Cambria Forest Committee continues to work on recommendations and monitoring of Cal VTP projects in and around Cambria. CFC is also working with Cambria CSD and Fire Department to foster conservation on conservation-easement protected lots.
Want to learn more about trees? Watch this video on Common Trees of the Los Padres National Forest. ForestWatch’s Director of Conservation & Research (and resident plant nerd) Bryant Baker describes them and shows how to identify them.
From The Hill:
Logging industry’s wildfire claims are misleading the public
by Chad Hanson, opinion contributor – 08/12/24 12:00 PM ET
The Park Fire in northern California has reached approximately 400,000 acres in size, and already logging industry advocates are pushing out misinformation about the fire in an attempt to promote their deceptively-named Fix Our Forests Act logging bill. The timber industry’s political apologists tell us that the Park Fire grew so big, so fast ostensibly because public forestlands are “overgrown” and in need of “thinning.”
They tell us that we can solve this problem by passing the Fix Our Forests Act, which would roll back bedrock environmental laws to give logging companies even greater access to mature and old trees on our national forests and other public lands.
As with other large wildfires in recent years, the self-serving claims made by logging interests while fires burn do not stand up to even casual scrutiny. In fact, about three-quarters of the Park Fire isn’t even in conifer forest. Mostly it has burned through open oak woodlands and grass savannas with widely scattered trees. Of the approximately one-quarter of the fire that is comprised of conifer forest, most of that is private industrial timberland where intensive logging, including “thinning,” has occurred for many years.
The truth is that this “overgrown forests” narrative, which is being spun by the logging industry and its political apologists, is a new and insidious type of climate change denialism. It not only downplays the role of extreme weather and climate change in big wildfires, it also promotes widespread removal of trees from our best carbon sinks—our forests. Scientific research tells us that logging conducted under the rubric of thinning emits about three times more carbon into the atmosphere, per acre, than wildfire alone.
Read the rest of this OpEd here.
Forest Committee meetings
Cambria Forest Committee welcomes all to its monthly meetings, the second Friday of the month, 10 am on Zoom. Lively discussion of current issues, such as the fuel reduction projects. Email CFC Chair Crosby Swartz for the link, crosbyswartz99@gmail.com
Tales from the Cambria Woods
In 2002, the Cambria Forest Committee collected columns about the forest that had been published in The Cambrian and published the collection as Tales From the Cambria Woods. Twenty years later, it’s time for Volume 2. What would you like to say about the forest? 1,000-1,500 words, although that’s flexible. Writers and artists, please contact the Forest Committee for more information.
Cambria Monterey Pine signs
Invasive Weed Guide
Every Cambrian lives in the forest. We share our landscape with the trees and wildlife. Donate now to the Forest Committee to defray publication costs of Cambria’s Guide to Invasive Weeds, $15 (or more), contact christine.heinrichs@gmail.com.
Weeds are taking over landscape and crowding out native plants. Weeds hurt the forest by changing the habitat for wildlife. they increase fire danger. Pull weeds on your own property and help your neighbors. Every weed you pull reduces the number of seeds that will sprout on your property next year. Connie Gannon, executive director of Greenspace–The Cambria Land Trust and a member of the Forest Committee’s board, wrote about it in The Cambrian.
Learn more about Cambria’s Invasive Weeds by joining iNaturalist on your tablet or smart phone. Find the Rogue’s Gallery of Weeds and add your personal Worst Weed of Cambria. contact us at forest@cambriaforstcommittee.org with questions.
Download a copy of the Forest Committee’s brochure, At Home in the Forest, from the Frequently Asked Questions page.
Read the Community Wildfire Protection Plan posted under Forest-Related documents.
Volunteer to help the Cambria Forest Committee preserve Cambria’s Monterey Pine Forest.
Would you like to pull weeds, get rid of those nasty invasives that are creeping into our forest? Do you have computer skills? Would you like to use your artistic talent to create informational materials that convey the forest’s beauty? What is your talent? The Forest Committee welcomes you. Contact us at forest@cambriaforestcommittee.org and we will put you to work.
What are TDCs?
In 1985, The Land Conservancy was selected as the implementing nonprofit agency as required for government agencies to operate the Transfer Development Credit Ordinance. Following the completion of the Cambria-Lodge-Hill Restoration Plan, the TDC program received seed money from the state Coastal Conservancy to begin retiring lots. Lots retired from development are permanently restricted to open space and their development rights can be transferred to areas in Cambria where development is better suited and which will have a reduced impact on the health of the native Monterey pine forest. The County directs landowners who wish to exceed present county development standards to The Land Conservancy to purchase TDCs. That money is then used to purchase additional undeveloped lots and retire them from development, and the cycle continues.
In March 2016, after a four year hiatus, the Cambria CSD accepted 52 lots from the Land Conservancy. That allows the program to continue. Read the news report here.
The CSD established a Buildout Reduction Committee to move the program forward. The committee’s report is posted at the link above.
Forest Management Plan
The Organizational and Funding Options for Implementation for the Cambria Monterey Pine Forest Management Plan is posted on the Forest-Related Documents page. The Forest Management Plan is posted here.
This site contains information about the Cambria Forest Committee including
The Committee meets on the 2nd Friday of the month at 10 am. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Contact the Committee by e-mail: crosbyswartz99@gmail.com
Contact us by mail at: Cambria Forest Committee PO Box 23 Cambria, CA 93428
Next Meeting: March 14, 2025, 10 am, remotely via Zoom. Email for link to participate. Open to everyone.
