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To whom it may concern:

I am a strong supporter of our great state of California doing
everything we can to mitigate the effects of climate change.
However, we cannot and should not allow clearcutting to be a part
of that mitigation process.

I am appalled to hear that clearcutting is included in your
proposed program; this very fact calls into question the
credibility of the program as a whole.  If allowed to pass, it will
allow the facilities with greatest emissions (cement kilns, power
plants and refineries) to avoid reductions by purchasing highly
questionable clearcut offsets, subsidizing the most aggressive and
intrusive forest harvest techniques. This is borrowing from Peter
to pay Paul and makes no sense whatsoever.

California ’s working timberlands are vitally important for the
ecological services they provide, not only for habitat and
wildlife, but for the quality of life for all.  Our forests purify
our air, control sedimentation and regulate temperature.  Even
aged, clearcut forests are less resilient, more prone to fire and
disease, and provide less diversity of habitat for the species on
which nature and Californians depend.

Not all offsets are created equal. California should adopt only
programs that will most reliably assure actual sequestration and
avoid those that ignore carbon impacts of entire components of
activities seeking to be called “offsets” such as clearcuts.  We
should particularly avoid subsidizing clearcuts because they are
extremely difficult to assure additionality, and they also pose
massive environmental risks. 

Protect the integrity of the climate program and resiliency of
California’s forests by eliminating from the offset program
clearcutting of our forests as a way of sequestering carbon, and by
adding provisions to assure that forest projects do NOT result in
the conversion of naturally managed (uneven aged forests) into
clearcut plantations (even aged forests).

WE CANNOT CLEARCUT OUR WAY OUT OF CLIMATE CHANGE. 

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Erin Ross