RCRC advocates strongly for increasing the pace and scale of forest management on California’s federal public lands. Most of these areas suffer from extreme overstocking of timber, creating an unhealthy forest that is susceptible to disease, insect infestation, and catastrophic wildfire. In addition, overstocked forests decrease the water availability downstream through the trees’ use, and also by preventing snowpack from reaching the ground where it can recharge groundwater and flow downstream to surface storage locations. Furthermore, large-scale wildfires destroy water quality, air quality, habitat, communities, and recreational opportunities in our forests and wildlands.
Forestry issues have long been a key advocacy issue for RCRC. From state reforms of the Timber Harvest Plan (THP) process, to leadership in advocacy on federal forestry reforms and fire funding, to the creation of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between counties and the United States Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), RCRC’s leadership in forestry policy continues.
Staff: Staci Heaton