2494 strips the funding mechanisms that support these goals without committing an alternative source of funding.
Please stand in support of sustainable funding for management at JDSF and oppose AB 2494.
I am writing to request that you send a letter of support for AB 2494 on behalf of the Board of Supervisors for Mendocino County. My name is John Risk, and I am a Mendocino local for the past three years. I am on the Board of Trustees of a charitable non-profit community land trust, which operates a large organic garden, practices carbon sequestration, and provides food security for our many volunteers and our local food bank. I am also a senior citizen soon to turn 70 years of age in May.
According to Mendocino County’s legislative platform, the county aims to "support policies to advance tribal stewardship, ecological restoration, and outdoor access at State Demonstration Forests." Given that AB 2494 aligns directly with these stated goals, I believe a formal letter of support from your office is a necessary step in advancing these priorities.
For several years the Mendocino community has urged CAL FIRE to adopt a management approach that centers tribal co-management, biodiversity, climate mitigation and resiliency, and outdoor access as opposed to profit-driven logging. This bill provides a clear pathway to providing a much needed update to the framework of management for all Demonstration State Forests. AB 2494 would also provide a stable source of funding for CAL FIRE’s Demonstration Forest operations through the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund and allow lands to count towards California’s 30x30 conservation goals. Finally, the bill would stimulate rural economic development by increasing tourism through enhanced recreation opportunities (especially hiking and cycling on forest trails) and increased restoration projects.
This is a bill with great support from many of us living on the Mendocino Coast. I hope you can join us in support of this bill by submitting your letter of support.
Old and even mature second growth redwood forests are now less than 2% of their original population, mostly only protected in state and national parks. Meanwhile, 73% of all remaining endemic redwood forest land is privately owned and thus unprotected, and 53% of those privately-owned redwood forests are owned by redwood logging companies whose main goal is to cut down the largest trees for their maximum number of board feet. There are still many forests that loggers have access to, without the mandated requirement to “demonstrate ” or mitigate the impacts of their large-scale disturbances, such as damage to watersheds and fish populations, whose huge population dclinse have been linked directly to logging activities over the past century. The State’s demonstration forests are the last reaslistic place to demonstrate how forests can adjust to the increasing devastation of climate change if given the chance to do so naturally, without continued, major human interference.
Recognizing and promoting the value of healthy, living forests for their planet-cooling and other important ecological benefits is more important now than ever. The current federal administration is declaring all national forests to be opened up to massive commercial logging and road building in hitherto protected, ecologically sensitive areas, just as it has also proposed opening up other public lands and ocean waters for industrial and commercial exploitation and extraction. This disastrous attack on the environment will only add to the current climate crisis, which has already caused the loss of billions of mature trees by wildfire on this continent alone.
The State’s demonstration forests are part of the public lands that we tax payers have paid and continue to pay for, including for their “management." In addition, we voted by a large majority for the authors of this bill. Please follow the will of the people of California, not the moneyed interests that oppose it, and vote unanimously to support it.
I urge you to send a letter of support for SB 2494. After more then a hundred years of destructive logging it time for the Peoples Forest (JDSF) to be managed for public access, tribal co-management, climate resilience, and biodiversity, not profit!!. JDSF can be used to demonstrate how to heal the states forests. Recent studies have shone that there will be 4 times more job in the forest doing restoration then there are at present in cutting down the trees.
The Northern Pomo and Coastal Yuki should have control it what happens to there sacred sites and ancestral territory.
Thank You
Anna Marie Stenberg, 40 year Mendocino County resident
Gualala CA
The current mandate for Jackson Demonstration State Forest, in fact, all Demonstration State Forests in CA, is to maximize sustained yields of timber. The timber industry is heavily invested in maintaining this system.
The updated mandate, AB2494 supports ecological restoration of the Demonstration State Forests. Some thinning of trees would still be needed on an ongoing basis, retaining some timber work. More emphasis, though, would be for reducing the forest fire risk, decommissioning abandoned roads, treating logging residues, and fish habitat restoration.
