On January 5, 2009, members of the Jackson Advisory Group visited Brandon Gulch to review a “trial mark.” The trial mark is an initial marking of trees to reflect the guidelines for a harvest intended to create late seral (old growth) characteristics in the Brandon Gulch stands. T
he late seral harvest plan differs greatly from the harvest plan previously marked for Brandon Gulch. The former plan was intended to be a high-volume commercial harvest that favored larger trees and included small clearcuts throughout much of the harvest area in order to encourage the growth of a new generation of trees. The new plan keeps all of the larger trees and aims to keep the natural diversity of conditions found in the 90 year-old undisturbed stands of redwood and Douglas Fir in Brandon Gulch.
On the visit, Marc Jameson, Manager of Jackson Demonstration State Forest, explained the way in which the new mark was made. [The blue lines on trees are from the prior mark. These marked trees were scheduled for harvest. In the new harvest, only the trees with yellow dots will be harvested.] The heavy breathing of the camera person (me) is because I had to hurry up the slope to catch up after lagging behind to take photos on the way up.
You will notice that not many yellow dots are visible in the video. As we walked through the plan area, Mike Anderson of Anderson Logging, Fort Bragg, asked Marc how the volume of timber to be cut in the new mark compared to the original cut. Marc said that the prior volume would have been 40-50% of the stand. The goal for the new mark is no more than 30% of volume (actually “basal area”, which is reasonably related to volume). Thus, the relative volume in the new mark would be 60-75% of the prior volume.
As we continued our walk and looked at the currently marked trees compared to the prior ones, Mike Anderson offered that it looked like the cut would be down by at least 50%, if not more. Marc then said that they were marking conservatively, aiming at 25% in order to allow for trees that weren’t marked but that would be cut as part of the logging operation in order to remove the trees (primarily for cable corridors).
My own impression of the new mark was very favorable. When I saw the aftermath of a brief but intense logging that occurred in 2004 (in 5 days between court ordered prohibitions on logging in Jackson Forest), I was horrified. This time I was very happy to be able to feel that this was a harvest that would not destroy the forest values that have accumulated during 100 years of undisturbed growth.
The largest trees will all be left. Most of the harvest will remove only a minority of the redwoods growing in rings around the stumps of the original old growth trees. Trees in between the clumps will be left unless they compete seriously for light with adjacent large redwoods. The hardwoods (primarily tan oak) will be left. Although some canopy will be removed, the projections are that it will close up within 10 years, shading out new trees and brush that sprouts in the temporary openings. Within 20 years, the stands should have returned to much the same state as before the harvest, while allowing the larger trees more space to grow into still bigger trees.
I am hopeful that the approach taken at Brandon Gulch will be able to serve as a model for management of all of the old undisturbed second-growth stands that are not set aside as unmanaged preserves. This will be one of the central issues to be considered by the JAG in developing a long-term landscape plan.
