Fall 2013
In this Issue:
- President’s Letter: Making Money Grow on Forests
- Get to Know Hancock’s McCloud Working Forests
- Wild Things: Animals, Working Forests, and a Changing Climate
- Case Study: Phillips Family Tree Farm
- Think BIG, California: Forests are Key to Healthy Climate
- Giving With Heart, Mind, and Money: Nancy Tompkins
- AB 904: Good News for Forests and Forest Landowners
Making Money Grow on Forests
To money-managers, forests are “hard assets”—assets that keep and grow their financial value over the long-term. Historically, based largely on timber production, forests have appreciated at about 2% above inflation, a valuable counter-cyclical investment to short term markets.
To the rest of us, forests might best be known as “soft assets”—based on the many products we don’t pay for but we need to survive and thrive: clean and abundant water, a healthy climate, habitat for myriad species, recreation, and more.
This misalignment of forest economic return with essential public benefits is the source of most battles over forest management. With the growing market for climate services and potential for other ecosystem payments, we are beginning to change this. But, even as these markets slowly ramp up, property values and forest breakup are increasing. Converting land for development became the favored way of increasing “forest” values in the 1990-2010’s—“deforesting” the forest in the process. Forestland prices did not drop steeply in this current recession, and many analysts attribute that to long-term real estate values, not timber values.
Forests are caught on the horns of a market dilemma. They won’t be conserved if they can’t produce regular economic return, and stable, long-term financial performance can’t continue without the forest itself. Timber returns alone aren’t sufficient to ensure a robust forest economy; this recession saw a huge drop in timber demand and much economic hardship.
As the housing market rebounds and demand for timber increases, it is all the more urgent that our forests gain investment to produce essential forest products of water and a more stable climate.
PFT is leveraging your support to build more capital (see p. 10) to invest in the public benefits of working forests we truly cannot live without—the “soft assets” that benefit us all.
Laurie Wayburn
Ask a resident of historic McCloud, California, and they’ll tell you the area’s most important assets are the private working forests that surround this former company town. For almost a century, life was centered on the McCloud River Lumber Company, but 35 years ago the mill closed down.
Since then, the people who depended on “Mother McCloud” for their community’s livelihood have worked hard to diversify, leveraging the beauty and natural wonders to become a popular recreation hub. Today, working forests are still important to the economy and vitality of the region, but they are valued not only for their local jobs but also as watersheds, wildlife habitat, and recreation available for the well being of all Californians.
The Hancock Timber Resource Group now owns a large portion of the former McCloud Lumber Company forests surrounding the town, which are sustainably managed to provide income to retirees through a pension fund. These forests carpet the town’s viewsheds and provide the backdrop for hikers on majestic Mt. Shasta and visitors driving along the National Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway.
The McCloud is one of the major tributaries to the upper Sacramento and provides major flows of cold, clear water into the state’s water system on which 25 million Californians depend.
Sitting in a county with a stubborn 11% unemployment, Hancock’s working forests directly support 10 full- and 30-50 part-time jobs, and provide logs essential to keeping the region’s mills functioning. Hancock is working with the Pacific Forest Trust, CalFire and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to assure these 18,100 acres stay as forests forever, continuing to serve as a backbone to the community and the region.
When our major fundraising campaign is complete, this will be PFT’s largest Working Forest Conservation Easement (WFCE) to date—28.3 square miles and 20% larger than the island of Manhattan.
(1) Mercantile building
Once the hub of McCloud’s timber industry, this gorgeous turn-of-the century building, home to a cozy hotel and local shops, maintains many of its original features while serving as a centerpiece and storefront for the small Californian mountain town.
(2) McCloud River Trail
Explore the fabled McCloud River (home to the endangered McCloud River Redband Trout) and its awe-inspiring waterfalls along this 12 mile trail. The trail looks upon woodlands that will be protected under the new conservation easement.
(3) Historic logging camp, now home to rare wildlife
The old-growth trees that surround this historic logging camp make ideal homes for the imperiled Pacific Fisher. Special Habitat Management Zones (SHMZs), like this one are managed to retain old-growth characteristics and provide crucial habitat for endangered and threatened species.
