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California-Hawaii 

 Student Environmental Action Coalition 



The Headwaters Forest Act was introdviQed by RgMiesentative Dan Hamburg (D- 

 Ukiah) in response to a growing awareness within citizens of Humboldt Bay of the 

 economic and ecological importance associated with the preservation of the largest 

 tmiHOtected stand of ancient redwoods. 



Humboldt county is much more economically diverse than neighboring Del Norte 

 and TrijMty counties. The city ofEureka, located within 25 miles of the Headwaters 

 Grove, is currently pursuing an aggressive port expanwon project and has always been a 

 favorite vacation spot for visitors touring Ae Pacific Northwest. An incredible level of 

 concern for the environmental quality of Humboldt Bay has resulted in the restoration of 

 the old Areata landfill into an internationally renowned sah marsh and hoUstic 

 wastewater management system. Restoration of local rivers to improve salmon spawning 

 grounds has kept the sport fishing industry alive (at least for. now). Inclusion of the 

 Headwaters Grove into the wilderness system is the next logical step in the conversion of 

 the Humbolt Bay area fi'pm Victorian-age logging camps to prosperous and economically 

 diverse modem cities. 



Inclusion of Pacific-Ltimber^L) land into the Six Rivers National Forest is 



justified because of &e dramatic change in management practices since its hostile 



takeover by Charles Hurwitz of the Maxxam Corporation. Before the takeover Pt was 



hailed even by most environmentalists as being a model example of corporate logging, 

 pr^tices fliat were sensitive to ibc needs of wudlife as well as managing for the long- 



term economic health of dependent communities. Since Hurwitz acquired PL the 



corporation has tripled its cut on its own land in order, to fay off an estimated $864 



million in junk bond debt associated with the takeover. This has r^ulted in management 



{HacticeS that have been detrimental to the long term health of the community as weU as 



the environment 



Although Maxxam's PL has created a short term boom in new jobs and mandatory 



overtime for ]B'esent workers, the present harvest rate is an ecological disaster that will 



lead to mass unemployment The present boom froin the mining of PL's ancient forests 



wont last much longer and the pain of economic transition wont be any easier with PL's 



ancient forests gone! Six Rivers National Forest has the capablitly to log the much of 



the land in a sustainable manner and protect the Ancient forests through die goals of 



Ecosystem Management that includes protecting wildlife corridors to prevent habitat 



fi-^mentation. Maxxam's accelerated harvesting has been challanged in court by groups 



like EPIC(Enyironmental Protetion and Information Center) to protect the ecosystem 



from the cvunmulative effects of over accelerated cutting and the displacement of 



endangered species such as the marbled murrlet Existing laws and agencies responsible 



for their enforcement have proven inadequate to acheive these goals on private land. 



3 The Headwaters Grove is known to be nesting habitat fpr the marbled murrlet, a 



bird listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Marbled murrlets are unable 



California-Hawaii SEAC • Post Office Box 5848 • Stanford, CA 94309 

 . (415) 723-3307.* Fax (415) 725-7339 



