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When Forests Forever opened the official government document describing CalFIRE's plans to log the 448-acre Little North Fork area in Jackson State Forest, the following statement led off the report's discussion of potential greenhouse gas impacts of the cut:

For now, the consensus is that temperature within the earth's atmosphere is increasing, although exactly how and to what extent human activity plays a role in global climate change appears to be unknown.

Excuse me?

This was the State of California speaking in late 2020.

Such indefensible positions by officialdom—in this case CalFIRE—help explain why the fight to save Jackson State Forest in Mendocino County is rapidly becoming the biggest forest-defense battle in a generation.

We are writing to urge you to boost your financial support with an end-of-year contribution. Your backing makes it possible for Forests Forever to continue to fight for California's forest ecosystems—on private lands as well as public. With your continued support we will be able to defend our hard-fought gains against inevitable attack, to strengthen and extend protections now in place, and to address forest-related problems that are not only local and regional but also global in scope.

We would be remiss in recounting events of this last year if we failed to update you on the pandemic and Forests Forever's reaction to it.

Now if you've followed our e-Alerts, social media posts, or canvass outreach you know that we focused on more than just Jackson Forest in 2021.

The year got off to a promising start when President Joe Biden unveiled his administration's "30 By 30" effort—to safeguard 30 percent of the nation's lands and waters by 2030. Some months earlier California Gov. Gavin Newsom had issued Executive Order N-82-20, initiating a process of identifying candidate lands and waters for protection in the Golden State.

Forests Forever focused attention on three areas for special conservation emphasis—areas for which we have campaigned over the years: Jackson Forest, the Mattole River watershed in Humboldt County, and California's Inventoried Roadless Areas on its national forests.

And at the local level we saw further progress on a victory we helped chalk up in 2017 when we played a key role in helping to qualify the Richmond Hills Initiative.

It has been over 30 years since Forests Forever was founded amid the most turbulent of forest-conservation battles up to that time—the fight for Headwaters Forest ancient redwood reserve.

More than ever, your continued financial support is essential to keep our important work moving forward.

When we have the government of the State of California, no less, saying, "how and to what extent human activity plays a role in global climate change appears to be unknown" it might seem we should have a relatively easy time knocking over such unsupported absurdities and making the necessary reforms happen. But experience has shown it will be tougher than that.

We hope you will continue to help us clear the many hurdles yet ahead.

Your contribution today will help California's forests thrive!

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