(4) National Volcanic Scenic Byway viewshed
A scenic drive is only as good as its views. This WFCE keeps the forests of Town Block, which carpet the hill overlooking historic McCloud, healthy and beautiful. Rising up from a rare stand of oaks amidst the conifer forest that Hancock will manage for habitat, the property stretches all the way up Highway 89 to Snowman’s Hill, a favorite sledding spot in the winter.
(5) Slowing sprawl
The prime timberland surrounding the McCloud Golf course is already subdivided and ready for houses to be built. Rural residential development breaks up and converts habitat; takes land out of timber production; alters hydrology and introduces exotic species. By conserving Hancock’s Town Block, PFT will draw the line on creeping development around McCloud, and ensure that the town’s viewsheds stay green.
Our climate is changing, its future is uncertain, and animals are on the move. Fish and wildlife are seeking refuge in nearby safe havens of stable habitat, or are searching for new homes, using pockets of suitable habitat as stepping stones.
While experts anticipate that rising temperatures will outpace the ability of some plants and animals to move or evolve for new conditions, there are ways people can help increase opportunities for wildlife to thrive.
One way is to focus efforts strategically on regions that have the highest potential for resiliency: the Klamath-Cascade’s unique qualities make it essential for California’s fish and wildlife in these changing times. It is a crossroads among the state’s eco-regions, serving as a refuge and a migratory hub. The region has very high biodiversity, complex terrain, tremendous water resources, and is crisscrossed by riparian corridors.
“We reviewed statewide data for changes in temperature and precipitation over the last 100 years, and found that the area around Mt. Shasta has actually gotten both wetter and cooler than most places in California,” notes Steve Beissinger, Professor of Conservation Biology at U.C. Berkeley. “Moreover, climate projections for the next 100 years suggest that the south Cascade region may be a key climate refuge for wildlife in the state.”
Conserve networks of diverse natural lands
We need to build and maintain linkages from rangeland to forests; from rivers to wet meadows; and from valleys to mountaintops. A single corridor isn’t enough; the Klamath-Cascade needs many connections between diverse habitats so wildlife have places to go to find food, water, and shelter—and plants have places to grow.
Reduce sources of ecological stress
Reducing sources of ecological stress bolsters nature’s ability to respond resiliently to the big stress of climate change. Eco-stress includes over-crowded forests, invasive species, and overly warm rivers, for example.
Enhance wildlife habitat
We need to manage more ground with climate adaptation in mind. Improved stewardship of all kinds of habitats will provide more options for creatures on the move. Enhancing habitats will also help maintain larger ecosystem functions such as water movement, nutrient cycling, and energy flows.
Restore rare habitats
Aspen trees are dramatic and beautiful; a favorite of photographers, hikers, and wildlife. There are dozens of species of animals that use aspens during their lives: flycatchers and elk, mountain lions and bats. Many kinds of butterflies and moths depend on aspen. Aspen thrive in wet meadows and riparian areas where they are not crowded out by conifers.
In the Klamath-Cascade, wet meadows are among the most endangered and precious habitats. They are also beautiful, with wildflowers growing among rushes and sedges. Wildlife seek out sunlight and myriad plants. Meadow soil acts as a sponge that catches water during snow melt, and then slowly releases it into groundwater reservoirs or streams. Many wet meadows are spring fed, yielding the cold, clear water needed by us all.
Habitat structures—among the trees. Some forest stands are especially valuable for wildlife. Creatures need places to nest, raise young, roost, and hunt. With their strong limbs and towering heights, large trees give birds, like the Northern Goshawk, a “birds-eye view” to spy their prey. Downed logs on the forest floor provide areas for animals to nest, den, or rest. Standing dead trees and large trees with cavities, broken tops, and branchy platforms are used by many wildlife species, including the Pacific Fisher.
Keep lands whole and connected
This is a biggie. Habitat fragmentation and habitat loss threaten many species, both geographically restricted, such as the Siskiyou Mountains Salamander, and wide-ranging, such as Rocky Mountain Elk. When natural lands are broken up into small ownerships or developed, habitat connections are lost and populations shrink.
“An adaptation strategy that focuses on building more connectivity across public and private forestlands is very promising in Klamath-Cascade region in general, and the area around Mt. Shasta in particular, since development hasn’t fragmented the forest as badly as elsewhere,” notes Jim Thorne, Ph.D., a landscape ecologist at U.C. Davis who specializes in projecting climate change impacts. “Conservation easements are a great tool to create permanent linkages across ownerships, with more active forest management to enhance habitats.”
