Helping the Forest to Heal
Be the “Community” in “Community Forestry” with the Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc.
by Alicia Bales
Volunteers in early summer conducted a “Sudden Oak Death Blitz.”
In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, Mendocino County was a flashpoint for a historic conflict over logging in its redwood forests, a time known as the “Timber Wars.” Over a century of extractive harvest had devastated the once-majestic ancient forest, and huge corporate timber companies were busy liquidating their holdings of any second- and third-growth redwoods that remained. Protests erupted throughout the region, from lawsuits and ballot initiatives to road blockades, tree-sits, and huge rallies at the mills. It was clear to loggers and environmentalists alike that the rate of cut was unsustainable, devastating the forest and imperiling the forest-dependent local economy.
Seeking common ground, a diverse group of local community-minded visionaries came together to try to find a better way forward. Many of them had met over the years at public hearings and meetings about the forest, sometimes on opposite sides. They were people from local elected government, finance, mill owners, forest advocates, academics, and environmental protesters. Their goal was to transcend the polarization of the day and devise a community-based solution that would protect both the trees and the jobs.
From this alliance was born the Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc, or RFFI. Through inclusive community engagement, RFFI’s mission is to acquire, restore, and manage depleted forest landscapes to benefit the environment and the well-being of the people of the Redwood Region. Founded in 1997, their ambitious aim is to bring once-corporate forestlands into local ownership, thereby stewarding the land for the long-term health and viability of both the forest and human communities. This includes local Native tribes, who were forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands and severed from their traditional land-management practices by violence and settler colonialism.
In 2007, RFFI acquired the Usal Redwood Forest, formerly owned and logged by Georgia Pacific Corporation, among others. Usal covers 50,000 acres in northern Mendocino County that spans from Legget to Piercy and west to the Usal Road. For a local nonprofit, financing the purchase was a monumental undertaking. In the decade since the purchase, RFFI has grappled with the complexities of collaborative management while trying to generate enough income to pay for the land.
Even today, Mendocino’s forestlands are severely depleted from the ravages of corporate liquidation. Logging the Usal Redwood Forest to pay the bank—even if RFFI wanted to—was simply not an option. From ridges to streambeds, the land was in desperate need of repair. Restoration and forest health efforts have been funded through state grants, and annual timber harvesting has brought in some revenue, supporting local contract loggers while providing logs for area mills, including a small hyper-local redwood mill in Piercy. But ultimately it has been RFFI’s ongoing carbon project at Usal, thanks to the emergence of the viable carbon market, that has provided the income to retire the debt. Essentially, the trees are being paid to grow.
RFFI now finds itself in an exciting and busy new era, returning their focus to the “community” part of community forestry. Through regional partnerships, RFFI is working to address forest health, fire resilience, and climate change impacts. The Redwood Forest Council (RFC) is RFFI’s forum for local engagement, with management priorities and community-initiated projects. This spring, RFC volunteers participated in on-site workdays to eradicate invasive French Broom and monitor the spread of the Sudden Oak Death pathogen in Usal. Because of these efforts, community members will have on-site opportunities this fall to learn first-hand about shaded fuel breaks, biochar production, and prescribed burning. And local Kineste’ (Wailaki) tribal members have developed a Native American- led stewardship program to bring cultural practices of prescriptive fire back to the landscape at two sites in Usal, one to restore an upland meadow and the other to rehabilitate a gathering grove for acorns and huckleberries, enhancing animal habitat while building tribal capacity and providing living-wage jobs for tribal members. All of these projects provide real-world engagement and increased understanding of possible solutions for some of the huge challenges facing our communities.
RFFI is not the only organization in the region now working to redefine our relationship with the forest and repair the damage of the past. In northern Mendocino and southern Humboldt counties, there is a groundswell of new stewardship models emerging. Grassroots groups like Mattole Restoration Council and Sanctuary Forest, The Intertribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, Lost Coast Forest lands, Eel River Recovery Project, and the new Northern Mendocino Ecosystem Recovery Alliance are making huge progress toward planning for fire, climate change, and habitat restoration, while exploring issues of economic development to create local jobs.
Change is in the air. It’s an exciting time to be working in the forest. RFFI invites everyone to join the effort. Attend the virtual annual meeting in September, become a member, and add your voice to the evolving vision of the Community Forest.
Visit RFFI.org to join the mailing list, become a volunteer, find out about upcoming events, and donate.
Alicia Bales is the Program Director at RFFI. She moved to Mendocino County in 1991 to join Earth First! after Redwood Summer, and has worked locally as a community organizer, radio journalist, paralegal, and voice coach. She lives in Ukiah with her son, Jude.
Photos courtesy of Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc.