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Mendocino County and JDSF Timber Harvests

Recent harvest levels in Mendocino County have been between 200,000 and 300,000 M BF. This is dramatically less than the peak for the past 50 years of 1,030,000 M BF that occurred in 1955. This high harvest level can be attributed to the convergence of tractors, chain saws, and trucks, all of which accelerated the resource extraction process. After this peak, harvest levels have generally declined, falling to a low of 211,000 M BF in 1995.1

Despite the decline in harvest levels, Mendocino County is still one of the state's leading timber producers. In 1996, Mendocino County ranked second in the state with a net harvest of 275, 589 M BF, 12.12% of the state total, with a value of over $118 million. Only neighboring Humboldt County harvested more timber, 517,524 M BF, worth over $253 million.2

 

CDF's timber harvesting policy for JDSF is to cut annual growth of "merchantable conifer sawtimber." The 1983 JDSF Management Plan determined that the annual allowable cut was 29.5 million board feet.3 The past two years, however, CDF has been harvesting over 40 million board feet per year4, while claiming that growth has increased more than 50 percent to 46 million board feet per year.5 Whether this increase in growth is real, or is an artifact of the change from the CFI to the CRYPTOS inventory method, has yet to be determined.

As Mendocino County's timber inventories have decreased, and harvests have decreased accordingly, JDSF has provided a higher percentage of the county's timber. In 1996, JDSF provided 15% of the county's timber for the first time.

 

 

Year

Mendocino County Harvest (M BF)

JDSF Harvest (M BF)

JDSF Portion

1947

211,801

0

0.0%

1948

315,631

3

0.0%

1949

364,772

300

0.1%

1950

509,915

2518

0.5%

1951

752,964

45

0.0%

1952

805,437

7,376

0.9%

1953

927,191

12,847

1.4%

1954

993,734

13,539

1.4%

1955

1,030,321

7,458

0.7%

1956

990,027

18,659

1.9%

1957

791,690

21,696

2.7%

1958

795,632

23,015

2.9%

1959

632,121

21,466

3.4%

1960

635,473

20,998

3.3%

1961

683,262

21,814

3.2%

1962

726,596

26,222

3.6%

1963

634,145

14,862

2.3%

1964

611,328

16,208

2.7%

1965

540,226

26,412

4.9%

1966

486,948

28,054

5.8%

1967

493,473

26,685

5.4%

1968

560,985

38,751

6.9%

1969

525,123

31,471

6.0%

1970

478,471

33,658

7.0%

1971

491,336

29,213

5.9%

1972

540,345

31,805

5.9%

1973

529,869

27,142

5.1%

1974

519,279

37,069

7.1%

1975

490,542

26,368

5.4%

1976

573,106

33,639

5.9%

1977

617,393

24,786

4.0%

1978

454,653

17,622

3.9%

1979

333,944

23,835

7.1%

1980

343,200

10,887

3.2%

1981

346,905

11,856

3.4%

1982

310,236

31,118

10.0%

1983

386,714

30,911

8.0%

1984

449,311

27,953

6.2%

1985

424,943

32,721

7.7%

1986

423,042

25,170

5.9%

1987

477,364

37,716

7.9%

1988

474,293

24,378

5.1%

1989

515,299

33,045

6.4%

1990

422,732

20,056

4.7%

1991

274,986

36,628

13.3%

1992

250,897

16,142

6.4%

1993

254,895

32,686

12.8%

1994

229,123

12,421

5.4%

1995

211,583

24,665

11.7%

1996

275,589

42,416

15.4%

1997

 

47,080

 

 

1 Waddell, Karen L., and Bassett, Patricia M. 1996. Timber Resource Statistics for the North Coast Resource Area. Resource Bulletin PNW-RB-214. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 50 p.
and
Mendocino County Agriculture Commission, Crop Reports, 1970-1996.
2 California Board of Equalization, 1996. California Timber Harvest by County, 1QTR 1996 to 4QTR 1996.
3 California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, 1983. Jackson Demonstration State Forest Management Plan.
4 Personal Communication, Norm Henry. 1998.
5 California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, 1997. Notice of Preparation, EIR/EIS for the HCP/SYP for JDSF, Mendocino County.

Created by Jeremiah Siem, April 21, 1998.

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