Jackson forest protections clear Legislature, but bill allows continued logging operations

LESS THAN TWO WEEKS after a rally at Fort Bragg Town Hall called on lawmakers to pass Assembly Bill 2494 and on Cal Fire to stop logging in Jackson Demonstration State Forest, the bill has cleared the state Legislature. The logging plan is still standing. The group that sponsored the bill says it belongs there.

The bill, brought by state Assemblymember Chris Rogers, D-Santa Rosa, whose district takes in the Mendocino coast, rewrites the mandate that has governed California’s demonstration state forests for decades. There are 14 of them, about 85,000 acres in all, according to Cal Fire. Jackson is the largest, 48,652 acres between Willits and Fort Bragg.