t’s a time of transition, of change. our longtime focus

8/14/2019 ts a Time of Transition, Of Change. Our Longtime Focus

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the Bay Area

Forest Activista publication of theBay Area Coalition for Headwaters ~~ Autumn 2008

Its a new daybehind the redwood curtainin Humboldt County. Maxxamis gone. Aer 20 long and painful years, the banner Maxxam Out of Humboldt County

comes true. Corporate raider Charles Hurwitz, who introduced himself to rural northcoast working people by admonishing them, He who has the gold, rules when Maxxamtook over the family-run Pacific Lumber Company in Dec., 1985, is no longer lordingover the forests of the region. Multi-national timber giants Louisiana Pacific and GeorgiaPacific are gone from California. Now Maxxam/Pacific Lumber has finally le the indus-try stage too. It is a turning.

We have a new company: Humboldt Redwood Company. Not an entirely new player, sinceit is the sister company to Mendocino Redwood Company, owned by the same Fisher familyof Gap store fame that entered the redwood lumber business a decade ago in MendocinoCounty.

Major changes, loy promises, and a time of relief, if not hope, in redwood country. Withthe Pacific Lumber bankruptcy case over and settled, did we get everything we hoped for?

No, not by a long shot. Did we end up with the best option on the table? To all appearances,yes. Do we still have a job to do to ensure sustainability in forest practices in the forests ofCalifornias north coast? To paraphrase a GOP contender, you betcha.

In Humboldt County, the resolution ends two decades of aggressive industrial loggingin this precious ecosystem, two decades marked by an incredible outpouring of supportfor the forest and its speciesa brilliant but tough campaign characterized by the best ofgrassroots organizing: tree-sits, massive rallies, boycotts, shareholder organizing, shrewdcourtroom strategies, legislation at state and federal levels, ballot initiatives, cross-movementfertilization that spawned a worker-environmental alliance, all manner of direct action, atripod sit in San Francisco when President Clinton came to townthe list goes on, and thestory is one of tremendous commitment and perseverance through many significant losses.

Many long time activists held a Hurwitz Out of Humboldt celebration at a campground

surrounded by redwoods in October to mark this turning, and to see who is still standing toface the challenges ahead. ose challenges include vigilant monitoring of the new owners,Donald Fishers Humboldt Redwood Co., to effect the priority goals:

Keep the chain saws out of the old growth

Prioritize selective cuts over clearcuts and herbicide use

Alter or withdraw particularly destructive logging plans already filed (but not cut) by PL

Restore severely damaged watersheds, like Freshwater, Elk River and Bear Creek

Ensure that forestlands are not sold for development

Protect and restore the habitat of endangered species like the Marbled Murreletand Coho salmon in perpetuity so those species can pull back from the brink oflocalized extinction and recover

e goals remain. Breathe a sigh of relief, and roll up the sleeves.ere is certainly reason for celebration as we say good riddance to Hurwitz!

Let Us Know What You Think!

Its a time of transition, of change. Our longtime focus has been the redwoods andthe coastal forest habitat of Northern California and encouraging and facilitatingeffective activism on behalf of the earth, and those agendas remain our work. Becauseour campaign work for so longand indeed, the reason for our founding as anorganizationwas focused on the rapacious logging practices of Maxxam/PacificLumber, we must reassess our work now that Charles Hurwitz and his Maxxam-stylemanagement have finally slithered back to Houston, Texas.

Most of all, we want to remain effective, principled and relevant to you, ourconstituency. We want to hear from you as we move forward. Our offi ce will be on areduced schedule for a time, and we will reorganize our agenda. In the meantime, workgoes on, of course, l ike our input on changes in the Headwaters Forest Reserve, andour media advocacy. Please give us your input by mail or email regarding what YOUfeel the priorities are for BACH as a small grassroots group here in the Bay Area. Ourrelationships with north coast groups are well-established and important to our agenda.We will take all input seriously and into consideration.

Our mission is: To educate and build support in the Bay Area and other urbanareas for the preservation of a biologically viable redwood forest. BACH connects localenvironmentalists with rural forest activists to preserve the old growth redwood ecosystem,with real solutions for forest workers and communities.

