Sara Rose (Age 16), Co-founder of the Mendocino County Youth for Climate
If you had asked me about Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) this time last year I would have said, “It’s cool that someone’s tree sitting, but what are they up there for?’”
It’s crazy to realize that just a year ago I didn’t know anything about the nearly 50,000 acre forest or the devastating logging operations that were happening in our community’s backyard. April was the anniversary of Direct Action in JDSF, which started when a local high schooler took up residence in a tree in the Caspar 500 Timber Harvest Plan, an area of forest tucked in behind the community of Caspar, California, in the Caspar watershed. Over the last year the movement to change the management of JDSF has grown tremendously. We’ve gone from one teenager in a tree to a recent rally on the capitol steps with hundreds.
In the days before the rally, Mendocino Youth for Climate activists went around Sacramento knocking on state representatives’ doors to lobby support for defense of JDSF and co-management of the forest by the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians. I went with a cross coalition team that was comprised of the other Mendocino County Youth for Climate (MCYC) Co-Founder, Ravel Gauthier; Michelle McMillan, organizer and Media Representative with Mama Tree Mendo and President of Overstand; Matthew Bostock, Environmental Activist and Movement Coordinator for Overstand; Chad Swimmer, Co-Founder of the Mendocino Trail Stewards, climate and LGBTQIA+ activist, and educator for 25 years; and Justine Lemos Ph.D., Youth Climate Activist Liaison. We spent Wednesday and Thursday engaging with our state senators and assembly members about the state of JDSF, the climate crisis and the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians’ call for co-management of the forest.
It was a unique and empowering experience to not only knock on office doors, but to get to speak to our elected representatives about the issue at hand – changing the management of JDSF so that it fits our shared future.
On Friday, March 25th students around the world were holding school strikes for the climate. In California, students, community members, and Indigenous tribes from around the state gathered at the Capitol in Sacramento. The rally was a combination of a Pomo Land Back rally and a school strike for climate. Co-organized by Michael Hunter, Tribal Chairman of the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians and myself, Sara Rose, Co-Founder of the Mendocino County Youth for Climate (MCYC), the rally intended to highlight the intersection between the shared goals of restoring Native American Land Rights and addressing climate change. The rally had Native American dancing and singing groups from around the state and youth climate activists sharing the stage to bring light to how the movement in JDSF ties these issues together perfectly.
We just learned that logging could start in JDSF as early as May 3, despite promises of Indiginous co-management and widespread community pushback. For a year now we have been calling for a moratorium on all logging activities but our representatives still haven’t listened. As was proven last summer, if logging starts the community will stand up and stop it. People will be in the woods until we have a moratorium that stays in place until the management plan can be rewritten to reflect Indigenous sovereignty and co-management, and the reality of the climate crisis and modern climate science.
If you’re interested in learning more about the movement, head to savejackson.org. You can also visit the “Take Action” page to send a letter or call your representatives, donate to the cause, and more.
For more on the Mendocino County Youth for Climate, head to the-mcyc.org.
And for more on Pomo Land Back and Coyote Valley’s call for co-management, go to pomolandback.com.
