Tribes could co-manage ancestral forests under bill heading to Newsom's desk

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Set us as preferred California lawmakers have voted to shift a state forest system away from commercial logging and pave the way for tribal co-management, delivering a win to a movement rooted in the historic timber wars.Managed by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, the state’s 14 demonstration forests are required to produce and sell timber to show — or “demonstrate” — sustainable practices, while considering factors like recreation and wildlife.Assembly Bill 2494 eliminates what’s often cast as a logging mandate, instead prioritizing values such as carbon storage, wildfire resilience and biodiversity conservation.

There still could be logging, but it would need to support those principles.It also directs state officials to seek agreements with Native American tribes to integrate their traditional knowledge into managing the land.The bill now heads to Gov.

Gavin Newsom’s desk.“We don’t need more demonstrations of what clear cutting does to a forest — we have plenty of those,” said Assemblymember Chris Rogers (D-Santa Rosa), who authored the bill.If the forests are being used to show how to boost commercial logging gains, “then that is not how we want to use our public assets.” Climate & Environment A fight over California’s redwood forests pits tribes and environmentalists against loggers as lawmakers consider a bill to reimagine the state’s 14 demonstration forests.At the center of the discussion is Jackson Demonstration State Forest, spanning nearly 50,000 acres in Mendocino County.

For decades, loggers and environmentalists have clashed over the fate of its stately redwoods.About five years ago, tensions reignited when community members caught wind of plans to cut towering trees near the coastal town of Caspar.

Tribes whose historic homelands fall ...