Our agenda has been to directlyadvocate for sustainable practices, to support activismfor the forests in its various formswith that support occasionally taking the formofworkshops, field trips and classes to share effective grassroots skills and to carryout media outreach, both directly through BACH via press releases, story pitchingand interview facilitation; and also through providing resources and services to othergrassroots groups (e.g., media lists and broadcasting press releases), particularlyforest activist groups on the north coast. We also formed Friends of HeadwatersReserve as an organizational arm of BACH. e Friends group has relationshipswith the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees management of the publicly-owned Headwaters Forest Reserve, and with the National Landscape ConservationSystem Coalition, the system which includes the Reserve as well as other conservationareas and national monuments.Let us hear from you!

YOU are the Grassroots!You keep us going with your support, and we aim to keep you supplied with information,

inspiration and direction. You can support our continued presence in the Bay Area andon your personal radar by:

Sending a donation in the enclosed envelope Coming to our benefit concert and silent auction

on Dec. 7 at La Pena see wonderful gi items athttp://headwaterspreserve.org/auction

Making a secure online donation atwww.HeadwatersPreserve.org

Help keep our roots strong& keep us growing!

printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper


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Meet the New Boss:The Fisher Family Empire andHumboldt Redwood Company

The Mendocino Experience

Mendocino Redwood Co. (MRC) and now Humboldt Redwood Co. is owned bythe Fisher family (aka Sansome Investment Group), a relative newcomer to the timberbusiness. Somewhat reminiscent of Maxxams foray into Californias forests, howlong they plan to stay is unknown. When the Fishers purchased Louisiana-Pacifics(L-P) 230,000 acres of forest land in Mendocino County in 1998, optimism soared,and then crashed, as MRC seemed to pick up right where L-P le off, with 104 L-Ptimber harvest plans (THPs), including a 400-acre clearcut above a fragile coho fishery,clearcuts above a towns water supply, and logging in slide-prone areas. Local residentsarranged meetings with MRC to convince them to stop these practices, to no avail.

Louisiana Pacific had le 97% of the forest in 1 to 21 diameter trees, with only rare,scattered old growth. Yet watershed groups say MRC proceeded with a program ofintense clear-cutting, toxic pesticide use, targeting the last big trees and other practicesthat activists describe as L-P with better PR.

MRC has Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, which is planned for HRCas well, says the company. How is it that MRC can employ clearcutting, herbicide useand old growth harvest and still be awarded FSC certification? While widely regardedas the gold standard for sustainable logging, FSC certification has unfortunately

been compromised since its principled beginnings, and certification is largely basedon promises to do betterto reduce volumes of herbicides (rather than eliminate),curtail old growth logging, and otherwise improve practices. Long-term conservationeasements guarding against conversion of forestlands (zoned TPZ) into developmentwould probably be more valuable than FSC certification, particularly in Humboldt andMendocino counties.

Reportedly, MRC and Home Depot have a sweet deal whereby Home Depot buys allof MRCs certified redwood. Presumably the deal is further sweetened by the Fishersacquisition of Humboldts redwoods, since the Fishers are now the dominant redwoodproducer from Ukiah to Eureka. is deal would create a stable market, therebyreducing marketing costs and operating costs, and so be a positive factor by lesseningpressure on what needs to be earned from the forestlands. eoretically, who benefitsdepends on the business plan goals of MRC, HRC, and ultimately Donald Fisher.

Who is Donald Fisher?e Fisher family founded the fashion giant Gap, Inc., which includes Old Navy andBanana Republic stores, in San Francisco in 1969. It turned out to be a trajectory toenormous wealth for Donald Fisher, who had no previousretail experience. e Gap was the target of a huge classaction lawsuit over labor violations of their manufacturersin Saipan and demonstrations by the Save the Redwoods,Boycott the Gap campaign aer the creation of MRC.

In 2001, Mother Jones magazine compiled theMotherJones 400, ranking corporate donors to major politicalcampaigns like Bushs 2000 run for the presidency to get a peek at what powerfulplayers in the corporate world might expect in return for their support. Donald Fisher,

along with his wife Doris, make the Fisher family one of the biggest political donorsin the U.S., and made theMJ 400 list twice, in 2001 and in 1998. In 2001, the Fishersdonated most of their $260,800 in political donations to Republican candidates and

page 2 see NEW BOSS, pg. 3 page 7

SUPREME COURT, cont

is is a stunning victory for the environment and for holding government agenciesaccountable. When agencies wont do their job and follow the law, the courts will notdefer to them, said Scott Greacen of EPIC. e California Supreme Court clearly sawthat CDF and the Department of Fish and Game werent following the law.