Tourism and recreation would replace logging as a major source of revenue. Developed campgrounds, forest and foraging tours, indigenous village informational tours, mountain biking, and hiking generate significant income while addressing the broader consideration of a healthy ecosystem by retaining the mature trees. Mountain biking in Jackson Hole, Wyoming generated over $18 million in economic activity with a mountain bike trail system, according to a University of Wyoming study.
Governments are about following the will of the people and maintaining state assets. Governments should not be run like a for profit business. Jackson Demonstration State Forest is our jewel and sorely needs nurturing and restoration, not more clear cuts and timber harvesting in the future.
On behalf of West Business Development Center, I am writing to express our strong support for Assembly Bill 2494, authored by Assemblymember Chris Rogers.
West Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering resilient, equitable local economies across Mendocino County and the broader North Coast. We work closely with small businesses, entrepreneurs, and community partners to advance sustainable economic development.
AB 2494 represents an important and forward-thinking shift that aligns closely with both our mission and the long-term economic health of our region. This legislation modernizes the management of California’s demonstration state forests by prioritizing ecological restoration, climate resilience, biodiversity conservation, and expanded public access.
Importantly, the bill recognizes that rural economies must diversify beyond extractive industries and embrace sustainable alternatives. By supporting restoration-based forestry, research opportunities, recreation, and ecotourism, AB 2494 creates pathways for economic transition that can generate new jobs, attract visitors, and strengthen local businesses throughout Mendocino County.
West Center believes AB 2494 offers a balanced and future-oriented framework that supports both environmental stewardship and economic vitality. We respectfully urge the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors to support this important legislation.
Thank you for your leadership and your commitment to the long-term well-being of our communities.
Sincerely,
Sarah Bodnar
Chief Executive Officer
West Business Development Center
I urge the Board to support AB 2494, which aligns the mission of State Demonstration Forests with the Board’s own Legislative Platform priorities for addressing the implications of Climate Change. And further, is consistent with the on-going recognition by the Board that mismanagement of the environment produced the Climate Change disasters that have ravaged our county (adopted by the Board in its 2023 Climate Change Emergency Declaration).
The opponents to this legislation mischaracterize it as a threat to funding for Demonstration State Forests. The consultant for the California Assembly Natural Resource Committee, found no substantive basis to validate this concern. In fact, in the analysis the consultant noted that increased revenue generated from expansion of the demonstration forests use for recreational purposes would produce new revenues that would benefit the local economy. Specifically, quoting Supervisor Mulheren, the committee consultant noted - “From a local perspective, this is also about economic transition. Rural counties like ours need pathways that support restoration work, recreation, and stewardship jobs alongside responsible timber practices. AB 2494 helps create that balance.”
The planet is changing. Our climate is changing. Management of our Demonstration State Forests to maximize timber harvests at the expense of healthy forests, are no longer consistent with the new realities. AB 2494 places the emphasis for forest management on sustainable healthy forests that sequester carbon as well as provide sustainable timber harvesting.
I urge the Board to support AB 2494.
I am writing to ask you to send a letter, as Chair of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, in support of AB 2494.
AB2494 aligns with the county's goal to support policies that advance tribal stewardship, ecological restoration, and access to state demonstration forests, like JDSF. I am aware that there are concerns about an impact to employment in our county if changes are made to the way JDSF is managed, but there is also widespread support for climate change mitigation and sustainable forestry practices as a means of building a more resilient future in the face of climate change.
Please join many of us in the county in supporting this bill by submitting your letter of support.
Mendocino Trail Stewards
P.O. Box 1834, Mendocino, CA 95460
mendocinotrailstewards.org
March 23, 2026
Bernie Norvell
Chair, Mendocino County Board of Supervisors
501 Low Gap Road
Ukiah, CA 95482
Re: Public Comment on Assembly Bill 2494, Rogers and McGuire, Modernizing Our Forest System (Agenda Item R11, Regular Board Meeting, March 24th, 2026)
Dear Chair Norvell and members of the Board:
The Mendocino Trail Stewards write in strong support of AB 2494, and we ask the Board to send a unified letter of support to the State Legislature. Changing the mandate of Jackson Demonstration State Forest has been the central mission of our organization since we were founded in 2020. AB 2494 is the bill we have been working toward.
