40 



many consider to be some of the strongest environmental laws in 

 the country. However, year after year, the redwoods have relent- 

 lessly been diminished while top policymakers turn a blind eye to 

 the need for direction. This leaves agencies arguing among them- 

 selves about what to protect and where to protect it. 



Where I live a few hours south of the Headwaters area in 

 Mendocino County, what used to be the heart of the redwood em- 

 pire, v/e have only a few small blocks of virgin forest left, the larg- 

 est being only a few hundred acres. 



While State bureaucracies send memos back and forth, the 60- 

 to 100-year-old trees are going. Along with the forest, we have lost 

 a once significant fishery resource with streams silted up and over- 

 heated beyond the tolerance of salmon and steelhead. 



And now that we are almost out of trees, we are almost out of 

 timber employment as well. I believe the county is down to just 

 four mills now. One of those is quite small, and one of them has 

 already announced that they plan to shut down for part of the win- 

 ter. 



We need the Headwaters Forest Act because our State govern- 

 ment has failed to come to grips with how to maintain a sustain- 

 able forest economy, one which balances employment with protect- 

 ing important public trust resources like water, wildlife, and the 

 interconnected fabric of life. 



The reason that we believe 44,000 acres are necessary to meet 

 the goals of the ecosystem management in this area again is the 

 unfortunate failure of the State's regulatory program. If we simply 

 create a 3,000-acre island, you can count on the surrounding area 

 being reduced to a very young growth forest in the next 10 to 15 

 years. There is nothing in State rules to prevent this from happen- 

 ing, and Maxxam's debt load mandates that it will happen. 



If you protect only the 3,000 acres, you will have created a very 

 nice tree museum and, with luck, marbled murrelets will continue 

 to live there. However, by going ahead and bu3dng the surrounding 

 areas, you will have a reasonable chance of maintaining a viable 

 ecosystem where wildlife of many kinds can migrate over larger 

 areas and maintain a viable genetic base and where the forest 

 water cycle and forest nutrient cycle can be maintained. 



I believe this area, which lies between existing parkland and cre- 

 ates a link between them, would have been considered for purchase 

 long before now if we had realized the threat from the Maxxam 

 Company takeover. 



I want to close with some remarks about endangered species. Al- 

 though we talk a lot about them. Headwaters isn't just about mar- 

 bled murrelets or spotted owls or Olympic salamanders, tailed frogs 

 or the red tree vole. All of these creatures are important; I person- 

 ally don't believe they should be allowed to die out. 



But beyond that, the Headwaters Forest Act is about maintain- 

 ing a viable and vibrant part of our natural heritage. We are just 

 human; we do not have the world and every little part of it figured 

 out. Ten years ago, no one outside of forestry school had ever heard 

 of the Pacific yew tree. Today, women are recovering from cancer 

 because the secret of Taxol was recognized. 



Maybe these forests hold nothing more for the human race than 

 their majesty, their trees towering taller than the Capitol dome, al- 



