First Mattole Forest Futures logging plans filed
The Mattole Forest Futures Project is an approach to forest management that gives landowners streamlined approval for their logging plans, provided their harvest meets significant light-touch standards.
* January 2012 update *
The first three plans have been filed to harvest timber as part of the Mattole Forest Futures Project, under the Council's newly approved Program Timberland Environmental Impact Report (PTEIR):
Plan 1-11-100-HUM-PTHP: 67 acres of selective harvest on Wilder Ridge - approved by Calfire Dec. 27,
Plan 1-11-116-HUM-PTHP: 61 acres of selection, commercial thinning, and all-age harvest near Whitethorn, &
Plan 1-11-123-HUM-PTHP: 30 acres of selective harvest, also near Whitethorn.
These can all be downloaded from the Calfire harvest plan library.
The kinds of selective harvest contemplated as part of the Mattole Forest Futures Project will support the recovery of the Mattole watershed in four important ways:
1. Logging would leave behind some of the largest trees in each stand and maintain forest cover over all of the wooded landscape, helping to develop bigger, older forests. In turn, those mature forests will provide habitat for threatened creatures whose populations were diminished by the post-World-War-Two logging boom.
2. Compared with clearcut forestry, which leads to forests being replanted to highly flammable young stands, forests logged as part of the Mattole Forest Futures Project will be less vulnerable to fire hazard, as they will be composed of older trees that are more fire-resistant.
3. Logging permits under the PTEIR will be less expensive, enabling landowners to realize the same net income while cutting less timber. In addition, because the permits will be cheaper to obtain, large landowners may be able to garner enough income from their land base that they will be less inclined to subdivide their land in order to maintain the financial stability of their operation.
4. Logging as part of the Mattole Forest Futures Project would require road upgrades to reduce sediment delivery into streams, providing a source of funds for ecologically necessary road work that may become harder to support with public money owing to the state's financial difficulties.
In September 2011, the Program Timberland Environmental Impact Report (PTEIR) for the project won final approval from Calfire, after a four-year process that incorporated several rounds of input from the Mattole and North Coast communities.
The Mattole Forest Futures Project received the endorsement of the Institute for Sustainable Forestry in 2010, citing the project's "carefully crafted practices." The full resolution is available for download below.
For a summary of the specific provisions of the Mattole Forest Futures Project, download either of the first two files below.
The complete draft PTEIR is available below.
To read a resolution about the project adopted by the MRC board of directors, download the file below.
For an overview of the process by which the Mattole Forest Futures Project is proceeding, click here.
To read answers to some commonly asked questions about the Mattole Forest Futures Project and the PTEIR, go here.
For a page of resource documents and links, including the classic 2005 workshop from the Forest Reptile and Amphibian Working Group (FRAWG), go here.
* January 2012 update *
The first three plans have been filed to harvest timber as part of the Mattole Forest Futures Project, under the Council's newly approved Program Timberland Environmental Impact Report (PTEIR):
Plan 1-11-100-HUM-PTHP: 67 acres of selective harvest on Wilder Ridge - approved by Calfire Dec. 27,
Plan 1-11-116-HUM-PTHP: 61 acres of selection, commercial thinning, and all-age harvest near Whitethorn, &
Plan 1-11-123-HUM-PTHP: 30 acres of selective harvest, also near Whitethorn.
These can all be downloaded from the Calfire harvest plan library.
The kinds of selective harvest contemplated as part of the Mattole Forest Futures Project will support the recovery of the Mattole watershed in four important ways:
1. Logging would leave behind some of the largest trees in each stand and maintain forest cover over all of the wooded landscape, helping to develop bigger, older forests. In turn, those mature forests will provide habitat for threatened creatures whose populations were diminished by the post-World-War-Two logging boom.
2. Compared with clearcut forestry, which leads to forests being replanted to highly flammable young stands, forests logged as part of the Mattole Forest Futures Project will be less vulnerable to fire hazard, as they will be composed of older trees that are more fire-resistant.
3. Logging permits under the PTEIR will be less expensive, enabling landowners to realize the same net income while cutting less timber. In addition, because the permits will be cheaper to obtain, large landowners may be able to garner enough income from their land base that they will be less inclined to subdivide their land in order to maintain the financial stability of their operation.
4. Logging as part of the Mattole Forest Futures Project would require road upgrades to reduce sediment delivery into streams, providing a source of funds for ecologically necessary road work that may become harder to support with public money owing to the state's financial difficulties.
In September 2011, the Program Timberland Environmental Impact Report (PTEIR) for the project won final approval from Calfire, after a four-year process that incorporated several rounds of input from the Mattole and North Coast communities.
The Mattole Forest Futures Project received the endorsement of the Institute for Sustainable Forestry in 2010, citing the project's "carefully crafted practices." The full resolution is available for download below.
For a summary of the specific provisions of the Mattole Forest Futures Project, download either of the first two files below.
The complete draft PTEIR is available below.
To read a resolution about the project adopted by the MRC board of directors, download the file below.
For an overview of the process by which the Mattole Forest Futures Project is proceeding, click here.
To read answers to some commonly asked questions about the Mattole Forest Futures Project and the PTEIR, go here.
For a page of resource documents and links, including the classic 2005 workshop from the Forest Reptile and Amphibian Working Group (FRAWG), go here.
© 2010 Mattole Restoration Council