We are a community-based organization rooted in the Mendocino Coast, operated entirely by volunteers. Our 4,016 constituents are hikers, trail runners, mountain bikers, equestrians, foragers, birders, and neighbors; people who walk in Jackson Forest regularly, who know its trails, its streams, its old growth remnants, and its clearcuts. We serve as a public watchdog on forest management decisions, we track every timber harvest plan (THP) filed for Jackson, we voluntarily maintain trails that are neglected by Cal Fire, and we educate our community about how to engage in the public process. Jackson is, as we like to say, the People's Forest. It belongs to all Californians, and we believe it deserves to be managed as such.
For decades, that has not been the case. The governing law, the State Demonstration Act, was written in 1947, when old growth logging was still being openly demonstrated as a model practice, and when the Northern Pomo people whose homeland these forests occupied had no seat at any table. Under that mandate, Cal Fire has been required to manage Jackson primarily as a commercial timber operation, and log a few of the other forests as well, with the proceeds from logging funding the entire demonstration forest system statewide. The result is a forest subjected to repeated industrial harvest cycles, degraded watersheds, compromised wildlife habitat, and a network of haul roads that scar the landscape and create ongoing erosion problems. The law has forced Cal Fire's hand, even as the science, the climate, and California's own stated policy priorities have moved in an entirely different direction.
AB 2494 changes this. It replaces a mandate built around maximum timber yield with one built around what this forest and this moment actually demands: climate resilience, carbon sequestration, biodiversity protection, restoration, recreation, fire safety, and meaningful Tribal co-governance. Crucially, it also addresses the structural funding problem by directing resources through the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund rather than requiring the forest to pay for itself through uncertain timber sales. This is the change that makes everything else possible. For too long, the logging mandate has been defended not on ecological grounds, but on financial ones. AB 2494 removes that argument.
Moreover, alarmist claims that the bill will eliminate jobs are not grounded in fact. The state-funded restoration effort known as Redwood Rising is designed to address an area similar in size and budget to Jackson, yet generates far more jobs. These jobs are higher paying and more secure from disruptions arising from economic downturns or legal challenges than Jackson Forest is today. Despite claims to the contrary, such restoration efforts do continue to log overcrowded trees that compound fire risk and slow the return to mature forest conditions, and substantial revenues can be produced in the process. To be clear: AB 2494 does not end timber harvest at JDSF. Timber sales can still occur under the bill, but in service of restoration and research rather than as a commercial production mandate. That is a meaningful distinction.
We also want to note that this effort has a history. In 2004, SB 1648, a bill with a similar purpose, passed both chambers of the Legislature, only to be left unsigned by Governor Schwarzenegger. The North Coast has been waiting over twenty years for this to be corrected. The ecological costs of delay are not abstract: they are measured in acres logged, in salmon streams degraded, in carbon released, in trails and campgrounds closed. The window to protect and restore what remains is not unlimited.
AB 2494 aligns squarely with Governor Newsom's Executive Order N-82-20 and the state's 30x30 initiative. Passage of this bill would make all 14 demonstration forests, nearly 85,000 acres of publicly owned land, eligible for 30x30 protections. That is a significant and achievable conservation gain, and it is right here, ready to act on.
AB 2494 is not an attack on foresters or on responsible land management. It is a recognition that public forests owe the public more than just board feet, they owe us clean water, wildlife habitat, climate resilience, recreation and a future that subsequent generations will thank us for protecting.
Jackson Forest has been waiting a long time to become a Demonstration Forest for the 21st Century. We urge you to help make that happen.
With appreciation for your service to our community,
The Mendocino Trail Stewards Steering Committee,
Chet Jamgochian
Marilyn Lemos
John O’Brien
Lynne Paschal
Jessica Rose
Paul Schulman
mendocinotrailstewards@gmail.com
I wholeheartedly support AB 2494’s plan to modernize the Jackson Demonstration State Forest. This bill finally prioritizes forest health and tribal sovereignty over simple profit.
