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). Companies that did this include the U.S. Forest
Service, Champion, Simpson, and most recently Sierra Pacific
Industries. Local citizens became active and formed an organization to
promote
alternatives
to pesticide spraying, which has since branched out into advocating and
informing 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 toxics into Trinity County's waters. 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. SAFE became a California nonprofit corporation in 1984
and is an IRS tax-exempt 501 (c)(3) organization. Contributions,
donations and gifts are tax deductible. 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.
They are 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 spraying in Trinity County. Generally, aside from over-the-counter poisons, structural spraying for insects, a few orchards and vineyards (who often spray organics) 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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