Deal over Redwoods Vex Activists
http://forests.org/-- Forest Conservation Archives
10/1/96
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Title: Deal over Redwoods Vex Activists
Source: InterPress Service
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 10/1/96
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 1 (IPS) - Far from ending a 10-year conflict, a
deal designed to save a small portion of the world's last coastal
redwood forest is receiving vocal opposition.
At stake is the 232,000-hectare Headwaters forest, some 400 kms
north of here.
In a deal that is subject to legislative approval, Texas tycoon
Charles Hurwitz agreed Friday to give up 29,000 hectares in
exchange for 380 million dollars in cash, land, or other
government assets.
Activists condemn the agreement. They have long said that
preservation of the forest, which includes Headwaters and age-old
redwood groves, is necessary to protect the habitat of many
endangered species.
''This deal can be best described in three words: smoke and
mirrors,'' says Darryl Cherney, one of the organisers of Earth
First!, a radical environmental group that has battled to save
Headwaters through rallies, protests, and civil disobedience.
Chanting ''No deal! No deal!'', more than a thousand people
staged a peaceful weekend protest in the town of Arcata near
Headwaters. Protests are expected to continue for as long as
logging continues in other parts of the forest on the northeastern
tip of California that is home to the coho salmon, the rare
marbled murrelet bird, and hundreds of other species.
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, who mediated
weeks of negotiations, called the deal a ''win-win'' agreement.
''We knew all along this wasn't going to please all the
environmentalists,'' said Feinstein. ''But I've got to say to
people -- you can do what you can do. If people want to go out and
raise money and make an offer, they're certainly free to do so.''
Activists vow to continue the fight. Some 96 percent of the 7.7
million hectares of the redwoods that once covered coastal
California have been logged in the last century.
Protests began when Hurwitz of Maxxam Inc. bought Pacific
Lumber of San Francisco 10 years ago for 1.8 billion dollars.
Logging intensified following the purchase.
Environmentalists have since urged the government to take over
the land in exchange for dropping federal claims against the Texas
financier that resulted from the collapse of a Texas bank he
owned. The federal government has spent 1.6 billion dollars paying
off investors in the bank.
Activists are especially indignant that the government's plan
to acquire the timber land under the new deal is contingent upon
the completion within 10 months of a habitat conservation plan for
remaining Pacific Lumber land in the area. The plan would
theoretically provide protection for the species, but it would
also allow logging for at least 25 years.
During the 10 months of work on the plan, all logging on the
lands to be sold is to stop. But if there is no agreement on a
habitat conservation plan, the whole package, including the
purchase of the reserve, would be void.