EPIC et al had first filed this challenge to Pacific Lumber Companys unsustainableplans to endanger Humboldts economy and wildlife in March of 1999. EPIC won at theDistrict Court level, but PL appealed the case, landing it ultimately in the CaliforniaSupreme Court. e court ruled that Pacific Lumber failed to turn in a sustained yieldplan for its forestland holdings, as required by the Headwaters Agreement. e courtalso ruled that the Department of Fish and Game broke the law by assuring PacificLumber that it would not need to do additional conservation if new species becomeendangered in the future.

e California Department of Fish & Game shouldnt have agreed to the No Surprisesprovisions, which limited the timber companys obligation to mitigate certain impactson endangered species, including the effects of natural disasters. Further, the state mustapprove adequate sustained yield plans to ensure companies haveenough timber resources to protect wildlife and maintain thelocal economy under the courts ruling. Now that PL is out of thepicture due to their bankruptcy, the new Humboldt RedwoodCompany must file a new Sustained Yield Plan with the state

agencies.anks to EPIC:Portions of their press release were used for this article.

TREE-SITTERS, c

ontregenerate, but counting on the goodwill of wealthy corporationshas not secured the safety of coveted lands and resources in the past.MRCs old growth policy holds that any trees that display old growth characteristics, e.g.pockets of ferns and canopy ecosystems and are four feet or more in diameter, would beconsidered old growth and cut only for reasons of (1) safety, (2) road construction or(3) accidentally. Amy Arcuri, a Nanning Grove tree-sitter who named and occupiedthe giant tree Spooner, is now accompanying HRC crews into active plans several timesa week to monitor for old growth. Amy has taken on the unprecedented job of video-taping the de-marking of old growth trees that were emblazoned with large blue stripesby PL as cut trees.

She says what she has seen has convinced her that HRC is sincerely trying to do a goodjob, but she has not hung up her climbing harness, just in case.

Tne new companys policy regarding old growth on their MRC website is:

Trees preserved from harvesting include:

Any redwood tree, 48 dbh and larger, established prior to 1800.

Any Douglas-fir tree, 36 dbh and larger, established prior to 1800.

Any tree established prior to 1800 (conifer or hardwood), regardless of diameter size,with a preponderance of species-specific old growth characteristics[NOTE: dbh = diameter at breast height]

In addition to the above, MRC retains any tree (conifer or hardwood), established prior

to 1800, that cannot be replaced in size or ecological function within 80-130 years,regardless of diameter or presence of old growth characteristics. Generally, this fourthtrigger is applicable to areas of exceptionally low site, for example--pygmy forest, pygmytransition soil, serpentine soils, site five and shallow rocky outcroppings.


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A Rather Remarkable Gesture: Is ItReason for Hope?In late August, once papers were final and thenew owners installed, Humboldt RedwoodCo. officials made a gesture that was as overtan indication that their methods would be adramatic departure from Maxxams as theycould have made. In keeping with their statedold growth policy (see below), they contactedactivists who had been protecting old growth

groves in two logging plans long approved (andmostly logged) by Pacific Lumber, except forthe groves protected by long-standing tree-sits.HRC chief forester and president Mike Janihiked with activists out to the sits in the FernGully area of Freshwater and to the Nanning tree-sit in the Bonanza logging plan near Scotia, unmarked the old growth trees markedfor cutting, and put Do Not Cut tape around the groves. e tree-sitters engaged in along dialogue with Jani, ultimately finding a comfort level with his sincerity. On behalf ofHRC, Jani even gave keys to the locked gate leading into the area to the sitters and theirground supporters so they could dismantle and hike out their gear on their schedule, andcome onto HRC holdings to observe and research active THPs. Forest defenders acceptedthat offer and are closely tracking plans in the forest (see New Boss).

is is a far cry from being chased by PL security through the woods and hog tied by PLstree climbers hired to extract tree-sitters. Fern Gully sits went up about five years ago,and the Nanning sits about two and a half years ago and included the massive 1500 + yearold tree Spooner; both were defended until the logging plans expired. Equally stunningwas the manner chosen by forester Jani to convey the message, delivering it directly to theforest defender tree-sitters themselves. He hiked in to Nanning Creek and the Fern Gullytreesit in Freshwater, near Eureka. Both the Nanning and Fern Gully THPs are due toexpire in late fall of 2008.

