California's iconic forests still need protection

California’s forests provide the state with the water its residents drink, protection against global warming and habitat for countless rare and threatened plants and animals. However, Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) is leaving a legacy of clearcuts and tree plantations to future generations that is compromising the ability of this robust ecosystem to function. Their practices, certified by the "Sustainable" Forestry Initative (SFI) must change if we are to ensure the ecological integrity of California’s forests for its people and animals. 

• John Muir’s wanderings in Northern California’s forests helped give birth to the modern environmental movement;
• California’s forests are an important line of defense against global warming, and are among the most "carbon dense" forests on the planet;
• Northern California’s forests are home to an incredible range of biodiversity—from the rare wolverine to the spotted owl;
• Many of California's forests’ plants and animals are found nowhere else on Earth;
• SPI’s logging often destroys old oak trees, some of the most productive
  trees in the forest. Old-growth oak trees provide acorns for deer and
  nesting habitat for owls;
• Animals such as the elusive pacific fisher—a relative of the otter—are
  increasingly threatened as SPI’s logging practices fragments the kinds
  of mature forest conditions on which the fisher depends;
• SPI has plans to convert nearly a million acres of natural forests into tree plantations and clearcuts within the next fifty years. That’s an area roughly one-and-a-half times the size of Yosemite National Park;
• Studies have shown that SPI’s intensive logging releases tons of global warming pollution. 
• Certification from the "Sustainable" Forestry Initiative (SFI) permits widespread destruction of irreplaceable old-growth forests, Endangered Forests, and rare wildlife
• SFI-certified operations have caused massive landslides that have endangered communities
• SFI allows excessive, routine use of toxic chemicals in large forest regions, including the Sierra
• SFI does not adequately protect the rights of workers, communities, nor indigenous peoples

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