Through active monitoring of regeneration and leave tree growth, Arcata is gradually changing its type of silviculture to make it more sustainable. Arcata has continuously monitored the Northern Spotted Owl on the Jacoby Creek Forest since the forest was first entered in 1985 when there were two nesting pairs of owls. Two years after this first silvicultural cut one of the pairs of owls established a nest site adjacent to one of the small patch cuts, with the other pair nesting in the reserve on the south side of Jacoby Creek. At an open meeting of the City of Arcata's Forest Management Advisory Committee on Oct 14, 1999. A news article in the Sunday Oct. 17.
Lets leave it up to the birds.
In 1989 there were five pairs of nesting Northern Spotted owls within a mile radius of the center of the City's Jacoby Creek forest. Currently the two pairs of nesting spotted owls are still nesting and roosting there. In addition to these owls the City is continually monitoring up to 200 species of animals, birds and plants, from winter wrens to oxalis, to insure that we are sustainably managing the Forests. Community forests such as Arcata's are fairly common through the world. France has 11,000 community forests that are owned by large cities like Strasbourg and small towns like Plombieres.