This work is made possible in part by the Wildlife Conservation Society, thanks to funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Case Study: Phillips Family Tree Farm
Gary Hendrix shares his experience with forest restoration and enhancement projects.
When my generation first started managing the property, it was overstocked beyond reality as our uncles had only been selectively salvaging dead and dying trees. The land in that state was a catastrophic event waiting to happen.
Our plan (and our main ongoing goal) was to take out all the sub-story trees that were still salable and leave prominent dominant trees—such as Ponderosa pine—standing, while allowing for a healthy mix of understory trees like Douglas fir, white fir and incense cedar. We felt this would be more sustainable and, really, more natural in a fire-prone area like ours.
It’s been quite a lot of work but very satisfying. We received a WinRock International grant (1 of 6 given in the Klamath-Cascade area) to clear 20 acres of dense Manzanita brush, leaving oaks and dominant pines, and replanting 6,000 trees. We received an additional grant from Turtle Bay to defray the cost of tree plantings in what is now Arthur C. Phillips Grove.
We also received a Forest Improvement Program grant from CDF to do a 65–acre, pre-commercial thinning/restoration to lessen fire danger and make the forest more fire resilient. We biomassed 150 acres to thin out dense thickets. We also received an NCRS mastification grant to restore 15 acres and mulch the debris, returning the mulch to the ground.
Something that strikes me is that fire has always been a part of the forest here. Every generation before me has burned parts of the forest. I just took a tree down that finally died at the age of 502. It bore fire scars—evidence of at least seven major forest fires, and proof that trees can recover.
The restoration work we’ve done has opened up the forest floor and created more food for wildlife. We’ve left some piles of woody debris as habitat for small animals, as well as standing snags and some downed trees.
When you grow up on a piece of property where trees have names: Leaning Tower, the Sentinel, Bear Tree—where they have meaning—you manage them differently than if you weren’t there daily and didn’t observe the forest in every season. We know places on the land by heart: Box Spring, Triple Spring, Sunny Valley. And we manage for values that have been passed down from one generation to the next, a heritage that goes back into the 1850s.
Gary Hendrix is a fifth generation forest landowner and is on the board of Forest Landowners of California. The 900–acre Phillips Family Tree Farm—located east of Redding near Oak Run—is a part of the American Tree Farm System, and is managed for wood, water, recreation, and wildlife.
In 2006, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act set goals to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and by executive orderto 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. The Air Resources board (ARB) developed the road map: a Scoping Plan, which laid out a suite of policies and actions to meet the first goal.
And while we are on target for 2020, now it’s time to build the path to 2050 with a revised Scoping Plan due by December 2013. Meeting the 2050 goal is trickier. It requires even bolder actions, and ARB must accelerate progress on emissions reductions significantly.
With your help, PFT worked hard to get the forest sector included in the first Scoping Plan. Forests affect so many other emissions sectors beyond their role as the safest, most expandable natural carbon sink. In response, ARB set a conservative target to maintain “no net loss” from our forest carbon bank. But we need a more visionary, transformative target to meet 2050 goals. We need to keep California’s forests from unraveling and vastly scale up carbon sequestration.
The Draft Scoping Plan (the Draft Plan) released in October recognizes that forests and other land types must play a crucial role in reducing climate pollution. Forest loss in California has contributed vast CO2 emissions. Because forests can reabsorb CO2, they may contribute more reductions sooner than any other sector, and at a lower cost.
Other land types (natural, agricultural, range, and wetlands) can and must also play a significant role. Conservation and improved management is essential to not only restore net, resilient carbon stocks, but also to protect our water supplies and help wildlife adapt to a changing climate—a true triple win, and a necessary one.
Given the challenges of soils carbon accounting, the metrics for wetlands, range, and agricultural lands sequestration are still evolving. The Draft Plan seeks to balance the uneven state of science for increasing carbon stores across land types with meaningful, immediate actions. In forests, the methodologies, practices, and tools for consistent and resilient sequestration are well documented and accepted. As such, the Draft Plan calls for significant, immediate investments in forest conservation and improved management—providing immediate benefits and maximizing contributions to the 2050 goal.
