U.S. Reaches Agreement on Virgin Redwoods

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

9/29/96

OVERVIEW & SOURCE by EE

Reuters reports on partial victory in the Headwaters redwood controversy

through a tentative $380 million agreement which would preserve 3,425 acres

of virgin old growth redwoods. The larger forest ecosystem of the area,

however, will continue to be adversely impacted with other lesser groves

being harvested. Massive protests and efforts by a wide variety of forest

activists appears to have made progress in conserving this much dimished

forest community type.

g.b.

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U.S. reaches agreement on virgin redwoods

9/28/96

WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Two days before a deadline to start logging, the

government Saturday signed a tentative $380 million agreement to preserve

3,425 acres of virgin old growth redwoods in northern California.

The agreement is the culmination of an emotional battle that saw 897 people

arrested earlier this month, including singer Bonnie Raitt, in an effort to

preserve the largest privately owned groves of virgin redwoods in the

world.

The negotiations, however, included only government officials and Charles

Hurwitz, head of MAXXAM Inc. (MXM.A), which owns the redwoods in rural

Humboldt County.

"It's a win for those who wish to protect the ancient redwoods of the

Headwaters forest," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who

negotiated for 100 hours to reach the agreement. She said timber jobs in

Humboldt County would be protected as would wildlife and endangered fish

and birds living in the area.

Hurwitz expressed satisfaction, saying, "Our companies would be fairly

compensated and our employees' jobs would be protected."

But the Sierra Club environmental group called the pact "another sweet deal

for Charles Hurwitz" and said it made the threat of logging six ancient

groves in the area a near certainty. The groves had been part of a two-week

moratorium, but now salvage logging of dead trees could start Monday in

four of them.

Environmental groups had called for the protection of a 60,000 acre

preserve, including Headwaters, five smaller ancient redwood groves and

surrounding forest to safeguard the entire ecosystem.

Under the agreement there will be no logging in two preserved areas for 10

months, while the federal government and the State of California make

arrangements to purchase 3,425 acres of virgin redwoods surrounded by 3,845

acres of buffer.

The federal and state governments will give Pacific Lumber Co., a unit of

MAXXAM, nearly 8,000 acres of timberland worth roughly $80 million and $300

million in cash or additional timberland. The federal government will pay

$250 million and the State of California $130 million.

The tentative agreement, which also includes environmental planning for

about 200,000 acres of land, was signed by Deputy Interior Secretary John

Garamendi, California State Resources Secretary Doug Wheeler and by

MAXXAM's Hurwitz.

Feinstein and Rep. Frank Riggs, a California Republican who represents the

district, supported the agreement.

But it was criticized by environmentalists, among them Doug Thron, who has

visited and photographed the area extensively.

"The bottom line is that it doesn't really protect the ancient forest at

all," he said in a telephone interview from California after reading the

six-page agreement. "At best it might protect two of the groves. They can

go into the others on Monday."

A spokesman for MAXXAM in Houston, Bryan Oakley, declined to say what his

company will do in the four groves. "We're not saying what our plans are,"

he said in a telephone interview. "We are cleared to go in there. It's an

option we retain."

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