115 



The two counties have been further victimized by the 

 go-go business atmosphere of the 1980s. All three of the 

 major companies in the park expansion -Simpson Tim- 

 ber, Areata Redwood (now part of Simpson) and 

 Louisiana-Pacific-have gone through mergers, buyouts 

 and privatizations that have resulted in consolidation 

 and closing of mills. Louisiana-Pacific alone closed nine 

 mills in five years (although officials say the closings 

 were partly caused by logging restrictions). 



Pacific Lumber, which was not affected either by the 

 . original park or the expansion, owns the largest stand of 

 old-growth redwoods still in private hands. It was taken 

 over in a hostile action by the corporate raider Charles 

 Hurwitz and his Maxxam Corporation. The new owners 

 speeded up cutting of old-growth, ostensibly to make up 

 for undercutting in the past. They insisted they were 

 benefiting the troubled economy, too, by providing more 

 jobs. Environmentalists saw a different reason. They said 

 cutting was increased to raise money to bail out Hur- 

 wiiz's failed savings and loan institution. 



Not much of the $889 million the first three compa- 

 nies received for their redwood holdings found its way 

 into the local economy. A few smaller local mills were 

 bought up, and Louisiana-Pacific opened one new (now- 

 closed) automated mill. Instead, investment went to 



otber partsof ihe country and Mexico. Company 

 spokespersons insist that between the park expansion re- 

 ducing the redwood supply, and the spotted owl contro- 

 versy shiuting down the national forests, California was 

 not the soundest place to invest. John Cumming, an at- 

 torney who handled many of the severance cases, and 

 John Dewitt of the Save-the-Redwoods League, contend, 

 however, that the companies pitted their workers against 

 the environmentalists, then took the money and left the 

 workers high and dry. 



To local residents, their plight can be explained as a 

 simple matter of numbers. The 150,000 people of Hum- 

 boldt and Del Norte counties comprise less than one-half 

 of 1 percent of California's 30 million population. 

 "[Southern Californians] sit down there on their red- 

 wood decks sipping their Chardonnay and write us off as 

 a bunch of ignorant hicks in plaid shins and cork boots," 

 one ex-loggcr said in the Lumberjack Loimge, while 

 other patrons nodded in agreement. 



"You have to understand." says John Dewitt "that this 