Key benefits of AB 2494 include:
Integrating Indigenous Knowledge: Formally recognizes tribal sovereignty in forest management.
Sustainable Funding: Redirects timber revenue into a dedicated restoration fund, ensuring long-term maintenance.
Purposeful Timbering: Shifts logging from a primary goal to a byproduct of ecological research and forest health.
Boosting Tourism: Supports rural economies by investing in recreation like mountain biking and hiking.
Protecting Redwoods: Ends the practice of cutting down old-growth trees just to pay for forest operations.
It is time to move past outdated extraction models and embrace a sustainable, 'working forest' approach.
Dear Board of Supervisors,
I am writing to express my opposition to AB 2494 which would change the purpose and funding of the State of California's Demonstration State Forest program. The Demonstration State Forest Program was created to keep forestlands sustainably producing wood products and employment for the people of California while also providing a diversity of landscapes to facilitate research and demonstrations in forest management practices. These lands are also used as proving grounds for many of the California Forest Practice Rules. These state forest lands also provide local employment and Timber Yield taxes to the counties that they are located in. The Demonstration State Forest program was initially envisioned by the legislature to be self funding and has been so for many years. This funding was and can be provided by the sale of sustainably harvested timber. What is more is that these state forest lands are open to the public for recreation and enjoyment. So these state forest lands are already sustainably managed for multiple uses much like the United States Forest Service lands.
I find that the proposed legislation is unnecessary because much of the proponents' concerns are already addressed in the current management of state forest lands. There is research, carbon storage, public access, tribal involvement, recreation, restoration, clean water, and healthy wildlife and habitat. What this bill appears to focus on is stopping timber harvesting on state forests which is exactly what these lands were acquired for. State forest lands are required to be sustainably managed and to grow more wood than they harvest. Also please note that California presently imports over 70% of the wood that its citizens use. If anything California needs to do more job producing timber harvesting not less. Also this bill would put funding for the Demonstration State Forest Program back on taxpayers, something the program was not set up to do. Ironically this taxpayer funding would come from the tax paid on lumber purchased in the state even though 70% of which comes from outside California. Again California doesn’t need more tax burdens.
California's Demonstration State Forests were acquired to demonstrate sustainable forest management using timber harvesting to prove or disprove the effectiveness of the Forest Practice Rules and to provide multiple other uses as mentioned. They were not acquired to be parks nor be managed as such. This bill would reduce Timber Yield taxes paid to and employment in Mendocino County. I hope you can join me in opposing AB 2494.
Sincerely,
Robert Horvat
Forester
Hello Board members and thank you Ted Williams for representing me! First of all I support the 1 cent sales tax for road improvement and R9 noise ordinance. In regards to this agenda item I think the California's Department of Forestry's management of forestland is way outdated and should be divorced from it's Fire Prevention role that our state can not do without. AB 2494 will still allow for the harvesting of trees but in an ecological manner that enhances the biodiversity of the forestlands rather then destructive rubber stamping of THPs (timber harvest plans) for decades which have been totally void of responsibility for their negative cumulative impacts seriously degrading forestland health. Hearing opponents of AB 2494 say "we manage our forests to produce high quality timber products" represents the short term nonrenewable perception that industrialized harvested native trees can just later replaced by tree plantations. This creation of "quality products" is virtually impossible without healthy soil and water that turns to dust with unsustainable forest practices. AB 2494 is seeking to redesign these practices into long term and sustainable ones where the trees,waterways, indigenous people,plants, mushrooms,fish, etc can all not just survive but thrive. It that will allow the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund to spend funds for the state demonstration forest system and I support it!
MCFB would like to express our opposition to AB 2494 and request that the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors vote to oppose it as well.