To get the greatest return, we need to invest in systematic actions at the landscape level, rather than on a project-by-project, opportunistic basis. We encourage ARB, the Legislature and the Governor to think and act at the scale required—BIG—in this historic opportunity to achieve a low-carbon economy and a healthier, more resilient California.
Giving with heart, mind, and money
“I cannot imagine a more obvious, elegant, or immediate answer to the threats of climate change than to conserve forests.”
Nancy Tompkins, J.D., is a partner at Kerr & Wagstaffe LLP. With gratitude, we asked her what inspires her to give not just her money, but also her time and expertise to PFT’s efforts.
What do you like best about forests? What motivated you to help conserve private forests?
I feel good around trees, period. I like their shade; I like how they smell; I like how they sound when the air moves around them; I like how each has a unique shape; I like climbing them (still); I like all the creatures they shelter; I like how they dwarf us, both physically and temporally. I find them consoling. That they sequester carbon and produce oxygen I find utterly miraculous, while it sort of confirms all of my simpler intuitions about them. I cannot imagine a more obvious, elegant, or immediate answer to the threats of climate change than to conserve forests.
How did you get involved with PFT?
I was working for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and grooming myself for a career in environmental law in the 1990s. Reviewing a great number of environmental cases, I noticed many of them are against federal agencies, such as the United States Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Land Management. I realized that these agencies are not going to save us from the messes we’ve made with ranching, mining, excessive timber harvests, overfishing, etc. It isn’t really their mission; they serve too many competing interests.
I had always been interested in land trusts. My father and all of our neighbors had donated the development rights to a large piece of property we all owned jointly in rural Vermont, where I grew up. I wound up auditing a class in conservation easements at Hastings. The professor of that class, Bill Hutton, was a great friend to PFT, and through him I met Laurie Wayburn. The land trust is such a brilliant, elegant idea, amplifying common, rather than competing, interests. I thought very hard about moving to Boonville and working as a liaison for the organization. But I wasn’t quite prepared to leave my career as a lawyer. And I never became an environmental lawyer either. I’m still not sure I shouldn’t have. But that’s how life is. All these years later, I’m a partner at a law firm. I’m suited to it in many ways. But I wouldn’t be able to sustain the energy it requires, or tolerate the stress, without regular trips across the Golden Gate Bridge, or just into the park, to commune with the trees. I give what I can to PFT in acknowledgment of that reality.
You give money as well as expertise. Why are you making these investments in PFT?
Climate change is THE urgent problem of this moment. While I recognize this, I have not set up my life to work full time on solving it. I do as little harm as I can (I compost, eat local, and seldom drive) but many other projects—working a job, running a household, and raising a daughter—compete for my time and energy. At this stage of my life, I don’t have the luxury of rethinking my career choices. But I do have income enough to give to organizations such as PFT that are doing the work that we all need done. And it turns out PFT sometimes needs answers to the kinds of questions I am facile with now, like how does CEQA [the California Environmental Quality Act] work? And can the Attorney General of California sue the Bureau of Reclamation in certain circumstances? My colleague Deb Goodman and I have looked at a few of these questions pro bono. At bottom, I guess I still believe if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. You have to do what you can within reason.
Good news for forests and forest landowners
AB 904 Clears Legislature, Creates Working Forest Management Plan
Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill 904 (Chesbro) into law on October 11th, making good things easier to do in California’s forests. Pacific Forest Trust was honored and pleased to work with Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro on this bill which allows mid-sized forestland owners to better manage their forests in an ecologically appropriate and economically viable way.
AB 904 essentially expands and updates the Non-industrial Timber Management Plan (NTMP) program to allow landowners with up to 15,000 acres to develop a programmatic, ownership-wide timber harvest planning document, and then manage their forest under notices of operation consistent with that plan. Landowners operating under this new NTMP permit:
1) Commit to uneven age management
2) Agree to a “no net loss” policy for old forest conditions on the ownership, and
3) Are subject to agency reviews of the plan every five years.
Prior to AB 904, landowners with 2,500 to 15,000 acres were required to prepare and mange under Timber Harvest Plans (THP), which provided none of these conservation protections.
This new plan will lead to lower permitting costs over time for both owners and regulatory agencies, making it much easier to practice more sustainable and natural forest management.
Assemblyman Chesbro’s leadership was essential to creating this new program—and makes it easier for California’s family forests to remain healthy, happy, and whole.