Jani praised the tree sitters for their perseverance and dedication to the cause, telling themthat the trees are still standing because of their actions, before unmarking the old growthtrees. A small amount of strictly limited second growth may be logged near the NanningCreek grove, but otherwise, It will never be a THP again, said Jani. He later told the LA

Times that his visit was an issue of human respect.

HRC has also upgraded the marbled murrelet habitat atFern Gully to a higher category of protection, from PLsprevious level C to level A. Jani stated to the activists, Ipromise none of these trees will be cut, explaining OldGrowth now included in old PL timber harvest plans willbe taken out of those plans, defining old growth as treesthat are 200 years old and four feet or greater in diameter.ere are exceptions to this, such as fast-growing trees inan open area that achieve massive girth early in their lives,and smaller old trees with condensed cores.

Will HRC really re-write the corporate timber rulebook inCalifornia as they promise? ey are obviously a for-profitoperation, and whether they will be able to harvest profitssufficient for their business plan with the reduced annual

harvest they propose is yet to be seen. e Fisher familydoes have sufficiently deep pockets to let the forest rest and

page 6 see TREE-SITTERS, pg. 7 page 3 see NEW BOSS, pg. 4

Old growth redwood marked by PL with

blue cut stripe

committees, and have given $70,000 to Republicannational committees between 2003-2006, donating anadditional $1.2 million to state and local campaigns ina year and a half. eir Democratic party donations,though, were geared to fuel pressure on the Californialegislature to exempt their retail outfits from laborlaw violations. ey are also big fans of privatizationin education, public lands, and public works sectors,using their monetary influence to push that agendabut also to fund charities like the Girls and Boys Clubs

and donate heavily to the arts.Whispering Sweet Promises at a TownHall Meetingand in the ear of theBankruptcy Court Judge

Reaction in Humboldt County was generallyfavorable to MRC jumping into the PL bankruptcyarena, in part because they proposed to keep themill and timberlands linked as one company, andtheir operation is promoted as lite industriallogging. ere is no doubt their proposed harvestrate (at 55 mmbf) is far and away less than the fast-tracked liquidation logging methods of PL/Maxxam1,but what is needed on this wounded land is trulysustainable logging, as difficult as that is to achievein PLs wake. Close monitoring as the new operation rolls out is the order of the day, sincetheir proposed harvest rate is just that: proposed, and not set with choker chains. eyalso plan to have gained enough inventory increase in 10 years to increase beyond 55mmbf annually. (mmbf=million board ., measurement of wood volume used in the timber industry)

ey say they will move away from traditional clearcutting. Why dont they simply saythey will not clearcut? A method called alternative prescription that is tantamountto clearcutting is used. It may be somewhat different than other kinds of clearcuts inthat there is what is called variable retention, ostensibly a way of encouraging naturalregeneration. But either few trees or many trees can be retained under the variableretention system, and trees can be retained in clumps (patches) or le uniformlythroughout a stand, hence the name variable retention.

It is also a route to Forest Stewardship Council certification that may claim to nix clearcuts,because the FSC now declares timber obtained through variable retention as certifiedwood. But in contradiction to their stated move away from clearcuts, a logging plan hassurfaced that does prescribe clear-cutting in the Freshwater watershed. THP-08-041 HUMthat includes in its Plan of Operations section intent to clearcut 122.7 acres.

ings just are not simple any more. In fairness, and out of deference to people whowant to set the stage to work with HRC to achieve the best future possible for northcoast forestswe must recognize that we were presented with tough choices in a fairlyimpossible context (not that the choice was in our hands), in that the options on thetable in the corporate bankruptcy court in Corpus Christi, Texas were: three from PL thatincluded selling tens of thousands of acres into trophy homes in high end development;an auction of assets, open to all including Hurwitz and his cousins; and the MRC proposal,the only one that even attempted to sound reasonable.

The Missing Promisee reorganization plan that did not make it before the judge was put together by theCommunity Forestry Team 2. It called for conservation easements on the entire acreage

NEW BOSS, cont.