As written, AB 2494 endangers sufficient and consistent funding for the management of JDSF by doing away with the Forest Resources Improvement Fund, diverting all funds to the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund, and putting support for demonstration forests on the lowest tier of funding priorities. This funding change significantly jeopardizes the fundings for state demonstration forest management and staff. Commercial timber harvesting in Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) currently generates funding to pay for management, ecological restoration and research purposes within JDSF and across the state demonstration forest program. The fact is, 99.5% of the revenue supporting the management of JDSF comes from timber sales. To put current expenses in perspective state demonstration forests costs, for staff and operations, totaled approximately 9.8 million dollars in 2024 with 6.6 million for staffing. Locally, of JDSF’s 5-million-dollar annual budget 31% covers operations that include the roads program, recreation, research, timber sales, and administration. Prescribing the state demonstration forest program to an over extended fund logically will lead to staff reductions and environmental impacts such as a reduction in restoration forestry projects, trespass issues, and the uncheck spread of invasive species.
JDSF is a jewel in our community not only for its physical beauty but for the varying objectives that it achieves. Without using general fund dollars, JDSF allows for recreational opportunities that provide economic and health benefits to our community. It allows for input from local Tribes to inform management decisions. It sequesters carbon and supports restoration of salmonid populations. It also produces high quality timber, which is what financially supports everything else. It is a model example of a restoration economy that spurs economic activity.
It is unreasonable to think that we can continue to be successful at achieving all these varying objectives without the revenue from timber harvest and it is unreasonable to think that removing funding for forest management will not have a dramatic impact on jobs and the ripple effect of that economy. Besides supporting the programs provided within the boundaries JDSF, there are economic benefits of timber harvest that extend into the greater community. It is estimated that for every 10 million board feet (MMBF) harvested-160 jobs are created, $4.3 million in local wages earned and $184,000 in local taxes are generated. JDSF averages an annual harvest of 13 MMBF. Our County can ill afford to lose 200 jobs, $5.6 million in wages or $240,000 in tax revenue. As outlined in the socioeconomic Impact study, “Assessing the Restoration Economy within Redwood National and State Parks,” restoration forestry bringing significant income to this rural region in the form of direct impacts (such as payroll), indirect impacts (such as materials purchased), and induced impacts (such as groceries).
Our County has a resource-based economy. We manage our farms to produce agricultural products, and we manage our forests to produce high quality timber products. There is no shame in this, this is something we should be proud of. While we still suffer from some of the legacy impacts of historic management practices, our current state laws require better management practices and through model regulations, timber operators have adapted to modern forest practices. The restoration economy is a by-product of sustainable timber harvest that has had significant ecological restoration benefits at JDSF. What AB 2494 proposes would jeopardize staffing and future projects and the bills stated goals of “biodiversity conservation and fire resilience, while maximizing the promotion of durable onsite carbon storage and sequestration, climate resiliency goals, equitable forest access, wildlife and recreation opportunities, and compatible research efforts.” AB 2494 strips the funding mechanisms that support these goals without committing an alternative source of funding.
Please stand in support of sustainable funding for management at JDSF and oppose AB 2494.
Honorable Supervisors,
I am writing to request that you send a letter of support for AB 2494 on behalf of the Board of Supervisors for Mendocino County. My name is John Risk, and I am a Mendocino local for the past three years. I am on the Board of Trustees of a charitable non-profit community land trust, which operates a large organic garden, practices carbon sequestration, and provides food security for our many volunteers and our local food bank. I am also a senior citizen soon to turn 70 years of age in May.
According to Mendocino County’s legislative platform, the county aims to "support policies to advance tribal stewardship, ecological restoration, and outdoor access at State Demonstration Forests." Given that AB 2494 aligns directly with these stated goals, I believe a formal letter of support from your office is a necessary step in advancing these priorities.
For several years the Mendocino community has urged CAL FIRE to adopt a management approach that centers tribal co-management, biodiversity, climate mitigation and resiliency, and outdoor access as opposed to profit-driven logging. This bill provides a clear pathway to providing a much needed update to the framework of management for all Demonstration State Forests. AB 2494 would also provide a stable source of funding for CAL FIRE’s Demonstration Forest operations through the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund and allow lands to count towards California’s 30x30 conservation goals. Finally, the bill would stimulate rural economic development by increasing tourism through enhanced recreation opportunities (especially hiking and cycling on forest trails) and increased restoration projects.
This is a bill with great support from many of us living on the Mendocino Coast. I hope you can join us in support of this bill by submitting your letter of support.