HISTORY
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SAFE
was begun in 1979 in response to massive
pesticide
spraying on public and private timber lands in
Trinity County in
northern
California. Pesticides include insecticides,
herbicides, rodenticides,
and
fungicides. Agencies and companies that were
doing this include U.S.
Forest
Service, Champion, Simpson, and most recently
Sierra Pacific
Industries. Local citizens became active and
formed SAFE to
promote
alternatives
to pesticide spraying, which has since branched
out into advocating and
informing the public about environmentally sound
forest management.
SAFE has been
instrumental in convincing the U.S. Forest
Service, the County Road
Department, and Caltrans to cease using
pesticides on public lands in
Trinity County. They were also instrumental in
convincing the Trinity
County Board of Supervisors to pass an ordinance
prohibiting any
detectable discharge of toxins into Trinity
County's waters. Read Trinity
County's
Herbicide Policy. SAFE was involved with the Board of Supervisor's passage of a resolution banning the growing of genetically engineered (GE) organisms, plants, or animals in Trinity County. This makes Trinity County the second county in the nation to ban the growing of genetically engineered (GE) plants and animals. Read Trinity County's GMO Ordinance. SAFE has worked diligently for years and
succeeded in
reducing the number of clear cuts and spray
sites in Trinity County, on
both public and prvate lands. They have
initiated, participated in and
won lawsuits on various issues to defend and
protect our public
forests, waters, and fisheries. Citizens for
Better Forestry was a SAFE project for resource
planning and
management.
CBF is now a separate group, affilliated with
SAFE. CBF participates
in many planning processes. They created the
Citizens' Alternative for
the Shasta-Trinity National Forest Land and
Resource Management Plan
after the disastrous first draft of the "Forest
Plan" in the early
1980s. The Citizens' Alternative was included
and revised through
all the succeeding drafts of the Forest Plan and
was actually used to
devise the "Spotted Owl/Ecosystem Management"
revisions for the whole
Plan. This alternative plan was based upon
ecosystem management
principles. CBF also works on monitoring
resource management. SAFE
monitors the Forest Services's compliance with
the Northwest Forst plan
through CBF. As a result of SAFE's activities, there is much less pesticide spraying in Trinity County. Generally, aside from over-the-counter poisons, structural spraying for insects, a few orchards and vineyards (who often spray organic pesticides) and ranchers, only the large timber companies spray in Trinity County. The County does not spray roads or school yards, CalTrans does not spray the state highways, and the Forest Service and BLM do not spray public lands, although BLM may have recently changed their policy on this. Many people, agencies and businesses use alternative methods of one kind or another. It's been a long, hard struggle but it is worth the efforts! |
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