Resolution Requesting Acquisition of the F.G.S. Inholding in California’s Condrey Mtn. Roadless Area

(unanimously approved by the California Democratic Council Statewide Convention in San Bernardino on June 19th, 2005)

Whereas Fruit Growers Supply owns a 240-acre inholding at Black Mountain in  northern California’s Siskiyou County just below the Oregon border in the  20,365-acre Condrey Mountain Roadless Area which is adjacent to the 100,000-acre Kangaroo Roadless Area which is adjacent to the 20,323-acre Red Buttes Wilderness, while the inholding is within a mile of the Pacific Crest Trail and is near three designated botanical areas; and

Whereas despite Fruit Growers Supply being a willing seller, the nearby Rogue River National Forest has granted permission to this company to use federal land as a base to assist in helicopter-logging of mostly ancient trees at Black Mountain, which, if carried out, would degrade the landscape and could prevent future wilderness designation, thus having negative repercussions on tens of thousands of acres of core wildlife habitat and corridors crucial for many species including extremely rare forest carnivores such as the Pacific fisher, marten, and wolverine; and

Whereas the Condrey Mountain Roadless Area is an essential component of the Siskiyou Crest which is the high-elevation connectivity corridor for the Klamath / Siskiyou ecoregion, and thus the primary migratory backbone between the Cascades / greater Sierra area and the Coast Range, while the Klamath / Siskiyou region is an ancient landscape globally renowned for its conifer diversity, rare plants that grow nowhere else, and its wild and scenic rivers supporting a wide array of species; 

Be it therefore resolved that the California Democratic Council, meeting in convention in San Bernardino on June 17-19, 2005, strongly urges that the Fruit Growers Supply-owned inholding at Black Mountain in the Condrey Mountain Roadless Area be a top priority for federal and/or state purchase, with the cost estimated to be a mere 2 to 3 million dollars which is a bargain for this priceless habitat even during these tough budget times; and

Be it further resolved that the California Democratic Council shall send this resolution to U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer urging that they lead the way in seeking federal funding to acquire and protect this biologically vital 240-acre inholding and that they call upon the Rogue River National Forest to retract permission to use nearby federal land as a base for helicopter-logging operations targeting the forest at Condrey Mountain, and shall send this resolution to U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and John Kerry, to the Wildlife Conservation Board urging that this Fruit Growers Supply inholding be a top priority for acquisition by state funds, and to State Senators Chesbro, Perata, Kuehl, Lowenthal, Migden, Alarcon, and Bowen, to Assemblymembers Nunez, Pavley, Laird, Hancock, Chu, Nava, and Wolk, to other Democratic leadership in the California Legislature, and to CA Controller Westly and to CA Treasurer Angelides.