Press release from Green Diamond:

On January 31, 2024, the McKinleyville Community Services District (MCSD), Green Diamond Resource Company (Green Diamond), and the Trust for Public Lands (TPL) announced the close of escrow on 599 acres of timberlands in northwestern Humboldt County, slated to become the McKinleyville Community Forest.

In 2015, Green Diamond and TPL, a national nonprofit organization committed to improving public access to nature, announced plans to seek grant funding for a land sale that would establish a public community forest adjacent to the community of McKinleyville. The McKinleyville Community Services District (MCSD), the independent special district that provides water, sewer, parks and recreation, and other services to the McKinleyville area, was identified as the entity best suited to own and manage a community forest.

For nearly a decade, MCSD, TPL and Green Diamond have worked closely to ensure the success of this project. In 2020, the California Natural Resources Agency’s (CNRA) Recreational Trails & Greenways Grant Program awarded a $3.8 million grant to TPL to acquire a tract of Green Diamond property and transfer ownership and management responsibilities to MCSD.

“TPL is proud of our partnership with MCSD and Green Diamond to help realize the vision of the McKinleyville community to ensure this space is protected from development and enhance the environmental and economic benefits of this land for generations to come,” said Guillermo Rodriguez, Vice President for the Pacific Region for Trust for Public Land.

The McKinleyville Community Forest is located within the Widow White Creek and Mill Creek watersheds which are tributary to the Mad River. The forest primarily comprises second- and third-growth Sitka spruce, redwood, and Douglas fir forest and provides habitat for a variety of plant and wildlife species.

“The District is deeply grateful for the efforts of CNRA, TPL, and Green Diamond to get us to this point,” said Patrick Kaspari, MCSD General Manager. “We look forward to stewarding this land for the community and all of our children and children’s children.”

Much like the Arcata and the McKay Community Forests, the McKinleyville Community Forest will be managed for multiple objectives, including public recreation, timber production, water quality, and wildlife habitat protection. Under the guidance of a forest management plan, MCSD will reinvest income generated by timber harvests back into the forest, offsetting costs of trail, access point, and amenity development and maintenance.

Green Diamond is a longstanding private timberland landowner on the North Coast, managing thousands of acres of working forests adjacent to McKinleyville and throughout the Mad River basin.

“We greatly appreciate the opportunity to establish another community forest in Humboldt County,” said Peter Jackson, Green Diamond’s Vice President and General Manager of California Operations. “After years of teamwork with TPL and MCSD, Green Diamond welcomes the close of this land sale and the beginning of a long-term investment in the wellbeing of the McKinleyville community.”

With the land transfer complete, the McKinleyville Community Forest is officially open to the public, with two designated yet undeveloped access points along Murray Road. Note that the Green Diamond timberlands east of the community forest will remain closed to the public.

“It has taken us nine years to get to this point, but now the real work begins,” stated Kaspari. “We invite the public to enjoy the Community Forest and contact us to help plan and implement the trail improvements, watershed restoration, tree planting, and all the other projects that we will be initiating for this community asset.”