Urgent Action Needed to Stop Logging in Mendocino!

Attention Campers!

We urgently want to inform you of the Timber Harvest Project (THP) planned to take place by Cal Fire directly on the border of the Mendocino Woodlands State Park which is causing extreme alarm to our campers, direct stewards of the Mendocino Woodlands, and numerous environmental recreational organizations.

 The NCUUCC Board voted in January 2021 to create a special committee to inform campers on this project due to the imminent threat of damage to ecological, environmental, economic, and cultural integrity of Mendocino Woodlands via large scale destructive and poorly planned logging. The goal of this announcement is to inform you of the planned project, provide additional resources, and ultimately urge you to write emails, letters, and public comments against this logging project and any future projects like it.

Our ask of you is that you craft a letter to CalTrees about concerns with the 1-20-000173-MEN Timber Harvest Plan.
To: santarosapubliccomment@fire.ca.gov
Subject: Public Comment Mendocino Timber Harvest Plan THP: 1-20-000173-MEN
Regarding: THP: 1-20-000173-MEN
Salutation: To Whom it May Concern:

The 1-20-000173-MEN Timber Harvest Plan is an initiative by Cal Fire to log areas adjacent to and on the Little North Fork of the Big River. The logging is planned for the Special Treatment Area adjacent to the Woodlands and in the Jackson Demonstration State Forest. The Mendocino Woodlands State Park is essentially the road into camp and historic campgrounds. The State Park includes a miniscule amount of protected forest land. The forested land areas campers regularly hike, bike, and do other activities and are not protected from logging.

There are numerous safety, economic, and environmental concerns but we would like to highlight a few issues with the 173-MEN THP logging here that we hope will inspire your action to write a letter.  The current logging plan includes the building of roads over steep slopes that will drastically change the natural landscape and make the area dangerous for recreational activities. The slope of the proposed logging area is a major issue and a pointed highlight to letter readers and decision makers of the fallacies of this logging plan. The creation of roads on steep slopes to log the area will cause major water, mud, and silt issues. Silt running into the creek is disastrous for the entire ecological area including the Coho Salmon which finally return to these waters to spawn. Unstable land on steep slopes logged can also cause human safety issues for recreation activities. Tractor yarding is also proposed in this plan which will essentially create a clear-cut parking lot adjacent to the creek.


Cal Fire has not yet responded to public comment. Their justification for this logging is economic and fire mitigation. However, Cal Fire has not proposed any economic or other environmental mitigation for the logging including the safety and security of our camps. Should the proposed logging plan be approved, it is likely our camps and other camps will not be able to attend the Mendocino Woodlands in recent years.  It will be another year of economic hardship for the Mendocino Woodlands State Park if camps meet at the Mendocino Woodlands.

We all want to have a safe camp experience where we make beautiful new memories and continue to cherish the 50 years of history our camp has had at the Woodlands. This will not happen should the THP go through. This project poses paramount issues for the safety of children and adults alike trying to enjoy the creek and trails, further endangers the Woodlands historic water septic system and natural waterways, in addition to many more ecological concerns that has caused the alarm of numerous government and nonprofit organizations.

We implore you to do all that you can to halt this project. Why would you want to log a seasoned and natural fire-resistant redwood forest? The idea that it is for fire prevention is misleading. 

Please consider reading others’ public comments.
The link to the CalTrees 173-MEN Record is here:
https://caltreesplans.resources.ca.gov/caltrees/urlrouting.ashx?type=1000&Module=TH_Document&capID1=REC20&capID2=00000&capID3=00A6Z&agencyCode=CALTREES