State touts Jackson’s tribal co-management as way forward, but critics want to see proof

WHEN GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM issued a directive to all state agencies in 2020 to give First Nations an equal role in the management of their ancestral lands, it was heralded as a turning point in California history.

Four years later, meetings involving Cal Fire and unnamed tribes are being viewed as a sign co-management is finally being implemented in the Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) in Mendocino County. The county is the first in the state to bring native tribes into the management process for a state forest.