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that, while allowing logging,would prohibit conversion ofthe land to developmenteitherhousing or vineyards, as hashappened to vast areas offormer forestland in Sonomaand Mendocino Counties.Conversion looms as a mammoththreat, as those forests, onceconverted, never come back. eFishers have refused to considerconservation easements.

The Workers &the Company Town

People in the company town ofScotia breathe easier now thatthe bankruptcy is settled and themill is running two shis, but thefate of the town of 247 homes,company store--a company town that back in the 30s banned liquor and gambling--is uncertain. A plan to sell the homes to their occupants was delayed when it wasdiscovered that surveys were never done and no lot lines exist.

Of PLs and Scotia Pacific Co.s approximately 363 employees, HRC and MarathonStructured Finance Fund extended offers to approximately 320 workers. (Other positionswere carried out by contract workers, not employees of PL or ScoPac.) PL managementwas not brought in to HRC, and many people at management level in the company arenow employees of both MRC and HRC.

As the new company moves forward, CEO Sandy Dean expressed confidence in aninterview with an industry publication, saying All we can do is duplicate what hasworked at Mendocino Redwood, do a good job in Humboldt County, and hopefully earnthe support of folks who are concerned about the forest. e key word here is earn.ey must earn the trust of those who have given blood, sweat, tears, and large portionsof their lives to preserve these forests.(Footnotes)1 reportedly over 100 mmbf at time of bankruptcy, but previously upwards of 200 mmbf.

2 e Community Forestry Team was formed to provide a sustainable alternative proposal during the

PL bankruptcy. It functions as a diverse, local group that includes timber industry insiders,economic development advocates and conservation interests dedicated toimplementation of community forestry practices in Humboldt County.

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NEW BOSS Humboldt Redwood CompanyNot the Only Game in Town

Other forest areas north coast activists are watching andprotecting

Redwoods invoke passionate campaigns to protect them not only because of their awe-inspiring size and beauty but because of the limited geographic range of their ecosystem,that even historically did not extend more than 50 miles inland from the Pacific coast.e thin band stretching down to Big Sur from the top of California is still limited tothat range but is now extremely fragmented, with only small unconnected islands of old

growth. It behooves us, then, to place our campaign scope on all owners of redwoodforest lands.

Besides Pacific Lumbernow Humboldt Redwood Co. and MRC, corporate owners ofcommercial redwood forest include Green Diamond (formerly Simpson) with 440,000acres of forest in Humboldt County and Hawthorne (formerly Georgia-Pacific) inMendocino. Redwoods account for about 60% of GDRCs trees, most of those youngtrees planted by the company. Another timber baron worth adding to the list not becauseof large ownership on the north coast, but because of their particularly rapaciouspractices is Sierra Pacific Industries, largest private landowner and largest clearcutter inCalifornia.

Intrepid tree-sitters, researchers, THP monitors and other activists are turning theirattention to other forest product corporations on the north coast while keeping closewatch on the new Humboldt Redwood Co.

At a forest action camp held in September, logging plans currently approved or activewere discussed, including a Green Diamond plan that includes residual old growth, slatedto begin cutting in February. Green Diamond has also made no secret of the fact thatthey plan conversion of some of their forest to residential development, ringing a deathknell for forest species. Effects of clearcutting, precipitous decline of Northern SpottedOwls on and near their property, and conversion to development seem to loom as thelargest threats to the region posed by Green Diamond. Additionally, a Green Diamondplan in Jacoby Creek watershed contains a 76 acre clearcut in addition to over a hundredacres already approved for clearcut. See links on the site formore details and maps.

Earth First! Humboldt was recently out monitoring Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) loggingoperations in Trinity County where the company is salvage logging in an in-holding in aroadless area. Most of their operations are in the Sierras, but their holdings in Trinity andHumboldt Counties have received little attention during the Maxxam/PL era. ey andGreen Diamond are now on the activist radar screen.

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A Supreme Victory!California Supreme CourtSides With Environmentalists inDecades-Long Forest Dispute

Aer decades of legal wrangling, environmentalists emerged victorious in July in a CaliforniaSupreme Court case that promises improved protection for Californias endangered speciesand industrial forestlands. e ruling in the case Environmental Protection Information Center& Sierra Club vs. Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is the culmination of a challenge

to the permits issued as part of the Headwaters Deal, and centered on endangered speciesprotection and sustainable forestry regulations. see pg 7

t’s a time of transition, of change. our longtime focus

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