Many of you will have heard about last summer’s purchase of the Usal redwood forest north of Ft. Bragg by the Redwood Forest Foundation Inc. (RFFI). RFFI is a non-profit organization founded ten years ago as an effort to overcome the divisiveness of the timber wars and to acquire depleted forestland and apply a community-based model of sustainable high-quality forestry. Environmentalists, forest restoration workers, and professional foresters came together with logging industry representatives, UC advisors, community members, and landowners and drew up guidelines for sustainable forestry that would benefit biodiversity and the health of the forests, as well as continue to provide long-term employment for wood-working communities.
RFFI’s ideas are now being put to the test on the 50,000 acre Usal redwood forest: most of the area between the coast and the South Fork Eel River, from near Piercy to a bit south of Leggett. Because RFFI defines its vision as establishing community-based working forests, we are inviting local communities to come to two talks - on Tuesday, April 22 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Mateel Community Center in Redway, and on Saturday, April 26, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Ft. Bragg Town Hall -- to learn
Advertisement
Help decide how this forest will become an essential long-term resource for the people of California’s Redwood Region.
Font Resize