California: It remains to be seen if “natural forestry” is credible

The Jackson Advisory Group (JAG) was appointed by the Director of Cal
Fire and the Board of Forestry and given as its primary task the
development of a long-term management plan for Jackson State Forest.

Get full text; support writer, producer of the words:
http://jacksonforum.org/blog/2009/02/16/natural-forestry-at-jackson-forest-part-1/

The JAG began meeting in mid-2008. Ever since it has been grappling
with the question of how much of the forest ought to be managed for
restoration to old growth and how much ought to be devoted to
commercial timber production.

As one can imagine, different interests have different ideas of how to answer this question. A possible solution to this apparently divisive question has now arisen in the form of another question: Might it be possible to simultaneously manage for restoration to old growth and ongoing timber production? If the answer is “Yes,” the conflict disappears. The term that arose later and has been adopted to describe this management method is
“Natural Forestry.”

The term was initially coined and defined by Mike Jani, as “managing the forest to emulate natural forest processes.” A key aspect of the natural processes of redwood forests is that the trees grow to 500 years and upwards. A lively discussion has arisen about the potentials and obstacles to applying Natural Forestry as a dominant management technique at Jackson Forest and possibly other public lands and possibly even on some private lands.

Get full text; support writer, producer of the words:
http://jacksonforum.org/blog/2009/02/16/natural-forestry-at-jackson-forest-part-1/