April 16th 1999

By Mike Geniella
The Press Democrat
April 16, 1999

UKIAH - Mendocino Redwoods Co. announced Thursday it has hired the chief forester of a Santa Cruz County timber company with a national reputation for environmentally sound logging practices to oversee its Mendocino County operations.

Mike Jani, a 25-year veteran of Big Creek Timber Co., will take over in May as chief forester for Mendocino Redwoods, a company created last year by San Francisco's Fisher family to acquire 300,000 acres of timberland and production facilities formerly owned by Louisiana-Pacific Corp. With 450 employees, Mendocino Redwoods is the county's single biggest timber employer.

"Mike Jani will help get us to where we want to go,'' said Sandy Dean, president of Mendocino Redwoods.

Dean said Jani's hiring should signal to the company's persistent critics its intent to practice long-term, sustainable timber harvesting. Mendocino Redwoods continues to draw fire from some Mendocino coastal activists for logging in watersheds they contend have been overcut. To draw attention to their cause, activists earlier this year launched a controversial boycott of the Fisher family's Gap stores.

Former county Supervisor Norman de Vall, who helped organize the nationwide Gap boycott, acknowledged Thursday the environmental reputation of Jani and Big Creek.

"If Mendocino Redwoods will pledge to adopt Santa Cruz (logging) rules while waiting for certification of its operations, then maybe the message it's trying to get across can be believed,'' said de Vall.

Dean said Thursday the pace of logging on the former L-P lands has been sharply curtailed under the new ownership in order to allow the cut-over timberlands to replenish themselves with new tree growth. Mendocino Redwoods' reduced logging, and now Jani's hiring, should speak volumes, said Dean.

"I don't know what more we can say or do to ease the concerns. We're just going to keep doing what we think is right,'' said Dean.

Before joining Mendocino Redwoods, Jani for the past six years has been chief forester and member of the management team for Big Creek, Santa Cruz County's last remaining timber company. Big Creek operates under special logging rules adopted by Santa Cruz County that are the most restrictive in California.

Big Creek, with annual sales in excess of $32 million, is the only redwood timber company in California whose timber operations have been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, a non-profit organization that encourages environmentally sound logging practices.

Dean said Jani in his new job will help Mendocino Redwoods pursue certification of its Mendocino County timber operations.

"Jani brings both solid experience in managing redwood forests and first-hand knowledge of certification, both of which are important strategic objectives of Mendocino Redwoods,'' said Dean.